Emperor Obama

Must Know Facts About Sarah Palin

* Sarah Palin's brain is three times the size of Joe Biden's. It's science.
* Sarah Palin used to wrestle Kodiak bears in Alaskan bare knuckles fight clubs.
* Sarah Palin once bagged a caribou by staring it down until it died.
* Sarah Palin turned down a job as skipper of a Deadliest Catch boat because it wasn't challenging enough
* Sarah Palin fishes salmon by convincing them it's in their interest to jump into the boat.
* Sarah Palin once guided Santa's sleigh through an Alaskan blizzard with the light from her smile.
* Chuck Norris wishes he was Sarah Palin trapped in a man's body.
* Sarah Palin paid her way through school by hunting for yeti pelts with a slingshot.
* Sarah Palin knows the location of DB Cooper's body because she threw him from the plane.
* The Northern Lights are really just the reflection from Sarah Palin's eyes.
* The raw energy of Sarah Palin melts the Alaskan ice roads every spring.
* We don't know who would win in a Chuck Norris - Sarah Palin cage match because they've never invented cage that can hold Sarah Palin.
* Alaska is the 49th state solely because they knew even before she was born that Sarah Palin would never finish last.
* Global Warming doesn't kill polar bears. Sarah Palin does - usually with her bare hands.
* Three of Sarah Palin's five kids came out sideways - she never flinched.
* Sarah Palin's hotness is the largest single contributor to melting polar ice caps.
* It's not raining in DC. Those are God's tears of joy that McCain picked Sarah Palin.

Thanks to Hyscience.com

Jobs, Just for Fun

Listening to the speakers at the DNC this week, it was all struggle and suffering, and hard working Americans. Ummmmm, everybody works hard and makes sacrifices and has setbacks; and everyone is a better person for it. So why do the Obamas' have to keep saying how much they've struggled. It's the human condition, The State can't fix it; they can only make it worse. Paradoxically even bad people get better at being bad people because of their challenges. So do you really think that Obama's Hope is going to make your life easier? And for what purpose? To make politicians richer and more powerful? Are you a better person because of your challenges and jobs? Just for fun I've listed my jobs. I started working in 1966 when I was 16. My first job was ground and maintenance crew at a summer camp in Idlewild, CA, and they sent me to train to be a lifeguard. The next year I passed my WSI (Water Safety Instructor). I've worked as busboy, waiter, janitor, soldier, sailor, librarian, roustabout (I was horrible, didn't do a good job at all!), substance abuse counselor, roughneck, linen route driver (later distribution manager), sales of various products and services, retail, customer service rep. Remember too that there's a lot of peripheral stuff to be learned from each job, and each job has different kinds of people. I'll take all that to living a life subject to the State of Hope that Obama offers. Plus, I'll put my hopes with God, not a man that wants the state to create an earthly utopia for his subjects. So what jobs have you had? Are you better for having done them?

Democrats at Convention Claim

The speakers at the DNC and the Main Stream Press continually state that the economy is in horrible shape, that we are on the verge of a full blown depression. I looked up the numbers, and right now reject any statement the stats can prove anything. These are hard cold numbers, like two plus two equals four.
The economy grew at 3.3% last quarter. Bill Clinton handed off a growth rate of negative 0.49% to George W. Bush in 2001 -- and then came 9/11. That was followed by 54 months of steady economic growth. The Commerce Department reported Thursday that gross domestic product, or GDP, increased at a 3.3 percent annual rate in the April-June quarter. The revised reading was much better than the government's initial estimate of a 1.9 percent pace and exceeded economists' expectations for a 2.7 percent growth rate. According to the US Census Bureau the poverty rate today continues to remain below those Clinton years: The average poverty rate for all Americans for the first seven years of the Reagan terms was 14.2%. For the first seven years of Bill Clinton's terms, it was 13.6%. Under George Bush, the average poverty rate for 2001-2007 is 12.4%.

The Biden Choice

I sooooo agree with these observations. Biden is so full of himself, he actually told a voter that his (Biden's) IQ was higher. If you've ever seen Biden on CSPAN you can see he's one of the dumbest people in the senate. What a great choice for the Republicans (if they had a set and'll go after this guy). Like Bernie Goldberg said, "crazies to the left of me and wimps to the right".


“[Barack] Obama represents the merger of two of the worst aspects of Democratic politics—’60s radicalism and corrupt Chicago machine politics. With the addition of Slow Joe Biden to the ticket, Obama has added to his unsteady candidacy an epic amount of Beltway cluelessness and arrogance unsupported by anything except frequent flier miles and Delaware’s love for a chuckle-headed fellow with a big smile... I was worried that the Dems had pointed out to Obama that his serial gaffing had brought the campaign close to a break point and that he needed Hillary. I was worried he’d actually go find Anthony Zinni or Sam Nunn or someone of accomplishment and purposefulness in foreign affairs. [Jim] Webb would have been hell on the stump. [Tim] Kaine or [Evan] Bayh would have put different states into play. [Kathleen] Sebelius was a wild card. But Biden?... Put Biden’s obvious flaws aside and ask yourself how in the world Obama decided to go with Biden, and you’ll quickly realize that the Democratic nominee must have been impressed with Biden on the long campaign trail of 2007 and 2008—even though voters weren’t and even though Biden has no accomplishments of note after 36 years in the Senate. Biden talked a great game and dropped some very interesting place names—and this impressed Obama. Talking the talk has been the key to Obama’s success, and in Slow Joe he found an older, far better traveled but equally prolix gas bag... For Obama, it is all about politics and words, elections and poses. Slow Joe is the perfect running mate on a perfect ticket for a party betting on wind to solve the energy crisis.” —Hugh Hewitt

“There are two other issues with which Mr. Obama must grapple, and far from helping with any of these, Mr. Biden actually makes Mr. Obama’s path more difficult. The first is that Mr. Obama’s other big challenge is convincing moderate Americans he shares their values. He is already seen by many as a liberal, big-city politician who says people cling to guns and religion out of bitterness, associates with radicals, and attended a church with a radical theology. Mr. Biden is a fierce foe of gun rights, ardently opposes restrictions on abortion that have widespread support and promotes gay rights. He supports higher taxes, bigger government and socialized healthcare. That doesn’t exactly help Mr. Obama with blue-collar voters in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan. The second is Mr. Biden’s lack of executive experience. Not only has he never been a governor or a cabinet secretary, he has never been a mayor, an agency head, or served in any other executive role, not even prosecutor or military officer. Given that Mr. Obama also lacks that experience, having two career legislators heading the executive branch of our government might create doubts. ... More broadly, it cuts against Mr. Obama’s central campaign theme of change. His message is Washington is broken, and the old establishment needs to be swept away in favor of new blood and a new vision. How does picking someone who has been in Washington a decade longer than Mr. McCain jive with Mr. Obama’s contention that Mr. McCain has been in Washington too long to change it?” —Ken Blackwell

Religious Journey V

I'm now thirty years old (1980), a Buddhist and Marxist. I hear a political speech by someone I had a huge dislike for (Ronald Reagan) , and it made sense. What I don't remember is the subject of the speech, just the impact. Of religion and politics I only know what my fellow travelers are saying about Christianity and Conservatism. I really don't know or read Conservative political writers, or Christian writers. I began a fifteen year long journey, re-viewing, studying and re-evaluating my belief system (BS), religiously and politically. Buddhism as it turns out, in my view, is nihilist; from nothingness you come, to nothingness you return. There is no salvation. In Christianity, when you pass from this life, you go on to better things, and it doesn't end there. You keep getting challenged and improving the quality of your spirit forever. Always being closer to God. Jesus said he is going to prepare a place for us saying, "...I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am there you may be also" (John 14:3), and instead of the Nothingness that Buddhism results in we have this promise: "...and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away...And He said to me, 'It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts..." (Revelation 21) More that just Nothingness; and the Buddhist way of life, distilled, is 'you're born, you suffer, and you die'. Then return to Nothingness. So not only does Christianity promise more closeness to God after, but here, living now, through Jesus, we have salvation, a way living that is the best bar none. It is our guide and standard for living, as Pastor Jack Hayford calls it, the "spirit formed life". There are scriptural principles for leading a right life, with integrity. I've come to the conclusion that without this, without God at the center of all we say and do and believe, then you can and will say and do and believe anything that feels good and is comfortable at the moment. You will justify anything. It took me from 1980 to 1996 to finally submit myself to Him. The beginning of that submission was in 1992, when attending a Tony Robbins seminar, Tony asked, "What's most important to you in your life?' Immediately "God" popped into my head, and I said to myself 'what'? So from 1992 until 1996 I fought and resisted, and in 1996 I was baptised, and submitted to His will.

Petroleum Products in Our Daily Lives (Give these products up it you're "against big oil".)

"Oil is a product that arouses so much passion. A lot of people have a passionate fear, or distaste, or downright hatred almost for oil. There is no other product that so many people need so badly, yet so many people believe should be produced entirely without profits."
Jeane Kirkpatrick, former U.N. Ambassador for the United States.

CLOTHING/TEXTILES

Ballet tights nylon cord women's polyester blouses

beads pajamas women's polyester pants

bracelets pantyhose nylon zippers

plastic hangers permanent press clothing dresses

purses thongs/flip flops earrings

ribbons fake fur windbreakers

sandals garment bags shoe laces

rain coats iron-on patches sneakers

sweaters men's nylon undershirts sofa pillow material

men's polyester shirts men's polyester slacks tote bags

umbrellas



OFFICE

Ball point pens diskettes thermometer

Ink computers typewriter ribbon/cartridges

business card holders copiers waste baskets

calculators printer ribbon cartridges microfilm

carbon paper protractor name tags

correction fluid ring binder

erasers rulers

letter divider scotch tape

magic markers telephone



SPORTS/HOBBIES/GAMES

Back packs fishing lures air mattresses Polaroid camera

beach balls fishing poles hang gliders vinyl cases

cameras footballs glue containers puzzles

darts Frisbees golf ball/bags shotgun shell casing

ear plugs knitting needles waterproof jackets stadium cushion

earphones yarm kites tennis racquet

fabric dye decoys lifejacket nylon strings

face protectors volley balls model cars plastic water gun

fishing bobbers soccer balls oil paints parachutes

fishing cylume

light stick earphones playing cards photographs

monofilament fishing lines diving boards poker chips goggles

roller-skate wheels whistles guitar strings picks

rafts ice chests tents sleeping bags

pole vaulting poles motorcycle helmets skis rubber cement

plastic flower pots water skis hot tub covers sails

snorkels monkey bars photo albums wet suits

flippers tennis balls boats insulated boots



INFANT/CHILDREN

Acrylic toys baby oil laundry basket waterproof pants

baby aspirin bath soap mittens pacifiers

baby blanket bibs rattles double-knit shirts

baby bottles disposable diapers baby shoes teething ring

nipples dolls stuffed animals baby lotion





MEDICAL

Allergy medication cotton-tipped swabs inhalator liquid Pepto-Bismol

aspirin first aid cream lancet for blood testing pill case

band aids first aid kits latex gloves prescription bottle

burn lotion glycerin mosquito spray rubbing alcohol

chap stick heart valve replacement nasal decongestant surgical tape

syringes Vaseline antiseptics hearing aids

anesthetics artificial limbs eye glasses antihistamines

cortisone vaporizers Bactine oxygen masks

stethoscope prescription glasses



HEALTH & BEAUTY

cologne hair brushes lipstick permanent wave curlers

perfume hair color mascara petroleum jelly

comb foam rubber curlers denture adhesives shampoo

contact lens/case hair spray hand lotion shaving foam

cough syrup hearing aids hair dryers shoe inserts

dentures Keri body lotion face masks skin cleanser

deodorants laxatives moisturizing cream soap holder

disposable razors leather conditioner mouth wash sun glasses

facial toner lens cleanser nail polish sunscreen

tooth brushes toothpaste tubes vitamins synthetic wigs

bubble bath soap capsules



KITCHEN/HOUSEHOLD

vinegar bottles egg carton meat trays trash bags

bread box freezer containers melamine dishware tumblers

cake decorations jars microwave divided dishes utensils

candles freezer bags milk jugs vacuum bottles

coasters gelatin molds nylon spatulas wax paper

coffee pots ice cream scoops oven bags mops

drinking cups ice trays plastic containers fabric softener

detergent liter bottles plastic table service drain stoppers

dish drainer lunch boxes pudding molds sponges

dish scrubber brush baggies drinking straws Styrofoam

paper cup dispenser measuring cups Teflon coated pans table cloths

refrigerator shelves



FURNISHINGS

Carpet padding naugahyde Venetian blinds TV cabinets

extension cords picture frames flocked wallpaper shower doors

Formica refrigerator lining vinyl-coated wallpaper curtains

kitchen carpet shag carpet welcome mats fan blades

lamps shower curtain patio furniture swings

linoleum upholstery material rugs



BUILDING/HOME MAINTENANCE

caulking material light switch plates plunger faucet washer

clothesline measuring tape polyurethane stain water pipe

electric saw paint brush propane bottles wood floor cleaner/wax

vinyl electrical tape plastic pipe shingles (asphalt) light panels

garden hose plastic wood spackling paste awnings

glazing compound Plexiglas spray paint enamel

epoxy paint artificial turf folding doors floor wax

glue house paint paint rollers toilet seats

water pipes putty solvents roofing material

plywood adhesive sockets propane



AUTOMOBILE

Anti-freeze flat tire fix street paving (asphalt) car battery case

coolant motor oil tires loud speakers

bearing grease sports car bodies traffic cones car enamel

brake fluid dash boards windshield wipers visors

car sound insulation oil filters car seats convertible tops

fan belts gasoline



MISCELLANEOUS

Ash trays dog food dishes tool boxes cd's

balloons dog leash tape recorders synthetic rubber

bubble gum dog toys flashlights nylon rope

bungee strap fertilizer flight bags disposable lighters

cassette player flea collars flutes lighter fluid

cigarette case electric blankets tool racks name tags

cigarette filters ammonia insecticides newspaper tubes

calibrated container insect repellent food preservatives phonograph records

crayons ice buckets dyes pillows

credit cards flashlights fly swatter plastic cup holder

dice movie film k-resin plastic tie

polyethylene polypropylene rain bonnets luggage

video cassettes charcoal lighter rayon safety glasses

safety gloves safety hats shoe polish signs

cassette tapes toys watch bands waterproof boots

shopping bags bed spreads traffic cones check books covers

tobacco pouches clothes hangers flea collars flavors

masking tape safety flares flags signs

butane

Without the use of coal, oil & gas to provide electricity, and the use of petro-chemicals to build computer components you wouldn't be visiting this website today!

Thanks to: Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Office of Mines and Minerals

Religious Journey IV

Now in my sophomore year of college (1971), I've experienced war first hand. Though I've rejected my Christian concept of God, I still am fascinated and have a passion for the religious experience. I read William James The Varieties of Religious Experience , re- read the Bhagavad gita, then all the Evans-Wentz books on Tibetan Buddhism: The Tibetan Book of the Dead, Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines, Tibet's Great Yogi Milarepa, The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation. I studied Theosophy and the writings of Madame Blavatsky. I went to yoga classes, and did Kundalini yoga for a year. There are two paths of Tibetan Buddhism that I remember, the Hinayana or Lesser Path, and Mahayana or Greater (or Upper) Path. No value, greater or lesser path, they are just the kind of path one chooses to follow. I followed the Mahayana, that's were I found the writers and teachers that appealed to me the most. The core beliefs of Buddhism are the "Four Noble Truths": You should know sufferings, You should abandon the origins of suffering, You should attain cessations, You should practice the Path. Distilling this down, we are born and all is suffering and you must know and understand your suffering. Abandon the origins of suffering, we should not give in to anger, fear, all these delusions, and we must control them. Attaining cessations, health for example is the absence of illness, but we'll be ill again. All things are in cycles, including our lives, so we have reincarnation, and that cycle of lives must be broken too. Finally, if you practice the Path, you will break the cycles. The Path of Mahayana is to become a Bodhisattva, and return in a higher state of consciousness and help others reach Nirvana, until all sentient beings have achieved enlightenment. This is the Noble Eightfold Path, which is an inner path to enlightenment. While doing this I studied the Tao te Ching (and still use it) and all the other various forms of Eastern mystical traditions. I was a believer of Buddhism until 1980. God had other plans.

My Reedemer Lives

Smartest Bird Ever

Georgia, Russia, Candidates 1 and 2

Candidate 1 -- "I strongly condemn the outbreak of violence in Georgia, and urge an immediate end to armed conflict. Now is the time for Georgia and Russia to show restraint, and to avoid an escalation to full scale war. Georgia's territorial integrity must be respected. All sides should enter into direct talks on behalf of stability in Georgia, and the United States, the United Nations Security Council, and the international community should fully support a peaceful resolution to this crisis." _________ called for "talks among all sides and said the United States, the U.N. Security Council and other parties should try to help bring about a peaceful resolution." ______ looked forward to "an international peacekeeping force" under "an appropriate UN mandate."

Candidate 2 -- "This afternoon I spoke, for the second time since the crisis began, with Georgian President Saakashvili. It is clear the situation is dire. Russian aggression against Georgia continues, with attacks occurring far beyond the Georgian region of South Ossetia. As casualties continue to mount, the international community must do all it can to avert further escalations. Tensions and hostilities between Georgians and Ossetians are in no way justification for Russian troops crossing an internationally recognized border. I again call on the Government of Russia to immediately and unconditionally withdraw its forces from the territory of Georgia.

Given this threat to Euro-Atlantic security, I am pleased to see the United States, the European Union, and NATO acting together by sending a delegation to the region, in an effort to broker a cease fire. This is an important first step.

The United Nations has been prevented from taking any meaningful action by Russian objections. In view of this, I welcome the statements of democratic nations defending the sovereignty of Georgia and condemning Russian actions.

I strongly support the declaration issued by the Presidents of Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, and their commitment that 'aggression against a small country in Europe will not be passed over in silence or with meaningless statements equating the victims with the victimizers.' "

Question: Based on these two statements, who shows a better understanding of the military, economic and diplomatic consequences of Russia's aggression? Which speaker would you want as Commander in Chief of US Forces and Leader of the Free World?

Religious Journey III

During my high school years, I began reading books on all religions. I didn't know it at the time, but I was studying comparative religion. I and my friends were quite the budding intellectuals. It didn't make a difference which of the three high schools I went to. My friends and I were reading all the western philosophers, including Hegel, Kierkegaard, Goethe (my favorite at the time), Sartre, Camus, (Comte I didn't discover until college and was thrilled), Descartes, Heidegger; well, you get the picture. We would of course sit on the car in the Phoenix hot summer nights and discuss all these great ideas. We could, because you just know that a bunch of teenage boys (there were a couple of girls in our group) really and truly understood all this; we did! Truly. Going back a bit to my freshman year, and my religious studies, remember I was an ardent church goer at the time. I started with the Bhagavad gita, the writings of Khalil Gibran, a little about Buddhism, Shintoism; that's all I can remember right now. The die is cast. I was enthralled with lit (couldn't get enough Romantic Poetry), lots of modern poetry, all kinds of religious ideas, and a burning passion for God and Church. When I grow up, I'm going to be a philosopher, poet, writer, theologian. But...like I said, God had other plans.

Religious Journey II

There's a bit of a gap and in my high school freshman year I'm attending the Nazarene church. I don't remember the name of the family, or the friend that got me going. The high school friend was very popular in school, and a superior athlete and student. I was just coming into my own as an athlete and student, and his attention to me was important. His family would pick us (my brother and me) up Sunday morning. We attended both Sunday school and services. I never joined that church, though I found a lot of support and activity there. Strict practitioners. Which is good for a teenager. No dancing, no coffee. High "holy rollers" though. Lots of "amens" during the service. First time I heard people speaking in tongues. Many Sundays a call to the altar, people being saved, lots of emotion and crying out, loudly, to God for forgiveness and salvation. I went up, more than once. I wanted God in my life, and going to the altar then was such a release and connection. On Sunday nights we went to service too. Altar calls were more often than Sunday morning. I don't remember communion being as an important part of the service like First Christian. First Christian Communion is served every Sunday. It's what we do. A pillar of our belief and practice. There was Wednesday night service too, and it was well attended. Every week. I went to a lot of youth activities, always involved in something. Sang in both the youth and adult choir then. Went to Ensenada one year and helped rebuild a small community church. I attended the Nazarene Church all through high school. I was always accepted, and felt loved by the people and God. This church was ever so important to me. I think religious teaching must must must be part of growing up for every human being; and that teaching and experience must be Judeo-Christian. I absolutely believe John 14:6 "...I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." I was thinking at the time that I would go to Claremont Seminary and study theology. But God had other plans for me.

Religious Journey I

I hadn't thought about doing this, but a friend asked about it, so I thought I'd share. It's about how I ended up, religiously, where I am. The current state, as I had mentioned earlier when commenting on one of the ten principles of conservatism, is that in 1980, I realized something. I'm going way back here to the very beginning. In the '50's, nearly everyone went to Church. Stores were closed. Restaurants I think were open. We attended First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) on Holt Ave in Ontario, CA. I remember the baptismal was set high above the pastors' podiums, and I would get excited when during sermons, I would see the water rising behind the glass. This ceremony awed me. By the way, we attended that church from when I have a memory to when I was ten. I remember Sunday school, and even the pastor's name, Paul Kennedy. The other ceremony during service was communion. My parents didn't allow me to partake, telling me that I could when or if I decided to get baptized when I was older. Our church believes it's up to the person to make the commitment and at what age. I remember there were other kids my age that took communion and I was envious. At an early age I knew that I had to be baptized, and had to have communion. What I didn't know was that it would be a long and winding road.

The Farcicial Files

It happens wherever there's roadwork being done. Signs saying "MEN AT WORK" or "MEN WORKING AHEAD". In Atlanta, a feminist, Cynthia Good, protested these signs were sexist, and had to be replaced with gender-neutral signs. They were.

Dire Straights- The Walk of Life

My friend Rip today gave the morning message. It was about second chances. How many times we make bad decisions, mistakes, "what was I thinking?"
"Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind reaching forward to those things which are ahead." Philippians 3:12-14
This is the scripture for Rip's message this morning. Which reminded me of one of my favorite videos of all time.

Barack Obama Is Not a Christian

By Cal Thomas
Syndicated columnist/FOX News Contributor

Religion is a topic that makes most journalists uncomfortable, unless they can expose hypocrisy — as in preachers who speak of virtue while carrying on an affair — or outrage such as Rev. Jeremiah Wright and the doings at Barack Obama’s now former church in Chicago. Most journalists think taking religion seriously might require them to study the claims of various faiths and too many of them have already decided this might lead them to a faith higher than themselves or politics and they don’t wish to take such a journey of personal discovery.

That is too bad, because such an attitude exposes one of the main gaps between most Americans — who believe in God — and most journalists, who don’t.


An exception is Chicago Sun-Times columnist Cathleen Falsani, who interviewed Obama in 2004 for her book, “The God Factor: Inside the Spiritual Lives of Public People “and asked him specific questions about his religious beliefs.

“I’m rooted in the Christian tradition,” said Obama, who has declared himself a Christian. But then he adds something that most Christians will see as universalism: “I believe there are many paths to the same place, and that is a belief that there is a higher power, a belief that we are connected as a people.”

Falsani correctly brings up John 14:6 (and how many journalists would know such a verse, much less ask a question based on it?) in which Jesus says of Himself, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” That sounds pretty exclusive, but Obama says it depends on how this verse is heard. According to Falsani, Obama thinks that “all people of faith — Christians, Jews, Muslims, animists, everyone — know the same God.” (her words)

If that is so, Jesus wasted his time coming to Earth and he certainly did not have to suffer the pain of rejection and crucifixion if there are ways to God other than through Himself.

Here’s Obama telling Falsani, “The difficult thing about any religion, including Christianity, is that at some level there is a call to evangelize and proselytize. There’s the belief, certainly in some quarters, that if people haven’t embraced Jesus Christ as their personal savior, they’re going to hell.” Falsani adds, “Obama doesn’t believe he, or anyone else, will go to hell. But he’s not sure he’ll be going to heaven, either.”

Here’s Obama again: “I don’t presume to have knowledge of what happens after I die. When I tuck in my daughters at night and I feel like I’ve been a good father to them, and I see that I am transferring values that I got from my mother and that they’re kind people and that they’re honest people, and they’re curious people, that’s a little piece of heaven.”

Any first-year seminary student could deconstruct such “works salvation” and wishful thinking. Obama either hasn’t read the Bible, or if he has, doesn’t believe it if he embraces such thin theological gruel.

Obama can call himself anything he likes, but there is a clear requirement for one to qualify as a Christian and Obama doesn’t meet that requirement. One cannot deny central tenets of the Christian faith, including the deity and uniqueness of Christ as the sole mediator between God and Man and be a Christian. Such people do have a label applied to them in Scripture. They are called a “false prophet.”

I hope some national journalist or commentator with knowledge of such things asks Obama about this and doesn’t let him get away with re-writing Scripture to suit his political ends.

Obama’s Ten Commandments

By Victor Davis Hanson

McCain and Obama are essentially even in many of the polls. We all know why—the flip-flops, the evocation of the charge of racial politics, the serial gaffes, the playing up to European crowds, the lack of experience, and public weariness with the media bias, etc.

What should Obama, then, do to reclaim his “hope and change” mania of last spring? I think it is going to be difficult at anytime to elect a Northern hardcore liberal (not since JFK in 1960), even in a year perfect for Democratic politics, but nonetheless in the pursuit of fairness, here’s a blueprint… (in no particular order).

1. Outlaw the use of the word “they.” He recently claimed “they” would evoke the race card, in the manner of Michelle’s serial use of “they” raised the bar. Who is “they”? (The mean University of Chicago who paid the Obamas quite well? The parsimonious state legislature of Illinois? A racist Harvard?). The result of this “they did it” is the image of a sort of whiny elite, well-off victim claiming that a nebulous posse (conservative white Republicans?) is out to get him. Victimization, conspiracies, and whining lose, not win, elections.

2. Avoid sermons: no more lectures about guns, religion, and clinging, or what we eat, how we cool our homes, what kind of cars we drive, how we should pump up our tires, etc. It all comes off as a lean charismatic arugula-eating metrosexual talking down to a nation of obese NASCAR flag-wavers (who outnumber the former by the millions). Play Harry Truman, not Jesus Christ (and get rid of the silly first-year Latin Obama seal; fire the guy who wrote the oceans recede line; demote anyone who tries to get more mileage out of the corny “this is the moment” refrain; and get grainy pictures of a sweating Obama, not that airbrushed haloed Obama gazing off into the powder-blue sky of the sort they photoshop up at the County Fair booth).

3. Europe really doesn’t vote. Obama should have learned that from the disastrous Kerry experience in 2004. What draws tens of thousands out to Berlin (beside free beer and music—and an ugly totem reminding them of lost Prussian prestige and victory over the French) doesn’t necessarily do the same among the American electorate. Most Americans, rightly or wrongly, don’t want to be citizens of the world if that means something akin to the values voiced in the UN General Assembly or lectures from the Euro public.

4. Enough of the flip-flops. Changing course on FISA, campaign-financing, faith-based initiatives, drilling, the strategic oil reserve, late-term abortion, capital punishment, gun control, Iran’s level of threat, the surge, Iraq timetable, et al. may have been what a liberal candidate must do in the general election, but there is a limit beyond which expediency turns to the carnival. Anymore and the public will burst out laughing every time Obama starts a flip-flop with “As I have long said…”

5. Stick with the teleprompter. Almost all of Obama’s gaffes—the 48/58 states, the Pashtun Arab-speaking translators, the 10 years as President, the clingers’ rant, the Rev. Wright praises, the tire pressure sermon, the new civilian Pentagon-sized bureaucracy, the reparations “deeds” promise, all that and more come when he is thinking out loud extemporaneously, and, to be fair, often exhausted. Of course, that is true to some extent of all candidates, but in an inexperienced Obama’s case, the adoring crowds egg him on, and confidence leads to hubris and then onto what the Greeks called atê. I would still “hope and change” it, and play out the fourth quarter rather than expect that a charismatic Obama will dazzle in impomptu rock-star settings. He won’t after the first 30 seconds.

6. Don’t mention race. The public gets it that a racially aware Obama is not Colin Powell or Condoleeza Rice, for whom racial solidarity is admirably incidental. It realizes that he looks different from past candidates for President. So he should just cool it and be content with the fact that his race in the past at Columbia, Harvard, and Chicago was no drawback, but often a real advantage—and count his past blessings and move on. Now he should evolve, stick to issues, and not look back at Chicago racial ward politics. Not even in-the-tank CNN and MSNBC pundits really believe that a John McCain is biased, and calling a war hero’s campaign de facto racialist is insane. Obama’s 90% majority of African-American base voters long ago accepted his racial fides thanks to Rev Wright, rappers, and all the rest. They won’t forsake him when he transcends race as promised, but simply sense, as Rev. Wright scoffed, it’s just “politics.” Expect his handlers to look for an Obama staged Sister Soulja moment, or a subtle phase-out of the faux-Trinity Church affected cadences and folksy, southern-spiced mellifluousness that was always somewhat awkward for an Hawaiian-born Barry Obama.

7. Pick an antithesis in every category for VP. The ideal selection for Obama would be crusty, sloppy, blue-collar, non-arugula eating, southern or Midwestern, white, conservative, old, experienced as an executive, and knowledgeable about foreign affairs that would convince Hillary’s old constituency that someone like themselves doesn’t look silly running with Obama. He will have to go the Dukakis/Lloyd Bentsen route. The problem? They’re aren’t that many Hubert Humphrey/Scoop Jackson looking sorts still around in the Democratic Party.

8. Avoid all town meetings with McCain. I know Obama looks hypocritical in side-stepping his promises to meet McCain anywhere, anytime; but, after his gaffes and deer-in-the-headlights pauses and stuttering, now you can see why he backtracked. If he looks unsure with sympathetic interviewers, he will look even worse in a one-on-one contrast with a grizzled war veteran and Senate pro who will cut the ring down to size and haymaker him on the ropes. Don’t let his lock-step worshipers convince Obama otherwise. Sigh, beg-off, quote the Untouchables, boast, threaten, but skip them!

9. Don’t get near the Hard Left--Moveon.org, Michael Moore, the Daily Kos, the Huffington Post, the Hollywood Set, etc. They are hungry for a return to power and ego-stroking and will put up with, and explain away, anything from Obama. There is no need to reassure the assured–who in a millisecond can on stage let loose with a creepy obscenity or go ballistic in Bush-Derangement Syndrome fits for a clip on Fox News. In contrast, the election will be won or lost in Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio, Virginia, etc. where such extremists hold no sway. To the extent they are unknown, or, if known, mad at Obama, it will only help his campaign. If he wins, there will be plenty of time to have Ludacris play at the White House, hang the Medal of Freedom around Noam Chomsky , or small talk in the Rose Garden with George Clooney. It is not that Obama doesn’t remember Ayers all that well, but rather he simply never existed.

10. Do an “ipsa dixit” with Hillary. Praise her, refer to her, thank her, quote her. Wake up each morning thinking “I must coddle Hillary” and go to bed every evening sighing “I didn’t do enough.” Obama is in trouble with wealthy mainstream Democratic donors, the white working-class voters and professional older women, who can’t quite express how they were sandbagged by Obama, but feel it keenly nonetheless. He needs to assure them all that he adores Hillary (and even petulant Bill). Once the frantic October campaigning begins, he wants a smile on her face on the stump, not the infamous Clintonian snicker. Maybe he should play a Fleetwood Mac song and then on stage do a duet with Hil. All that requires swallowing his swelling pride—and thereby may be impossible.

That’s it—and a nod to fair and balanced.

Valor: Army Sergeant Charles Claude Jr.

"In September 2007, United States Army Sergeant Charles Claude Jr. was on patrol in Mosul, Iraq, as the turret gunner in an M1117 Guardian Armored Security Vehicle (ASV). Claude’s convoy noticed an IED ahead and sent forward troops to neutralize it as quickly as possible. As soon as it was disabled, however, insurgents attacked from all directions with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades. Sgt. Claude fired back, taking out two insurgent vehicles—known as “technicals” —before being hit himself by a barrage of fire. His vehicle commander was also wounded. But Claude fought on despite his wound, and despite the fact that the sights of his machine gun were destroyed by enemy fire. Then, in close-quarters fighting, an insurgent jumped onto Claude’s vehicle. While the driver tried to throw the insurgent off, Claude spun his turret toward the enemy and ended the threat. As the area was secured, Claude continued to ignore his wound while providing defensive cover. Later it was discovered that the two disabled enemy “technicals” were mobile weapons caches, and they were no longer in the hands of terrorists. Sgt. Claude’s courageous actions that day saved numerous American lives and turned the tables on an enemy ambush. He was awarded the Bronze Star with Valor." --Patriot Post 8/8/08

On Conservatism X

"Tenth, the thinking conservative understands that permanence and change must be recognized and reconciled in a vigorous society. The conservative is not opposed to social improvement, although he doubts whether there is any such force as a mystical Progress, with a Roman P, at work in the world. When a society is progressing in some respects, usually it is declining in other respects. The conservative knows that any healthy society is influenced by two forces, which Samuel Taylor Coleridge called its Permanence and its Progression. The Permanence of a society is formed by those enduring interests and convictions that gives us stability and continuity; without that Permanence, the fountains of the great deep are broken up, society slipping into anarchy. The Progression in a society is that spirit and that body of talents which urge us on to prudent reform and improvement; without that Progression, a people stagnate.

Therefore the intelligent conservative endeavors to reconcile the claims of Permanence and the claims of Progression. He thinks that the liberal and the radical, blind to the just claims of Permanence, would endanger the heritage bequeathed to us, in an endeavor to hurry us into some dubious Terrestrial Paradise. The conservative, in short, favors reasoned and temperate progress; he is opposed to the cult of Progress, whose votaries believe that everything new necessarily is superior to everything old." Russell Kirk

On Conservatism IX

"Ninth, the conservative perceives the need for prudent restraints upon power and upon human passions. Politically speaking, power is the ability to do as one likes, regardless of the wills of one's fellows. A state in which an individual or a small group are able to dominate the wills of their fellows without check is a despotism, whether it is called monarchical or aristocratic or democratic. When every person claims to be a power unto himself, then society falls into anarchy. Anarchy never lasts long, being intolerable for everyone, and contrary to the ineluctable fact that some persons are more strong and more clever than their neighbors. To anarchy there succeeds tyranny or oligarchy, in which power is monopolized by a very few.

The conservative endeavors to so limit and balance political power that anarchy or tyranny may not arise. In every age, nevertheless, men and women are tempted to overthrow the limitations upon power, for the sake of some fancied temporary advantage. It is characteristic of the radical that he thinks of power as a force for good—so long as the power falls into his hands. In the name of liberty, the French and Russian revolutionaries abolished the old restraints upon power; but power cannot be abolished; it always finds its way into someone's hands. That power which the revolutionaries had thought oppressive in the hands of the old regime became many times as tyrannical in the hands of the radical new masters of the state.

Knowing human nature for a mixture of good and evil, the conservative does not put his trust in mere benevolence. Constitutional restrictions, political checks and balances, adequate enforcement of the laws, the old intricate web of restraints upon will and appetite—these the conservative approves as instruments of freedom and order. A just government maintains a healthy tension between the claims of authority and the claims of liberty." Russell Kirk

Obama's Plane Seat

Is it just me, or is this a bit presumptious? This is his seat on his campaign plane.

On Conservatism VIII

"Eighth, conservatives uphold voluntary community, quite as they oppose involuntary collectivism. Although Americans have been attached strongly to privacy and private rights, they also have been a people conspicuous for a successful spirit of community. In a genuine community, the decisions most directly affecting the lives of citizens are made locally and voluntarily. Some of these functions are carried out by local political bodies, others by private associations: so long as they are kept local, and are marked by the general agreement of those affected, they constitute healthy community. But when these functions pass by default or usurpation to centralized authority, then community is in serious danger. Whatever is beneficent and prudent in modern democracy is made possible through cooperative volition. If, then, in the name of an abstract Democracy, the functions of community are transferred to distant political direction—why, real government by the consent of the governed gives way to a standardizing process hostile to freedom and human dignity.
For a nation is no stronger than the numerous little communities of which it is composed. A central administration, or a corps of select managers and civil servants, however well intentioned and well trained, cannot confer justice and prosperity and tranquility upon a mass of men and women deprived of their old responsibilities. That experiment has been made before; and it has been disastrous. It is the performance of our duties in community that teaches us prudence and efficiency and charity." Russell Kirk

Notes on Yesterday's Entry "On Convervatism VII"

Yesterday I missed copying in a paragraph regarding property rights. So it's been added, having to do with how owning property affects and directs behavior. We are loosing the right to private property in the US, which the Left sees as a good thing. In 2005 in the Supreme Court case Kelo V. City of New London, the Supreme Court ruled that property rights should be stripped when politicians can increase tax revenues. There was property owned by a citizen, and developers wanted it to build a commercial property. They went to local politicians and suggested that they seize this private properly through eminent domain and turn it over to the developer. The Supreme Court ruled that increased tax revenue amounts to 'public use'. Did you know that the government can just take your money away from you too? It's called asset forfeiture. An example of this was a guy in Tennessee that would take some cash every year, a few thousand, and go to Alabama, buy some plants, and take them back home and sell them...made a little profit. A ticket agent for the airline thought it odd this man, every year, bought a one was ticket to the same place (he rented a truck and drove the plants back), so he contacted the police. The police questioned, asked to search him, to which the man consented. The cash was found. The police confiscated his cash; said it was probably going to be used to buy drugs. To get his money back he has to sue the government and prove what he was using the money for.

Obama Quotes

"We could save all the oil that they're talking about getting off drilling if everybody was just inflating their tires and getting regular tune-ups."

"This is the moment... that the world is waiting for... I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions."

"I am genuinely somebody who doesn't get caught up in the hype... I think me puncturing my own balloon is something that's not only calculated to endear me to others, but it helps remind me of who I am and where I've come from." (The Wall Street Journal's James Taranto quips, "Obama is so humble that he doesn't feel the need to pretend not to be proud of his exquisite skill at self-deprecation!")

On Conservatism VII

"Seventh, conservatives are persuaded that freedom and property are closely linked. Separate property from private possession, and Leviathan becomes master of all. Upon the foundation of private property, great civilizations are built. The more widespread is the possession of private property, the more stable and productive is a commonwealth. Economic levelling, conservatives maintain, is not economic progress. Getting and spending are not the chief aims of human existence; but a sound economic basis for the person, the family, and the commonwealth is much to be desired." Sir Henry Maine, in his Village Communities, puts strongly the case for private property, as distinguished from communal property: “Nobody is at liberty to attack several property and to say at the same time that he values civilization. The history of the two cannot be disentangled.” For the institution of several property—that is, private property—has been a powerful instrument for teaching men and women responsibility, for providing motives to integrity, for supporting general culture, for raising mankind above the level of mere drudgery, for affording leisure to think and freedom to act. To be able to retain the fruits of one’s labor; to be able to see one’s work made permanent; to be able to bequeath one’s property to one’s posterity; to be able to rise from the natural condition of grinding poverty to the security of enduring accomplishment; to have something that is really one’s own—these are advantages difficult to deny. The conservative acknowledges that the possession of property fixes certain duties upon the possessor; he accepts those moral and legal obligations cheerfully.--Russell Kirk

On Conservatism VI

"Sixth, conservatives are chastened by their principle of imperfectability. Human nature suffers irremediably from certain grave faults, the conservatives know. Man being imperfect, no perfect social order ever can be created. Because of human restlessness, mankind would grow rebellious under any utopian domination, and would break out once more in violent discontent—or else expire of boredom. To seek for utopia is to end in disaster, the conservative says: we are not made for perfect things. All that we reasonably can expect is a tolerably ordered, just, and free society, in which some evils, maladjustments, and suffering will continue to lurk. By proper attention to prudent reform, we may preserve and improve this tolerable order. But if the old institutional and moral safeguards of a nation are neglected, then the anarchic impulse in humankind breaks loose: “the ceremony of innocence is drowned.” The ideologues who promise the perfection of man and society have converted a great part of the twentieth-century world into a terrestrial hell." --Russell Kirk

On Conservatism V

"Fifth, conservatives pay attention to the principle of variety. They feel affection for the proliferating intricacy of long-established social institutions and modes of life, as distinguished from the narrowing uniformity and deadening egalitarianism of radical systems. For the preservation of a healthy diversity in any civilization, there must survive orders and classes, differences in material condition, and many sorts of inequality. The only true forms of equality are equality at the Last Judgment and equality before a just court of law; all other attempts at levelling must lead, at best, to social stagnation. Society requires honest and able leadership; and if natural and institutional differences are destroyed, presently some tyrant or host of squalid oligarchs will create new forms of inequality." Russell Kirk