00Publius Contributor
The Constitution LIVES – 2nd Amendment Finally Upheld
I am sure I’ll have more to say as time moves on, but for now here is an AP story with the news…
Supreme Court says Americans have right to guns
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Americans have a right to own guns for self-defense in their homes, the justices’ first major pronouncement on gun rights in U.S. history.
The court’s 5-4 ruling struck down the District of Columbia’s 32-year-old ban on handguns as incompatible with gun rights under the Second Amendment. The decision went further than even the Bush administration wanted, but probably leaves most firearms restrictions intact.
The court had not conclusively interpreted the Second Amendment since its ratification in 1791. The amendment reads: “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”
See the rest at Breitbart.com
Cartoonist Rall Sees ‘Bad Times’ for Country as ‘Great Times’ for Him
-By Warner Todd Huston
Riddle me this: when is a cartoonist as shallow and one dimensional as his own creations? When his name is Ted Rall. The San Antonio Express-News ran a short story covering a convention being held in Texas that is serving as a gathering place for some of the nation’s increasingly fewer political cartoonists. Rall has been chosen as the president of this seemingly ever more irrelevant organization and apparently the Express-News found his glee at this nation’s ills to be interesting copy.
Naturally, the Express-News gave us the Rallian set up for today’s “ills”:
An unpopular war, a shaky economy, the prospect of a border fence, a delicate climate seemingly seeking revenge this summer, soaring food and fuel prices, and a potentially polarizing presidential election — it all adds up to a gloomy forecast for most Americans.
All these claims are, of course, liberal shibboleths and lack any context. Merely the mouthing of these topics is enough for the media to say “see, it’s all going to hell.”
But, then we get to Rall’s outrageous comments.
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Obama: Bringing Us Together Over Dead Bodies
-By Thomas E. Brewton
A man like Senator Obama, who is so callous with regard to God-given human life, is unworthy of holding public office.
Read The Audacity of Death in the Wall Street Journal to see the extent to which Senator Obama, a scion of the SDS radicals of the 1960s and 70s, embraces the amorality, if not complete immorality, of soulless, so-called scientific, philosophical materialism.
His indifference to human life comports well with that of the liberal-progressive intelligentsia in the 1930s, who defended Stalin’s barbarity and indifference to human life, so long as it was in the service of the latest liberal-socialist dogma.
The very groups (ACLU and Planned Parenthood) who today promote murder by abortion were, in the 1920s, promoting eugenics in order to reshape society in conformity with so-called scientific socialism. Their supporters, notably Madison Grant, wrote books to support eugenics for breeding an elite society that would promote the scientism and liberal-progressivism that had overtaken Ivy League schools and, at the beginning of the 20th century, had spawned the first degraded generation of American liberals.
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Find out who you really are at Chemeketa Community College
-By Vince Johnson
There is a surprising course awaiting your discovery in Chemeketa’s 2008 summer class schedule.
It is about something more important than computers, or history, or math, or nutrition or any of those things. In fact, this course may very well be dealing with the most important subject you can learn about in your entire life. I know this first-hand because I experienced this course last summer.
It is a three-hour course starting Saturday, June 28, and yes, if you haven’t guessed already, I’ve registered to experience it again this summer. Notice that I said “experience” this course rather than “take”. You can’t “take” this kind of course because it is an “experience” and one that will find a permanent home wherever your pleasant memories are kept.
When you “take” a course, as in History or Biology, you learn by using a combination of thought processes requiring logic, memory, reasoning, etc. Emotions have nothing to do with it. When you “experience” a course, you learn by using a combination of energies such as surprise, anger, bewilderment, fear, disgust, pleasure, etc. Emotions have everything to do with it. Yes, you can learn about emotions from courses in Psychology, Human Relations, Nursing, Counseling, etc. But you can learn much more about emotions by experiencing them rather than reading about them.
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This CAN’T Be Good: NK Delegation Visiting Venezuela
-By Resa LaRu Kirkland
I have made it my duty to get people to call the evil we face in this day and age what it truly is: Islammunism. Not only is Islamofascism incorrect, the calling of evil or unpopular regimes “fascist” was the goal of Krushev when he was training infiltrators on how to bring down the USA. His reasoning? Words play subtle tricks on the mind–that is the essence of PC, and why I call it “Political Castration.” The word correct–even if you say you don’t buy into it–has an effect on the brain of all who hear or read it.
Never call it correct again.
It is why, starting in the late 1950’s, you started to see small changes. No longer did textbooks, movies, or media refer to America as a Republic; we were a democracy, because Krushev knew that that word would cause the easily led to be more inclined to vote Democratic, which was just the lip-glossed version of Communism. Hitler’s Nazis? THEY WERE SOCIALISTS. They were on the left of the spectrum, which is one reason Hitler and Stalin HATED each other. You can only have one Communist leader, and they both wanted it. But so thoroughly did Krushev’s Kronies take over the three commonalities of America that we now refer to the Nazis as “fascists,” which he taught his people to call any unpopular or brutal regime rather than “Communist.”
That one worked as well.
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Farnsworth of CBS News Needs American History Lesson
-By Warner Todd Huston
Remember when the 49ers gold rush happened in Maine? How about when Dan’l Boone explored California? Do you remember when Lee surrendered his Confederate army in Fargo, North Dakota? Well, to those famous places with famous incidents we can add that great Revolutionary War battle of Lexington and Concord… Virginia. At least we can do so in the reckoning of one Jamie Fansworth of the CBS News blog “From the Road” because it seems our friend Farnsworth is a little fuzzy on where some of the most famous battles of the American Revolution were held.
Today, in the CBS blog post about McCain declaring “Energy Independence by 2025,” CBS News’ Jamie Farnsworth wrote the following (my bold for emphasis):
Las Vegas, NV — Senator John McCain unveiled the name of his energy project in Las Vegas today as he wrapped up the western swing of his two week energy tour. Deemed the Lexington Project, McCain’s plan states the U.S. will be independent of foreign energy sources by the year 2025.
“For the town where Americans asserted their independence once before,” McCain explained of the plan’s namesake in Virginia. “Let it begin today with this commitment: In a world of hostile and unstable suppliers of oil, this nation will achieve strategic independence by 2025.”
One teenie, weenie problem. The famous battles of the Revolution in question occurred in Massachusetts not Virginia.
In fact, Lexington, Virginia wasn’t even founded until after the great Revolutionary War battle in Massachusetts. We know this because the battle in Massachusetts was what the town in Virginia was named after.
Here is a bit of help for Farnsworth.
The City of Lexington, originally known as Gilbert Campbell’s Ford, was established as the town of Lexington in the Spring of 1778. The name chosen by the Virginia Legislature for the new county seat was in honor of the first great battle of the Revolutionary War, the battle of Lexington, Massachusetts, which had occurred three years earlier.
As Max Smart is wont to say, “Missed it by that much.”
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Reader Poll: James Hansen calls for trials of energy executives, what next?
-By Dan Scott
This poll will gauge reader perception to the issue that Dr. Hansen of NASA has recently raised that I cover in my post here. One vote per computer, and please spread this permalink to the poll far and wide to get a good mix of input across the blogosphere.
CLICK HERE to proceed to the poll.
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What for a Blog?
-By Warner Todd Huston
Everyone is talking about the “importance” of blogging and wondering where it will all lead at least where it concerns the influence blogging might have on politics. There was even a warning that bloggers are facing oppression and arrest at an increasing rate in some despotic countries proving that blogging is already causing at least some ripples in the political waters about the world. There is no reason at all to assume this is a fluke or that these ripples will cease to radiate from bloggers any time soon. All in all, to many it seems blogging is a newfangled concern we all face.
But is it new? And what the heck is it all for, really?
To answer the first question, let’s be clear about the relative newness of blogging. The only things that make it new is that it is done via a computer and has opened up the world of social comment for more people to indulge in then ever before. But we have seen something the like of blogging before. In fact, without a past relative of the blog we would not have became the United States of America in the first place.
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Big bad Barack flinches
-By Michael M. Bates
Democrat Senator Joe Biden described Barack Obama last year: “I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”
Biden received justifiable grief for his artless observation.
Nevertheless, the view that Obama is a smart, eloquent communicator enjoys widespread currency.
There’s no denying the man gives good teleprompter. If you turn down the volume on the TV it looks like he’s watching a tennis match, but with the sound up he does a yeoman’s job of reciting what’s been written for him.
The unscripted moments are problematic. Like in the debate when he condescendingly conceded, “You’re likeable enough, Hillary,” in a way that made him appear haughty. Or when he asserted last month that 10,000 people had died in Kansas tornadoes. The actual number was 12.
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Media Fooled: ‘Lost Tribe’ Not so Lost as Previously Reported
-By Warner Todd Huston
Remember last month when the “amazing” photos of the “lost Indian tribe” in the Brazilian jungle were making the rounds? Remember how every single news agency in the world jumped on this “astounding” report? They were a “lost tribe,” they were an “uncontacted” people, they were shooting arrows at the “big bird” and dressed in war paint. All manner of claims were made about these people, but many reports seemed to claim that these photos were intended to “prove” they exist and that the photographs were the result of a chance encounter.
Turns out that there was no “chance” to it and no one seriously doubted these people existed at all. Further, the man who took the photos knew almost exactly where to go to get those pictures, so “lost tribe” is hardly the correct terminology bywhich to describe these people.
What we have with this story is a perfect example of the media jumping on a story without bothering to clarify all the facts. In fact, the newest news of the incident is going to the other extreme and calling the whole incident a “hoax.” But the revelations made by the photographer do not really reveal an outright hoax as much as evidence that the original story was only a little misleading.
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Anti-Union Ads in Colorado Raising Ruckus
-By Warner Todd Huston
Looks like the union thugs in Colorado are getting a bit worried that the Center for Union Facts TV ads are making people aware of the sham the unions are trying to perpetrate on Coloradans with their opposition to Amendment 47.
Even though TV 9 News’ report leans in favor of the unions, the story does give TCUF a little space to layout some of their issues.
The ads running on stations around Denver, including 9NEWS, are paid for by the Center for Union Facts. It’s an organization founded more than two years ago because “labor bosses were going unchallenged,” said spokesman Tim Miller. “The commercials are our way to educate the public about the mismanagement of union dues.”
Amendment 47 is a hot button issue for Colorado and if passed would prevent unions from collecting mandatory dues from people that don’t want to join the union.
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Beware of Liberal Boondoggles
-By Dan Scott
Every taxpayer needs to brace themselves for the coming porkfest of the 2009 transportation budget with it’s associated earmarks. Liberals will be pushing mass transit as the PC solution to our energy problems. Please, before you, the taxpayer, are forced to fork over yet billions more dollars down the pork hole demand that Congress address the basic problems of the existing mass transit systems. The problem with mass transit in a nutshell is in most cases it is not more energy efficient than a car and those few that are, are not cost effective given the huge subsidies to compete with the automobile.
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=8746
http://www.reason.org/commentaries/balaker_20070128.shtml
Enough of liberal gold plated boondoggles costing the taxpayer billions of dollars on the false premise that if you can stuff enough people in the same space you’ll use less energy and it will be cost effective. Again, very few light and heavy rail systems in the US use less energy per passenger mile than a car and those very few that do are massively subsidized to the point a car is still more cost effective. All other metro areas that use mass transit actually use more fuel to transport people than if they took a car. The reason is utilization rates vary from hour to hour during the day. Running a huge operation with empty buses and trains during off hours more than gobbles up any savings that might be achieved during rush hours. The only thing that hinders individuals from making their own energy efficient and cost effective decisions in transportation is the refusal of city planners to allow the building of parking garages, they intentionally created the lack of parking in cities to push public transportation in the misguided belief that they not the public would be making the most enlightened decisions. We call that hubris, and it’s also called creating a problem to take the credit for solving it.
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Obama’s Propagandistic Iconography: the Making of a Messiah
-By Warner Todd Huston
A photographic essay of Obama propaganda and the Media’s willing assistance with it
In America we have always been a skeptical people. One of our states even has a skeptical motto. Missouri calls itself the “Show Me State” proving that Missourians don’t imagine they’d be apt to have the wool pulled over their eyes too readily. Consequently, when most American citizens look at their politicians they usually view them through a prism of skepticism and since the assassination of John F. Kennedy, our skepticism has almost bordered on the irrational. (Photo with Obama logo behind by Reuters)
The American press has traditionally been even harder on our politicians and government than even the average American. Since the first days of our country, the press has savaged, doubted, dug up dirt and attacked our politicians, seeming to never believe a word the pols say. From George Washington to George Bush, the press has been at odds with politicians. Yet, for some unexplainable reason, the pretentiousness and presumption of Barack Obama is being allowed to pass uncommented upon. The media especially is allowing him to make all sorts of claims that they should never allow anyone else to get away with. They are unquestioning with his claim to be the candidate of “change” and the candidate that will “reach across the aisle.” Neither claim can be substantiated by the man’s career thus far. He does not reach across the aisle and he is responsible for no great program of change. A properly skeptical press would ask for the proof of Obmam’s claims, but they merely smile and allow him to ramble on as if what he is saying is unassailable.
But the media is especially compliant where it concerns the Obama campaign’s graphic designs, displays that can be so easily compared to religious iconography or even old style communist propaganda. The overblown, obscenely reverential posters featuring Obama’s upturned face in Jesus-like poses have gone uncommented upon by what should be a hard-nosed, doubtful media. These over-the-top graphic images in the form of posters and campaign literature design are amazing for their obvious propagandistic style, yet the media seem not to find any reason to be off put by the absurdity of these graphics. Nor have they noticed the campaign art’s similarity to communist imagery. One can’t help but wonder why this blatant re-use of the graphic style used by Stalin, Hitler and Mao has raised not the slightest question in the minds of the American media?
Obama’s Propagandistic Iconography: the Making of a Messiah”
McCain Promises Hispanics He’ll Revive ‘Comprehensive Immigration Reform’ Measures
-By Warner Todd Huston
Last year, the so-called Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 (Senate bill 1348) went down to a resounding defeat thanks to the vigilance of talk-radio and the blogs. John McCain was a leading voice in favor of passage in the Senate.
Since that defeat, John McCain has claimed that he has “gotten the message” that the country does not want the McCain version of “comprehensive reform” and he has avoided the issue in most campaign appearances.
But Juan McCain still lurks inside of John McCain.
American School Books Redefine ‘Jihad’ to Exclude Violence
-By Warner Todd Huston
In yet another example of why the west could be too weak to fight the sort of global terrorism that takes the form of Islamofascism, a textbook monitoring group is charging that American textbooks have been cleansed of mentioning the violence inherent in the Islamic “Jihad.” Now, our children will not be taught what “Jihad” truly means, nor that it has been used as an excuse to kill their fellow citizens because our schools have sanitized Islam of all outrage and violence. Will the media follow this story and report that our children are being exposed to Islamic propaganda like this?
According to the New York Examiner, the American Textbook Council reports that textbooks approved for middle and high schools students have caved in to a politically correct cleansing of Islam and dumbed down history critical to a fuller understanding of Muslim history — one that reflects on our own times.
“Textbook editors try to avoid any subject that could turn into a political grenade,” wrote Gilbert Sewall, director of the council, who railed against five popular history texts for “adjust[ing] the definition of jihad or sharia or remov[ing] these words from lessons to avoid inconvenient truths.”
According to Sewall, several new textbooks, such as Houghton Mifflin’s “Across the Centuries,” have gone through an “amazing cultural reorchestration” to erase the history of violence associated with the word “jihad.”
Sewall fears that a political process has replaced an academic process where it concerns the production and approval of our textbooks.
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Teachers Unions Succeed in Ending Scholarships
-By Warner Todd Huston
One would assume that everyone wants to see that our kids get the best education possible. I mean, who could possibly be against kids getting the best opportunities? Well, apparently the one entity that you’d expect to really care about kids is the one standing in the way of their education: teachers. Sadly, it is obvious that teachers as a group don’t care a whit about kids, at least as far as their union is concerned.
Take the Republican led policy called the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program. It is a program that provides worthy minority student in the Washington D.C. school system with $7,500 a year for tuition and fees at private schools. We all know that government schools are nearly universally substandard and this program helps minority kids find their way to better schools so that they might get a better education.
Naturally, the Teachers union opposes it.
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Serving
-By Thomas E. Brewton
Being a Christian is more than attending church. And it’s not being selective in the ways you choose to follow Jesus.
Sunday’s sermon at Black Rock-Long Ridge Congregational Church (North Stamford, Connecticut) was delivered by Pastor Steve Treash. His subject was “I Serve.”
Christianity is more than just desiring to become a better person. You must be be ready to act when God presents opportunities for you to serve others.
Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Matthew 20:25-28)
Again in the Apostle Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi:
If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. _
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! _
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:1-11)
Christians must be prepared, indeed eager, to serve at home, in the workplace, and especially in the church.
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. (Ephesians 4:15-16)
Serve joyfully and with a full heart.
Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free. (Ephesians 6:7-8)
When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. (John 13:12-17)
English Paper Puts Self on Mt. Rushmore
-By Warner Todd Huston
I guess this is what strikes the English as amusing, but the Guardian Newspaper has decided it would be super neat to place their logo on Mt. Rushmore to advertise their coverage of the United States. This sort of disrespect for one of our most recognizable national monuments is a great idea to get Americans interested in the Guardian’s American version, isn’t it?
Yes, there’s nothing like defacing a national monument in order to sell newspapers!
Just look at that enticing main page! Why, I can just feel the great respect the Brits have for us right away, don’t you?
So, I thought for a fun weekend project we might return tit for tat by visiting some of the Brit’s favorite landmarks and monuments to see what we might find.
First up on our travelogue we head to Trafalgar Square to take a gander at the great Nelson Column. There he stands looking brave at the top of his famous column. Just look at how he gazes over the whole of England, keeping it safe and watching over it like a father. We know that with Nelson looking over the British Isle no harm could ever come to it… right?
Ah, but if Nelson can’t do the job, there’s always the great lion at his feet that will scare away the blue meanies. Look how scary he is, with a roar that scares people from as far away as Moscow!
From Trafalgar Square, we take a little jaunt on over to the newly christened McDonald’s Bridge ™. Spanning the River Thames the McDonald’s Bridge ™ lends easy access from shore to shore. Would you like an apple pie with that? Just look at the majesty!
Ah, Britannia. We hardly knew ye.
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How to Speak ‘Democrat,’ By Representative Thad McCotter (R, Mich.)
Class, now simmer down, class. We have a guest speaker today and an eminent one at that. I’d like to introduce Congressman Thad McCotter who will be giving us a lecture on how to speak Democrat. It’s very instructive and we’d like to thank Congressman McCotter for coming today.
Now wasn’t that wonderful class? Let’s give Representative McCotter a nice round of applause.
(See the YouTube page if this video is not working properly.)
What Passes for ‘Journalism,’ Giving Obama a Free Pass
-By Warner Todd Huston
Recently the Rockford (Ill.) Register Star subjected its readers to another fine example of sloppy journalism aimed at exalting the Obama candidacy. It is so bad, so pointless, so filled with empty platitudes and meaninglessness that one might suspect it was written by Barack Obama himself instead of a reputed journalist. But it is a perfect example of the sort of slavish devotion the Illinois press is bestowing on it’s almost native son.
This time, the Register Star is seen assuring Illinoisans that a President Barack will be good for the state because “he’s been here.” That’s it. That’s the entire message. He will be good for Illinois because “he’s been here.” No explanation, no examples, no further revelation is needed… and the paper offers none.
So, what does it mean? Who knows? But it is a good sound to it, doesn’t it? Why Barack will be great because “he’s been here,” ya know? Of course, he’s “been” to all the other 57 states, too. Why he’d be better for Illinois over mere visitation than he would for anywhere else is never addressed. But, who needs explanations? The warm fuzzy feelings that the Illinois media and the Obama campaign radiates is all most Obama supporters need. No logic or serious policy discussion is needed.
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CT ‘Bad Boy Clause’ Passes, Unions Oppose Punishing Criminal Public Employees
-By Warner Todd Huston
In an historic decision that I hope is duplicated in other states, Connecticut has finally passed the “bad boy clause,” a law that would find public employees (like elected politicians and state workers) who are convicted of criminal behavior having their pensions denied them as a result of that criminal behavior.
Of course, unions are against this law. They claim it would be a breach of their union contracts, but really all they want is to shield their criminal members from the consequences of their criminality. Why is it no surprise that unions want to reward criminal behavior by allowing those who steal from the public and break the public trust by allowing them to continue stealing from the public treasury in the form of unearned and undeserved pensions?
This is just another example of why unions are not in the public’s interest and should never be allowed for state workers. Unions are not interested in the public good. They are only interested it what they can get for their members.
The idea of a union is antithetical to good government at every level.
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The Silence Is Deafening
-By The Heritage Foundation
The year 2008 is not just an election year. It is also the year that marks the beginning of a demographic transformation that threatens the fiscal stability of this country. Already, Social Security, . But this year, the first of the nearly 80 million baby boomers begin to draw out, instead of contribute to, our entitlement programs. The consequences of this shift will come quickly and will be staggering.
Already Medicare spends more each year than it takes in. In just six years, Medicare will draw more than 45% of its budget from general revenues. Already Social Security and Medicare consume 7.5% of our GDP. Unless changes are made, that figure will jump to 13% by 2030. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the increased deficits or taxation required to cover this explosion in spending would cripple the U.S. economy. A diverse coalition of 16 budget experts from seven think tanks (including American Enterprise Institute, Brookings Institution, Concord Coalition, The Heritage Foundation, New America Foundation, Progressive Policy Institute and Urban Institute) met for more than a year before producing a paper calling for honest political leadership on the issue. Now at least one congressman has come forward with an honest proposal.
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Figuring Out God, Prophecy and other scary words
-By Resa LaRu Kirkland
Reading some scriptures last night–that I’ve read a million times before–seemed to have new meaning with current events. Could this be what we are seeing happen right now?
Here’s what I was reading, and what I thought of it. (Only the Prophet can speak with any authority about God’s direction for His gospel, but we are ALL–as God’s children–entitled to the gifts of prophecy, discernment, and understanding concerning everything else in our lives and the lives of those we love or have responsibility over, so lay claim to it people and use it! NOW!)
Daniel 11: 21-22
21 And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.
22 And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before him, and shall be broken; yea, also the prince of the covenant.
First of all, let me stress that I do NOT believe that these verses are speaking of the anti-Christ, if there is a single person he is meant to represent. All men who seek to steal your freedom and set themselves above you, anyone who is a respecter of persons and believes you must do as THEY say–and NOT what is right–are anti-Christs. That was the war in Heaven and that is the war now–between those who want free will (Christ’s plan)and those who want force(Lucifer’s plan).
A vile person who shall obtain the kingdom by flatteries, to whom the people will NOT give the honour of the kingdom? Does that mean the majority will not elect him? I’ll get to that in a minute…only a few verses later there seems to be a confirmation of that fact.
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Rabbi Shmuley Boteach to Address Independence Day Rally
-By Israel Teitelbaum
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, host of the daily national radio program, The Rabbi Shmuley Show on Oprah & Friends, XM Satellite Radio, and host of the award-winning national TV show, Shalom in the Home on TLC, will address a rally for school choice this coming July 3rd, 7:30 PM, at the Leon and Toby Cooperman JCC, 760 Northfield Ave., West Orange, NJ. This event, combined with a Freedom Concert, will launch a grass roots drive on behalf of national legislation to restore equal educational opportunity for every child.
Boteach has been a long time advocate of parental choice in education and is also the international best-selling author of 19 books, including his most recent work, The Broken American Male: And How to Fix Him, released by St. Martin’s Press in January of 2008. His recent works, Parenting With Fire and Ten Conversations You Need to Have With Your Children were both launched on Oprah’s TV show.
In 2007, Rabbi Shmuley was labeled “a cultural phenomenon” and “the most famous rabbi in America” by Newsweek magazine, and was named one of the ten most influential rabbis in America. Also in 2007, Rabbi Shmuley was honored by The National Fatherhood Initiative, receiving their most prestigious award for his efforts on Shalom in the Home to promote the importance of a caring father in the contemporary family. He was also named by Talkers Magazine as one of the hundred most important radio hosts in America.
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Jailed for Blogging
-By Warner Todd Huston
Bloggers are being arrested more and more as the importance of the Internet is realized by governments across the world, at least so warns the BBC. It seems an alarming report where community activists and democracy advocates are finding themselves being oppressed by government, arrested, and maybe even tortured because of their blogging. But, one little fact of the story is never really focussed on in this alarming BBC report on the release of the WIA report from the University of Washington. The fact that bloggers aren’t threatened much in democratic nations has been glossed over by this report.
Unfortunately, a cursory reading of this piece would leave the reader with the vague feeling that people all over the world are being arrested merely because they are blogging, but that isn’t quite the case. The way this report is written serves as a perfect example of a PCism more concerned with upsetting the tender sensibilities of tyrannical, undemocratic governments, than in reporting the oppression of its citizens. It’s a PCism gone so far that it makes the report uninformative at least to the most important aspect of the reason these bloggers are being arrested.
Here is how the BEEB starts their almost whitewashed report:
More bloggers than ever face arrest for exposing human rights abuses or criticising governments, says a report.
Since 2003, 64 people have been arrested for publishing their views on a blog, says the University of Washington annual report.
The BBC also gravely informs us that, “Citizens have faced arrest and jail for blogging about many different topics,” and that “Arrested bloggers exposed corruption in government, abuse of human rights or suppression of protests. They criticised public policies and took political figures to task.”
The report goes on to explain why this new threat to bloggers has arisen.
The report said the rising number of arrests was testament to the “growing” political importance of blogging. It noted that arrests tended to increase during times of “political uncertainty”, such as around general elections or during large scale protests.
But one thing the BBC report does not do is fully explain what sort of nations are making all these arrests. Now, to the BEEB’s credit, they do include one little line to let us know were some of these arrests have been carried out.
More than half of all the arrests since 2003 have been made in China, Egypt and Iran, said the report.
But, still, the reader could easily miss the fact that this threat to free speech is, for the most part, occurring in nations of a certain nature, nations that are not free and open societies.
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Transcript of Lecture on Google, Net Neutrality, Monopolies, Click Fraud, Privacy
-By Scott Cleland
Unleashed: Transcript of Griffin/Cleland talk on Google, net neutrality, monopolies, click fraud, privacy
For those who like the written format, here is the transcript of ChipGriffin’s interview of me on all things Google.
The transcript is just below the podcast button to hear the interview.
This interview turned out to be one of the most comprehensive and in-depth discussions I have had on all things Google — that’s been captured for web listening or reading.
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Chgo Trib: Giving Away Obama T-Shirt With Subscription
-By Warner Todd Huston
Remember how the media claims they are fair and balanced? Remember how “journalists” say that all they do is “report the facts” and that their overwhelming lefitism is left at home when they ride their eco-friendly bikes to work? Remember how they claim that they are the “watchdogs” of politicians and don’t involve themselves in politics? Apparently the Chicago Tribune didn’t get that memo because an Obama supporter visited a local Chicago store to snap the picture to prove that Obama shirts are being offered in exchange for a subscription.
So on my way to Saloon Democrats, I stop by the Walgreens on Clark and Lake. And what do I see just inside the entry? A woman with a bunch of baseball hats and tee-shirts trying to sell subscriptions to the Chicago Tribune.
The deal is, if you sign up for the Chicago Tribune at one dollar a week, you can get one of the hats or teeshirts for free. And what’s on the teeshirt? Why “Obama” of course. It wasn’t the official campaign logo but it was his name splashed across the white cotton fabric. The only reason I noticed is because the woman called out to everyone entering the store saying they could get a free “Obama” teeshirt if they signed up for the Tribune.
So much for just being “reporters,” eh? But remember, the media is NOT in the bag for Obama!
But, doesn’t this cozy relationship between the Trib and the Obama campaign seem to put their objectivity in doubt?
Of course, there was a day when the media did overtly chose sides and support particular candidates. I wouldn’t mind if we’d go back to those days. Because what we have now is the claim that the media is dispassionate even as they support Obama with their every move while pretending they aren’t! I’d rather the truth from the media than a lie any day.
(Photo Credit: IllinoisDemNetwork.com)
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Environmentalists Want us Cast Into Stone Ages
-By Warner Todd Huston
The talk of the country is the high cost of gasoline, we all know. At over $4 a gallon, the cost of gas is severely affecting the finances of every single American. From the costs of just getting around to the costs of food, the high cost of gas is reaching deep into all of our pockets.
The solution to many, of course, is to drill our own substantial oil reserves that we have not touched in decades. If we are so stuck on foreign oil, if we are so reliant on nations that despise us, why not drill our own oil? We have plenty of it, after all.
So, drilling our own has become the prevailing opinion in American’s minds. We drill our own and eventually it will ease our reliance on our enemies for energy and we just might be able to bring the costs of our gasoline down, to boot. Who could be against it? Who doesn’t want us to save money, become more self-sufficient, and continue to grow and improve our country?
Environmentalists, that’s who.
These envirowackos are trying to stop drilling in Pinedale, Wyoming at the same time as the national debate is beginning to turn, at long last, to increasing the drilling for oil in our own country. They claim that the drilling now going on has negatively affected the environment there.
In a day when Americans are struggling financially. When food is climbing to prices that will cause some Americans to find they cannot afford to eat. In a day when we are forced to kow tow to foreign enemies because we are reliant on their oil. In a day when the need for that oil causes us to involve ourselves in unsavory alliances… with all these thing happening to us, the environazis are trying make it worse by trying to make it harder at every turn for our own sources of energy to be developed.
These people wish us to be returned to the stone ages, there can be little doubt. They want to stop human advancement, destroy our economy, kill people by the millions through hunger, and destroy modernity.
First of all, humanity is not a “plague” on the earth. In case some may have forgotten, humanity is just as natural to the earth as the animals are. Secondly, it is a fact that every human on earth could be gathered in the state of Texas and still have 1,000 feet of living space. I point this out to show how little space we really do cover on this planet. The environment is not being threatened by humanity, especially considering the fact that man has realized his folly and made great strides in protecting that environment.
These environinnies are dangerous. And this newest anti-American effort by environmentalists in Wyoming is yet more proof that they stand against humanity.
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New Hollywood Film Casts Old West Cowboys as ‘Imperialists’
-By Warner Todd Huston
What’s history for if Hollywood and our other entertainment industries can’t take it and warp it to fit a current, partisan political agenda? In yet another example of Hollyweird’s foolishness, we have a new Robert Downey, Jr. vehicle that casts the American Cowboy as an “imperialist”. Of course, they will dress it up and try to hide this absurd message by having an alien invasion occur during a skirmish between Cowboys and Indians in the late 1800’s, forcing the two human enemies to unite to fight the aliens. This is supposed to be an “allegory.” Yes, with this “pulpy mix of the sci-fi and Western genres,” we have “allegory” in the fact that the space aliens are trying to invade and conquer the Earth just like the cowboys were doing to the poor, benighted natives. Just once I’d like to see a movie present Indians as real, three dimensional people instead of infantilized, victims.
After Downey’s great success with “Iron Man,” it is now reported that he is in talks to join “Cowboys and Aliens,” from Imagine Entertainment, a film based on a so-called graphic novel of the same name.
The story centers on an Old West battle between the Apache and Western settlers, including a former Union Army gunslinger named Zeke Jackson (Downey), that is interrupted by a spaceship crashing into the prairie near Silver City, Ariz.
Sounds “B” movie-like, but here is where we get the preachy “allegory.”
The story draws a parallel between the American imperialist drive to conquer the “savage” Indians with its advanced technology and the aliens’ assault on Earthlings, who must join together to survive the invaders’ attack.
Great, another example of a movie trying to be “relevant.”
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