Goodies

Some goodies that I’ve found interesting, enlightening, and maybe a bit scary in the last few days worth of news.

First up, Jesse Helms.

He died recently, and our condolences and sympathy go out to his family and friends, of which he apparently had many. People who met him invariably found him courtly and affable, the quintessential gentleman, regardless of whether they agreed with him or not.

“If you took a poll of the pages and the people who work in the Capitol about who was the most popular member, I expect Jesse Helms would have won, which would surprise an awful lot of people in the press and people out in America who thought of Jesse Helms as a fierce individual,” (Senate Minority Leader Mitch) McConnell (R-Ky.) told the Senate Monday.

In the Wall Street Journal, John Fund said of Helms:

If Ronald Reagan was the sunny and optimistic face of modern conservatism, the uncompromisingly defiant exemplar of it was Jesse Helms.

Senator Helms was a man of character and consistancy, with few equals alive in our time. Mr. Fund ends with this:

Jesse Helms was a major influence on American conservatism, but his career provides a blueprint for anyone who represents an embattled minority viewpoint. You can, with persistence and unflinching determination, change the political odds in your favor.

We see liberal and socialist causes operating today based on the methods Senator Helms pioneered and championed for many years.

But the socialists who disagreed with him in nearly every way except method have besmirched his record by use of a myopic focus on several incorrect and inexcusable stands and a refusal to see Senator Helms’ rationale and larger worldview and philosophy.

The Day of Connecticut claims he was against civil rights progress. I, too, would be against much of what they consider to be progress.

I have referenced Booker T. Washington previously. The gist of his philosophy was that rather than trying to erase the effects of slavery by raising the black American above his comparable white American we ought to focus on erasing every wall or seperation or limiter between any race, allowing all to equally participate so much as they desire in the American Dream. Currently, American policy is racist, purportedly in favor of the black American, but by attempting to ease the way of the black American, they are damning the average black American to a life of desperation as by policy they are not allowed to compete in the marketplace of merit, only the bazaar of skin color.

I do not know enough of Senator Helms’ view on integration, and from reading the current crop of articles framing his life, I do not think I would agree with much of what he believed on the issue. At the same time, it is conceivable that the ideas of Booker T. Washington would be vilified with much the same hatred as has been directed to Senator Helms.

San Francisco’s Alternative Online Daily, BeyondChron.com, “The Voice of the Rest”, makes their view very, very clear: “Jesse Helms: Just A Dead Southen Bigot” (written by “a radical southern Italian atheist queer with a website”, Tommi Avicolli Mecca).

The Washington Post rises no higher than the “radical southern Italian atheist queer with a website”, and, in face, cannot even come with anything original. The Post re-posts an article they wrote 7 years ago: “Jesse Helms: White Racist“.

The National Review calls him a Patriot. One wonders if this were a according to a definition Obama would posit.

Speaking of Obama (that was a segue worth of Michael Medved), even the pro-socialist media are starting see that he cannot possibly support the massive amount of money and government largesse he has promised to each and every Harry Hardluck and Sally Sobstory and Liberal Petproject to be found.

The LA Times adds up the cost of Obama’s agenda:

“I don’t think it all adds up,” Isabel Sawhill, an official in President Clinton’s Office of Management and Budget, said of Obama’s spending plans.

The Houston Chronicle points out that laundry-lists are often tossed once the person is elected:

In more than a year of campaigning, Democratic Illinois Sen. Barack Obama has made a long list of promises for new federal programs costing tens of billions of dollars, many of them aimed at protecting people from the pain of a souring economy.

But if he wins the presidency, Obama will be hard-pressed to keep his blueprint intact.

The Houston Chronicle goes on to point out a distinct and significant difference between John McCain and Barak Hussein Obama:

Obama has said he would:

• strengthen the nation’s bridges and dams ($6 billion a year)
• help make men better fathers ($50 million a year)
• aid Iraqis displaced by the war ($2 billion in one-time spending)
• extend health insurance to more people (part of a $65-billion-a-year health plan)
• develop cleaner energy sources ($15 billion a year)
• curb home foreclosures ($10 billion in one-time spending)
• and add $18 billion a year to education spending.

It is a far different blueprint than McCain is offering. He has proposed relatively little new spending, arguing that tax cuts and private business are more effective means of solving problems.

It is socialism that Obama proposes. He is a socialist of the common order. Perhaps it is inexperience, perhaps it is that he honestly thinks this is the correct way, perhaps he hungers for the reality of the power that many ascribe to him in him nearly messianic coming.

And finally, some local goodness. My governor, Rod Blagojevich hears it from the media. The allegations against him are more serious than those for which former governor George Ryan was just sent to prison. And Obama is mentioned:

From the BloggingBlagoBlog.

Absolutism And Media Pomposity

No fixed point of reference is going to do you any good unless it has two factors:

1. It has to be seperate from you
2. It can’t move

~Frank Peretti

Ever notice how pompous and self-aggrandizing the media is?

You ain’t seen nothin’ yet:

Barack Obama took the meaning of “secret meeting” to a different level last night, after he slipped away from the traveling press in order to meet with Hillary Clinton. While it is not uncommon for a presidential candidate and for the president to have private meetings, it is uncommon for those meetings to be as secretive and misleading as this one turned out to be.

Anybody else catch the whole “ruffled-feathers” motif here from CBS News’ Maria Gavrilovic?

Methinks a healthy case of grow-up and a round of cheese to compliment her whine are quite the perfect response.

It’s Not Just Talk: Words Mean Things

What Washington fails to understand is that freedom is not the problem: it is the solution. ~Congresswoman Michele Bachman (R) Minnesota

Michele is waging war against the law making standard incandescent light bulbs illegal in the US in favor of the compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) which, while using less energy to burn, cost more, contain trace amounts of mercury, and take more energy to fabricate.

Talent, not affirmative action, will save CBS News. ~Andrea Peyser, New York Post

Katie Couric was hired for politics, not talent. Don’t count on CBS changing it’s tune though: to liberals, it’s the thought that counts.

It’s not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations. ~Senator Barak Hussein Obama(D) Illinois, Presidential Candidate

It’s hard to hide who you are, Barak. Stop trying.

Huck-A-Bust Not Just Romney’s Drumming

Huckabee is a Christian, and I welcome him and love him as a brother in Christ. But his politics and views are not good for the country.

His views on illegal immigration are terrible, involving the giving away of American money to people who’ve broken the law.

His views on foreign policy are immature and inane and will result in more erosion of world stability, not just American reputation. Reading his primary article outlining foreign policy, I get the feeling he considers current American foreign policy to be akin to biggest bully on the block mentality:

The United States, as the world’s only superpower, is less vulnerable to military defeat. But it is more vulnerable to the animosity of other countries. Much like a top high school student, if it is modest about its abilities and achievements, if it is generous in helping others, it is loved. But if it attempts to dominate others, it is despised.

American foreign policy needs to change its tone and attitude, open up, and reach out.

And Romney, while being vocal in pointing out the problems with Huckabee’s positions, is not the only one beating that drum.

From MyManMitt comes and extensive list of prominent conservative leaders and their qualms with Huckabee, including:

• Rush Limbaugh
• Michelle Malkin
• George Will
• David Limbaugh
• Pat Buchanan
• Dean Barnett
• Hugh Hewitt

We have before us an historic election: the nation desires further change, traditional media is obviously failing in balance and importance and is taking extraordinary steps to try and reclaim their relevance.

The country has seen the change offered by the Democrats and their complete failure to implement any of that change even from a position of strength given them by the people in 2006.

Therefore we have before us a chance to elect another conservative Republican with a good chance of being able to spend 8 years enacting further meaningful and long lasting change in the Courts, in policy, in the War on Terror, and in America’s economy

The stakes are high and the cost of failure is something I will not even begin to consider.

Huckabee is not the man for the job.

Grinch Award?

Last night, I turned the radio on to the Christian station I have listened to since childhood. I wanted some nice Christmas music and was looking forward to listening to a station I have always respected.

I was a bit surprised to hear “The Grinch” song being played and was about to change the station when the DJ started talking. Intrigued, I listened, for she mentioned it was time to give out “The Grinch Award”.

I couldn’t imagine a Grinch Award having anything but a negative connotation and puzzled over it. I was not left in suspense for long as she proceeded to explain the award and tell who had won it for the week.

She first apologized for the lateness of the award explaining that she did not watch the show, The View, and so had to read an article in the paper about the show later.

Apparently, Barbara Walters grumbled and complained over the Christmas card she received from President and Mrs. Bush because it contained a Bible verse. Barbara Walters was appalled that they sent out a “religious” card.

Because of Barbara’s complaint, this local Christian station gave her the “Grinch Award”.

I am not at all surprised by Barbara’s reaction to receiving such a Christmas card. What more can you expect from someone who does not know and believe the story of Jesus?

I am shocked and appalled at the action of the radio station. They should know better. Their action will only push more people away from Christians.

As believers we are called to reflect and share the love of Christ - and they did the exactly opposite of that.

If anyone here deserves to receive a “Grinch Award” it should be this radio station for their unkind, unloving, and unmerciful act.