The Prince of Lies

This is becoming more apparent as time goes by:

American Thinker

And President Obama is a most gifted liar. We're not talking about a new Clintonian era of likeable misinformation. This is not, "I didn't inhale." President Clinton's loveable way of twisting the truth pales in comparison to Obama's brazen boldness in lying even when Obama knows he will be caught.

President Obama is a special breed of liar, employing an array of varying techniques intended to marshal public emotion in his favor. For example, he uses his own grandmother to gain sympathy for a plan that will leave millions of grandmothers without care.

Unlike his predecessors, when caught in the midst of a deception, Obama is not deterred. He lies to cover his lies. Remember confessed terrorist Bill Ayers? First, then-Senator Obama denied knowing Ayers at all. Then, when the evidence was incontrovertible that Obama had indeed not only known Ayers, but also worked with him professionally, Obama changed his defense to one of ignorance, claiming that he was only a child when Ayers committed his crimes, and assumed that Ayers had been rehabilitated. Obama has continued and applied this pattern to a host of crucial national questions.

Obama is a Socialist. And the authentic Socialist is not driven by morality or truth, but by the end that justifies the means.

UPDATE: What the NEA Says Vs. Documented Facts

This is worth a read:

Big Hollywood » Blog Archive » UPDATE: What the NEA Says Vs. Documented Facts

What does it mean when a government official evades the truth?

On August 25th, I published an article discussing a conference call hosted by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the White House Office of Public Engagement, and United We Serve that invited a group of art community luminaries “to help lay a new foundation for growth, focusing on core areas of the recovery agenda - health care, energy and environment, safety and security, education, community renewal.”

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The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday

The slide continues:

Daily Presidential Tracking Poll - Rasmussen Reports™

Overall, 46% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President's performance. That’s the lowest level of total approval yet measured for Obama. Fifty-three percent (53%) now disapprove. Eighty-one percent (81%) of Democrats approve while 83% of Republicans disapprove. As for those not affiliated with either major party, 66% disapprove. 

USS Ted Kennedy

Ouch...

Exurban League

... weapons-grade, 100% pure refined snark.

A Christian Nation

Very interesting:

Big Hollywood »

In the comment section of a recent post, I drew some fire for making the following, apparently shocking claim:

We [Americans] see America, from the Pilgrims who signed the Mayflower Compact to the Biblical scholars… who birthed the nation, to the spirit of sacrifice and charity that thrives to this very day, not as a nation of Christians (for that freedom is at the deepest core of our common philosophy) but as a Christian nation.

It seems that there is a growing belief that because our Founders were stalwart advocates for religious liberty, and because some of them had very nuanced and sometimes cynical views about organized religion, the United States was somehow conceived to be a secular nation. This belief is not only untrue, but detrimental to an adequate understanding of the underlying political philosophy of the founding, not least of all because it envisions the government as the nation instead of merely the organization through which the nation conducts its civil affairs, and more importantly because it betrays the singular belief that undergirds the entire American experiment: That the rights of man come not from government but from God.

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Alternate Unemployment Statistics

Fascinating look on how the official unemployment rate can be manipulated:

Inflation, Money Supply, GDP, Unemployment and the Dollar - Alternate Data Series

The SGS Alternate Unemployment Rate reflects current unemployment reporting methodology adjusted for SGS-estimated "discouraged workers" defined away during the Clinton Administration added to the existing BLS estimates of level U-6 unemployment.

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Teachers demand to be heard by union after layoffs

This is why we don't need card check:

 KATU.com - Portland, Oregon | Local & Regional

A group of teachers in the North Clackamas School District took the initiative Thursday, amid losing their jobs because of budget cuts, by gathering signatures in an effort to have their voices heard by their union.

The teachers, who gathered outside their union office, said they want a response from the union and put their demands in writing in the form of a petition.

Those speaking out said it shouldn't have reached this point, and they would have accepted the district's offer, favoring a wage freeze to save jobs.

“We took a poll in the spring and they got our opinion and the majority said wage freeze,” said Monica Whiteley, who was laid off. “So I would like them to look at the poll or honor it and have us look at the memo of understanding that is out there.”

They said they feel the union hasn't been listening or communicating.

Glenn Beck to Michelle: Is Obama building his own massive civilian national security force?

Good points:

Hot Air »

She doesn’t get to address the subject head on, but then Beck doesn’t address head on what he thinks the purpose of this shadowy force might be either — although I can certainly guess. Did he offer some theories on another part of the show? Let me know in the comments, Beck fans. While you watch, food for thought: If The One can’t even get his cultists to go knocking on doors in support of his signature policy issue, how likely is it that the U.S. military has anything to fear from marauding hordes of O-bots?

The National Endowment for the Art of Persuasion?

Disturbing:

Big Hollywood »

I was invited by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to take part in a conference call that invited a group of rising artist and art community luminaries “to help lay a new foundation for growth, focusing on core areas of the recovery agenda - health care, energy and environment, safety and security, education, community renewal.”

Now admittedly, I’m a skeptic of BIG government. In my view, power tends to overreach whenever given the opportunity. It’s a law of human nature that has very few exceptions. That said, it felt to me that by providing issues as a cynosure for inspiration to a handpicked arts group - a group that played a key role in the President’s election as mentioned throughout the conference call - the National Endowment for the Arts was steering the art community toward creating art on the very issues that are currently under contentious national debate; those being health care reform and cap-and-trade legislation. Could the National Endowment for the Arts be looking to the art community to create an environment amenable to the administration’s positions?

DoJ drops investigation of Richardson

My family lives in New Mexico and have known Richardson has been dirty for a long time:

Hot Air » Blog Archive » DoJ drops investigation of Richardson

What do Bill Richardson and the New Black Panther Party have in common? Both got let off the hook by Attorney General Eric Holder and the Obama Department of Justice. Holder, who recently announced a push to investigate and potentially prosecute CIA interrogators, will not prosecute the governor of New Mexico for his pay-for-play activities, which scotched his nomination for Secretary of Commerce:

SM-47 SUPER MACHETE

SM-47 SUPER MACHETE AIRCRAFT OVERVIEW

The SM-47 SUPER MACHETE is a highly maneuverable, supersonic Light Strike Fighter (LSF) derived from the SM-27J/L Turbofan Machete. The most significant evolution of the Machete series, the Super Machete marries a Turbofan Machete derivative fuselage to a Forward Swept Wing (FSW) augmented by custom canard foreplanes and a distinctive empennage and an engine bay which accommodates a 22,000 to 25,000 static thrust class turbofan. Presenting greater capabilities than the standard turbofan Machete, the SM-47 is oriented toward fulfilling both Fighter, Attack and Advanced Pilot Trainer roles.

Stopping Obamacare: $10 for Tark

From Hugh Hewitt:

Townhall.com::Blog

People are always asking me how to help beat Obamacare.

Of courseI send them to the petition and ask that they find 10 other people to join as well. We'd like to get to 1.5 million signers before we take it to D.C. in September.

Now I see that the very reputable Mason Dixon pollsters have Harry Reid trailing his only announced GOP opponent, former UNLV hoopster Danny Tarkanian, by 11 points.

Here's Danny Tarkanian's campaign website.

Send him $10 and send Harry Reid an e-mail promising much more support for Danny T. if Obamacare passes.

That's a message that will be received loud and clear.

State Dept suspends Honduras visa service

Pretty amazing:

Hot Air »

Never let it be said that the Obama administration took a defeat graciously. When the Honduran Supreme Court rejected the deal that Costa Rica offered, called the San Jose Accord, that would have reinstated Manuel Zelaya as president, the Obama administration had a choice: allow Honduras to make its own decisions and accept them, or try to pressure Hondurans to bend to American will. Guess which path they chose?

New blood thirsty cult confirmed in Uganda

This is not that rare.  Even in South Africa human body parts are used for certain black magic rituals.  It has to do with sympathetic magic, like gives like magical strength.  For example human genitalia used in a potion makes a man more viral.

The Observer - New blood thirsty cult confirmed in Uganda

Police say the cult whose members are mainly wealthy Kampalans originated from West Africa

Police are investigating a religious cult of predominantly wealthy people linked to human sacrifice in the country.
The Observer has learnt that Police earlier this year, acting on a tip-off, sanctioned an investigation into claims that some wealthy people in the country are responsible for the spiralling acts of child human sacrifice in the country.

The Real Republican Health Care Proposal

Interesting:

The Real Republican Health Care Proposal | The Moderate Voice

I only found out about the final version earlier this week on Rick’s radio show and had to go look it up online. Sure enough, there it was. Rather than the 19 page summary so many of us saw and scoffed at, Rep. Paul Ryan introduced H.R. 2520, The Patient’s Choice Act, on May 20 of this year. It was immediately referred to the House Ways and Means Committee, along with two others, where it languishes to this day.

There are quite a few reasons for that, not least of which is the fact that it was developed and introduced by Republicans, but because it also includes some common sense proposals which are essentially anathema to Democrats and liberals in general. You can read the entire bill here yourself. Coming in at less than 300 pages, in the rare instance that a member of Congress actually chooses to read a bill, it will at least take less time than the 1,000+ pages of the various Democratic versions.

Obama hikes 10-year deficit projection from $7 trillion to $9 trillion

Obama keeps finding reality is tough:

Good news: Obama hikes 10-year deficit projection from $7 trillion to $9 trillion

A late Friday afternoon candygram from the White House to help you get the weekend started right. And to think, China’s starting to doubt that American debt is a smart investment.

It’s a good thing our massive new health-care bureaucracy’s going to be deficit-neutral. Imagine how much higher this number would be if it wasn’t.

WSJ: VA pushes vets to consider death as an alternative to treatment

Wow:

Hot Air

This booklet has been in use since the Clinton administration. When the Bush administration finally reviewed “Your Life, Your Choices,” it suspended its use within the VA system. For some reason, the Obama administration and Shinseki have reinstated the booklet this year. The directive reinstituting the booklet was issued last month.

Perhaps some of the “death panels” rhetoric was overblown, but this is downright disgusting. The Bush administration was correct in suspending the use of these tactics to push vets into refusing treatment, and the government these men and women defended should be ashamed to have put that in their hands in the first place. If Obama wants to argue that he won’t bend the cost curve downward at the expense of treatment, maybe he should start by stopping that very policy at the VA — one of the existing “public plans” that need reform much more than the overall health-care system.

Bush Quietly Saved a Million African Lives

Of course since Bush did it, it isn't worthy of mentioning:

Townhall.com

What if a president, on his own initiative, under no demands from staff or from supporters or opponents, set out to spend an unprecedented amount of money on AIDS in Africa, literally billions of dollars, at a time when the nation could not afford it, citing his faith as a primary motivation and, ultimately, saved more than a million lives?

Spy Agency Fiasco

Via Hot Air:

The Daily Beast

CIA Director Leon Panetta’s emergency testimony to Congress about an illegal assassination program has set off a crisis at the spy agency. The Daily Beast’s Joseph Finder exclusively reports that:

• The secret assassination ‘program’ wasn’t much more than a PowerPoint presentation, a task force and a collection of schemes—it never got off the ground

• Panetta’s three immediate predecessors—George Tenet, Porter Goss, and Michael Hayden—have spoken to him, and that he now sees that no laws were broken.

• Panetta has frantically tried to rectify his gaffe, but now faces increased Congressional oversight.

Health care debate confirms this is not the Barack Obama we elected

Unfortunately he is who we elected:

Health care debate confirms this is not the Barack Obama we elected

Where have you gone, Barack Obama? Where is the sunny-side-up young man who promised to inspire and unite an unhappy nation?

Gone into the partisan sinkhole of Washington, that's where. Like some novice swimmer too confident of his own ability, Obama is suddenly finding himself in water over his head.

His flailing, including a foul habit of demonizing dissent, is not pretty. And that brief foray into e-mail tracking of critics showed a win-at-any-cost side.

Where is the appealing man we elected? Where is that Barack Obama?

Let's find him quick because the whole nation is paying the price for this impostor's irrational exuberance. Or hubris.

Americans, more of them every day, are growing disenchanted with the expansion of government and the massive pile of debt. Yet the President, certain he can change their minds if only he talks to them again, keeps trying to sell bigger as better.

The public's not buying it. And as a measure of the nation's mood, a recent poll was practically cruel: Nearly half think the President is on television too much. Ouch.

kenneth Copeland's view of God

Definitely not Orthodox (correct):  Link

Copeland's view of God fares no better biblically than his understanding of faith. He describes God as someone "very much like you and me....A being that stands somewhere around 6'2," 6'3," that weighs somewhere in the neighborhood of a couple of hundred pounds, little better, [and] has a [hand]span nine inches across."22

Copeland's statement is based on his hyperliteral reading of Isaiah 40:12 ("Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, marked off the heavens with a [nine inch] span,..." [AV]). Yet following the same line of interpretation, one would also have to conclude that God literally held a basket full of dust and weighed mountains on a gigantic set of scales (v. 12b) — an absurd proposition ruled out by the context of the passage. The fact is that Isaiah 40 makes extensive use of figurative language to underscore the vast difference between the Creator and His creation.

Giving a literal spin on verses that figuratively describe God in humanlike (anthropomorphic) terms, Copeland makes God out to be a "spirit-being with a body, complete with eyes, and eyelids, ears, nostrils, a mouth, hands and fingers, and feet."23 However, the Bible never intended to convey the notion that God has physical features like His human creation. Anthropomorphic descriptions were simply meant to help us understand and relate to our Maker. Jesus declared, "God is spirit" (John 4:24), not a spirit-being with a body (cf. Deut. 4:12). The Creator is, after all, "God, and not man" (Hos. 11:9).

The idea of God possessing a body (physical or spirit) implies the unbiblical view that the Trinity is actually composed of three separate beings. Moreover, a God who has a body with definite, measurable dimensions cannot truly be omnipresent, unlike the God of Scripture who is present everywhere in all His fullness (Jer. 23:23-24). (It is true that in His human nature Christ has a body and is localized in space and time. But in His divine nature He remains nonphysical and omnipresent, sharing this immutable nature with the Father and Holy Spirit.) Copeland's deflation of God is best exemplified by his comment that "the biggest failure in the Bible...is God."24 In stark contrast, the biblical God is an all-powerful being (Dan. 4:35) whose plans cannot be thwarted (Job 42:2) and who considers nothing too difficult (Jer. 32:17; Luke 1:37).

Copeland's diminished view of God is further amplified by a correspondingly inflated view of the universe in general and man in particular. He claims that the earth is "a copy of the mother planet [i.e., heaven] where God lives."25 Exactly how Copeland could "squeeze" God on any planet is difficult to fathom, especially since Solomon pointed out that heaven itself cannot contain God (1 Kings 8:27).

Tatra

I like the Tatra. For more info:

DNA Evidence Can Be Fabricated, Scientists Show

Wow, this could be a game changer in forensics:

 NYTimes.com

Scientists in Israel have demonstrated that it is possible to fabricate DNA evidence, undermining the credibility of what has been considered the gold standard of proof in criminal cases.

The scientists fabricated blood and saliva samples containing DNA from a person other than the donor of the blood and saliva. They also showed that if they had access to a DNA profile in a database, they could construct a sample of DNA to match that profile without obtaining any tissue from that person.

“You can just engineer a crime scene,” said Dan Frumkin, lead author of the paper, which has been published online by the journal Forensic Science International: Genetics. “Any biology undergraduate could perform this.”

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For the Left, war without Bush is not war at all

How priorities change with a new President:

Washington Examiner

The news that emerged is that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have virtually fallen off the liberal radar screen. Kossacks (as fans of DailyKos like to call themselves) who were consumed by the Iraq war when George W. Bush was president are now, with Barack Obama in the White House, not so consumed, either with Iraq or with Obama's escalation of the conflict in Afghanistan. In fact, they barely seem to care.

As part of a straw poll done at the convention, the Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg presented participants with a list of policy priorities like health care and the environment. He asked people to list the two priorities they believed "progressive activists should be focusing their attention and efforts on the most." The winner, by far, was "passing comprehensive health care reform." In second place was enacting "green energy policies that address environmental concerns."

And what about "working to end our military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan"? It was way down the list, in eighth place.

Perhaps more tellingly, Greenberg asked activists to name the issue that "you, personally, spend the most time advancing currently." The winner, again, was health care reform. Next came "working to elect progressive candidates in the 2010 elections." Then came a bunch of other issues. At the very bottom -- last place, named by just one percent of participants -- came working to end U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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Thousands Quit AARP Over Health Reform

Good.  Here is the ASA's home page.  I don't know much about them but they look interesting:

Thousands Quit AARP Over Health Reform - CBS Evening News - CBS News

CBS News has learned that up to 60,000 people have cancelled their AARP memberships since July 1, angered over the group's position on health care.

Elaine Guardiani has been with AARP for 14 years, and said, "I'm extremely disappointed in AARP."

Retired nurse Dale Anderson has 12 years with AARP and said, "I don't wanna be connected with AARP."

Many are switching to the American Seniors Association, a group that calls itself the conservative alternative as CBS News Investigative Correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports.

A Banana a Day?

Interesting:

you'll NEVER look at a banana in the same way again

Bananas which contain three natural sugars (sucrose, fructose and glucose) and fiber give an instant, sustained, and substantial boost of energy.

Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous, 90-minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world's leading athletes. But energy isn't the only way a banana can help us keep fit.It can also help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and conditions, making it a must to add to our daily diet.

Reducing Depression: According to a recent survey undertaken by MIND amongst people suffering from depression, many felt much better after eating a banana. This is because bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve your mood and generally make you feel happier.

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Barack Obama catches cold as economic virus spreads

Hmm...

Barack Obama catches cold as economic virus spreads - Times Online

Arriving in Montana to join battle with his critics on Friday, President Barack Obama stepped from Air Force One, stripped off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves. Little more than six months after he swept into office with some of the highest approval ratings recorded, he is fighting to save his historic presidency from turning into a one-term wonder.

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From 'Yes, We Can,' to 'No! Don't!

Seems so...

WSJ.com

The president seemed like a man long celebrated as being very good at politics—the swift rise, the astute reading of a varied electorate—who is finding out day by day that he isn't actually all that good at it. In this sense he does seem reminiscent of Jimmy Carter, who was brilliant at becoming president but not being president. (Actually a lot of them are like that these days.)

Also, something odd. When Mr. Obama stays above the fray, above the nitty-gritty of specifics, when he confines his comments on health care to broad terms, he more and more seems . . . pretty slippery. In the town hall he seemed aware of this, and he tried to be very specific about the need for this aspect of a plan, and the history behind that proposal. And yet he seemed even more slippery. When he took refuge in the small pieces of his argument, he lost the major threads; when he addressed the major threads, he seemed almost to be conceding that the specifics don't hold.

When you seem slippery both in the abstract and the particular, you are in trouble.
***

Looking back, a key domestic moment in this presidency occurred only eight days after his inauguration, when Mr. Obama won House passage of his stimulus bill. It was a bad bill—off point, porky and philosophically incoherent. He won 244-188, a rousing victory for a new president. But he won without a single Republican vote. That was the moment the new division took hold. The Democrats of the House pushed it through, and not one Republican, even those from swing districts, even those eager to work with the administration, could support it.

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Black Man Pleads Guilty to Posing as Obama-Hating White Supremacist on Facebook

Dirty tricks:

Black Man Pleads Guilty to Posing as Obama-Hating White Supremacist on Facebook - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com

An African-American man from Mississippi admits posing as a white supremacist to send a death threat across state lines by Facebook.

The U.S. Attorney's Office says 20-year-old Dyron L. Hart of Poplarville pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to making a threat in November 2008.

Hart admitted creating a name and using a white supremacists' photo to pose as a white man who planned to kill blacks because Barack Obama had been elected president.

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Harlem Store Owner Shoots 4 Robbers, Killing 2

This happened in New York city:

Store Owner Shoots 4 Men, 2 Fatally, During Robbery Attempt in Harlem - NYTimes.com

They strode into the restaurant supply store in Harlem shortly after 3 p.m. on Thursday, four young men intent on robbery, one with a Glock 9-millimeter pistol, the police said. The place may have looked like an easy mark, a high-cash business with an owner in his 70s, known as a gentle, soft-spoken man.

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RealityCheckWhitehouse.com

As the name says, checks the facts put out by the white house.

Get the facts about health care reform | Healthcare Reform Reality Check

Health care town hall anger rages on

The storm continues:

Health care town hall anger rages on - Josh Kraushaar and Lisa Lerer - POLITICO.com

The events Wednesday seemed to continue what was seen in televised glimpses of town halls Tuesday — constituents screaming at Specter, a fight breaking out at an event by Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) — that have left the impression of a popular uprising against the plan. The outbursts have clearly rattled the White House into taking a much sharper tack in Obama’s own pitch for the idea.

More Church of Scientology defectors come forward with accounts of abuse

The rot is being exposed from the inside out:

Strength in their numbers: More Church of Scientology defectors come forward with accounts of abuse - St. Petersburg Times

They are stepping forward — from Dallas and Denver, Portland, Las Vegas, Montana — talking about what happened, to them and their friends, during their years in the Church of Scientology.

Jackie Wolff wept as she recalled the chaotic night she was ordered to stand at a microphone in the mess hall and confess her "crimes" in front of 300 fellow workers, many jeering and heckling her.

Gary Morehead dredged up his recollection of Scientology leader David Miscavige punishing venerable church leaders by forcing them to live out of tents for days, wash with a garden hose and use an open latrine.

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The Whole Foods Alternative to ObamaCare

Very interesting:

John Mackey: The Whole Foods Alternative to ObamaCare - WSJ.com

With a projected $1.8 trillion deficit for 2009, several trillions more in deficits projected over the next decade, and with both Medicare and Social Security entitlement spending about to ratchet up several notches over the next 15 years as Baby Boomers become eligible for both, we are rapidly running out of other people's money. These deficits are simply not sustainable. They are either going to result in unprecedented new taxes and inflation, or they will bankrupt us.

While we clearly need health-care reform, the last thing our country needs is a massive new health-care entitlement that will create hundreds of billions of dollars of new unfunded deficits and move us much closer to a government takeover of our health-care system. Instead, we should be trying to achieve reforms by moving in the opposite direction—toward less government control and more individual empowerment. Here are eight reforms that would greatly lower the cost of health care for everyone:

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The White House deal with Big Pharma undermines democracy

This is from Robert Reich who is not exactly a conservative:

The White House deal with Big Pharma undermines democracy | Salon

I'm a strong supporter of universal health insurance, and a fan of the Obama administration. But I'm appalled by the deal the White House has made with the pharmaceutical industry's lobbying arm to buy their support.

Last week, after being reported in the Los Angeles Times, the White House confirmed it has promised Big Pharma that any healthcare legislation will bar the government from using its huge purchasing power to negotiate lower drug prices. That's basically the same deal George W. Bush struck in getting the Medicare drug benefit, and it's proven a bonanza for the drug industry. A continuation will be an even larger bonanza, given all the boomers who will be enrolling in Medicare over the next decade. And it will be a gold mine if the deal extends to Medicaid, which will be expanded under most versions of the healthcare bills now emerging from Congress, and to any public option that might be included. (We don't know how far the deal extends beyond Medicare because its details haven't been made public.)

Matthew 2:13-23

13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him."
14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son."
16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
18 "A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more."
19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead."
21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: "He will be called a Nazarene."

Our journeys to Egypt teach us the importance of waiting.

Sometimes we find ourselves in situations where all we can do is wait.

Often the circumstances surrounding such times of waiting are very painful. Sometimes we are forced to wait because our choices have landed us in an Egypt of our own making.

We often find ourselves stuck in a place that we can't get out of and our only hope is to wait for God to move.

Sometimes we are forced to wait on things beyond our control.

Some of us see a son or daughter making willful choices to embrace a life of sin and destruction, and so we must wait on God to call them up out of Egypt and back to the land of the living.

A physical discovery that leads to tests which means waiting on results. The anxiety of waiting can be overwhelming and our stay in Egypt often seems far too long.

However, if we are anxious to move too quickly beyond the waiting to the resolution, we will miss the lessons of our stay in Egypt.

God called Joseph to move his family away from the only land they had ever known into a foreign country where they were complete strangers.

They were uprooted and detached from everything they knew, but clung tightly to the hope that God had a purpose for their stay in Egypt. They were warned of Herod's coming destruction and so they left home for the land of Egypt.

God sent Jesus to identify with us on the level of our human experience and need. Often we find our hearts in exile.

We are in trouble and we know it. We find ourselves wandering in the far country of the soul wondering if we'll ever get home again.

Jesus can identify with our experiences of wandering and exile. He knows how much we long to get home, but he also knows that we must wait, and that in waiting we learn how to depend on God.

No one can rush God's plan. Believe me, he has a timeframe in mind and our best efforts at speeding it along will not affect the outcome he has in mind.

Waiting for God is not easy. Often it seems that he isn't answering our prayers or doesn't understand the urgency of our situation.

But even thinking that way implies that God is not in control of our lives. God is worth the wait.

Flashback: When the Left Protested Bush, the Media Saw Only "everyone from grandmothers and students to veterans and mothers pushing strollers"

Read the whole thing:

Flashback:

I cite this as an example, and I trust not even a liberal will dispute that when it came to anti-war protests, the protesters were unfailingly described as "just normal folks," spontaneously animated to gather without, apparently, any organization at all; somehow, it seems, they psychically intuited where their fellow "just normal folks" might be banging their drums and shaking their paper mache effigies of Bush and Cheney.

Ah, but that was when dissent was patriotic.

After the meeting, everyone from grandmothers and students to veterans and mothers pushing strollers marched along Lake Merritt to Oakland City Hall for an afternoon rally at which Lee again spoke.

That's noted leftist anti-american firebrand Rep. Barbara Lee. She spoke with Sean Penn.

The Obama Forum

This is a very small forum, but wow talk about some very disturbed individuals.  I thought I would post there FAQ...

FAQ - User registration - other - The Obama Forum

FAQ - User registration - other
A. We are the largest Obama grassroots website on the internet.

1, User registration is open several times per month. Usually starting on a Sunday. It is totally random and depends on my medication levels.

2, You must confirm reg in your email. Look for the email.

3, Since white people already have enough sites on the internet, and most are racists/demestic terrorist, we prefer minority users. Preferably African American, whiggers, or Jewish.

5, Racism will not be tolerated.

6, The Obama Forum is not satire. Sean Hannity, who runs the KKK, has directed some of his followers to disrupt the Obama forum by calling it a joke. There usual tactic is to make thinly disguised anti Obama posts, ( usually racist ) then link to the post around the internet, and say ..HA HA..look..the Obama grassroots is a joke, a funny place, satire, we have nothing to fear from them.

7. 99.9% of republicans are secretly domestic terrorists who hate America. These people wish for Americas destruction just as much as Al QAEDA and 911 THRUTHERS. They need to be watched. You can do your part to safe America by reporting them HERE and HERE

8. User RANKS. New users are "new members till 50 posts/7 days/0 or greater rep. Then become obamatologists and can..modify profile, use PM, etc

5 facts about the anti-reform mobs

Just got this in my e-mail from the Democratic party.  They must be getting very nervous indeed:

Gmail - 5 facts about the anti-reform mobs

There's been a lot of media coverage about organized mobs intimidating lawmakers, disrupting town halls, and silencing real discussion about the need for real health insurance reform.

The truth is, it's a sham. These "grassroots protests" are being organized and largely paid for by Washington special interests and insurance companies who are desperate to block reform. They're trying to use lies and fear to break the President and his agenda for change.

Health insurance reform is about our lives, our jobs, and our families -- we can't let distortions and intimidation get in the way. We need to expose these outrageous tactics, and we're counting on you to help. Can you read these "5 facts about the anti-reform mobs," then pass them along to your friends and family?

5 facts about the anti-reform mobs

1. These disruptions are being funded and organized by out-of-district special-interest groups and insurance companies who fear that health insurance reform could help Americans, but hurt their bottom line. A group run by the same folks who made the "Swiftboat" ads against John Kerry is compiling a list of congressional events in August to disrupt. An insurance company coalition has stationed employees in 30 states to track where local lawmakers hold town-hall meetings.

2. People are scared because they are being fed frightening lies. These crowds are being riled up by anti-reform lies being spread by industry front groups that invent smears to tarnish the President's plan and scare voters. But as the President has repeatedly said, health insurance reform will create more health care choices for the American people, not reduce them. If you like your insurance or your doctor, you can keep them, and there is no "government takeover" in any part of any plan supported by the President or Congress.

3. Their actions are getting more extreme. Texas protesters brought signs displaying a tombstone for Rep. Lloyd Doggett and using the "SS" symbol to compare President Obama's policies to Nazism. Maryland Rep. Frank Kratovil was hanged in effigy outside his district office. Rep. Tim Bishop of New York had to be escorted to his car by police after an angry few disrupted his town hall meeting -- and more examples like this come in every day. And they have gone beyond just trying to derail the President's health insurance reform plans, they are trying to "break" the President himself and ruin his Presidency.

4. Their goal is to disrupt and shut down legitimate conversation. Protesters have routinely shouted down representatives trying to engage in constructive dialogue with voters, and done everything they can to intimidate and silence regular people who just want more information. One attack group has even published a manual instructing protesters to "stand up and shout" and try to "rattle" lawmakers to prevent them from talking peacefully with their constituents.

5. Republican leadership is irresponsibly cheering on the thuggish crowds. Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner issued a statement applauding and promoting a video of the disruptions and looking forward to "a long, hot August for Democrats in Congress."

It's time to expose this charade, before it gets more dangerous. Please send these facts to everyone you know. You can also post them on your website, blog, or Facebook page.

Now, more than ever, we need to stand strong together and defend the truth.

Thanks,

Jen

Jen O'Malley Dillon
Executive Director
Democratic National Committee

Buffett’s Betrayal

Interesting since Buffet is usually held up as a demi god:

Rolfe Winkler » Blog Archive » Buffett’s Betrayal | Blogs |

When I was 14, Warren Buffett wrote me a letter.

It was a response to one I’d sent him, pitching an investment idea. For a kid interested in learning stocks, Buffett was a great role model. His investing style — diligent security analysis, finding competent management, patience — was immediately appealing.

Buffett was kind enough to respond to my letter, thanking me for it and inviting me to his company’s annual meeting. I was hooked. Today, Buffett remains famous for investing The Right Way. He even has a television cartoon in the works, which will groom the next generation of acolytes.

But it turns out much of the story is fiction. A good chunk of his fortune is dependent on taxpayer largess. Were it not for government bailouts, for which Buffett lobbied hard, many of his company’s stock holdings would have been wiped out.

Berkshire Hathaway, in which Buffett owns 27 percent, according to a recent proxy filing, has more than $26 billion invested in eight financial companies that have received bailout money. The TARP at one point had nearly $100 billion invested in these companies and, according to new data released by Thomson Reuters, FDIC backs more than $130 billion of their debt.

To put that in perspective, 75 percent of the debt these companies have issued since late November has come with a federal guarantee.

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Merkley hits the trifecta at Madras town hall: Teabaggers, Birthers and Deathers.

I would say some of the blue staters are beginning to get worried.  The tea baggers have taken there play book and turned it on them.  The one thing that I do find disturbing is this birther trend.  I am anti conspiracy whether on the right or left.

Merkley hits the trifecta at Madras town hall: Teabaggers, Birthers and Deathers.

If I were to read this Bend Bulletin story about Jeff Merkley's Sunday town hall meeting in Madras, I'd probably think it was a benign, polite affair with a few tough questions from a receptive audience.

Apparently, this was not the case. Not even close.

I'd began receiving email tips Sunday evening and into Monday morning that the event had been infiltrated by teabaggers, in an effort to disrupt in the way they've been doing around the country.

Based a memo revealed last Friday by Think Progress, the teabaggers were handed their marching orders and told to:

Operation Embarrass Your Congressman

Good idea:

Welcome!

THE MISSION
Three words that succinctly describe just about every nationally elected official today: ARROGANCE, IGNORANCE, & INSOLENCE. How quickly they forget they were elected to represent US, not serve THEMSELVES! How can they show their faces in public, admitting they DON'T EVEN READ the legislation they pass? We cry out against oppressive government and bad policy, yet they ram their measures through Congress IN SPITE OF US!

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
Politicians LOVE PUBLICITY! So let's give them SOME! But not the kind they're looking for. These arrogant, ignorant, and insolent "representatives" need to be confronted (respectfully) in public en masse ON CAMERA or on AUDIO on matters of legislation that they are trying to jam down the throats of the American tax-paying public. Public record of their comments will show the voting population just how much they DON'T KNOW about the issues, DON'T CARE what you think, and/or DON'T THINK they have to ANSWER to you (their constituents)!

JOIN THE OPERATION!
THE MISSION IS CLEAR: Expose the arrogance, ignorance, and insolence of our elected officials. Since public outcry against bad legislation has had little effect, maybe public embarrassment will. Be a participant in government, not a spectator. Join the operation and confront your congressman with the truth, facts, and their own arrogance, ignorance, and insolence! Capture it on film or audio. Expose it for all the world to see!

Technorati Tags: Operation Embarrass Your Congressman

Evangelicals march north

Wow!

Evangelicals march north | csmonitor.com

After three decades as a home to pigeons rather than parishioners, a 175-year-old stone church with Presbyterian roots is once again filled with song on a warm Sunday morning. This time around, however, the brand of faith carries a new tune, one that would be more familiar in Mississippi than Vermont.

Hallelujah religion is a-rising in Yankee country. As liberal congregations die in a secularizing region, conservative churches with roots outside New England are replacing them with a passionate brand of faith that emphasizes saving souls – even in a land where many think there's nothing to be saved from.

Before worship at Capstone Baptist Church here in North Bennington, 10 adults lay hands on electrician Don Betit and pray for healing from an ankle injury. Then, after 40 minutes of preaching, Pastor Phillip Steadman invites the hurting and newly committed to come forward for an altar call. During intercessory prayers, worship leader Lewis Brown prays for speedy salvation among unbelieving loved ones, "before it's too late."

...The Assemblies of God, a Pentecostal denomination, has planted at least six new congregations in New Hampshire and Maine since 2006.

Clunk!

Not surprising:

Clunk! - washingtonpost.com

ABOUT A MONTH ago, we ventured a prediction about the federal government's "Cash for Clunkers" program, which offers motorists up to $4,500 to trade in their old cars for new, more fuel-efficient models: "When the program's initial round disappoints, as seems likely, pressure will mount to expand it." Sure enough, Friday, with car dealers and consumers complaining because the first $1 billion in car-buying aid was about to run out after four days, the House of Representatives approved another $2 billion. The issue may move to the Senate this week.

Admittedly, we expected the program to be undersubscribed, not oversubscribed. But the latest turn of events hardly proves the program a "success," as its proponents now claim. It merely shows that Washington could bribe more people into purchasing new cars than many thought possible.