ConservativeChristianRepublican-Report - 20090824

Motivational-Inspirational-Historical-Educational-Political-Enjoyable

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



"Daily Motivations"

WRITE THEM UP! Community editors of local newspapers are always looking for interesting stories. Why not let them write about the achievements of people in your work group? This unique form of recognition may be just a phone call away! -- Eric Harvey



"Daily Devotions" (KJV and/or NLT)

"Heaven and earth will disappear, but My words will remain forever." (Luke 21:33)

A woman received directions to a home for a baby shower, complete with the street name and the house number. But she never found the correct house and went home embarrassed. The next day she discovered some pranksters had switched several street signs in the area. She failed to reach her destination even though she had true directions.

If you have ever had an experience like that, you may be skeptical whenever you receive directions to an unfamiliar setting. That is how many people approach what God has said. They are not at all sure that His truth is absolutely accurate or applies to modern life. Maybe He has forgotten about a turn, a detour, or a switched street sign, they think. Times change, so how can we rely on truth given centuries ago?

Because God knows the end from the beginning, not one of His statements ever turns out to be a misdirection. He does not shade the truth or leave out an essential part. His absolute truth applies to every situation in history.

I encourage you to read Psalm 119, the greatest chapter in the Bible about the endurance and truth of God's Word. Verse 160 says, "All Your words are true; all Your just laws will stand forever."

Not only is God's truth absolute, but it lasts forever! We can count on it for eternity.



"Simple Truths"

"You never know when one act, or one word of encouragement can change a life forever." -- Zig Ziglar



"The Patriot Post"

"Without liberty, law loses its nature and its name, and becomes oppression. Without law, liberty also loses its nature and its name, and becomes licentiousness." -- James Wilson, Of the Study of the Law in the United States, 1790

"I am commonly opposed to those who modestly assume the rank of champions of liberty, and make a very patriotic noise about the people. It is the stale artifice which has duped the world a thousand times, and yet, though detected, it is still successful. I love liberty as well as anybody. I am proud of it, as the true title of our people to distinction above others; but ... I would guard it by making the laws strong enough to protect it." -- Fisher Ames, letter to George Richard Minot, 1789

"Repeal that [welfare] law, and you will soon see a change in their manners. St. Monday and St. Tuesday, will soon cease to be holidays. Six days shalt thou labor, though one of the old commandments long treated as out of date, will again be looked upon as a respectable precept; industry will increase, and with it plenty among the lower people; their circumstances will mend, and more will be done for their happiness by inuring them to provide for themselves, than could be done by dividing all your estates among them.." -- Benjamin Franklin, letter to Collinson, 1753

"Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition." -- Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, Query 19, 1781

"What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value." -- Thomas Paine, The American Crisis, No. 1, 1776



"The Web"

GOP: Democrats Censoring Mail on Health Care

This is another example of the majority arrogant Democrats on Capitol Hill. When you try to explain their legislation, you are censored and prevented from doing so, although the Democrats cannot and will not explain why the minority Republicans are wrong. The majority Democrats have censored the term "government-run health care" in their mailings, and had to dub it "the public option" instead. How can anyone explain the Healthcare legislation other than it is a "government-run health care" program. When this legislation is written by and for the government, to "protect" the citizens, both legal and illegal citizens, it is a government Healthcare program. President Obama even says it is a single pay government "Healthcare" system! The majority Democrats are guilty of a violation of Amendment I which says: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. Censoring, as being used today on Capitol Hill, has never been used as the majority Democrats are forcing expression onto the American public.- oyh

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitol-briefing/2009/07/gop_accuses_democrats_of_censo.html

House Republicans have been prohibited from mailing out this diagram of Democrats' health-care reform plan.

By Ben Pershing

The partisan debate over health-care reform has trickled down into one of the more arcane corners of the House -- the committee on free mail, otherwise known as the Franking Commission.

One of the perks of being a member of Congress is that each lawmaker is allowed to send "franked" -- or free -- mail, as long as it is related to official business. Members use that ability to send newsletters and legislative updates to their constituents. To ensure that privilege is not used inappropriately, a majority of the bipartisan six-member Franking Commission must approve each piece to ensure it meets some basic guidelines. Mail is blocked only on rare occasions.

But now the commission has gotten involved in the health-care fight, prohibiting several Republican lawmakers from mailing out reproductions of a colorful, labyrinthine chart that purports to diagram Democrats' reform plan. The controversy was first reported by Roll Call.

The chart was produced by the Republican staff of the Joint Economic Committee and has become a popular visual aide on the minority side of the aisle, as the GOP attempts to convince the public that the majority's plan will be a confusing disaster. But Democrats have argued that the chart is an inaccurate representation of their health-care efforts, and for that reason, the three Democrats on the Franking Commission say the GOP can't use it in official mail. House guidelines say that in franked mail, "Comments critical of policy or legislation should not be partisan, politicized or personalized." But what about information that's inaccurate, or -- arguably -- just misleading?

"We have never before censored anybody's presentation of facts this way," Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.) complained in an interview Friday.

Lungren, the top Republican on both the Franking Commission and the House Administration Committee, said the commission has never traditionally played a fact-checking role. He pointed out that Democrats this year have sent out numerous pieces of franked mail touting the number of jobs created by the economic stimulus package, and while Republicans might disagree with those numbers, they've never moved to block the mail from being sent out.

"We let those things go by, even though we don't think it's true," Lungren said, adding that he knows of at least 15 Republicans who have asked to mail out copies of the health-care chart in question. (For some context, Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) explains the chart's purpose here. Ezra Klein mocked the chart here, and includes a chart of Republicans' own health-care "plan." )

The controversy extends beyond the colorful chart. Salley Collins, a spokeswoman for House Administration panel Republicans, said GOP members were also being told by the Franking Commission that they could not refer to "government-run health care" in their mailings, and had to dub it "the public option" instead.

Democrats, led by Franking Commission Chairwoman Susan Davis (Calif.), say they are trying in good faith to negotiate a compromise with Republicans on this subject. If the impasse isn't resolved, watch for the GOP to turn up the volume on the controversy next week.



ACLU Seeking to Put School Officials in Jail for Praying

http://www.theacru.org/acru/aclu_seeking_to_put_school_officials_in_jail_for_praying/

A small school district in Florida made the mistake of bargaining with the ACLU when it sued them about prayer in schools. Now, under a consent decree written by the ACLU but signed by a federal judge, three school administrators are threatened with criminal trials and convictions for violating that order, by engaging in protected speech which even the US Supreme Court, today, recognizes as protected.

Some of the facts for this article, and some of the legal conclusions, come from an article by Ken Klukowski, an ACRU colleague, published on Fox News as a legal analysis piece on 17 August. It is entitled, "Never Make a Deal with the Devil About Prayer." It concerns criminal actions initiated against three officials of the Santa Rosa County School District in Florida for allegedly violating a consent order of a federal court concerning prayers.

As these outrages have mentioned many times before, the tactic of the ACLU is to attack school districts with small budgets. Prolonged litigation with the ACLU could cause such districts to lay off teachers, or stop buying books for classrooms and libraries. So, these districts tend to fold like a cheap lawn chair when the ACLU even threatens to sue, or in this case, actually files suit.

School officials gave up, and allowed the ACLU to write a proposed order which the federal court signed as a Consent Degree, not only forbidding prayer at any school function, but forbidding any school official from even acknowledging any private prayer by bowing his/her head.

Two school officials are now under investigation for allegedly violating that order by having grace before a meal for a Boosters Luncheon. As the original article points out, this was for adults who supported the school’s athletic and other programs. It was not a "school" event as described in the order, because no students were present.

What the article doesn’t mention is that the US Supreme Court decisions forbidding prayer at school functions (which, whether they are correct or not, must be accepted at face value by lower courts and US Attorneys), have done so because "students are impressionable" and "school officials are in positions of trust and authority over them." Neither parts of that reasoning apply to adults, such as those at the Santa Rosa Boosters Luncheon.

A competent judge who had read the Supreme Court decisions would never have referred these school officials for prosecution. A competent US Attorney who had read these decisions would have dropped the prosecution instantly.

There is another aspect of this Consent Order not in this article. Apparently, the President of the Senior Class was not allowed to speak at her own graduation. The reason was that she was known to be a Christian, and would not submit her speech to be vetted by the court and the ACLU, before hand. Presumably, if she had been a known atheist and ACLU supporter, she’d have been allowed to speak.

The members of the School Board who permitted this travesty to take place, should be removed and replaced as soon as possible. The judge should be asked to strike his unconstitutional order from the record, probably by the parents whose daughter was not allowed to speak at graduation.

All who read this Outrage should take this as an object lesson. Striking a deal with the ACLU does not end the fight. It only means that the fight will go on, but on far worse terms. The goal of the ACLU is to take down American society as it currently exists. Such people will not be satisfied with any bargains.

Source on the Net: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2009/08/17/klukowski-prayer-florida-aclu/



TIME FOR GOD

Read only if you have time for God. Let me tell you, make sure you read all the way to the bottom. I almost deleted this e-mail but I was blessed when I got to the end.

God, when I received this e-mail, I thought ... I don't have time for this ... And, this is really inappropriate during work.

Then, I realized that this kind of thinking is Exactly, what has caused lot of the problems in our world today.

We try to keep God in church on Sunday morning... Maybe, Sunday night... And, the unlikely event of a midweek service.

We do like to have Him around during sickness... And, of course, at funerals.

However, we don't have time, or room, for Him during work or play... Because... That's the part of our lives we think... We can, and should, handle on our own.

May God forgive me for ever thinking...? That t here is a time or place where.

HE is not to be FIRST in my life... We should always have time to remember all HE has done for us.

If, You aren't ashamed to do this... Please follow the directions.

Jesus said, 'If you are ashamed of me, I will be ashamed of you before my Father.'

Not ashamed?

Pass this on ONLY IF YOU MEAN IT!

Yes, I do Love God.

HE is my source of existence and Savior.

He keeps me functioning each and every day... Without Him, I will be nothing. But, with Christ, HE strengthens me. (Phil 4:13)

This is the simplest test.

If You Love God ... and, are not ashamed of all the marvelous things HE has done for you... Send this to ten people and the person who sent it to you!

Now do you have the time to pass it on?

Make sure that you scroll through to the end.

Easy vs. Hard

Why is it so hard to tell the truth but Yet so easy to tell a lie?

Why are we so sleepy in church but Right when the sermon is over we suddenly wake up?

Why is it so easy to delete a Godly e-mail, but yet we forward all of the nasty ones?

Of all the free gifts we may receive, Prayer is the very best one ...

There are no costs, but wonderful rewards ... GOD BLESS!

Notes: Isn't it funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell.

Isn't it funny how someone can say 'I believe in God' but still follow Satan (who, by the way, also 'believes' in God).

Isn't it funny how you can send a thousand jokes through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing?

Isn't it funny how when you go to forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it to them.

Isn't it funny how I can be more worried about what other people think of me than what God thinks of me?

I pray, for everyone who sends this to their entire address book, they will be blessed by God in a way special for them.



“Letter From Heaven”

By Ruth Ann Mahaffey

http://321greetings.com/featured/letter-from-heaven/

To my dearest family,
Some things I would like to say,
But first of all, to let you know
That I arrived ok.

I’m writing this from Heaven
Where I dwell with God above,
here there’s no more tears or sadness
There is just eternal love.

Please do not be unhappy
Just because I’m out of sight.
Remember that I’m with you
Every morning, noon, and night.

That day that I had to leave you
When my life on earth was through,
God picked me up and hugged me
And He said, I welcome you.

It’s good to have you back again
You were missed while you were gone.
As for your dearest; family
They’ll be here later on.

I need you here so badly
As part of my big plan.
There’s so much that we have to do
To help our mortal man.

Then God gave me a list of things
He wished for me to do.
And foremost on that list of mine
Is to watch and care for you.

And I will be beside you
Every day and week and year.
And when you’re sad,
I’m standing there to wipe away the tears.

And when you lie in bed at night
The days chore put to flight
God and I are closest to you
In the middle of the night.

When you think of my life on earth
And all those loving years,
Because you’re only human
They’re bound to bring you tears

But do not be afraid to cry
It does relieve the pain.
Remember, there would be no flowers
Unless there was some rain.

I wish that I could tell you
Of all that God has planned,
But if I were to tell you,
You would not understand.

And to my many friends trust,
God knows what it best.
I’m still not very far away from you
I’m just beyond the crest.

And now I am contented that my life,
It was worthwhile.
Knowing as I passed along the way
I made someone smile.

When you’re walking down the street
And you’ve got me on your mind,
I’m walking in your footsteps
Only half a step behind.

And when you feel that gentle breeze
Or the wind upon your face,
That’s me giving you a great big hug
Or just a soft embrace.

And when it’s time for you to go
From that body to be free,
Remember, you’re not going,
You are coming here to me.

And I will always love you
from that land way up above.
I’ll be in touch again soon,

P.S. GOD SENDS HIS LOVE!



The Death Book for Veterans

Ex-soldiers don't need to be told they're a burden to society.

By JIM TOWEY

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204683204574358590107981718.html

If President Obama wants to better understand why America's discomfort with end-of-life discussions threatens to derail his health-care reform, he might begin with his own Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). He will quickly discover how government bureaucrats are greasing the slippery slope that can start with cost containment but quickly become a systematic denial of care.

Last year, bureaucrats at the VA's National Center for Ethics in Health Care advocated a 52-page end-of-life planning document, "Your Life, Your Choices." It was first published in 1997 and later promoted as the VA's preferred living will throughout its vast network of hospitals and nursing homes. After the Bush White House took a look at how this document was treating complex health and moral issues, the VA suspended its use. Unfortunately, under President Obama, the VA has now resuscitated "Your Life, Your Choices."

Who is the primary author of this workbook? Dr. Robert Pearlman, chief of ethics evaluation for the center, a man who in 1996 advocated for physician-assisted suicide in Vacco v. Quill before the U.S. Supreme Court and is known for his support of health-care rationing.

"Your Life, Your Choices" presents end-of-life choices in a way aimed at steering users toward predetermined conclusions, much like a political "push poll." For example, a worksheet on page 21 lists various scenarios and asks users to then decide whether their own life would be "not worth living."

The circumstances listed include ones common among the elderly and disabled: living in a nursing home, being in a wheelchair and not being able to "shake the blues." There is a section which provocatively asks, "Have you ever heard anyone say, 'If I'm a vegetable, pull the plug'?" There also are guilt-inducing scenarios such as "I can no longer contribute to my family's well being," "I am a severe financial burden on my family" and that the vet's situation "causes severe emotional burden for my family."

When the government can steer vulnerable individuals to conclude for themselves that life is not worth living, who needs a death panel?

One can only imagine a soldier surviving the war in Iraq and returning without all of his limbs only to encounter a veteran's health-care system that seems intent on his surrender.

I was not surprised to learn that the VA panel of experts that sought to update "Your Life, Your Choices" between 2007-2008 did not include any representatives of faith groups or disability rights advocates. And as you might guess, only one organization was listed in the new version as a resource on advance directives: the Hemlock Society (now euphemistically known as "Compassion and Choices").

This hurry-up-and-die message is clear and unconscionable. Worse, a July 2009 VA directive instructs its primary care physicians to raise advance care planning with all VA patients and to refer them to "Your Life, Your Choices." Not just those of advanced age and debilitated condition—all patients. America's 24 million veterans deserve better.

Many years ago I created an advance care planning document called "Five Wishes" that is today the most widely used living will in America, with 13 million copies in national circulation. Unlike the VA's document, this one does not contain the standard bias to withdraw or withhold medical care. It meets the legal requirements of at least 43 states, and it runs exactly 12 pages.

After a decade of observing end-of-life discussions, I can attest to the great fear that many patients have, particularly those with few family members and financial resources. I lived and worked in an AIDS home in the mid-1980s and saw first-hand how the dying wanted more than health care—they wanted someone to care.

If President Obama is sincere in stating that he is not trying to cut costs by pressuring the disabled to forgo critical care, one good way to show that commitment is to walk two blocks from the Oval Office and pull the plug on "Your Life, Your Choices." He should make sure in the future that VA decisions are guided by values that treat the lives of our veterans as gifts, not burdens.

Mr. Towey, president of Saint Vincent College, was director of the White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives (2002-2006) and founder of the nonprofit Aging with Dignity.



eBay seller releases video of 'Obama birth certificate'

Elusive Lucas Smith films alleged Kenyan document

By Drew Zahn
© 2009 WorldNetDaily

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=107678

Screen shot of whole document from Lucas Smith's video; close-up views available in clip below

A man who had claimed to have a copy of President Obama's Kenyan birth certificate, attempted to sell it on eBay and then disappeared from contact has reappeared, this time with a video of the document he claims proves Obama's foreign birth.

As WND reported, Lucas Smith, a former resident of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and known by the eBay handle "colmado_noranja," claimed online and in phone conversations with WND to have an authentic document from Coast Provincial Hospital in Mombasa proving Obama's birth there at 7:24 p.m. on Aug. 4, 1961.

After promising to reveal the document to WND, Smith then dropped communications with a team of people offering to help him verify the document, only fueling belief the sale – and therefore the alleged document – was a scam.

Since then, various images have appeared online, purported to be Obama's original birth certificate – along with pranksters taking credit for forgeries meant to fool Americans still waiting for Obama to release conclusive proof of his purported Hawaiian birth.

Demand the truth by joining the petition campaign to make President Obama reveal his long-form, hospital-generated birth certificate!

Lucas Smith, however, still claims he has an authentic Obama birth certificate from Mombasa, and a video of him showing the document – which includes a close-up shot of the document's raised seal and the alleged footprint of Barack Obama – appears below:


"My name is Lucas Smith, an American," the video states. "This is the birth certificate of Barack Obama."

In the video, Smith points to several features of the certificate, including information still unknown about the sitting president, such as the name of the attending physician at his birth – James O. W. Ang'awa according to Smith's video.

The video also shows a stamp suggesting – if legitimate – that Smith obtained the document on Feb. 19, 2009.

WND followed Smith's ongoing saga as "colmado_naranja" attempted several times to sell the document, or photos and stories surrounding it, on eBay, only to have the auctions repeatedly removed by site administrators.

WND also launched an investigation into "colmado_naranja," which led through several online aliases and reported collaborators, including Dawnella Wilson, "InspectorSmith" and, eventually, Lucas Smith.

Smith, whose background includes a lengthy criminal record and a reported attempt to sell his kidney to a man in need of organ transplant, nonetheless insists that his motives are above board, even if his past looks dubious.

"I do have a background. I've made mistakes in my life," Smith told WND in an email. "It took a guy like me to go and get tangible proof about Obama. I don't mind breaking a few laws or policies here and there. I don't mind paying the military in foreign countries to look the other way ... The military [in Africa] will grant you access to anything for just a few dollars. People are starving. So yes, it takes a guy like me to get things done once in a while."

WND Senior Staff Writer Jerome Corsi traveled last year to both Kenya and Hawaii looking into Obama's history. He said despite contacts in government offices, the help of others and even the offer of financial reward, the Coast Provincial Hospital in Mombasa would not confirm Obama's birth there nor provide access to records.

"When I was there, I tried to get records from that hospital, but I couldn't do it," Corsi said. "The hospital either had no records or wouldn't release them.

Corsi earlier wouldn't rule out the possibility that the eBay seller may have somehow obtained a genuine document but stated only that his efforts in Kenya proved fruitless.

Corsi also reported, however, that WND obtained an authentic 1961-era Kenyan birth certificate, which does look distinctly different from the document Smith released in the video.

Authentic 1961-era Kenyan birth certificate obtained by WND

WND has reported on dozens of legal challenges to Obama's status as a "natural born citizen." The Constitution, Article 2, Section 1, states, "No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President."

Some of the lawsuits question whether he was actually born in Hawaii, as he insists. If he was born out of the country, Obama's American mother, the suits contend, was too young at the time of his birth to confer American citizenship to her son under the law at the time.

Other challenges have focused on Obama's citizenship through his father, a Kenyan subject to the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom at the time of his birth, thus making him a dual citizen. The cases contend the framers of the Constitution excluded dual citizens from qualifying as natural born.

Complicating the situation is Obama's decision to spend sums estimated in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to avoid releasing a state birth certificate that would put to rest all of the questions.

WND has reported that among the documentation not yet available for Obama includes his kindergarten records, his Punahou school records, his Occidental College records, his Columbia University records, his Columbia thesis, his Harvard Law School records, his Harvard Law Review articles, his scholarly articles from the University of Chicago, his passport, his medical records, his files from his years as an Illinois state senator, his Illinois State Bar Association records, any baptism records, and his adoption records.

"Where's The Birth Certificate?" billboard in Pennsylvania

Because of the dearth of information about Obama's eligibility, WND founder Joseph Farah has launched a campaign to raise contributions to post billboards asking a simple question: "Where's the birth certificate?"

The campaign followed a petition that has collected over 450,000 signatures demanding proof of his eligibility, the availability of yard signs raising the question and the production of permanent, detachable magnetic bumper stickers asking the question.

The "certification of live birth" posted online and widely touted as "Obama's birth certificate" does not in any way prove he was born in Hawaii, since the same "short-form" document is easily obtainable for children not born in Hawaii. The true "long-form" birth certificate – which includes information such as the name of the birth hospital and attending physician – is the only document that can prove Obama was born in Hawaii, but to date he has not permitted its release for public or press scrutiny.

Oddly, though congressional hearings were held to determine whether Sen. John McCain was constitutionally eligible to be president as a "natural born citizen," no controlling legal authority ever sought to verify Obama's claim to a Hawaiian birth.

Your donation – from as little as $5 to as much as $1,000 – can be made online at the WND SuperStore. (Donations are not tax-deductible. Donations of amounts greater than $1,000 can be arranged by calling either 541-474-1776 or 1-800-4WND.COM. If you would prefer to mail in your contributions, they should be directed to WND, P.O. Box 1627, Medford, Oregon, 97501. Be sure to specify the purpose of the donation by writing "billboard" on the check. In addition, donations of billboard space will be accepted, as will significant contributions specifically targeted for geographic locations.)

If you are a member of the media and would like to interview Joseph Farah about this campaign, e-mail WND.



Zogby: Obama Hits Record Low in Poll

By: David A. Patten

http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/Obama_plummets_Zogby/2009/08/20/250566.html?s=al&promo_code=85C8-1

President Barack Obama's popularity has plummeted to a record low, with just 45 percent of voters now approving of his performance, according to the latest Zogby International poll.

Asked whether they approve or disapprove of the president's job performance, just 45.3 percent of likely voters say they approve. That compares with 50.5 percent who disapprove of the job Obama is doing.

The results are a strong indication that contentious national debate over healthcare reform has taken a major toll on the president's popularity.

Those numbers also indicate that Obama clearly is in serious political trouble, Fox News analyst and best-selling author Dick Morris tells Newsmax.

"As soon as Obama dropped below 52 percent . . . he was leaking real voters who had backed him in November," Morris tells Newsmax. "Now that he is down to 45 percent among likely voters . .. . he is in deep political trouble."

Of greatest concern to Obama may well be his decline among all-important independent voters. Just 37.5 percent of self-identified independents say they approve of how Obama is handling the presidency. That compares with 59.2 percent of independents who disapprove.

"There is nothing counterintuitive in any of these numbers," pollster John Zogby of Zogby International tells Newsmax. "The president is clearly taken a slide — most especially with independent voters, who play such an important role in any legislation or policy support.

"Interestingly, the president had been making some inroads with groups like investors, and frequent Walmart shoppers .. . . both typically conservative," Zogby says. "However, he has slipped considerably with them in this poll."

Zogby adds: "The healthcare plan appears to be consolidating conservative opposition and scaring independent voters."

Pundits pay especially close attention to trends involving swing voters.

Continued evidence of declining popularity there will ratchet up the pressure on congressional blue dogs and other conservative Democrats to go their own way on controversial proposals such as public-option healthcare and energy cap-and-trade, knowing they can't rely on presidential coattails to prop them up with voters.

As expected, Obama continues to score well with Democrats, who give him an 83.9 percent approval rating. But among GOP voters, Obama has flat-lined at a 5.7 percent approval rating — a problem in itself for a president who promised to bring a new, bipartisan spirit to Washington politics.

Obama's decline has been startling. Various polls had his approval rating at well over 60 percent at the 100-day mark of his presidency.

By mid-June, his approval number had dipped to 51 percent. In July, it dropped further to 48 percent of likely voters.

Experts say the failure of the $787 billion stimulus to deliver on Obama's promise of massive jobs creation, the ongoing economic woes, and the increasingly bitter fight over Democrats' determination to push the government-subsidized, public-option healthcare reforms are among the reasons for Obama's rapid descent.

"Clearly, the healthcare reform package is dragging him down," Morris tells Newsmax, "and will drag every Democrat down unless they realize that they cannot afford to alienate the elderly of America by cutting Medicare and rationing medical care."

The Zogby International interactive poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percent.



Charlie Cook: Dem situation has 'slipped completely out of control'

http://www.politico.com/blogs/scorecard/0809/Charlie_Cook_Dem_situation_has_slipped_completely_out_of_control.html

Charlie Cook, one of the best political handicappers in the business, sent out a special update to Cook Political Report subscribers Thursday that should send shivers down Democratic spines.

Reviewing recent polling and the 2010 election landscape, Cook can envision a scenario in which Democratic House losses could exceed 20 seats.

"These data confirm anecdotal evidence, and our own view, that the situation this summer has slipped completely out of control for President Obama and Congressional Democrats. Today, The Cook Political Report’s Congressional election model, based on individual races, is pointing toward a net Democratic loss of between six and 12 seats, but our sense, factoring in macro-political dynamics is that this is far too low," he wrote.

"Many veteran Congressional election watchers, including Democratic ones, report an eerie sense of déjà vu, with a consensus forming that the chances of Democratic losses going higher than 20 seats is just as good as the chances of Democratic losses going lower than 20 seats."

Cook scrupulously avoided any mention that Democratic control of the House is in jeopardy but, noting a new Gallup poll showing Congress’ job disapproval at 70 percent among independents, concluded that the post-recess environment could feel considerably different than when Congress left in August.

"We believe it would be a mistake to underestimate the impact that this mood will have on Members of Congress of both parties when they return to Washington in September, if it persists through the end of the Congressional recess."



"The e-mail Bag"

Talk is cheap because supply exceeds demand.



Even if you are on the right track, You'll get run over if you just sit there.



Politicians and diapers have one thing in common. They should both be changed regularly and for the same reason.