Election Prayer from EWTN received today

Lord Jesus Christ, You told us to give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God. Enlighten the minds of our people in America. May we choose a President of the United States, and other government officials, according to your Divine Will. Give our citizens the courage to choose leaders of our nation who respect the sanctity of unborn human life, the sanctity of marriage, the sanctity of marital relations, the sanctity of the family, and the sanctity of the aging. Grant us the wisdom to give You, what belongs to You, our God. If we do this, as a nation, we are confident You will give us an abundance of Your blessings through our elected leaders. Amen. (published in 1992)

When I first saw this prayer, I thought it was right on target--sanctity of life. That's my issue. That's the issue in 2020. All the wrangling about Judge Barrett, the hysterical women grieving that they might not have the "freedom" to choose to end the life within them, and the two very clear options we Christians have. Then I saw the date--almost 30 years old!

In 1992 there were 3 candidates; George H.W. Bush, the sitting president; Bill Clinton, governor of Arkansas; and business man and independent, Ross Perot. It was, in my opinion, the Republicans who voted for Perot out of anger at Bush for a tax increase, who elected Clinton. I was a Democrat then and voted for Clinton, but also realized the foolishness of my Republican friends who bolted the party. And there are Republicans today who are doing the same thing. They don't like Trump's personality, style and manner, so they ignore what he's done in giving Republicans a spine transplant and how he's achieved with no power base in DC many of the policies they used to say they wanted. Both parties are terrified of losing their sweet gigs, heady power and access to big money.

OK, Christians. Whether Democrat or Republican, you do have a higher power than party or your personal dislike you have to answer to. If an executive order from a President you hate means your favorite environmental protection regulation won't get an increase in the budget, or there's no increase to fund illegals going to college, no one dies. But abortion is a generational issue. Real people die and their descendants never exist. Thousands of women who were perhaps encouraged to abort will go through life with deep regret, missing family members and even additional life threatening illnesses. If you can't think of a fetus the size of your little finger as a "person" consider that approximately 10,000 late term abortions of viable babies 7-9 lbs. are performed a year. Roe v. Wade is almost 50 years old. That's 500,000 persons who were tossed in the trash. A city and a third of it would have been black. Now the entire Democrat party is at the level only Barack Obama held in 2008. There are none to speak up for the next generation--the so called future that Vice President Biden says he'll lead us to.

Vote for life, vote for the next generation.

What Jefferson Read, Ike Watched, and Obama Tweeted: 200 Years of Popular Culture in the White House by Tevi Troy

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15824285-what-jefferson-read-ike-watched-and-obama-tweeted

I was at Half-Price Books today and noticed this title on the Clearance shelf for $2.00.  I almost selected it because I like to read about readers. I looked at the chapter on President G.W. Bush, and was surprised to see the author got it right, whereas Bush detractors (most of the media) were totally off base.  Bush was an avid reader—he and Rove used to have competitions. 

Laura Bush’s recommendations

“Mr. Bush was more of a reader than many Americans imagined — he had reading contests with Karl Rove, his top political adviser, measured not just by the number of books finished, but the cumulative number of pages and even square inches of text. He was particularly drawn to Lincoln, reading 14 books about the Civil War president while in office.

His reading at times had impact. Natan Sharansky’s book “The Case for Democracy” helped inform Mr. Bush’s second-term focus on spreading freedom around the world.

And Alistair Horne’s history of the war in Algeria, “A Savage War of Peace,” taught Mr. Bush that more people died after the French withdrew — reinforcing his own reluctance to pull out of Iraq.

“Obama’s book selections have been harder to read,” said Mr. Troy, the author of “What Jefferson Read, Ike Watched, and Obama Tweeted.”  Obama’s book list

President GHW Bush’s summer list

Bush’s last year and WaPo finds out he reads

Suggested reading, GW Bush

Happy 69th anniversary to the Bushes

She said she married the first man she kissed.

They set the record in 2000 when they surpassed John and Abigail Adams’ 54-year union—now they’ve extended that.

http://youngcons.com/the-longest-presidential-marriage-in-us-history-celebrates-their-69th-anniversary/

The romance began when the two met during a Christmas dance at Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., back when the future president was 16 years old. The two were engaged a year and a half later, right before President Bush shipped out overseas to fight in World War II as a naval pilot.

A few years later, in Sept. 1944, Bush was shot down and nearly killed during a mission over the Pacific, which resulted in his being sent back home in time for Christmas. Soon after, Bush and the then Barbara Pierce were married in Rye, N.Y. on Jan. 6, 1945. They would have six children, including future President George W. Bush.

A lot of support for this little guy

Former President George H.W. Bush and members of his Secret Service detail shaved their heads to show solidarity for a 2-year-old boy undergoing treatment for leukemia. http://on.wsj.com/17G8IpO

George and Barbara Bush lost their second child, 4-year-old Robin Bush, to leukemia almost 60 years ago.

Bush 41 is 89 today

In his honor, people are wearing loud, outrageous socks.

The "Give Back" theme of the Democrats

It's graduation season. Giving back is always and forever the theme of speeches at graduation, but it seems only the Democrats have recently discovered it as a way to smack down Republicans. And that's so strange. Because all research for years and years has shown that conservatives, particularly conservative Christians, are more generous with their time, talents and money than liberals. Joe Biden and Al Gore's contribution record is laughable, and President Obama's was almost as paltry until he got serious about campaigning for the presidency and one of his advisors noticed this moral flaw.

I personally was a bit uncomfortable with George H.W. Bush's "thousand points of light" theme. I was a Democrat then, but also an evangelical. It just didn't seem right to me that the President was doing a Preacher's job. Later I found out it was Peggy Noonan, his speech writer, who came up with "kinder, gentler nation," and "thousand points of light." Liberals absolutely hated this Bush theme because it encouraged Christians to do even more (and apply for government grants to do it). After Democrats were trounced in 2004, they had many pity parties--I know this because I watched some of them on C-SPAN. The conclusion apparently was to pretend to care more than conservatives, so that they could gain political office. Play down the liberal-progressive drivel. In Ohio we elected a former Methodist pastor as governor on an ethics platform because our former governor played golf with someone and it wasn't recorded as a donation, or something silly. Our new governor, who seems a nice person, has had nothing but trouble with some of his morally-challenged appointees. You remember, don't you--the folks who decided to investigate Joe the Plumber for calling Obama's bluff accidentally.

But that Presidential leadership into good works wasn't good for the churches, either. Christians were getting a bit fat and sloppy at the government money trough.
"Wanna feed the hungry? Wanna rehab housing for the poor?"
"You bet!"
"Just apply for a USDA or a HUD grant."
"What will it cost?"
"Not much. Just take down the cross of Jesus and don't hand out literature."
"Well, OK, it's for a 'good' cause."

It's not that Candidate Obama didn't notice that U.S. citizens were already volunteering for all manner of projects from community concerts, to cleaning up rivers and streams, to recycling yard waste, to helping immigrants learn to read. No, of course he knew. But he needed something to make us feel guilty and morally deficient, like we couldn't decide for ourselves if taking an elderly neighbor to the doctor was the right thing to do if the government wasn't tracking it. So he's going to make it mandatory.

Right off the bat I can tell you what will happen.

First, volunteering in a religious activity where evangelizing or proseletizing takes place will not count, in fact, it might even be penalized. If that activity takes place in a church basement--like a food pantry--all religious symbols will need to be removed.

Second, certain 501-c-3 non-profits (religious, educational, charitable, scientific, literary, public safety, amateur sports, or prevention of cruelty to children or animals) will count more than others--like the ACORN, Saul Alinsky-type, left-leaning organizations, animal rights organisations (as opposed to animal welfare) and radical "greenies" claiming concern about safety. Signing up illegals to vote, for instance, will be a credited, gov't approved volunteer activity. Helping someone refinance a mortgage they can't afford, will count if the helpee is a minority. Helping a woman avoid an abortion or going back to Mexico to give birth in her home community will not.

Third, many non-profits, if not allowed to use government money because they won't dance to Obama's tune, will have to close shop. People who wish to remain in the "giving" field will increasingly need to be employed by the liberals and socialists.

Fourth, your mandatory volunteerism will become a factor in your job security and promotion ladder. Maybe even in hiring. The "volunteerism" required of many school children (begun years ago) can barely pass the sniff test.

Fifth, eventually, only those volunteer activities that directly promote the government approved agenda (what ever it is at that time) will be allowed.

MLKing the memory

Milking the memory of a Civil Rights leader and taking credit for service already in place, the media and Democrats too young to remember the 80s and 90s, seem to forget a service day designated on August 23, 1994 by President Clinton as "The King Holiday and Service Act", a challenge in 1988 by Bush I for all Americans to be points of light, and memorializing September 11 as a service day (see MyGoodDeed.org, which looks like it is being folded into Obamanation and will probably lose its 9/11 roots) in memory of those lost in the terrorist attact. In fact, as early as 1980, black pastors were concerned that the King holiday was becoming an "idle day" and might reduce some mischief if kids did service.

"Iowa’s Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration coincided with the National Day of Service called for by President Obama to honor the legacy of Dr. King. Across the nation, thousands of volunteers – including the President, Vice President, and their families – joined together to improve the lives of their fellow Americans. This theme was echoed in the President’s Inaugural Address yesterday, where he called on Americans to serve their country during these challenging times." Link to Governor's site [huge Obama supporter].

This has all the authenticity of sending a president to the grocery store to "experience " the rising cost of food. It is not "volunteering" or service when your president, whether Bush, Clinton or Obama, governor, boss, or school superintendent tell you to do it, "or else". And Obama is VERY serious about your doing service--and I'm guessing he'll decide whether your current activity is worthy. Volunteering at the Pregnancy Distress Center probably won't qualify because you'd be saving the unborn.

Millions of Americans volunteer everyday in organizations from A to Z (Amazing Grace Day Camp, City Vision, Clothes Closet, Faith Mission, Food pantries, Habitat for Humanity, health centers and hospitals, Make a Wish, prisons, resettling refugees, classroom tutors, adult language instruction, pregnancy centers, nursing homes, hot meals for shut-ins, survivors of AIDS assistance and care, wigs for cancer patients, and on and on). As far as I know, no one tracks the actual hours, but if they did, they'd see Americans don't need top down pressure to help their neighbors. I don't remember this excitement from the left or the media when service to community was called a "thousand points of light."

And there is another tradition. And that’s the idea of community -- a beautiful word with a big meaning; though liberal democrats have an odd view of it. They see "community" as a limited cluster of interest groups, locked in odd conformity. And in this view, the country waits passive while Washington sets the rules.

But that's not what community means -- not to me.

For we’re a nation of community; of thousands and tens of thousands of ethnic, religious, social, business, labor union, neighborhood, regional and other organizations, all of them varied, voluntary and unique.

This is America: the Knights of Columbus, the Grange, Hadassah, the Disabled American Veterans, the Order of Ahepa, the Business and Professional Women of America, the union hall, the Bible study group, LULAC, "Holy Name" -- a brilliant diversity spread like stars, like a thousand points of light in a broad and peaceful sky." GHW Bush, August 18, 1988

In fact, did they even notice that in 1994 it actually became a day of service? Or that 9/11 is a day of service? Iowa's governor is pretty young--maybe he doesn't remember or never noticed the service opportunities in Iowa B.O., Before Obama.