Wednesday
WE'RE STILL NOT DOING WELL!
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Vol. 18, No. 15 April 18, 2012 © 2012
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This week's thought for the week ... and for the weeks to come:
"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor standeth in the way of sinners,
nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
But his delight is in the law of the LORD;
But his delight is in the law of the LORD;
and in His law doth he meditate day and night."
The Holy Bible, Psalm 1: 1-2
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THE THEME OF LAST WEEK'S ANC WAS: "POLITICALLY,
ECONOMICALLY AND INTERNATIONALLY, WE'RE
NOT DOING WELL." AS WE REVIEW THE NEWS,
NOTHING HAS CHANGED MUCH THIS WEEK
And last week's issue began with the words that this was not our sole opinion, but
was shared by others . . . and we provided a quote from Mat Staver, Founder and
Chairman of Liberty Counsel, as an illustration. In line with the premise that there
hasn't been any dramatic change, this week also we offer this quote from
Mat Staver which addresses the basis of our problems: "I've never felt so
compelled to unreservedly work against a president’s overreaching policies,
unconstitutional mandates, unvetted czars, and tyrannical power grabs as I
do now. Then again, there has never been a president like Barack Obama
whose clearly stated goal is to 'fundamentally transform' our nation into a
socialist state (as we now know.)"
To avoid being accused of quoting only Conservative Opinion makers, here is a
comment on the financial aspect of our nation, as concerning the Obama agenda
of unrestrained spending under his "Stimulus Plan." Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben
Bernanke, told the Budget Committee on April 9 that Official Congressional budget
estimates understate the peril of rising debt. "Sustained high rates of government
borrowing would both drain funds away from private investment and increase
our debt to foreigners, with adverse long-run effects on U.S. output, incomes,
and standards of living. Moreover, diminishing investor confidence that
deficits will be brought under control would ultimately lead to sharply rising
interest rates on government debt and, potentially, to broader financial
turmoil ..." In short, the official estimates that members of Congress hear from their
budget office are under-estimating our dire economic predicament. If fiscal policy is
not brought under control, things will be much worse, according to Mr. Bernanke.
Even the very Liberal commentator, Arianna Huffington, writing in Huff Post, on
the international front, "You'd think a ten-and-a-half year war would be a major
issue in a presidential campaign -- especially a war going as badly as the one
in Afghanistan... But right now we are doing a lot of harm, losing hearts and
minds every day and making our country ultimately less safe as a result. 'War
is destructive of the human spirit,' military scholar Andrew Bacevich said
recently; 'War compromises our humanity.' This one is now compromising our
humanity, our national security, our standing in the world, and our claim to
the moral high ground."
We have often mentioned Mr. Obama's "credibility" problem, but have
never actually called the president a liar, as so many commentators have done.
This past week a new book (or perhaps "booklet" -- but it's 122 pages in length)
was announced, titled 69 Obama Lies. ANC doesn't have the time, space or
inclination to discuss all 69 of them, but Steve Elliott, writing in Grassfire Nation,
the publisher, listed #23 as his favorite Obama Lie; he calls it the "Create Or
Save Jobs Lie." He recalls it as one of the first lies that came out of Obama's
mouth after Inauguration Day -- "in one voice Obama and every member of
his messaging team began talking about the 3.5 million jobs their plan
would save... Of course, never before in the lexicon of employment statistics
had any president talked about 'saved' jobs. It was a mirage. A myth. A lie.
The first of many lies that Obama used to transform our nation."
Mr. Elliott may have a point. Our research this week turned up many examples
of the Obama "Stimulus Plan" failures . . . here are just two of them: (1) Reno,
NV, received a $2.1 million federal energy grant as part of the Obama stimulus
plan approved by the Democrat controlled Congress in February, 2009. The
Reno Gazette-Journal recently reported on the "success" of the grant: "The
city's seven windmills have so far saved Reno $2,785 in energy costs after
generating 25,319 kilowat hours of electricity. The windmills were installed
between April and October, 2010, and cost about $1 million out of a $2.1
million federal grant given to the city as part of the stimulus package." [At
that rate it will take 718 years to equal the $1 million cost of the windmills.]
And here is No. 2: CNS News reported this past week: "The government spent
at least $205,075 in 2010 to 'translocate' a single bush in San Francisco
that stood in the path of a $1.045 billion highway-renovation project that
was partially funded by the economic stimulus legislation President Barack
Obama signed in 2009... 'In October 2009, an ecologist identified a plant
growing in a concrete-bound median strip along Doyle Drive in the Presidio
as Arctostaphylos franciscana,' the U.S. Department of Interior reported in
the Aug. 10, 2010 edition of the Federal Register...'The translocation of the
Arctostaphylos franciscana plant to an active native plant management
area of the Presidio was accomplished, apparently successfully and
according to plan, on January 23, 2010,' the Interior Department reported."
[Footnote: The bush -- a Franciscan manzanita -- was a specimen of a
commercially cultivated species of shrub that can be purchased from nurseries
for as little as $15.98 per plant.]
On the use of lies to influence public opinion, here is the motto of a true master of
the practice, Adolph Hitler: "Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it,
and eventually they will believe it." And in Mein Kampf, he said of the great
masses of the people, "in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more
readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves
often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to
large-scale falsehoods." (Vol. 1, Ch. 10)
Months ago ANC began a "Countdown of Prayer" for the next election.
As of today, Apr. 18, there are 202 days until Election Day, Nov. 6, 2012.
202 days to pray for our nation, and for God's leading as we cast our votes on
Nov. 6 to transform our government into the kind of a nation it was founded to
be. And beyond our shores there are fellow Christians who are daily facing
persecution because of their faith . . . and there are rogue nations like Iran, Syria,
North Korea, to name a few, who pose real threats to any semblance of peace
throughout our troubled world. As Christians, we should be faithful in prayer.
It is interesting that "those on the other side" are also calling for prayer. Previously
we have noted that supporters of "Obamacare" were calling for prayer for the
Supreme Court to rule in favor of the controversial law -- even as Christians
were praying for its defeat. Now we have learned of another such prayer effort.
A local Planned Parenthood abortion business in Humbolt County, California is
copying the "40 Days for Life" campaign, which recently resulted in saving the
lives of more than 700 unborn children from abortion. The abortion business has
set up its own 40 Days of Prayer for the local abortion center. Their theme: "We
believe in your right to choose to be a parent or not.”
In ANC we continue to try to counter the left-wing viewpoints of the
Main Stream Media by bringing our readers "What Others are Saying"
David Axelrod, Chief Strategist for President Barack Obama, told Chris
Wallace on FOX News this weekend: “The choice in this election is between
an economy that produces a growing middle class and that gives people a
chance to get ahead and their kids a chance to get ahead, and an economy
that continues down the road we’re on.” [We couldn't have said it better!]
Human Events: "One of the first things Stalin, Hitler, Mao and other
totalitarians did during their reign was rewrite the histories of their nations,
remaking the past to foster their control of the present. The American Left
has done the same thing in our country: most American history books are
riddled with PC nonsense that makes the Founding Fathers over into racist
slaveholders, the settlers of the West into genocidal land-stealers, and the
welfare state into the harbinger of the ultimate triumph of liberalism."
Erick Stakelbeck (in Charisma News): "The so-called Arab Spring has
given a big boost to radical Islamists like the Muslim Brotherhood. For
Christians, it’s been a much different story. Believers in Jesus are suffering
major persecution throughout the Middle East and North Africa. But there
is one place left in the region where they don’t have to fear: Israel."
Victor Davis Hanson ( Hoover Institution, Stanford University): "In 2008,
a mostly unknown Barack Obama ran for president on an inclusive agenda
of 'hope and change.' ... Four years later, none of those promises will be
themes of his 2012 re-election campaign. Gas has more than doubled in
price. Billions of dollars have been wasted in insider and subsidized wind
and solar projects that have produced little green energy. Unemployment
rates above 8 percent appear the new norm... From the Middle East to the
Korean peninsula, the world seems on the brink. Modern racial relations
are at a new low"
Leslie H. Gelb (Pres. Emeritus, Council on Foreign Relations): "President
Obama is being pushed and pulled into three conflicts–Iran, Syria, and North
Korea ... Events are being driven mainly by three bad guys. Iran's Ayatollah
Khamenei, intolerably, is trying to keep open the option to build nuclear
weapons. Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, intolerably, is killing rebels to
keep power. North Korea's Supreme Leader Kim Jung Un, unacceptably, is
trying to have his nuclear cake and eat American food too. Slowly but
inexorably, all three situations are becoming testier and riskier with little
sign of being saved by warnings or compromise."
Peter Martino (Gatestone Institute): Under the heading, "Diversity -- they
drive us out, we invite them in," wrote: "Islamic countries have become
more Islamic because of a deliberate policy that drives non-Muslims out;
non-Islamic countries have become more Islamic because of a deliberate
policy that invites Muslims in, and ensures that they feel in no way
hindered or upset."
Barry Rubin (Dir. Global Research in International Affairs): Concerning
the announcement that President Obama would be wearing a Cuban style
'guayabera' shirt made for him by a Colombian designer at the Americas summit
in Cartagena, Colombia, this week, Mr. Rubin commented: "This guy just
doesn’t seem to get it. He’s supposed to be America’s leader, not an ersatz
South American, friend of the Franks, roommate of the Russians, soul-mate
of the Muslims, etc."
It has been reported that the president's visit to Colombia got off to a bad start --
at least 11 members of the Secret Service team sent there in advance of his visit,
were relieved of duty after what were described as wild drinking parties and
arguments with some prostitutes they had employed for a night at the hotel where
the American staff were staying. They were promptly replaced, presumably by
agents somewhat more restrained in their leisure time activities. And, from other
reports, several members of the U.S. military stationed there, were also involved
in the developing scandal.
The Obama administration moved quickly to deal with the problem, but the
scandal made the United States the laughingstock of the important summit, as
diplomats were talking more about the hooker escapade rather than focusing on
Obama’s goals in the region. “I had a breakfast meeting to discuss trade
and drugs, but the only thing the other delegates wanted to talk about was
the story of the agents and the hookers,” commented one Latin American
diplomat. Former Secret Service agent, Ronald Kessler, author of In the
President's Secret Service, said: “It's the biggest scandal in the history of
the Secret Service and the most basic breach of security.”
And to wind up the scandal-plagued American presence at the Summit of the
Americas, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton slugged back a beer
and kicked up her heels at a Cuban-themed nightclub in Cartagena. Photos
snapped by surprised onlookers show the former first lady swilling a
Colombian-brewed Aguila (“Eagle’’) cerveza, straight from the bottle and
hitting the dance floor. Witnesses said Clinton played maracas and danced the
rumba to numbers played by the club’s Cuba-centric house band. [Does she
have the right to relax? Certainly . . . but she should never forget that she is
the Secretary of State of the United States of America.]
The Washington Post summed up the Summit quite succinctly: "The sixth
Summit of the Americas ended without an official declaration -- a negotiated
statement of shared principles from the hemisphere’s heads of state -- and
left open the question of whether there would be a seventh such meeting. The
ambiguous conclusion underscored the fact that Obama, while pledging a new
relationship with the United States’ leery southern neighbors, has had little
success in bridging significant policy differences that have divided the region
for decades. With the scandal involving a number of secret Service agents
and prostitution coloring the weekend meeting, Obama departed here with
the U.S. image mildly blemished and the enduring political differences
between the hemisphere’s wealthy north and rising south firmly intact."
Reuters reported in similar vein, saying that the U.S. emerged from the Summit
"increasingly isolated," and added that the show of unity among the other
nations highlighted the "steady decline of Washington's influence in a region
that has become less dependent on U.S. trade and investment thanks
economic growth rates that are the envy of the developed world and new
opportunities with China." Reuters summarized Obama's efforts in two words,
"He failed."
And from our research, a few "One Liners," some longer than others:
President Barack Obama, on his proposed "Buffet Rule" (which failed to pass
in the Senate on Monday): "There are others who are saying: 'Well, this is
just a gimmick. Just taxing millionaires and billionaires, just imposing the
Buffett Rule, won’t do enough to close the deficit’ Well, I agree."
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, on the current high gasoline prices: "The
economy is in a much better position to deal with those pressures."
Kim Jong-Un, the new Supreme Leader of North Korea: "Yesterday, we
were a weak and small country trampled upon by big powers. Today, our
geopolitical location remains the same, but we are transformed into a
proud political and military power and an independent people that no one
can dare provoke."
Gerard Barzan, humorist: "You don't have to fool all the people all of the
time; you just have to fool enough to get elected."
Mat Staver, Liberty Counsel: “Intimidated by the American Civil Liberties
Union or Freedom From Religion Foundation, the public square is
becoming a haven for religious bigotry. As a nation, we are long overdue
in demanding that our fundamental liberties be fully honored and protected.”
Here are a few "Afterthoughts" from our review of the week's news . . .
In case you were wondering about all those first family vacations ... on
a panel with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and Brazilian President
Dilma Rousseff, and moderated by MSNBC's Chris Matthews, during the
Summit of the Americas in Colombia last week, Mr. Obama said, "When I
take these summit trips, part of my job is to scout out where I may want
to bring Michelle back later for a vacation. So we'll make sure to come
back some time in the near future."
Last Sunday was a meaningful date in American history: On April 15, 1865,
President Lincoln died. He was shot the night before in Ford's Theater. On April
15, 1912, the Titanic sank. It struck an iceberg the night before. On April 15, 1947,
Jackie Robinson ran out to his position at first base as a member of the Brooklyn
Dodgers, and became the first African-American to play baseball in the Major
Leagues since the earliest years of the game. And April 15, 1954 became the
deadline for Income Tax returns.
Doug Giles, Pastor, Clash Christian Church in Florida, and an outspoken
Conservative, offers a thought on the religious aspects of the upcoming election:
"The same media that ignored information about Obama’s racist religious
roots steeped in Marxism is already queuing up with queries about Romney's
Mormonism as somehow being weird and a tad white ... The duplicitous
journalists who saw no story in the well-documented anti-honky rhetoric of
Wright’s/Obama’s 'religion' now want to paint Romney with the racist brush
... As an evangelical, I'll be the first to admit that I don’t get Mormonism,
but I do get Marxism, and we’re now seeing the political fruit coming from
Obama’s ignored and divisive theological roots. Which leads me to this
conclusion as an evangelical: ... in 2012 I will take a quasi-conservative
Mormon who has been ridiculously successful, over an uncompromised
Marxist any ol’ day. And lastly, a word of advice for the MSM (Main Stream
Media): I would leave Mitt’s Mormonism well enough alone unless, of course,
you want Obama’s religious roots to be exposed, as well. I believe Americans
will find in Mormonism more pro-traditional American sentiments than they
will in Reverend Wright’s greatest sermon collections."
In case you were wondering, but hadn't computed it: Under President
Obama prices of gasoline have more than doubled -- from a national average of
$1.85 on Inauguration Day, 2009, to $3.92 this past week. It has been estimated
that this means the average American family is paying $2,200 more per year for
gasoline today than when Obama came into office. And that's not the only increase
in living costs -- as gasoline prices increase, the cost of just about everything else
increases as well.
Historically, our Founding Fathers and other leaders of our nation have
not hesitated to give God and the Bible a prominent place in government
"There is not a single instance in history in which civil liberty was lost, and
religious liberty preserved entire. If therefore we yield up our temporal
property, we at the same time deliver the conscience into bondage."
--John Witherspoon, 1776
"It is the duty of nations, as well as of men, to own their dependence upon
the overruling power of God and to recognize the sublime truth announced
in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are
blessed whose God is the Lord." -- President Abraham Lincoln, 1863
"Hold fast to the Bible as the sheet anchor of your liberties; write its
precepts on your hearts and practice them in your lives. To the influence
of this book we are indebted for the progress made, and to this we must
look as our guide in the future.” -- President Ulysses S. Grant, 1874
And finally, the usual summary: "Another week, another ANC issue"
In the nearly 10 full years of publication, the purpose and premise of ANC
has never changed. It has been, and is: pro-Christian, pro-American and
pro-Conservative. From the many messages we receive from our readers,
we are encouraged that you appreciate this approach to current events. By
the same token, we have always taken an "anti" position against those who
are clearly "anti" our viewpoints. We have never charged any subscription
fee, but if we are going to be able to continue, we need to have the support
of our readers. Please click HERE to send your contribution by check or
credit card. We look forward to hearing from you, and hope to be able to
continue this publication.
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