Praying for the President

There's almost nothing more difficult for me (other than the discipline of regular exercise) than praying for President Obama. I intensely dislike him and everything he stands for. I believe he has kidnapped our spirit/freedom/wealth and sold them into slavery. But. However. Notwithstanding. Therefore.

Christians are clearly commanded to pray for their government's leaders, whether they be Roman Caesars, Romanian Communists, or Haitian dictators. And oddly enough, the Christian church seems to thrive under that sort of government, more than when they are invited to partake in the evidence of earthly powers by electing Methodist pastors to the state house or community organizers to the White House, with that call and post, old time, negro rhythm so appealing to agnostic liberals.

I remember way back in the 80s when the Communist regime in USSR was just beginning to thaw a bit, it was discovered there was a huge group of Lutherans in Siberia no one knew about--they were descendants, as I recall, of POWs of WWI from Germany who had intermarried with the local women, and they had stayed true to the church despite no longer even understanding the German language they used in their liturgy. Several weeks ago we had Chinese immigrants speak to our Bible study group and the stories they told us about how the church has thrived in mainland China under the Communists, but is weak in Taiwan where they had freedom to worship, were just amazing. They told us things about the Communist system which actually aided the growth of the church, even though at the time, there was terrible suffering and death.

So, how do you pray? I got a clue watching a program a few weeks about a mother whose daughter was kidnapped and murdered; she described how she prayed for her daughter's captor. She realized that her own bitterness and fear was bad for her, crippling her ability to function for the rest of her family and she needed to forgive him (at this time, she didn't know her daughter was already dead, only that she had been taken). She began by praying about very simple things . . . things that didn't matter at all, like maybe if he were fishing he'd have a good catch, or he'd have a sunny day, or a good meal. She reasoned (incorrectly on that point) that if life were better for him, maybe he would treat her daughter well. She was able, day by day, to lose her own bitterness by praying for a person who was evil, and who had hurt her terribly, and eventually came not to hate him. By the time he finally called to taunt her, about a year later, she was calm and caring, completely catching him off guard. She was able to keep him on the phone by expressing genuine, not fake, concern built by hours of real prayer. This lead to his arrest. Then it was discovered that he had murdered the child shortly after her kidnapping. And he then committed suicide awaiting trial. Not a happy "answer to prayer," or was it? She had refused to participate in his evil, and prayed for him.

So there are some little things I can pray sincerely for Obama--and that is his relationship with his daughters, because that I can tie in directly with his pro-abortion views. Only God knows how a man conceived and birthed by an unmarried teenager (her putative "husband" already had several wives back home) can be so bitter toward the unborn, but perhaps he was made to feel unwanted by his birth family and grandparents. Whatever the source of his hate, I can ask God that his daughters shower him with love and kisses and warm his cold, cold heart. Yes, indeed, I can do that!

Christians don't need evolution taught in the schools, or Christmas carols sung at public events, or plaques with the 10 Commandments, or government grants to feed the hungry; we need some good, old fashioned persecution by a hostile president, and boy, we've got that! Alleluia, let's get started! He has helped by destroying that golden calf of consumerism to which our knees had bowed. We can expect great things to happen during the Obama reign.

Three years ago in Finland

It seems like ages, but it was July 2006 and we were visiting our friends in Helsinki. I was desperate for something to read, so I bought a Time magazine. According to my blog

"I paid 4 euros (about $5.00) for 52 pages of Time, 19 of which were photos of the World Cup. Photos I can figure out in Finnish. Five pages were devoted to bashing the "Bush Doctrine." No mention or credit for liberating the Iraqi people from a cruel dictator; no credit for identifying North Korea within months of taking office as part of the Axis of Evil; no mention that his neo-con advisors are former Democrats; or the 500 WMD that have been found; that the Iraqi people have voted in free elections. Although Bush has always acknowledged we were in for a long battle against Islamic terrorists, when he reiterates this, the MSM seems to think it is a victory for their side.

So what does Time recommend? Some Truman era reruns. They don't mention how extremely unpopular Truman was his second term--I think he was lower in the polls than Bush. Another article by Jos. S. Nye, Jr. pined nostalgically for the days of FDR and containment. Tell that one to the Estonians and the millions of other east Europeans who died in the Gulags waiting for the Americans to come and free them. Sixty years ago we sold out 40 million East Europeans to the USSR; let's not repeat that mistake by selling out the Iraqis."

I'm pining for the Bush era; I should have been more grateful. Maybe the press bashed him, but unemployment was 4.5%, the economy was booming, the magazines were fat with advertising, there were 20 houses for sale in Lakeside instead of 60, and the capital wasn't full of socialists.

Is the SCOTUS nominee “outside the mainstream” on abortion?

A new Gallup Poll, conducted May 7-10, finds 51% of Americans calling themselves pro-life on the issue of abortion and 42% pro-choice. This is the first time a majority of U.S. adults have identified themselves as pro-life since Gallup began asking this question in 1995. According to US News and World Report, this development will keep the Republican Party marginalized. Also, DFLA are interested by another finding of this poll to note that for the first time in a decade, more men are against abortion than women, 54% of men to 49% of women. Democrats for Life

I'm not sure why this poll marginalizes Republicans as reported in US News. It just means Democrats don't vote their conscience when it comes to abortion.

You need to be very worried

Those of us who worried about a socialist being elected have seen all our fears met and exceeded. From Heritage.org: In just 4 months President Obama has

Continued to fast-track government control of health care with a $33 billion expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) which isn’t even limited to children and only worsened our nation’s health spending problem.

Pushed through a $787 billion stimulus bill that essentially federalized the construction and renovation of public schools, began subsidizing health insurance for unemployed Americans regardless of income, created more than 30 new federal programs, effectively abolished the hugely successful 1996 welfare reform; and created a trillions dollars of new debt, to be dumped into the laps of our children and grandchildren.

Passed an Omnibus spending bill that raised discretionary spending by 8%, contained 9,287 pork projects costing $13 billion, and spent $123 billion on programs for which government auditors can find no evidence of success.

Used the $700 billion TARP slush fund to effectively nationalize General Motors, turn Chrysler over to the United Auto Workers union, and strong arm the nation’s banks into accepting taxpayer money and government control they did not want.

Actually, I think he just by-passed European, post WWII socialism all together and is going directly into the past to communism (1950s USSR), or national socialism (1930s Germany). You didn't holler when he took over the auto industry, you're not complaining about the health grab, you allowed Congress to have families of business people threatened by Obama supporters, so you probably won't complain when he nationalizes your private pension plan to bail out social security, or says churches can't apply for government grants to feed the hungry if they support traditional marriage, or decides we need only x-number of hours of electricity a day so we can save the planet, or wants you to paint your roof white. If auto dealerships can be closed down because they didn't support the Democrats, your internet business can be unplugged, too. And it is all meaningless folks, he has no intention of "saving" the economy, he only intends to destroy it.

Why Sotomayor won't be borked

When degenerate profligate (but I repeat myself) Ted Kennedy is allowed to destroy a man’s character as he did Judge Bork's in 1987, he invents a new verb, a new low forever memorialized in our language. To bork, or borking. I don’t expect Sonia Sotomayor to get borked. Although I think the Congressional Republicans are obsequious wimps, they generally don’t stoop to the evil of a Ted Kennedy, or the bald-face lies of a Nancy Pelosi or the traitorous speeches about the war of a Harry Reid. Maybe they just aren’t clever enough. Then there was Joe Biden and his mystery tour of his own life during the confirmation hearings of Alito. And to think he is now a heart beat from the presidency!

“Then-Judiciary Committee chairman Joseph Biden, Kennedy’s lieutenant in the assault, told the Philadelphia Inquirer not long before Bork was nominated: “Say the administration sends up Bork. I’d have to vote for him, and if the (liberal interest) groups tear me apart, that’s the medicine I’ll have to take.” But when it came time to take his medicine, he ran away like a Kennedy fleeing a car accident. The fact that Biden was about to run for president — for the first time — probably helped him rationalize his flight from honor.” Ted Kennedy’s America. The Borking of American politics, by Jonah Goldberg

I do hope the Republicans come to the hearings better prepared than the Democrats were to face Judge Alito, who may be the only one who even understands how badly the liberals have messed up constitutional law in the past half century and was able to make them look silly asking questions they didn't understand.

Patch, patch, patch

I got a hair cut and color today. It takes longer and longer to look presentable. I don’t leave the house without my buddy, Merle (Norman--make-up brand), and try not to wear sweat pants and athletic shoes in public, unless I’m exercising, of course. Yesterday was Peggy Lee’s birthday. Ms. Lee (whose real name was Norma) was going up in a hotel elevator to put on her make-up, stage clothes and jewelry for a show. A woman asked, "Are you Peggy Lee?" She replied straightforwardly, "No, not yet."

HT Powerline which has some details and links to video.

What is torture?

Not even those who have been tortured agree. But isn't it interesting that after Vietnam, the U.S. government didn't even investigate this question, although they had hundreds of POWs they could have interviewed. But Obama claims he knows?And uses his own special brand of empathy and understanding to smear our entire country to our enemies and friends.

"If someone surveyed the surviving Vietnam POWs, we would likely not agree on one definition of torture. In fact, we wouldn't agree if waterboarding is torture. For example, John McCain, Bud Day and I were recently together. Bud is one of the toughest and most tortured Vietnam POWs. John thinks waterboarding is torture; Bud and I believe it is harsh treatment, but not torture. Other POWs would have varying opinions. I don't claim to be right; we just disagree. But as someone who has been severely tortured over an extended time, my first hand view on torture is this:

Torture, when used by an expert, can produce useful, truthful information. I base that on my experience. I believe that during torture, there is a narrow "window of truth" as pain (often multiple kinds) is increased. Beyond that point, if torture increases, the person breaks, or dies if he continues to resist.

Everyone has a different physical and mental threshold of pain that he can tolerate. If the interrogator is well trained he can identify when that point is reached - the point when if slightly more pain is inflicted, a person no longer can "hold out," just giving (following the Geneva Convention) name, rank, serial number and date of birth. At that precise point, a very narrow torture "window of truth" exists. At that moment a person may give useful or truthful information to stop the pain. As slightly more pain is applied, the person "loses it" and will say anything he thinks will stop the torture - any lie, any story, and any random words or sounds.

This torture "window of truth" is theory to some. Having been there, it is fact to me." Col. Leo Thorsness, POW for 6 years

Isn't this how we got in this housing mess?

State of Florida helps single mom with child purchase home with stimulus money. Neighborhood stabilization program.

Well, lookee here. "Neighborhood Stabilization" money to go to ACORN, the voter fraud folks. Wonder if this has anything to do with payback for 2008 election?

Imagine if a Bush advisor had been this sexist

You know, like calling a Dixie Chick a bitch or a lesbian like Lindsey Lohan a dog because she didn't support his politics. How long before there would have been a congressional investigation with an enraged Barney leading the charge?

Waterboarding Sotomayor

"The Caribbean before the landing of Columbus served almost as a bridge between the north coast of South America and Florida for the Amazonian tribes in the south and the north american inhabitants. When Christopher Columbus on his second trip in 1493 landed in Puerto Rico and claimed it for Spain, he found the island populated by as many as 60,000 Arawak or Taino indians, which for the most part, were friendly compared to the Carib indians in some of the more southerly islands which were warlike and to some degree cannibalistic.

The conquest of the island didn't take long, and the peaceful Tainos were put to the task as slaves for the purpose of mining the gold that was found on the island. The gold didn't last long and in 1511 there was an uprising of the Tainos, who up to this point had believed that the Spaniards were Gods, and took a soldier by the name of Sotomayor and dunked him head first in a river for several hours to see if he would die. Just in case, they had prepared a feast for the Spaniard if he came out alive. However, it wasn't the Spanish sword that took most of the lives of the Arawaks, but the diseases that were brought from Europe and for which the indians had no defenses."

I haven't checked the authenticity of this story--just thought it had a familiar ring.

Puerto Rico was ceded to the U.S. after the war of 1898 with Spain. It became a commonwealth of the U.S. in 1952, and hoped to become the 51st state. In any case, Sonia Sotomayor isn't the daughter of immigrants, but citizens.

Obamart

Archeologists have unearthed a cache of Soviet statuary in France--everything from kolkhoznitzas (колхо́зница, collective farm women) to tank drivers to arm and sickles built for the 1937 Paris World Fair. Apparently, it's making French communists downright nostalgic. When we were in St. Petersburg in 2006 we visited the Russian Museum of Art which contains wonderful examples of this style of propagandistic, government sponsored art, and frankly I found it more attractive than some of the stuff of the last 50-100 years that flourished under "freedom of expression." Yes, a 10 foot tall Lenin in a painting pointing the way through the snow is daunting, but no more so than some of the stuff designed by Axelrod for the 2008 campaign.

This would be a good time for the French Communists to remember that Stalin killed more of his own people than Hitler did. Millions and millions. Just because the Nazis also killed the French and Stalin only wiped out generations of East Europeans, doesn't make him anyone to be admired. He also ordered thousands of artists, film makers and writers to death camps.

They are running out of money for the excavations. But not to worry. When American leftists have finished plundering our "wealthy," they will have a lot of money to send to France to glorify dead Communists.

Empathy and Sotomayor

Is it really a code word for liberal? If it is, it shouldn't be.

em·pa·thy; ˈem-pə-thē ; a noun from the Greek, empatheia, literally, passion, from empathēs emotional, from em- + pathos feelings, emotion. 1: the imaginative projection of a subjective state into an object so that the object appears to be infused with it; 2: the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner ; also : the capacity for this. Merriam Webster definition

Who has less empathy than

The radical feminist denigrating white males?

A union leader living high on member dues while the company leaves town or the country?

A congressman or mayor sending his kid to private school while denying the locals the right to school choice?

An environmentalist who would rather see your home burn to the ground than allow you to clear diseased and dead brush?

A Code Pink crowd demonstrating outside a hospital filled with wounded veterans?

Gay radicals taking over a church service and physically demonstrating their "life style?"

Barney Frank grilling a CEO the government appointed so harshly that his home and family are threatened by ACORN bussed activists?

Animal rights activists who would kill lab animals and the years of medical research they represent rather than let them be used to save your pet, your child, or your mother?

The "green" building trades, including architects, with a handful of LEEDS awards who want your building removed because it's too expensive to bring it up to carbon footprint standards?

The tiny percentage in main line denominations who are forcing their sexuality agenda down the throats (excuse the pun) of their fellow members, the other 99.9%, rather than withdrawing and creating their own organization because their lust is for approval?

The horse protectors who have succeeded in getting slaughter houses closed so animal owners have no option for disposal of their aged or crippled horses?

Where is the empathy for the unborn child, full of hope and potential for changing the world, about to be cut out or sucked out of the womb designed to protect her?

Where is the empathy for the millions of Muslims, particularly women, freed from the tyranny of the Taliban?

Where is the empathy of a male web-gossiblogger who sandbagged a female, straight contestant because she refused to be his advocate.

Where is the empathy of the food-nazi whose demands, if met, would put more thousands out of work in the processed and frozen food industry.

Where is the empathy of the mold/asbestos/lead demolition teams who have removed hundreds of city blocks of housing, bringing the yuppies back to town, and pushing the low income to the suburbas away from transportation, community, and churches they've always known.

Where is the empathy for the millions and millions of Africans crippled or killed by malaria by "do-gooders" and Silent Spring fans who got DDT removed from the market.

Where is the empathy of the journalists who have destroyed the credibility of newspapers by abandoning the "who, what, when, where" stories in favor of gossip and anecdotes and political views?

Yes, empathy is in very short supply, particularly on the left.

Will they be allowed to use the T-word?

Car bomb. Busy street. Police killed. 90 injured. Wonder if VOA will need to dust off the terrorism words so unpopular
in the Obama regime.

Update: The WSJ apparently didn't get Obama's memo and used the T word at least 3 times.

Update 2 (May 29): AP reports they've got 39 suspects--described as militants, fighters and extremists. Obviously, they got the T-word memo.

More on philanthropy

Not on my watch!

Speaking of philanthropy--what about Race for the Cure

Saying anything negative about the various races for this or that cause or disease in which volunteers raise funds from family and friends and sponsors is like being against motherhood and apple pie in this country. But let's look at the facts. It IS called "Race for the CURE." A cure would imply some heavy duty research, right? The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation was founded in 1982 by Nancy Goodman Brinker after losing her sister, Susan Komen, to breast cancer. According to their latest annual report, the Foundation and its affiliates have raised, in sum total (2009 figures) $1.3 billion dollars and have awarded more than 1,000 breast cancer research grants totaling approximately $190 million. (from the Komen web site) Cha-ching. That means the Foundation has spent $1.12 billion on expenses. Could you stay in business with figures like that? Would you sponsor a runner if you knew that in 2007 total revenue was $274,875,945, and total functional expenses were $239,544,000, and that the COO, Patrice Tosi, was paid $513,095 (2007 figures latest available in Charity Navigator).

Even the small amount that isn't used to keep the organization up and running with well paid staff, is primarily used for education and screening grants, not research that will really benefit women in the long run. Yes, mammograms are important, as are printed brochures and posters reminded women of the signs, but folks, unless the English language has really changed more than I realize, "education" is not "cure."

Lop a few zeros off those figures so you can understand the problem. If the Boy Scouts took in $1,300 selling Christmas trees, and $180 went into the fund for the trip to Yosemite, and the leaders kept $1,120 for their own expenses, the cost of the trees, advertising the tree sale and you and your son were also asked to volunteer to help, wouldn't you think something was funny if all you raised for all your efforts was $180?

I would love to have someone prove these numbers somehow make sense and not just get nasty and sling mud because I've pointed out another idol with clay feet.

Mistaken identity

When I was making my wonderful purchases at the yard sale on our street in Lakeside on Saturday, I mentioned to the owner where we lived and said my husband was an architect. He got very excited and said, "Oh, he's the guy with paintings in the Patio Restaurant. He had a great painting of our niece, Rebecca, last year, but it was sold." I looked a little puzzled and said, "Which painting was that?" "The one of the little girl fishing off the pier." "Oh, that was Lindsey, and we almost didn't sell it." (Lost her in the divorce.) "But it looked just like our fishing tackle box and was a dead ringer for our niece." Then another person stopped by to pay my husband the balance for the painting she bought last summer. I don't know why he let her take it without payment, but he did, and then she apparently forgot about it. So he sent her a reminder--a year later. She's quite a talker, but she took pity on him since he was on a ladder painting the house. The things you don't know going on in your own family!

Killing off the next level of jobs

There are some well-off Americans, not rich by their estimation, who are now feeling the affects of "going for baroke." They had nice jobs with philanthropies and non-profits. They'll soon see the tuition rise at the kids' private schools, as more parents pull out in order to cut back to pay for the mortgage, the summer house, the SUV, and basketball camp for junior. In two income families where both are lawyers or executives and one loses a job, that's a drastic cut in money spent in the community. Their tony communities will be raising taxes and it's just possible Maria will head back for Mexico. Yes, when Obama or the governors soak the rich, ask them to pay more than their "fair" share, they just move, and that hurts the local economy. It's really tough on the people who were basing their incomes on the rich folks' donations to good causes, many of which benefitted the poor, the mentally ill or handicapped, the immigrant and the disabled, or the rich folks' shopping habits, or the rich folks' leisure plans.

Philanthropy is a huge industry in the USA--Americans have always been generous, but they also get tax breaks for this generosity, and here's President Obama calling those tax laws written by our Congress, "loopholes." In 2006 Americans gave about $300 billion to charity, and 65% of that came from people earning less than $100,000. But that's over now. Bye-bye executive and administrative level jobs in philathropy. Let's see how it has worked out, soaking the rich, that is.

"Maryland couldn't balance its budget last year, so the state tried to close the shortfall by fleecing the wealthy. Politicians in Annapolis created a millionaire tax bracket, raising the top marginal income-tax rate to 6.25%. And because cities such as Baltimore and Bethesda also impose income taxes, the state-local tax rate can go as high as 9.45%. Governor Martin O'Malley, a dedicated class warrior, declared that these richest 0.3% of filers were "willing and able to pay their fair share." The Baltimore Sun predicted the rich would "grin and bear it."

One year later, nobody's grinning. One-third of the millionaires have disappeared from Maryland tax rolls. In 2008 roughly 3,000 million-dollar income tax returns were filed by the end of April. This year there were 2,000, which the state comptroller's office concedes is a "substantial decline." On those missing returns, the government collects 6.25% of nothing. Instead of the state coffers gaining the extra $106 million the politicians predicted, millionaires paid $100 million less in taxes than they did last year -- even at higher rates." Read the rest here.

I don't like to see people I care about losing their jobs, but it is so tempting to say, "I told you so." Well, eventually, the rich will have no where to go--there are very few states standing up to the massive takeovers by the federal government. Or they will just put all their assets out of the country or in even more clever "loopholes."

Then Obama will come for you, dear friends and relatives, who thought we needed hope and change and a radical leftist in the White House. That's about all we'll be left with--a little change, and the type of hope the 3rd world peasants have for a better day.

A Two-fer

Or three-fer. Sonia Sotomayor is a woman, an Hispanic, and also a "first." First childhood diabetic nominee to the Supreme Court, first daughter of a nurse. First Puerto Rican woman diabetic first appointed by a Bush. So why do some liberals think she's the wrong pick?

Update: I listened to Obama on the way to the grocery telling why he chose her--she's part of the "common people." No, Mr. President, I'm common. I didn't grow up in the city, my mother wasn't a professional woman, my brother isn't a doctor and I didn't go to fancy, private schools and get a law degree. She's about as common as you are. What he really means is she is a leftist who will vote her party's desires and preferences and cause of the day. And it will be called "empathy." Anything but constitutional law.

And she believes that judges make law! So much for our three branches of government.

Swine flu deaths now at 12

Another 30,000 and there will be as many as the regular, non-hyped flu.

Health savings proof demanded by Obama

Nice try, sir. How about proof that the universal coverage by government fiat and computerized medical records feeding into a government database will save money? The recent hijacking of Virginia's 8 million health records and 35 million prescription records hasn't brought much attention to this problem--probably because there are thousands of government employees and Democratic Congress people involved as "victims" in that heist. It is proof positive of what happens with centralized medical records. I think it has been 3 weeks and the site is still down as the "criminal investigation" continues into the crooks holding the records for ransom. The irony is this "secure" web site was set up to discourage illegal behavior.