Chalk one up for the Grown-Ups

If you haven’t yet read Diana West’s The Death of the Grown-Up you need to – because it goes a long way toward diagnosing the myriad of problems facing our country today. Eschewing personal responsibility, integrity, self-sacrifice and wisdom for endless self-absorption and perpetual adolescence, America is rapidly losing it’s ability to deal with the realities of the 21st century. As West says: “No wonder we can’t stop Islamic terrorism. We haven’t put away our toys!”

Contrasting grown-up behavior with immaturity, here’s C. Edmund Wright at the American Thinker, explaining how our current youngster-in-chief benefited from the long-term, focused and sustained actions of mature adults.

When you get right down to it, the successful taking out of bin Laden is a stunning defeat of everything childish about liberal foreign policy and national defense. That a liberal kid was in the White House when all of this happened reminds us of the cliché of the rich kid who “was born on third base but acts like he hit the triple.”

…it is instructive that candidate Obama campaigned against the idea of even killing bin Laden. Now he’s taking credit for masterminding the entire op and the military hating leftists are now ready to call him the return of Patton.
The credit belongs the adults who put in place these interrogation techniques and who decided they would take place at Gitmo. That would be Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld. Three adults.

So far the only responsible adult action we’ve seen from the Obama administration was the actual decision to take out Osama. Guess they had a grown-up moment on Sunday. Since then, they’re back to floundering around in their own juvenile ineptitude.

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Well duh!

From the San Francisco Chronicle: “Education: High-schoolers’ civics knowledge waning”.

Three out of 4 U.S. students lack a basic understanding of democracy, of how the U.S. political system works and what it means to be a citizen of this country, according to national test scores released Wednesday.

Betcha they all know what Cinco de Mayo is – and how to put a condom on a cucumber.

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Super MariObama

In case you haven’t seen this one yet… 😀
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The Evilest Empire

For nine years and counting the “Hermit Kingdom” of North Korea has topped the Open Doors World Watch List – #1 in oppression. In this country, all religions face the worst persecution on earth. Open Doors estimates that there are approximately 50,000 Christian believers in labor camps and reports:

North Korea is a country in complete crisis, and where persecution of Christians is the most severe in the world. Famine holds vast swaths of the nation in its grip, and untold thousands live in poverty and misery. The populace are kept ignorant of the outside world and forcibly indoctrinated into “Juche” – a bizarre ideology focusing on the self-sufficiency of man, which teaches that the trinity consists of the father (deceased leader Kin Il-Sung), son (current leader Kim Jong-Il) and the “Juche spirit” of self-reliance. Christians in North Korea are forced to keep their faith secret – those who are discovered face torture, labor camps and even death.

BBC’s site has a story about increasing crackdowns. They spoke with a recent defector: “It was a life of hard labour,” he says. “Thirty per cent of new prisoners would die. And we were so malnourished, we would eat rats and earthworms to survive.” Horrific.

Last month that elderly buffoon Jimmy Carter paid a visit to North Korea, ostensibly to have a Kumbaya moment with Dear Leader. Predictably, peace and love did not break out: Ex-President Carter Bombs in Pyongyang. Although Jimma claims to be motivated by his Christian faith, I’m pretty sure he didn’t bring a bible with him on his mission; simply owning one can get you killed in “Juche” Land.


Satellite photos taken at night show North Korea to be a place of utter darkness. Indeed. “A country in complete crisis, and where persecution of Christians is the most severe in the world.” This is where going-Godless takes a country and a people. Please pray for the victims of this Evil Empire.

Posted in Fruits of Their Labors, Good vs.Evil | 5 Comments

Must be an NHL fan

Not quite sure what to think about this guy… With OBL Dead, Man Shaves for First Time Since 9/11/01 … actually I am – he’s pretty cool! 😀

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Man-child-in-Chief?

UPDATE 5-4-11:


Staged photo?
Can we believe anything (check out this Bookworm Room post – nice list of conflicting information) this administration says or does?

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Conflicting interests – what’s a Leftie to think?

The Progressive-Leftist worldview rarely intersects with reality. Which is why many of our friends on the left are not quite sure how they’re supposed to react to the death of Bin Laden. If you’re anti-American and anti-military can you really be glad when the enemy of your enemy has been killed by your enemy? (For instance, instead of cheering and calling for four more years of the One, shouldn’t the crowd in front of the White House last night have been demanding to know why Osama wasn’t read his Miranda rights?) I’m sure they’re confused.

As C. Edmund Wright points out at The American Thinker:

…there has to be some level of uncomfortable “head exploding” from our liberal friends who are suddenly celebrating the CIA and waving the flag and the explicit use of black ops.


Check out Wright’s “Top Ten Problems for Liberals on OBL’s Death.”


I’m not conflicted at all: God Bless America, our military – and especially our Navy Seals!

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Glorious Day

Casting Crowns – Love this song/group!
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“The Vorce”

I remember reading a short story in a women’s magazine years ago. Written from the perspective of a young child, it was entitled “The Vorce”. The kid wasn’t really sure what “The Vorce” was, but instinctively knew it didn’t sound good. I didn’t bother finishing the story because I could see where it was headed: Mommy and Daddy are splitting up but it’s all for the best since they’ll be happier apart and if they’re happier you’ll be happier. RIGHT.

From the Progressive point of view selfishness inevitably trumps selflessness. And they’ll always find a way to justify the former over the later.

Posted in Cultural Erosion, Fruits of Their Labors | Leave a comment

Matthew 25:35-36

“…for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.”


Donations:

Samaritan’s Purse
Salvation Army
American Red Cross

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The Royal Wedding; an Advil moment

I really didn’t mean to watch the Royal Wedding; too much hype, too trivial in light of far weightier world events, and who wants to get up that early if they don’t have to? But my tooth had other ideas. It woke me up, insisting that I stop putting off the root canal that I should have gotten a month ago. So there I was in front of the TV at 5:00 a.m., tired, cranky and waiting for the Advil to kick in. And, surprise-surprise, I actually enjoyed the “Wedding”.


Now honestly, I’m as cynical about this marriage as Cal Thomas is. Considering that William and Kate are both children of divorce, and have been shacking up for while, along with the added pressure of leading such public lives, I figure their union has about a 10% chance of surviving 10 years. But it was nice to pretend otherwise for a while. And in the middle of all the impressive ceremony, pomp and pageantry the pair seemed genuinely happy.


More importantly, the million or so people crowding the streets of London seemed genuinely happy – here was something to celebrate. Even though Britain’s royalty are rulers in name only, their “subjects” are still drawn to the centuries-old traditions of the monarchy. Here was something much larger than their own lives that they wanted to be a part of, to share with their fellow countrymen, to pay their respects and yes – to celebrate.


It seems that they, and we, still want to believe in the fairytale wedding, the hope of a happily-ever-after and even, maybe, the long-standing traditions of western civilization. The “Royal Wedding” shone a momentary bright light in what seems to be an ever-darkening world.


(Rather like the Advil stopped my tooth from aching for a while :))

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The Wisdom of George Washington

Tomorrow, April 30th, is the 222nd anniversary of George Washington’s inauguration as America’s first president. The current occupant of the White House could learn much from Washington’s example as executive-in-chief, and his inaugural address (with acknowledgment to William J. Bennett’s American Patriot’s Almanac):

It would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official act my fervent supplication to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States a Government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes…
No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency. And in the important revolution just accomplished in the system of their united government, the tranquil deliberations and voluntary consent of so many distinct communities from which the event has resulted cannot be compared with the means by which most governments have been established without some return of pious gratitude, along with an humble anticipation of the future blessings which the past seems to presage.



Below are some of the 110 “rules” George recorded for himself at age sixteen. I suspect these would have most 16-year-olds LOL-ing today. Civility? Decent behavior? Respect? How 18th century!


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