Wish or Prayer

Wishes are for children. They never materialize. Wishes evaporate. Prayers are more potent than ephemeral. They are a sincere beseeching of the Uncaused First Cause. I pray for my Mother's full recovery. Wishing her well is not enough.

Sense of Closure

Debris and bodies from the AirAsia flight are being recovered. This jet disaster is certainly tragic. Malaysia Air Flight 370 ended even more tragically. That plane seems simply to have vanished. No bodies have been recovered. No oil slick has been spotted. No debris field has been found. The search has been fruitless since the plane vanished from radar in early March. The deaths of loved ones in an air disaster is heartbreaking, but not knowing their fate might even be worse.

Another Aviation Tragedy

Another passenger jet has disappeared over water. This time it was an AirAsia Airbus with over a hundred souls on board. Weather was terrible. The pilot changed course, but evidently, was unable to save the aircraft. All passengers and crew are presumed lost.Even with the levels of redundant safety systems engineered into commercial airplanes, too often they are lost. Having lost two uncles to airplanes, I will never be eager to fly. My prayers go out to those touched by the Air Asia disaster.

Mom Needs Prayers

To all those who have been praying for my Mom's health, you have my undying appreciation. To those who visited the hospital, know that you lifted Mother's spirits. To those who have called about her diagnosis, we now are told that she had a major stroke on the right side of the brain. The stroke has affected her left side. She also has a mass of undetermined origins in her midriff. When we have any more to relay, we will. We need and welcome your well-wishes and prayers.

Pray for Mom

In the few short years "Despot" has been published, there have been many blessings. Many tragedies have also occurred. In January of 2012, some readers may recall that my Father was murdered by his physicians. Now, awaiting the blessing of the birth of my (our) first child, my Mother is ill enough to require hospitalization. We do not know precisely the nature of her illness yet. Extensive tests have been and are being performed. Please pray for the recovery to full health of Sherry Goodman, my beloved Mother.

In the Offing

Anyone who tells you they know what 2015 will hold is only guessing. Their prognostication holds about as much value as spit in the wind. I can tell you with some certainty what happened yesterday. I have no idea what will occur tomorrow. I know some will live through next year. I am sadly certain some will die. I do not know who will be in either category. I just pray for the Lord's protection for those I love in the coming year.

Peace on Earth

At a time when much of the world is wishing for peace on earth, there does not seem to be much of it. In the Holy Land, an eleven year old Jewish girl and her father were burnt by a Molotov cocktail hurled at their vehicle today by Arabs. In Syria and Iraq, the slaughter continues unabated, even on Christmas Day. Muslims are killing Muslims in these places, but they are also specifically targeting Christians. Areas controlled by the Islamic State are by now either free of Christians or the indigenous Christians who have been there for two thousand years are hiding for their own survival. After another young black man was gunned down by the law in Missouri, rioting has now been rekindled there. In this time that calls for good will toward men, there is precious little of it.

Living Murphy's Law

This was just the kind of morning everyone wanted. First, on Christmas Eve, the water heater breaks. Do you know how hard it is to find a plumber available today? Then, a window blows out. Just what we need. Now, we have to find someone to replace the glass. Hopefully, this will be the last adventure of the holiday season. Wishing you and yours a happy and uneventful holiday.

Lunatics Running Riot

In at least two separate incidents in France in recent days, Muslims reportedly shouting "Allahu Akbar" plowed into pedestrians with their vehicles. Numerous innocents were injured. These attacks may be spontaneous acts of madness. These assaults could be deliberate acts of jihad. I suppose deliberately crashing a vehicle into walkers could be both religiously-motivated and sparked by insanity. The most terrifying aspect of this kind of terrorism is that there is almost no way to protect yourself from it. At some point, we all have to go out of the house, and we can never predict if when we do, a madman or a religious fanatic will try to kill us. France, with her liberal immigration policies that allowed in millions of Muslims from former French colonies, will likely experience more jihadi madness in the future.

An Unusual Politician

Since police are charged with enforcing the laws passed by politicians, politicians in the past have usually courted law enforcement. Through the years politicians have often sought and won office by running on a "law and order" platform. Police and mayors are mostly seen side by side and acting in accord. In the case of Bill de Blasio, this mayor somehow thought it in his interest to speak against his own police department. De Blasio's comments have pitted citizens against cops and the cops against the Mayor. New York is suffering and de Blasio may have put paid to his future in politics.

A Volcano Erupts

A number of well-known liberals have been spewing hatred against the police. The Leftist mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio, criticized the conduct of law enforcement after Barack Hussein Obama declared, that Cambridge cops "acted stupidly" early in his Presidency. Is it any wonder that an unbalanced individual took the anti-police rants to heart and decided to act on his anger? The conduct of police is not perfect and at times, not even just, but without law, we have chaos. The cop on the street is the shield against anarchy. When police are murdered in the line of duty, we are all less safe.

Ugly or Lovely

I am perplexed. I read that a woman stabbed eight children (seven of her own) to death in Australia. This was just after I watched a report on the massacre of over one hundred thirty children killed by the Pakistani Taliban. I happen to believe innocent life is sacred and must be protected. At the same time as I am shaken by these very real distant horrors, I am filled with hope for my (our) first child. I want to protect the child my wife is soon to deliver from the grim reality that exists in this world, but that thankfully is not the constant universal condition. There is love and beauty in the Lord's Creation. I want to shield my child in innocence, but I know eventually, the ugly and grotesque will intrude on our idyll.

The Market Surge

A four hundred plus point rally happened on the Dow yesterday. While I would much rather have an up day than a down day, I am less than confident that the bears will remain at bay. If oil continues to collapse, will the rally be sustained? If there is more economic turmoil in Russia, will that help America or drag the US down with it? Will Barack Hussein Obama work with the incoming opposition Congress for greater shared prosperity or play class envy games with executive orders to impose more socialism? The dollar is worth less than it once was, so even though we may have more greenbacks in our wallets, they buy less. I am a long way from sanguine about the direction America is heading.

Sorry for Obamas?

Do you feel sorry for the first couple? Barack Hussein Obama claims he has been mistaken for a valet in his lifetime or as someone at service at a party where he was a guest. Barack says taxis have passed him by in what he wants the viewer to believe was an act of racism. Michelle Obama claims she was asked to reach something at Target by another patron who mistook the First Lady for a Target employee. I have been asked by a short Asian lady to reach coconut oil on a high shelf at Harris Teeter. She knew I did not work there but was a fellow shopper who happened to be nearby when she was not tall enough to reach an item. I gladly obliged. I did not think she had anything against white people for asking me to assist her. I did not feel demeaned in the slightest- just grateful that I could help. I think the first couple is too easily offended. If they want to take umbrage at something, it should not be merely at what only they would perceive at insults, but at something really significant like jihadists trying to kill them and us.

New Day Cuba

The United States has just welcomed Cuba back into the family of nations. Did the Castros relinquish power? Did Raoul and Fidel suddenly liberalize? Did those despot brothers stage free and fair elections? No, no, and no, the Castro brothers and their gang of armed thugs still have their boots on the throats of Cubans who want to breathe free. America demanded a free Cuba for over fifty years, and maintained sanctions to overturn a violent and hostile regime that exported Communist revolution across Latin America and even into Africa. The dictators in Havana did not loosen the manacles they hold on the Cuban people whatsoever; yet, Barack Hussein Obama has abdicated any pretense of a duty to liberty and human dignity to normalize relations between the United States and one of the world's most evil and oppressive regimes.

Outrage in Pakistan

A school for children has been massacred by the Pakistani Taliban. No religion could endorse or tolerate the deliberate murder of more than one hundred children. The vast majority of Muslims must find the perpetrators of such an act to be monsters in human form. Maybe, this horror will be the spark to ignite the good and decent majority of Muslims to root out those that abuse their faith to initiate evil acts. Cold-blooded murder like this school slaughter can never be tolerated. If Pakistan requests, the US and the West should offer all investigative assistance to locate the masterminds of this spree of carnage. The government of Pakistan will know what to do with them when they are caught.

Sydney Hostage Crisis

A gunman in the heart of central Sydney, Australia, who held more than a dozen people captive in a chocolate shop, is now dead after police stormed the building. Some of the captives are apparently casualties as well. It was not a radical Christian who set off the tragic series of events. It was not an angry Jew making demands. It was not a follower of Wicca, a druid, pagan, or even a deranged atheist putting lives at risk. It was (of course) a Muslim acting in the name of jihad that caused the bloodshed. In this instance, Muslim clerics in Australia denounced the crime, but one wonders if the terrorist had received different religious conditioning in his native Iran, if the hostage-taking ever would have been attempted.

Pro Football Rules

Watching National Football League pregame shows talk as much about domestic violence as the games themselves is disheartening. I realize that only a tiny minority of players have been involved in scandalous behavior. Their actions however have sullied the whole league. Equally disturbing was the display by members of the St. Louis Rams of the "hands up" motion in support of Michael Brown, who was gunned down by a policeman whose gun he had tried to take. Black athletes being paid millions to play a children's game are so persecuted by this terrible country. Try comparing the players' plight to white working men who pay half a month's wages to take their family to a pro game, pay to park, and buy concessions. I can afford to go to an NFL game, but you could not pay me to go. I do not want to subsidize Michael Vick, the dog murderer, Adrian Peterson, the child abuser, Ray Rice, who knocked out a woman, or a bunch of overpaid angry African-Americans who by their actions show that they hold the paying fans in contempt.

Over the Barrel

In spite of seemingly good news about lower oil prices, US stock markets are tanking. Who would have thought that price stability for OPEC might be a good thing? Evidently, the few more dollars we millions of motorists have in our pockets after a fill-up count less than the billions big oil fails to rake into their coffers because gas prices are down. Apparently and against all logic, plummeting fuel prices may end up harming America's economy. I had hoped that with less spent on gasoline, consumers would spend more for the holidays and retailers would prosper. In the event, oil prices are going down but that does not seem to be a boon to the overall economy. I am still hard pressed to see how cartels that restrain the free market help the world prosper.

The California Weather

I know Californians usually bask in sunshine, but of late, the Golden State has experienced real climate horror. First, there has been a prolonged drought that devastated farming. Now, America's most populous state is suffering through seemingly unending rains. These torrents are causing localized flooding and potentially deadly mudslides. High straight line winds have blown down trees and damaged roofs. It seems Californians face one weather extreme or the other, drought or flood, with no safe middle like much of the rest of the Lower Forty-eight.

Protect Innocent Life

A university president is being lambasted for taking the "black lives matter" mantra that is currently en vogue and expanding it to "all lives matter". I would agree with her that the value of life is not limited to a single racial, ethnic, or religious group. All innocent human life deserves to be preserved and protected. I think that part of that protection of innocent life was the US Central Intelligence Agency's enhanced interrogation program. The aim of those measures that are now being questioned was first to ferret out and disrupt future terror operations and then to locate those culpable in attacks against Americans and the homeland like master terrorist Osama bin Laden. Clearly, the so-called "torture" of detainees must have worked as America has not had a major terror attack on our soil since September 11, 2001. Using information at least partially garnered through waterboarding, sleep deprivation, alteration of diet and other pressure techniques our intelligence gatherers used against murdering terrorists, we have protected the United States and sent our Public Enemy Number One to his watery grave. What is done to the guilty to vouchsafe the innocent, the guilty have brought on themselves.

Republican Sell Out

The GOP establishment has allowed a one trillion, one hundred billion dollar budget to be passed. Some commentators state the Republicans went along with many Obama initiatives, including funding Obamacare, to avoid a shut down of the Federal government for which they feared the GOP would be blamed. I do not think that is as much of a factor as the fact that Republican elite no longer consider themselves to be part of a party of small government and personal responsibility. The GOP is now just another quasi-socialist party that wants the Federal government to be slightly less intrusive in commerce and industry and wants to spend a little less and grow the bureaucracy a little slower than the Democrats. Have no doubt though that the majority of Republican lawmakers are now big government progressives. The Boehner/McCain Republicans want massive budgets and the massive clout that goes with them. If you expect the new Republican majority in the US Senate and the burgeoning GOP majority in the US House to fight to put America back on a limited government, Constitutional track aimed at returning to the values of our Founding, you are going to be disappointed.

Crown Heights Tragedy

A Jewish religious student was stabbed in Crown Heights by a black man around two a.m. this morning. New York police attempted to disarm and apprehend the stabber but were forced to shoot him. The assailant died. The yeshiva student was seriously wounded but is reportedly in stable condition. The attacker was reported to be spouting he wanted "to kill a Jew" before the assault. Whether he was mentally unstable or hated Jews for religious reasons is not relevant. What is relevant is that in these dangerous times, Jews must be ever vigilant and Jewish institutions must constantly be on guard to prevent similar horrors.

Pouring More Gasoline

Now is a time when the President of the United States should be doing all that he can to lower racial tensions. Instead, Barack Hussein Obama uses incendiary rhetoric that further ignites passion. Obama told the Black Entertainment Television audience that racism "is deeply rooted in our society". Yes, we Americans are so racist that we elected a black to the highest office in the land- twice. When declarations by leadership aimed at cooling anger are most necessary, Obama does the opposite. Obama's babbling justifies the rage instead of tamping it down. Obama could have done so much to bring the races together, but in the event, divides the US between black and white.

An Ornamental Congress

The Founding Fathers intended there to be separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches of government when the United States was created. Congress, not the President, was charged with making law. Until the Presidency of Barack Hussein Obama, this notion of separation has prevailed. With his illegal alien amnesty by fiat, Obama is trying to change all that. If Congress is so pliant as to permit this, and the third coequal branch, the courts, allow this overreach to stand, we no longer have America anymore. After more than two hundred years of unparalleled liberty, we will have transformed from a free republic to a banana republic in less than eight years during the course of a single Presidency.

No Group Immune

Every definable ethnic, religious, or racial group is somewhat insular. It is natural if you are Han Chinese to put the well-being of Han Chinese first. That is not to say you hate other races. It is only logical if you are African-American to rally with other blacks at a time of perceived persecution. It is normal for Jews to rally to the defense of other Jews under attack. There is also a degree of tribalism in every group. It is when the tribal ethos becomes racist that we have to worry. Tolerance of the other is a virtue that must be taught.

A Different Perspective

The recent deaths of two African-American men at the hands of police has stoked racial disharmony, suspicion, and fear. If I were black, I too would be afraid of police, particularly after the Staten Island case. Not indicting any of the officers involved in the death of Eric Garner is a travesty. The Ferguson killing of Michael Brown is a different matter though, as I believe that Brown tried to take Officer Darren Wilson's gun. As a member of a group persecuted for our faith for many centuries, I understand the anger of another group that had been deprived of equal liberty for almost two centuries by a nation that was nominally founded on the notion that "all men are created equal". Those rioting now in parts of America are not recognizing the great strides made in civil rights. This progress should be apparent as we have an African-American in the highest office in the land, that being President Obama.

Not Necessarily Racist

The police in New York who killed a black man suspected of illegal cigarette sales may not hate African-Americans. Even so, the conduct of the cops was so reckless and disproportionate to the alleged offense that they should be fired. Those officers who participated in the fatal take down or were present but failed to intervene to prevent the death should be banned from working in law enforcement in the future. They should be pursued by the decedent's survivors in civil court. If even a tinge of racism is ferreted out by the Justice Department, then Federal civil rights charges should be brought. Law enforcers can not be allowed to become judge, jury, and executioner in this country, particularly over such a minor offense as selling a loose cigarette.

Some Good News

Gasoline prices are falling. My father-in-law will not have to mortgage his house to fill up his Expedition. I will not have to sell a kidney to fuel the Odyssey. No one at the service station will be trying to trade their first-born to gas up their tank. Those nice fellas in OPEC must not be happy to see their revenue shrinking. I am so sad for them. They will no longer be installing solid gold commodes. They are reduced to only purchasing gold-plated fixtures for their bathrooms which are as large as my condo. I pity the oil sheikhs when gasoline prices are falling. It must be hard to give up that second Lamborghini and shut down the Bombardier to only fly first class. How could any self-respecting oil magnate skimp by on a billion dollars a year?

The Boiling Cauldron

Has Barack Hussein Obama brought the races closer since his ascension to the nation's highest office? Obama won a Nobel Peace Prize before he had achieved more than winning the US Presidential election in 2008 because world elite who control the Nobel Committee anticipated that the US would replace a reckless cowboy (George W Bush) with a peacemaker. Obama has not advanced peace internationally. The world is as, if not more, dangerous than ever. The Islamic State terror movement has formed and gained strength in the Iraq that Obama abandoned by prematurely pulling out US combat troops. There is a real danger that Sunni fanatics may create a Caliphate to destabilize and threaten the world. Obama, by gutting the Pentagon budget and projecting weakness rather than the will to win has allowed Red China and Russia to rise to the level of military equals to the United States. Iran has become an America-hating power on the verge of a nuclear arsenal, and Obama has not stopped them. World jihad now permeates Africa from Nigeria to Kenya with Boko Haram and al-Shabaab more potent than ever. Because of Obama's lack of resolve, the United States has not even finished al-Qaeda off after Obama did what every previous US President would have done in killing arch-terrorist Osama bin Laden. All these failures internationally are only magnified by the fact that instead of building a bridge between the races in the United States as many of his voters hoped he would, Obama has stoked the fires of discontent from his "police acted stupidly" with the Henry Louis Gates arrest early in the Obama first term. In so doing, Obama also displayed open contempt for the law enforcement officers charged with keeping the peace in this country, and poured gasoline on the fire of black distrust toward cops. Continuing to this day as we see in the Ferguson case, Obama seems more interested in dividing America by race than uniting us as Americans.

A Bosnian Slaughtered

Some of the esteemed minority community members in strife-torn St. Louis beat a thirty-two year old immigrant from Bosnia to death. Did you hear about that in the main stream media? Is it not sadly ironic that this gentleman survived the war in the former Yugoslavia to be smashed to death with hammers by savages in the Land of the (formerly) Free? His name was Zemir Begic and I doubt he will ever be as familiar to Americans as the giant thug Michael Brown who was shot to death in self-defense by a cop he attacked. The most notable difference between to two deceased men is beyond race. It is that Brown was a criminal who gave the police officer no other option but to fire. Begic was completely innocent. It would be politically-incorrect to discuss the true nature of either incident.

The Expense Report

Everyone has bills to pay. This is nothing unique or a plea for sympathy. A couple of Saturdays back, one of the neighbor's German Shepherds decided that my twenty-nine pound dog, who was in our fenced yard, was a chew toy. More than $200 in vet expenses later, my little "Bru" is starting to put weight on his front paw again. Now, we have another bill coming to repair our Toyota. All these new and unanticipated charges with a pregnant wife having a four figure medical deductible, and thousands of dollars in expense to make our condo baby-ready. Add in a traffic ticket I did not deserve, and you realize just how fast you blow through your earnings. I think it is time to sell some plasma . . .

Who Knows Saturday

With a baby on the way soon, time is compressed like never before. You think you have had a productive day. You have completed (or at least started) a few essential tasks. Then you encounter an all new challenge. You find you have a car problem. You just hope it is not terminal. Imagine thumbing a ride home from the hospital with a brand new baby (just kidding folks, we would call a cab). Time certainly flies when a couple is transforming into a family.

Crossing Our Boundaries

Millions of illegal aliens are overjoyed to be in the United States. They have come from nations with no social safety net or welfare to a nation that has never given more generous benefits. A little verse: EBT- for you but not for me// EBT- get your stuff for free// Welfare from sea to shining sea// Undercut our wages with foreigners willing to work almost for free// More expense and less opportunity for American-born you have to see. Obama's new math equals me no longer being able to support my own family while being forced to support yours.

Worth Giving Thanks

Whatever flaws the United States has (and there are many), at least there is no wholesale slaughter in the name of religion on our streets. Religious minorities need not concern themselves that someone might decapitate them because they approach faith differently. You can criticize a politician, even the President, in America without fear of being dragged away for sedition or simply disappeared. I am thankful that earlier this month we experienced a mostly free and fair election. I am especially grateful that for the first time in a long time my side won. While the United States is not a perfect nation, while we might not be as free economically and in other aspects of our lives as we once were, we are still freer than most. In a world governed by fear, Americans need not be afraid to speak ill of our political class. Americans may still abstain from worship or pray in the manner we chose to the dictates of our conscience. I am thankful that as a country we are still relatively prosperous and relatively free. I thank the Lord for the Providential blessing of liberty.

Destruction of Nation

In The Washington Times, Stephen Dinan reports that employers will receive a three thousand dollar incentive to hire illegal aliens over US-born workers. According to the liberal Washington Post in a story by Karen Tumulty, our "welcomed guests" could receive Medicare and Social Security. Last night I witnessed a pair of non-English speaking Latins in Walmart with four anchor babies and an EBT card buying more groceries than my wife and I with our and your tax-confiscated dollars. A country is not sovereign when national boundaries are not enforced. No country on earth can give welfare to all the destitute of the earth. Only a foolish nation invites in foreigners who can not make a success of themselves in their own countries. If you want to tear a country apart bring in a bunch of people from abroad who do not speak the native tongue to leech off native-born taxpayers, and stoke racial discontent to boot (see Ferguson). This planned Balkanization is exactly what Obama is doing to the United States of America.

Learning from Ferguson

What have we learned from the Micheal Brown tragedy? Apparently, a certain segment of society has little to no regard for the rule of law. They despise law enforcement officers. They do not respect the property rights of others. They are large and physically-strong with hair-trigger tempers and less self-restraint than most other Americans. They really like to take merchandise without paying for it. They do not know the difference between demonstrating peaceably and rioting. They try to elevate their looting to a struggle for civil rights. They need saturation policing because they refuse to discipline those who are clearly out of line in their own community. Lastly, we have learned that the National Guard must be brought in to restore calm.

New Defense Secretary

Chuck Hagel, a former Republican US Senator, who has served the nation since he was a combat soldier in Vietnam, is apparently being forced out of his current position of Secretary of Defense. I would contend that Hagel has served as Sec Def adequately if not admirably. Anyone Barack Hussein Obama picks to replace him may be worse. If Obama is serious about protecting the nation, he will make an appointment above politics. It is more likely that the appointment will be political. The next Secretary of Defense may be selected to be "historic". It is suggested that appointment will be the first woman to serve as Secretary of Defense, which might be more of a legacy-building step for Obama than an appointment aimed at protecting the nation.

Another Fallen Icon

Not too many years ago, Bill Cosby was "America's Dad". We laughed with him and his TV family's antics. When Cosby's real life son was murdered, we cried with him. Joe Paterno was in a way America's coach, seemingly straight-laced and proper, abiding by the rules of football and placing a priority that "student" be kept in Penn State football's "student-athletes". As it turns out, Paterno did not prevent a cover-up of a scandal far bigger than class attendance or laundry money. He turned a blind eye to the sexual abuse of children. Cosby is alleged to have engaged in the serial rape of drugged women over decades. The legacy of Paterno is forever tarnished as he lies in his grave. Whether he is charged criminally or not, Cosby's career is buried. Carefully crafted images are often destroyed by acts that reveal a cultural icon is not what he seems.

A Lawless Nation

Sovereign nations have a boundary that is defined and secured. That boundary is called a "border". America's borders, while guarded, are as porous as a sieve. We started the administration of Barack Hussein Obama with tobacco that intoxicates no one legal and marijuana that intoxicates its users so much that it diminishes their ability to function illegal. We approach the end of Obama's reign with tobacco more prohibited in many US cities and states than pot. We have homosexuals legally marrying in most states while Christians whose consciences do not permit them to participate in "gay marriage" are sued in civil court by government human rights bodies and may even face criminal prosecution. In spite of some conservative states successfully implementing some hurdles to abortion on demand, more than two million babies will be slaughtered before than can be born in the increasingly lawless and godless America.

A Lawless President

Barack Hussein Obama has taken a lawless action in granting amnesty to illegal aliens. In so doing, Obama has encouraged even more lawlessness. Obama has wittingly invited even more unaccompanied minors to risk their lives to break into America through our border with Mexico. He has invited people to lie (perjure themselves) about familial relationships, time of their entry into the country, and duration of their presence here on official forms. Are we going to DNA test five million Latins to verify that they really are father and son or mother and daughter to allow them to stay or let them enter the country as part of family reunification? Of course, we are not. It is just like the summons to appear in court that catch and release illegals receive now. Over ninety percent fail to appear at their court date and those who do show up are idiots because as part of Obama's lawbreaking, no effort is made to track down the no-shows now. Considering how hard and expensive it is to legally immigrate into America, those attempting to enter would be fools to try to use legal means of coming here. Obama has just told foreigners to come on in and take advantage of hard-working Americans who will be forced to pick up the tab for all the benefits that amnestied illegals are about to receive.

The Czar Czar

In the Obama administration, we have had all manner of Czars. We have had a "Car Czar". We have had a "Job Czar". We have an "Ebola Czar". We have even had a "Green Jobs Czar". Now with Obama about to grant executive amnesty to illegal aliens, we are about to have an authentic Czar. His name is Barack Hussein Obama, and he feels he is no longer encumbered by the US Constitution. America overthrew a King (George III) and has never had an emperor, but we now have a vainglorious leader who does not abide by the laws passed by the Congress. To the other coequal branches, Obama now says, "bow to my will". Obama does not want to listen to the will of the majority of the American people. Obama wants to be America's Caesar. I doubt Congress has the will to use the power of the purse to stop Obama, and I know the Republicans lack the will to impeach Obama.

An Immediate Impact

If the highest religious authorities in Islam would publicly denounce murders done by the Islamic State, al-Qaeda, and Palestinian terrorists, those murders would soon end. That respected muftis and imams do not condemn these killings is especially telling. It is a tacit endorsement of murder. Some clerics have even openly done the opposite and applauded wanton murder. Unless and until respected leaders of the Islamic faith denounce killing in the name of Islam, expect that killing to continue. Islam will not truly be a "religion of peace" until religious authorities in Islam demand peace.

Jewish Blood- Cheap

Jews have a right to be paranoid. For a couple of thousand years, Jews have been hunted, first by polytheists, then by Christians (the Crusades, the Inquisition, and pogroms), for a time by godless Communists and Nazis, and now by Muslims. Four more innocent Jews were slaughtered today as they prayed in the eternal and ancient capital of the Jewish people, Jerusalem. Eight more Jews were injured by two Islamic fanatics with a gun and meat cleavers. Only a robust and aggressive program of pacification can stop future attacks. Arabs inciting to violence must be detained. Armed Palestinians must be arrested and rock and Molotov cocktail throwers should be shot. Those rocks and incendiary devices are meant to kill and Jews can no longer show so much restraint toward those trying to kill them. Rubber bullets and tear gas should be replaced by live ammunition. Soon enough, the rioters would realize that by their criminal actions, they are taking their lives in their hands. If Israel displays reasonable force instead of maximum restraint, Jews would soon be safe again in the Jewish State.

The Bourbon Summit

Mitch McConnell still believes he can work with Barack Hussein Obama. Incredibly, McConnell believes his voters want him to make common cause with the President to get things done in Washington. Nothing could be further from the truth. Kentucky conservatives who held their noses and pulled the lever for the moderate McConnell do not want him advancing Obama's agenda of ever larger, ever more encroaching government. The majority of Kentuckians want Obama corralled. Kentucky wants socialism thwarted in America. Kentuckians want more freedom and less government. McConnell though is a progressive Republican who does not mind big government so long as his hands are on the levers of power. That is why I wish Matt Bevin had won the primary. So long as Mitch McConnell is leading the Republicans in the US Senate, there can be little change for the better.

An Obstructionist Congress

The majority of American voters did not endorse a rubber stamp Congress for a popular President. In spite of media hallucinations that somehow the election thrashing meant voters want more working together between the executive and legislative branches, most of the American electorate is seeking just the opposite. If Americans wanted more cooperation and comity, they would have voted in Democrats. America is a center-right country. Democrats as they exist today as a national party are hard left. It is not small-minded Republicans who are blocking the popular agenda of the President. It is an unpopular President who continues to try to foist policies Americans despise on us that inspired most voters to turn out Democrats and vote in Republicans. The GOP may be tone-deaf enough not to stand with the people against the President, but even the Republican elite will not publicly stand with Obama now that he is politically poisonous and determined to pick political fights by using executive actions to bypass the will of the American people.

Additional Training Session

Our evil puppet master, otherwise known as our dog, is taking us to another obedience class today. Apparently, we have not been quick enough to comply with his demands. "Bru" is disappointed. We have not brought him a single roadkill squirrel or even a chipmunk in rigor mortis. He complains his bacon-wrapped filet was overcooked. He likes to see a lot of blood in it, preferably mine. No, in reality, Bru (or "Brew") lunged at a good-natured giant who was jogging past in the opposite direction on one of his walks this week, and if he can not be trusted around an adult, it makes it all the more risky to have him near an infant. He has a standing invitation to exile in Nashville. He can reside at my mother's four dog home and try to attack his elderly canine fixed female cousins while trying to avoid being eaten by the younger, stronger recently fixed male (or is that formerly male now) Keeshond brothers. Either way, the family is not going to give him away or have him put down, but it would be much easier on all of us if he would calm down a little.

Against the Public

A large majority of the American people oppose any amnesty for illegal aliens. Most Americans are for the Keystone Pipeline. Barack Hussein Obama is determined to push amnesty down our throats. Obama is committed to blocking Keystone while he is President. Obama does nor care what the popular will is. He is a proto-Leftist ideologue for open borders and against carbon-based energy. Even if three quarters of Americans wish he would do the opposite, Obama is determined to forge an open borders amnesty and prevent Keystone from being completed. Obama's positions on both issues hurt laborers born in the USA as the continuing flow of aliens willing to work for less depresses wages while blocking Keystone kills jobs. Nothing voters say though will change Obama's inflexibility.

Campaign of Terror

Israel has recently been subjected to a series of attacks by Arabs using vehicles or knives to kill. While not as headline grabbing as flying an airplane into a tower, the innocent victims of these attacks are no less dead than those who perished in the World Trade Center. There has been no widespread international condemnation of the new wave of attacks against Jews. Make no mistake though, Israel will be condemned when they responds with force sufficient to stop the terror. These lone fanatic attacks will be a tough nut to crack. A vehicle running over pedestrians can be a spontaneous act. Israel will likely have to restrict the driving privileges of Arabs to end these assaults. This defensive action will then be used as an illustration of how Israel really is an apartheid state. The same smear will be directed at Israel if IDF and police forces give greater scrutiny to Arabs to search for blades. In the hands of a fanatic, a heavy object can be used as a crushing weapon. In the interest of the preservation of lives of Jews, the Jewish State will have to greatly restrict what Arabs can carry and where they are permitted to drive. Israel may have to opt for greater separation of peoples to stop Arabs from murdering Jews.

Putting On Manacles

Not content that he has already damaged our nation enough, Barack Hussein Obama wants more government control of the Internet. Obama has recently endorsed "Net Neutrality" to fix a system that is not broken. Obama has also just announced a climate change agreement with the Red Chinese that is all to China's advantage. Obama will begin issuing executive orders now to reduce so-called greenhouse gas emissions while China agreed to cap their own emissions by 2030 (if not sooner). The difference being that Beijing will never limit China's competitiveness and will simply ignore the parts of the agreement that are not to their benefit. Obama has no concern whether his executive orders will harm American industry. In fact, Obama despises US smokestack industries that for more than a century brought us unprecedented prosperity. So on the technology front, in power generation, and in manufacturing, Obama is taking steps that he claims will help our country, but that in fact only break America further.

A Dental Visit

Hearing the Democrats and their mainstream media flacks trying to make lemonade out of what for them was the guano of this election is more painful than having a root canal without anesthesia. Patriots already knew these leftists were liars of the first order. These liberal losers are also proving to be fantasists. The GOP did not win so much last Tuesday to compromise with Obama. The voters are putting them into office to drive a stake through the heart of the Obama agenda. The Democrats are hoping stale crumbs of bitter defeat reform into a nicely decorated compromise cake, which should never happen. If Republicans do not exercise their mandate to block Obama now, they need to be voted out and replaced by a new conservative party that is willing to do what it takes to save the nation as it was founded.

New Attorney General

Do you think Barack Hussein Obama is going to appoint an ideological clone of Edwin Meese as the next US Attorney General? No, Obama will select a radical fellow traveler in the mold of Eric Holder. If the Senate somehow does not approve Loretta Lynch, then the next candidate that Obama nominates will be just as far or even further to the political left. Could America function without an Attorney General for the next two years? Certainly, we would survive. Would Obama sidestep the Senate with a recess appointment? Sure, he would. There is one incontrovertible fact in this matter and that is Obama will never nominate an Attorney General who conservatives will cheer and support. In any event, I doubt the Senate will block the first black woman ever named to the post, whether at the end of the era of Democrat Harry Reid or at the start of the new majority no matter who the Republican is who replaces Reid as majority leader of the US Senate.

Old Brew Awaits

I am headed back to the Bluegrass. Perhaps, with our old, unaltered twenty-nine pound dog "Brew" (or "Bru") waiting for me, I can call it the "Bru-grass". Brew is about twenty-five pounds of attitude and four pounds of appetite. He is a pit bull in a Keeshond body. He needs to calm down though with a little one on the way. After six weeks of training with Norman Bratcher, a really good trainer, and two weeks more coming, we hope Brew really is a good dog. If he is not, he will be banished South and have the pleasure of jousting with Sage, who is twice his size, and Gizzy, who is also younger, larger, and stronger until he develops the sense not to fight his brothers. I had never owned a mean dog until Brew entered our lives. Sam, our late great retriever, was 110 pounds of whole male but mostly gentle. Casey was ninety-three pounds of unaltered gentleness. He would not even harm a mole that dug out of the ground right under his nose. Bru even went after me the last time I came back from Nashville. Let us hope when I see him later today he remembers who is the master.

Saving the Queen

A truly dastardly plot has been unearthed to murder Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. Islamists were going to stage a terror spectacular to snuff out a woman who by all accounts is one of the most generous people on earth. Elizabeth has done more charity for people including Muslims than anyone I can think of over her long service as monarch. Slaughtering the Queen would be akin to killing Mother Teresa, except I would judge Elizabeth has helped many millions more people than the angel of India was able to reach. Anyone who would harm a hair on her head can only be considered evil. What could jihadists possibly gain by eliminating the nearly ninety year old? I hope the monstrous minds plotting against the Queen never see the light of day again as free men.

The Triple Threat

Barack Hussein Obama is about to force an amnesty for millions of illegal aliens down the throats of the American public who oppose the measure by wide margins. Obama can legalize the border breakers using an executive order which would be anti-Constitutional and impeachable overreach. The Republicans would do no more than complain loudly. The GOP will never move to impeach the first black President. If the Republicans in Congress ever did move to impeach, there would be race riots on a scale unprecedented in American history, and Federal troops would be called out, not to protect innocent lives and property, but to keep business owners from protecting their stores. Obama may be bluffing about the executive order to pressure the incoming Congress, hoping to rally the vast majority of Congressional Republicans, who are moderate, to vote with all the Democrats to pass an amnesty disguised as "comprehensive immigration reform". Lastly, Obama may rush an amnesty through the departing lame duck Congress, so they will take the blame to spare the next Congress from it. That way some Representatives and Senators who will not be returning can shoulder a lot of the blame. In any event, I see these as the three potential ways an open-border amnesty is about to be forced on us.

The Cassie Update

Thank the Lord, Cassie will be coming home in a few hours. She did not suffer a stroke but has injured ligaments in her right rear knee. She is on Rimadyl and has made some progress. At her advanced age, we are not sure surgery is a good idea, but that remains an option. Please keep my favorite canine redhead in your prayers. We certainly can use your prayers as well.

The Great Betrayal

We wake up today to a Republican victory. Very few of the Republicans that won last night are conservative firebrands. In spite of the victory, the powers that be in the GOP are not eager to confront Obama or attempt to overturn Obamacare. The vast majority of Republican winners last night do want to confront the TEA Party and drive authentic conservatives from their midst. They see Ted Cruz as a troublemaker. They are skeptical of Rand Paul and think much of what he says and does is mere posturing in a quest for the White House. Most of the GOPers that won hate real conservatives far more than they hate what the Democrats are doing to this country. If you think salad days are immediately ahead for a resurgent America, the moderate majority elected last night is bound to disappoint you.

No Real Victory

If Democrats retain control of the United States Senate, America loses. If Republicans take control of the Senate, Americans still lose. We simply lose a little slower and a little less. That is because the national leadership of the GOP is comprised of moderates (at best). Do you think Lindsey Graham is conservative? Do you think Lamar Alexander will fight hard to repeal the Affordable Care Act? Do you think Chris Christie will protect Second Amendment rights or push to lower taxes? Just because someone wins an election running as a Republican does not mean they will govern as a conservative.

Tomorrow's Election Today

A Senate majority led by moderate Republicans is little better than the current Democrat-controlled Senate. The establishment GOP is just as determined to pass an amnesty for illegal aliens as Democrats are. Mitch McConnell will not call it "amnesty" but "comprehensive immigration reform", which will amount to exactly the same thing. The Republicans have no desire to take down Obamacare but will only tweak it at its edges because the GOP establishment wants that power over the people for themselves. The Republican elite want control over every Americans' medical destiny just as much as the Democrats. Both parties elite are enemies of self-determination for the American people. Nothing will change in that regard no matter who wins on Tuesday.

Our Sunday Update

Cassie does not seem to be deteriorating any further and even managed to support herself on her two front and rear left paw. We thought of potentially finding if a wheelchair might help. I know it seems crazy or at the least self-indulgent, but they do make wheelchairs for dogs. As for the rest, our recently fixed males are still fighting. "Bru", our unaltered oldest male, unfortunately still wants to fight most every dog he sees. He is not particularly good at it either, as he had his tail kicked and lost a tooth to a Labrador-pit bull mix. Only Curry is constant in her behavior and affections now at the house. She has climbed into bed to sleep with me since her sister was admitted to the animal hospital. Cousin Andrew has apparently been discharged from the hospital. Please keep on praying for their respective recoveries.

A Worried Weekend

Cassie, our great canine companion, is being treated with steroids and may need surgical intervention. She is eating, doing what comes after eating, and tried to stand up for us when we visited her. There is a lot of "want-to" in Cassie. Gizzy and Sage, the litter mate full brothers are recovering from their "calming procedure". Hopefully, they will no longer want to kill each other as they have in the last few days after being inseparable the first two years of their lives. "Bru" will have his Saturday obedience class today, which he needs to do well enough in to inspire confidence that he will be safe for the baby. Curry, our steadfast but toothless friend, remains devoted to me, although she clearly is missing her sister Cassie. I have no update on cousin Andy's condition, but we continue to pray for the best. Your prayers are also deeply appreciated.

The Wicked Prevail

Often in life, it seems that evil triumphs over good. Why would the Good Lord permit the rise of the Islamic State? How can G-D countenance cruelty? Why do unscrupulous people seem to get rich while honest people live in want? Why do pornographers fly in private jets while God-fearing folk ride buses? Why do we elect power-mad liars to govern us? Where are honesty, hard work, and thrift ever rewarded? In due time though, the wicked will still have to answer for their evil ways.

Asking for Prayer

Please pray for the return to good health of my cousin Andrew Feldman. He seems too young, too big, and too strong to have the heart issues he is facing. Please also pray for our "Cassie", who is one of the sweetest animals you could hope to meet, and is critically ill. She is a ten-year old Keeshond or Chow mix who has brightened our lives since November 2011 when I rescued her from death row in a sordid kill pound. Finally, please also pray for the recovery of Yehuda Glick, one of the foremost advocates of the Jewish right to our eternal capital Jerusalem. Yehuda was shot three times in the torso last night by an Arab in an assassination attempt. Yehuda is critically hurt and needs our prayers.

When Reality Intrudes

For the life of me, I can not understand why people tune into reality television. I also do not know why Hollywood can find so few capable of writing a script. Reality TV presents a distorted reality at best because most of those being filmed alter their behavior in the presence of cameras. Now several "performers" are in legal jeopardy or even headed to jail on different reality series. Is your reality so mundane that you vicariously embrace the "reality" of others? Do you think what you are watching is completely authentic? If you do, you probably think professional wrestling is not scripted and rehearsed. The most real aspect of reality programs is the advertising revenue they rake in, which comes down to a huge audience of lonely people trying to escape the ennui of their everyday existence. Now, I have to quit this writing to go watch me some "raslin".

Bastions of Idiocy

The University of California, Berkeley is facing protests for inviting Bill Maher to speak because the protesters deem the comedian to be "anti-Islam". Ivy League students have called "American aggression" a greater threat than the Islamic State terror faction in video now widely seen on the Internet. Being anti-Israel is all the rage at many US colleges with boycotts, sanctions, and divestment from the Jewish State being considered at colleges and by academic unions across America. A number of students at Wellesley can not quite figure out what sex or sexual orientation they are and are being lauded for their confusion with worldwide media attention. If this kind of brilliance is emanating from our colleges and universities, just imagine how great our high schools must be. Only a handful of colleges like Hillsdale resist becoming hotbeds of progressive indoctrination by maintaining academic rigor, teaching the US Constitution, and upholding traditional values. The corruption of American education bodes ill for our future.

Series of Blunders

Barack Hussein Obama encouraged every uprising in the Muslim world except the one that would have mattered. Obama supported the overthrow of Gaddafi in Libya. Obama bolstered the usurpation of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt. Obama tried to help push Assad out in Syria. In the nation that caused and continues to cause the most regional destabilization, Obama sat silent while the mad mullahs crushed the Green Revolution in Iran. In the one country where democratization would have helped the US the most, where replacing the Islamic Republic with more enlightened rule would have quieted the Middle East, the Obama administration did next to nothing to advance the cause of human freedom. America, the Middle East, the world, and of course, the oppressed Iranian people continue to pay for Obama's inaction to this very day.

America, the Salvageable

With an election looming, the United States has an opportunity to reverse the Obama-induced terminal decline of our once great nation. Americans can vote Democrat to finish ourselves off in a hurry. We can vote Republican to slow the death spiral. We can even occasionally find authentic conservative candidates who if their prescriptions for the future were followed could actually save the country. With Republican establishment candidates like Mitch McConnell and Lamar Alexander running in Kentucky and Tennessee the best the patriotic voter in those states can hope for is stasis. The most the electorate can hope for in the coming plebiscite is that the nation does not plummet further in the hands of our progressive overlords, no matter which party they shill for, because Republican socialist-lite is little better than Democrat outright socialist. There is no Reagan on the horizon to save us, and only a few Ted Cruz- Rand Paul types around fighting the rear guard action as America retreats.

Needing a Host

The Ebola virus will not fly across the ocean and down your chimney to infect your family. If heaven forbid you ever catch Ebola, it will have been transmitted to you by an individual who already had the disease. If you are ever injured by a jihadist, that harm was caused by a notion that does indeed seem to travel through the air (or the airwaves). There are poisonous ideas being disseminated on the World Wide Web. People are being taught religious hatred online. They are being instructed to do violence in the name of faith as an article of faith. This is a perversion of man's relationship with the Lord. This is an assault on decency and conscience. Across the ages, many faiths have been spurred to violence, but over time, those faiths have reformed to denounce brutality carried out as Divine Will. To this point, Islam has experienced no such reformation. It is time for the hundreds of millions of Muslims who are sickened by the Islamic State, Boko Haram, al-Qaeda and similar aggressive jihadists to rally to denounce their evil acts to save their own faith. If the good Muslims do not rise up to counter the evil actors within Islam, it demonstrates that Islam itself and not a few terrorists hiding behind misinterpreted doctrine is the real problem. The world will shortly know whether a few million deluded believers corrupt one of the world's great religions or whether peaceful Muslims will stand as one to redeem their own faith.

Challenge of Ebola

Ebola is such a threat because it has not been researched as extensively as AIDS or malaria. Before the current outbreak, Ebola was so deadly as to be almost self-limiting. Now, several people have traveled from parts of Africa where the disease is endemic to the United States and Europe while carrying the pathogen. They have subsequently infected health workers who were treating them. To this point, there is no indication that Ebola has mutated to where it can be spread in the air as the flu virus is. Because it has not happened yet does not necessarily mean that it can not happen. Health workers returning to America or Europe from Ebola-afflicted areas should self-quarantine until any danger that they have Ebola has passed. The number of days for this has now apparently been extended from twenty-one to forty-two. Commercial air travel should be suspended out of the "Hot Zone" countries. Research should be accelerated into treatments, a vaccine, and a cure for this dread disease.

Stand with Israel

While most of the world's attention was focused on the horror in Canada, another Islamist terrorist visited unspeakable barbarism on Israel. Using a car as his weapon, an Arab plowed through Israeli civilians waiting for a train. A three month old baby girl was deliberately murdered. Eight innocent Israelis were injured in this attempt to kill them and as many others as this monster could kill. Israeli security forces stopped the rampage before others were slaughtered. The attack in Israel was every bit as brutal and horrific as the Canada outrage but received virtually no coverage outside of the Israeli press. I guess Jewish blood remains cheap to almost the entire world. There can be no punishment sufficient for a baby killer. The world stands in righteous indignation against the terror that was inflicted on Canada, but outside of the Jewish people, the world is silent over the murder of a Jewish infant.

Stand with Canada

Today, terror struck our neighbors and friends to the North. Canada has been attacked. In the wake of two Canadian soldiers being deliberately struck by a car being driven by a convert to Islam yesterday that killed one of the soldiers, in the last couple of hours, a gunman or gunmen attacked Canada's War Memorial and Parliament. On this day, we pray for Canada. On this day, we are all Canadians. Until the menace of terror is eradicated, we must stand together. We must remain vigilant. We must speak the truth and not coat facts in the veneer of lies called political correctness. The nihilists using the mask of religion to murder innocents must and will be stopped. The good and decent people of the world will unite to vanquish the forces of evil that reared their head today.

Different Recruiting Pitches

The United States military offers the opportunity to defend freedom and protect the innocent. The Islamic State gives recruits the chance to deny freedom and kill the innocent. The American serviceman risks life to go all over the world to help as we see now in the fight against Ebola. The Islamic State jihadist wants to conquer the world and impose a global caliphate. Our troops have died liberating nations. IS terrorists die trying to impose militant benighted Wahhab fanaticism on anyone who believes differently. Only a nihilist would join IS, where butchery is justified by cloaking it as religious virtue. The US military attracts those who are willing to lay down life to guard liberty.

King Obama's Team

Barack Hussein Obama has surrounded himself with amazingly skilled underlings. He leads a group who can tell you all the liability issues involved in changing a light bulb. Team Obama can recite OSHA regulations chapter and verse about changing a light bulb. Obama and his henchmen (and women) can organize a union to prevent workers from being exploited when they have to change a light bulb. Obama and his cadre can draft a wonderful press release about the urgent need to change a light bulb with the White House press secretary able to harangue his listeners about how important it is to change that light bulb. In the process of all this, the light bulb still is not changed. For being the smartest administration ever, they can not seem to replace a dim bulb.

Voice of Reason

Barack Hussein Obama's administration is still clamoring for drastic measures to defeat man-caused global warming, which does not exist, while downplaying the threat of Ebola, which has killed thousands and is bound to kill even more. Global warming has vastly enriched many of the people promoting it. Compelling evidence that man was not causing the earth to heat up was suppressed by government and media. Grants were given to so-called "scientists" who supported the idea but denied to researchers who discovered evidence that man was not causing global warming. Ebola really kills fifty to seventy percent of those who contract it. Obama is so committed to open borders amnesty that he will not exclude carriers of diseases that can kill from entering the country. Ebola is not the only disease threatening the US as the current outbreak of Enterovirus D68 seems to have its origins in Central America from which the United States has just experienced a surge of unaccompanied minors immigrating illegally. To have the nation devoting vast resources to fighting non-existent threats while giving lip service to fighting real threats to life is par for the course for the Obama administration.

Air Force One

If President Barack Hussein Obama is so confident that Ebola is hard to catch, might I suggest that he eschew Air Force One and take an airplane ride on the Frontier Airlines plane that the infected nurse flew from Cleveland to Dallas. Obama could also instill confidence by having a meet and greet where he kisses and hugs and shakes hands with the medical staff that has been treating Ebola patients. I believe that this disease is not quite as hard to catch as the Obama administration contends. At this point, with no vaccine and no cure for Ebola, the common sense method of keeping America safe from the virus is closing the border to potential carriers. Because this prescription to keep Americans safe might actually work, Obama will never do it. With Team Obama running the country, we have a warped administration that values political correctness over the very survival of the American people.

Kernel of Truth

Barack Hussein Obama and his flunkies are going the extra mile to assure the American public that they have little to be worried about over Ebola. This reassurance comes after Obama told America we were safe from Ebola. Claims about our safety were put into doubt after two nurses in Dallas contracted the dread disease. This plague has now forced the government to find and monitor a chain of hundreds of individuals pending the passage of time needed to insure they have not acquired the virus. Quarantine of hundreds or even thousands may await in the near future. Yet, still the Obama administration is issuing visas to enter the United States to Africans from the "Hot Zone". African nations surrounding the afflicted countries have closed their borders to nationals from Ebola-hit countries, but America will not. In the Ebola crisis, Barack Obama is putting millions of Americans needlessly at risk.

Worse Than Katrina

George W. Bush was roundly lambasted for his handling, or rather, what was regarded as his mishandling of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. What Barack Hussein Obama is doing or failing to do as regards Ebola is vastly worse. So far as I know, no human being or group of people can cause or stop a hurricane because a hurricane is an act of G-d. The spread of transmission of Ebola into the United States was preventable. It would have been as easy as suspending flights from the "Hot Zone" countries in Africa, and requiring anyone who had visited the disease-afflicted areas to go into a month-long quarantine in a secure environment as America used to maintain on Ellis Island until any danger that they were carrying Ebola had passed. I say a month because "experts" tell us Ebola will declare itself within twenty-one days if an individual is indeed infected. In the event, the Obama administration took exactly none of these common sense precautions and now we may have what would have been an avoidable global pandemic in our midst. I said on this forum back in 2008, "elect a Third World President and we will become a Third World nation". Little did I know he would bring a Third World plague upon us.

Tennessee Spare "Beau"

A dog in Dyersburg, Tennessee has been sentenced to be destroyed today for the crime of killing a duck in his master's yard. Danny Higgins' Shepherd-Retriever mix Beau as been called "gentle and friendly" by neighbors. Mr. Higgins is not rich or powerful. He is not media savvy. He is a simple man trying to save his best friend. Judge Dean Dedmon condemned this dog for following his natural instinct. Judge Dedmon's telephone number was revealed on Facebook as (731)286-7604. If you care about dogs or justice, please call the judge and politely implore him to reconsider his death sentence on Beau.

Hope for Recovery

If responsible adults in the form of Republicans can hold the US House of Representatives and take the Senate, perhaps they can sufficiently restrain Barack Hussein Obama to start the process of rebuilding the America our Founders envisioned. If Democrats hold the Senate, we are in real trouble as a nation. No matter who is on the ballot as a Democrat, remember a vote for them is a vote for Obama. A vote for the so-called independent candidate Orman in Kansas running against incumbent Republican Pat Roberts is a vote for Barack Hussein Obama. The only responsible course of action for Americans is to vote against the socialists who now masquerade under other labels. The patriotic course of action is to vote GOP.

Recite The Pledge

With most Americans so cavalier about existential threats to both life and liberty, but still bean counting their bottom line, a new pledge for them should be "by, for, and with the Almighty dollar". We have a struggle of civilization versus nihilism engulfing the Middle East. We have Ebola ravaging Africa and now infiltrating America. We have the Enterovirus D68 paralyzing and killing children in the United States on a scale unseen since polio was rampant. With a surveillance state apparatus intercepting every electronic transmission, how come the US is unable to defeat the rising Islamic State or even thwart a Muslim madman beheading a coworker in Oklahoma, allegedly after copious postings lauding Islamic beheading on his Facebook page? Yet, all we hear from too many is "how is my 401k plan doing?" How can so many life-threatening catastrophes be imperiling us, so much of our freedom be eroding, and yet so many of us are gauging everything by how much money we can hoard?

Man's Best Friend

There is an old saying that dogs are man's best friend. Harry Truman reportedly declared, "if you want a friend in Washington, get a dog". A few days back a dog was killed in Spain for the crime of belonging to a nurse who had treated a priest who later died of Ebola and had the misfortune to contract the disease herself. I have heard it said that some more or less despised politicians are "dogs". I would not flatter politicians by comparing them to our loving and loyal canines. Where our political masters are concerned, I would stick to "rats" as the appropriate nomenclature. Even if you are far away from DC, a devoted companion is as close as the kill pound, sometimes mistakenly called a "shelter", nearest to you.

Dog Training Classes

We are taking our most recent Keeshond rescue "Bru" to training classes with a retired police canine officer. He is not yet satisfied that he has full compliance. Not the trainer, mind you, but Bru believes my wife and I are a tad recalcitrant. We do not hop to quite fast enough with Bru's treats. We steadfastly refuse to grill Bru a steak every night. Despite living in Kentucky, we have not yet let Bru raid a KFC. I have not found near enough roadkill rabbits to make the burgoo Bru keeps asking for, though in an effort to keep himself provisioned, he keeps trying to chase down additional bunnies in the backyard. The begging is becoming tiresome, but we think if we ask Bru nicely enough, we may be allowed to sit for a moment. Dogs are such a joy. It is a shame we people do not realize how often we disobey them.

Two Great Candidates

Kentucky has a choice in their upcoming race for US Senator. They can reelect the incumbent Republican Mitch McConnell. McConnell is a moderate. He is a progressive like John McCain and Lindsey Graham. McConnell is the ultimate insider, the consummate elite establishment Republican who cares more for corporate interests than Kentucky values. McConnell is opposed in the election by Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes, who is now cloaking her San Francisco liberalism so much she refuses to even admit voting for Barack Hussein Obama. In the contest between the sitting Minority Leader of the Senate who at least can keep the gravy train flowing back into his home state with the power of his position and seniority and the telegenic young leftist who has campaigned constantly while under-serving the people of Kentucky as Secretary of State, as much as it pains me, I say, "vote Mitch".

The Freedom Train

The freedom train left the station about an hour ago,// But you were not on it.// You were waiting for your government check.// You said, "what the heck"// Another train will be down the track soon enough// But that is all bluster and bluff.// The next train is a dependency wreck// With a whole lot of folks who gave away their soul// Just to climb aboard that Federal dole.// This effort to save US may be in vain// But if you are not insane and still have a brain// You know you have a lot to gain by resisting the urge to grab that free ticket for the welfare train.// Changing course may bring a bit of pain// But our nation is going down the drain// Hold fast to that liberty notion// Set the freedom train back in motion// If you have the sense to stay out of the rain// Use that self-reliance seed to begin again

Islamic State Juggernaut

The Islamic State (IS) is now encroaching the border between Syria and Turkey. The primary reason that this murderous terrorist group has enjoyed so much military success is the pronounced lack of will by the West to do what is necessary to stop IS. IS has no navy to project power, no air force to deny opponents air supremacy, and only heavy weapons captured in the field from defeated Syrian government forces and the hapless Iraqis that America trained and armed. The most notable aspect of IS tactics is their medieval brutality, slaughtering virtually every combatant they capture and killing any civilians who do not tow the Sunni Wahhab line. Teddy Roosevelt or Ronald Reagan or Winston Churchill would have already stopped these atavists were they alive and in power today. Our risk-averse Western leaders led from behind by Obama are committing some resources to conduct limited airstrikes on Islamic State forces. Not a carpet bombing campaign, but pinprick strikes against an IS vehicle here or there is mostly what Western defense ministers and Obama's pet commanders are willing to do to thwart a force determined to create a new caliphate. This profound abdication of leadership amounts to more than a lack of will to prevail. It indicates that the "forces of civilization" today lack the determination to protect their own citizenry and even the wisdom necessary for self-preservation. Those guarding harems have more backbone than the eunuchs leading the West to our own destruction at the hands of seventh century throwbacks who do not have the technical knowledge to keep the smallest NATO member nation's air force flying for a single day. To have so much military power as the West but a reticence to use it in self-defense is more than a shame. It is cowardice that amounts to a suicidal act.

Change of Season

Fall is here. With the season, I am hoping that corrupt politicians fall in the November election. Then, we can have a rise of America under the stewardship of honest folk. I despise many of the Republicans running for reelection. They are better though than their Democrat opponents in every case. A vote for a Democrat for the US House or Senate is a vote for Barack Hussein Obama. Obama is a greater threat to liberty and prosperity than all the Republicans put together.

The Real Scoop

If you live in America, it is highly doubtful Ebola will kill you. If you stay in the United States, you probably will not be murdered by a terrorist. If you reside in the lower Forty-eight or Hawaii, you need not worry about a polar bear drowning because of man-caused global warming. If you are an Alaskan, you will not see Ursus maritimus wiped out by climate change either. Most of us in the Land of the Free will live uneventfully, except for those brave enough to join the military, fire departments, or the police. We are mostly doomed or blessed with a prosaic existence, where we should give thanks for everyday miracles like pregnancy and birth. We still have two oceans as fortress and the blessing of more liberty than most non-Americans ever enjoy.

Need Not Plan

Life is what happens while you are waiting for something else.

Traditional Morality Died

America today has dual epidemics first of out of wedlock birth, and second of the murder of the unborn called legal abortion. Marijuana use is now legal in several jurisdictions. Homosexual marriage is now being conducted with government blessing in most US states. We are in a country that would be unrecognizable to our founders. Those who remember Eisenhower's America can not process what they see today. A nation that feared the Lord now laughs at the prospect of being judged by a higher being. A country that sticks its thumb in the eye of the Creator can not long continue to receive blessings.

Did Some Atoning

Yom Kippur has just come and gone. I did some atoning. I just wish our dreadful political class would do some atoning of their own. They will not. They will continue acting with pride that they are our betters. We should put paid to most of their careers in the election next month. They have damaged our nation beyond forgiveness. Many of our political elite are so filled with hubris that they think they are infallible. They actually get much more wrong than they ever get right. May the Lord forgive them the error of their ways. I will not.

America- the Prosperous

Hooray! Unemployment has dipped below six percent. Our Federal masters today announced joblessness is at a mere 5.9 percent. This figure would be the lowest unemployment number since the years of the administration of George W. Bush. Those crowing about the "improved numbers" do not want you to notice that the labor participation rate in America is at its lowest point ever. Only 62.7 percent of able-bodied adults are working or seeking work. More than ninety million potential workers have simply thrown in the towel and are living off the government dole or surviving economically by some other means (i.e. off the books employment in some black market or perhaps by barter). In spite of what Obama administration spin masters and their main stream media flunkies say, these are not good times for the vast majority in the beyond broke American economy.

A Moribund Mule

The Islamic State is on the march toward their caliphate. US markets have sold off. Ninety million able-bodied adult Americans are not employed. The mysterious enterovirus D68 has killed at least four, paralyzed nine children, and is present in almost every state. Ebola has entered the country. At least twelve million and more likely forty-five million illegal aliens have breached our border. Of late, unaccompanied minors, mainly central Americans, in the thousands have crossed into the United States by way of Mexico. Do these facts seem to be harbingers of electoral victory for Democrats in November?

The Hidden Elephant

The TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party emerged to help create a wave election victory for Republicans in 2010. Democrats and establishment Republicans feared and hated the authentic conservatism of the TEA Party. The Obama administration so loathed the TEA Party that they unleashed the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) under the direction of Lois Lerner on the grassroots movement. This tactic pulled the rug out from America's conservatives just as they were gaining momentum. For all his failures at home and abroad, the Machiavellian move of turning loose tax enforcers on political enemies was a masterstroke. The conservative bedrock had its legs cut out from under it just as it had pulled itself back up. Nixon dreamed of using the IRS as a weapon against political foes but never had the gumption to do it. Obama has strangled the opposition and only a handful of reporters (most notably Sharyl Attkisson) are investigating this anti-Constitutional abuse of power. Even conservative commentators do not recognize how much election results may have been altered by the IRS interference. This manipulation is the elephant in the room that conservatives should be screaming about, but because of a lack of interest by the media and even right-wing commentators, IRS abuse of conservative groups remains a largely silent scandal.

Facing the Varsity

A few short months ago, Barack Hussein Obama dismissed the "Islamic State" (IS) as the junior varsity team. Since then, the Islamic State has taken over wide swathes of Iraq and Syria. The United States has now been forced to commit air power to containing the Islamic State. Obama, who so recently did not take IS all that seriously, now says it will be a long process and not easy, but that the US and our allies will eventually defeat IS. The President said in a Sixty Minutes interview broadcast Sunday that our intelligence community had underestimated the threat posed by the Islamic State. Will the President's publicly pronounced lack of faith in US intelligence not a.)cause the American public to lose faith in our spies, and b.)sap the morale of our intelligence operatives and further hurt the agencies they represent? Seldom before Obama did Americans see so-called leaders point the finger and say the buck stops somewhere else.

War Against Ebola

The United States has deployed the military to Africa to battle a disease. That illnesses is so virulent that it infected American medical missionaries who had trained for years to deal with and protect themselves from communicable illnesses. If well-trained medical professionals found themselves contracting the Ebola virus, is it not likely members of the US armed forces with considerably less medical training might catch the disease? Might they not bring that sickness back to the States to infect other Americans? While everyone wants to help, I believe it was ill-considered to expose our troops and the American public when those forces are brought home to such a risk. It would have been better to devote resources to the production in quantity of the vaccine that saved the medical missionaries and then ship that cure to the African medical workers who were already on "the front line" rather than to send troops who have no cure for Ebola into the danger zone.

Resolute Russia Reemerges

Unlike the United States, Russia has a strong leader. Vladimir Putin is the anti-Obama. Putin is everything Barack Hussein Obama is not. He exemplifies the values of traditional Russia. Obama tries to "change" America, taking us farther than ever from our founding virtues. Russians look to and respect assertive leaders, which is precisely what Putin is. Obama seeks to "lead from behind", expecting to find coalitions to defeat threats to US security, rather than vigorously defending American strategic interests. Putin is a Russian bear. George W. Bush was a cowboy. Barack Obama is a steer.

Recovery Plan America

The ultra wealthy are doing fine here in the United States. The poor do not suffer in the US as they sometimes do in other places as the US has a vast social safety net. I hereby propose to restore prosperity to the dwindling and assailed middle class in these steps: 1.)Cut domestic spending by the Federal government. 2.)End the Federal Income Tax. 3.)Replace that tax with a national sales tax. (That way, individuals could have some control over what they owe to government. By consuming less, they could pay less in taxes, giving citizens more choice in their economic destiny). 4.)Reduce burdensome government regulation that criminalizes far too much and stifles wealth creation. (Entrepreneurship built America's prosperity that our socialist masters have sapped, but free enterprise, if allowed to, can still save us). 5.)Abolish the Federal Reserve and return the US to a gold and/or silver standard so that our currency has real value and is not an overprinted fiat currency, the value of which is predicated on a false promise by government (Let "full faith and credit" have actual value). 6.) Restore America's defense to reinforce our capacity to deter foreign enemies (including terrorists abroad). This is the only part of my proposal that engenders additional expense on the part of the public but is a necessary effort for national security and our very survival as a nation and as individuals. 7.)Replace Obamacare with the eminently viable GOP health plan set forth by Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal . These seven steps might not all be easy, but they could allow most to become more free and prosperous, which is why none of the steps will ever be implemented. Power in the United States is a virus that protects and perpetuates itself while killing its host, which is our fading liberty, that America's elite are killing.

The New Year

The holiday of Rosh Hashanah which marks the Jewish New Year has just been celebrated by Jews worldwide. Each year, Jews pray for peace but the Jewish people have rarely found that elusive peace. The coming year looks no different than the last year. Jews found themselves attacked everywhere from Israel to the Jewish museum in Belgium. Three Jewish boys in Israel were abducted and murdered, sparking a prolonged war with the terror group Hamas. The forces that slaughtered Jews in the Holy Land and abroad gained strength while the Jewish State was subjected to evermore criticism as an "apartheid" state with threats looming of boycotts, divestment, and sanction. We hope what we as Jews face does not grow worse, and pray our situation improves, but it seems certain it will deteriorate. We beseech the Lord to sustain us and grant our people and all the people of the world a peaceful year.

Goodbye Eric Holder

The good news today is that the white-hating attorney general of the United States is stepping down. Eric Holder, the most racially-hostile member of the Obama cabinet is departing. The bad news is that Holder's boss is not resigning with him. I am not sanguine that whoever Obama appoints to succeed him will be any less biased. Holder has been hostile to traditional values and gun rights. Holder refused to prosecute members of the New Black Panther Party who had intimidated white voters in Philadelphia. Holder perfectly reflected the views of Obama, and Obama will select a like-minded individual who sees everything through a racial prism to be the next Attorney General of the US.

Little Jack Burden

Little Jack Burden has become New Jack Burden// Urban predator, pretend farmer// Pigford at the trough, all the slop they can steal// A different breed of dole dweller// Sneaking out of the DC cellar// Hey Jose, can you pick my crop?// "No indeed, give me EBT or I'll call a cop"// Virginia coed- she go bye// Break you crackers, you gonna die// Bin Laden's brother sneak across the Southern border because he thinks some jihad is in order// So go out and vote RINO in November// This will be your act of surrender

On Climate Change

Hubris is behind the notion that the human species is so powerful that we can alter the climate. The world has just witnessed climate marches where more than a million people globally gathered to protest a chimera. The pride that must be involved with thinking you quitting your gas guzzler will save the environment, or even better, the pride felt in forcing your neighbor to give up his SUV and that will save "Mother Earth" must be overwhelming. Those pushing climate change must think we are our own gods because they fail to recognize the sovereign power of the Lord. Human activity does not cause, nor can human activity prevent hurricanes. It is the height of folly to believe man has so much power and G-d so little. Man is not that potent and the good Lord is not so puny as to permit people driving down the street or switching on light bulbs to have a lasting effect on the climate of earth.

Housing Market Stinks

Despite all the rose-colored glasses talk coming from the White House about a roaring economy, existing home sales slipped two percent last month. Ninety-two million American adults are not working. More Americans are on some form of government aid than ever before. America has welcomed in more than eleven million illegal aliens, including at least seventy thousand unaccompanied minors, and must find means to feed and house them. Middle class Americans see no cause for optimism that would cause them to buy a house. Residential real estate now is not a buyers' or sellers' market. It is a mourners' market for traditional Americans so distressed at seeing their country taken away from them.

Titans Really Disappoint

Rooting for my hometown professional football team, the Tennessee Titans, is like supporting the Chicago Cubs. The Titans organization wanted desperately to give owner Bud Adams a Super Bowl title. Adams died waiting. The Titans are nowhere near as bad as the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers were, but that makes the losses that much more disappointing. They come close to the prize, but it manages to elude them, just out of reach. "Maybe next year" should be the anthem for the hapless Tennessee Titans.

Dime of Difference

The go-along GOP as embodied by John Boehner disgusts me. Boehner, who hardly ever squawks about the socialist direction that Barack Hussein Obama is taking the country, has contrived with Democrats to see that Obamacare is funded. Boehner and the establishment Republicans have not opposed Obama on amnesty but have fought as hard as the Democrats to pass amnesty disguised as "comprehensive immigration reform". These GOP nitwits have no qualms about disease or even ISIS terrorists breaching America's porous Southern border. Republicans who pretend to be conservative are all too often progressive. These chameleons are just as dangerous to liberty as the Democrats are.

The Reluctant Virgin

Scotland said "no" last night to independence. Britain is still "Great". Millions in Scotland voted and a clear majority want to maintain the bond. Many Scots favored severing the tie. More Scots supported maintaining the link. The process was sometimes rowdy but was never violent. Both sides had their say and I feel both Scotland and the United Kingdom are stronger together than apart.

Inherently Violent Sport

Should anyone be surprised that men paid to knock each other down on the athletic field might knock people around off the field? Is there some mystic boundary at the sideline that turns thugs on the pitch into saints off it? The O.J. Simpson case springs to mind when thinking about domestic violence involving football stars. There can be little doubt those with aggressive personalities are drawn to a sport involving so much contact. The same could be said of boxing where former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson was jailed for rape and allegedly knocked his then wife Robin Givens across a room. Jon Koppenhaver, a mixed martial arts competitor known as "War Machine", recently was arrested for assaulting his former girlfriend. If you date or marry someone paid to be a brute, there is a possibility that man will be brutal toward your children or you.

Just Forgive Biden

Joe Biden did not mean to offend Jews by using the term "Shylocks". He meant to say "Fagin".

Government's Controlling Hand

Americans live in a time where our most intimate personal communication is eavesdropped. Interception of our emails and telephone calls is ubiquitous. Each missive we mail is photographed. All this, it is claimed, is for our own protection. With Obamacare, the Federal government has unprecedented control of our medical destiny. In a period of growing government, liberty is shrinking. Individual rights are being encroached like never before while groups that shout for freedom when the Right is in power are largely silent. An era of dependency on government benefits has been fostered which along with crushing taxation and regulation is intended to sap the work ethic that built America. Government is at its worst when it punishes people striving to better themselves. Obama has throttled those who seek to remain self-sufficient while expanding the dole to levels never before seen in the United States. The redistributionist scheme that is the Obama agenda penalizes the desire that most people have to better themselves and attacks the natural yearning to leave your children better off. Government gives great largess to the elderly indigent but impoverishes you to make you indigent by forcing you to forfeit almost all that you have earned in your working life before you can access those benefits. The death tax strips families of farms and businesses while the windfall government receives collecting it goes to the shiftless and the foreign horde of illegal aliens. When the government feeds you, houses you, and even gives you a cell phone, you almost have to be a sucker to work. When the government pays you ninety-nine weeks of unemployment compensation near the wage you were earning, where is the urgency to look for a new job? If you do not see evil in a state that spies on citizens, strips away medical autonomy, rewards sloth and punishes effort, you fit right in with the administration of Barack Hussein Obama.

The Bosses' Bosses

America's political class by in large no longer leads, but is dictated to by large contributors. George Soros wields huge influence on the Left. The Koch brothers shape policy on the right. Democrats in elected office are largely beholden to labor unions, particularly teachers' unions and the SEIU. GOP US Representatives and Senators dance to the tune of the Chamber of Commerce (hence the momentum for amnesty). K Street lobbyists have a voice that drowns out others attempting to get either party to listen. Those who back abortion-on-demand have a megaphone to the Democrat Party while the NRA whispers constantly in most Republican ears. Very few politicians buck their "paymasters". The last people most elected office holders listen to or really care to hear from is their constituents back home.

Straddling the Tracks

Europe might be more representative with independent Basque and Flemish states and an independent Scotland. These are not new notions. If you are a student of Scottish history or have even seen the movie "Braveheart", you know England and the Scots have not always enjoyed a comfortable union. If you remember the Madrid train bombings back in 2004, you know even if Basques were not blamed directly for exploding the bombs, ETA separatists may well have provided the explosives that were ultimately used, even if they had no knowledge of what and who was to be targeted. While the Flemish have been almost always peaceful in their demands, they feel they have been deprived of fair representation. Over the centuries, the borders of European states have changed repeatedly and almost never peacefully. Maybe, an era of nonviolent change for the better will begin with Scotland severing her tie with Great Britain.

New Europe Emerging

If Scotland votes for independence, not only the United Kingdom but the European Union will change overnight. In and of itself, Scotland may not seem that crucial, however, Scotland looms larger than the size of the Scottish economy and the population. How could Sots gain independence and Basques still be held back? The irony might well be that Scotland gains independence and remains in the EU, while UKIP wins in Great Britain and withdraws the UK from the European Union. Many fear Scotland's departure will weaken England. Time will tell but Scotland's independence may in the end be good for England, Europe, and the world.

On American Strength

Teddy Roosevelt declared, "speak softly, and carry a big stick". T. R. demonstrated that this was more than bluster by sending the Great White Fleet around the world. When hostages were seized by Muslims in Morocco, unlike our current leader, Teddy Roosevelt's administration famously demanded, "Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead". Barack Hussein Obama postures mightily about "red lines" in Syria and reversing Russian aggression, but carries no stick at all. Jihadis and foreign despots sense Obama's weakness. No shortage of US military power but a lack of resolve by the Obama administration imperils global stability. If Obama had the will to prevail, America could enforce the peace.

Calling Them "Militants"

The mainstream press is calling Islamic State terrorists "militants". The dinosaur media are referring to these murderers as "fighters". Some of the moral relativists are even calling these cold-blooded killers "activists". These Islamic State butchers want to kill all the Shiites, Alawites, Yazidis, Christians, and Jews who refuse to convert and adhere to their brand of extreme Sunni Wahhabism. These IS marauders even want to slaughter fellow Sunnis who are less fanatical. A fair term to call members of the Islamic State is "Islamo-Nazis", but you will never hear them called that by our suicidal media.

The New Boss

Barack Hussein Obama tried to show the world that he was serious about security in last night's speech. Obama tried to burnish his fading reputation by showing how tough he is going to be on the Islamic State. By emphasizing the "international coalition" he is forming to fight ISIL, Obama is not leading but abdicating leadership. If it is in America's interest to defeat the rising Islamic State, then as the last superpower, the United States need not wait and seek partners but should use our great strategic resources to smash the nihilist group. If the Islamic State is such a menace, Obama should not hesitate to use "boots on the ground" to wipe them out, but once again last night, Obama pledged there will be no US ground forces involved. There are domestic political considerations involved with Congressional elections soon to take place, and Obama does not want to admit he withdrew US troops prematurely from Iraq opening the door to the Islamic State. With heightened focus on terror on this September 11 anniversary, the world looked to America for robust leadership to combat jihad, but in the event, we have a President in Obama who refused even last night to acknowledge that jihad plays the lead role in the current conflict. Obama specifically said last night that the Islamic State is not about religion as no religion condones killing innocent people, but it is not up to Obama or Western leaders to define the nature of Islam. As Sunni religious leaders issue fatwas supporting the Islamic State, it is inarguable that the current wave of jihadi terror is all about religion. Only when imams universally denounce the conduct of the Islamic State will it credibly be said that this conflict is not about Islam. I had more confidence that George W. Bush was committed to defeating the forces of terror than I do in our current President who equivocates in the face of terror and refuses to even declare the true nature of our enemy when that enemy is clearly motivated by the religious fervor of Wahhab absolutism.

The Old Boss

According to US Senator Jeff Sessions as reported by S.A. Miller in the Washington Times, taxpayers are now being forced to pay for welfare beneficiaries marijuana through EBT cards. I am sure this is what our Founding Fathers intended: To take from the producers in society so that the shiftless can get high. When Barack Hussein Obama said he intended "change" for the country, few guessed the direction he would take us. Even fewer realized how successful Obama would be at clouding the Founders' vision. Puff away patriotism, we have been transformed in a nation that would be unrecognizable not just to our Founders, but even to the Eisenhower majority of the 1950s. The beatniks sure would get it though . . . man.

When Sharks Attack

I just read that a man was killed by a shark in Australia. We are told by so-called "experts" that shark attacks on humans are rare. I have the perfect way to avoid being attacked by a shark. Stay out of the water. I have never seen a shark march down High Street to maul a shopper. It is easy enough to avoid sharks. Street thugs as the world observed in the Memphis, Tennessee Kroger beating are harder to avoid. Remember as well that there is no place to hide from jihadi terror as thousands of people merely going to work found on September 11, 2001. I will always be more concerned with random criminal acts and planned acts of terror than I am about shark attacks.

Worse than Witches

I have just read Michelle Malka Grossman's article on jpost.com that sixty British women have joined the Islamic State in Syria to join the al-Khansaa all-female brigade of jihadis enforcing sharia. There are more women there from other nations in the West who have come to fight as members of IS as well. Other Western women and women from Muslim countries have brought themselves to the conflict zone to provide sexual service in the name of jihad to male Wahhab terrorists. These women have abandoned all morality to join a band of murderers and participate in mass murder or to be the "comfort women" of male fanatics who murder in the name of their shared faith. No woman in her right mind would join these misogynistic brutes, but these women have, so I have to presume they are irrational, gripped by a collective insanity. These women, particularly converts from Christianity who are encouraging other Western women to join the jihadi cause, are on forums about jihad on the web talking about the weak-willed, spineless men of the West and praising the real men fighting the jihad who still have "balls". The West must make every effort to capture or kill these evil women on the battlefield, as there is no way to reintegrate their warped minds back into Western society. In the interest of self-preservation to prevent a wave of terror on Western streets, those jihad Janes who survive the fight must be regarded as the dangerous criminals they are and locked away forever.

Lust, Violence, Cupidity

Millions of people want to see stolen pictures of naked celebrities while they ignore their own spouse in the bed next to them. "Hookups" have gone from a college phenomenon, migrated through our Godless high schools, and descended into middle schools. Promiscuity seems to be its own religion with abortion on demand as the singular article of faith. Here at the intersection of lust and violence (against the not yet born), we find the Democrat Party as ardent though not prayerful practitioners of both. The love of mammon over humanity is a sin, yet we see our wealthiest consolidating more and more riches while the populist politicians spout empty rhetoric, all the while doing next to nothing for the poor and everything for the three percent who now control fifty-one percent of the wealth. Never before has America seen such uneven distribution, wherein the bottom ninety percent of Americans control only twenty-four percent of wealth. Not even the robber barons managed to concentrate so much money in their hands. It is not Buffet and Gates who are exploiting average Americans though. It is our worthless political class of establishment liars and their flunkies in the mainstream press who never report what their DC masters are doing to the common folk. Thus, concludes my Sunday sermon, though the message is good seven days a week.

Welcoming Own Defeat

America abandoned Iraq to the tender mercies of the most fanatic Islamists when we pulled out our forces. If the Obama administration had tried, we could have achieved a status of forces agreement that would have spared US troops local prosecution by Iraqi courts that would have facilitated US forces remaining to secure Iraq, but Obama really wanted to pull out. Obama is prematurely withdrawing American forces from Afghanistan as well, before that country has the ability to maintain stability by itself. We have US troops in Germany and Okinawa sixty-nine years after World War II ended, and soldiers in South Korea maintaining the peace sixty-one years after major hostilities ended, so long-term US commitment is not such an unusual thing. Barack Hussein Obama was determined to prove George W. Bush wrong and draw down in Iraq right away. In so doing, Obama left a power vacuum that was inevitably going to be filled by Muslim fanatics of one stripe or the other. It could have been the Shiite Mahdi Army of Muqtada al-Sadr that won out, but in the event, it turns out it is Sunni radicals filling the void. Iraq could have remained largely pacified with enough US boots on the ground, but to Obama, maintaining a decisive American military presence there would have shown Bush was right, and that could never be allowed to stand.