Wednesday
IS THIS WHAT WE WANT FOR AMERICA?
THIS WEEK'S INTRODUCTORY EDITORIAL COMMENT: "It's
the economy, stupid!" was the political slogan which focused attention on
Bill Clinton in his presidential campaign, brought him votes and made him the
president. Now, some 18 years after that election, beyond all of our other
problems, the need for that slogan again confronts us; "It's still the economy,"
and the word "stupid" still applies -- this administration just doesn't get it.
Our apprentice president and his equally incompetent treasury secretary are
more dedicated to spending than to wisely managing our nation's economy.
Even Susan Estrich, devout Obama loyalist, said last week: "Absent a major
war, it's always the economy, stupid." In 1816, Founding Father Thomas
Jefferson spoke about government spending and long term indebtedness:
"The principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name
of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale." Those words of
wisdom should be observed by our government leaders in the budget battles
now going on in Washington. But the principles upon which this nation was
founded seem to be forgotten or ignored by an administration imposing a "tax
and spend" theory of government on the American people. We'll have more to
say on on this subject in today's posting, which follows.
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A DEPARTURE FROM TRADITIONAL MORAL VALUES,
AND AN ECONOMY RAMPANT AND OUT OF CONTROL;
IS THIS WHAT WE WANT FOR AMERICA?
Last week we went through nail-biting, round the clock days of speculation
as to whether the government would be shut down when another temporary
budget-fix expired. And within less than an hour of the deadline, yet another
temporary patch was agreed upon, and those hundrds of thousand "non-
essential" government employees were not suspended, and the national parks
stayed open for tourists -- all hailed by Mr. Obama as a great achievement.
The debate, and the ultimate compromise decision, embodied two important
factors: moral issues and the economy. President Obama has been clear on
moral issues, throughout his campaign and during his two years in office: he
has sided with the homosexuals on the issue of gay "marriage," and intends
to repeal DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act. And he is equally firm on the
abortion issue, and has drawn a line in cement, not in sand, that federal funds
will not be with-held from Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion
provider. Earlier, House Speaker John Boehner expressed his views on this
issue: "When human life takes a back seat to other priorities - personal
comforts, economics - freedom is diminished...we have a moral
obligation to defend the defenseless. And nothing is more defenseless,
or more innocent, or more pure, than an unborn baby...there is no cause
more noble than the defense of human life. There is no mission more
critical. No debate more urgent." Speaking to this point, Randall Terry, a
Democrat candidate for president, said: "Planned Parenthood is the single
largest killer of unborn babies in America. President Obama is the most
powerful supporter of child killing in the Western Hemisphere. Let us
pray that Mr. Boehner has the moral compass and the courage to obey
his own words and protect the unborn from the forces of evil. God is
watching him ...and so are we." In the harsh partisan debate on the issue,
Senate Majority Leader Reid, and former House Speaker Pelosi, falsely
tried to turn this moral issue into an attack on women's health.
But the frontal issue is the economy, and the facts are overwhelming.
The focus of the debate on the economy is on the national debt. A basic fact
is that the largest one year increase in the national debt in the history of our
nation occurred during the first year of he Obama presidency. Beyond that,
the total picture is that under Obama, the debt has grown from $10.7 trillion
to $14.6 trillion, and current Obama administration projections indicate that
the debt will increase by $6.5 trillion during Obama's first term. At the end
of 2008, under George Bush, the national debt stood at 63% of our Gross
Domestic Product (GDP). Today it is at 97% -- and headed higher.
And there is the matter of the national debt ceiling, currently at $14.28 trillion.
It is projected that in next month -- May -- the debt will be at $14.3 trillion.
Naturally, Mr. Obama wants the debt ceiling lifted -- it has, in fact, been
adjusted some 40 times since 1980. The Republican view is not to raise the
debt ceiling without some meaningful reductions in spending.
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Let's pause right here and try to understand how big a trillion really is.
The word "trillion" introduces a new dimension in financial disccussions. Try
entering it into your handy calculator. It consists of a number -- use a 1 --
followed by 12 zeros. Or look at it this way: a second is a very small measure
of time. So small that there are 60 of them in just 1 minute. Then consider this
fact that a million seconds would pass in 12 days. Then consider that a billion
seconds would pass in 31 years. Now consider that it would take 31,688
years for a trillion seconds to pass. Relate those statistics to dollars and you
are talking about a lot of money! For one further step toward understanding
just how big a trillion really is, use this link to see an important 3 minute video:
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As for the public's views on the economy -- the latest Rasmussen poll shows
that 53% expect the economy to get worse, while 25% expect it to get better,
with 74% feeling we are going in the wrong direction, and 24% thinking we
are on the right track. And the most recent Pew Research Report shows that
59% disapprove of the way Obama is handling the economy.
To wrap up this discussion, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan
(R-Wis.), who is responsible for drafting the House budget proposals, said:
“It all comes down to this: Either you fix this problem now where you
can guarantee people who’ve already organized their lives around
these programs get what they have coming to them -- or you pick the
President’s path, which is do nothing, punt, duck, kick the can down
the road, and then we have a debt crisis and then its pain for everybody.”
Now it appears that last week's battle, and the resultant compromise, has
gotten Mr. Obama's attention -- so much so that he has announced that in
another major speech later today he will present some proposals for
spending reductions. We will have to wait to see what he now proposes.
On the "war" in Libya and the Middle East, that we shouldn't forget,
William Bennett, long time Washngton insider, with high level service under
two presidents, offered this evaluation: “Reagan was clear and direct and,
as he said, his strategy was, ‘We win.’ Barack Obama’s strategy seems to
be, so far, 'We’ll muddle through, we’ll dither, we’ll maybe do the right thing
occasionally but maybe too late and we want to be sure no one thinks that
we think we’re anything special.' I prefer the Reagan approach.” And we
must never forget the "almost war" between the Palestinans and Israel where
over the past weekend, Muslim terrorists in Gaza fired more than 120 Chad
missiles (made in Iran, China and Russia), rockets and mortars into villages in
Israel. On-site observers feel that ground conflict may soon be taking place.
We must obey Psalm 122:6, "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem."
Let us never forget the importance of prayer: just 3 weeks from now --
Thursday, May 5 has been designated as the National Day of Prayer. The
theme this year is "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God," based upon Psalm 91:2,
"I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God, in Him
will I trust." For further details on the nation-wide observance, go to:
www.nationaldayofprayer.org . And remember our weekly count-down
to Election Day, Nov. 6, 2012 -- there are now 573 days to pray for our
nation and our leaders, and for God's wisdom as we vote to reclaim America.
We keep reminding our readers that given the left-leaning bias of
the elite media, it's helpful to note "What Others Are Saying."
Sammy Benoit (in "Yid with Lid"): "Barack Obama may have inspired
more Americans to find God than any other President in recent history.
Thanks to Obama millions of Americans are praying to God for things
like a job, or protection from SEIU thugs, that they will be able to keep
their health care, or even that the guys from the New Black Panther
party allow them to vote."
FBI Director Robert Mueller said: "The U.S. is monitoring the
possibility of terrorist attacks originating in Libya, either from the
forces of Muammar Qaddafi or rebels who may have associated with
terror groups in the past." To which Erick Erickson added: "Weren’t
they supposed to be the good guys, Mr. President? I thought if we
helped them they’d love us. The academic naivety of Barack Obama
is yet again on display."
John Ransom (TownHall Finance editor): "Were it not for the budget
headlines, Holder’s handling of the terror trials and his performance
meltdown at the press conference announcing the reversal of the
administration’s desire for civil trials in New York may have spelled
his doom."
And on that subject, in a posting to an Internet Blog, we came upon
this comment: “I was a Federal agent for over 20 years. Eric Holder is,
by far, the worst AG it has been my misfortune to work for, even
managing to make Janet Reno look competent. The man was a disgrace
when he was in the Clinton Justice Dept. and he is no better now.”
Don Feder (national syndicated columnist):"Given what Barack
Obama is doing to the Constitution, the economy and our future, the
American people should be up in arms...Instead, it’s a mental fog as
usual...It’s true that since Obama occupied the White House, his party's
stock has taken a nose dive- a net loss of 9 governorships, 7 Senate
seats, and 60 House seats. But there’s no guarantee that trend will
continue." And he asks: "Where's the outrage?"
Tom Brokaw (on NBC, from Baghdad): "…the Saudis are so unhappy
with the Obama administration … that [they] sent high level emissaries
to China and Russia to tell those two countries that Saudi Arabia now
is prepared to do more business with them."
As usual, the good "One Liners" you enjoy so much are hard to find.
"Being a Federal judge means never having to say you're sorry."
-- Jack Marshall, in Ethics Alarms
“'Diversity' is an elitist term used to give respectability to acts and policy
that would otherwise be deemed racism." -- Walter Williams, economist
"On 150th anniversary of start of Civil War, to MSNBC, conservatives
are secessionists, slavery sympathizers and unreconstructed rebels."
-- Matt Philbin, in Culture Links
And, as usual, we offer these random "Afterthoughts" . . .
Chip Wood, in Personal Liberty Digest, reminds us oldsters of a song by
the Kingston Trio, way back in 1962, with these amazingly prophetic words:
"They're rioting in Africa, there's strife in Iran.
What nature doesn't do to us will be done by our fellow man."
An interesting and revealing report on the 2012 election campaign.
Last week Mr. Obama announced that he was a candidate for re-election,
and began his campaign -- or at least the fund-raising part of it. His opening
shot was a video titled: "It Begins With Us." According to statistics released
by YouTube, the Obama campaign video had 345,146 views during its first
week. By contrast, a spoof video from the National Republican Senatorial
Committee titled "President Barack Obama's First Video Ad of 2012"
had 1,060,612 views in that week -- almost 3 times as many as for the
official Obama video. As to what this disparity means, our only comment is
the familiar slogan: "We report, you decide."
All over the world Christians are being persecuted for their faith,
and we who are still free to worship as we choose should faithfully keep
them in our prayers. The organization, "Open Doors," provides this listing of
the top 10 worst nations in persecution of Christians: 1. North Korea; 2.Iran;
3. Afghanistan; 4. Saudi Arabia; 5. Somalia; 6. Maldives; 7. Yemen; 8. Iraq;
9. Uzbekistan; 10. Laos. China, where we read of so much persecution of
Christians, ranks 16th out of the 50 top offenders.
Snapshot of economic facts:
Oil prices have risen 133% since Obama took office.
Gasoline prices have risen 70.5% since Obama took office.
The national average is now $3.79 a gallon. (Accordng to AAA)
$5.00 a gallon is not yet a fact, but an expectation -- and soon.
Gasoline prices have risen 70.5% since Obama took office.
The national average is now $3.79 a gallon. (Accordng to AAA)
$5.00 a gallon is not yet a fact, but an expectation -- and soon.
We cannot close without noting the words of our Founding Fathers:
"To preserve independence...we must not let our rulers load us with
perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and
Liberty, or profusion and servitude. ... The fore horse of this frightful
team is public debt. Taxation follows that, and in its turn wretchedness
and oppression." --Thomas Jefferson, 1798
And from a bit later in our history: "Let not the foundation of our hope
rest upon man's wisdom. It will not be sufficient that the rash counsels
of human passion are rejected. It must be felt that there is no national
security but in the nation's humble, acknowledged dependence upon
God and His overruling providence." -- Franklin Pierce, 14th President
"The philosophy of the classroom today will be the philosophy of
government tomorrow." -- Abraham Lincoln, 16th President
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