Tuesday
475 DAYS UNTIL ELECTION DAY!
AN IMPORTANT INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT: For a few weeks we have been
promising a new format -- "soon" -- and we're still trying. And one step at a time, we are
getting there. This week, a new heading! Next week we think the whole new format will be
in place. Thanks for your patience! Probably "Rome wasn't built in a day" applies.
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"This isn't a Keynsian Recovery produced by big spending bureaucrats ... this recovery
was created by the incentives of tax-rate reductions, which shifted resources away
from government back to American producers, savers and investors."
President Ronald Reagan, March 19, 1984
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THERE ARE 475 DAYS UNTIL ELECTION DAY, NOV. 6, 2012, WHEN
WE CAN VOTE TO RETRIEVE OUR NATION FROM THE DEPTHS
INTO WHICH THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION HAS LED US
Remember this picture? It could well be labeled as the defining moment of the Obama
administration. It was on April 2, 2009, just weeks into his presidency, when at the G20
Conference in London, he bowed in humble obeisance to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.
This was something no American president had ever done before. But a few days later, on
that same first trip abroad, he told a largely Muslim audience in Ankara, Turkey, "We do
not consider ourselves a Christian nation." This, too, was something no American
president had ever done before.
But we should not have been surprised. Just prior to the 2008 election, on October 30,
2008, he told an audience in Columbia, MO, "We are just five days away from
fundamentally transforming the United States of America."
And he has done so. He has spent more taxpayer money, has increased the national debt
beyond what any president has done, has brought our unemployment level to near 10%,
has embroiled us in a recession which is approaching "great depression" levels, has eroded
our historic American Christian position on marriage and the family, and has brought us
back to facing the reality British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher warned us about, “The
problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people’s money.”
Conservative commentator, Skip MacLure, linked that comment with our present national
situation, "Our mercifully brief encounter with socialism, a la Barack Hussein Obama,
has America up on its feet and raging...Sick and tired of being sick and tired. It’s as
good a way as any to describe the mood of the country going into the 2012 elections...
Fully seventy percent of the American people do not want an increase in the debt limit...
Barack Hussein Obama has painted himself and his Marxists into a corner. The most
recent Gallup and Rasmussen polls both show any generic Republican defeating Obama
in the 2012 presidential race by five to eight points, and counting."
As Christian Americans, our concerns go very deep. Mr. Obama speaks reverently of "the
holy Quran," and dismisses Christian Biblical positions as "an obscure passage in Romans."
He declines to recognize the National Day of Prayer in the White House, but sponsors a gala
event to observe the Islamic month of Ramadan. But our concerns for our nation are
intensified by God's Word on Israel and Jerusalem, "I will bless them that bless thee, and
curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed."
(Gen. 12:3) But just a few weeks ago, in a major speech on the Middle East, Mr. Obama
declared how the Israeli/Palestinian dispute should be resolved, in his words, "The United
States believes that negotiations should result in two states...We believe the borders
of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines..."
Now a war of Biblical proportions is being fought in Washington. The "Quartet for Middle
East Peace" (Russia, the European Union , the UN and America) with representatives from
China and the Arab League, were invited to dinner and a meeting in the White House last
week to unite behind the Obama plan to divide Jerusalem, and hand over to Islamic terrorists
lands won by Israel in the 1967 war, including Judea and Samaria. Now in just a few days, the
UN Security Council will be debating the plan to create a Palestinian state with no concern
for Israel's security or even its survival. And Mr. Obama is leading this direct opposition to
the Word of God. This has to be of deep concern to every Christian American.
And how has the Obama approach gone over with Muslim nations? If it didn't have such
profoundly serious implications, it would be almost humorous. The United States is viewed less
favorably in much of the Arab world today than in the final year of the Bush administration, and
President Obama is less popular in the region than Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,
according to a poll released last week by the Arab American Institute, a nonpartisan research
and advocacy group. The current poll is striking in that it shows how far Obama’s favorability
has fallen in the region, after an initial optimistic spike when he took office. “It’s because
expectations were created that were not met,” said James Zogby, president of Institute,
which has been tracking attitudes for a decade. In 2008, the final year of the Bush administration,
9% of Egyptians had a favorable attitude towards the United States. A year later, after Obama
took office, that number jumped to 30%. But now it has plummeted to just 5% of Egyptians who
view the United States favorably. Similar figures in Morocco, Jordan, and the United Arab
Emirates show that the United States is viewed less favorably now than it was under President
Bush. Obama's humble, contrite, "cap in hand" approach doesn't seem to be working.
Even though we need funds to operate, we do not sell anything, not books, CDs, DVDs
or coffee mugs. Nothing. But occasionally we learn of a book which merits reading, and here is
one such: "The Marketing of Evil" by David Kupelian. This is what the late Dr. D. James
Kennedy said about it: "This is a remarkable book... Author David Kupelian dissects and
exposes the brilliant and malignant techniques employed by merchants of evil ... The
effort to change America's mind on issues like abortion, homosexuality, church-state
separation, and more, is not a happenstance undertaking... The good news is that by
God's grace, the truth will eventually win out, and Kupelian's important and ground
breaking book makes enormous progress toward that end."
Amid the heavily liberal biased media, it's good to note "What Others Are Saying."
David Ignatius (Washington Post): "The world looks to America in times like this.
Governments and business leaders want a basic framework, so they can make decisions.
What they get from the Obama White House, too often, is silence."
David Aaron Ritchie (Senior Pastor, Gulf Coast Christian Center): "It is interesting to
me that one of the greatest states in our Union, New York, has recently made legal the
marriage of two people of the same sex...When something as profound as this happens in
our nation and I barely hear a peep from people who call on the name of the Lord Jesus,
that scares me. I'm not afraid of the many disasters that are happening simultaneously
in our world. I'm not afraid of all the wars that are currently raging on almost every
continent on the globe...What terrifies me are good men and women saying and doing
nothing when politicians we voted into office are making moral laws that contradict
everything a Holy God stands for."
Michael Evans (Jerusalem Prayer Team): "With a brutal thug like Assad unleashing
his army on his own people and continuing to threaten the safety and security of neighbors
like Lebanon and Israel, the Obama Administration thinks the problem in the Middle East
is Israel. History has taught us repeatedly that appeasement doesn't work, yet our leaders
are trying to sell out Israel to buy peace with the radical Muslims who hate both
Christians and Jews."
David Horowitz (president, "Vision to America"): "Just days before Independence Day,
the Obama Administration formally recognized the Muslim Brotherhood, organizers of
world terror and instigators of hatred of the U.S. and Israel ...The Muslim Brotherhood
has helped finance at least a dozen radical Islamic terror groups, including Hamas and
al Qaeda...This is the group our President has decided he will do business with. It is the
most reckless thing he could do to you, your family and our nation! ...Barack Obama
knows that Brotherhood members are the Godfathers of the world terror movement.
With characteristic egotism, he seems to think that he can charm this leopard into
changing its spots."
Michelle Malkin (nationally syndicated commentator): "Since Obamacare passed,
the amount workers pay in health care premiums has soared an average of nearly 14
percent; thousands of businesses have sought waivers in search of relief from the law's
onerous mandates; medical device makers have slashed jobs and research; and the
private individual health insurance market is in critical condition. Post-Obamacare
truth is bloodier than pro-Obamacare fiction."
And here are a few at-random "Afterthoughts" . . .
Those Atheists, though small in number, don't give up! The "Freedom From Religion
Foundation" (FFRF), based in Madison, WI, in April filed suit against the National Day of
Prayer, but it was dismissed unanimously by a U.S. Appellate Court. Now they have filed
suit against Texas Governor Rick Perry, to block his call for a day of prayer on August 6 in
Reliant Stadium in Houston. The suit also asks the federal court in Houston to declare Perry's
initiation, organization, promotion and participation in the event unconstitutional. The FFRF
also asks for a restraining order after a hearing date is set. All this is so at odds with the history
of our nation. John Adams made the point in 1798, "Our Constitution was made only for a
moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." In
1863, in the midst of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln was led to call for a day of prayer. It is
fortunate that the FFRF was not available to attempt to stop him from doing so. Now Gov.
Fallin of Oklahoma will probaby be in trouble with FFRF -- she has called for a day of prayer
to end the state's serious drought problem.
The media has given President Obama some new descriptive appellations. Instead of
"intern president," or "president in training," and the like, his actions in recent days have brought
out some new terms, such as "petulant president," and speaking of his behavior before the press,
"press conference tantrum." And adding to this new perception of a president who usually "kept
his cool," along comes Dinesh D'Souza's new best-selling book, "The Roots of Obama's Rage."
In one of his press conference exchanges, Mr. Obama expressed the underlying reason for his
constant ignoring of public opinion polls. Reminded that 69% of the American people are opposed
to raising the debt limit, he responded: "Let me distinguish between professional politicians and
the public at large. You know, the public is not paying close attention ... they have got a lot
of other things on their plate. We're paid to worry about it."
As Americans, whatever our partisan views, the ongoing "debt" issue concerns us.
These brief comments well summarize the conflicting opinions which are at the heart of the high
level discussions in Washington. The Heritage Foundation offered this viewpoint: "With the
nation staring down $14 trillion in debt, a Senate that has failed to pass a budget in 811
days, and a government that can't decide how to raise the debt ceiling, you might think
that a plan to get spending under control and solve the debt ceiling impasse would be a
welcome breath of fresh air in Washington. Well, it might be, unless you're President
Barack Obama or liberals on Capitol Hill." And from a differing point of view, Billy
Hallowell, reporting in The Blaze, wrote yesterday, "Former Democratic President Bill
Clinton has come out swinging at Congress, telling The National Memo’s Joe Conason
that he would take decisive action if no debt deal is reached by the August 2 deadline.
Clinton says that if he were in Obama’s situation, he‘d invoke the Fourteenth Amendment
to raise America’s debt ceiling 'without hesitation, and force the courts to stop me.'" And
Rep. Alan West (R, FL), described Mr. Obama's handling of the debt situation as: "...not
leadership. That’s why I said it was sad, it was pathetic, it’s fear-mongering and it’s trying
to turn people against other folks who are trying to come up with viable solutions. That’s
not what I think a president should be doing."
An example of the beliefs, the convictions of our Founding Fathers. In July, 1798, with
France in revolution and demanding extortion payments not to harass American ships, the
national slogan became, "Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute." Faced with such
a challenge, George Washington responded: "Satisfied, therefore, that you have exhausted
the last drop of the cup of reconciliation, we can, with pure hearts, appeal to Heaven for
the justice of our cause, and may confidently trust the final result to that kind Providence
who has, heretofore, and so often, signally favored the people of these United States.
Thinking in this manner ... I have finally determined to accept the commission of
Commander in Chief of the Armies of the United States."
Surely American citizens -- for that is what we have always been, "citizens," not "subjects" of
some all-powerful ruler -- must long for a return to that quality of leadership, and a return to
maintaining this nation as the kind of a nation our Founding Fathers intended it to be.
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