No One To Defend The Helpless

I don't know if you heard about the Muslim girl who converted to Christianity who has been (somewhat) in the news lately. She ran away from home because she feared that her family would kill her. Today I was saddened to read the following headline:

Judge Orders Christian Convert Runaway to Return to Ohio

My sister in the Lord is being forced back into a situation where she had reason to believe that she would be murdered by her own family. Perhaps the judge is grossly ignorant of the practices of Islam. After all we've been told that Islam is a "peaceful religion." But I've heard too many stories of Muslim converts to Christianity who find themselves "resting in peace" at the hands of those who should have undying love for them.

I am curious what grounds the judge had for forcing this young woman to go back. She is 17 years old - only months from her 18th birthday. Hopefully, those few months will not be her last. I will have to do more research.

The law is to protect the helpless, but in this country it never seems to. Where is justice? Where is the protection for the widow and the orphan? I am convinced that the state of our justice system makes God want to vomit.

I will be praying for this sister. I have been praying - but perhaps not diligently enough. But one thing is sure: God - the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Great I Am, The Sinner's Hope - will be glorified by this young woman's life.

Lord God,

I ask you to protect my sister's life. I ask you to give her courage and strength to face this unjust decision and to trust Your sovereignty and Your goodness. Defend her life, Lord, and soften the hearts of every lost soul that she knows to come to the knowledge of you.

Father, I know that this outcome does not surprise You, and I know that You have prepared her for this moment from before the foundation of time. Let Your Spirit hover close to her. Let her sense Your closeness and Your love. May Your angels encamp around her to keep her from even dashing her foot against a stone.

Fill her with Your word and help her to not worry about what to say or what to do, but to trust that You will give her the words to say and the courage to face whatever comes. Lord God, I place her into Your hands.

Amen.

God be with you, sister. I will be praying for you.

UPDATE:

In another article I read, the father says he loves his daughter and has no plans to harm her. I hope he is telling the truth.

But according to another article the young lady sure seems to think something else:

"If I had stayed in Ohio, I wouldn't be alive," she said. "In 150 generations in family, no one has known Jesus. I am the first — imagine the honor in killing me."

"There is great honor in that, because if they love Allah more than me, they have to do it. It's in the Koran,"

So who do you believe? I think you probably ought to err on the side of life. If it is possible that they may want to kill her then I think she should be allowed to protect her life. We'll see how it plays.

Let Them Eat Cake Instead

I just finished reading a very well-reasoned and argued article written by Steven Vasquez, the Interim New York State Coordinator for Campaign for Liberty, about why we should oppose any form of nationalized health care program. It is a long read but the arguments are brilliant.

Here are a couple of my favorite parts:

"When a government fails to obey its laws granted to it by the people, it loses its authority to exist."

"The idea that health care is a right is incorrect and immoral. Is housing a right? Is driving a right? Is fresh water a right? Are video games and toys a right? They are privileges earned through productivity, not consumption. The rights we are given are inalienable, and our government can not grant those rights and is prohibited from taking them away through the Constitution's Bill of Rights. We would no longer be a Constitutional Republic, but a Collectivist state, should this occur."

My biggest problem with this health care reform bill is that I see it as an overreaching by the US government in a massive power grab. The government can't run Medicare. It can't manage its own spending. It can't even run a ship disposal program. It has spent Social Security into oblivion and now they want to run health care? I don't think so.

People are very angry about this and the other things that are happening in our government with good reason. No one is listening to them. Is there any better example of gross negligence than the fact that our "representatives" are not even reading the bills that they are voting for? How can you adequately represent your constituents' best interests when you haven't even read the freaking bill? How well would that play in a malpractice lawsuit? "Well the patient looked pretty sick so the doctor just dove in and started operating without reading his charts or talking to anyone about the patient's history first."

And why is it necessary to have a 1,000 page bill ever? Who can possibly digest everything that is in it? And why the rush? If there is nothing to hide, then there should be no rush - especially on a bill that is thicker than an unabridged dictionary. Are people angry? Absolutely!

And instead of listening and slowing down, the administration and many senators and congressmen are ridiculing this anger. I fear that it will be to their own pain. I have never seen the people of this country as angry as they are now, and that is not likely to end well. The problem is the arrogance of the ruling elite right now. They are going to do what they have deemed the "right thing" to do come hell or high water, and anyone who refutes them is labeled "a mob" or "un-American" or "a Brown Shirt."

I managed to earn that scorn from a friend of a friend on Facebook this past weekend for venting a little bit about how utterly ticked I am. I find it funny that Brown Shirts seem to often characterize anyone who disagrees with them as a Brown Shirt. In truth it is the proponents of this bill that are acting the most like fascists.

Is it un-American to protest the loss of liberty that we are threatened with by this administration's policies? The left didn't think so when they were protesting President Bush's policies. I doubt that John Adams or Patrick Henry would have thought so. They both openly pushed for outright war with England! Talk about a rabble rouser! The founders would be appalled that the nation that they sacrificed so much to birth has come to this.

Most Americans have come to understand that the government doesn't listen to polite. It only understands passion - because passion is the only power that the people really have. When people get passionate enough they start acting, and that gets really unpredictable for politicians. Except the current group of Do-dahs that is up there now thinks that they'll be able to pull a Goebbels and repeat the lie long enough for the simple to believe it. And yet, even the President, master of rhetoric that he is, cannot avoid the truth that under his plan there will be certain points where treatment will be withheld.



I really wish I had time tonight to get into more detail about the problems that are coming out about this bill and about some of the alternatives that I have pondered, but it just isn't going to happen. Perhaps I can return to it soon and go into greater depth. Apparently Senator Burr from North Carolina has made a proposal of his own that I would like to read.

The bottom line is that the powers that be need to get a grip on reality, start listening to the people, pay attention to their anger, take them seriously, and readjust their thinking lest they, acting like Marie Antoinette, push the people too far and meet her same end.

Lords and Ladies

If you would like a clear demonstration of where the policies of the Obama Administration and the Congress are taking our nation, you should read an article from the Associated Press about California. Here are some highlights interspersed with my running commentary (emphases mine):

The crisis is a sort of political comeuppance for Schwarzenegger, who took over a state with a projected $16 billion gap in 2003 and promised to end California's "crazy deficit spending." (I guess he didn't succeed.)

The gap has two primary causes: The state has been living beyond its means for years by spending generously on all sorts of programs that the voters, the politicians and the special interests wanted. (Hmmmm... where have I heard of this being done before? Oh yes, our Federal lawmakers have been doing this for the past 9 years, and from the looks of things they have finally figured out how to do it right!) And the recession has hammered California's economy....

...The governor's cutbacks could include ending the state's main welfare program for the poor, eliminating health coverage for about 1.5 million poor children, halting cash grants for about 77,000 college students, shortening the school year by seven days, (At least this one is likely to make someone happy and isn't likely to hurt the kids' education.) laying off thousands of state workers and teachers, slashing money for state parks and releasing thousands of prisoners before their sentences are finished. (Looks like the gravy train done left the station.) ...

...The drastic cuts that appear to lie ahead will, by accident, accomplish the stark reduction in state government that many Republicans have long advocated.

"We should have been limiting the growth of government for years," Villines said. (He's a Republican. Too bad they didn't do it. I wonder if anyone in Washington is taking notes? Not likely. Hey, isn't Nancy Pelosi from California?) ...

...A separate commission is expected to release a proposal to rework the state's tax structure, which is vulnerable to booms and busts in California's economy because it relies heavily on high-income earners. (But wait! I thought wealth redistribution was supposed to be a good thing. This must be a mistake! You mean the President was wrong about that too?) The state also has few limits on what state government can spend and a small rainy day fund that can easily be raided by the politicians. (You mean like Social Security?) ...

Let the hand wringing begin. And that is exactly where our nation is headed if the Federal Government doesn't reign its spending in HARD. You can't pass the largest stimulus bill the world has ever seen, add tons of pork to every bill, finance a war, and fly every senator, representative, staff member, and cabinet member everywhere they go and not see this happen on a national level. You want a warning? LOOK AT CALIFORNIA!!!! This is where we will be before the Obama administration has finished this term if something isn't done quickly to establish some restraint in our government.

Ask Zimbabwe, Argentina, and Brazil how much fun it is to face hyperinflation. Our nation could very well lose its influence in the world and its ability to project power if this is allowed to happen here. It scares me to think of what we may resort to as a nation to defend ourselves in that hour should it come.

The article also said that the state is approaching the Federal Government about a bailout. Great. Just what we need. (Crap, Nancy Pelosi IS from California. What are the chances she'll turn down the chance to throw some do re mi at her peeps?) And if one gets it, you can rest assured that every other state will have to line up for it. It won't matter anyway. All the states that try to exercise some fiscal restraint will likely be sucked down in the vortex created by the states that rush to grab the money first.

North Carolina is apparently in no better condition than California. We are about to close prisons, cut all state employees' salaries (except for our dear legislators and elected officials, bless their hearts), lay off teachers and a whole bunch of other stuff, and yet we have one of the higher tax rates in the nation. Ah, the utopia of the liberal agenda!

Am I the only one who is wondering where all the money is going? I mean we have a lottery that is apparently selling lots of tickets. (The powerball is up to 192 million dollars as of Wednesday night.) The roads aren't getting fixed. They've been bleeding the universities since Easley was governor. Where the crap is all the money going?! I think we need to get some IRS auditors in to audit the government. There's a hole in the boat somewhere.

I'm glad to hear that they have started investigating former governor, Mike Easley, for misappropriation of public money while in office and examining the audacious contract between his wife and my alma mater, NC State. Apparently they are paying her nearly $1,000,000 over the course of five years to arrange a few speakers to come and speak at the university. Bless her heart! I'd gladly do it for half that. Maybe even ¼ of that if I could telecommute. I'd be willing to bet she doesn't do $50,000 worth of work the entire five years. Well, the university need not send me any pleas for money while crap like this is going on.

I am so sick of people being payed far more than they or the job they are doing is worth because they are "connected." I am tired of the Mike Easleys and Nancy Pelosis of this world thinking that they deserve preferential treatment and perks on the public dollar when all they know how to do is serve themselves and run a nation or a state into the ground. I'm tired of CEOs making millions every year whose only skills are to take a viable, healthy company and bleed all of its assets off and know when to jump ship before the effects hit the balance sheet. This junk has to stop.

Our nation was never supposed to have an aristocracy. Where did we get all of these people who think that they are lords and ladies? I can assure you that not one of them works as hard as any of my grandparents did, and my grandparents probably never made as much in their lifetimes as these people make in a year - maybe even a month. I'm pretty sure that they aren't any smarter than my folks either. So why would these "aristos" be entitled to any more than my hard-working grandparents got?

And that is another thing. Why is it that when President Bush was in office his intelligence was constantly slandered, and yet when President Obama finds himself reversing what he promised in his campaign and doing and saying some of the exact same things that President Bush was doing that he is refreshingly intelligent? I am utterly sick of people who are not as smart as President Bush or Sarah Palin belittling their intelligence. Most of the people who are doing so are totally on board with all of the President's left wing policies and believe all of his, er, nuanced answers. How intelligent is that?

When this Administration and this Congress manage to put our nation in the situation in which California finds itself (for I have no hope that they will do otherwise) I am sure that there will be lots of blame casting between the Republicans and Democrats. I'm sure that this will all somehow become President George W. Bush's fault. But the bottom line is that it is "we the people's" fault because we failed to hold our elected officials, educators, and corporate leaders accountable for their malfeasance, self-serving attitudes, and incompetence. (I am not suggesting that all elected officials, educators and corporate leaders are guilty of these things. Certainly there are some who are doing a good job, but sadly the tide seems to be flowing hard against them.)

Regardless of what anyone thinks, all governments derive their powers from the consent of the governed. It would seem that as a people we have decided that it is OK to sell the freedoms and liberties and true prosperity that had been won and defended for generations, for a figurative bowl of stew - a little short term gain. Looks like there were lumps in the gravy.

I leave you with a selection from the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.

Look to your foundations, America. They are crumbling. Think on that this Memorial Day weekend, and remember the many people whose blood helped to establish and protect them. Don't let their sacrifices be squandered. They deserve more honor than that.

Amen.

Pretty much sums it up...

Um, Can They Do That?

In an article titled Livid Democrats Demand AIG Return Bailout Bonuses I read today,

Whatever the process, lawmakers of all stripes said, the money — generally "retention payments" to keep prized employees — belongs back in the government's hands.

"Recipients of these bonuses will not be able to keep all of their money," declared Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in an unusually strong threat delivered on the Senate floor.

"If you don't return it on your own, we will do it for you," echoed Chuck Schumer of New York.

Not all Democratic leaders were racing in that direction. Penalizing people with the tax code could be inappropriate, declared Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., chairman of the taxwriting Ways and Means Committee. He said, "It's difficult for me to think of the code as a political weapon."

I don't think that they can do that. How can the government legally target specific individuals for taxation penalties? If they can, then things are worse than I thought, and we might as well change the flag to a solid red field with a gold sickle and hammer crossed in the upper left hand corner.

If the people in Congress and the White House had intended for these funds to not be used that way then they should have had the foresight to stipulate that. Or even better they should have let capitalism do it's thing, letting the companies that have been competently managed thrive and the ones run by boobs sink. The share holders in these companies ought to be out for scalps.

According to the article it would seem that these bonuses were contractual.

Administration officials said Geithner did all that he legally could to avert the payments.

Geithner urged AIG's Liddy last week to renegotiate the contracts that called for the bonuses.

"He recognized that you can't just abrogate contracts willy-nilly, but he moved to do what could be done," Larry Summers, Obama's chief economic adviser, told the AP in an interview Tuesday.

How do I get in on a contract that will pay me million dollar plus bonuses if I run the company into the ground on top of a multi-million dollar salary? I need to get me some of that. How is it that the share holders allow this sort of thing to go on? Something stinks like five-day-old road-kill. The "little people" don't get deals like that. No wonder American business is floundering. Toddlers are sailing the ship. Wait, toddlers would probably do a better job.

Another Brilliant Idea From The Genius Trust In Washington...

Ahhh, liberal doublespeak. Don't you just love it? I swear, sometimes I think I've stepped into Orwell's 1984.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki confirmed Tuesday that the Obama administration is considering a controversial plan to make veterans pay for treatment of service-related injuries with private insurance. Full Article

I really am starting to wonder if our President and his staff are directing their policy by reading the latest book by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad titled, The Complete Idiot's Guide To The American Presidency. It is really getting to the point of absurdity - like one of those really bizarre, horrible dreams that you just can't seem to wake up from.

Our servicemen and women deserve absolutely everything that we can give them. They aren't paid nearly enough and frankly, if it were up to me, all people who have served honorably in the military, fire department (even volunteers), or police department would receive health care for life. I would even go so far as to make them tax exempt during their time of service and would probably even give them a veterans' tax break after they got out or retired.

Yet, instead of something as worthwhile as that, we are wasting money on a fictional problem like global warming. Or on immoral programs like embryonic stem cell massacres and the exportation of infanticide. Or on billion dollar programs whose money goes God only knows where and derives no benefit to anyone except the bureaucrats that are embezzling the money.

It just disgusts me.

Why Am I So Not Surprised?

It has been a while since I have posted anything political here on the blog. I honestly have been staying as far away from it as I can overall, but I thought I would break my silence here briefly to talk about the state of the Union a bit. I do mean briefly too.

I have had no stomach for the news of late. Every time I hear about one of the "brilliant" "new" ideas coming out of Washington I have had a simultaneous urge to be sick, yell, and smash inanimate objects. Each tidbit of news that I have gotten is further proof that our commander-in-chief is like the second woman of Proverbs 14:1. God help us.

In truth, I am avoiding the news to make it possible to pray for this man at all. Because the overwhelming urge that I feel when I see what he is arrogantly (or foolishly - you can take your pick) doing to our nation is that I want his policies to reap the full reward of their misguidedness so that no one will EVER try to implement such utter foolishness in our nation - or anywhere else in the world - ever again.

The only problem with such a desire on my part is that all Americans will end up paying the price by reaping such consequences, and that hardly seems right, considering that not everyone is as much in wholehearted devotion and agreement to "the one" in Washington as the American press seems to be. And even though his disciples seemed to think that he was some great "messiah" he has done more walking into walls than walking on water so far.

Case in point is the interesting article written by John Hawkins that enumerates the top ten major blunders by the Obama administration so far. If President Bush had committed even one of these errors he would have certainly been impeached.

Does President Obama deserve to have some slack cut to him? Perhaps the answer is yes. (I know you are shocked that I would say so.) But he is doing precisely what someone with no executive experience could have been expected to do. It will certainly take some time for him to learn the ropes. Too bad the people surrounding him are as unprepared as he is. No, I don't put the full responsibility of all of this on the President's shoulders - I lay this burden squarely at the feet of all of those misguided souls who voted for someone wholly unqualified for the job of President. Thanks, y'all. Lots of people told you it would turn out like this.

I like what Thomas Sowell had to say in his article today.

Even in an era of much-ballyhooed "change," the government cannot eliminate sadness. What it can do is transfer that sadness from those who made risky and unwise decisions to the taxpayers who had nothing to do with their decisions.

Worse, the subsidizing of bad decisions destroys one of the most effective sources of better decisions-- namely, paying the consequences of bad decisions.

In the wake of the housing debacle in California, more people are buying less expensive homes, making bigger down payments, and staying away from "creative" and risky financing. It is amazing how fast people learn when they are not insulated from the consequences of their decisions.

Seems to me that the Utopian "change" that was promised during the campaign has turned Orwellian on us. Not that I am surprised, mind you - I knew that is what he really meant all along.

Do I pray for the President? Yes I do, but my prayers are aimed wholly at him committing his life to the truth of the Scriptures instead of to the whims of his "intellect." Until he begins to recognize that God may know more than he does ,we can expect him to continue to turn our country into a nosedive that will end up destroying us.

Their Blood Cries Out From The Ground To God

Here is a brief excerpt from an excellent article by Alan Sears:

Yes, these are grim days for children in our society, but give the administration this: it’s not limiting its persecution to the children of America.

Just one day after hundreds of thousands of Americans swelled the streets of Washington, D.C., to declare their allegiance to the protection of life from the moment of conception, President Obama issued an executive order freeing U.S. taxpayer monies to be given to Planned Parenthood and others to fund abortions that will take the lives of children all over the world.

Guess he finally figured out his pay grade.

God forgive us.

This Annoys Me

According to a Michelle Malkin piece today, eHarmony has wimped out and agreed to change its business model to include homosexuals because of a lawsuit leveled against them. Would somebody please get a spine?! If nobody stands up to this crap it will not stop - in fact it will get worse. I would rather shut down my business than give in to this kind of unconstitutional coercion.

The absurdity of this lawsuit is beyond bounds. That the AG of New Jersey even countenanced it is an outrage. Are there not plenty of websites that help homosexuals hook up? Are there not plenty that help them find a "life partner?" Well, hooking up homosexuals or adulterers isn't, er, wasn't eHarmony's thing. They were serving the portion of the market that they wanted to serve. Should a business be forced to serve all portions of the market? I suppose that the pedophiles and folks that like our four-legged friends will be up in arms demanding equal access too. Perhaps they could serve necrophiliacs too?

Where does it stop? Perhaps I should sue JC Penny's because I can't get milkshakes there.

Quote Of The Day

Liberals complain that -- as B. Hussein Obama put it -- there's "no way that allowing offshore drilling would lower gas prices right now. At best you are looking at five years or more down the road." (This is as opposed to airplanes that run on wood chips, which should be up and running any moment now.)

Moreover, what was going on five years ago? Why didn't anyone propose drilling back then?

Say, you know what we need? We need a class of people paid to anticipate national crises and plan solutions in advance. It would be such an important job, the taxpayers would pay them salaries so they wouldn't have to worry about making a living and could just sit around anticipating crises. If only we had had such a group -- let's call them "elected representatives" -- they could have proposed drilling five years ago!

But of course we do pay people to anticipate national problems and propose solutions. Some of them -- we'll call them Republicans -- did anticipate high gas prices and propose solutions.

Six long years ago President Bush had the foresight to demand that Congress allow drilling in a minuscule portion of the Alaska's barren, uninhabitable Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). In 2002, Bush, Tom DeLay and the entire Republican Party were screaming from the rooftops: Drill! Drill! Drill!

We'd be gushing oil now -- except the Democrats stopped us from drilling.

- Ann Coulter

Not sure if that is the answer to the problem, but at least it is something. (Frankly, it would take a good bit of convincing to make me believe that the folks clamoring for drilling didn't have a conflict of interest somewhere down the line. The greed, corruption, and self-interest that I have seen in this Congress make me sick to my stomach.)

President Bush has been talking about searching for alternatives to our oil dependency for years now, but unfortunately it would seem that Congress (please refer to the quote in the header of my blog) had better things to do. For some reason I keep thinking about their great interest in running professional sports in this country... steroids in baseball or fuel independence? Which seems more important to you?

This Really Shouldn't Be A Problem

The battle over voting rights will expand this week as lawmakers in Missouri are expected to support a proposed constitutional amendment to enable election officials to require proof of citizenship from anyone registering to vote.

The measure would allow far more rigorous demands than the voter ID requirement recently upheld by the Supreme Court, in which voters had to prove their identity with a government-issued card.

Sponsors of the amendment — which requires the approval of voters to go into effect, possibly in an August referendum — say it is part of an effort to prevent illegal immigrants from affecting the political process. Critics say the measure could lead to the disenfranchisement of tens of thousands of legal residents who would find it difficult to prove their citizenship.

OK, check me here if I am wrong, but legal residents aren't allowed to vote - only citizens, right? The article that I quoted above did have a story about an older lady who had trouble getting a birth certificate, but really, how many bona fide US Citizens truly can't prove their citizenship with a little due diligence?

This is a measure whose time has come and really should be more widespread than it is. US Citizens should have absolutely no qualms about proving that they are a citizen. Laxness in this department has caused the problems that are facing the states with large illegal immigrant populations.

Remember how there has been so much pandering to the illegal crowd by California politicians? Why are they cow-towing to a group that legally isn't able to vote? The problem is that these folks have been allowed to vote and have been actively recruited to the voter lists by treasonous people who care more about winning elections than they do the welfare of our country.

Frankly, if I were a naturalized citizen and had gone through all of the expense and work that it takes to become a citizen of the US I would be incensed. Anyone who actively supports allowing non-citizens to vote is no friend of our nation. It is not a burdensome requirement to make people prove their citizenship.

Many opponents of the law cry that thousands upon thousands of legitimate citizens will be disenfranchised by such a law. I wish that they would produce all of these myriads of people. Here's an idea: I suggest that instead of working to prevent a just law, that they work with these purported "disenfranchised" folks to help them prove their citizenship. It shouldn't be that tough to do, and certainly shouldn't cost as much as fighting this legislation.

Citizenship, like Christianity, cannot be attained by any path one chooses. The benefits, privileges, and rights of the citizen (and the Christian) are only available to those who obtain membership by the prescribed means. It is high time that we remember that.

Did You Ever Ask Yourself...

why, if all of these guys' ideas are so great, have none of them have been implemented while in the Senate?

I guess it all makes sense when you understand what has to be done. I have, for the first time in my life, gotten a view of the contorted inner workings of our Legislative branch over the past few weeks. It is frankly a wonder that any bills ever get passed by the Congress.

Our Representatives never stop campaigning, and about a third of our Senators are campaigning at any given time. Besides that, every national holiday merits at least a one week recess. Plus there's summer break to consider. Then you have to factor in all of the "very important" hearings about whether some baseball or football player has been using steroids, whether there is enough minority representation in NASCAR, professional sports management, or team ownership, or whether Oprah's new diet is working safely and effectively. When you add all of the partisan sniping that goes on, the required social events to take bribes, er, accept contributions from the Chinese and big oil, I mean, private interests, and otherwise chase tails (theirs or someone else's) they are just swamped.

So please forgive me if I am somewhat cynical when one of these candidates tells me that he or she has the great panacea of our ills all worked out. All three of our potential candidates have had the opportunity to show us what they could do, and I'm afraid it doesn't amount to much. And if they can't find a way to rally a strong majority of the country to their policies and ideas they won't get a thing done. We've already seen under President Bush that the "Bully Pulpit" doesn't have that kind of power against partisan stonewalling.

And if someone is offering free rainbow stew, you might better check the pot.

So, How Did Your Senator Do?

OK, I know that this is a little on the late side. I think this vote took place probably 2 weeks ago. Perhaps you heard about the amendment to instate a moratorium on earmark spending in the Senate. This amendment was crushed 71 against to 29 for. When I heard that I knew that I simply had to find out who the 29 yeas were. Gladly, I discovered that NC's senators, Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr both voted in favor of the moratorium. It is a good thing for them too, because had they not, I would have been voting for their opponents in their next election. Senator McCain also supported the moratorium.

How did your Senators do? You can find out by clicking HERE.

It is really damning when some of the more liberal members of the senate (Senators Clinton, Obama, and Feingold) voted to suspend earmark spending and 25 Republicans voted against it. My annoyance with the impotence of this Congress is reaching epic proportions. The folks in Washington seem to have forgotten what they are in Washington to do. I wish there were a way to send them all back home and start from scratch. This country cannot survive another generation of self-seeking politicians who wallow sideways in the public trough and care nothing for the common good. (Perhaps they would do well to remember the Preamble to the Constitution.) The times are too perilous.

Anyway, check out the list and let your Senators know how you think they did. Regardless of whether they voted yea or nay they need to know that we are watching them.