Tag: Libertarian Party

The Automotive Bailouts: The Other Side of the Story

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I have been sitting here, trying to keep out of this. But I have sat and looked at the Republican and Neo–Conservative Spin on this Story and I’m sick of it. 😡

So, I am giving you, the other side of the story, from the horses mouth; without commentary from me.

I did not ask that you agree, I simply ask that you listen and hear this man out. Now I am almost sure, that the Blogs, that I have linked to, will remove my trackback, like the Neo-Con Fascists that they are. I mean, it is all about controlling the message with those guys.  🙄

Here we go:

Part 1:

Part 2:

Media Q & A:

Media Q & A Part 2:

Media Q & A Part 3:

There you have it. The other side of the story. You decide.

(Source UAW.ORG)

Guest Voice: “WHERE ARE DOBSON AND PCC NOW?” By Chuck Baldwin

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I ask my non-Christian friends to bear with me on this column. As one will quickly see, this column is addressed to my fellow Christian conservatives.

Regular readers of this column know that one of my chief frustrations is the way Christian conservatives (otherwise known as the “Religious Right”) are so easily deceived by Republican politicians. The all-time classic illustration of this foible is the way the Religious Right was (and is) so enamored with President George W. Bush. No matter what Bush did: no matter how egregiously unconstitutional, no matter how utterly stupid, no matter how blatantly evil his actions were, Christian conservatives (almost universally) either robotically accepted and approved what he did, or blindly looked the other way. It was maddening!

It was as if Christian conservatives lost all ability to reason; it was as if they lost all discernment and discretion. Because George W. Bush claimed to be a Christian, and because he was a Republican, he could do no wrong. To this very day, the only group of people who yet approves of Bush’s Presidency is the Religious Right. Everyone else on the planet realizes that George W. Bush’s Presidency will go down in history has one of the all-time worst.

George Bush took a prosperous and robust economy, and led America to the verge of a second Great Depression. He has taken a (relatively) free and independent republic to the brink of becoming a globalist Police State. He has pushed the envelope of executive power; he has trampled individual liberty; he has made a mockery of justice; and he has made America the laughingstock of the world. In addition, Bush has misused and abused our nation’s bravest and finest by his illegal and inexcusable invasion of Iraq. No matter. The Religious Right still loves him. Why? Because he is a “Christian” Republican.

Since 2000, James Dobson, Pensacola Christian College (PCC), and their peers around the country have had an eight-year lovefest with George W. Bush. Life-size cardboard posters of Bush have stood in their bookstores for eight long, laborious years. Grade school children in their Christian schools have been subjected to Bush propaganda for eight tedious, tiresome years. To them, G.W. Bush ranks somewhere between Moses and the Almighty. And nothing Bush said or did seemed to matter.

I said all of that to call attention to a recent interview Cynthia McFadden had with President Bush on ABC’s Nightline this past Monday. During the interview, McFadden asked Bush if the Bible was literally true.

Now, acceptance of the Bible’s literalness is one of conservative Christianity’s most sacred doctrines. There is not a professor at PCC (or any other conservative Christian college or university) that would keep his or her job for a nano-second, if he or she even questioned the veracity of the Scriptures. Right? You know it’s true! Most conservative Christians would even go so far as to say that one cannot be a born-again Christian who does not believe that the Bible is the infallible Word of God.

Well, what was George Bush’s response to McFadden’s question? He said, “You know. Probably not. . . . No, I’m not a literalist.” Notice, Bush twice denied the veracity of the Scriptures.

Now, Bush has no reason to “fudge” his answers, right? He has no more elections to face. No more, “He’s got to say this to get elected,” which was the flippant explanation given by the Religious Right to excuse Bush’s numerous apostate positions during the past eight years.

So, George W. Bush clearly stated that he does not believe the Bible is God’s Holy, inspired Word. Will Dobson and PCC still say that Bush is “one of us”?

Then, as Bush attempted to give a Christian testimony, he told McFadden, “It is hard for me to justify or prove the mystery of the Almighty in my life. All I can just tell you is that I got back into religion and I quit drinking shortly thereafter . . . .”

What kind of Christian testimony is this: “I got back into religion”? I doubt that this kind of testimony would grant membership in the Campus Church (which is not even a genuine New Testament church, you understand) at PCC or in virtually any conservative Christian church.

I am confident, however, that Bush’s statements will do nothing to diminish his god-like status with James Dobson and the rest of the Religious Right in America. For eight long and bloody years, Christian conservatives have been selling their convictions, doctrines, and even their consciences to George W. Bush. I will even go so far as to say that, in many respects, millions of Christians have turned President Bush into an idol. Many of them would forsake their pastor, their friends, and even their own family before they would forsake George W. Bush and the Republican Party.

Of course, none of this would have happened had Christians–and especially Christian pastors–not lost touch with their American heritage. Had they maintained a studied understanding of constitutional government, and of the principles of Natural Law upon which it rests, they would not have become dupes for Bush and his fellow neocons.

I doubt very much whether Thomas Jefferson was a born-again Christian (after all, he, like Bush, expressed doubt regarding the Bible’s literalness), but he fully understood–and embraced–the “Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” and was more than willing to inculcate those principles into our country’s most sacred document: our Declaration of Independence. As such, Jefferson will be forever regarded as one of America’s greatest Founding Fathers and Presidents. Believe me, America was far better off with Thomas Jefferson than with George W. Bush!

So, where are Dobson and PCC now? Will any of them utter a word of rebuke to their “Christian” President for his apostasy? No, they won’t. (As a comparison, contemporary pastors most certainly did rebuke Jefferson for his public statements questioning Christ’s divinity, even though he was a Founding Father and author of the Declaration of Independence.) Of course, Barack Obama will not escape the public repudiation of Dobson and Company. Why? He is a Democrat. You see, it’s not principle; it’s partisan politics that matters, after all.

While we are asking questions, when will our fellow Christians and pastors finally open their history books? When will they read the U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Declaration of Independence? And when will they open their minds and hearts–even a crack–to the possibility that they might have been duped, and that there is more to being elected to the office of President besides being a “Christian” Republican? Probably never.

In four more years, there will doubtless be another “Christian” Republican for the Religious Right to fawn over. Where he or she stands on the Constitution won’t matter; neither will it matter whether this newest “Christian” Republican has any commitment to national sovereignty, the Bill of Rights, or to fundamental freedoms. All that will matter is that he or she professes to be a Christian, and has an “R” behind their name. And, quite frankly, this last election proved that even a Christian profession is not necessary. All that is required is the “R” behind the name.

(Via NewsWithViews.com)

Let’s Boycott Alabama

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It seems that there is a grassroots effort to get a boycott Alabama, in response to the Alabama Senator Richard Shelby’s attempted stonewalling of the bridge loans to the Big Three. Well, it’s big two now, Ford will not be needing the help.

Anyhow, here is a e-mail written by my Mother, who is a spouse of a retired General Motors worker.

Senator Shelby,

I doubt that you read the emails sent to your office but perhaps it will be read by someone who will show you the many emails you are sure to receive, and will point out to you just how wrong you are. There are a lot of derogatory comments that could be made but I prefer to try to point out a few facts that you evidently have not wanted to know. My husband and my father are both General Motors retirees and I know firsthand from where I speak.

Perhaps you think the auto workers are wealthy, making that mysterious $75 an hour that has been bandied about in the media. Unfortunately that is very far from the truth. They have never made that much, even including benefits, and most of them live from paycheck to paycheck trying to make ends meet like most middle class people. If the auto companies go bankrupt as you desire, not only will the auto workers lose their jobs, but also jobs directly and indirectly connected, such as suppliers, stores and restaurants located near the plants and of course it will trickle down to the cities who will lose the tax revenues these plants produce. We are not only talking about Detroit and Michigan but every state that has a plant or plants belonging to the Big 3.

It’s odd to me that you think that two companies that have been in business for over 100 years and one that is over 83 years old do not know what they are doing. If this is true how do you explain the fact that they sell over 50% of the cars purchased in the world and have won many, many multiple awards over the years for their cars? Do you perhaps think that people are just too stupid or uneducated to realize they are buying an inferior product? And the award givers are too dumb to realize they are giving an award to a poorly built, not very innovative dinosaur? Maybe you need to voice that opinion in your next media interview. I’m sure people would be interested to hear it.

You need to come out of your office and meet with the GM, Ford and Chrysler workers themselves. Could you really look them in the face, knowing they have families to support and bills to pay and tell them you think they should join the ranks of the unemployed? Do you think it is their fault that the economy has taken such a downturn because of mismanagement on Wall Street, the banks and yes, the government?

The auto companies and the union are trying their best to jump through all the hoops the Congress is throwing at them, as ridiculous as some of them are. To let them go under will cause a depression like this nation has not seen in many years. I hope you think long and hard about that.

By the way, I fully support the boycott of your state.

Y’all see where I get the writing skills from? I was told that I could post that, as long as I did not sign her name.

Anyhow, if you’d like to join the grassroots effort boycott Alabama. Please go to the Official Boycott Alabama Page.

Guest Voice: Jack Hunter Says “Libertarian or Authoritarian: Which Way GOP?”

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Video: (Via Taki’s Magazine)

Transcript: (via Charleston City Paper)

Amongst the many conversations from many quarters about who might lead the Republican Party, I keep hearing one name time and time again – Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. As with Sarah Palin, I intended to keep an open mind about any possibilities in the hopes that a post – Bush presidency, post – McCain campaign GOP might produce leaders who learned the right lessons the last eight years, and yet it seems those singing Jindal’s praises the most are the same Republicans who still defend the indefensible Bush and who campaigned the hardest for the unconservative McCain.

So what’s so special about Jindal? While he’s conservative on gun rights, illegal immigration and social issues, none of this really sets Jindal apart from other Republican leaders. What does set the Louisiana governor apart is that he is a racial minority, and is even being called by some the “Republican Obama,” due to his youth and Indian ancestry. The neoconservatives have been keen on Jindal as well, which is never a good sign, and as with Joe Lieberman and now Hillary Clinton, neocons will support any candidate they see as sufficiently interventionist on foreign policy and who is comfortable with wartime government expansion. And sure enough, Jindal remains a steadfast supporter of the war in Iraq, probably wouldn’t mind invading Iran or sending troops to Georgia, and as a congressman he voted both to make the Patriot Act permanent and for the REAL ID act, an Orwellian scheme so intrusive that it was overwhelmingly opposed by South Carolina Republicans. Well, except Lindsey Graham.

So is a candidate who combines multicultural appeal and Bush Republicanism a winning recipe for the GOP? In playing minority identity politics, the Republican Party will have proven itself no better than voters who pulled the lever for Obama simply because he was black. And in embracing another neoconservative, the Republican Party could further alienate voters who pulled the lever for Obama simply because he wasn’t Bush or a reasonable facsimile.

There is a better path. Instead of rallying behind a governor who really would amount to nothing more than an affirmative action hire, how about a governor whose limited government record would make even Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan blush? South Carolina’s Mark Sanford has long made plenty of enemies amongst Republicans by refusing to deliver politics as usual, and has been getting a lot of press as of late for much the same reason. As many Republicans join Democrats in pressing for more bailouts and begging for money, Sanford continues to chastise his own party for spending the money, will not take money for his own state and refuses to put further in debt, his own country. Unlike many Republicans, Sanford recognizes the failures of the last eight years, even recently dismissing Bush’s big government “compassionate conservatism” as a “disaster.” When asked what the Republican Party should stand for, Sanford repeatedly harkens back to the conservative bedrock principles of limited government and fiscal responsibility. “Our niche is maximizing individual liberty” said Sanford of his Republican Party. And the governor’s libertarian approach is undoubtedly what led him to oppose,  unlike Jindal, the implementation of the REAL ID Act.

The two roads that lie before the Republican Party are not the “more conservative vs. more moderate” choice that so many pundits seem obsessed with. For Beltway talking heads, when Republicans win they should become more moderate to stay in power and when they lose they must become more moderate to win elections. They always want “more moderate.” And they’re always wrong.

Obama won the election because he appealed to voters across political, party, generational and racial lines. The only Republican running for president this year who had a similar appeal to such a broad section of voters, and particularly the young voters who energized Obama’s campaign and were invisible in McCain’s, was Texas Congressman Ron Paul. The difference is whereas Obama appealed to so many based mostly on his race and charm, the white, uncharismatic and not-particularly eloquent Paul attracted a diverse base who were in love with his ideas.

As a matter of practical politics, the libertarian, small government conservatism of a Paul or Sanford promises to be a more winning strategy than the authoritarian, big government Republicanism of a Bush or Jindal. Reagan was not off-base when he once said “the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism.” And the GOP would do well to champion leaders who actually consider the massive costs of more wars, bigger government and less liberty, instead of another round of Republicans whose enthusiasm for more wars, bigger government and less liberty is always worth any cost.

The Southern Avenger’s Blog

Good Time for a Missile Strike!

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Video: (Via Breit Bart)

AP has the Details.

If you have a problem with what I just wrote. I encourage you to take a look at the ISLAM section of my Bookstore. Especially this title HERE. Perhaps you should also check out the section on 9/11. Maybe you’ll have a dfferent view after you buy some books telling of the horrible carnage and death that took place that fateful day. Yet, we have bastard Liberals, like “The One” who want to try and talk with these monsters. Perhaps it is because he’s one of them.

So, Bush, you’re already the lame duck, you know where most of the money came from anyhow. Why not just authorize a missile strike and wipe out all of ISLAM in one great swoop? A missile attack, and the President’s outlawing the Pratice of Islam in this Country, would be the ultimate act of justice to all of those who died on September 11, 2001.

Soldier’s Daughter gets wish for Christmas

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If this does not make you emotional or even a little dewy eyed. You don’t have a damn soul.

Story via WXII TV:

PILOT MOUNTAIN, N.C. — A woman and 2-year-old daughter welcomed home a sergeant Thursday night who had been serving in Afghanistan since March.

Kensley Penney said she promises this year she has been a good girl. She said she does just what grandma asks and kisses her special doll with her father’s picture every night.

“When we go to bed, we say prayers and ask Jesus to keep him safe,” Kensley’s grandmother, Patty Childress, said.

Kensley is hoping these good deeds will be enough for Santa Claus to give her the two special requests she has this Christmas.

“I asked her if she wanted a new doll or a stroller, and she said, ‘I don’t know,’ and then a week later she said, ‘I want a blue truck and my daddy,'” Childress said.

Her father, Sgt. Scottie Penney, has been serving in Afghanistan since March.

Penney’s wife, April, said it’s been hard for her, but that it’s been especially tough on Kensley.

Scottie Penney’s family worked very hard to keep him in his daughter’s life, even though he was thousands of miles away from home.

“There are pictures all over the house, and like I said, she has our daddy doll,” Childress said. “When she can, she gets on the Web cam with him and makes funny faces. She knows who daddy is.”

In fact, Kensley sleeps cuddled up with her father every night. His picture is on a special doll that her family said she takes everywhere.

Thursday night, Penney walked into Pine Hills Church in Pilot Mountain to surprise his daughter.

The moment was caught on camera.

Kensley waited patiently in her grandmother’s arms to tell Santa Claus her special Christmas wish Thursday night.

“I want my daddy,” Kensley told Santa.

Kensley even practiced a song for Santa Claus, hoping it will help get her wish granted.

Kensley’s constant singing must have paid off, because the Pine Hills Church Santa delivered her Christmas wish right in time for the holidays.

“It was pretty nice,” Scottie Penney said. “We have been planning this for some time. I had mixed emotions about how (Kensley) would react.”

The rest of the room burst out in tears when Kensley and her father reunited.

Scottie Penney said it was also a surprise for him and his wife to see the community supporting them.

“It was very emotional,” he said. “I didn’t see anyone who had a dry eye. It was so great to see the love and support of our community and people who care.”

You see, it is because of stuff like this right here. Is why I am a Libertarian Conservative Blogger, this is why I decided that the Democratic Party was not that Party that loves America, Respects it’s Military. I mean, you need look no further than Michelle Malkin’s Blog to see that.

….and while I am on it. These are the people that voted for that idiotic Communist NEGRO into the White House, them are HIS people.

(removed because bad language… I should not post when I am emotional.)

God Bless that little Blondie bundle of Joy. Especially on Christmas Day. 😀

(H/T AllahPundit)

Alfonzo on The “Declaration of Dependence”

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An Excellent Video:

Now, towards of the end of this. He gets off into the weeds about the Unions. I’ll give him a pass on it. Because some of the stuff he says, I kind agree with. But he went overboard with the “They should gotten out from under them years ago…” I disgree with that crap. But the rest of the video is right on point.

Of course, if I was a real butt hole, I could say if it weren’t for the Democrats, his black ass would not have half the freedom that he has now. But to counter that, If it were not for Abe Lincoln, he would be still in chains. So, it evens out. 😀

Still I wish there were more black people, like Zo here who believed this way. But unfortunately most of them got sucked into that stupid socialist identity politics crap. Thanks to tools like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.

Good show Zo, as always man. 😀

Editorial: A Look Back and a Look Ahead

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The last time that one of these wonderful little editorials was written; in any sort of earnest, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were still trying to convince the rest of the country that one of them would make the best candidate for President of the United States of America.  John McCain was just being realized as a serious candidate and the Presidential race seemed like it was most likely going to last for the rest of my adult life.

Since that time, after one too many weeks of her carrying out a President campaign that was chalk full of many an error of comedic proportion; and after being told that waiting around for your opponent to be assassinated was just outrageously morbid.  Hillary Clinton; finally, did the World, the Democratic Party, The Feminist Movement, and anyone else you want to add to that list; a huge favor and dropped out of the Presidential race.  However, Hillary did this after ripping a gigantic gulf size hole, the size of the Grand Canyon between the Democratic Party faction lines.  Heck, as it is now, a Liberal Feminist Lesbian and an African-American cannot walk down the street in New York City without snarling at one another.  How is that for Hope and Change?

Once Hillary did finally get it through the miles of granite between her ears, that the American people wanted Obama, and not her —- she finally stepped aside.  However, not before doing a little dog and pony show with Obama.  I mean, the woman does have an ego; they had to make her feel good, one last time.

At this point is when the real action started, John McCain was anointed the golden boy of his Party, and that is when the bare-knuckle brawl between McCain and Obama and their many surrogates began.  There was a point when this writer was not sure what was worse, the race baiting of the Obama surrogates or some of the more moronic racism of the surrogates of McCain.

One of the biggest tragedies of this Presidential race was that the contenders of Barack Obama made some of the same silly mistakes, McCain and Hillary made the same misfires, miscalculations, and bad decisions.  This proves quite a few things.  One it proves that a Caucasian cannot effectively run against an African-American Candidate.  The reason is the “race card” issue, when cornered on his lack of experience; Obama’s surrogates would play that card and play it quite effectively.  This would cause a misfire by the other campaign and for the other campaign to be looked upon as racist.  This is what happened in Hillary Clinton and John McCain’s campaigns both; and they both made the same dreadfully awful mistakes.

However, I would committing a crime of epic proportions, if I did not acknowledge the fact that the Republican Party and those controlling John McCain’s campaign made some horrifically awful mistakes.  The Republican Party and John McCain’s campaign both tried to paint Obama as a terrorist by proxy.  The sick part is that they learned it from Hillary’s Campaign.  The very worst thing that Obama did was sit on a board with a man, who committed criminal acts; that were done in opposition to the Vietnam War.  These acts, horrific as they were, happened when Obama was all of eight years old.  How could anyone, who has a sane rational mind; want to try to subjugate a man to that sort of scrutiny over something he had no control over?

Barack Obama’s Pastor though was another matter entirely, this author does not entirely believe Obama’s claim that he did not ever hear his Pastor, say incendiary comments from the pulpit.  Obama might have heard the sermons and chose to ignore the content that he found offensive, which is an entirely plausible scenario.  It did however; bring up some very harsh differences between the White and Black cultures, sometimes to an uncomfortable and unsettling pitch at times.

The amazing thing was that; as much as I disagree with a great deal of his political ideologies, Obama handled all of the distractions and the controversies —- I refer to the man himself, not his tag-along followers; with a great deal of grace.  Obama did not run your “A typical” African-American campaign.  Obama ran a campaign like a very intelligent Harvard Graduate would run a campaign.  Obama’s campaign was not about the; whether real or imagined —- “Struggle.”

….and so, the election happened.  There was this release of an overwhelming feeling of, “Finally, it’s over.”  Obama Won.  The Republican Party got a lesson of how just how smart America really is, despite their attempts to paint Americans as complete idiots.  John McCain went back to the senate, Obama is now picking staff, Hillary, rewarded for her hard work, and maybe the Dog and Pony Shows, will be the new Secretary of State. Yeah, she is getting Condi’s old job.  As they say, keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

Bloggers and pundits —-Liberal and Conservative alike are now facing a very daunting task and that is, trying to figure out, what happens now? At the risk of sounding like Arlo Guthrie — I mean, most pundits and we Bloggers made it our life’s daily chore to analyze the Election.  I mean, Liberal Bloggers made it their life’s work to mock, and generally hate George W. Bush.  I mean…Now what?

I know what this author will do.  First, like many Americas who lived through the Bush era, I will happily put the past 8 years behind me.  I will, as someone who voted for Bob Barr, praise Obama after he is sworn in as President, when he does something that I think is great and wonderful.  Likewise, as a member of the loyal opposition, I will criticize Obama when I feel he has something that goes against the political beliefs that I hold as a somewhat Moderate Conservative Libertarian. It will be fair, not overly partisan, but rooted in what I consider to be fair.  I will not stoop to the stupidity of some on the right; who do feel the need to mock the man, every time he takes a breath.  However, my criticism will strictly be policy based.  Anything other than that is either racist in nature or goes into the realm of partisan idiocy.  Something I despise as a rule.

Therefore, there you have it.  Where we have been and where we are going.  Stick around; the mountaintop is coming on quickly.  I just want to be able to see it for myself.

Clinton 2.0

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HillaryObama

During this Election the theme was all the rage; Change. A different kind of Government promised. A new direction. A new vision for America. A new start.

Sadly, that whole mantra turned out to be nothing but a campaign slogan. A well orchestrated lie. A lie that was ate up by the hungry masses who truly desired change.  A lie that was swallowed and digested by Conservatives and Republicans, Libertarians, and of course, the mindless masses that are known as Democrats.

I am, of course, referring to the appointment of Senator Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State.

This is the person, who’s husband’s administration killed seventy-six people including 21 children and two pregnant women in cold blood in Waco, Texas on February 28, 1993.

This is the same woman who’s husbands Administration sold the U.A.W. and the American auto worker up the river, when they passed North American Free Trade Agreement.

This is the same Woman, who’s husband’s Administration ripped a innocent boy from the arms of a loving family and forced him back to the hell that is communism on December 6, 1993.

No Hillary, We have not forgotten. Nor will we ever.

This appointment of Hillary Clinton shows that the Democratic Party has still not let go of the disastrous era, that is known as the Clinton era of the Democratic Party. It shows that this power hungry woman will never be satisfied until her poisonous pen has been dipped into the inkwell that is the oval office.

Thank You for your support

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The Following was made by me. It is my feelings towards those who opposed and still oppose the help that the Detroit Auto Industry needs. It might cost me readers, but it is how I feel.

I declare this photo PUBLIC DOMAIN. Feel free to copy it and post it to your Blogs.

Thank you for your support

Thank you for your support

Update: I posted this for one reason and one reason alone, Washington D.C. will hand over 4 BILLION dollars to Wall Street banks and not even flinch, but when Detroit needs help, they are like “You need a plan.” I am not saying that the companies are not at fault. But it just strikes me as pretty damned funny that Wall St. Gets that help and Detroit gets told to go fuck themselves, in essence. So, Yeah, I’m a little pissed off and a bit jaded at this point. Can’t you tell??!

Trackposted to Rosemary’s Thoughts, The Pink Flamingo – WordPress, 123beta, Right Truth, Shadowscope, DragonLady’s World, Leaning Straight Up, Cao’s Blog, Democrat=Socialist, Conservative Cat, , Allie is Wired, Faultline USA, Woman Honor Thyself, Walls of the City, The World According to Carl, Pirate’s Cove, Rosemary’s News and Ideas, The Pink Flamingo, Gulf Coast Hurricane Tracker, CORSARI D’ITALIA, L.O.M.A., Right Voices, and Gone Hollywood, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Whew! Internet Advertising will not be affected by Economy downturn

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Via The Economist:

AT THE beginning of the year Jeff Zucker, the boss of NBC Universal, a big television and film company, told an audience of TV executives that their biggest challenge was to ensure “that we do not end up trading analogue dollars for digital pennies”. He meant that audiences were moving online faster than advertisers, thus leaving media companies short-changed. Now, near the end of the year, the situation looks even worse, as the recession threatens to turn even the analogue dollars into pennies. Will this hasten the shift towards internet advertising, or will it decline too?

Advertising rises and falls with the economy, though how much is a matter of debate. Randall Rothenberg, the boss of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, a trade association for digital advertisers, points to the remarkable stability of advertising at about 2% of GDP since 1919, when the data began to be collected. This would suggest that ad budgets will move roughly in line with economic output.

But Mary Meeker, an internet analyst at Morgan Stanley, believes that modern ad budgets rise and fall much more than GDP does. According to her estimates, if the economy stops growing, ad spending is likely to fall by 4%. If the economy shrinks by 2%, overall ad spending may fall by 10%. As for the online segment, recent history is cause for pessimism. Between 2000 and 2002, during the dotcom recession, online ad spending in America fell by 27%.

Yet the web has changed a lot since 2002. Back then, gaudy display “banners” on web portals such as Yahoo! and MSN were the preferred technology. These still exist, but they now account for less than 20% of online ad spending. More than half goes to search advertising on Google and rival search-engines, which place small text ads next to results based on the keyword of the query, and charge only when a user clicks on them. In brand advertising, “rich media” ads are taking over from banners. These allow users to interact by clicking, so their engagement can be tracked.

All this makes spending on advertising much less speculative, so that it starts to be treated instead as a cost of sales. This is one reason why online advertising should suffer less than other sorts. This week eMarketer, a market-research firm, predicted that online-advertising spending in America, which makes up about half the global total, will increase by 8.9% in 2009, rather than the 14.5% it had forecast in August. The firm thinks search advertising will grow by 14.9% and rich-media ads by 7.5%, whereas display ads will grow by 6.6%. In short, online advertising will continue to expand in the recession—just not as quickly as previously expected.

Another reason for optimism, says Mr Rothenberg, is that online advertising is making obsolete the old distinction between marketing spending “above the line” and “below” it. In the jargon, above-the-line spending drives brand “awareness” (probably on television) or “consideration” by a consumer planning a purchase (probably in a newspaper). Such spending is often slashed in recessions. Below-the-line spending includes promotions or coupons to whet the consumer’s “preference” for the brand as he nears a purchase, or schemes such as frequent- flyer miles to increase his “loyalty” afterwards. These budgets are more robust. — Rest the Rest

Job Security people…. Job Security…. 😀

Although, BlogAds are not selling here. 🙄 I mean, people $50 for advertising, that is cheap! Come on, Buy people BUY!

Let’s say thanks to our troops

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You might notice the new thingy on the left there, that says “Let’s say thanks to our troops!” Well, what that is about is this here.  Everyday our American Military serves this Country Faithfully. Right now, we have soldiers serving in two wars. Not matter what you feelings about the events leading up to Iraq, or the fact that we’re even there; one thing that cannot be debated, argued or even dismissed, is the fact that our United States Military is the best, the bravest and the strongest. It is also a fact that they are doing the jobs, that the rest of us will not or cannot do…. and for this the fine men and women serving deserve our praise, honor and respect. Not to be ignored, there are also brave men and women fighting a war, against extremists in Afghanistan, in a country that is increasingly hostile to our presence.

Seeing all of this, I believe that some respect is due. So, I ask you, nicely, to click on the widget on the left and send a nice message to our Military serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

If you run a Blog and would like to run this widget, check out the website below:

Let’s Say Thanks HomePage

(Thanks Sister Toldjah)

Bob Barr Gives his first post-election interview

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Bob Barr gives his first post-election interview with Reason Magazine.

For the record, I knew Barr was not going to win. He was viewed by many as an opportunist who was looking to cash in on a movement. I voted for him, because I felt neither of the mainstream parties represented, what I felt to be proper Government. I really didn’t even agree with Barr on everything. But he was better than McSame or Bambi.

(thanks to IPR)

NBC News somehow obtains video show Al-Qaeda handlers coaching 9/11 Hijacker

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Something smells awful fishy about this…

The Video: (via Breit Bart)

Okay, what I want to know is, How did NBC obtain this video? Is it just me, or does this seem like an attempt to make these Hijackers seem less like; well, like criminals or even monsters? It sure does strike me as that. After all, MSNBC and NBC both are Liberal News Networks and the man they’ve elected said he would meet with people like these terrorists without conditions.

It just strikes me as very odd.

The Gold Standard – Another view…

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….and it’s an interesting one, at that.

From Citizen Economists:

Therein lies the fundamental problem of gold as a backing for fiat money, or as a direct global currency.

There simply is not enough gold on the planet, existing above ground or yet to be mined, to back all the fiat currencies that have been created to accommodate the continually rising population in this world.

Better yet, if we applied simple supply and demand laws, the price of gold would reach enormous proportions compared to the universally accepted world standard of the equivalent US$700 per ounce at today’s values. Careful, please, the price may rapidly move or down from that level!

We know reasonably well how much gold there exists on the planet. We also know approximately who owns how much, both in physical gold and in reserves still to be mined. With the expected gold craze to continue, major exploration and mining companies are hoping to bring those underground reserves to daylight to join in the speculative fever of potentially recovering gold.

For example, Northgate Minerals Corporation (TSX: NGX, AMEX: NXG) announced September 8, 2008 that it found new mineral reserves at its Australian site, including some 140,000 ounces of gold. In their press release, the company stated that the find “will extend the current mine-life by an additional 18 months until the fourth quarter of 2011.” (biz.yahoo.com). (www.northgateminerals.com)

If you do simple math and use today’s value at $700/oz., that results in some $98 million. At a cost of some $20/oz, that results in a nice profit for the company and its shareholders.

However, that amount pales on a macroeconomic level.

Egad, don’t tell that to the people that support Ron Paul, The Ludwig von Mises Institute or the people that are hawking gold on all the Conservative sites that run the ads for gold. The only response to this that I can offer is, if they ended the federal reserve bank and stopped the mass production of money. Perhaps we could go back to the gold standard. However, I will be the first to tell you that I am not, nor have I ever been an expert in economics.

It is an interesting article, I do recommend that you read it.


A Post-Election Message from Bill Redpath, Libertarian Party’s National Chairman

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(H/T independentpoliticalreport.com)

As I recover from Election Day and my US Senate campaign that preceded it, it is time to take stock of where the Libertarian Party stands and what we accomplished in the election season just passed.

While I know that we are disappointed that more of our candidates did not win, and that the Barr/Root presidential ticket and our other candidates did not win as many votes as most of us thought they would get, there is much that we gained in 2008 and a lot to be proud of for the Libertarian Party.

First, I think Bob Barr and Wayne Allyn Root were outstanding candidates that represented the ideas of individual liberty in an exemplary manner.  There was not a single time that I saw them on television or looked at their Web sites where my reaction wasn’t, “Right on!”  They represented our message of individual liberty and responsibility in an outstanding fashion, and I want to thank them for that.  I also have personal knowledge of diligently the campaign staff worked—Russ Verney, Shane Cory, Mike Ferguson, Andrew Davis (on loan from LPHQ) and others.  Thank you for dedication to the effort in the face of many challenges that were outside the control of any of us.

Two of our candidates for office earned over 1,000,000 votes.  They were John Monds, who ran for Public Service Commission, District 1, in Georgia.  His was a two-way statewide race (even though he going to represent a particular district).  Also, William Bryan Strange polled a seven-digit number of votes for Judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 9, in Texas, in another two-way statewide election.

And, speaking of Georgia, our US Senate candidate in the Peach State, Allen Buckley, forced a nationally publicized runoff election between the two major party candidates.  Also, Brandon Givens, Public Service Commission, District 4 in Georgia, forced a runoff election for the major party candidates for that office.

We came out of the 2008 election with ballot access for the presidential ticket in 27 states—the same number as at the end of the 2004—and more than any other minor party.  However, one of those states that we gained was North Carolina, where Duke University professor Michael Munger earned nearly 3 percent of the vote for Governor, qualifying the Libertarian Party of North Carolina for the ballot for the next four years.  That alone will save the LP about $200,000 in ballot access expenses—not to mention that it will allow more LP candidates to run for office over that period.  We also achieved major party ballot status in Massachusetts, while we lost it in South Dakota.

Even though some people reregistered Republican to vote for Ron Paul in the presidential primaries, the number of voters registered LP nonetheless increased from 225,229 in February 2008 to 243,293 in October 2008.  (Those numbers are from the 23 states that allow voters to register Libertarian and that report those numbers.)

The sustaining membership (those giving at least $25 over the past year) of the LP also increased; it is up over 22 percent from this time last year.

There is indisputably much that was accomplished this year for which we can all be proud.

However, our victories in 2008 not withstanding, the work of the Libertarian Party never ends.  The battle for ballot access begins as soon as it ends, and we have no time to waste to keep the ball rolling.  With ballot access, we need to do as much as we can, as soon as we can—to get it done and to get it done as efficiently as possible.  Last minute fire drills greatly increase petitioning costs and risk not making the ballot at all.

How can you help with ballot access?  First, donate to the Libertarian Party. You can do this at https://www.lp.org/contribute, or mail your donation to the Libertarian Party at the address noted on the front page of this newspaper.  Your contribution of $25, $50, $100 or $1,000 will be used to begin the next cycle of ballot drives as absolutely soon as possible.

Also, please sign up for email announcements at LP.org to stay up to date on our ballot access projects.  Even if you cannot help fund our drives with a donation, we could use your volunteer help collecting signatures where these drives will occur.  Every volunteer signature means one less paid signature, and the savings add up.

Thank you for all your support of our candidates in 2008.  Because of your efforts, the candidates of the Libertarian Party received more than 13 million votes! This is a record for the Party, and it is all due to our wonderful donors, volunteers and candidates across the country.  I emphatically thank you all.

Sincerely,

William Redpath
National Chairman
Libertarian National Committee

President-Elect Obama, you need to do something about this….

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(Thanks to Captain Ed, of which I have no quarrel with, at least not yet, for this story)

Let me simply preface this entry by saying the following. Yes, I am a Christian, I do not consider myself a protestant Christian. I am, in fact, an Independent Baptist. We Independent Baptists reject the notion that we are a part of the Protestant reformation, as most of the Denominations from that reformation still hold to much of the formal doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church.

Further more, I reject the notion that the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church are even remotely Christian, or the notion that Roman Catholics are even remotely Christians. Any denomination that teaches that Salvation comes by Works, by the Church and by Christ is NOT a Christian Church, nor are it’s doctrines even remotely Christian. Salvation comes by Christ Alone, and NOT by a Church or by any Works.  That is not hate, that is Bible.

Having said all that, I bring an article of where a so-called “priest” is trying to break the laws of Separation of Church and State and is getting the support of the local Catholic “Big-wigs” in the area. The State has more:

A Greenville priest who told parishioners those who cast ballots for President-elect Barack Obama risk placing themselves “outside of the full communion of Christ’s church” is simply enunciating church teaching and has the full support of the Diocese of Charleston, a spokesman said Thursday.

The provocative letter from the Rev. Jay Scott Newman to members of St. Mary’s Catholic Church has sparked some controversy and yet another conversation about faith and public policy.

“Voting for a pro-abortion politician when a plausible pro-life alternative exists constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil,” Newman said in the letter posted on the Greenville church’s Web site, www.stmarysgvl.org, “and those Catholics who do so place themselves outside of the full communion of Christ’s Church and under the judgment of divine law.”

Newman said that those who did not choose the anti-abortion candidate, in this case U.S. Sen. John McCain, “should not receive Holy Communion until and unless they are reconciled to God in the Sacrament of Penance, lest they eat and drink their own condemnation.”

Calling Obama “the most radical pro-abortion politician ever to serve in the United States Senate,” Newman went on to say Catholics must pray for the newly elected chief executive.

“Let us hope and pray that the responsibilities of the presidency and the grace of God will awaken in the conscience of this extraordinarily gifted man an awareness that the unholy slaughter of children in this nation is the greatest threat to the peace and security of the United States and constitutes a clear and present danger to the common good,” Newman said in the letter.

St. Mary’s was established in 1852 and is considered the mother church for Upstate Roman Catholics. The church has 7,500 members and operates a parish school for 300 students.

While Newman has been the most outspoken of South Carolina priests in the wake of the election, the administrator of the diocese of Charleston, Msgr. Martin T. Laughlin, supports him fully, said diocese spokesman Steve Gajdosik.

“I think it’s fair to say that Father Newman’s letter echoes the sentiments of Father Laughlin,” he said.

In October, Laughlin wrote a letter on faith and citizenship to the state’s Roman Catholics that urged the faithful to be “moral voters.”

“It was more of a positive exhortation to do good, to do the right thing,” Gajdosik said.

In the 2004 election, a controversy erupted when some Roman Catholic bishops suggested Democratic presidential contender John Kerry should be denied Communion because his public votes went against church teachings.

If Newman’s letter is an indication, that struggle over public policy and faith will go on. Many Roman Catholics supported Obama and did not believe their vote was in conflict with their faith.

“Personally, I think it is valuable to have this discussion in the secular media because, many times, many Catholics don’t go to Mass, and so they come at this issue from a secular viewpoint,” Gadjosik said.

“I think to Father Newman’s credit, he isn’t afraid to tackle tough issues. And sometimes there is a lot of pressure to conform and just be nice and go along.”

Sister Mary Ann Walsh, spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said she had not heard of other churches taking this position in reaction to Obama’s win. A Boston-based group that supports Catholic Democrats questioned the move, saying it was too extreme.

“Father Newman is off-base,” said Steve Krueger, national director of Catholic Democrats. “He is acting beyond the authority of a parish priest to say what he did. … Unfortunately, he is doing so in a manner that will be of great cost to those parishioners who did vote for Senators Obama and Biden. There will be a spiritual cost to them for his words.”

Let me remind my readers that the Roman Catholic Church has a clear track record of persecuting those who did not agree with their Biblically corrupt doctrines. In the 1230’s a group of Christians, who rejected the Doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church were persecuted, that would be a group, that we Baptists can trace our linage to; the Waldensians. Another group of Christians, who were friends with this group, The Albigenses, were brutally slaughtered and their property stolen, by the Roman Catholic Church; all because they refused to accept the fact that the Roman Catholic Church was the “true” Church; this happened in the 1300’s.

President-Elect Obama, this is nothing more than a full bore violation of the concept of the Separation of Church and State. Further more, it is nothing more than outright voter intimation. There is but one way to stop this sort of meddling in the electoral process, and that is to demand a retraction of this so-called “Priests” statement to his Church. If that so-called “Priest” does not retract his statement; then as President of the United States of America, you, President-Elect Obama should, by an executive order, should remove the Tax-Exempt Status of the ENTIRE Roman Catholic Church in the United States of America. Do so on the basis that the Roman Catholic Church has not only violated the separation of Church and State, but has also used the Roman Catholic Church’s doctrines to commit voter intimidation.

There are a couple of books that I highly recommend that people read, especially Catholics, who want to the truth about that so-called Church and it’s bloody history. Here are those books:

Now, I realize that I might lose a reader or two, because I wrote this, but if that is the price that I must pay to present the truth to the people that read this blog, then it is one that I will take. I realize also, that Ed or someone over at HotAir.com will most likely yank this trackback. I’ve always said Republicans were, in fact, fascists. But that’s the price one must be for being a true Bible-Believer, I suppose, such as life, I guess.

We as Americans and as Christians need to guard against Religious persecution from any sort of Christian Domination. That is why the pilgrims fled Great Britain, because the Church of England’s meddling in the affairs of the Government. We should not stand for it here in America.

Another Young Conservative Wakes Up and Smells the Coffee!

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Finally, another young Conservative has awakened and smelled the coffee brewing.

Go read

Quote:

Mr. D — As a ‘young intellectual conservative’ mulling over factions in the coming Big Conservative Brouhaha, I’m thinking of jumping the USS GOP in favor of the Libertarian party. 3 quick reasons

  • It’s ideologically coherent. Or, at least, built on a strong foundation of promoting individual liberty and, y’know, actually deferring to the Constitution.
  • It’s ‘cool’. Libertarians are generally viewed as either uncompromising personal freedoms/open market zealots, or in the case of those just looking for a political party that justifies their bad behavior, party animals. Both are preferable to the ‘sexually repressed bigoted fundamentalist freakshow’ image the Republican party now engenders, thanks largely to the media and, well, Republicans in general lately.
  • Compassionate conservatism sucks. I don’t want a holy-roller welfare state any more than I want a degenerate welfare state.

I’m not under the illusion that we’re somehow going to see the end of the two-party system, and of course I take pause with some of the nuttier Libertarian policies, but what on earth is nuttier than Republicans nationalizing swaths of the economy hither and thither?

Right now, the Republican brand is in shambles, mainly having ignored its own principles. The party that most unabashedly protects those principles I hold paramount — individual liberties, respect for the Constitution, and free markets — is the Libertarian party. Either way, I suspect conservatives will be out in the wilderness for a while, and if you’re going to be a bear, you might as well be a grizzly.

Of course, I disagree with some of Derbyshire’s responses, but I think it is a very positive thing to see, that finally some of the young people within the Republican Party are waking up to the fact that G.O.P. No longer represents them any longer. That, in itself, it is a step in the right direction.

Reality Bites for the Neo-Cons

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P.J. O’Rourke is having a bad case of reality handed to him.

Let us bend over and kiss our ass goodbye. Our 28-year conservative opportunity to fix the moral and practical boundaries of government is gone–gone with the bear market and the Bear Stearns and the bear that’s headed off to do you-know-what in the woods on our philosophy.

An entire generation has been born, grown up, and had families of its own since Ronald Reagan was elected. And where is the world we promised these children of the Conservative Age? Where is this land of freedom and responsibility, knowledge, opportunity, accomplishment, honor, truth, trust, and one boring hour each week spent in itchy clothes at church, synagogue, or mosque? It lies in ruins at our feet, as well it might, since we ourselves kicked the shining city upon a hill into dust and rubble. The progeny of the Reagan Revolution will live instead in the universe that revolves around Hyde Park.

Mind you, they won’t live in Hyde Park. Those leafy precincts will be reserved for the micromanagers and macro-apparatchiks of liberalism–for Secretary of the Department of Peace Bill Ayers and Secretary of the Department of Fairness Bernardine Dohrn. The formerly independent citizens of our previously self-governed nation will live, as I said, around Hyde Park. They will make what homes they can in the physical, ethical, and intellectual slums of the South Side of Chicago.

The South Side of Chicago is what everyplace in America will be once the Democratic administration and filibuster-resistant Democratic Congress have tackled global warming, sustainability, green alternatives to coal and oil, subprime mortgage foreclosures, consumer protection, business oversight, financial regulation, health care reform, taxes on the “rich,” and urban sprawl. The Democrats will have plenty of time to do all this because conservatism, if it is ever reborn, will not come again in the lifetime of anyone old enough to be rounded up by ACORN and shipped to the polling booths.

None of this is the fault of the left. After the events of the 20th century–national socialism, international socialism, inter-species socialism from Earth First–anyone who is still on the left is obviously insane and not responsible for his or her actions. No, we on the right did it. The financial crisis that is hoisting us on our own petard is only the latest (if the last) of the petard hoistings that have issued from the hindquarters of our movement. We’ve had nearly three decades to educate the electorate about freedom, responsibility, and the evils of collectivism, and we responded by creating a big-city-public-school-system of a learning environment. – More at The Weekly Standard

One thing that O’Rourke fails to realize is that the polices advocated by the Kristol’s that basically were the foundation for the “Bush Doctrine”; were, in fact, the reason that the Conservatives lost this election in the first place. Yes, the economy was factor, John McCain’s rather stupid campaign was a factor, but one cannot escape that the main underlying reason for the ass kicking that the Republicans received in this election, and that was the FAILED polices of the Bush Administration and the many scandals that came out of it. Neo-Conservatives tried like bloody hell to spin the scandals, but the American people are just not that stupid. They saw spin and they voted accordingly.

Until the Republican Party literally casts out the Neo-Conservatives out of their party and gets back to the old school Libertarian Conservatism of Barry Goldwater, of which O’Rourke tries to rather lamely dismiss; the Republican Party will become a thing of the past. Neo-Conservatism of the Bush stripe, just does not work in America and in the context of a modern Democracy; It has been tried and it has failed miserably. Further more the Republican Party needs to tell the Evangelical Conservative Christian movement to tend to their own affairs in the Church, and stop meddling in the affairs of Government. it is this writers opinion, that one of the worst things that ever happened to the Conservative movement, was the inclusion of the Religious-Right movement. It ended up costing us the election this time and was more of a liability than an asset.

It is time for the Republican Party as a whole, to rethink their message or face extinction. For the good of the Republic, we cannot afford the Liberals that victory.

Others: Little Green Footballs, Right Wing News and Jules Crittenden

Two in a row from Red State Update

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Part 1:

Part 2:

Exit Question or Comment: (take your pick) Canada? Yeah, that’ll help! 😆

Exit Question Part Deux: Karl Rove? 😮

Conservatives Lost More Than An Election by Chuck Baldwin

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Editors note: During the election, I did say that I would not print Chuck Baldwin’s Articles, due to his defending of Jerome Corsi’s smear book of Barack Obama. However, the election is now over, Barack Obama is now our new President elect and I will resume publishing the Articles here. Because now I feel it is the time for the stopping of divison in Conservatism and it is time for the rebulding of the Conservative Movement as a whole, it is my hope that these articles will play a little part in this rebuilding process.

——

(Via NewsWithVews.com)

That Barack Obama trounced John McCain last Tuesday should have surprised no one. In fact, in this column, weeks ago, I stated emphatically that John McCain could no more beat Barack Obama than Bob Dole could beat Bill Clinton. He didn’t. (Hence a vote for John McCain was a “wasted” vote, was it not?) I also predicted that Obama would win with an electoral landslide. He did. The real story, however, is not how Barack Obama defeated John McCain. The real story is how John McCain defeated America’s conservatives.

For all intents and purposes, conservatism–as a national movement–is completely and thoroughly dead. Barack Obama did not destroy it, however. It was George W. Bush and John McCain who destroyed conservatism in America.

Soon after G.W. Bush was elected, it quickly became obvious he was no conservative. On the contrary, George Bush has forever established himself as a Big-Government, warmongering, internationalist neocon. Making matters worse was the way Bush presented himself as a conservative Christian. In fact, Bush’s portrayal of himself as a conservative Christian paved the way for the betrayal and ultimate destruction of conservatism (something I also predicted years ago). And the greatest tragedy of this deception is the way that Christian conservatives so thoroughly (and stupidly) swallowed the whole Bush/McCain neocon agenda.

For example, Bush and his fellow neocons like to categorize and promote themselves as being “pro-life,” but they have no hesitation or reservation about killing hundreds of thousands of innocent people in reckless and unconstitutional foreign wars. By the same token, how many unborn babies were saved by six years of all three branches of the federal government being under the control of these “pro-life” neocons? Not one! Ask the more than eight million unborn babies who were killed in their mothers’ wombs during the last eight years how “pro-life” George W. Bush and John McCain are.

As a result of this insanely inconsistent and pixilated punditry, millions of Americans now laugh at the very notion of “pro-life” conservatism. Bush and McCain have made a mockery of the very term.

Consider, too, the way Bush and McCain have allowed the international bankers on Wall Street to bilk America’s taxpayers out of trillions of dollars. Yes, I know Obama also supported the Wall Street bailout, but it was the Republican Party that controlled the White House for the last eight years and the entire federal government for six out of the last eight years. In fact, the GOP has won seven out of the previous ten Presidential elections. They have controlled Supreme Court appointments for the past thirty-plus years. They have appointed the majority of Treasury secretaries and Federal Reserve chairmen. They have presided over the greatest trade imbalances, the biggest deficits, the biggest spending increases, and now the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression.

Again, the American people look at these so-called “conservatives” and laugh. No wonder such a sizeable majority of voters yawned when John McCain tried to scare them by accusing Barack Obama of being a “big taxer.” How can one possibly scare people with a charge like that after the GOP has made a total mockery of fiscal conservatism? That’s like trying to scare someone coming out from a swim in the Gulf of Mexico with a squirt gun.

Then there was the pathetic attempt by the National Rifle Association (NRA) to scare gun owners regarding an Obama White House. Remember that John McCain is the same guy that the NRA rightly condemned for proposing his blatantly unconstitutional McCain/Feingold bill. McCain is also the same guy that tried to close down gun shows. He even made a personal campaign appearance for a pro-gun control liberal in the State of Oregon a few short years ago. In fact, the Gun Owners of America (GOA) gave McCain a grade of “F” for his dismal record on Second Amendment issues. Once again, Chicken Little-style paranoia over Barack Obama rang hollow when the alternative was someone as liberal as John McCain.

But the worst calamity of this election was the way conservatives–especially Christian conservatives–surrendered their principles for the sake of political partisanship. The James Dobsons of this country should hang their heads in shame! Not only did they lose an election, they lost their integrity!

In South Carolina, for example, pro-life Christians and conservatives had an opportunity to vote for a principled conservative-constitutionalist for the U.S. Senate. He is pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, and pro-traditional marriage. He believes in securing our borders against illegal immigration. He is against the bailout for the Wall Street banksters. His conservative credentials are unassailable. But the vast majority of Christian conservatives (including those at Bob Jones University) voted for his liberal opponent instead.

The man that the vast majority of Christian conservatives voted for in South Carolina is a Big-Government neocon. He supported the bailout of the Wall Street banksters. He is a rabid supporter of granting amnesty and a pathway to citizenship for illegal aliens. In fact, this man has a conservative rating of only 29% in the current Freedom Index of the New American Magazine.

Why did Christian conservatives support the liberal neocon and not the solid pro-life conservative? Because the conservative ran as a Democrat and the neocon is a Republican. I’m talking about the race between Bob Conley and Lindsey Graham, of course.

Had South Carolina’s pastors, Christians, evangelicals, and pro-life conservatives voted for Bob Conley, he would be the new senator-elect from that state. In fact, Bob was so conservative that the Democratic leadership in South Carolina endorsed the Republican, Lindsey Graham! No matter. A majority of evangelical Christians in South Carolina stupidly rejected Bob Conley and voted for Graham.

Across the country, rather than stand on principle, hundreds of thousands of pastors, Christians, and pro-life conservatives capitulated and groveled before John McCain’s neocon agenda. In doing so, they forfeited any claim to truth, and they abandoned any and all fidelity to constitutional government. They should rip the stories of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego out of their Bibles. They should never again tell their children, parishioners, and radio audiences the importance of standing for truth and principle. They have made a mockery of Christian virtue. No wonder a majority of the voting electorate laughs at us Christians. No wonder the GOP crashed and burned last Tuesday.

Again, it wasn’t Barack Obama who destroyed conservatism; it was George W. Bush, John McCain, and the millions of evangelical Christians who supported them. And until conservatives find their backbone and their convictions, they deserve to remain a burnt-out, has-been political force. They have no one to blame but themselves.

And since it is unlikely that the Republican Party has enough sense to understand any of this and will, therefore, do little to reestablish genuine conservative principles, it is probably best to just go ahead and bury the scoundrels now and move on to something else. Without a sincere commitment to constitutional government, the GOP has no justifiable reason to ever govern again. Therefore, put a fork in them. They are done. Let a new entity arise from the ashes: one that will stand for something more than just “the lesser of two evils.” As we say in the South, That dog just won’t hunt anymore.

——

Chuck Baldwin is Founder-Pastor of Crossroads Baptist Church in Pensacola, Florida. In 1985 the church was recognized by President Ronald Reagan for its unusual growth and influence.

Dr. Baldwin is the host of a lively, hard-hitting syndicated radio talk show on the Genesis Communications Network called, “Chuck Baldwin Live” This is a daily, one hour long call-in show in which Dr. Baldwin addresses current event topics from a conservative Christian point of view. Pastor Baldwin writes weekly articles on the internet http://www.ChuckBaldwinLive.com and newspapers.

To learn more about his radio talk show please visit his web site at: www.chuckbaldwinlive.com. When responding, please include your name, city and state.

E-mail: chuck@chuckbaldwinlive.com

Gen Wesley Clark sucks up to the one they call “O”

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You hear that loud sucking sound? That’s the sound of General Wesley Clark, the traitor the United States Military, who is now sucking up to President-Elect B. Hussein Obama.

On Tuesday, our country made history — electing Barack Obama President of the United States.

As I walked onto the field in Grant Park — there were thousands of us around the podium — a couple of reporters asked me what I thought of this. “Transformational,” I said, “but, ask Ernest Green, right here, who was one of the original young people at Central High who broke segregation in the South. Ask him!”

It was a humbling and deeply moving experience to be there with Ernest and with former Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater, Ambassador Sam Brown and his wife, and so many others who have shared our passion to set this country on the right course. And to see the faces of all around us, representing all the diversity that Barack cited in his remarks. Some were jubilant, some were softly sobbing, some were joyous, a couple were watching others in the crowd. Cell phones and cameras were everywhere as people called friends and families to share the experience.

This was, truly, a transformational event.

What a traitor to our United States Military! What a traitor to the Republic! He should be court martial’ed and put in prison. I could think of a few others things that should happen to him too, but because I don’t want to be accused to threatening someone, I’ll keep my damn thoughts to myself, least the idiot Liberal thought police come after me.

A damn disgrace to the Military. This is treason and is unforgivable in my book. 😡

Two very good postings on the future of the Repubican Party.

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First at the next right:

The rebuilding and renewal of the Right will start soon.  This will be very important.   The Right and the Republican Party are at an inflection point, and there are many directions things can go.   The destiny of the Right and the Republican Party will be determined in large part by the decisions you make in the days, weeks and months ahead.

  • Some of you will say “we have learned our lesson“, and then try to pass off cosmetic changes as Reform.  You are the problem.
  • Some of you will say “Republicans need to fight/hold Democrats accountable“, as if it is sufficient to be against Democrats.  The pendulum may eventually swing back to you, but you won’t know what to do with it.
  • Some of you will say “Republicans need to carry our message to the American people“, as if the problem is that Republicans haven’t been saying “tax cuts and limited government” loudly enough.  The problem is not the inability to communicate; the problem is that you have no idea how to actually deliver on those ideas.
  • Others will say “Republicans need to be more principled“, as if the problem is a mere lack of personal courage and principle by Republicans.  Even the best people can’t limit government if there is not an effective strategy for implementation – for getting “from here to there”.  You don’t need better people.  You need a better strategy.

The problem is not Republican politicians, although many Republicans politicians are a problem.  The problem is not with the basic ideals of limited government and personal freedom, either.  The problem is a movement that plays small-ball and cedes responsibility for infrastructure to business interests, leadership that rewards those who make friends rather than waves, an entrenched Party and Movement support system that mostly supports itself, an echo chamber that has rotted our intellect, a grassroots that is ill-equipped to shape the Republican Party, and a Republican Party that has replaced strategy with tactics, substance with marketing.

These problems can be fixed, but the fix is not cosmetic.  The rot is deep.  We do not need reformation of the Republican Party; we need transformation of the Republican Party.  That is going to require fresh blood, new ideas, new infrastructure…and perhaps more than a little time in the wilderness.

Also at Balloon Juice:

There was nothing that really summed up the idiocy of the GOP quite like Rick Davis and company passing out tire pressure gauges in an attempt to mock a common sense approach to dealing with one of many aspects of the energy crisis. I am sure it will surprise no one that the brain trust at Red State was issuing action alerts for this, too.

In short, America got seduced by the Republican sweet talk, we took them home into our bedroom for some good times, and instead of performance, it turns out the Republicans have a serious case of electile dysfunction. Rather than hold true to their “principles,” they chose to sit on the edge of the bed for eight years and tell us how good it was going to be, and we lost interest and fell asleep.

The only thing I have add to this is that the Republican Party was more interested in mocking Democrats than they were in offering alternative solutions. There are real problems is this world of ours and burying one’s head in the sand and living in a alternative universe is not going to help at all.  The problem was, nobody told the McCain campaign this or the Republican Party this. Because of this, we now have a Liberal President.

While Principles and ideology are great. In the real world, pragmatism goes a long way. The Republican Party needs to learn that, badly.

Important Announcement From the Blogs 4 Borders Crew!

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Jake Delivers a sobering announcement about the Blogs 4 Borders BlogBurst. 🙁

….and here I am unemployed and cannot help. 😥

If you want to help Jake get his show on the road, click here to send him a message. Or go to his YouTube site and leave him a message there.

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