The old Soviet Union was well known for vodka, borscht and re-education camps. As awful as the first two sound, the third was far worse as citizens who did not tow the party line and were perceived to be a threat to the government were sent off to have their thinking adjusted. To the American mind, steeped in the concept of free speech, the idea of punishment for unpopular “thought crimes” convinced those of us who lived through the cold war of the righteousness of our cause.
Back during the poisonous sixties, radicals were fond of telling us “Dissent is the highest form of patriotism”, misattributed to Thomas Jefferson – perhaps to give them some undeserved credibility. These same people, now grown older and having wormed their way into positions of power are now singing a different tune. Many of these were professional students who never left the ivy covered halls of academia. They never learned about life in the real world and have done little but let their disastrous ideas percolate until they are now in a position to execute them. Read more of this article »
The financial regulatory bill recently passed by the house provides for an “Office of Minority and Women Inclusion” for each of the agencies created by the legislation. That is not one office… but one for each agency. Even setting aside for a moment the concern that such a scheme is not a valid approach, can anyone say, “duplicated service and duplicated expense”. It does though, help to maximize the number of new federal employees, probably union employees. However, taking Ronald Reagan’s admonition that, “The closest thing to eternal life on earth is a government program”, this policy is even more disastrous to an over-leveraged economy and the tax paying citizens.
We can only hope that we see enough change in Washington to defund such programs in the absence of the possibility of an actual repeal. At a time when our country is more divided than at any time in the recent past, we do not need one more, or multiplied numbers of agencies designed to assign quotas and pit one group of citizens (usually) against another.
The United States has long been known as a “melting pot” where newcomers to our country were integrated into a more or less common culture with common language and aspirations. Immigrants came here, and believed they were coming to the promised land. Most saw an opportunity filled land and they wanted to get their piece of the pie. Our country prospered as more and more legal immigrants joined the pursuit of the American Dream. This is not surprising as our creator knew the value of unity when he said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.” (Genesis 11:1-9 NIV) Read more of this article »
Let’s try something new shall we? I got this idea after spending a weekend with my wife’s family. The Andersons are great group of folks who I enjoy spending time with, however, they are about as politically divided a family as I have ever seen. This is not just your standard “this is my view, this is your view lets have a drink and discuss it” type of family. Politics are a sport and are argued as vehemently as two teams fighting like the score is tied with 30 seconds to go in the championship game. Based on my wife’s request, I try to stay out of the circle of engagement, but every now and then I am drawn into an argument. My party affiliation is no secret as I am a registered independent, but my viewpoints are anything but neutral. I am, as my brother-in-law has labeled me, “a right-wing-nut-job”. I am devoutly conservative with my ideals and hence am a target for the “left-wing-kooks”. More times than not, I am challenged to defend the actions of my party affiliations or my ideologies. This has grown tiresome, as my arguments are often dismissed by the those who do not like to hear what I have say or are interrupted prior to my conclusions, so I am going to make an offer of unusual stature.
I do not believe the Republican party has the answer to every problem, nor do I always agree with they way they handle situations, however, I almost always find myself in disagreement with the Democrats and their ideology. Above all, I am searching for what I believe is best for AMERICA. I do not care about political affiliations, but I believe in upholding the ideals of our Founding Fathers and the integrity of the Red, White, and Blue. I do not believe I can effectively call myself a supporter of Americanism if I do not listen to both sides of the argument, likewise, I do not give much weight to an someone’s opinion who does not let me finish a statement without interjecting, arguing, or being otherwise “closed-minded”. Read more of this article »
There’s not much to say about this video, other than our first amendment rights are being overridden by those who have come to our country, not to assimilate, but to change and control. The use of police to stifle constitutionally guaranteed free speech shows how far we have fallen from government officials… particularly big city officials… who have forgotten our heritage of God given rights and have caved to the expediency of political pressure and fear of those who reject our freedom and values and insist on imposing theirs. If you believe this is wrong, pass it on to everyone you know. We can’t fight this sort of thing by sitting on our couches and bellyaching about it.
If you feel the need to express your opinion of the actions you just witnessed on the video, you can reach the mayor and police chief at the Dearborn city website. You might even want to give them a call.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) owns the airwaves that we receive radio broadcasts and also has oversight on the internet. This weekend the FCC plans to make final policy rules on “Net Neutrality” which in essence establishes a requirement that “equal time” or equal access must be provided for all points of view on the internet. In essence this translate to violating free speech by limiting and controlling content. The victory of Comcast over the FCC may prevent the FCC from enforcing its Net Neutrality rules because there is no law being violated and therefore does not have the teeth to compel enforcement. Notwithstanding the FCC’s loss in Federal Appeals Court, the FCC continues to move forward with the release and enforce of Net Neutrality policies later this week.
US law grants power to the FCC to “directly regulate” the telecommunications industry. However, the FCC does not classify the internet (broadband) as telecommunications but as an “information service.” Due to this “distinction” the internet must be regulated differently. In a 2002 US Supreme Court decision, the FCC does have “limited” and “ancillary” authority to regulate the internet as an information service. Statist progressive FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is strongly committed to Net Neutrality and is proceeding forward despite court reversals. Read more of this article »
Last night was one of the rare occasions that I watched the local news. This is a great source of information about the robberies, rapes and murders in my home town… and it’s kind of depressing since there is not a lot that I can do about most of these personal tragedies. What upset me most, though, was the news feed about the “Christian militia” arrests that took place over the weekend. There was an almost gleeful tone to the story about how the feds took down these religious zealots intent on overthrowing the government. Folks, this is just the beginning.
To put the story into perspective, all we know is what the formerly main stream media has told us… and all they know is what they’ve gotten from the authorities involved. It may be that these nine or so people in custody presented a real threat to life as we know it, however our government, over many administrations has lied to us so often that it’s difficult to know truth from fiction – and our media watchdogs have turned into lapdogs so we can’t look to them for help in ferreting out the straight story.
Even FoxNews ran an uncritical story about arrests of “Christian” militia members, so what can we really expect from the likes of CNN and MSNBC. Not knowing these people, I have no idea of what brand of theology they adhere to, so I am unable to decide if they are persecuted brothers or nut case heretics. I mean, this is the same media that calls Jeremiah Wright and Jim Wallis Christian, and I certainly am not willing to claim any spiritual kinship to them. Read more of this article »
Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council exercised his and his organizations First Amendment right when he spoke out about the replacement of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” military policy with a positive acceptance of openly homosexual members. He wrote about the long documented problems this type of policy caused in the past and will cause in the future. Mr. Perkins understands that soldiers don’t like taking showers with guys that like taking showers with soldiers.
Sometime back, he was invited to give a devotional at a National Prayer Luncheon held at Andrews Air Force Base, just outside the liberal bastion of beltway thinking. However, somewhere along the line, commanders, ever mindful of their promotional opportunities and their relationship to their civilian leaders, decided that it would be best if Tony Perkins not spread his common sense ideas among the men in their charge.
Perkins was told that he and his group were “incompatible in our role as military members who serve our elected officials and our commander in chief.” Some would call it censorship if messengers are denied access based on their message. It is clear that only one message on this topic is permitted in the military and and our government in general. Read more of this article »
It is in the best interest of tyrannical government to have a disreputable news media. The mainstream news media have become more scandalous and less believable than government.
Beginning with an agenda – usually far-left – they filter, formulate and frame world events to promote their agendas. Learning well from Hollywood, these purveyors of persuasion use the camera lens and mighty pen to create illusions designed to indoctrinate and ignite passions.
Add in a barrage of brilliant marketing techniques that would make Madison Avenue ad men envious and what we have is mainstream media news.
Rather than shining a light into the dark corners of government, they prefer to direct the spotlight on themselves or their cause. Journalists from main-stream news networks and newspapers – many suffering from “power envy” – use rumors, innuendos, opinions and the infamous “anonymous sources” to present their distorted version of the truth. Read more of this article »
As we approach the celebration of Christ’s birth, I am reminded of the words of John Quincy Adams. On July 4, 1837, he spoke these words:
“Why is it that, next to the birthday of the Savior of the world, your most joyous and most venerated festival returns on this day? … Is it not that, in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior? That it forms a leading event in the progress of the Gospel dispensation? Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer’s mission upon earth. That it laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity, and gave to the world the first irrevocable pledge of the fulfillment of the prophecies announced directly from Heaven at the birth of the Savior and predicted by the greatest of the Hebrew prophets six hundred years before?”
Adams was exactly right: America’s birth is directly linked to the birth of our Savior. In fact, the United States of America is the only nation established by Christian people, upon Biblical principles, and dedicated to the purpose of religious liberty. This truth is easily observed within America’s earliest history. Read more of this article »
The last few days articles have brought more hate mail than usual from panic stricken “warmers” who are scared silly that we’ll be successful in stopping the rush to fix our supposedly overheated planet and we will all drown as polar ice caps melt and oceans overwhelm the land. These fragile souls have been conditioned by our educational establishment, formerly mainstream media and our government to believe all sorts of doomsday predictions… often to the point of irrationality.
They have heard Algore. Barack Hussein Obama and a host of other people with high positions, but little schooling in climatology, tell us that the science is settled… that arguments are over and the decision has been made: we are on the eve of destruction. The unfortunate thing about this is that most everyone promoting the man-made global warming theory has some sort of financial or political stake in the issue. There is no question about how former Vice President and erstwhile internet inventor Algore is enriching himself by perpetrating this fraud. Companies standing by with their hands out for government money all have a vested interest in reinforcing our belief, as do the refugees from the 60’s who are now tenured professors living on generous climate change study grants.
Dr. Michaels is a respected professor at the University of Virginia, climatologist at the CATO Institute and member of the UN’s IPCC. He has actually seen the data, and knows how to interpret it. We would do well to take his evaluation more seriously than amateur weather buffs who have no idea what is behind the computer models that have initiated and fueled this panic. Dr. Michaels is also one that the Climategate emails suggested that someone would like to do bodily harm because of his honesty. Now is the time for each of us to keep our head about us and use them for more than a hat rack as my grand parents used to say.
In the first part of this essay, we defined totalitarianism as the state-orchestrated dissolution of the private sphere, initiated by an ideologically-driven political organization with the goal of exercising total control over the population of a country. In the words of the father of Italian fascism, Giovanni Gentile, the totalitarian state seeks “total representation of the nation and total guidance of national goals.” While this control is most obvious and pronounced under a dictatorship, it is not entirely absent in democratic republics. A legislature may vote in favor of a totalitarian state just as easily as a dictator may impose one.
This is totalitarianism in theory, but in order to fully understand what totalitarianism is, we must recognize it in practice. In practice, totalitarianism is expressed in the mass surveillance of the public, in laws that criminalize a broad range of activities usually reserved for individual discretion, as well as in direct government interference in matters of business and religion. These laws are enacted with the purpose of organizing a country around a particular social, political, and economic ideology—such as Marxist-Leninism, Islamism, State Corporatism, etc.—and to restrict dissent against that ideology. There are several areas that have become fertile ground for the growth of totalitarianism in recent years: the Internet, electronic surveillance, and thought crime.
The Internet, as the most obvious symbol of the free exchange of ideas in the contemporary world, has routinely come under attack by totalitarians of all stripes. The People’s Republic of China , for instance, maintains a force of over 30,000 “Internet police,” who monitor the country’s estimated 338 million Internet users. Among other restrictions, no one in China may use the Internet to “incite to overthrow the government or the socialist system,” “injure the reputation of state organs,” or “promote feudal superstitions.” Most of these regulations can be broadly interpreted to shut down any dissent—or even discussion to that effect—against the state or its official ideology. China’s Internet police monitor discussion groups and chat rooms and erase comments that are deemed unsympathetic to the government. Keywords such as “Falun Gong” and “Red Terror” are blocked on search engines. Read more of this article »
If the United States came under the control of a totalitarian regime, would we recognize it? This question is of utmost importance today, when many of us harbor fears that some time in the near future ideas such as freedom, liberty, and privacy will be alien to our society. But as we witness the regular passage of legislation designed to restrict and regulate, and the tendency of the Federal government to increase rather than decrease its power (with a handful of exceptions), we are struck by the uninterrupted routine of life in the USA . As the central government brings more and more of private society under its control, we continue to watch cable TV, shop at supermarkets overflowing with products, and eat at our favorite restaurants. Could it be that we have already passed that dreaded threshold and missed it?
The trouble with diagnosing our condition is that most people are unaware of what totalitarianism actually is. Among even the most politically astute, there is little mental room for the possibility that a state in the process of becoming totalitarian might lack the most brutal and outward signs of oppressive regimes portrayed in popular culture. Because of our rather simplistic frame of reference—picture black and white images of National Socialist Germany or the Soviet Union —we recognize a country as either being in the advanced stages of totalitarianism or not at all. But just because a state maintains the structures and language of democracy and continues to have elections, for instance, that does not preclude it from being totalitarian.
In fact, North Korea has a constitution and holds regular elections with three competing political parties—the Workers’ Party of Korea , the Korean Social Democratic Party, and the Chondoist Chongu Party—all united under an organization called the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland. In April 2009, North Korea revised its constitution to include Article 8, which reads, “The State respects and protects the human rights of the workers, peasants and working intellectuals who have been previously freed from exploitation and oppression and have become masters of the State and society.” Yet North Korea is recognized as being one of the most oppressive totalitarian states in the world. Read more of this article »
“Because we honor justice and the common good, we will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia, or any other anti-life act; nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family. We will fully and ungrudgingly render to Caesar what is Caesar’s. But under no circumstances will we render to Caesar what is God’s.”
So concludes the Manhattan Declaration, penned in part by Chuck Colson and signed by 152 Orthodox, Catholic and Evangelical church leaders. The list of signatures reads like a Who’s Who of the Christian world. What these courageous men and women have done is to take their beliefs outside of the confines of the church and into the real world where they can make an impact in our society. In some ways we can thank the current administration for the slap in the face that woke up both the tea party people and, now, the religious leaders. Prior to this time, our country had been drifting toward destruction… now we are rushing headlong to the end of our country as we know it.
Below, I’ve included some excerpts that convey the concerns and spirit of the document. You can read the complete declaration and list of signers at http://tinyurl.com/ykrmek4 Read more of this article »
I had the fortune of hearing Brigitte Gabriel a few years ago and was struck by the clarity of her message. Political correctness is, on one hand, a method of controlling the expressed thoughts and actions of the masses through social and, sometimes, legal, pressures. On the other hand, it attempts to clear the way for the one message our “betters” want us to hear and act on. It comes from the halls of academia which is supposed to be the bastion of free thought and expression. However, in practice, thought is only free if it stays within the confines of the leader’s wishes. Other expression is deemed anti-social and must be restricted for the smooth functioning of the progressive agenda at work in most universities, media outlets and government agencies. Read more of this article »
[Note: My son, Tim, writes today's column. He is an attorney who received his Juris Doctor degree from Cumberland School of Law at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. He is a former felony prosecutor for the Florida State Attorney's Office and now owns his own private law practice. He is the author of a soon-to-be-published new book, entitled FREEDOM FOR A CHANGE. Tim is also regarded as one of America's leading spokesmen for State sovereignty.]
After the release of my last column ”Freedom’s Destruction by Constitutional De-Construction,” I received so many responses to my statement, “The people of the states [must] once again reject this national form of government and assert and defend the principles of federalism,” that I felt the need to develop this subject more thoroughly. The question I received was: “How can I choose federalism once again?” Indeed, answering this question is crucial to injecting a cure for the sickness and illness of tyrannical, national control over the people of the states. Undoubtedly, we are going to need an acute dosage to even begin ridding ourselves of the disease destroying the body of our once-great federation.
See the other column at http://bizy.be/XbWqB
The reality is, the answer is not complicated. The more relevant question will likely be, what portion of the cure(s) must we implement. This will require a diagnosis of the degree and seriousness of the disease’s attack on our Confederate Republic. Let us analyze briefly the seriousness of the attack so that we may proportionally and accordingly respond and defend against the encroachments on our constitutional freedoms, guarantees and powers. Read more of this article »
The sad case of Army Major Malik Nadal Hasan is just the latest evidence that our culture of political correctness is not only destroying our freedom of speech, but it can have deadly results. The push for politically correctness is actually an effort by those who see themselves as elites to tell us poor unfortunate and uneducated commoners that there are some things were are not allowed to say and ideas we are not allowed to discuss… unless it is how awful our country is.
Some courts have even upheld this unconstitutional and anti-American mindset when they have placed hurt feelings above the rights we have been given by our creator. Our constitution says we have the right to express our thoughts and feelings. It does not guarantee that we will never be offended. Yet… some have used this pernicious concept which emanated from the bowels of academia which was once the bastion of free thought and inquiry to stifle free thought and inquiry. However, in this era of specialization, we have teachers teaching and professors professing that have spent their whole lives behind ivy covered walls, having successfully avoided real world participation. They have given us the benefit of the output of their great minds that are unencumbered by the reality the rest of us live in.
In the case of Major Hasan, we see that politically correct thinking most likely is running amok, even in our fine military. Reports are that he was inflicting his anti-war and anti-American views on recovering service men. We are also told that he was angrily spreading the word that our country was at war with his Islamic faith… and that those that take part deserve death. We are told that he gave away his possessions in his apartment prior to this attack… as if he were not coming back. And, lastly, we are told that he shouted praises to Allah before beginning his attack. Yet, the Commander in Chief is not interested in having investigators pursue the possibility that his extreme religious views led to his horrible actions. Read more of this article »
In recent columns, I have reported on both the attempted takeover of the Hardin, Montana, jail facility by a private mercenary force and a Chinese story that the White House would fly the Communist Chinese flag in honor of the 60th anniversary of Mao’s revolution of 1949, which brought the Reds to power (initially killing as many as 3 million Chinese people, and resulting in the deaths of more than 50 million people during those 60 years).
I promised readers that I would keep an eye out for these stories and provide necessary updates. Well, here are those updates.
The Hardin, Montana, Update:
On Friday, October 9, the private mercenary company that had attempted to take over the Hardin jail facility, American Police Force (APF), announced that it was pulling out of negotiations on contracts with the Two Rivers Authority (the economic development arm of the city of Hardin) to operate the facility. This announcement was made after my column was released and many other news sources, Internet bloggers, and talk radio hosts blitzed the story to the public. We showed how APF’s frontman, Serbian immigrant Michael Hilton, had a criminal record, and is, in fact, currently facing criminal charges for fraud in California. We also reported that APF had fraudulently attempted to identify itself as the “City of Hardin Police Department” by patrolling Hardin’s streets with Mercedes-Benz SUVs with Hardin police markings stenciled on the sides of the vehicles. (The city of Hardin does not have a police department. The city is policed by the Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office.) Read more of this article »
In what has been called a “high tech lynching”, Rush Limbaugh has been forced out of a group attempting to buy the St. Louis Rams. The man, who is the epitome of the American success story, finds himself being lied about and labeled by members of the media who he has roundly criticized for being lapdogs of the Obama administration, as they prove they have no interest in fact-checking when the victim is one the feel “deserves it”.
He has been quoted, by some media outlets, as saying slavery had its merits, that at least the streets were safe at night. However, when pressed for documentation of the supposed outrage, they became strangely silent. Then they fall back on his comments about Philadelphia Eagles quarterback, Donovan McNabb, who he said was overrated because the media were interested in promoting the success of a black man in the position. Hmmmm, sounds like comments about Barack Hussein Obama.
As a Eagles fan from back in the days when Pete Retzlaff played tight end, and one who enjoys watching McNabb, Westbrook and company pick NFL defenses apart, I have to respectfully disagree with this assessment. However, we are, up to this time, a free country where people are permitted to have their opinions… even if they love the Steelers as Mr. Limbaugh does. There is no accounting for some peoples taste. Read more of this article »
Let’s face it: most Americans live in a world of false security. This is somewhat understandable, given the fact that the majority of the U.S. population was born after 1945. Few remember the dangers and hardships of World War II; fewer still remember the Great Depression. Few Americans know what it’s like to not have some sort of “supercenter” nearby with shelves stocked with every kind of food imaginable, twenty-four hours a day. Few know what life was like before there were restaurants of all sizes and types on virtually every street corner in America. And only a handful remembers when most roads were unpaved, or when sports were truly a pastime and not a megabuck obsession.
Modern living within the world’s only “superpower” has created a giant unsuspecting, soft, lackadaisical, and lethargic society. We expect the government to keep our streets safe, our roads paved, our stores stocked, our jobs secure, and our enemies at bay. However, in the desire to make government the panacea for all our problems, we have sold not only our independence, but also our virtue.
Where the federal government was contracted (via the U.S. Constitution) to accept limited power for the overall good of both states and people, it has become a monster of gargantuan proportions, claiming authority over virtually every liberty and right known to man. And in the process, it decided it didn’t need God, either.
It is no hyperbole to say that the U.S. federal government has been on a “Ban God” bandwagon for the past 50 years. Whether it kicks prayer and Bible reading out of school, bars military chaplains from praying in Jesus’ name, burns Bibles in Iraq, removes state supreme court chief justices from their positions for posting the Ten Commandments, or threatens high school principals with jail for asking the blessing, the federal government has invoked the judgment of Heaven upon our country as surely as did Old Testament Israel. Read more of this article »
A couple of recent news stories show us that we are seeing less of a concern for the welfare of children today than when we had people in Washington more in tune with traditional American values. One is official policy and one is just an indication of the degradation public values. Does this reflect what average Americans are thinking, or just what the elites who have wormed their way into positions of power and influence want us to believe?
The first story was all over the news a few days ago. Sharon Tate’s husband and film director Roman Polanski was finally taken into custody some thirty years after drugging and raping a thirteen year old girl at the home of Jack Nicholson, then fleeing the country. The amoral (or immoral – take your pick) Hollywood crowd has been quite vocal in their outrage at this attempt to bring him to justice. They say it’s been so long… just let the guy alone. It’s as if the passage of time made the crime less heinous and the concept of sheltering children from older, more experienced predators less important.
Many believe he should spend the rest his life behind bars… but his peers don’t see it that way. He is famous, rich and has a lot powerful friends. Therefore the rules that would govern Joe the Plumber don’t apply to people of his quality. We have seen this with the treatment of Ted Kennedy after the death of Mary Jo Kopechne, O.J. Simpson and so many others. It’s as if, when you attain a certain status, people recognize you have too much to loose and they are not willing to take it from you. Brad Paisley nails this thinking in his “Celebrity” video. (http://bizy.be/ZTLkM) Never mind the shattered life of a young girl who cried herself to sleep at night.
Then, the story that’s been ignored by the state media – that of the appointment of Kevin Jennings as the “safe schools czar” – officially the director of the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools . The man is an open homosexual blatantly advocating a pro-homosexual agenda in the past and proclaiming his intention to continue in his new position. Even setting aside his personal practices, his past actions as a school teacher should disqualify him from the job. He still tells the story of a fifteen year old student who revealed to him that he was meeting older men in restrooms for sex… AND HE DID NOTHING! Read more of this article »
On August 6 goons from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) reportedly beat up Kenneth Gladney as he passed out Gadsden flags outside a St. Louis townhall forum held by Democrat Rep. Russ Carnahan. Gladney was simply exercising his First Amendment free speech rights, yet some hooligans decided to put an end to it. SEIU president, Andy Stern commented, “We prefer to use the power of persuasion, but if that doesn’t work, we use the persuasion of power.”
Purple shirted union thugs at townhall meetings cannot enhance the free speech we are all supposedly guaranteed by the First Amendment. They cannot be permitted to succeed! They show up, not with the idea of promoting their position, but of stifling opposition to it… for if the opposition were permitted to spread the truth, their power grab would be seen for what it is and its’ progress would be aborted faster than an unborn child entering a Planned Parenthood center.
The choice, then, is ours. Do we back off because of threats, or do we persist in spreading the word of freedom? The Teamsters, SEUI and other assorted union muscle have been given the word to show up and shout down, drown out, or otherwise render ineffective the taxpaying citizens who are objecting to government takeover of our healthcare. It’s in line with the Obama principle of bringing a gun to a knife fight. Read more of this article »
Recently the internet has been awash in videos of our representatives running afoul of their constituents at townhall meetings throughout the country. They are entertaining to watch, and have generated controversy along with a great deal of misinterpretation. What is the real story behind these uprisings and are they justified?
The political elites are used to telling people how things are and being viewed with awe as a public benefactor. Such was not the case over the last few days. The worms have been turning on the people who have been criticizing and ignoring them for far too many years. It seems that there is a remnant in this country that still has an element of self respect and refused to be taken for granted or trampled upon any longer.
It appears that the Tea Parties have awakened a sleeping giant… that they opened citizens’ eyes that they were not alone in feeling abused by their government. They realized that many of their friends and neighbors are on the same page. They talked to each other, they connected online… they networked! In the past when the media that was sympathetic to progressive causes and agendas fed them information, they accepted it because they had no other frame of reference. My how times have changed!
In the past, these townhall meetings consisted of the esteemed personage coming down to give the little people a glimpse of their power and wisdom. My how times have changed! Those who have grown weary of being talked down to and weary of having their desires ignored finally found themselves ready to push back and set things aright. Read more of this article »
Interestingly the most open and transparent administration in history which controls the Franking Commission has given us another example of just how open and transparent they really are. For those not familiar with it, the franking privilege permits members of congress to send mail to constituents at taxpayer expense. From it’s own website, The Franking Commission “has a three fold mandate: (1) to issue regulations governing the proper use of the franking privilege; (2) to provide guidance in connection with mailings; (3) to act as a quasi-judicial body for the disposition of formal complaints against Members of Congress who have allegedly violated franking laws or regulations.”
Right out of Saul Alinsky’s playbook… working within the system to destroy it, the commission has begun censoring material sent to constituents by Republicans. Having gained pretty much complete control of the house functioning, they are flexing their muscles and squeezing out negative information whenever they can find it. They objected to the chart above which outlines the complexity of the proposed plan as well as references to “government run health care”. It is understood that there still is no final version of the bill so some of the boxes may be shuffled as the “majority party”, which they prefer to be called, engages in power struggles to see which illegitimate departments get the most influential positions.
For the most part, the main stream media has pretty much ignored the situation or, at best, treated it as an isolated instance. What they fail, or refuse, to see is that the current administration is consistently doing its’ best to control the information citizens get which, in turn, heavily influences their opinions. Read more of this article »
It’s getting harder and harder to give the new president the benefit of the doubt. We are told that we should cut him some slack and give him a chance. However, we’ve seen him change the federal policy to use our tax money to pay for overseas abortions, we see more money just thrown at programs of little use to most of us and now… and now we are told that the faith based organizations are doing wonderful work, BUT now the new administration is looking at telling these organizations that they can continue to contribute their time and efforts, but they need to discontinue the very aspects of their work that makes them unique and effective.
On one hand, this idea of forcing any organization taking federal funds to hire anyone regardless of compatibility with the charities beliefs and values could be looked at as just another waste of government (read taxpayer) money. The thing they don’t comprehend about this rule is that it is these distinctions and people that define many faith based ministries and that make them effective. It shows a lack of understanding that it is the faith element that keeps prisoners from returning to prison and lets welfare mothers pull their families and their lives together.
The financial cost of this kind of decision to make faith based programs as ineffective as regular government programs means more money is just swirling down the drain with the rest of the “stimulus” money. On the other hand the human cost is even greater. The human tragedy of a prisoner returning to jail, not to mention the trail of injury and heartache he leaves in his wake on the way back is something we just cannot tolerate if it is at all avoidable. Read more of this article »
In a weekend speech to the Democrat faithful and Virginia fat cats, former President Bill Clinton told the crowd “the culture war is won” as he urged his fellow party members to take advantage of this new found power to implement the various schemes that have been on hold for years. Of course the crowd cheered… but will the country? Will you?
I’m willing to concede that the election was won by the nefarious forces of the left – BUT NOT THE WAR! Before we go on, let’s look at some of the changes the former prez would like to see the Obamessiah and his minions in congress pursue.
One item near and dear to the supporters of both is the ability to kill their offspring. The new president already has issued an executive order permitting use of our tax money to fund an increasing array of abortion activities. Many in future generations will not be around to thank him.
The next area to be addressed is the gay agenda where people of the same sex want not only the right to do disgusting things with each other (which they already have) but to have the rest of us accept this behavior as normal and just another option acceptable to us all. It’s not clear at what point pedophilia will be added to the list of acceptable choices. Read more of this article »
“Don’t listen to Rush”, President Obama instructs Republicans. He tells them that if they are to get along with Democrats they have to stop listening to this kind of negative talk about him and his plans. Then he arrogantly negated suggestions from Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va) with a terse, “Because I won” seeking to shut down input conflicting with his plans.
What the new president and his allies fail to realize is that Mr. Limbaugh is not that powerful. He has the most listened to talk show on the radio, not because he has that many original thoughts, but because he reflects values held by many Americans. He says things people don’t hear in the mainstream media. He expresses frustrations and desires of many who tune in for encouragement in times when our country does not seem to be working well.
In admonishing members of the minority party to ignore Rush Limbaugh, Mr. Obama is really telling them to stop listening to the concerns of their constituents… as expressed by Mr. Limbaugh. He would, apparently, prefer that they stay inside the beltway bubble and use Democrats as their point of reference.
Can America Survive? is not just a warning. It is a wake-up call and a rallying cry to Christian citizens everywhere to prevent the next unthinkable American disaster. After all, as Hagee points out, “those who do not remember the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them in the future.”
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Read the First Comment 
The financial regulatory bill recently passed by the house provides for an “Office of Minority and Women Inclusion” for each of the agencies created by the legislation. That is not one office… but one for each agency. Even setting aside for a moment the concern that such a scheme is not a valid approach, can anyone say, “duplicated service and duplicated expense”. It does though, help to maximize the number of new federal employees, probably union employees. However, taking Ronald Reagan’s admonition that, “The closest thing to eternal life on earth is a government program”, this policy is even more disastrous to an over-leveraged economy and the tax paying citizens.
by Kelsey Hilderbrand
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) owns the airwaves that we receive radio broadcasts and also has oversight on the internet. This weekend the FCC plans to make final policy rules on “Net Neutrality” which in essence establishes a requirement that “equal time” or equal access must be provided for all points of view on the internet. In essence this translate to violating free speech by limiting and controlling content. The victory of Comcast over the FCC may prevent the FCC from enforcing its Net Neutrality rules because there is no law being violated and therefore does not have the teeth to compel enforcement. Notwithstanding the FCC’s loss in Federal Appeals Court, the FCC continues to move forward with the release and enforce of Net Neutrality policies later this week.
Last night was one of the rare occasions that I watched the local news. This is a great source of information about the robberies, rapes and murders in my home town… and it’s kind of depressing since there is not a lot that I can do about most of these personal tragedies. What upset me most, though, was the news feed about the “Christian militia” arrests that took place over the weekend. There was an almost gleeful tone to the story about how the feds took down these religious zealots intent on overthrowing the government. Folks, this is just the beginning.
Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council exercised his and his organizations First Amendment right when he spoke out about the replacement of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” military policy with a positive acceptance of openly homosexual members. He wrote about the long documented problems this type of policy caused in the past and will cause in the future. Mr. Perkins understands that soldiers don’t like taking showers with guys that like taking showers with soldiers.
It is in the best interest of tyrannical government to have a disreputable news media. The mainstream news media have become more scandalous and less believable than government.
As we approach the celebration of Christ’s birth, I am reminded of the words of John Quincy Adams. On July 4, 1837, he spoke these words:
In the first part of this essay, we defined totalitarianism as the state-orchestrated dissolution of the private sphere, initiated by an ideologically-driven political organization with the goal of exercising total control over the population of a country. In the words of the father of Italian fascism, Giovanni Gentile, the totalitarian state seeks “total representation of the nation and total guidance of national goals.” While this control is most obvious and pronounced under a dictatorship, it is not entirely absent in democratic republics. A legislature may vote in favor of a totalitarian state just as easily as a dictator may impose one.
If the United States came under the control of a totalitarian regime, would we recognize it? This question is of utmost importance today, when many of us harbor fears that some time in the near future ideas such as freedom, liberty, and privacy will be alien to our society. But as we witness the regular passage of legislation designed to restrict and regulate, and the tendency of the Federal government to increase rather than decrease its power (with a handful of exceptions), we are struck by the uninterrupted routine of life in the USA . As the central government brings more and more of private society under its control, we continue to watch cable TV, shop at supermarkets overflowing with products, and eat at our favorite restaurants. Could it be that we have already passed that dreaded threshold and missed it?
“Because we honor justice and the common good, we will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia, or any other anti-life act; nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family. We will fully and ungrudgingly render to Caesar what is Caesar’s. But under no circumstances will we render to Caesar what is God’s.”
[Note: My son, Tim, writes today's column. He is an attorney who received his Juris Doctor degree from Cumberland School of Law at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. He is a former felony prosecutor for the Florida State Attorney's Office and now owns his own private law practice. He is the author of a soon-to-be-published new book, entitled FREEDOM FOR A CHANGE. Tim is also regarded as one of America's leading spokesmen for State sovereignty.]
The sad case of Army Major Malik Nadal Hasan is just the latest evidence that our culture of political correctness is not only destroying our freedom of speech, but it can have deadly results. The push for politically correctness is actually an effort by those who see themselves as elites to tell us poor unfortunate and uneducated commoners that there are some things were are not allowed to say and ideas we are not allowed to discuss… unless it is how awful our country is.
In recent columns, I have reported on both the attempted takeover of the Hardin, Montana, jail facility by a private mercenary force and a Chinese story that the White House would fly the Communist Chinese flag in honor of the 60th anniversary of Mao’s revolution of 1949, which brought the Reds to power (initially killing as many as 3 million Chinese people, and resulting in the deaths of more than 50 million people during those 60 years).
Let’s face it: most Americans live in a world of false security. This is somewhat understandable, given the fact that the majority of the U.S. population was born after 1945. Few remember the dangers and hardships of World War II; fewer still remember the Great Depression. Few Americans know what it’s like to not have some sort of “supercenter” nearby with shelves stocked with every kind of food imaginable, twenty-four hours a day. Few know what life was like before there were restaurants of all sizes and types on virtually every street corner in America. And only a handful remembers when most roads were unpaved, or when sports were truly a pastime and not a megabuck obsession.
A couple of recent news stories show us that we are seeing less of a concern for the welfare of children today than when we had people in Washington more in tune with traditional American values. One is official policy and one is just an indication of the degradation public values. Does this reflect what average Americans are thinking, or just what the elites who have wormed their way into positions of power and influence want us to believe?
Then, the story that’s been ignored by the state media – that of the appointment of Kevin Jennings as the “safe schools czar” – officially the director of the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools . The man is an open homosexual blatantly advocating a pro-homosexual agenda in the past and proclaiming his intention to continue in his new position. Even setting aside his personal practices, his past actions as a school teacher should disqualify him from the job. He still tells the story of a fifteen year old student who revealed to him that he was meeting older men in restrooms for sex… AND HE DID NOTHING! 
On August 6 goons from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) reportedly beat up Kenneth Gladney as he passed out Gadsden flags outside a St. Louis townhall forum held by Democrat Rep. Russ Carnahan. Gladney was simply exercising his First Amendment free speech rights, yet some hooligans decided to put an end to it. SEIU president, Andy Stern commented, “We prefer to use the power of persuasion, but if that doesn’t work, we use the persuasion of power.”
