The “Blagosphere”

Blagosphere. Formerly, “the virtual space across the internet populated by the ceaselessly chattering masses.” Addendum: b. blagosphere: the scandalous cesspool bearing the name of Rod Blagojevich, governor of Illinois. A fitting rip for Chicagoland politics that casts a long shadow to Washington, D. C. Calling this a mere distraction, as the MSM is wont to do, would be like calling 9/11 a distraction to the peace process between Islamic terrorists and the West. BHO’s Axlerod’s text message to David Copperfield. “You know that 747 Jumbo Jet you made disappear? Yeah, well, we need an en core.” Extracting the occupant of the auspicious Office of the President-elect from the belly of Mayor Daley’s beast without so much as the smell of smoke on his $1500 Hartmax suit will take one more assemblage of smoke and mirrors.

Obama needs a miraculous extrication from this bask of crocodiles. Take a deep breath: Antoin “Tony” Rezko, Emil Jones, George Ryan, William Ayers, Bernadine Dohrn, Rashid Khalidi, Dr. Jeremiah Wright, Father Michael Pfleger, Franklin Raines, Larry Walsh, Al Mansour, Rabbi Capers Funnye, Raila Odinga, Muhammad Hasa Chandoo, Wahid Hamid, Nadhmi Auchi, Valerie Jarret, Robert Malley and Saul Alinsky all noted for their association with Barack Obama, and all tainted with either corruption, scandal, extreme political views or questionable character. One step beyond the inner circle includes engaging personas like Louis Farrakhan, George Soros and Steve Malinga. That takes care of the individual weirdos and operators. Now add to it the neighborhood gone national organization of ACORN, slimed for voter registration fraud during the recent presidential campaign, and the Developing Communities Project, the organization for which Obama learned the ropes of community organizing. BHO may need Houdini over Copperfield.

The Blagosphere is wide, deep and treacherous. Nervous Obama devotees need to pray that each tenuous foothold, each shifting of balance, each easing along the cliff face with rocks plummeting into the abyss below will be prove certain and solid. One slip means that the media ropes need to hold. At least until January 20.

“Don’t Learn Me That”

It’s an old family story that has circulated for years. Something about a babysitting job with a boy who didn’t want to learn to change. Pretty well sums up the warped learning experience of grade school and secondary education in modern America. “Don’t learn me how things really work. Let me be ignorant.” That way you can control me better and make me a predictable little citizen…not one of them “right-winger types.”

Here’s the way I was taught to think: Present me a question. Point me in the direction of my primary resources. Show me how to do research. Let me draw my own conclusions. Ask me some penetrating questions about my work and see if I can defend it. Grade me on how well I did on the process and how well I substantiated my answers. Remain neutral about my values. Concentrate on my understanding of the process, not the particular answers at which I arrived. If those conclusions were wrong, then I would find out as I matured and had the experiences in life that taught me. If the conclusions were right, then I learned to be self-reliant and confident.

Here’s the way today’s kids are taught to think: Present me with a question. Hint at the conclusion I am supposed to produce. Select the material I am supposed to study. Monitor my progress to see if I am staying on track. Ask me some questions calculated to channel me into the right answers. Grade me on how well I did on the assigned conclusions. The process is nice, but the most important thing is that I come up with the correct answers. If I get the answers you think are right, reward me with a good grade. If I get the wrong answers, punish me with a bad grade. Or, just ridicule and shame me until I line up with the rest of the class.

Do I think teachers are doing their job? Yes. But, that’s not the right question. The teachers are doing what they were taught to do. They were taught to teach how to get the “right” answers. They were not taught to teach how to think…I mean really think. To say that they are blind, leaders of the blind may be too insulting, but that’s the only way to express it. I am inclined to think of John Godfrey Saxe’s ( 1816-1887) version of the famous Indian legend.

It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.

The First approach’d the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
“God bless me! but the Elephant
Is very like a wall!”

The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried, -“Ho! what have we here
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me ‘tis mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a spear!”

The Third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
“I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant
Is very like a snake!”

The Fourth reached out his eager hand,
And felt about the knee.
“What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain,” quoth he,
“‘Tis clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a tree!”

The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: “E’en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a fan!”

The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Then, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
“I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant
Is very like a rope!”

And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!

MORAL.

So oft in theologic wars,
The disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance
Of what each other mean,
And prate about an Elephant
Not one of them has seen!

Here are some questions I would like teachers to answer:

• How does the economy really work?
• How does public education sector of the economy work?
• Do I pay you?
• Who determines your salary?
• Do you produce a product or a service?
• Do I have a choice whether or not I like your product or service?
• Can I choose not to purchase your product or service?
• What guarantees do you issue that back up your product or service?
• Can I get the same product or service from your competitor?
• Does the teachers union tell you what to believe?
• Does the teachers union punish you if you don’t do what they say?
• Do you invite independent research groups to evaluate your job?
• As the end user of the product or service, do I get a say in the matter?
• Who are you accountable to other than the teachers union?
• If I get an inferior education, who do I blame?
• Are parents always to blame?
• Is more money always the answer?

These questions are just for starters. Here are some answers that I find unacceptable.

• Trivializing the question.
• Ridiculing me for asking the question.
• Launching an ad hominem attack.
• Twisting the question around.
• Answering the question with a question.
• Changing the subject.
• Blaming someone else for the problem.

At some point, the educational process in this country will collapse upon itself. The same argument will apply to education as it does to the American automakers. When they produce a product that no one wants to buy, when their labor costs are unsustainable and when their competition is too formidable, then it will change.

Teachers have the benefit of an immense amount of goodwill because the teacher-child bond is traditional and nostalgic. The turnaround will also take longer because public education is mandated, but people will not be sold a bill of goods forever. The union mindset, especially in the public sector, is incestuous, self-perpetuating, arrogant and unaccountable. Despite their soaring rhetoric to the contrary and their bottom-line thuggish tactics to hold the public’s feet to the fire, things will change. Teaching jobs may not be outsourced, but teachers can be replaced through competition. Once we find a way to do this—and we will—then a new day will dawn for America.

The Insanity of Predestination

Those who believe in predestination, or, “God wills everything”, have no theology of personal culpability. Either colossal ignorance or stultifying arrogance seeks to absolve man of responsibility, without the benefit of forgiveness, even when man clearly made the choices to commit a heinous crime. I am appalled at the cowardice and intellectual dishonesty of predestination logic. How easy it must be to blame God for genocide, for terrorist acts, for barbarism, for inhuman abuse of families, women and defenseless children because one believes that God made me do it. If God wired someone to commit acts of atrocity against other human beings, then how can God hold that person accountable to the law or even divine retribution? Listen to this incomprehensible drivel that proponents believe:

 “If we cannot reconcile divine omnipotence and divine goodness, we must choose between them. Islam has chosen divine omnipotence. It may praise God’s goodness and mercy, but because it holds that everything that happens is the direct result of God’s will, it must make God responsible for rape, murder, theft, adultery, deceit, and so on, even blasphemy, and if God is responsible for these evil deeds, then they must not be evil after all. “If God did not want those people to die,” says the mullah, “why did he allow those airliners to crash into the World Trade Center?”’

This piece, of course, spotlights the tragedy of Mumbai in which Jews were targeted. The saddest case was a two-year old Jewish boy who was abused and sent home an orphan. His mother and father were brutally murdered an especially gruesome attack, and an examination of the toddler showed marks on his back consistent with an abusive beating. Why? Oh, yes, we “know” why. Jews are the dung of the earth, the cockroaches who infest society, the cause of all human suffering. The Islamic extremists have a right—even a duty—to kill them whenever and where ever they’re found, and do so in ones, ten, thousands or millions.

 We need to peel back the layers of the tragedy until we arrive at the real truth. Whether Muslim, Christian or Jew, the unthinkable sin is to assign the blame to God for the shameful acts of man. Does God really want sin to happen? Is God really guilty of rape, murder, theft and the like? A thousands times NO! I cannot say that God allows it in the sense that he passively does nothing about it, or he turns a blind eye to it, or that he actually wills it to happen and provides the means to accomplish the task. If he allows it at all, it is because sin lies at the core of human problems. God has an absolute guarantee that he will not violate the free moral agency of man. That does not mean, however, that he will not hold man responsible for his deeds done in the flesh.

 Personal accountability, moral culpability and criminal judgment will fall heavily on those who are guilty of sin. This necessitates a choice. If one has no choice, then it follows that one accrues no moral guilt. Groupthink, class hatred and the acts of terrorism that target individuals in the name of race or ethnicity will not be given a bye. Yes, justice is a moral decision and it is arrived at through the most stringent and torturous processes. I am outraged, however, that it is assumed that perceived oppression that is nothing more than vile hatred, continues to be excused.

 Unless all of Islamists who say they believe in moderation and peaceful coexistence rise up and condemn terrorism, there will be no peace. In fact, there will only be tacit agreement with the aims of the extremists, all the while claiming to be against it. It is a clever saying that no justice, no peace. But, in a larger sense, those who believe that guilt has no price, that predestination is the will of God regardless of the sins the perpetrators commit, that we are as amoral as a rock or a tree caught up in a natural disaster, then we will never have justice or peace. It is a bedrock principle that a man will pay for his sins. If he does not, then he can believe in a savior who forgives sin. But that savior also says, “Go and sin no more.”

The Obama Hate Machine

At first, it sputtered and coughed with a lean mixture of Reverend Wright and Bill Ayers, plus an overdose of racial politics, but now the “hate Obama” people have their machine cranking at a high RPM. If you can believe the blogs, gays hate Obama, old people hate Obama, middle-aged white females hate Obama, along with Pakistanis, Pennsylvanians, a sizable segment of the U. S. Muslim population, terrorists, Neo-Nazis, white supremacists, Christians, Jews and the Middle East…not to mention the Republicans and the “entire nation” according to one blogger. You can buy “I Hate Obama” T-shirts, gifts, art, posters, aprons, bags, bumper stickers, buttons, pins, shoes, calendars, cards, hats, key chains, magnets, mouse pads, mugs and ties, just for starters. Books, magazines, newsletters, ezines and YouTube clips blanket the internet, media and publication industries with their “hate Obama” message. And, many of the 56,899,510 people who voted against Obama make up a rabid market of consumers for the product.

If the “love Obama” side of the question were tepid in their views, then Obama hatred may get some traction. That’s hardly the case. Love for Obama easily exceeds levels ever known for a Presidential candidate or a President-elect, virtually wiping out any effectiveness of their polar opposites. Not only is the same paraphernalia like T-shirts, stickers and buttons sailing off the shelves and out the doors, Obama devotion seems more like the establishment of a new religion. The pre-inaugural Obama fanaticism has federal holidays planned in his honor; streets, roads and schools have already been named after him; “Barack” has become one of the most popular names chosen for baby boys; ABC reported that “’This is the fall of the Berlin Wall times ten,’” Rama Yade, France’s black junior minister for human rights, told French radio. “America is becoming a New World. ‘On this morning, we all want to be American so we can take a bite of this dream unfolding before our eyes,’ she said.” Whether in true belief or in sarcasm, Obama has been dubbed “the Messiah”, “the One” and “the Savior.” Millions of his supporters do expect him to bring about miraculous changes in the world, an expectation that his administrative team has feverishly been trying to quell. Too late. Obamanism is for real.

So, which is it? Should we hate him or love him? Neither. Both viewpoints miss the main point. Hatred is corrosive and love is blinding. Hatred makes one crazy with personal animosity; love fills the atmosphere with a stupefying aphrodisiac. Both render the thought processes incapable of handling information objectively and without bias. Every American would do well to remember that he or she is, above all else, a citizen. We are not subjects, fans, minions or mere taxpayers. We are not laity, union members, political parties or simple votes to be counted. We are not contributors, devotees or crowds. We are citizens who participate in a democratically styled government with all of its attendant responsibilities to each other and to ourselves. When we allow emotions to rule our senses, we prove ourselves unworthy of our freedoms.

I do not hate Obama. I do not love Obama. I fear Obama, as I would any individual elected to the supreme office of the land. The executive powers vested in that office can instigate unprecedented change—overnight—that can send the world into military, economic or social convulsions. My family, my job, my church, my community and my life are eminently threatened by the wielding of that power. One ruling, or a series of rulings, that militate against my belief system and/or my livelihood can destroy me. One executive order inked into law can decimate my freedom, my bill of rights and my constitutional guarantees. One decision, supported by a sympathetic legislative and judicial branch of government, can send my life into a tailspin from which it cannot recover. Hatred for the person with this kind of authority is useless. Love for this person is mindless. Fear will make me cautious and watchful. It is not fear for my soul—that is in the hands of God, out of reach of any President or elected official. No, it is fear of my citizenship. Not only am I right to retain such fear, I am obligated to have it as a citizen of this free land. Otherwise, I forfeit my chance to make a difference.

I fear a President who can unilaterally disarm my country, weaken our military might and put us at the mercy of a foreign invasion.

I fear a President who turns this capitalistic nation into a socialist state where the citizens are seen, not as free people who can determine their own destiny, but as sources of revenue to carry an ever-increasing welfare burden.

I fear a President who can subject the unique American rule of law to the consensus of judicial opinions of judges around the world. I do not want those who lack this country’s heritage of freedom to determine American law.

I fear a President who may allow his popularity to overrule his oath to support and defend the constitution of the United States of America. This country has no monarchy ensconced in a golden throne in a White House turned into a palace.

I fear a President who may open the door to the tyranny of the minority, whereby the rules of political correctness and the attempts at social justice are imposed upon the specified freedoms of the citizens.

I fear a President who may begin the process of reparations, of any type of abortion for any reason, of euthanasia, of stem-cell research, of redistribution of wealth, of oppressive taxation, of the once-defeated Equal Rights Amendment, of hate crime legislation or of ceding global power to the United Nations.

I fear a President who supports the specious claims of the global warming alarmists and initiates changes at their behest which will wreck our economy and bring America to its knees.

I fear a President who may come into my church, mount my pulpit and tell me what I can and cannot preach to my congregation. If my Bible is good enough to act as a foundational document for this nation to be established, it is good enough for me to use as a guide for living and believing.

Yes, I fear a President who has such overreaching powers that he can fundamentally change the nature and profile of the freest nation ever to exist. I will not lower my self to hate him. Neither will I genuflect in front of him as though he were a god. I will watch him, analyze him, warn him, monitor him and critique him. If I hate him, I will react viscerally to his every move, thus suspending my ability to counter him intellectually. If he does something that I think will hurt me as a citizen, I will protest against him and enlist the support of others to do the same. If I suspect he is curtailing my freedom, weakening my nation or threatening my livelihood, I will publish my suspicions to anyone who will listen.

I fear a President who has his hand around the throat of America. Fear calls for vigilance. Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. At least that’s what I have always heard. All of us may now be called upon to prove it.

Will Barack Obama Stop Talk Radio?

Conservative talk radio hosts and bloggers have been discussing this ominous threat for months, maybe years. The Fairness Doctrine, suspended by President Ronald Reagan, was seen by many as an unconstitutional infringement upon the freedom of speech.

The Fairness Doctrine was upheld in 1969 by the U. S. Supreme Court.

The court ruled: “A license permits broadcasting, but the licensee has no constitutional right to be the one who holds the license or to monopolize a…frequency to the exclusion of his fellow citizens. There is nothing in the First Amendment which prevents the Government from requiring a licensee to share his frequency with others…. It is the right of the viewers and listeners, not the right of the broadcasters, which is paramount.” (U.S. Supreme Court, upholding the constitutionality of the Fairness Doctrine in Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. FCC, 1969.)

Despite the Court’s opinion, the Fairness Doctrine was still viewed as a strike against freedom of speech. Reagan’s stoppage of the Fairness Act in 1987 opened the door to unregulated free speech over the air waves. As a result, national celebrities such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin and many others saw a meteoric rise in their careers. Many observers of this phenomenon now fear that Barack Obama’s administration will reinstate the Fairness Doctrine, purportedly to curtail the likely prospect of his programs and policies coming under withering fire by his opponents on the conservative side.

Many of his supporters are calling for the return to the Fairness Doctrine, but such an overt move by Obama would undoubtedly unleash a barrage of criticism against him. This is not to say that it can’t or won’t be done. Rather than a frontal assault, the tactic chosen to do it will probably be far more subtle. Obama’s experience as a “community organizer” taught him some profound lessons on getting controversial policies passed. He knows that working locally and regionally works better than picking a national fight that would immediately become a huge polarizing issue for the country. Using the diversity and equality arguments as the rationale for a move, many believe that he will quietly infiltrate local markets where the case can be made for fairness with little resistance.

These speculations are not without foundation. Barack Obama’s ideas about this issue have already been articulated by Obama himself. The following excerpt from a public hearing held by the Federal Communications Commission not only reveals his idea, it also tips his hand on the implementation process. Read carefully.

(Run the reference yourself at the following address:

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6519743685

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

PUBLIC HEARING ON MEDIA OWNERSHIP

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2007

The above-entitled matter convened at 4:25 p.m. at the Operation Push National Headquarters, 930 East 50th Street, Chicago, Illinois, Chairman Kevin J. Martin, presiding.

MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION PRESENT:

CHAIRMAN KEVIN J. MARTIN

COMMISSIONER MICHAEL J. COPPS

COMMISSIONER JONATHAN S . ADELSTEIN

COMMISSIONER DEBORAH TAYLOR TATE

COMMISSIONER ROBERT M. MCDOWELL

MODERATOR :

LOUIS J. SIGALOS, Chief, Consumer Affairs & Outreach

Division, FCC

ALSO PRESENT:

CONSTANCE A. HOWARD, Illinois State Representative,

District 34

SUSAN SATTER, Assistant Attorney General, Illinois

State Attorney General’s Office

Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sr.

(Beginning on Page 21, Line 5)

CHAIRMAN MARTIN: I believe we also have an opening statement that’s going to be read by Ken Bennett on behalf of Senator Barack Obama.

(Applause.)

MR. BENNETT: Good afternoon. My name is Ken Bennett, I am State Director for Senator Barack Obama, who regrets not being able to be here today at this very important hearing, but asks that I read this statement for him. <Begin reading>

“I want to thank the — Chairman Martin and Commissioners for holding the Commission’s fifth official public hearing on the nation’s media ownership rules in Chicago. I want to thank the Rainbow Push Coalition for also hosting this discussion.

Senator Durbin and I specifically requested that the Federal Commission — the Communication Commission, the FCC, hold a public hearing in this diverse city to deal with the very important issues dealing with — that we’re dealing with today. I apologize for not being here in person to deliver this statement, but I want all of you to know how important I think it is that we have this national inclusive open transparent discussion on the government’s responsibility to ensure that the nation’s media market place reflects the diversity, and opinions, and views, and meets the needs of the local communities and ensures fair competition. As all of you know, the FCC has in place a number of rules that regulate the ownership of radio and television broadcast properties. These rules help to prevent excessive consolidation and were created to promote the public interest.

Under the Telecommunications Act, the FCC is required to review the media ownership rules every four years to determine if the rules remain necessary and are serving the public interest. I believe that the nation’s media ownership rules remain necessary and are critical to the public interest. We should be doing more to encourage diversity in ownership of broadcast media, promote the development of new media outlets, and expression of diverse view points, and establish greater clarity in the public interest obligations of public broadcasters occupying our nation’s spectrum.

But under the leadership of the previous chairman, the FCC promoted the concept of consolidation over diversity. In 2003, the FCC attempted to, over the dissent of two Democratic Commissioners, to relax the nation’s media ownership rules. Millions of comments poured in from the average citizen asking the FCC to retain the rules and not to allow for more consolidation. Fortunately, the Commission’s attempt to relax regulations was rejected by the 3rd Circuit.

Instead of greater consolidation, I fully endorse a call for new rules promoting greater coverage of local issues, greater responsiveness of broadcasters to the communities they operate in. I also believe that broadcasters’ license renewal requests, the periodic review required to ensure that broadcasters are complying with their public interest obligations to local communities for using the public spectrum, should require greater FCC scrutiny and public input should occur more frequently.

(Applause.)

MR. BENNETT: In the spirit of transparency, and because of the importance of this issue to our democratic discourse, I strongly request that the FCC put out any specific changes they intend to vote on in a new notice proposal rule making so that the American people have the opportunity to review them.

The current hearings are an important examination of the issues related to the hypothetical loosening of the media ownership rules. But any specific changes should receive public review and comment. I commend the FCC for holding this discussion and soliciting opinions and analysis from all sectors of our community.

Again, I appreciate your coming to Chicago for this important hearing. I look forward to working with you and the communities represented here today to make sure that our media rules work for everyone and respect and promote the nation’s diversity, and the people, and our views. Thank you. Senator Barack Obama.

(Applause.)

CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Thank you, Mr. Bennett. We also have Illinois State Representative Connie Howard to make a few opening remarks.

(Applause.)

REPRESENTATIVE HOWARD: Gentlepersons, thank you for inviting me to speak during this discussion about media ownership rules and the modern media landscape.

AS a member of the I l l i n o i s House of Representatives, closing the digital divide has been one of my passions for years. The lack of diversity in media ownership since the adoption of the 1996 Telecommunications Act is also an area of major concern.

It is my understanding that one company can own up to eight radio stations in one market, and an unlimited number nationally. Deregulation has led to the eradication of media diversity and local integrity to the extent that 10 major companies now control

nearly 90 percent of the media content in the United States. This shift has been aided and abetted by government policies that explicitly reward industry giants at the expense of the public interest. While the media moguls claim they want a free market place, and deregulation, it seems that the last thing they really want is genuine market competition.”  (End of quote.)

Again, we cannot say with any precision how, when and where this process will begin. I do believe that we can reasonably expect something to start happening in this area. The outcome will be a sharp curtailment on the freedom of speech that now prevails in the country. Rush Limbaugh et. al. may not be shut up and shut down, but listener access to their conversation may indeed be much more difficult to obtain.

Stay alert and continue to educate yourself. Perhaps the old slogan that “eternal vigilance is the price of freedom” has never been more vital than it is today.

It’s Coming Down the Pike

President-elect Barack Obama did not sweep into office without an agenda. Many of his critics claimed he had no substance to his speeches. They said his campaign rhetoric consisted of empty platitudes, vague references to ideas and an alarming lack of specificity about his programs. Nothing could be further from the truth. The reason his speeches may have been meandering and somewhat fatuous was because he could not possibly cover everything he wanted to change in one, five or ten speeches. His campaign website, however, provided anyone who was interested enough to look with a mind-boggling array of plans, programs and initiatives that he promised to advance when he became president. (Courtesy of R. G. Combs, of www.rgcombs.blog-city.com.) Although it is now too late to make a difference in the vote, we can now at least educate ourselves—or in some cases brace ourselves—to know what’s coming down the pike.

End the war in Iraq.
Will implement tax form simplification to reduce filing time.
Provide tax credit for all middle class homeowners.
Provide a tax cut for all families making less than $250,000 a year.
Amend NAFTA to protect American workers and strengthen environmental protections.
Provide Flex Ed training accounts for workers.
Extend Trade Adjustment assistance to service workers.
Pass the Patriot Employer Act of 2007 that gives tax credits to large companies that keep workers here in America.
Double funds for basic federal research.
Implement a long term research and development tax credit.
Invest in green technologies.
Reduce carbon emission gases.
Tackle the challenges of global warming.
Create an energy focused youth jobs program.
Create Federal Renewable Portfolio Standard.
Extend the Production Tax Credit.
Expand Broadband into every community.
Keep the Internet tax free.
Expand high speed internet access in rural areas.
Fight for passage of Employee Free Choice Act.
Ensure freedom to unionize.
Would overturn “Kentucky River” classifications of Bush’s NLRB
Protect rights of striking workers.
Increase the mininum wage to index it to inflation.
Crack down on predatory lenders.
Provide a universal mortgage tax credit for homeowners who don’t itemize.
Sign the Stop Fraud Act to prevent lending fraud.
Mandate accurate loan disclosure.
Create a fund to protect people from foreclosures.
Close the bankruptcy loophole for mortgage companies.
Establish a credit card rating to improve disclosure.
Ban unilateral credit card charges.
Apply interest rate only to future debt.
Prohibit credit card interest on fees.
Prohibit Universal defaults.
Require prompt and fair crediting of cardholder payments.
Protect working people from unfair bankruptcy laws.
Ban executive bonuses for bankruptcy companies.
Require disclosure of pension investments.
Cap outlandish interest rates on payday loans.
Implement legislation to drive unscrupulous lenders out of business
Create a bankruptcy exemption for people that went broke because of medical bills.
Double funding for after school programs.
Extend Family and Medical Leave Act.
Encourage states to adopt Paid leave.
Expand the Child Care Tax Credit
Support ratification of UN Convention Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Support independent, community based living for people with disabilities.
Expand educational opportunites for people with disabilities.
Expand job opportunities for people with disabilities.
Strengthen civil rights enforcement.
Sign into law the Fair Pay Act.
Sign law reversing recent SCOTUS rulings that permitted discrimination against women.
Sign law reversing recent SCOTUS rulings that permitted discrimination against racial minorities.
Strengthen federal hate crimes legislation.
Eliminate the sentence disparities regarding crack cocaine.
Establish drug courts for first time, non violent offenders.
Create a prison to work incentive for those transitioning back into society.
Prohibit the practice of racial profiling.
Support reauthorizing the Voting Rights Act.
Oppose all discriminatory barriers to voting.
Help reform death penalty system to protect innocent people on death row.
Ban cluster bombs.
Provide high quality affordable child care to families.
Quadruple Early Head Start funding.
Increase Head Start funding.
Create early learning challenge grants.
Abolish overly rigid teach to the test curriculum in schools.
Improve accountability in public schools.
Invest in intervention strategies to reduce dropout rates in schools.
Increase funding for after school programs.
Support Step Up program to increase summer learning opportunities.
Support English language learner programs.
Expand college outreach programs.
Create teacher service scholarships.
Require all public schools to be accredited.
Create teacher residency programs.
Create the American Opportunity Tax Credit for higher education.
Streamline financial aid application.
Increase Pell Grant to $5,100.
Reduce carbon emissions by 80% by 2050.
Confront deforestation.
Promote carbon sequestration.
Accelerate commercialization of plug in hybrids.
Promote development of commercial scale renewable energy.
Invest in low emission coal plants.
Transition to new electric digit grid.
Double science funding for clean energy products.
Create Green Jobs Corps.
Invest in programs to help manufacturers make transition to green products.
Create clean technologies venture capital fund.
Deploy cellulosic ethanol.
Expand locally owned biofuel refineries.
Increase renewable fuel standards.
Establish national low carbon fuel standard.
Increase fuel economy standards.
Invest in solar energy.
Invest in wind energy.
Establish a centralized database to track lobbyist activities.
Appoint an independent watchdog group to oversee congressional ethic violations.
Sunshine on legislation proposal.
End abuse of no bid contracts.
Release presidential records in a more timely fashion.
Prevent political appointees from working as lobbyists within two years after employment has ended.
Reform the political appointment process.
Sign ethics legislation that he proposed as a Senator with Russ Feingold.
Allow regular people to track federal grants.
Take leadership in the global fight against AIDS.
Provide tax cuts to small businesses.
Provide income tax cuts for all senior citizens making $50,000 a year or less.
Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit.
Protect workers from caregiver discrimination.
Increase mentoring programs for beginner teachers.
Provide universal health care for all Americans within 4 years.
Combat fraudulent subprime loans.
Expand Nurse Family Partnership.
Provide automatic workplace pensions for workers.
Expand savings credit for retirement accounts.
Reinstate pay as you go budget rules.
Repeal Bush tax cuts for top 1% which led to lower middle class standard of living.
Slash earmarks to pre 2001 levels.
Abolish obsolete wasteful government programs.
Oppose raising the minimum debt.
Wipe out Al Qaeda wherever they may be.
Support diplomacy with Iran to protect America’s interests.
Work to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Re-strengthen NATO.
Reduce nuclear arsenals around the globe.
Support securing loose nuke arsenals from the former Soviet Union and elsewhere.
Strengthen Non Nuclear Proliferation Treaty.
Expand size of Army by 65,000.
Expand size of Marines by 27,000.
Provide our troops with new equipment and the tools they need.
Provide National Service troops with adequate leave time.
Will insulate the Director of National Intelligence from partisan politics.
Guarantee that health care can never be denied because of a pre-existing condition.
Introduce a health care plan similar to the one members of Congress have and give all Americans access to this plan.
Simplify the paperwork in health care costs.
Make premiums and co pays affordable.
Require mandatory coverage of all children for health care.
Expand SCHIP.
Expand Medicaid.
Reduce costs of catastrophic illnesses for employers and employees.
Support disease management programs.
Require hospitals and providers to have full transparency over costs.
Promote patient safety by requiring providers to report medical errors.
Establish an independent institute to guide reviews and research on comparative effectiveness in health care.
Strengthen anti trust laws to prevent insurance companies from gouging medical providers.
Lower medical costs through electronic health information systems.
Increase competition in prescription drug markets.
Advance biomedical research field.
Improve mental health care coverage.
Reduce mercury deposits to help prevent miscarriages.
Increase funding for autism research.
Support Healthy Kids Act.
Suport reauthorization of SCHIP.
Establish guidelines to monitor fuels from nuclear power plants.
Protect chemical plants from possible terrorist attacks.
Introduced legislation to upgrade monitoring of water supplies.
Introduced legislation to protect localities from radioactive leaks.
Create secure borders with additional personnel and infrastructure.
Remove incentives for people to enter this country illegally.
Crack down on employers who hire illegal immigrants.
Invest in transitional jobs.
Improve transportation access to jobs.
Fully fund community block grants.
Create an affordable housing trust fund.
Establish a program called 20 Promise Neighborhoods.
Invest in rural areas, especially small businesses, schools, and doctors.
Implement a payment limitation program to help small farmers.
Protect family farms from anti-competitive monopolies.
Implement tough fines for CAFO violations.
Establish country of origin labeling for all products.
Support regional food systems.
Encourage organic farming.
Provide tax credits for young farmers.
Increase capital for small farmers.
Modify FCC so all rural residents have access to modern communications.
Upgrade rural infrastructure.
Reverse two billion dollars of agriculture cuts under Bush.
Support Emergency Farm Relief Act.
Combat the scourge of methamphetamines.
Expand Americorps.
Double the Peace corps in eight years.
Expand Service learning in all our schools.
Offer an opportunity tax credit for college students in exchange for 100 hours of community service.
Promote college work study programs with public service.
Expand on the Youth Build program.
Create a Social Investment Fund Network.
Create a non profit entrepreneur agency.
Protect Social Security.
Reform corporate bankruptcy laws.
Strengthen laws protecting against age discrimination in the workplace.
Ensure heating assistance for senior citizens.
Protect the openness of the Internet.
Encourage diversity in media ownership.
Protect children from Internet predators with strict law enforcement.
Support transition of the internet into the digital world.
Preserve artistic expression.
Keep inappropriate advertising away from programs for children.
Enhance safety standards for toys imported into this country.
Protect the right of privacy of every law abiding American.
Update surveillance laws under the rule of law.
Support higher salaries for teachers.
Work with the FTC to cut down on cyber crimes.
Eliminate teach to the test curriculum and restore true learning to the classroom.
Open up government to citizens by providing transparency.
Provide all our schools with broadband technology.
Modernize public safety networks.
Make the research and development tax credit permanent.
Protect intellectual property at home and abroad.
Reform the patent system to encourage innovation.
Allow all veterans back into the VA.
Strengthen VA care for all veterans.
Fight veterans’ employment discrimination.
Fix the benefits bureaucracy to help veterans.
Expand vet centers across the country.
Slash red tape to help wounded soldiers at Walter Reed.
Direct the VA and Pentagon to fix its veterans record systems.
Rebuild the roads and bridges that need to be rebuilt.
End the genocide in Darfur.
Restore habeas corpus to America.
Reject torture.
Close down Gitmo.
Pledge to obey the Constitution of the United States.
Fully implement and enforce the Equal Pay Act.
End tax breaks for US companies sending jobs overseas.
Reinstate 1.15 billion to the COPS program to reduce crime.
Keep drinking age at 21.
Support grants to local educational agencies.
Protect ANWR.
Protect the Great Lakes from polluters.
Favor labor and trade standards with trade with China.
Oppose CAFTA which hurts American workers.
Give the District of Columbia its proper vote in Congress.
Expand enrollment period for Medicare Part D.
Repeal the discriminatory don’t ask don’t tell policy.
Provide first responders with the health care and equipment they need.
Implement the 9/11 commission recommendations.
Restore money to ports and first responders.
Establish a Guest Worker program.
Increase the minimum wage.
Appoint judges who will respect different points of view.

Oppose repeal of the estate tax that only applies to 1% of the wealthiest of estates.
Support the first amendment freedom of religion clauses and establishment clauses.
Require public companies to give shareholders an annual nonbinding vote on executive compensation.
Protect our schools by opposing voucher schemes.
Support Biofuels Security Act.
Close corporate tax loopholes.
Address global warming as a real problem.
Support civil unions for LGBT couples.

This is one of the most ambitious proposal slates ever brought to Capitol Hill. Of course, no president gets everything he wants. It is surprising, however, how much a lame duck president can do, even with minority support in both houses of congress. With the president and the legislative branch of government all of the same party, the chances are overwhelmingly favorable to President Obama that much of his agenda will pass, some of it without objection.

There isn’t much in this agenda that warms a conservative heart. Several broad themes put forth in these proposals are especially problematic to those of us who favor limited government, economic strength and a strong military. These themes focus on “Green” legislation, universal health care, higher taxes, a much greater spending on government entitlement programs, and unlimited support for social liberalism. The economic crash of 2008 may force a scale back of these proposals, but changes that do not have a direct fiscal impact will probably get done. That includes appointment of judges, drafting of liberal legislation on social issues and diplomatic initiatives involving our military and overseas trade.

The biggest test of this agenda’s viability will come in 2010 when elections come up for the house and senate. Will the country react negatively to the spate of changes in the first two years of an Obama presidency? Will they vote out the democratic majority and reinstate a more conservative GOP? Or will the immense popularity of this new president carry him and his programs over the top to 2012 and beyond? It would seem to me that the decisions and actions of the next twenty-four months hold the future for the nation. Regardless of the direction it takes, people of conviction need to stand firmly and resolutely for righteous causes. The things coming down the pike may be more than political and legislative changes. Depression, restricted freedom and even persecution may hit us as well. Stay alert.

A 2008 Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is an American holiday.

It originated in an earlier time when humble people knew how blessed they were. Some of them had escaped countries ruled by cruel dictator kings. Some of them fled oppressive regimes that denied them basic human freedoms. Some were economic refugees who came to America for its opportunities. Later generations understood how fortunate they were to be born an American. They all realized that they were far better off in America than they would have been in their native lands.

That was America of centuries past. America of 2008 is a cold and distant shell of that time. Our children are now taught, not to honor the explorers, pilgrims and pioneers, but to curse them and call them the worst of names. Many historians teach that they were plunderers, murderers, rapists, thieves and despots. They are said to be brutish, wiping out innocent civilizations, destroying cultures, contaminating the pristine wilderness, introducing disease and desecrating native shrines all in the name of greed.

We should remember that the hostility of the elite revisionists of today represent a only a point of view—an OPINION—if you will. They are entitled to their own opinion, but they are not entitled to their own truth. My opinion is just as valid as theirs, and while I can discuss it, I do not have to discard it. I strongly believe that the circumstances which forced the pilgrims to these shores legitimized their arrival. First, they came because they could no longer abide the denial of their freedom to practice their religion. Second, they were products of the seventeenth century and were guided by the protocols and strategies of their day. They cannot be judged by the standards of the twenty-first century. Third, they came in peace, seeking not to overthrow their opponents by force but to make conciliatory gestures and agreements with them. It is true that the passage of history recounts many mistakes, travesties of justice and atrocities committed. In my opinion, however, the founding ideals of a free people will never be sullied by their subsequent sins.

And so, on that basis I will continue to celebrate Thanksgiving and purposely grow my gratitude with each passing day. Wading through the negativity about this country that inundates me makes it difficult, and sometimes I find myself second-guessing what I believe. At the end of the day though, I must say that I am glad and proud to be an American. I am thankful for many things.

I can worship God as I see fit, a bible to read and a church to attend.

I have the right to speak, write and broadcast my opinions.

I can vote for whatever and whomever I choose.

I have economic freedom and I can spend my money however I choose, I can spread a plenteous table for my family, and I appreciate the clothes on my back and the roof over my head.

I am thankful for the red, white and blue flag that symbolizes the virtues of the United States of America; white signifies purity and innocence; red, hardiness and valor; and blue, vigilance, perseverance and justice.

I am thankful for the constitution that places strict limits upon necessary government so it will always preserve my liberty and never be a threat to me.

I am thankful that I can defend my life and my family with deadly force if necessary. Without that, I would be at the mercy of criminals or a rogue government.

I am thankful for the freedom-loving people in this great nation who fight with me to sustain our way of life and the ideals by which we live.

Does the exercise of any of these freedoms and rights infringe upon any of my fellow citizens? While some may say it does, it is no more than their free exercise of freedom restricts mine. If each one of us leaves the rest of us alone to practice our liberty, we can all co-exist. It is when one group arises and claims preeminence and the right to force their beliefs and opinions on the rest that we all lose in the long run.

If anyone does not like or believe what I do, they do not have to associate with me. If I do not like or believe what they do, I do not have to associate with them. Yet, both of us are in the same country, ruled by laws and governed by elected officials. The boundaries between the two of us, then, must be defined and respected. If we do not respect those boundaries, civil war ensues and we are both in trouble. I am thankful that, to this point, I am able to live my life giving and getting the respect I desire for those lines.

Which of these freedoms can I live without? Which one would I sacrifice if I had to? None of them. Moreover, I should not be expected to give any of them up. They are unalienable rights granted to me by my Creator. I have a right to life, to enjoy liberty and to pursue happiness as I wish. I am thankful for this American dream.

Yes, I am thankful to be an American. Millions of people all over the world want to come here. People pour through our porous borders illegally, risking life and limb, because they want to be here so badly. Others immigrate legally, disdaining their old way of life and their native lands because they see this free land as their ultimate destination in this world. We don’t ask them to come. We don’t herd them up and subjugate them to values and ideals foreign to them. They just come and they are happy.

On the other hand, many have asked us to come to their countries. When they have been threatened by tyrants, when they have been attacked by armies and when they have been ravaged by natural disasters, they have asked us to come and help them. And we have gone, over and over again. We have shared our wealth, our abundance, our knowledge and our blood. Some say we went because we were greedy of their lands and resources. Some say we had imperialistic designs. Those are false, trumped up charges made by twisted minds. The only land we have asked for on foreign soil was enough to bury our dead.

America has made many people rich, many people famous, and untold millions free. We only ask that those who come here continue to respect and love the freedom that they have the moment they put foot on our land. America’s critics have no real cause to speak. Place the supposed crimes of this nation against those of all others in history, and you will find few, if any, who have done as much good for the world as has this country. Chronicle our mistakes if you wish, but judge us on a fair scale. Future historians will look back and say that this country made an unparalleled difference on this planet between good and evil. This is a good nation.

My heart bursts with gratitude. Thank God for America.

Obamanism

Chalk the alleged Obama revision of the national anthem and his extreme makeover of the pledge of allegiance up to urban legends and wild internet chatter, but enough wars and rumors of wars dance around his persona to make a patriot more than a little nervous. As one blogger has it, this apprehension has nothing to do with the high concentrations of melanin in the president-elect’s epidermis. Rather, I am uncomfortable with a troubling rise of untoward adulation for a single individual that tastes far too cult-like for traditional America. Much about Barack Obama commands admiration and respect, to be sure. Few politicians have combined the personal attractiveness and oratorical ability with campaign shrewdness as successfully as he. His African-American roots testify to the ultimate unlikely journey he has traversed, especially in a nation that practiced overt discrimination less than a half century ago in many of its states.For many, he has risen to superhero status and his symbolic triumph inspires not just his race but his entire generation.

The occupant of the highest office in the land deserves respect and honor by virtue of the office alone. His personal achievements and aptitude, regardless of how superior they may be, are eclipsed by the position. Students of history know that men of uncommon ability have attained this position, men like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan. Yet none of these accomplished leaders ever accepted inordinate worship from the adoring masses as though they were more important than the office they held or the country they served. Those early fathers had first hand knowledge of an oppressive kingship and they disdained the concept of monarchy with pure hatred and an unbending resolve that it should never be repeated on this continent. It is evident from their writings that they believed office-holders were to be empowered only with the limited number of defined powers given to them by the constitution. They were expressly forbidden to take any powers unto themselves that were not specifically granted by the law of the land. The end result of the parameters imposed by the constitution was that a president could not—by law—create and ascend to an American throne.

Thus, the quiet rumblings of adoration that seems to build toward Mr. Obama from a number of quarters strike me as eerie and outside the traditions of this representative republic. He has his own presidential seal. A group of uniformed youths go by the name of “Obama’s Army.” Children’s choirs have been organized and taught to sing songs which unabashedly praise Obama. The media have described his reception in many rallies as akin to a rock star. Certain celebrities and leaders of factions across the country have referred to him as “Messiah.” Indeed, the rank-and-file members of the Democrat party—or at least those who voted for Obama—voice high hopes that he will take care of their personal needs like paying their mortgage payment and putting gas in their automobile fuel tanks. On the night of his victory celebration, giddy crowds fawned over him with nothing short of mindless love. He has gone so far as to set up an “Office of the President-Elect”, something that has never before been done. To top it off, talk runs rampant at this writing that there will be a new holiday announced in his honor, ostensibly for being the first African-American president. All of this and more has transpired before he has been inaugurated into the presidency.

Moreover, the media has informed us that the worldwide approval of Mr. Obama exceeded eighty percent, a factoid that I do not recall as ever being reported in any preceding presidential election. In a move that may not be appreciated by the president-elect, many groups that endorsed him were terrorist and radical organizations like Hamas. ‘OBAMA! Inshallah!” Obama! Allah willing!” That slogan, scribbled on walls in Gaza, indicates the hopes that Barack Obama has inspired among Arabs. One columnist, Mohamed Al-Menshawi, hails Obama as “the candidate with Muslim roots” and as the “harbinger of solidarity between Americans and the Muslim world.” Another, Al-Jazeera’s Aala al-Bayoumi, notes: “Had it not been for Obama, Arabs would not even bother to follow the US presidential race.” What makes the difference is Obama’s “Islamic and African roots.”

I have no clue how successful the Obama administration will be. For the country’s sake, I hope that he presides over a victorious military, a prosperous economy and a respected worldwide hegemony. I do know that I will be a member of the loyal opposition if I detect a move toward kingship. Moreover, if I suspect that a religious movement gathers momentum with the purpose of focusing praise on this man or any man instead of the Son of Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, I will be a fervent opponent. “There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus.”

The sandbagging has already begun.  Ben Evans of the Associated Press submitted the following report on Tuesday, November 11: “A Republican congressman from Georgia said Monday he fears that President-elect Obama will establish a Gestapo-like security force to impose a Marxist or fascist dictatorship. ‘It may sound a bit crazy and off base, but the thing is, he’s the one who proposed this national security force,’ Rep. Paul Broun said of Obama in an interview Monday with The Associated Press. ‘I’m just trying to bring attention to the fact that we may — may not, I hope not — but we may have a problem with that type of philosophy of radical socialism or Marxism.’”

Nothing like this will every happen if the American people do not permit it.  That resistance will have to be channeled through the mainstream media.  It was through their concerted efforts that Mr. Obama was elected.  (This observation comes by their own admission).  If, on the other hand, this nation has now sufficiently distanced itself in time and memory from its history, then a god-like leader can indeed emerge from us and ascend to rulership.  To those who say it cannot be done, I only ask if it has ever been done before in the annals of time.  The answer, of course, is yes.  Many, many times.  That alone should keep us in a state of readiness to ensure that history does not repeat itself.