Would a Commie by Another Name Still Smell as Vile?

Until recently I was not very interested in Obama. I thought he delivered a very artful speech to a group that wasn't ready to embrace him. I was astounded by the Obamalatry of many of his followers. I thought it was interesting that the Democrats are about to nominate an African-American (I always thought the Republicans would do it first.) But I didn't hold him in any great disregard.

But in he last couple of weeks I learned about the Rezko affair. It seems a lot like Hillary's cattle futures to me.

And I learned that Obama chose his church for political reasons. (Really. I'm not making that up.) I'm sure some people were angry of the strange things his pastor said, but that, it seems to me, to be kind of off-limits. After all, there are a lot of people who don't like the religious ideas my bishop holds. So,I am prepared to cut Obama some slack on his theology. But when I found out that he picked his church to further his political aspirations, well, that told me something about his character.

But what has me kind of freaked is Michelle Obama's Bolshevism. If he really changes things, and if he follows her policies we will all be wading in blood. She actually said "We have to compromise and sacrifice for one another in order to get things done...Barak Obama is the only person in this race who understands that. That before we can work on the problems we have, we have to fix our souls...Barak will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual...we can change the world!" I am not making that up. She said it. It is as though she said "Put your trust in Barak Obama in whom there is Salvation" But we know that anytime a politician claims god-like powers that blood follows.

Let's look at what her words mean...

"We have to compromise and sacrifice for one another in order to get things done" means "you are going to have to give up your liberty and property for the greater good."

"That before we can work on the problems we have, we have to fix our souls" means "Only greedy evil people with diseased souls care about liberty and property, but we have these camps..."

"Barak Obama is the only person in this race who understands that" means "Barak is smarter than everyone else."

"Barak will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual" means "Barak requires total commitment. He is a totalitarian."

"we can change the world" means "I'm saying "we" so you'll feel good, but as Gandalf said, only one hand can wear the ring. And when he has power, Barak will succeed where Lenin, Mao, and Pol Pot failed."

Vote for Barak and liberty will be gone. Vote for Barak and it won't be long before churches are blown up, because idols don't like the Living God. Barak will tell you what you can believe, what you can own, what you can do with your life. He wants to cure your soul.

I do not yet know who I am going to vote for in November. But I know it will not be Comrade Obama.

I'm a Racist?

About a week ago I was sitting in Starbucks doing my homework. At the table next to me were two gay men in their thirties and three very very old women. They were all members of their church's choir (Can you guess the denomination?) and were talking about music for the upcomming services. Eventually, the subject of their conversation turned to politics, the women all hated Sarah Palin one even saying that she was a traitor to women. One of the men criticized her for haveing so many children. One of the women said she should have encouraged her daughter to have an abortion and have a life instead of having a baby and marrying the father. One of the men said every one who does not vote for Obama is racist. The other mand said only ignorant rednecks will be voting for McCain. Then I felt personally insulted.

I didn't interject but I really really wanted to. What would I have said? I would have said, "I'm not voting for Obama and it has nothing to do with race. I voted for a black man for presedent years ago. I voted for Alan Keyes for President in 2000 because he was the most pro-life small government candidate who was in the race. I guess you didn't vote for him because you're all racists. The reason I'm not voting for Obama is because I love liberty and babies and belive that Obama, a socialist and a pro-abort, is a threat to both."

So, what is it that makes liberals call Sarah Palin "stupid"? What is it that makes them accuse me of racism because I am not voting for Sen. Obama. What is it that makes them think I cling to religion and my guns because of bitterness? I think I can totally understand where they are comming from. In general, they think the well-being of the group is more important than the rights of individuals. THey think the liberty of women is more important than the lives of babies. They see armed individuals as a threat. They think wealth inequality is a bad thing. I understand all that and can put myself into their shoes and argue their positions, often, better than they can argue them (I've actually read Marx, Webber, Kinsey, Friedan, Rousseau, and Frued). I don't think they are stupid and I don't usually think they are racists, unless I see clear evidence of it. (I try hard not to tink evil of anyone.) Most of the time I think their problem is that they are deceived or are starting with the wrong pre-suppositions. (Although, I really do believe Obama is wicked based on his votes on the Born Alive Infants bill.) Why don't they do the same for Conservatives? Why do they think we are stupid racists?

I wonder if he still snorting "blow"?

In the current issue of the New Yorker it is reported that Obama spoke these words just 8 days after 9/11.

We must also engage, however, in the more difficult task of understanding the sources of such madness. The essence of this tragedy, it seems to me, derives from a fundamental absence of empathy on the part of the attackers: an inability to imagine, or connect with, the humanity and suffering of others.
Such a failure of empathy, such numbness to the pain of a child or the desperation of a parent, is not innate; nor, history tells us, is it unique to a particular culture, religion, or ethnicity. It may find expression in a particular brand of violence, and may be channeled by particular demagogues or fanatics.
Most often, though, it grows out of a climate of poverty and ignorance, helplessness and despair. We will have to make sure, despite our rage, that any U.S. military action takes into account the lives of innocent civilians abroad. We will have to be unwavering in opposing bigotry or discrimination directed against neighbors and friends of Middle Eastern descent.
Finally, we will have to devote far more attention to the monumental task of raising the hopes and prospects of embittered children across the globe—children not just in the Middle East, but also in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe and within our own shores.

Grows out of a climate of poverty and ignorance? Bin Ladin is poor? The college educated terrorists were ignorant? What planet is Obama from? They have taken their wealth and education and have turned passenger liners into missiles, and shoes and cars and people into bombs.

Obama thinks that if terrorists just knew how much pain they caused they would not want to be terrorists any more? Is he nuts? These are not little kids carelessly playing with matches. They are terrorists precisely because they know the pain they can cause. They are the weak saying I am strong. They have beaten their plowshears into swords and their pruning hooks into spears. And they are coming after us.

Obama spouts unbelievable, suicidal madness just 8 days after 9/11. Please, someone kill me if this man is elected. Oh, wait, probably someone will; a terrorist.

And what do embittered children in in Latin America have to do with Muslim terrorists attacking New York and Washington, D.C.? Clearly, as late as 8 days after 9/11 Senator Obama was still enjoying "a little blow".

Deficits and Lies

While driving to Concord yesterday, I listened to the President's press conference.  I wasn't surprised by anything he said.  However, near the end of the press conference he said, "You know, if you're concerned about long-term debt, that's a good thing to be concerned about, but don't pretend as if America's going bankrupt at a time when the deficits have been cut in half."  

Cut in half?  Really?


Here are the budget deficits for the last few years:

FY 2013     $973 billion (Obama)
FY 2012  $1,087 billion (Obama)
FY 2011  $1,300 billion (Obama)
FY 2010  $1,294 billion (Obama
FY 2009  $1,413 billion (Bush)
FY 2008     $458 billion (Bush)
FY 2007     $161 billion (Bush
FY 2006     $248 billion (Bush)
FY 2005     $318 billion (Bush)

So, here is my question.  How is the current deficit of $973 billion half of any of Obama's previous deficits?  How is $973 billion half of Bush's largest deficit? So, the President lied.  Or he's stupid. 

And quite apart from that, these deficits do not even include all the increase in our national debt. The federal deficit is the amount each year by which federal outlays in the federal budget exceed federal receipts, but the gross federal debt increases each year by more than the amount of the deficit each year. That is because an enormous amount of federal borrowing is not counted in the budget.

The Perils of Obama's Popularity

Obama Quote: "They want a sense of purpose, a narrative arc to their lives, something that will relieve a chronic loneliness or lift them above the exhausting, relentless toll of daily life. They need an assurance that somebody out there cares about them, is listening to them -- that they are not just destined to travel down a long highway toward nothingness."


I think this explains much about the current thrall in which many people (even ordinarily right think people) find themselves. They are looking for "meaning" in a politician. Unfortunately (or fortunately), the Constitution does not give the President the power to give meaning to our lives. What powers does the President have? To wage war, to negotiate treaties, to appoint officers, to enforce the laws, the propose leislation, and to veto legislation. Nothing in that list is even remotely like the hopes many of Obama's supporters seem to have for his prospective presidency.

I feel sorry for them. Obama won't be ale to make a person less lonely, or excuse them from the burden of daily life. They will be so disappointed if he is elected and flower don't bloom, if universal meaning and love don't sprout up everywhere the shadow of his government falls. What will they think of their hero when he turns out to not have the supernatural power to "change"? I am not being sarcastic. I really will feel sorry for them.

But I will feel much more sorry for those of us who love liberty. As pleasant a man as Obama seems to be (How con you not like him?) it needs to be remembered that he will not be coming into office alone. He will bring with him the trial lawyers who devastate small businesses and terrorize doctors. He will bring with him the teachers unions who seek to outlaw homeschooling at every turn. He will bring with him the pro-aborts who never see a fetus they don't want to kill. He will bring with him the socialists who will bankrupt the country, and more importantly try to replace the attitude of thanksgiving with the attitude of entitlement. And, amzigly, and this might be the hardest thing for his suporters to understand, he will bring with him the militarists who see force of arms as the solution to every diplomatic problem. Let's not forget that most American wars are started by Democrats, the people who like exercising government power. (GWB is an abberationin the war waging department.

More Obamalatry

I have on several occasions written of Sen. Obama's claims of near divinity and/or the Obamalatry of his followers.(You can see all my "Obama" posts here. They are not all critical.)

Two hilarious things today.

This from the San Francisco Chronicle:

"Many spiritually advanced people I know (not coweringly religious, mind you, but deeply spiritual) identify Obama as a Lightworker, that rare kind of attuned being who has the ability to lead us not merely to new foreign policies or health care plans or whatnot, but who can actually help usher in a new way of being on the planet, of relating and connecting and engaging with this bizarre earthly experiment. These kinds of people actually help us evolve. They are philosophers and peacemakers of a very high order, and they speak not just to reason or emotion, but to the soul.

"The unusual thing is, true Lightworkers almost never appear on such a brutal, spiritually demeaning stage as national politics. This is why Obama is so rare. And this why he is so often compared to Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., to those leaders in our culture whose stirring vibrations still resonate throughout our short history."

(With my hand in the air, I am not making this up.)

And then there was this "I am Jesus" moment at the end of his speech on Tuesday, when he clinched the Nomination of his party:

"...this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal..." (Even NPR made fun of him for this.)

But that is just silliness. The scary part of the speech is this:

"This was the moment—this was the time—when we came together to remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves and our highest ideals."

If he is elected, at most he will get 54% of the electorate to vote for him. There will be many people, myself included, who do not want our country remade to reflect the highest ideals of socialists, God haters, and murderers of children. Some of us just want to be left alone so we can enjoy our families, serve God, and have a cup of tea with toast and sardines on a cold Autumn day.

Photo Credit: Reuters (further proof that the press is in the bag for Obama)

Obama, Communist

In the video below you will see the interior of an Obama campaign office. In that office you will see a Cuban flag with Che Guevara's face painted on it.



Who was Che? He was God-hating Communist murderer. He was the founder of Communist Cuba's secret police. He is responsible for tens of thousands of executions, several dozen with his own pistol. Christians should not forget that many of Che's victims shouted "Viva Cristo Rey!" as their last words, before the bullets from the firing squad shattered the skulls and ripped open their chests. And we are about to elect Obama, who's paid staff has this flag up on the wall of the campaign office.

What is a vote for Obama? It is a vote for our own destruction. He will bring into office with him people who think the Stasi and the KGB and the Gestapo and the Securitate were good ideas that should be revived here in America.

Won't you, please, help defend your country from these terrible people?

Well, My Decision Has Been Made.

I have decided to vote for Sen. McCain. Why? Because Wesley "the Weenie" Clark has attacked him.

Here is what Col. Joe Repya (of Eagles Nest )has to say about "the Weenie".

Listen people, I have met General Wes Clark and I can tell you he is no General David Petraeus anymore then Barack Obama is the quality of John McCain!

Oh, what did "The Weenie" say? Hear it for yourself and shudder at the stupidity. Bob Scheifer was surprised by it, too.



Isn't that nuts? I mean, where does Clark get off saying Obama WHO IS A LAWYER has been tested and tried in any way like John McCain! Or that Obama has more experience than McCain! Obama isn't running of national security strengths? Good! He doesn't have any. Too bad national security is the #1 thing the President is responsible for. Clark is a Weenie angling for Sec of State or VP. He's a snake who bombed Serbia.

Obama Homiletics

I'm sure you have all read Sen. Obama's (D.-Ill.) speech by now. And I know you have heard people make much of the fatherhood beginning at conception part of it. And you are probably already aware of the historical inaccuracies (the time lines of his parents courtship and the march in Selma do not match up as he infers they do) in the speech. Nevertheless, this speech is a superb piece of political rhetoric, and I'd like to point out a few of the things that make it so great. (I don't vote for pro-aborts or collectivists so I can't vote for him. But I do think his speechwriter is very very good.)

Intro to the Speech
1. He begins by thanking the host and acknowledging the living and dead heroes of the civil rights movement. THis is part of getting the audience on his side. Very very important.

2. He manages expectations by noting his own discomfort at having to follow so many great preachers.

3. He evokes the memory of Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican President in an attempt to draw in people who might oppose him.

4. He delivers greetings from the deservedly famous Rev. Moss and Dr. Wright to the people at Brown Chapel AME Church, thereby showing them that "he's one of us". But he uses this greeting to segue into the main body of his speech and the theme of the Moses and Joshua. It is a beautiful and organic transition.


The Great Theme of the Speech

1. He mentions those who went before having endured many difficulties, some even giving their lives for the cause of civil rights (FYI: the group of rights that in post-WWII America are called civil rights are not only what past ages thought of as civil rights, but also include political and legal rights.) in his phrasing we hear echoes of the famous passage of Hebrewes 11 where St. Paul describes the sufferings of the Old Testament Prophets. This taps directly into the emotions of his church-going audience.

2. Then from "enduring" he moves into marching, building a sense of expectation through successive paragraphs each including the phrase "because they marched"

"And so because of what they endured, because of what they marched; they led a people out of bondage."
"And it's because they marched that the next generation hasn't been bloodied so much. "
"...because they marched that we elected councilmen..."
"It is because they marched that we have..."
"...because they marched that I got the kind of education I got, a law degree, a seat in the Illinois senate and ultimately in the United States senate. "
"It is because they marched that i stand before you here today."

(I didn't hear the speech but son of a peneecostal preacher in me sure hopes he puched the word marched every time he said it.)


3. He reaches out to the Democratic Party martyrs, Sen. Robert Kennedy and Pres. J.F. Kennedy and effectivly enlists them as his supporters by tying them to African liberation and his own opportunity to come to the United States.

4. He evokes not only the memory of the Holy Prophet Moses when he says of him "he didn't cross over the river to see the Promised Land" but also the memory of Martin Luther King Junior who said, "And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!" (I've Been to the Mountaintop, Apr. 3. 1968)


What He Sees as the work of the "Joshua generation" (This is where I thought the speech almost but not quite broke down.)

1. Remind people (balck Americans, presumably) where they come from: A deeper well than money and materialism - public service.

2. The battle for equality must be continued - afirmative action

3. Economic rights - collectivized medical industry, nationalization of public school funding, more equitible federal disaster relief. (He seems to think the 10% match was waved in FL and NYC because of skin color. It was waved because of party loyalty. FL had a republican governor. NYC a republican mayor. New Orleans is Democratic through and through. Same thing happens when Marin county floods. When Pres. GHW Bush was asked to send them disaster relief money he merely quoted the percenteage of people who voted for him in Marin County. It was less than 30%. They got no money.)

4. What saves this sectin of the speech is his use of the word hope. He uses the word 3 times, linking this section back to an earlier part of the speech and to President William Clinton (Maya Angelou famously but wrongly called him the 'first black president"), who was born in Hope, Arkansas.

5. In talking about school funing he mentions the responsibility of parents and seems to be adopting Bill Cosby's argument. This is probably an attempt to win the votes of the morally-conservative black voter. If so, it is a shrewed move for it is something Hillary Clinton can't do, and it keeps the Republicans from taking these voters away from the Democratic Party.

Conclusion

1. He presumes a conversation with the pastors. Acknowledging that they are better speakers than he. But there is more to it than that. He is preparing the listeners for the conclusion of the speech by bringing them back to where the speech started, recognition of the living civil rights movement leaders and current pastors of the black churches.

2. He acknowledges his own weakness by appealing to Moses and Joshua again.

3. He enlists the support of the listeners to at least pray for him, which being Christians they are obliged to do.

Now, in case you haven't been keeping track, here are the people he has counted as his supporters: The living and dead leaders of the civil rights movement, including Dr.King, the Holy Propets Moses and Joshua, Pres. Abraham Lincoln, Bill Cosby, Pres. Clinton, Pres. Kennedy, Sen. Robert Kennedy, St. Paul, all the marchers in Selma those many years ago, and the audience in Brown Chapel AME on March 4. That, regarless of your political convictions, is a great oratorical feat. My hat is off to Sen. Obama. Great speech, Senator. Thank you for making this an interesting race.



SELMA, ALA.--From the pulpit of the historic Brown Chapel A.M.E. church, White House hopeful Barack Obama talks about the job of the "Joshua generation" and his own claim to a place in the civil rights movement.

Remarks of Senator Barack Obama
As Delivered
Selma Voting Rights March Commemoration, Brown Chapel A.M.E Church
March 4, 2007
Selma, Alabama

Here today, I must begin because at the Unity breakfast this morning I was saving for last and the list was so long I left him out after that introduction. So I’m going to start by saying how much I appreciate the friendship ... (Read the rest of the speech here.)

YES!

See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die

I know you'll think I'm nuts, but I think that a Paris Hilton candidacy would be great. Problem: The Constitutino says the president must be thirty-five and she isn't thirty-five....hmmmmm....Maybe that is okay, after all. I mean, the Constitution reguires the president to be a natural born citizen, but there seems to be some question about Sen. Obama's birth certificate.

UPDATE: Obama spokesman Bill Burton reacts: "Whatever."

UPDATE: McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds emails: “It sounds like Paris Hilton supports John McCain’s ‘all of the above’ approach to America’s energy crisis - including both alternatives and drilling. Paris Hilton might not be as big a celebrity as Barack Obama, but she obviously has a better energy plan.”

(Updates courtesy of politico.com)

Why do they have problem with our national colors?

Do you remember the 1988 Democratic convention?  I do.  But the only part I remember, other than the fact that they let certain high ranking officials called "super delegates" vote, and that really mean speech by Anne Richards, is that when they built the podium they didn't make it red white an blue.  Instead, they chose muted shades of our national colors: Salmon, eggshell, and azure.

Now President Obama has changed the colors of the Presidential Seal on the oval office rug.  Though most presidents who've had the Seal on their rugs (Johnson was the first to put the Seal on the rug)  kept the colors the same as they always have been, Reagan was the first to change it.  In keeping with his vision of American greatness, and, perhaps related to the "Morning in America" theme he merged the seal with a blazing sun.  Pres. G.H.W. Bush went back to the traditional colors for the seal. Pres. Clinton kept the original colors. Pres. Geo.W. Bush kept the traditional seal but had rays of gold emanating from the seal, perhaps in remembering Pres. Reagan's rug.  But now, as is his right - it is his Seal, at least,  for a couple of more years -  President Obama has changed it to something the 1988 San Francisco Democrats would have loved.  New York Magazine calls it "a less optimistic rug".  I think they are right about that.  A lack of optimism might be part of the explanation, but I think there is more to it than that.  I think they dislike red white and blue, and other symbols of America because they dislike America. Our flag of red white and blue is the flag of the land where they live, but, I don't think, many of them would claim it is "the emblem of the land I love."

I really like my son Basil's Kindergarten teacher.  Each few days she teaches them a new song.  Basil comes home and says: "Daddy listen to my song my teacher taught me."  The songs so far have been "This Land is Your Land", "God Bless America", "Yankee Doodle", "My Country, 'tis of Thee", and "Your a Grand Old Flag".  Each time I've joined in the song with him and each time he was amazed that I already knew the words.  Yesterday, when he came home singing "Your a Grand Old Flag" I said, "Hey, I have something I want you to see".  And I played this video for him.  I wish president Obama and his followers would learn from it why the colors are red, white, and blue instead of salmon, eggshell, and azure.

The Joke is on Obama.

I was worried. I thought it might be the case that America might elect Obama to the Presidency. Until this morning. I have just heard the news that Obama picked Biden as his running-mate. Can there have been a worse choice? He is a man loathed by all who have seen him at Senate Judiciary Committee meetings. He is a bully and a blowhard. And he has the lawyers disease: He changes arguments, even contrdicting his early arguments to win the cause. For example: In order to protect the "right" to kill babies, when grilling Justice Bork he was in favor of aome kind of idea of Natural Law because he thought it would work as an argument against Bork's idea that nothing mattered but the text of the Constitution. But during the hearings for Justice Thomas and Justice Alito, Biden feigned shock and horror that these men view the Constitution as being an expression of Natural Law, Thomas actually saying that the Constitution can not be understood apart from the Declaration of Independence, which is itself an expression of Natural Law. (I'm still waiting for a nominee for the Supreme Court to say the Constitution rests on the Mayflower Compact. Oh! What a day that would be!)

Besides that, Biden has serious logorrhea: Even the Washington Post, a paper that agrees with Biden's wicked and derranged world-view says this about him:

"Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., in his first 12 minutes of questioning the nominee, managed to get off only one question. Instead, during his 30-minute round of questioning, Biden spoke about his own Irish American roots, his "Grandfather Finnegan," his son's application to Princeton (he attended the University of Pennsylvania instead, Biden said), a speech the senator gave on the Princeton campus, the fact that Biden is "not a Princeton fan," and his views on the eyeglasses of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)." (Dana Millbank)

It's gonna be bright bright bright suns-hiney day.

They will heat that furnace seven times hotter.

"We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek."
- Obama, Super Tuesday


"Does it not feel as if some special hand is guiding Obama on his journey, I mean, as he has said, the utter improbability of it all?"-- Daily Kos

"He communicates God-like energy..."-- Steve Davis (Charleston, SC)

"Not just an ordinary human being but indeed an Advanced Soul" -- Commentator @ Chicago Sun Times

"I'll do whatever he says to do. I'll collect paper cups off the ground to make his pathway clear."-- Halle Berry

"A quantum leap in American consciousness"-- Deepak Chopra

"He is not operating on the same plane as ordinary politicians. . . . the agent of transformation in an age of revolution, as a figure uniquely qualified to open the door to the 21st century." -- Gary Hart


Don't think for a moment, Christian, that they will let you worship the Living God. Idols do not like competition. Be ready for martyrdom.

That's The Way to Deal With Communists!!

Did you catch the story in the Sun-Herald about Sen. McCain visiting the Sandinistas? (Disclosure: I raised money for the Contras in 1988 and 1989) The thing to remember, and the story doesn't say it, is that McCain's arms are crippled because of what the Communists did to him in Vietnam. So the fact that he was able to do what he is reported to have done is very impressive.

"McCain was down at the end of the table and we were talking to the head of the guerilla group here at this end of the table and I don't know what attracted my attention," [Sen.]Cochran said. "But I saw some kind of quick movement at the bottom of the table and I looked down there and John had reached over and grabbed this guy by the shirt collar and had snatched him up like he was throwing him up out of the chair to tell him what he thought about him or whatever. I don't know what he was telling him but I thought, good grief, everybody around here has got guns and we were there on a diplomatic mission [to the Sandinistas]. I don't know what had happened to provoke John but he obviously got mad at the guy and he just reached over there and snatched him." (You can read the whole story here.)

YEAH, Baby!!! That's some John Wayne action for you. If the President's first job is, as I think it is, to convince our enemies that attacking us in not in their interest, and failing that to hunt them down and kill them, then McCain seems to have what the job needs.

So, that's 55% of the job of being President. We already know he can't do the public speaking part. Thankfully, that is only 10% of the job. On abortion I guess he gets 8% out of a possible 10%. But that is definitely better that Sen. "babies are punishment" Obama. (Obama has 100% ratings from NARAL the last three years. I wouldn't leave him alone in a room with a pregnant woman.) On Economics, which I think makes up 10% of the President's job, I don't know. He says he isn't as conversant in the field as he should be. But he has a reputation for being a deficit hawk. We'll have to look at who he chooses for advisers. Finally, he was baptized as an Episcopalian but attends a Baptist church. I'm not sure what to think of that either. The Baptists do not accept his Episcopalian Baptism yet he has not been re-baptized. That is puzzling.

All in all, McCain isn't perfect. (I wish Ron Paul had not dropped out of the race.) But he is dramatically better than the Democratic Party's candidate.

Sarah Palin

I was kind of keeping my fingers crossed for Kay Baily Hutchison. But I am thrilled thrilled thrilled that Palin is going to be the veep Nominee. She has more executive experience than McCain, Biden, and Obama combined, unless you count McCain's time as an officer in the Navy and Obama's time working for for the terrorist Ayers. But even then, the quality of her experience is much more relevant to being VP, and probably President. She's not a lawyer (always a plus). She has had to balance a budget and manage a government. She is SUPER pro-life. She raised a son who takes his citizenship seriously enough to enlist in the Army during a time of war. Her whole political career has been about saying no. No to high taxes. No to wasteful spending. No to corruption. No to infringements on liberty. My wife, who is a registered Green said, "She's the kind of person most Republicans wish they were and pretend to be." I only wish Palin's name was at the top of the ticket.

It Just Makes Me Giddy.

Have you compared her experience to that of Obama? Palin: Ten years mayor of a town. two years Governor of a State. Obama: 2 terms in the Illinois legislature and 2 years in Congress. Oh, and let's not forget his years spent as a "community organizer" (snicker snicker). It is so good. It is so good. I just can't stand it, it is so good! And did you notice what the crowd was chanting at her speech. They sure weren't chanting her name. They chant the wicked man's name at his rallies. No, Palin's audience was Chanting U-S-A, because we are are a republic, not an empire ruled by a god-king. And do you know the best thing? McCain/Palin 2008 means Palin/Anyone 2012!!! And thus the GOP will be the first party to elect a woman president. Because she is a woman? No. Because she is, in the words of my wife, "..the kind of person most Republicans wish they were and pretend to be." And did you know she is in the NRA? Yes! It just keeps getting better. She is someone who understands the President's first job: To scare the fight out of any potential enemy.

Fundamental Failure

Lately, I have been reading more news sites of foreign origin that news sites of US origin. Not only do they cover more of the things in which I am interested, but, oddly, they do a better job reporting on US politics. An example is this story from the Telegraph about Richard Danzig's utterly nuts ideas about national security.

"Richard Danzig, who served as Navy Secretary under President Clinton and is tipped to become National Security Adviser in an Obama White House, told a major foreign policy conference in Washington that the future of US strategy in the war on terrorism should follow a lesson from the pages of Winnie the Pooh, which can be shortened to: if it is causing you too much pain, try something else."

Why is what Richard Danzig said important? Because he advises Senator Obama but fails to understand the nature of war. It hurts. It is hard. It is horrible. But we persevere. Imagine the Army at Valley Forge saying, "Blimey! It's cold. I think I'm going to try going home now to thaw my feet and drink some hot soup.", or the Marines at Guadalcanal saying, "Hey, they have bullets! I think I'm going to try something that causes less pain, like getting back on the boat and going back to Hawaii."

He Wants to Prosecute our Soldiers

Perhaps you have seen this. It was produced by the Obama Campaign. Look at Item 4.

"Take immediate steps to confront the humanitarian disaster in Iraq and hold accountable any perpetrators of war crimes."

He wants to prosecute our soldiers? Are the services not already doing that when evidence is warrants prosecution? I know they are. Just a few days ago I hear about a verdict returned by a court-martial. So what is Obama saying? That he wants to start a witch-hunt and terrorize those charged with the physical security of the republic? Is that what he wants? He wants the President to be the enemy of troops he commands? This is just weird.

The Wicked Man

There was a bill, Born Alive Infants Protection Act (as of 2002 it is U.S. Law) that tightened up the definition of a person so that a baby is a legal person upon "the complete expulsion or extraction from his or her mother..., at any stage of development, who after such expulsion or extraction breathes or has a beating heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles, regardless of whether the umbilical cord has been cut, and regardless of whether the expulsion or extraction occurs as a result of natural or induced labor, cesarean section, or induced abortion."

The purpose of the law is to make sure that medical personnel know that they must treat babies born alive after attempted abortions and not just leave them to die, as had been happening.

Because of the way our government works a bill is often passed at the state and at the national level. When the Bill was in the Illinois Senate, when Senator Obama was a member of that body, the bill came up for a vote four times. Seator Obama didn't just vote against it one time. He voted against it four times. It is clear that he thinks babies born alive are not people who's lives deserve the protection of thelaw.

Who else's life does he think is undeserving of legal protection?

The more I learn about him the more I dislike him.

The President's Favorite Philosopher

Do you remember when Geo. W. Bush was asked who his favorite philosopher was and he answered, "Jesus Christ"? I thought that was a pretty dumb answer.  Jesus is the the only true object of philosophy.  He is the Logos, the Giest, the All-Soul, the One, the Prime Mover the philosophers only had a vague idea about.  He is the one who holds all power and authority in Heaven and on earth.  He is an imperious King who accepts no rivals, who is busy battering down even the gates of Hell in order to expand his dominion.  He does not share space with Plato, Aquinas, Hume, or Kant.  He is the only wisdom the wise pursue.  In short, Jesus is the -sophy one must philo-.  So, it was pure dumbth that Bush said Jesus was his favorite philosopher.  Sure, there was a political reason he said it, and it paid off.  Nevertheless it was wrong.

I much preferred what Obama said about his favorite philosopher.  In the New York Times he said,"Have you ever read Reinhold Niebuhr? I love him. He's one of my favorite philosophers".  Aside from the fact that this is the kind of thing you'd expect an undergrad liberal arts major to say, we can learn quite a bit about the President from Niebuhr.   Probably the most important thing is that symbol - not the Greek understanding of symbol, e.g. two to or more things being merged so that experiencing one is the same as experiencing all - is more important than reality.  For instance, Niebuhr denied the physical resurrection of Jesus, writing in 1938,"I have not the slightest interest in the empty tomb or physical resurrection." Yet claimed it as a an important symbol for people's moral action to make the world a better place.  The Resurrection of Jesus isn't for the salvation of individual men.  Rather, it is a symbol that gives people enough hope - and all he means by symbol in this context is mythical ideas that motivate people -  to take public action.

But what about evil?  What about the sin that corrupts every heart?  If Jesus does not heal us what is to be done?  How can I live if Jesus did not trample down death?  What hope do I have if, as Niebuhr says, "Evil is not to be traced back to the individual but to the collective behavior of humanity."    The "world" is certainly loved by God, but I and you are the individual "whosoever" in needs Jesus.  For someone who denies the resurrection of Jesus, as Niebuhr did, who claims there is no such thing as immortal individuals this idea that salvation is really political action on the part of groups of people is probably the best answer possible.  

But the Church teaches that we are immortal individuals.  We are, each one of us, made in the image and likeness of God, and that we do, each one of us, live for ever.  Job said that though he die he, not some collective intellect, not a group of people making political actions, but Job himself would see his redeemer.


But Niebuhr, lake the serpent in the Garden, was partly right. There is a collective element to evil.  We see this in the Icon of the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday)  The children ("and a little child shall lead them") in the icon are all distinct persons.  But the adults, the same people who later in the week would cry out, "crucify him" are merged into one mass.  Their hearts were not pure, even as they shouted "Hosanna", thus they are depicted as merely parts of a group.  The sinful can not relate to Jesus as individuals, only as a mob.   

Sin is like that.  It is all the same.  It is truly infinitely less than the variety God offers because it shuns His infinitude in favor or repetitive sin.  Sin is repetitive and boring and constraining.  Consider the man who can only see women as potential sex partners.  How many amazing people has he ignored because they were too old, or too young, or too skinny, or too fat.  Even those women he notices he regards very narrowly, the most important thing about them is that he can have sex with them.  Compared to that fact, all other aspects of their persons, no mater how wonderful, pale in the mind of the man who regards their sex as their most important feature.  How boring!  How repetitive!  How horrible!  This man has closed himself off from the revelation of Himself God has built into every individual human being. Individuals matter not to him.  They didn't matter to Niebuhr.  But when Orthodox Christians approach the chalice for Holy Communion we are called by our names: "The servant of God Matthew receives...."  Truly, we approach God as part of a community, but it is a community composed of individuals.


Niebuhr embraces the denial of individuals.  His belief in some sort of non-personal collective salvation went hand in hand with his recognition that coercive force has to be employed to fight evil within large groups of people.  That "social justice" requires the strong hand of government is not a problem because the individuals being coerced are not as important as the group.  Because individuals don't last, are not immortal, it is okay to force them to do whatever is necessary for the good of the group, which does last.  Or, as Rudyard Kippling wrote in his famous poem, plenty for all is achieved "by robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul".  In this we can see why Niebuhr would be Obama's favorite philosopher.