“The Tea Party Won”? Get real!

Posted on August 2, 2011

Yippee! Another big-government-as-usual pseudo solution to a crisis! Let’s all celebrate the wonderful bi-partisan compromise! Aren’t you just giddy with delight?
 
No….? That’s because we “little people” actually live in the real world.
 
The only winners in this new debt deal are the msm propaganda machine and the beltway ruling class – pompously congratulating themselves for their tenacity (they’re working so hard for us!) and brilliant negotiating skills.
 
And shouldn’t we just be thrilled…
 
We’re still headed for the cliff – But wow! They’ve managed to slow the train’s speed from 150mph to 149mph.
“What’s that? Change direction? Nah, just settle down, watch the country pass by in a blur and enjoy the ride!”
 
Conservative HQ sums up the truth of this “deal” perfectly:

The deal to raise the debt ceiling is the death of reality in Washington, D.C. Everyone involved in this deal knows that it does not solve the real crisis that the American people want solved — the unsustainable spending, deficits and debt that has created the need to raise the debt ceiling.
 
The same Wall Street-Washington axis that demanded and benefitted from TARP is now demanding that Congress raise the debt ceiling. The Capitol Hill insiders who put this deal together are either so corrupt they no longer care about the truth or the future of our country, or they are so entirely unhinged from reality that they actually think the spending can go on.
 
Either scenario is a serious problem that only the Tea Party and constitutional conservative movements have had the sense and courage to challenge, yet are dismissed as “extremists” by the corrupt (or clinically crazy) Washington establishment. The American people will not stand for it and the economy and the taxpayers cannot sustain it.

 

 

WE WILL “WIN” WHEN WE’VE RESTORED OUR CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Related: Pat Buchanan with a reminder of the fallacy of the “Big Deal” and the futility of compromise: What ‘Big Deals’ Did to America

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Should we start calling it “Anti”-Social Media?

Posted on August 1, 2011

The Daily Mail reports on an Oxford University scientist’s proclamation: Facebook and Twitter are creating a vain generation of self-obsessed people with child-like need for feedback.
 

They do things that are ‘Facebook worthy’ because the only way they can define themselves is by ‘people knowing about them’.
 
‘It’s almost as if people are living in a world that’s not a real world, but a world where what counts is what people think of you or (if they) can click on you.’
 
‘People used to have a portrait painted but now we can more or less design our own picture online. It’s like being the star of your own reality TV show that you create and put out to the world.’

 
To be fair, Facebook does have some redeeming qualities. In a world where no one bothers with Christmas cards anymore, it’s a convenient way to keep tabs on family and friends – if only to exchange birthday greetings. And who can resist the cute photos of kids and grandkids?
 
Facebook is also responsible for my growing prayer list. There are many “friends” with individual physical, emotional and spiritual requests, and others with needs and yearnings that they’re aren’t even aware of (Yes – I’m praying for you.) As well as the up-dates from Open Doors with specific prayer requests for persecuted Christians worldwide.
 
So those are good things.
 
But the not-so-good thing is what the Daily Mail article is discussing: the “Look at ME-ME-ME!” aspect of social media.
Have we regressed so much as a culture that we’re no longer able to form meaningful face-to-face relationships with others? That our sense of self-worth is wrapped up in Facebook feedback? Have Hollywood’s warped values so permeated society that we’re all just a bunch of celebrity wannabes? I’m afraid the answers may be; “Yes”, “Yes” and “Yes”.
 
What to do?
First, don’t get sucked into the shallowness of social media. Recognize both its usefulness and limitations then turn it off, go outside, talk to other human beings face-to-face, and get a life.
Second, when you recognize a “Look at me!” poster on Facebook, take a moment and send up a little “Jesus loves you!” prayer for your friend.
 

Posted in Cultural Erosion | 1 Comment

Stop Spending!!!

Posted on August 1, 2011

Gulag Bound has a brief tutorial on the national budget disaster, “Raising the Debt Ceiling” For Dummies:

To say that our government is simply spending more than it takes in is an understatement when it comes to the out-of-control spending we’ve experienced under President Obama; what he’s doing is dangerous. He has spent about $12.2 Trillion in just 3 years; that’s $5.15 Trillion more than the approximate $7.05 Trillion that was given to him by taxpayers.

 
If you really want your blood pressure to rise (along with the debt ceiling!) the article has a list of the various black holes that the government is tossing your hard-earned tax dollars into. For instance:
 
• $1 billion – to Mexico so that they can drill in the Gulf (while Obama caused 23,000 Americans to lose their jobs because of his ban on US drilling in the Gulf).
• $2 billion – to Brazil for OFFSHORE OIL DRILLING!!!!
• $30 billion – of the $100 billion per year for UN Climate Change Policy; the UN admitted global warming is about wealth redistribution, not climate change policy.
• $430 billion from TARP that Timothy Geitner stated will be recovered by January 2011 – of which the Fed spent $350 billion in taxpayer funds to save 35 foreign banks.
• $80 billion to Apollo Alliance (socialist/communist George Soros group) to expand community agitation
• $44 billion – This represents a 28% pay increase for Fed employees (Fed pay increased 36.9% since 2000 while private worker’s pay increased only 8.8%.)
• $148 billion – loaned to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – these are government operated organizations that are taking control of 90%+ of U.S. home mortgages, and these are the organizations who contributed to the housing meltdown.
 
See more – if you can stand it 😡 – HERE.
 

If only it would only swamp D.C.!

Posted in Timeless Principles, Unvarnished | Leave a comment

Butterflies ~ Beautifully Designed

Posted on July 31, 2011

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes
are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made;

even His eternal power and Godhead,
so that they are without excuse.
~ Romans 1:20 ~

 
Creation-Evolution Headlines tipped me off to Metamorphosis, a new video from Illustra Media.

Billions of butterflies, flashing their gossamer wings with brilliant colors, have swarmed over Darwin, leaving him unable to breathe. Figuratively, that is. Illustra Media’s new documentary Metamorphosis, just released on Blu-Ray last week, leaves little room for Darwin’s theory…
…neo-Darwinism cannot account for the origin of two body plans (caterpillar and insect) in the same genome, in a process that destroys one and rebuilds it into another. It would be like a car encasing itself in a garage, recycling its parts, and emerging as a helicopter…
…The presentation of intelligent design is gentle, reasonable, appealing. The burden of proof will clearly be on the Darwinist to account for all they have just witnessed.

 
METAMORPHOSIS trailer ~ Beautiful, powerful evidence that evolutionists really are “without excuse”:

 
You can get the full length video (DVD or Blu-Ray) HERE.

Posted in Comfort & Joy | Leave a comment

Fiscal Sanity ~ what REALLY works

Posted on July 30, 2011

Remember the surly public sector mobs badgering Madison late last winter? And the cowardly Democratic state reps who ran from the state as well as from their responsibilities to the voters? Well luckily for the citizens of Wisconsin these childlike antics didn’t prevent Governor Walker from getting his budget repair bill passed. Because, as Gary Wickert at PajamasMedia reports:
 

Over the past six months, Wisconsin has been nothing short of a miracle. Newly elected Governor Scott Walker and the Republicans in the majority in Madison got just about everything they wanted during the past legislative session, and a state facing a projected $3 billion budget shortfall with no end in sight now has a projected $300 million budget surplus. The amazing successes in Wisconsin have emboldened the legislatures and political leaders of other states, who have seen the wonders resulting from a little political backbone and fiscal common sense.

 
Here’s an instructive interview with WI Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch that you’ll never see on the network news; (PJTV video) “Lessons from Wisconsin, Taking on Public Sector Unions And Winning”:

 

Gary’s “Hey, Who Wants to Talk About Wisconsin’s Economic Miracle?” post continues:
 

If one listened to the violent rhetoric of the public employee unions, one would have expected today to be a dark day for education in Wisconsin. “This is a disaster,” said Wisconsin Senate Democratic leader Mark Miller in February after Governor Scott Walker first proposed Act 10. Miller predicted catastrophe if the bill were to become law, a charge repeated thousands of times by his fellow Democrats, union officials, and protesters in the streets. Now the bill is law, and we have evidence of how wonderfully it is working. Instead of a catastrophe, it is a day of miraculous optimism, balanced budgets, educational improvement, and fiscal recovery.

 
While the carnival of clowns in Washington continues to perform their same old hapless fiscal juggling act for their myopic audience in the MSM, the results of real fiscal sanity are on shining display in Wisconsin.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Related: NEA Convention Reminds Us: It’s About Union Power, Not Children ~ July 2, 2011 article at Heritage’s “The Foundry”: Sadly, the education unions’ foremost concern is not the needs of children. As former American Federation of Teachers president Al Shanker infamously quipped: “When school children start paying union dues, that’s when I’ll start representing the interests of school children.”
 

Posted in Comfort & Joy, Fruits of Their Labors, MSM Malpractice | 1 Comment

Saturday Shorts 7-30-11

Posted on July 30, 2011

Random links of interest, concern or curiosity from the past week or so, that deserve at least a SHORT mention:

 
Default, Dear Brutus, Is Not In Our Stars, But In Ourselves ~ Iowahawk – with a little levity as we face the post-apocalyptic future of August 3, 2011.
 
Sustainable Living Solutions Blog ~ Just in case… Real world applications to overcome today’s challenges.
 
Kerry spokesman stripped of Silver Star ~ Wade Sanders, a retired Navy Captain and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy, is also sitting in a Federal prison serving a 37-month sentence for possessing child pornography. Oh well, he was probably “born that way”.
 
MSM Ignores How Oslo Shooter’s Own Manifesto Completely Destroys “Christian Conservative” Label ~ Because, of course, it doesn’t fit the narrative.
A Western Heart has some interesting observations on the “whys?” behind the murders: “Psycho-analysing” terrorist Breivik
 
Probe of parent company puts conservative media in crosshairs ~ Department of INjustice goes after Rupert Murdoch – Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. is on a witch hunt.
 
The Hobbit Blog ~ Speaking of “Hobbits”… Unfortunately, Peter Jackson’s film, The Hobbit – An Unexpected Journey, isn’t scheduled for release until Dec. 2012. 🙁
 

Posted in Everything Else | Leave a comment

Polar Bears Survive Global Warming Hype

Posted on July 29, 2011
Don’t worry kids, the polar bears are doing just fine…

… sadly, the Global Warming alarmists are starting to
drown in their own misinformation.

 
Yes, the whole “polar bears are drowning and need to be added to the Endangered-Due-to-Global-Warming-List” has turned out to be, well.. not true. For details check out: Polarbeargate? by James Delingpole at the UK Telegraph and Time For a Cull… Global Warmers Lied – Polar Bears Enjoy Boom Not Bust by Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit
 
Then we have; New Study of NASA Data May Debunk Global Warming Predictions by Billy Hallowell at The Blaze. Analysis of NASA satellite data spanning the years from 2000 to 2011, shows that the Earth’s atmosphere is actually allowing more heat to be released into outer space than global warming computer models previously predicted…

…A new study in the peer-reviewed science journal Remote Sensing has found that United Nations computer models may be incorrect in overstating the amount of global warming that will occur in the future. The study also finds that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere traps much less heat that global warming enthusiasts have claimed.

 
And who can forget Climategate? Well, except Al Gore and all the other Global Warming hysterics who simply ignored it.
Al? Al? Time to give it up Al.

Posted in Unvarnished | 2 Comments

Tea Party Hobbits

Posted on July 28, 2011

So the Wall Street Journal figures they’ll mock the Tea Party by calling us Hobbits. And John McCain decides to further ridicule conservatives by quoting that Journal Op-Ed on the floor of the Senate….
 
Ahem.
 

~~~~~~~~~~~
Memo to WSJ anonymous Op-Ed writer:
While attempting to demonstrate your stunning talent for clever analogy you might want to make sure you get “the story” straight.
 
[Middle Earth is the time/place setting of the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy; the Hobbits live in the Shire; the Shire is part of Middle Earth.]
 
Memo to John McCain:
While attempting to demonize the Tea Party by quoting from the Wall Street Journal you might want to… well – just keep your mouth shut.
 
[This is no longer your fight Senator. You are part of the dinosaur Taxus Spendus class that created this national debt disaster. Your species is headed for extinction because you can no longer adapt to the changing political environment.]
~~~~~~~~~~~

 
The thing is, while aiming to marginalize and dismiss the Tea Party, the WSJ was actually closer to the truth than they realize.
 
Like the Hobbits, the Tea Party is primarily made up of regular “little folks” who just want to live their lives. Mock ’em, ridicule ’em, laugh at ’em – just leave ’em alone! They work hard, take care of their families – and don’t want to be frustrated and beaten down by a corrupt, power-hungry central government. Generally cheerful and optimistic, when their future and all that they value is being threatened, they don’t back down from a fight.
 
One of my favorite chapters in “The Return of the King”, the 3rd book in the LOTR trilogy, is “The Scouring of the Shire.” Weary yet battle-hardened, Frodo & friends return home from their long journey to find a pack of devious tyrants attempting to turn their beloved Shire into a totalitarian state. Confident now in their ability to overcome evil, the gallant four organize their fellow hobbits and methodically oust the miscreants. Resigned and righteous, they stand up and take the Shire back.
 
So let the arrogant elite have their yucks. We “Hobbits” will continue to stand and fight for what we know is right.
 
BTW WSJ; we haven’t yet faced the ultimate battle for “Middle Earth” (Western Civilization). Before we can fully engage in that fight, our primary task is to scour Washington D.C.!

 

“Yet such is oft the course of deeds that move
the wheels of the world: small hands do them because they must,
while the eyes of the great are elsewhere.” ~ Elrond ~

Posted in Comfort & Joy, Good vs.Evil | Leave a comment

Keep the faith “Hobbits”!

Posted on July 28, 2011

My favorite Tea Party video – “Don’t Stop Me Now!” This is from the 9-12-09 March on Mordor Washington:
 

Be encouraged! For each and every person in D.C. that day there were hundreds – if not thousands more -who wished they had been.
 

“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs,
even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who
neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live
in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.”
~ Teddy Roosevelt ~

 

Posted in Comfort & Joy, Good vs.Evil | Leave a comment

Whack-a-Drone

Posted on July 28, 2011

Here is another cogent, concise and
convincing example of the rightness of Conservatism.
Whack your favorite drone(s) with the TRUTH:

 

“The national debt-ceiling law should be judged by what it actually does, not by how good an idea it seems to be. The one thing that the national debt-ceiling has never done is to put a ceiling on the rising national debt. Time and time again, for years on end, the national debt-ceiling has been raised whenever the national debt gets near whatever the current ceiling might be. Regardless of what it is supposed to do, what the national debt-ceiling actually does is enable any administration to get all the political benefits of runaway spending for the benefit of their favorite constituencies — and then invite the opposition party to share the blame, by either raising the national debt ceiling, or by voting for unpopular cutbacks in spending or increases in taxes.”
 
~ economist Thomas Sowell ~

 

Credit: The Patriot Post

 

Posted in Timeless Principles, Unvarnished | Leave a comment

Mobilizing to save babies

Posted on July 27, 2011

Great story out of Orlando ~
 
I have so much admiration for the people who have been on the frontlines of the pro-life movement for decades. Knowing that Truth is on their side, temporary set-backs rarely discourage or deter them. Eschewing the angry confrontational tactics of the pro-abortion activists, the pro-lifers regularly come up with new ways to help women choose life.
 
While some have pushed to pass legislation requiring ultrasounds prior to an abortion, others are focused on changing individuals, one heart at a time. Like the Genocide Awareness Project – and the traveling ultrasound trailer aka mobile pregnancy care resource center.
 
With funds provided through the Psalm 139 Project (part of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission) the Florida Baptist Children’s Homes rolled out their new mobile pregnancy care resource center a couple months ago…
 

…a converted camper trailer that was donated to the Children’s Homes last year, (it) was designed to provide ultrasound screenings, counseling, and other services to women in areas struck by natural disasters.
If the mobile center is not needed for natural disasters it will be utilized in various underserved communities across the state.

 
For example, in Orlando several weeks ago, the mobile center:
 

offered its services from a vacant lot adjacent to the Planned Parenthood clinic in an economically depressed area of the city. The owner of the land granted the team permission to work from the parcel of land.

 

Mary Lou Hendry, director of Sanctity of Human Life for the Children’s Homes said a lot of people came by out of curiosity, but that a number of young women from the area came into the mobile pregnancy care center seeking information and assistance. “During the four hours that we were set up we provided free pregnancy tests, biblical counseling, as well as ultrasound screenings for women to confirm that they were indeed pregnant. It’s always an amazing moment when you are able to show them the new life that is living and growing inside their womb,” Hendry said.
 
“One young woman came by our mobile center who was 31 weeks along in her pregnancy and had not had any prenatal care. She was not able to qualify for Medicaid and does not have health insurance. “We provided her with her first ultrasound where she could see her fully developed baby, which will be born in the next several weeks. “We were able to connect her with a nurse midwife who will be able to help her get the help she needs through the remainder of her pregnancy and afterward to ensure her newborn receives all of the proper care that it needs in order to thrive. “In addition, the Gospel message was presented to seven women and two of those women received Jesus Christ as their Savior,” Hendry said.

 
Faith-inspired creative solutions – awesome!
~~~~~~~~~~~

For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
~ Psalm 139: 13-14 ~

~~~~~~~~~~~
Related: Effects of abortion on surviving siblings
 

Posted in Comfort & Joy, Fruits of Their Labors, Good vs.Evil | Leave a comment

Michigan could really use some “Balance”

Posted on July 27, 2011

Can Michigan can fix its economy, control government spending, save for the future and improve infrastructure with Benefits in Balance?
 

 
Makes perfect sense. Why does the private sector have to cover their own benefits, or in many cases go without, while fully funding medical and pension plans for their “employees”? Let’s go for some real, effective, positive change.
 
Benefits in Balance has more info, charts showing the growing disparity in wages/benefits, etc.

Posted in Unvarnished | Leave a comment