Wednesday
The American News Commentary
Pro-Christian, Pro-American, Pro-Conservative
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
~ Vol. 18, No. 22 ~ ~ Delayed issue for June 6, 2012 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ © 2012 ~- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
An important understanding for us from an authoritative source:
"I am one of those people who believe firmly that the very core
of America’s greatness and uniqueness is due to the fact that
the founding fathers built this country’s foundation
solely on the rock of the Christian Scriptures."
Michael Youssef, Ph.D.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
GRANTED: JOBS AND THE ECONOMY ARE OF MAJOR
IMPORTANCE IN THE UPCOMING ELECTION -- BUT
SHOULD ALL MORAL VALUES BE IGNORED?
First, however, let us pause for a moment, and think back some 68 years to the
date of June 6, 1944, a day that will be forever remembered as "D-Day." On that
day, under the command of General Eisenhower, more than 150,000 allied troops
crossed the English Channel and stormed the beaches of Normandy against the
well-armed and heavily fortified German forces in "Operation Overlord."
General Eisenhower's message to the Allied expeditionary forces has gone down in
history as one of the great military speeches of all time. Some of its phrases will
forever be remembered: "You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade ...
Your task will not be an easy one ... I have full confidence in your courage
and devotion to duty, and skill in battle. We will accept nothing else than full
victory...Let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and
noble undertaking."
In less than a week the beaches had been secured,. and more than 325,000 allied
troops had augmented the assault forces, and the march to the "full victory"
decreed by Eisenhower had begun. But in taking those Normandy beaches, more
than 4,400 allied troops had given their lives; among them 2,500 Americans and
1,900 from Britain and Canada.
We have just honored the memory of our military on Memorial Day . . . let us keep
alive that flame of remembrance on this anniversary of D-Day, 1944.
Looking back at the 2008 presidential campaign, Senator Obama -- facing the
handicap of a name like Barack Hussein Obama, when the nation was at war over
the provocations of a Mid-East dictator also named Hussein, and with his years of
Muslim upbringing on the record -- realized that he needed to be perceived as a
candidate with strong religious -- even Christian -- moral convictions. One of the
steps he took in this pursuit -- many observers see it as perhaps the major step
in developing this perception -- was to participate in a two hour, televised
"forum" (not a debate) alongside his opponent, Senator John McCain, under the
sponsorship of a Southern Baptist pastor named Rick Warren, in his church in
Southern California.
The two candidates appeared separately, and were asked the same questions by
host Warren. Perhaps the key question was concerning what it meant to each man
to be a Christian. Obama's answer was that it meant " walking humbly with our
God ... I know that I don't walk alone, and I know that if I can get myself out
of the way that I can maybe carry out in some small way what he intends."
McCain's answer was brief: "It means I'm saved and forgiven." To another
question on a moral issue, as to when does a baby get rights as a human, Obama
declined to answer, replying that it was "above my pay grade," while McCain
replied, "At the moment of conception."
But although those issues were raised, and the candidates answered in the manner
illustrated here, it remains a fact that Mr. Obama, and not Mr. McCain, was elected.
The question arises: Why aren't those issues important in this election?
ANC is not alone in asking this question. Former Senator (and actor) Fred
Thompson in his Internet site, under this heading The Mormon Or The Muslim?
dealt with this question: "Who can we support? Romney is a Mormon and
Obama is a Muslim." Egyptian-born Dr. Michael Youssef (whom we quoted in
opening today's issue), in his site under the heading Obama's Religion, also dealt
with that question. And other observers and commentators are facing the same or
similar questions.
Of course the economy is important. Remember Bill Clinton's election in 1992 --
his successful presidential campaign was helped by the basic theme: "It's the
economy, stupid." And our Founding Fathers had much to say about the economy.
Consider this from Thomas Jefferson in 1821 -- it could easily be used in this year's
campaign, with no changes whatsoever: "The multiplication of public offices,
increase of expense beyond income, growth and entailment of a public debt,
are indications soliciting the employment of the pruning knife."
But of equal importance and equally frequent usage, was our Founding Fathers'
strong emphasis on the need for sound public morals, and for an often used term:
"virtue." Here are just a few quotes from the men who planned, designed and
established this nation; first, from John Adams, our second president, in 1754: "It is
the duty of the clergy to accommodate their discourses to the times, to preach
against such sins as are most prevalent, and recommend such virtues as are
most wanted." Or from Ben Franklin, in 1776, in his pattern for American life:
"A Bible and a newspaper in every house, a good school in every district ...
are the principal support of virtue, morality, and civil liberty." Or from
Samuel Adams in 1776, "He therefore is the truest friend to the liberty of this
country who tries most to promote its virtue...The sum of it all is, if we would
most truly enjoy this gift of Heaven, let us become a virtuous people." And
from George Washington, our nation's first president, at his inauguration in 1789,
“I hope that the foundation of our national policy will be laid in the pure and
immutable principles of private morality."
These expressions of the solidly held convictions of our Founding Fathers were
based on the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States.
The outworking of the faith held by those men is clearly evidenced in both of those
foundational documents. And why shouldn't we seek for leadership which honors
the God of the Bible, and supports marriage and the family, and assures babies the
right of life rather than being killed through legally and politically correct abortions?
Among American heroes whom we should never forget: John F. Kennedy,
(JFK), who was awarded the Navy's Medal of Freedom for Heroism during
WWII, and who was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his book, Profiles in Courage,
before he became our youngest-ever elected president. He stated in his inaugural
address in 1961: "I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same
solemn oath our forbearers prescribed nearly a century and three quarters
ago. The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands
the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life.
And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are
still at issue around the globe --The belief that the rights of man come not
from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God." Just over a
thousand days later he was dead, but his words remain with us today, that the
rights that our Founding Fathers, and through the years others like them, fought
and died for, come not from the hands of a benevolent government, but from the
hand of God.
This week, as is so often the case, due to the liberal, left leaning bias of the
"Main Stream Media," it is important to know What Others Are Saying.
Robert Ringer (in A Voice of Sanity):"As Obama's deep, dark, dirty past
continues to stink up the air in Washington - there's a lot of buzz inside
the beltway about the need for Democrats to go for the nuclear option.
That would mean dumping the Delaware Dimwit and replacing him with
Hilla the Hun (as Gennifer Flowers said Bubba Bill used to call Hillary
during their thirteen-year affair). In a 2007 presidential debate, Hillary
described herself as "a proud, modern, American progressive." [Just what
we need -- another one!]
David Paterson (former governor of New York State): "So what if
Barack Obama is ineligible to hold the office of President of the United
States and is perpetrating the greatest fraud of the century on the American
people? It doesn't really matter because ''at this point, it's kind of like he
got away with it.'"
Tony Rubolotta (writing in New Media Journal): "Obama hates America.
Transformation is not enough. America's crimes and sins must be punished.
America must be humiliated, its military weakened, its precious liberty
eradicated, its sons and daughters enslaved, its culture polluted, its economy
bankrupted, its great cities blighted, its pride stripped, its institutions
destroyed, its friends repudiated and its enemies emboldened."
Bloomberg News: Mr. Obama told campaign donors in Chicago and Minnesota
that Europe's sovereign debt crisis is largely to blame for the slowest month of US
employment growth in a year: "We're not where we need to be. A lot of that's
attributable to Europe and the cloud that's coming over from the Atlantic.
The whole world economy has been weakened by it, and it's having an impact
on us." [A nice change in his "blame game" -- he didn't blame George W. for it.]
And this week our research came across these few "One Liners". . .:
From the Conservative Outpost: "The May jobs report was supposed to be
all happy and sunny, with Obama as the fearless knight on the galloping
steed of economic recovery...Oops."
From the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the Obamas' long time pastor: “Church is not
their thing. It never was their thing... We knew it wasn’t his, but she was not
the kind of black woman whose mamma made her go to church, made her
go to Sunday school … She wasn’t raised in that kind of environment, so
the church was not an integral part of their lives before they got married,
or after they got married.”
From Sir Winston Churchill: "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed
of ignorance and the gospel of envy, its inherent value is the equal sharing
of misery."
As always, there are a few "Afterthoughts" to add for your consideration:
Several months ago we started a Prayer Countdown to Election Day, Nov.
6, 2012. As of today, there are 153 days until this year's Election Day. This is
now widely considered to be the most important election, perhaps ever in our
nation's history -- but certainly in living memory. There are enough patriotic
Christians in this country to restore America to the kind of nation our Founding
Fathers planned for it to be. But we must register and we must vote . . . and we
must pray for God to continue to bless this nation.
The alternative is happening all over the world. In Nigeria this past weekend,
Islamist terrorists destroyed another Christian church, killing many Christian
worshippers. In Egypt, the Muslim brotherhood appears right on the edge of
taking control, and the likely-to-be-elected president this past week announced
his intent to make all Christians convert to Islam, or pay exorbitant taxes, or leave
the country. In Israel, the site of the city which God so loves, the citizens are
facing an imminent onslaught of Muslim enemy forces which have announced
their goal of eradicating the Israeli nation from the face of the earth. And across
Europe -- even in Great Britain -- the Muslim Islamic faith is growing and is
gradually eroding the centuries of Christian life and culture. And in simple words:
"Yes, it can happen here."
How far will they go? Former CNN and MSNBC host, Bill Press (remember
him?), who now has a radio show called Full Court Press, commented on the
Catholic Church's lawsuit against Obama's health care mandates as being a
violation of religious liberty: "These bishops are in Mitt Romney’s pocket and
the Republican Party’s pocket, and the Catholic Church has become a tool
of the far political right in this country....And Benedict XVI is number one.”
ANC is not alone on this subject. Two weeks ago we dealt at some length
with Mr Obama's problem of narcissism. Now this past week Mark Alexander, in
Patriot Post, wrote very perceptively on this subject. He referred to the common
diagnosis for this type of behavior as Narcissistic Pathology Disorder (NPD), and
explained that "The most malignant form of narcissism is accompanied by
intelligence and charisma, which enables the deception of others in order to
secure positions of power and influence. No executive in American history has
provided a more textbook archetypal case study of Narcissistic Pathology
Disorder than Barack Hussein Obama, who embodied the pathology of the Left,
and successfully deceived the masses with his intelligence and charisma." And
he concluded with these words: "Like all narcissists, Obama's life is a lie."
As for our "Conservative" position, we are not alone on that, either. In
the closely watched recall election in Wisconsin where the Liberals tried to oust
Conservative Governor Walker, the governor withstood their months of attacks,
and demonstrated that Americans generally have had enough of the Liberals'
"spend and tax" philosophy, and are ready to return to sound Conservative
principles of government. Even our president was perceptive enough not to back
Walker's Liberal Democrat opponent.
Every time one researches our Founding Fathers, there is much to learn.
"He therefore is the truest friend to the liberty of this country who tries
most to promote its virtue, and who, so far as his power and influence
extend, will not suffer a man to be chosen into any office of power and
trust who is not a wise and virtuous man....The sum of all is, if we would
most truly enjoy this gift of Heaven, let us become a virtuous people."
-- Samuel Adams, 1784
-- Samuel Adams, 1784
"Let the American youth never forget, that they possess a noble inheritance,
bought by the toils, and sufferings, and blood of their ancestors; and the
capacity, if wisely improved, and faithfully guarded, of transmitting to their
latest posterity all the substantial blessings of life, the peaceful enjoyment
of liberty, property, religion, and independence."
-- Joseph Story, 1833
The old familiar summary: "Another week, another issue of ANC."
There is so much happening in the world -- here in America, and internationally,
every where else. We don't have the space to comment on all current events,
and you don't have time to read that many comments. So we try for a reasonable
balance . . . always within our three basic positions: Pro-Christian, Pro-American
and Pro-Conservative, and send each issue in the hope there will be something of
interest and help as you read it. And we want to continue as we have been doing
for almost 10 years . . . but we can only do so if our readers contribute to help
keep this publication going. Please click on one of the "Support" links -- like this
for your help!
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]
