2010 US State Of The Union Preview
| Tonight |
| Art will be a featured guest at the Des Moines Register's web site tonight during the President's speech in an online chat. You can join us at this link starting at 7:45 PM. |
Haiti Vs New Orleans
From the Palm 700P….
Hey Glenn:
London Times: Haiti earthquake: a few more rescues, but aid still slow.“Nobody can go anywhere without security in the city. No aid workers can go anywhere without taking risks with security. That adds to the difficulty of delivering the aid because you not only have to have transport – which is rare – you also have to have some sort of security with you, or you are taking a risk. People are getting angry, people are getting hungry and thirsty.†This is sounding kind of familiar.
As I mentioned before, disaster relief isn’t like ordering a pizza. It’s hard to get aid into a place where the infrastructure has been wrecked and ordinary social order broken down. I’m seeing some people start to go after Obama on this in an obvious echo of the Katrina-based criticism of Bush. I understand the appeal of payback, but I don’t see any evidence that Obama has blown it here; this stuff is just hard. Of course, the press won’t go after him the way they went after Bush, but that’s a given.
Thing is, that’s exactly the point. I said to David in [...]
Rosa Parks, Robert Graetz, Liberty and Justice
Today is the anniversary of the day that Rosa Parks made waves in Montgomery Alabama in 1955 by refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white man. What Rosa did that day sparked a movement resulting from pressure that had been building for almost 100 years.
African Americans, who had been freed from slavery by Abraham Lincoln, were forced to endure a century of contempt, disdain and abuse from white Americans. Our society, although founded by men who rejected the concept of social classes, was maintaining a dual class existence and legally forcing people of color to live a servile existence.
This was wrong.
By the power and grace of God, this finally changed in America as a result of the boycotts, rallies, legal wranglings, and efforts of the Federal Courts and finally Congress. Although one may believe strongly in the sovereignty of the states, clearly the rights of United States citizens was being abridged by the actions and/or inaction of many of those states, and the Federal government needed to act.
When I contemplate these events, it always amazes me that human beings can be so incredibly dysfunctional. It certainly makes greater sense to me to see an individual here or there who is so stupid that they actually think they are superior to others. But to think that large swathes of our society would actually continue to look down on others because of a history that is over two generations old, and especially in a time following the horrors of Nazi Germany, that they could continue to look upon other humans as just wild cattle that had been let loose and whose status as free men and women had to be tolerated. How could our country reach this point?
I think the answer to [...]
Health Care Reform: Abortion Funding and Mandates Still on the Table (Promoted From TCR:Iowa)
(Originally posted on The Conservative Reader: Iowa) If you don't already know, we are thoroughly Pro Life here at the The Conservative Reader. From the moment of conception, the rights of every American should extend to even those that are still in the womb, despite the inconvenience they may pose to their mother.
We are also opposed to the current effort in Congress to foist a complex, expensive, invasive and industry-busting piece of legislation in the name of saving lives and improving the health of Americans. We are not opposed to ensuring that all Americans have access to health-care, but this bill, in whatever form it has taken thus far, is not in the best interest America. More on that in the next few days.
Worse yet, is that such a bill, in the name of saving lives, may end up funneling more and more money to take lives... innocent lives at that.
The following is a piece provided by Jenifer Bowen (appeared in the Facebook group page for Iowa Right To Life):
There is a battle going on in the Congress over Health Care reform and they, meaning the U.S. Representatives and U.S. Senators, are under heavy pressure to strike a deal and get it done before the summer recess in August. Our concern is a "deal" that would allow for funding and mandates in the bill. There are millions of dollars at stake, and the abortion industry is working hard to get their hands on what they see as a gold mine of tax funding. Their goal includes mandating abortion as health care and having their mandates funded. The good news is that there are many leaders in congress with a conscience that want health care reform, but do not agree with mandating or funding abortion with taxpayer's money. However, the pressure from President Obama and the Democrat leadership is mounting, as they want abortion as part of Health Care Reform. This is bad news since it comes down to heavy political pressures on each representative. This is when your voice really counts. This [...]
President Obama, Day #…..
Ah, who cares?
As disappointed as I was about the outcome of the last general election, I thought I'd take a few months off from writing and spend it observing this new global (dare I say, Intergalactic?) phenomenon that is our new President. Today is July 6, and I fear that he is almost exactly what I thought he would be last summer, that is to say, pathetic.
Having said this, I have to confess that the reason I took some time from writing was that I wanted to be objective in my assessment of this man (as opposed to self-styled Deity). So many conservatives have been lambasted precisely because they wouldn't give President Obama a chance. Not that he needed one, but we DO have to be fair. And I was secretly praying that his rhetoric was merely that and he was pandering to his ultra-liberal base and that, being a man of reason and logic, he was a closet conservative and would instinctively do the right thing. No such luck!
I've waited five and a half months for him to do something, anything, good for the country. So far, here's what President Obama has accomplished:
- He's spent $1.2 trillion (that's $1,200,000,000,000) of succeeding generations' money on absolutely nothing of any consequence
- He's flown around the world numerous times at taxpayer's expense, all the while chiding the taxpayers to tighten up their belts and pay for his largesse
- He's been on television almost every day whining about the failed policies of "the last eight years" and gathering support for his socialist agenda.
How Independent Are We?
Two hundred and thirty-three years ago, the men of the Second Continental Congress made a bold gesture as they sought to uncleave themselves from their ties with Great Britain. A gesture intended to convey that they were serious about the war that was already raging on the American Continent. A gesture intended to tell the world, and perhaps garner the support of other countries, that the American Colonies could not and would not continue to live under the yolk of a tyrannical King and Parliament.
A gesture that could cost them all, and indeed did cost some, their lives and their properties.
The Declaration of Independence was written primarily to formalize the decision to separate the colonies from British rule. It also sought to communicate the importance of concepts of liberty that were lacking in the current arrangement with the Britsh Monarchy. Subjected to Britain's control though they were, equal to other British Subjects living in the homeland they were not. Even in attempts to seek the kind of autonomy eventually considered standard within the British Empire were at that time brushed aside... self-government was not in the best interest of Britain at that time.
Many know that the original Jeffersonian draft of the Declaration included a statement that could not be agreed upon by the 13 "free and independent states"... that is, regarding slavery. Incredible that the words "...all men are created equal..." would remain in a document that could not hold the words:
"He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivatng [sic] and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither. This piratical warfare, the opprobrium of INFIDEL powers, is the warfare of the CHRISTIAN king of Great Britain. Determined to keep open a market where MEN should be bought and sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce." (Washington State University Web Site: Original Draft of The Declaration of Independence)But these and more words were removed by a Congress that was unwilling to do the right thing, as it would have an impact on the economy of some southern states. So our beginnings were not perfect. We moved forward tolerating [...]
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