ConservativeChristianRepublican-Report - 20091005

Motivational-Inspirational-Historical-Educational-Political-Enjoyable

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



"Daily Motivations"

A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes. -- Mahatma Gandhi



"Daily Devotions" (KJV and/or NLT)

"If we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong." (I John 1:9)

In 1952, Vonette and I were beginning our ministry at UCLA, but she was troubled by an experience from college. Every time she prayed to be filled with the Holy Spirit, the Lord would remind her of this college experience. As we discussed her concern, I told her that it seemed to me to be an extremely minor issue. My advice was to ask God for forgiveness and move on.

But Vonette saw the issue as deeper, something she needed to resolve. She wrote letters to the people involved in that situation and offered her apology. Immediately there was something different about Vonette's life. The evidence? The next fifty young women she talked to at UCLA received Christ. God was sending us a message through that incident that we would never forget. Vonette obeyed God, confessed the sin in her life, and acted on her repentance. As a result, the Holy Spirit filled her and produced an incredible harvest through her ministry.

Sin short-circuits our fellowship with God. It pollutes our prayers and deadens our ability to hear His voice.

Confess to the Lord whatever sin may be in your life. Accept the forgiveness you have received through Christ's death on the cross. Then repent in whatever manner God impresses upon you.

Every sin that you and I have ever committed and will ever commit has been paid for with the precious blood of our Savior. Jesus cancelled all of the charges against us. By His mercy we are forgiven for all time.



"The Patriot Post"

"Man, once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the sport of every wind. With such persons, gullibility, which they call faith, takes the helm from the hand of reason and the mind becomes a wreck." -- Thomas Jefferson



Aesop's Fable: The Dog and the BoneGOVERNMENT

"Many years ago, as a small child, I was told one of those old-fashioned fables for children. It was about a dog with a bone in his mouth, who was walking on a log across a stream. The dog looked down into the water and saw his reflection. He thought it was another dog with a bone in his mouth -- and it seemed to him that the other dog's bone was bigger than his. He decided that he was going to take the other dog's bone away and opened his mouth to attack. The result was that his own bone fell into the water and was lost. At the time, I didn't like that story and wished they hadn't told it to me. But the passing years and decades have made me realize how important that story was, because it was not really about dogs but about people. Today we are living in a time when the President of the United States is telling us that he is going to help us take that other dog's bone away -- and the end result is likely to be very much like what it was in that children's fable. Whether we are supposed to take that bone away from the doctors, the hospitals, the pharmaceutical companies or the insurance companies, the net result is likely to be the same -- most of us will end up with worse medical care than we have available today. We will have opened our mouth and dropped a very big bone into the water." -- economist Thomas Sowell



INSIGHT

"The dilemma ... is between the democratic process of the market in which every individual has his share and the exclusive rule of a dictatorial body. Whatever people do in the market economy is the execution of their own plans. In this sense every human action means planning. What those calling themselves planners advocate is not the substitution of planned action for letting things go. It is the substitution of the planner's own plan for the plans of his fellowmen. The planner is a potential dictator who wants to deprive all other people of the power to plan and act according to their own plans. He aims at one thing only: the exclusive absolute preeminence of his own plan." -- Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)



THE GIPPER

"[T]he real friends of the conservative movement aren't those entrenched in the capital city for 50 years; the real friends of the conservative movement are an entity that gets heard from in a big way every four years and who, I promise you, are going to be heard from this year. I'm talking about those who, if the case is aggressively put before them, will vote for limited government, family values, and a tough, strong foreign policy every single time. I'm talking about those believers in common sense and sound values, your friends and mine, the American people. You see, those who underestimate the conservative movement are the same people who always underestimate the American people. ... The American people know what limited government, tax cuts, deregulation, and the move towards privatization have meant. It's meant the largest peacetime expansion in our history, and I can guarantee you they won't want to throw that away for a return to budgets beholden to the liberal special interests." -- Ronald Reagan



CULTURE

"As the president's approval ratings fall and rise and fall again, some of his supporters in journalism and politics are returning to days of old when the label 'racist' could end any discussion and force the accused either into stunned silence, or groveling repentance. I suspect the tactic won't work this time because Obama supporters will have difficulty explaining how a mostly white country could elect a black man president last November and ten months later become a racist majority. Racism has always been a one-way street for the Left. ... According to liberal doctrine, black people can never be racist because they are members of a victim class created by white liberals as a kind of modern plantation to keep blacks voting for liberal Democrats. ... The president's race would be a factor only if Americans shied away from criticizing him because of it. That they are not is a triumph of Martin Luther King Jr.'s hope that people be judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin. Some opinion polls show that Obama's character is being judged and found wanting by a rapidly growing number of Americans, at least a small percentage of whom are black. With Democrats controlling all three branches of government, including significantly wide margins in Congress, isn't there a better explanation than racism for why the president is having difficulty with some of his proposals? ... There is a better explanation for the growing opposition to President Obama. It has less to do with his ethnicity than it does his credibility. Character, after all, is colorless." -- columnist Cal Thomas



RE: THE LEFT

"I traveled on the Tea Party Express tour bus as a singer/songwriter, entertainer and spokesperson; 16 states, 34 rallies in two weeks. I experienced vicious racial verbal attacks, not from the tea party protesters. The racial hate expressed against me all came from the left, people who support President Obama's radial socialist agenda. ... These racists are outraged by my opening lines I boldly proclaimed at each rally. 'Hello my fellow patriots! I am NOT an African-American! I am Lloyd Marcus, AMERICAN!' ... The tea party audience's passionate response to my proclamation was a surprise to me. I did not know so many Americans disapproved of hyphenating pushed on us via political correctness. ... Liberals' response to my YouTube videos, columns and performances on the Tea Party Express have been extremely racist, vicious and hate-filled. In their incredible arrogance, they vilify me for loving my country and not viewing myself as a victim of white America. In the sick minds of liberals, as a black man in America, I must support President Obama regardless of his policies. I must resent white America. I must feel entitled to the earnings of other Americans. My belief that my success or failure is totally in the hands of myself and my God is anathema to them. As to the claim that the tea party protesters are racist, they are not. Quite the opposite. At every rally, with thousands in attendance, I was overwhelmingly showered with affection and thanks for standing up for America. ... These protesters are not racist. They are decent hard working ordinary Americans who love their country and disapprove of the radical changes planned by the Obama administration." -- singer, songwriter and columnist Lloyd Marcus



FOR THE RECORD

"Hospitals across the country are going bankrupt because the federal government forces them to provide free services to illegals. This situation appears to have angered some segment of the population, in particular, American citizens who pay taxes to support the hospitals, but then are forced to spend hours writhing in pain in hospital waiting rooms. With Americans in a boiling cauldron of rage about the government's impotent response to the tsunami of illegal immigrants, last year, both political parties ran candidates for president who favor amnesty for illegal immigrants.. And now Democrats have the audacity to tell us to our faces that national health care won't cover illegals. Not only that, but they tell us we must not be able to read if we think it does. .... [S]ection [246 of the bill], which liberals keep brandishing like a DNA-stained dress, states: 'Nothing in this subtitle shall allow federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States.' In other words, illegal aliens are excluded from precisely one section of the thousand-page, goodie-laden health care bill: Section 246, which distributes taxpayer-funded 'affordability credits' to people who can't afford to pay for their own health care. Even this minor restriction on taxpayer largesse to illegals will immediately be overturned by the courts. But the point is: Except for vouchers, the bill does not even pretend to exclude illegals from any part of national health care -- including the taxpayer-funded health insurance plan. Moreover, liberals won't have to wait for some court to find that the words 'nothing in this subtitle shall allow' means 'this bill allows,' because the bill contains no mechanism to ensure that the health care vouchers aren't going to illegal aliens. Nor does the bill prohibit the states from providing taxpayer-funded health care vouchers to illegals. Democrats keep voting down Republican amendments that would insert these restrictions -- just before dashing to a TV studio to denounce anyone who says the health care bill covers illegal aliens." -- columnist Ann Coulter



THE LAST WORD

"Obama and his commissars are labeling Americans who just happen to oppose Cap & Trade, billions for clunkers and to the havoc the leftists are trying to wreak on our health care system, as brainless sheep.. Large groups of citizens rise up to voice their grievances and he calls them mobs, claims that grass roots are really made of Astroturf and tells his minions to ape the Soviets and rat out their friends and neighbors. Some people I know refer to what Obama is doing as social engineering. I think it's something even worse: socialist engineering. I wonder if anyone else has noticed that whenever a black conservative voices an opinion, the liberal claque insists that he's not an authentic black, and when a white conservative voices an opinion, Obama's sycophants insist he's not an authentic American. When Obama was running for the presidency, a few of us Paul Revere wannabes were warning you: 'The reds are coming! The reds are coming!' Naturally, Obama, a born and bred race hustler who learned his lessons well from Jeremiah Wright, wanted you to believe that the only reason people could possibly have for opposing him was his race. But it was never about the color of his skin. It was always about the color of his politics." -- columnist Burt Prelutsky



"Simple Truths"

Every Monday Matters

http://www.everymondaymovie.com/



"Chuck Sproull"

Karl Marx v. God’s Blessings

By Chuck Sproull, Springville IN

Recently I read by Karl Marx quote, “Catch a man a fish, and you can sell it to him. Teach a man to fish, and you ruin a wonderful business opportunity.”

The more I thought about that quote, the more ignorant, selfish and stupid it seemed. How could you “ruin a wonderful business opportunity” by teaching someone to catch his own fish?

A wise businessman who is concerned about his customers’ satisfaction would see the opportunity to expand his “business opportunity” by establishing a related business that includes selling fishing tackle and bait in addition to selling fish, and then conducting classes to train more people to be good fishermen so he could sell more tackle and make more profits, and do effective wealth distribution without taxation or Government intervention.

Then I did a search on “quotes, Karl Marx” and found that he had dishonestly misquoted a Lao Tzu quote, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

I hate that kind of dishonesty Karl Marx displayed in his misquote and his inappropriate application of it to socialism. That is the same kind of dishonest illogical reasoning going on in the hearts of present day liberals, socialists and communists. They even show how confused they are by outlawing Bible study in public schools, which can save believers from immoral influences, and then dishonestly misquoting the Bible to promote their socialist and immoral agenda.

Another Karl Marx quote. “The theory of the Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property.”

Hello, can anyone see what’s wrong here? It was the communist experiments 400 years ago in Jamestown and Plymouth (“abolition of private property”) that failed. And it was limited government and freedom to own private property that lead them to personal prosperity and better health, without taxes and Government run health care. This became the foundation of our Constitutional Republic and made America the greatest nation in the world.

I don’t think Karl Marx would have made a good American, do you? Would he or the present day socialists have signed our Declaration of Independence, fought in the War of Independence, or signed our Constitution and Bill of Rights?

As John Adams pointed out, only moral, honest and unselfish people who are willing to work can live within limited government with the Ten Commandments to govern them. Socialists and lazy irresponsible people who need more laws and enforcement are not able to be governed by our Constitution. They are “blind leaders of the blind.” (Matthew 15:14).

Another Lao Tzu quote, “Treat those who are good with goodness, and also treat those who are not good with goodness. Thus goodness is attained. Be honest to those who are honest, and be also honest to those who are not honest. Thus honesty is attained...”

This is similar to what Jesus taught His followers, not as a political party but as individuals. “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:45-46, Luke 6:35).Why? So they could share the love of God and teach their enemies how to become their friends. It works. I know from experience.

But Jesus as the Son of God went farther than any religious leader before or after Him. He suffered and died on the cross, was resurrected and ascended into heaven, that everyone might receive remission (forgiveness of past) sins and a new life of love and holiness that prepares us to live with Him in heaven.



"Founders As Christians"

Richard Stockton
Signer of the Declaration of Independence

I think it proper here not only to subscribe to the entire belief of the great and leading doctrines of the Christian religion, such as the Being of God, the universal defection and depravity of human nature, the divinity of the person and the completeness of the redemption purchased by the blessed Savior, the necessity of the operations of the Divine Spirit, of Divine Faith, accompanied with an habitual virtuous life, and the universality of the divine Providence, but also . . . that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom; that the way of life held up in the Christian system is calculated for the most complete happiness that can be enjoyed in this mortal state; that all occasions of vice and immorality is injurious either immediately or consequentially, even in this life; that as Almighty God hath not been pleased in the Holy Scriptures to prescribe any precise mode in which He is to be publicly worshiped, all contention about it generally arises from want of knowledge or want of virtue. -- Will of Richard Stockton



Jonathan Trumbull Sr.
Governor of Connecticut, Patriot

Principally and first of all, I bequeath my soul to God the Creator and Giver thereof, and body to the Earth . . . nothing doubting but that I shall receive the same again at the General Resurrection thro the power of Almighty God; believing and hoping for eternal life thro the merits of my dear, exalted Redeemer Jesus Christ. --Will of Jonathan Trumbull



"The Web"

Community cheers cheerleaders for Jesus

Pete Chagnon - OneNewsNow

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Education/Default.aspx?id=707786

Friday night high school football in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia took a backseat to a battle of another sort in the bleachers and on the sidelines.

Since 9-11 the Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe Warrior's cheerleaders have been using scripture verses on the banners that the football team bursts through at the beginning of each game. However, that tradition has been banned by school authorities who fear a hefty lawsuit if they allow the practice to continue. Officials nixed the banners after receiving a complaint from one individual who claims she was offended by the verses. (cheerleaders perform for local news http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IexPcwPXaaA video)

In a surprising turn of events, community members have showed their overwhelming support for the cheerleaders who have since become media celebrities. A local youth pastor, Brad Scott, started a Facebook page in their support and organized a rally at a local Chick-fil-a. That rally had to be moved when more than 1,100 supporters showed up. Now in another overwhelming show of support, members of the community showed up to Friday nights football game to cheer the cheerleaders.

Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe high school says they have sold the most tickets ever to Friday night's game. All throughout the bleachers people sported homemade signs with scripture verses and t-shirts emblazoned with the school logo and the words "Warriors for Christ." A few enthusiastic male students even painted their shirtless torsos with the school's colors and a scripture verse. (see raw video footage here) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDGu1PDghD0

Jay Spokes brought his entire family out for the event and all were waving homemade cardboard signs that read, "I love Jesus," "Warriors for Christ," and "I am not ashamed of the gospel."

"I think the superintendent reacted a little prematurely in banning the signs, I think it was a knee jerk reaction. They were fearful of a lawsuit and I can understand that," he explained to OneNewsNow. But he adds, "[T]hey should research the laws better and actually put it to question...one person's complaint shouldn't stop the whole communities thought process."

Spokes also attended the rally earlier in the week and has voiced his opinion on the issue to the school board. Lisa Curtis is the Varsity cheerleading coach at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe high school. She told OneNewsNow that she was grateful for the support of the community and adds that she was "dumb-founded" when she was told her girls could no longer use the scripture verse banners.

"It just amazes me what kind of impact our little Bible verse signs have had on the community...the girls just want to thank everyone who has supported them this week," she continues. "We are getting messages from all over the country and we just want to thank you all."

Many school employees donned scripture verse t-shirts as well Friday night. The football coaches also sported the shirts and just before the game began the football team prayed on the field and closed that prayer with "in Jesus' name." Another rally is planned for Tuesday night's school board meeting.



New abortion law protects life, consciences
Alan Sears, Commentary

http://www..eastvalleytribune.com/story/145172

Whenever Planned Parenthood and The Center for Reproductive Freedom team up, something dies. Sometimes, it's a freedom. More often, it's a life.

If the two organizations' respective lawsuits - one state, one federal - succeed in dismantling a new Arizona law designed to protect pregnant women and those who serve them, you'll see mortal wounds nationwide to both lives and liberty.

On the other hand, the new law, if enacted, could have a far-reaching impact on legislation in other states, improving the quality of medical care for women considering abortion, while expanding the freedom of health care professionals to honor their conscience and religious convictions.

Ostensibly, Planned Parenthood - itself the nation's largest purveyor of (and profit-maker from) abortion - objects to the new law because it imposes "an undue burden" on women seeking abortions. Specifically, the law requires:

That women visit a doctor 24 hours prior to having the abortion to hear all the medical implications of the "procedure," to fully understand the decision they are making.

That parents provide notarized consent for their minor children to have an abortion, or alternatively, that a judge review the request.

That surgical abortions be performed only by licensed doctors.

That health care professionals be allowed to follow their consciences and not be forced to participate in abortions or in the prescription and preparation of abortion-inducing drugs.

The required doctor visit forces women to make two appointments, Planned Parenthood says, conveniently ignoring the fact that virtually no other medical procedure permits the patient to make an appointment, consult with the doctor, hear a diagnosis, and submit to the procedure - all in the course of a single visit.

Requiring notarized consent violates the privacy of underage girls, the organization claims, as though the right of parents to make informed choices about their underage child is somehow irrelevant. Written consent was already required by Arizona law; the notarization requirement was simply added in order to prevent a fraud that's become increasingly more common.

But, Planned Parenthood sputters, if only doctors can perform abortions - and medical professionals are free to honor their conscience by excusing themselves from participating in abortions - well, women's access to them will be drastically limited.

And that's the real rub, of course.

Limiting the number of people who can legally cut up a child in the womb will seriously cut into Planned Parenthood's multimillion-dollar bottom line. At three of the organization's five Arizona clinics, abortions are currently performed by nurse practitioners - which means enforcement of the new law could easily translate into 20 to 40 percent less cash in Planned Parenthood's already bulging coffers.

By the same token, requiring a parent's notarized permission for a minor's abortion curtails not a young woman's right to privacy, as Planned Parenthood claims, but rather the organization's ability to manipulate impressionable teens into paying for a procedure that will not only end a human life but wreak a devastating emotional impact on the girl herself.

Planned Parenthood and its allies will not give up their easy profits without a fight. At stake are issues that resonate far beyond even the regard for human life that is rightfully the heart of any abortion discussion.

Does a teen's "right to privacy" trump a parent's responsibility for their child's health and well-being? Does the pressure on a woman to abort the baby within her preclude a reasonable regard for her own medical well-being? And does a woman's authority over "her own body" outweigh another person's authority over his own soul?

If a woman who wants an abortion takes her case to a doctor who demurs on the grounds of religious conviction, she may have to "shop around" a bit to find a physician willing to remove the child from her womb. If one pharmacist declines to fill a prescription for the so-called "morning after" abortion pill, another is only minutes away.

But if a medical professional is compelled by law to perform what she regards as a grave sin, it will cost her much more than a quick search on the Internet, or a few more minutes in the car. It will cost her much more even than her personal freedom.

It will cost her the deepest convictions of her soul. And, like the life of an innocent, unborn child, that's just too high a price to pay for convenience.

Alan Sears, a former federal prosecutor who held various posts in the departments of Justice and Interior during the Reagan administration, is president, CEO, and general counsel of the Scottsdale-based Alliance Defense Fund.



What Would the World Be Like Without Automobiles?

http://www.americanvision.org/article/what-would-the-world-be-like-without-automobiles/?awt_l=CQsGV&awt_m=1fmjsrFw79P5qC

by Gary DeMar

Great pains are being taken to rid our air of exhaust pollutants. This is certainly a good thing. But compared to the donkey and horse, the animals Jesus and Paul rode (Matt. 21:7; Acts 9:4), the automobile is a non‑polluter. Dixy Lee Ray (1914–1994), former governor of the State of Washington, recalls that as a child, the world in which most Americans lived “was a very smelly place. The prevailing odors were of horse manure, human sweat, and unwashed bodies. A daily shower was unknown; at most there was the Saturday night bath.”[1] Indoor plumbing was a luxury. Only a few main streets were paved, usually with cobblestone or brick. Automobiles were few and far between. Long-distance travel was by rail. Refrigeration was unheard of. If you wanted to get around, you had to have literal horse power and the pollution that went with it.

Sanitary experts in the early part of the twentieth century agreed that the normal city horse produced between fifteen and thirty pounds of manure a day, with the average being something like twenty‑two pounds. In a city like Milwaukee in 1907, for instance, with a human population of 350,000 and a horse population of 12,500, this meant 133 tons of manure a day, for a daily average of nearly three‑quarters of a pound of manure per person per day. Or, as the health officials in Rochester calculated in 1900, the 15,000 horses in that city produced enough manure in a year to make a pile covering an acre of ground 175 feet high and breeding sixteen billion flies.[2]

The horse population of Chicago was 83,000, and this was after the automobile and electric streetcar had caused a decline in the number of urban horses. In 1880, the cities of New York and Brooklyn had a combined horse population somewhere between 150,000 and 175,000. As one can imagine, keeping the streets clean was a major problem. Some suggested that epidemics of cholera, smallpox, yellow fever, and typhoid were caused by “‘a combination of certain atmospheric conditions and putrefying filth,’ among which horse manure was a chief offender.”[3]

The cost of keeping the streets clean was expensive. Some cities tried to recoup the cost by selling the manure for fertilizer. This caused another unforeseen problem since collecting manure was more profitable than collecting regular trash. Daily refuse often remained in the streets along with the leftover manure. What they wouldn’t have given for a good ol’ garbage truck and a landfill back then.

Streets turned into cesspools during inclement weather. Women with long skirts suffered the worst of it. Dodging street cleaners was another hazard. There was no relief during the summer when people had to endure breathing pulverized horse manure. Modernized roads were of little help. “The paving of streets accelerated this problem, as wheels and hoofs ground the sun‑dried manure against the hard surfaces and amplified the amount of dust.”[4] And there was the problem that the Atlantic Monthly described in 1886 to the theater-going public in New York City as “dead horses and vehicular entanglements.”

What would Jesus have done if confronted with the new technology? Would He have endorsed the mass production of the automobile when it was first introduced to the American public knowing that it was a polluter? Actually, Jesus would have said little. He would have allowed common sense and market forces to determine how the new technology would be used. He most certainly would have welcomed the elimination of dead horses and horse excrement from city streets since sanitation was a big part of biblical law (Ex. 29:14, 34; Deut. 23:13–14). Jesus would have supported “popular journals such as Harper’s Weekly, Lippincott’s Magazine, and The Forum, as well as specialized periodicals such as American City, Horseless Age, Motor, and the Scientific American” which “were filled with articles extolling the automobile and the motor-truck and disparaging the horse.”[5] Scientific American noted that motor vehicles left no litter as compared to the horse. Disease carrying insects and organisms were virtually driven from the city with the advent of the automobile.

How would Jesus have reacted to the claim that stables, blacksmiths, street sweepers, buggy makers, feed lot owners, and saddle, bit, and bridle makers would be put out of business if the automobile became commonplace? Thousands of people lost their jobs because of the advent of the automobile, but many more jobs were created. Advances in technology have always been criticized because of the impact that they might have on the future, including worker displacement. About twenty years ago “executives of IBM got together the biggest academic and intellectual mandarins they could find . . . to discuss the question of the long-term implications of the computer for American society. After a week of discussions the experts threw up their hands and said they couldn’t possibly foretell the range of impacts the computer would have in even the short run.”[6] The author implies that if we can’t know all the ramifications of a new technology that we should dispense with its development.

No one can foretell the future. Advances in technology make for a better world, even when the downside is noted and made part of the equation. Walking, horseback, muleback, camelback riding, and sledding were the standards in transportation for millennia. Boats and ships made sea travel possible. The invention of the steamship, trains, automobiles, and airplanes made it possible where even overnight delivery is the norm. Then came the fax machine. But now the computer sends a message across the world in seconds. If you needed masses of information, you had to go to a research library and spend months sifting through boxes of stored documents. Today, with a few keystrokes using Google, anyone can find almost anything. Where you once needed an operator to make a call, we now have direct dialing on hand-held cell phones. Who could have imagined such things? MPs downloads have replaced CDs which replaced cassette tapes which replaced 8-tracks which replaced reel-to-reel tapes which replaced the Edison Cylinder Phonograph. Watch the movie Edison, The Man (1940), starring Spencer Tracy, if you want to get an idea what life was like in the late nineteenth century and to see how much it’s changed for the good since then. The computer has nearly replaced the typewriter which replaced copyists which replaced clay tablets which replaced not-so-accurate oral communication. Those who cannot or will not adapt to the latest technological advances are left behind.

So the next time someone insists that we would do better by scrapping modern technology and buying horses or donkeys, you can paint a picture of what life was like in the streets before Henry Ford’s “horseless carriage.” The next wave of invention will come and provide better solutions to today’s technological problems. Coal is being used to create a liquid fuel so clear “you’d swear it was water.”[7] It’s technological challenges that spark inventive genius. If innovation is always going to be challenged because of the inevitability of downside issues, we might as well curl up in a ball and die.



Subject: HR 615

On Tuesday, the Senate health committee voted 12-11 in favor of a two-page amendment, courtesy of Republican Tom Coburn which would require all Members of Congress and their staff members to enroll in any new government-run health plan.

Congressman John Fleming has proposed an amendment that would require Congressmen and Senators to take the same health care plan that they would force on us. (Under proposed legislation they are exempt.)

Congressman Fleming is encouraging people to go to his Website and sign his petition. The process is very simple. I have done just that at:

http://fleming..house.gov/index.html

Senator Coburn and Congressman Fleming are both physicians.

Regardless of your political beliefs, it sure seems reasonable that Congress should have exactly the same medical coverage that they impose on the rest of us.

Please urge as many people as you can to do the same!



ACORNcracked.com

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Thanks for checking out the first edition of "In A Nutshell," our bi-monthly newsletter that will help you catch up on the important topics discussed on ACORNcracked.com)

IN A NUTSHELL...

BE AWARE: ACORN COULD SLIP OFF THE HOOK

The ever-growing ACORN scandal is at an extremely critical juncture – more critical than most people would probably imagine.

That means everybody who’s concerned about holding this organization fully responsible for its illegal deeds should be paying sharp attention.

You see, the ACORN leadership has stopped lashing out at its critics, and is putting on a self-serving show of internal evaluation and reform from within.

If the media and officials in Washington D.C. fall for this ploy, we may end up right back where we started – with a taxpayer-funded criminal organization again violating voter registration laws, gathering phony census information, shaking down corporations for money and advising pimps about the best way to sexually exploit children.

At first glance you may not think that’s possible, now that the so-called “mainstream media” has finally joined FOX News and other cable-based news organizations in exploring the ACORN mess.

But all the negative attention is helping ACORN’s leaders understand what’s at stake. They see their organization’s life flashing before their eyes, and they’ve devised a clever survival strategy.

They’ve announced that they will appoint an “independent” investigator to look into the various accusations, and that effort will be closely reviewed by ACORN’s very own “Board of Advisors.”

That board, by the way, includes Andy Stern, president of the militant SEIU and a feverish ACORN supporter, as well as John Podesta, head of the left-wing Center for American Progress and former Clinton chief of staff.

What’s the chance that those types of guys, who never found an ounce of fault with ACORN until the media shoved the evidence up their noses, will recommend any sort of meaningful reform or punishment?

The danger is that many of ACORN’s longtime admirers – in the White House, on Capitol Hill and within the liberal media establishment – may be impressed with this ploy and declare the case against ACORN closed.

Suddenly the heat will be off the organization, federal money will start flowing back into its coffers, and the same old crap will start happening again.

ACORN is simply playing the classic role of armadillo, balling up in a defensive posture until the unsuspecting predators wander away. And it’s a wise strategy, much smarter than the organization’s initial reaction to the storm of criticism.

By acting defiant toward the media, lashing out at the young muckraking filmmakers and threatening lawsuits against Fox News, ACORN was perpetuating the story. But by eating a little crow and arranging an internal investigation, it’s slyly letting the air out of the media’s balloon.

Remember, ACORN has been pushing the envelope for years, and in many circles its practices were no secret. Yet its powerful supporters continued to sing its praise and channel tax dollars in its direction, until the news cameras were stuck in their faces.

If ACORN manages to put on a good show of self-critique and internal reform, don’t be surprised if they happily embrace it.

Hopefully the honest people in government and the media will not allow this to happen. Hopefully they will continue to insist that ACORN be held fully accountable.

That can only happen if the various external investigations launched against ACORN are fully completed, and the mainstream media maintains its watch.

ANOTHER ACORNCRACKED.COM COUP

Our website, ACORNcracked.com, came to life with a lot of fanfare in mid July.

That’s because Kyle Olson, editor of ACORNcracked.com, traveled to New Orleans and obtained a rare video interview with the elusive Wade Rathke, founder of the organization. Olson got Rathke to discuss ACORN’s involvement with the push to enact federal health care reform, as well as the organization’s ties to the Obama White House.


The interview landed Olson a guest appearance on the Glenn Beck Program on the FOX News television network. Click the image to watch the interview.

Olson scored again two weeks ago, simply by closely watching the Brooklyn undercover video. Included in the background of the video was a dry-erase board with a list of local candidates that ACORN was apparently assisting.

As a 501c3 nonprofit agency, ACORN is not allowed to endorse candidates or host political events.

Olson noticed the candidate list in the video and contacted reporter Jeremy Olshan of the Post, who wrote a follow-up article on the endorsement list and quoted Olson extensively.

“The community organizing group is flagrantly violating tax law, much the same way ACORN’s loan counselors advised a prostitute to lie and cheat the system,” Olson was quoted as saying in the Post. “Local authorities should look into whether the local ACORN office...is engaging in political activity with tax dollars.”

Olson and the rest of the ACORNcracked.com staff will continue to dig for information like this, which may not be noticed or covered by the mainstream media. We believe every tidbit of information about ACORN’s activities will help build the overall case against the organization. Please keep an eye on our work.

HITTING VERY CLOSE TO HOME

As we mentioned above, the Brooklyn “pimp and prostitute sting,” carried about by the gutsy muckraking team of James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles, occurred at the ACORN Housing Corp. office in Brooklyn – the same office used by ACORN CEO and “chief organizer” Bertha Lewis.

The sting eliminated ACORN’s ability to claim that the previous stings occurred in random locations, and only involved shoddy employees who are far from the center of power. Unless the next sting occurs in Wade Rathke’s living room, it would be difficult to get any closer to ACORN’s nerve center..

If that sort of activity is occurring under Lewis’ nose, we believe it’s fair to assume that the corruption in the organization goes all the way to the top. And we’re confident that in the coming months, that high-level corruption will be exposed.

THEY MIGHT PROSECUTE WHO?

Almost unbelievably, the only legal victims of the “pimp and prostitute” sting in the Baltimore ACORN office may be O’Keefe and Giles.

Understandably, the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office received inquiries from citizens following the sting, wondering if criminal charges might be filed against ACORN.

In response, State’s Attorney Patricia Jessamy issued the following unbelievable statement:

“The only information received in reference to this alleged criminal behavior was a YouTube video. Upon review by this office, the video appears to be incomplete. In addition, the audio portion could possibly have been obtained in violation of Maryland law, which requires two-party consent.

“If it is determined that the audio portion now being heard on YouTube was illegally obtained, it is also illegal under Maryland law to willfully use or willfully disclose the content of said video. The penalty for the unlawful interception, disclosure or use of it is a felony punishable by up to five years.”

First of all, it’s our understanding that Maryland’s audio tape law is designed to prevent the recording and use of conversations that are meant to be private, and take place in a private setting. The ACORN office in Baltimore is a very public place, and we fail to see how the ACORN staffer who was busted in the sting had any reason to anticipate confidentiality.

That aside, we find it hard to believe that the corrupt ACORN staffer who was busted on tape are in no legal jeopardy, but the heroes who exposed the criminal activity may face up to five years in prison?

Oh what a world we live in.

If State’s Attorney Jessamy, a woman with strong ties to the Democratic Party, actually follows through with this threat, we’re certain that thousands of people across the nation will contribute to a legal defense fund that will guarantee the finest representation for O’Keefe and Giles.

That would be the very least we could do for them.

CHECK OUT TWO NEW WEBSITES

The Education Action Group Foundation has launched two new national websites – NEAexposed.com and AFTexposed.com – to track and document the political activities and tactics of the nation’s two most powerful teachers unions, the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers.

The websites will be particularly focused on the militant efforts of the two unions to block necessary reform in our nation’s K-12 public schools. While leaders from both major political parties call for more charter schools, increased teacher accountability, tenure reform and other crucial changes, the unions are working overtime to obstruct those changes.

Why? Because reform of public education – particularly increased school choice – threatens their guaranteed clientele of students, their cushy job security, and their considerable political clout.

NEAexposed.com and AFTexposed.com will provide daily updates on union activities, so Americans can start to understand who’s really standing in the way of K-12 education improvements. Please check out the sites when you get a free moment.



Post Office + unions = millions for idleness

Jim Brown - OneNewsNow

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=706898

Many Americans may be outraged to find out that while the United States Postal Service is facing a $7 billion deficit this year and receiving a $4 billion bailout from Congress, the government agency is spending more than a million dollars each week to pay thousands of employees to sit in empty rooms and do nothing.

The Federal Times reports the Postal Service is paying out 45,000 hours of "standby time" every week -- the equivalent of having 1,125 full-time employees sitting idle, at a cost of more than $50 million a year. Postal union officials estimate that 15,000 employees have spent time this year holed up in so-called "resource rooms" where they read books, do word puzzles, or sleep -- and get paid for it.

Tad DeHaven, a budget analyst at the Cato Institute, says the Postal Service is experiencing serious financial woes in large part because 80 percent of its cost is tied up in labor.

"The Postal Service labor force is heavily unionized," he points out, "and the fact that they can't set aside these people or fire people, or reduce wages or time, or furlough [them] or anything, is all a function of the union contracts that they operate under."

DeHaven says the American Postal Workers Union, with government protection, is extracting excess wages, benefits, and privileges that other people in the country do not get.

"Now in the private sector, businesses have to adapt. They have to change their model; they have to unfortunately get rid of workers sometimes and rebuild their business model and adapt to the times," he explains. "Well, the Post Office is hamstrung -- and I almost feel bad for the management. They know what they need to do, to some degree, but they can't do it because of collective bargaining and unionism."

DeHaven says what is "doubly insulting" is that idle Postal employees are earning a paycheck from hard-working citizens who are struggling through the current recession.



Barack Obama – the Rooster Who Claimed Credit for the Economic Sunrise

By Timothy H. Lee

http://cfif.org/v/index.php/commentary/43-taxes-and-economy/369-barack-obama-the-rooster-who-claimed-credit-for-the-economic-sunrise

Barack Obama and his apologists now conveniently claim credit for stabilization of the downturn, as if the downturn would have otherwise continued into perpetuity. In this way, he is like the proverbial rooster who claims credit for the sunrise.
Quick: Think of the last American economic recession, or even depression, from which we didn’t recover.

Obviously, no such example exists.

Our capitalist, free-market economic system has created more prosperity and human innovation than any other economic system ever conceived or implemented by humanity. The tradeoff, of course, is that market economies encounter occasional downturns, but to paraphrase Winston Churchill, “it’s the worst economic system ever created – except for all of the others.”

By way of comparison, socialist economies are relatively immune from these cyclical downturns, but only at the catastrophic cost of miserable levels of wealth and human comfort. One need only recall the food shortages in the former Soviet Union, or the 1950s-era automobiles decaying on the streets of Havana, Cuba, to conceptualize that tradeoff. The simple fact is that although economic downturns naturally occur in a market economy, economic recoveries also occur naturally and lead to ever-increasing levels of prosperity and growth.

Unless, of course, government unwisely interferes and stifles that natural recovery process.

For example, the misguided efforts by Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt to engage in trade protectionism, tax increases and greater government regulation only exacerbated and perpetuated the Great Depression. As a consequence, it lasted longer and created more damage than previous American depressions from which we had recovered naturally.

Despite these realities, Barack Obama and his apologists now conveniently claim credit for stabilization of the downturn, as if the downturn would have otherwise continued into perpetuity. In this way, he is like the proverbial rooster who claims credit for the sunrise.

The reality, however, is very different and potentially alarming.

In their essay “The Stimulus Didn’t Work,” economists John F. Cogan, John B. Taylor and Volker Wieland demonstrate that Obama’s scheme failed in its intended purpose. Six months after his $787 billion proposal passed, they have shown the absence of any “noticeable impact on personal consumption expenditures,” because “temporary changes in income have little effect on consumption.” They also show that the modest gross domestic product (GDP) stabilization began in the first quarter of 2009, before the “stimulus” bill took effect.

They further note that subsequent stabilization between the first and second quarters of 2009 was primarily due to defense spending that was not part of Obama’s $787 billion behemoth.

Their study, of course, confirms what Americans had already begun to realize when unemployment rose to 9.7%, despite Obama’s confident promise that it would top out at 8% if his “stimulus” bill passed.

Notwithstanding these realities, one of the more visible signs of economic stabilization to which Obama points is the stock market, which has surged 46% since its March depths. But it is sobering to realize that every previous market recovery of that extent occurred during the 1930s or 1970s, periods of prolonged malaise. The market rallied 48% between 1929 and 1930, it nearly tripled between 1932 and 1933 and it rose 76% in 1974.

Economists’ consensus is that GDP growth will slow in the fourth quarter due to a “sugar high” effect of third quarter GDP growth. This is a troubling sign, because growth at this point in an economic cycle (the recession began in late 2007) should be far more robust and prospective.

The Federal Reserve will likely raise interest rates fairly soon to avoid runaway inflation following Obama’s reckless spending, which will dampen economic growth. Additionally, consumer confidence unexpectedly dropped this week, as did durable goods orders. This is a troubling sign, because “people want to be optimistic and want to be positive,” as noted by analyst Kent Croft of the Croft Value Fund. Further, business starts, which are a signal of future economic optimism, have fallen more steeply than in previous recessions.

Even more ominously, however, Obama’s broader fiscal irresponsibility may be stealing future economic growth.

After all, the trillions of dollars that he has spent or plans to spend must come from either higher taxes, even more borrowing, printing of money or some combination thereof. None of these options is a recipe for economic growth, but rather acts as a deadweight.

Wreaking further havoc, Obama and the Pelosi-Reid Congress stand poised to drastically increase taxes (whether by foolishly allowing the 2003 tax cuts to expire, through carbon cap-and-tax legislation, healthcare taxes, etc.), regulatory burdens, the stranglehold of Big Labor, trade protectionism and unprecedented deficit spending.

Accordingly, far from claiming undeserved glory for the economy’s natural stabilization tendency, Barack Obama should stop and consider the potentially catastrophic damage his policies will inflict upon future prosperity.



"The e-mail Bag"

A Golden Anniversary

An aged farmer and his wife were leaning against the edge of their pig-pen when the old woman wistfully recalled that the next week would mark their golden wedding anniversary.

"Let's have a party, Homer," she suggested. "Let's kill a pig."

The farmer scratched his grizzled head. "Gee, Ethel," he finally answered, "I don't see why the pig should take the blame for something that happened fifty years ago."