No Matter What Happens ...

... the America that we have known and loved will soon cease to be.

It's inevitable and it's coming. Change that is. We elected a man who promised change, a man who promised if elected, to remake America. With the help of Congress and a sizable cadre of unelected, unvetted, and nearly unknown czars, he is doing it.

And it isn't only our president and his Democrat accomplices. Do you recall the summer of 2007 and the tough political struggle over amnesty for illegal aliens? Do you remember the millions of phone calls and faxes and emails to our congressional representatives? Have you forgotten that President Bush was for a bill that he could sign into law that would grant those entering our country illegally, a path to citizenship? Can you picture Lou Dobbs on CNN every night carrying on about the North American Union and how the dollar was going away and would be replaced by a new form of money, the Amero?

This isn't about political party. It isn't about conservative vs. liberal. It's about a radical shift in the way America works. It's about a government in Washington, DC that is muscling its way into every nook and cranny of our lives. It's about Washington, DC vs. the American people.

Sounds crazy, doesn't it?

Yet with each passing day, and each new revelation, or proposal in Congress, it becomes clearer and clearer to me that our economic downturn is not typical, that our government's actions are radical, and that the people making decisions are only telling us half the story. Far too much evidence has emerged to think that everything going on is coincidence. It cannot be detailed here. If you think I'm nuts, please do yourself one favor before you cast me aside. Do your own research on just a few things and see if you don't find yourself scratching your head in wonderment. How about a few questions?

• Why did thousands of banks and mortgage lenders make "toxic" loans to under-qualified borrowers?
• Why did Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and other secondary mortgage market businesses buy up these "toxic" loans from banks?
• Who is Franklin Raines, where did he work between 1999 and 2004, and how much money did he make during those years?
• How come Goldman Sachs received a huge chunk of TARP bailout money and their large competitor, Lehman Brothers, did not? (Hint: How many high level government employees once worked for Goldman Sachs before they came to work for the Federal Government?)
• How can the billions of dollars given to ACORN in the March 2009 Stimulus Package, stimulate the economy?
• Who or what is ACORN anyway?
• Who actually wrote House Bill HR 3200 (the healthcare bill that everyone is up in arms about)?
• Why do we need a national, civilian, quasi-military force?

The above list represents just a few questions of the hundreds that people should be asking.

So, what's coming?

No one can say for sure, of course, but it is evident that when the dust settles from all of this upheaval, the party we call America will be over. Yeah, I said "party." Why? because most Americans have been cruising along now at a pretty good clip at very little personal cost. The payment is about to come due.

Our house is dividing, splitting apart. Jesus said, and Lincoln echoed it during the Civil War, that "a house divided against itself cannot stand."

The two extremes of what may come are:

1. A nationalizing of more and more American industries and a super-sized, big-brother central government (as in the Soviet Union, Cuba, Venezuela, etc.)
2. A civil war (hopefully only with words and declarations and secessions) that leaves us with several smaller countries made up of collections of states.

It is possible that something in-between could emerge, but we sort of already have a mild form of No. 1 now. Some people are calling what we have now a "soft" tyranny.

So, if you have made it to the end of this little blog, you probably have at least somewhat of an open mind. Use it to explore the few questions I posed above.

Grassroots or Astroturf?

Here is a link to the real story (with many great pictures) of what happened when Nancy Pelosi went to Denver on Thursday, August 6th to visit the Stout Street Clinic. About 200 pro-freedom, anti-Obamacare protestors showed up with home-made signs. About 40 supporters of the dastardly plan came to counter-protest. Most of their signs were printed. They had bullhorns. One Obamacare supporter said that folks on their side had to leave because their bus was waiting to take them all to another event.

Which group do you think is organized by outside interests?

Mark Steyn writes about the right kind and the wrong kind of community organizing. He explains the "right" kind of organizing.

"Obama’s a community organizer. We’re the community. He organizes us. What part of that don’t you get?"

Maybe this is what they are planning to do with all of us rabble rousers. Just what is a "resettlement" specialist anyway?

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Our Republic and the Shade Tree Mechanic

I used to be somewhat of a "shade tree mechanic." If you are not familiar with the phrase, a "shade tree mechanic" is one who "attempts" to perform routine maintenance and make minor repairs on his car. Generally, the motive is to try and save money. But sometimes guys, and even gals, just like to tinker. My motive always fell under the saving money category. And I say "attempts" because sometimes the "shade tree mechanic" gets in over his head and ends up costing himself more money than he would have had he just taken the car to the shop in the first place. It's happened to me.

At one time, I somewhat knew my way around my cars. I used to change my own oil and air filter, and flush my own radiator. I have changed disk brakes. I have replaced more than one alternator, a regulator, a water pump, mufflers and tailpipes, and starters. Batteries are fun to mess around with. And then there are all those hoses and belts and cables. I've replaced two radiators, one heater core, and a vacuum-driven windshield wiper motor. I have gapped my own spark plugs and reset the points on my distributor.

I made many a trip to the junkyard in my day, seeking a bargain on a used part to switch with a worn out part. I've made attempts to adjust carburetors with mixed results. With the help and guidance of one friend, I replaced a worn out clutch plate. And with the aid of another, I even removed the valve cover from my car's engine and performed a valve job.

My dad on the other hand was what I call a "spray can mechanic." Dad, it seems, had a spray can for every automotive malady. If I had trouble starting my car Dad would suddenly appear from out of his basement with a spray can containing a magical chemical. "Here, try this," he would say. Squirted in just the right amount, and in just the right place, Dad's miracle spray sometimes actually fixed the problem. At least temporarily.

I'm no mechanic but I have somehow managed to keep my lawnmowers working beyond their normal life-span. By picking up various tricks along the way, I have been able to nurse another summer of service out of mowers that should have given up the ghost.

These days about the only thing I do with my cars is change the windshield wipers, replace the city stickers on the windshield, and the DMV stickers on my license plates. Everything else I leave to the "experts." And it's not because I have lots of spare money, it's because there isn't a whole lot left for the "shade tree mechanic" to do anymore.

Gone are the large dashboard instrument clusters with oil pressure gauges and the like. Today, our vehicle's computer sends us warnings via electronic icons that suddenly light up on our dash. And our only recourse for that pesky "check engine" light is to drive to the shop and have the mechanic plug in his electronic reader. A code pops up and the problem is identified.

If you are the owner of some late model vehicles, you can't even manually check your oil or transmission fluid anymore. Manufacturers are eliminating dipsticks. Your car's computer tells you when your reservoir is low.

When it comes to cars these days, little is left for the regular guy to do. Your toaster breaks, you throw it away and get a new one. Same with vacuum cleaners and blow dryers. Just about all of the smaller appliances and electronic gadgets are throwaways. We are forced to let the experts, with all of their high dollar diagnostic equipment, evaluate and repair.

In the quest to fix an errant television my dad would unscrew the pegboard panel from the back of our television set and remove the vacuum tubes. Then we'd hop in the car, drive to the nearest drug store and test them one by one in that big, yellow vacuum tube tester in the corner of the store. Dad couldn't tell you how a television worked, but he could usually get ours up and running again when it went on the blink.

Some people look down their noses at blue collar workers. Last year, Joe the Plumber clashed with the Obama campaign and came under scrutiny and suffered mockery. And Sarah Palin, then governor of Alaska and Vice Presidential candidate, found herself scorned, ridiculed, and labeled as stupid. These people weren't, you know, educated in the right institutions.

But if a pipe burst in the home of one of these elite critics, the ones that went to Harvard or Princeton or Columbia University, Joe the Plumber could fix it. Those very smart, highly educated snobs would call someone with the skills to diagnose and repair what's broken.

What many fail to realize is that fixing things requires cognitive activity. "Ah, there's your problem," cracks the mechanic, eyeballing that mass of steel and hoses and wires and belts under your hood. Understanding the way things work and making them work again after they break engages the brain. Logic, reason, and rational thought serve the technician.

Today with our dashboard, light-up icons and our throw away televisions, the everyday American is deprived of the cognitive processes that our dads enjoyed. And I say enjoyed because although frustrating, there is little to match the satisfaction that comes from figuring out how to make something work that wouldn't.

Our republic is broken and broken badly. We all know it but we don't know what to do. We rally, carry signs, raise our voices, write letters and make calls. But we still feel helpless.

We don't know how to fix it because we don't know how it really works. Some of us know how it was designed to work, how it used to work a long time ago. And many don't know that, or even care to know. We no longer comprehend how power is really wielded in Washington. Our check and balance system has failed us. Accountability for office holders faded away a generation ago, or more.

We have left our self-governing republic to the experts. We no longer have the cognitive tools to diagnose and fix our problem. As a nation, we flail around in the dark.

Ironic, isn't it? In this age of exponentially expanding knowledge and technology, we employ far less diagnostic capability than our parents. We push a button or flip a switch. If it doesn't work we call somebody or buy a new one.

Can't do that with government.

We aren't nearly as smart as we think we are. Technology leveled the playing field, stripped us of our need for critical thinking and analysis, lulled us to sleep, and is slowly stealing our souls.

Ben Franklin said that our founders gave us "a republic if you can keep it."

We haven't.

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Success and Failure Redefined

I have added a new post regarding success and failure on my Kingdom>>> Church>>> Culture blog. Check it out.

American Idol vs. Obamacare

Who won American Idol this past spring? If you answered Kris Allen you are correct. Who was the runner up? It was the young man that many thought would win it all. But Adam Lambert came in second.

Here are some other Idol-related names you no doubt know:

• Kelly Clarkson
• Ruben Studdard
• Clay Aiken
• Fantasia Barrino
• Jennifer Hudson
  
• Carrie Underwood
• Taylor Hicks
• Katherine McPhee
• Jordin Sparks
• David Cook
• David Archuleta

They are all pretty much household names now to most Americans.

Isn't it amazing how quickly we can rattle off these names and yet we do not have a clue about what's REALLY in the Obama Health Care plan?

I downloaded a PDF of HR 3200, the America's Affordable Health Care Choices Act. I am not a lawyer and the bill's language is almost incomprehensible. But around the Internet and in various emails, a list of some of the most egregious elements is making the rounds. Perhaps you have already seen it. Here are a few highlights:

Pg 16: If you lose your job or your employer cancels their health care plan, you must go on the government plan. You have no other choice.

Pg 30, Sec 123: THE GOVERNMENT WILL decide what treatments and benefits you get.

Pg 59, lines 21-24: THE GOVERNMENT WILL have direct access to your bank accounts for funds transfer.

Pg 72, lines 8-14: THE GOVERNMENT WILL create a Health Care Exchange to bring private health care plans under government control.

Pg 127, lines 1-16: THE GOVERNMENT WILL determine how much doctors get paid for their work.

Pg 167, lines 18-23: THE GOVERNMENT WILL tax any individual who does not have acceptable health care at a rate of 2.5% of their gross income.

Pg 429, lines 13-25: THE GOVERNMENT WILL specify which doctors can write an "end of life" order.

Pg 503, lines 13-19: THE GOVERNMENT WILL build registries and data networks from your electronic medical records.

Pg 660-671: THE GOVERNMENT WILL tell doctors where their residency will be, thus where they will live.

Pg 711, lines 8-14: THE GOVERNMENT WILL have broad powers to deny health care providers and suppliers admittance into the Health Care Exchange.

Pg 876-892: THE GOVERNMENT WILL take over the education of our medical students and doctors.

Pg 936: THE GOVERNMENT WILL develop “Healthy People & National Public Health Performance Standards."

Pg 1001: THE GOVERNMENT WILL establish a National Medical Device Registry.

Original Source: Common Sense from a Common Man
Readable List: Debate Both Sides

And those are just of the few of the many egregious elements of this radical legislation.

Why is it that we Americans spend more time focusing on who's winning American Idol, who's the best dancer on Dancing With the Stars, or what happened to Michael Jackson's prosthetic nose, than we do with the government's radical plan to manage every detail of our lives?

Are we really that stupid? If so, maybe we deserve to lose our freedom!

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Are You Presuming ... ?

Are you presuming that your life in America will go on forever as it always has? Do you just take it for granted that the freedoms you enjoy and the relative prosperity that has accompanied life here in this wonderful country just happen by themselves?

Following the Constitutional Convention in 1787, Benjamin Franklin stepped out of the meeting hall and on to the street. A woman's voice immediately caught his ear.

"So, Dr. Franklin, what have you given us?"

"A republic, if you can keep it," came his reply.

IF YOU CAN KEEP IT. Five simple words that describe the reasons behind our nation's current troubles about as well as anything that could be said.

You see, freedom is not forever automatic. It is contingent upon us doing certain things.

And we have failed to do them. We have not maintained our republic. We have not kept it in good working order. We've become lazy, self-absorbed creatures bumping along life's road with minimal thought given to the idea of self-government.

Self-government is not a spectator sport, you know. It is not something for someone else to do.

Over the past couple of weeks our Congress has become gummed up with a host of questions and doubts about our president's "Health Care Reform" legislation (oh wait ... I forgot ... it's now "Health Insurance Reform"). A bill he hoped would skate right through has suddenly become bogged down.

Why?

Because there is a small minority of Americans who are raising their voices in opposition.

After digging a bit into the bill (which most in Congress have not read ... even the president acknowledged his unfamiliarity with certain provisions) we find that it is more of a machine for "big brother" to manage minute details of our lives than it is a program to provide us with insurance coverage. And after familiarizing myself with pieces of it, I guarantee that you do not want this monster on your back.

But it's THE FEW who see self-government as a responsibility who are to be credited with derailing (for now) both health care reform and the cap and trade debacle. And if by some miracle THE FEW are successful in stopping this runaway government behemoth, THE MANY will still reap the benefits.

Self-government is not a spectator sport.

Do not presume that the wonderful life you enjoy today will be here tomorrow. And although much has already been destroyed, we still have somewhat of a republic left. But what's left will only remain IF WE CAN KEEP IT.

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My Response to Webb

Senator Webb,

Thank you for your canned response to my email dated 7/19/09. I realize that you are very busy and cannot personally respond to every communication you receive from your constituents.

Although you did not directly answer my two questions (Are you a statesman? Or are you just another run-of-the-mill politician?), your tepid and ill-informed response leads me to believe that you are the latter.

In your form letter, you claim the following:

"... the United States ranks 42nd in the world in life expectancy, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and our health care system ranks lower than many countries on quality, access, efficiency, equity, and preventative care."

Sir, you are quite incorrect. Here are the facts:

The World Health Organization (WHO) lists the U.S. 37th out of 191 countries for quality of healthcare. Our life expectancy isn’t even in the top five. Isn’t that pathetic-why even Cuba has a lower infant mortality rate than us!

Oh ... wait a minute... what standards and guidelines does WHO actually use for measuring quality? How about these?

1.health level
2.health distribution
3.responsiveness
4.responsiveness distribution
5.financial fairness

Yeah that's right. In order to "balance the playing field," WHO ranks health care systems around the world based upon some things that have absolutely nothing to do with health care at all.

For example, WHO counts car accidents and murder rates when factoring life expectancy. Murder and accident rates indicate social ills, not the quality of one's health. And if these two factors are removed from the equation, guess what? Yep! The United States has the highest life expectancy in the Western world! Who could have imagined?

Infant mortality? The United States actually saves more premature babies, and counts them as live human beings. Some European countries do not even count a baby born alive if under a certain weight. And both Cuba and Europe have higher abortion rates than the U.S., so we are penalized for not aborting babies with more life threatening anomalies and problems.

WHO's rankings include factors like “fairness” and “equality. Do all citizens pay the same percentage of their income for health care? No? Oh sorry, you lose points USA because in your country some people make more money than others. And that's a bad thing.

So, because of all of these "skewing" factors in WHO's measuring system, the United States, even though it beats every country in the world in regards to cancer survival, technology, and many other treatments, is ranked low.

Even Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) are counted as "unfair" in WHO's rating system.

Finally, if the "skewing" factors in WHO's measuring system are removed, the measure of how quickly patients can access care, the manner in which they are treated (dignity, confidentiality) and the choice of doctors and treatments (ie: responsiveness), the U.S. is actually number one again!

Sir, I understand that for any number of reasons, many in America do not have health care. I also understand that America's health care system is not perfect. But let's not throw out the baby with the bathwater, OK? We don't have to completely replace something to improve it.

Well, that is of course unless we are talking about our representatives in Washington.

READ THE BILL before you vote!

Respectfully,

Mark W. Weaver

Thanks to my good friend, K.S. for researching this topic. Information in this letter is taken from the following sources:

http://www.rangelmd.com/index.php/2007/08/25/the-misleading-who-health-care-rankings/ “The Misleading WHO Health Care Rankings” by Chris Rangel, M.D.; RangelMD.com; August 25, 2007

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9259 “WHOm are They Kidding?” by Glen Whitman

http://smartgirlnation.com/2009/06/01/is-there-political-bias-in-universal-healthcare-reform/ “Popular Ranking Unfairly Misrepresents the U.S. Health Care System” by Richard Fessler, PhD

http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-613.pdf Policy Analysis: The Grass is Not Always Greener, A Look at National Health Care Systems Around the World, by Michael Tanner; Cato Institute; March 18, 2008

http://www.rangelmd.com/index.php/2007/08/25/the-misleading-who-health-care-rankings/ “The Misleading WHO Health Care Rankings” by Chris Rangel, M.D.; RangelMD.com; August 25, 2007

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9259 “WHOm are They Kidding?” by Glen Whitman

http://smartgirlnation.com/2009/06/01/is-there-political-bias-in-universal-healthcare-reform/ “Popular Ranking Unfairly Misrepr esents the U.S. Health Care System” by Richard Fessler, PhD

http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-613.pdf Policy Analysis: The Grass is Not Always Greener, A Look at National Health Care Systems Around the World, by Michael Tanner; Cato Institute; March 18, 2008

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Webb's Response

I received a "canned" response from Senator Webb. I'm publishing it below. Later, I will publish my response to his response. I'd like to see where this goes, if anywhere. Here it is:

"Thank you for contacting me regarding health care reform. I appreciate your taking the time to share your views.

"As you know, addressing the health care crisis in our country is a top priority for me and my colleagues in Congress. There are 47 million Americans without health insurance and millions more who are underinsured. Health care costs currently consume more than $2 trillion per year and are estimated to reach over $4 trillion by 2017, jeopardizing family budgets and the long term financial stability of our system. Despite these huge expenditures, the United States ranks 42^nd in the world in life expectancy, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and our health care system ranks lower than many countries on quality, access, efficiency, equity, and preventative care. We must improve the value and availability of care while addressing the increasing burden health care costs are placing on American families.

"With my support, the U.S. Senate passed legislation this year to expand the Children’s Health Insurance Program (H.R. 2). This important bill will ensure continued health insurance coverage for the 6.6 million children from low-income families currently enrolled in the program nationwide, and provide coverage for an additional 4.1 million uninsured children. In addition, I supported passage of the bipartisan American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (H.R. 1), which will help modernize our health system by providing funding for health information technology infrastructure and incentives to encourage doctors and hospitals to use electronic health records. These investments will help reduce costly medical errors and generate savings through improvements in the quality of care and care coordination.

"While these measures are helpful, there remains a critical need for comprehensive change that will advance the type of systemic health care reform that is essential to our nation and all Americans. I will continue to work with members from both sides of the aisle to achieve this objective. I believe that everyone in this country should have access to health insurance that is affordable, that provides adequate coverage, and that is always available. We can do this by producing better information regarding treatment, promoting health and preventing disease, and creating incentives so that all Americans can receive quality health care. We should also closely examine the role that health insurance companies play on the rising costs of health insurance in this country.

"As the Senate continues to debate health care reform, please be assured that your views will be very helpful to me and my staff. I hope that you will continue to share your views with us in the years ahead.

I would also invite you to visit my website at www.webb.senate.gov for regular updates about my activities and positions on matters that are important to Virginia and our nation."

Sincerely,

Jim Webb

United States Senator

My Health Care Letter to Webb and Warner

Senator Webb/Warner,

Are you a statesman? Or are you just another run-of-the-mill politician? I preface my letter to you this way because we all are about to find out (you included).

This coming week you will be pressured with heavy, Chicago-style politics. President Obama MUST HAVE his health care reform at any cost. And he needs it not for us, the people. He needs it for himself, for his legacy, for his name in history, and for the continued consolidation of his power.

Our founders designed our system of government with three branches. They did so in order to provide checks and balances against a runaway branch. Well, if you haven't noticed, the executive branch is running away with all kinds of power.

Bypassing most of his Senate approved cabinet (Treasury excluded), he has installed 32 Czars (so far). With the help of Treasury and a multitude of incestuous personal connections to the Federal Reserve and Wall Street, he is rapidly squeezing out smaller banks and small businesses and feeding the Wall Street giants like Goldman Sachs and General Electric (now in bed with the government). Read Matt Tiabbi's "Great American Bubble Machine.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/29127316/the_great_american_bubble_machine

Yes, I am aware that the bailout train began rolling down the tracks with Henry Paulson (former CEO of Goldman Sachs). The hands of George W. Bush (I voted for him twice) bear the stains of this travesty.

This is no longer about party politics. It is about the American people against a runaway Federal Government.

This week, if you are at all leaning towards rejecting Obama's Health Care plan, you will no doubt see a lot of green being waved in your face. You will be greatly tempted to go along and play the game. Our president wants this legislation passed quickly (just like the stimulus and the Cap & Trade in the House) because he does not want the American people to find out what's really in it.

If you read page 16 you will see that our president is lying to us. He says that we can keep our private coverage. What he isn't telling us is that if we want to change insurance companies, or if we take a new job with a different health insurance carrier, they can't enroll any new customers. PAGE 16. READ IT.

Will you be our champion, defending us from a government that is looking more and more like George Orwell's "Big Brother?" Or will you be just another run-of-the-mill, "buyable" politician?

Respectfully,

Mark W. Weaver

Outraged Yet?

In an interview with the New York Times published on July 7th, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the following about the court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision:

"Frankly I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don’t want to have too many of. "

Say what ... ?

Sounds like something out of the Third Reich Handbook. But in thinking about it, Ginsburg's thoughts do not come as that big of a surprise. The only real surprise is that her private thoughts became public. Was it a slip up on her part? Or has the time finally come when the closet eugenicists in America are no longer afraid to hide their real agenda?

The often venerated Planned Parenthood founder, Margaret Sanger, held these views. Of course abortion rights activists fail to mention this little fact when they praise their champion and role model.

President Obama's Science Czar, John P. Holdren, is even more brazen than Ginsburg:

"There exists ample authority under which population growth could be regulated...It has been concluded that compulsory population-control laws, even including laws requiring compulsory abortion, could be sustained under the existing Constitution if the population crisis became sufficiently severe to endanger the society."

Wait a minute! Science Czar?

Holdren goes on to reveal even more insidious ideas.

"All the children who are born, beyond what would be required to keep up the population to a desired level, must necessarily perish, unless room be made for them by the death of grown persons."

Read about it in John Griffing's article in American Thinker.

Now of course, here in the land of the free, Americans are still technically allowed to hold unique ideas and even speak about them. So Ginsburg and Holdren both are free to cogitate and regurgitate their deepest thoughts as they choose. But friends, what's scary is that these people hold high positions of leadership and influence in our land. One sits on the highest court. The other holds title to an unaccountable office in the White House and was appointed to this enigmatic role by our president.

And speaking of freedom of thought and speech, a new word has entered the American lexicon: TERRACIDE. It can't be found in the dictionary, but I can only assume it means the willful and deliberate destruction of planet earth. The term is being used by global warming extremists as they spew their malevolent rants against global warming skeptics. They label deniers "treasonous." One hatemonger even calls for Nuremberg-Style trials. Read all about it here.

And now the Congress is working on a "Hate Crimes" bill. I guess we will soon be punished not only for the crime itself, but also for what they think we were thinking before we committed it.

Oh yeah ... U.S. Army reservist, Maj. Stefan Frederick Cook, scheduled for deployment to Afghanistan, filed a court demand to be classified as a "conscientious objector." His claim is that Barack Obama has failed to offer indisputable proof that he is eligible to hold the office of President of the United States. A cloud surrounding the legitimacy of the president's birth certificate remains and there are numerous suits in various stages throughout the country questioning his eligibility. Cook's argument is that Obama is not a legitimate Commander in Chief and that he is not obligated to follow his orders.

On Tuesday, July 14th, Cook's orders were unexpectedly rescinded. The decision was hailed as a huge victory for all who have been pressing hard on the question of Obama's Hawaiian birth certificate viability.

But wait ... there's more to the story.

On July 15th, Defense Security Services, an agency of the Department of Defense (DOD), ordered Cook's employer, Simtech Inc, a defense contractor for the DOD, to fire him. Simtech CEO, Larry Grice, confirmed that he had received instructions from the government agency to fire Major Cook.

What is the message here? Was the order to rescind Cook's deployment orders a set up? Release him then have him fired the next day. Our government is sending us all a very chilling message.

Friends, how much more will it take to outrage you enough to become involved in the emerging nationwide movement to push back against our rapidly-growing, over-spending, over-reaching, manipulative, power-hungry federal government?

Those familiar with history can clearly see what's happening.

None of these outrageous trends are going away. They are accelerating. Eugenic genocide. The thought police. Intimidation tactics. Bury your head in the sand if you wish. Pretend that it's business as usual. Or throw up your hands in defeat. "It's too late. There's nothing we can do." Or continue to buy into the lie that Christians should not become involved in these kinds of things.

Whatever you do, know this: The America we have all known and loved is quickly disappearing from the scene.

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Proclaim Liberty

The recent "I'm stepping down" announcement by Alaska's Governor Sarah Palin caught almost everyone off guard. And it has been rather entertaining watching and listening to the various talking heads and surfing the blogosphere for reactions. Nearly everyone has an opinion. Most of the chatter focuses upon Palin's chances of becoming the Republican presidential nominee for the 2012 election. Which brings me to my reason for this post.

I'm not at all convinced that this unique lady even wants to be president. After all, look at all she and her family have had to deal with in the last eight months.

I think rather that Sarah Palin is more of a cultural warrior. She has deep convictions. She's willing to stand for what she thinks is right regardless of the ugliness of the press and the rejection of her political opponents. She has a quality that very few in politics have--she doesn't seem to need the approval of others for her own sense of self-worth or well-being.

We Americans, and even many of we Christians, have become so caught up in politics that we have lost sight of something very important. Our help lies not in a president, in Congress, or in any human entity.

Our help lies in God and in Him alone. We seem to have lost sight of this extremely important fact.

Whether Sarah Palin has hurt her chances of becoming president is not important. What is important is that she hears from God and obeys Him. She says she has and that she is.

Our battle is not ultimately political. It is first spiritual and secondarily cultural.

I have a hunch that whatever Sarah does, it will ultimately boil down to the title of this blog: "Proclaim Liberty." And is that not what we really need in this battle?

If our nation is to remain free, our deliverance will not come from those with political power. Our deliverance will come from embracing the truth. Remember, it was Jesus who said, "You shall know the truth and the truth will make you free."

But how can we embrace the truth if we do not know the truth? And how can we know the truth unless someone shares it with us?

That, I've determined, is my primary job these days. Proclaim the truth. And because truth sets us free, I will also, in the process, be proclaiming liberty.

The American mind and soul have been captured by a false religion. Call it materialism. Call it humanism. Call it relativism. Call it me-ism. Call it whatever you want. The bottom line is that millions of our American countrymen have willingly walked into a prison of poor thinking and now sit at a table set with mind-rotting food. As a result, their worldview has become diseased, deformed and deadly.

But there is an army of patriots emerging from the mist. And this army is in the beginning stages of establishing a "beachhead" on our enemy's shores. It's early and we've barely even begun to mobilize.

We are armed with the truth, the superior view and thinking of our nation's gifted and anointed founders. We are reacquainting ourselves with these great men and their ideas. We are equipping ourselves with the weapons we will need to lead us to victory on this ideological field of battle.

Multiculturalism is a myth. All cultures are not equal. All ideas do not lead to the same place. We are beginning to rediscover that America has been an exception in history, a one-of-a-kind miracle in a fallen world. And that our existence must be credited to what our founders called Providence.

"Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants thereof." Leviticus 25:10

The above Scripture verse also appears on the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia.

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Thuggery and Thievery

A friend emailed me a link to an article in Rolling Stone Magazine titled The Great American Bubble Machine. Surprisingly, it exposes a tiny bit of the massive amount of corruption going on in the Obama administration. And as one can see from the cover at left from their March '08 issue, Rolling Stone has been a big fan of Obama from the beginning. Of course one has to read to nearly the end of the lengthy article to find the incriminating parts. And most of the article focuses on the corruption in the Bush administration.

But the real intent of the article is to shine a light on how Goldman Sachs "has engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression." Author Matt Taibbi writes of the three most recent "bubbles" in the marketplace, and how they have been engineered primarily by financial behemoth, Goldman Sachs. He identifies these "bubbles" as the Internet or Dot Com bubble, the Housing and Credit bubble, and the most recent Oil Commodities bubble in which we saw gasoline prices reach $4.00 or more per gallon.

In each of the three "bubbles" identified above, prices rose exponentially to unrealistic and unsustainable levels, and then crashed. Taibbi explains how Goldman was a major player in engineering these bubbles and how Goldman players reaped enormous profits at the peak of each one. Taibbi claims that during the Oil Commodities bubble, while demand for oil was low and the supply was high (prices should be going down, right?), a typical barrel of oil traded 27 times. At each trade, the price went up and dollars were skimmed off the top.

But the worst of this story is the incestuous relationship between large financial groups like Goldman Sachs, the Federal Reserve and the US Treasury. Henry Paulson, Bush's Treasury Secretary and the architect of the first TARP bailout had previously been the CEO of Goldman Sachs. Taibbi names names, and lots of them. He identifies players from the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations, all engaged in sleight of hand with billions of dollars.

After the last bubble burst, the Oil Commodities bubble that is, the money men had little left to pillage. So under the guise of a "pending economic disaster," wheels were set in motion to plunder the American taxpayer.

I recommend you read the entire article (it's somewhat lengthy) and then continue to explore on your own this systematic, orchestrated, thuggery and thievery that continues right under our noses.

You might also check out Aaron Russo's film, America: Freedom to Fascism. I purchased the DVD and it is indeed an eye opener.

Friends, our country and its wealth are beginning to be stripped right out of our hands.

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The Lay of the Land

A debate within the leadership circle of NoVA912 consumed half of May and a good part of June. We struggled to figure out just who we are, what we stand for, and what we feel compelled to do. We discussed the merits of political action at this late stage in the game and whether or not we even have a chance of influencing those in power. We mulled over the pros and cons of a third party. And one of our members even suggested that he is considering a run for Congress.

Those most actively engaged in this debate (though not all) took the long view. In other words, they felt that ours was a long term struggle and that our focus should be on two fundamental things:

1. seek to reawaken our friends and neighbors through education about the history of our great nation and the principles that form the foundation for our blessed culture and our unique form of government.
2. work with others across the nation to strengthen leadership within the various states with the end in mind of calling a Constitutional Convention to repeal several amendments that have brought undue power to the federal level and weakened the states, and to possibly pass one or two new ones (term limits comes to mind).

We designed a questionnaire and posted it on our forum to get a sense of what our members (then at about 150) actually wanted to do and be. During that same period, I re-watched Bob Basso's Thomas Paine youtube post titled We The People Stimulus Package. He spoke about the general apathy of the American people, and questioned why we were not doing more.

The leadership's dilemma centered around the fact that although many in our group were calling for action, we had no one to actually step up and take a leadership role in that arena. Then, almost as if in answer to prayer, someone did just that at our June 19th meeting. And with that call answered, I came away that night, though exhausted, feeling much better about our group's overall direction.

It is quite clear to me that those of us in this movement are very frustrated with our unresponsive representatives. We grope for the best way to break through the tone deafness in Washington. As we are learning, big money has bought off our leaders, and they no longer truly represent we, the people. The Center for Responsible Politics reports that in 2008, 15,223 lobbyists spent $3,270,000,000.00 (that's $3.27 billion) to buy influence in Washington. Yes, Washington needs a complete overhaul, a total gutting of all legislators, powerful bureaucrats, and other Washington power brokers.

I subscribe to a newsletter called Downsizer Dispatch. It's published by Downsize DC. Their philosophy, which sounded good two years ago when I first began to track with them, is that it does not matter who's in office, what matters is that pressure is put upon whoever is there to vote the correct way. When I first read their philosophy, it seemed right. I became aware of their work around the time of the massive and successful movement to stop the illegal immigration amnesty bill in the spring/summer of 2007. However, after that one success, followed with two years of getting virtually nowhere with this approach, I have determined that their philosophy, though well intentioned, may not work all that well after all. I see this as even more true realizing just how much is spent every year to buy legislator's votes.

We in this movement are also frustrated with our countrymen who appear to be asleep while our incredible country is going down in flames. Drugged by the narcotics of prosperity and personal peace (ie: give me my stuff and leave me alone), millions of Americans seem completely oblivious to the travesty under way right before our eyes.

All of this serves as backdrop and brings me to the conclusion I had earlier come to, that our real battle is not ultimately political, but rather spiritual and cultural. I see this fight as three-tiered.

1. Awakening our countrymen to the crisis
2. Arming our countrymen with the needed weapons (ie: education)
3. Activating our countrymen to become engaged

1. Awakening. This is, I think, the toughest phase of the operation. As long as our countrymen remain in denial, loving their material wealth, their self-centered lifestyles, and their desire to remain undisturbed, little, it seems, can be done to break through. Even God, it would appear, resorts to allowing calamity to get our attention. I have no answer for this critical part of the equation. Prayer, I suppose, is our best weapon at this point (see Call2Fall).

2. Arming. The process of arming our countrymen with sound and fundamentally historic, American ideas will be much easier if their awakening has occurred. An awakening presumes a hunger for learning, for understanding. We are seeing the early stages of this phenomenon now, with record sales of The 5,000 Year Leap, Glenn Beck's Common Sense, and other related materials.

3. Action. If the American people can become awakened and intellectually armed, action will be an automatic response. But action will need to be guided by wise, clear-headed people who will know what, how and when to do what needs to be done.

This, as I see it, is the lay of the land.

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A Digital Pamphleteer

In the years leading up to our nation's Declaration of Independence in 1776, Great Britain began to lay a heavy tax and regulatory burden upon the American colonist.

• 1764: The Sugar Act, The Currency Act
• 1765: The Stamp Act, The Quartering Act
• 1766: The Declaratory Act
• 1767: The Townshend Revenue Acts
• 1773: The Tea Act
• 1774: The Coercive Acts, The Massachusetts Regulating Act, The Government Act
  

Growing frustration among the colonists led to calls for disobedience and various meetings to devise a course of action to deal with Britain's oppressive ways. Into this angry mix came farmers, shopkeepers, ministers and others who began publishing political pamphlets designed to stir the hearts and minds of their countrymen. Along with those meeting and planning, these citizen-writers helped to set the stage for our eventual break with Britain.

Today we Americans are beginning to feel a similar unrest, a like minded sense that government power has again become excessive and abusive. Citizens of today, like colonists of old, are raising their voices and publishing their concerns. In the womb of our nation's birth, these patriot writers came to be known as pamphleteers.

In the digital age, we blog.

I am currently engaged with a new organization named NoVA912. Inspired by Glenn Beck's The 912 Project, NoVA912 is the local, Northern Virginia expression of this movement. We are also loosely linked with the nationwide Tea Party Movement.

Millions across the nation are now mobilizing to raise our voices to our nation's leaders, particularly those in Congress. The Congress, after all, is "the People's House."

Under the banner of "No Taxation Without Representation," America's citizen-patriots rose up and stood against the autocratic ways of our mother country. With billions of corporate and special interest dollars finding their way into the pockets and bank accounts of our corrupted representatives, we Americans once again find ourselves being taxed and regulated without true representation.

In this blog, I will record and publish my personal insights and observations in this current, history-making cosmic shift in American culture and politics.

Stay-tuned. Become a follower (see button at right). Or read me on Facebook.

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