Happy Thanksgiving! 2008
November 27, 2008
May you and your family be blessed and have great joy and thankfulness in your hearts this Thanksgiving Day. Let us remember God’s Providence and grace to us and our country these 232 years. By His grace, we have endured as a prosperous country with the longest standing constitutional government in history. Because of the guarantees therein, we have freedom and the right to pursue our true happiness. And we have the right to pursue God’s Truth to its logical end wherein we can find peace and happiness in this life and the strength to endure its trials and tribulations.
George Washington wrote in his 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation:
“It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favors.”
–Thanksgiving Proclamation, 3 October 1789
Abraham Lincoln who set the precedent for Thanksgiving a national holiday, said this in his original Thanksgiving Day proclamation:
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. . . . They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.
Let us remember His mercy with thanksgiving on this day we annually set aside for that purpose.
May you and your family be richly blessed.
Sphere: Related ContentReligious liberty at stake with homosexual marriage
November 24, 2008
UPDATE: Check out my interview on Fox31 in Denver about California’s marriage amendment–Proposition 8–which passed this year (click here for the full 1/2 hour discussion).
Gay marriage could threaten the liberty of Christians, Jews, Muslims and other people of faith according to a recent study. The Beckett Fund completed a survey of 1,000 state non-discrimination laws and concluded that if gay marriage became the law of the land, the liberty of religious adherents who oppose homosexuality and express their objection to it in any public way would be under threat of prosecution or other punitive measures. According to the study, all 50 states prohibit gender discrimination in some form or another. Of those, only 37 states had religious exemptions in their anti-discrimination laws, and many of them are very narrow in application. The Beckett Fund concluded that:
Based on the data [in the report], The Becket Fund concludes that if same-sex marriage is recognized by courts or legislatures, people and institutions that have conscientious objections to facilitating same-sex marriage will likely be sued under existing anti-discrimination laws—laws never intended for that purpose.
Already, a legal challenge to Proposition 8, the marriage amendment which recently passed in California, is in the California Supreme Court–the same court which made homosexual marriage legal just a few months ago. This could open the door for more legal action nationwide. Should the dominoes begin to fall for traditional marriage, The Beckett Fund’s prediction of lawsuits against those who oppose gay marriage could begin to play out. Some states, including Colorado and New Mexico among others, have already set up state Human Rights Commissions with legal authority to prosecute those who violate anti-discrimination laws. In 2007, an Albuquerque, New Mexico couple who owns a photography company had charges brought against them by one of these commissions because they refused to contract with lesbian couple who asked them to photograph their same-sex commitment ceremony. This is one of many similar lawsuits brought against individuals and churches who oppose homosexual rights on the basis of their religious conviction.
In the meantime, a movement designed to intimidate those who oppose “gay rights” is beginning to form across the country. It has gained strength recently because of the passage of Proposition 8 in California. Read more
Sphere: Related ContentRussia on economic crisis: lower corporate taxes
November 21, 2008
The United States. Leader of the free world. Economic powerhouse (even in these lean times). Example to all nations of what freedom and individual liberty can produce. And what is our example to the world in the midst of economic crisis? Well, we take money from taxpayers and bail out industries extending corporate welfare. We expand unemployment benefits extending individual welfare. Our incoming President, Barack Obama, wants a windfall profits tax on the oil companies. He plans to increase taxes on the “wealthy.” He wants to expand government regulation on industry through Cap-and-Trade and expanded authority for the Environmental Protection Agency through the Clear Air Act.
So what’s Russia’s response to the economic crisis? Lower coporate taxes:
Reuters — The fiscal stimulus package will include a cut in profit tax, which accounts for 8.5 percent of budget revenues, to 20 percent from 24 now, and a new depreciation mechanism that will allow firms to reduce the profit tax further.
American self-flagelation continues on. Corporations really don’t pay taxes. Of course, those taxes are passed on at the cash register to consumers. Fred Thompson may have had the best line during the entire 2008 presidential campaign:
They say they are not going to take any water out of your side of the bucket, just the “other” side of the bucket!
The Tax Foundation reports that other countries have been consistently adjusting their corporate taxes downward while we have kept ours unchanged over the last 15 years. This is changing our competitiveness in world markets.
Years hence, the Bush administration will have a mixed economic legacy of growth spurred on by lower taxes and somewhat status quo regulation and ballooning government spending combined with a deflated dollar created by easy credit and non-stop printing presses at the Treasury department. The legacy of the Congress during the same period will be their share of the outrageous growth of government spending and the Community Reinvestment Act and the misguided policies which kept Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pushing out bad loans.
What will the legacy of the Obama administration be. Likely he will attempt to play the role of FDR riding in to save the day, blaming his predecessors and offering “hope” while pushing policies which prolong the problem
There is one other way for Obama. And if he did it, he would be President for eight years and expand his majorities. If he were to follow the path of real change (changing his mind that is), he could reduce Capital Gains Taxes to 10%. It would energize the economy and allow small businesses to thrive and grow. it would help restart the economic engine, encourage investment in the stock market bringing up the Dow Jones Industrial Average and secure his presidency.
Sphere: Related Content“Merry Tossmas” 2008
November 14, 2008
Our friends at CitizenLink.org are throwing away Holiday catalogs again like nobody’s business!
Sign the petition at FocusPetitions.org.
Sphere: Related ContentNet “Neutrailty”: neutering free speech
November 13, 2008
Joseph Shelton - Fotolia.com
“Net Neutrality,” a proposal which would by law move financial investment in internet infrastructure from free-market into government hands, is raising its ugly head once more.
Billed as a way to keep corporations from hindering free expression by limiting services to those who can pay, in effect it brings government into business of deciding what “neutral” means. Now, the same people who brought you “fair” and “equitable” standards for employment, workplace safety, environmental protection, offshore drilling and education would be judging “fair” and “neutral” on the internet.
It is supported by companies like Google, Yahoo, eBay and Amazon and organizations like MoveOn.org, Common Cause and Free Press also support Net Neutrality.
You might recall that Google has made major concessions to the government of China by instituting a censorship scheme in the Chinese version of its search engine which conformed to the demands of the communist leaders of that country.
Barack Obama, a proponent of Net Neutrality and has named Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, to his presidential transition team.
Phil Kerpen in a National Review Online article today explains how Net Neutrality could become a threat to free speech:
Vint Cerf, Google’s chief net-neutrality propagandist, agrees. Cerf calls for the effective nationalization of the Internet, arguing that “incentives could be provided that would render the Internet more like the public road system … not owned by the private sector,” with its use “essentially open to all.” Not only does the Internet in its current form work much better, and improve much more quickly, than government-run highways and railroads. But anyone who knows anything about highway and railroad contracts knows that large-scale infrastructure management by the government invites politically motivated deal-making as well as rampant fraud and abuse.
There are some who believe nationalization of the internet would be a useful way to restrict what they deem to be disinformation on the internet. Read more
Sphere: Related ContentObama Conspiracy? Maybe; Maybe not.
November 11, 2008
I don’t really like to gather in the group of conspiracy theorists who after losing an election (a la Bill Clinton) want to find something sinister in their opponents. This happens on both sides of the aisle in varying degrees. But in this new internet age which has emerged since the Clinton Administration, the following string of videos does give one pause regarding the upcoming Obama Administration.
“Obama to Rule?”
Obama Civilian Security
Obama: “Teach sex education to kindergartners”
Obama: “We are no longer a Christian Nation”
Obama on “Redistributive Justice” and The Warren Court “it wasn’t that radical”
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Obama supporters with nothing to do
November 6, 2008
Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are
What do Republicans do now?
November 4, 2008
Paul Ryan calls for new leadership and a return to principle.
McCain Campaign staff saying “We don’t see a path”
November 4, 2008
News Flash from FoxNews. Details to come.
UPDATE 10:00pm EST: Here is the video. McCain campaign on verge of conceding defeat.
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CNN using “The Force” to get ratings
November 4, 2008
CNN can’t get ratings, so it’s turning to “The Force.” In one of the oddest uses of technology we have seen in television, Wolf Blitzer is speaking to a hologram in studio. What is up with that? It comes across as desperation. When you can’t attract an audience with good reporting, just call up R2 D2 for backup.
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