Hello again.

I am back. With a vengeance, I hope. A great deal has happened since I posted last, both in my personal life, which I won't go into, and in our country. Part of the reason I stopped posting was that I became overwhelmed with all that our new president and his congress were doing. It has not gotten any better, but the seriousness of it all compels me to go back to writing.
Health care "reform", climate change legislation, and the never ending recession on top of a winnable war that has cost us much, but the politicians do not seem to want to win are just a few of the enormous challenges we face as a nation. The chief problem as I see it is that the ruling party does not have the nations best interests at heart. Their interests are those that would only damage this nation's economic and physical security. They are on stage playing to a crowd that does not go to work five days a week, pay their bills, spend time with family and friends, go to church and try to live a good life. They are playing to people who have money most Americans cannot even imagine and will never see. Worst of all, they are playing to people who hate this country. As a result, they are playing with the lives, well-being, and future of the American people and her posterity.
In the interest of putting a stop to the nonsense and practicing my writing skills in hopes of some kind of future in words, I am back to blogging.
Right now, however, I have to go warm up my fingers. It is really cold here today.

On Politics and Religion. Because I have studied politics for so long, I tend to read everything with an eye for political content, even the Bible. Or especially the Bible? I believe that government founded on biblical principles is the very best kind of government. Ours is just such a government. The principles of representation, separation and division of power, and capitalism are all biblical principles. But even as the positive principles of good government are biblical, so are the negative consequences of bad government. Take Psalm 94:20&21 for instance.
"Can a throne of destruction be allied with Thee, one which devises mischief by decree? They band themselves together against the life of the righteous and condemn the innocent to death." (NASB)
It is amazing how our current political environment resembles these verses. This is the most anti-God, anti-Christian government we have had in our entire history. We have had corruption (see Grant and Harding), we have had ineptitude (see Buchanan) we have had dangerous policy (see Carter), and we have had socialism (see FDR) but we have never had all four on such a grand scale moving at such breakneck speed to deliberately destroy everything that made this country great. It makes me sick, and it scares the daylights out of me. However, they have made a fatal error that will give us our one chance to change things and right the sinking ship--they have discounted and scoffed at God and the people who believe and follow Him.
Verses 22&23 of Psalm 94 go on to explain the consequences of those who would govern this way.
" But the Lord has been my stronghold, and my God the rock of my refuge. and He has brought back their wickedness up on them and will destroy them in their evil; The Lord our God will destroy them." I love the last line. "The Lord our God will destroy them."(my emphasis) They do not understand this part, that is the "our God" part. He is real, He is powerful, and He is at work. And HE WINS.
This should comfort us and spur us to action. This country was founded by people whose expression and practice of belief in God was threatened just as ours is now. These people took action against the authorities that threatened them. We can too. We will not leave to start over again like our Separatist and Puritan fathers did; rather, we will pray and talk and write and protest and run for office and send money. We will effect change by making ourselves heard and putting ourselves forward BE the government. This is still a government of, for, and by the people and we are "the people." This is not the time to hide in the safety of our churches and families, or they soon they will not be safe. This is the time to get involved and do the hard work and heavy lifting needed to turn this country back to its founding principles. They worked. Because they worked, we enjoy a standard of living like no one else in the world. I, for one, want to keep that and make sure my grandchildren have it, too. If we do nothing, evil will prevail and we will all lose, and that is not acceptable.

On Right-wing Extremism

I have to add a new category to my postings. I said yesterday that I am a right-wing extremist as defined by DHS, but this is nothing new really. I have described myself for years as a right-wing nut. The difference is now there is national recognition of the condition. We must be onto something because the MSM and Hollywood nut jobs are beside themselves over the tea parties, and the Secretary of Homeland Security is out defending her departments statement on the morning shows. She needs to. She has made mainstream, average hardworking Americans the enemy.
Today I am going to prove that I am entitled to the label "right-wing extremist" by quoting Charles Haddon Spurgeon, a 19th century British preacher and author. Spurgeon wrote an expository of the book of Psalms and in his commentary on the Ninety Third Psalm he wrote the following:

"society would be the football of the basest of mankind if God did not establish it, and even the globe itself would fly through space, like thistledown across the common, if the Lord did not hold it in its appointed orbit. That there is any stability, either in the world or in the church, is the Lord's doings, and he is to be adored for it. Atheism is the mother of anarchy; the reigning power of God exhibited in true religion is the only security for the human commonwealth. A belief in God is the foundation and corner-stone of a well-ordered state" (135, vol. 4, Treasury of David).

Obama said that the United States is not a Christian nation. He is wrong. This nation was founded on Christian principles and to the extent that it still functions it is because of those principles. That Obama is trying to undermine those principles and tear down this country is in little doubt. That he does not believe in those founding Christian principles of government is also in little doubt.
This is why the tea parties were so widely attended by regular Americans who still believe in the founding principles, many of whom are also still Christians themselves. This is also why the left is in such a tizzy. They are the haters in this country. They hate "us" and they hate the country becuse it is "us." But they are going to have to get over it, because there are more of "us" than "them" and we have awaken. (This is the same "sleeping giant" the Japanese awakened with Pearl Harbor and look what happened to them')

I also would like to make an observation with regard to the Mexican problem. The same Mexican government complaining about guns coming over the border into Mexico, complained loud and long when right thinking Americans wanted to seal that border to keep illegals from coming here. Listen up. You cannot have an open border that is open in only one direction, so make up your minds.

On Politics. When I started this blog, I began hesitantly to post my real conservative leanings and particularly my beliefs about our soon to be new democrat president. I was at the time convinced it would be Hillary, whom I considered to be an unabashed Marxist based on her early writings and studies of Saul Alinsky and others. Her dream of socialized health care is just one example of those beliefs in action, but it was enough to make me very afraid of her. I still am because it turns out Hillary is the worse kind of Marxist, a pragmatic Marxist. She is willing to do whatever to be in power even if that means working for the man who defeated or staying married to the man who repeatedly cheated on her.
However, I am taken back daily by the brazenness of our new president who is a Marxist also and a pragmatist and a liar. (Hillary is a liar, most politicians are.) But Obama is the kind of liar who actually believes his own lies, I have decided. He gave a speech of April 15, tax day, in which he unflinchingly stated that he had already given a tax break to 95 percent of American workers. (Whoever they are.) If he is referring to the 13 dollars people are getting back in payroll taxes, I have to think that all those people at the Tea Parties yesterday do not see that as a tax break. If they happen to still smoke, they use up that break in about four days or so. (I am pulling numbers out of the air, too. Practicing for my government job.)
All of that is scary and maddening enough, but the frosting on the proverbial cake, is the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report defining "right-wing extremists." It turns out I am one. I am a vet, although not a Iraq or Afghan vet; I am opposed to government interference in my life, and yours too. I am oppose to abortion and gun control; I think the government needs to back off and that state and local governments should take back their rightful powers. Lastly, and maybe most subversively, I believe the Constitution as it was written and intended by the founder is the Supreme Law of the Land, not the courts or politicians. It is not a "living" documents. It is a written, fixed statement of our freedoms and it should be interpreted as such. (Also I listen to a lot of talk radio which he will try to silence.)
So what does all this mean for my future? Well, having been a student of the communist oppression in Europe and the USSR, I have to think that at some point the government will come after people like me who oppose them and say so. I am a small fish in this pond, but even the smallest fish can spread the message if left unchecked so I do not expect that they will leave anyone "unchecked." How long will it take? Not long, I expect. Obama has been in office less than three months and there is already a report circulating defining "right-wing extremist." How long can it take before some action is taken against this perceived threat? Not long. This is not a president who is going to roll along and take action as the situation allows; rather, this is a man determined to take action quickly and decisively to create situations that produce the kind of country he wants. That country is a Marxist country where the reigns of power are in the hands of the government not the people. The government is "them" not "we the people" as put forth in the Constitution.
Hold on to your hats; we are in for a wild and dangerous ride, but I intend to keep writing here as long as we still are allowed to exercise our right to free speech.
On Books. Mark R. Levin's Liberty and Tyranny is a must read to understand what is happening with this presidency. Levin takes the argument back to the Constitution and the founders to show how our country is being destroyed by the Statists as he names them, people who want to control every aspect of American life through the power of the State.

On politics. I have been lost. Hidden in that place I go when the world and life overwhelm me. Life is fine, but the world is whacked. In the new Obamaworld, I have had no idea of where to start to try and make sense of where he is taking our country. This, however, I can now say: it is not good; it is not pretty; and we are going to pay for his first 50 days (and Bushes last 100 or so) for the rest of our lives. Literally. He has spent more money in 50 days than all 43 presidents before him combined. And that includes two world wars. This is going to cause consequences unforeseen or ignored, I do not know which.
I believed that George Bush lacked a depth of understanding of his Christianity that lead him to make his economic mistakes in the name of compassion.
Obama lacks economic understanding and is making his mistakes in the name of Marxism.
Actually, I think Obama knows exactly what he is doing, and it is all in the name of Marxism. He looks like an inconsistent, hypocritical, bumbling fool, but that is exactly what it takes to lead a country into a failed governing model. Marxism has failed in every instance in which it has been tried. Why does he think that his version will succeed? Why do they think they are smarter than the Russians or the Europeans or various Africans or South Americans who have tried it?
The bigger question for me, though, is, why do all the Americans who voted him think they will be better off than the Russians, or Europeans, or anybody else who has ever had to live under socialism, Marxism, or various communist dictatorships?
What makes us so special that we can try something that has always failed and expect to get a different outcome? I think that is the definition of stupidity.
I have read Atlas Shrugged and "going Galt" was something I started long ago when I got a small raise and took home less money because of a higher withholding bracket. I will not give the government one dime more than they have coming a second before I have to.
This is not going to get better anytime soon--like until we can get rid of him and his co-fools in congress. I mean all of them, Democrats and Republicans alike. (for good measure, we could get rid of the MSM--a wonderful argument for bankrupcy.)

On Politics. Seneca said,"Flies follow honey, wolves corpses, ants food, the mob follows the pay, not the man."(Emphasis mine) Isn't it interesting. Makes you wonder about the legitimacy of a presidency won by the promise of handouts.

On Politics. Day one of Obamanation has begun and Hillary is Secretary of State. Yeah.
Many commentators said it was a bad speech for Obama. I think I know why I did not think it was so bad. It was because it was not a typical Obama speech. It lacked the usually Obama soaring rhetoric that I cannot stand. He might not have said anything of substance yesterday, but at least he did not do it with all the empty, towering, flowery language. I can barely stand to listen to him normally; coupled with all the stuttering when he is off the teleprompter,empty rhetoric drives me crazy.
The big story of the day is Obama ordering the closing of Guantanamo. This is a bad idea for a number of reasons, the most important one being that these guys are dangerous and cannot be released. Nor should they be brought to the United States under any circumstances. Nor should they be given access to American courts. They were trying to kill us without the benefit of a uniform. This little detail puts them out of the jurisdiction of conventional prisoner of war rights. He will be making a big mistake if he actually can pull this off.
The stock market dropped yesterday for the largest inaugural day sell off ever. That does not bode well for the future years of the Obama administration. If he continues with the economic policies of his, it is going to continue to drop because his policies undermine the economy with debt, individual responsibility with handouts, and business with regulation. As Ronald Reagan said, "Government is not the answer to the problem; government is the problem." And that is still true, if not more so today.

On Politics. Well, it is done. He is now President Obama and the resistance, the loyal opposition must go to work. His speech is, of course, good speechifying, but he made his first mistake in his first sentences. He is the forty-fourth president, but only forty-three men have taken the oath. Grover Cleveland was sworn in twice in non-consecutive terms, making him the twenty-second and the twenty-fourth president. Obama began by saying that forty-four men had taken that oath. So we have mistake number one. And we will be watching for the rest of them, and we will oppose him at every turn that takes this country away from the foundational, conservative principles on which this country was built. The economic principles are the real tripping point, but they grow out of a misguided understanding of what has made this country great and what the principles are that will ultimately preserve her.
His "New Era of Responsibility" is undermined by the government's promise of rescue from hardship and of guarantees against failure. Responsibility is only supported by the ultimate need to survive on our own, not by looking to government for a handout. These are interesting times, indeed.
Over all it was a good speech; however, it is what he takes his words to really mean and to what degree he is actually able to carry them out that is important here. Unfortunately, I believe that the meaning he places on words like "freedom", "liberty", and "responsibility" may not be the same as a conservative might place on them. We'll have to wait and see.
On the positive side thought, this peaceful transfer of power is perhaps the most remarkable of American experiences, and today added to that is the fact that a black man who once would not have been allowed to work in the White House except as domestic help is accepting that mantel of power. I need to look up the exact circumstance, but in 1939 black singer, Marian Anderson was forced to sing on the steps of the Lincoln memorial because she was not allowed in Constitutional Hall, the concert hall in Washington, D.C. Today a black man will live in the White House as president. It is a historic moment.
The ideologies of the man, however, are Marxist, and because of that vigilance will be required to preserve this nation. Whether his policies reflect his ideology or simply political expediency remains to be seen. There is no division of power that occurs when one party controls the White House and the other controls the Congress. If he can get the Congress to go along with him, he has an open field down which to run the ball. I have absolutely no doubt that he will take full and complete advantage of that.
Also, the stock market is down today which is not being mentioned anywhere. Hopefully, someone will get around to noticing at some point today.
I am going to quit before I depress myself any further and go read the Faerie Queene, that 16th century best-seller by Edmund Spenser. More on that later.

When Politics and Literature Meet. I am preparing for my first literature test, and I started re-reading Sir Gawain and the Green Knight when I was taken aback by the first lines: "The knight that had knotted the nets of deceit/ Was impeached for his perfidy, proven most true." If our politicians are the modern day knights then Blago is the knight in these lines. It is very poetic that the translation even uses the word "impeached."

Well, today Rush said what I said two days ago. We should not be rooting Obama to succeed. If he does succeed, he will be implementing policy that is blatantly Marxist and will harm our nation for years if not generation to come. He is not pro-capitalism. He is not pro-small government. He is not even pro-liberty and freedom. He wants to take away our freedom and liberty in the name of saving us from ourselves. He will destroy capitalism in the name of helping us through this financial crisis. He will do it all by implementing Marxist policies that failed in the old Soviet Union and at Jamestown and Plymouth in the early days of our county. Yes, that is right, we have already tried ties principles of community and government control and they failed. It was called the Common Store system. All land was held in common and all goods produced from that land were put in a common storehouse. In return everyone could take what they needed regardless of what they had contributed. In both cases most of the colony died before individual responsibility and initiative was reinstated in the form of free enterprise and capitalism. Then the colonies prospered and grew. That is the lesson from our history that is no longer taught and is ignored by the politicians in this country in their lust for power. What better way to hold sway and power over the people than to convince them that they cannot care for themselves, nothing is their fault, and that the government can do a better job and that everyone will be better off than ever before.

We are being lied to, and no one is calling them on it. Well, many people are but not the people in the House and the Senate or any of the people Obama is appointing to make up his government.

We are in deep trouble. It is time for right thinking Americans to speak out, get involved, and stop this nonsense.

On Politics. This was a great day in the annals of crazy American politics. The Senate refused to seat Roland Burris, Gov. Blago's appointed choice to take Obama's Senate seat. This is an ironic situation since the very Democrats who say they are against racism are now practicing it. It is hard to call it anything else since that seat had belonged to a black man and it makes perfect sense to appoint another one to the seat. Well, maybe. I don't believe that, but there are plenty of people who do and they are not happy. In addition, I suspect that the appointment is legal and Senator Reid has no grounds for not seating him except for the fact that the Illinois Secretary of State refused to certify his paperwork. That will no doubt be remedied by the Illinois court very soon and then he will have to be seated. The problem will be in what everyone says and does in the meantime. The whole Illinois situation has been ridiculous and it shows no sign of getting better, so the drama will continue. I must say that I thought there would be nothing to do after the election was over, but I got that one wrong. This is keeping me listening and reading almost as much as during the endless campaign.
Also I do have one thing to say about Obama's line about there only being one president at a time.... Hey, you are not him. If he makes one more announcement/proclamation with a wall of flags behind him, I will be sick. I think he could be in a real hole by the time he is sworn in. I hope so anyway. Unlike many so called conservatives for whom I no longer have any respect, I do not wish him well, nor do I want him to succeed. I want him to be miserable and to earn a Republican legislature in 2010 and a ticket back to Chicago in 2012.
On Books. I have just finished reading Little Brother by Corey Doctorow. The tech geeks and hackers win by spying on Big Brother. It is full of scary things that can be done with a computer and should give those of us who only know how to check our email pause. My advice after reading it is to get a good security program and then don't do anything illegal. 'Nuf said.
On Walking. I am doing a great deal of it now. This is my sole New Year's resolution. I figure I need to be walking 40 or 50 miles a week to get ready to hike the Appalachian Trail. I have to clock the trip in the car but is a mile and half from the park to the end of the trail. Then to the Family Video is maybe another mile. At any rate, walking with no radio was actually nice. The news is easy to catch up on later.