ConservativeChristianRepublican-Report - 20090821

Motivational-Inspirational-Historical-Educational-Political-Enjoyable

Promoting "God's Holy Values and American Freedoms"!



"Daily Motivations"

Knowing what's right is absolutely critical to business ethics, but it's just half the battle. You see, ethics "happens" only when good beliefs lead to good behaviors. - Eric Harvey



"Daily Devotions" (KJV and/or NLT)

"We know these things because God has revealed them to us by His Spirit ...." (1 Corinthians 2:10)

Many years ago, I was a counselor at one of Billy Graham's Los Angeles crusades held in the Hollywood Bowl. At the end of the meeting, another counselor brought a man to me who was an engineer. The engineer stated that if I could answer his questions, he would become a Christian. I asked him if he wanted to know Christ. He said he did. I suggested that he pray and receive Christ and then we would discuss his questions. He agreed. After we prayed, I asked to hear his questions. He looked at me with a smile and said, "I don't have any questions. They are all answered."

I have never led anyone to Christ, and I never will. It is the Holy Spirit who is responsible for producing fruit. We simply take the initiative to share Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit and leave the results to God.

There is a great misconception about evangelism: People believe it has something to do with winning an argument. We often worry about how we can persuade a nonbeliever to be saved from his sin. But no one is ever debated into the kingdom of God. It is our role to gently deliver the message. It is the Holy Spirit who does the persuading. He works in the hearts and minds of the people to convict them of the truth.

We simply need to take God at His Word that the Spirit will accomplish His work in the hearts and minds of those to whom we witness.



"The Patriot Post"

"An unlimited power to tax involves, necessarily, a power to destroy; because there is a limit beyond which no institution and no property can bear taxation." -- John Marshall



INSIGHT

"Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first." -- President Ronald Reagan (1911-2004)

"When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer 'present' or 'not guilty.'" -- President Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)

"There is good news from Washington today. The Congress is deadlocked and can't act." -- American humorist Will Rogers (1879-1935)



SHORT CUTS

"No Member of Congress in his or her right mind is going to walk into a [town hall] meeting knowing that opponents of Obama Care are armed with cell phone video cameras and instructions on how to upload to YouTube. The Pelosi plan to sell the health care plan will have lasted even less time than the Cash-for-Clunkers program." -- political analyst Rich Galen

"The president's dwindling blind faithful may still cling to the belief that he can work miracles. But no one, not even Barack Obama, can drain a swamp by flooding it." -- columnist Michelle Malkin



VILLAGE IDIOTS

Get ready for tax hikes: "If we want an economy that's going to grow in the future, people have to understand we have to bring those deficits down. And it's going to be difficult, hard for us to do. ... We're not at the point yet where we're going to make a judgment about what it's going to take." -- Treasury Secretary Timothy Tax Cheatin' Geithner when asked if taxes could be raised on the middle class

Tax hikes II: "[I]t is never a good idea to absolutely rule things out, no matter what." -- White House National Economic Council Director Larry Summers on tax increases for the middle class



THE DEMO-GOGUES

The Big Lie: "First of all, nobody is talking about some government takeover of health care. I'm tired of hearing that. I have been as clear as I can be. Under the reform I've proposed, if you like your doctor you keep your doctor. If you like your health care plan, you keep your health care plan. These folks need to stop scaring everybody, you know?" -- Barack Obama And we're tired of you and your lies.

What he said then: "My commitment is to make sure that we have universal healthcare for all Americans by the end of my first term as president. ... I would hope that we could set up a system that allows those who can go through their employer to access a federal system or a state pool of some sort. But I don't think we're going to be able to eliminate employer coverage immediately. There's going to be potentially some transition process." -- Barack Obama in 2007

Pointing fingers: "It's almost immoral what [private insurers] are doing. Of course they've been immoral all along in how they have treated the people that they insure. ... They are the villains in this." -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

We're all just pawns of the insurance companies: "I hope my colleagues won't fall for a sucker punch like this. These health insurance companies and people like them are trying to load these town meetings for visual impact on television. They want to show thousands of people screaming socialism and try to overcome the public sentiment, which now favors health care reform. .... There are health insurance companies that are ... very profitable and they don't want to see this reform so they are helping to organize these rallies." -- Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL)

Somehow, this is not reassuring: "Let me assure you: There will be a health care reform bill passed and it will make a big difference in the lives of the American people." -- Nancy Pelosi

Cat's out of the bag: "I think if we get a good public option, it could lead to single payer and that's the best way to reach single payer. ... I think the best way we're gonna get single payer, the only way, is to have a public option and demonstrate its strength and its power." -- Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA)

As if that's a good thing: "One expert from a conservative think tank called this Congress 'as active and productive as any I can remember. Its true -- we have passed more serious, substantive laws than any Congress since President Franklin D. Roosevelt's first term." -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)



"Find Law"

Convicted Lockerbie Bomber Released: The Original Guilty Verdict

HER MAJESTY'S ADVOCATE VS. AL-MEGRAHI
(Scotland, Aug. 20, 2009) - The sole defendant convicted and sentenced to life in prison for his role in the Lockerbie bombing terrorist attack was released by Scotland's Secretary of Justice and sent home to Libya today, a free man. You can read his guilty verdict in the Lockerbie bombing trial here: Read more... http://blogs.findlaw.com/courtside/2009/08/convicted-lockerbie-bomber-released-the-original-guilty-verdict.html



Ex-Giant Plaxico Burress Pleads Guilty in N.Y.C. Gun Case

PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK V. PLAXICO BURRESS
(N.Y. Supreme Court, N.Y. Cty., Aug. 20, 2009) - Former New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress pleaded guilty today to the attempted criminal possession of a weapon in a plea agreement with the Manhattan District Attorney's office, and agreed to serve two years in state prison. Read his original indictment here. Read more... http://blogs.findlaw.com/courtside/2009/08/ex-giant-plaxico-burress-pleads-guilty-in-nyc-gun-case.html



"Simple Truths"

Even Eagles Need A Push

http://www.eaglesneedapush.com/



"Sometimes our light goes out but is blown again into flame by an encounter with another human being. Each of us owes the deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this inner light."



"The Web"

Sean Hannity with Michelle Malkin

http://www.foxnews.com/video/index.html?playerId=011008&streamingFormat=FLASH&referralObject=8390354&referralPlaylistId=playlist



Remembering Robert Novak

Written by Richard Viguerie

http://conservativehq.com/blog_post/show/346

I first met Robert Novak in 1960 when I was the Houston campaign manager for John Tower, who was running in Texas against Lyndon Johnson for the U.S. Senate. Novak was working for the Wall Street Journal out of Dallas and called one September afternoon and asked me to arrange a meeting with Tower.

After arranging the meeting, I went to pick up Novak at the Shamrock Hotel in Houston, and then drove him 50 miles to Galveston where Tower was campaigning.

Tower lost that November, but won the special election in 1961 to fill Johnson's vacant Senate seat and served 24 years in the U.S. Senate. Novak went on to co-edit with Rowland Evans the Evans-Novak Political Report, a newspaper column that spanned more than four decades. In the very beginning when Novak began his column in the early 60s, it was to the left-of-center. Yet over the years, Novak gradually moved to the right and became a reliable conservative journalist.

Novak's skill, work ethic, ability and integrity are traits few other journalists possess today. He belonged to a rare breed of journalists seldom seen in the 21st Century, which is why his death will be a great loss to newsrooms, political institutions and America.

American political journalism has lost a giant, and freedom has lost an important ally.

Rest in peace, my friend.



Which 'National Network of Community-Based Organizations' Will Health-Care Bill Fund to Monitor Your Diet and Weight?

Unfortunately, for taxpayers of America, you can bet with President Obama being involved, somehow, somewhere, you will find an ACORN association. President Obama was one of the original organizers, and served as "legal counsel". His legislation in the Illinois legislature and his legislation in the US Senate has funneled taxpayers monies to ACORN. His Presidential campaign funneled money to ACORN. - oyh

By Edwin Mora

http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=52623

President Barack Obama purchases a piece of fruit after a town hall meeting on health care reform, Wednesday, July 29, 2009, at a Kroger Supermarket in Bristol, Va. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

(CNSNews.com) – The health care reform bill approved by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP) would provide federal grants to state and local governments and a “national network of community-based organizations” to "promote healthy living and reduce disparities" and to monitor people's weight, eating, exercise habits and other individual behaviors that affect health at the community level.

The language instituting the program, entitled "Community Transformation Grants," is on pages 382-387 of the bill as posted on the committee's Web site.

The bill states that only three types of entities will be eligible to receive grants under the program: "a--(A) State government agency; (B) local government agency; or (C) national network of community-based organizations."

Neither the White House nor the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension (HELP) Committee responded to inquiries from CNSNews.com about exactly what organzations would be eligible for the grants as a "national network of community-based organzations" and exactly how these community-based organizations would operate.

The HELP Committee is the only Senate committee to have voted so far on a health care reform bill. The minority office of the HELP Committee, under Ranking Member Mike Enzi (R-Wy.), referred questions to the office of the committee chairman, Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.). Kennedy’s office did not respond to CNSNews.com inquires about the provision.

The language of the bill says that the secretary of health and human services, acting through the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, can award the grants “for the implementation, evaluation, and dissemination of proven evidence-based community preventive health activities in order to reduce chronic disease rates, address health disparities, and develop a stronger evidence-base of effective prevention programming.”

The community-based organizations that get the federal grants must submit a plan to HHS that “includes the policy, environmental, programmatic, and infrastructure changes needed to promote healthy living and reduce disparities.”

These plans can include “activities” to create “healthier school environments, including increasing healthy food options, physical activity opportunities, promotion of healthy lifestyle and prevention curricula, and activities to prevent chronic diseases.”

The language of the bill says, "Activities within the plan shall focus on (but not be limited to) ... (iv) assessing and implementing worksite wellness programming and incentives; (v) working to highlight healthy options at restaurants and other food venues; (vi) prioritizing strategies to reduce racial and ethnic disparities, including social determinants of health..."

In a section entitled, “Community-Based Prevention Health Activities," the bill calls on grant recipients to measure weight loss, physical activity, smoking and other activities of people in the neighborhood.

"In carrying out subparagraph (A), the eligible entity shall, with respect to residents in the community, measure--
"(i) decreases in weight;
"(ii) increases in proper nutrition;
"(iii) increases in physical activity;
"(iv) decreases in tobacco use prevalence;
"(v) other factors using community-specific data from the Behavioral Risk Surveillance Survey; and
"(vi) other factors as determined by the Secretary [at HHS].”

The proposed law further says that the CDC director “shall provide appropriate feedback and technical assistance to grantees to establish community makeover plans.”

Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) (AP Photo)

The proposed law does not say, however, exactly how or with what authority a grant recipient would go around measuring weight loss of community residents, or their use of “proper nutrition” or whether they had increased their physical activity, among other mandates in the bill.

Further, the Kennedy health care bill does not say which “national network of community-based organizations” is eligible to participate. Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) said that it is possible that the controversial group ACORN could qualify for the available grants.

“I don’t believe so, but they could be,” Dodd told CNSNews.com, in an earlier interview. “I just don’t want to say categorically it’s the case.”

“I’m not saying yes or no, I just don’t know. I don’t think it’s a blanket thing that anyone applies necessarily,” he said. “There would have to be criteria by which an organization qualifies to receive those grants.”

ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is a national network of community-based organizations. It has been scrutinized in recent years over allegations of voter registration fraud. In Nevada, criminal charges were filed against the group in May that said ACORN illegally paid for the registration of voters before the 2008 election.

ACORN has denied the allegations.

ACORN has also been criticized because of its partnership agreement with the U.S. Census Bureau to help in the 2010 Census count.

Devon Herrick, a senior fellow at the conservative National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA), in an e-mail to CNSNews.com, speculated that grants for “Creating Healthier Communities” could be misused by organizations that do not promote healthy living.

“I'm only speculating, because the bill does not make it clear,” Herrick said. “You will have to ask the Senate HELP Committee staff for a definitive answer. [But] my concern is the grants would be misused to reward political organizations whose mission has never been to promote healthier lifestyles.”

Herrick said he doubts that efforts by community-based organizations will result in healthier neighborhoods, adding that he expects entities such as schools and non-profits to use the grants if the Senate provision is included in the final bill.

“I'm not convinced community-based initiatives will result in healthier communities,” he said.

“But if provisions for healthy community grants ultimately pass, I would like to think the funds would be used by schools [to create new after-school programs] and by non-profits, such as YMCA, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, etcetera,” Herrick said, “and for actual programs that encourage physical activity and teach healthy living.”

The NCPA’s senior fellow’s comments were in response to CNSNews.com’s inquiry to provide an interpretation of the “community transformation grants provision” and whether organizations like ACORN would benefit. He was also asked to provide examples of which organizations would qualify.

“My hope is that the funds would go to organizations who have been promoting healthy lifestyles all along,” Herrick told CNSNews.com.

Michael W. Chapman contributed to this report.



Guess who screened White House appointments!

Think tank developed by prez links socialist party to presidential picks

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=107418

By Aaron Klein
© 2009 WorldNetDaily

Van Jones

JERUSALEM – Was a far-left think tank partnered with the community activist group ACORN and founded with input from President Obama instrumental in securing the appointment of controversial White House "environmental

czar" Van Jones?

A key member of the think tank reportedly was also a founder of a socialist party that, evidence indicates, included Obama among its members.

In March, Jones was named the special adviser for green jobs, enterprise and innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

His appointment drew criticism after a WND report exposing that Jones was as an admitted radical communist and black nationalist leader. The Fox News Channel's Glenn Beck hammered away at Jones' communist ties.

Get Jerome Corsi's classic No. 1 New York Times bestseller, "The Obama Nation," autographed by the author only in the WND Superstore.

Months before Obama took office, however, Jones was recommended for the environmental pick in a report by business scholar Chuck Collins, an associate of philanthropist George Soros and a longtime leftist activist linked to some socialist causes.

Collins is director of the Tax Program for Shared Prosperity at Demos, a far-left think tank that has partnered with ACORN and its ally, Project Vote, on several projects. Demos personalities were among ACORN's top defenders when the organization was accused of rampant voter fraud in 2008.

According to Demos' own website, while Obama was a state senator in 1999, he served on the working group that founded Demos.

Collins penned a piece that listed his top picks for the Obama administration, including Jones, at the radical Institute for Policy Studies.

Through a socialist party, Obama may be more closely linked to Collins, who recommended Jones.

Researcher Trevor Loudon of the New Zeal blog dug up official newspapers of the socialist-oriented New Party that list Collins as among the party's founding builders in its fall 1994 edition. Collins is listed with approximately 100 other activists in an article entitled, "Who's Building the New Party?"

Obama belonged to socialist party

In a controversy never fully addressed by Obama, WND previously reported evidence showing Obama was a member of the New Party, which sought to elect members to public office with the aim of moving the Democratic Party far leftward to ultimately form a new political party with a socialist agenda.

Excerpt from New Party publication (Courtesy New Zeal blog)

While running for the Illinois state Senate in 1996 as a Democrat, Obama actively sought and received the endorsement of the New Party, according to confirmed reports during last year's presidential campaign.

The New Party, formed by members of the Democratic Socialists of America and leaders of an offshoot of the Community Party USA, was an electoral alliance that worked alongside the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN. The New Party's aim was to help elect politicians to office who espouse its policies.

Among New Party members was linguist and radical activist Noam Chomsky.

Obama's campaign last year denied the then-presidential candidate was ever an actual member of the New Party.

But the New Zeal blog dug up print copies of the New Party News, the party's official newspaper, which show Obama posing with New Party leaders, listing him as a New Party member and printing quotes from him as a member.

Barack Obama pictured in New Party publication (Courtesy New Zeal blog)

The party's spring 1996 newspaper boasted: "New Party members won three other primaries this Spring in Chicago: Barack Obama (State Senate), Michael Chandler (Democratic Party Committee) and Patricia Martin (Cook County Judiciary). The paper quoted Obama saying "these victories prove that small 'd' democracy can work."

The newspaper lists other politicians it endorsed who were not members but specifies Obama as a New Party member.

New Ground, the newsletter of Chicago's Democratic Socialists of America, reported in its July/August 1996 edition that Obama attended a New Party membership meeting April 11, 1996, in which he expressed his gratitude for the group's support and "encouraged NPers (New Party members) to join in his task forces on Voter Education and Voter Registration."

Becoming a New Party member requires some effort by the politician. Candidates must be approved by the party's political committee and, once approved, must sign a contract mandating they will have a "visible and active relationship" with the party.

The New Party, established in 1992, took advantage of what was known as electoral "fusion," which enabled candidates to run on two tickets simultaneously, attracting voters from both parties. But the New Party went defunct in 1998, one year after fusion was halted by the Supreme Court.

Following the initial reports of Obama's purported membership in the New Party, Obama associate and former Chicago New Party activist Carl Davidson posted a statement on several blogs claiming his former party was not socialist, but he admitted it worked with ACORN.

"[The New Party] was a pragmatic party of 'small d democracy' mainly promoting economic reforms like the living wage and testing the fusion tactic, common in many countries but only operational in New York in the U.S. The main trend within it was ACORN, an Alinskyist outfit, which is hardly Marxist," wrote Davidson.

But the socialist goals of the New Party were enumerated on its old website.

Among the New Party's stated objectives were "full employment, a shorter work week, and a guaranteed minimum income for all adults; a universal 'social wage' to include such basic benefits as health care, child care, vacation time, and lifelong access to education and training; a systematic phase-in of comparable worth and like programs to ensure gender equity."

The New Party stated it also sought "the democratization of our banking and financial system – including popular election of those charged with public stewardship of our banking system, worker-owner control over their pension assets, community-controlled alternative financial institutions."

Many of the New Party's founding members were Democratic Socialists of America leaders and members of Committees of Correspondence, a breakaway of the Communist Party USA. Obama attended several DSA events and meetings, including a DSA-sponsored town hall meeting Feb. 25, 1996, entitled "Employment and Survival in Urban America." He sought and received an endorsement from the DSA.

According to DSA documents, the New Party worked with ACORN to promote its candidates. ACORN, convicted in massive, nationwide voter fraud cases, has been a point of controversy for Obama over the presidential candidate's ties to the group.

In 1995, the DSA's New Ground newsletter stated, "In Chicago, the New Party's biggest asset and biggest liability is ACORN.

"Like most organizations, ACORN is a mixed bag. On one hand, in Chicago, ACORN is a group that attempts to organize some of the most depressed communities in the city. Chicago organizers for ACORN and organizers for SEIU Local 880 have been given modest monthly recruitment quotas for new New Party members. On the other hand, like most groups that depend on canvassing for fundraising, it's easy enough to find burned out and disgruntled former employees. And ACORN has not had the reputation for being interested in coalition politics – until recently and, happily, not just within the New Party."



The "Preventive Care" Myth

by Charles Krauthammer

http://townhall.com/columnists/CharlesKrauthammer/2009/08/14/the_preventive_care_myth?page=full&comments=true

WASHINGTON -- In the 48 hours of June 15-16, President Obama lost the health care debate. First, a letter from the Congressional Budget Office to Sen. Edward Kennedy reported that his health committee's reform bill would add $1 trillion in debt over the next decade. Then the CBO reported that the other Senate bill, being written by the Finance Committee, would add $1.6 trillion. The central contradiction of Obamacare was fatally exposed: From his first address to Congress, Obama insisted on the dire need for restructuring the health care system because out-of-control costs were bankrupting the Treasury and wrecking the U.S. economy -- yet the Democrats' plans would make the problem worse.

Accordingly, Democrats have trotted out various tax proposals to close the gap. Obama's idea of limits on charitable and mortgage-interest deductions went nowhere. As did the House's income tax surcharge on millionaires. And Obama dare not tax employer-provided health insurance because of his campaign pledge of no middle-class tax hikes.

Desperation time. What do you do? Sprinkle fairy dust on every health care plan, and present your deus ex machina: prevention.

Free mammograms and diabetes tests and checkups for all, promise Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer, writing in USA Today. Prevention, they assure us, will not just make us healthier, it also "will save money."

Obama followed suit in his Tuesday New Hampshire town hall, touting prevention as amazingly dual-purpose: "It saves lives. It also saves money."

Reform proponents repeat this like a mantra. Because it seems so intuitive, it has become conventional wisdom. But like most conventional wisdom, it is wrong. Overall, preventive care increases medical costs.

This inconvenient truth comes, once again, from the CBO. In an Aug. 7 letter to Rep. Nathan Deal, CBO Director Doug Elmendorf writes: "Researchers who have examined the effects of preventive care generally find that the added costs of widespread use of preventive services tend to exceed the savings from averted illness."

How can that be? If you prevent somebody from getting a heart attack, aren't you necessarily saving money? The fallacy here is confusing the individual with society. For the individual, catching something early generally reduces later spending for that condition. But, explains Elmendorf, we don't know in advance which patients are going to develop costly illnesses. To avert one case, "it is usually necessary to provide preventive care to many patients, most of whom would not have suffered that illness anyway." And this costs society money that would not have been spent otherwise.

Think of it this way. Assume that a screening test for disease X costs $500 and finding it early averts $10,000 of costly treatment at a later stage. Are you saving money? Well, if one in 10 of those who are screened tests positive, society is saving $5,000. But if only one in 100 would get that disease, society is shelling out $40,000 more than it would without the preventive care.

That's a hypothetical case. What's the real-life actuality in the United States today? A study in the journal Circulation found that for cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, "if all the recommended prevention activities were applied with 100 percent success," the prevention would cost almost 10 times as much as the savings, increasing the country's total medical bill by 162 percent. Elmendorf additionally cites a definitive assessment in the New England Journal of Medicine that reviewed hundreds of studies on preventive care and found that more than 80 percent of preventive measures added to medical costs.

This doesn't mean we shouldn't be preventing illness. Of course we should. But in medicine, as in life, there is no free lunch. The idea that prevention is somehow intrinsically economically different from treatment -- that treatment increases costs and prevention lowers them -- is simply nonsense.

Prevention is a wondrous good, but in the aggregate it costs society money. Nothing wrong with that. That's the whole premise of medicine: Treating a heart attack or setting a broken leg also costs society. But we do it because it alleviates human suffering. Preventing a heart attack with statins or breast cancer with mammograms is costly. But we do it because it reduces human suffering.

However, prevention is not, as so widely advertised, healing on the cheap. It is not the magic bullet for health care costs.

You will hear some variation of that claim a hundred times in the coming health care debate. Whenever you do, remember: It's nonsense -- empirically demonstrable and CBO-certified.



Media Corruption and the Two Party System

AIM Column | By Cliff Kincaid

http://www.aim.org/aim-column/media-corruption-and-the-two-party-system/

This kind of advertised access to Obama’s “inner circle” helps explain why the truth about Davis and Ayers was concealed from the readers of his book.

What drives President Barack Obama to want to seize control of the health care and energy sectors of the U.S. economy? Obama was trained as a Marxist from his days as a young boy in Hawaii when his grandfather picked Communist Party USA member Frank Marshall Davis as his mentor. In college, as Obama tells the story, he picked his "friends" carefully, in order to avoid being perceived as a sell-out, and those friends included the "Marxist professors." Later, in Chicago, he would become a political associate of another Marxist Professor, Bill Ayers of the University of Illinois. Does anybody see a pattern here?

Based on what we have seen at some of the town hall meetings, there are some Americans who don't want to see the U.S. go down the Marxist road. This is the time for the media to tell the truth about Obama and his agenda.

Unfortunately, we have now been treated to a new dishonest Obama book, Renegade, by Richard Wolffe, supposedly about "The Making of a President." Far from being a "renegade," the evidence shows that this President is probably the most far-left ideologically of any major political party nominee in history. Even as new questions emerge, however, it is still a challenge to get the media to report on the truthful but damaging information that is already a matter of public record.

Wolffe, who worked for the Financial Times and Newsweek, would seem to be in a position to shed light on "the making" of this President. Even though he is described as a "political analyst for MSNBC television, appearing frequently on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann and Hardball with Chris Matthews," he claims to have obtained "exclusive interviews with Barack Obama" for his book. These were opportunities to examine aspects of Obama's still mysterious background.

But it's apparent that Wolffe didn't ask the important questions. Only two pages of the Wolffe book are devoted to Frank Marshall Davis, a father figure in Obama's early life, and nothing is said about the evidence-in the form of 600 pages of his FBI file-about his communist views or membership in the CPUSA.

The Wolffe book describes Davis as a "leading black activist" and "strong advocate for racial justice" whose "political writings" on "civil rights and labor issues" made him "the target of a McCarthyite denunciation" by the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

Notice the use of the term "McCarthyite" being associated with a House committee. McCarthy, of course, was a senator. Wolffe uses the term "McCarthyite" to make the point, which is false, that Davis was not in any sense a communist or fellow-traveler. Wolffe understands that many people have been conditioned by academia to recoil at the thought of anything associated with McCarthyism.

The false information provided by Wolffe is similar to what the Obama campaign said about Davis when it was discovered last year that the mysterious "Frank" from Obama's book, Dreams from My Father, was in fact Frank Marshall Davis. If Davis were such an innocent figure, why didn't Obama give us his full name and tell us whether he accepted or rejected Davis's communist views? It was later revealed that Davis, a notorious drinker, was a pornographer and a sex pervert, adding to the concern about the nature of the Obama-Davis relationship. Sex sells, except when it involves the President's childhood mentor.

This was one of the major cover-ups of the political campaign, and the cover-up continues.

Nothing is said by Wolffe about the fact that the 600-page FBI file on Frank Marshall Davis covers the years 1944-1963, meaning that he was under investigation or surveillance for at least 19 years. One document refers to Frank Marshall Davis having CPUSA affiliations dating back to 1931. The evidence also shows that Davis was involved in communist activities in the 1970s, during the time he mentored Obama in Hawaii. Davis was on the FBI's security index, meaning that Davis could be arrested or detained in the event of a national emergency. The FBI material documents Davis's anti-white and pro-Soviet views, infiltration of the Hawaii Democratic Party, and other activities.

Wolffe's book also describes communist terrorist Bill Ayers as just "the former 1960s radical" who was just an "acquaintance" of Obama's. This is so superficial as to be laughable. But it's not a laughing matter to be associating with someone who bombed police stations. That is why Obama and his campaign repeatedly tried to play down the relationship, and why Ayers went into virtual hiding during the campaign.

Nevertheless, Wolffe has been hired at a "public affairs" firm called Public Strategies, whose CEO and president is former Bush White House official Dan Bartlett, "one of President Bush's most trusted advisors," his bio says. The hiring of Wolffe shows that Bartlett and his cronies do not put ideology or philosophy ahead of making bucks in the Obama era.

According to Wolffe's bio at Public Strategies, "As Senior White House Correspondent for Newsweek, Wolffe covered President Obama and his inner circle from the launch of his presidential campaign through the president's first few months in office." In addition to his work on MSNBC, the bio says that he has appeared on Fox News, "as well as international media, including the BBC."

It is apparent that British-born "Senior Strategist" Wolffe brings access to Obama's inner circle and perhaps the President himself for the corporate and other clients of the Public Strategies lobbying group, which even has a Mexico affiliate.

This kind of advertised access to Obama's "inner circle" helps explain why the truth about Davis and Ayers was concealed from the readers of his book. Wolffe obviously wants to protect his "sources," who could be helpful to the Public Strategies group.

"As recently as July 20, Wolffe was spotted visiting the White House for a meeting with senior adviser David Axelrod," reported the Politico. That same day, Politico reported, Wolffe wrote a column for the Daily Beast website quoting "a senior White House official" saying Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's job was safe. "Such information could have been very useful to the Financial Services Forum, a Public Strategies client comprised of the chief executive officers of 17 of the top U.S. financial institutions," the paper said.

Ironically, however, the Politico is a "Media Partner" of Public Strategies and they co-sponsored a recent poll on Obama's job performance. So the conflicts of interest are expanding. What's more, Politico published a plug for the Wolffe book on June 2.

Politico has now published an August 18 follow-up flattering story about Bartlett and other former Bush officials emerging as effective public relations practitioners.

This is how Washington's "inner circle" works. The truth matters less than how it is perceived and shaped by the insiders from both major political parties. These people are all about making money and deals, not seeking truth.

Health care of some kind will be needed to deal with the growing numbers of Americans who are sick of it.



God Lives Under the Bed

http://mypenfortruth.blogspot.com/2009/06/god-lives-under-bed.html

This is such a profound story... If you take it to heart, it will change your life! Read on...

I envy Kevin. My brother, Kevin, thinks God lives under his bed... At least that's what I heard him say one night.

He was praying out loud in his dark bedroom, and I stopped to listen, 'Are you there, God?' he said. 'Where are you? Oh, I see. Under the bed....'

I giggled softly and tiptoed off to my own room. Kevin's unique perspectives are often a source of amusement. But that night something else lingered long after the humor. I realized for the first time the very different world Kevin lives in.

He was born 30 years ago, mentally disabled as a result of difficulties during labor. Apart from his size (he's 6-foot-2), there are few ways in which he is an adult.

He reasons and communicates with the capabilities of a 7-year-old, and he always will. He will probably always believe that God lives under his bed, that Santa Claus is the one who fills the space under our tree every Christmas and that airplanes stay up in the sky because angels carry them.

I remember wondering if Kevin realizes he is different. Is he ever dissatisfied with his monotonous life?

Up before dawn each day, off to work at a workshop for the disabled, home to walk our cocker spaniel, return to eat his favorite macaroni-and-cheese for dinner, and later to bed.

The only variation in the entire scheme is laundry, when he hovers excitedly over the washing machine like a mother with her newborn child.

He does not seem dissatisfied.
He lopes out to the bus every morning at 7:05, eager for a day of simple work.
He wrings his hands excitedly while the water boils on the stove before dinner, and he stays up late twice a week to gather our dirty laundry for his next day's laundry chores..

And Saturdays - oh, the bliss of Saturdays! That's the day my Dad takes Kevin to the airport to have a soft drink, watch the planes land, and speculate loudly on the destination of each passenger inside. 'That one's goin' to Chi-car-go! ' Kevin shouts as he claps his hands.

His anticipation is so great he can hardly sleep on Friday nights. And so goes his world of daily rituals and weekend field trips. He doesn't know what it means to be discontent. His life is simple. He will never know the entanglements of wealth of power, and he does not care what brand of clothing he wears or what kind of food he eats.. His needs have always been met, and he never worries that one day they may not be.

His hands are diligent. Kevin is never so happy as when he is working. When he unloads the dishwasher or vacuums the carpet, his heart is completely in it. He does not shrink from a job when it is begun, and he does not leave a job until it is finished. But when his tasks are done, Kevin knows how to relax. He is not obsessed with his work or the work of others. His heart is pure. He still believes everyone tells the truth, promises must be kept, and when you are wrong, you apologize instead of argue.

Free from pride and unconcerned with appearances, Kevin is not afraid to cry when he is hurt, angry or sorry. He is always transparent, always sincere. And he trusts God.

Not confined by intellectual reasoning, when he comes to Christ, he comes as a child. Kevin seems to know God - to really be friends with Him in a way that is difficult for an 'educated' person to grasp. God seems like his closest companion.

In my moments of doubt and frustrations with my Christianity, I envy the security Kevin has in his simple faith.

It is then that I am most willing to admit that he has some divine knowledge that rises above my mortal questions. It is then I realize that perhaps he is not the one with the handicap. I am. My obligations, my fear, my pride, my circumstances - they all become disabilities when I do not trust them to God's care.

Who knows if Kevin comprehends things I can never learn? After all, he has spent his whole life in that kind of innocence, praying after dark and soaking up the goodness and love of God.

And one day, when the mysteries of heaven are opened, and we are all amazed at how close God really is to our hearts, I'll realize that God heard the simple prayers of a boy who believed that God lived under his bed.

Kevin won't be surprised at all!

~Author Unknown



"The e-mail Bag"

A travel agent looked up from his desk and saw an older lady and an older gentleman...

... peering into the shop window, where there were posters of glamorous destinations around the world. The agent had had a good week, and the dejected couple looking in the window gave him a rare feeling of generosity. He called them into his shop.

"I know that on your pension you could never hope to have a holiday, so I am sending you to a fabulous resort at my expense, and I won't take no for an answer."

He took them inside and asked his secretary to write two flight tickets and book a room in a five-star hotel. The older lady and gentleman, as could be expected, gladly accepted and were off!

About a month later, the little lady came in to the travel agency.

"And how did you like your holiday?" the agent asked eagerly.

"The flight was exciting, and the room was lovely," she said. "I've come to thank you. But, one thing puzzled me. Who was that old guy I had to share the room with?"



A Little Fellow Follows Me

By: Author Unknown

A careful man I ought to be,
A little fellow follows me.
I dare not go astray,
For fear he'll go the self-same way.

I cannot once escape his eyes,
Whatever he see me do, he tries.
Like me, he says, he's going to be,
The little chap who follows me.

He thinks that I am good and fine,
Believes in every word of mine.
The base in me he must not see,
That little fellow who follows me.

I must remember as I go,
Thru summers' sun and winters' snow.
I am building for the years to be,
In the little chap who follows me.