Coffee To Live By

It's just not fair....a study in contrasts...

2011-05-07T23:31:00.004-05:00

The following italicized text is taken directly from this week's edition of The Jerusalem Post -- Christian Edition.

On the night of March 11 – as members of the Fogel family slept in their home in Itamar – Hakim Maazan Niad Awad and Amjad Mahmud Fauzi Awad set out from the village of Awarta, 2 km. to the south, armed with knives, face masks and a wire cutter, security forces said on Sunday.

The following account of the massacre that followed is based on confessions from the two suspects, a reenactment of the attack by them, and a painstaking investigation led by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency).

The suspects planned the stabbings days ahead, and made unsuccessful attempts to obtain firearms from a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine representative in their village.

The lack of guns did not dissuade the two men from carrying out their plan to murder Jews.

The youths left Awarta on foot, and after a kilometer, decided against using their wire cutter after seeing that the fence had an electric sensor. Instead they climbed over the fence without triggering its alarm, hiked over a forest hilltop, and reached a row of homes in Itamar.

They entered a home adjacent to the Fogel residence, but no one was there. They stole an M-16 rifle from the home, as well as ammunition and body armor, and walked down the street.

The terrorists then saw the Fogel residence, and spotted children sleeping through the window, security forces said.

Immediately after entering the home, the youths set their knives on two brothers sleeping in their beds, four-year-old Elad, and 11-year-old Yoav, killing them both.

They then entered the parents’ bedroom, where they launched a knife attack on Ehud and Ruth Fogel. The parents fought back. During the struggle, one of the suspects used the stolen M-16 to shoot Ruth Fogel dead. Ehud died of his stab wounds during the fight.

The two men left the house, but then they heard three-month-old Hadas crying.

Awoken by the attack, the baby lay in her crib in her parents’ bedroom.

“They went back into the house and stabbed the baby to death,” a security source said.

Two other children were in the home, but were spared because Akim and Amjad did not know they were there.

Amjad later told interrogators that he would have killed them, too, had he known that they were in the house.

Few media outlets in the United States carried this story--if you don't watch FoxNews, you probably didn't know about this atrocity. What you do hear from the rest of the ridiculous so-called objective media outlets is that Israel is always the villain. Here's another story you won't hear from the majority of our media outlets:

As a large number of Jews gathered near the Fogel home to show their support for the two surviving children and the extended family, a car driving by the crowd stopped. In the back seat of that car was a Palestinian woman in an advanced stage of labor. There was no way she could have made it to a hospital--her baby was coming. Who helped her--showing compassion and delivering her baby? A Jew, there at the Fogel home. One Jewish baby, brutally and mercilessly slaughtered along with her family, by Palestinians. Another baby, this one Palestinian, who was the recipient (along with her mother) of the kindness and compassion of a Jew. A Palestinian butcher kills a baby with a knife and says that the child's age didn't matter--it was a Jew--and a Jew, showing kindness to a Palestinian in the midst of a Jewish gathering to mourn the victims of Palestinian butchery and hatred.

Another contrast--we all remember the media attention given to the flotilla which was entering Israeli waters--encroaching upon the sovreignty of the nation of Israel and breaking its law. We all remember how the media tried to demonize the IDF for boarding the ships which refused to enter an Israeli port and refused to follow the laws of the sovreign nation of Israel. We remember how they were attacked by the occupants of the ships--brutally beaten and attacked by so-called peaceful people. The media didn't cover the reasons for Israeli policy. The media didn't explain that ships headed for Gaza frequently carry weapons for the terrorists of Hamas--terrorists who have fired thousands of missiles into civilian territory. They have targeted schools and school buses. The Israelis must protect themselves by doing everything they can to stop the flow of weapons and military supplies into the land controlled by an organization which has sworn itself to the destruction of Israel. Most media outlets spun their tales with all brazen indignation--as if there isn't really a threat to the Israeli people. Yet those same media outlets haven't told you that the IDF just intercepted a ship, the Victoria. It was a cargo vessel sailing under the Liberian flag. The captain peacefully allowed his ship to be boarded, and the Israeli naval personnel found 39 containers that had been loaded in the Syrian port of Latikia. Two weeks earlier two Iranian naval vessels were docked at the same port. Those vessels had crossed the Suez canal when they were allowed to do so by the Egyptian government after the fall of Hosni Mubarak. The containers were marked as if they contained cotton and lentils. A search of those containers found advanced weapons-including surface-to-ship missiles that could be fired from the shores of Gaza and take out Israeli naval vessels within several miles of the coast. Those missiles had markings on them and had technical manuals as well--all of which was written in Farsi-the language of Iran and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahminthemoodforjihad. Did you hear about this from our so-called objective media? No, you did not. I didn't either--I also found this in the Jerusalem Post.

And now for the final contrast. Al Qaeda has sworn itself to our destruction. Its leaders regularly call for attacks upon Americans. It is an organization, as we all know, that is responsible for the attacks of 9/11 and the deaths of more than 2,900 people. Hamas has sworn itself to the destruction of Israel. Hamas, and other Palestinian organizations, are responsible for attacks which have killed thousands of Jews. America has a population of over 300 million and Israel has a population of 6 million Jews. Proportionally, Israel has suffered far more at the hands of Hamas than America did at the hands of Bin Laden and Al Qaeda. We just killed Bin Laden-and doing so was the right thing to do. We did so by aggressively entering, without permission, the land of another nation. We killed him even though he was apparently unarmed and was hiding behind his wife. We continue the drone strikes even though the government of Pakistan has asked us to stop. Yet we ask Israel to negotiate with Hamas. We ask them to set the banquet table for them and give them a huge portion of the most fertile agricultural land in all of Israel. We ask them to give up half of their capital city, including the portion of that city that contains the sites most holy to both Judaism and to Christianity. History has shown that Muslims desecrate the sites holy to all other religions when they control a territory.

Let me ask you to consider this--if we begin to see Islamic terror here in the US--attacks, shootings, suicide bombings (a recent survey of Muslims in America found that over half of 'American' Muslims support suicide bombings here in the States if it advances their cause) what will we do? Will we do what our governments has demanded that Israel do? Not just this administration, but George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter all demanded that Israel give Muslim terrorists what they want with nothing in return. No recognition that Israel has a right to exist--no halt to the bombings, no halt to the attacks from Gaza--nothing. If we were to do for Muslims in America that which we demand the Israelis do for the Palestinians, then we will need to give them half of Washington DC and give them the rich agricultural land of Kansas and then give them a strip of land to control between those two areas so that they will have a 'contiguous' space of land. We will need to overlook justice when they kill American school children and babies.

We need to remember what God promised to Abraham--"I will bless those who bless you,and I will curse those who curse you." God also promised special retribution upon anyone that divided Jerusalem. Either you believe God or you don't--but that is what God says about Israel and Jerusalem.

Thomas wasn't the only doubter...

2011-04-23T22:22:00.004-05:00

History and perception haven't been kind to Thomas, one of the disciples of Jesus. No Christian can hear the name of Thomas without thinking of him as the doubter. Even atheists use the phrase 'doubting Thomas' in reference to anyone who is highly skeptical. We all know the story about how Thomas, when told that the other disciples had seen the risen Christ, famously said that he wouldn't believe them until he not only saw the Lord, but was able to touch his wounds. In remembering this story, we don't often recall how all the other disciples doubted as well.

In the hours leading up to the arrest of Jesus, He told his followers that He would be delivered to the authorities, that He would be killed, and that He would arise from the grave, victorious over death. They had all seen Him heal the sick, raise the dead, feed the multitudes, and still the storms. But apparently they didn't believe Him when He told them that He would die and then would arise again. If they had believed Him, they might not have been so distraught and fearful and hopeless in the aftermath of the crucifixion. If they had believed Him, they would have been at the tomb before sunrise on that third day so that they wouldn't miss the spectacle of the Risen Lord emerging from His tomb. They didn't believe Him, and when He arose, they weren't there. They were in hiding.

The women who had followed Jesus also failed to understand or believe. They went to the tomb that morning not to see the Risen Lord, but to annoint the body of their dead hero.

Thomas was not the only doubter. They all doubted. And so have we all--at one time or another. Maybe we have doubted the truth of the Bible. Maybe we have doubted God's love for us. Perhaps we have doubted that God would truly forgive us for some of the things we have done. Jesus wants us to be free of all doubt. Jesus said that Thomas was blessed once he had seen and believed, but that those who believed without seeing were to be more blessed. Don't we all want to be more blessed?

The freedom that Christ brings to us isn't the freedom to do whatever we want because we know that we are forgiven. The freedom that He wants us to have comes, in part, from being free from doubt. When we are free from doubt, we are blessed. We are blessed when we don't doubt that God loves us, has forgiven us, has a plan for us and for our lives, and that we have an eternal destiny with Him. Freedom from doubt brings peace and a sense of security--even in difficult times--even when we don't understand. That is part of the blessing that comes with belief.

The 38th anniversary of the worst Supreme Court decision ever...

2011-01-23T16:22:00.002-06:00

This weekend marks the 38th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the infamous decision that has resulted in the legal murders of more than 50,000,000 people. The following link will take you to an article in The American Thinker, and it is so well written I just had to share it with you.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/01/roe_v_wade_the_supreme_courts.html

Never waste a good crisis...

2011-01-09T22:51:00.005-06:00

There are no words sufficiently foul to describe the cruel actions of one despicable deranged druggie whose ramblings are incoherent and whose premeditated choices led to the deaths of 6 innocent people and the near-fatal woundings of so many others. Nothing originating on this earth will be enough to heal the families so awfully devastated on Saturday in Tuscon, Arizona.

Having said that, I must now say that I am not surprised by the haste with which far too many have put Sarah Palin, conservatives, and the Tea Party in their cross-hairs. Sarah Palin's use of the "cross-hair" analogy was metaphorical--and liberal 'intellectual' types who fail to see that are certainly not objective in their analysis. Since some apparently feel that the use of metaphor is inappropriate because it creates a 'climate of hate', then those who wish to demonize conservatives over this tragedy have some "splainin to do" (with apologies to Ricky Ricardo).

They need to explain why it was wrong for Sarah Palin to use a hunting metaphor when the following facts are indisputable:

*President Obama launched his political career in the living room of a man who didn't just talk about blowing up innocent people--he actually did it.

*President Obama has been influenced by the work of Cloward and Piven--attending multiple conferences where they were keynote individuals. They advocate violence as a means of achieving the overthrow of our current way of life. Just google 'Cloward and Piven violence' and watch some of the videos of recent speeches given by Piven. She says that she does not regard "nonviolence as a necessarily inevitable rule" and that violence is OK as long as it is part of a well planned 'strategy'. I am not making this up--google it for yourself and see what she says.

*Racist Black Panther party members, one of whom publicly calls for blacks to go out and "kill some cracker babies" can stand at a polling place with night sticks and intimidate white voters and Attorney General Eric Holder, who works for President Obama, drops the case against them-a case which had already been won.

*Liberals all over the country fan the flames of racism with no concern for the potential for racially motivated hatred and violence when they accuse the Tea Party of being racist--a claim which could not possibly farther from the truth.

*The 'preacher' who baptized Obama, married the Obamas, and led the 'church' in which Obama sat for twenty years openly hates white people and racist hateful vitriol is his unwavering message.

*There was a publication by the Democratic Leadership Committee in 2004 that featured nine bullseyes over regions where Republican candidates were considered vulnerable that year. The caption: TARGETING STRATEGY. How is that different from the items on the website of SarahPAC? It's not different--the point to see here is liberal hypocrisy. Those who complain about Sarah Palin but don't mention or consider or discuss or condemn the left for its hateful speech are hypocrites.

Seriously--does any rational person really think that a drug-addled loser whose favorite authors are Karl Marx and Adolf Hitler would find anything attractive or compelling about anything Sarah Palin has ever said? Get over the doublemindedness--if you want to cast stones at Sarah Palin for this tragedy, then start paying attention to the real world and give some thought to the facts outlined above.

Here's a good story...

2011-01-05T22:58:00.003-06:00

Tonight, I am sitting with my son and two friends of ours. We are all enjoying some very fine cigars. The stick I selected is a Kristoff Maduro that was given to me for Christmas. My son Alex chose a Kristoff Ligero. Josh picked a Guillermo Leon. All are fine cigars. Kellen chose a Cuban Monte Cristo and is enjoying it tremendously. It will be Kellen's last cigar with us for a year. Tomorrow, he is leaving for a year long mission trip with an organization called The World Race. He'll begin in the Dominican Republic, and then he'll go to Ecuador, Peru, Nicaragua, and Guatamala. Then he'll go to Africa and spend time in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. From there he'll travel to Southeast Asia and visit Thailand, Cambodia, and Malaysia.

Kellen will be traveling with only a backpack and very little else while he travels. In each country he will have contacts with churches and schools and orphanages. You can see what Kellen is doing by going to his blog at http://kellengorbett.theworldrace.org/ and reading. Read the 12/31/2010 entry and you'll see how this amazing year will work for Kellen. kellen's writing is quite good--he is a professional writer and has been published in several venues. If you'd like to follow him throughout the year, sign up at his blog by looking at the left column on the screen and click on 'Receive Updates'.

I would like to ask you to consider joining our family in supporting Kellen as he travels for the next year, taking the love of Christ into some of the most needy places in he world. For only a few dollars, easily donated through a link in his blog, you can play a part. In regards to the Great Commission, it has been said that some go and some send. In helping Kellen, you will be playing a role in the sending and through your assistance, many people will be blessed.

Mene, mene, tekel, parsin....

2010-11-17T09:36:00.002-06:00

The fifth chapter of the book of Daniel tells the story of the feast of Belshazzar. This man, the son of Nebuchadnazzar, put on a feast during which a disembodied hand appeared and wrote on the wall. This story is the source of the contemporary phrase "the handwriting on the wall." (apologies to those very young people who think that Facebook was the first place that you could write on a wall) The hand wrote the words mene, mene, tekel, parsin. No one was able to understand the meaning of the words, and Daniel was summoned. Daniel gave the interpretation to the king. He told the king that the days of his kingdom had been numbered and it was about to end. He told the king that he had been weighed in the scales and found wanting. He told the king that the kingdom was to be divided and given away.

Did the left wing fail to read the handwriting on the wall? Apparently, they did. They saw Americans writing on the wall when Americans tried to be heard in town hall meetings before health care passed. Instead of listening, the left wing members of Congress just cancelled their town hall meetings. They were unwilling to face their constituents and hear them. They chose not to be the voice of the people whom they represented.

Here is what I think America wrote on the wall:

Americans want jobs.
Americans want government to live within its means.
Americans want lower taxes.
Americans want reduced government spending.
Americans want their freedoms protected--not taken away.
Americans want a secure border and sensible immigration policy and no amnesty for illegals.
Americans want the relationship with their doctors protected, not controlled by Washington.
Americans want those who govern to empathize with us, not treat us with arrogant disdain.
Americans want a government that respects the wishes of the governed.

America hasn't gotten what America wants from Washington for a long time. The failure of the left to read the handwriting on the wall has led to the results we see in Tuesday's election. "Mene" -- your days are numbered. Here are some numbers:

66--the number of seats the conservatives picked up in the House.
6 -- the number of seats in the Senate the conservatives picked up.
2/3 -- the number of Democrats in the Senate who will have to campaign to keep their seats in the next election and are likely to lose if they didn't learn from what they just saw.
17--the number of state legislatures that flipped from Democratic control to Republican control.
600+ -- the number of state legislative seats that switched from liberal to conservative hands.

Tekel--you have been weighed in the balance and found wanting. Madame Pelosi obviously is illiterate when it comes to reading the handwriting on the wall. Today, the House Dems--about to be in the minority--will be electing the Minority Leader and she is brazen enough to run for the position and they are likely dumb enough to elect her. She says that she had nothing to do with the loss of seats, and the hardline liberals are supporting her instead of assigning any responsibility to her for their recent debacle. America weighed her and her ideas--America found those ideas wanting. She wasn't inappropriately demonized for political purposes--she was shown to be the architect of House policies that the American people wholeheartedly reject.

Parsin--the kingdom was to be divided and given away. Well--they had the whole shebang--the House, the Senate, and the White House--and after two years of total control and four years of controlling the House, the economy is in horrible shape, spending is unsustainable and threatens the very foundation of the greatest nation the world has ever seen--and they won't listen. Well, America has divided them -- we will see if they decide to read the handwriting on the wall...

America's problem isn't political, and neither is the solution...

2010-10-31T18:15:00.003-05:00

Well, things have been so busy I have had very little time to blog. And with this election being the silly season it has been, there has been little worth the time it takes to blog. Honestly, there is so much about which we should be concerned I wouldn't even know where to begin to treat things comprehensively--so I haven't been writing.

There is something I would like to say before the election on November 2. What I have to say may surprise some of you. So much of our nation is angry. So many conservatives have pinned their hopes for change on what looks like an upcoming conservative thrashing of the left--they are wrong to do so. Our nation is in trouble--it is in a very dark place right now. The problem, however, is not political. The solution isn't political either. The problem is spiritual, as is the solution.

America isn't great because of our land. Other nations have more land than we do. America isn't great because of our resources. Other nations have more of everything than we do. America isn't great because of our people. We all came here from somewhere else--so ethnically and racially we are the whole world. America is great because our Founding Fathers, despite the left's attempts to rewrite history and deny this fact, founded this nation with the unwavering belief that God reigns supreme in the affairs of men and is worthy of our worship and our respect and our aspirations. The Christian worldview with which they wrote the Declaration of Indepence and the Constitution is the basis of our freedoms and of our greatness. The democratic process, with its inherent respect for freedoms, has given us the most free society the world has ever known. Capitalism, with its rewards for those with good ideas and a good work ethic, has made us the most prosperous nation the world has ever seen. Other systems of government, lacking the Christian respect for each individual and lacking the incentive to make one's life better, have always failed. Even those democracies modeled after ours lack the Christian foundation we have had, and have not had the strength that America has known and shown.

Now we live in a land that denies our own heritage. We give no honor to the ideals of the Founders, nor do we as a people honor the God they worshipped. Instead, as a nation, we strive to eliminate all mention of God from the public square and that is supposed to be a good thing. We take God and discipline out of schools, and we end up with shootings like we saw at Heath High School in Paducah, KY and at Columbine in Colorado, and then ask why God allows such things to happen. We see the sexual 'freedoms' and 'liberation' that came with the 1960s, and now wonder why we have an epidemic of STDs, unwanted pregnancies, and broken homes and fatherless children.

When we forget that there is a God and that there is an eternity about which we must be concerned, then the only pressing concerns become selfish ones. We abort babies because the sex we had to create them was selfish. We want to have the good life, and we want someone else to pay for it. We want to do whatever we want whenever we want, and we don't ever want to be offended and we don't ever want anyone to tell us "No." to anything that we want to do. We want to believe that all morals are relative and that none are absolute, and that anyone who says that there are absolute moral standards to which we should aspire is 'intolerant'.

In my blogs, I have frequently railed against the Democrats and the current President. But I am just as aggravated at the Republicans. They had the reigns for several years and they spent money just like the liberals do. They put just as many earmarks into legislation as the Democrats. They have no one to blame for their loss of Congress in 2006 but themselves. The Democrats are disingenous as well, however. Barney Frank and Maxine Waters blocked greatly needed finance oversight and reforms and they are as much to blame for the housing crisis that began the current economic downturn. Barney Frank, for crying out loud, blocked regulatory reform that would have scrutinized Fannie and Freddie while he was involved in a sexual relationship with a man that is an executive for one of these institutions. ( I don't think that this guy is the same boyfriend of Barney that ran a brothel for gay male prostitutes out of the home that he and Barney shared--but then again, we'll never be sure about that because the lamestream media won't touch stories like that about liberals )

As long as enough people in American want abortion on demand to avoid the consequences of sexual activity outside of marriage, there will be Democrats who get elected by promising to keep that available. As long as enough people in America want to have men marrying men and women marrying women, there will be Democrats who get elected by promising to work towards those ends. As long as there are people who would rather get a check from the government that the work of others provides, then there will be Democrats who get elected by promising to tax those nasty rich people (who by the way, are the ones who use their resources to hire unemployed people and grow the economy by growing their businesses). As long as there are idiots who think that if we just give up all our weapons and close all our military bases that the world will follow along and then we'll live in peace and tranquility, then there will be Democrats who rail against those who believe in a strong national defense and they'll get elected by doing so.

I've come to realize that the problem isn't the Democrats. The problem is that too many Americans no longer see the big picture. As long as there are enough Americans who see things selfishly and Godlessly, then there will be politicians who cater to those people to further their own selfish ambitions. I will still be voting on Tuesday, and I will be voting for the most conservative candidates in each of the races. But I am not functioning under the illusion that I'll wake up Wednesday and all will be well. America's spiritual problem isn't going to be fixed by the political process. While God may choose to use good people in the political process to make a difference, what God really wants to see in our nation is a return to Him--a turning of the hearts of the people to Him as the Founding Fathers looked to Him. It is their legacy on which we have lived--and it is their legacy to which we must return if we, as a nation, are to remain great.

Always in the headlines...

2010-09-26T23:00:00.004-05:00

Israel remains in the headlines, but as usual those headlines aren't accurate or complete. Once again, efforts are being made to reach a peace agreement in the land of Israel. As you watch the media, pay attention--most media outlets will blame Israel for any failure of the talks which are currently ongoing.

A freeze on construction settlements in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem expired today. Former terrorist Abu Mazzen, now known as Mahmoud Abbas--the president of the Palestinian Authority, has said he will walk away if the freeze isn't extended. I am sure that our President, our Secretary of State, and Special Envoy will all blame Israel if the talks collapse. Our President, if he is true to form, will insist that the Israelis stop building homes but won't say a word about the efforts of Hamas to destroy Israeli homes with rockets fired from the Gaza Strip. Did you know that over the last weeks that several hundred rockets were fired into residential areas of southwestern Israel? Did you know that these rockets were phosporous grenades that have been banned by international law because of the horrific burns they are intended to cause to human flesh? Has our President demanded that Hamas stop firing rockets? No, he has not. Has he insisted that Israel stop building homes? Yes, he has. Does this make sense? Not to any fairminded person I know.

Did you know that a pregnant woman and her husband were shot in their care in Hebron today? They were Jews, shot by Hamas operatives working in the town of Hebron. Four other Jews were murdered in the same town earlier in the summer. Is anyone from the current US government insisting that the Palestinians reign in the terrorists in order for the peace process to continue? Not to my knowledge. Mahmoud Abbas wants Palestinian prisoners held by Israel released as a 'good will gesture' for the talks to continue. Why won't they release Gilad Shalit as a good will gesture?

Did you know that American tax dollars have paid for billboards in Israel depicting Palestinians saying to Israelis -- "We are partners for peace--how about you?" American tax dollars putting public pressure on the Israelis to give in to the Palestinians--who have botched every meaningful effort at peace for the last 30 years--does that seem right and proper to you?

"I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you." This was God's promise to Abraham and to Abraham's descendants. History has shown this promise to be true. America needs a great big cup of coffee -- that would be a far more pleasant wake-up call than the one we'll get if we, as a nation, don't change course in regards to Israel...

Econ 101...

2010-09-07T00:43:00.004-05:00

The economy is tough. Many families don't have enough to make ends meet. Most people have the simple understanding that they cannot put everything on credit cards forever. It is also pretty simple to understand that if you pay for something with cash but then also have to put something else on a credit card then you are engaged in 'deficit spending'.

Today, the President stood up in front of a crowd with a straight face and said that his newest stimulus plan, which will focus on infrastructure, will not impact the deficit at all. Who does he think he is kidding? If he has 80 billion dollars in hand to fund his infrastructure projects, then why isn't he using that cash to reduce our insane level of deficit spending? Does he not understand the simple economic principle mentioned above -- that if you spend cash in hand on one thing but then engage in deficit spending on something else, then that cash spending does affect the deficit. The deficit could have been reduced, and it wasn't. Also, didn't he promise us that his healthcare bill wouldn't affect the deficit? Finally, will he ever tire of blaming the Republicans? Doesn't look like it...

The Manhattan mihrab...

2010-08-17T19:02:00.004-05:00

Do you know the definition of mihrab? A mihrab would be most simply defined as a Muslim prayer nook. It is a piece of architectural work, most often seen as a partially recessed arch placed in a highly visible position on the wall in a room which a praying Muslim will face when they pray in the direction of Mecca. You will see these in mosques. You will see them in other locations as well. There is, however, more to a mihrab than the simple aforementioned definition.

When Islam conquers a place, it goes into the sites revered as holy by the people of the conquered land. It goes into their holy places and claims them for Allah. The conquering warriors of Islam want to, in effect, mark their territory. I have seen one of these mihrabs in one of Christianity's most holy places. Three years ago I was privileged to spend ten days in Israel. I saw so many things there that were moving and significant. One of those sites was the Upper Room. Christians revere this site as the place our Lord shared the Passover meal with His disciples. For a time, Islam ruled Jerusalem and while in control of the city, they put a mihrab on one of the walls in the Upper Room. These mihrabs serve as more than a marker for Muslims to know which direction to face when they pray. They are reminders to the conquered people that Islam now controls them and their lives. They are reminders to the conquered people that they must submit to Allah. The centuries-old precedent of placing these mihrabs in places that are religiously and historically significant to the conquered people is yet another way of asserting the Muslim sense of superiority.

Yet again, our leaders and the lamestream media demonstrate a complete and total failure to understand what is happening in the world around us. The proposed mosque near Ground Zero is so much more than an exercise in religious freedom. It is intended to be a 13 story tall mihrab in the heart of our most populous city. It is an effort to rub our noses in the only defeat on our own soil we have experienced in the last 200 years.

The media strives to portray Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the individual who has headed up the drive to build this mosque, as a moderate Muslim leader. They say that his only intent is to build bridges between Islam and the West. They have bungled their reporting on this issue, and I'll dissect that for you a bit later. Let's first look at two other so-called Islamic 'moderates'.

On October 19, 2001, the New York Times reported on Imam Anwar Al-Awlaki. They held him up as one of a 'new generation of Muslim leader[s] capable of merging East and West.' It turns out that he was the imam of the mosque that the 9/11 hijackers attended. And after we discovered that, we find out that he was arrested on multiple occasions for soliciting prostitutes and that he is a prominent recruiter for terrorists. He was the spiritual mentor for the Fort Hood shooter. The NYT pegged him as a moderate.

NBC's Brian Williams, on December 9. 2004, did a piece on the Nightly News that covered the founders of Bridges TV, an American Muslim lifestyle network. The network was created by Muzzamil Hassan and his wife Aasiya. Since the 2004 story that hailed Muzzamil as a moderate Muslim who was well integrated into the West and into American culture, the marriage of Muzzamil and Aasiya hit the rocks. She filed for divorce (allowed in America but not allowed in Islam-wives cannot file for divorce in Islam) and she got an emergency protective order because Muzzamil had assaulted her (exercising his Allah-given right to beat his wife). Aasiya is now dead--Muzzamil the moderate Muslim beheaded her, right here in America.

So why are we to believe that Imam Rauf is a moderate? It should be pointed out that he won't reveal the source of his 100+ million dollar funding. This kind of money could only come from Saudi Arabia--and the Saudi leaders and their Wahhabi masters most definitely would not shell out this kind of money for a 'moderate'. They would only give this kind of money to someone who will advance their agenda of Islamic dominance. It should be pointed out that Imam Rauf says that he denounces terrorists--but someone needs to make him define what he considers to be a terrorist. He won't acknowledge that Hamas is a terrorist organization--and if he 'denounces' terrorists but won't agree that Hamas is a terrorist organization, then we shouldn't accept his word that he doesn't support terrorists. Perhaps we should ask him what the meaning of is is.

We should ask him to explain his choice of the name 'Cordoba House' for this mosque. As with the mihrab, there is symbolism to understand here as well. In the eighth century, Muslim hordes moved out of Arabia and Northern Africa and made significant progress towards conquering the world. They conquered Spain and renamed it Al-Andalusia. They subjugated the Spanish population and sold them into slavery. In the city of Cordoba, they demolished a large Christian cathedral and built a large mosque. That mosque, and the term 'Cordoba', have for centuries been metaphors for the Islamic desire to conquer the West. Why name the Ground Zero mosque 'Cordoba House' unless you intend for it to be a rallying place for continued jihad against America? The term 'Cordoba' symbolizes the Islamic desire to invade the West and subjugate it in the name of Allah.

Our President, in his now classic doublespeak, defends the religious freedoms which allow this mosque to be built but then one day later tries to cover his own backside by telling us that he didn't say that it would be wise to build at Ground Zero. The problem with this is that he defended the mosque at a White House dinner honoring Ramadan that was broadcast to the Muslim world, but then did his CYA only in the American media. This is somewhat like a newspaper that publishes a sensational story on the front page and then when caught publishing a falsehood prints the retraction in the classifieds. If this is a religious freedom issue, why won't the President intervene or speak out on behalf of the Christian church--the Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox church--that has been trying for nine years to get permission to rebuild? You see, St. Nicholas's was a church that had been on site there for many years and it was destroyed when the second tower fell. This Christian church can't get permission to rebuild what was already there, and was destroyed by Islamic terrorists--but Islam gets the go ahead with the President's blessing to build a 13 story mihrab just around the block.

The Constitution does give us freedom of religion--but the government has still put controls on religion. Mormons had to give up polygamy. Snake handlers in Appalachia have had their preferred methods outlawed. The IRS threatens Christian pastors and doesn't allow them to speak on political topics and 'hate speech' from a Christian pastor can land him in jail. Christian students try to quietly pray on the steps of the Supreme Court building--not as a demonstration, simply as a group prayer--and they are threatened with arrest and forced to stop. Glen Beck pays to rent the Kennedy Center and he is told that he cannot pray publicly in that venue. Islam however, can preach jihad against the West and against America. A recent survey done by undercover individuals fluent in Arabic and Urdu showed us that violent jihad against America is preached on Friday afternoons in 70% of the mosques in this country--and that is their 'religious' right--but Christians can't pray quietly in public. Why won't our President defend the rights of Christians? Why won't he comment on the plight of the St. Nicholas church? Perhaps the answer can be found in one of his other decisions--his choice to have a black wall constructed behind the podium in a chapel on the campus of one of D.C.'s universities. He wanted that constructed so that the cross behind the pulpit wouldn't be visible when he spoke there--he didn't want to be seen with a cross and he didn't want to be photographed with a cross in the background. He'll ignore the National Day of Prayer, but he'll host a dinner for Muslims to honor Ramadan and broadcast his remarks at that dinner to the Muslim world.

America needs to wake up, while it is still America.

The Perfect Storm...

2010-08-11T13:38:00.004-05:00

In October of 1991, a storm as wide as our country is from the East Coast to the West Coast covered the North Atlantic. Sebastian Junger wrote "The Perfect Storm", and it was made into a movie which I found to be quite good, despite my usual dislike for George Clooney. The movie is the story of the Andrea Gail, a swordfish boat that was lost with all hands during the storm.

A storm such as this one, with sustained 100 mph winds over thousands of square miles of open ocean, leads to waves as high as 100 feet from peak to trough. Nothing can survive the onslaught of waves such as these.

This storm was the result of three different factors--a large low pressure system coming to the North Atlantic from the American mainland, a large and very cold high pressure system entering the North Atlantic from the Arctic, and a powerful hurricane moving into the North Atlantic from the Caribbean with all its warm air and wind and humidity. The confluence of these three factors resulted in a storm more than 2000 miles across that destroyed everything in its path.

Those who care to watch can see three factors coming into confluence now in America. First, the combination of economy-killing tax increases and out of control government spending are wrecking the economy. At this point, the liberal progressives have already saddled our future with 130 trillion (yes, that is 130 trillion--ten times our current national debt) in unfunded future obligations. The tax increases will further reduce the numbers of productively employed people, and the economy will slide further into the tank--making it even harder to meet our debt obligations as a nation.

Second, the weakening of the strongest military on earth--they are actually closing a large base in Norfolk, Virginia that has been incredibly important to the strength of our military. The President wants to get rid of all our nukes--without understanding that the only reason that we haven't been nuked is that we actually have nukes--and would respond in kind. Or maybe he does understand, and doesn't care...

The third element of this perfect storm that's-a-brewing is the infiltration of Islam into our nation. It has been pointed out before in this blog that no country in the past which has made accomodations to Islam has retained its identity as a non-Islamic nation for more than a century from the time that the accomodations began. We've been making accomodations for Islam for 40 years now...Our President favors Islam--even if he won't admit to being Islamic. He has appointed devout Muslims to sensitive posts in Homeland Security. He has given taxpayer dollars to support the implementation of a Sharia favorable constitution in Kenya. He has surrounded himself with radicals and people with ties to radical Islamic organizations. He has said in one breath that America is no longer a Christian nation, and then to another audience has said that America is among the world's largest Muslim nations.

We can only pray that America will fare better than the Andrea Gail...

International borders...

2010-08-07T09:33:00.003-05:00

If you cross the border into China illegally, you will never be heard from again and will likely die in a work camp.

If you cross the border into North Korea illegally, you will be paraded on international television as an accused spy and are at risk of spending many years in one of Kim Jong Il's prisons.

If you enter Cuba illegally, even if it is only to enjoy one of the world's finest cigars, you will rot for years in a Cuban prison and you will be accused of being a capitalist pig spy.

If you want to enter Saudi Arabia illegally from Yemen, you can't--there is a wall like the one we should have on our southern border. If you do manage to get in, you will be thrown in a Saudi prison and are at risk of torture and mistreatment.

If you enter Venezuela illegally, Hugo Chavez's government (being imitated here by the current administration) will arrest you, accuse you of being a spy, and use you for propaganda--and if you're lucky that is all that will happen to you.

If you are in Central America and you enter Mexico illegally, you will be arrested, mistreated in a Mexican jail for a while, and then you might get sent back home. To enter Mexico legally as anything other than a short term tourist, you must have your own health insurance and must be able to provide proof that you have the means to feed and support yourself--cause the Mexicans ain't gonna do it for ya--and if you can't do it for yourself they won't let you in.

If you want to come from Mexico into the United States illegally, you will get:

1) A Social Security number
2) A driver's license
3) Health care
4) Food Stamps
5) Rent subsidies
6) The right to have all government documents printed in your own language if you don't want to go to the effort to learn the language of the land.
7) Free education for your children
8) The right to compete with unemployed Americans for work

And if Obama has his way, you will have the right to vote for him in 2012, and you will have this without Congressional approval and without the consent of the American people. After all, he has got to have your vote--it is becoming more and more apparent that without it, he doesn't have a chance in 2012.

Did you know?......

2010-07-29T22:13:00.006-05:00

Did you know that the healthcare bill that supposedly wouldn't pay for abortions is structured such that states will be able to use taxpayer dollars for insurance pools that will cover abortions using the taxpayer dollars that the Dems promised it wouldn't do?

Did you know that the recently signed financial regulatory bill exempts the SEC from the Freedom of Information Act?

Did you know that the American taxpayer is paying to support the advancement of a new constitution in Kenya that uses Sharia law?

Did you know that a long time Chicago acquaintance of Obama's that has been appointed to the faith-based initiatives commission has close ties to an Islamic organization that has been clearly shown to support terror organizations like Hamas? Did you know that this adviser has been known to say that "America is the ideal place for the renewal of Islam"?

Did you know that an internal U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services memo going the rounds of Capitol Hill and obtained by National Review says that the agency is considering ways in which it could enact “meaningful immigration reform absent legislative action” — that is, without the consent of the American people through a vote in Congress. “This memorandum offers administrative relief options to . . . reduce the threat of removal for certain individuals present in the United States without authorization,” it reads.

Did you know that American investors are so concerned about the things that the government is doing to wreck our economy that more than 2 trillion dollars of potential investing funds are sitting on the sidelines, waiting to see what the liberal fools running the country are going to do next? Imagine what 2 trillion dollars would do to stimulate the economy.

Did you know that Secretary Napolitano, who presided over the creation of the report in 2009 that said that Americans who were returning war veterans, those who are concerned about abortion, taxes, and Second Amendment rights are potential terrorists has now planned a series of quarterly meetings with Arab Americans with ties to terrorist groups and who have refused to renounce violence?

Did you know that the Natural Resources Committee of the House of Representatives unanimously passed an amendment to a bill that would establish a non-partisan commission consisting of people with scientific and technical expertise (unlike the completely partisan panel established by the White House made up of only environmental activists) to investigate the Gulf Oil Spill? Did you know that Speaker Pelosi stripped that amendment out of the bill in order to block the non-partisan investigation of the spill?

Did you know that BP recognized some potential problems with the oil rig in February and asked the government for help and never got any? That's two months before the explosion.

Did you know that if you read this entry during regular working hours on a weekday and that it took you three minutes to read it, another 30 babies in America died in the hands of an abortionist?

Babies and Big Macs...

2010-07-08T10:34:00.004-05:00

During the Kagan confirmation hearings, Kagan’s true colors came out for all to see—that is, for anyone who cares to look. I believe that President Obama chose Kagan as his nominee because he knows she is radical and that she will be an activist on the court. I also believe that he chose her precisely because she has never been a judge. That, in itself, is not unusual as 40 of the 111 Supreme Court Justices we have had on the bench were not judges before being placed on the Supreme Court. It is beneficial for the President in that he can get a radically liberal activist on the court and there are no cases she has judged and no opinions she has written which the Senate can use to evaluate her. She is a stealth nominee. It has come to light that she believes that it is appropriate to manipulate the facts of a case to support a particular agenda—and that is exactly what we do not need on the Court.

Partial birth abortion is an atrocity. It is a method of terminating a pregnancy in which the doctor will induce labor and the patient has to go through labor because the pregnancy is quite far advanced. The labor will dilate the cervix and when the cervix has sufficiently dilated, the doctor will reach in and manipulate the baby so that the feet are pulled out, and the baby is drawn down until the body is outside of the vagina. The head will not yet be delivered, and since the delivery isn’t complete with a living baby the result, the baby isn’t yet worthy of legal protection. Then, in order to prevent the delivery of a living child, a pair of scissors is stabbed into the back of the baby’s neck at the base of the skull and a suction instrument is then inserted into the skull through the hole and the baby’s brain is sucked out of the skull. The baby at this point, is dead and the delivery can be completed and no one will have to deal with a living child.

Proponents of partial birth abortion, Kagan among them, feel that this atrocious method of murdering a baby should have remained legal so that it would be a method open to consideration if a rapid end to a pregnancy was necessary to preserve the life or protect the health of the mother. The argument was that if partial birth abortion was made illegal then women would suffer because they might have to resort to a slower method of pregnancy termination—basic induction of labor—and that the delay in terminating a dangerous pregnancy might jeopardize the mother’s life.
Herein lies the dishonest of this argument—to achieve a partial birth abortion—the ‘quick’ method of terminating an advanced pregnancy—one must induce labor anyway and wait for the cervix to dilate. The only difference is that when you induce labor and then simply deliver the child, it might live after the delivery, if only for a short time in very premature pregnancies. With partial birth abortion, steps are taken at the moment just before the delivery is completed to ensure the delivery of a dead baby.

It’s a common misconception that vast numbers of women will die if abortion isn’t widely and easily available. In January of 2011, it will have been twenty years since I performed my first delivery. In all that time, I have only had one patient who would have died without delivery before the baby was viable. I will never forget her. I had known her husband’s family since I was in second grade. They were a young couple, and were pregnant with their first child. She was transferred to the high risk unit of the hospital where I was completing my training. She was only 22 weeks along, and that is generally thought to be two weeks prior to any chance of viability. She had severe hypertension—high blood pressure—and almost all of the complications that can come from that. She had pulmonary edema—fluid in the lungs. She had liver and kidney failure. Her platelets were very low. Her blood pressure was dangerously high and we were giving her potent anti-hypertensives to prevent a stroke. Without immediate delivery to end the pregnancy, she would have most certainly have died, and the baby would have died with her. We didn’t have two weeks to get the baby farther along so she could potentially deliver a viable baby that would have a chance of survival. Doing that would have ended the mother’s chance of survival. We induced labor, and she delivered her baby and then was able to hold it. The maneuvers to ensure the birth of a dead baby weren’t necessary, because the destruction of the baby wasn’t the goal. Saving the mother’s life was the goal—and we were successful. She went on to have other uncomplicated pregnancies. The goal of partial birth abortion is not the saving of the mother’s life—it is the ending of a baby’s life.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists had published material which pointed out the opinions of some within the organization that took into account the fact that simply delivering the baby is as expeditious as partial birth abortion. This is surprising, since ACOG is such a staunch pro-abortion organization. They actually said that partial birth abortion isn’t necessary, as there is an alternative that is safe and is just as quick and is much less brutal to the child. ACOG has never taken prolife concerns into account—the opinions of prolife members are ignored. That is why I resigned my membership in ACOG. They published this opinion piece because it is a simple medical fact that partial birth abortion is not a procedure that is ever necessary for the preservation of the mother’s life or health.

While working for President Clinton, Kagan worked with ACOG to suppress this inconvenient little truth. She exerted her influence and the influence of the White House to get ACOG to revise its statement—a simple statement of medical and scientific fact—because she knew that objective examination of the truth would damage her pro-abortion agenda and would make President Clinton’s planned veto of the legislation outlawing partial birth abortion a potentially damaging action. To have the most prominent medical and scientific organization in the field of women’s health say that partial birth abortion is never necessary to protect the life and health of the mother would have made the President unable to say that he was vetoing the legislation because it didn’t have a provision to protect the life and health of the mother. But then, it really isn’t about the life and health of the mother. It is about maintaining unfettered access to all methods of killing living babies.

Kagan has no qualms about suppressing the material facts of a case if it serves her agenda. A judge who can behave in this manner shouldn’t be a judge. Such actions are not consistent with the design and intent of the Founders in regards to our nation’s courts and their vision of an impartial judiciary. Her appointment to the court will be a disaster for the nation and will continue to advance the liberal progressive agenda of placing activists in the courts and overriding the Founder’s intentions in regards to the separation of powers. The courts were never intended to make law—yet that is exactly what liberal progressive activist judges do when they force policy issues upon the people of our nation.

We have also seen President Obama's other Supreme Court nominee lie to the Senate during her confirmation process. Sonia Sotomayor told the Senate that she believed that the Second Amendment applies to the individual, and that the rights of individuals as gun owners are protected. She also said that she would respect the prior SCOTUS decision regarding gun rights in Washington DC yet she did exactly the opposite in the Chicago gun owner's case -- she voted against individual rights and against the prior precedent. President Obama surrounds himself with thugs that can't be trusted--and it appears that his SCOTUS nominees are no different.

One other thing--Kagan has also said that she thinks that the Commerce Clause in the Constitution gives the federal government the right to regulate what we eat and drink. The liberal progressives have begun making alot of noise about regulating what we eat for our own health. I just need to point out the inconsistencies in their behaviors and beliefs -- a woman must have the 'right' to terminate a pregnancy because she alone should have the ability to make decisions regarding her own body--even though it will result in the death of another person who has no say in the matter--but I don't have the right to put an occasional Big Mac in my mouth because it might not be good for me--even though it harms no one else.

A study in contrasts...

2010-07-05T22:57:00.002-05:00

My family is on vacation at the beach this week. We have needed this time to relax. Life has been incredibly busy lately, both at home and at work. This vacation has been a real blessing--the weather has been beautiful and the time with everyone has been really good. I am even on track to average two cigars a day.

We watched fireworks on the beach last night. The weather was perfect. The sky was clear and there was a soft cool breeze coming off of the water. The only thing more spectacular than the fireworks were the stars. The night sky at the beach is incredible. It is an incredible blessing to live in this nation of ours. We are free to travel and free to do whatever it is we feel we've been called to do. I once heard a pastor give a really good definition of freedom--"Freedom isn't being able to do whatever you want--freedom is the ability to do what is right." It has been that ability to do what is right that is the bedrock of our nation's successes. We are free to pursue the American dream. We are a nation where the rights to 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness' have created the world's most prosperous country. This prosperity has been used to help the least fortunate among us, and has also done more to defend freedom and to help those who are hurting than any other nation in history. In fact, the amount of American time, talents, and resources that have been used in defending freedom and helping the hurting around the world is more than the sum total of those same things given by all the nations of the world in all of history combined. Americans who realize this are the ones who are deeply disturbed by the apology tours our President has taken since his address became 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

That brings me to the contrasts I mentioned in the title. For some reason, John McCain came to my mind today. Senator McCain hasn't lived a perfect life, he didn't run a perfect campaign, and he certainly wouldn't have been able to please everyone. But I do believe that he wouldn't be leading our government on an unsustainable spending spree, and he certainly wouldn't have spent time apologizing for America when speaking to crowds of people who hate us because we don't go to the mosque on Friday afternoons.

In fact, Senator McCain is probably one of the most brave men we have in America today. He spent more than five years in a Vietnamese prison and was hideously and brutally tortured. Then, after he had endured more beatings than he can remember, and after one arm had been broken in three places and the other arm had also been broken and his leg had been broken and his teeth had been knocked out and he had been starved down to a weight of barely 100 pounds, he was offered the chance to go home. There is, however, a code of honor among POWs. When an enemy starts releasing POWs, the one who has been a POW the longest should be the first one to be released. When the Vietnamese captors dangled the possibility of an early release in front of him--he said no. Despite the brutality to which he had been subjected, he said no. The Vietnamese had been especially brutal to him because they had discovered that his father was a high-ranking admiral. They knew that for the admiral's son to break military tradition and accept a release that was granted before those who had been prisoners longer than McCain had been would be an embarrassment to the American military. Knowing this, John McCain said no. He chose to continue to suffer rather than embarrass his country and give America's enemies a reason to celebrate.

Enter Barack Obama. Granted, his childhood most likely wasn't easy. He didn't know his real father in a meaningful way. He moved around alot. But as a grown man, the harshest thing he has had to endure is the cold Chicago weather as he went about his business of 'community organizing' or perhaps having to walk through the rain to get into that church to listen to Jeremiah Wright. This man, who doesn't think that America is an exceptional nation, goes on an apology tour and gives our enemies exactly what John McCain suffered to prevent our enemies from having--justification for their hatred of us.

The 'disesteeming' of Israel...

2010-07-03T01:09:00.002-05:00

Genesis 12:3 is very plain and clear: God has promised to bless those that bless the nation of Israel—the descendants of Abraham and has promised to curse those that curse Israel. Young’s Literal Translation of the Bible provides an interesting perspective on this promise—the way the original Hebrew is translated in that version says that anyone who ‘disesteems’ Israel will be cursed. Our nation, by pressuring Israel to make untenable concessions to a people group who desire the destruction of Israel, has ‘disesteemed’ Israel. Our leaders, who have sided with the Palestinians and have made efforts to humiliate Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, has ‘disesteemed’ Israel. Those who have referred to the Israelis as an occupying force when they are simply defending their ancestral God-given homeland have ‘disesteemed’ Israel. When we are silent in the forum of the United Nations as virulent anti-Semitism runs rampant, we ‘disesteem’ Israel. We may not yet have reached a point where we have actually actively cursed Israel, but we have become very adept at ‘disesteeming’ Israel.

In March, President Obama treated Netanyahu like a common thug worthy of contempt when he visited the White House. He was brought in through the servant’s entrance and then treated horribly before he left and returned to Israel. (see the March 29 blog entry) Then, on April 19, a news story runs on FoxNews in which the journalists discussed the conclusion to which many have come—that Israel can no longer depend on the United States as its only ally. The following day, April 20, was Israel’s Independence Day—their version of the Fourth of July. April 20 was notable for one other thing—the explosion of the Deep Water Horizon drilling rig.

Prime Minister Netanyahu will be back in Washington next week. Let us all pray that he will be treated with the respect that he deserves during this visit to our nation.

Our country has lost its mind...

2010-06-25T14:52:00.005-05:00

God's word has said that "a double minded man is unstable in all his ways." I fear that this is true for nations as well. What follows are some examples of things that seem, to me anyway, to be glaring examples of our country having lost its ever-loving mind.

General McChrystal is a villian in the eyes of the media for his opinions and statements but a general who was outspoken about his dislike for President Bush was hailed by the lame stream media as a heroic brave whistle-blower. I agree that it was wrong for McChrystal to use the platform he did for that interview--but what was wrong for one general should be wrong for another general.

Gloria Steinem says that Sarah Palin can't be thought of as a feminist because she doesn't believe that abortion is acceptable. In the eyes of liberals, you can only be a feminist by being pro-abortion. It doesn't matter that you have set an example for how a hard-working woman can be an effective executive, speak her mind clearly and plainly, and handle all the responsibilities she has with grace and dignity. You can fight for equal pay and equal treatment of women. As a woman you can be an advocate and defender of women in every way but if you think it is wrong to murder babies you are not a worthy of respect. In other words, if you are a woman and you don't agree with Gloria Steinem, then you can't be respected as a woman. Wasn't it considered wrong for men to tell women what to think? Why isn't it wrong for a woman to tell all other women that they must agree with her or they aren't worthy of respect?

We have immigration/border insanity. I know two families personally who are at this very moment trying to get their R1 visas. They are educated and respectable in every way. They are productive, and are driven and goal oriented. They love our society, and want to have the right to be here long-term. They have respected the laws of our land in every way--yet the process has been long and difficult and the outcomes are still uncertain. At the same time, people who openly and brazenly reject our laws stream across the border by the thousands daily and a state that passed a law that essentially says local law enforcement must enforce existing federal law is harshly criticized. California doesn't have the wisdom to see that much of their budget deficit is the result of the consumption of state resources by illegals. They want to boycott Arizone--well if they weren't hypocrites about it then Los Angeles ought to stop buying electricity from Arizona. I think that until LA rescinds its ludicrous 'boycott' of Arizona that Arizone should stop selling electricity to LA. Our administration criticized the law before they have even read it. The President appoints a former police chief from Houston to a position within Immigration and that man is known to favor sanctuary cities that refuse to enforce federal law. His policies in the past have been blamed for the deaths of two police officers who were murdered by illegals. We are now to accept him as an authority on immigration--that's like installing a pedophile as the administrator of an orphanage.

We have First Amendment protections for our freedom of religious expression and of free speech--that is of course, if you aren't a Christian. Christians founded this country and wrote the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. These protections were borne of the experience of living under relgious tyranny. Yet now, Christian churches whose pastors speak about social and political issues are in danger of being accused of hate speech and having their churches lose their tax exempt status. But Muslims can openly recruit people hostile to our freedoms and they are a group whose speech isn't criticized by our government. A recent effort to quietly have people go to mosques in America and listen to what was being preached showed that 70% of those American mosques studied preach violent jihad against the USA. Do they lose their tax exempt status? Are their imams, here on R1 visas, deported for their hate speech and their incitment to violence? No--they are not. But this past week in Michighanistan, an Arab festival was held in Dearborn--home of the largest Arab community in the world outside of the Middle East. Two young Christians were in a public place--on a street. They were quietly talking with the passersby. They were distributing Christian literature and copies of the Gospel of John. They weren't confrontational and they weren't threatening. They weren't telling anyone that they were going to hell or anything else. But they were arrested--their only offense was exercising their First Amendment rights.

Our government focuses on the boogeyman of climate change and uses the oil spill to illustrate its point. There is no sense of urgency on cleaning up the spill -- only on passing cap and tax. The issue that should occupy the most intense thinking and strategy sessions is the fact that Mahmoud Ahminthemoodforjihad in Iran is working as hard as he can to get nukes and long range missiles so that he can usher in his dream of Armageddon and all we do is wag our finger at him and tell him he needs to stop. Since when do words and wagging fingers ever do anything about a bully?

And finally, our President just illustrated, for anyone who cares to watch, that he is an egomaniac. You see, the White House had a bust of Winston Churchill (my second favorite famous cigar smoker--the first being Charles Spurgeon) --arguably one of the greatest leaders of the free world in the twentieth century. The British government had loaned that bust to the White House. Barack Obama had it removed and in its place had a piece of art created from the cover of a recent New Yorker magazine issue. On the cover of that issue was a depiction of Barack Obama walking on water.

Love and respect....

2010-05-29T22:01:00.003-05:00

Once again, it has been a good while since I've had the time to blog. We've been busy, both at home and at work. It's all good--just quite busy. For some time now, I have contemplated writing a blog about marriage. I am extraordinarily blessed in my marriage. I have a true companion--a soulmate--someone who understands me and is understood by me (most of the time, I think). My wife has a huge heart. She is kind, generous, and loving. She is smart and driven. She loves the Lord. She has an amazing grasp of the Word of God, and can hold her own in a theological discussion with anyone. She has a solid worldview as well, and understands the times in which we live. She is beautiful. I love being outside with her on a sunny day. I love to see the sunlight on her hair and to see it reflected in her eyes. On a sunny cloudless day the only things more blue than the sky are her eyes.

We have a great marriage. Getting to where we are now, however, wasn't always easy. I want to share some things that we wish someone had shared with us when we were newlyweds. We spent several years without knowing how to handle conflict and differences of opinion. We fought, at times frequently, and it was never good. Julie had always been strong and independent. She had done so very well with her two children after her first marriage failed (infidelity and alcoholism on the part of her first husband). She had finished nursing school, cared for and provided for those two children with no help from their father, and had been divorced for 3-4 years when she and I met. I adopted both the kids after we got married, and we have had another child together. We also have had, for three years now, a fourth child who is not ours biologically but who is deeply loved and is one of the family and we are raising him. Julie had borne an incredible amount of responsibility, and had done so with grace and dignity. While doing this, however, she became accustomed to doing things her way without input from other adults.

I had also become very independent. I had lived in an apartment by myself for several years before we married. I had worked and lived independently, and had not lived under my parents roof or under their authority for 12 years by that time. The chairman of the department of OB/GYN at University Hospital, where I completed my training, had selected me as the Chief Administrative Resident during my final year of training. That position brought additional responsibilities, but also gave me a measure of authority in the matters of the other 23 residents working there at that time, and over 120 medical students as well. I'd like to think that I was fair in the manner in which I conducted myself, but I did become accustomed to having my way in most matters. This gives the background of the beginning of our marriage--two bright and strong-willed people each accustomed to having their own way without having to consult anyone else for their opinion or their feelings. I will tell you, in case you didn't see this coming, that this is no recipe for harmony.

We did, over the years, accomplish what God had planned for us to do--that is, learn how to deal with one another in ways that didn't damage our relationship. In fact, some couples sought us out for advice, and we did some real marriage counseling--and I am pleased to say that our counsel bore fruit in those marriages. It was not until, however, that we were asked by our pastor at the time to lead a marriage class that we found a way of articulating quickly and easily that which we had striven for so long to achieve. This discovery came in the form of a curriculum for improving marriage called "Love and Respect". In this study, a really brilliant couple applies one simple verse of scripture to the lives of married people and explains what the Bible really means in this regard. And no--it doesn't simply say that women should obey their husbands and all will be well. That is not only an oversimplification of the text--it actually rips the text, screaming the whole way, from its context. I am an advocate for women, and have been for my whole career--I am not preaching that a wife's submissiveness is the answer to all of marriage's problems.

The verse is a very simple verse in which the apostle says "Husbands, love your wives. Wives, respect your husbands." In this, the writer is saying to husbands that the deepest need of their wife is for her to feel unconditionally loved. Even when a husband disagrees with his wife, he should strive to avoid dealing with her in any way that would be perceived as unloving. He is saying to the wife that her husband's deepest need is to be unconditionally respected. Maybe not always agreed with, but always dealt with respectfully. God really understands our psychology--after all, He created us. He knows that husbands know that their wives love them--it's in a woman's nature to be loving, caring, and nurturing. We husbands love hearing our wives say that they love us--we are so very accustomed to hearing that. What we need is to feel that they respect us for being the men that we are, even when we make mistakes. Wives also want to be respected for all that they do for the family and the home--and also for their work if they work outside of the family responsibilities. But what they really want to hear is that we love them deeply and unconditionally--even if the kids are loud, the house happens to be messy, or dinner didn't turn out as well as we had hoped. God understood that women didn't need to be told to tell their husbands that they love them--that is just in the woman's nature. What God wanted to be sure that the wife doesn't forget is to make sure her husband knows that she respects him. God also knew that men don't always express themselves well emotionally, and that while we know deep down inside that we love our wives enough to die for them if need be--we sometimes need to be reminded to behave in a loving way. When husbands fail to act in a way that demonstrates love and wives fail to act in a way that conveys respect then conflict is the inevitable result. As the author of the study says--"When a husband says something unlovingly, the wife responds disrespectfully and then the husband reacts more onlovingly and so on and so on--and we find ourselves on the 'Crazy Cycle'."

When we just stop and think--'Did I just sound unloving?' or 'Did I just say something disrespectfully?'--we open the door for God to come in and help us resolve differences in ways that don't involve throwing bombs at one another. The study goes into much more detail about communication and consideration, and my wife and I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in improving their marriage. When she and I finished the study the first time (we've taught it to two different groups of people now) we sat back and looked at one another and said 'Where was this when we got married?'

I'd like to touch on a couple of other things from a Biblical perspective as well. Husbands--some of you may not like this as much. The Word of God is clear--while you are the authority in the home, you are not its dictator. In fact, your level of responsibility is greater than your level of authority. The Word says that we are to love our wives as Christ loved the church. Jesus led his disciples with integrity and with love--and he did so sacrificially, eventually suffering greatly for his church. While wives have their own responsibilities, it is our responsibility to deal with our family by putting their needs first, and being very deliberate in the demonstration of our love for our wives and our children.

Julie and I were also very fortunate in that our differences never spread to involve our extended families. We lived some distance from her parents and from mine. We also were both very careful not to involve members of either side of the family as mediators, or as cheerleaders for one side or the other, in any of our disputes. The Word is also clear on this matter--"a man will leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife" is what the Word says. Julie and I have both seen situations where the involvement of in-laws has been detrimental to the marriage. If an outside mediator or confidante is required then choose an unrelated party--a parent or sibling of a married person will seldom be able to be unbiased or impartial--speaking only the truth in love, without taking sides. Many times, an individual will react to their spouse out of their own woundedness--and oftentimes that woundedness is the result of family matters that had happened long before the couple even married--so a parent or a sibling will often not be the right party to become involved in a marital problem. They will frequently operate in those very same wounds.

Finally, husbands, I wish to say one other thing to you. The apostle Peter, in his first letter (chapter 3 verse 7) says that we as husbands must treat our wives well, "so that nothing will hinder our prayers". The King James Version says to 'give honour to your wives...so that nothing will hinder your prayers.' Perhaps the Message translation says it more clearly for you: "The same goes for you husbands: Be good husbands to your wives. Honor them, delight in them. As women they lack some of your advantages. But in the new life of God's grace, you're equals. Treat your wives, then, as equals so your prayers don't run aground."

Now that's a powerful statement. Dissect that for a moment. If you treat your wife well, nothing will hinder your prayers. If you treat her as an equal, then your prayers won't be shipwrecked. This line of thinking reminds me of the challenge given to Jesus by the Pharisees when they asked which commandment was the greatest, and he replied that the first commandment was to love God with all our hearts, and the second was to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. He went on to say that if we did these things, then all else in our lives would fall into place. It is like that with marriage. A husband who is treating his wife well, and is fulfilling his God-given responsibilities as they pertain to his wife, will be living his life in such a way that nothing in it hinders his prayers. Conversely--a man who does not treat his wife well has no reasonable expectation that his prayers will be answered. You might ask what I mean by this--and I would reply that pious worship and generosity to others and integrity in the workplace and fasting at the times when God calls us to fast and all those other things that should be important to a Christian man won't matter in the end--if we aren't treating our wives as the greatly loved daughters of God that they are, then we shouldn't expect our prayers to be answered.

The blessings found in a God-centered marriage are incredible. Conversely, the difficulty encountered when something is off in our marriage can be overwhelming. If you are blessed and happy in your marriage--that's awesome! Share what you've learned with those around you. Look for opportunities to pour into the lives of those around you--many marriages are struggling, and I am certain that you know someone who could benefit from your wisdom and your experience. If you are struggling--step back and rid yourself of anger and unforgiveness and get some perspective. What is off in your life? Where have you not realized the importance of how you treat one another? Realize that the degree of success or lack of it in your marriage will ultimately affect every aspect of your life and your ministry to those around you. Take what I've said to heart, and begin working on the reconciliation required for God to restore you to the relationship that He has longed for you to have with one another. It will take work, but it is most definitely worth it. The curriculum I mentioned can be found at www.loveandrespect.com and is worth every penny you might spend on the DVDs. Your marriage is most definitely worth fighting for, and your efforts will be rewarded!

Been really busy lately...

2010-03-29T19:10:00.003-05:00

It's been a long time since I have written anything. It is not that there has been a lack of material--in fact, sadly, there has been alot about which I would have liked to blog. I simply haven't had the time. If I blogged about all the things in our country that bothered me right now, I wouldn't have the time to do anything else--work, sleep, or eat.

It's the eating thing that is on my mind tonight. A few people who have followed my blog have asked me about health care--and I will put together my thoughts on health care at a later time. Tonight I write about eating.

Sitting to enjoy a good meal with loved ones and friends is one of life's greatest pleasures. When one is able to have a time of great fellowship over a good meal, new relationships are formed, existing relationships are solidified and strengthened, and good memories are created. Some of your favorite memories may revolve around a mealtime.

The enjoyment of meals together is not a new thing. We might think that such memories are only possible because we have The Chop House or Longhorn Steakhouse or Maggiano's Little Italy (am I giving away the identities of my favorite restaurants?)but that is not the case. The sharing of a meal together has held special significance for thousands of years. In fact, in the Middle East, to sit down and share a meal with someone is to commit to a very significant relationship with that person. The sharing of a meal with someone is seen as the confirmation of a covenant level of relationship. We see that over and over again in Scripture. We see Abraham serving a meal to guests who turn out to be divine visitors. We see Jesus sharing intimate meals with his disciples. And we see Daniel refusing to eat from the table of Nebuchednezzar because he didn't want to enter into a covenant level of relationship with the pagan king.

This all sets the table, if you will, for my point. Last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came from Jerusalem, his nation's capitol city, to Washington, our nation's capitol city. He spoke to many members of Congress, and then he went to the White House. As you recall, the White House is currently occupied by a man who has apologized to the world, from a stage in an Islamic country, for American 'arrogance'. From his home in our capitol city, he has been telling the leaders of another country--the only free and democratic country in the Middle East--that they cannot build new homes in their own capitol city. He has never applied meaningful pressure to Hamas and the Palestinian Authority -- both terrorist organizaton -- and told them that they must stop firing rockets at Israeli homes if they want peace. Instead, he tells the Israelis that they must stop building homes if they want peace. He won't tell the Palestinians to stop calling for the destruction of Israel in the interest of peace -- instead he pressures the Israelis to make all the concessions.

When President Obama was unable to win a written agreement to stop the construction in Jerusalem, he rose from his seat in the room with Prime Minister Netanyahu and turned his back on him and walked out, saying to his aides "I am going to get some dinner, call me if they change their minds." Evidently he thinks that thuggish Chicago style negotiating tactics are the way to improve upon "American arrogance". Does our President even begin to realize what an incredible insult this was to one of our staunchest allies? Obama could have asked Bibi to dinner, and in so doing could have gotten to know the man better. It certainly wouldn't have hurt anything to offer the man a meal.

To walk out on Netanyahu, announcing that he was going to eat and that the Prime Minister wasn't invited, was an insult of the highest order. Why would he do this? I believe it is because President Obama has sided with the Arab nations and the Islamic world and has turned his back on our only ally in the region--the only nation in that part of the world with a governmental system similar to ours and the only nation in that part of the world with a citizenry consisting of a diverse group of people like ours, sharing values that we hold dear (or at least have held dear, until now). An objective analysis of votes taken in the United Nations will show that Israel sides with us virtually 100% of the time, and the Arab nations surrounding Israel vote in oppostion to us 88% of the time. President Obama apparently doesn't realize that the only thing that would appease most of the Islamic world, as far as America goes, would be for America to self-destruct. But then maybe that is his plan after all.

My family just moved into a home that we have finished building. In the basement, I have a room that is outfitted for cigar smoking. I enjoy several cigars each month. My son and I both like our cigars. Today, a gentleman came to install the Purifans (spinning air filters that replace ceiling fan blades) to remove the smoke from the air. I happen to have a few political books on the shelf in the cigar room ( I am sure you are not surprised), and the man that came to install the fans noticed them and talked with my son about them. He asked my son what we thought about President Obama's treatment of Prime Minister Netanyahu, and of course my son told him exactly what we thought. (You always know where you stand with my son.) Anyway--the guy agreed wholeheartedly and went on to say that "as far as I understand it, the Bible is pretty clear. Those that bless Israel will be blessed, and those that curse Israel will be cursed. History has borne that out." I couldn't agree more. Consider a few historical facts: (and pray that someone in
Washington will learn from history)

The same Spanish king and queen who sent Columbus on his voyage chose to purge their country of its Jewish population. At the time, Spain was the most powerful nation in the world and the world's other nations trembled in fear of the Spanish Armada. Within a generation, Spain had lost its power and influence, and has not since then been a prominent force on the world stage.

Germany was once a mighty nation and almost conquered all of Europe not once, but twice, and the second time also controlled significant parts of Asia and Africa at the same time. But the German treatment of European Jews is well known, at least to everyone in the world except Iranian President Mahmoud Ahminthemoodforjihad. After spending a little more than five years putting Europe's Jews behind German barbed wire and then killing them, Germany spent fifty years with half its population living behind Soviet barbed wire, languishing in poverty and misery.

England once controlled land on all the world's continents. The sun truly never set upon the British Empire. But then, after the Balfour Declaration which helped to pave the way for the establishment of Israel, British forces secretly began working with the Arabs to quietly oppose the Jews. Britain wanted to have favor with the oil rich Arab nations. Britian even turned shiploads of Jews away from ports in what is now Israeli territory and sent them back to German controlled territory during WWII. Now, all England controls is its own little island in the North Atlantic, and will probably lose control of that to Islamic forces growing within their own borders within the next generation.

The liberals all liked to spew vitriolic rhetoric about what an embarassment George W. Bush was to our nation. I cannot recall, however, being as embarrassed for our country as I am at this time. If President Bush thought something was evil--he wasn't afraid to call it out and do something about it--but that treatment was for our enemies--not our allies. Our current President, however, apparently thinks that it is OK to treat an ally as if they were the Taliban. If I thought it would wake me from this nightmare, I'd go chug a gallon of coffee--but sadly, no amount of pinching myself is going to change this.

Coming soon--a pot of coffee about health care.....

The doublemindedness never ends...

2010-01-30T12:31:00.003-06:00

Tim Tebow, nationally known college quarterback, has a mother who chose well. While carrying him more than twenty years ago, she contracted an infection and her doctor in the Phillipines told her that she should abort her son. She chose not to do so, and now we have a family who really live their values on the American stage. The upcoming Superbowl will have a spot where Tim Tebow tells his story.

Joy Behar, frequently featured on Bill O'Reilly's "Pinheads and Patriots" segment, has criticized the upcoming Tebow appearance. She, and other pro-abortion people, are enraged that a well-known pro-life individual will have the opportunity to exercise his Constitutional First Amendment right of free speech. He will not be saying anything that will incite violence--he will speak out against what he knows to be violence directed at our society's most vulnerable--the unborn. Joy Behar has taken the position that it's a good thing that Tebow turned out well, because he could just as easily have turned out to be a child molester, suggesting that it would be better to abort a baby because he might not turn out to be a positive force in society, but has the potential to be a negative force. Who is to judge the potential of an unborn person? Joy Behar? I'm glad she isn't my mother and that she didn't conceive me at an inconvenient time for her--otherwise she would have aborted me and patted herself on the back, saying "oh well, he might have been a child molester anyway."

Joy Behar has also said she is against the death penalty, except in the case of Charles Manson. I guess her type would be in favor of killing Charles Manson because he killed some Hollywood types. Otherwise, she opposes the death penalty. The majority of pro-abortion people oppose the death penalty. Think this one through with me. They are in favor of brutally killing unborn babies because the timing of their conception is inconvenient or problematic in some way, but they don't want people to be subjected to capital punishment. Why do they oppose capital punishment?

Some say that they believe that life is too valuable, and that the state shouldn't have the right to end a human life. Others say that the justice system sometimes gets it wrong, and innocent people are executed. People who take these approaches to capital punishment and abortion do not have an internally coherent system of logic with which they view the world. They make decisions not on the basis of whether something is right or wrong, but on how they feel about it at the moment. That is an inherently unstable way of thinking, and one cannot possibly have a rational debate on the subject with such a person.

Instead, give me a pro-abortion person who is also a supporter of capital punishment. That is an opponent whose internal systems of logic are coherent, even if they are misguided. There may be hope for swaying such a person. You see, an individual can be prolife and pro capital punishment and have internal consistency in their thought processes. Babies are always innocent, and innocent life should be protected, and those who are guilty of taking innocent life should pay a steep price. There is consistency in this worldview. One can also be prolife and anti capital punishment--taking the position that even the lives of the guilty are precious, and that the state shouldn't take a life for any reason. But to be pro-abortion and support the 'right' of a woman to end the life of her unborn baby anytime for any reason and to simultaneously oppose the execution of those guilty of murdering the innocent based on some intrinisc value of the life of that murderer is a completely contradictory way of viewing things.

No wonder most of the stuff Joy Behar says is dripping with the effects of liberal Kool Aid. Give me Starbucks any day.

A poignant anniversary...

2010-01-16T22:41:00.003-06:00

I sat with a patient in my office last week. She was there for her first doctor's visit for her newly diagnosed pregnancy. I walked into the room and shook her hand and introduced myself, as is my custom when greeting a new patient. She sat on the edge of the table, arms wrapped around herself, rocking back and forth on the bed. Her pallor and apprehension were palpable. After asking the general questions that are typical for completing a thorough medical history, I asked her why she seemed distressed. Many times, a new pregnancy is unplanned and provokes feelings of fear and uncertainty. I asked her if she was upset about the pregnancy. She explained that she was very happy about the pregnancy. She went on to say that "tomorrow is the one year anniversary of my abortion."

Many women, you see, live for years with profound regret after terminating a pregnancy. The incidence of depression following abortion is one of medicine's best kept secrets. In fact, Planned Parenthood went to court to oppose a law in one state which would have required abortion providers to notify patients before an abortion that post-abortive depression is common. Planned Parenthood actually opposed telling patients about a common adverse effect of the procedure. In legitimate medicine, one of the most common causes for a doctor to lose a malpractice lawsuit is failing to tell a patient about a potential adverse outcome, even if the particular outcome in question is quite rare. Abortion providers, however, are allowed to function under a double standard which enables them to hide the truth of the procedure from potential patients. They also almost never provide night time and weekend coverage for patients who experience problems following an abortion. If I was unavailable to my patients when problems arose I would likely lose my license. Abortionists, however, have a different lifestyle. Regular work hours and cash up front before providing any services and no nights and no weekends. Sounds like an idyllic job--oops--forgot that nasty little part about having to be a serial murderer and actually sleep at night.

People like Gloria Feldt, the former president of Planned Parenthood and author of the book "War on Choice" believes that Roe v Wade was a victory for women everywhere. She thinks that because abortion is an easily available option, women are victors in the struggle against religious rich white men who don't want to compete against women for executive jobs and power. She believes that all pro-life people (and she never uses the term pro-life; she says 'anti-choice' to make it sound like something it's not) want to keep women barefoot, pregnant, and silent. What she will likely never acknowledge is the fact that as a result of Roe v Wade women are victims, not victors.

Back to my patient: I asked her where she had her abortion--the answer: Planned Parenthood, of course. I asked her if the providers told her that she might struggle with depression--of course they did not. She says, like so many other women I have interviewed--"They told me nothing. They just wanted my money. They didn't even treat me like a person."

On to our fabulous government now. This monstrosity of a bill on health care will be, if it passes, a way to get the substance of the Freedom of Choice Act enacted without having to take that fight to the halls of Congress. The Stupak amendment in the House was quite good -- it is simply unlikely to survive the conference process. Nany Pelosi, on discovering the abortion goodies in the Senate bill, said "Thank God." That is a sentiment that borders on being blasphemous. If my memory serves me correctly, Jesus became quite upset about hearing someone comment that the devil was responsible for something the Lord had done. Now Nancy is thanking God for something for which the devil has been logging some serious overtime. Now you may be wondering--for what was she thanking God? Well, here's the answer to that.

The bill, as it currently stands, provides for the largest increase in funding in history for Planned Parenthood. The bill routes additional tax dollars to Planned Parenthood and designates it as 'an essential community provider.' I wouldn't disagree with that if Planned Parenthood only provided contraception and STD screening and Pap smears to women that can't get those services elsewhere. After all, providing safe and appropriate contraception (pregnancy prevention, not pregnancy termination)is vital to preventing abortions. But that is not all that Planned Parenthood does. The bill, as it stands, also subsidizes insurance plans that cover abortion and does so with your tax dollars. The policy changes which will inevitably follow passage of this bill will also potentially eventually require all insurance plans to cover abortions as 'preventive care'. Once this is all in place, and we move closer to a single payer system (as will be inevitable--this is one of the real intentions of this legislation) then health care providers who refuse to perform abortions simply won't get paid for anything. Their contracts will just get dropped.

As if this all wasn't enough, I just have to tell you more. Planned Parenthood just obtained a 78,000 square foot facility in Houston, Texas, that they plan to turn into an abortion megamart. (see Americans United for Life at http://www.aul.org/ ) Let me put that size into a proper frame of reference for you. A football field, being 300 feet long and 160 feet wide, has 48,000 square feet of surface area. This abortion megamart, including a wing for late-term abortions Dr. Tiller style, is more than 1 1/2 times as big as a football field. The term 'megamart' reminds me of a time when K-Mart was the biggest local store and you could often walk in and hear the voice over the PA system announcing a 'blue light special on aisle 5'. Imagine what a place as big as 1 1/2 football fields would be like. Imagine walking in at this time of year as the anniversary of Roe v Wade approaches. You might hear something like the following on the PA system:

Attention patrons--in honor of the upcoming anniversary of Roe v Wade, we are having a special on RU-486 on aisle 3. That will be free for everyone today, courtesy of the American taxpayer. And if you are too far along for that, and your baby actually has arms and legs now, but you aren't out of the first trimester, then take a number and wait on aisle 5 for your turn to have a simple little suction D&C where your friendly abortionist will whistle for you while he sucks your baby out in pieces. And if you just happen to be farther along than that, then please come over to the Tiller Wing, which we have just opened in honor of Dr. George Tiller, who dismembered more babies than anyone else in American history. Our proficient fetal dismemberment technicians will take care of you as soon as it is your turn.

Recently, for the first time since annual polling began on the question of whether Americans consider themselves pro-life or pro-choice, a majority of Americans identify themselves as pro-life. These Americans need to hold politicans accountable for their stance on abortion. The President promised "no taxpayer funding for abortions" just like he promised to have all the healthcare negotiations on CSPAN. Nancy Pelosi thanks God for the devil's work. The President tells Bart Stupak to back off on the abortion issue. Ben Nelson says he is prolife but goes along with the abominable Senate bill and gives Harry Reid his sixtieth vote. I guess the Cornhusker Kickback was more important to ole Ben than the lives of unborn innocent children.

There is a memorial in Washington. There are many memorials there, but the one I have in mind is the Vietnam War Memorial. It is unique among memorials. I have been there, and viewing this memorial brings tears to the eyes of even the toughest, most stoic people. There is a long black polished stone edifice, made of black granite, that is in a position carved out of a low hillside. It looks like a dark black gash in the ground. It is covered with the engraved name of each and every American service man or womans who died in the Vietnam War. It has over 53,000 names on it. America fought in Vietnam for several years and it took all those years to accumulate those 53,000 war dead. Today is the sixteenth day of January. It has been just over two weeks since we entered the new year of 2010. If every baby aborted since January 1, 2010 had a name and it were placed on a similar wall--we would have now filled one the size of the Vietnam Memorial and would need to start a new wall Monday morning. That is right--about 53,000 babies every two weeks. Think about that one for a while....Abortion is a big dark black gash across American history. Instead of only 53,000 names though--we are now over 53 million babies since Roe v Wade. There are no victors in abortion--only victims.

It's a slow fade...

2010-01-12T10:43:00.005-06:00

The popular Christian musical group Casting Crowns has a song whose lyrics are magnificent. The words to the song Slow Fade are so incredibly accurate. They are relevant to our own personal lives, and they are relevant to America's course as a nation. We have, as a nation and as a people, slowly slid into a state of immorality, self-centeredness, and arrogance where 'tolerance' is the highest virtue and most people believe that 'relative morality' should reign supreme in the arena of life and liberty. The fact that our nation was founded on a bedrock belief that the moral standards by which we should live are derived from the Bible and a Judeo-Christian worldview has not only been forgotten--it has actively been driven from the public conscience. This has been done slowly: and we as a people have gone along with it. Read and consider the words to the song:

Be careful little eyes what you see
It's the second glance that ties your hands
As darkness pulls the strings

Be careful little feet where you go
For it's the little feet behind you
That are sure to follow

It's a slow fade
When you give yourself away
It's a slow fade
When black and white are turned to gray

And thoughts invade, choices are made
A price will be paid
When you give yourself away
People never crumble in a day

It's a slow fade
It's a slow fade

Be careful little ears what you hear
When flattering leads to compromises
The end is always near

Be careful little lips what you say
For empty words and promises
Leave broken hearts astray

It's a slow fade
When you give yourself away
It's a slow fade
When black and white are turned to gray

And thoughts invade, choices are made
A price will be paid
When you give yourself away
People never crumble in a day

The journey from your mind to your hands
Is shorter than you're thinking
Be careful if you think you stand
You just might be sinking

It's a slow fade
When you give yourself away
It's a slow fade
When black and white are turned to gray

And thoughts invade, choices are made
A price will be paid
When you give yourself away

People never crumble in a day
Daddies never crumble in a day
Families never crumble in a day

Oh, be careful little eyes what you see
Oh, be careful little eyes what you see
For the Father up above is looking down in love
Oh, be careful little eyes what you see

The song speaks to us as individuals. It eloquently warns that our eyes may lead us to places where we don't want to be. What begins as a curious exploration of pornography or a casual flirtation with someone other than our spouse will lead us into a state of bondage. Materialism is like that as well--the more we have the more we want. When we are not careful, our children can follow us down these dark paths and future generations will be more deeply affected by our mistakes and have those same patterns more firmly established in their lives. As our consciences are suppressed by our desires, the black and white of absolute morality no longer seems so valid. Our thoughts betray us as we rationalize and explain away our choices -- "After all, it's not that bad....Everyone else is doing it....Live and let live; that's my motto..." We eventually pay a price for these things and we never see it coming--after all, like the song says--people never crumble in a day.

As go our people, so goes our nation. Only a generation ago, pornography would have been difficult to find--now, it is widely and easily and even anonymously available and it is estimated that 30-40% of people regularly look at porn online. It has been said that America's number one export in terms of dollars generated is pornography. Our government refuses to protect our children from online porn. Legislation was considered which would have required all porn to be removed from the .com and .org and .net domains and be in a new .xxx domain -- Congress lacked the desire to do so. Our music and our entertainment corrupts our children and few speak out about it and no one listens anyway. This has happened slowly but steadily. Our government has played its role in this slow fade. Our President chose an assistant attorney general who has zealously worked for the pornography industry, and has chosen an education official who has worked to actively promote the gay agenda in schools and who as a school official had no concerns about a 16 year old boy having sex with an older man other than "I hope you used a condom." The President also recently praised a gay rights activist who famously said that "there is nothing wrong with bestiality as long as the animal doesn't mind."

Our people have been crumbling for a long time, and so has our nation. And just like with any large structure, the cracks and weaknesses that have been developing for decades sometimes only become glaringly apparent just before the structure fails. After all, nations don't crumble in a day either...

Thank God for people like Britt Hume. Mr. Hume, the Washington anchor for FoxNews, recently said that Tiger Woods should turn to Christianity--explaining his remarks by correctly pointing out that Christianity is the only system of belief that provides the redemption and forgiveness that Tiger (and all the rest of us too) needs. We need more people like Mr. Hume. I'd love to have a cup of coffee with that guy.

How's all this 'global warming' treating ya'll?

2010-01-08T23:24:00.005-06:00

It's been a long time now since I last blogged. It's not that I haven't wanted to, or that I haven't had anything to write about--I simply haven't had the time. I have a little time tonight as I am at the hospital waiting for a delivery, so here I go on three different items:

I really do believe that God sometimes chooses to mock the fools that disregard Him and attribute the things we see on earth to mankind's actions. He talks in Romans about the foolishness of worshipping created things instead of the Creator. As you know, we are hearing alot recently about 'global warming' and we now know that the primary scientific data used to support the idea that any recent increase in the earth's average temperature is the result of mankind's activities was biased--it is as if the scientists were acting like Enron's accountants and were cooking the books. I think that God must be really amused to send a blizzard to Copenhagan to mark the global warming liberal lovefest. It sure is amusing to me that there were concerns that Air Force One might have to land in that blizzard, and that it returned to two feet of global warming on the East Coast. As soon as Congress gets done taking over health care and raising all our taxes to pay for it and deciding exactly how to best hose us all behind closed doors despite the President's 18 promises to put the negotiations on CSpan, they will likely take up the economy-killing jobs-killing small-business killing "cap and trade" legislation that they've all been salivating to pass. As they prepare to do this, ostensibly to save the planet from global warming, America is caught in the grip of the worst cold snap in many years. It's -33 in some places in the continental US today and that is actually colder than the South Pole today. Oranges freeze in Florida, manatees in Florida huddle together for warmth, four people freeze to death in Nashville on Monday night, but let's all go out and double our energy cost because if we don't then the planet might get too hot--do they really think we are that stupid?

Little known to the American public is the Executive Order signed by the President on December 16, 2009. It is an order amending Executive Order 12425, an order put in place by President Ronald Reagan. It was an order that protected American citizens from Interpol, the International Criminal Police organization. Interpol has its purpose, I know that. But American citizens have rights and those rights are promised to us in the Constitution. Obama's order frees Interpol to function within the US without being answerable to any American entities. When an American citizen is arrested in a criminal matter, he has the right to an attorney, a right to due process, a right to know the charges against him, a right to a speedy trial, a right to a trial in front of a jury of his peers, and a right to have those rights read to him. Interpol could now theoretically apprehend an American citizen and even take them out of the country without any due process, trial in America, representation, or without even allowing his family to know what was happening. With the stroke of a pen, Obama has given an international organization jurisdiction on American soil and has superceded the Constitution in doing so. Curiously, the White House has taken the text of this order off of the whitehouse.gov website so that the public can no longer view it. When I visited the website to check it out, it said "this page is unavailable".

Thirdly, we see the fiasco with the would be suicide bomber on the Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas day. The President gets awakened at 3 AM by his staff so they can tell him he just won the Nobel Peace Prize, but the same staff waits three hours to tell him that a Muslim radical just tried to murder three hundred Americans. He then waits three days to even comment on the matter, and is so completely clueless that he refers to the crotch bomber as an 'isolated extremist' on the very day that Al Qaeda took responsibility for planning the mission. He then defends the decision to use the civilian courts to hold, investigate, and try the would-be crotch bomber. The kid (not even an American) was read his rights, given an attorney (paid for by the taxpayer of course)and will likely be given a show trial like the other murderous terrorists who have already confessed to their roles in 9/11. This kid, whose greatest desire was to kill hundreds of innocent Americans on Christmas Day, has been given the rights our Founding Fathers wanted Americans to have--the same rights our President doesn't want us to have if Interpol comes knocking on our door.

I think I need a triple espresso chased by a venti Pike's Place with four Splendas and some half-and-half: maybe then I'll wake up and all this will have been a bad dream.....

I'd laugh if it wasn't so sad....

2009-12-12T23:00:00.002-06:00

Speaker Nancy Pelosi was just seen at a podium with a microphone crowing about the House's passage of a bill which will give the federal government more regulatory power over Wall Street and private business. It certainly seems that the current political goals in Washington include the conversion of our capitalist free market economy to a socialist economy controlled by the government.

Did you know that Hitler, on coming to power in Germany, quickly moved to nationalize the financial sector, the manufacturing sector, and the healthcare system?

Now we have an administration and a Congress bent on doing the same things. They have essentially nationalized some banks, 2 out of three major auto manufacturers, and are trying like mad to get control of the healthcare system. They are also irresponsibly spending money like it belongs to someone else -- and whaddaya know -- it does! It's your money and my money and our children's money and our grandchildren's money. The debt they are wracking up will wreck us if it continues in an unrestrained fashion.

So here is the Speaker, proudly crowing "never again will the irresponsible actions of a few people endanger the people of this country." Think about it for a moment -- for her statement to be true would require Congress as is stands today to be disbanded and replaced. She refers to Wall Street but Main Street is beginning to realize that the problem is Congress.

Did you see the snow this morning?

2009-12-05T13:11:00.002-06:00

This really has been a beautiful fall season. God gave us an incredible palate of colors. There were vivid sunrises and equally glorious sunsets. From the top of a hill where I have recently spent alot of time, the sunsets in the west have provided a broad spectrum of color and light. The azure blue of the sky begins to darken, and the clouds are first rose pink. The lovely lavender shade which follows reminds me of my grandmother's lavender bush so strongly that I could almost smell the blooms. The trees also provided a vast array of color for our enjoyment. Yellows, oranges, and reds as well as the softer browns were all far more beautiful than the colors seen in the two years prior to this year. Then, this morning we awaken to the pure white of this season's first snow. If you were up early enough to enjoy the pearly white gleam of snow flakes glistening in the sunlight, then it must have brought a smile to your face. I have one simple question--did it snow in Al Gore's front yard?

The self appointed king of the global warming crusade was dealt a blow during recent days. The email records of correspondence between scientists involved in promoting the idea of global warming show that they manipulated the data. Scientists are supposed to ask a question, and then find the answer objectively without applying their own personal bias. The idea behind standard scientific method is to seek the answer to a question without allowing one's own desires to influence the findings. The emails show that these scientists decided what the answers should be and then worked to lay out a case for those answers. Al must be embarrassed. He canceled an appearance in Copenhagen, and liberals like Mr. Gore don't run from opportunities to be seen and heard. Isn't it interesting that the internet that Mr. Bore invented has now brought down his crusade?

Also interesting is the fact that Senator Barbara Boxer wants a criminal investigation. The problem is that she wants to investigate the hackers who leaked the emails instead of the scientists who cooked the data. Only a liberal would look at it this way, and only a liberal would think that you could possible change the weather by raising taxes.

Only one more thought about global warming--if mankind and our gases are responsible for raising the earth's temperature, then why has the temperature on Mars also increased??? As Homer Simpson would say, DOH!

Now for Press Secretary Gibbs--he recently spoke to a black female reporter with a degree of condescencion seldom seen, even in today's adversarial political climate. He told her to calm down, and then compared her to one of his children. I ask you to consider this--what if a conservative Republican white male had spoken to a black female reporter that way? Imagine the outcry from the left and from Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson and every other camera-loving liberal.

Now for the "Jobs Summit". What a joke! Here is some interesting trivia--the average administration has a group of senior staffers and appointees made up of a diverse group of people--politcal operatives, academics, and people with real world experience. In the average administration, 50% of the people in the administration will have real world experience and about 50% will be political or academic. President Jimmy Carter's administration had 30% real world people (not the MTV Real World variety). The current adminstration?-- 8% have real world experience. 92% are political and academic and have never made a payroll and never created a job and have never run a business. These are the people who are going to tell us how to create jobs! I feel better already, how about you?

And finally--economic strategy and how the lessons of history could be helpful if only those in charge would listen. President Reagan inherited a recession, horrible inflation, and high interest rates. President Bush inherited a recession. President Obama inherited a recession. The first two cut taxes, and the economy grew, employment rates went up, federal revenue increased, and American confidence in the economy grew. Now we have President Obama--he has spent money we don't have and wants to raise taxes. The only things growing are the unemployment rate, the national debt, and the size of the federal beaurocracy.

Nero fiddled while Rome burned...

2009-10-19T08:17:00.002-05:00

Most people are familiar with the story of the fire which burned Rome in the first century. A fire started in the market district of Rome and burned a large part of the city. Nero, the arguably insane emperor at the time, played his lyre as the city burned. (the actual fiddle wasn't invented until centuries later) Historians Suetonius and Cassius Dio both suggest that Nero himself was the arsonist. This is believable when you consider that he ordered the burned land cleared and constructed a large new palace complex on the area that had been devastated by the fire. His monumental ego led him to have a thirty foot tall statue of himself erected on the spot. In order to deflect blame from himself, he blamed and persecuted the Christians.

Fast forward two thousand years and cross the Atlantic -- now you are in Washington. President Obama, having said that the real front in the war on terror was Afghanistan, now sends out his minion Rahm Emmanuel to let America know that the White House has decided to delay any troop decision in Afghanistan until we can be sure that there is a legitimate government in Afghanistan. General McChrystal's request for the additional troops won't be granted. Our troops are left in the line of fire with no decent or reasonable plan. It is as if Afghanistan is on fire, our troops are in danger, and the adminstration wants to see if any Afghans will actually rise up and take care of the problem. The urgency of the situation is ignored as our troops die in what will be a futile cause. If we are to defeat the terrorists that want to control Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, then we must act--immediately and decisively. Instead, the White House rushes stimulus bills and healthcare bills through quickly so that Americans won't have time to understand what is being done to them. Afghanistan needs attention, McChrystal needs the support of his commander in chief, and all we see is a President who doesn't know how to get out of campaign mode. He fiddles his time away on projects intended to be payback for his special interest groups and on his efforts to woo the Olympics to Chicago -- but he won't make a decision as all the efforts and sacrifices of those who have fought in Afghanistan are just burning up and blowing away in the wind.

And just as Nero blamed the Christians, the administration blames Bush. Emmanuel, on the Sunday morning talk circuit, said that the past adminstration had made such a mess of Afghanistan that the current administration had to start over from scratch. Enjoy the use of your fiddle, boys...America may just wake up by 11/2010 and 11/2012 and get rid of you the way the Romans got rid of Nero....

The Nobel Piece Prize...

2009-10-11T16:26:00.005-05:00

hom⋅o⋅phone [hom-uh-fohn]
–noun -- a word pronounced the same as another but differing in meaning, whether spelled the same way or not.

Homophones can sometimes trip you up in a spelling bee. I lost a spelling bee in the fifth grade over the words 'their' and 'there'. Other examples are 'bare' and 'bear', 'steel' and 'steal', 'lie' and 'lye', 'heir' and 'air', and 'hare' and 'hair'. The contrast between the words 'peace' and 'piece' comes to mind this weekend. President Obama was just awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. It is truly bemusing when you consider that someone (wouldn't you love to know just who that was) nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize when the nominations closed just 11 days after he took the oath of office on Inauguration Day. Many are asking just what he did to deserve such an award. He may not have done much to deserve a Peace Prize, but I can note many actions which would make him deserving of a Piece Prize, if there were any such thing.

He and his party may as well have put the Constitution of the United States in the paper shredder, leaving it in pieces. The Fairness Doctrine they wish to impose on talk radio is an assault on the First Amendment right of free speech. There is talk of a 'Net Neutrality' system that will regulate internet content the way the Fairness Doctrine will force conservative talk radio (which actually has a following and can pay for itself) to air liberal rebuttals (which like Air America just don't make it financially--seems like the free market shows that liberal thinking is bankrupt--just like our country will soon be at the current rate of spending). Then there is the freedom of religion also contained in the First Amendment. Current 'hate crimes' legislation will criminalize the act of teaching the Bible from the pulpit when the words spoken offend any special interest group. (It will be interesting to see if they apply that law to the 70% of mosques in the US that preach hate and jihad against the US) Then there is HR 45 (see it in full at http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-45 ) which will essentially make the ownership of firearms, as protected in the Second Amendment of the Constitution, such an onerous burden that few law abiding citizens will want to comply. Of course, the criminals will still have all they want. They never buy their firearms legally anyway. This bill will require you to apply for a permit to purchase a firearm. You will have to submit your medical records to the federal government to prove that you don't have a mental illness that would make you 'unfit' to own a firearm. This is far more intrusive than the usual and reasonable background check which has sufficed for years. This flies in the face of the supposed right to privacy that we have that enables abortion on demand.

Our capitalist economy, the most successful economy in the history of the world, is being dismantled and left in pieces. The current party in power wants to control the financial sector, and has already nationalized parts of it. They want to set executive compensation. They want the ability to seize control of any sector of the economy that is 'too important to fail', essentially separating those entities from the capitalist system that has put this country in the position of being the most successful country in the history of the world. He also, at the recent G20 meetings, embraced a way of thinking that will give away American economic sovereignty and the standard of the dollar. His runaway spending and his eagerness to give control of our economy to others will leave our economy in pieces.

Our history is being dismantled and left in pieces. We were founded as a Christian nation. We shouldn't apologize to the world for that. The Christian values of respect for others, a good work ethic, and generosity to the poor--here and abroad--have resulted in an enormous amount of blessing for our nation. Now, our leader turns his back on this heritage and publicly embraces a religion that preaches death to all those with whom it disagrees. (His words, not mine--"America is no longer a Christian nation." and "America is one of the largest Muslim nations in the world.")

Our history of being good to the world has been torn into pieces and thrown to the wind. President Obama apologizes to the world everywhere he goes, as if America is evil through and through and has never done anything for anyone else. As our nation's leader, he should have been reminding the world that America has sacrificed more soldiers in the defense of the freedom of others than all other nations in the world combined. He should be reminding France, Germany, Norway, Finland, Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Algeria, Morocco, Romania, Kosovo, Panama, Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Luxemburg, Czechoslovakia, Afghanistan, Denmark, Kuwait, Egypt, Montenegro, New Guinea, Indonesia, Thailand, Greece, Tunisia, Albania, Hungary, Belgium, Austria, South Korea, Japan, Italy, and Iraq among others that without American blood and American sacrifice and American dollars they would all be living under dictators of some sort. He should be reminding the world that Americans shoulder the greatest amount of the burden when there is a natural disaster anywhere. He should be reminding the world that when they have been hungry, America has fed them. He should be reminding the world that when they have been sick, American missionaries have cared for them. Does he do this? No--he apologizes when no apology is necessary and by so doing leaves America's reputation in pieces.

He leaves the truth in pieces as many things he has publicly said have been provably false. No doctor has ever been paid $50,000 to amputate a leg. The healthcare bill certainly would, as it stood the night he made his speech to Congress, have paid for healthcare for all illegals. He promised that no American making less than $250,000 would pay an additional dime in taxes. I could go on and on.

He would tear our national security to pieces. He wants to treat terrorists as if they had done nothing more than shoplift at Walmart. In those first eleven days of his presidency before the nominations for the Nobel Prize closed, he did only two noteworthy things. The first was to sign an order closing Gitmo--and has since then sent terrorists to such lovely places as Bermuda, where a group of terrorists were given Bermudan passports and a place to live and set up in their own business. He is allowing his attorney general to proceed with the farce of investigating the people who have sacrificed much to keep us safe--and won't even comment on the fact that an organization for which he once served as an attorney (ACORN) has been caught in all sorts of horrible activity. Attorney General Holder should be investigating ACORN, not the CIA.

The other thing he did in those first eleven days was sign an order which restored American funding to overseas organizations which perform abortions--leaving unborn babies all over the world dead and in pieces.

He is, however, in good company. Look at the last several Nobel Peace Prize winners. Al Gore declares war on the sun (which is really responsible for global warming) and gets the prize. Jimmy Carter undermined the Shah of Iran and made it possible for the Ayatollahs to now run the country, and he gets a prize. Yasser Arafat gets a prize, and now Barack Obama gets a prize.

He may not deserve the Peace Prize, but he sure does deserve the Piece Prize.

The actual healthcare plan is "Don't get old..."

2009-10-01T21:34:00.004-05:00

The hypocritical House leadership showed its colors once again today when Speaker Pelosi, after punishing Joe Wilson for saying "You lie!", said that Paul Grayson doesn't need to apologize. Congressman Grayson lied when he said that the Republicans don't have a plan. (They do--go to gop.gov and look at it) He made the outrageous statement that Republicans want Americans to die quickly. He even more outrageously compared American health care, the best health care system in the world, to Hitler's murderous campaign against European Jews. He then called Republicans "neanderthal knuckledraggers". He did this on the floor of the House. Joe Wilson makes a true, albeit impolite, statement to the President on the floor of the House and he is excoriated for it. Grayson, also on the floor of the House, lies and makes outrageously hyperbolic statements that help no one, and then tops it off with an insult worthy of the most impudent second grader--and he doesn't need to apologize. Wow...

Are you over 65? Is anyone you love over 65? Do you hope to live past 65? If the answer to any of these questions is "Yes" then you need to let your members of the House and the Senate know that if they vote for the Democratic healthcare plans then you will vote against them in 2010--and you will work hard to get all your friends and all your family to vote against them as well. Grayson lied when he said that the Republicans only advice in the healthcare debate is "Don't get sick". I tell the truth when I say that the legislation being considered right now essentially says to Americans--"Don't get old."

Millions of older Americans, including my parents, are enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans. Millions more plan to enroll in those when they reach the age at which they qualify for Medicare. The bill being considered at this very moment in the Senate plans to fund care for some Americans and even for illegals and fund abortions for everyone by taking over $500 billion dollars out of Medicare Advantage over the next 10 years.

(Before anyone accuses me of lying about the 'illegal' statement then they should explain why the Democrats on the Senate finance committee voted along party lines to defeat an amendment that would have simply required proof of citizenship or legal residency before getting federal benefits. If there is no real under-the-table desire to provide care for illegals then why defeat an amendment intended to make it difficult for illegals to get federal benefits? That same committee voted to defeat an amendment that would have prevented the use of federal funds for abortions except in the cases of rape, incest, and to save the life of the mother--so if, as the Dems say--"we won't use tax dollars to pay for abortion" then why strike down an amendment that would have obligated them to that statement?)

Not only do they plan to fund their takeover of this massive segment of the economy on the backs of Medicare patients by taking $500 billion + out of Medicare Advantage, they also plan to make it harder for Medicare patients to find doctors that will actually take care of them. The Baucus bill will also save money for the government by taking the doctors who provide the most in service to Medicare patients and penalizing them. The doctors responsible for the top ten percent of Medicare utilization will have their pay docked--giving the doctors who see the most Medicare and who provide care for the sickest of our elderly population an incentive NOT to provide care--isn't that rationing?

So--the message coming out of Washington isn't "Don't get sick" -- It is "Don't get old..." and that is not the Republican message--it is the Democratic message.

We just threw Israel under the bus...just thought you would want to know...

2009-09-23T14:44:00.001-05:00

al⋅ly /v. əˈlaɪ; n. ˈælaɪ, əˈlaɪ/ [v. uh-lahy; n. al-ahy, uh-lahy] Show IPA verb, -lied, -ly⋅ing, noun, plural -lies.

–verb (used with object)
1. to unite formally, as by treaty, league, marriage, or the like (usually fol. by with or to): Russia allied itself to France.
2. to associate or connect by some mutual relationship, as resemblance or friendship.

–verb (used without object)
3. to enter into an alliance; join; unite.

–noun
4. a person, group, or nation that is associated with another or others for some common cause or purpose: Canada and the United States were allies in World War II.
5. Biology. a plant, animal, or other organism bearing an evolutionary relationship to another, often as a member of the same family: The squash is an ally of the watermelon.
6. a person who associates or cooperates with another; supporter.

Israel has always been a friend to the United States. Israel is the only true democracy in the Middle East. Israel is the only nation in the region that gives all people, regardless of their ethnic backgroud, the chance to be citizens of their nation and the right to vote. Israel is the only nation in the region which respects the rights of women, and allows them to hold office at all levels of government. Israel is the only country in the Middle East which recognizes the freedoms that individuals desire in relationship to their faith. Israel is the only country that is like America in any aspect in the Middle East. They have been our ally since the inception of the modern state of Israel. Jews have contributed immeasurably to our nation's heritage. In fact, a prominent Jew 240 years ago believed in the idea of the United States raised funds internationally and gave those funds to General George Washington--without those funds, Washington may very likely have lost the War for Independence and been hung as a traitor to the King. America has been blessed because we have stood with Israel, even when no one else would. Today, we threw Israel under the bus.

Even the most cursory review of history would remind anyone that Israel has repeatedly offered the Palestinian leadership the vast majority of what they desire. Yasser Arafat was offered more than 90% of what he said he wanted to move forward with peace--and he not only harshly rejected the offer; he went home from the talks and started the second intifadeh--and many Israelis lost their lives. Over the years, Israel has lost far more citizens to terrorism, on a population basis, than we lost on September 11 and in the wars that have followed. Palestinian leaders have never made any legitimate or trustworthy steps toward peace. The ball has been in their court so many times--and they have shown repeatedly that they have no interest in peace with Israel. They only desire Israel's destruction. They are not even willing to acknowledge the right of Israel to exist--a right granted by God himself thousands of years ago, and then formally given to Israel by the United Nations in 1948--yes, there was a UN resolution that recognized the right of the Jewish people to have a nation in their ancestral homeland.

Apparently, our scholarly President doesn't know the meaning of the word "ally". Allies don't tell one another that they must totally compromise their security to advance peace with enemies that do not truly desire peace. Yet, that is what President Obama did this morning as he preened on the world stage.

"We continue to call on Palestinians to end incitement against Israel, and we continue to emphasize that America does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements,' he said." (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/23/obama-world-dont-expect-america-fix/) Mr. President, why didn't you say that the Palestinian leadership must recognize that Israel has a right to exist? If that fact cannot be acknowledged, then how do you expect to ever achieve peace? After all the times that Israel has tried to achieve peace and been attacked in return, don't you think that you should expect more from the Palestinians? That would make sense.

If America wants to be a true friend to Israel--then America should remind the world that Israel wants peace--and that when Israel has a willing partner for peace, then peace will be achieved. Treaties with Egypt and Jordan have been in effect for decades and have been unbroken by either side. If the Palestinians want peace, then they need to behave as if they are serious about a desire for peace. They need to make concessions as well--but have never been willing to do so. Instead, the leader of the United States issued a precondition--even as he denounced the need for preconditions ( the phrase "without preconditions" his words, not mine)--and said that Israel has to stop its settlements. That sounds like a precondition to me. He never said that the Palestinians should acknowledge that Israel has a right to exist. That should be a precondition to any future talks.

Maybe someone needs to be sure that the President is reminded of the definition of ally--and maybe he should go to dictionary.com and check out the definition for 'precondition' as well. All he did today was throw Israel under the bus. I dread to see what else he will want Israel to do in the coming months.

He did not take the opportunity to chastise Iranian President Mahmoud Ahminthemoodforjihad, who sat in the audience. The Iranian President, reveling in his belief that he is to usher in the Islamic Mahdi by causing a nuclear holocaust, still denies that the Holocaust even happened. I am sure that the Iranian President was also happy to hear that Jimmy Carter's old crony, Zbignew Bryzinski (have no idea if that is spelled correctly), said in recent days that the United States should shoot down any Israeli planes that cross into Iranian air space in the event that Israel decides that it must take the action for which the rest of the world lacks the spine. Sounds to me like we are better allies of the Islamic Republic of Iran than we are to Israel. May God have mercy on the United States of America....

The anti-life healthcare bill...

2009-09-18T21:36:00.003-05:00

I wrote in the "Fuzzy math..." entry that I had been to a physicians-only town hall meeting with Congressman Bart Gordon, and that I had gone with something to say about abortion, and that I didn't have the chance to say it. In the event that you wondered what I would have said--here it is.

The main premise of the majority opinion of the Supreme Court in Roe v Wade is that the state has no right to interfere in the private healthcare decisions an individual makes with her doctor, even when that decision results in the termination of an unborn child's life. The individual's right to privacy, in this context, is so vitally important that it has been worth the lives of fifty million children. If that right holds such a place of supreme and overriding importance, then why is this healthcare bill as found on the webpage of the House Ways and Means Committee the largest intrusion into the privacy of individual citizens in the history of our nation? The bill written by Pelosi and Waxman and their cohorts gives the government access to your checking account both for information and for withdrawals. It gives the government the right to audit the books of private companies that self-insure. It establishes panels that will decide what treatments and medications may or may not be prescribed (in spite of Roe v Wade's position that if a particular procedure--abortion--is possible, then it should be available). It will enroll all eligible people on Medicaid--even if they don't want it. These provisions that invade our privacy are just in the first ten percent of the bill--I am sure there is more I just haven't had the time to read.

Now to the anti-life strategy for this bill. We haven't heard much about the Freedom of Choice Act lately. We have not, because the substance of the Freedom of Choice Act is incorporated into this bill. It isn't there in words that are clear, but it is there if you care to consider the logical outcomes of this bill, when it is in force.

The Freedom of Choice Act, as previously proposed and in the form President Obama promised to sign, would end all state-by-state restrictions on abortion, and would establish abortion as a fundamental right. The President has also spoken of his intention to revoke the conscience clause protections which currently protect health care providers from being coerced into participating in abortions.

Here are the elements of the hidden path that this bill will take to enact the substance of the Freedom of Choice Act:

1) Regardless of the President's promise that you will be able to keep your insurance plan--you will most definitely NOT be able to keep it in all situations. The bill will make it illegal for existing companies to write new policies and enroll new policy holders. If you like your private insurance, you had better hope your company doesn't let you go and that you keep your job until you die. If you lose the policy you have, you can't get a new one from a different company and you will have to enroll in the public option. Over time, private insurance companies will begin to close since they cannot enroll new clients.

2) Abortion will be a covered service. They have attempted to fool us with a shell game and say that public tax dollars will not be used to pay for abortions but that funds from "premiums" will pay for them. What are these premiums they mention? New taxes, in every sense of the word. Payroll tax hikes, excise taxes, forced withdrawals from your bank accounts, etc. A true 'premium' is a fee you pay voluntarily because you desire to have coverage of some sort--life insurance, health insurance, disability insurance, automobile insurance, etc. If it is money taken from you by the government it doesn't matter what they call it--it is a TAX. And even if they really were talking about legitimate premiums, some of those premium dollars would come from pro-life individuals who rightly recognize that elective abortion is murder and who would object to having their funds used to pay for such an atrocity. Consider another point in regards to the whole 'is it a premium or is it a tax' question--since when has the government exercised fiscal discipline and actually used funds for the purposes for which they were confiscated from us? Consider Social Insecurity. It was originally planned to fund retirement for people as they reached retirement age. The President under whom Social Insecurity promised that the withholdings for this purpose would not be used for anything else. But Congress has repeatedly raided the Social Insecurity fund and put its money in the general fund and spent it on whatever they desired. This repeated and escalating robbery from the elderly in America has reached the point that the fund is nearly broke. If the fund had never been raided (and I might add that each time Congress voted to raid the SS fund, it was a Congress with a Democratic leadership and a Democratic majority that voted to rob the elderly) the fund would not be in trouble today. Also consider this--if we had fifty million more people in the US today, many of them would be paying into the fund now, or would be when they reach the age at which they go to work. Our nation has fifty million fewer people than it should because of abortion. So when they tell us that they won't use tax dollars to fund abortion, they lie. Where I grew up, if you knowingly said something that wasn't true, you were a liar. Maybe I should go stand beside Congressman Wilson and let Mama Nancy berate me and have the peanut farmer in chief call me a racist for saying that.

3) Once the majority of Americans are enrolled in some sort of Medicare, Medicaid, or public option--physicians will become employees of the government in all the ways that really matter. If I then say to a patient that I will not perform an abortion, then the government won't have to actually fire me. They can just stop paying me, and since they will eventually be the only payer--I will be out of work.

Congressman Wilson heard the president say that illegal aliens would not be covered and that the bill would not provide coverage for them. If what the President said was true, why did the Senate find it necessary, on the very next day, to close the 'loophole' that would have allowed illegals to get coverage? If that possibility didn't exist in the first place then why did the Senate have to fix it? Because the bill would have allowed illegals to be covered, that's why. Same thing for abortion--if the bill isn't intended to provide abortion coverage, then simply introduce an amendment that expressly forbids the use of this legislation to cover abortion. Introduce an amendment that elevates the conscience clause protection from the status of a vulnerable executive order to the protected status of the law of the land. Will you see this happen? I would wager not...

Why is it so important to include abortion coverage in the bill this way? Because it allows them to slip it into law in every way that counts. Even though it will take time for these changes to become pervasive, it has the advantage of avoiding the battle that passage of the Freedom of Choice Act would require. Control of our lives and control of one sixth of the nation's economy along with abortion on demand on the taxpayer's dime--that's killing three birds with one stone...

Fuzzy math...and lots of other fuzzy stuff too...

2009-09-14T20:28:00.007-05:00

President Obama, in his healthcare speech last week, gave some lip service to the position held by doctors and conservatives that malpractice reform is necessary. On the surface, this may have been encouraging. A look deeper tells the truth.

He gave no consideration to the fact that we know that caps on non-economic damages work. We know that in Texas they have worked. Malpractice premiums went down when they capped non-economic damages there. In fact, the state of Texas was such a bad place for malpractice before the enactment of caps that there were fewer and fewer physicians there every year. The outmigration of doctors from Texas was reaching a crisis level. Since caps were introduced, physicians are returning to Texas in such numbers that the board of medical licensure there had to hire new staff to handle the number of applications. In every state where reform has been instituted, premiums have dropped and physicians are less worried about the malpractice sword of Damocles that hangs over our heads each time we walk into an exam room, a delivery room, or an operating room. Since we know it works, why in the world do we need to spend time and effort and federal money on 'demonstration projects'? Because the government doesn't want to include tort reform in any meaningful sense in the health care bill. Why should we think he is serious? He said that HHS Secretary Sebelius would head up the efforts to plan the 'demonstration projects'. I am sure she will, just like the headed up the Kansas Trial Lawyers Association for almost ten years. If you follow my blog, you know what I think of her--she is nothing more than a harbinger of death. (See blog entry "You are the harbinger of death, Kathleen Sebelius... dated Friday, May 8, 2009.)

I have been named in two suits. One of those was for a delivery that happened on Christmas Day 1995 at University of Louisville Hospital. A woman arrived in labor that morning and I was working from 9 AM to 5 PM that day. At five o'clock, I left when my relief arrived and went home and had an evening holiday meal with Julie and the kids. The patient didn't deliver until 9 PM that night. Earlier in the day I had met the patient and reviewed her chart and signed the junior resident's admission note, as is the duty of the chief resident. I had no other involvement in her care. She had a minor complication at her delivery, 4 hours after I had left, and that complication resolved quickly and had nothing to do with any care that I had supervised. I still got sued. That is thanks to, in large part, the wunderkind trial lawyer with the fabulous $400 dollar haircuts--former North Carolina senator and current philanderer John Edwards. He once sued an obstetrician and 'channeled' the little girl's voice to the jury in a side show worthy of Jerry Springer and in that case he pioneered the concept of 'joint and several liability'--a concept in which every person who had anything to do with the patient's care in any way can be held fully responsible for any injury the patient suffered. I was eventually dismissed from the complaint, but not before my malpractice company spent more than $6,000 in attorney's fees to get my name dropped from the suit. You might ask how I remember the details so well--it is because even 14 years after the fact I still have to recount the details on any application for privileges I complete and on credentialing applications with insurance companies. I have to revisit this several times annually.

That case was the least serious of the two. The other case involved a woman who had a miscarriage at U of L hospital in March of 1993. She was overweight, smoked, was 42 years old, and was allergic to latex. I don't recount these facts to demean her--these medical facts left her with many options for safe birth control, and one of the safe ones for her was Depo Provera. She got one shot that I ordered, after talking to her about it and about the side effects. Another doctor talked to her about it and the side effects, and the discussions were witnessed by nurses. She then alleged that I did not tell her about the side effects and that she had every single side effect listed from that one shot of depo provera that has ever been reported, and then she made up some that have never been reported. She claimed she gained 70 pounds when the medical record clearly showed that she lost 17 pounds. She even said that her eyes became so sensitive to light that she had to wear welder's goggles to watch television. Now, if you've ever put on welder's goggles, you would know that you can stare at the noontime sun on the 4th of July and you can barely see at all. One guy on the jury (yes, this insanity made it to trial) laughed out loud at her lie when she made that statement on the stand. We didn't even have to put on a defense--my attorney made a motion for a directed verdict on my behalf at the conclusion of the plaintiff's presentation and the judge granted the motion. That decision was upheld on appeal. I was served papers on this case exactly one year after the patient's miscarriage, the last day within the statute of limitations. That was March of 1994 and the trial wasn't over until May of 1999. This garbage was hanging over my head for FIVE YEARS and it cost the malpractice company almost $90,000 to defend. Also, during that time I could not get life insurance because the underwriters thought I might lose the case and then kill myself. Disability insurance companies wouldn't write policies for me because they thought I might lose the case and become depressed and be unable to work. All because of one woman's lies and lack of integrity and her attorney's willingness to enable her in the pursuit of his own paycheck at my expense. This kind of lunacy is why I pay $56,000 dollars annually in malpractice premiums here in Tennessee, and TN is one of the better states for malpractice liability. $56,000 annually, even though I did not lose either case in which I was named over the 19 years since I did my first delivery and now have performed more than 3,000 deliveries and countless surgical cases and patient visits. There is hardly a day that goes by that I don't see a patient and give them their care for free. How many more charitable patients could I afford to see annually if my overhead were reduced by $50,000 annually? That would help the crisis faced by the uninsured!

Now, you might ask why I called this entry "Fuzzy math..." I was able to go to a physicians-only town hall meeting two weeks ago with Congressman Bart Gordon. I went to express my concerns about abortion in the healthcare bill, but my sarcasm got the best of me at one point and I offered an unsolicited comment that had all one hundred plus doctors in the room laughing at him. From then on he refused to call on me when I raised my hand. One of the doctors present made the point that a recent Price Waterhouse study showed that 283 billion (with a B) dollars are spent each year on defensive medicine. The doctor made the point that if the costs of defensive medicine were reduced then we would have a substantial portion of the trillion (with a T) plus dollars needed to fund Miss Nancy's (Pelosi that is) version of healthcare. Congressman Gordon, with the mathematical skills developed only by many years in Congress, said that not all of the dollars spent on defensive medicine would be saved by enacting caps and that the savings from such an effort would only be a small portion of the overall cost of the bill. OK--here is why his Congressional math is fuzzy:

The Price Waterhouse study says that defensive medicine practices cost 283 billion dollars ANNUALLY and the cost of this health care bill is a trillion, give or take a few inconsequential (at least in the eyes of Congress) billion, over TEN YEARS. Now, if meaningful malpractice reform reduced the cost of defensive medicine even by one-fourth annually, then over ten years we would have saved approximately 75% of the cost of the health care bill--by enacting one thing only and raising no new taxes and rationing no services and unplugging no grandmas. That is why Congressman Gordon's math is fuzzy. Like so may others in Congress, he doesn't get it--or he thinks Americans are too dumb to get it.

I hope America gets it, before it is too late...

PS--You may be surprised to know that I have finally found something on which I agree with President Obama--He said that he thinks that Kanye West is a jackass...and I agree.

It was a beautiful day for a baptism...

2009-09-12T22:37:00.003-05:00

Today was absolutely beautiful. The sky was blue with scattered clouds, the sun was bright and warm, and the temperature and humidity were very comfortable and pleasant. It was a great day to be outside, and it was a great day to go to a baptism.

My good friend John, a native of the country of India, is a seminary-educated pastor with an almost unmatched passion for evangelism. He recently led a young man to the Lord, and today was the day they had selected for his baptism. John asked me to come and help him with the baptism. I had helped John with another set of baptisms back in the spring, and I was glad to help him today.

Several people were there, including the young man's mother. Another friend of ours, Mark, is a worship leader and he came and played his guitar and sang an original song he had composed called "Baptize Me". It really set the tone for the baptism which followed, in a flowing stream near a bike path in our hometown.

Baptism, while not essential for salvation, is an important part of the Christian faith and should be one of the earliest acts of obedience in the life of someone who has newly given himself to the Lord. There are several layers of symbolism to consider. The first, and the most well known, is that going down into the water symbolizes our participation in the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Water has other meanings as well. Water is necessary for life. Jesus offered the Samaritan woman water that would allow her to never thirst again. Jesus said that if we served someone by giving him even just a cup of cool water, then we were serving the Lord Himself. Jesus also said that from within those who believe in Him would flow streams of living water.

Water can also be used to demonstrate a contrast. Consider the two following bowls of water. The night before Jesus was crucified, He took a bowl of water and washed the feet of His disciples. On the day Jesus was crucified, the Roman governor Pontius Pilate took a bowl of water and washed his own hands, demonstrated that he was washing his hands of the Lord. With each and every difficult situation we face, we can look to these two bowls of water and decide how to proceed. We can imitate our Lord, or we can wash our hands of Him.

Enjoy your morning coffee, made with richly roasted coffee beans and clean fresh water...and think about which bowl of water you'll carry with you throughout the day...

Sunrise in Washington, DC....

2009-09-05T22:56:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow morning will be the 33rd Sunday since President Obama was inaugurated. The sun will rise in Washington, DC, at 642 AM EST. The Washington Monument is the tallest structure in DC and it is 555 feet tall. The aluminum capstone has engraved, on its east facing side, the Latin phrase Laus Deo, which when translated means "Praise be to God." The rays of the rising sun touch these words before they touch anything else in our nation's capital city. This monument is named for the man who, as our nation's first president, once said "No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of man more than those of the United States."

What does our current president say? "America is no longer a Christian nation." He says "Islam is a great religion." As far as I can tell, he has only been to church once since the inauguration on what tomorrow will be the 33rd Sunday since his inauguration and that was on Easter. He apparently feels no need for faith in his own life--at least not a faith he is willing to publicly acknowledge. Instead, he shows disdain for the faith of our Founding Fathers and when traveling abroad refers to our country as one of the world's largest Muslim nations. He did recently, however, seek out Christians.

In an effort to garner more broad support for his health care plan, he reached out to Christian leaders. He has turned to using phrases that everyone recognizes as Biblical phrases. He refers to those who see through his plans and who publicly speak in opposition as those who are "bearing false witness" when he himself bears false witness (see the prior blog entry "Facts are stubborn things...") He says that we are to be "our brother's keeper, our sister's keeper", while his own brother lives in what amounts to a cardboard box, and his closest living relative in the States is an illegal living in government housing somewhere in the Northeast. He also misses the larger point--that the phrase "brother's keeper" was originated not by a righteous man, but by history's first murderer. The words were spoken by Cain, who had just killed his own brother, and who thought that by his own clever verbal subterfuge he would be able to deceive God. See any irony there? If you don't see the irony, stop reading, return to the coffee pot, and pour yourself another mug.

One thing Barack Obama has said is true--he came to the White House with the intent of fundamentally changing America. I have hope though--the response that Americans have had and shown in the August recess town hall meetings. Perhaps we will see Americans exerting influence in ways that will prevent the left's agenda from being fully implemented. Maybe America is starting to wake up and realize that today's Democrats are not the party of JFK. JFK had more in common with Ronald Reagan than he would have in common with today's party of Obama, Reid, and Pelosi. JFK was hawkish on defense, fairly conservative from a fiscal point of view, and promoted civil rights agressively--and was aggressively opposed in that by the rank and file Democrats of the day. Today's Democrats are more like Communists. They are liberal in their views of sex and drugs--but are not liberal in how they wish to govern. They wish to govern in a totalitarian way--a way that exercises ever-increasing control over our lives. Take the following examples from one version of the healthcare bill:
-Page 22 gives the government the right to audit the books of companies that choose to self-insure.
-Page 30 establishes the committee that will decide what medical treatments and prescription drugs will be available in America.
-Page 50 gives the government the authority to look into your checking account to assess your ability to pay for your care and page 59 gives them the authority to deduct the payments directly from your account.
-Page 102 says that the government will place all people eligible for Medicaid will be placed on Medicaid--no choice in the matter.

These elements of control are just in the first ten percent of the total pages of this one bill! Nevermind about the nationalization of GM and Chrysler and banks and mortgage companies. I could go on and on, but I'll bring this plane in for a landing.

Sunrise in DC will first touch the inscription "Praise be to God". Then it will touch all the other things in DC that have forgotten God. 33 Sundays down, 155 left till Inauguration Day 2013.

Facts are stubborn things, Mr. President...

2009-08-13T22:06:00.005-05:00

President Obama just told another big one. He said that doctors chose amputation over counseling and medical care because they get paid $30,000 for doing a foot amputation. Here are the facts:

CPT code 27880 is the code for a below the knee amputation of the leg. The current Medicare fee schedule for Tennessee clearly states that Medicare reimbursement for CPT code 27880 is $812.05. But wait--there is more. An amputation is not as simple in the operating room as it is for the sharia law loving people to whom Obama has spent so much time apologizing on behalf of all of America. Those who follow sharia law just use a machete, a sword, or maybe even a chainsaw and it only takes a moment. An amputation is a surgical procedure that will most often take around an hour to perform properly. Then there is the hour or more that is required for the pre-operative visit and counseling--which is included in the reimbursement for the procedure. Wait--then there are the hours spent in the hospital rounding on the patient for the few days that it takes for them to go recover sufficiently to be discharged. There is the time spent arranging the patient's post-operative rehabilitation and physical therapy and the ordering of their prosthetic limb and the arguing with Medicare to get that covered for the patient. Then there are the phone calls answered after hours when there are problems. Then there are all the office visits that the patient needs over the first 90 days after the surgery--AND ALL OF THIS IS INCLUDED IN THE SURGICAL REIMBURSEMENT PACKAGE. That means that you have spent at least six hours of time by providing the patient with this particular service. When you also take into account the fact that 50% of every dollar a physician brings into his office is consumed by overhead, then that leaves a fee of $406.03, or $67.67 per hour of work done. That is somewhat different than what the President so casually discussed in his town hall meeting with the planted questions and the cute little girls with prepared comments who just happen to be personally acquainted with the President. Dare I say disingenuous?

The President then said that doctors choose to amputate because they get more money for amputating a diabetic's foot than they would get for spending time with the patient, counseling them on better lifestyle choices, better practices for taking care of themselves, and teaching what they need to do to avoid amputation. Well, CPT code 99245 is a high level consult code that a medical doctor might bill the first time they see a diabetic patient who has been referred to them for evaluation of the feasibility of trying to save a leg that has been damaged by diabetes. Such a visit might take an hour (remember the $67.67 per hour for the surgeon) by the time the doctor has met the patient, gotten their complete history, performed a thorough examination, reviewed the record from the referring physician, and then counseled the patient and the patient's family. Such a visit, according to the Medicare fee schedule, pays $214.32, leaving the doctor with approximately $107.17 after overhead for his one hour of work. There is more money to be made by not operating than there is by operating on the patient. The President got his facts wrong and his motivation backwards--wrong on all counts.

Those of you who know how I break things down know that most of the time I find that things can be reduced to an either/or type conclusion. Either the President knows that what he is saying is not true and he is willing to say it anyway and is arrogant enough to think that Americans are stupid enough to buy it--or he doesn't really know just how inaccurate he is and how far he is from the mark. In either case--he has no business planning the revision of health care. If he must lie to make his case then his case isn't worth making--and if he has such a poor understanding of reality then he shouldn't be pushing his vision of healthcare.

I wouldn't even trust the man to make me a cup of coffee...

By the way--you probably paid a plumber more than $67.67 per hour the last time you had one come to your house. And when that plumber left, he didn't have to worry that if you were unhappy with him that you would come after him with a lawyer (isn't the President a lawyer?) and go after him for his entire net worth...But then again, President Obama probably thinks that Joe the Plumber makes too much--especially since he isn't in a union...

The President is breaking the law...just thought you'd like to know...

2009-08-08T23:02:00.003-05:00

In the early 1970s, President Nixon (one of the favorite villians for liberals) wrongfully instituted at least two surveillance programs to monitor the speech and the activities of those who opposed him. For this and other offenses he was forced to resign. In response to Nixon's policies of invading the privacy of individuals and of monitoring them and keeping records of them (he even sent undercover agents to photograph people so that "in the event of national unrest I'd know who to arrest"--sound like the people who photographed attendees at the Tea Parties?) Congress passed the Privacy Act. This piece of legislation, still on the books as the law of the land, specifically prohibits the President or anyone acting in his name from making or keeping records in regards to any individuals who exercise their First Amendment right to free speech. His subordinates just began a campaign to recruit Americans as snitches on their fellow citizens who, in casual conversation, raise objections to Obamacare. They ask that anyone who hears anything "fishy" to be sure an notify them at flag@whitehouse.gov.

Anyone feel like a road trip to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to make a citizen's arrest???

George Orwell forsaw this...

2009-08-04T23:18:00.006-05:00

Big Brother is watching, and he wants your help.

From the White House website: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Facts-Are-Stubborn-Things/

There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.

Yes, facts are stubborn things. Here is a fact: The Nazis had a security group called the Gestapo that terrorized German citizens who spoke against Hitler and the Third Reich and Germans were encouraged to report one another to the Gestapo when such 'subversive' disinformation was promulgated. Here is another fact: President George Bush thought it was appropriate to listen to phone calls without a warrant when Osama Bin Laden and his buddies called into the United States. The New York Times called him a Nazi and liberals everywhere had fits of apoplectic rage over the invasion of privacy.

Where are the screams of rage now? I would like to see just one liberal address this topic. I'd like to have just one liberal look me in the eye and tell me why George Bush didn't have a right to listen to Osama's cell phone but Barack Obama can promote a system in which your "casual conversation" around the water cooler at work is reportable to flag@whitehouse.gov -- and if there is a liberal anywhere who can reconcile those two stances calmly and rationally then I will take a 30 day sabbatical and not blog one word about Obama and politics...

I'm not going to hold my breath...

More healthcare doublemindedness...

2009-08-03T13:17:00.003-05:00

Taken from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hypocrisy
hy⋅poc⋅ri⋅sy
–noun, plural -sies.
1.
a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess.
2.
a pretense of having some desirable or publicly approved attitude.
3.
an act or instance of hypocrisy.
Origin: 1175–1225; ME ipocrisie < style="FONT-VARIANT: small-caps" href="http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=hypo-&db=luna">hypo- + krnein to distinguish, separate) + -sis -sis; h- (reintroduced in 16th century) < L and Gk
Synonyms:1. See deceit.

hy·poc·ri·sy
(hĭ-pŏk'rĭ-sē) n. pl. hy·poc·ri·sies
The practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold or possess; falseness.
An act or instance of such falseness.//-->[Middle English ipocrisie, from Old French, from Late Latin hypocrisis, play-acting, pretense, from Greek hupokrisis, from hupokrīnesthai, to play a part, pretend : hupo-, hypo- + krīnesthai, to explain, middle voice of krīnein, to decide, judge; see krei- in Indo-European roots.]

As I said in a recent blog entry--it is always interesting when you can use the words of your adversary against them. If you want to check out a video that shows Dr. Obama's plan for your healthcare future, then go to http://www.breitbart.tv/uncovered-video-obama-explains-how-his-health-care-plan-will-eliminate-private-insurance/ and see what the doctor in the Oval Office intends to prescribe for America.

Now, you may be wondering--why are the definitions for the word 'hypocrisy' included in today's entry? I can answer that question for you. If you've followed this blog for any length of time, you know how doublemindedness really ticks me off. I would like to take this opportunity to point out the underlying doublemindedness, the hypocrisy, and the internal inconsistencies present in two of the liberals most important concepts.

One of the most prevalent arguments you will hear in defense of Roe v. Wade is that the state (the government) has absolutely no right to interfere in what takes place between a doctor and a patient. A so-called right to privacy, which really is only a Constitutional right to not be subject to unreasonable search and seizure, has been affirmed over and over again by the courts, all the way up to the Supreme Court of the United States--and it is this supposed bedrock principle, supposedly enshrined in our Constitution, that has been used over and over again to defend the legality of murder as a means of birth control.

Now, the liberals are telling us in the language of this bill that the government has the right to make your decisions for you. They have the right to decide what life-sustaining treatments are appropriate. They have the right to tell you when your care is too expensive and you should just go home and die. The board of Washingtonians who will make these decisions will certainly have fiscal and accounting backgrounds--but the legislation does not require them to have medical backgrounds.

So--herein lies the doublemindedness, the hypocrisy, and the deception. When you want to mercilessly murder an unborn human being because of the inconvenient timing of his/her conception, you have the legal 'right' to do so because the state has no right to interfere with the privacy a patient has when they sit down with their doctor. But when the state wants you to go home and die because your life has gone on too long or is now too expensive to maintain, the state will interfere in the privacy of your relationship with a doctor and tell you what to do in the interest of saving money. The state, under this legislation, will have instant access to your bank account for both information and for financial transfers. (Doesn't the IRS do enough already?)The state then declares when privacy is appropriate in defense of its desire to perpetuate abortion and it also declares when privacy is inappropriate in defense of its fiscal needs.

A cousin of mine asked me a question after my last entry. By the way, thank you for emailing links to your friends. That blog entry, in the span of six days, was read on six continents. Seven times as many people accessed that entry as there are who typically access a post. If you find the 'doubleminded' argument persuasive, email this one to your friends and family as well. Back to my cousin's question--he asked me "Don't insurance companies already do this rationing and deciding what we can have and what we can't have?" (I paraphrased his question) My cousin is one of the brightest people I know. He has several different degrees, including an MBA and he has worked and traveled extensively as an international business consultant. He worked with capitalist start ups in Russia after the fall of the Iron Curtain. He met his lovely wife in Austria--where she not only worked internationally, but where she also had vocally performed in the opera with the symphony in Vienna. Hearing her sing 'Silent Night' at Christmas in her native language will bring tears to your eyes. They have both had extensive encounters with the healthcare system here. His question is a good one--but there is an answer.

Currently, health insurance companies will allow medically necessary procedures. There is a process by which surgery and elective hospital admissions are 'pre-authorized' or 'pre-certified'. This process, while a pain in the rear for doctors, has eliminated the problem that existed many years ago when unscrupulous doctors would just yank out a person's tonsils because of the fee schedule or when a doctor might schedule a hysterectomy because that was an easy fix for the patient's problem and it paid him well to do so. There are standards which determine whether or not a procedure may be done based on medical necessity alone--not on whether or not it is best for Washington's bottom line and not on whether or not the bean counters think that the person has enough years of life left to make expensive treatment worthwhile. The bill being considered in Congress is a complete paradigm shift and it totally changes the priorities of healthcare in America.

Perhaps the First Lady can help. She can use her back yard organic garden to show us all how to grow our own little plot of hemlock--because the time will come when Dr. Kevorkian meets with us all at our "Advanced Planning Consultation" and tells us it is time to go home and die. After all, why should the government even pay for our hemlock? China sends a bill to the families of executed prisoners--a bill for the single bullet that entered the back of their loved one's skull...

Why did I point out the definitions of hypocrisy? Because you cannot claim to support privacy in the doctor patient relationship in one circumstance when it suits your purpose and then do more in a legislative sense to do away with privacy in that same relationship just because it suits another one of your purposes.

URGENT--READ THIS BLOG ENTRY AND FORWARD IT TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!!

2009-07-26T13:56:00.004-05:00

As those of you who follow my blogs know--I am very conservative and I look at society through a Christian worldview. Many times, people don't agree with me--that's OK. We all have our opinions. Today's entry, however, points out the concerning language in the healthcare bill that Pelosi wants to ram through the House and that Dr. Obama is eager to sign. Please--take the time to read these comments and check out the link to the actual text of the 1,018 page bill that the liberals are trying to rush through before anyone has time to read it. The link to the bill is:

http://waysandmeans.house.gov/media/pdf/111/AAHCA09001xml.pdf

When you go to the link, the reader will see the page numbers at the top of the page--click on those page numbers and type in the new number of the pages I will reference--that way you don't have to scroll all the way through the document to see these truly frightening provisions.

I cannot take the credit for reading the entire bill--I actually work for a living--unlike the socialists that wrote this bill. I found a comment on another website that pointed out these provisions so I must give that anonymous poster the credit for digging all these things out.

Page 22 -- The government will audit the books of all companies that self-insure.

Page 30 -- A government committee will decide what treatments will be provided to Americans.

Page 50 -- Coverage will be provided to everyone--even illegal aliens. So now, instead of having foreigners who can afford to leave their own countries and their abysmal socialized systems of care come here and actually pay for their care we will now have an open door for every sick person in the world to come into this country and get their care for free--resulting in even further rationing of care and reduction of services for real Americans.

Page 50 -- The government will have real-time access to your bank accounts to assess your ability to pay for what you are getting.

Page 59 -- Lines 21-24 -- The government will have direct access to your bank accounts for electronic funds transfers.

Page 102 -- Lines 12-18 -- Individuals eligible for Medicaid will automatically be enrolled in Medicaid -- no choice in the matter.

Page 265 -- The government will mandate and control productivity standards for the healthcare industry. That has worked real well for the Post Office and for the Veterans Administration, hasn't it...

Page 425 -- Lines 4-12 -- The government will require Advance Care Planning Consults every five years for elderly and sick individuals.

Page 425 -- Lines 17-19 -- The government will instruct and consult regarding living wills and durable powers of attorney-- not optional--MANDATORY.

Pages 425 and 426 -- Starting with Line 22 on 425 and ending with Line 3 on 426 -- The government will provide you with an approved list of end-of-life resources. The government wants to be able to tell you how and when to die.

Page 427 -- Lines 15-24 -- The government will mandate the program for orders for end-of-life care. The government will provide standardized order sets to be distributed to healthcare providers regarding appropriate life-sustaining treatments.

Page 429 -- Lines 1-9 -- The advance care planning consult required every five years may be repeated as frequently as deemed necessary if your condition changes. In other words, if you get sicker or you are admitted to a skilled nursing facility or are diagnosed with a terminal illness, then they can order their precious consult and plan the end of your life sooner than if they had to wait for your next five-year appointment with Dr. Kevorkian...

Page 429 -- Lines 10-12 -- "A consultation under this subsection may include the formulation of an order regarding life sustaining treatment or a similar order." What similar order might that be? A nice big fat barbiturate pill with instructions to take it with a stiff martini to induce your final nap? Perhaps a 20 mg pill of valium to be followed by a cyanide capsule....

Page 430 -- Lines 11-18 -- ‘‘(B) The level of treatment indicated under subparagraph (A)(ii) may range from an indication for full treatment to an indication to limit some or all or specified interventions. Such indicated levels of treatment may include indications respecting, among other items—the intensity of medical intervention if the patient is pulse less, apneic, or has serious cardiac or pulmonary problems;" and goes on to comment about decision-making in regards to "the use of antibiotics" and "the use of intravenous hydration and nutrition."

Page 432 -- Lines 6-17 -- ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of reporting data on quality measures for covered professional services furnished during 2011 and any subsequent year, to the extent that measures are available, the Secretary shall include quality measures on end of life care and advanced care planning that have been adopted or endorsed by a consensus-based organization, if appropriate. Such measures shall measure both the creation of and adherence to orders for life sustaining treatment." Why such emphasis on 'life sustaining treatment'? Because care for the sick and the elderly is expensive....and Tom Daschle says that the government needs to make these decisions because doctors can't make painful decisions....

THIS ISN'T EVEN HALF-WAY THROUGH THIS ABOMINATION OF A BILL!!!

Even scarier than Tom Daschle (as if there was any such thing) we now have the brother of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel--a real gem of a person--as health-policy adviser at the Office of Management and Budget and a member of Federal Council on Comparative Effectiveness Research. His name is Ezekiel Emanuel and he is a physician. Read the portions of the following article from the New York Post:

Emanuel bluntly admits that the cuts will not be pain-free. "Vague promises of savings from cutting waste, enhancing prevention and wellness, installing electronic medical records and improving quality are merely 'lipstick' cost control, more for show and public relations than for true change," he wrote last year (Health Affairs Feb. 27, 2008).
Savings, he writes, will require changing how doctors think about their patients: Doctors take the Hippocratic Oath too seriously, "as an imperative to do everything for the patient regardless of the cost or effects on others" (Journal of the American Medical Association, June 18, 2008).
Yes, that's what patients want their doctors to do. But Emanuel wants doctors to look beyond the needs of their patients and consider social justice, such as whether the money could be better spent on somebody else.
Many doctors are horrified by this notion; they'll tell you that a doctor's job is to achieve social justice one patient at a time.
Emanuel, however, believes that "communitarianism" should guide decisions on who gets care. He says medical care should be reserved for the non-disabled, not given to those "who are irreversibly prevented from being or becoming participating citizens . . . An obvious example is not guaranteeing health services to patients with dementia" (Hastings Center Report, Nov.-Dec. '96).
Translation: Don't give much care to a grandmother with Parkinson's or a child with cerebral palsy.
He explicitly defends discrimination against older patients: "Unlike allocation by sex or race, allocation by age is not invidious discrimination; every person lives through different life stages rather than being a single age. Even if 25-year-olds receive priority over 65-year-olds, everyone who is 65 years now was previously 25 years" (Lancet)

The agenda is obvious--more government control over our lives, and now even our deaths. Did you see the cheesy sci fi movie in the 1970s called Logan's Run? It was about a society where everyone lived in a utopia until age 30 and then on their 30th birthdays they had to report for a ceremony called "Carousel" -- a ceremony in which they died. After all, no one really wants to be old and unhealthy. Can you imagine how much money we would save as a nation if we all willingly died at age 30? Very few serious health problems occur before age 30, so there would be very little spent on healthcare...

If you want to live to be older, are already older, or you love someone who is older -- forward these facts to everyone on your email list and then ask them to do the same. There is an envelop which serves as an email icon to the lower right of this entry and you can use that. After all, I have put very little of my own spin in this -- I pulled the text from the actual text of the bill itself -- Pelosi's and Waxman's version. Of course, even though they told us that they want all Americans to have access to the same healthcare that members of Congress have, they have since introduced a little clause which exempts them from this plan for life. And don't think that you are safe just because you have insurance at this time. The bill also will make it illegal for the insurance companies in existence today (Blue Cross, Aetna, Cigna, United, Humana, etc.) to write new policies for individuals. That means that when you leave a current job that has coverage, no other company can write a policy for you and you will have to accept the government option...

This plan will take us from a country where the vast majority of individuals have some coverage to a system where everyone except the politicians have rationed care. You can't add 50 million people to the number of people covered and have the resources, the doctors, and the infrastructure to cover them. Remember the early 1980s when Medicare introduced DRGs? These are "Diagnositic Related Groups" and it was a government plan to control cost. It resulted in the closure of almost 25% of the nation's hospitals--mostly in rural underserved areas. The poor people in those regions have had a much more difficult time since then getting care. Look at the VA--the government run entity whose hospitals are ten times less likely to pass inspections when accreditation agencies come to perform the inspections. Talk to the veterans newly diagnosed with HIV because a government worker didn't properly clean the previous patient's poop off the colonoscope before using it on another patient's rear end. Is that what you want? Does America want the government deciding when you or your loved ones are too old or too sick to be worth treating? Do you want to be told the meekly march off to your deathbed and swallow your hemlock when it becomes too costly, in the opinion of some Washington politician, to take care of you?

So if you've never done anything political--get off your butt now and have all your friends and family let their members of Congress know that any person in Congress who votes for this bill will be vigorously opposed for re-election. That will be the only thing the lunatics in Washington will listen to...

Did you smell the smoke?...

2009-07-24T08:02:00.002-05:00

When you were a child, you may have challenged someone whom you knew was lying by saying "Liar liar pants on fire". If you never said that, I know that you at the very least have heard someone else utter that phrase. On Wednesday night, I could smell the smoke as President Obama was on the television screen telling us all about his healthcare takeover plan that really isn't a takeover plan.

I will confess--the smoke I actually smelled while he was on the screen was from the cigars we were enjoying. My son and I went to a really neat little cigar place and met a good friend of mine--someone I had not had the opportunity to see in almost a year. I had really been looking forward to seeing him, and this was my son's first opportunity to meet him. They have alot in common in terms of their outlook on life and their strengths--they really hit it off nicely. The president was on the television screen in the lounge while we were there, but thankfully the TVs were muted.

Unfortunately, the drunk woman at the next table wasn't muted. There are times, you know, when you really wish that you could grab the nearest remote and point it at someone and hit the 'mute' button and have it work. I would have paid a considerable sum of money to make that happen on Wednesday night. She was loud and obnoxious-and was a devoted Obama worshipper. The man she was with turned to us and asked if we were Republicans or Democrats. We reluctantly answered, and we could see where this was headed. She asked what we all did-and not desiring to be as rude as she was, we answered. My son said "I'm a realtor", I said "I'm a physician" and my friend said "I'm an investment adviser". She thought he said "I'm a Baptist minister" and she said "Oh great--here we are in the f***ing Bible belt and he's a minister"--the first of several times she dropped the "f" bomb. When he made it clear that he is not a pastor, she turned her vitriol on me. She asked what I thought of Obama's health care plan and we ignored her. She said she knew that all I was worried about was protecting my fat paycheck from socialist medicine and she said that she was from New Orleans and that made her qualified to comment about the need for universal healthcare. We continued to ignore her and she just got louder--that is one typical liberal argument strategy--if you are loud enough and sufficiently foul-mouthed then you will win the argument. Annoyed that we were ignoring her, she began to ask me why I didn't want to have an intelligent conversation. She said "didn't you come here to have an intelligent conversation?" as if I must have known that she was going to be there and that conversation with her was going to be the best thing that had ever happened to me. I turned to her and said "No mam. I did not come here to have a conversation with you. I came here to have a conversation with a good friend of mine--someone I haven't seen in almost a year. I didn't come to talk to you." I then turned my back to her and she didn't say anything else. Her companion was embarrassed and offered to buy us drinks-we politely declined. Thankfully, they left soon after that.

The President has told so many lies in regards to this healthcare issue. Even though the real smoke I smelled that night was cigar smoke--anyone with discernment could notice the lies being told. We were told that his plan won't add to the deficit. We were told that healthcare won't be rationed. We were told that as a nation will be able to cover an additional 50 million people and lower total costs at the same time without incurring any additional deficit spending. Maybe the drunk chick bought what he was shoveling, but any reasonable thinking person should ask themselves just how that will really work.

He effectively campaigned by badmouthing President Bush and won the White House. He now has launched his attack on the medical profession. He accused us of looking at fee schedules to decide what to do. He said that pediatricians take out tonsils because they can get paid to do so. The man doesn't know what he is talking about! Pediatricians don't take out tonsils--otolaryngologists take out tonsils. Tonsillectomy is a surgical procedure and pediatricians are primary care physicians who do not do surgical procedures. Also, for may years now, surgical procedures must be pre-authorized or we don't get paid for doing them. To schedule a hysterectomy, my office staff must call the insurance company and ask for permission to do the procedure. We must give all the clinical information which supports the need for hysterectomy, and the insurance company gets the final say on whether or not we get to do the procedure. This is frustrating--but it also serves as a defense against the occasional unscrupulous physician who would do a procedure just for the pay. For the most part, however, these physicians are few and far between. There just isn't an incentive to do unnecessary things. It breaks down like this--when you look at what I get paid to do a hysterectomy and you take out my time in the office scheduling the case, the time I pay my staff to spend on the phone with an insurance company (sometimes more than an hour just for one case), the actual time to do the case and then see the patient in the hospital after the surgery and then provide her postop care in the office after her discharge from the hospital (all of which is included in the surgical fee)--then I am able to pay myself an amount that is substantially less per hour spent than you paid your plumber the last time he came and charged you to fix a leaking sink. After spending twelve years in post-high school education to get to where I am now and to make less for doing a sometimes difficult and stressful procedure than a plumber makes for the equivalent amount of time spent? It's crazy!! We have to remember that President Obama doesn't like plumbers either--remember Joe?

He won the White House based on the volume of his anti-Bush rhetoric. His acolyte at the cigar lounge thought she could win the argument by being loud and foul-mouthed. Now he wants to win the healthcare battle by demonizing doctors. Consider this--if you must make someone else look bad in order to make yourself look good--then your essential points are fundamentally flawed...

The pre-redeemed Ebenezer Scrooge would have fit right in with these liberals...

2009-07-12T17:30:00.009-05:00

Everyone is familiar with Ebenezer Scrooge, the cranky old miserable man with a heart full of hate--concerned only for himself and his priorities. One of his more famous lines from "A Christmas Carol" related to unfortunate circumstances which would "decrease the surplus population."

Isn't it nice when an adversary makes your case for you? My opposition to "choice" is no secret. Choice is what civilized people do when they choose between having their morning eggs scrambled, fried, over easy, or in an omelet. Choice is what you do when you pick out your shirt and tie for the day. Choice is deciding on a career, a spouse, a home, a church--etc etc etc...

To the liberal mind however--choice is the word that always brings to mind the supposedly sacred right that individuals have to choose murder as a means of birth control. It has been enshrined into law by distortions of the Constitution, accomplished in the highest court of the land by cases founded on lies and deceit.

Most of the time, liberals don’t say what they really mean. In the case of retiring Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, however, she surprisingly said exactly what she means. While her honesty is refreshing, her words are deeply disturbing. In an interview to be published in the New York Times magazine, she discussed SCOTUS cases pertaining to abortion. She elaborated on her surprise that the Harris v. McRae decision in 1980 upheld the Hyde Amendment which forbids the use of Medicaid funds for abortion. She reveals her thoughts about the original purpose of Roe v. Wade. She says “frankly, I thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don’t want to have too many of.”

Who falls in the group of “populations that we don’t want to have too many of”? Who has the right to decide the makeup of such a group? Why isn’t the media screaming about the arrogance of such a statement? If a conservative white man had uttered those very words, liberals would have been screaming from every rooftop and his career would be over. He would be accused of being racist, because the assumption would be that he had minority groups in mind. In regards to abortion and its roots, everyone needs to be reminded that abortion’s origins in this country are racist.

Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, once said that abortion was necessary to control the “Negro race”. There is still racism in Planned Parenthood, as evidenced by the fundraiser who excitedly agreed to accept donated funds that the undercover donor insisted be earmarked for the “abortion of black babies.”

Back to the subject of population control. President Obama’s pick for ‘science czar’, John Holdren, has a long history of wanting to control population growth. As far back as 1977, he was writing about his fears of planetary ruin due to population growth. He has a history of making dire predictions that did not come true. One of the earliest global warming nuts, he said in 2000 that sea levels would rise by 13 feet by 2010. Well, 2010 is less than six months away and that hasn’t even come close to happening. He warned in the 1980s that ecological disasters due to humanity would result in a billion deaths before 2020. His solution: a “Planetary Regime” with the power to enforce human population restrictions. His answer to what he perceives to be a population problem is government controlled compulsory sterilization and abortion. The lefties are always screaming about 'government interference' with reproductive rights--well there is some interference! This left-wing lunatic has said that "It has been concluded that compulsory population-control laws, even including laws requiring compulsory abortion, could be sustained under the Constitution if the population crisis became sufficiently severe."

I could go on and say quite a bit more about this--but I won't. As I said earlier--it is nice when your adversary makes your case for you...

National fasting and prayer....

2009-07-05T11:05:00.002-05:00

President Obama frequently invokes the name of Abraham Lincoln in order to compare himself to Lincoln—a man whom many regard as one of our finest Presidents. It is important to recognize that President Obama gives lip service to his “Christian faith” while denying the racist origins of liberation theology. Jeremiah Wright’s brand of liberation theology and preaching, under which Barack Obama happily sat for twenty years, is arguably a non-Christian system of religious belief. It is essentially racist to the core—and Abraham Lincoln spent his entire presidency working to defeat slavery—the most racist institution in the history of our nation.

Obama has gone further than giving hypocritical lip service to his “Christian faith”—he has gone on record while speaking to people that are our enemies—people who pray to their god (and Allah is most definitely not the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) for the destruction of our country—and denied our nation’s Christian heritage and gone on to say that America is “one of the largest Muslim nations in the world”.

The Civil War was a time of intense struggle, sacrifice, and loss for our country. As in other times of difficulty, our nation and its leaders turned to God—unashamed of America’s Christian heritage. Consider the words of Lincoln’s proclamation for a day of national fasting and prayer:

Whereas, the Senate of the United States, devoutly recognizing the Supreme Authority and Just Government of Almighty God, in all the affairs of men and of nations, has, by a resolution, requested the President designate and set apart a day for National prayer and humiliation:
And whereas, it is the duty of nations, as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord:
And insomuch as we know that by His divine law, nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war, which now desolates the land, may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole People? We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.
Now therefore, in compliance with the request, and fully concurring in the views of the Senate, I do, by this my proclamation, designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th day of April, 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting, and prayer. And I do hereby request all the People to abstain on that day from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite, at their several places of public worship and their respective homes, in keeping the day holy to the Lord, and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion.
All this being done, in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the Divine teaching, that the united cry of the Nation will be heard on high, and answered with blessings, no less than the pardon of our national sins, and restoration of our now divided and suffering country, to its former happy condition of unity and peace.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

This is truly an incredible piece of writing—and it is so very far removed from anything that our current president would say—even though he loves to compare himself to Lincoln.

This is also applicable to our current state as a nation. We are struggling under terrible economic times. Unemployment is higher than at any other time in the last 30 years. Our government insanely spends money we don’t have and our children and grandchildren will never be able to repay and things only get worse. People oppose the death penalty for convicted murderers based on the ‘sanctity of life’ with one breath and with the next breath vigorously defend the right of the woman to ‘choose’ murder as her means of birth control with no regard at all for the sanctity of innocent preborn life. We have, in the words of Lincoln, “forgotten God,” and “forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us,” and “we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.” We as a nation are truly “too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!” What an accurate and succinct description of our status as a nation!

Lincoln saw things in a way that Obama has never seen things. I can only pray that God, in his mercy, will bring our nation through these times and that He will reveal Himself to our leaders in a mighty and powerful manner. If more of us would fast and pray for our nation (and I do pray for our leaders, even for the President with whom I vigorously disagree), and spend time on our knees before God, then perhaps God will not ultimately bring America to its knees in calamity.

The rape of America...

2009-06-28T23:56:00.003-05:00

Soon, it will have been twenty years since my first endeavors in women's health care. Those of you who have followed this blog for any length of time know that I am an obstetrician/gynecologist. As such, one of the responsibilities in my training program involved the performance of sexual assault evaluations. When on call, if a rape victim was brought into the emergency room by the police department, I would be responsible for interviewing the victim and then performing a detailed forensic physical examination and evidence collection. I have evaluated female patients of all ages--toddlers to the elderly. I have seen many cases of violence so perverted and awful that the memory of it almost nauseates me. This exceedingly difficult task did have two rewarding aspects--first, to have the opportunity to be gentle and kind to someone so traumatized and second, to be able to participate in the trial. I have testified in a number of cases and the strength of my testimony has put more than one person behind bars--in some cases for very long periods of time.

Rape is seldom about the sex. It is about power and control. It is about forcing the victim to submit to the needs and wants and desires of the assailant. The sick fulfillment that the rapist enjoys comes not from the sexual act itself, nor does it come from any normal form of sexuality; it comes from the exercise of power over those the rapist perceives to be helpless. The rapist has no compassion--only a sick and twisted desire to control. The rapist only seeks to serve himself and is only concerned about his own needs. The rapist doesn't listen to reason--he is convinced that his actions are OK--appropriate in some sick sort of way because his sense of arrogance has made him feel entitled to take whatever he wants regardless of the consequences for others. He is unconcerned about the future in any sense and truly believes that he will never personally pay a price for his decisions--and he could not possibly care less about the price others pay for his decisions. It is as if consequences are beneath him.

That is what is happening to America today. Like the charming guy who disarms a helpless woman with his dazzling smile so that he can get into a position to assault her, President Obama charmed his way into the Oval Office. Now that he is there, he is proving himself to be nothing like what he portrayed himself to be. He portrayed himself to be middle of the road and he is so far to the left shoulder of the road he might as well be driving in England (where they all drive on the left side of the road). One of his first comments to a 'bipartisan' crowd at a meeting (bipartisan only as a photo op) was that the Republicans weren't going to get anything they felt to be important because he had 'won, and that trumps you...' Now that he is in power, he hasn't allowed the transparency he promised--just ask the illegally fired inspector general. He hasn't allowed the period of public comment that he promised on any of the important legislation that has passed. He cares not one bit about solid fiscal policy and has us on the fast track to bankruptcy as a nation. All this is happening because he wants to impose his will on a nation.

He promised no new taxes on anyone making less than 250,000 annually. In spite of that promise, he is now working to pass cap and trade legislation that will essentially nationalize the energy industry and will give the government an enormous additional amount of your money. Everyone's gas and electricity costs will rise, and so will the prices of consumer goods that require energy to produce (essentially all the things we buy). He wants to tax the value of your health care benefits--whether you make more than 250,000 or less than 250,000. So much for the value of his word. (You also get an exemption from this tax if you are in one of his most highly valued special interest groups--the unions. Union members won't have a tax on their benefits. So much for the promise of ending the influence of special interest groups.)

Does anyone remember how President George H. W. Bush promised "Read my lips--no new taxes" but then raised taxes? The media crucified him and he lost an election to Bill Clinton. Where is the media now? I'll tell you where they are--they might as well be sleeping in the Lincoln Bedroom.

The party that wants the Fairness Doctrine imposed on conservative talk radio so that radio stations that air conservative programs will have to, at their expense, give equal time to liberal commentators--that party's chief has climbed in bed with ABC and ABC won't sell advertising time to the conservative opponents of the President's health care policy. Now there is true arrogance--the actions of this liberal administration essentially say to us all -- "These are the rules for those of you we don't like; and by the way, we don't have to play by the same rules." This level of arrogance is akin to the arrogance of the rapist who thinks he is entitled to have his way with anyone he chooses and they just have to live with it.

America is being raped. Victims of rape often need years to recover from the assault--and sometimes they never completely recover. Let's hope that America fares better after this assault ends than many rape victims fare...

Gotta have faith...

2009-06-22T09:56:00.004-05:00

We all have things in life done daily in faith--and we don't think of it as faith. For example, when I turn on the coffee pot every morning, I don't wonder about whether or not there will be coffee. I turn on the pot and I know that there will be coffee in about five minutes. We take the garbage cans out to the curb every Tuesday night knowing that the garbage man comes to our neighborhood every Wednesday morning. We don't wonder about whether or not he will come and we don't say "I hope he comes in the morning" to ourselves as we wheel the cans out to the curb. You don't go to work each morning wondering about whether or not you will get your paycheck when payday comes--you go to work knowing that you will get paid.

God asks us to live like this in regards to what we believe about Him. Faith is not simply believing that God can do what he says He will do--it is knowing that He will do what he says he will do. When God promises something, He keeps His word. If we fail to live with this mindset, then what we are actually doing is calling God a liar. Think about it for a moment--if you are having a conversation with someone and you do not believe what they say, then you may not open your mouth and call them a liar but that is what you consider them to be. God speaks to us through His word--and when we fail to believe what He says, we are essentially calling Him a liar. If you have a healthy fear of the Lord, then this way of looking at things should give you a bit of new perspective.

How can we apply this to life in America today? By believing what God said in 2 Chronicles and acting upon that passage.

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

American is in desperate need of healing--and I am not referring to government health care...

Freedom is not the ability to do whatever you want...

2009-06-13T22:10:00.002-05:00

A pastor for whom I have a great deal of respect once said something that really stuck with me. "Freedom", he said, "is not the ability to do whatever you want. It is the ability to do the right thing no matter what your situation." I wish someone would tell our new president about this statement--a very appropriate definition of the term 'freedom'. Apparently, President Obama thinks that freedom, for him, is the ability to do whatever he wants.

It will be interesting to see how many major news outlets will carry this story. Since ABC and CBS and NBS and MSNBC and CNN apparently make up the new Church of Obama they probably won't carry this story at all--and even if they do it will not be carried with the vigor they demonstrated when Attorney General Alberto Gonzales fired some US Attorneys. Understand that US Attorneys are political appointments and they serve at the pleasure of the President, so the Bush administration had the right to fire any US Attorney they wished to fire--all prior presidents had that right. The position of Inspector General, however, is not a political appointment. A law co-sponsored by Senator Barack Obama was written to ensure that the position of Inspector General would be free to investigate waste and fraud and be free of political influence. The Inspector General Reform Act of 2008 says that "inspectors general do not serve at the president's pleasure and therefore cannot be fired without 30 days notice and written cause for the decision must be sent to Congress." (WorldNetDaily, accessed 6/13/2009 http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=101031 )

Inspector General Gerald Walpin filed two reports recently. These reports expose the fraud found by Walpin's investigation into fraud and misappropriation of hundreds of thousands of dollars of federal Americorps funds by Obama supporter and former NBA star Kevin Johnson. After the filing of these reports, Walpin was illegally fired by the Obama White House without the thirty days notice and the written explanation to Congress that is required by the very law that Obama himself co-sponsored when he was in the Senate.

You might now ask yourself why it is so important for the Obama administration to have such control over the Inspector General. Well, since you asked--the Inspector General is responsible for investigation waste, fraud, and abuse of federal funds--like the 1 trillion plus dollars the President wants to spend on the second part of TARP and the spendulus bill--and the President probably doesn't want anyone looking over his shoulder as he uses those funds not to stimulate the economy but to pay back his supporters, the unions, and all the special interest groups that helped get him elected. He wants to solidify his control of all things American as he converts us to a socialist state. He has already accomplished much in the nationalization of the banks and the manufacturing industry and he is now moving to exert control over one of the biggest segments of the economy--healthcare. He has been so aggressive in socializing the country that Venezualan President Chavez says with glee that Obama is to the left of Venezuela and Cuba.

Lots of Irish in the coffee is looking better and better....

I've just been on the phone to Afghanistan...

2009-06-10T11:37:00.003-05:00

I just delivered a baby. Now that is a relatively ordinary occurrence for me. This delivery is just the first of the three patients I have in labor today. These are daytime deliveries fortunately--the babies in the middle of the night are one of the reasons I require so much coffee. This one, however, was late morning, around 1100 CST or so. Today was not entirely ordinary though--the baby's father is in the Army and is stationed on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. His mother was in the delivery room with his wife, my patient. The delivery went quite well--and the father was able to hear his son's first cry over the phone and will be getting video footage over the internet shortly. I was able to speak with him and congratulate him--his mother and his wife both say the little boy looks just like his daddy.

This should be a reminder to all of us that freedom isn't free--in fact, it comes at a high personal cost to those who selflessly serve our nation and our allies in the defense of freedom. We should never miss an opportunity to thank those who serve, and remember them and their families in our prayers daily.

Have a great day!

How do you take your morning coffee?...

2009-06-07T16:42:00.003-05:00

It is a good thing that I am not a heavy drinker and it is an even better thing that I rely on my faith to bring peace into my life. Prayer and coffee, with a kiss from my fantastic wife as I leave in the morning--that's the way to start the day. If it weren’t for these three things, I would be at risk for dropping my morning coffee in favor of a morning margarita, or perhaps some Irish coffee—heavy on the Irish.

Our President, who recently said “America is no longer a Christian nation” just gave an interview to a French journalist as he prepared for his Cairo apology tour. He spoke with Laura Haim on the French television station Canal Plus and said that the United States could be considered as “one of the largest Muslim countries in the world.” His words, not mine.

Does anyone besides me find it disturbing that he would say these things? He portrayed himself as someone who would be a post-racial President and then he nominates a racist to the Supreme Court—one who thinks that the role of the court is to make the law and to decide, as she put it, “when prejudice is appropriate”. He says he is a Christian and then turns his back on his nation’s Christian heritage and then goes abroad and tells an international reporter that America could be considered a Muslim nation. It is hard to fathom what he must be thinking.

I have heard much of what he said in Cairo. While some of what he said did sound good, he missed an historic opportunity. Instead of splitting most of his time in that speech between apologizing for all of America's wrongs and promising to be the long-awaited reconciler between America and Islam, he could have reminded all of Islam about America's long history of defending oppressed and hurting Muslim people. He could have reminded Islam that America sacrificed lives and resources in defense of Bosnian and Croatian Muslims who were being "ethnically cleansed" by the Milosevic regime. He could have reminded them that America sacrificed lives and resources in leading the international community as Saddam Hussein was driven back out of Kuwait, and America sacrificed resources to help Kuwait rebuild. He could have reminded them that Americans have died so that Iraquis would be free to democratically decide their destiny as a nation. He could have reminded them that we aided Afghan Muslims in the 1980s as they were defending themselves against the Soviet Union. He could have reminded them that America helped broker the peace between Israel and Egypt, and then between Israel and Jordan. He could have reminded them that Americans have died in Somalia and other Islamic countries. He could have reminded them that America gave more than the rest of the world's nations combined when the 2004 tsunami swept across Indonesia. He could have reminded them that America has given millions, even billions, annually to help Palestinians when countries like Saudi Arabia haven't given a single dime in more than sixty years to help the Palestinians.

What does he really understand about the world? He spends all his time abroad pointing out the American faults and mistakes without spending any time reminding anyone that there is virtually no country on the planet that does not owe America a debt of gratitude for something. He supposedly agonizes over the fact that American policies at Gitmo are thought to be a recruiting tool for terrorists (oops, I mean creators of ‘man-made disasters’—the only terrorists are people like me) but then allows his State Department to hold Gay Pride events in the embassy compound in Baghdad—of all places. The Muslim world is notoriously homophobic—in Iran, for example, those discovered to be homosexual may choose their means of execution. They can choose between being hung, being thrown off a ‘high perch’, being stoned to death, or being ‘halved by the sword’. He worries about offending Muslims with American ways and policies but his State Department throws a party at a bar called Baghdaddy’s in the embassy compound and the invitation which was sent out invited everyone to come in costume or in drag. He worries about the American image in the Middle East but his own State Department thows a party for drag queens in the heart of the Middle East. That party didn’t escape the notice of Islam—read the excerpt that follows:

In a Saturday message at the terrorist-friendly alqimmah.net Web site, poster Abu Hassan noted the party at Baghdaddy's and left a quote from the Hadith, the sayings of Muhammad: "Whoever you find committing the sin of the people of Lut [or Lot, i.e., referring to sodomy], kill them, both the one who does it and the one to whom it is done."

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jun/02/life-in-the-pink-zone/

If President Obama is worried about the American image in the Middle East, he should worry more about his own State Department and its employees than he should about the policies of a former President who actually did something to keep this country safe.

For now, I’ll just continue my coffee as is—strongly brewed with three Splendas and some heavy cream. I’ll hold off on adding the Irish to it, for now…

Bicoastal danger, and Washington sleeps...

2009-06-02T16:33:00.004-05:00

While our leaders concern themselves with dismissing charges against New Black Panthers guilty of racial voter intimidation and with protecting abortion providers and with nominating racists who want to decide when “prejudice is appropriate” to lifetime positions on the Supreme Court, the arch enemies of our nation make progress toward our destruction.

North Korea is led by insane men, and insane men will do insane things. They already have nuclear weapons. President Clinton’s administration failed to prevent that, and so did President Bush’s. Nuclear weapons were developed in North Korea under their watches. Now, however, the buck stops with Obama. The North Koreans not only have nuclear weapons, they continue to produce plutonium to make more and continue to test missiles that when perfected will reach the West Coast of the United States.

North Korea is like a bully. Were there any school yard bullies in your grade school? President Obama reads from his teleprompter and says that the time has come for stern measures to rein in the North Koreans. He waxes eloquent about the need for the international community to work together to diplomatically achieve the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. Baloney!!! Did any talk ever result in socially acceptable behavior from your grade school bully? I would wager that the only thing that got your bully to back down was having someone walk up to him unexpectedly and draw back and belt him across the face, bloodying his nose and busting his lip. That strategy will almost always work with a bully.

Some would say that the situation is really more complex than that. They would say that I don’t understand the problems with such an approach. I would say that they are wrong. I know that just north of the DMZ sits a line of artillery that is prepared to rain such an incredible amount of firepower into the South Korean city of Seoul that the city would be leveled in a matter of hours. I know that those who would oppose military action do so by saying that any strike by our forces on the North will result in an unacceptable loss of life in the capitol city of our ally, South Korea. The solution, however, really is simple. A wave of stealth bombers carrying air-fuel bombs (aka Daisy Cutters) would take out the entire line of artillery before any significant munitions are fired into Seoul. That should be our first punch, followed by the firing of cruise missiles into their missile launch facility and their nuclear plant. The price to be paid internationally for that is far less than the price we will pay if North Korean nukes explode over Los Angeles or San Diego or even San Francisco.

While the North Koreans develop the capability to hold our West Coast hostage to their lunacy, Iran continues unabated in its pursuit of the means of perpetrating a nuclear holocaust on the West and upon Israel. One of Iran’s Supreme Ayatollahs recently stated in a speech that Iran would be able to use nukes to kill 5 million Jews, and that the retaliatory strikes upon Iran would likely kill nearly 30 million Iranians. He went on to say that this would be a small price to pay for ridding the world of Israel and the Jews. They are truly insane as well. Their brand of lunacy is more dangerous than that of the North Koreans. Kim Jong Il is simply crazy. The Iranians believe they are doing the work of Allah, and that the nuclear holocaust they plan will usher in an era of Islamic world domination and that they are fulfilling prophecy when they nuke us.

The June 1 edition of the Jerusalem Post quotes Danny Ayalon, a former Israeli ambassador to the United States. Mr. Ayalon is now an official in the new government of Prime Minister Netanyahu. I have personally heard Mr. Ayalon speak here in the United States, and he is a calm thoughtful speaker who carefully measures everything he says. The Jerusalem Post quotes him, and although he does not quote the intelligence source which provided this information, his words are still chilling. He says that Iran now has ballistic missiles capable of reaching the East Coast of the United States.

Does our news media carry these stories? Absolutely not. The mainstream media, with the exception of Fox, won’t carry anything that might make President Obama look bad. I challenge you—go to http://www.foxnews.com/ and search the term ‘Black Panther’ and you will find the story. Then try to find it on MSNBC. I spoke with someone today who did exactly that and the story isn’t on MSNBC. In a time when our arch enemies are within a hairsbreadth of being able to nuke each of our coasts, our President cuts funding for missile defense and instead sends money overseas to kill unborn children and sends money to organizations like the UAW and ACORN to pay them back for helping him get elected.

The KoolAid flows freely in DC these days…and the coffee is nowhere to be found…

I’ll bet that President Reagan didn’t drink KoolAid. I’ll remind you of how he dealt with the Iranians. President Carter and all his talk were completely ineffectual in dealing with Iran. They held our citizens hostage for more than 400 days and laughed at us and taunted us and paraded our blindfolded citizens on camera for all the world to see. President-elect Reagan sent word to the Iranian leadership that our people should be on a plane in the air headed out of Iran by the time he finished taking the oath of office. He went on to let them know that if this were not the case, then his first act as President would be to order the bombing of all major Iranian cities. The Iranians believed him, and released our people on Inauguration Day. Our problem now is that not only does our President seem to be recognizing the danger, he also is incapable of issuing a credible threat. In fact, he isn't even making an effort to handle the problem--he is inviting the Iranians to a party. Newsmax magazine and the New York Times have both reported that an anonymous source at the State Department has revealed that a cable went out to all our embassies instructing the personnel in each embassy to invite their Iranian counterparts to Fourth of July parties. Now are we not only meeting with the Iranians without preconditions, we are having them over for a party--as if having a hot dog (be sure it has no pork) and listening to a speech about freedom will cause them to love the Stars and Stripes instead of using our flag to wipe their butts. Someone needs to remind President Obama that the only fireworks the Iranians care about seeing are the kind that will leave mushroom clouds over American cities. Oh, and someone be sure to tell him that the Iranians also probably won't drink his KoolAid.

A wrongful end to a life wrongfully lived...

2009-06-01T13:00:00.002-05:00

If you follow this blog, you might have anticipated a post when you heard the news that Dr. George Tiller had been killed--shot to death Sunday morning while serving as an usher at his church.

Murder is wrong--there is never a circumstance when murder is OK or appropriate. Now, not all killing is murder. Killing in the act of self-defense or the defense of others is not murder. I would not hesitate to shoot an intruder in my house in the middle of the night--that is not murder. When the state applies the death penalty, that is not murder. Combat killing when in the armed service of our nation is not murder. It is, however, murder to walk up to someone and end their life when there is no imminent threat from the victim directed towards anyone else. The murder of Dr. George Tiller was wrong and the individual responsible should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

The divide in our country today, on this issue, is whether or not Dr. Tiller's daily job activity was murder. I would say that it was murder--murder for cash and convenience. Cash for the doctor, convenience for the mother.

Dr. Tiller was one of only three providers of late-term abortions in the country. Women from anywhere could come to him and have an abortion even if the baby was developed to the point at which survival after the delivery was possible--if she delivered in a hospital instead of at Dr. Tiller's office. Kansas law placed certain requirements on late-term abortions--those after 21 weeks gestation. The law required that the doctor who intends to provide the abortion obtain an consultative opinion from another physician that the mother's life was in jeopardy or that she had a significant risk of serious permanent bodily harm if an abortion was not performed. The law required that the consulting physician be completely independent of the provider who intended to perform the abortion. Dr. Tiller supposedly had a provider with whom to consult--but it turns out that the particular physician in question was his employee, not an independent entity. When the Kansas Attorney General tried to prosecute him for this breach of the law, he refused to provide records documenting that the late-term murders he committed were 'necessary' for the mother's life and/or health. Then Governor Kathleen Sebelius, the harbinger of death now serving as Obama's Health and Human Services Secretary, intervened and shut down the prosecution of Dr. Tiller--who, as it turns out, took alot of blood-covered dollars and contributed them to Governor Sebelius and her political campaigns.

He lived wrongfully, and his death was wrongful...now we'll see how the left politicizes his murder for their own purposes. It's really doubleminded--prolifers will be treated as terrorists and those who rip unborn babies from their mother's wombs in pieces will get government protection.

I wonder if the death-penalty loathing lefties will pursue the death penalty for the murderer of Dr. Tiller. If they do, then the question arises--why are so many lefties usually opposed to the death penalty because of the sanctity of life but they support abortion since preborn humans don't possess a life worth defending....

Have you ever been summoned for jury duty?...

2009-05-30T20:17:00.004-05:00

If you've ever been involved in or have been a witness to a trial, you may be familiar with the term voir dire. Voir dire is the process during which the attorneys representing each side may interview potential jurors and decide whether or not they would be appropriate for the jury. Each attorney may issue peremptory challenges in which they exercise their right to remove certain individuals from the jury without having to give a reason as to why they have chosen to dismiss the particular juror. Each attorney may also dismiss a potential juror by challenging for cause. This is when one party requests that the judge dismiss a potential juror from serving on a trial jury by providing a valid legal reason why he shouldn't serve. Potential bias is a common reason potential jurors are challenged for cause -- for example, the potential juror is a relative of a party or one of the lawyers, or admits to a prejudice against one party's race or religion.

Now suppose you have a pending case in which a white man and a Latina woman are on opposite sides of a case. Imagine that potential Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor is sitting in that jury pool, and the attorneys are aware of her opinion that a Latina woman will be more wise than a white man. Any attorney representing the white man who has anything approaching basic competence will insist that she be dismissed for cause. Any judge who refused to allow her to be dismissed will be overruled on appeal. So--the essential truth of this illustration is simple--the President has nominated a person to a seat on the Supreme Court who would not even be eligible to sit on an ordinary jury because of her bias based on race.

There is more that should concern all of us--this nominee is now famous for her statement that 'appeals courts are where policy is made'. Let's dismiss the notion that she misspoke--the ability to use language appropriately is a fundamental responsibility for judges. She didn't mispeak--she spoke her mind then engaged in some serious CYA talk. Why would she say that courts should make policy? Either she thinks that it is a Constitutional role for courts, or she disagrees with the Constitution. If she thinks that the making of law and policy is a Constitutional role, then she needs to go back to school and take a class on the Constitution. I remember enough from my high school civics class, taught by Mr. Dale Fudge (yes, that was really his name), that the Constitution includes the doctrine of 'separation of powers' that was intended to prevent any one branch of government from having too much power.

Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution says that Congress makes law and policy. The judiciary doesn't have the power to make law and policy--they have the responsibility to try federal cases and interpret the laws of the nation in regards to the cases before the court. The court also has the power to declare any law or executive act unconstitutional. This is the court's role in our system of checks and balances. Judge Sotomayor evidently thinks that she is above the Constitution since she thinks that the judiciary has the power to make law. If she doesn't like the law, then she needs to read the section of the Constitution which outlines the process for amending the Constitution--unjust laws or laws that are no longer appropriate can be changed--by the legislative branch, not the judicial branch.

I suppose none of us should be surprised that the President would try to appoint a judge who couldn't even serve on a jury. After all, with all his past questionable associations, he couldn't have passed the background checks required to be in the Secret Service. A Supreme Court Justice who couldn't qualify to serve on a jury and a President who could never have qualifed to be in the Secret Service--the lunatics really are running the asylum.

By the way--what do you think would be happening right now if a squad of KKK goons had kept black voters away from the polls in November of last year? Do you think that all the major new media outlets would carry the story? Do you think that the current administration and the current Justice Department would dismiss charges against them? I doubt it. Why then did the Justice Department just dismiss the cases against three uniformed New Black Panthers who intimidated voters? Isn't justice supposed to be blind? I guess our current administration is fine with racially motivated actions as long as they favor minorities--at least Latina women and Black Panthers anyway...

PS--When the liberals scream that Sotomayor's comments about a Latina woman making better decisions than a white man have been taken out of context, they are correct. The true and complete context is actually worse--she went on in that speech to say that judges should be able to decide when "prejudice is appropriate." Let's see how they explain that one...

Enough already with the deification of Obama...

2009-05-27T12:12:00.005-05:00

Each morning, I really enjoy my coffee. Today, as I was enjoying my second cup (a really large cup) and waiting for the crew at the surgery center to get my first patient ready for the operating room, I picked up the paper in the doctor's lounge. I usually don't give USA Today any regard, but it was the only thing to read so I looked. I was done with my coffee at that point because the front page soured my stomach. Boy, am I grateful for Prilosec OTC.

It is no secret that the secular media, in large part, loves promoting the idea that Obama is some sort of messiah; a savior come to save America and the world from all those bad ugly evil Repug conservatives and religious fundamentalists and prolife looney tunes (like me). It's not been that long since a piece of art was dedicated in New York that pictures Obama standing, arms outstretched (as if on a cross) pushing back a shroud of black curtains which had covered the Seal of the President of the United States. The portrait depicts him wearing a crown of thorns as he did so. Then there was the sculpture in the Midwest which depicts him riding a donkey that is walking on palm branches.

This morning's headline: "From humble beginnings, a judge in Obama's image..." Wow. What hubris. Never before have I seen someone so blatantly given the status that rightly belongs only to the Deity--the Creator of the universe, the one and only God.

If it is appropriate to compare a mere man to a deity and elevate him to the status of godhood--then let's look at a false god whose worshippers were well known to the people of God in the Old Testament--the false god Molech. The worshippers of Molech believed that their bloodthirsty god desired infant sacrifice--so they threw living newborns into pits of fire as acts of worship to appease Molech. Obama's actions to advance the cause of abortion and to force American taxpayers to subsidize the murder of unborn children around the world show that there is much greater similarity between Obama and Molech than there is between Obama and the real Messiah...

My third grandson just arrived...

2009-05-25T04:52:00.004-05:00

Grandson #3, Joseph Eli, arrived twenty minutes ago at 0432 AM. He is perfectly awesome in every way and both he and my daughter are doing well.

We have the most incredible 3D ultrasound picture from many weeks ago in which we could see from his facial features that his features are a great mix of his two older brothers, Jeremiah and Jackson. That has turned out to be the case as he has characteristics that each of his older brothers have. What a great testimony to the fact that before children are born they are truly human and totally precious in every way.

It's been a long night, and I'll really enjoy my coffee this morning...

Abstinence education gets canned...

2009-05-15T18:39:00.004-05:00

Our new President has made no efforts to put a good spin on his abortion agenda. In fact, there are only two things I can think of on which he has not yet flip-flopped--abortion for anyone, anywhere, anytime and just send the bill to the American taxpayers--and his efforts to apologize to everyone in the world for the fact that America is ultimately to blame for all the world's problems. On most other things, he has flip-flopped: let's get out of Iraq or let's not; let's not hold enemy combatants without charges or let's not; let's release classified documents and photos that could compromise national security or let's not; etc, etc, etc.

He hasn't flinched away from his infanticidal agenda. He just announced the withdrawal of funding for abstinence education to the tune of more than a hundred million dollars. He didn't cut that money from the fat federal budget however; he just transferred those funds to other types of sex ed programs. Now don't get me wrong: there needs to be some form of sex ed in the schools--but the radical indecent kind that Planned Parenthood and other organizations like that promote would make most of you blush. Those kinds of programs are designed to teach kids about birth control in ways that stimulate sexual thinking--because the ultimate goal of the Planned Parenthood teaching and the left-wing teaching is that any orgasm is OK and good and you just need to be responsible and here is how you can do it and be safe and if you get pregnant--oh well, it's just a blob of tissue and we'll take care of it for you. (Former Planned Parenthood strategists who have seen the light confirm that this is the mindset of their sex educators) Anyone with a brain knows that stimulating sexual thought leads to sexual activity. Abstinence programs don't teach with innuendo and titillation--the Planned Parenthood programs do.

President Obama defunds programs which teach responsibility in a different way--and the left ignores the facts about abstinence--because the left doesn't like any type of teaching or discourse based on absolute moral standards. The only thing they won't tolerate is people who disagree with them and if you do you are labeled as intolerant. Here are some facts about abstinence until marriage:

Abstinent students are twice as likely to graduate from college.
Abstinent students are much less likely to suffer from depression.
A secular study that surveyed the degree of sexual satisfaction among Americans showed that the demographic group with the highest degree of sexual satisfaction in America today is the group composed of married Christians.
The demographic subgroup that had the highest degree of satisfaction among those married Christians was the group in which both the husband and the wife had been virgins until their wedding night.
The divorce rate among Americans today is 60% and the divorce rate among those couples who were both virgins until their wedding night is only three percent.

Sounds to me like the good Lord knew what He was talking about when he said "Thou shalt not..." and the President has no clue....

PS--Hilarious story from above the Arctic Circle: The Catlin Arctic Expedition, the first group sent to study the effects of global warming on the climate, had to be rescued before they could reach the North Pole. Why? Cold weather. Were they able to accomplish much? The only thing they discovered is evidence that new ice is forming faster than old ice is melting. Why did their instruments fail on them after they discovered that 'inconvenient' fact? It was too cold........I guess Al Gore won't be calling them to offer his congratulations......

What is happening to our country?...

2009-05-09T16:55:00.012-05:00

Coffee calms me. It is warm and comforting, and while caffeine makes some people shaky, it doesn't affect me that way. In fact, other than my faith in God and good quiet time with my beautiful wife, few things are soothing to me like a good cup of coffee. I like my coffee the way I like my cigars--bold but smooth; creamy and a little sweet. I find myself needing more things to soothe me of late.

See my recent post "The lunatics are running the asylum..." for comments about the recent Department of Homeland Security memo that asks law enforcement agencies to pay attention to returning Iraq war veterans, pro-life activists, gun owners, and religious people as the are 'prone to radicalization' and should be considered as potential terrorists. Osama bin Laden is no longer a terrorist--he is a misguided and misunderstood maker of man-made disasters and I--a prolife activist--am a terrorist.

WorldNetDaily reports the following:

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., has sponsored H.R. 2159, the Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2009, which permits the attorney general to deny transfer of a firearm to any "known or suspected dangerous terrorist." The bill requires only that the potential firearm transferee is "appropriately suspected" of preparing for a terrorist act and that the attorney general "has a reasonable belief" that the gun might be used in connection with terrorism.
Gun rights advocates, however, object to the bill's language, arguing that it enables the federal government to suspend a person's Second Amendment rights without any trial or legal proof and only upon suspicion of being "dangerous." (1)

We are seeing the war on the unborn escalate. The Freedom of Choice Act may soon become the law of the land. The harbinger of death at the helm of Health and Human Services will work to advance the abortion agenda. The administration is absolutely devoted to using tax dollars to pay for abortions here and internationally. I receive regular emails from the Susan B. Anthony list and what follows is an excerpt from the most recent email:

President Obama released his 2010 Budget recommendations in which he called for the repeal of the Dornan Amendment. This is a longstanding law that has prevented taxpayer-funded abortion in the District of Columbia.
It is already a great tragedy that the District of Columbia has the highest abortion rate in the country. The Alan Guttmacher Institute, the research arm of Planned Parenthood, reports that nearly half of all pregnancies in the District of Columbia end in abortion.
Now President Obama wants to give our tax dollars to increase this horrendous statistic. Common sense tells us, we can’t reduce abortions as long as we continue to fund and promote it with our tax dollars. (2)

There is also an agenda to curtail our rights to speak out on these issues. To a liberal, the First Amendment protects Perez Hilton when he calls Miss California a b**ch for calmly expressing her views but labels her calm expression of those views as hate speech. Pending legislation would make Miss California guilty of a federal felony. (3)

Those of us who understand the Christian respect for life, the Christian admonition to have a good work ethic and expect to be rewarded for it, and who understand that this country really was founded on Christian values need to be praying and we need to be speaking up--because an aggressive agenda is being successfully implemented right under our noses. Thomas Jefferson once said the following:

“God, who gave us life, gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are a gift of God?” (4)

I'm going to make myself a good cup of coffee...

(PS added5/11/2009) Today, the President talked about reforming healthcare and said that we have no choice but to proceed with yet another plan that has no details (at least no publicly disclosed details) and said that we are on an unsustainable path. Well, Mr. President, at least the 'unsustainable' path of healthcare that we are on has had a good result--the best healthcare system in the world, hands down. Why do you think that people from other countries come here for healthcare? How many Americans cross the border into Canada to get on a six month waiting list for their emergency cardiac bypass surgery? How many fly down to Cuba to get healthcare from one of Fidel's hospitals? I'll answer that question. None. Zip. Nada.

The biggest unsustainable thing going on right now is your budget, Mr. President. You are spending one dollar for every fifty cents that you will take in this year. That is unsustainable...

(1) http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=97491

(2) http://www.sba-list.org/

(3) http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=97503

(4) Thomas Jefferson, In Love with Eloquence, p. 30

You are the harbinger of death, Kathleen Sebelius...

2009-05-08T21:07:00.002-05:00

I have always been a science fiction fan. As a young child, Lost In Space was my favorite show. I was too young to realize just how goofy the show actually was. As I got older, I discovered Star Trek and have since then followed all of the Star Trek series that followed. The six Star Wars movies are favorites of mine. Babylon 5 was pretty good. Then along came the Stargate movie and the two spinoffs--Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis--both excellent shows. And then there was Battlestar Galactica. I really never liked the campy and goofy 1970s version, but the more recent version was incredibly good. One reviewer called it the "best drama on television", and I agree. It shows humanity with its bravery and its flaws--and the writers did a great job with character development. There were no goofy aliens--just humans and the Cylons--intelligent machines created by humanity that eventually rebelled against humanity and almost annihilated the human race. All of the characters were interesting and compelling in many ways. One of the most intriguing characters was a woman named Kara Thrace--a fighter pilot whose call sign is "Starbuck" (no relation to the coffee chain). She is a hard-livin', cigar-smokin', fast-flyin', Cylon-butt-kickin' blonde whose most memorable line was an answer to a question about what to do next--"Same thing we always do, we fight'em till we can't."

Science fiction shows and movies have had some great and memorable lines--'Danger, Will Robinson!' and 'Beam me up Scotty' and 'Dammit Jim, I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer' and 'No Luke, I am your father...' One of the more memorable lines from the new series of Battlestar Galactica was "You are the harbinger of death, Kara Thrace. You will lead humanity to its end..." This line was spoken to Starbuck by one of her Cylon enemies, and the words made her become deeply introspective and led her to examine her moves more carefully than she ever had considered anything else in her life.

If I could speak to the newly sworn Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, I would say to her -- "You are the harbinger of death, Kathleen Sebelius. You will lead the best medical system in the world to its end." And then I would pray that the words would cause in her the same reaction those words caused in Kara Thrace.

You see, the most notable health care 'accomplishment' Secretary Sebelius had as governor of Kansas was to personally kill the prosecution of Dr. George 'Tiller the Killer" Tiller--widely thought to frequently perform illegal late term abortions. I guess that passion for killing babies qualifies her as Health and Human Services Secretary--a position intended to be an advocate for life-- just like cheating on taxes qualified TurboTax Tim Cheatner to be the Treasury Secretary and to head up the enforcement of our tax code.

This week, Secretary Sebelius made an absurd statement in a hearing in Washington. She said that 40 percent of the medical care given to Americans is inappropriate. She didn't say where she got this information or how this determination was made. It was like so many other pronouncements from Washington--to be believed simply because a politician uttered it.

If you have paid attention, you can see things aligning in our nation as the administration advances its agenda for health care. Failed nominee for the HHS position Tom Daschle wrote a book in which he advocated the creation of a government entity which would oversee doctors and determine the appropriateness of their actions. Daschle says that the government should have a more active role in medical decisions because "doctors can't make hard decisions." What kind of hard decisions are these? Perhaps rationing of care in a society that has never dealt with rationing of anything. Rationing of care is vital in a socialized system of medicine that is supported by the government. There are disturbing things afoot. Oregon has legalized physician assisted suicide, and rations care to the citizens of Oregon who depend on Medicaid for health care. They decide who lives and who dies and who may be treated and who is too sick to be treated. A man just 53 years young with prostate cancer that had spread to other parts of his body recently got a letter from the state of Oregon that read something like this--"Since your illness leaves you with less than a 20 percent chance of being alive in 5 years we will not be paying for any treatment for you. We will, however, pay for physician assisted suicide should you choose to exercise that option." It is much cheaper to pay for one office visit during which the doctor writes a prescription for a lethal dose of a sedative and gives the patient instructions on how to use it.

There is a case in the court system in Montana at this time. The case involves a dispute over a law which would require doctors in Montana to participate in physician assisted suicides. There is also a well founded fear that the Freedom of Choice Act will essentially coerce OB/GYNs to perform abortions.
Rationing is a well known thing is socialized countries like Canada and England. There is rationing and there are long waiting lists for procedures. If you have chest pain in Canada and are found to have a serious blockage in your coronary arteries and you need a coronary artery bypass graft (CABG, or 'cabbage' in the medical lingo) then your name will go on a waiting list and if you are still alive 6-8 months later then you can have your surgery. In the United States, if you are having chest pain and that kind of blockage is found at 8 AM you will probably be asleep on an operating table by noon, if not sooner. Rationing also has other consequences--just ask Liam Neeson. His beautiful wife had an epidural hematoma--something that could be treated emergently in almost any hospital in the United States. Had hers been treated in a timely fashion, she would have had a headache for a few days and had one heckuva story to tell. As it is, she was taken to two different Canadian hospitals, and by the time the family brought her back to the US, she was brain dead.

All that we hear is that there are forty million people in this country without health care coverage. It is true that there should be a better system for caring for the uninsured. However, let us examine the numbers for what they really are. Of the 40 million, nearly half are reported to be illegal aliens--not citizens of this country. That leaves something around 20 million Americans without coverage and that is less than 10 percent of the population of 300 million. Now, if we go to a socialized system of care we won't be dealing with 20 million Americans with no coverage--we will be dealing with 300 million Americans dealing with rationed care and government regulations. Well, 299,999,454. That is 300 million Americans minus the 435 members of the House of Representatives, the 100 members of the Senate, the nine Supreme Court Justices, and the President and Vice President. They don't have Social Security--they have a real sweet retirement that no other Americans have and they certainly won't subject themselves to the same health plan they intend to impose on the rest of us.

President Obama picked Tom Daschle for his opinions on health care. When Daschle withdrew from the process, Obama found someone else who would toe his party line. Secretary Sebelius is setting up the reasons for instituting the government takeover of health care. Did you know that the stimulus bill contained funding to establish the very agency that Tom Dashcle said we need?

Think about what your doctor's visits will be like under the plans that Obama has for us. May God help us all...

100 Days...

2009-04-29T17:16:00.004-05:00

As President Obama celebrated his 100 Days milestone in the Oval Office this morning with Specter the Defector (and I would bet that the morning beverage was the usual KoolAid, not coffee), it occurred to me that the past 100 days have felt like 100 years. It seems that he has done more to damage this country in 100 days than the last 100 years of other presidents have done. Let's look at a few of his most notable accomplishments:

He has successfully completed his apology tour of four continents.

He has presided over the largest expansion of government spending in history.

He has positioned himself to be the president responsible for the largest increase in the murder of unborn infants around the world.

He has issued an executive order, recorded in the federal register, that spends US tax funds to bring Hamas sympathizers into our country from the Gaza Strip by the tens of thousands and settle them here. www.thefederalregister.com/d.p/2009-02-04-E9-2488

He has bowed to an Islamic king and has turned down an offer from Iran to give us a number of dangerous Al Qaida operatives which they have in custody. (See http://www.newsmax.com/timmerman/obama_iran_al_qaida/2009/04/28/208184.html

His first phone call from the Oval Office was to the head of the Palestinian Authority, long known to be a terrorist group rife with evil and corruption.

His first television interview one-on-one was with Al Arabia, second only to Al Jazeera as a Islamic terror propaganda organization.

He has ordered Gitmo closed with no plan as to what to do with the murderous terrorists housed there.

He dropped charges against the masterminds of the murderers responsible for bombing the US Cole.

He picked an attorney general who wants to shred your constitutional right to protect yourself.

He picked a Health and Human Services Secretary who never met a baby she wouldn't have Dr. Tiller the Killer abort.

He proved that his speech writer should be president when he fumbles his words every time his teleprompter fails.

He picked a press secretary incompetent enough to make himself look good every time his teleprompter fails.
He picked a head for the Department of Homeland Security who thinks that a pilot who flies a jumbo jet full of people into a tower full of people is simply the creator of a "man-made disaster" but says that I am a terrorist because I just might stand on a sidewalk in front of an abortion clinic and talk to its patrons and because I own a gun, legally purchased, and would use it to protect my family from any unwelcome intruder.
He promised tax cuts for 95% of Americans but still hasn't told us that his cap-and-trade policy will double our utility bills.
He wants the United Nations-an organization that hasn't been able to stop female genital mutilation around the world-to be able to tell American parents how to raise their children and to tell them that they can't make their young kids come to church.
He wants a system that would label Miss California's statement on marriage 'hate speech' but says that Perez Hilton's obscenity-laden tirade against her is 'free speech'.
He delivered a stern speech about North Korea's test launch of a missile that, when perfected, could reach the West Coast--and the next day announces that he is cutting the budget for missile defense. I guess its more important to pay ACORN for helping him get elected than it is to honor his oath to protect and defend the United States of America. (Or maybe he's hoping that the annoying Speaker of the House will be at home in San Francisco when North Korea nukes the city. If only we could get Senators Feinstein and Boxer to be there visiting her at the time--now that would be like hitting a really big Trifecta)

I hope that Specter the Defector enjoyed his morning meal with the President. I rarely contribute to political campaigns--but I think I'll probably send some money to his Republican opponent in the next election. As for all the Dems I've seen who have commented on how inappropriate the Republican response has been to Specter's defection--(I even read one comment on how it is proof that the rethugs--I suppose that's a liberal insult meaning Republican thugs--eat their young)-- I must remind everyone about how horribly the Dems treated Joe Lieberman when he stood with President Bush and put national security above political expediency.

If Americans can't see what is really happening--then there may not be enough Starbuck's in all the world to wake them from their stupor...

Did you hear about Esau?...

2009-04-21T10:26:00.006-05:00

The story is one of the more well-known stories about the patriarchs. Esau, the oldest of the twin brothers Jacob and Esau (sons of Isaac, grandsons of Abraham), comes home hungry and exhausted. Jacob, who was a good cook, had just finished preparing some stew and evidently it smelled pretty good. Esau asked Jacob for some stew and Jacob said "All right, trade me your birthright for it!" (Genesis 25:31 The Living Bible) Esau made a contemptous remark about the value of his birthright and then traded the birthright away for a bowl of stew.

Now this sounds, to the casual observer, like an insignificant story. Birthrights, however, were a very serious thing at this particular time in history. Esau cared nothing for his birthright. He had no respect for that which would have been his inheritance. Esau thought more of a single meal than that for which his father had labored his whole life. Esau only thought of his stomach and didn't consider the vast inheritance that he stood to gain in light of the blessings that God has promised to Isaac his father and Abraham his grandfather. He enjoyed a good meal for a moment and then is now remembered in all of history for his contempt of his birthright. How did God see Esau after this? The books of Malachi and Romans both say that God had nothing but contempt for Esau since Esau had nothing but contempt for his birthright.

Fast forward to today. What is America's birthright? Freedom! Our forefathers came here so that we could live in freedom. The Framers of our Constitution wrote it in a way that would protect our freedoms. But what is happening now?

We have a recession. We have had recessions before and have recovered. Massive spending, especially deficit spending, has never worked in the past--in fact, objective experts say that Roosevelt's deficit spending in the 1930s lengthened the Great Depression. If you have a shortfall at home, do you improve your situation by going out and getting several credit cards and charging them up? Dave Ramsey would say not. The national Mastercard today is held by the nation of China and right now they hold one-third of our country's debt and they are not going to forget that we owe them that money. The Bible says that the borrower is the slave to the lender. Doesn't sound very free to me--does it to you?

Rather than take pride in America's accomplishments, President Obama has now gone on two apology tours and has spoken ill of his own country on four different continents. (He hasn't yet had time to go to Australia or to Africa since being elected and I doubt that he'll go to Antartica--no cheering crowds there). Rather than remember that 'arrogant' American soldiers pulled the rear ends of Europe out of the fire in WWII--rather than remember that respect for the might of the American military kept the Soviet Union from taking over the world--rather than remember that America has given more in foreign aid to other countries than all other nations combined and that the American people personally give more for international disaster relief than all other nationalities combined--he just wants to apologize for the America he never liked and he promises to remake it into the America he wants. The abilities of Americans and the generosity of Americans and the things we have been able to do for the world are a direct result of the birthright given to us 233 years ago--freedom.

Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Holder, Napolitano et al want an America that doesn't listen when Osama bin Laden places a phone call to the United States--they want an America that listens when I, a pro-life activist, place a phone call or send an email. They want an America that watches me because I am going to go get my carrying permit but they don't want an America that pours a little water on the face of the man who bragged about planning 9/11 and who promised that more attacks were coming. They don't want an America where believers can go to church and hear what their pastors feel led to preach--they want an America where churches never, never offend those who live immoral or arrogant lives but we spend taxpayer dollars through the National Endowment for the Arts to display a crucifix with Christ on it in a beaker full of urine--call it "Piss Christ"--and set it up in a museum.

They want an America whose leader gives a stern speech regarding the crazy North Koreans and their nuclear warhead and missile programs as they launch a test missile that will be able to reach the West Coast when it works properly and then, on the following day, has his underlings announce that they are cutting missile defense funds--the very means needed to protect us against a nuclear hit on a Western city or against a high-altitude EMP burst.

They want an America that honors the Code Pink harpies for their protests about the evils of the military but that silences conservative talk radio. They want an America where those who want to exercise their constitutional right of free speech in defense of unborn children are silenced and those who work for an organization whose founder wanted to exterminate the black race (Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood) are allowed to circumvent reporting laws regarding sexual assaults on children. I could go on and on and on...

Freedom, our birthright in the United States of America, is like my birthright as a follower of Jesus Christ--bought by blood. Jesus gave his blood so that I might have freedom and salvation. My freedom here in the US was also bought by blood--the blood of the 1,164,660 military men and women who paid the ultimate price in defense of our freedom here and for the freedom of others around the world. That is the number of military deaths since the first shot fired in the Revolutionary War more than 200 years ago.

If America re-elects this crew in 3 1/2 years, America will be showing God what Esau did--that we have nothing but contempt for our birthright...

Didn't the President say that he is a Christian???

2009-04-18T00:42:00.003-05:00

Do you remember the presidential campaign? Photos of Obama dressed as a Muslim while in Africa circulated and the liberal press was outraged. Candidate Obama had at least two close advisers who met secretly with representatives from Hamas and the liberal press covered it up for him. He claimed to be a Christian but he had a slip of the tongue in an interview with George Stephanopolous and referred to "my Muslim faith". Now he stands before a crowd and declares that "America is not a Christian nation..."

President Obama is fond of invoking the name of Abraham Lincoln. He should read a book written by one of President Lincoln's contemporaries. It is titled "The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States". It gives clear and convincing evidence of the knowledge that the people of Lincoln's time had--that the United States was founded by Christians and it was founded on Christian principles. The Founding Fathers understood that true liberty comes through the Christian worldview. They understood that Christianity doesn't force itself on anyone but when the laws that govern us are rooted in the Christian respect for others then a truly free society is the result.

I want to be crystal clear on this point--I am not the judge of whether or not President Obama is a Christian. There is, however, a difference between passing judgment on someone and recognizing certain qualities on one's character.

President Obama just spoke at Georgetown University. Gaston Hall, the setting for his speech, normally has an artistic representation of the name of Jesus as the backdrop for the podium. The White House, in preparation for his speech, asked that Georgetown University have the representation of the name of Jesus covered and concealed. See the documentation at http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/04/16/georgetown-university-hid-religious-symbols-white-house-request/

Now I can understand how the leader of the diverse and varied people of our nation might not want to actively wear his faith on his sleeve but what I cannot understand is how a true follower of the Lord Jesus Christ would so publicly and so flagrantly deny the Lord. The requirements of his position do not require that he deny his faith. No other President has been so insistent on pursuing a course which certainly appears to deny the Christian faith. He declares that we are not a Christian nation as if being a Christian nation would be something of which we should be ashamed. He moves into the White House on January 20 and the first time he sees fit to go to church is Easter. I wonder if he will go again before Christmas or if he will show himself to be a CEO--Christmas/Easter Only attender. He apparently doesn't recognize evil for what it is. He declares an end to the war on terror and advances the war on the unborn with pride and and eagerness.

While we are not to be his judge, we are told that we can recognize bad fruit for what it is. The Bible says that "A good tree brings forth good fruit and a bad tree brings forth bad fruit. By your fruit you will be known."

If President Obama really does believe that Jesus is his Lord and Savior, then he should be very concerned about the consequences of his actions. Consider the words of Christ Himself in Matthew 10:32-33:

32 "Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.

If there is anyone in Obama's sphere of influence who understands this, I can only hope that they will sit with him over a cup of morning coffee and show this passage to him...

The lunatics are running the asylum...

2009-04-15T22:19:00.001-05:00

Well, the 'Change' America voted for is wearing me out. Did you know that I am a terrorist? Yes, the Department of Homeland Security, in its infinite wisdom, has declared that people who are pro-life and people who are gun owners are subject to 'radicalization' and as such could become terrorists and should be watched. Iraq war veterans were also listed in the memo and Secretary Napolitano apologized for including them but didn't apologize to me and other prolife individuals.

Here is a news flash for the brilliant Secretary:

The guys who cover their faces and shout "Allahu Akbar" while they use large knives to separate someone's head from their neck and think that they are doing the will of God are terrorists.

Me with my 'Choose Life' license plate and my lapel pin that is an exact depiction of the size and shape of the feet of a 10 week fetus--I am not a terrorist and never will be one.

The woman our new President chose to protect us all against terrorist actions has instructed all her underlings to drop the phrases 'war on terror' and 'terrorist incident'. Apparently, she thinks 9/11 was a 'man-made disaster' and a peaceful prolife demonstration, in which citizens of the United States exercise their First Amendment right to free speech, is a terrorist incident. Oops, I forgot--they all think that the Constitution is a 'living document' subject to their whims and if they don't want me to exercise free speech in regards to abortion then they'll just call me a terrorist and find some way to censor me or monitor me. Isn't is strange that the lefties didn't want the government to listen if Osama bin Laden used a cell phone to call into the United States but they think that my prolife convictions merit surveillance? Do you feel more safe with this individual in charge of Homeland Security?

Perhaps a study of the actual meaning of the word terror would shed some light on this craziness. Terror is a word that means intense fear. Terrorists are those who use heinous acts of violence to brutalize people and induce fear in others in order to advance their cause. If Secretary Napolitano is applying the term terrorist to those with prolife convictions then perhaps she fears our message. Why would she fear this message? Because there is power in truth and if America ever wakes up from its slumber and realizes the truth, then the hold that the left has gained will diminish substantially.

For now, it just seems like a nightmare and even my strongest coffee isn't ending the nightmare. If Washington would start drinking coffee and pour out the KoolAid, then maybe the nightmare would end. As for me, I am not holding my breath...

The value of hope...

2009-04-12T19:14:00.002-05:00

Today is Easter Sunday. Because Jesus lived a perfect life, died a sacrificial death, and rose again we have hope. Without hope, life would be dark indeed. The fact that the tomb of Jesus is empty is proof that the promises of God are not--and it is our reliance on this element of the Christian faith that brings us through dark and difficult times.

The hospital at which I work has a good staff of chaplains. One of them wrote an article for the hospital newsletter recently. I'll quote him directly:

I recently learned about a new approach helping the elderly to avoid falls. The presentation stated that some falls and trips were due to the individual reacting to fear of falling by looking down to watch the feet while walking. While this intuitively seems a positive reaction, actually it increases the risk of falling. The reason offered is that this prevents the person from looking for potential obstacles ahead. Cracks in the sidewalk, slippery spots, and small objects in the way are not noticed, resulting in more trips and falls. The solution is to walk looking up and out. The result is safer walking and stimulating the use of the brain to take in more information to allow for safe planning of the route.

In life, we sometimes lose our perspective by taking our eyes off the horizon and looking only at things close by. The long view is the opportunity to look at our Hope. Learning to live by Hope can provide more stability to life. This spiritual gift enables us to see the real dynamics and values that can keep us steady in turbulent and uncertain times. Hope is not just wishful thinking. In the Christian Scriptures Hope is presented as a vision of what we are becoming through the power of God. It is not just our projection but the fulfillment of God's desire for each of us. When we are drawn forward to meet that Hope, the tough places in life don't have the same feel of danger or destruction.

The Word of God promises us that we have everything we need for life and godliness. This is only one of many encouraging promises in the Word. In uncertain times such and the time in which we now find ourselves, such a promise is indeed comforting.

The admonition above to look up and out is summarized in the book of Hebrews, chapter 12 and verse 2:

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith,...

Keeping our eyes on our Lord will have us always looking up and not looking downward. When we live by always looking up, we are able--as the first verse of this chapter tells us--to run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

I hope you have enjoyed a blessed Easter holiday.

Today is Good Friday...

2009-04-10T08:12:00.002-05:00

Last year, for the Easter holiday, I posted an entry entitled WDJD (What Did Jesus Do?). Today, I am reposting that entry for the Easter weekend. Good Friday and Easter Sunday commemorate the most important moments in all of history. Christ's journey to the cross, into the tomb, and out of that same tomb are pivotal moments in time. As we celebrate the Easter weekend, let us not forget that this holiday is about so much more than brightly colored eggs and baskets filled with candy. That which follows from this point is the exact text I posted last year.

My prayer is that God will bless you richly this weekend as you remember Him and His Son and their love for you.

We are all familiar with the letters WWJD and their associated meaning. For the Easter weekend, and for Good Friday tomorrow, perhaps we should reflect on the question -- What Did Jesus Do?

(what follows is a summary of the notes used in preparing for a Sunday School class I taught several years ago. A word of warning--it can be as hard to read as the movie "The Passion of the Christ" was to watch.)

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. This passage from I Cor 1:18 tells us what the world thinks of the message of the cross. The apostle Paul had a stronger thought in mind than “foolishness” when he penned this scripture. The word we have translated as “foolishness” is the Greek word “moria" and is the word from which we derive our word ‘moron’. The message, to those who lack understanding, is not just foolish; it’s moronic. Why was the message of the cross so hard for the people of the day to understand?To understand the fully moronic nature of the message in the eyes of the people of that day, one must understand crucifixion’s use over the years.

Apparently, crucifixion was first developed and used by the Persians. Daniel 5 tells us the familiar story of Belshazzar’s feast and the handwriting on the wall. What Daniel does not tell use but other written history does say is that the Medes and the Persians crucified 3,000 Babylonians once they had conquered the city. Belshazzar was likely crucified. This use of crucifixion as an instrument of terror would have been Israel’s introduction to crucifixion as a means of subjugating a population of people. They would have watched as Babylonians with whom they had lived for decades were crucified to make a point to a newly conquered people. Alexander the Great crucified 2,000 people in the city of Tyre. Alexander Janius, in his domination of the land of Israel, crucified 800 Pharisees, and then forced them to watch from their crosses as their wives and children were slaughtered with the sword at their feet. When the Romans became the rulers of the land in 63 BC, they crucified 30,000 Jews. Titus Vespasian crucified so many Jews in 70 AD that the soldiers ran out of crosses and places to put them. At the time our Lord walked on the earth, the Jewish people were all too familiar with the cruel reality of the cross as a means of oppression. It was used not only to execute the guilty and terrorize the conquered, but also to punish all who saw it.

To know the truth of Christ’s agony and His willing acceptance of the crucifixion on our behalf is to truly have reason to tremble when we approach the throne of grace in prayer. (Should you not tremble in my presence? Jeremiah 5:22) Christ fully knew what He was accepting when He came to earth to pay the lethal debt of sin that we all bear and deserve. He loved us enough to come to earth to die in our place, because He would rather have died on earth than live in heaven in peace and comfort through all eternity without us. He died for all of us, and He would have died for just one of us. He knew full well what He chose to bear, as evidenced in Luke 22:42-44. Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done. An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. There have been rare instances documented in the history of medicine in which individuals who were experiencing times of unimaginable stress and anxiety actually began to sweat blood. The condition is known as hematidrosis. The cells lining the sweat glands begin to break down and this, in conjunction with elevated blood pressure causes blood to seep from the sweat glands. Our Lord knew what He would experience over the next day, and even with His supernatural and divine strength and composure, He asked that God “take this cup” from Him. This realization allows us to know that the degree of suffering He knew He would experience was nearly overwhelming even for Him. What love for us He demonstrated when He willingly walked into Pilate’s court.

Then he released Barrabas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified. Matthew 27:26 As they led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. Luke 23:26 Why couldn’t Jesus carry his own cross? Another man was able to carry it alone. Jesus would have been a very powerful, muscular man. He would have developed his physical power as he worked from age 12 to age 30 as a carpenter. He was a carpenter in an age without power tools and saws and fork lifts and trucks. His body would have been strong and physically imposing. Why could He not carry a simple piece of wood, as He had all His life? The answer lies in knowing that the cross wasn’t the only cruelty victims of crucifixion experienced. Romans reserved this most inhumane form of punishment for the worst of society and for slaves. The victims were prepared for the cross by being flogged, or whipped. They did not use just any ordinary whip. A very special whip was prepared for those about to be crucified. Some of those flogged in preparation for crucifixion did not live long enough to be nailed to a cross. The whip was made of leather stands braided in a way that included sharp metal spikes and sharp fragments of bone. The lashes were administered in a way that dragged the whip across the flesh, often ripping long pieces of tissue from the body. The gashes were so deep that bone was often exposed, and the amount of blood loss was horrendous. Sometimes the victims were inadvertently disemboweled by the whip. Anyone who survived this flogging certainly did so in a state of dehydration and blood loss that markedly weakened the individual. Our Lord no longer had the physical strength to carry that piece of wood.

Here they crucified him, and with Him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle. John 19:18The nails were not driven through the palms of the hands, as many artists have depicted. The weight of the human body suspended from these nails would have ripped the flesh around the nails. The hand, in the language of the day, was considered to include the wrist. Skeletons of victims of crucifixion show that the nails were pounded through the wrists and through the heels. This would have caused pain of an intensity that we are incapable of conceiving without having experienced it personally. The nails driven through the wrists would crush and sever one of the largest nerves in the human body, the median nerve. This nerve runs through the wrist between the bones of the forearm. This nerve is similar to the nerve that we call the “funny bone” when a slight glancing blow hits it in our elbow. That is not a comfortable feeling, and that is just from an extraordinarily minimal impact. The nails didn’t just cause a moment’s pain either. As our Lord struggled to breath, the motion of every breath for the next six hours caused the ragged, crushed, and torn ends of these nerves to grind about the nail, sending fresh new waves of pain with every breath. A new word had to be created to describe the agony of the cross, since no word of the day did so adequately. Excruciare is the Latin root for our word excruciate, and means “out of the cross.” The drive to breathe is an extraordinary physical drive. The body would continue to take breaths, even when each one caused new pain. When the human body is suspended from outstretched arms, the chest and rib cage are forced into a position of maximum inhalation. To exhale, and subsequently be able to take in new fresh breath, our Lord had to pull Himself up with all His weight being held by the nails in the wrists and the heels. He was able to use his legs to push Himself up to a certain degree, but this only cruelly prolonged the agony. This terrible suffering caused our Lord and Savior to cry out in desperation:…Jesus cried out in a loud voice “Eloi, eloi, lama sabachthani?”—which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46 Can we even begin to imagine the suffering that would cause the Son of God, the author of our faith and our salvation, to feel that His Father had forsaken Him?

As drawing breath became more difficult due to fatigue and weakness, the body’s use of oxygen began to outstrip the amount supplied by the lungs. This slow suffocation would result in an accumulation of acid in the muscles of the body. Just as a runner begins to feel his leg muscles burn with this acid as he nears the end of his endurance, so our Lord felt His body burn with fatigue and oxygen deprivation magnified exponentially above the level to which an athlete could voluntarily bring himself.The accumulation of acid in the muscles and in the bloodstream began to affect the function of our Lord’s heart. As the heart is deprived of oxygen slowly, it begins to fail. Heart failure results in the accumulation of fluid in the abdomen, and in the chest cavity surrounding the lungs, and in the sack surrounding the heart. The last stage in this long, tortuous road to death begins when the heart begins to beat abnormally. Our Lord would have known this, and would have known that His last moments were upon Him when He felt His heart begin to quiver with its last, dying beats.Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When He had said this, He breathed His last. Luke 23:46…one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing forth a sudden flow of blood and water. John 19:34 The presence of water with the blood verifies the heart failure that would have occurred as the crucifixion neared its terrible end. One can imagine that it wasn’t just suffocation and heart failure that killed our Lord. He also died of a broken heart.

The willingness of our Lord to sacrifice Himself as the only perfect person who ever lived, as the atonement for our sins so that we could accept salvation by believing in Him, shows beyond any doubt how deep and wide and high and long is His love for each of us. To die so horribly, and to know in advance exactly how bad it would be and still proceed with courage and conviction, is the most powerful demonstration imaginable of that love. His death also fulfilled the law, and brought about a new covenant. Without His atonement for our sin, God had to maintain his separation from us. His holiness cannot tolerate looking upon sin. As Jesus hung upon the cross, assuming the responsibility for the sins of the whole world, God could not look upon Him. “why have you forsaken me?” our Lord cried as His Father had to turn His back upon the ugliness of sin. God had always maintained a separation from the sin of man prior to the redemptive death of Christ. The thick curtain in the temple in Jerusalem sealed off the Most Holy Place. No one except the high priest was allowed into the presence of God in that Most Holy Place, and the high priest was only permitted to enter once a year on a special day. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. Matthew 27:39 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is , his body…..let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith….Hebrews 10:19-20, 22

The sacrificial redemptive death of our Lord and Messiah allows us to be washed clean by His blood, purifying and sanctifying us, and allowing us to draw near to God. We can have a close personal relationship with our Heavenly Father because of the price paid on our behalf by Jesus. For this we should always be grateful, and because of this we should tremble with awe anytime we contemplate the significance of what our Lord did for us that dark day on Calvary.Why was the shedding of blood necessary for our salvation? God set into place a system that clearly shows that sin takes life, and that the price for sin is death. Exodus 17:11 shows that “For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.”

John MacArthur says it well in Hard to Believe: “The cross in itself proclaims a verdict on fallen man. The cross says that God requires death for sin, while it proclaims to us the glory of substitution. It rescues the perishing. Only death can accomplish rescue, but God in His mercy has provided a Substitute.”May this Easter be a time when you truly know Him, and dwell in His presence.

Sources:
The Holy Bible, NIV
The Case for Christ, Lee Stroebel
Hard to Believe, John MacArthur
“A Physician Testifies About the Crucifixion”, Dr. C. Truman Davis
“Jesus and the JAMA”, Christian Medical Association website (JAMA is the acronym for the Journal of the American Medical Association)

Strike the Stars and Stripes and raise the white flag....

2009-04-04T20:15:00.008-05:00

If you have followed the President's actions as he travels Europe with his support staff of more than 500 people, you might be expecting the Stars and Stripes to be replaced with a big white flag--a white flag of surrender.

I challenge you to find any speech given by the leader of any nation that apologizes for his nation in any way unless it is a speech/statement given as a part of a surrender ceremony. The defeated nation's leader might be expected to apologize for his nation's actions--but never at any other time can I recall any leader speaking of his own nation in such a way. President Obama apparently is ashamed of our nation--not surprising since his wife only recently felt any pride in America. For what does he believe that we should apologize?

America has given more of the lives of its young soldiers in the defense of other nations than all other nations combined. American soldiers have died fighting for the freedom of other people in Europe, in Africa, in Central America, and in Asia.
America has given more in foreign aid to other countries than all other nations combined.
American medical science has advanced the quality of care available by medical and surgical and pharmaceutical research more than all other nations combined. Vaccines developed in the United States have eradicated polio and gone a long way toward eradicating measles, mumps, and rubella. Smallpox, which killed 300 million people in the 20th century, has been eradicated totally from the planet--thanks largely to American research and American funding. So much for the broken American medical system...
America has given more money for aid to the continent of Africa than all other nations in the world combined. The bulk of this support came during the presidency of George W. Bush--never heard that in the media, did you?
America freed tens of millions of Iraqis from the threat of gang rape by thugs, intimidation, unjust arrest and imprisonment, torture and mutilation, nitric acid baths, and power drill body piercings--among other things--under the reign of Saddam and sons.
America has provided more humanitarian aid to the Palestinians than all other nations combined--and some of the wealthy Arab nations (Saudi Arabia in particular) haven't given a dime in aid to the Palestinians. So much for being the 'Great Satan'...

Perhaps Obama is ashamed of our country. After all, he wants to change it so much--and he is so busy apologizing for America. His Secretary of State just apologized to Mexico--apparently their drug war is our fault.

Speeches like his, laden with apologies, sound like surrender speeches. It also sounds like he has had his fill of being an American president and now is campaigning for the presidency of the world. After all, it appears that he is maneuvering our economy into a currency crisis so that his Treasury Secretary will have a stronger case to take us off the dollar and on to a global currency.

He should be apologizing to the unborn children of the world--after all, he has declared war on them. The war on terror is over, and the war on the unborn has advanced significantly. Apparently 1.21 million abortions in America annually isn't enough for him--he rescinded the 'Mexico City Policy' so that American tax dollars could help fund the 41 million abortions that occur annually around the world--and increase that number to higher and higher levels.

He apologizes for American 'arrogance' when he should be apologizing for his own. After all, I don't think the Queen of England will be turning to her new iPod, a gift from the President, when she is bored. In case you didn't know--Obama loaded his own speeches onto the iPod he gave to her. Now that's arrogance that merits an apology...

PS--Just heard that North Korea just launched that missile test--I am sure our President will make a stern speech--I wonder whose iPod he'll load that speech onto...perhaps one for Kim Jong Il?

Did you hear about Red Envelope Day?

2009-03-29T15:31:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow, approximately 3,878 women will have appointments at Planned Parenthood or other similar medical offices. They will be pregnant when they arrive for their appointments, and once the appointment is complete and they leave, they will no longer be pregnant. This number is based on the most recent statistics I could find--abortion statistics for the year 2005 listed at http://www.guttmacher.org/. The document I found there says that in 2005 there were 1.21 million abortions in the United States. Take that number, divide it by 52 weeks and divide that by 6 days each week (some abortion mills work on Saturdays). That gives the number 3,878 per abortionist work day. Break that down a bit further--there are 480 minutes in the typical 8 hours of a work day--8.1 babies butchered per minute. If it takes you five minutes to read this entry--40 babies will have died while you read (assuming you are reading during the work day.)

A friend emailed me last week and told me about Red Envelope Day. I am so glad that she sent me that email--I forwarded it to many people. I also went out and got 250 red envelopes at Kinko's. Then I went to the Post Office and got stamps for them. I then used some of those neat Avery labels and the Microsoft Word templates to prepare the mailing labels and labels for the wording on the back. The red envelopes are all addressed to President Barack Obama, The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania AVE NW, Washington DC 20500. The labels printed for the back say:

THIS ENVELOPE

REPRESENTS ONE

CHILD WHO DIED

BECAUSE OF AN

ABORTION.

IT IS EMPTY BECAUSE

THE LIFE THAT WAS

TAKEN IS NOW

UNABLE TO BE A PART

OF OUR

WORLD.

Go to http://www.redenvelopeday.com/ if you want to see more about this nationwide grassroots effort to encourage Americans to exercise their First Amendment right of free speech and let our country's leader know that there are people who know that abortion is wrong and who are opposed to the agenda of Obama, Pelosi, and Planned Parenthood.

You have a bit of time to get a red envelope if you want and participate. Get the red envelope (Kinko's has alot of them in their stationary section), and address it as above, seal it while it is empty, and write the above note on the back. Put your return address on it if you are comfortable with that--or just put your first name and your city and state. The Post Office must deliver mail that has a properly addressed destination and the correct postage--so if you do this, and mail it on Tuesday, which has been designated as Red Envelope Day, then your envelope will reach the White House mail room on the same day as millions of other empty red envelopes.

This morning at church, people in attendance were eager to fill in the return address labels of most of my 250 envelopes. The task of recruiting people to fill out the remainder will be easy when I am at the office tomorrow and the 250 will go in the mail on Tuesday.

Why red for the color? Why not cute blue and pink? Because red represents the innocent blood shed in each and every abortion. Red is the color of the blood dripping from the hands of every abortionist, every politician who has gone to bat for the 'choice' agenda--and every person who says "Well, I am personally opposed to abortion but I think that it should be legal and available."

Why now? The empty envelopes will reach the White House at the beginning of Easter Week--and the color of our Lord's innocent blood was also red...not that there are very many people left in Washington who understand that...

Anti-Semitism continues...and our government does nothing...as usual...

2009-03-27T08:19:00.004-05:00

Collective hatred of the Jewish people is nothing new. It has been a reality for the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob for millenia. We would like to think that we have made enormous strides in our collective civil sensibilities, but we when anti-Semitism is still a socially acceptable and politically correct prejudice then our strides are meaningless. A recent editorial cartoonist drew a hideously awful cartoon and numerous papers in this country ran the cartoon. The cartoon showed a goose-stepping goon reminiscent of brown-shirted Nazis pushing a Star of David that had fangs. The star with fangs was menacing a small female figure with the word 'Gaza' written on its back.

Where was this cartoonist over the last several years? Why has he never drawn a sheik with a turban and an Islamic crescent and a sword dripping with the blood of Israeli schoolchildren? Perhaps the cowardly cartoonist lacks the personal courage to criticize terrorists whose leaders might issue a fatwa calling for his murder.

Our country pays billions of dollars annually to the United Nations. The recently formed Human Rights Council, headed up by countries known to be bastions of human rights (Libya, Cuba, China, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, etc.) doesn't seem to pay attention to anything but Israeli action against the terrorists who desire the destruction of Israel--and never consider the many provocations which lead to Israeli defensive action. See the story below from today's edition of the Jerusalem Post:

The United Nations Human Rights Council on Thursday approved five anti-Israel resolutions in which it took issue with Israel's continued settlement activity, its treatment of West Bank Palestinians and its January military operation in Gaza.
Canada was the sole country to object to all the resolutions. They were joined in one instance by the Netherlands, Germany and Italy, who opposed the resolution against Israeli military activity in Gaza.
To date the council has passed 26 anti-Israel resolutions out of the 32 motions to censure countries which it has approved since its inception in June 2006.

Israel has less than one tenth of one percent of the world's population, and uses military action only in its own defense--yet the Human Rights Council feels that Israel deserves 81 % of the resolutions condemning various countries for violations of human rights. No mention of the journalists imprisoned in Cuba for decades after they spoke out against Castro. No mention of the vast numbers of political dissidents and people of faith imprisoned for years in Chinese hard labor camps--or of the fact that when China decides to execute a political/religious prisoner with a single shot to the back of the head his/her family gets a bill for the bullet. No mention of the fact that Iran's leader regularly calls for the wholesale murder of Jews, or of the fact that Iran uses various means of capital punishment for offenses they deem worthy of horrible death--stoning, beheading, hanging, being thrown of a "high perch", or being "halved by the sword". No mention of the fact that thieves under sharia law, in the many nations which employ sharia law, are subjected to public amputation of a hand.

Unless and until justice is important for all the people of the world, including the Jews, all the words of the Human Rights Council will be void and meaningless. If you have the opportunity to meet any of our members of Congress, ask them why we continue to pay billions of dollars annually to an organization where corruption is the culture and prejudice is the norm.

Cigar Aficionado's Cover Guy...

2009-03-25T17:07:00.002-05:00

I am off work this week and I'm really enjoying the rest. Today, I did several things that I rarely have the chance to do. I slept late, and I made breakfast when I got up. We had this great spicy sausage casserole with pepper jack cheese, crescent rolls, scrambled eggs, and of course--coffee. I also had the opportunity to listen to 99.7 Talk Radio today and the noon show that Fred Thompson does daily. Senator Thompson was on the cover of the most recent edition of Cigar Aficionado. He enjoys good cigars, as do I. His outlook on things is very similar to mine. I'd really enjoy having a good cigar with him. Perhaps an Ashton Classic or an Oliva Serie V would nicely complement a great long conversation.

If you've followed my blog, you'll remember that I have frequently said that we must learn from the lessons of history. Senator Thompson today said that, in regards to his economic plan, President Obama has three things working against him--"logic, common sense, and history." I couldn't agree more.

President Obama is undeniably a brilliant man. That fact alone brings an important question to mind--Why is he making the economic decisions he's making? He is so far to the left of the leftist socialist European governments that he is now the recipient of much European criticism. One EU politician today said that American plans to spend our way out of this recession is "a way to hell." The Prime Minister of the country that holds the EU Presidency said that President Obama's stimulus package and bailout of the banks "will undermine the stability of the global financial market." He also said that "We need to read the history books and the lessons of history and the biggest success of the EU is the refusal to go this way." Wow. Now our President, who denied being a socialist, is far to the left of the world's leftist socialists and they say he's gone too far.

So back to my question--Why is he making these decisions? The most sinister explanation is perhaps the one that makes the most sense. China and Russia are now calling for a global currency and they are basing that call on their lack of faith in the dollar. TurboTax Tim Cheatner today said that the Chinese proposal deserves consideration. Did he misspeak or did he give us a prelude to his plans? If our economy totally crashes, then the Administration will then have the justification for going along with a global currency and giving up American sovereignty over our own economy. If that is really his plan, then his current actions make sense. The other possibility is that he is abysmally stupid--and you'll recall that I have never called him stupid.

One other sinister possibility in one of his plans--the plan to reduce or eliminate the tax deduction for charitable giving. What would be the effect of that action? Reduced giving to churches. Churches are the place where Americans are most likely to look for answers to their questions on what to think about gay marriage, abortion, stem cell research, and other moral issues. If he weakens the churches, he weakens the grassroots opposition to him and his agenda. As I said, he's no dummy...

Venezuela comes to Washington...

2009-03-24T09:08:00.002-05:00

This morning TurboTax Tim Cheatner (oops, I mean Geithner) is on the Hill in Washington pushing a plan that would give him greater powers to regulate and/or seize companies. He is using the AIG flap as the justification for seeking these new and unprecedented powers. Well, I use the term unprecedented in the context of these powers being unprecedented in the United States. We see this happening in Venezuela as Hugo Chavez seizes whatever he desires and 'nationalizes' companies and services and any entity that he desires to control.

Isn't it sad that we see a country dying in South America and we are following suit here in the United States? Why can't our leaders learn from the clear examples of history and current events? Monetizing national debt has destroyed the economy in Zimbabwe and the other countries that have tried it and it has never worked yet we are doing it right now. Nationalizing private companies is contrary to the ideals of the Constitution--yet we must remember that our President has no ultimate respect for the Constitution. Remember, he criticized the Supreme Court under Chief Justice Warren for not doing more to "break free from the constraints imposed by the Founding Fathers" in the Constitution.

What reason does the government give us in order to have us believe that they can impose fiscal restraint and responsibility on a failing company? Has anything the ruling triumvirate of Obama, Pelosi, and Geithner done improved things at all? Will the liberal trifecta of out-of-control spending, destructive tax policies, and unrestrained murder of the unborn turn America into a Utopia? I think not.

Change has come, and it is not good....

Enjoy your morning coffee now--the coming hyperinflation may make good coffee unaffordable in the near future...

Constitutional Insanity...

2009-03-14T10:14:00.003-05:00

If I were able to sit down and have a cup of coffee and a good long talk with the Framers of the Constitution, I would have a few questions. First, I would explain just exactly what today's pornography is like and tell them about child pornography--and then ask them if they really had that in mind as constitutionally protected 'free speech'. I would ask them if they were OK with the fact that the constitutional right to 'privacy' (really a right to protection against unreasonable search and seizure) has been used to constitutionalize the murder of more than a million babies each year. Somehow, I don't think they would be happy with those uses of such an historic document.

Isn't it interesting that the left will rip constitutional freedoms screaming from their context to get what they want but then will try to deny the constitutional right to free speech that has been given by the Constitution to conservative talk radio hosts and to Christian pastors and Christian music stations? When a liberal these days thinks of free speech he thinks of being able to say and do and see whatever he wants to and if he wants to spread his message on the radio, then he should be able to do so freely and for free! You see, if the liberal message was actually a message that radio listeners wanted to hear then sponsors would line up to buy advertising. Since the liberal talk radio shows and networks go bankrupt due to a lack of listeners and advertisers, they think that their free speech should be free in monetary terms as well and that the conservative radio hosts should pay for the air time. I don't think that the Framers meant that liberal speech should be free of cost.

Back to what got my attention today--I saw a news clip of Attorney General Holder, in his own words, 'proudly' swearing in one of his new deputies--Obama appointee David Ogden. Apparently, Ogden paid his taxes so that's not why they wanted him for this post. Ogden is notorious for having volunteered to defend pornographers and child pornographers and pedophiles in various court cases. He fought against a law which would have required schools to use software that would prevent young schoolchildren from accessing porn on their school computer. That is now what we have running the Justice Department--someone who actively worked for increased freedoms for pornographers, child pornographers, and pedophiles--and someone who is proud to have such a person at his side. They apparently want to replace Bugs Bunny with the Playboy Bunny and to give your children the opportunity to appear with and perform with the Playboy Bunny...

It's enough to make even a teetotaler consider adding Bailey's and Kahlua to the first morning cup of coffee each day before turning on the news...

Unbelievable...

2009-03-08T14:01:00.006-05:00

I wonder how many of the mainstream media will cover this story. Katie and the KoolAid Brigade seem very reluctant to carry any story that shines a light on anything that would be unflattering to the new administration.

This will be a short story--and like a small cup containing a triple espresso for someone who is unaccustomed to caffeine, it will jangle your nerves.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced today that President Obama wants him to reach out to the Taliban. Yes, you read that right and I said it correctly--the Taliban. Those murderous thugs who took over the government of Afghanistan, oppressed the women of Afghanistan and made it illegal for little girls to go to school, held public executions in sports stadiums for all manner of offenses, and hosted Osama bin Laden as he planned the attacks of September 11, 2001. President Obama wants Karzai to reach out to the 'moderate elements' of the Taliban. What moderate elements are there? Do we have any proof that there are moderate elements in a group who believe that women shouldn't be educated and that people who don't accept Islam should be killed in the most horrible ways? What is moderate about a group who believes that stoning and beheading and amputation of limbs are appropriate punishments for those who transgress sharia law?

More importantly, why would our President want one of our allies in the war on terror to reach out to the enemy and concede anything to them--a mortal enemy who attacked us and whose leaders are still on the loose? I am afraid that the reason why the phrase "war on terror" has been banned by Obama is becoming more apparent--the war on terror is now over. Just remember what I've said in prior entries--radical Islam doesn't surrender and doesn't compromise. They either win or they suspend hostilities in order to give themselves time to re-arm and improve their strategic position. Remember how the term hudna translates into English...there is no Arabic term for cease-fire that has the meaning we give to the phrase cease-fire...I bet the leaders of the Taliban are now looking forward to their state dinner at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue...

PS--Remember how President Obama, such a short time ago, said his administration wouldn't have former lobbyists in positions of power? Well, check out his new pick for the chairmanship of the National Intelligience Council--an overtly anti-Semitic former ambassador to Saudi Arabia who for the past twelve years has received funding from Saudi Arabia and has lobbied for Arab causes... http://news.newsmax.com/?ZK4D.qSaAN25gyEpOoDwBRWZzQrkxfU1Z

The same old doublespeak...

2009-03-07T13:05:00.002-06:00

Americans were promised change that we could believe in during the 2008 Presidential campaign. We were told that a new level of transparency would come to Washington. Well, the only things that have changed are the amount of hypocritical doublespeak and the amount of irresponsible spending. The transparency we were promised is there--if you care to look for it. It is so easy to see through the lies and the rationalizations that anyone should be able to see it--but far too many people aren't even looking. The media is playing the same role as it did in the campaign--Katie and the KoolAid brigade (CBS, ABC, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, and the New York Times) aren't doing anything to point out the problems with what Washington is doing. Here are a few examples:

Obama promised to go through legislation line-by-line and remove earmarks yet in his first hundred days he will sign, with no protest, a $400 billion dollar spending bill that contains almost 9,000 earmarks. These earmarks are not just from the Dems either, so I am not only picking on the liberals. The liberals want millions spent on the study of the odor of pig manure, but a Republican has put in an earmark to spend your money on the study of catfish genetics. Both parties are responsible for the reckless spending that is more out of control now than ever.
Obama has preached to the masses about fiscal responsibility yet with two signatures in his first two months he will have signed off on more than $1.2 trillion dollars in the spending of money we don't have.
Executives of some of the companies which have received bailout money have been verbally crucified (and often rightly so) for their use of that money but the Vice President Biden drops in on the posh union retreat at the most expensive hotel in Miami where union execs are wallowing in luxury while the unemployment rate for the American worker just hit its highest level in almost thirty years.
Obama says he wants to have a "fresh conversation" about abortion but he moves aggressively to silence all debate about abortion and every thing he has done in this area has shown that he will be the most vehemently pro-abortion president we have ever had. (More on abortion in an upcoming blog devoted to the topic)
We are told today that an increased government role in health care will save more than $2 trillion over ten years-mostly in administrative costs. Can anyone anywhere anytime show any of us an example of the government efficiently administrating anything? I cannot think of one single example that is a model of government efficiency. Did you know that early in the twentieth century the government consumed only about 3% of the GDP and now it consumes more than 30% of the GDP?
Obama has wanted Americans to have restored confidence in the economy--yet his actions with the irresponsible spending and his policies and his direction have caused the market to lose more than 30% of its value since his election victory. Only one other time in the last hundred years has the market taken such a steep nose dive after a presidential election--the first election of FDR. The market then knew that his policies would have consequences. Most honest economists will tell you that FDR's spending didn't end the Depression--it lengthened it and even caused a recession in the middle of the Great Depression.
We are told that taxes will increase only on those who make more than $250,000 annually. The truth of that, however, is that the government could seize every dime of income from every American making more than $250,000 and that money will only make the smallest dent in the deficits that the Liberal Triumvirate (Obama, Pelosi, and Geithner) are creating.

Americans need to understand what is happening in Washington today. A very wise scholar once said that democracies die when the majority of the population realizes that they can essentially write themselves checks from the national treasury by voting for particular candidates. Now we watch the groups that worked so hard to get Obama elected getting their checks from the Spendulus bill....

I pinch myself, and it's not working....

2009-03-05T13:09:00.006-06:00

When you think you are having a bad dream, you pinch yourself. Maybe you think you've just been working too hard, or maybe you didn't have enough coffee and you see what is going on around you and you hope you've just briefly dozed off at your desk. You think that maybe if you pinch yourself hard enough and then wake up and have some coffee then everything will be different. Well, I should have bruises from pinching myself, and it's not working. My best blend of Starbuck's, brewed extra strong in a French press, isn't helping either.

Our new President spoke today about his health care initiative, and we should all shudder at the thought of him having his way with health care. I practice medicine here in Tennessee and in my city there are almost 20 obstetricians. Only two of us accept TennCare (or as I call it--TennDoesn'tCare). I have worked with Medicaid in Kentucky as well. Kentucky Medicaid is vastly preferable to TennDoesn'tCare. Tennessee's version of assistance is the closest thing to what the federal government would do to everyone. TennDoesn'tCare is widely know to be the worst public health system in the nation. Not surprisingly, it is exactly what Hillary Clinton tried to impose on the entire country in the early 1990s. Someone here in Tennessee saw her model, thought it looked like a good idea, and implemented it for Tennessee. Now look at what we have-a system that no one likes, serves the needs of our people very poorly, and which most doctors won't take because of the administrative headaches, the games that they play, and the unfairly low reimbursement.

President Obama today said that health care costs pose "the biggest threat to our nation's balance sheet."..."health care is no longer just a moral imperative, it's a fiscal imperative." He plans to put $634 billion into health care over the next ten years and plans to get half of that from tax increases and half of it from reducing Medicare and Medicaid payments to doctors. That is the essence of his plan to tackle "the world's costliest health care system."

Well, Mr. President--here's a news flash for you: It may be the world's costliest system but is also the best system in the world. That's why foreign dignitaries come here for their care. That is why anyone in countries whose health care delivery systems are like the one you want to impose on us comes here for care if they can afford it. Your answer, Mr. President, seems to be tax increases for the fix to any problem. Well, the old admonition "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" isn't really true or accurate; and your tax increase answer to every problem we face is no better. Also, you have doctors in this country who don't take Medicare or Medicaid because it is such a huge hassle with all the useless federal bureaucratic nonsense--and you want to penalize those who have served the Medicare and Medicaid populations by cutting their pay even further? Are you insane? I am a solo practitioner of OB/GYN and I do 25-30 deliveries a month, 20 or so surgical cases a month, and see nearly 500 office patients a month. I have six employees in my office and those six families depend on my ability to meet payroll. It costs me more than $30,000 a month to keep my doors open with payroll, benefits, office supplies, computer support, malpractice insurance, rent, and all the other bills. That is what I need before I pay myself a dime--and you want to essentially seize my revenue by reducing what you pay me and expecting me to continue to do the same work. Do you also realize that all the private insurance companies tie their fee schedule to Medicare rates and if you decrease those then payments to doctors will fall across the board while expenses continue to rise and your party has always blocked malpractice reform and I pay $59,000 annually in malpractice premiums even though I've never had to pay a dime to a patient for malpractice in almost 20 years of being a physician?

Mr. President, the biggest threat to this country's balance sheet are the checks written by Speaker Pelosi, signed by you, and endorsed by Treasury Secretary TurboTax Tim, your buddy and tax cheating appointee who in the last few days he was going to help the federal bottom line by going after all the people who cheat on their taxes. Wow...What a load of crap! If he wants to be productive in such an endeavor, he should put all of your nominees and appointees on the list to have their taxes evaluated before everyone else in America is harassed.

No wonder you put nearly 2 million dollars into the stimulus bill to study the problem of the odor that comes with swine (pigs, pork) and their manure. Your biggest problem is preventing the American people from smelling all the pork you've stuffed into your bills and budgets. I grew up on a farm, Mr. President. We raised pigs--and the odor of swine is unique. I don't think 2 million dollars to that lab in Nebraska is going to be enough to keep America from smelling what you are shoveling...

PS--I wonder who he'll pick for Surgeon General now that Dr. Sanjay Gupta has declined the position. Since he picked abortion-loving Governor Sebelius for HHS Secretary maybe he'll pick her favorite abortionist--Dr. George "Tiller the Killer" Tiller--as the Surgeon General. And if we find out that he hasn't reported all the cash income from all those illegal late-term partial birth abortions for which he has been indicted and hasn't paid taxes on them then he'll fit in perfectly with TurboTax Tim and all the other people in this administration who think that it is patriotic for everyone else to pay their taxes but that they themselves are exempt for some reason...

Does your house need remodeling???

2009-03-02T20:20:00.004-06:00

Over the past few weeks, President Obama has missed no opportunity to throw stones at John Thain, one of the CEOs who headed up a company that requested and received bailout funds and then spent funds on unnecessary things--like the expensive remodeling of Thain's corporate office with items like $87,000 rugs and such. He has singled this man out for criticism on a number of occasions--and rightly so. No CEO whose company had done so poorly that it needed corporate welfare at the taxpayer's expense should have spent money like Thain did.

In the last few days, President Obama made the comment that because of the economic times, we need to be tightening our belts and if you are "thinking about remodeling your house, you might want to wait."

I have two problems with this:

First--President Obama seems to lack the fundamental understanding that an individual who has the resources to remodel his home will stimulate the economy locally. A carpet layer might not get laid off. A paint store will be less likely to close its doors. Cabinet makers and plumbers and electricians and countless other individuals will have work to do that they otherwise would not have and they will be more easily able to put food on their own tables and provide for their families and pay their own mortgages and so on and so on and so on. Pretty simple concept, if you ask me.

Secondly--President Obama is remodeling the White House right now. Who is helping him? What interior design master did Barack and Michelle select? Michael Smith, the same decorator that John Thain used....

Pretty soon he'll tell us all not to go to Starbuck's--if I have to stop buying Starbuck's then I'll get some Folger's--because any coffee is better than the KoolAid insanity that has swept our country...

Does anyone really understand how much a trillion dollars is???

2009-02-21T10:18:00.002-06:00

Conceptualizing the real meaning of a "trillion dollars" is really almost inpossible. The vastness of the number renders it incomprehensible.

Do you remember the movie Brewster's Millions? Richard Pryor was given the task of spending a million dollars in thirty days. It turned out to be very difficult for him.

Here is a way to conceive of the vastness of the number 'one trillion'. If you had been alive on the day Jesus was born, and had lived until now, and had spent one million dollars a day--every day--since the birth of Christ you would have spent somewhere in the neighborhood of 734 billion dollars. A million dollars daily since the birth of Christ and you would only be about three-quarters of the way to a trillion. Yet our esteemed members of Congress and our President talk about this sum of money as if it's just a nice tip on a good meal at the Outback.

Two things about this analogy--

It allows some of us to begin to understand the vastness of the actual number.
Those who most need to understand the vastness of the number won't benefit from this analogy, because most of those who have pushed so hard for this to pass really don't know much about Jesus anyway.

Enjoy your morning coffee...

PS--Here is another tidbit about allowing our government to have free reign when it comes to spending: Consider your favorite ink pen and how nicely it writes. Now, try to write with it upside down--against the force of gravity. You will find it doesn't work. The ink pens we use don't work in space flight either--American astronauts found that they couldn't use regular ink pens in a zero gravity environment. So our government, always so wise with our tax dollars, spent several million dollars developing a pressurized pen that would write in a zero gravity environment. Do you know what the Russians did?

They used pencils...

It's a crazy world...

2009-02-18T23:26:00.002-06:00

Imagine the media frenzy if a Christian broadcaster brutally murdered his spouse. Imagine, for a moment, how Katie Couric would eagerly pounce on the fact that a man who professed to be a Christian was really a murderer at heart. Imagine the sad sincerity on her face as she brutally replayed the details of the poor wife's last moments spent at the mercy of a merciless husband. Imagine how she would try to link the man's brutality with his faith. Imagine how the facts would be distorted to make all Christians look bad in the eyes of the public.

Now, move to reality--you don't have to imagine this. You might have to look hard to find it though--none of the major news outlets are touching this one. (none except Fox anyway) Muzzammil Hassan, age 44 and founder of the Bridges TV network, said in 2004 that "every day on television we are barraged by stories of a 'Muslim extremist, militant, terrorist, or insurgent,'. But the stories that are missing are the countless stories of Muslim tolerance, progress, diversity, service and excellence that Bridges TV hopes to tell." He said that in 2004, but this week he was anything but tolerant of his wife, 37 year old Aasiya Hassan--the mother of his two children. When she had finally had enough of his physical abuse and filed for divorce, he beheaded her in his New York television studio. Where is Katie and her outrage? Why isn't she doing a piece for her network that tells the stories of countless Muslim women who are mistreated, beaten, and even killed by their husbands or by other male family members who happen to be displeased with them for one reason or another?

She isn't going to do the story because no one in the liberal media is willing to tell the truth about Islam. She and others like her aren't willing to point out that Islamic leaders teach internet seminars on "How to Properly Beat Your Wife." Doing so at this point would call attention to the lunacy of the Obama administration's efforts to return us to some imagined Golden Age of civility between Islam and the West.

When you have your coffee in the morning, don't waste your time on shows that won't cover stories like this one. Katie and the KoolAid Brigade will never tell you the truth about things like this.

Senator Chuck Schumer's finger...

2009-02-14T19:26:00.003-06:00

There are certainly arrogant people in the world. There are also some people who bring new meaning to the term 'arrogance'. Senator Chuck Schumer is one of those people.

Yesterday, he made a speech on the floor of the Senate and spent a considerable amount of time arrogantly rebuking the Republicans in the Senate for their lack of support for the Spendulus Socialist Conversion of America Bill of 2009. He said (my quote may not be exact word-for-word but I promise it conveys the meaning) that "when we [the Democrats who just 'saved' the country] extend the hand, you shouldn't give us the back of yours. When we are willing to meet you halfway, you should meet us halfway." Senator Schumer, just when did you come anywhere close to a bipartisan halfway point? You didn't extend a hand, you extended your middle fingers--both of them--and flipped us all the bird. You proudly rammed 1,073 pages of legislation through Congress and no one possibly had the time to read the bill that was just voted on. This bill will cost at least the $790,000,000,000 that it covers. For anyone who cares, that is $736,253,494.87 PER PAGE and NO ONE HAS READ IT!!! Never mind that most of the legislation in the bill is going to be bad for America--few if any of the people responsible for what they are voting on actually know much about what they are voting on!

Senator Schumer, did you listen to any Republican concerns? That would be meeting them halfway. Did you allow Republicans to be represented in all of the meetings that crafted this legislation? NO! We know, Senator Schumer, that there were important meetings from which Republicans were excluded. Did you listen to the Republican desire to reduce or temporarily eliminate the capital gains tax? That is a proven strategy for encouraging private investors to stimulate our economy--yet you wouldn't meet the Republicans halfway on that.

Senator Schumer, if you can show any way in which you strove to meet conservatives at any halfway point, I'll apologize to you in this blog. As is, all I can see that you did is flip us all off.

I wonder when they are going to start taxing our coffee....I'd better stockpile some Starbuck's beans in my freezer. I doubt that they'll ever tax KoolAid though--it's far too important to their strategy...

Change has come to America...

2009-02-11T16:31:00.001-06:00

Each new presidency brings much discussion about “The First 100 Days” and the Obama administration is no exception. Events are moving quickly, and there is much to consider. Obama the candidate promised change, and Obama the President is keeping that promise.

The Spendulus Bill is the beginning of a major shift from capitalism to socialism. A wise man once said that democracies die when the majority of a democratic country realizes that they can write themselves checks from the national treasury by voting for the candidates who promise them the most. He went on to say that democracies that die in this fashion always are followed by dictatorships. The President wants to ensure this majority will continue to vote his way by keeping his promise of giving money to the fifty percent of our population who don’t pay taxes at all and he deceptively calls this a ‘tax refund’. Mr. Obama must have never read Webster’s while in law school—had he done so he would understand that a ‘refund’ is the return of money previously paid by the individual. Our new President wants to establish a national militia that answers to him, can operate on American soil, and is better trained and funded than our current military. He promised bipartisanship, but evidently thinks that bipartisanship consists of having a few token Republicans for cocktails at the White House. True bipartisanship involves consideration of the ideas on the other side and utilizing compromise to resolve differences. Instead, he says “I reject them [the Republicans] and their failed theories.” He reminds opponents at every opportunity that they are not going to get what they want because “I won and that trumps you.” That’s really bipartisan, isn’t it.

He wants to change our position in regards to the Middle East, but it isn’t the type of change that results in progress—it’s regression. He said that he wants to return to the state of affairs that existed between the United States and the Muslim world thirty years ago. Here is a list of things that were going on back then:

· Hundreds of Marines died when Muslim terrorists bombed one of our bases.
· Iranian Muslim radicals held Americans hostage for over a year while an impotent American administration refused to do anything meaningful about it.
· We armed the forerunners of the Taliban in Afghanistan as they fought the Russians and believed that they wouldn’t turn on us later.
· We stood by while Syria enabled the destruction of Lebanon, strengthening the cause of terrorism in the Middle East and causing much future danger for our only real ally in the region—the nation of Israel.
· The economic arm of the Muslim world, OPEC, began to flex its muscle and we saw long lines at the gas pumps.
· Muslim terrorists assassinated Anwar Sadat, the leader of Egypt, after he reached a peace deal with Israel. Sadat wanted that peace deal, and it has lasted for more than thirty years—but it cost him his life.
· Brutal Islamic regimes were rising to power in Africa, and the resulting genocidal treatment of non-Islamic people in those countries continues to this day.

As with most things in politics, there is always more than we know. We see the obvious things that President Obama is doing, but little was said about the fact that he had two different people in his inner circle during the campaign who were in contact with Hamas. Let’s examine what the Hamas Charter says about the principles of Hamas:

· Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.
· The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Muslim generation until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up.
· There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors.

Candidate Obama felt it important to maintain secret contact with these people.

President Obama chose to give his first sit-down interview as the President of the United States of America to Al-Aribiya—second only to Al-Jazeera as a propagandist-media entity for the purposes of Islam. In that interview, he took the typical liberal Democratic Party position of blaming America first for the problems that exist between America and the Muslim world. He apologized for America’s actions as if he wished we had done things differently since 9/11—apparently completely forgetting that his oath of office requires him to protect and defend the United States of America. That is what President Bush did—no attack on American soil since 9/11.

He issues an order to close Gitmo and his aides admit that there is no plan as to how to handle the dangerous murderous terrorists housed there.

His administration drops the charges against the only person in custody for the Islamic terrorist attack on the U.S. Cole, a Navy warship that was attacked during the Clinton administration with loss of American lives resulting from that attack.

The very first phone call made by President Obama from the Oval Office was not to one of our allies—it was not to the leader of a country who shares American values and American ideals. He chose to call the man formerly known as Abu Mazen, now known as Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of Fatah and President of the Palestinian Authority. When know as Abu Mazen, he was widely thought to have been intimately involved in the financing of terror operations in the Middle East.

Change has come to America. There is no denying that. Pass out the KoolAid—I think it may be easier to sleep through the next few years and not be wide awake with a front row seat to the alteration of America.

Just what do we mean by the term 'botched'?...

2009-02-07T18:12:00.005-06:00

By now, much of America has heard of the case in Florida in which an abortion clinic 'botched' the job at hand and delivered a living baby. One newspaper put it this way--"The Board of Medicine has revoked the license of a Florida doctor accused of medical malpractice in a botched abortion case in which a live baby was delivered, but ended up dead in a cardboard box." (1) Would someone mind telling me which part of this was botched? Was it the fact that a live baby was delivered instead of being killed seconds before the delivery or was it the fact that the baby died in a cardboard box instead of being killed by the abortionist? Just which part of this was 'botched'?

Did you know that this happened in 2006? We have heard nothing about it until now. We now hear about it only because the patient who chose to have the abortion decided to sue the doctor. Why is she suing him? Her baby is dead and all, just like intended, so why is she suing? Did she not understand that the purpose of the procedure for which she paid $1,200 was to kill a living baby? Her attorney, Tom Pennekamp, says that "She came face to face with a human being and that changed everything." Here is a news flash for you all--babies are always human beings, from the moment of conception until their deaths--whether that death occurs in old age from natural causes, from a disease in childhood or in adulthood, or in the grasp of an abortionist's cold steel forceps. When will our country face that fact?

This baby, born alive because the abortionist didn't arrive in time to puncture the baby's head and suck out its brain just before the moment of birth, was thrown in the trash and allowed to die. We know that the baby lived for a while because air was discovered in the lungs when the autospy was performed. A living, breathing baby was thrown in the trash and allowed to die with no efforts at medical care and no provision of even the most basic comfort measures. If an animal was treated this way, all the liberals would be up in arms and PETA would be throwing water balloons and flour at the people responsible and all the news channels would be villianizing the individuals who had treated an animal this way. But because it was an abortion, our nation is only crying out for the abortionist to lose his medical license--because he didn't perform the procedure properly and kill the baby before it could take its first breath. The talking heads should be crying out for him to be tried for murder--because that is what abortion is.

There are times when a 23 week baby can survive. With proper medical care is rendered, babies are early as 22-22 1/2 weeks have lived. The last baby I delivered before I finished my residency training was at 22 1/2 weeks. That baby lived and went home from the intensive care nursery several months later without any significant residual problems. That baby defied the odds. Most babies born that early do not survive, but sometimes they do live. This baby, born in the Gyn Diagnostic Center in Hialeah , Florida, was born alive and was thrown into the trash heap. Everyone who hears about this is outraged--but where is the societal outrage over the fact that 1.5 million babies die every year in the United States and get thrown onto the trash heap, usually in pieces, every year?

Here is another important thing to remember--and to tell anyone who will stand still long enough to listen: This baby's fate is exactly what President Barack Obama wanted it to experience. Twice while in the Illinois Senate he personally killed the piece of legislation known as the 'Born Alive Act'. This legislation would have required the providers of abortion procedures to render medical care to babies who survive the abortion process. President Obama didn't want babies to get care when they had the audacity to survive the abortion procedure. He wrote about the 'Audacity of Hope', but a baby with the audacity to survive the abortionist's procedures should have no hope--at least in his point of view. After all, we wouldn't want any unwanted babies to suck up our valuable economic resources now, would we...(see the entry titled Do you remember Senator Palpatine...)

Speaking of Speaker Palpatine (I mean Pelosi)--She has, without realizing it, put herself in the position of being labeled as a racist. Isn't that irony somewhat delicious--after a campaign in which the left wing and the liberals were so eager to apply the racist label to anyone with concerns about Obama. Follow the logical progression with me:

Pelosi is, in her own words, proud and unapologetic in regards to the family planning provisions in the so-called stimulus bill.
She thinks these provisions are necessary because the states are having to spend so much money on programs for health and education and services for poor children. Again, her words--not mine.
She thinks that if fewer poor children are born then the economy will benefit.
The family planning funds will provide not only contraception, but also improved access to abortion services.
While only 13% of the American population is black, 40% of abortions are performed on black patients in order to kill black babies.
Any increase in abortions made possible by Pelosi's bill will kill a larger portion of the African American population than any other ethnic group. (Didn't we call this a Holocaust when Hitler singled out an ethnic group for extermination?)
Planned Parenthood has been caught, more than once in more than one location, gleefully and eagerly accepting donations earmarked specifically for the aborting of black babies. Despite this fact, Planned Parenthood not only continues to receive federal funds, but will benefit from the stimulus of which Pelosi is proud and for which she is unapologetic.
Since this is apparently fine with Speaker Pelosi, she must be a racist.

While Speaker Pelosi most likely isn't racist (I don't think that she hates black people--she is too busy hating Republicans and hating the non-socialist nature of the United States of America), there is a stronger case for accusing her of being racist based on the above logic than there is for applying the racist label to someone simply because they aren't happy with President Obama.

We, as a nation, have for far too long been drinking the KoolAid that says abortion isn't murder and that is is simply a choice--a Constitutionally protected one at that. Will we ever wake up and smell the coffee? If we don't, then we are certainly more likely to end up on the trash heap of history--remembered only for how many babies we threw onto the trash heaps of the back alleys behind abortion clinics.

1. http://www.buffalonews.com/260/story/570428.html

I am mad....

2009-02-01T19:54:00.003-06:00

I am mad. In fact, the anger from the realization that came my way earlier today will provide an adrenaline-laden replacement for my coffee any time I need it for quite some time to come.

The responsibility that comes with being a provider of medical services is, at times, a very heavy burden. I am not complaining--the burden of my own responsibility is not what has caused my blood to boil today. I knew quite well what I took upon myself when I became a physician and I have never--not one single time--wished that I had chosen a different career. It is not my own burden that has me feeling like I just had a really bad quality quadruple shot of espresso.

A provider of medical services must have a mechanism in place to provide care for patients who have problems outside of office hours. This is particularly important if the services provided have a significant potential for unanticipated complications. When a medical provider (physician, nurse practitioner, physician assistant, etc.) performs procedures or administers medications which can frequently have unexpected consequences, then that provider is ethically and morally bound to have a mechanism in place to provide care for those patients who experience problems outside of the normal office hours--at night and on weekends. Most insurance providers have clauses in their contracts that the provider will have 24 hour a day, 7 days a week coverage in the event of their personal unavailability. Most of my contracts with insurance companies require me to list the names of those physicians with whom I share call. Most of them specify that simply providing an answering machine that says "if you are experiencing a medical emergency, please hang up and call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room." is not a sufficient form of coverage for problems. If I did this and my patients were unable to reach me or a physician who is covering for me in my absence, then my contracts would be in jeopardy. More significantly, if I perform surgical procedures and then I do not provide coverage for patients who have problems outside of office hours, then I could be charged with patient abandonment--and this is one of the most serious charges that can be leveled against a physician. I could lose my medical license and be sued for malpractice--and I would be guilty.

Today, my answering service called me. Today is Sunday, and I am on call this weekend for my own practice and for the practices of two other physicians with whom I share call. A young woman who is a patient of one of those other physicians called her doctor's office today with a problem, and the answering service forwarded her call to me. You see, she had an abortion at Planned Parenthood earlier this week. She was having a problem today, and she tried to call Planned Parenthood. Their answering machine says "If you are experiencing a medical emergency, please hang up and call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room." Since she was having a problem, she called their number at the facility that aborted her baby. When she dialed 615-321-7216 she heard the above message. If you don't believe me, then call the number yourself at night or on a weekend. Planned Parenthood took her cash, killed her baby, and left her hanging out to dry. This isn't the first time that I have heard of this, but for some reason today it just really got to me.

Planned Parenthood is staffed by physician providers who, like me, took an oath to 'do no harm'. Yet they are allowed to skate by without consequences while providing sub-optimal care and nothing is done about it. It is allowed to continue because our nation believes the lie that abortion must be safe and readily available. I ask you--is it really safe when no care is provided afterward for patients that have problems? Is it really safe when the care for a patient with a complication is dumped on other providers who had nothing to do with the procedure that caused the problem in the first place? In any other area of medicine, a physician for whom this kind of behavior is commonplace runs the risk of losing his license. Yet abortionists are protected by the schizophrenic mindset that our nation has in regards to our children.

Medical facilities are the subject of more scrutiny than perhaps any other industry. Hospitals, surgery centers, and offices are frequently put under the microscope, and rightly so. The lives of our patients are at stake when they walk through the doors. Incredible vigilance is vital if we are to prevent infections, mistakes, and any other things which can harm or kill patients as they follow our recommendations in their quest to be well. Abortion clinics, on the other hand, are not subjected to such scrutiny. In the hospital where I did my residency training, we had a nurse who had previously worked part time in an abortion clinic as a surgical tech. She said that she left because she couldn't stand the way instruments weren't cleaned properly and the way the 'operating rooms' were filthy and nobody cared. The government doesn't regulate the abortion industry the way it regulates legitimate medicine. If it did, perhaps Planned Parenthood and its providers would take care of their own complications after hours the way the rest of us in the medical community do.

The church of liberalism has abortion as its holiest sacrament and those who speak against it are labeled as intolerant, hysterical, and bigoted. We are called narrow minded and are accused of desiring to unjustly impose our own morality upon others. There is never an acknowledgment regarding the darkness of the abortion industry. The abortion industry is not held to the same standards as I am. Is this fair? Is this just and right? I think not. If the abortion industry had the well being of women as its most important core value then abortion patients would have no problem getting care outside of Planned Parenthood's office hours.

Another example of the doublemindedness of the abortion industry involves the consent process. Allow me to define informed consent for you. Informed consent is the process in which I am obligated to explain to a patient the exact nature of her diagnosis, my treatment recommendation and the alternatives to that recommendation, and the possible complications which can be anticipated. When she signs the consent form, she acknowledges that we have completed the process, she understands and has had her questions answered, and she gives her consent to proceed. One of the most frequent reasons a physician can lose a malpractice lawsuit is his/her failure to complete an appropriate informed consent process with a patient who later experiences an outcome whose possibility should have been discussed with the patient beforehand. Abortion providers have actually won lawsuits which overturned some state laws which would have required them to provide full and complete information to the patient before an abortion so that she fully understands what she is doing and what could happen to her as a result. They fear that if the patients have full understanding of what will transpire then they might not undergo the procedure. Consider for a moment what a full and complete informed consent document would need to say to cover an abortion procedure:

The abortion procedure you are about to undergo will kill a living baby. That is its only purpose.
You could chose to have the baby and parent it yourself or place it for adoption.
You will almost certainly experience significant pain as a result of the procedure. Your baby will experience excruciating pain as it dies.
You will most likely remember the date of the abortion for the rest of your life.
You have a significant chance of experiencing depression which may require treatment as a result of the abortion, and suicidal depression has been reported in patients as a result of their choice to undergo this procedure.
You are at risk of post-procedural complications such as hemorrhage and infection. An infection after this procedure may reduce your ability to have children in the future.
Your uterus may be punctured or otherwise damaged during the procedure and if this occurs, other organs in the abdomen and pelvis are at risk of serious or even life-threatening damage.
While the possibility that you could die as a result of this procedure is remote, death is a possibility.
If you have a problem after this procedure, you are on your own because we do not care enough about you to be available 24/7 to provide care for your complications. We are only interested in being sure that you don't have to deliver a baby you don't want and we will only help you in this if you have the money to pay cash for the procedure.

How many women would undergo the procedure if this were truthfully discussed with them and they had to read and sign a document which included the bulleted points? Our daughters can't take tylenol at school without our permission and can't get their ears pierced without our permission but a counselor at Planned Parenthood can hold the girl's hand, tell her it will be OK, hide the truth from her and it can all occur without parental knowledge or consent.

Do you see the doublemindedness? Do you understand why I am angry? The Bible tells us that 'a doubleminded man is unstable in all his ways.' Our nation is doubleminded about our children. Why is anyone surprised that our children today seem lost? Generations of children have lived in a society that only values children who are wanted and that kills the ones who are unwanted. Our nation is guilty of unprecedented violence against children and we call it 'choice' in an effort to make it sound noble. Adolf Hitler engineered the murder of unwanted millions and he is thought to be one of the greatest villains in all of history--yet he killed only a fraction of the total number of people whose lives have ended as they are dismembered by the abortionist's forceps or poisoned by his potions.

The double standards are also condemning evidence of the unstable doublemindedness of our society when it comes to abortion. Like the abortionist, I am a trained medical professional, yet I am held to a much higher standard of behavior than the abortionist.

If this bothers you as deeply as it bothers me, then do something about it. Contact your state legislator and insist that legislation be brought before the House and the Senate. Insist that this legislation recognize the fact that abortion is a medical procedure with well-known consequences. Insist that all patients who plan to undergo the procedure complete a full and accurate informed consent process. Insist that the providers of abortion services provide care for the patients that have post-procedural complications. And pray that America wakes from its KoolAid induced slumber and recognizes the injustice of abortion.

Do you remember Senator Palpatine?

2009-01-29T23:34:00.003-06:00

I have always been a Star Wars fan. One of the most dramatic movie openings in history is the view of the stars with the planetary surface far below when a small cruiser suddenly appears at the top of the screen, flying away from the viewer, only to be followed by that long and slowly moving image of the huge destroyer coming into view from above as it pursues the smaller rebel ship. Those of us who are fans of the genre eagerly saw all three of the first movies, then patiently (or not so patiently) waited until episodes 1, 2, and 3 were released. In episode 5, The Empire Strikes Back, we get our first view of the only character in the six movies whose pure evil surpasses that of Darth Vader. That character was the Emperor. We only got the most fleeting glimpse of him then. In The Return of the Jedi, we saw him in a much more thorough manner. We could see that his appearance was clearly evil, and we later learned that as he eagerly allowed the Dark Side of the Force to work through him, even his body and his appearance was affected. He was not always such a wrinkled being with the appearance of death warmed over. We learn this when we meet him in episode 1. He started out as Senator Palpatine, the representative of his planet in the Senate of the Republic. He then, through his own manipulation of a crisis, rose to a more prominent position and became the Chancellor. As his evil behavior and plans became more overt, his appearance began to change and he looked more and more like death. He didn't start out with that appearance. In fact, he initially appeared kind and considerate--a likeable sort. As his hidden agenda and his use of the dark side moved closer and closer to the surface, he became unable to hide its obvious fruit.

Shift the scene from "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away" to Washington today. We have Representative Nancy Pelosi (Pelosi/Palpatine--both start with a 'P' and both have three syllables) in her interview with George Stephanopolous. George asked her to explain the hundreds of millions of dollars in the 'stimulus' package that is earmarked for 'family planning' programs. (What we must all remember is that when a liberal talks about 'family planning' they aren't talking about buying condoms at CVS or Walgreen's--they are talking about support for Planned Parenthood--the largest abortion mill in the world) She said "Well, the family planning services reduce cost. They reduce cost. The states are in terrible fiscal budget crises now and part of what we do for children's health, education and some of those elements are to help the states meet their financial needs. One of those -- one of the initiatives you mentioned, the contraception, will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government." To view the video, and see more of how she stumbles around all over herself trying to make sense of nonsense, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZWn1eRzvyw .

Remember in the final installment of the Star Wars saga, The Revenge of the Sith, when Palpatine sent Anakin Skywalker on a mission to the Jedi headquarters? Anakin, on his arrival there, killed all the children who were there in training as Jedi Knights. Well, Representative Pelosi today came out in the open with her role in the war against the children. She doesn't have an apprentice like Skywalker who will kill children with his light saber. She has the abortionist who will kill children with his cold surgical steel. Her own words, "with no apology", show her pride in the role she is playing in the war against the unborn. Isn't it sad that our last president had the "war on terror" as his priority and for that he was mocked and belittled while our new president and his cronies proudly advance the liberal war on the unborn? President Obama, in his first week, signs an order which will send American taxpayer dollars overseas to abortion mills and Representative Palpatine (oops) proudly crows about the part of the nearly one trillion in deficit spending that will go to domestic abortion mills. President Bush labeled as enemies the murderous terrorists whose victims include children and Obama and Pelosi essentially label innocent unborn children as the enemy.

Other than the obvious disgusting nature of the Pelosi position, there is the more subtle misunderstanding of reality that she demonstrates. Our birth rate has declined and she says it will be good for the economy if it declines some more. The European experience in socialist countries with decades of declining birth rates has shown that declining birth rates hurt the economy. Some of those countries are now paying women to have children so that an increase in the birth rate will stimulate the economy. Pelosi has it backwards, as usual.

Consider this--had Roe v. Wade never happened, the more than 50 million abortions that have occurred since then might not have happened. Because the oldest of those would now be 36 or 37 years old, many of them would have children so we would essentially have far more than 50 million additional people in this country right now. That would be more than an additional 50 million consumers of goods and services and housing. That would be more than an additional 50 million workers and more than an additional 50 million people paying into Social Security right now at the very time our economy needs additional Social Security funding to cover the baby boomers.

In that galaxy far, far away I am sure they must have had a beverage like coffee. The few remaining Jedi who fought and whose cause eventually was victorious over the dark side must have drank lots of coffee in order to function as they did through those tiring times when it seemed that evil would triumph. Here's to good coffee--may you have plenty of it to sustain you as we watch Pelosi's polished exterior (which at her age she almost certainly owes to Botox and Juvederm) fade away as her true feelings and convictions become more and more overt as she is emboldened by her own inflated sense of self-importance.

Still Supremely Wrong...

2009-01-22T17:44:00.003-06:00

Today is another anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade. It marks another year in which millions of Americans have exercised their 'right to choose' and have chosen murder as their means of birth control. Last year, I had just begun writing these blog entries and one of the first ones was written on the anniversary and was entitled "Supremely wrong." If you are interested, it is still posted in the archives to the left of the screen.

Today, a new president sits in the White House. On the third day of his historic presidency, he has chosen to issue some executive orders. One will remove the restrictions which prevented American tax payer money from funding abortions in foreign countries. The other orders Gitmo to be closed. What a contrast in values is demonstrated by these orders!

The first order takes money earned by hard working Americans, the majority of whom have a problem with abortion on demand, and uses it to end innocent life in other countries. It uses American dollars in a time of economic difficulty to expand the genocide against the unborn simply because they happen to be unwanted or inconvenient. The world cries foul as Israel attacks terrorists who seek to achieve the destruction of Israel and even calls Israel's actions 'genocidal' but few protest the genocide against the helpless, inconvenient, unwanted unborn among us. What does that say about us? There are more than 50,000 names on the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington. If every aborted baby in the U.S. had a name, we could fill a new wall every two weeks. Isn't that enough for Mr. Obama? Why do we have to expand the war against the unborn?

The next order seeks to protect the 'rights' of terrorists captured as they fought in a war they declared upon us. It seeks to improve the conditions for a group of men who would like nothing better than to see the complete destruction of the United States of America. These men would certainly like to 'change America' and that is what they tried to do. They are vicious cruel hate-filled men who are in reality little more than brutal animals. They are a danger to all around them.

What does that say about the value system of a man who eagerly uses his power to immediately open a new front in the war on the innocent unborn and uses that same power to diminish the war on terror and the tools with which it can be effectively fought? I don't know about you, but I am too nauseated to have any coffee right now. I fear we are in for a long and ugly ride.

Blindness is never a good thing...

2009-01-18T10:59:00.003-06:00

I can't think of any scenario in which one would consider blindness to be a good thing. The Bible use the word blind and derivatives of the word nearly one hundred times and not once is it in a good context. The world, however, doesn't see this as it blindly embraces an oxymoronic point of view with regard to Israel and Israel's right to defend itself.

Israel has demonstrated incredible patience and restraint over the last several years, yet the world hasn't recognized that fact. Israel has proven that when given a credible partner for peace in negotiations, peace is achievable. There have been unbroken peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan for decades. The Palestinian leadership does not have a desire for peace. They have a desire for the destruction of Israel that is grounded in their unremitting hatred of all things Jewish. Israel has only acted in its own defense, but the world doesn't see this.

For the past several years, more than a quarter of a million Israelis have lived within range of the rockets and mortars that Hamas has launched from Gaza. Israel has been reluctant to respond militarily. It has used what are essentially economic sanctions by isolating the Gaza strip and was criticized for doing so. Why haven't we heard international condemnation of Hamas over the years? Why has the firing of several thousand missiles into civilian population areas not been worthy of international condemnation? I'll tell you why--much of the world functions in blindness when it comes to Israel. Anti-Zionism is the most widely acceptable prejudice in the world today. It isn't politically correct to be racist or to be elitist or to be speak out against any people group with two exceptions: Anti-Semitism is the leading acceptable prejudice in the world today, followed closely by anti-Christian sentiments.

Here are the indisputable contrasting facts:

Hamas deliberately targets civilians--homes, places of business, schools, and hospitals in violation of all international conventions and standards of acceptable behavior. Israel has warned the civilian population of Gaza in advance of air strikes and has only struck targets such as terrorist bases of operation, Hamas leaders, and other legitimate targets.
Hamas has used 'human shields' by placing some of its bases of operation in mosques, schools, and hospitals. Hamas has deliberately built its military infrastructure in civilian facilities--the only thing Israel has built in civilian areas are bomb shelters.
Hamas has only targeted civilians--Israel has only targeted Hamas institutions and individuals.
Hamas fiercely holds to its official position that Israel must be destroyed--Israel, even in this particular conflict, has never promoted the destruction of any people group or political entity.

The bindness is widespread. A recent demonstration in Middle Tennessee proves this. A Tshirt worn by many demonstrators who support the Palestinian side said "Children Should Not Be Collateral Damage". This is true, but the failure to recognize the fact that children also should not be human shields is true blindness. It is also blindness to refuse to recognize that Jewish children should not be primary targets--and they have been the primary targets of the rockets of Hamas. It is blindness to fail to recognize that Israel builds shelters for its civilians and Hamas uses civilians (including children) to shield its activities.

There was an inspiring story on FoxNews recently. The documentary piece was titled "Escape From Hamas". In the piece, the story of a young man is told. He is a Palestinian and his father is one of the founders of Hamas. The young man himself was a terrorist and was the leader of the Hamas Youth Group. He found himself arrested by Israeli authorities and he spent 3 months in an Israeli prison. He had seen Hamas torturing and killing their own people when it suited him, and he had grown up easily believing that prisoners in Israeli jails were treated in a similar fashion. That was his blind belief in the propaganda that is promoted by the Palestinian leadership. He found, however, that he was well-treated and was not tortured in any way. This impacted him profoundly and the veil of blindness began to lift. Upon his release, he encountered a Christian tourist who spoke into his life and gave him a Bible. He studied it secretly and the blindness in which he had lived was completely dispelled. He was an Muslim and a terrorist who went to a Jewish prison and found Jesus as a result. He gave his life to Christ, renounced Islam, moved to the United States and now lives among Christian friends and openly speaks against the blindness of Islam.

The blindness has not been limited to the terrorists and those in the Middle East. The United Nations has blindly condemned Israel and has still not issued the same type of condemnation of Hamas. Our own government has continued to blindly pursue a 'two state solution' without putting similar effort into pressuring the Palestinian side to renounce violence. The State Department, under the blind leadership of Condaleeza Rice (who compared Israeli actions taken in self-defense to the racial injustices she saw in the South in her youth), has wanted Israel to make concessions to terrorists. It is true and total blindness to think that any government can live in peace with terrorists who remain dedicated to the destruction of that government and the people it represents.

There is another layer of blindness at work here. I hope that the Israeli people will not be blind to it. I do not believe that the timing of this military action in Gaza is a coincidence. Israel's current government is an unpopular liberal government that has seen concessions as a way to peace. The Kadima party, under the leadership of Prime Minister Olmert, has sought to give away half of Jerusalem and substantial amounts of land without demanding real change in the Palestinian mindset. Tzipi Livni, the newly elected leader of the Kadima party, also wants to give away substantial areas while getting nothing tangible in return and simply hoping that the nature of the Palestinian leadership will change. Upcoming elections will decide the leadership and the Prime Minister's position, and Livni's toughest opponent will be Benjamin Netanyahu. Mr. Netanyahu does not struggle with blindness, and will not give away the heart of Jerusalem and will not make concessions in return for nothing. He was leading in the polls prior to the military action in Gaza. Is it coincidence that a liberal government has tolerated the intolerable rain of rockets and reign of terror over southern Israel until now? Did they finally take action against Hamas in a move of political expediency? Was the timing of this action planned to make Kadima seem like a party of strength in order to gain an advantage in the upcoming election? If that is not the case, then why did they wait for years while the citizens of Sderot and Ashkelon begged for help? I hope that the Israeli people will not be blind as they go to the polls to choose their next Prime Minister.

It is not good to be blind. The difference between being blind and having vision is like the difference between Kool Aid and coffee. Kool Aid lulls one with a blind sense of complacency and coffee invigorates and moves one to action. The world needs more coffee pots and fewer Kool Aid pitchers.

Merry Christmas To You!

2008-12-24T19:29:00.004-06:00

The sun has set and it is now dark here in Tennessee on Christmas Eve. We’ve settled in for the evening and all is ready in our home for tomorrow. A favorite tradition for us is to watch Miracle On 34th Street on Christmas Eve and that movie just started. Two years ago, when the movie The Nativity Story came out, it was added to our Christmas traditions and we’ll watch it after dinner tonight. If you haven’t seen these two movies, I would highly recommend them. They may very well become part of your family’s traditions.

One movie (the recent remake of Miracle on 34th Street) is a wonderful contemporary holiday story that is very enjoyable and The Nativity Story is an incredibly good portrayal of the events surrounding the birth of our Savior. The combination of the two has become, for our family, an enjoyable modern holiday story and a compelling reminder of the reason for the season.

This has been a busy and eventful year for our family and for my office. At work, we’ve been very busy. From January 1, 2008 until today I have delivered 214 babies. Each one was special and every delivery was an event. Some people I didn’t even know until they arrived at the hospital in labor; others were people I had come to know quite well during the course of their pregnancies, and still others were treasured friends already well known to me who chose to come to my practice for their care. While each delivery carries a great deal of meaning and is an emotional event for one family, there was one delivery a long time ago which brought meaning and purpose and life to billions of people who have lived since then. That was the birth of Jesus, the son of God and the son of Mary, in a little stable in Bethlehem.

The history of Christ’s life on earth, beginning with Mary’s pregnancy and ending with His ascension, has captivated the hearts of so many people. Even those who do not believe in Christ acknowledge the fact that He lived every time they note the date when they are writing or keeping records. Despite the efforts by secular humanists to write His birth out of history and change the notations BC and AD to BCE (Before Common Era) and CE (Common Era), the world will always remember that the passage of the time is marked by the number of years which have passed since His birth.

The birth of a baby is an event that truly does change everything for the family that welcomes the new life. The birth of Christ changed everything for all of humanity. No other life has ever been lived like His. Because He was born, we all have the opportunity to know God the Father and come to Him in an intimate way. The birth of Christ brought light into darkness and joy that dispels sadness. It brought freedom for those in bondage to sin and hope to a hopeless world. All one must do is believe in Him. As the character of Kris Kringle said in Miracle on 34th Street, “If you can’t accept anything by faith, you are doomed to a life dominated by doubt.”

You may have heard Faith Hill’s song Baby Changes Everything. I have not heard it sung by Faith Hill, but the pastor of my church did an incredible job performing the song for our congregation on this past Sunday. On so many levels, this song is truly one of the most moving I have ever heard. Jesus was the baby that did change everything.

The God we serve loves the world He created so much that he gave us the precious gift of His Son so that we could be reconciled to Him. We celebrate that momentous event every year at Christmas. It is so important that we not forget the origin of the Christmas celebration. So much of the world has forgotten. Atheists and agnostics don’t believe at all. Practicing Jews reject the belief that He was, and is, the promised Messiah. Muslims say He was only a prophet and was not divine in any way. Those who identify themselves as Christians should live in such a way that the meaning of Christmas shines through them at all times.

I hope that you have the very merriest of Christmases this year.

It's the coldest day of the year here in Tennessee...

2008-12-23T03:46:00.002-06:00

As I was driving in to work yesterday morning at about 0645, the car thermometer said it was 11 degrees outside. The radio said it was 9 degrees in Nashville. The sky was clear and the day was shaping up to be beautiful, just very cold.

I enjoy considering things we can see in nature that provide convincing evidence that belief in God is consistent with what we see in the world around us. In nature, we see clear evidence of the Intelligent Designer all around us. Interestingly, we have yet to find clear objective evidence of an evolutionary origin for life and the world around us. Evolutionists refuse to discuss the lack of evidence for evolution and also refuse to discuss the mounting evidence of intelligent design.

Consider, for a brief moment, the essential chemical compound we call water. Its chemical name is H2O, denoting the fact that each molecule of water is made of two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen. Water exists in all three forms of matter over a narrow range of temperature--solid (ice) when the temperature is below 0 degrees Celsius or 32 degrees Fahrenheit, liquid when between 0-100 Celsius or 32-212 Fahrenheit, and gas (steam) when the temperature is over water's boiling point. No other substance on earth exists in all three forms of matter over such a narrow range of temperatures.

All substances change in density as the temperature changes. As a substance becomes hotter, its density decreases. Think of a hot air balloon as an example. When the air in the large balloon is heated, the balloon will rise because it is less dense and less heavy than the air around it. As a substance cools, it becomes more dense. With all substances other than water, the relationship between temperature and density is inversely proportional without exception--meaning that with each degree of temperature decrease, there is a corresponding increase in the density (heaviness) of the material. This is not true of water.

A funny thing happens with water. When it reaches 4 degrees Celsius (39.2 Fahrenheit), water is at its most dense state. As the temperature falls below 4 degrees, the cold water becomes less dense. Why am I boring you with this? Think about your closest pond in the winter. Does the ice sink to the bottom or does it form on the top? Do the ice cubes in your sweet tea float or sink?

Ice floats because the solid form of water, no matter how cold it is at 0 degrees Celsius or lower, is less dense than liquid water. Water covers three quarters of the earth's surface. Its daily presence is vital for life, and we use it in so many ways. If God had not designed water in a way that made it different from all other substances, then life as we know it would not be possible.

If ice didn't float, then the bottoms of all the world's oceans and the deeper portions of all our fresh water lakes would be solid ice. Marine life would not exist, and the vital oxygen generating activity of the plant life in the ocean would not occur.

So, the next time you enjoy the ice in your sweet tea (or your iced coffee if you happen to like that particular version of the coffee bean) look at the floating ice and remember that God designed water, the most important chemical compound to life on earth, so that earth would support life. Also remember Romans 1:20--For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--His eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. Have a great day and stay warm!

$enate $eat for $ale....

2008-12-17T18:39:00.003-06:00

Just in time for Christmas, if you have enough money and happen to live in Illinois, you now know that you can shop for that extra-hard-to-buy-for person on your list who has everything they might ever need or want. You just have to have enough money, the right (or left, as it turns out) connections, and a big enough clothespin to put on your nose so you can stand to get close to the stink involved.

I know that all corruption is not limited to the left, but it sure seems to come out there more often. It's true that the right of the aisle is not free from such problems (ie Ted Stevens from Alaska) but here we have clear evidence of it on the left. If Governor Blagowhateverhisnameis goes to jail, and it is clear that he should, then he will be the fourth of the last eight Governors of Illinois to spend time behind bars for corruption.

It is too bad that the Framers of the Constitution didn't put an option in the Constitution that would allow the people, whom all these jokers have forgotten are their employers, to call for a vote of no confidence in our government.

It will be interesting to see how all this plays out. Governor B. had best not like coffee--I doubt that the coffee served behind bars is very good...