Friday, May 28, 2010

Three Border Security Amendments Fail in the Senate

An interesting post from www.numbersUSA.com about immigration enforcement bills that failed in the Senate. You can do what you can to change the Senate here. This follows this post about Mexico's meddling in U.S. affairs and this post about the MURDER of ROBERT KRENTZ, who the protestors and boycotters won't give a solution for, but will call Americans racist for trying to prevent another MURDER, and this post which shows that there are 30,000 openly illegal immigrants in the border town of El Paso across from the recent Juarez shooting. For more interesting stories like this click here to follow this blog.

Three Border Security Amendments Fail in the Senate
- posted on NumbersUSA
Three border security amendments were defeated on Thursday morning after failing to reach the necessary 60 votes. Originally, five border security amendments were offered the Emergency Spending bill now being considered in the Senate, but amendments offered by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) were kept off the floor by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).
Senator John McCain's (R-Ariz.) amendment would have provided funding for 6,000 National Guard troops to help monitor the Southwest border. The amendment failed 51-to-46. (60 votes needed for passage)
Senator Jon Kyl's (R-Ariz.) amendment would have provided additional funding to the Department of Justice to help prosecute immigration-related cases along the Southwest border. The amendment failed 54-to-44. (60 votes needed for passage)
Senator John Cornyn's (R-Texas) amendment would have provided additional funding to help drug enforcement along the Southwest border. The amendment failed 54-to-43. (60 votes needed for passage)

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A Short Memorial Day Quiz

An interesting article from www.ucg.org/commentary about Memorial Day. This follows this post about having a positive attitude.This follows this post about Jesus' Olivet Prophecy. For more interesting stories like this click here to follow this blog.


A Short Memorial Day Quiz
A commentary by Mike Bennett
Editorial content manager
Posted May 27, 2010

No! School's out for the three-day holiday or maybe for summer vacation, and I'm asking you to take a quiz!
But it's short, if not simple. And don't you think if we Americans are going to have a day called Memorial Day, that we should have some clue about what it means?
1. What does Memorial Day mean? 2. What was it called before? 3. When is the National Moment of Remembrance?
How'd you do?
That's the day the pool opens!
We Americans love our three-day weekends, and it doesn't seem to matter much to most people what the reason for the holiday originally was. If we had a holiday in honor of the launch of ICanHasCheezburger.com (Jan. 11, 2007, according to Wikipedia), most people would be happy.
But Memorial Day has a very solemn meaning, so let's look at the answers:
1. Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for those who have died in the nation's service.
2. It was originally called Decoration Day (referring to decorating the graves of those who gave their lives).
3. 3 p.m. on Memorial Day (May 31, 2010).
"The National Moment of Remembrance, established by Congress, asks Americans wherever they are at 3 p.m., local time, on Memorial Day to pause in an act of national unity (duration: one minute).
"The idea for the Moment was born when children touring the Nation's Capital were asked by the Commission's Director what Memorial Day means. They responded, 'That's the day the pool opens.'" The Web site also cites a Gallup Poll that showed only 28 percent of Americans know the meaning of Memorial Day.
Though the meaning of the day is clear, the history of Memorial Day can get a little complicated, since over two dozen cities and towns lay claim to being the birthplace of Memorial Day in the aftermath of the American Civil War in the 1860s. But this shows the universality of the desire to remember those who gave their lives.
One Web site (http://www.usmemorialday.org/backgrnd.html) gives this important slice of the history:
"Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11, and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery."
That site also decried the loss of understanding of the meaning of the day.
"But what may be needed to return the solemn, and even sacred, spirit back to Memorial Day is for a return to its traditional day of observance. Many feel that when Congress made the day into a three-day weekend...with the National Holiday Act of 1971, it made it all the easier for people to be distracted from the spirit and meaning of the day. As the VFW stated in its 2002 Memorial Day address: 'Changing the date merely to create three-day weekends has undermined the very meaning of the day. No doubt, this has contributed greatly to the general public's nonchalant observance of Memorial Day.'"
Recapturing the meaning of memorials
My small attempt at educating Americans to the meaning of Memorial Day is really part of a larger purpose. There are other days whose meanings have been forgotten. And there are days that the Bible lists as memorials that many people have never heard of.
How many Christians celebrate the night Jesus Christ set as a memorial of His death? Jesus, who gave His life in service to all of us, said, "With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer" (Luke 22:15-20). After establishing the bread and the wine as the symbols of the New Testament Passover, Jesus said, "Do this in remembrance of Me" (1 Corinthians 11:24-25).
Another biblical festival many have forgotten is Pentecost, a memorial of the founding of the Church of God and the giving of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4, 37-41). How many celebrated this meaningful memorial on May 23, 2010?

In fact, the Bible lists seven meaningful festivals that are often overlooked today. God gave them as memorials to remind us every year of the great plan He is working out! Our free booklet God's Holy Day Plan: The Promise of Hope for All Mankind makes an inspiring and enlightening Bible study. I hope you will make the effort to download or request it. I believe the answers it gives will encourage and help you in all the tests you face in life.

U.S. House, Senate Committee Vote to Repeal 'Don't Ask'

An interesting story from www.lifesitenews.com This follows this post about attempts to block Elena Kagan. This follows this post about abortion workers being persuaded to quit. For more interesting stories like this click here to follow this blog.


U.S. House, Senate Committee Vote to Repeal 'Don't Ask'


WASHINGTON, D.C., May 28, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The U.S. House of Representatives voted 234-194 to include a repeal of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) policy banning open homosexuals from service in the armed forces to a defense spending bill Thursday night. Hours earlier, the Senate Armed Services Committee voted 16-12 to approve the repeal for their version of the must-pass bill.
Only five House Republicans voted in favor of the repeal, while 26 Democrats voted against. In the Senate committee, the only Republican to support the repeal was Sen. Susan Collins of Maine; Democrat Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia joined GOP members against the move before the committee voted 18-10 to send the bill to the Senate floor.
President Obama immediately issued a statement expressing satisfaction with the progress of the repeal. "I have long advocated that we repeal 'Don't Ask Don't Tell', and I am pleased that both the House of Representatives and the Senate Armed Services Committee took important bipartisan steps toward repeal tonight," he said, adding that the measure "will help make our Armed Forces even stronger and more inclusive."
Several conservative lawmakers expressed outrage that the ban was being rushed through - anticipating an end to momentum with the loss of several Democrat seats in November - before the Pentagon had a chance to submit the results of a review of how repealing the ban would affect military readiness, retention, recruiting, and morale.
"Congress acting first [before the Pentagon review] is the equivalent of turning to our men and women in uniform and their families and saying, your opinions don't count," said Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) in remarks on the House floor before the vote. "I've read into the record, letters from the secretary - the chairman of each of the services, asking us to not do this. Don't disrespect the military. Give them the opportunity to have their input."
Democrats defended the maneuver by pointing out that the repeal would require certification from the president, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, confirming that the repeal was sensible in light of the Pentagon report due by December 1.
Conservative leaders, however, maintain that the scheme is stacked against the current law: although Gates and Mullen have already expressed willingness to repeal the ban, countless other representatives of the armed forces have spoken strongly in favor of DADT, including the head of the U.S. Marines, 1,160 retired U.S. admirals and generals, a former chief of the Pentagon's Criminal Law Division, over 40 retired military chaplains, and groups representing 4 million wartime veterans.
"The hard left of the Democratic Party, led by President Obama and Speaker Pelosi, have chosen to put a political constituency with a radical agenda - the homosexual lobby - ahead of the well-being of our men and women in uniform," said Family Research Council president Tony Perkins in a press release Thursday night.
"Unfortunately, for our brave servicemen and women, the liberal majority chose to advance the social agenda of a radical special interest group without giving an opportunity for the military to finish its own study of the issue. Concern, not for the troops but for their own political hides, is moving the Democrats to act with such expediency."
Perkins pointed to a recent Zogby poll finding that Americans, by a ratio of three to one, believe that the decision should be left to military leaders rather than Congress. "These politicians have seriously miscalculated if they believe they can use the military to advance this radical social policy without being held accountable," he added

A Weekend To Remember and Contribute

An interesting post from http://www.hughhewitt.com/ about the House and Senate races to think about this Memorial Weekend. This follows this previous post about the 2010 Senate Elections wish are important not only to repeal OBAMACARE, but also for immigration, abortion, and foreign policy. For more interesting stories like this click here to follow this blog.


A Weekend To Remember and Contribute
by Hugh Hewitt
This is the weekend to remember the sacrifices of the men and women of the United States military who have given their all in the defense of the country.
I have two suggestions for marking it.
First, please consider a contribution to the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund or another organization serving the warriors wounded in the war that began on 9/11. Americans were very generous in the early years of the war but have become less so as the front has shifted to remote regions in Afghanistan and as the economy has worn down so many family budgets at home.

The fighting is still intense and costly, however, and the number of seriously injured continues to grow with each week. The Semper Fi Fund and many other groups do great work to help wounded veterans return to civilian life and sometimes to active duty. Support of these men and women is the best way to salute the sacrifice of the fallen in this and other wars.
Politics is another way to honor those who died in the uniform, though that may seem counterintuitive at first. But each soldier, sailor, airman and marine who died in wartime did so defending a republic that depends upon its citizens being informed and active in the election of its leaders. Carelessness in the voting booth not only ruins the domestic life of the United States, the weakness in defense policy that carelessness brings about increases the dangers to the country and to the men and women who defend it.

Americans concerned over the increasingly grim situation of the country's economy and its place in the world know that the November elections are a key to restoring fiscal sanity, military preparedness and national security seriousness to America. This is a great weekend to begin to seriously study the November elections and to pick those races in which you will be involved.
My friend Geraghty the Indispensable has charted 99 House races in which Republicans are competitive in the fall. Getting the gavel out of Nancy Pelosi's hands is a priority and it is doable.

With a 59-41 Democratic majority in the Senate, it is tempting to write off the chance for Republicans to gain control of the upper chamber. But it is possible. The GOP must retain the seats of all its incumbents, hold on to six "open" seats in New Hampshire, Florida, Kentucky, Ohio, Missouri and Utah, and must win 10 seats currently held by a Democrat. With most of the primaries concluded or with a front-runner in place, here are the tough races that Republicans must win on the road to 51.
I assume that the GOP will easily hold on to the seats it holds in Arizona and Utah. The former is assured if John McCain is nominated, and the latter appears to be a lock no matter who is nominated to replace Senator Bennett. Senators Burr in North Carolina and Vitter in Louisiana seem to be on a path to re-election.

The five "must holds" which will feature serious Democratic efforts to turn a red seat blue:
Marco Rubio must win in Florida over Kendrick Meek and Charlie Crist. Rubio is ahead among likely voters.
Rand Paul must win in Kentucky. Paul is ahead in most polls.
Rob Portman must win in Ohio. Portman is in a dead heat, but the state is trending GOP.
Kelly Ayotte must win in New Hampshire. Ayotte is leading in the polls.
Roy Blunt must win in Missouri. He is ahead in most polls.

The 11 target seats from which 10 victories must be collected:
Mike Castle must win in Delaware, and he is ahead in every poll.
Linda McMahon must win in Connecticut where the impact of Dick Blumentahl's deceptions about his service in Vietnam will show up in polls beginning next week.
Pat Toomey must win in Pennsylvania, and the race is a dead heat as of now.
John Boozman must win in Arkansas and he is leading Blanche Lincoln.
Dan Coates must win in Indiana, and he is leading.
Mark Kirk must win in Illinois, and he is leading.
John Hoeven must win in North Dakota and he is winning easily.
Jane Norton is the front-runner for the GOP nomination in Colorado and is in a dead heat with Michael Bennet.
The race between Sharon Angle, Sue Lowden and Danny Tarkanian for the GOP nomination and the right take on Harry Reid will be decided June 8, and it is very close. All three candidates are leading Reid at this point, though Reid clearly fears Lowden the most because of her personal wealth.
Dino Rossi must beat Patty Murray in Washington State, and he is going to be very competitive.
In California, the race between Tom Cambell, Chuck DeVore and Caley Fiorina has been spirited against Barbara Boxer.

In any other year, this map to a majority is very difficult to imagine happening.
But fueled by the Tea Party and energized by the president's blend of ideological extremism and doleful incompetence, regaining a majority of the United States Senate is at least possible.
Each candidate's name is linked to their online contribution site. Please consider at least a $25 contribution to one of them this long weekend, and if you can swing it, to all 16. That's a $400 investment in the country's future on the weekend we salute those who gave their all, and it really isn't too much to ask.
But before you give a dollar to securing the country's political future, please give one to help the men and women who have secured its safety to date

Will Democrats’ Standing Ovations For Mexican Meddler Calderon Return To Haunt Them? Will Republicans Remember Joe Wilson? Etc…

An interesting post from http://www.vdare.com/ about Mexico's meddling in U.S. affairs. This follows this post about major Hispanic groups opposing the 1,200 National Guard troops and this post about the MURDER of ROBERT KRENTZ, who the protestors and boycotters won't give a solution for, but will call Americans racist for trying to prevent another MURDER, and this post which shows that there are 30,000 openly illegal immigrants in the border town of El Paso across from the recent Juarez shooting. For more interesting stories like this click here to follow this blog.

Memo From Middle America (Formerly Known As Memo From Mexico),
By Allan Wall
Will Democrats’ Standing Ovations For Mexican Meddler Calderon Return To Haunt Them? Will Republicans Remember Joe Wilson? Etc…
Like a Roman emperor visiting a province, Mexican President Felipe Calderon paid a visit to his subjects in Washington, D.C. last week.
He was received with pomp and circumstance, told his subjects what he wanted done, and returned home a conquering hero.
Would we tolerate such arrogant behavior from Russia or China? Yet the president of Mexico is allowed to insult our laws and treat us with contempt.
The biggest thing that displeased Calderon was Arizona’s SB 1070 law, which allows Arizona police, during the normal course of their duties, to enforce immigration law.
As I have pointed out before , in Mexico, local police in all states and at all levels are required to enforce Mexican immigration law. So Mexico already has an “Arizona law”.
But Calderon came to Washington prepared to lambast the Arizona law anyway. And President Obama was only too happy to help him.
They wasted no time. On the Mexican president’s arrival, in the Rose Garden press conference in front of the White House, Obama actually started it, saying:
"We also discussed the new law in Arizona, which is a misdirected effort—a misdirected expression of frustration over our broken immigration system, and which has raised concerns in both our countries. …And I want everyone, American and Mexican, to know my administration is taking a very close look at the Arizona law. [Sounds like a threat.] We’re examining any implications, especially for civil rights. Because in the United States of America, no law-abiding person—be they an American citizen, a legal immigrant, or a visitor or tourist from Mexico—should ever be subject to suspicion simply because of what they look like."
Of course, the point of Arizona’s law is that only individuals suspected of not being “law-abiding” will be subject to questioning about their immigration status.
When it was Calderon’s turn to speak, he chimed in with this:
"In Mexico, we are and will continue being respectful of the internal policies of the United States and its legitimate right to establish in accordance to its Constitution whatever laws it approves. [That´s a tipoff that he´s about to meddle.] But we will retain our firm rejection to criminalize migration so that people that work and provide things to this nation will be treated as criminals. And we oppose firmly the S.B. 1070 Arizona law which derives from unjust, partial and discriminatory principles.” [My translation from the Spanish]
That night Obama treated Calderon and the Mexican First Lady to a big party on the White House lawn, featuring expensive cuisine and decor, with entertainment by pop star Beyoncé (photos and description here ).
On the next day, May 20th, Calderon delivered his now-notorious speech to a joint session of the U.S. Congress, arrogantly attacking Arizona:
“I strongly disagree with the recently-adopted law in Arizona. [Applause begins] It is a law that not only ignores a reality that cannot be erased by decree [= Don’t dare even try to keep Mexicans out.] but also introduces a terrible idea of using racial profiling as the basis for law enforcement.”
Video: Calderon Gets Standing Ovation from Dems for Criticizing AZ Immigration Crackdown
Calderon´s solution:
“…what we need today is to fix a broken and inefficient system. We favor the establishment of laws that work and work well for all." [White House, Democrats, Applaud Mexican President Slamming Arizona Law, Fox News, May 20th, 2010]
Oh really? Guess what, Presidente? You’re talking about our laws. Not Mexico’s laws, but our laws.
Not content to bash our immigration law, Calderon also told us how to run our gun laws, calling for a reinstatement of the “Assault Weapons Ban” (which only covered semi-automatic weapons anyway).
But, a lot of rhetoric to the contrary, it’s just not true that the majority of the weapons entering Mexico are from the U.S. In fact, the Mexican underworld has access to a veritable international arms bazaar, with weapons from many countries.
Besides, how does Calderon expect us to keep the border open for Mexican illegal aliens traveling north while closing it up to weapons traveling south?
According to the Mexican presidential website, Calderon also
“…. met this morning [May 20th] with leaders of Hispanic organizations. During the meeting, they interchanged points of view over the principal topics of interests of the Mexican communities in the United States, such as migratory reform [a.k.a. amnesty], human rights, education, health and labor, as well as their [Hispanics´] important economic contribution to the country. [Calderon] reiterated his rejection of the SB1070 Law …..it commits an outrage against the inalienable rights of the migrants [inalienable right to enter illegally?]. Besides, it can affect Mexicans and American citizens alike, since it opens the door to an application based on racial perceptions.
“….[Calderon] recalled that the consular network in Arizona would provide assistance and protection to the victims of abuse on the part of local authorities…”
And one of Calderon’s traveling partners, Carlos Navarrete, head of the Mexican senate, openly called on U.S. Hispanics to vote for the Democrats.
As far as I can tell, the Main Stream Media simply ignored this outrageous meddling in our affairs. (I found out about it by reading the Mexican press.)
Of course, the Obama Administration ignored it too.
As VDARE.COM’s Brenda Walker has pointed out, even Calderon’s visit to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the first-ever by a Mexican president, was part of the Reconquista agenda. Mexican ambassador to the U.S. Arturo Sarukhan said the Arlington visit “…is a symbol of a much more modern relationship between both our countries. More importantly, it is also a recognition of the role Mexican Americans and Latinos in general are playing in the Armed forces of the United States.”
But note that, although Calderon used the Arlington visit as another Latino Moment, the very fact that he went there was offensive to some Mexicans. A May 21 editorial in the leftist Jornada newspaper was entitled Soberanía :Claudicación Creciente (“Sovereignty : Increased Yielding [to the U.S.]” )
“Yesterday, in the context of his official visit to the U.S., President Calderon placed a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, in the cemetery of Arlington, Virginia, in honor of the Mexican-American soldiers who have died in U.S. military campaigns. [Calderon] thus broke a tacit prohibition, maintained throughout the previous administrations, that prevented the Mexican president from visiting there [Arlington]. The reason… in Arlington there are buried American military personnel who participated in various armed aggressions perpetrated by our northern neighbor against ours, including those by which Washington took from Mexico more than half her territory…..Although geography and economy make pertinent and necessary, in the present time, the construction of a fluid bilateral relationship, it should not for that reason be forgotten that the U.S. has been, for two centuries, the principal threat to the [Mexican] national security and the most responsible for wrongs committed against Mexican sovereignty and integrity …. it is inevitable to see in Calderon’s presence in Arlington one episode more of the yielding of the [Mexican] sovereignty….”
La Jornada is still angry because the U.S. has fought Mexico in the past, and took half her territory (a long time ago).
But if many Mexicans (despite the fact that they weren’t even alive then) are still hurt by the loss of the U.S. Southwest, and if most Americans want to keep the Southwest, then I don’t really see a way to compromise on that issue.
U.S. nationalism and Mexican nationalism are, in a word, incompatible.
But hey, isn’t that the purpose of having separate countries?
And did any intrepid reporter take up my invitation to confront Calderon over Mexico’s hypocrisy?
Well, there actually was one—to his credit, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer (!).
In a one –on-one interview conducted in English, Wolf asked Calderon about Mexican immigration policy.
Here is the meat of it:
BLITZER: So if people want to come from Guatemala or Honduras or El Salvador or Nicaragua, they want to just come into Mexico, they can just walk in?
CALDERON: No. They need to fulfill a form. They need to establish their right name. We analyze if they have not a criminal precedent. ……
BLITZER: Do Mexican police go around asking for papers of people they suspect are illegal immigrants?
CALDERON: Of course. Of course, in the border, we are asking the people, who are you?...
…. BLITZER: But once they're in...
CALDERON: But not—but not in—if—once they are inside the—inside the country, what the Mexican police do is, of course, enforce the law……
….. BLITZER:……, if somebody sneaks in from Nicaragua or some other country in Central America, through the southern border of Mexico, they wind up in Mexico, they can go get a job...
CALDERON: No, no.
BLITZER: They can work.
CALDERON: If—if somebody do that without permission, we send back—we send back them.
BLITZER: You find them and you send them back?
CALDERON: Yes. …[THE SITUATION ROOM--Interview with Mexican President Felipe Calderon, Aired May 19, 2010]
Amazing! Calderon frankly describes Mexico’s non-Open Borders treatment of Central American illegal aliens from countries that are even poorer than Mexico. Yet the very next day, he had no problem whatsoever lambasting Arizona, in the U.S. Congress, for a law that’s not even as strict as Mexico’s immigration law.
That’s real chutzpah. That’s arrogance. But Calderon got away with it.
The bottom line, however: Calderon would never be able to do all this if we didn’t allow it.
President Obama, after all, is on the same sheet of music as the Mexican government. And congressional Democrats gave standing ovations Calderon’s comments.
My suggestion: any candidate running against any of these “applauders” ought to bring that standing ovation up frequently and feature it in campaign ads.
But what about the Republicans in Congress?
At least they didn’t applaud. However, they were just quiet. A few complained later.
Why didn’t they do more—like boo or walk out or something noticeable?
It works. Don’t they remember the lesson of Joe Wilson?

American citizen Allan Wall (email him) recently moved back to the U.S.A. after many years residing in Mexico. In 2005, Allan served a tour of duty in Iraq with the Texas Army National Guard. His VDARE.COM articles are archived here; his Mexidata.info articles are archived here; his News With Views columns are archived here; and his website is here.

Netanyahu, Obama's newest prop

A very interesting post from http://www.carolineglick.com/ about Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu. This follows this post about Islam's hostility to America and this article about the recent news about offshore drilling to encourage American energy independence This is a key issue to prevent money from going to hostile countries such as Iran and Venezuela. For more posts like this click here.



Netanyahu, Obama's newest prop

The Democratic Party is feeling the heat for US President Barack Obama's hostility towards Israel. In an interview with Channel 10 earlier this month, Democratic Party mega-donor Haim Saban characterized the Obama administration as ideologically aligned with the radical Left and harshly criticized its treatment of Israel.
Both Ma'ariv and Yediot Aharonot reported this week that Democratic congressmen and senators are deeply concerned that the administration's harsh treatment of Israel has convinced many American Jews not to contribute to their campaigns or to the Democratic Party ahead of November 2's mid-term elections. They also fear that American Jews will vote for Republican challengers in large numbers.
It is these concerns, rather than a decision to alter his positions on Israel specifically and the Middle East generally, that now drive Obama's relentless courtship of the American Jewish community. His latest move in this sphere was his sudden invitation to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to visit him at the White House for a "warm reception" in front of television cameras next Tuesday.
It is clear that electoral worries rather than policy concerns are behind what the White House has described as a "charm offensive," because since launching this offensive a few weeks ago, Obama not changed any of his policies towards Israel and the wider Middle East. In fact, he has ratcheted up these policies to Israel's detriment.
TAKE HIS goal of ridding the world of nuclear weapons. On Friday, the UN's monthlong Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference is scheduled to adopt a consensual resolution before adjourning. According to multiple media reports, Israel is set to be the focus of the draft resolution that will likely be adopted.
The draft resolutions being circulated by both Egypt and the US adopt Egypt's demand for a nuclear-free Middle East. They call for a conference involving all countries in the region to discuss denuclearization. The only difference between the Egyptian draft and the US draft on the issue is that the Egyptians call for the conference to be held in 2011 while the US calls for the convening of the conference in 2012-2013. The draft resolution also calls for all states that are not members of the NPT - Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea - to join the NPT as non-nuclear powers.
So while Iran is not mentioned in the draft resolution - which must be adopted by consensus - in two separate places, Israel's purported nuclear arsenal is the target of an international diplomatic stampede.
In 2005, Egypt circulated a draft resolution that was substantively identical to its current draft. But in stark contrast to today's conclave, the NPT review conference in 2005 ended without agreement, because the Bush administration refused to go along with Egypt's assault on Israel.
Particularly in light of Iran's nuclear weapons program and the Iranian regime's expressed goal of destroying Israel, the Bush administration preferred to scuttle the conference rather than give any credence to the view that Israel's purported nuclear arsenal is a greater threat to global security than Iran's nuclear program - which, as in today's draft, wasn't mentioned in Egypt's resolution five years ago. The Obama administration has no problem going along with Cairo.
Obama's willingness to place Israel's nuclear program on the international agenda next to Iran's is par for the course of his utterly failed policy for contending with Iran's nuclear program. After his diplomatic open hand policy towards Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was met with a clenched fist, Obama's attempt to convince the UN Security Council to pass "smart sanctions" against Iran has been checkmated by Iran's nuclear deal with its newest strategic allies, Turkey and Brazil.
That deal, which facilitates rather than impedes Teheran's nuclear weapons program, has ended any prospect that the Security Council will pass an additional sanctions resolution against Iran in the near future. But then, in order to secure the now weakened Russian support for his sanctions resolution, Obama exempted Russia from the sanctions and turned a blind eye to continued Russian and Chinese nuclear proliferation activities in Syria, Turkey and Pakistan. Furthermore, Obama agreed to make most of the remaining provisions non-binding.
In the meantime, and in spite of the fact that his sanctions bid is in shambles, Obama has asked congressional Democrats to stall their sanctions bills for another month. So, too, Obama prevailed on his Democratic colleagues in Congress to exempt Russia and China from their sanctions bills.
AS PART of the administration's attempt to woo American Jews back into the Democratic Party fold despite its anti-Israel policies, last week a group of pre-selected pro-Obama rabbis was invited to the White House for talks with Obama's chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and with Dan Shapiro and Dennis Ross, who hold the Palestinian and Iran dossiers on Obama's National Security Council, respectively. According to a report of the meeting by Rabbi Jack Moline that has not been refuted by the White House, the three men told the Democratic rabbis that the administration has three priorities in the Middle East. First Obama seeks to isolate Iran. Second, he seeks to significantly reduce the US military presence in the Middle East, particularly in Iraq. And third, he seeks to resolve the Palestinian conflict with Israel.
These priorities are disturbing for a number of reasons. First, isolating Iran is not the same as preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. By characterizing its goal as "isolating" Iran, the administration makes clear that preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons is not its goal. Moreover, as Iran's deal with Brazil and Turkey makes abundantly clear, Iran is not isolated. Indeed, its foreign relations have prospered since Obama took office.
In his write-up of the meeting, Moline indicated that Ross and Emanuel view Obama's rejection of Israel's right to build homes for Jews in Jerusalem as motivated by his goal of isolating Iran. So in the view of Obama's Jewish advisers, his preferred method of isolating Iran is to attack Israel.
Add that to his third priority of establishing a Palestinian state by the end of next year and you have a US president for whom bashing Israel is his first and third priority in the Middle East.
When one factors in his willingness to put Israel's purported nuclear arsenal on the international chopping block, it is clear that there is no precedent for Obama's hostility towards Israel in the history of US-Israel relations.
THIS BRINGS us to Obama's meeting next Tuesday with Netanyahu. Obama's continued commitment to his anti-Israel policies indicates that there are two possible scenarios for next week's meeting. In the best case, the meeting will have no substance whatsoever. It will be nothing more than a public display of presidential affection for the Israeli premier.
The more likely scenario is that Obama will use the meeting as an opportunity to pressure Netanyahu not to attack Iran's nuclear installations; not to attack Hizbullah's and Syria's missile depots, launchers and silos; and to extend the prohibition on Jewish building in Judea and Samaria beyond its September deadline and expand the prohibition to Jewish home construction in Jerusalem.
Regarding the latter scenario, it can only be hoped that Netanyahu has learned from his previous experiences with Obama. In December, in the hopes of alleviating US pressure, Netanyahu announced an unprecedented 10-month ban on Jewish building in Judea and Samaria. For his efforts, Netanyahu was rewarded with an escalation of American pressure against Israel.
After he pocketed Netanyahu's concession on Judea and Samaria, Obama immediately launched his poisonous assault on Israeli rights to Jerusalem.
Likewise, Netanyahu's willingness to outwardly support both Obama's effort to appease Iran and his efforts to pass anti-Iran sanctions in the Security Council gained Obama a year and a half of quiet from Jerusalem. During that time, Iran has moved within months of the bomb and the US has abandoned its goal of preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
This experience has one clear lesson: If Obama seeks policy concessions from Israel during their meeting, Netanyahu must reject his entreaties. In fact, it may even be counterproductive for Netanyahu to abstain from responding in the hopes of buying time.
If on the other hand, Obama avoids discussion of substantive issues and devotes his meeting with Netanyahu to a discussion of Michelle Obama's war on obesity, Netanyahu should consider what Obama did to the family of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl while the president signed the Daniel Pearl Press Freedom Act last week.
Pearl was decapitated in 2002 by jihadists in Pakistan. Among other things, his killers claimed he had no right to live because he was Jewish. At the ceremony, Obama barred Pearl's father, Judea Pearl, from speaking. In so doing Obama reduced Daniel Pearl's family to the status of mere props as Obama vapidly and reprehensibly proclaimed, "Obviously, the loss of Daniel Pearl was one of those moments that captured the world's imagination because it reminded us of how valuable a free press is."
This appropriation of Pearl's murder and denial of what it represented served Obama's purpose of pretending that there is no jihad and that radical Islam is not a threat to the US. And by silencing Pearl's father, the president turned him into an unwilling accomplice.
Netanyahu should take two lessons from Obama's behavior at the ceremony. First, Netanyahu must do everything he can to avoid being used as a prop. This means that he should insist on having a joint press briefing with Obama. He must also insist on having a say regarding which journalists will be included in the press pool and who will be permitted to ask the two leaders questions.
Second, Netanyahu must not become Obama's spokesman. As part of his unsuccessful bid to convince Obama to change his policies towards Israel, Netanyahu and his advisers have gone on record praising Obama for his support for Israel. These statements have stymied attempts by Israel's US supporters to pressure Obama to change those policies.
The Israeli official who has been most outspoken in his praise for Obama and his denial that Obama's policies are hostile towards Israel has been Ambassador Michael Oren. Oren has repeatedly praised Obama for his supposedly firm support for Israel and commitment to Israel's security - most recently in an appearance on Fox News on Wednesday. Moreover, according to eyewitness reports, in a recent closed-door meeting with American Jews, Oren criticized the Republican Party for attacking Obama for his animosity towards Israel.
This quite simply has to end. As foreign officials, Israeli diplomats should not be involved in US partisan politics. Not only should Israeli officials not give Obama undeserved praise, they should not give Republicans undeserved criticism.
At the end of the day, American Jews have the luxury of choosing between their loyalty to the Democratic Party and their support for Israel. And in the coming months, they will choose.
The government of Israel has no such luxury. The government's only duty is to secure Israel and advance Israel's national interests in every way possible. Netanyahu must not permit Obama's public relations campaign to divert him from this mission.
Originally published in The Jerusalem Post.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

A Spoonful of Sugar?

An interesting article from www.verticalthought.org about having a positive attitude.This follows this post about how you can deal with financial crisis.This follows this post about Jesus' Olivet Prophecy. For more interesting stories like this click here to follow this blog.

A Spoonful of Sugar?
A commentary by Erin Tootle
I recently had the opportunity to see a musical production of Disney's Mary Poppins. The original movie was a favorite in my family as I grew up, and for several days after the show I found myself singing "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" and "just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down..."
But, does a spoonful of sugar really help the medicine go down? How did Mary Poppins respond to the challenge of transforming two young rascals into adorable, respectful children? This was more than a nice trip down memory lane—it has an important application to our lives now.
Mary Poppins' attitude strategy
Mary Poppins may have had a little magic on her side in the story, but her underlying methods weren't so unrealistic. She taught Jane and Michael to see the positive side of the situations in which they found themselves and to check their attitudes. Changing our attitudes toward our circumstances may not allow us to jump into pictures or dance on rooftops, but our attitudes can make or break our success in life.
How do we face the obstacles that inevitably present themselves in our lives—a difficult class, losing a job, an illness, maybe financial difficulties? Do they beat us down or do we choose the attitude we take toward them?
Should we lose hope and give up when we fall, or should we look for the positive and put forth extra effort to succeed in the face of difficulty? I'm not saying that difficult times won't get us down or that we should never acknowledge that we are sad or discouraged. However, we can control how we respond to that sadness and discouragement. And a positive attitude goes a long way toward improving the situation.
Is attitude everything?
Is the old adage "attitude is everything" really true? If we just think positively, will we succeed at every challenge we undertake? Put bluntly, no. Attitude is the beginning, but we then have to do the work necessary to accomplish the task before us.
To return to our children's story, Jane and Michael didn't simply drink the spoonful of sugar and then sit back and watch while their bedroom cleaned itself. They still had to work to get the job done.
Better than magic
You might argue that we don't have some magic potion to make our difficult times in life go down easier. You're right, we don't. We have something much better, much more powerful, on our side—the Creator of the universe and the promises we find in His Bible.
Paul, the writer of many of the letters in the New Testament, faced more than his fair share of difficult times. You can read his list of challenges in 2 Corinthians 11:24-28.
Despite all of the suffering that he endured, he wrote, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13). He wrote that while under house arrest possibly chained to a Roman soldier! He refused to give up or let a negative attitude take hold of him.
We have a loving Father who promises to see us through even the most difficult of times. He also tells us to come boldly to Him to ask for His help when we need it. He expects us to have a positive attitude and the confidence that He will take care of us.
For more insight, please read the article The Attitude of Success. Attitude may not be everything, but it can mean the difference between allowing life to defeat us and succeeding by the power of God. VT


About the Author Erin is the director of education at Huntington Learning Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she and her husband Taylor attend the United Church of God.

Hispanic Groups blast Guard deployment to Border

An interesting post from www.Alipac.us about major Hispanic groups opposing the 1,200 National Guard troops. This follows this previous post about the 1200 National Guard troops to be sent to the borderand this post about the MURDER of ROBERT KRENTZ, who the protestors and boycotters won't give a solution for, but will call Americans racist for trying to prevent another MURDER, and this post which shows that there are 30,000 openly illegal immigrants in the border town of El Paso across from the recent Juarez shooting. For more interesting stories like this click here to follow this blog.


Latino Groups blast Guard deployment to Border

Topic: Border Patrol American US Security
Two major Latino advocacy groups blasted President Barack Obama’s plan to send 1,200 troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, saying the National Guardsmen are unprepared to deal with border issues and that the move will overshadow immigration reform.Topics: Illegal Immigration, National Council of LaRaza, LULAC, Border SecurityPosted: Wed May 26, 2010 6:49 pmBy Jordy Yager, TheHill.com“As we have seen time and time again, efforts to overhaul our broken immigration system have taken a back seat to dramatic escalations of border enforcement including placing troops on the U.S. border to serve in a function for which they have not been trained,” said Rosa Rosales, the national president of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), one of the oldest Hispanic civil rights organization in the United States. Obama announced plans on Tuesday to send 1,200 National Guard troops to the border region to provide surveillance support and counternarcotics enforcement in the U.S.’s ongoing attempt to crack down on illegal gun, money, drug and human smuggling operations. Officials with the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) echoed LULAC’s disappointment with the White House’s decision, saying the move is “inadequate” to address the real immigration problems of the region. “We are on a collision course of enforcement-only policies and, as experience shows, this will not solve the problem,” said Janet Murguía, the president and CEO of NCLR. “The White House must outline a clear plan of action. And Republican leadership must stop playing politics and do its part to solve the problem.”
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Naples, Florida Planned Parenthood Patient Rushed to Hospital

An interesting story from http://www.lifesitenews.org/ about a botched abortion attempt. This follows this post about attempts to block Elena Kagan. For more interesting stories like this click here to follow this blog.



Naples, Florida Planned Parenthood Patient Rushed to Hospital

By Kathleen Gilbert
NAPLES, Florida (LifeSiteNews.com) - A possible botched-abortion victim had to be transported from a Naples abortion clinic by ambulance on Monday, as abortion clinic workers blocked the patient from view with a black tarp, reported the Naples Daily News.
The regular crowd of pro-life witnesses watched in dismay as the victim, a patient at Planned Parenthood of Collier County, was transported to an area hospital in the early afternoon hours. Photographs submitted to the local newspaper show abortion clinic workers holding up a black tarp to block view of the victim entering the ambulance.
Abortionist Philip Waterman of Cape Coral only performs abortions at the Naples clinic on Mondays.
Char Wendel, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood, declined to say whether the patient was the victim of a botched abortion, telling the Daily News only that "we are a medical facility and we respond to emergencies."
Pro-lifer Fred Goduti told the newspaper that the ambulance call was the first since the clinic began performing abortions on Sept. 14 of last year. Prior to that, the Pro-Life Action league reports that Naples had been abortion-free for over a decade, after pro-lifers pressured the abortionist Wallace McLean to quit by picketing his home.
"We were praying this would not happen," Goduti said. "It is inevitable it would happen."
The dissemination of the story, which was picked up by Fox News, shows a shift in how the media handles such stories, said Operation Rescue president Troy Newman. "Not that long ago, no news outlet would have touched this story," said Newman.
Newman commented on the "sheets of shame" Planned Parenthood employees used to hide the victim from view, which he said "could not keep the truth from getting out that their organization endangers the lives of women when it takes the lives of pre-born babies."
"For many years we have tried to get the media to cover documented cases of ambulances transporting injured women from abortion clinics. Now it is finally happening. This exposure could eventually help close this clinic, and others like it, out of concern for public safety," he added, urging witnesses to file a complaint with the state medical board.

Islam vs. America

A very interesting post from http://www.redstate.com/ about Islam's hostility to America.This follows this post about Barack Obama's incompetence on the Gulf Oil Spill and this previous article about the recent news about offshore drilling to encourage American energy independence This is a key issue to prevent money from going to hostile countries such as Iran and Venezuela. For more posts like this click here.


Islam vs. America
Posted by hogan (Profile)

Our friend, Andy McCarthy - a former Assistant United States Attorney from the Southern District of New York, and the prosecutor who brought jihadists to justice for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing - has written an outstanding book titledThe Grand Jihad - How Islam and the Left Sabotage America.
Buy it. Read it. Give it to friends. Give it to dad for Father’s Day. Read it again.
The book should serve as a wake up call to each and every one of us that the threat of Islam goes much deeper and much wider than the all-too-real threat of terrorism alone. Rather, Andy notes:
…It’s fair to say we are confronted by a horrifyingly large pool of potential terrorists. But the terrorist threat pales beside a lurking reality: the massive fundamentalist pool is churning out legions of activists who wish to end our way of life and who believe that there are plenty of avenues besides mass-murder for pursuing that goal.
Andy spells out in breathtaking detail the extent to which this is true and how the liberal left in America - led by President Obama - is complicit in allowing it to happen. From a disastrous foreign policy to the left’s consistent promotion of radical groups such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), as well as blind acceptance of Muslims deemed “moderate” for not actually blowing people up, Andy calls it as he sees it. His insight into the threat Islam poses to America is strikingly, but importantly, blunt - and it leaves Andy and his well written book in a class by themselves while most of the world cowers to political correctness.
With respect to the “moderate” Muslim, Andy points out:
In common parlance, someone is a “radical” Muslim only if he is a practitioner of jihadist terrorism, as if it were perfectly normal to want exactly the sharia state the terrorist wants as long as one refrains from terrorist methods in seeking it. The U.S. government, as well as our states and municipalities, clings to this connotation. At all levels - administrations of both political parties, intelligence agencies, law-enforcement, members of Congress, the federal bench, state and local authorities - officials would rather stick pins in the their eyes than grapple with the incontrovertible nexus between Islamic doctrine and the savagery committed by Muslims throughout the world for decades. We are led to believe that the only real “radicals” are the terrorists. Any other Muslim, no matter how supportive of terrorist goals, is deemed a “moderate” so long as he doesn’t seem, right this minute, to be plotting the next Armageddon.
Having begun a tour talking about the book, Andy often discusses the lunacy of the planned placement of a Mosque near Ground Zero. But, more than a “hot” political question, it is an indication of the purpose and intent of the Jihadist.
Andy expresses the idea that “[a]s Islamists see it, modern Muslims in America are surrounded by their enemies, vastly outnumbered, and incapable of mounting a realistic armored attack,” and relatedly, that “a full frontal assault on the American system would simply be crushed, but that the missionary work - jihad by sabotage - gradually eat away from within, abrading both the system and the will to preserve it.” But this is not the western notion of missionary work, he goes on:
Dawa is the missionary work by which Islam is spread. But don’t be fooled by the term “missionary.” Dawa no more resembles the Western connotation of “missionary work” than Islam resembles the Western notion of religion. Just as Islam aspires to domination rather than a place at our ecumenical table, dawa is not mere proselytism but… the key to “victory.”
We all should note that there are, of course, millions of exceptional human beings who are Muslim. Andy makes clear that his book is not an indictment of Muslims - but it is a must-read look at the force behind Islam, and the extent to which we in the west, Christian, Jew or otherwise, simply do not appreciate the threat Islam poses to America and our way of life.
Go get the book.

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Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Help Keep Out Kagan & Call Your Senators on 6/8/10‏

An interesting story from www.yaf.org about attempts to block Elena Kagan This follows this post about the star of the soccer movie "Bella."If you want to comment contact http://www.nrsc.org/ and let them know. This follows this post about abortion workers being persuaded to quit. For more interesting stories like this click here to follow this blog.


Help Keep Out Kagan & Call Your Senators on 6/8/10‏

Right now, your United States Senators are getting ready to give current nominee Elena Kagan a free pass for a lifetime position on the Supreme Court.
Here at Young America's Foundation, we are not giving up the fight. For the sake of our freedom, we're announcing KEEP OUT KAGAN DAY: 6-8-10, a day for you and your peers to call your Senators and demand that they "Keep out Kagan."
Why we're fighting:
Kagan has continuously trampled on student and individual rights, arguing that the government has the right to ban or censor certain publications.
Kagan enacted an Apartheid system which prevented students from meeting with military recruiters at the Harvard Office of Career Services (OCS) while she served as dean of the law school.
Kagan wrote an amicus brief encouraging the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down the Solomon Amendment, legislation designed to defend military recruitment efforts on campuses across the country.
Kagan's Princeton thesis laments the decline of socialism in America.
These points alone should automatically disqualify Kagan from being considered for the Supreme Court vacancy.
On June 8, call theCongressional Switchboard at (202) 224-3121, ask for your Senators, and tell them to "KeepOut Kagan." Tell your friends to do the same! Be sure to invite your friends to this Facebook event as well.
With your support and phone calls, we can KEEP OUT KAGAN.
Participating groups fighting with us include:


(If your organization is interested in getting involved with KEEP OUT KAGAN DAY: 6-8-10, please contact Evan Gassman at egassman@yaf.org, or Patrick Coyle at pcoyle@yaf.org.)
Confirm your participation by visiting the "Keep Out Kagan" Facebook page!

Coping With a Growing Economic Crisis

An interesting article from http://www.ucg.org/ about how you can deal with financial crisis.This follows this post about Jesus' Olivet Prophecy. For more interesting stories like this click here to follow this blog.

Coping With a Growing Economic Crisis
Last year was the worst year for U.S. home foreclosures since 1932, at the height of the Great Depression. The economy may be in trouble, but you can take steps to prepare for the growing downturn.
by Melvin Rhodes
On a recent Sunday afternoon, as my wife and I were leaving our home, a lady pulled up in a car and started to put a "For Sale" sign on our front lawn. I shouted out that I thought she must have the wrong house. She laughed and assured me that the other side of the sign had an arrow pointing to a house further down our street, which she was trying to sell.
The lady was a real estate agent, so I took the opportunity to get an update on the housing situation in our neighborhood.
"How are houses around here selling?" I asked.
"In this pocket," she answered, "better than average."
"Well, that's good," I responded. "How much have home values declined?" was my next question.
I was totally unprepared for her answer.
"Last year they dropped 19 percent! This year they are expected to go down a further 25 percent."
We bought our home exactly two years ago. I already knew that the average price of homes in the Lansing, Michigan, area dropped 11 percent in the first 12 months we were in our home. Our local newspaper confirmed what the agent said about the second year—in 2007 they dropped a further 19 percent and are expected to go down by 25 percent this year. This means that, by the time we have lived in our house three years, it will have lost about 50 percent of its value—half of what we paid for it.
According to the Lansing State Journal, in the fourth quarter of 2007 Lansing was the worst-hit urban area in the country ("Prices Cut, but Homes Unsold," Feb. 15, 2008).
We realize that we are not the only people in America who are losing. Hundreds of thousands, even millions, of couples find themselves in a similar situation. It's also the case that there are still some areas of the country where home prices continue to rise, so the situation across the United States is uneven. Other countries are also affected by the slump in house values.
In the United States, last year was the worst year for housing since 1932 at the height of the Great Depression.
Not the only negative
Housing is not the only negative in the U.S. economy at this time. NBC's Brian Williams highlighted four big problems on his nightly news program Feb. 26.
"A long string of rather scary indicators today . . . ," began Mr. Williams.
In elaborating, he listed four negative economic indicators:
"Inflation heading sharply higher . . . Home prices sharply lower . . . Oil prices setting another record . . . Consumer confidence plummeting . . ."
The nightly news failed to mention the other big financial negative news of the same day—the U.S. dollar falling lower, crashing through the psychological barrier of over $1.50 to the euro.
The following evening, the BBC News' Katty Kay quoted the chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, who had earlier updated Congress on the economic situation: "The U.S. economy is faltering and something must be done about it." Ms. Kay added, "How to fix it, though, is the hard part because there are so many things going wrong at once."
An EU finance minister a few weeks ago criticized the U.S. federal government, blaming the world's financial crisis on its reckless overspending. A few hours later, the Bush administration announced the economic stimulus package, which will only add to the deficit, causing recurring seismic shockwaves around the international financial markets.
The upcoming U.S. election is not going to cure anything, with candidates making careless promises of further deficit spending, either on universal health care or stronger defense.
Overspending by the federal government only worsens the financial crisis confronting the American people. Deficit spending drives the dollar down. In turn, this raises the cost of oil (gasoline) and other commodities, thereby driving up the rate of inflation. Additionally, we are passing on the debt with added interest to our children and grandchildren, leaving them with a burden they will not be able to bear.
Prepare for challenges ahead
What can Americans, Britons, Australians and citizens of other Western countries do to prepare for tougher times ahead?
1) Before buying a house, count the cost.
This is a biblical principle. Jesus Christ said, "For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it—lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish'" (Luke 14:28-30).
It's still that way in much of the world. When a man has money, he will buy land. He will start building when he comes into more money, but won't finish the house for many years.
In the Western world, we borrow from banks to buy houses that are already built. Many banks lend 100 percent of the money required without carefully checking to see whether the borrower can actually afford the loan.
These loans, known as "subprime mortgages," are a primary cause of the current housing crisis. Encouraged by banks and other financial institutions, themselves under pressure from the government to make more loans to those with lower incomes, people borrowed more than they could afford to pay back.
It is a very good idea to make sure that you plan your budget wisely, ensuring that you have enough to make that monthly mortgage payment. You shouldn't assume that your income will increase. Rather, plan for the possibility of a decrease or even a temporary loss of job.
2) Get an education or qualification and work hard.
Not everyone is "book smart." But most people are smart in at least one area. Those who are book smart should go to college and earn a degree that can ensure a good career. Those who are more skilled with their hands should make sure they get qualified as a mechanic, plumber, electrician or other professional.
Realize that any career can be affected negatively by a slump in the economy, but by becoming qualified you are doing what you can to ensure steady employment.
However, a qualification is meaningless if we don't work hard. We should all heed the advice of King Solomon: "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might" (Ecclesiastes 9:10).
Also: "Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, which, having no captain, overseer or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest" (Proverbs 6:6-8).
Ants are diligent, always working hard, always preparing for what's ahead. We need to be at least as smart as ants!
3) Beware of borrowing.
The United States is the most indebted nation in the world—indeed, the most indebted in history. According to a recent report on the BBC World Service, Americans lead the world in personal debt, with Britain and Australia in second and third place.
Former French President Charles de Gaulle famously refused Britain entry into what was then the European Common Market, dismissively referring to the Anglo-American economic model as "the Anglo-Saxon debtor countries." Accumulated debt has, of course, given these countries faster growth rates than the Continental Europeans in the past, but perhaps that is now going to change as the debts are finally catching up.
Whereas countries that use the euro are forbidden to overspend by more than 3 percent, the U.S. government routinely overspends by more than twice that percentage. With the economic stimulus package, a further 1 percent has been added to that debt load.
But governmental debt is only part of the problem. Personal debt is also at an all-time high, and Americans and Britons, in the main, are likewise addicted to deficit spending at the household level.
Money Week magazine stated: "We [in the United Kingdom] have even higher personal debt levels" than Americans (March 21, 2008, p. 7). "What does this mean for the UK? . . . The UK is vulnerable to all the same problems as the US. Many of our own banks have heavy exposure to the kind of toxic debt that has inflicted such carnage on US balance sheets. Our house-price bubble was even worse than America's, and our consumers more indebted (UK consumer debt stands at 175% of disposable income, compared to 138% in the US)" (p. 30).
Now that credit has become harder to obtain, the result will likely be a recession, with the economy going backwards for a while.
Americans, Britons and people in other countries similarly affected by the credit crunch are going to have to learn to spend less.
An item on a television news program in February highlighted auto loan debt. Some people "have" to get a new car every year or so, whether or not they have the money. Before they have paid off one car, they buy another new one, raising the outstanding amount from their earlier loan.
Some people with average incomes have car payments of more than $600 a month! No wonder so many are defaulting on their car loans.
Others are addicted to other material possessions. If not cars, it might be electronic equipment, cell phones, DVDs or video games. Such addictions are nothing less than coveting, the breaking of the Tenth Commandment (Exodus 20:17). People want what they can't afford and get themselves into deep financial trouble because of it.
Sitting in a restaurant recently with my wife, we noted that the number of customers remained the same in spite of the dire economic situation Michigan finds itself in and increased restaurant prices. Where do people get the money? The vast majority simply pay with a credit card, borrowing against tomorrow.
On the brink of a recession, the less debt a household has, the better prepared they are to weather the storms that lie ahead.
Our suggestions are: Stay out of debt. Pay down debts you already have. Live within your means. If you don't have the cash to pay for it, you can't afford it.
4) Stay close to God.
Americans are learning, as many around the world already know, that no human government or man-made economic system can provide total security, financial or otherwise. Only God can—so it's important to always stay close to Him.
Jesus Christ understood fully the folly of looking to material possessions for security.
"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:19-21).
Another important factor in sound financial management is the biblical principle of tithing. A tithe is 10 percent of a person's increase.
Note the following words and apply them to America and other Western countries during these difficult economic times. "Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, 'In what way have we robbed You?' In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation" (Malachi 3:8-9).
In the next verse, the nation is promised great prosperity if it returns to God, which includes obeying the instruction to tithe. As it is with nations, so it is with individuals. (For further information about tithing, download or request our free booklet What Does the Bible Teach About Tithing?)
A house is just a physical possession like any other. It's been inspiring to see, when natural disasters strike and people lose their homes, how they pick themselves up and move on, building again and looking to the future. Take note of the principles given above and try to weather the growing financial crisis. Other generations have survived. We can too. GN

Recommended Reading
In our uncertain economic times, we could all use sound guidance on our finances. Who wouldn't like time-tested advice on handling money—especially when it's free? We've prepared a helpful booklet, Managing Your Finances, to help you better manage your household finances and budget. Download or request your free copy today!
Beyond Today: Surviving an Economic Crisis How can you get control of your life, behavior and money? The answer comes from a surprising, yet very wise source.

Help for Barbara Boxer, not Louisiana!!!!

A very interesting post from http://www.hughhewitt.com/ about Barack Obama's incompetence on the Gulf Oil Spill. This follows this post about Al-Qaeda and the Christmas Underwear bomber and this previous article about the recent news about offshore drilling to encourage American energy independence This is a key issue to prevent money from going to hostile countries such as Iran and Venezuela. For more posts like this click here.





Help for Barbara Boxer, not Louisiana!

President Obama's willingness to drop everything and rush to San Francisco to help Barbara Boxer raise $1.7 million contrasts with his refusal to answer Louisiana's request for a dredging permit to construct barrier islands to keep the oil from its beaches and wetlands. Louisiana filed for its permit on May 11, and the Obama Administration's refusal to act on it is pushing Bobby Jindal to blast the federal response."We've got a lot on our plate right now, so I don't travel for just anybody," Obama told Democratic donors Tuesday night at San Francisco's Fairmont Hotel. "But when it comes to Barbara Boxer, I'm a lot like you: When she calls and says she needs help, we're gonna give her some help."Perhaps if Jindal threw a fundraiser for Barbara Boxer, he could get the president's attention.

One of last night's events was held at the home of the Gettys, so perhaps he talked about the oil spill crisis there.



The pictures of the impact to Louisiana are already demonstrating the devastation.



Perhaps they were shown on the wall at the swank Fairmont last night.The reassuring thing is that MSM would have treated Bush exactly the same had he traveled cross-country to attend an exclusive $17,500-a-couple Dallas fundraiser for the most conservative member of the Senate even as Katrina's aftermath paralyzed New Orleans.

Christmas jihad bomber featured in new al-Qaeda video

A very interesting post from www.jihadwatch.org about Al-Qaeda and the Christmas Underwear bomber. This follows this post about Iran and North Korea and this previous article about the recent news about offshore drilling to encourage American energy independence This is a key issue to prevent money from going to hostile countries such as Iran and Venezuela. For more posts like this click here.


Christmas jihad bomber featured in new al-Qaeda video
Movie stardom comes to the jihadist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. "Terrorism: Failed 'US bomber' in Al-Qaeda video," from AKI, May 26 (thanks to C. Cantoni):
Rome, 26 May (AKI) - The Nigerian man accused of a failed attempt to blow up a US passenger jet in December last year is featured in a new Al-Qaeda video released on Wednesday. Footage of Umar al-Farouk Abdulmutallab, who is currently in US custody facing terrorism charges, is included in the documentary-style video posted on jihadist websites.
He is accused of attempting to blow up a passenger jet above Detroit on 25 December 2009.
The 54-minute documentary also features former Guantanamo prisoner, Uthman al-Ghamdi, and Fahd al-Quso, a suspect in the 2000 USS Cole bomb attack, SITE intelligence reported.
Seventeen American sailors were killed, and 39 were injured in the suicide attack against the USS Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden in the deadliest attack against a US naval vessel since 1987.
The video, released by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, focuses on what it sees as American intervention in Yemen and the US role in airstrikes on suspected Al-Qaeda camps.
One of the leaders from the Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Anwar al-Awlaqi, last month claimed he had trained Abdulmutallab .
Al-Awlaqi also claimed he had trained radical Islamist Nidal Hassan, an American doctor of Palestinian descent who in November 2009 shot dead 13 people and wounded 30 others at the Fort Hood US military base in Texas....
Posted by Robert

Star of ‘Bella’ To Host First Latino Pro-Life Congress

An interesting story from www.lifesitenews.com about the star of the soccer movie "Bella,"This follows this post about how divided Americans really are about Elena Kagen. If you want to comment contact http://www.nrsc.org/ and let them know. This follows this post about abortion workers being persuaded to quit. For more interesting stories like this click here to follow this blog.

Star of ‘Bella’ To Host First Latino Pro-Life Congress


LOS ANGELES, (LifeSiteNews.com) – Eduardo Verástegui, Latin American superstar and the lead of the pro-life film “Bella,” is hosting the first ever Latino United for Life Family Congress this Sunday at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The Congress will raise funds for pro-life projects and will feature an assortment of pro-life entertainers, actors, and speakers throughout the day.
"The funds raised … will be used to open a medical center in Los Angeles that provides free, high-quality care for pregnant women and their preborn babies," stated Eduardo Verástegui in a press release.
Verástegui said the forthcoming Guadalupe Medical Center will be situated in an area that has ten abortion clinics, making the center “an oasis of life in the midst of a desert of death.” The dream of building a pro-life medical center in L.A. has been on the Catholic performer’s mind for several years, after he discovered that at least nine abortion clinics were operating within a one mile stretch of the city.
The event starts at 8 a.m. and will last until 7 p.m at the LA Convention Center. Many entertainers will be on hand including singers Emmanuel and Alexander Acha, Mariachi Sol de Mexico, impersonator Gilberto Gless, and actress Karyme Lozano. Pro-life speakers include former Planned Parenthood director Abby Johnson, and the vibrant young Australian actor Nick Vujicic, who was born without limbs, but who inspires people throughout the world with his witness. Vujicic and Verástegui co-starred in the award-winning short film, The Butterfly Circus.
"Just as Latinos have had their dignity undermined by negative stereotypes in the media, so too have preborn babies had their dignity denied since the controversial 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision,” said Verástegui. “It is the mission of Manto de Guadalupe to promote the dignity of the human person with a special focus on restoring honor and dignity to Latinos - from the child in her father's arms to the child in her mother's womb, from the embryo to the elderly."
The United for Life congress is the brainchild of Manto de Guadalupe, an international aid organization founded by Verástegui, and dedicated to promoting the dignity of the human person throughout the world and bringing relief to those suffering extreme poverty. The group’s projects include building homes, delivering food and medicine, and providing lifesaving assistance to impoverished pregnant women.
Jason Jones, founder of the Human rights Education and Relief Organization (HERO), will speak at the pro-life pro-family congress as well. Verástegui and Jones have collaborated on many missions promoting the dignity of the human person, including bringing a message of hope to prison inmates in Texas and delivering lifesaving supplies to the poor and oppressed in Darfur, Sudan. "The threat to innocent life isn’t limited to the poorest nations. We need to be vigilant in promoting the dignity and incomparable worth of every human person right where we are," stated Verástegui.

To learn more click here (in Spanish)
To purchase tickets visit here.
See related coverage by LifeSiteNews.com:
Eduardo Verastegui Talks about Obama, Saving Babies Outside L.A. Abortion Clinic http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/oct/08100108.html
Actor Eduardo Verastegui Makes Pro-Life Plea to Hispanic Voters Appears in introduction of pro-life video "Hard Reality", which shows abortions to viewers http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/sep/08092605.html
'Bella' Movie Star, Eduardo Verastegui, Saved Real Baby While Researching Film http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/dec/07121004.html
Bella Star Reveals Difficult Personal Journey From Soap Opera Star to Producer of Ethical Films LifeSiteNews in depth interview with Eduardo Verastegui and Leo Severino http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/oct/07102408.html

Reaction to Obama troops on border (send fax)‏

An interesting post from www.NumbersUSA.org about the 1200 National Guard troops to be sent to the border. This follows this post about Barack's meeting with GOP senators and this post about the MURDER of ROBERT KRENTZ, who the protestors and boycotters won't give a solution for, but will call Americans racist for trying to prevent another MURDER, and this post which shows that there are 30,000 openly illegal immigrants in the border town of El Paso across from the recent Juarez shooting. For more interesting stories like this click here to follow this blog.

Reaction to Obama troops on border (send fax)‏
WHAT DOES NUMBERSUSA THINK OF PRES. OBAMA'S PROMISE OF 1,200 NATIONAL GUARD TO SECURE THE BORDER?
The announcement dominated the news for awhile this afternoon.
Action 1: You can read my blog response and join the conversation about it with other NumbersUSA members.
Action 2: Send a fax to your two Senators letting them know why enforcement actions promised today are not much more than window dressing. Click here to read, modify and send the free faxes.
Action 3: Click here to find a fax to send to Pres. Obama.
Action 4: Phone your Senators Wednesday morning to ask them to support Sen. DeMint's fence amendment on the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Bill that is before the Senate this week. You can reach any Senator through the switchboard at 202-224-3121.
Those of you with Senators who our Capitol Hill Team has identified as especially important to get calls will get an email alert from us Wednesday morning with more instructions, phone numbers and talking points. The amendment (S.A. 4177) would require the Obama Administration over the next 12 months to finish the 700 miles of reinforced fence that already has been ordered by previous law.
I know. You are wondering what is the point of a new law to require the fence when the Administration has just ignored the old law ordering the same thing? The main point is to get something on record from THIS Congress that will highlight the Administration's refusal to obey the law thus far. The majority of the 700 miles of fence has yet to be built.
BOTTOM LINE ANALYSIS Pres. Obama definitely blinked today in the face-off between pro-enforcement and pro-amnesty Americans. His announcement of sending 1,200 National Guard troops to the border and asking for an extra half-billion dollars for border security shows that he and his advisors are acknowledging that most Americans sided with Arizona Gov. Brewer and against the Obama Administration in regards to the new Arizona enforcement law.
Rosemary Jenks (our Director of Government Relations) put things immediately into perspective: "Do you understand that we currently have 20,000 Border Patrol, and they aren't coming close to keeping the borders secure? What is a mere placement of 1,200 National Guard going to do, especially since they can only provide a support function?" Under current conditions and policies, it would take thousands of National Guard to make a difference. But if the Administration would change its own internal policies, we probably wouldn't need any National Guard or extra money, Rosemary suggests.

We could get by with 20,000 Border Patrol if:

The Administration would allow the 20,000 current Border Patrol agents to do their jobs the way the law prescribes. Stop managers from blocking the agents at every turn. And provide leadership that encourages aggressive performance of enforcement duties. This is the fourth Administration in a row that has insisted that the agents do their jobs in figurative handcuffs.

The Administration would spend the border security and immigration enforcement money that already is in the budget for the things intended. Rosemary isn't sure that DHS needs another half billion dollars. What it needs is for DHS Chief Napolitano to stop diverting enforcement funds for other uses or ineffective uses. Spend the money on tough enforcement.

If the Administration would throw all its legislative muscle into passing the SAVE Act, which not only would provide beefed up border and interior enforcement but would begin turning off the jobs magnet almost immediately. Without the promise of jobs in this country, the flow of illegal aliens across the border would dry up to a trickle of its current level and make it possible for the current Border Patrol to provide wonderful security for the country.

If the Administration would pass the fence amendment (SA 4177) to the Emergency Supplemental bill as proposed by Sen. DeMint (R-S.C.). Be sure to read the rest of my blog response here. You can be sure that the President's announcements today are a reflection that White House advisors know just how badly the immigration issue is hurting Obama and the chances for vulnerable Democrats to hold on to their seats this fall. This has happened in part because of constant constituency protest against the open-borders rhetoric of the Administration. Now, Americans need to let federal leaders know that they will not be silenced by virtually empty public relations gestures. Please take the actions listed above.