Wow.

Look at this, and tell me your skin doesn't crawl...

Throw me a bone, Mr. President

I read tonight the Fox News web page equivalent of the front page and i find:

1. Obama is indecisive in Afghanistan.

2. Throws Poland and Czeck Republic under the bus.

3. Defends AG Holder's agressive pursuit of special operators and intelligence personnel.

Mr. President. Cannot ONE day go by without doing something to upset those of us from the center-right? Your positions are alarming and so far to the left of anythink ever seen on a national stage before, you could at least give us some time to absorb what you are doing, eh?

I guess not. I am still trying to figure you out. This is either brilliant Alinsky-esque attacks, shocking the system with so much change and crisis, that it shuts down; or you are really naive.

It seems to me that it would be good politics to throw an occasional bone to the opposition, to take the sting out of their remarks. I don't see any bones being thrown, except for the ones underneath those brass knuckles to keep pummeling my country with. Which begs the question; is this hubris and overreach? Or do you truly expect to maintain power so handily that you are not worried about elections anymore?

You could even throw a small bone by appearing on Fox News for an interview. You scheduled interviews with five networks, and left out Fox.

Coward.

UPDATE: Zbigniew Bzrezinsky was quoted saying that US should confront militarily Israeli planes if they try and fly over Iraq to defend themselves against Iran's nukes. Obama makes a juvenile speech at the UN about global warming, then tops it off with another speech, effectively throwing Israel under the bus, just in case you were about to accuse me of getting excited about ZB, the old has-been. Then Benjamin Netanyahu makes one of the best speeches I've heard about the rights of nations to defend themselves, drawing great distinctive lines between the good guys and bad guys around the world. Whatever the leftie loons may have felt about W, multiply it by ten and you are starting to get the idea on how i am feeling about the current state of politics in my country. It has only been a couple of days since my last post. Can we have a breather?!? Mr. President, please go on vacation again!

Something I can congratulate the President on...

President Obama finally did something that I agree with yesterday.

I wonder if the media will listen? I wonder if he really means it, or if he is just saying it so as to placate some criticism? I know that is cynical, but it really ties in with what I think most conservatives are thinking at this point.

I think the question in the collective conservative mind is this; Is Barak Obama an inexperienced idealist, or is he a brilliant politician, pushing his agenda to radically change this nation as quickly as he can so that we reach the point of no return.

Being the skeptical and eternally reluctant conspiracy theorist, I have to believe the latter. I think the man is genuine and believes what he says much of the time. I also beleive that he is not above stretching the truth and lying to get the proper tone for his sound bytes and speeches.

So, I think he actually means that he doesn't think that the criticism is about race. He needs to say so more forcefully, because the MSM is doing everything they can to push that storyline, and he is the only one that can squash it.

I will take it on face value and congratulate the President for trying to dampen the flames of the conversation and keep them on the true arguement; the issue of the proper role of government in our society. If we actually have that debate, it would be a good one, and he and his allies will lose.

UPDATE: I have a correction in the third paragraph from the bottom, first sentence, where I said "...I have to believe the latter", I really meant "former".

UPDATE 2: The President went on Letterman and this topic of race came up and he said something to the effect that he was black during the election campaign too and that the latest stuff has nothing to do with race. He earns respect from me when he does that. Kudos to you, Mr. President. Keep that stuff up. You won't win me on your socialism, but you will have my respect and gratitude if you keep it civil and honest.

Walkin' the Tightrope

"Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God." 1Corinthians 4:1



"For to everyone who has shall more be given, and he shall have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. And cast out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth" Matthew 25:29,30



I have been struggling and wrestling with the proper role of a Christian in modern American politics and culture. I read chapter four in 1Corinthians and come away initially with a message that Christians should focus on Christ and forget about everything else. This is true, per se, but I mean in the sense that there is no involvement whatsoever in the politics of the day. We should focus upon only serving others and ignoring the deeds and events of the day. I call this the ostrich mentality, or the "meek" school of Christianity, waiting to inherit the earth.

But I look at the broader picture in which Paul writes this letter (i.e. in context), and I think he was speaking to a proud church that had a lot of trouble casting away their love of money and power, much like modern America. In this context, the exhortation is to love Christ more than these other things.

I wonder how much legal authority the average inhabitant of Corinth actually possessed. The Roman authority left much local power alone, as long as they received their proper taxes and homage, they didn't interfere too much. So, did these church-members get to vote? Did they have any political clout? Any duty?

The reason I ask, is because in this country, we do have these things. And the counter-arguement to the "meek" school, is that we were given incredible bounty in this country and we are expected to do great things with that bounty because of it.

The "meeks" may argue that by spending their lives in poverty, serving others, they are growing the Kingdom and serving God's people. I agree. However, how many more people could you serve and help, if you were a man of resources and influence? The arguement is that of gaining as much influence in this world as you can, while still remaining a Christian, and using that influence and wealth to further God's will. It is a dangerous enterprise, but one worth taking.

If you are born with some measure of ability, wealth, station and influence, should you not use those resources to further the Kingdom? If you work hard and succeed in your life's work, shouldn't you use those resources? I don't mean to detract from the "meek". In fact I greatly admire their work and recognize the holiness of their dedication. But I think God calls us all in different ways.

We live in a country that has proven to be the most successful economic, and political experiment ever conducted by mankind. Second place is so distant, it is hard to measure the differences between contenders well enough to decide who gets the honor. We have been given much. The success of this country has been the greatest boon to worldwide Christianity ever to exist. Shouldn't our work for the Kingdom include preserving and perpetuating that which has provided so much? Don't we have an obligation as Christians to get involved and active in the governance of a free society, or risk losing it all?

Now, I have just crossed an invisible, but very important line, in that I have just created a Biblical justification for political activism. I am walking a tight rope, and if I lean too much to the left or right, I fall. We don't want clergymen running our government, but we can't have God divorced from our decision-making process any longer. I read scripture for wisdom, but have to be careful not to have my desires color my interpretations.

I was born a fighter by nature. I am contentious, argumentative, and strong-willed. Is it possible, that those are my spiritual gifts which God will use for His purposes? Or do I need to keep working on being meek? Some of my friends teased me that offending people was my spiritual gift. I laughed heartily at that, but inside I know there is some truth to it.

Do we focus on loving others to the exclusion of taking a stand, or do we start participating in a political process that gets messy and embattled and risk chasing away those that might otherwise seen some of Christ in you? Politics can be extremely contentious and very un-Christ-like.

Do we try? Or do we focus on other things? What about facing evil?

I have written in the past about my beliefs in fighting for what is right. I believe in standing up and resisting evil, with force if necessary. Is that me? Is it Biblical? Is it Pride?

I believe that is can be all of those things, and that only by putting my trust in God will I be able to stay on this tightrope.

Diabollos in the Press

I recieved a "devil’s advocate" perspective from someone I love and admire. I started to respond to that perspective and decided to just "blog" it, without revealing the source or directly involving that person. I think that person would appreciate it ;-)

Note in a previous post that I state that I believe that SPLC was started for honorable reasons and I say now that they probably perform honorable and valuable services still. I don't know. But I do know that their "Hatewatch" website is morally corrupted and dishonest, whatever the honor and valor their original intent may contain. I don't believe that the ends justify the means. Neither does God.

MSNBC is so corrupted that they should lose their FCC license. I truly believe that they are performing the equivalent task to crying "fire" in a crowded theatre, hoping that their cameras will be in place to catch the debauchery and chaos when people start trying to get out. Freedom always comes with a price. Freedom of the press means a freedom to disagree and criticize the government. I does not give them a right to lie. I realize that there is a lot of grey area here, but this issue is as clear as can be (I was going to say "black and white", but it seemed particularly ill-advised for the topic of this blog post).

I am concerned not for juvenile cheerleading for one side and demonizing the other, but rather calling out unacceptable behavior anywhere that I find it. If racism is bad, then it is bad for everyone. If racism is harming people somewhere, and your cause d’etre is to root out racism, then you actually HURT your cause if you cry “wolf”, when there are none present.

I also question whether “racism” really means the same thing that it used to mean. To me racism is where people are robbed of their God-given rights by others, due to nothing other than their ethnic identity. I don’t think it applies to picturing someone of a particular identity in your head for a stereotype. I am a white, WASP guy, and I have a lot of stereotypical habits and behaviors of such a guy. It is not racism to notice this, point it out and even to make fun of it. Our pop culture makes a living doing this. It is also not racism to notice, point out and make fun of other stereotypes. It is human nature to classify people. Our brains are simply incapable of NOT doing that.

Of course, I also think that derogatory humor to any individual or group is disrespectful, rude, very un-Christ-like, and unacceptable…and can be racism if taken too far. Anytime someone is derided and de-humanized it is morally wrong to do so as it is engaging in the sin of Pride, which is the father of all sins.

I also think that our brains are capable of separating the distinction of group tendencies and individuals that stand out from a group. In fact, that is the next refining step in how our brains classify things so that we can process. Our brains classify a particular person into a larger group for general and then starts to notice the differences between that global stereotype and the individual before us. This is no different that the entire classification system of plants and animals. You know, Kingdom, Phyla, whatever, whatever, Genus, Species, and all that business. It is a short-hand way of processing information. There is nothing wrong with that and it doesn’t need to be irradicated from our universe. It’s just the way people think.

I think there is an entire industry of people that Dinesh D’Souza, in his book "The End of Racism", refers to as “Race Merchants”, that keep the spectre of racism alive in the minority communities in order to stir them up into a frenzy to make them easier to manipulate. I will not try to argue that discrimination and racism don’t exist, but I think there is an entrenched lobby of people in politics whose vested interest in our society is to never let racism die. They don’t want King’s Dream to come true. They don’t want people to focus solely on the content of their character, because if they did, they would stop reminding us and everyone else the color of everyone’s skin.

I honestly don’t care what anyone’s skin color is, but I care very deeply about what is in their heart. I am culturally discerning. I think there is an objective truth about how the world works, and how it doesn’t work, and I think the evidence so plentiful that the opposition to my beliefs fairly stumbles upon it laying everywhere. I believe that objective truth is covered so deeply and comprehensively in the Bible. I also believe that the founders of this country tapped into it better than anyone has ever done in the history of mankind.

It is not racist to disagree with someone on a philosophical or political point, simply because your ethnicities differ from one another. It is not racist to think that Socialism is a failed and un-Godly belief system. It is not racist to disagree with Barak Obama. It is not racist to think that people shouldn't be given mortgages that they can't pay back. It is not racist to be resentful that our politicians are bailing out companies that should have been let fail. It is not racist to be alarmed at how much money is being spent, or to be afraid of the consequences of the government taking over private corporations, breaking private party contracts, setting up snitch email addresses for citizens to tattletale on their neighbors, trying to access private citizen's bank accounts or raise taxes too high.

This is just common sense, even of the Thomas Paine variety.

Our country was conceived in liberty. It is the only one on earth founded that way. I've made this point before, and I'll make it again. On the mother of all political spectrums, there is a continuum upon which the USA stands alone on one extreme side, and every single other form of government ever devised by man is on the other side of the scale. All of them.

Racism is being used right now for despicable purposes by "accusers", or "diabollos" in Greek. This is the very word for "devil". If capitalize the word, we talk about the Father of Lies, the Devil himself. Satan.

Bearing false witness against your neighbor, was not placed last on the list of Ten Commandments because it wasn't important. It causes terrible damage to a person's reputation and ability to function in polite society.

This behavior by the political left is an attempt to keep me quiet, or pay a hefty social price for opposing their agenda. It is intimidation, 101.

I am angry about it. I am justifiably and righteously angry about it, and I think everyone should be as well.

Less Berserk, but still concerned...

Check this out. And for a better coverage on local news, here.

This was on Fox News' "The Fox Nation", website, and blogroll. Right here in Tucson, an Hispanic man promoting Obama's healthcare reform, interrupts a Tucson Teaparty townhall of their own and, when confronted, he elbows one of the Tea Party members in the face. This man was escorted out by police and then interviewed. He claimed that the hall was filled with "angry white people".

This is part of the leftist strategy to blame everything on the "angry white people". If you disagree with the current President, or Congress in any way, you are labeled a racist and a hatemonger.

I am going to Gabby Giffords' townhall meeting tomorrow. I sure hope this guy doesn't show up with his friends looking for trouble. There are going to be a lot of Tea Party types at this townhall and a lot of concerned citizens.

Does anyone else see this and tremble, as I do? I've read about stuff like this going on in history books, but this is live. I pray for peace and sanity amongst all of those involved.

Update: Channel 13 took a much less sensationalistic approach and didn't even mention the incident. I think this was much more responsible and fair to the Tea Party group. I wonder why they never mentioned the elbow incident? Draw your own conclusions. I am still scratching my head on that one.

Berserk, Part II

I ran into this link and a whole new world has been opened to my eyes.

Check it out. It is a watch group for "haters", apparently like me. It is run by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Like all liberal groups it seems to have started innocently enough, but they have been radicalized to a fever pitch and are resorting to the same sort of stuff that sent me over the edge in the last post.

Well, they are claiming in this article that the whole incident with the AR-15 rifle was staged by a right wing hatemonger racist and then proceeds to link together, with innuendo and breathy statements; Ernie Hancock, The Arizona Viper Militia, William Kostric from New Hampshire (the guy who was on Chris Matthews' show and showed up at a NH Obama event with a pistol on his hip), Timothy McVeigh (yes, the OK bomber), and Randy Weaver.

Now there may be some truth to some associations here, but keep in mind, not once did they mention that the guy with the rifle was black, and they spent an aweful lot of publishing "inches" herding the cattle towards the "racist" conclusion for the whole lot of protesters. The little tidbit about the black protester doesn't fit that narrative, so they leave it out. I'm not arguing that this stunt wasn't staged or that the guys involved are a little 'fringy' when it comes to guns. But they cannot be racists or white supremicists when a black man is the one carrying the rifle.

Here is some of the actual interview. And here is an actual article that reports some facts. Note that this guy is part of several anti-government groups that critics claim are racist, but he has never felt unwelcome. Hmm. Racists that don't care that he's black? Maybe their not racist? Maybe they are gun nuts. Maybe they are anti-government, but, by definition, they are not racist.

The SPLC website insinuates racism in every article about the Minutemen on their webpage too. Including this article about two hispanic men, one of them a Minute Man, arguing about the proper tactics for solving the illegal immigrant problem in this country. How can an issue where native hispanics are on the side of secure borders and a sane immigrant policy and members of the Minutemen, be an issue about race?

Indeed. How can an issue about the Second Amendment to the United States be about race? How can an opposition to Socialism be about race? Why is it that ANY disagreement with a Democrat these days means that you are a racist?

This is shouting down the opposition, straight up. There is no question that there is a concerted effort on the part of leftwing groups to shout down and intimidate people by calling them racist and anything else they think will stick. What they are doing is just fanning the flames. Reporting the truth will have a way of weeding the radicals out. We live in a conservative country. People don't particularly like radicals of any stripe and by reporting incidents dishonestly, they press has no credibility whatsoever, which makes people cynical and easy prey for propaganda.

Now, i could write some conspiracy theory on that one too!

Chris B. was a gun-rights enthusiast that wanted to bring his issue, front and center and get attention. We can argue whether he made a good decision or not. We can argue about how comfortable or how worried we are about people carrying guns openly in Arizona. But we cannot call Chris B. a white supremiscist racist or consider him part of any such group. And we cannot intelligently discuss this incident with the information that the mainstream press gave us and we cannot have anything resembling intelligent conversation by calling everyone that disagrees with Barak Obama and the Democrats racists.

There is no there, there. I understand the politically driven leftist groups like SPLC will always distort things to make their points, but MSNBC, CNN, and all of the others have no excuse. Why did all of the salient information only come a week or two later from AZ Central.com? Why isn't this in the mainstream?

Maybe more on this one...