Problems? What problems?

It's the Independence Day weekend, and before I depress you, here's something to inspire you.  Rise Up! is a terrific and inspiring music video that is fast becoming the anthem for the Tea Party movement. OK; now, on to Bummerville.

I know, you've heard it all from me before; the Progressives are destroying the country, the education system is destroying the minds of the next generation, Islam is going to open a mosque in your front hall, bladda, bladda, bladda. Maybe you're thinking "He's making too much out of nothing, this will blow over after the elections, it can't happen here as long as I don't pay attention."

Sorry, snowflake; sometimes things are as bad as they seem, or worse. I've come to the conclusion that we have passed the 'tipping point', and things are headed in a truly evil direction.  Still, people would rather look the other way than start looking at the evidence.  Take, for instance, the rising tide of hate happening in this country, both racially and ideologically.  Despite the best efforts of many people, there are some who subconsciously amplify their own bad personal experiences and/or feed off the lies and horror stories of the hate-preachers among us.

Racism exists in every color, although in America the popular perception has been that it is the exclusive domain of white people. And there is history to support that contention to an degree, but in a kind of mocking, self-fulfilling prophecy, much of that history has been grossly distorted. Someone believes the lies and distortions they've grown up hearing; that hatred takes root, and they eventually perpetrate the same sort of terror and tragedy on those he/she has been convinced are devils, thus becoming a 'devil' themselves while convincing themselves they are the 'good guys'.

Am I wrong? So, then, how do you explain an attitude like the guy who spoke at a public forum advocating the extermination of white people? Or a rogue Justice Department that seems to feel that reverse racism is justifiable? The truth is that there are many who have done their best to overturn the work of Martin Luther King and others who put their own lives at risk to make things better. And they were largely successful. Over the past generation, while there are still and always the throwbacks, we haven't been the same jaundiced people that our grandfathers were or knew. As evidence, consider the sheer number of highly successful black sports and media stars, not to mention certain political figures. Yet there is an atmosphere of change that could potentially undo all the good will that has been forged over the past few decades. I contend that much of the prejudice can be laid at the feet of the Demoncrats and socialists/Progressives who have perpetuated a victim mentality that has destroyed families, communities, and hope for millions of black Americans (and that doesn't even consider the millions more who have been victims of abortion - no thanks to progressive Hitler-admirer Margaret Sanger).

Things could be worse?  Your President, Barack Hussein Obama, recently went off-teleprompter in Racine, Wisconsin, where he told an audience that "things could be worse" than the 9.6% national unemployment rate. As he stumbled over the good news that "at least it's not at 12 or 13 or 15%," he seemed oblivious to the fact that in the Racine job market, the unemployment rate was just a tad over 14%.  Perhaps he still has the same coach who must have told him there were more than 57 states, although I suppose that could be excused for someone not born(?), raised, or educated in this country. 

No longer in "arms" way?  As if to acknowledge John Stossel's recent Fox Business Channel report that more guns equal less crime, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS), in a 5-4 decision, reaffirmed the Second Amendment right to own firearms. While gun opponents are not likely to give up in their deeply-rooted hatred of the individual right to self-defense (some cities are already drafting new laws to effectively cancel out the decision), the ruling does hearten those who believe in private gun ownership.

Honoring that independent streak.  As we prepare to celebrate our nation's birthday, it would be well to remind ourselves and those around us that the occasion is more than just another party opportunity.  Hundreds of thousands of Americans have given their lives to grant us the liberty to live our lives generally in the way we choose rather than being forced to follow the strictures of some tyrant. A mere one percent of our population has provided the fresh air of liberty for the 99% who have sacrificed little and (in recent decades) complained much.

Yet it is becoming clearer each day that we have forgotten those sacrifices, and we have squandered our birthright by self-indulgence and apathy. Each day, we see our rights being minimized and threatened by our own leaders. While some are in denial, others are waking up to realize they have been supporting a political system that is actively working against our freedom, our prosperity, and which threatens our posterity.

As you celebrate the fourth of July - our Independence Day - remind your friends, family and strangers of how precious our liberty is; how fragile it is, and how endangered it is.  Liberty is a gift from God that is too often truly appreciated only when it is lost. Pray to Him who offers it, that He doesn't take it back.

Who's In Charge?

President Obama is taking his 'blame-America' tour on the road again, this time to Russia (there's nothing like continous government-paid vacations for the entire clan) - the land of the real czars - which, incidentally, was the Russian version of "Caesar". After meeting with Russian President Medvedev, Obama concluded that Medvedev "is my counterpart." Shortly afterward, he met with the real man behind the curtain - Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Gee, I wonder if he saw into Putin's soul, too.

That brings up an interesting question: since President Medvedev is obviously only a mouthpiece for Putin, then who is Obama the mouthpiece for?

During his chat with the Russians, our president negotiated away 1/3 of our remaining nuclear warheads to a nation that has historically never fully kept an agreement, at a time when they are ramping up their own military capability -- the Russians currently exceed our total number of warheads and this new agreement won't change that substantively - and they have been providing technical support to the Iranian nuclear program (in violation of the non-proliferation treaty). They have historically also provided for more civilian nuclear attack protection than the US, and most Russians are more used to an austere existence than their American counterparts (us).

Incidentally, Article II, Section 2 of the United States Constitution states that the President..."shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur"... Of course, his party controls the Senate, but it would be nice if Obama would pay lip service to our foundational document and seek an official consensus, just for kicks.

This news bytes. As if that weren't disconcerting enough, North Korea is suspected of having staged several cyber-attacks against government websites in the U.S. and South Korea. Unfortunately, while our military strength may arguably be supreme (but declining moment to moment under the current regime), our government's internet security is highly vulnerable. While I don't cry over government losses, their losses are ultimately our losses; and could potentially mess up our lives via the internet.

Fed up. A senate proposal sponsored by Sen. Jim DeMint to audit the Federal Reserve (which has never been done before) was shot down. Kinda makes you wonder what they have to hide, doesn't it? I mean, the Fed has been manipulating and meddling in our economy since its founding in 1913, and they've been screwing things up ever since. Yes, it was the Fed that helped cause the Depression, as well as being hip-deep in the current financial crisis. There's still a chance that a House effort will get off the ground; unless the faceless ones apply pressure there, too.

How to get rid of "undesirables". It's amazing what you can learn about someone in a candid moment. Take, for example, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who in a recent interview noted that, "Frankly I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don't want to have too many of. So that Roe was going to be then set up for Medicaid funding for abortion." So, am I to understand it that at least during one point in her life, Ginsburg believed the murder of preborn infants was a justifiable way to control 'unwanted' portions of the population? One problem with that view is, who gets to decide, and where does it stop? Keep in mind that many of the folks who believe in abortion also support euthanasia. Now, there's something to look forward to as you approach retirement age or become disabled.

Want an education? You can learn a lot about an organization by their principles, their actions, and the people who lead them. Take, for example, Robert Chanin, who recently retired as head of the National Education Association (NEA). As he departed the self-described "most effective union in the United States, he gave the audience a profanity-laced speech which included blasting conservatives for their opposition to the NEA's agenda.

During a business trip to the New York State Teachers' Union (NYSUT) a few months ago, I was astounded by the overtness of their socialist agenda. The building's hallways were dotted with posters that appealed to collectivist and activist thinking. But all doubt of where they stand was removed when I saw a bust of Vladimir Lenin prominently displayed on a bookstand in the main hallway on the third floor. Do you honestly thnk that would be there if it weren't in line with the majority mindset? Your tax dollars and teachers' union dues at work; and your child's mind at risk.

'Hapless Harry' strikes again. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid showed his mettle in an interview wherein he was asked simply if paying taxes is voluntary. Check out his answer. This points to either blind dedication to his 'principles' despite common sense, or a total arrogance of mind, that whatever he says becomes reality.

Have a nice day, terrorists. By the way; anyone recall how Harry & Co. told us over and over that "the war was lost," and that the surge was a failure? In a new 150-page online book published by a senior al-Qaeda commander, he admits that the organization is quaking in its collective booties, out of fear of "spies" and US air power. Will you see this report on the 'big 3' networks? Somehow, I doubt it.

Post-modern railsplitter?

These dis-United States of America now have a new president. After a day of speeches (including an antiwhite racist prayer by Reverend Joseph Lowery) parades, parties, and fawning accolades reminiscent of certain German rallies of some 75 years ago, President Barack Hussein Obama will have to work really hard to consolidate rhetoric with reality, and of course, will end up doing a lot of things that displease and discourage conservatives, and (probably out of necessity) some things that please neither side.

One good thing about Obamessiah's coronation, as far as I'm concerned, was that Pastor Rick Warren bucked the expected political correctness in his invocation prayer, not only ending it in Jesus' name, but stating His name in several languages.

Time will tell, but Obama's campaign pledge (like others before him) to bring a 'new ethos' to government will have to deal with challenges from the outset. As I write this, we now have a Secretary of State (Hillary Clinton) whose husband is in the pocket of several unfriendly and/or undependable foreign powers. Eric Holder, Obama's choice for Attorney General, is trying apology as a way to putting some distance from his part in Bill Clinton's pardon of billionaire Mark Rich and several domestic terrorists (and argued for the gun ban in D.C. vs Heller). And of course tax cheat Tim Geithner is closing in on the job of directing the IRS and the Secret Service, among other things. While I doubt IRS agents will bat an eye if he's confirmed, I wonder how Secret Service agents - who must live and demonstrate their own moral and physical courage, will appreciate serving at Geithner's pleasure.

Thus far in this new saga of the formerly free Republic, the stock market tanked as Obama was sworn in, and one of his first orders was to suspend the Gitmo terrorist war-crimes trials, while the new Administration seeks to totally disrupt our criminal justice system by allowing the terrorists to further screw up the courts.

On the White House website, you can see how Obama's agenda panders heavily to the loud and obnoxious homosexual minority. Meanwhile, Dick Morris gives us an insightful glimpse into the possible pattern of events that will drag the nation further down into the socialist sewer.

I found it interesting that under the heading of Administration, the names of the First Lady and Second Lady are included. I wasn't aware that we had voted for couples rather than individuals, but hey, it was OK for the Clintons, right? Michelle's bio notes she studied sociology and African-American studies at Princeton. Considering the heavily Marxist leanings of those subjects, it's a fair indication of what we can expect from the distaff side of this radical power couple.

The next few years are going to be volatile. I believe the new Administration will be tested by our enemies, who will see if they can rely on Obama's leftist leanings to provide a window of vulnerability. His domestic programs will have the purpose, if not the intent, of changing the power structure away from the people and to the select in government. His social changes will weaken the military, further degrade the family as the intrinsic unit of society, and throw the doors open to attack any remnants of conservative thought and action. The Church, which traditionally has served as the conscience of the nation, will be further marginalized by IRS and media attacks against traditional churches, weak preaching in mainstream megachurches, and the social elevation of apostate clergy such as openly homosexual bishop Eugene Robinson.

While America has suffered bad leadership before, I don't believe there has ever been such a confluence of circumstance and opportunity to bring this once-glorious nation to the brink of chaos and destruction. If you haven't done so already, start praying for God's mercy and deliverance. Buckle up.

Looking forward, downward, upward

I hope you had a Merry Christmas, and avoided that current intolerable intolerance of all things Christian. But now we must again look forward, especially in light of a new administration about to take over the reign --uh, reins -- of government.

The Bush Administration is about to exit, with one more instance of egg on its face with the revocation of the presidential pardon of Isaac Toussie for a real estate scam among a flurry of clemency for drug dealers, counterfeiters and other criminals. Yet as of this writing, two loyal Border Patrolmen -- Ramos and Compean -- remain behind federal bars for doing their job. Not so incidentally, an article recently appeared that exposes how timid currently serving border guards have become, refusing to return fire when attacked at our southern border for fear of ending up in prison like their brethren. I had long been a supporter (and still support his views on the Middle East wars) until he began his obeisance to the Mexican government. I can support him no longer. While our southern border explodes in kidnappings, crime and violence, George Bush has been acting as though he's campaigning to move into the Mexican version of the White House.

The bailout continues to bankrupt our nation by trying to bouy up corporations that are sinking themselves (with the help of the unions, of course). More companies "just too big to fail" are begging at the federal teat (i.e., our wallets), and a report out this morning opined that by next Christmas a lot of familiar company names apparently not too big to fail may no longer be around. You can expect states to follow, and several, including our own perpetually overtaxed New York State, have already put in their applications.

On Fox News today, a scary scenario is emerging, whereby at least 19 states are ready to close courthouses for extended periods to save money . While this may not sound very important, here's the point: delaying criminal (i.e., felony) trials for extended periods is a breach of the constitutional right to a speedy trial. As Fox's own Judge Napolitano warned, it could mean localities and states being forced to set criminals free, partly in order to avoid even more costly infringement lawsuits. And should we not mention further weakening the Constitution?

The bailout and the California court (regarding Prop 8) have showed us that government no longer responds to the will of the people, and the PC police continue to run roughshod over us. Here in New York, the governor is proposing to put a high(er) tax on such items as non-diet sodas and other sugared foods. So we can't consume sweets or fats; what's next?

Besides the what-should-be-obvious fact that higher taxes only limit what poorer folks can buy, drive out those who can afford to move, and put an increasing burden on those forced to remain, it illustrates that when the people are removed from the mechanism and oversight of government, government naturally tends to increase its power over the people, and in its greed and avarice will eventually go beyond the point where it can even manage the power it grabs, to the point of utter collapse of the entire society.

If allowed to dictate which foods you can eat, what other limits to credulity will it try to stretch? In only a generation, government has severely restricted your right to use tobacco (as much as I hate the stuff, you should still have the right to abuse it if it doesn't affect others) and alcohol, has severely limited your right to defend yourself, has put an excessive tax (call it 'extortion by government') on your money if you try to take it out of the country, has heavily taxed the medical industry (which accounts for a sizeable portion of medical expenses), taxes virtually anything that does or doesn't move, continuously calls for taking more money from those who are successful (thereby limiting their willingness or ability to produce jobs for others), and has allowed a largely unregulated abortion industry to kill off millions of future workers (which also would have been known as taxpayers). Have I missed anything? Oh, yeah, the increasing marginalization and persecution of Christians who have struggled to restore some semblance of sanity and balance.

Although I have tried hard to push off the conspiracy theories I had entertained in years past, it is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the evidence that there is, if not a conspiracy, certainly an unsettling consensus of ideology diametrically opposed to all the good that has been produced in western culture over the past two hundred-plus years (for example; didn't George Soros -- the major contributor for leftist causes -- and others help to collapse the British pound in 1992?). Because of a Marxist/Darwinist ideology that has slowly been inculcated throughout the culture (although "culture" is becoming more of a misnomer by the day) through the media and the educational system, we have a population that cannot discern the difference between right and wrong, and cannot differentiate between good and bad except where it concerns personal selfish motives.

I'm sorry to be the bearer of such bad tidings, especially at a time when most of us try to be upbeat. But until we pull our collective heads out of our nether regions, things are going to get worse. Much worse. And the worse things become, the louder the cry will go out for someone to 'save' us. Unfortunately, without the personal ability of discernment (which requires actually trying to understand how things work), we will continue to look for help in all the wrong places; and as the saying goes, we will get the kind of government we deserve.

I'd like to believe the incoming Obama Administration will discover quickly how wrong its campaign promises were (and they are already backtracking on many of them, to the ire of the liberals and useful idiots who elected him), but I fear there will be a lot of intentional and circumstantial missteps that are going to further divide and weaken this nation.

Frankly, though I hate to say it and don't want to see it happen, we deserve to be taken down. For decades, America has been on a slow course of national suicide, but the pace has dramatically increased in only the past few months. Our Founders instituted a government that requires the overwatch and participation of the population. Instead, we've become a populace too lazy to actually pay attention to our leaders, and only weakly and briefly protest when those leaders slowly remove our rights and impose ever-growing taxes on us. Most voters continue to pull the lever for the one who will seem to do the most for them individually, rather than collectively. Such a self-centered mindset is not in the best interest of the nation.

I now see the wisdom of the Founders original design which only allowed landowners to vote, because when parasites become the eventual majority of the electorate, chaos naturally follows. Those few who still try to argue for a return to sanity and responsbility are shouted down as 'hate-mongers' and dividers. In fact, have you ever noticed that virtually every accusation thrown at conservatives (especially Christians) is the same thing they themselves have done? It's an old and frankly juvenile ploy of blaming the good guy for the sins of the bad guy, and yet, so many folks are willing to believe the lies instead of actually checking for themselves. As Hitler once said, tell a lie often and loud enough and the people will believe anything.

We still allow the murder of more than a million children each year in this country alone by the abortion industry, and Obama indicates he will do all he can to remove the few restraints presently in place. While he claims to oppose single-sex marriage, he owes the overly-loud and increasingly violent homosexual activist segment of the culture, which has been allowed to exercise an influence greatly in excess of its numbers (even as it continues to actively recruit to its deathstyle in the schools and media). Obama will be pressed to give even more opportunity and influence to radical homosexuals who have shown little restraint or regard for that segment of society that actually reproduces.

And now that I've sown so much misery, allow me to switch into reverse.

Yesterday was Christmas. While the evidence indicates that Jesus was not born on December 25th, it is the day we celebrate His birth. Outside of a very small circle of people including His parents, the Magi, the shepherds in the fields and the prophets who foretold His coming, few realized Who that baby in a manger was, or that He would suffer beyond our understanding in order to save us from the sins resulting from that very lack of understanding. Even today, with the propagation of thousands of ministries spreading the Good News throughout the world, with increasing physical and historical evidence pointing to the truth of the Holy Bible, many still don't seek Him, nor understand why we need Him so desperately. Many people throughout history have literally thrived on ignorance, either their own, that of those around them, or (usually) both. In a world of unreasoning and increasing hatred and selfishness, I can only echo the old lament, "O Lord, thy sea is so great, and my boat is so small."

I am utterly convinced that if we, as individuals and as a nation, began to look to Him and returned to the word of God as our instruction manual for life, He would bring us out of this deepening mess we're diving into. Of course, as a nation we probably won't do the right thing because we keep choosing the wrong leaders and refuse to listen to sound advice. But if we each would personally repent (i.e., renounce, turn away from) our sins - and each and every one of us have sinned against God and one another - and returned His laws into our own personal code of conduct, He would save us from our enemies and our own faults. It should be obvious by now that we cannot save ourselves, because we cannot get out of our own way. Our salvation, both personal and national, must come from above.