Motivational-Inspirational-Historical-Educational-Political-Enjoyable
Promoting "God's Holy Values and American Freedoms"!
"Daily Motivations"
"If you want children to keep their feet on the ground, put some responsibility on their shoulders." -- Abigail Van Buren
May you be blessed with all things good. -- Kate Nowak
"It is through creating, not possessing, that life is revealed." -- Vida D. Scudder
"Daily Devotions" (KJV and/or NLT)
I am the true vine, and My Father is the gardener. (John 15:1)
"Sucker shoots" is, by design, not a complimentary designation. Gardeners often find such shoots growing on plants, sucking nutrients away from the healthy branches on a vine, and creating knots of fibers where debris collects. A good gardener cuts away these shoots so that the branches can stay healthy and produce fruit.
Jesus explained that we are like branches and God is like a good gardener. He prunes away anything distracting or detrimental, cleaning us up so that we can produce the fruit of Christ likeness (John 15:1-2). God wants us to depend on Christ alone for our sustenance. Jesus said, "Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in Me." (John 15:4)
Because God is ever-present we never need to doubt that He is with us. However, there are many ways to know whether we are remaining in Him. John 15 identifies one sign to look for---obedience. Jesus said, "When you obey My commandments, you remain in My love, just as I obey My Father's commandments and remain in His love." (John 15:10) To remain obedient to God's commands is a sure sign that His love sustains us.
Your View of God Really Matters …
What is the one thing you must do today if you want to bear fruit tomorrow? How does Jesus' statement, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men," relate to John 15:4?
"The Patriot Post"
"The principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale." -- Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Taylor, 1816
"A penny saved is twopence clear." -- Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1737
This Week's 'Alpha Jackass' Award
"I think it was a mistake to take health care on as opposed to continuing to spend the time on the economy." --Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE)
After being bribed with $100 million in Medicaid savings for his state in a "cash for cloture" deal, Nelson provided the 60th Senate vote for health care. We're glad he's come around, but talk about too little too late.
This Week's 'Braying Jenny' Award
"We want our final product -- as I'm sure everyone in the House and Senate would agree -- to insure affordability for the middle class." --Nancy Pelosi, whose main dilemma with the middle class is whether to use a Phillips or a flathead...
News From the Swamp: Democrats Cut and Run
The political world tilted on its axis this week with the announced retirements of three key Democrats -- Senators Christopher Dodd (CT) and Byron Dorgan (ND), and Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter. Each Democrat trotted out the standard "spending more time with the family" excuse, but the reality is that all three men were on the endangered list in this year's election cycle. Dodd in particular has been losing ground in his home state of Connecticut since 2008 when it became known that he was on the receiving end of a sweetheart mortgage deal from Countrywide Financial, one of the firms he publicly accused of causing the subprime mortgage meltdown and the ensuing financial crisis. In fact, Dodd is in such bad shape politically it seems that Democrats have a better chance of holding his seat without him in it.
The retirement announcements, which came within hours of each other, added to several Democrat House retirements announced at the end of 2009. The trend suggests that senior and some freshman Democrats are headed for the exits in expectation of a bruising midterm election. Several Demo strategists and congressional leaders were in full spin mode in an attempt to contain the damage and downplay the significance of these recent developments. Historically, the party in power loses seats in the midterms, so the fact that Democrats are cutting and running isn't particularly unusual -- in more ways than one.
Additionally, Democrats believe a string of congressional Republican retirements may blunt any potentially sweeping gains the GOP would otherwise make this year. What the pols and pundits don't realize, or what they don't want you to realize, is that Democrats around the country are increasingly losing public support for passing legislation that is attempting to convert America into a completely socialist country. High taxes, excessive regulation and larger, more intrusive government, combined with a complete disregard for national security in time of war, is a cocktail that is likely to create a bigger shift in November than liberals can imagine.
Meanwhile, Alabama Congressman Parker Griffith recently switched his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican, stating that he could not align himself with a party that was pushing a notoriously bad health care bill. He also added that Nancy Pelosi is divisive and polarizing and he cannot support her. All but one of his staff quit after Griffith's defection, stating that they hoped to "soon find ourselves in the employment of principled public officials." Sorry, kids, but you actually just left one.
Income Redistribution: The Death Tax Dies ... For Now
Founding Father Benjamin Franklin once observed that in this world, nothing is certain but death and taxes. That and the predictable Democrat gnashing of teeth when the federal estate tax expired for 2010.
Instead of celebrating the (temporary) end of unfair government double-jeopardy confiscation of a person's wealth, liberals fretted as if a family now keeping the fruits of their labors was some sort of undeserved gift from Congress. Liberal news reporters even bemoan a "loss" of $14 billion to the U.S. Treasury, although they fail to explain how that reduction in confiscations of private estates would meaningfully dent the trillions of dollars being accumulated in government debt through shameless spending.
Given the destructive power this particularly unfair tax has upon small businesses and family farms, the death tax should never be resurrected. Unfortunately, we can expect a Democrat-controlled Congress bent upon funding its grandiose health care schemes to have an epiphany about the pound of flesh it isn't extracting from departed Americans. Accelerated collections of the death tax through ObamaCare's death panels can't be far behind.
Bailout Bonanza
It's like Christmas, graduation and a slew of birthdays all in one for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, who recently found themselves the recipients of a limitless supply of blank checks signed by the U.S. government. Just in time (conveniently) to miss the year-end deadline after which congressional approval would be required, the Treasury Department nixed the $400 billion limit on bailout money authorized for Fannie and Freddie. Instead, on the heels of $111 billion in taxpayer dollars already doled out to the ailing mortgage giants, the Feds have adopted a "flexible formula" for bailout bucks. As history shows, even Stretch Armstrong has nothing on the flexibility of Uncle Sam, who can bend laws, wiggle around limitations, and reach over, under and through constitutional constraints to raid taxpayer pockets.
Meanwhile, in an oh-so-shocking (or not) development in the auto bailout saga, Chrysler and GM saw end-of-year sales drop by 3.7 percent and 5.7 percent, respectively, while Ford, Toyota and Honda reported significant sales increases -- as high as an impressive 33.5 percent for Ford. Of course, it must be coincidence that the duo with diminishing sales consists of the only two companies bailed out, taken over and now run by Barack Obama.
To Keep and Bear Arms
Late last month, two men wearing masks broke into the home of a family in Corpus Christi, Texas, in the wee hours of the morning. Upon hearing the noise, the owner of the home grabbed his gun and made his way towards the intruders. Upon confrontation, both parties exchanged fire. One of the attackers was hit and killed while his partner fled the scene. The ensuing investigation by the Corpus Christi Police Department revealed "an occupant, a resident, defending his home," according to Lt. Isaac Valencia, who further stated, "If you apply the Castle [doctrine], you have a right to defend your home." And, as noted in the previous story, gun owners do just that every day.
And Last...
As if the failed undi-bomber wasn't bad enough Christmas news for jihadis, this New Year's note just came in from the Department of Premature Detonation: "Fourteen suspected terrorists died Tuesday night when the bus they rigged with explosives blew up prematurely," CNN reports. "The explosion occurred as the suspects were riding the bus in the province of Kunduz," Afghanistan.
Around our humble shop, we like to call this sort of incident "self-solving." More to the point, however, it sounds like these jihadis had a bad case of ED -- explosive dysfunction.
"The Web"
Specter Tells Bachmann To Act Like A "Lady"
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/01/21/specter_tells_bachmann_to_act_like_a_lady.html
US Airways Flight #1549
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=tE_5eiYn0D0
ClimateGate Smoking Gun Found, American Thinker Does Media's Job
By Noel Sheppard
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2009/11/25/climategate-smoking-gun-american-thinker-does-medias-job
As NewsBusters has been reporting since the ClimateGate scandal first broke last Friday, America's media have either been shamefully ignoring the sensitive information hacked from a British university's computer system or dishonestly telling the public there's nothing to it.
If these revelations furthered the global warming myth by implicating skeptical scientists in a conspiracy to adjust temperature data while shutting out opinions contrary to their own, press outlets would likely have their science divisions poring over every e-mail and document available to find the proverbial smoking gun.
Because in this instance any such research could uncover information contrary to the agenda of most news outlets, scientific editors and reporters have abdicated their investigative responsibilities in an obvious attempt to protect policies they support and advocate.
With that in mind, the American Thinker's Marc Sheppard, clearly doing the media's job, examined the computer program source code available in what was hacked from this British Climate Research Unit (CRU), and discovered that this scandal is everything the global warming-obsessed media fear:
Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2009/11/25/climategate-smoking-gun-american-thinker-does-medias-job#ixzz0dZYhd8Ec
One can only imagine the angst suffered daily by the co-conspirators, who knew full well that the “Documents” sub-folder of the CRU FOI2009 file contained more than enough probative program source code to unmask CRU’s phantom methodology.
In fact, there are hundreds of IDL and FORTRAN source files buried in dozens of subordinate sub-folders. And many do properly analyze and chart maximum latewood density (MXD), the growth parameter commonly utilized by CRU scientists as a temperature proxy, from raw or legitimately normalized data. Ah, but many do so much more.
Skimming through the often spaghetti-like code, the number of programs which subject the data to a mixed-bag of transformative and filtering routines is simply staggering. Granted, many of these “alterations” run from benign smoothing algorithms (e.g. omitting rogue outliers) to moderate infilling mechanisms (e.g. estimating missing station data from that of those closely surrounding). But many others fall into the precarious range between highly questionable (removing MXD data which demonstrate poor correlations with local temperature) to downright fraudulent (replacing MXD data entirely with measured data to reverse a disorderly trend-line).
In fact, workarounds for the post-1960 “divergence problem”, as described by both RealClimate and Climate Audit, can be found throughout the source code. So much so that perhaps the most ubiquitous programmer’s comment (REM) I ran across warns that the particular module “Uses ‘corrected’ MXD - but shouldn't usually plot past 1960 because these will be artificially adjusted to look closer to the real temperatures.”
What followed was a highly-technical analysis of the source code that likely would be way over most readers' heads. However, the conclusion was staggering:
Clamoring alarmists can and will spin this until they're dizzy. The ever-clueless mainstream media can and will ignore this until it's forced upon them as front-page news, and then most will join the alarmists on the denial merry-go-round.
But here's what's undeniable: If a divergence exists between measured temperatures and those derived from dendrochronological data after (circa) 1960 then discarding only the post-1960 figures is disingenuous to say the least. The very existence of a divergence betrays a potential serious flaw in the process by which temperatures are reconstructed from tree-ring density. If it's bogus beyond a set threshold, then any honest men of science would instinctively question its integrity prior to that boundary. And only the lowliest would apply a hack in order to produce a desired result.
And to do so without declaring as such in a footnote on every chart in every report in every study in every book in every classroom on every website that such a corrupt process is relied upon is not just a crime against science, it's a crime against mankind.
Indeed, miners of the CRU folder have unearthed dozens of email threads and supporting documents revealing much to loathe about this cadre of hucksters and their vile intentions. This veritable goldmine has given us tales ranging from evidence destruction to spitting on the Freedom of Information Act on both sides of the Atlantic. But the now irrefutable evidence that alarmists have indeed been cooking the data for at least a decade may just be the most important strike in human history.
Indeed, but this raises another question: where are America's science editors and reporters concerning this matter?
If a software designer, consultant, and business owner in his spare time can uncover this, why can't America's leading science periodicals or key "journalists" in this debate?
Is investigative journalism truly dead in this country, or is it only employed to uncover truths that either buttress the media's view of the world or undermine those that don't?
Consider that in the past two years, we have witnessed the press:
Ignore important facts about a presidential candidate in order to get him elected
Ignore or gloss over important facts about a President's appointees to get them approved by Congress
Ignore important facts about a President's "czars"
Ignore important facts about a major "community organizing" group
In the case of the latter two issues, conservative bloggers, talk show hosts, and Fox News were alone in coverage until the mainstream media eventually came aboard kicking and screaming.
Now, revelations about some of the country's leading climate scientists and activists -- who have ties to the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as well as the ear of the White House and leading members of Congress -- are going largely ignored or soft-soaped.
Such is transpiring weeks before a major international climate meeting in Copenhagen and as legislation that could have almost unimaginable negative consequences on the economy is being seriously considered by Congress.
Where does it all end, and when are Americans going to demand their news media stop acting as a propaganda arm for the far-leftwing of this nation?
Exit question: Will Sheppard's discovery force the global warming-obsessed press to finally start covering this growing scandal?
Wine, women, and song - tax dollars misused on federal employee travel
Rick Moran
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/01/wine_women_and_song_tax_dollar.html
It wouldn't be this bad if the agencies just enforced the rules and laws already on the books with regard to travel by federal employees.
But the list of fraud, waste, and abuse by bureaucrats who want to stay an extra day to get in a round of golf, or who want to facilitate meetings with lovers, or just outright steal from the taxpayer is a long one according to this piece in the Washington Times:
Some employees still pad legitimate travel expenses, get the government to pay for "extras" or make taxpayers pick up the tab for out-of-town trips that never took place.
For most of 2008, for example, Derrick Hampton, a legal technician in the Treasury Department's office of the comptroller of currency, entered claims into the department's computerized travel reimbursement system. The problem was, Hampton didn't travel out of town on any official business, officials later said. And he wasn't authorized to input travel claims.
It wasn't until Hampton had received about $25,000 for trips he never took that the scam unraveled, authorities said. He pleaded guilty last year in federal court in Washington to theft.
In other cases, employees targeted in travel investigations managed to avoid getting hauled into court and kept their jobs.
At the National Science Foundation (NSF), one senior manager extended trips and initiated travel "to facilitate his relationships with female companions, one of whom is an NSF employee," according to an internal inspector general's memo on the case. The trips included meetings in faraway destinations such as Tokyo, Vancouver and Paris.
When asked by investigators whether it was appropriate to consider a woman's presence in Vancouver when deciding whether to speak at workshop there, documents show the official responded, "Yeah, why not?"
That fellow at the NSF with a mistress in every port is still employed by the organization. He was even named to receive an award but it was pulled before the agency embarrassed itself further.
A common abuse by federal employees is flying business class instead of coach as the law requires. But stuff like that is only discovered in a formal audit - something that happens rarely. In 2007, the GAO discovered $146 million in wasted upgrades to business class, and there's no sign that the practice has been discontinued.
Senator Charles Grassley has introduced legislation to try and make agencies more accountable on travel expenses. But in the end, enforcement is still going to be a problem. As long as the abuses are tolerated at the top, there's no chance these practices will disappear anytime soon.
Hat Tip: Ed Lasky
A farmer had some puppies he needed to sell.
http://www.bentbay.dk/5_puppies.htm
He painted a sign advertising the 4 pups. And set about nailing it to a post on the edge of his yard. As he was driving the last nail into the post, he felt a tug on his overalls. He looked down into the eyes of little boy.
"Mister, I want to buy one of your puppies."
"Well," said the farmer, as he rubbed the sweat off the back of his neck, "These puppies come from fine parents and cost a good deal of money." The boy dropped his head for a moment. Then reaching deep into his pocket, he pulled out a handful of change and held it up to the farmer.
"I've got thirty-nine cents. Is that enough to take a look?" "Sure," said the farmer. And with that he let out a whistle. "Here, Dolly!" he called. Out from the doghouse and down the ramp ran Dolly followed by four little balls of fur. The little boy pressed his face against the chain link fence. His eyes danced with delight.
As the dogs made their way to the fence, the little boy noticed something else stirring inside the doghouse.
Slowly another little ball appeared, this one noticeably smaller. Down the ramp it slid. Then in a somewhat awkward manner, the little pup began hobbling toward the others, doing its best to catch up....
"I want that one," the little boy said, pointing to the runt. The farmer knelt down at the boy's side and said, "Son, you don't want that puppy. He will never be able to run and play with you like these other dogs would."
With that the little boy stepped back from the fence, reached down, and began rolling up one leg of his trousers.
In doing so he revealed a steel brace running down both sides of his leg attaching itself to a specially made shoe.
Looking back up at the farmer, he said, "You see sir, I don't run too well myself, and he will need someone who understands."
With tears in his eyes, farmer reached down and picked up the little pup.
Holding it carefully handed it to the little boy.
"How much?" asked the little boy. "No charge," answered the farmer, "There's no charge for love."
We need to show more sympathy for these people...
http://aquietcatholic.blogspot.com/2008/08/we-need-to-show-more-sympathy-for-these.html
They travel miles in the heat.
They risk their lives crossing a border.
They don't get paid enough wages.
They do jobs that others won't do or are afraid to do.
They live in crowded conditions among a people who speak a different language.
They rarely see their families and they face adversity all day every day...
I'm not talking about illegal aliens, I'm talking about our troops!
"The e-mail Bag"
Immigration
A guy traveling through Mexico on vacation lost his wallet and all of his identification. Cutting his trip short, he attempted to make his way home but was stopped by the U.S. Customs Agent at the border.
"May I see your identification, please?" asked the agent.
"I'm sorry, but I lost my wallet," replied the guy.
"Sure buddy, I hear that every day. No ID, no entry," said the agent. "But I can prove I'm an American!" he exclaimed. "I have a picture of Ronald Reagan tattooed on one side of my butt and George Bush on the other."
"This I gotta see," replied the agent.. With that, the guy dropped his pants and showed the agent his behind.
"By golly, you're right!" exclaimed the agent. "Have a safe trip back to Chicago."
"Thanks!" he said. "But how did you know I was from Chicago?"
The agent replied, "I recognized Obama in the middle."
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