And grimaced. And I am still uneasy.

In this country, it seems we have God secured behind a piece of glass in the hallway that reads “Use only in emergency”. When someone mentions God in daily life, they are accused of intolerance. If they do so in public life, the condemnation is almost universal. Even among those who seem to be on our side, “Bible-Thumper” is the derogatory term of the times, one of the epithets that get you in with the cool crowd. Intelligent design is deemed to be so anti-science that it cannot be taught as an alternate theory of creation in schools. Christ is a really cool guy, a great teacher, but God in the flesh? Sorry pal, can’t go with you there.

But let a murderous rampage take place, or a cowardly bombing that kills innocent people, and everyone runs to church. Now mind you, I am not opposed to that. Church attendance went up after the 9/11 attacks, and those of us who labored to keep the doors open welcomed those who came. However, to see people that twist the First Amendment and limit the role of God in our lives by promoting “freedom of worship” instead of “freedom of religion” busily giving speeches at a pulpit makes me uneasy. And to be frank, a little angry. It seems as though it is just one more box to check, one more thing on the schedule, one more gathering to placate the feeble-minded.

When crosses are covered at a Jesuit university prior to a political speech, but scripture is invoked during times of crisis, I wonder. When Christians are slaughtered in Egypt and Nigeria with not a peep from anyone, I pause. When a Christian is held in Iran, beaten and tortured because he will not renounce his faith, and we do nothing, I can’t help but think we don’t care.

And when people in this country are branded as intolerant extremists and radicals because they quietly refuse to violate their conscience and religious beliefs to comply with government orders, I wonder if the virtue the founders depended on is going to legislated out of existence by the same people who break the glass, ask God for help and give the speeches.

God is OK when the athlete kneels after a touchdown, then goes home to smoke crack and have sex with his daughter’s teacher while his wife is out of town. Let another athlete emerge with the courage to walk his talk, and he will be hounded by the leftists who follow his every move and petition him not to speak at universities that actually share his beliefs.

God as first responder? Just fine. God as a prop for speeches in a church? No problem. God on Sunday mornings? Well, if you must, but only then and only there. God as a serious way of life, with that belief informing the way we live? Not a chance.

The irony is that those who call upon God at times like these have no clue that the very act of doing so validates the beliefs of those they oppose. If there is a God, and we believe it, then we have no choice but to teach Intelligent Design. We have no choice but to seek the Absolute Truth that God represents and discard all others. And we have no other choice but to worship Him, and order our lives around that belief.

But if we choose to keep God behind the glass, one day we will rush over and find that He is no longer there. And if we are truthful with ourselves, we will realize that it the one that moved wasn’t Him.

But we’ve also seen the effects that political dysfunction can have on our economic progress.  The drawn-out process for resolving the fiscal cliff hurt consumer confidence.  The threat of massive automatic cuts have already started to affect business decisions.  So we’ve been reminded that while it’s critical for us to cut wasteful spending, we can’t just cut our way to prosperity.  Deep, indiscriminate cuts to things like education and training, energy and national security will cost us jobs, and it will slow down our recovery.  It’s not the right thing to do for the economy; it’s not the right thing for folks who are out there still looking for work.

Did you get that? Cuts will hurt the economy, so it stands to reason that the only engine driving the “recovery” is deficit spending. Not wise policies. Not robust growth in the private sector. The miserable, pathetic, cowardly plan of borrowing from our children to avoid pain now.

The President is too clever by half. Most of his low-information supporters have bought into the self-fulfilling prophecy that deficit spending sustains the economy, so reducing the deficit hurts it, and therefore we CANNOT cut spending. At all. Ever.

The Big Truth at the heart of this belief is that Obama has nothing left. He has no plan. He has no policy of growth. His business killing regulations have begun to kill the geese that lay the eggs, and he has nowhere else to go. There will be no increase in tax revenue through growth, just by confiscating more of the shrinking pie, which leads the pie to shrink further, which leads to…well, you get it.

The argument that spending restraint will cripple the economy is also an admission that Barack Obama’s policies have utterly failed, and the only thing he has to lean on is deficit spending.

The house of cards is tottering. It will soon fall.

From Fox News online:

A Manhattan couple was facing weapons charges Monday after authorities said they found a substance used to make bombs and papers titled “The Terrorist Encyclopedia” in their Greenwich Village apartment.

Morgan Gliedman, 27, and her 31-year-old boyfriend, Aaron Greene, were arrested on weapons-possession charges Saturday after officers with a search warrant discovered a plastic container with 7 grams of HMTD, a highly explosive white powder used in bomb making, police and prosecutors said.

Also found in the living room were numerous written items containing instructions on the manufacture of explosive materials and bombs, including a collection of pages that had a cover page entitled “The Terrorist Encyclopedia,” court papers said.

Hmmm…their names don’t sound like they are from the Middle East….

The New York Post reported in its Monday editions that Gliedman is the daughter of a prominent Manhattan doctor. It described her boyfriend as a Harvard graduate and an Occupy Wall Street activist.

Their parents must be SO proud. It seems that the Occupy activists haven’t gone away, they’ve just decided to become sleeper cells. And Obama’s rhetoric on the filthy rich seems to be doing its job. I believe it is going to be pretty dangerous to be an employee of Wall Street in 2013. Of course, if the bombs didn’t work they had some back-up.

The newspaper said police went to the apartment with a search warrant stemming from a credit card-theft case. It said weapons recovered included a flare launcher, a commercial replica of a grenade launcher, a 12-gauge shotgun, ammunition and nine high-capacity rifle magazines.

Democrats should remember that convincing bankers that they are the only ones standing between them and people with pitchforks is only useful if they have control of the people with pitchforks. You just can’t get people all riled up and expect them to just go away, Barry.

Is the ACLU directly responsible for the massacre in Arizona?

Rights of the mentally ill have always been a special part of the ACLU’s agenda. In the past, treatment of the mentally ill was brutal and horrific, with the mentally ill confined to cages like animals and treated as subhuman. As research into mental illness gave us insight to the disease, we discovered that brain chemistry has much to do with the more catastrophic illnesses, such as paranoid schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Based on that excellent research, drugs have been developed to minimize the symptoms and make these illnesses manageable. That is, if the drugs are taken regularly, as prescribed. If they are not, symptoms can return and can even be made worse.

That’s not quite the way the ACLU sees it, however, and it has taken to the courts to make sure that those diagnosed with mental illness are not forced to take medication. From an ACLU of New Mexico press release:

August 6, 2008

CONTACT: (505) 266-5915 ext. 1003

ALBUQUERQUE— Yesterday, the New Mexico Court of Appeals struck down a city ordinance, affirming an earlier ruling, that would have empowered the city of Albuquerque to forcibly medicate people with mental illnesses. The Assisted Outpatient Treatment Law (AOT) conflicted with state laws that require patient consent before treatment.  This decision is a tremendous victory – upholding civil liberties in New Mexico.

Why did Albuquerque enact this law in the first place? The press release gives us an idea:

Protection and Advocacy System, Inc., the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico (ACLU), and The Law Offices of Peter Cubra initially sued the City in 2006, alleging that AOT subjects people with mental illness to potentially invasive treatment regimens based upon speculation that they might become dangerous.

By all accounts, speculation that the shooter in Arizona would become dangerous was widespread – and correct. The simple fact is that under the laws of that state, and others, thanks in large part to the ACLU, there was nothing that could be done – including making the shooter take medication or seek treatment. This is what the New Mexico law was trying to address, but in a less coercive form. The requirement was that those who were already receiving mental health services – there have been no reports that the Arizona shooter was under care – would need to continue with treatment and / or drugs. The press release explains:

AOT, also known as Kendra’s Law, grants judges the authority to require people receiving mental health services to take psychiatric drugs, regularly undergo psychiatric treatment, or both. Failure to comply could result in the patient’s being committed to an institution for up to 72 hours.

Why is it called Kendra’s law? From Wikipedia, cross-checked for accuracy through other sources:

In 1999, there was a series of incidents involving individuals with untreated mental illness becoming violent. In two similar assaults in the New York City subway a man diagnosed with schizophrenia pushed a person into the path of an oncoming train. Andrew Goldstein, age 29, while off medicines, pushed Kendra Webdale to her death in front of an oncoming NYC subway train. The law is named after her.

The law was modeled and signed into law in many states, has been challenged, and in both cases has been ruled constitutional. The challenge that was won by the ACLU in New Mexico was because Kendra’s Law conflicted with state law, but it certainly was not the reason given for the initiation of the lawsuit. Remember, the ACLU’s position is that

…AOT subjects people with mental illness to potentially invasive treatment regimens based upon speculation that they might become dangerous.

The reason that more stringent laws mandating involuntary hospitalization or treatment of those with severe mental illness have not been enacted is the real fear of a protracted lawsuit by the ACLU.

The ACLU’s argument is that people should be in charge of their own psychiatric treatment. The Catch-22 is that while off medication, many individuals with certain mental illnesses do not have the capacity to determine their own treatment. That has made no difference to the ACLU, whose lawsuits have been responsible for the mass deinstitutionalizing of the mentally ill, who, without the benefit of therapy and/or medication, regularly turn into the chronically homeless – and sometimes into violent criminals.

Which brings us back to Arizona. I am not a mental health professional. Here is what I believe, however, from simple research. The Arizona shooter was severely mentally ill. His writings, videos and postings indicate that he was convinced that the government was trying to brainwash us all, especially him. It is quite likely that he believes attempting to kill Representative Giffords was an act of self-defense, and that he would have tried to do so regardless of what political party she belonged to or what her stand on the issues were. The shooter was worried about “brainwashing” and being “forced to worship God” by the government – not about immigration or health care.

The debate here is not whether anything from the outside provoked the shooter – anyone who tries to pass off that meme with all that we now know is absolutely and clearly trying to score political points, nothing more. The issue is how far we can go as a society to protect ourselves from people who are clearly mentally ill, and how far the ACLU and the left will go in making sure we can’t.

The simple fact is we have had no plan from the White House. We have had no input from the Senate. And we have had nothing but empty promises from Tim Geitner. We have been busy negotiating with ourselves, and that stops today. I am adjourning the House, and sending the members home to explain three things.

1) If you insist on more government spending, you will need to realize that your taxes will go up. Period. If you elect Democrats, your taxes will go up. Period.

2) The House Republicans will no longer be a part of this pathetic and gutless effort to make our children and grandchildren pay for the greed and irresponsibility of Big Government. Obama’s projection of deficits into eternity are not sustainable, and they are immoral. Period. If you think that is the path of prosperity, vote for Democrats.

3) Speaking of immorality, government has intervened to counteract bad decisions by individuals, businesses, states and municipalities for too long. The erosion of our national character has resulted in the situation in which we find ourselves. The House Republicans have decided if there is pain to be borne, we will bear it now so our children have a future. Anything otherwise would be cowardice of unprecedented proportion.

I won’t take any questions, because there shouldn’t be any. Even though you will not report the truth, history will bear witness to it. I would advise all of you to get your asses on a plane to Hawaii, or Chicago, or whatever golf course the President is playing today, and ask him why he is uninterested in the job he so desperately wanted.

I will call the House back into session when the Senate presents a budget, and not before then.

Good day.”

Let’s ask ourselves a question.

If 9/11 had happened when Al Gore was President, where would the Democrat Party be right now?

Would there even be a Democrat Party, without having George Bush to blame for not “connecting the dots”? Knowing Bill Clinton had Bin Laden in his sights, and let him go?

9/11 is coming again. It is a fiscal 9/11, and there is no one else to blame this time. As a matter of fact, not only have all the dots been connected, we know who drew them. Barack Obama and the Democrats.

It is time for Boehner to sit down, turn on the microphones, and ask every day what the Democrat leaders plan to do. Every day. It’s their country. The party is over, the bill is due, and it’s time for someone to pay. It was the Democrat’s party, and they need to decide how to split the tab.

This time, there is no one else to blame.

Think about it.

“Obama Blames Romney “Lies” in First Debate For Loss”

“Matthews Critical But Stable, Maddow Missing, Shultz In Rehab”

“CIA Blows Whistle On Benghazi, Panetta Calls Them ‘Unpatriotic’”

“Park Service Employees Not Needed For Inauguration Clean Up, Tea Party Blamed”

“Golf Courses Prepare For Obama Absence, Look To Borrow To Make Up Shortfall”

2013

“Obama’s Policies Kick In, Economy Turns Around”

“Media Admits To Coddling Obama, Vows To Press Romney”

“Homelessness Decreases Under Romney, Democrats Blame Tent Shortage”

“Will Increase In Optimism, Hope Lead To Disappointment?”

2014

“Economy Surges, Unemployment Down – Another Bubble In The Making?”

“Weiner, Wife Join Muslim Sisterhood”

“Cuba ‘Not All That Great’ Says Maddow Upon Returning”

“Increased Family Incomes Cause Stress, Arguments”

2015

“Unemployment Surges 0.1% to 4.4%”

“Economy Stagnates at 4.6% GDP Growth”

“Low Gas Prices Blamed For Rise In Animals Killed On Road”

“Baumgartner Hits Relic Wind Turbine On Latest Dive, Romney Blamed”

“Krugman Upset About Budget Surpluses, Warns U.S. Not To Pay Off China”

2016

“Egypt Revises Constitution To Reflect Western Values, Ginsberg Decries ‘Terrible Mistake’”

“Iran Admits Nuclear Program Had Duel Use, But Had Planned To Sell Electricity To America If Obama Re-elected”

“U.N. Secretary General Obama Says Wealthy Nations Not Paying ‘Fair Share’”

“Biden Dem Nominee, Picks Bernie Sanders As VP”

“Democrat Base Holes Up In San Fransisco, Begs For Relief From Bankruptcy”

“Mothballed Lenin Statue Moves To Detroit, Remaining Residents Vow To Continue Socialist Policies”

I think my suggestion to all of us is to concentrate fully on our own circle of influence. Be happy warriors, but let others know where we stand and why. People seeking venture capital have what they call “elevator pitches” – a sixty second synopsis that can woo an investor if they ever wind up on an elevator together. Here’s mine:

“I understand why people voted for Obama. He promised change. My problem is that the country is more divided, and regardless of what he faced when he took office, his policies have had a terrible effect. Gas and food are much higher, unemployment is still a huge problem, there has been an explosion of people on food stamps and the debt is out of control. Obama doesn’t have any business experience and Romney does. We need this country to get back to work. We just can’t do four more years of the same policies and just hope things get better.”

Have yours ready too.

A couple of other observations:

- It is a shame that the Democrat Party regards children as a Sexually Transmitted Disease. I am glad I belong to the party that regards them as a blessing.

- Obama is the Benjamin Button president. He was elected as if he were a fully tested, elder statesman, and has regressed to a shrill, empty chair. He is the first President who has gotten much, much smaller while in office.

- Obama had his “Mission Accomplished” issue right off the bat, and it is the hallmark of his presidency. It is “Yes We Did”, when in fact he had done and continues to do absolutely nothing that is beneficial for anyone other than his cronies.

Sometimes God’s punishment to a people is to let them have their own way.  I hope it is not that time for us. I will do everything I can to elect Mitt Romney, but understand that it isn’t all up to me. It is time for America to make a decision about what kind of country we are going to become, and time for me to work, and pray, and prepare.

Here is what Erick, and we, forget.

In the swing state of Virginia before Obama, Bob McDonnell beat Creigh Deeds by only 3,000 votes in the race for attorney general. After Obama, he beat Deeds by 300,000 in the race for Governor. Before Obama, the two Senate seats were firmly in Democrat hands. After Obama, one Democrat has suddenly retired and the seat is very much in play.

In the swing state of North Carolina, before Obama Democrats had firm control of the Governor’s mansion and both houses of the legislature. After Obama, the legislature of North Carolina went Republican for the first time since 1898, and the House went Republican for the first time in 112 years. Instead of running for re-election, the governor has “retired”,  the governor prior to her has been indicted, and GOP candidate Pat McCrory is on his way to victory.

In Wisconsin, before Obama, unions had a choke hold on elections and local schools. After Obama, Scott Walker bravely fought off the thugs not once, but twice, dealing both them and MSNBC a blow that they will not recover from and inspiring governors and mayors across the country, both Democrat and Republican, to do the same thing. And when is the last time Hollywood made an anti-union movie?

Did I mention Chris Christie?

Before Obama, unemployment in Ohio was 9% and the state was facing an $8 billion shortfall with no hope. After Obama, GOP governor John Kasich was elected, and unemployment went from 9% to 7.9% in his first year. An $8 billion dollar deficit turned into a balanced budget.

Did I mention Bobby Jindal? Is anyone even running against him in this landslide year for Obama? No? We’re not sure? What?

Marco Rubio is in the swing state of Florida? Think the Hispanics have noticed which party he belongs to?

Hey, what happened in 2010 in the House and Senate? How’d we do?

Is Romney behind? Hell no, he’s not behind. I live in an area of North Carolina which is politically about two inches from North Korea, and you know how many yard signs are in my neighborhood? Two. You know how many there were in 2008? About fifty. You know how many Obama bumper stickers I see when I drive around in North Carolina and Virginia? (and I drive about 48,000 miles a year) I’ll tell you how many – about a tenth of what I saw last year. At the most. You know how many people I can name who voted for Obama in 2008, and are either voting for Romney or not voting at all this year? About twenty. Try THAT for polling data.

Don’t hand me this “Romney’s behind” crap. I heard that Walker was all done and Amendment One didn’t have a chance, too. Oh, it’ll be close. The dependent class will be bused to polls and paid with cigarettes and the military will be disenfranchised at every turn, but DO NOT TELL ME that what happened after Obama doesn’t matter, and it has been forgotten, and that we are all somehow unaware of what is going on every time we get gas or buy milk or pick up our paychecks or drive by a food bank or watch an ambassador being dragged through the streets of Libya. DO NOT pee on my leg and tell me it is raining.

We have an opportunity to elect the perfect person for our times – Mitt Romney. He is a decent man, fit for the job, and will be able to handle the looming disaster Obama has created. He will mop the floor with Obama in the debates, because Obama is a stuttering hologram with no clue as to how to govern. Paul Ryan will make Joe Biden look like the straight jacketed idiot he is, and we will all thank God Almighty that Barack Obama is in good health because having Joe Biden as a President would be only a notch above having a lemur occupy the Oval Office. And a real lemur – not the funny ones in cartoons.

Romney will win. Bank on it. And if he doesn’t, we have much, much bigger problems than we can ever know or probably even solve.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid lashed out at Mitt Romney’s faith during a conference call with reporters, saying he is “not the face of Mormonism” and suggesting he has tarnished the religion.

Reid, a Democrat and the highest-ranking Mormon in U.S. elected office, also said he agrees with claims that Romney has “sullied” the Latter-day Saints faith.

In 1973, the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released the following statement regarding abortion, which is still applicable today:

“The Church opposes abortion and counsels its members not to submit to or perform an abortion except in the rare cases where, in the opinion of competent medical counsel, the life or good health of the mother is seriously endangered or where the pregnancy was caused by rape and produces serious emotional trauma in the mother. Even then it should be done only after counseling with the local presiding priesthood authority and after receiving divine confirmation through prayer.”

He knows the answer, and so do the rest of us. The only thing remaining is the answer to the question, “Have you no decency, sir? At long last, have you no decency?”

When it comes to Harry Reid, I think we all know the answer to that one too.

(From a Fox News online slideshow)

The picture says it all:

Hey, if Bill Clinton can do it and end up a hero, why not Slow Joe?

Mary Susan Pine, who stands outside abortion clinics and advises women not to have the procedure, was accused of blocking a car from entering a Florida abortion clinic in 2009. In December, a judge threw out the case, in which the government sought $10,000 in fines and a permanent injunction barring Pine from counseling women outside the Presidential Women’s Center in West Palm Beach, Fla. The government had been appealing the ruling until it was announced Monday it would no longer pursue the case.

Not only is the DOJ persecuting individuals with whom it disagrees politically, it is working on concert with its political allies. It is so obvious and blatant, a judge felt compelled to comment on it:

Florida District Judge Kenneth Ryskamp said in December the case appeared to be part of a “concerted effort” between the government and the Presidential Women’s Center.

“The Court is at a loss as to why the government chose to prosecute this particular case in the first place,” Ryskamp wrote in a summary judgment order against the feds. “The court can only wonder whether this action was the product of a concerted effort between the government and PWC, which began well before the date of the incident at issue, to quell Ms. Pine’s activities rather than to vindicate the rights of those allegedly aggrieved by Ms. Pine’s conduct.”

Barack Obama is nothing more than a cheap Chicago political thug operative, while relying on Eric Holder to do his dirty work. The rule of law in this nation has been suspended indefinitely, Eric Holder should be impeached and disbarred, and Barack Obama needs to be defeated this November. The more they get away with, the more brazen they become, and the more time that passes the more Obama and his allies’ actions exceed what is unconscionable.

I was dead wrong. I still cannot stand him, but I was dead wrong.

What we got was a Marxist. A worthless, effete, stuttering fool, who has driven the country into the ground and has set in motion horrible, unknown events that will only completely manifest themselves  in 50 years. A man who has spent us into bankruptcy. A person who was the least qualified person in the history of this country to ever run for President, much less become one.

If he wins the nomination, I’ll vote for Romney, and support him, and give money to him. It’s not his fault that conservatives run twenty three people in the GOP primaries, rip each other to shreds and then wonder why one of us can’t get nominated. It’s not his fault that the patchwork primary system works in his favor, or that “Anybody But Romney” isn’t actually a real person and isn’t on the ballot.

I could stomp and whine and bellyache and stay home. But all I’ll get is four more years of a bowing moron, and that is more than the country can bear. I am shutting my mouth right now, and getting the checks ready to send.

Is Romney a conservative? Nope. Not by a long shot. Is he a Statist? Nope, so he will automatically be an improvement. Will he govern as a conservative? Yep, if Republicans in the House and Senate actually hold his feet to the fire and deliver on their promises to actually cut spending and get this government under control. That’s where the rubber will meet the road. Do you think Barack Obama actually had brains enough to come up with the legislation that he signed? Or even bother to develop a cursory understanding of it? Not a chance. House and Senate, folks. House and Senate.

The simple fact is that conservatives are not yet ready for Presidential leadership. Our bench is getting deeper. More and more of us are involved in the organization of the GOP. The “establishment” is on the run. More of us, including our elected leaders, are able to articulate what we believe. But our entries in 2012 left much to be desired in so many ways, and our resurgence in the party is not yet complete. Simply put, we are four years away.

Mitt Romney will be a placeholder President. I can deal with that. It is better than the alternative. Either he will govern as a conservative of his own free will, be forced to by the House and Senate conservatives, or he won’t and he’ll get primaried. Fine. I’ll take my chances. I’ll take incremental steps toward the ultimate goal, because that is simply what the situation calls for right now.

You know what gets me excited? Sending Barack Obama back to Chicago or Kenya or Hawaii or wherever the hell he comes from, then watching him sulk like a two year old as we dismantle his socialist legacy. You know what else gets me excited? A GOP House and Senate that sends a bill to Romney’s desk killing Obamacare, and the fact that Mitt Romney will sign it. A GOP House and Senate that will balance the budget, complete true health insurance reform, and begin to dismantle the cold, gray bureaucracy that is smothering the country, and knowing that if we do our job there, Mitt Romney will have no choice but to go along.

Mitt Romney’s nomination will be the fault of conservatives who would rather run around beating their chests about who is the “real” conservative than put their egos aside for the good of the party and country, get together and get behind someone who could win. We will deal with that in due time. But right now the house is on fire and it is no time to argue over the color of the drapes. Our only choices now, like it or not, are a crank, an undisciplined fighter, a man who endorsed Arlen Specter and then lost his own Senate seat, and Mitt Romney. Any of the latter three will be fine with me, but it is likely to be Romney.

Ronald Reagan put the GOP and the country on his shoulders and made us all better. He spent a lifetime honing his conservatism, and as a result we really didn’t have to. He spoiled us rotten, and then we squandered what he handed to us on a silver platter like we were trust fund babies, even though he told us we would have to continually fight for our freedom. We didn’t believe him, and only a generation after he finished his last term there is a Marxist in the White House. We deserve what we have gotten, as a party and as a country, and now we are going to have to work together spreading conservatism as hard as he worked at it alone. It won’t be a lightening strike, but a grind. It’s as simple as that. Fine.

If he wins, Romney will either be a conservative or a placeholder. Either one is preferable to Barack Obama. For now.

So who is the victim and who is the perpetrator? Well, according to Bob Shieffer of CBS News, the victim is poor ‘ol Barack Obama:

This is just another sign of the incivility and really the vulgarity of modern American campaigns. These campaigns have gotten so ugly and so nasty, that they’re now tarnishing the whole system.

I think it also underlines the coarseness of our culture in this age of social media when it is so easy to say anything about anybody and get no penalty for saying it.

The thing that has always made our system so strong is that whatever we have thought of the office holders, we have held the offices themselves in high respect. We have respected the office.

I’ve watched a lot of presidents over the years but I can never recall a president stepping off Air Force One, which is itself a symbol of the presidency and American democracy, and being subject to such rudeness.

I think really we’re a better people than this little incident illustrates.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57367151/schieffer-modern-american-politics-is-vulgar/?tag=mncol;lst;6

Actually, Bob, I think we deserve a better President than this little incident illustrates. Barack Obama started it, but he wasn’t able to bully Jan Brewer like he bullies the media into submission. Looks like the description of Obama’s White House as being hostile to women is true, and you and other Obama sycophants should be ashamed that he withers as Assad slaughters his own people but finds his spine when ambushing Jan Brewer.

At that time, the premise was that Communism and the Soviet Bloc was here to stay and we would simply have to mind our own business and try not to piss anybody off. Well, maybe we could make our athletes mad when we boycotted the Olympics, but you have to take a stand sometimes, right?

Then along came a guy who did not accept the premise. He called the Soviet Union what it was – an “evil empire” – and believed with all his heart that the Communist system in place was illegitimate and that those who bore the yoke yearned to be free. He did not trust the Soviets, he entered into an arms race that made the left apoplectic, and vowed to dump Communism on the “ash heap of history” by standing up to it, once and for all. He traded weakness for strength and never turned away when people struggled for their freedom. He stood on the free side of the Berlin Wall and told the leader of the empire, simply, to tear it down.

Today the Berlin wall rests in pieces along the corridors of museums, and the man the left called “dangerous” and “insane” is celebrated throughout the former Communist world as the greatest liberator it has ever known. He didn’t accept the premise, and never let the wailing, hatred and thuggery of the left deter him.

Liberalism, just like its big brothers Socialism and Communism, has failed, demonstrably, in every way. Franklin Roosevelt, far from being a hero, simply started a train going toward a cliff five thousand miles away at two miles an hour, and the left has made sure ever since that no one can disembark. The train has now arrived at its inevitable destination, perhaps a little sooner than it should have thanks to Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. Yet for some reason we seem still to accept the premise in America – and even in the GOP – that liberalism is simply a legitimate, albeit distasteful, alternative to conservatism instead of the miserable, sickening failure that it is.

Polls tell us not to call it by its name. The media make us cower, then seduce us with promises of fairness only to stab us in the back – again and again. We are told by this President that up us down, losses are gains, and defeat is victory. Just wait, say Boehner and Cantor – we’ll fight when there are more of us up here, without realizing there would be more of them up there if they would just fight.  And we buy into it. Newt Gingrich, for all his well-documented personal failings, doesn’t buy into it. He calls out the media. He lays out the choices before us clearly, as he did in his speech last night. He doesn’t accept the premise. That’s why, against all odds and any sort of reason, he is winning.

My problem with Mitt Romney is that I perceive he will simply tinker around the edges. A cut here, an increase there. A tax break here, a deduction gone there. You keep what’s yours, we’ll keep what’s ours, and let’s just try to get along and not piss anybody off. He’s a nice guy, you know, and loves his family, and being burned in effigy simply won’t do.

As a country, morally and fiscally, we are in the gravest of danger. Our country is splintering, geographically and demographically, by class and race and education and income. Our last chance stands before us in November, and it will be in the form of the GOP nominee. Are we going to put forth a flawed leader who doesn’t accept what has gotten us into the desperate situation we are now in – the only position that will save us – or will Mitt Romney wake up and explain to us that he will not tinker, he will not negotiate, and he will not go along?

Will Mitt Romney explain to us that he does not accept liberalism as a legitimate alternative for America? Will he explain to us that he believes this to his core, and no amount of political or personal hatred from the left will deter him from completely and totally dismantling the edifice that chokes our country and our freedom? Does he truly believe this?

Will he? Does he?

Can he?

He is the miserable failure that is in the White House. His name is Barack Obama.

I don’t need a hero. I need a guy that can throw a strike in Yankee Stadium and stand on the mound like a stone wall while knowing that there might be a rifle trained on him at that very moment. I need a woman who refuses to be cowed by the most vile, sustained personal attacks that could be imagined and still manages to rise every morning to fight the good fight. I need a man who orchestrated a landslide victory in 1994 and wrested power away from a corrupt group of Democrats who had held on to it for decades. I need someone who founded and ran a successful business as a minority, fought cancer and won, and endures the “race traitor” slurs because he knows the man in the White House is not only bad for this country, but bad for his race.

I need an individual who was sharpened by being a Republican in the most liberal area on the planet outside of Europe, and still managed to hold the leftists at bay long enough to bring prosperity to a state who hasn’t had it since. A man who has spent time in business, and turned around things that were left for dead. I need a man who carries a pistol when he walks his dog, and uses it when his dog is attacked. I need someone who is not afraid to talk about Christ, or oil, or prosperity, or the proper role of government in our lives. I need a woman who shows the love of Christ by inviting children into her home, and caring for them until they can find a family of their own. A woman who has been politically successful in a state that also produced the foul Keith Ellison, and is unapologetic in her love of the constitution and this country.

I don’t need some slick teleprompter reader who would see little difference in selling me a Sham-Wow or nationalized health care. I don’t need some damn fool facilitator – in – chief, an articulate hologram. We have one. He is ruining this country. His name is Barack Obama.

When we wait for Reagan to come again, we look as pitiful and foolish as those on the left who pine for the days of the Kennedys and Camelot, and whose hopes rested on a generation that followed who was completely unable to rise to the task.

Give me flawed people. Give me flawed candidates. Give me someone who will fight, and when elected, will cleanse Washington of the trash that has accumulated in every department, every lobbying firm, every street corner and every room of the West Wing. Give me someone who knows the catastrophe that hangs above us, and will do all in their power to deflect it away.

We’ll go to war with who we have. They just need to be who they are.

That’s not quite the way the ACLU sees it, however, and it has taken to the courts to make sure that those diagnosed with mental illness are not forced to take medication. From an ACLU of New Mexico press release:

August 6, 2008

CONTACT: (505) 266-5915 ext. 1003

ALBUQUERQUE— Yesterday, the New Mexico Court of Appeals struck down a city ordinance, affirming an earlier ruling, that would have empowered the city of Albuquerque to forcibly medicate people with mental illnesses. The Assisted Outpatient Treatment Law (AOT) conflicted with state laws that require patient consent before treatment.  This decision is a tremendous victory – upholding civil liberties in New Mexico.

Why did Albuquerque enact this law in the first place? The press release gives us an idea:

Protection and Advocacy System, Inc., the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico (ACLU), and The Law Offices of Peter Cubra initially sued the City in 2006, alleging that AOT subjects people with mental illness to potentially invasive treatment regimens based upon speculation that they might become dangerous.

By all accounts, speculation that the shooter in Arizona would become dangerous was widespread – and correct. The simple fact is that under the laws of that state, and others, thanks in large part to the ACLU, there was nothing that could be done – including making the shooter take medication or seek treatment. This is what the New Mexico law was trying to address, but in a less coercive form. The requirement was that those who were already receiving mental health services – there have been no reports that the Arizona shooter was under care – would need to continue with treatment and / or drugs. The press release explains:

AOT, also known as Kendra’s Law, grants judges the authority to require people receiving mental health services to take psychiatric drugs, regularly undergo psychiatric treatment, or both. Failure to comply could result in the patient’s being committed to an institution for up to 72 hours.

Why is it called Kendra’s law? From Wikipedia, cross-checked for accuracy through other sources:

In 1999, there was a series of incidents involving individuals with untreated mental illness becoming violent. In two similar assaults in the New York City subway a man diagnosed with schizophrenia pushed a person into the path of an oncoming train. Andrew Goldstein, age 29, while off medicines, pushed Kendra Webdale to her death in front of an oncoming NYC subway train. The law is named after her.

The law was modeled and signed into law in many states, has been challenged, and in both cases has been ruled constitutional. The challenge that was won by the ACLU in New Mexico was because Kendra’s Law conflicted with state law, but it certainly was not the reason given for the initiation of the lawsuit. Remember, the ACLU’s position is that

…AOT subjects people with mental illness to potentially invasive treatment regimens based upon speculation that they might become dangerous.

The reason that more stringent laws mandating involuntary hospitalization or treatment of those with severe mental illness have not been enacted is the real fear of a protracted lawsuit by the ACLU.

The ACLU’s argument is that people should be in charge of their own psychiatric treatment. The Catch-22 is that while off medication, many individuals with certain mental illnesses do not have the capacity to determine their own treatment. That has made no difference to the ACLU, whose lawsuits have been responsible for the mass deinstitutionalizing of the mentally ill, who, without the benefit of therapy and/or medication, regularly turn into the chronically homeless – and sometimes into violent criminals.

Which brings us back to Arizona. I am not a mental health professional. Here is what I believe, however, from simple research. The Arizona shooter was severely mentally ill. His writings, videos and postings indicate that he was convinced that the government was trying to brainwash us all, especially him. It is quite likely that he believes attempting to kill Representative Giffords was an act of self-defense, and that he would have tried to do so regardless of what political party she belonged to or what her stand on the issues were. The shooter was worried about “brainwashing” and being “forced to worship God” by the government – not about immigration or health care.

The debate here is not whether anything from the outside provoked the shooter – anyone who tries to pass off that meme with all that we now know is absolutely and clearly trying to score political points, nothing more. The issue is how far we can go as a society to protect ourselves from people who are clearly mentally ill, and how far the ACLU and the left will go in making sure we can’t.

Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore reportedly has had a change of heart on ethanol, telling a conference on green energy in Europe that he only supported tax breaks for the alternative fuel to pander to farmers in his home state of Tennessee and the first-in-the-nation caucuses state of Iowa.

Speaking at a green energy business conference in Athens sponsored by Marfin Popular Bank, Gore said the lobbyists have wrongly kept alive the program he once touted.

“It is not a good policy to have these massive subsidies for first-generation ethanol,” Reuters quoted Gore saying of the U.S. policy that is about to come up for congressional review. “First-generation ethanol I think was a mistake. The energy conversion ratios are at best very small.

No kidding. Everyone knew this. It’s just that the conservative who knew it are philistines, and the leftists who are now admitting it are thoughtful and flexible.

Oh, but it gets better.

“One of the reasons I made that mistake is that I paid particular attention to the farmers in my home state of Tennessee, and I had a certain fondness for the farmers in the state of Iowa
because I was about to run for president,” the wire service reported Gore saying.

I didn’t know this, but now understand why my sodas are so expensive:

Ethanol production this year will reportedly consume 41 percent of the U.S. corn crop and 15 percent of the global corn crop. Last month, the Agriculture Department said corn crop production would fall this year and attributed the decline to the increase in the price of corn.

To be fair:

Reuters reported that Gore had less concern about second-generation ethanol production, which does not compete with food since it uses chemicals or enzymes to extract sugar from fiber in wood, waste or grass.

“I do think second and third generation that don’t compete with food prices will play an increasing role, certainly with aviation fuels,” Gore reportedly said.

Mark that under #too little too late.

And if you weren’t mad enough already, this will send you over the edge. Turns out that Al was not only responsible for inventing the internet, but he was directly responsible for wasting hundreds of millions of dollars on ethanol:

The Media Research Center’s Noel Sheppard noted that as vice president, Gore was the tie-breaking vote in 1994 when the Senate voted to authorize ethanol production. Sheppard said that those who question Gore’s motives behind the climate change movement that landed the former vice president a Nobel prize and Oscar should also look to his comments on ethanol.

“So more than 10 years ago, Gore supported an expensive, ‘not good policy’ because he thought it would help him get elected president. Yet media don’t believe he’d misrepresent the threat of manmade global warming in order to become extremely rich,” Sheppard wrote Monday.

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Now, the election recount has concluded, and the numbers confirm that despite the incredible support we had – and neither candidate getting to 50% – in the end we came up just a little too short.

The combination of the national tide that swept the country, massive amounts of secret corporate cash funding a campaign of distortions, and dirty politics by Washington, DC partisan operatives was just too much to overcome. But what’s done is done.

I congratulate Mrs. Ellmers and wish her well as she prepares to serve the people of North Carolina’s Second District.

What happened, Mr. Etheridge, is that you followed your party off a cliff by voting for health care, and inspired a political novice who is also a nurse to run against you. What happened, Mr. Etheridge, is that your arrogance and jackassery were finally on full display when you manhandled some college kids who dared ask a simple question of you.

You outspent Renee Ellmers 3-1 in this race and had the power of incumbency and a tailor-made district behind you, and you still lost. Your votes in congress caused the tide that you blame for sweeping you out of office, and the country is better off without you.

Goodbye, and good riddance.