I don't mention it often becuase I desire my blog to be a benefit to all comers, but my purpose for this blog is to communicate my best advice to my nieces and nephews.  This essay is more a love letter to them, but still can be a benefit to all comers.  So do read it even if it seems to be of a personal nature.  One of my nephews has recently been found to have a problem with stealing.  I had a conversation with his mother who is concerned about the consequences he is facing.  She has been acting to bail him out of this trouble and I disapprove.  She has paid to get his truck out of the impound yard and it sounds like she is counseling him to wait till the police have a case to prosecute and for him not to volunteer any information that could lead to a conviction.  This is an addictive behavior.  The addiction stems from a dependence on the chemicals the body produces in artificially creating high stress circumstances.  He has been taking ever greater risks to stimulate the production of adrenaline and various other chemicals the body produces to equip the mind and muscles to handle danger.

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So, let me be clear to my nephew first.  I don't have any children of my own.  You and your siblings and cousins are the closest I get to having children.  This means my progeny investment is in you guys.  I love you guys more than words can express.  What I have to say here is not legalism, nor is it cold, nor is it hatred.  It may be hard but I say this to you because I know this is the best course for you to take for your long term best self interest.  Your remorse right now doesn't mean spit.  You want to prove remorse to me or a judge or anybody else besides your mom, you will make everything right.  "EVERYTHING!!"  You will confess what you've done to each and every one of those you've done it to and you will apologize, and you will pay them for the damage and loss you've caused, with interest.  This is the minimum you can do for redemption in the eyes of men.  Now listen to me very carefully.  Running off and joining the military is not going to fix you.  You need more than a little discipline.  Your problem is not your environment.  Your problem is you and wherever you go, there you are.  The one thing joining the military will get you is a 10 year sentence in Leavenworth when this behavior surfaces again.  What can change you is you.  You have to decide to turn yourself in each and every time this urge takes control.  There is more payoff for you than those items you like to have.  You get a high out of the risk and so you have to look at other ways you can get that high and fend them off with every bit as much determination as is required to keep from stealing.  When you make the cost of this behavior more expensive than the payoff, then you'll get control over it, but not until then.  If you won't or can't make this too expensive, then society will.  They will lock you away for long segments of your life and that kind of record will ruin all your prospects.

Now to all of you; you are broken.  Not one of you has managed to live one week without doing somebody some kind of harm.  Whether its unjustly costing somebody self esteem, causing somebody to do extra work, or causing someone to be considered less valuable by their friends and neighbors, anything that causes any form of harm.  That is our human condition.  That doesn't mean you are bad people, this is our sin nature.  This is the proof that we all need a Savior.  God gave you two natures.  One is flesh with all its appetites and desires, the other is spirit with all its appetites and desires.  The fleshly nature is no different from all the animals.  An animal will do whatever pleases its flesh.  If its hungry and food is out, it doesn't consider the hunger of others or whose food that might be, it eats.  If it wants sex and a partner is willing and often even if the partner isn't willing, it will have sex without considering the offspring, without any other thought.  If it knows an action to cause it pain or fear it will avoid that action, but otherwise does as it pleases.  You have a spirit which desires more than a single moment of gratification.  Your spirit concerns itself with the will of our Creator, with the consequences to others of our actions, with the eternal goals for life and love.  You know greater pain can be caused by hurting your spirit than can be caused by hurting your flesh.  That's why its so hard to give our hearts to another person.  That's why its such a risk to love and to be open and vulnerable.  When someone is careless with our hearts, that pain is much worse than being cut or having a bone broken.  This is how we cause God pain.  We are unfaithful to Him.  Our whole experience in relationships is riddled with pain until we begin relating to God.  He alone is faithful.  This is a critical point.  Faith and faithfulness are very closely related concepts.  One is belief and the other is action.  You cannot be faithful without this knowledge of God because whatever is not from faith is sin, or is unfaithful.  It is likened to the mariage relationship.  If one spouse goes out with a person other than their spouse, we know this as being unfaithful or faithless.  Likewise, when you act without concern for, or in opposition to God's will, you are acting without faith.  It is action based in unbelief.

All our lives, we are fed messages through advertising and peer groups that strengthen the will of the flesh or our animal natures.  From the time we can focus our eyes on the TV screen, advertisers focus their messages on your interests.  Toys and dolls and McNuggets while we are children, cars and gadgets and food, and alcohol and sex when we become adults.  What kind of campaign is comparable to meet your spiritual appetites?  There are perversions which are directed toward your spiritual appetites like romance movies and books and some video games but what really seeks to meet your spiritual needs?  You have to be responsible to yourself for strengthening and feeding the will of your spirit.  You have to feed your spirit more than you allow the world to feed the will of your flesh.  I am not now talking about food, but information.  Advertisements are nothing more than information which feed your faith in finding pleasure and fulfillment in things or services that please the flesh.  Some of it is good information simply appealing to your natural appetites and some of it is bad information promising more than they will deliver, but still appealing to your natural appetites for their own profit.  Those who deliver what they promise are honorable businesses though they will appeal to your appetites to encourage over endulgence.  That is the free market.  You have to be responsible for you.  You have to be intelligent enough to make wise choices.  You have to consider the consequences of over endulgence and choose to refrain from eating the whole 30 ounce steak or the whole quart of icecream.  Its not healthy to eat that way and its not any better to act that way with any product or service offered for sale or even as a promotional gift.  If thinking of your spirit is not motivation enough, then think of your Creator and your family.  You honor God by your obedience to His will, by being a good example to others, and you demonstrate right behavior to your friends, neighbors, spouse and children.  Your behavior is a bigger influence on those around you than you can imagine.

The only source I know which is capable of meeting your spiritual needs, strengthening your spirit's will is the faith community.  Our family has chosen Christianity, others choose Judaism, Islam, Confuscious, and Buddhism.  You can look to other essays I've written to learn why we've chosen Christianity, but for now I'm concentrating on the more general need for faith.  It is the faith community which provides standards outside ourselves through the scriptures, standards higher than our society requires, standards which meet all the requirements which add strength to our spirit for behavioral self control.  Make your church your extended family.  Don't just go in there once a week and warm a pew and sleep through a sermon, but get involved in the church's stated mission.  Become a person the rest of the church can call on and depend on to meet goals and offer services to both the church community and as an outreach to the rest of our society.  Those are acts of kindness which are great for your character, but most important of all is that you get into the scriptures and learn God's will and put it into action.  Apply the lessons it provides to your daily life.  You will soon learn that you can't do it without the help of God to guide you and strengthen you to this purpose.  Only then can you begin the process of healing your broken nature.  It starts with these words.  "I am a sinner and I need a Savior.  God, forgive me and help me be the person You want me to be."  Its not good enough to say it once and move on.  Every day starts with that concept.  Every moment is a decision to do right by God and man or to please yourself. 

Your family is there for you through thick and thin.  We love you and you have to love each other even when one screws up as bad as Kleptomaniac has.  You are all you have in this world.  You never give up on each other and you certainly never give up on yourselves.  You support one another and you meet each other's needs.  You have to be strong enough to offer this kind of tough love when its called for, but otherwise be kind and cordial to one another.  You'll never know until the moment arrives when you will have to call on them to stick with you through the thinness of your own life.  In the words of Dr. Laura Schlessinger; "Now go do the right thing."

For the past 7 years, our president has had wide leeway to use executive powers on the authority of protecting us from a guerrilla force enemy.  The greatest evil this world has ever known, an amorphous, unidentifiable force walks among us with the intent to hurt, kill, and terrorize to subjugate, as they openly state, the entire world to a 5th century warlord's ideal of utopia.  Regardless of whether you think President George W. Bush has done a good job or not, his use of executive powers are what is in question here.  Regardless of whether he went through appropriate channels or whether he subjected himself to Congressional oversight, what we are seeking is to know whether American citizens will him to use those powers as widely as he has.  With Barack Obama taking the reigns, those same American citizens would now severely limit those executive powers due to distrust of his stated agenda to move this country in the direction of centralized power.  Whether he realizes it or not, he is modeling this government and its authority after Mussolini's Italy.  Mussolini studied, admired, and emulated Carl Marx.  The same Marxism which fashioned Nazi Germany, Stalin's Russia, and Mao's China.

In the interest of limiting powers of government (decentralizing power as much as is humanly possible and retain a cohesive society, thereby keeping free will in the hearts of each individual) as the authors of this country's founding documents intended, we have to limit the presidents' powers, whether that president is seen with favor or disfavor, by the same standards.  The reality is, this country is schizophrenic and has ever been.  In the individual, this is a sign of mental disorder but in government this is a sign of health, for a government strongly contested by the governed is a government checked from major abuses.

Prior to the Revolution, George Washington was no more or less honorable than Benedict Arnold.  Arnold was as much an idealist as was Washington, the difference was that Arnold felt we could work within the English system to bring fair representation for America while Washington sided with the Freedomists.  Had the Revolution been defeated, these men would have been seen in entirely different light today.  Arnold would have been the hero while Washington would have been seen as the General betrayer to the Crown and history would have recorded him as a criminal.  The men who signed the Declaration of Independence had it mind that if they failed, they were essentially signing their death warrants.  There was strong opposition by a large minority to independence from the Crown, among the people, and without the rousing speeches by these same founders, they likely would have been hung as traitors to the Crown.

Similarly, during the election of Abraham Lincoln, the country was literally splitting in half.  Several states had openly proclaimed their will to ceding their part in the Union.  The biggest move toward Federalism (a massive centralizing of power) was accomplished during that election and the subsequent war.  The abolishment of slavery not withstanding, this centralizing of power could be seen as the worst turn toward socialism in our national history and many of the states' governors could sense a wrong in this that none could articulate.  There had not yet been the Marxist ideal to model states on that would follow in the next century.  There were no well known examples of the evils that would manifest under the secular utopia.

Not until WWII did those evils manifest and even then, there were many supporters even among the American executive branch who thought Marx was onto a wonderful idea.  It wasn't until years after these utopian visions were exposed that we began to see the full extent to which absolute power had absolutely corrupted those regimes which had fully embraced Marx' vision. 

However, during wars, especially those wars we knew to be greatest in terms of risk to our continued existence, the office of president has been afforded tremendous lattitude to execute sweeping executive orders.  Some of these include rationing of supplies to enforced kerfews.  Abuses range from concentration camps for the Japanese to the commandeering of personal property, to drafting men into the military, all of which were directly opposed to the ideals laid out in the Constitution.  I should add, most of which proved to be terrible in terms of consequences to our reputation, and often just in practicality.  On the understanding that such powers are temporary, the people are perfectly willing to lay aside their pursuit of happiness and their personal freedom for the greater good.  The key point here being that the people are willing, not forced to this sacrifice.  This is why we operate on an all volunteer force.  The wise leaders understand that driving people to service entails an expense of force better used on the fronts while the leaders lacking wisdom assume their privelege of authority grants them the power to force such sacrifices.

The plaintiff in the videos is incorrect insofar as all the people in secret prisons and Guantanomo Bay were not American citizens but enemy combatants captured on the battlefield.  Enemy combatants captured in battle are not entitled to the guarantor of rights which is our constitution and founding documents any more than were the Japanese, German, or Italian soldier during WWII or the Viet Cong during the Viet Nam war.  Even greater consequence is that they are not provided greater rights than Confederate soldiers during the Civil war.  In each of these cases, captured enemy combatants were held in some secret prisons and were subjected to interrogation techniques.  As far as waterboarding and similar treatment, some members of our military are subjected to the very same thing during their training.  Being as our enemy has no qualms of not only actual torture (breaking bones, cutting, starvation, etc.,) but actually record captured and bound American soldiers being killed, by having their heads sawn off with an oversized butcher knife.  We are signers of the Geneva Convention articles of war aggreement and so are obligated to treat other signers of the same document according to it's dictates, but we are not obligated and cannot be with regard to an enemy which has no value or respect for such a document.  Had the president ordered people be taken off the streets of America or out of their homes and be subjected to such treatment, I might be willing to concede an overstepping of his authority.  Had the president ordered monitoring of American to American communications, I might be willing to concede an overstepping of his authority.  In fact the monitoring program took advantage of overseas to overseas calls which through modern technology were routed through American resources.  To the best of my knowledge, not one of President Bush's orders were overstepping his authority with regard to American citizens.

In our current struggle against evil, as ever, we first must fight the battle of schizophrenia.  This is the one battle President Bush has failed to engage adequately.  This is the battle to win before the blood letting begins.  On September 11, 2001 that battle didn't have to be fought, but within half a year, the worst enemy any state has had to face in every war since time immemoriable had reared its ugly head.  That enemy is self doubt.  That is the enemy that has to be quelled at all costs.  That responsibility was relegated to the skills of one office, the Secretery of the Press.  Tony Snow filled that office with skill and relish, but by the time Tony was given this position, a lot of ground had been lost to the very vocal doubters.  With Tony's illness and subsequent retirement, that responsibility has again fallen into near abandonment.  So the doubters gained the majority and won the presidency.

With the new administration all having been leaders among the doubters with relatively few exceptions, I have great concerns of what direction this nation will take now that we are 7 years into this war against Islamo-Faxcist Nazis.  The claims President-Elect Barack Obama made during his campaign for the presidency give more indication to reverse action than is likely due to developments through the campaign, so likely he won't be exercising his purist ideals of pulling our troops out of an all but won war on one battle front.  What that spells for the greater war is anybody's guess.  I am certain of another thing, this president will be engaging the people to lead rather than sequester as he led his voters to believe he would. 

Should President-Elect Barack Obama carry out his idea to create a civil security force greater than the uniformed military branches combined or even matching the least of these branches, I will be one watching very closely for infringements on Americans' rights.  Should he issue orders causing the arrest, detention, and conviction without representation or proclaim some political crime punishable by same, I will be at the forefront of the opposition.  Until that day, I am a supporter of his wide leeway to issue executive orders to maintain the security and peaceful environment within this nation's borders.  Unless and until he truly abuses those powers on American citizens, I will not exercise my right to civil disobedience and freedom of speech to oppose his wide lattitude.  The office of president requires the leader of this nation to act with expediency in an increasingly technologically advanced world to meet threats from abroad, from outside this nation's borders.  Regardless of my personal trust level of this particular president, the office must maintain the capability to perform these duties.  For this reason, I will continue to attempt to operate within the present system to politically act to dissuade the president from, what is in my view, bad leadership.

When this war is over, and it may take 100 years, I would expect and will teach the next generation to expect to roll back that lattitude and leeway to issue executive orders without Congressional consideration of the order in the way of passing a bill.

Through the last three presidential elections, we've witnessed a remarkable degradation of respect and maturity by the liberal populace.  From random individual attacks on political speech to personal attacks against Christianity in particular, and conservatism in general and not just at street level.  Noted in an article linked at the bottom of this body was the attempt via petition signed by 12,000 liberals which was intended to initiate a local proposition to rename their sewage treatment plant after President George W. Bush in profound and deliberate disrespect.  It seems there is nothing left the Left might do which would shock us.  We have come to expect this level of immaturity from them.  During this election we witnessed intimidation efforts by Black Panther members at polling stations.  We witnessed an upsurge in the trend in destruction of personal property all over the country.  We witnessed a politician's home spray painted with threats and in at least one case a home was shot up.  But the biggest sign that respect is disappearing was the media's conduct and treatment of the candidates they opposed vs. the treatment of candidates they favored.  80% positive reports for Obama and 17% positive reports for McCain.  The media are an important part of our society's success in that they are supposed to be a type of watchdog over our leaders' behavior.  Instead they've obscured the President Elect's history and record on all the controversial issues of our time and his many ties to actual criminals and open enemies of American ideals while literally sifting through garbage cans in the home states of Sarah Palin and John McCain and editing interviews to make them look as corrupt, weak and ignorant as they possibly could.  The media elites have lost all self respect for their profession in their advocacy.



• Matthews: 'I Want to' to Enable a 'Successful' Obama Presidency
• Chris Matthews Cheers on Hardball: 'The Excitement Begins!'
• Fineman: Obama's 'Excellence,' 'Changing Everything as He Moves'
• CBS's Harry Smith on Obama Win: 'I Wept Tears of Joy'
• Harris: 'We're Having Something of a National Moment' Over Obama
• Giddy on MSNBC: Olbermann Compares Obama Election to Moon Landing
• CNN's Frank Sesno Labels Rahm Emanuel 'Center to Center-Right'  

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• Matured by Choosing Obama,' Makes 'A More Perfect Union'
• ABC: McCain 'Distorted' Obama, Palin an 'Empty Designer Suit'
• Weir Glows Over Obama's 'Transcendent' Night of 'Communal Joy'
• CBS on Obama: 'New Era,' 'Privilege,' 'Breath-Taking,' 'Euphoria'
• ABC's Jim Sciutto: Obama Has 'Captured the World's Heart' a

Liberals have abdicated their role in this free society in favor of placing a leader who promises to take their responsibilities from their shoulders and place them on the ever listing shoulder of big government.  In spite of the fact that this is in direct opposition to the design the founding fathers agonized over for this country and in spite of the evidence of consequences to the design they desire, they will do anything it might take to get that design installed.  The liberals are quick to charge the conservatives of hate and quicker to demonstrate hate for the conservative.  Where is the evidence of the conservative hate mongering riots they charged?  There aren't any, but their are examples of rage by the gays in California where the proposition which defined marriage as between one man and one woman.

In such an environment, it is a requirement for our security to inculcate this society with a working knowledge and incentive to apply respect for the rights of others to free political speech.  I would encourage all my readers to begin initiating political conversations at every opportunity for the express purpose of getting these rules of conduct into the foreground.  Be prepared for angry responses.  It is a necessary part of the process of teaching immature adult people a mature approach to dealing with their disagreements.  It won't be until that anger has been tapped that we can demonstrate improper vs. proper behavior.  In the past we have been reluctant to deal with immature adults due to the fact that we expect their immaturity to spill into violent behavior. 

Listen; this is what we want.  If the liberal will not learn by your example of calm and reason, if he will not be ashamed of his immaturity and since adults answer only to official authority and the police can't do anything until someone becomes a danger to themselves or others, we have to escalate their behavior until it is correctable.  At the same time we must maintain the air of a mature responsible person to keep a good reputation and to be effectively changing the opinions of the audience that is sure to gather.  This means "NO bullying."  Think of it as your tithe, your sacrifice to build a better society.  Remember; Give me liberty or give me death!  Sounds remarkably like witnessing for Christ, doesn't it?  Probably because the responsibilities are pretty close to equivalent.


Teaching respect is exemplified in the same way we handle the immaturity of children.  Steve McChesney over at http://www.bullyfreekids.com demonstrates the way we do this for children.  I hope he'll pardon my liberty with his work.  I have adjusted it to fit the circumstances I've referred to above.

A respectful liberal takes care of belongings and responsibilities, and a respectful liberal gets along with conservatives.

How can you teach respect to your liberal?

Be honest – If you do something wrong, admit it and apologize.

Be positive – Don’t embarrass, insult or make fun of your liberal. Compliment them.

Be Trusting – Let your liberals make choices and take responsibility according to his ability.

Be fair – Listen to your liberal’s side of the story before reaching a conclusion.

Be polite – Use “please” and “thank you”. Ask his/her individual investment in liberalism before broaching your liberal’s issue.

Be reliable – Keep promises. Show your liberal that you mean what you say.

Be a good listener – Give your liberal your full attention.

Liberals may learn from anything we say and do. Make sure that you are modeling respectful behavior. Some of the things you can do are:

Obey laws – Follow rules.

Be caring – Show concern for people, animals and the environment.

Avoid poor role models – When you see examples of disrespect, discuss them with the nearest observing liberal.

When you set rules for use in discussing moral/political issues, explain to your liberal why the rule is important.

Teach your liberal to respect themselves. Self-respect is one of the most important forms of respect. Once we respect ourselves, it is easier to respect others.

Your opinion means a lot to your liberal. If you believe your liberal can succeed, they will believe they can as well.

Build their independence. Give them responsibilities as soon as they can handle them.

Help them set and achieve goals. Their self-respect will skyrocket when they see themselves achieving those goals.

Encourage honesty. Let your liberal know that they may be able to fool some people, but they can’t fool themselves. There is no pride in stealing, cheating, or lying.

Most importantly, show love! Explain to them your position is not to cause them or anybody harm but to bless them and help them live better.

If your liberal makes a mistake, remind them that they are still loved.

Maturity level affects liberal's respect. Liberals and conservatives deserve respect at every age. Here is a guideline based on maturity compared to children:

Babies – They are too immature to show respect but when you meet their needs, they learn to trust you. This helps as they mature because respect for authority is based on trust.

Toddlers – They are mature enough to learn to say “please” and “thank you”.

Preschoolers – This is a good time to teach rules and consequences.

Elementary school – They show the most respect for adults who make fair rules. It helps to let them have a say in the rules that they are expected to follow.

Middle and High Schoolers – Allow them to show independence, such as clothing or hairstyles, but make sure you have guidelines. They will appreciate the respect you are showing them. We respect you and the incredible job that you have, being a conservative.

Goodness knows, you may not get it. There may be days when you feel Rodney Dangerfield had nothing on you. You may even decide that getting respect is not a battle you choose to fight, or something that's necessary for getting things done. But just because respect is not forthcoming doesn't mean it isn't due. You are deserving of respect for your moral views, your knowledge about your society and its needs, your tireless efforts on its behalf, your faith and love in the face of tremendous challenges. If there are people in your life -- whether professionals or family members -- who don't pay you the proper respect, know that the shortcoming is theirs, not yours. Meanwhile, make sure you're paying yourself plenty.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

re⋅spect

   /rɪˈspɛkt/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [ri-spekt] Show IPA Pronunciation

–noun

1.	a particular, detail, or point (usually prec. by in): to differ in some respect.

2.	relation or reference: inquiries with respect to a route.

3.	esteem for or a sense of the worth or excellence of a person, a personal quality or ability, or something considered as a manifestation of a personal quality or ability: I have great respect for her judgment.

4.	deference to a right, privilege, privileged position, or someone or something considered to have certain rights or privileges; proper acceptance or courtesy; acknowledgment: respect for a suspect's right to counsel; to show respect for the flag; respect for the elderly.

5.	the condition of being esteemed or honored: to be held in respect.

6.	respects, a formal expression or gesture of greeting, esteem, or friendship: Give my respects to your parents.

7.	favor or partiality.

8.	Archaic. a consideration.

–verb (used with object)

9.	to hold in esteem or honor: I cannot respect a cheat.

10.	to show regard or consideration for: to respect someone's rights.

11.	to refrain from intruding upon or interfering with: to respect a person's privacy.

12.	to relate or have reference to.

—Idioms

13.	in respect of, in reference to; in regard to; concerning.

14.	in respect that, Archaic. because of; since.

15.	pay one's respects, a. to visit in order to welcome, greet, etc.: We paid our respects to the new neighbors. b. to express one's sympathy, esp. to survivors following a death: We paid our respects to the family.

16.	with respect to, referring to; concerning: with respect to your latest request.

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Origin:
1300–50; (n.) ME (< OF) < L respectus action of looking back, consideration, regard, equiv. to respec-, var. s. of respicere to look back (re- re- + specere to look) + -tus suffix of v. action; (v.) < L respectus ptp. of respicere


References:

A tutorial for teaching respect to kids.
Jeffrey Scott Shapiro with the Wall Street Journal online

The treatment President Bush has received from this country is nothing less than a disgrace. The attacks launched against him have been cruel and slanderous, proving to the world what little character and resolve we have. The president is not to blame for all these problems. He never lost faith in America or her people, and has tried his hardest to continue leading our nation during a very difficult time.

Our failure to stand by the one person who continued to stand by us has not gone unnoticed by our enemies. It has shown to the world how disloyal we can be when our president needed loyalty -- a shameful display of arrogance and weakness that will haunt this nation long after Mr. Bush has left the White House.

It is true that I disapprove of abortion.  I know that this practice kills more than one million babies every year.  I know

It is true that I disapprove of the homosexual lifestyle.  I know that this behavior is self destructive and millions of people suffer damage and disease to their bodies in its practice.  I know that the gay lobby in America is pushing its acceptance into every corner of our culture including our schools' kindergartens.  I know that this push is making our children's gender identity malleable and perverting their innocent psyches before they are ready for knowledge of such things.  I don't take that disapproval and go around beating and killing homosexuals.  That is what would demonstrate hate.  My faith instructs me to invite them to join me in this faith so they can learn that this behavior is harmful to our society as well as to themselves.

It is true that I disapprove of the religion of Islam.  I know that this religion has not been hijacked, that it practices the concept of justifiable deception, and that it requires its followers to institute world wide Sharia Law.  The same law that requires unequal treatment of women, blacks, and unbelievers.  I don't take that disapproval and go around beating and killing Muslims.  That is what would demonstrate hate.  My faith instructs me to invite them to join me in my faith so they can learn the source of real peace rather than Islam's brand of violent domination and overthrow of differing faiths and governance.

It is true that I disapprove of socialism.  I know that this is the stepping stone toward Communism, Maoism, and basic despotism including regimes like Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro, Polpot, and countless others.  I have studied a little history and seen that the end of this ideology of building a utopia on earth is always, always the last step before re-education camps, Gulags, genocides, and so-called freedom wars against free and successful societies.  I don't take that disapproval and go around beating and killing socialists.  That is what demonstrates hatred.  My faith instructs me to invite socialists to join me in this faith so they can learn that people are inherently evil and must fight their own natures so they can live together in peace.

Hatred is not demonstrated in critical speech just because the speech is critical.  Hatred is demonstrated in speech and actions that intend harm.  Actions like keying cars, stealing burning or otherwise destroying political yard signs spray painting threats onto a candidates garage door firebombing a billboard or any of a hundred other examples is a form of intimidation.  Actions which intimidate others for their views is an abuse of their right to freedom of speech.  Hatred is demonstrated in speech which is intended to intimidate as well.  Do not confuse hatred with an opposing view on what's good for our culture and society.  Do not equate criticism with hatred.

Scoobey-doo

Dennis Prager wrote an important piece on his blog over at Town Hall.  In it, he discusses the interviews MSM has done with our conservative candidate for Vice President.  Our media with an important role to play in America's politics, as important or more than the politicians they cover, is conveyor of information on our nightly news and has been for years the main venue through which the average voter is informed of current events.  In such an important role Dennis proposes the reporters need to be vetted every bit as much as the candidates they cover.  How would they fare under the same scrutiny they put some of the politicians under?  One tiny example follows:

  Q: Members of the news media believe, correctly, that individuals running for political office, because of their potentially great impact on American life, should subject themselves to interview after interview about their views, values, personal life and knowledge base by often hostile members of the news media. But, the most powerful members of the news media, people who have more impact on American life than almost any politician in America, do not allow themselves to be interviewed about their views, values, personal life and knowledge of the issues. Why not?

I submit to you that the media must be scrutinized in the same way we do candidates for the presidency.  Else, how do we know what their bias will do to their reporting.  In several recent examples, the media have been very critical of limited access to Sarah Palin while simultaneously blitzing the Republican campaign with highly unethical treatment of Sarah Palin in the few interviews they were granted.  Both Katie Couric and John Gibson went into those interviews with the intention of making her look as little, as poor a candidate as they possibly could.  Using camera tricks, editing tricks and a questioning style intended to belittle her knowledge and composure for the task at hand.

The main stream media are harming themselves in their effort to sway this election.  They don't care.  They don't care that their numbers are falling, and they don't care that you are finding out about their bias.  They don't care because they are shooting for the moon or rather, the monopoly of information venues.   If Harry Reid controls the House of Representatives and Nancy Pelosi controls the Senate and if Barack Obama is President, then the Fairness Doctrine legislation is a shoe in.  Once they've passed that into law and shut the Right Wing Conservative radio voice down they can turn their attention to the blogs.  Yes the blogs, that's you and me talking on the internet about all the evil doings in government and world events.  How can they shut up the blogs?  Well they've already designed something called 'Hate Speech' legislation.  There are no checks and balances in a filibuster proof liberal controlled Congress and a liberal president to sign the legislation.  That means somebody in a liberal controlled government is going to be making decisions on what you can say or write on the internet or in any public forum, for that matter.   What happens to the TV news and the big Newpapers then?  They go back to being the only major source of information in our society.  They won't have to compete with Rush Limbaugh and Matt Drudge.  Instead we will be forced to spend a lot of money to get the true story or just swallow whatever the big three want you to believe.  Your ability to be informed in the future depends entirely on your willingness to be informed for this election.   If McCain wins this election the press will be commenting in their editor circles, "If it weren't for those meddling bloggers, we would have gotten away with it."  About like the villains in the old Scooby Doo cartoons when they've been caught and the disguise is finally pulled off their head.

And this just in from Ireland:

Yesterday, Palin came out and spoke about Obama's affiliations with terrorists and sympathizers.  Today John came out and spoke about Obama's ties to corruption in campaign finance and the economic woes we are facing as a nation.  Finally somebody is speaking directly to the true issues in this election cycle.  Since the press has done all it can to ignore these critical issues to the leadership of this nation, the Democrats have not had to really face hard criticism.  Whether the McCain campaign thought they were saving the best political knives until the end of the campaign trail to knock the Dems off their platform, I don't know.  What I do know is that the Democrat candidacy is betting on the horse that is carrying the most scandalous weight of any candidate in recent memory.

Gaffes and other surface criticism aside, this Democrat ticket is about as far from legitimacy as it can possibly get.  A history of open hostility to our way of life and of involvement with multiple shady figures on the fringes of politics would have disqualified any other candidate long before the primaries.  I can only surmise that the Democrats thought the race backlash would be enough to carry this extreme leftist, anti-American past the criticism he so richly deserves.  We shall see if Amercans are willing to let the scandals wrapped in the package of this black candidate go on the power of settling the racism charge once and for all.

I ache to have a black candidate take the office for this reason.  I truly do want a person of color in the Oval office from the bottom of my shoes.  I am not willing to sell the American health and prosperity in that cause. 

From Webster's Dictionary

enemy (en` a mi) n. one actuated by hostile feelings; an armed foe; opposing state; something harmful; a. of an enemy; due to an enemy

This is craziness!  How did Barack Obama ever make it this far?  In his run for the Ohio state Senate, in his run for the U.S. Senate, didn't anybody look at his background or his intentions?  Certainly, before he was put up by the DNC he should have been gone over with a fine toothed comb.  Hillary was dumbfounded when she told the American voters that he hasn't been vetted and the response to this concern was apathy at best and to her chagrin, an introduction to media bias and criticism usually reserved for Republicans.  Now he is the candidate apparent for the DNC and the responsibility falls to the Republicans to dig into his history and frame of mind.  Hasn't any of this been scrutinized by any Democratic interest for the good of the party?  I really haven't believed that the Dems want this nation to be in the hands of a man who has at any time in his life wanted it destroyed and I cannot believe that the party has ignored information that he wrote in a published autobiography.  But here we are.  This leaves me to conclude that either they do want the nation destroyed or that they don't care what kind of person takes that seat as long as he has a D beside his name.

Not even bothering to take into account that this man is a radical for leftist ideology on everything from partial birth abortion to redistribution of wealth and has the furthest left voting record in the legislature in American history, but his associations with supporters of militant Islam and militant radicals like William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, Louis Farrakhan, Raila Odinga, Rashid Khalidi, Nadhmi Auchi, Raul Reyes of FARC, Edward Said, Dick Morris, Najib Balala, sets him apart as a dangerous element in American politics with intentions to destroy our system of governance.

The laundry list of groups and individuals he supports and those which support his bid for the presidency are beyond crooks and liars.  These people are actually, violently trying to destroy the United States of America and name themselves as enemies of the state.  Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn organized and bombed buildings and are now acting through our educational system to instill, inculcate communism in our children.  Louis Farrakan teaches at Columbia University and advocates militant Islam.  It was he who invited Ahmadenijad to speak at Columbia.  The Black Panthers endorse him.  Palestinians advocate for him...  just to name a few.

Quote from Barack Obama's book, Dreams Of My Father:
"The person who made me proudest of all, though, was [half brother] Roy .. He converted to Islam."

From 'Dreams of my Father', "In Indonesia, I had spent two years at a Muslim school"
"I studied the Koran.."

From 'Audacity of Hope: "Lolo (Obama's step father) followed a brand of Islam ...."I looked to Lolo for guidance".

From 'The Audacity Of Hope, ""In the wake of 9/11, my meetings with Arab and Pakistani Americans have a more urgent quality, for the stories of detentions and FBI questioning and hard stares from neighbors have shaken their sense of security and belonging. I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction."

From The Audacity Of Hope, "We are no longer just a Christian nation," "We are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers."  (This has been true from the beginning of this nation, the emphasis here is that it is not Christian dominated.)

From Dreams of My Father, " I FOUND A SOLACE IN NURSING A PERVASIVE SENSE OF GRIEVANCE AND ANIMOSITY AGAINST MY MOTHER'S RACE". (Racist against whites)

From 'Dreams of my Father', "The emotion between the races could never be pure..... the other race would always remain just that: menacing, alien, and apart."  (Promoting racism?)

From 'Dreams of My Father',
"I ceased to advertise my mother's race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites"  (Practicing animosity)

From Dreams Of My Father, "never emulate white men and brown men whose fates didn't speak to my own. It was into my father's image, the black man, son of Africa, that I'd packed all the attributes I sought in myself.."  (Muslim)

From Dreams Of My Father:
"That hate hadn't gone away," he wrote, blaming "white people — some cruel, some ignorant, sometimes a single face, sometimes just a faceless image of a system claiming power over our lives."  (The institutions that have afforded him such success he views as system of oppression.)

From Dreams Of My Father;
"There were enough of us on campus to constitute a tribe, and when it came to hanging out many of us chose to function like a tribe, staying close together, traveling in packs," he wrote. "It remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names"  (As racist as Jeremiah Wright)

From Dreams Of My Father, "I had grown accustomed, everywhere, to suspicions between the races."

"The last time I spoke to Obama was in the winter of 2004 at a gathering in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood," Abunimah writes. "He was in the midst of a primary campaign to secure the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate seat he now occupies. But at that time polls showed him trailing. "As he came in from the cold and took off his coat, I went up to greet him. He responded warmly, and volunteered, "Hey, I'm sorry I haven't said more about Palestine right now, but we are in a tough pri'mary race. I'm hoping when things calm down I can be more up front.' He referred to my activism, including columns I was contributing to the The Chicago Tribune critical of Israeli and US policy, 'Keep up the good work!"

Statistics on illegal aliens:
The Heritage Foundation ^ | 10/25/06 | Robert Rector

The National Academy of Sciences has estimated that each immigrant without a high school degree will cost U.S. taxpayers, on average, $89,000 over the course of his or her lifetime.[3] This is a net cost above the value of any taxes the immi*grant will pay and does not include the cost of educating the immigrant’s children, which U.S. taxpayers would also heavily subsidize. In this way, the roughly six million legal immigrants without a high school diploma will impose a net cost of around a half-trillion dollars on U.S. taxpayers over their lifetimes

Crime Statisitcs
95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens.
83% of warrants for murder in Phoenix are for illegal aliens.
86% of warrants for murder in Albuquerque are for illegal aliens.
75% of those on the most wanted list in Los Angeles, Phoenix and Albuquerque are illegal aliens.
24.9% of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally.
40.1% of all inmates in Arizona detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally.
48.2% of all inmates in New Mexico detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally.
29% (630,000) convicted illegal alien felons fill our state and federal prisons at a cost of $1.6 billion annually.
53% plus of all investigated burglaries reported in California, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona and Texas are perpetrated by illegal aliens.
50% plus of all gang members in Los Angeles are illegal aliens from south of the border.
71% plus of all apprehended cars stolen in 2005 in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California were stolen by Illegal aliens or "transport coyotes".
47% of cited/stopped drivers in California have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of that 47%, 92% are illegal aliens.
63% of cited/stopped drivers in Arizona have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of that 63%, 97% are illegal aliens.
66% of cited/stopped drivers in New Mexico have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of that 66%, 98% are illegal.
Birth Statistics
380,000 plus "anchor babies" were born in the U.S. in 2005 to illegal alien parents, making 380,000 babies automatically U.S.citizens.
97.2% of all costs incurred from those births were paid by the American taxpayers.
66% plus of all births in California are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal whose births were paid for by taxpayers.
Last Updated ( Friday, 20 July 2007 )

http://immigrationcounters.com/
http://www2.islandpacket.com/blogs/post/26929
http://www.texasborderregulators.org/
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCommentary.asp?Page=/Commentary/archive/200801/COM20080109b.html
http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/pba/PBA_Images/PBA_Images_Heathers_Place.htm
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/353829,CST-NWS-rez23.article
http://www.onenewsnow.com/
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/c...o000167/votes/
http://islamichope.org/
http://www.freedomsenemies.com/_more/obama.htm
http://www.usvetdsp.com/
http://www.frugalsites.net/911/attack/
http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=289786626246641
http://www.usvetdsp.com/jan08/obama_lou%20tribe.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7176683.stm
https://secure.wikileaks.org/leak/MOU_between_Ralia_Odinga_and_Muslims.pdf
http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/a_question_of_power_before_tribes
http://www.kenyaimagine.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=904&Itemid=141
http://fallbackbelmont.blogspot.com/2007/02/revenge-of-epimenides.html
http://i.abcnews.com/Politics/story?id=2819848
http://www.kenyaimagine.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=904&Itemid=141
http://ajacksonian.blogspot.com/2008/01/odinga-obama-and-lack-of-courage.html

Of particular interest in the laundry list of his associations with America's enemies, one case stands out.  Late last year Odinga was a Muslim candidate challenging the incumbent for the top seat in Kenya (a country in Eastern Africa) and one of his campaign promises was to bring Sharia law to Kenya.  Kenya has a minority Muslim populace and a majority Christian populace.  He worked with Dick Morris (a criminal campaign manager formerly employed by the Clintons) to campaign for Odinga.  In my mind, this reveals Obama to be an advocate for Sharia law.  There is no way I can believe he is anything other than a Manchurian candidate in the American culture and political scene.  MilitantMuslims are dancing in the streets and cheering him on as he campaigns for the role of leader of the strongest nation on earth and the leader of the free world and essentially the world's police force.

Summary:

The man's own published book indicates he (who is running for the highest seat of authority in the land) is and always has been an enemy of American values and American businesses and American institutions and the Constitution.  The only bill I'm aware of, that he authored sets a precedent in subjugating America's Constitution to UN authority and specifically taxes Americans for a UN controlled budget to benefit non-Americans without benefit to Americans.  His associations with enemies of America.  His whispered message of approval and subterfuge to a blogger advocate for Islamism.  His church is openly anti-American.  Family members are openly anti-American.  His associations with criminals now being indicted and tried.  At some point, you would think the Democrats would throw up their hands and say, "This guy will not serve to the best interests of this country."  But enough of their party is anti-American to take this deadly dangerous candidate and push the entire party into a choice of dumping the party, or abdication refusing to participate in the process, or falling in with and becoming enemies of America.

Addendum:

I tried to make this document legible but you will have to visit the site I got it from to read it.
http://eakenya.org/newsevents/article.htm?id=8

Odinga Sharia agreement

I wanted to make this article about using your common sense... about making good choices, but the stories of the people involved here are so much richer fodder for subject material.  Yes, drunk driving is an issue that cannot be covered enough.  Yes, we have to keep pushing the message to not drink and drive.  Yes, yes, yes... but there is a story here that has so much to loose in the cliche' this the message has become that I have redirected my focus for this article to the people involved in this story.

Jacqui Saburio has been featured in Oprah's daytime talk show and is often featured in such venues because of her incredible story of survival.  She is a native born Venezuelan and moved to Texas in 1999 to go to school majoring in engineering.  She was a beautiful 20 year old woman full of promise and hope for the future.  One Saturday morning all that changed or so it would seem.  Reggie Steffie, a high school football star had a game on Friday night.  Here too, was a young adult full of promise and hope and looking forward with great plans for life.  He was at a party that night and had a great time with team mates and friends till the wee morning hours when he decided it was time to go.

Complete strangers whose lives were to become irreversibly entangled through the tragedy of a car accident involving alcohol in which both lives would be forever changed.  Not only theirs but those of their entire families.  After a head on collision in which two of her friends were instantly killed, Jacqui was pinned in a burning car long enough to have had her hair, skin, fingers, and entire face melted off.  Reggie was physically uninjured, but his football career was over.  He would spend the next 7 years in prison and have to pay a fine of $20,000.00.  This was the least of his concerns.  When he learned the extent of Jacqui's injuries, he would lose his appetite, his ability to sleep, and his self worth.

Jacqui has had to endure 50 surgeries at last count and still counting to restore as much as possible of her face and mobility in her gnarled fingerless hands and arms.  That is the tragedy of one fateful decision by a teenage drunk driver.  Now for the rest of the story.  Jacqui misses her body,  her beautiful body and all that entails.  She is so very scarred that when she goes out into public, she is stared at as if she is some kind of monster.  In fact, when she first saw her altered face, she considered it the face of a monster.  Under the advice of a cousin, she determined to allow herself 5 minutes per day to cry and mourn her loss.  She recognizes that she has to move on.  As Oprah asked, "Are you glad you survived?"  Without hesitation, Jacquelin's response is an emphatic "Yes!  I want to live and experience everything I can.  I don't want to miss out on anything."  But the most telling moment of Jacqui's character was when she met Reggie's mother for the first time.  Consoling the woman who was choking up in telling her of her prayers for Jacquelin, Jacquelin offered her gnarled stump of a hand to this woman who had birthed the man who did this damage to her.  Jacqui understands in all the loss, to hold grievance against Reggie and his family is not gain to her, but would be further loss for herself.  She is perhaps a more beautiful person in the revelation of such character.

Reggie is no monster.  His guilt is something he will be saddled with for the rest of his life.  His regret is in no way mollified by the 7 years he is spending behind bars or by the $20,000.00 dollars he has to pay in fines.  He carries a picture of Jacqui in his mind and it will haunt him until the day he dies.  I ask you, "Could you live with that?"  Could you live in the knowledge that a beautiful young woman has been transformed into the image of horror by your stupid decision?  If you were Jacqui, could you summon the moral fiber to console the one who made you the picture of horror so that you face a mirror and have no other description of the image you see there but monster?  Could you find the strength to resolve to make the best of what you have left?  Some would consider this a fate worse than death.   I happen to disagree.  I believe each one of us has a greater purpose than self concern.  I believe Jacqui and Reggie can use their testimonies to encourage others.  I believe that these testimonies should be used to give glory to God.  In Jacqui, by finding the strength to go on in a spirit of joy.  In Reggie, testifying of incredible forgiveness available through the suffering of another.

These are two extreme examples of choices and consequences.  But every decision in life has consequences, some great and some so small as to be thought irrelevant.  Everybody would fare much better if we took the responsibility for our decisions much more seriously.