BALTIMORE, Maryland December 15, 2015 - These are times when the day-to-day affairs of our country seem absolutely foreign to me. In fact, to be honest and perfectly candid, it seems like some foreign power has already taken over our nation. Things happen today that you never thought a United States government would ever associate with. And I say this as someone who grew up, became an adult, and then lived as an adult while adhereing to a very very liberal political philosophy. Barack Obama is not a liberal. If he was he would still be wildly popular. Barack Obama is so far left of liberal that the liberal position cannot even be seen from where he is. Barack Obama is closing in rapidly on folk like, well, Fidel Castro. He's not there yet, but to keep with the kind of comparison i just made, Barack Obama can see Fidel Castro's position from where he stands.
A liberal could never support a government that did not insist on racial equality, full freedom of speech, full freedom of religion, maximum liberty for all people, and an environmental policy that recognized the duty of each generation of Americans to turn the nation over to the next generation in as good a condition as the condition the nation was in when it came into the hands of the present generation. That philosophy is called stewardship. In the case of our environment, it is called environmental stewardship.
With each passing day it is obvious to me and an increasing number of Americans from all sides of the political spectrum that the Oaths of Office that Obama took when he became President meant nothing to him. Nothing at all. He showed us at the outset that telling the truth was not an obligation he believed in. If he needed to tell a lie - even a bald-faced lie that would make most people blush with embarassment - in order to accomplish a political aim, he would do it in a minute. He started it all with the long list of pure lies he told about what he now calls the Affordable Care Act. Most Americans call it "Obamacare." I call it "ObamaShame." Remember: "If you like your doctor you can keep your doctor." Or, do you remember the promise that most American families would save $2500? We now know, for a fact, that none of his promises were true. Think about that: he made a lot of promises about Obamashame and not one of them were true.
Remember when my party's Congressional members, including Obama, en masse and all at once, started to call President Bush a liar because, as it turned out, Saddam Hussein didn't have the weapons of mass destruction he bragged that he had? Besides being really angry at those people in Congress for thinking the American people were so stupid as to believe that all of them thought of that ploy at the same time, I believed, as they did, that Hussein did have such weapons. To this day, I believe he had them but ditched them once he learned that Bush, in all likelyhood, was going to attack him.
With each passing day, it is obvious to me that Barack Obama is not trying to improve these United States. He is not a steward of our national power, our national ability to defend ourselves from foreign attack, nor, even, the ability of Americans to support themselves and their families from economic destruction. He once told an interviewer that the American Constitution was flawed because it was nothing more than a list of what he called 'negative rights." He believed the Constitution should have granted the federal government whatever power was necessary to empower the poor and misguided to achieve economic equality with the rich and powerful. Now, it sounds sort of okay until you flesh it out, then you realize he wanted a Constitution that empowered a dictator. He wanted a president with absolute power to ignore the national legislature, the national courts. He knew, of course, that such an all-powerful executive was nothing more than a king or Castro-like dictator. But that is the only type of leader that could achieve the insane changes he seeks.
Instead of carrying out the oaths he swore to, on the Bible he told us held sacred meaning to him, he is taking America down and taking it apart. He wants to ruin us. It is obvious that not one of his cabinet appointees have the personal and political integrity to call him on it. Only two, maybe three of his former Defense Secretaries have even attempted to make clear the degree of damage his ultra-left regime is doing to the noble standing America had achieved on the world stage.
Remember, this is the America that twice in the century before he came to power rescued the entire free world from despotism in the two world wars. America did that at tremendous cost, both financial and in terms of human life. There was a degree of nobility in those acts that the world had never known. And no other nation on earth has ever done more to help the poor and downtrodden. Because America was always governed by human beings, mistakes were made. Some of them were whoppers. But it was always Americans who corrected the wrongs. Thousands upon thousands gave their lives in a civil war fought to end the heinous practice of slavery. Everyone who reads this knows this is barely the beginning of an endless list of altruistic acts taken by these United States. Many times, even when we are wrong it is for altruistic reasons.
But Obama pursues goals that are not in keeping with such noble ideals. Oh, he talked a good game when he ran for office. But the evil acts his government has committed and which he has freely tolerated would have gotten any other President impeached. A lady in Texas, a virtual nobody in the big scheme of things, forms a small-scale political group because she thinks, rightly or wrongly, that there is voter fraud taking place. As soon as she filed papers to permit her organization to raise funds, she is visited non-stop by every federal agency, all seeking to investigate her and her family's business. Whether you are conservative or liberal, Democrat or Republican, that incident has to make you cringe. Yet Democrats defended the acts, knowing that if the tables were turned and a similar story was told from the other end of the political spectum they would be appalled. Obama has never, ever, sanctioned the people he knows are responsible. I still don't know what his real responsibility for those acts were. I know they happened. I know it was not innocent mistakes. But he has never acknowledged that his administration is liable for those events. That speaks to a total lack of leadership. That speaks to a total lack of nobleness, altruism, decency and integrity. It is reprehensible.
The Benghazi affair is another set of facts that stink to high heaven. Obama and Hillary conspired to deceive the American people about what went on in Benghazi. They hatched their cover-up on the same night the massacre of four Americans took place. As soon as they learned that four Americans died, including their own Ambassador, they called You Tube Execs to find a video that fit their needs (if you haven't been paying very close attention, you wouldn't know that this revelation has come out in the Congressional Investigation). By "their needs," they meant one they could blame for the planned terrorist attack that killed the Americans that night in Benghazi. They sent their functionary onto national TV to tell us that reaction to a film no one knew about caused the attack. It was all a lie. Then, the two of them - Hillary and Barack - cut a "public service" TV spot that they had shown on TV in the Middle East and in Pakistan and other such places, saying that the government of the United States had nothing to do with the anti-Muslim film that they blamed for the massacre in Benghazi. It cost millions of taxpayer dollars. The reaction to the Television spots caused rioting and more deaths in the Middle East. These deaths were also the faults of Obama and Hillary.
The Anti-American, Pro-Islamic policies have done incredible damage to these United States. Now, in the face of promised acts of terror, Obama opens the door to the terrorists and says 'come on in.' The Democratic members of Congress have been gutless yes-men to Obama's feckless acts, unwilling to put country before low-brow political party. Most sad of all is the complete lack of political courage demonstrated by the GOP. Time after time Republicans have been little more than listless, witless stepping stones for Obama's crushing of American values, American power, American leadership and American intergrity. There are a few exceptions: Jeff Sessions, Ted Crews and Mike Lee in the Senate and few House Members: Huelskemp and a few like him. But even these few can't summons up the courage to bash Obama where it hurts, with the pocketbook. If it takes shutting the government down to stop Obama, shut the government down! They have to do it. The obscene "treaty" with Iran - setting the stage, as it does, for Iran having nuclear weapons and the financial ability to carry out interntional acts of terror for generations to come - needed to be stopped. But the Congress lacked the simple integrity to do it.
This is how bad Obama has gotten:
1. The man he appoints as his "ISIS Czar" was previously fired by Obama for meeting with the terror group Hamas in direct violation of Obama's stated rules. The man, Rob Mailey, is openly hostile toward Israel and has openly blasted all things Israeli in numerous written articles. Judicial Watch has a story on the outrage as well as links to many of Mailey's atrocities. See: http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2015/12/isis-czar-a-terrorist-sympathizer-once-fired-by-obama-for-hamas-ties/.
2. It has been revealed that some 72 employees of the United States Department of Homeland Security are on the USA's Terrorist Watch List. Now, granted, some people on that list don't belong there and how people get on the list has come under attack, but you would hope that when a federal employee gets on the list the government would immediately look into the matter to determine whether or not he or she belongs there. This is essential when the so-called vetting process allowed the female terrorist to enter the country even though she was actively posting on FACEBOOK and Twitter about her fidelity to Jihad. And yet, in she came.
3. Even though his hand-picked FBI Chief and Joint Chiefs of Staff Head have testified to Congress that they cannot be at all certain that the so-called Syrian Refugees are not members of ISIS, Obama refuses to put even a brief hold on his plans to bring tens of thousands of these people here to the USA. The American people are aghast and even Democrats in Congress are angry.
4. At the same time he wants to allow every Muslim refugee into the USA, he is ordering that all Christians be denied admission. This is true and I defy anyone to prove me wrong on this. And the feckless press won't even ask him about it.
A responsible GOP leader would say, publicly, that in view of the above, we will not approve or move along any Obama initiative until it is vetted in the most thorough way. Incidentally, it is well worth taking a daily look at Judicial Watch each day to find out the latest atrocity committed by Obama. And Judicial Watch is one of the most independent and unassociated organizations anywhere. It takes the approach that journalists - real journalists - used to take. They closely scrutinize the people in power. They thoroughly vet everything. If you read their 'stuff' today you think this is a right-wing group. But scroll back eight years and you'd be thinking, wow, who needs
that despicable "Media Matters" or even "Acorn" when you have Judicial Watch. When I was a reporter for a daily paper, I spent most of my time writing for the York Daily Record in York, Pennsylvania. York County had this form of county government that was quite unique. There were three equal county commissioners. In the primary election, voters of the two major parties voted for two commissioners. The two Democrats with the most votes ran against the two Republicans with the most votes in the General Election. In that way, the winners were the top three vote getters, and voters were assured of having an administration which had representatives from both major parties. As a reporter covering county government, we just assumed everybody was out to screw the people. This is a crude way of explaining how we viewed our jobs as members of what truly was "the fourth estate." In Journalism School at the University of Maryland, we were taught that we had a solemn duty under our system of government, and that was to fulfill our role as members of the uncodified fourth estate. We were not members of the executive branch, nor the legislative branch, nor the judicial branch of government. We were the fourth head on that dragon, and the duty of this head was to oversee and investigate, to flood the voters with all of the news about the goings on in the other three branches. The better we did our jobs, the better the government as a whole performed. As immortal John Milton (1508-1574) had said, "In a free marketplace of ideas, the truth will emerge." These were words to live by at Maryland, back then. Now, apparently not.
What is it with Washington? Obama, like a child, runs roughshod over the people who elected him. He lies. He cheats. He is beyond corrupt. He floods the nation with danger. And the loyal opposition lays down a red carpet. Bring back the days of Kennedy, Reagan, Truman...
We had an American HIstory professor at Maryland who thought Lincoln was a slime ball. One of our texts was a collection of everything Lincoln said that didn't absolutely oppose slavery. This, mind you, was the President who fought to end slavery. But he was human and he was a product of his times. What if, say, 150 years from now something we do daily without thinking is deemed, by then, to be an atrocity? Abortion? Animal Cruelty? Maybe the issue then is degradation of the gene pool or something else we're only beginning to understand. In my case, i hated or was highly suspicious of every government leader until I graduated and started interacting with them on a daily basis. Some of them were noble people. Some weren't. It struck me that the most insane thing people do is stereotyping groups of people and projecting those group traits on every person. Read a good biography of Washington or Jefferson and tell me, on the whole, that they were bad people. They were giants. Jefferson, Madison, even Washington put together a government of the people at a time when such governments did not exist. People who study the Magna Carta sometimes say well, they were all nobles, what is so great about that document and the men who signed it? Because it broke with the past, and the past was absolute rule by a King. After that document, the absolute power of the monarch started to wain. Now, Obama wants the pendulum to swing back. This is the man who gussies up to Castro and other absolute dictators. This is a man who defends the worst things about the Islamic movement. It is America, every single time, that is the most noble among nations. It is America that has the best chance to reform the world to benefit the most people. It is America that does more for the poor nations than any other. The quickest way to end positive change is to weaken the most noble nation?
It is not.
Christmas is Coming. There are many people who try hard to take Christ out of Christmas, who strive to make the holiday secular. No one forces anyone to celebrate the birth of Christ. Why do those who oppose the sacred celebration of the many think it is a good thing to curtail it? Do these same people insist on the curtailment of other religions? They do not. But they announce, by their actions, that they know more and know better when they attack Christianity.
This is what i think:
According to St. Matthew (RSV), the First Chapter, Beginning with Verse 18: Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother, Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit; Verse 19: and her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. Verse 20: But as he considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; Verse 21: she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." Verse 22: All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: Verse 23: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel" (which means, God with us). Verse 24: When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took his wife, Verse 25: but knew her not until she had borne a son; and he called his name Jesus.
The Christmas Story in St. Matthew then continues in the Second Chapter. Credible and Incisive will continue the text in the next entry. Meanwhile, in the Gospel of St. Luke, a similar but not identical account of the Holy Birth is provided. The Gospel begins the magnificent epic with an account of the Lord's Angel coming to the quite righteous man, Zechariah, who was Mary's brother-in-law. As with the account in St. Matthew, I will provide more of St. Luke's Gospel in the next entry.
From the Gospel of St. Luke, Chapter 1, beginning with Verse 5: In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah (in Greek: Zacharias), of the division of Abijah; and he had a wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. Verse 6: And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. Verse 7: But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.
Verse 8: Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, Verse 9: according to the custom of the priesthood, it fell to him by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. Verse 10: And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. Verse 11: And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense, Verse 12: And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. Verse 13: But the Angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer is heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.
Verse 14: And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth; Verse 15: for he will be great before the Lord, for he shall drink no wine nor strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. Verse 16: And he will turn many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God, Verse 17: and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared."
To be continued in the next entry.
Sports: Latest AP Basketball Poll Puts Maryland at No. 6; After Draw With Queens Park Rangers, Burnley Stands 5th in English Championship, Just 7 Points Behind League-Leading Brighton & Hove-Albion
Maryland had two wins last week: the thrilling win over No. 25 Connecticut and a 21-point wipe out of Maryland Eastern Shore. Melo Trimble was 5-6 from the field, including 4-4 from the three-point arc, to lead the Terps with 18 in the Saturday night win over UMES. Diamond Stone and Jared Nickens added 12 each. Maryland's next game is this coming Saturday night against Princeton in a game to be played in Baltimore.
After Burnley drew with QPR at Turf Moor last Saturday, they lost Tuesday night at Middlesbrough, allowing the homestanding winners to take over first place in the Championship. Emilio Nsue's second-half goal was the match's only score. George Boyd had narrowly missed in the first half. The final Saturday was 0-0, and it was the sixth clean sheet for Burnley in the last nine matches.
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