MARCHING ORDERS
College kids recruited to join Obama's 'army'
Earn credit for pushing 'change,' working on president's 'agenda'
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Posted: August 25, 2009
9:03 pm Eastern
By Chelsea Schilling
© 2009 WorldNetDaily
Organizing for America offers opportunities for college credit
President Obama's army of citizen volunteers is now actively recruiting college students in states across the country to "build support for President Obama's agenda" – and earn college credit while advocating for "change."
Obama for America, Obama's 2008 political campaign, merged with the Democratic National Committee in January and is now known as Organizing for America, or OFA. The movement some call "Obama 2.0" is now recruiting students and offering to provide credits toward degree plans in exchange for their advocacy skills.
A message from OFA national volunteer coordinators announcing the recruitment campaign and internship opportunities has been posted on several websites and on Facebook.
"Students and young people were critical in building the movement that helped elect President Obama last year. By becoming a National Organizing Intern, you'll be part of the grassroots effort to make the change we fought for a reality in 2009 and beyond," it states. "As an Organizing Intern, you'll work side by side with OFA staff and community leaders to help build support for President Obama's agenda. You'll learn core organizing principles that are crucial for any campaign and play an important role in building our organization in your state."
The announcement continues, "President Obama describes his time as a community organizer by saying: 'It was the best education I ever had, because I learned in those neighborhoods that when ordinary people come together, they can achieve extraordinary things.'
"This is your chance to get that same education.
"If you're passionate about making sure every American has quality health care, reviving our economy, and building a clean energy future, don't miss this great opportunity. No previous experience is needed in order to apply."
Get the prescription for reclaiming America's heritage of liberty, justice and morality – Joseph Farah's "Taking America Back," autographed only at the WND SuperStore.
The group's website declares: "Organizing for America, the successor organization to Obama for America, is empowering students across the country to build on the movement that elected President Obama and help bring about his vision for change."
Volunteers must commit to working at least 12 hours a week from Sept. 1 to Dec. 11 and, according to the OFA website, may receive college credit from their schools for doing so.
The Omaha World-Herald reported that OFA workers have been knocking on doors and making phone calls in Iowa and Nebraska to garner support for Obama's health care initiative.
"It is the first time in recent memory that a presidential candidate has maintained an active, grassroots presence in either state after an election," the newspaper reported.
"Iowa has almost nonstop presidential activity," said Norm Sterzenbach, executive director of the Iowa Democratic Party. "But the idea of having a sitting president continuing an organization is fairly unusual."
According to the Washington Post, Obama used the same standing political army earlier this year to gather signatures in support of his economic plan. The president asked his supporters to go "block by block and door by door" in every state.
In March, when volunteers canvassed high-traffic locations in Birmingham, Ala., to support Obama's health care, education and energy policies, one event organizer told the Birmingham News, "We are looking for supporters. We're not looking for a fight. That will come later, when we have an army."
In an Aug. 5 e-mail, Obama once again urged his supporters to help him gain support for his health care plan:
… Organizing for America is putting together thousands of events this month where you can reach out to neighbors, show your support, and make certain your members of Congress know that you're counting on them to act.
But these canvasses, town halls, and gatherings only make a difference if you turn up to knock on doors, share your views, and show your support.
Democratic National Committee spokesman Michael Czin said in July that OFA has hired staff in 38 states and intends to expand to all 50 states. OFA announced that it has organized 1,906 local events in all 50 states – from press conferences to community discussions – since it launched its health care campaign in June.
As WND reported, Obama has been accused of "planting" OFA volunteers and supporters at many of his recent town hall forums so they may ask pre-selected questions. The White House insists that attendees are selected at random, but a closer look reveals many questioners range from Obama campaign donors and Organizing for America volunteers to single-payer health care lobbyists and Service Employees International Union members.
According to New Hampshire's DMUR 9 News, Obama health care supporters, including OFA members, are being driven to town hall meetings by the busload:
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YIKES! Is this creepy or what?? I surely hope no tax money is filtering into this OFA endeavor!
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Obama Lies about His Positions
Columnist Jack Kelly, in The Toledo Blade, today, quotes Obama in a town hall meeting,
But, in fact, he DID say previously that he was a single-payer supporter. According to Kelly, Obama said in 2003, "I happen to be a proponent of a single-payer health care program." See video.
I heard him say with my own ears that a public tax-supported option in the healthcare system would be competition to bring prices down. But it's not fair competition considering that gov't is tax-subsidized without paying taxes. Oddly, today he cited the U.S. Post office as an example of a public service that is losing out to the private competition. Indeed! The Post Office is an example of how gov't does NOT work effectively or efficiently without continually raising the costs. The P.O. and Medicare/Medicaid being in the red are reasons to NOT have anymore gov't healthcare than we already have. If doctors and hospitals had to rely solely on gov't income, THEY would operate in the red, too. (After all, the litigious lawyers and their clients have to make a living, too! What will they do when no one can afford to insure gov't doctors?) So how do we put the whole country on medicare/medicaid and suddenly operate in the black??? He does a lot of double-talk to answer that question, but none of it sounds like a guy who has ever run a medical business --or any business, for that matter.
As for the so-called "death panels," Obama was right to say today in Colorado that conservatives have also said we couldn't possibly provide all that is technologically possible for all people at gov't expense. It's true that insurance companies now deny some care --and for sure, Medicare/Medicaid already refuse to pay the price tag for care. (My mother on Medicare had to pay at least $1500 out of pocket for a recent hospital visit.) We've been told by democrats that all people should have all the care they need provided for them--and conservatives have said it is impossible for gov't to pay for ALL the care that is possible to sustain people with very serious problems without our entire tax revenue going for healthcare.
That's why private insurers are the way to go; they have a profit incentive --but they also compete for our business. So people pay for the kind of care they can afford --and want to pay. Some people want to gamble and not pay much for insurance; they should get the results of their gamble --the minimal care they were willing to pay for --which is what gov't care will become --MINIMAL! Granted, however, we don't let the indigent and the children suffer.
Meanwhile, for whom will doctors work? the insurance that pays them the most --or the gov't that pays them the least?
They can't afford the malpractice settlements and attorneys if healthcare isn't profitable.
He clarifies that we would not be "forced" to use the gov't programs. Sure, we can always pay a lot on top of taxes for private programs. But once again, people will complain that the wealthier get better care because they pay for it --and so, socialists will always push to close private options and raise taxes to equalize poor care for all. (For all except the politicians --who already have the best plans and unlimited care.) Just like the Communist state and party.
Now about the so-called DEATH PANELS: According to Kelly, the president's medical advisor, Ezekiel Emanuel, "touted the fiscal benefits of physician-assisted suicide" in a 1998 New England Journal of Medicine article. He said the following this past January -- which contributes to concerns about "death panels": he explained his "principles of allocation of scarce medical interventions: when implemented, the complete lives system produces a priority curve on which individuals aged between roughtly 15 and 40 years get the most substantial chance, whereas the youngest and oldest people get chances that are attenuated" [decreased, weakened, reduced.] Sounds to me, like Dr. Rahm is suggesting we may pull the plug on Grandma after all!
We know that England does not provide any extraordinary remedies for people in their 60's and above --and Canadians must wait until it's too late for essential care.
Again, we need to have some healthcare and social security reforms or watch Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security (our biggest budget items) further sink the financial U.S. ship--but we also need tort reform to get the lawyers off the doctors' backs --and that will be a major cost saver.
STIMULATE YOUR AILING ECONOMY, DR. OBAMA! INFUSE IT WITH TAX CUTS! THEN, LET'S TALK ABOUT PANACEAS FOR WHATEVER ELSE AILS US!
And one more thought: If you are so bent on taxing the wealthy, why are you letting corporate leaders get their millions in benefits before paying back the tax-payers who bailed them out????
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
"I have not said that I was a single-payer supporter because, frankly, we historically had a employer-based system in this country with private insurers, and for us, a transition to a system like that [ed. to a single payer system] I believe, would be too disruptive."(I guess he figured that out from all the hullaballoo the public is making.)
But, in fact, he DID say previously that he was a single-payer supporter. According to Kelly, Obama said in 2003, "I happen to be a proponent of a single-payer health care program." See video.
I heard him say with my own ears that a public tax-supported option in the healthcare system would be competition to bring prices down. But it's not fair competition considering that gov't is tax-subsidized without paying taxes. Oddly, today he cited the U.S. Post office as an example of a public service that is losing out to the private competition. Indeed! The Post Office is an example of how gov't does NOT work effectively or efficiently without continually raising the costs. The P.O. and Medicare/Medicaid being in the red are reasons to NOT have anymore gov't healthcare than we already have. If doctors and hospitals had to rely solely on gov't income, THEY would operate in the red, too. (After all, the litigious lawyers and their clients have to make a living, too! What will they do when no one can afford to insure gov't doctors?) So how do we put the whole country on medicare/medicaid and suddenly operate in the black??? He does a lot of double-talk to answer that question, but none of it sounds like a guy who has ever run a medical business --or any business, for that matter.
As for the so-called "death panels," Obama was right to say today in Colorado that conservatives have also said we couldn't possibly provide all that is technologically possible for all people at gov't expense. It's true that insurance companies now deny some care --and for sure, Medicare/Medicaid already refuse to pay the price tag for care. (My mother on Medicare had to pay at least $1500 out of pocket for a recent hospital visit.) We've been told by democrats that all people should have all the care they need provided for them--and conservatives have said it is impossible for gov't to pay for ALL the care that is possible to sustain people with very serious problems without our entire tax revenue going for healthcare.
That's why private insurers are the way to go; they have a profit incentive --but they also compete for our business. So people pay for the kind of care they can afford --and want to pay. Some people want to gamble and not pay much for insurance; they should get the results of their gamble --the minimal care they were willing to pay for --which is what gov't care will become --MINIMAL! Granted, however, we don't let the indigent and the children suffer.
Meanwhile, for whom will doctors work? the insurance that pays them the most --or the gov't that pays them the least?
They can't afford the malpractice settlements and attorneys if healthcare isn't profitable.
He clarifies that we would not be "forced" to use the gov't programs. Sure, we can always pay a lot on top of taxes for private programs. But once again, people will complain that the wealthier get better care because they pay for it --and so, socialists will always push to close private options and raise taxes to equalize poor care for all. (For all except the politicians --who already have the best plans and unlimited care.) Just like the Communist state and party.
Now about the so-called DEATH PANELS: According to Kelly, the president's medical advisor, Ezekiel Emanuel, "touted the fiscal benefits of physician-assisted suicide" in a 1998 New England Journal of Medicine article. He said the following this past January -- which contributes to concerns about "death panels": he explained his "principles of allocation of scarce medical interventions: when implemented, the complete lives system produces a priority curve on which individuals aged between roughtly 15 and 40 years get the most substantial chance, whereas the youngest and oldest people get chances that are attenuated" [decreased, weakened, reduced.] Sounds to me, like Dr. Rahm is suggesting we may pull the plug on Grandma after all!
We know that England does not provide any extraordinary remedies for people in their 60's and above --and Canadians must wait until it's too late for essential care.
Again, we need to have some healthcare and social security reforms or watch Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security (our biggest budget items) further sink the financial U.S. ship--but we also need tort reform to get the lawyers off the doctors' backs --and that will be a major cost saver.
STIMULATE YOUR AILING ECONOMY, DR. OBAMA! INFUSE IT WITH TAX CUTS! THEN, LET'S TALK ABOUT PANACEAS FOR WHATEVER ELSE AILS US!
And one more thought: If you are so bent on taxing the wealthy, why are you letting corporate leaders get their millions in benefits before paying back the tax-payers who bailed them out????
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
Friday, August 14, 2009
I'M TIRED OF HIS VOICE!!! Obama's
My brother says to me, "Barbara!!! That guy is on TV e-va-ry DAY!! I tell ya! O he's a genius. Just watch --he manages a live broadcast EVERY SINGLE DAY ON EVERY CHANNEL!!!"
But ya know what, Bro'? I think he's over-exposed. I'm tired of his lame explanations with the clipped-off sentences --and his halting rhetoric. He, like Clinton before him, reminds me of a student body presidential candidate with a shallow panacea for every problem.
Especially on health care. He said recently that the "public option" plan is supposed to "provide competition" and thus, make healthcare more cost effective/efficient, etc. Yeah, Barack, we GET competition! YOu are right about its value and effect --but NOT competition from the government! at tax payer expense! Who won't sign up for a program they think they are being taxed for and thus entitled to --a program they think will be free and unlimited --according to all the promises.
But so far, an awful lot of Americans are smart enough to know that there is no such thing as a free lunch --or free healthcare. And the question is, do we want to pay gov't --and choose your public option --over better care??? And yet, YOU KNOW that if you force a public option, no one will want to pay for the private one. Either way, we lose. We'll have to pay for the public option in taxes and the private one to get the best of care.
This whole problem of Medicare and Medicaid being in the red --and some people being uncovered (some by choice, not wanting to spend the money)--needs more study by lots of people --and they don't need to be paid a fortune to figure it out either.
I was sick to hear that Obama is letting the gov't bailed-out company heads keep their exorbitant million dollar bonuses. No, we don't like gov't telling corporations what to do but these guys have NOT earned bonuses until they pay back the tax payers!!!! Gee, Obama, you need a better business head on your shoulders!!! better advisors. SLOW DOWN. STAY OFF TV. GO HOME AND THINK!! and listen to your White House Comments line. I'm on there.
Citizens, call the president: 1-202-456-1111
Call the Capitol switchboard: 1-202-224-3121
But ya know what, Bro'? I think he's over-exposed. I'm tired of his lame explanations with the clipped-off sentences --and his halting rhetoric. He, like Clinton before him, reminds me of a student body presidential candidate with a shallow panacea for every problem.
Especially on health care. He said recently that the "public option" plan is supposed to "provide competition" and thus, make healthcare more cost effective/efficient, etc. Yeah, Barack, we GET competition! YOu are right about its value and effect --but NOT competition from the government! at tax payer expense! Who won't sign up for a program they think they are being taxed for and thus entitled to --a program they think will be free and unlimited --according to all the promises.
But so far, an awful lot of Americans are smart enough to know that there is no such thing as a free lunch --or free healthcare. And the question is, do we want to pay gov't --and choose your public option --over better care??? And yet, YOU KNOW that if you force a public option, no one will want to pay for the private one. Either way, we lose. We'll have to pay for the public option in taxes and the private one to get the best of care.
This whole problem of Medicare and Medicaid being in the red --and some people being uncovered (some by choice, not wanting to spend the money)--needs more study by lots of people --and they don't need to be paid a fortune to figure it out either.
I was sick to hear that Obama is letting the gov't bailed-out company heads keep their exorbitant million dollar bonuses. No, we don't like gov't telling corporations what to do but these guys have NOT earned bonuses until they pay back the tax payers!!!! Gee, Obama, you need a better business head on your shoulders!!! better advisors. SLOW DOWN. STAY OFF TV. GO HOME AND THINK!! and listen to your White House Comments line. I'm on there.
Citizens, call the president: 1-202-456-1111
Call the Capitol switchboard: 1-202-224-3121
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
From My EMail Bag --on Obama's Palestinian Preference
I'm thinking, this is just what we need --the Hamas worldview about Israel and Jews in the USA --the belief in violence as the panacea for the Arab-Israeli conflict. BRING IT ON, OBAMA! (Does this man even THINK!!!! --on top of his breathless rush to a socialistic state and the biggest presidential price tag ever, he brings violent, Israel-hating, fundamentalist Muslims over here at our expense without jailing them! And wants the GITMO Taliban boys in our mainland jails --and from there, probably a presidential pardon for all the Taliban! --At least at the end of his 8 years-- I mean, hopefully, "at the end of his FOUR years," for surely he won't survive at this rate to get a second term --I hope.
My editorial comments are inserted in brackets below:
[Important to note, here, that Al Arabia, today, reports that HAMAS police are fighting the even more violent Palestinian extremists at this time --instead of focusing on Israel --apparently trying to control their own --a good thing. Which would explain why there might be HAMAS refugees needing to flee the area from their kinsmen.
*from http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h1388/show
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
My editorial comments are inserted in brackets below:
Democrat voters---Do you still think this guy is just another Democrat? has the light made the least little crack in the Kool-Aid mentality? Do you not understand the implications? Do you not realize yet that he has a Muslim agenda? If this doesn't open eyes -it's hopeless.
There is a link below to check out if this is true...
HB 1388 PASSED [author means H.R. 1388 passed --which does mean "house bill--i.e. resolution"]
Whether you are an Obama fan, or not, EVERYONE IN THE U. S. needs to know....
Something happened...
H.R. 1388* [enlarging Americorps and creating other service groups] was passed yesterday,[author obviously wrote this months ago when the bill was passed] behind our backs. You may want to read about it.. It wasn't mentioned on the news... just went by on the ticker tape at the bottom of the CNN screen. [I do remember that there wasn't any great public notice or debate over the cost, necessity, pros and cons of Americorps expansion --and I just hope they don't also create the volunteer security force that Obama talked about needing in addition to National Guard and other military we already have.]
[On a separate issue, not a part of the above bill:] Obama funds $20M in tax payer dollars to immigrate Hamas Refugees into the USA. This is the news that didn't make the headlines...
By executive order,President Barack Obama has ordered the expenditure of $20.3 million in "migration assistance" to the Palestinian refugees and "conflict victims" in Gaza.
The "presidential determination", which allows hundreds of thousands of Palestinians with ties to Hamas to resettle in the United States, was signed on January 27 and appeared in the Federal Register on February 4.
Few on Capitol Hill, or in the media, took note that the order provides a free ticket replete with housing and food allowances to individuals who have displayed their overwhelming support to the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the parliamentary election of January 2006.
Let's review.... itemized list of some of Barack Obama's most recent actions since his inauguration:
His first call to any head of state, as president, was to Mahmoud Abbas, leader of Fatah party in the Palestinian territory.
His first one-on-one television interview with any news organization was with Al Arabia television.
[Important to note, here, that Al Arabia, today, reports that HAMAS police are fighting the even more violent Palestinian extremists at this time --instead of focusing on Israel --apparently trying to control their own --a good thing. Which would explain why there might be HAMAS refugees needing to flee the area from their kinsmen.
His first executive order was to fund/facilitate abortion(s) not just here within the U. S., but within the world, using U. S. tax payer funds. [Well, at least the radical Muslims won't like this.]
He ordered Guantanamo Bay closed and all military trials of detainees halted.
He ordered overseas CIA interrogation centers closed.
He withdrew all charges against the masterminds behind the USS Cole and the "terror attack" on 9/11. [WHAT???!!! HE DID????!!!]
Now we learn that he is allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees to move to, and live in, the US at American taxpayer expense.
These important, and insightful, issues are being "lost" in the blinding bail-outs and "stimulation" packages.
Doubtful?
To verify this for yourself: www.thefederalregister.com/d.p/2009-02-04-E9-2488
PLEASE PASS THIS ON...
AMERICA NEEDS TO KNOW
This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm
*from http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h1388/show
H.R.1388: The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act (formally the Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education (GIVE) Act) authorizes a dramatic funding increase for AmeriCorps and other volunteer programs, and the creation of new programs for seniors and veterans. It establishes a goal of expanding from 75,000 government-supported volunteers to 250,000, and would increase education funding and establish a summer volunteer program for students, paying $500 (which would be applied to college costs) to high-school and middle-school students who participate.
President Barack Obama signed the legislation on April 21, 2009. While it authorizes $5.7 billion over six years, Congress must still approve the funding as part of the budget.
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
Thursday, August 13, 2009
ABOUT OBAMA'S SOCIALIZED MEDICINE --We Need Tort Reform!
Obama is trying to move too fast on health care. What we need to do FIRST is restore the economy and get Americans back to work -- and you don't do that by new taxes and new spending when you are already in debt--when you have already spent too much on bail-outs and clunkers.
In health care, they can do one thing real fast that will change the costs of medicine --tort reform. Stop making it automatically profitable to sue the health profession. Right now, too many lawyers like Pretty Boy John Edwards are making millions off of the backs of doctors, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies with medical liability suits.
It costs so much to defend oneself in court and it is so risky because juries feel sorry for pitifully ill and disabled people; they don't care whose fault it is that a diabetic, e.g., neglected to care for himself. "Give his family a million because the insurance company can afford it and the man is pitiful. The doctor should've chased that diabetic down and made him be a compliant patient...." though it was clear he didn't want to change his eating and drinking habits, obtain and use a glucometer and come back to the office when he was told to.
So the doctors settle out of court, as it is cheaper, less risky and less public. The costs for such suits in 2007 was staggering --greatly increased over ten years before. (I'm sorry I don't have the stats; I don't recall where I read it.)
We need legislators who will reign in the lawyers. We can start by defeating Marcy Kaptur and Sherrod Brown and replacing Voinovich with a republican when he retires. Let's vote in people who will oppose the lawyers and support tort reform.
So much clerical work is done as defensive medicine. Gov't has done more than any other entity to drive up the cost of health care. Like when the gov't agency, OSHA, inspected a medical office and fined a doctor $20,000 because his staff put a sandwich on the lab counter. That's gov't confiscation of the earnings of a doctor for the careless error of an employee. $100 would have been a lesson --especially if you docked it from the employee's pay.
No, this didn't happen at my husband's office --but it is a Toledo-area story.
In health care, they can do one thing real fast that will change the costs of medicine --tort reform. Stop making it automatically profitable to sue the health profession. Right now, too many lawyers like Pretty Boy John Edwards are making millions off of the backs of doctors, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies with medical liability suits.
It costs so much to defend oneself in court and it is so risky because juries feel sorry for pitifully ill and disabled people; they don't care whose fault it is that a diabetic, e.g., neglected to care for himself. "Give his family a million because the insurance company can afford it and the man is pitiful. The doctor should've chased that diabetic down and made him be a compliant patient...." though it was clear he didn't want to change his eating and drinking habits, obtain and use a glucometer and come back to the office when he was told to.
So the doctors settle out of court, as it is cheaper, less risky and less public. The costs for such suits in 2007 was staggering --greatly increased over ten years before. (I'm sorry I don't have the stats; I don't recall where I read it.)
We need legislators who will reign in the lawyers. We can start by defeating Marcy Kaptur and Sherrod Brown and replacing Voinovich with a republican when he retires. Let's vote in people who will oppose the lawyers and support tort reform.
So much clerical work is done as defensive medicine. Gov't has done more than any other entity to drive up the cost of health care. Like when the gov't agency, OSHA, inspected a medical office and fined a doctor $20,000 because his staff put a sandwich on the lab counter. That's gov't confiscation of the earnings of a doctor for the careless error of an employee. $100 would have been a lesson --especially if you docked it from the employee's pay.
No, this didn't happen at my husband's office --but it is a Toledo-area story.
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Arlen's Town Hall Meeting! Poor Guy! He must feel like the dems made Geo. Bush feel.
HA! Turncoat Arlen Specter is being grilled by his PA. constituents today in a town hall meeting viewable on cable news. Remember, he's the Republican-recently-turned-Democrat who never met a liberal social issue he couldn't support.
Boy, are the voters mad at him!! and giving him WHAT FOR about: the healthcare plan; bailing out GM; not telling us who writes the bills; not reading the bills before voting; federal access to our bank accounts; threatening our pensions (with inflation and taxation), and Obama's biggest deficit authorization in American history --and passing the debt on to our children.
Someone asked him how come we tax-payers had to bail out GM for making cars nobody wants. (Well, actually, I like my '95 Caddy and the '04 GMC van.)
You almost had to feel sorry for the elderly senator facing the very angry folks. I hope he's up for re-election? I think the GOP may re-gain his seat --having never elected this guy as a democrat in the first place.
Heh heh. Feels good to see the shoe of persecution for imperfection on the other party's foot!
Problems aren't simple. There are no easy answers. But unfortunately, federal gov't with both parties is headed in the wrong direction. The Feds need to return power --and money --to the people --who, in America, have made for prosperity for the most people --while still caring for the needy.
But there is something wrong with the American work ethic and greed at all ends of the labor-management-board spectrum. We need to restore integrity and sound fiscal policy to American business and the workplace. As it is, both union bosses and corp.administrators are enamored with luxury outings, company cars, perks galore.
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
Boy, are the voters mad at him!! and giving him WHAT FOR about: the healthcare plan; bailing out GM; not telling us who writes the bills; not reading the bills before voting; federal access to our bank accounts; threatening our pensions (with inflation and taxation), and Obama's biggest deficit authorization in American history --and passing the debt on to our children.
Someone asked him how come we tax-payers had to bail out GM for making cars nobody wants. (Well, actually, I like my '95 Caddy and the '04 GMC van.)
You almost had to feel sorry for the elderly senator facing the very angry folks. I hope he's up for re-election? I think the GOP may re-gain his seat --having never elected this guy as a democrat in the first place.
Heh heh. Feels good to see the shoe of persecution for imperfection on the other party's foot!
Problems aren't simple. There are no easy answers. But unfortunately, federal gov't with both parties is headed in the wrong direction. The Feds need to return power --and money --to the people --who, in America, have made for prosperity for the most people --while still caring for the needy.
But there is something wrong with the American work ethic and greed at all ends of the labor-management-board spectrum. We need to restore integrity and sound fiscal policy to American business and the workplace. As it is, both union bosses and corp.administrators are enamored with luxury outings, company cars, perks galore.
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Ben Konop in Toledo Free Press Supports Church Political Freedom!
Ben Konop did a speech --preparing for his mayoral bid --at a church--and got blasted for the "church-state separation" issue by David Washington in The Toledo Free Press!!He tells of politicians before him--and of the Pope writing on political issues --as defense of his speech on social/political issues at Mt. Pilgrim Baptist Church.
Is he unaware that churches have been threatened with loss of tax-exempt status if they are viewed as "participating in a campaign?" And obviously, inviting only Democrats to speak, as black churches have done for years, is DEFINITELY participating in campaigns. Yet, the pro-life/pro-family values candidates can't get into churches anymore because of the IRS ruling on helping campaigns.
Of course, several churches are protesting the IRS ruling these days--and will certainly welcome Konop's support! For the pro-life churches agree that it's time to stop interfering with the free speech rights of churches and pastors. Sure, some churches will continue to be careful, having both democrats and republicans in their congregations, but it's time the church participated in politics again --as is our constitutional right --regardless of tax exemption.
We conservatives should be able to give candidates a forum --just as the black and Catholic churches do. I remember attending a Democrat's fund-raiser in a Catholic church basement (because my kids were part of the hired entertainment, the Young Rep Road Show.) I remember thinking at the time, that our church would be picked on by the IRS if we held a fund-raiser to help a candidate. But there always seems to be a double standard when it comes to Democrats, churches, and the IRS. We've even been threatened about the "voter guides" that told where candidates stood on the issues of concern to religious people.
Now the emphasis to evangelicals is to be involved only in issues of charity and "social justice" (as defined by liberals who disregard the realities of human nature and what works.) Some evangelical leaders and everyone on the Left, want the evangelical church to move Leftward and drop their concerns for abortion, gay marriage,etc. Love and redistribution of wealth is to be our only concern. They forget that Jesus wasn't hated for the LOVE part of the Gospel --but for the Repentance message --and the message that we are all sinners and that He is the only Way to the Father. The Jews became angry with Paul and Barnabus in the synagogue because they proclaimed Christ as Savior --and resurrection of the dead in Christ. Our charity gains us no enemies --but something else does. Jesus said we would be hated as He was, but it was not for charity and love.
The prophets of old preached about good and evil --and called us to repentance. Killing our babies and rejecting God's design for our sexuality --surely the prophets of today need to keep proclaiming these as evils in a time when the law has pronounced these activities "good." They are so counter to God's procreative intention for the human race.
Is he unaware that churches have been threatened with loss of tax-exempt status if they are viewed as "participating in a campaign?" And obviously, inviting only Democrats to speak, as black churches have done for years, is DEFINITELY participating in campaigns. Yet, the pro-life/pro-family values candidates can't get into churches anymore because of the IRS ruling on helping campaigns.
Of course, several churches are protesting the IRS ruling these days--and will certainly welcome Konop's support! For the pro-life churches agree that it's time to stop interfering with the free speech rights of churches and pastors. Sure, some churches will continue to be careful, having both democrats and republicans in their congregations, but it's time the church participated in politics again --as is our constitutional right --regardless of tax exemption.
We conservatives should be able to give candidates a forum --just as the black and Catholic churches do. I remember attending a Democrat's fund-raiser in a Catholic church basement (because my kids were part of the hired entertainment, the Young Rep Road Show.) I remember thinking at the time, that our church would be picked on by the IRS if we held a fund-raiser to help a candidate. But there always seems to be a double standard when it comes to Democrats, churches, and the IRS. We've even been threatened about the "voter guides" that told where candidates stood on the issues of concern to religious people.
Now the emphasis to evangelicals is to be involved only in issues of charity and "social justice" (as defined by liberals who disregard the realities of human nature and what works.) Some evangelical leaders and everyone on the Left, want the evangelical church to move Leftward and drop their concerns for abortion, gay marriage,etc. Love and redistribution of wealth is to be our only concern. They forget that Jesus wasn't hated for the LOVE part of the Gospel --but for the Repentance message --and the message that we are all sinners and that He is the only Way to the Father. The Jews became angry with Paul and Barnabus in the synagogue because they proclaimed Christ as Savior --and resurrection of the dead in Christ. Our charity gains us no enemies --but something else does. Jesus said we would be hated as He was, but it was not for charity and love.
The prophets of old preached about good and evil --and called us to repentance. Killing our babies and rejecting God's design for our sexuality --surely the prophets of today need to keep proclaiming these as evils in a time when the law has pronounced these activities "good." They are so counter to God's procreative intention for the human race.
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
NEWS COMMENTATING (2nd Post Today -- See Ann'y Post Below )
Awww! The Blade's Roberta de Boer is not writing her column anymore? She was easy to read and easy to understand --mean as dirt to Finkbeiner --I have no idea if he deserved it. When people are too vitriolic it makes me question the legitimacy of their view! And of course, she used to write like a mud-rake in her bias for all things liberal. And she first won my heart (NOT) when she showed a fascination and approval for the local "witches"--back when U.T. was letting that same "witch" lecture at the U. But Roberta did acknowledge that she felt less "certain" in her views nowdays. That's a good thing. Sounds like maturity!
And what's with this Cash for Clunkers??? I can't believe they are taking cars that work to the junk yard. This is going to save the planet from gas-guzzlers --while China more than makes up for diminishing noxious fumes in the U.S. ? I don't think so. I wouldn't mind the idea of rebates for new cars to help the auto industry and to phase out the gas guzzlers --to stimulate buying cars --but why not give the not-really-clunky, so-called gas guzzlers to the needy who have no way to look for or get to a job --if they could find one? There is going to be great criticism of this program in the future, when we realize we could've helped the poor have working cars with this program instead of stupidly junking those cars.
As for gas guzzlers, explain this to me: according to the car ads today, you can get a rebate for a new Dodge RAM 4x4 that only gets 15 mpg!!!!! Meanwhile, if you buy a car with better mileage than the one you drive, they'll pay you to JUNK that car --and it may get better than 15 mpg!!! What's wrong with this picture???? Give those cars to the needy! I've always said that the best way to help the poor would be to get them transportation to job interviews and jobs. It is so difficult for the poor to have a car --much less maintain one --but I've had friends who desperately needed them --even if they ran them into the junk yard eventually through their ineptitude --or lack of fix-it cash.
And what's with this Cash for Clunkers??? I can't believe they are taking cars that work to the junk yard. This is going to save the planet from gas-guzzlers --while China more than makes up for diminishing noxious fumes in the U.S. ? I don't think so. I wouldn't mind the idea of rebates for new cars to help the auto industry and to phase out the gas guzzlers --to stimulate buying cars --but why not give the not-really-clunky, so-called gas guzzlers to the needy who have no way to look for or get to a job --if they could find one? There is going to be great criticism of this program in the future, when we realize we could've helped the poor have working cars with this program instead of stupidly junking those cars.
As for gas guzzlers, explain this to me: according to the car ads today, you can get a rebate for a new Dodge RAM 4x4 that only gets 15 mpg!!!!! Meanwhile, if you buy a car with better mileage than the one you drive, they'll pay you to JUNK that car --and it may get better than 15 mpg!!! What's wrong with this picture???? Give those cars to the needy! I've always said that the best way to help the poor would be to get them transportation to job interviews and jobs. It is so difficult for the poor to have a car --much less maintain one --but I've had friends who desperately needed them --even if they ran them into the junk yard eventually through their ineptitude --or lack of fix-it cash.
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US TODAY!!! 40 YEARS BLESSED
Tribute to The Best Man:
My husband has been Mr. Right for me --I've never doubted it. But I knew which of us was more lucky. When he showed an interest in me, I was a junior in college and he, a lowly freshman. And I said to myself, "They don't come finer!" HANDSOME! and he still is. And GOOD --in every sense of the word. He's better than I deserve --but I do believe God rewards those who believe in Him, believe in Jesus Christ and strive to please and serve Him --and we have strived to do just that. And so the Holy Spirit inspires abiding love and faith in each other.
I sort of guessed maybe he was my reward for my square youth of faith and convictions --but as women go, I knew he wasn't as rewarded: he didn't get a great housekeeper, a cook, or a looker in me. But he almost always makes me feel that he feels fortunate to have me. We certainly felt blessed in our children. He always believed that fidelity in marriage was a gift to them as much as to ourselves.
My eldest daughter said at her wedding, 16 years ago, "I always knew my father loved my mother and that he always would." A challenge to him, perhaps! He's not let her down.
Our lives are not "charmed." We both have some health issues that are largely of our own making --with some genetic predispositions we were given and sweet teeth! But we feel blessed in the love of four wonderful kids and two children-in-law and two grandsons--whose music --and harmony of relationships --are the delight of our ears! And they all believe in Christ and are church-active.
I hate to drive with him as he tries to drive FOR me --and I'm a back-seat driver about the boat. We each see disaster coming --and damage --he when I drive the car and I, when he drives a boat!
The monetary blessings we have are due in great part to my husband's energy, stamina, and drive --and work-aholicism. But I credit God for opening med school to him, for giving him diligence and care in his work, a love for what he does --a love for people he serves --a servant's heart. An incredibly tolerant and patient man --with patients and with me.
He used to prefer young families as patients because they weren't terribly ill and he didn't enjoy the elderly as much for all their problems--but the more he practiced medicine, the more he came to really enjoy the elderly. He is a med. director at 3 nursing homes --and he takes his antique postcard books from various vicinities to show his patients who are from those areas. He sings to the ladies --he has a song for every name, he said. E.G. He'll go into a patient's room singing (in a most beautiful dramatic tenor voice) "How do you solve a problem like ____ ______? How do you catch a cloud and pin it down? How do you solve a problem like ____ ______? A Flibbertygibbit, a willow the wisp, a clown!" Filling in the lady's name to the tune of the famous song by the nuns in Sound of Music. to their great enjoyment. My daughter was with him in a nursing home once, and the elderly resident said to her, "Handsome doctor! Is he married?"
He enjoys bringing donuts and sneaking plastic spiders onto the nurses' stations --and preaching politics and his faith whenever the opportunity arises --whether it does or not, probably!
This man bought us a new Bennington pontoon in this our 40th anniversary year(we're helping the economy) and a solar-powered boat lift with canopy --as user-friendly a boat could be --if we can just aim it into the lift before we hit the dock! The first day it was windy and we almost crashed our new pontoon into our other old boat and dock before we got lined up to hitch it up --that was before we had the new lift which helps if we can just nose into it. Daughter Chrissy was supposed to help guide us to the right place --but she was standing on the pier waving her arms uselessly as a bird kept dive-bombing at her! The waves were pushing us, the wind a-blowing, and Jon was yelling, "Never mind the bird! Catch the boat!" If you could see all 105 pounds of her, you'd know she wasn't going to be able to catch the boat in the wind and waves --and she couldn't ignore the bird and kept flailing her arms in front of her as she cowered. Finally --we got righted and docked. But not before we snagged the new ladder and broke the snap that held it up--snagged it on our motor boat's lift. Since then, we've let the bimini top slam down a few times and lost the zipper case for the bimini top. The Bimini light still works--amazingly. Guess the bimini cover floated away --perhaps when the kids were trying to attach the huge canvas boat cover. It was the same color and stored in the same place, so, being much smaller than the boat cover, it may have gotten away without their notice and landed in the bottom of the lake somewhere. Something made a hole in our boat cover already, too. Almost looks like the work of a dive-bombing bird! But boat troubles are the story of our lake lives. We're hoping the 2nd daughter will marry a boat enthusiast! who wants to go up every weekend and see that the batteries aren't dead --as they so often are as the boats need to be run--and we are usually too busy to go up very often.
But with new faith in the latest boat technology, and hope for more lake time in the future, and so we could easily get our elderly mothers onto a boat, we got ourselves this "old ladies' boat," a lovely living room on the water with plush upholstery --capacity 17 normal people --and we took it out last night, just the two of us, for a sunset ann'y cruise. We did get it at a good price, from what we can tell--not as much as we expected considering the size and brand. Hubby set the gear to neutral, turned on the "mood lights," and sat in the back seat with me as we listened to PBS symphonic music, reminisced and watched the sun go down. It was absolutely lovely and romantic.
This followed a wedding in Ft. Wayne --of our niece --where he sat down our camera bag and lost it at the Rose Garden, where the wedding took place in light rain. He went back and someone said they were asked about the camera bag by a person who said he knew the wedding party and would make connections. We're thinking it was a later wedding group the camera-finder knew --or he just was making sure the camera owner wasn't around before he made off with it. It didn't show up at the reception as we'd hoped.
That wedding reception was in the Baker St. Train Station in Ft. Wayne. And my husband recalled that my dad picked us up there in 1970 --near our first anniversary-- when we found out that he had been admitted to med school. We had almost started a teaching stint in West Africa with the Mennonites when he got the call that he had moved up on the waiting list and was admitted! My father was delighted --not really wanting to see his Bar-baby go to Africa! He was also happy that my husband was admitted to the medical school where my father had turned down a PhD program to work with Dr. Doisy, discoverer of Vitamin K. (My father always regretted that he turned down that opportunity --but he was tired of going to school and knew of jobs for his Masters' Degree in chem. )
Of course, the boat and camera stories here are just incidental; the real story is that some of us are still going the distance as couples and finding the journey worthwhile all the way. And recommend marriage --the old-fashioned way.
My husband has been Mr. Right for me --I've never doubted it. But I knew which of us was more lucky. When he showed an interest in me, I was a junior in college and he, a lowly freshman. And I said to myself, "They don't come finer!" HANDSOME! and he still is. And GOOD --in every sense of the word. He's better than I deserve --but I do believe God rewards those who believe in Him, believe in Jesus Christ and strive to please and serve Him --and we have strived to do just that. And so the Holy Spirit inspires abiding love and faith in each other.
I sort of guessed maybe he was my reward for my square youth of faith and convictions --but as women go, I knew he wasn't as rewarded: he didn't get a great housekeeper, a cook, or a looker in me. But he almost always makes me feel that he feels fortunate to have me. We certainly felt blessed in our children. He always believed that fidelity in marriage was a gift to them as much as to ourselves.
My eldest daughter said at her wedding, 16 years ago, "I always knew my father loved my mother and that he always would." A challenge to him, perhaps! He's not let her down.
Our lives are not "charmed." We both have some health issues that are largely of our own making --with some genetic predispositions we were given and sweet teeth! But we feel blessed in the love of four wonderful kids and two children-in-law and two grandsons--whose music --and harmony of relationships --are the delight of our ears! And they all believe in Christ and are church-active.
I hate to drive with him as he tries to drive FOR me --and I'm a back-seat driver about the boat. We each see disaster coming --and damage --he when I drive the car and I, when he drives a boat!
The monetary blessings we have are due in great part to my husband's energy, stamina, and drive --and work-aholicism. But I credit God for opening med school to him, for giving him diligence and care in his work, a love for what he does --a love for people he serves --a servant's heart. An incredibly tolerant and patient man --with patients and with me.
He used to prefer young families as patients because they weren't terribly ill and he didn't enjoy the elderly as much for all their problems--but the more he practiced medicine, the more he came to really enjoy the elderly. He is a med. director at 3 nursing homes --and he takes his antique postcard books from various vicinities to show his patients who are from those areas. He sings to the ladies --he has a song for every name, he said. E.G. He'll go into a patient's room singing (in a most beautiful dramatic tenor voice) "How do you solve a problem like ____ ______? How do you catch a cloud and pin it down? How do you solve a problem like ____ ______? A Flibbertygibbit, a willow the wisp, a clown!" Filling in the lady's name to the tune of the famous song by the nuns in Sound of Music. to their great enjoyment. My daughter was with him in a nursing home once, and the elderly resident said to her, "Handsome doctor! Is he married?"
He enjoys bringing donuts and sneaking plastic spiders onto the nurses' stations --and preaching politics and his faith whenever the opportunity arises --whether it does or not, probably!
This man bought us a new Bennington pontoon in this our 40th anniversary year(we're helping the economy) and a solar-powered boat lift with canopy --as user-friendly a boat could be --if we can just aim it into the lift before we hit the dock! The first day it was windy and we almost crashed our new pontoon into our other old boat and dock before we got lined up to hitch it up --that was before we had the new lift which helps if we can just nose into it. Daughter Chrissy was supposed to help guide us to the right place --but she was standing on the pier waving her arms uselessly as a bird kept dive-bombing at her! The waves were pushing us, the wind a-blowing, and Jon was yelling, "Never mind the bird! Catch the boat!" If you could see all 105 pounds of her, you'd know she wasn't going to be able to catch the boat in the wind and waves --and she couldn't ignore the bird and kept flailing her arms in front of her as she cowered. Finally --we got righted and docked. But not before we snagged the new ladder and broke the snap that held it up--snagged it on our motor boat's lift. Since then, we've let the bimini top slam down a few times and lost the zipper case for the bimini top. The Bimini light still works--amazingly. Guess the bimini cover floated away --perhaps when the kids were trying to attach the huge canvas boat cover. It was the same color and stored in the same place, so, being much smaller than the boat cover, it may have gotten away without their notice and landed in the bottom of the lake somewhere. Something made a hole in our boat cover already, too. Almost looks like the work of a dive-bombing bird! But boat troubles are the story of our lake lives. We're hoping the 2nd daughter will marry a boat enthusiast! who wants to go up every weekend and see that the batteries aren't dead --as they so often are as the boats need to be run--and we are usually too busy to go up very often.
But with new faith in the latest boat technology, and hope for more lake time in the future, and so we could easily get our elderly mothers onto a boat, we got ourselves this "old ladies' boat," a lovely living room on the water with plush upholstery --capacity 17 normal people --and we took it out last night, just the two of us, for a sunset ann'y cruise. We did get it at a good price, from what we can tell--not as much as we expected considering the size and brand. Hubby set the gear to neutral, turned on the "mood lights," and sat in the back seat with me as we listened to PBS symphonic music, reminisced and watched the sun go down. It was absolutely lovely and romantic.
This followed a wedding in Ft. Wayne --of our niece --where he sat down our camera bag and lost it at the Rose Garden, where the wedding took place in light rain. He went back and someone said they were asked about the camera bag by a person who said he knew the wedding party and would make connections. We're thinking it was a later wedding group the camera-finder knew --or he just was making sure the camera owner wasn't around before he made off with it. It didn't show up at the reception as we'd hoped.
That wedding reception was in the Baker St. Train Station in Ft. Wayne. And my husband recalled that my dad picked us up there in 1970 --near our first anniversary-- when we found out that he had been admitted to med school. We had almost started a teaching stint in West Africa with the Mennonites when he got the call that he had moved up on the waiting list and was admitted! My father was delighted --not really wanting to see his Bar-baby go to Africa! He was also happy that my husband was admitted to the medical school where my father had turned down a PhD program to work with Dr. Doisy, discoverer of Vitamin K. (My father always regretted that he turned down that opportunity --but he was tired of going to school and knew of jobs for his Masters' Degree in chem. )
Of course, the boat and camera stories here are just incidental; the real story is that some of us are still going the distance as couples and finding the journey worthwhile all the way. And recommend marriage --the old-fashioned way.
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
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