STRAIGHT TALK FROM GOV. CHRISTIE

I hope that other politicians finally figure out what Christie seems to know intuitively; speak the truth.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I'LL BET SHE VOTED FOR OBAMA

Unfortunately, this girl will help to choose the leaders of this country. Even more tragic? Someday she may also breed and create more little Einsteins.

TEA PARTY DOES NOT SUPPORT BLUNT - RALLY SATURDAY

From the Franklin County Patriots:

"We need your help to make this Saturday a defining moment for the cause. You’ve got an opportunity to stand up for the principles of the Tea Parties. Below are the details of the demonstration in St. Louis that Tea Party members around the state will be participating in.

We are set to meet this Saturday, January 31, at 10:30am, on Watson Road between the GOP headquarters (located at 10825 Watson Rd) and Lindbergh, near where Michele Bachmann is scheduled to appear at a fundraiser for Rep. Blunt. We will line the sidewalks spread as far as possible to send a clear signal: Roy Blunt is not Tea Party. The Tea Party is pro-Constitution, pro-free market.

The reason for the uproar among the Tea Party members is simple. Michele Bachmann has a reputation of being Tea Party friendly, and has spoken clearly in favor of embracing the core values of the patriotic movement. Roy Blunt, on the other hand, because of his voting record as a U. S. Congressman, is not particularly popular among many Tea Party groups. Among other things, Blunt voted for the Bank Bailout (TARP), “Cash for Clunkers” and No Child Left Behind. Blunt is also well known for being one of the largest recipients of lobbyist contributions in Washington, D.C., including Fannie and Freddie.

Immediately after news about the Bachman visit was aired, Tea Party groups around the state began to contact her campaign office to express their concern. As a rule, Tea Party organizations do not endorse political candidates. At this time about thirty Tea Party organizations have officially signed a statement saying that they do not support or endorse Roy Blunt because of his big government voting record and lobbyist ties.

The purpose of the rally is not to condemn Michele Bachmann, who is respected by many conservatives. Nor is it to campaign for or endorse any other candidates for the U. S. Senate race in Missouri. We encourage people to bring signs, but ask that they not be anti-Bachmann or ant-GOP. We suggest signs that show Roy Blunt does not represent Tea Party values. Examples: “Bailing Out Banks is Not in the Constitution,” “Tea Party = Principles Before Politics,” and “A Friend of Fannie and Freddie is NO Friend of Mine.”

Parking is available on both sides of Watson Road.

In addition to the rally that will be held Saturday, several Tea Party groups have organized a rolling Tea Party that will begin in Eureka, Missouri. The rolling Tea Party is promoting Proposition C which will also be on the August 3 ballot, and will travel through several communities before arriving at the site of the demonstration in Sunset Hills. You are encouraged to participate if possible. For more information on the rolling tea party, see the details on the Eureka Tea Party website."

TEA PARTIES NOT BACKING BLUNT IN MISSOURI

A group of Missouri Tea Party organizations has issued a press release, part of which is posted below, explaining that they do not support Congressman Roy Blunt in the August 3 Republican primary. The Congressman has been alluding to the support of the Tea Party here in my state in hopes of gaining votes.

Oddly enough, Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann, a representative that I hold a good deal of respect for, is coming to a Blunt fundraiser in Missouri on July 31. Her strong support for the Tea Party will be used by the Blunt campaign to try and further cement his fictional Tea Party bona fides. I don't understand why the Congresswoman is lending her support to this Washington insider and it calls into question the motives of her recently formed Tea Party Caucus in the Congress.

For whatever it's worth, I'm voting for Chuck Purgason in the primaries.

Missouri Tea Party Groups Have NOT Endorsed Roy Blunt for U.S. Senate

The following list of Tea Party organizations, from across the state of Missouri, have NOT
endorsed Roy Blunt in his campaign for the U.S. Senate seat. When we received a notification
that Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, a strong supporter of Tea Parties nationally,
and the originator of a “Tea Party Caucus” in Washington last week, will be coming to Missouri
on July 31st to make phone calls with Roy Blunt from the St. Louis GOP headquarters, and to be
a featured speaker at a Blunt fundraiser that night, we were shocked. We believe she has been
grossly misled if she understands him to be a Missouri Tea Party candidate.

Tea Party participants believe the spending in Washington has to STOP. Roy Blunt voted for
TARP and Cash for Clunkers. For Michele Bachmann to come to Missouri and give the
impression that all the Missouri Tea Parties support Roy Blunt is an abomination of everything
we have been standing up for. “Most Tea Party supporters I know will be baffled by Michele
Bachmann helping someone with a record like Roy Blunt before the primary vote,” said Jedidiah
Smith, a Tea party leader in Franklin County, Missouri.

"Missouri Tea Party groups are proud of our steadfast position not to endorse candidates and to
remain independent of political parties. We encourage all voters to examine the voting records,
positions, and values of all candidates, to determine whether they promote the core values of the Tea Party Movement: fiscal responsibility, constitutionally-limited government, and free
markets." said Eric Farris, a Tea Party leader in Branson, Missouri. There are sixteen candidates running for the Missouri U.S. Senate seat and the consistent message, among Tea Party
participants, has been to check each of them out before voting in the August 3rd Primary.
Signed by the following Tea Parties (# of members), Contact Person:
Branson Tea Party Coalition (246), Eric Farris, eric@farrislawgroup.com
Buffalo Tea Party (102), Paul Beaird (417) 345-6430
Callaway Tea Party (52), Jeff Kauffman (573) 823-8725
Cape County Tea Party (150), Tom Young (573) 450-7330
Cass County (10), Dan Duckworth (816) 914-4343
Cassville Tea Party (100), Judith Mouser, jmouser@centurytel.net
Cooper County Tea Party (75), Daryl Bowles (660) 537-4199
Eureka Tea Party (497), Jeannine Huskey (636) 938-9348
Franklin County Patriots (860), Jedidiah Smith (636) 262-5133
In God We Trust PAC, Kansas City (500+), Kristi Nichols, pkn@ingodwetrustpac.com
In God We Trust Tea Party, SW MO (40), Greg Bartlett (417) 689-1468
Press Release
Jefferson County Tea Party (600+), Ken Horton (636) 461-0363
Johnson County Patriots (100+), Jeff Merrick (660) 422-2665
K & N Patriots (O’Fallon) (650+), Janet Allquist (636) 978-5230
MID MO 9/12 Patriots (Columbia) (100), Chris O’Conner (573) 639-1621
Missouri As A Mom (415), Jacquelyn Pl Ehrlich, Missouri ChairMOM, www.asamom.org
*Missouri Sovereignty Project (1,825), Tom Grady (314) 346-3548
Patriots of the Constitution (Salem) (167), Jan Abney (573) 729-9220
St. Joseph Tea Party (185), Maggie Siegmund, teapartystjomo@yahoo.com
Show Me Patriots, Greater St. Louis Area (360), Cindy McGee, www.showmepatriots.org
Sikeston Tea Party (400), Pam Yant (573) 703-1701
Springfield 912ers (203), Mike Crites (417) 872-0502
Springfield MO Tea Party (457), Janice Ellison (417) 234-4427
Sullivan 912 Group (50), Sandra Davidson (314) 420-8270
SW MO Conservative Network (Joplin) (280+), John Putnam (417) 674-1946
We Surround Them 912 Project, Jefferson Cnty & S. St. Louis Cnty (126), Rick Blowers (636) 633-0687
We The People . . . St. Francois County (55), Tammy Holmes (573) 756-9211
912 We The People of Monroe County MO (55), Ron & Martha Staggs (660) 327-1220

MORE OF THE SAME OL' B.S.

14 Weeks from Republican Governors Association on Vimeo.

Oh, were it only true.

I like the video and I agree with the sentiment. What I don't like is that in their indictment of Washington, the Republican Governors somehow managed to leave out all the Republican politicians that have been part and parcel of the problem. The video even goes so far as to offer up Lindsey Graham and John McCain as paragons of small government. GIVE ME A FREAKIN' BREAK!!!

Where were the ideas; the leadership? All I heard was that the Governors would look to the people for guidance. There's some boldness for ya'.

As long as the GOP can't find a way to break out of the old political mold and show us some new and original ideas, I don't and can't believe a word they say. If the Republicans regain the House and Senate in November I predict that we'll see almost no substantial change in the direction this country is headed. They might slow it down a bit but they won't turn it around.

We need radical change in the people that represent us. Until we get people elected that don't give a damn about the party or retaining their office we'll continue to travel the Marxist road. And whether we reach the end quickly or slowly doesn't matter. America will die.

FATHER CORAPI TO APPEAR IN SAN ANTONIO

I was contacted by someone in San Antonio asking if I would post information about an upcoming appearance by Father John Corapi. Here it is.

The website that has all the information regarding pricing and scheduling can be found here.

Father Corapi is Coming!!

Mark your calendar and order your tickets for this rare opportunity to see the world renowned Catholic preacher Father John Corapi, S.O.L.T. This may be your only chance, ever, to see him live in San Antonio and soak in his wit, wisdom and worship. You have seen him on the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) and heard him on Catholic radio stations across this country. His talks, videos and homilies have captivated a countless number of Catholics and other Christians in the United States and abroad, mixing the street-smarts of a man who has seen it all with the solid Catholic teachings of a highly educated scripture scholar. He is one of the most sought-after speakers and teachers of the faith in the world today.

Before the conference, Father Corapi will be making a personal appearance to sign copies of his books on Friday, August 6, 2010 from 9:00 am - 4:00 pm at the Sheraton Gunter Hotel in downtown San Antonio. For more info on the 'meet and greet' booksigning, click here

Musical Performance by Michael John Poirier & Friends
The Event includes music by popular Catholic music recording artist Michael John Poirier. Michael John Poirier has wrapped his prayers in songs, presenting them as gifts to listeners and to God. Michael uses music and storytelling to set an atmosphere where it is easy to imagine God telling us how much we are cherished. Michael's music is filled with prayers of encouragement, comfort, forgiveness and mercy. He has composed more than one hundred songs and recorded numerous albums.

Join 13,000+ fellow Catholics
The large Catholic community in the San Antonio area and South-Central Texas can fill the AT&T Center many times over. Previous appearances by Father Corapi have left few empty seats. Come with your family, friends and faith community to hear Father John Corapi give four separate talks. The Holy Spirit is certain to be present. Order your tickets early for the best reserved seating!

DESTROYING THE CHURCHES

I'm not sure what all this means or if this is the normal state of affairs. I was curious how many places of worship were being vandalized and did a quick search. It's amazing how many acts of violence are directed at churches.

"Here’s a look at the stats, as reported by The Christian Post. There were at least 1,237 crimes committed against Christian churches and ministries in the U.S. this past year ranging in severity from vandalism to violent crimes. The Network also reports that church burglaries resulted in an estimated $24 million in property loss.

In addition, the report, Crimes Against Christian Organizations in the United States, found that burglaries were the most common crime, with 779 incidents making up 63% of all crimes reported against churches, followed by 149 thefts (12%) and 98 cases of arson (8%)."
Security World News

If the norm is robbery as the statistics above would suggest, why the sudden rise in vandalism? Or is it just that vandalism is more exciting so it tends to get reported in the papers?

Or, are we beginning to see some sort of concerted attack being directed, either explicitly or through suggestion, by forces that would like to see the churches destroyed because they stand in the way? Is this force of this world or another?

"As parents arrived early Monday morning to drop their kids off for summer camp at the B’Nai Shalom Synagogue in Olney, Md., they were greeted by a derogatory name for Jews spray-painted on the building.

“I started welling up with tears and tried to conceal it from our 3-year-old,” said concerned parent Laurie Blumstein.

But the anti-Semitic vandalism didn’t stop there. Swastikas were spray-painted across the entire building and sidewalk and German references to the Holocaust were found on lampposts even parking spots.

“The words ‘Arbeit Macht Frei,’ which translate to 'work will set you free,'” said Rabbi Ari Sunshine. “Those are the words that are written above the entrance to the Auschwitz concentration camp.”
NBC Washington

"Vandals threw rocks through three vintage stained glass windows at the St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Edgard, shattering the colorful portals and the peace of mind of many of its members.

"Everyone is devastated. A lot of the older folks who have been in the church for a long time were crying,'' said the Rev. Joel Cantones, the church's pastor. "They couldn't believe that someone could have done these things to this church, a place of worship.

"It would be less painful if it had been the rectory or the fellowship hall, but not the house of God. It was a despicable act against God and against the church."
NOLA.com

"Investigators say a group of teenagers decided to burn down a rural southern Indiana church after taking LSD and coming to believe that it belonged to Satan worshippers.

Court documents filed in Brown County court say six 18-year-old men and a 17-year-old male from Columbus agreed days in advance to burn down the Grandview Apostolic Church.

State fire investigator Timothy Murray reported that the 17-year-old admitted pouring gasoline on the ground next to the church and setting the fire July 14. Murray, however, said all the teens were "on board with the arson."
The Republic

"For the past month, New Castle County Police have investigated a series of criminal mischief complaints at a Hockessin area church which have recently been reclassified as a hate crime.

Beginning around June 21, 2010, County Police have investigated a total of six property damage related crimes at the church. In each case, an unknown suspect(s) trespassed upon the property and caused damage to the front stone sign. The person responsible for the crimes have also spray painted graffiti to the property with messages that have been classified as hate related. The latest incident occurred on Wednesday night into Thursday morning where the property was once again spray painted."
Newark Post Online

"Lubbock police are searching for a man they suspect urinated on a Lubbock church and vandalized it with a paint ball gun.

The incident happened July 6 at LakeRidge Baptist Church in the 4600 block of 82nd Street, according to a Lubbock police report.

The man is suspected of urinating on the front doors of the church and then firing more than 40 rounds of paint balls at the doors and porch. The paint caused $150 in damage."
Lubbock Online

"The Chatham County Sheriff's Office has charged a neighborhood man with vandalizing a Baptist church on U.S. 15-501 south of Chapel Hill.

Joseph Marshall Polinger, 19, turned himself in to authorities Wednesday after returning some of the property he's accused of stealing from the Lighthouse Baptist Church.

Deputies responded to a call from the church June 5 and found holes smashed in walls, obscene and Satanist graffiti, and destruction of hymn books, bathrooms and windows."
News Observer

"We have had quite a few vandalism cases in the city and we're addressing it," says MeridianPolice Chief Lee Shelbourn.

Although Chief Shelbourn cannot go into specifics about what is being done, he says his department is definitely taking the vandalism of churches seriously.

"The investigator of these is very aggressive in trying to determine who's the cause of this."

Of the 12 churches that have been vandalized since April, at least five of those have been in or very near the downtown area. Of those, two have been vandalized three times and three have been vandalized twice."
WTOK

NO RIGHT TO RAINWATER

Government has gone way over the line.

When we apply our labor to a resource the resource becomes our property, unless it is already owned by someone else. This was the idea behind the requirement to work a claim after filing on it in the old West.

Since I don't see how the government can make a claim for ownership of the rain, it seems clear to me that it is free for the taking and that if someone applies their labor to capture it then it should belong to them.

The official in the video makes the argument that if someone captures the rain upstream then it cannot be used by someone else downstream. Why does the person downstream have more right to the resource than the person upstream? It is this sort of government distortion of natural law that leads to a lack of respect for the law in general.

Obviously, a person can't monopolize the resource in a way that harms others. In other words, I have no problem with the idea that the person downstream has a right to enough water to live. I'd guess that this is what the laws that are being enforced were written to control. But to extend this common sense application of the law to this totally intrusive level is but another example of massive government overreach.

If we have no right to use the rain then I would suppose our right to use the air is conditional, also. And what about the ground or the wind? Do we have any right to control our lives at all anymore or have we become completely dependent on the approval of some faceless bureaucrat for approval of our actions?

Can we grow our own food or hunt or own meat? If I grow a garden does someone else have a claim on the vegetables I've labored over, just as the person downstream has a right to the water someone else collects?

Welcome to our brave new world which is beginning, with every passing day, to more and more resemble the ugly old world of kings and serfs. The only freedoms we are going to have left are those the government allows us.

CARTOON TIME

FATHER CORAPI, RELATIVISM AND ABORTION - THE END OF TRUTH AND AMERICA

If only all of our priests and preachers would speak as plainly!

"...As Abraham Lincoln asserted, "If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide."

We are dying by suicide, moral and spiritual suicide, and the moral demise of a nation almost always precedes the ultimate demise of a nation.

Many of our leaders, political and legal, are reminiscent of the horrid witches in Act 1 Scene 1 of Shakespeare's "Macbeth," chanting shrilly to a morally sick public all too eager to be confirmed in their sins, "Fair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air."

Good is evil, and evil is good. The truth is a lie and lies are the truth, hover through the fog of moral relativism and the filthy air of a world gone mad with the madness of sin. The words of the prophet thunder through the ages, "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness" (Isaiah 5:20).

We have inverted the poles of the moral power grid. We have begun to call the negative pole the positive, and the positive the negative. This inversion of reality begets disaster: The power fails, the lights go out, darkness falls-and indeed, if your light is darkness, how deep, how very deep will the darkness be! (cf. Mt 6:23).

This death wish has marched toward its logical and inexorable conclusion with little opposition from leaders - political, legal, or religious. The world knows the Catholic Church and any self-respecting and faithful Christian roundly reject abortion and all of the other nails in the coffin of contemporary society, but the defense of life has been weak. Weak leadership, whether in society in general, or in the Church in particular, is punishment for sin.

The Old Covenant has examples enough of the Chosen People being turned over to exile and their enemies because of infidelity. They lamented, "We have no priest, prophet, or king." These were taken away because of infidelity. In recent times large numbers of Catholics and other Christians rejected Pope Paul VI's landmark and prophetic encyclical Humanae Vitae, on Human Life. A majority of the bishops of Canada did so publicly, formally, and in writing with their infamous Winnipeg Statement.

The great Archbishop Fulton Sheen lamented bitterly in the 1970s that the prophetic spirit of Christ had all but been extinguished in the contemporary Church. Today there are many CEOs, all too few Apostles. Are we afraid of a fight? Do we fear rejection, misunderstanding, or derision? Are we cowed and intimidated by fallacious notions of the separation of Church and state? Could we be afraid of persecution? Could we be afraid of losing our tax-exempt status? Have we declared détente with evil?

The clock is ticking. Midnight is approaching. Time is running out for our nation, a nation that once was great, and could be great again if enough of us wake up and renounce this curse of a death wish. Will God turn his friends over to His enemies as He has done multiple times in the past?

Will radical Islam overrun us? Will the planet cook? Will one too many natural disasters grind us into dust? Will we collapse economically? All of the above? Perhaps these are all merely effects of the underlying cause - a death wish that chokes the life out of us.

In the end it is likely that President Abraham Lincoln had it right: "Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us." Thus forgetting that we are one nation under God, we become a nation gone under (President Ronald Reagan). And, indeed, "If destruction be our lot we ourselves will be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time, or die by suicide."

May God grant us the grace to awake from this deadly moral slumber, renounce the death wish, and live like truly free men and women - in the glorious freedom of the children of God."
Catholic.org

WE ARE IN TWO WARS - FULTON SHEEN

I wrote last week about perpetual war and wondered why we have been at war continuously since 1945. Archbishop sheen presents a compelling case for the cause in the videos below.

I've been trying to think of any wars that the Soviet Union has had direct troop involvement in since 1917. The only ones that come to mind are WWII and Afghanistan. WWII was a defensive war, one that Stalin tried to avoid by signing treaties with Germany. Afghanistan has long been a war zone for Russia, dating back to the 19th century.

Other than these two wars, Soviet involvement has been mostly limited to advisors and massive material support. And of course, they're always stirring the pot in the background, even today. In this same period, America has been dragged into war after war, even though the American people are isolationist by nature.

Today we find our military stretched incredibly thin, with more wars close on the horizon, especially in Iran. At the same time it seems as though someone is trying to light a fuse in our country, igniting a race war or union riots due to an economic collapse.

Are we nearing the final confrontation the Archbishop describes?

RANGEL GETS HIS RETIREMENT PACKAGE

"A House ethics subcommittee announced Thursday that it found that Rep. Charles B. Rangel violated congressional ethics rules and that it will prepare for a trial, probably beginning in September. The panel is expected to make the details of his alleged violations public next Thursday.

Rangel (D-N.Y.) has been under the House ethics committee's microscope since early 2008 after it was reported that he may have used his House position to benefit his financial interests. Two of the most serious inquiries have focused on Rangel's failure to declare $239,000 to $831,000 in assets on his disclosure forms, and on his effort to raise money for a private center named after him at City College of New York using his congressional letterhead."
Washington Post

I'm thinking to myself this morning about the Rangel indictment and I just got to believe something's fishy here.

Rangel was a member of the House Ways and Means Committee and he's been in Congress since God made dirt. If anybody knows where the bodies are buried, he's the guy. He's 80 years old and has got to be thinking about retirement. I'm just about positive that his version of retirement doesn't include poverty or jail. So how did he get caught up in this mess?

I don't think he got caught up at all. I'm figuring that he brokered a deal of some sort with the House leadership that would allow them to look like fair and non-partisan champions of the public good in the last few months leading up to the elections. This is a huge story which will be useful in taking other, less desirable stories off the front page.

The Democrats are going to make a big deal of this. Until the elections are over. My guess is that the outcry over this "scandal" will be deafening until the elections are passed. And like Macbeth we'll see " it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." Because after the elections have passed these allegations will fade away.

Rangel will retire, falling on his sword to benefit the party and he'll be rewarded for his heroic deed. Maybe some minor penalty will be assessed but for the most part he'll walk away a rich and powerful man, keeping the vast majority of his ill gotten gains and thumbing his nose one last time at the people he swore to represent and the Constitution he swore to uphold.

HERE COMES BONNIE

NOAA

It's going to be interesting to see, if this storm follows the forecast track, whether or not any oil or dispersant is found in measurable amounts inland. This is the first real storm to come across the center of the blowout and then have the power to move hundreds of miles inland. Now we'll know the potential for pollution to reach into the heartland and on to the East coast when a full blown hurricane finally develops in the Gulf.

ACORN ATTACKS CHASE BANK IN ST. LOUIS

First it was the Panthers and now this. The Marxists are trying to stir things up. The unions will get in the game shortly and the pictures we saw from Greece in the last few months will soon be filmed on our shores.

Pray, pray, pray!

From Gateway Pundit:

"Big Government reported:

President Obama signed the financial regulations bill into law today. At the exact time of the signing, leftist agitators from the former Missouri ACORN assaulted a Chase Bank sales branch in Chesterfield, a suburb of St Louis.

The timing was precise – planned to bring further pressure and media attention on the banks just as massive federal regulations, many not yet written, are signed into law. Local reporters from KMOX were tipped off to the protest, ostensibly about renegotiating a mortgage, as was local television affiliate KSDK.

The scene was mayhem as forty protestors, including several children brought in tow, stormed into the offices of the Chase branch and began chanting, shouting with a bullhorn, and demanding meetings with the bank principals (there were no principals, as it was a sales branch), but that didn’t matter to protestors.

The group was professionally organized by former Missouri ACORN Midwest director Jeff Ordower, in addition to Hannah Allison, the paid organizer for Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment, the newly branded spawn of the Missouri ACORN employees. The group had everything set up. The protestors get inside the building, disrupt the operations, ignore the complaints of office staff, and continue until the police arrive. At that point, the two white organizers negotiate with the police, while the mainly black goes out to the lobby. As more police and building security arrive, the group heads outside, where the organizers speak in measured tones to the compliant local media.

Just how can this be legal?"

LOCAL CURRENCY IN USE IN MICHIGAN

I'm all for this but I can't see the Federal Reserve or the Treasury allowing it to go on. We used to have local currencies, issued by local banks with gold to back it. But that was before Woodrow Wilson created the Federal Reserve and everyone was forced to use reserve notes and coins from the treasury as currency. The part of the coinage act that is referenced may or may not apply. My guess is that it was geared more towards denominations of reserve notes or credit.

The main problem that I see is that, since this local currency isn't acceptable to pay state and federal taxes with, there has to be some way to cover that cost. Perhaps people are paying the taxes in reserve notes while paying for the goods or services in local currency. Maybe some way to exchange one for the other has been developed.

Anyway, this is about as clear a sign as you're going to get about the perceived and most likely real value of the dollar among the people. It is going to fail and we know it. Just like any other preparation, it's good to start early and get ahead of the curve.

MATT SIMMONS - GULF IS FINISHED

SADDAM HUSSEIN AND THE NEW WORLD ORDER

Every once in a while the truth bleeds out around the edges.



The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the upcoming war in Iran are part of a policy of perpetual war. These little, never ending conflicts are created for two reasons, profit and control. The military industrial complex, bankers and power brokers all benefit from the profits generated by the financing, manufacturing and sale of war materials and they also benefit from the fear, which they translate into control (think the Patriot Act).

If you don't believe me go here to see a list of more than 70 U.S. military interventions since 1945 and ask yourself, why? The founders intended an isolationist policy and most of the people in this country would agree. So we are we always at war?

President Eisenhower warned us in his farewell address in January 1961:



The American people on both sides of the political spectrum are starting to clamor for an end to Afghanistan. We know that it's not winnable. So we'll pull out. That's one of the reasons for Iran and possibly Venezuela.

They believe that they can control this process and manage these wars in a way that causes just enough damage to keep them going without becoming so explosive that they engulf the elites. Usually they can but sooner or later they'll miscalculate. Iran may be just the place.

The Iranian government is just looking for a way to usher in Armageddon so that they can speed up the return of the 12th Mahdi. This Islamic messiah bears a frightening resemblance to the Christian anti-Christ. When the elites go to war with a country that wants a world engulfing conflagration they will bite off more than they can chew. This upcoming war may just be the real "war to end all wars".

Prepare and pray, pray, pray!

EXORCISM AND ABORTION - GOD PROTECTS HIS PEOPLE IF ONLY WE LET HIM

Never, ever doubt the power of the Church and God working through it! As we, the priests and laity, begin to relearn the old ways under the guidance of our Pope, we'll begin to see miracles happen. We've gone too long relying on science and the physical at the expense of God and the supernatural.

I've been learning over the past ten years or so to accept the gifts that I receive from God; not to fight them. I spent a big chunk of my life worrying about money and things. I've found that if I stop worrying and start listening that I get what I need. And I've learned to be happy with that. Because, strangely, many times the things that I'm given, usually that make no sense at the time, prove to be incredibly useful down the road. I'm not thinking of material things so much, more the gifts of insight and understanding. And more importantly, the gift of hope. I know the world's coming apart but it doesn't scare me. I know that evil has taken control, but it doesn't scare me. I know that much may be asked of me, even my life, but it doesn't scare me. None of this scares me because I'm protected. This doesn't mean I won't suffer or that my family won't suffer but I know that there is a reason behind it now. And I know that if I stay in God's grace that no matter what happens, I'll be protected.

What more can I ask out of life?

PROP C WILL BE ON BALLOT IN MISSOURI THIS AUGUST

No matter how hard they work to stop it, Missouri WILL be the first state in the nation to allow its citizens to vote on whether the federal socialized health care plan will be allowed to destroy our medical system.

The opponents of this vote in my state believe that the supremacy clause in the Constitution will make this vote a moot point. They say that whatever law the federal government passes the states are bound to honor.

I say:

Amendment 9 The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment 10 The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
The United States Constitution

The part the opponents of states right always leave out is that the states are only bound to follow law that has a Constitutional basis. The federal government cannot pass laws that are not authorized in Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution. When the fed oversteps its bounds it is the responsibility of the states to reign it back in and that is exactly what Prop C here in Missouri is intended to do.

"A Cole County judge has dismissed a lawsuit that sought to stop an Aug. 3 ballot issue vote offering Missourians a chance to express their position on the nation's new health care act.

Judge Paul C. Wilson ruled late Friday against Jefferson City attorney Chip Gentry's argument that the ballot issue exceeds its original purpose and does not contain a clear title focused on a single subject.

The state lawmaker-driven ballot initiative asks voters for a single answer to a two-part question.

First it asks voters to decide if Missouri statutes should be amended to prevent the government from "penalizing citizens for refusing to purchase private health insurance or infringe upon the right to offer or accept direct payment for lawful healthcare services?"

A second question asks if laws governing the liquidation of certain insurance companies should be modified.

The insurance liquidation question was the original focus of House Bill 1764. The legislature amended the bill to include language on the health care issue in a last-minute maneuver known as "log-rolling."

...Patrick Tuohey of Missourians for Health Care Freedom said he was happy Missouri would be the first state to hold a referendum on the broad-based federal health care reforms of 2010.

"This is really the first time that any citizen in the country has had the opportunity to express their view directly," Tuohey said. "This is an opportunity for Missourians to express their views on the health care plan that came out of Washington."

Opponents of the ballot issue say the vote is meaningless and the state will be compelled by the federal government to conform using the so-called "supremacy clause" of federal law trumping state law in cases where laws regulate the same subject.

Tuohey suggested the supremacy clause had not yet been tested in this area.

"Whether or not the supremacy clause applies to the federal government compelling individuals to purchase a product, in this case health care, has not been settled," Tuohey said."
Ozarks First (H/T The Dana Show)

RACISM AT THE NAACP - TELL ME IT'S NOT TRUE!

So maybe the NAACP screaming about racism in the Tea Party is the pot calling the kettle black...Oh no, was that a racist remark?



Breitbart


UPDATE:

It appears that Ms. Sherrod's remarks were taken out of context.

"Sherrod's story about the white farmer took place more than two decades before she worked for USDA, and the entire point of the story was that race is not an issue. The story was about how she and the family became friends and how she eventually helped them save their farm.

In the wake of her resignation, the farmer's wife, Eloise Spooner, told CNN that Sherrod went all out to help them. "She's the one I can credit with helping us saving our farm," Spooner said, but 26 years later, conservative bloggers could rewrite that story to great effect."
The Root

The real problem that I have with this whole incident, as regards the NAACP, is the murmurs of approval for the discrimination that Ms. Sherrod admits to before her conversion. When you listen to her story it's completely understandable that she acted the way she did, even though it was wrong. That being said, there was no reason for the attendees at the speech to essentially endorse those racist actions.

We've got to get past this crap! If we don't stand together, as one American people, the freedoms we ALL enjoy will disappear. Have things always been perfect for everyone in this country? NO. But dammit, there is no place on the face of this earth that has allowed all of us the freedoms that this country has.

I don't care what color, creed or race you are! Are you an American and do you want to see that our country survives as a free Republic? If so, then you are my brother or sister. We must work together or we will all be slaves.

MATT SIMMONS SPEAKS AGAIN - LISTEN - THE GULF IS FAR FROM FIXED

I've been following the words of Matt Simmons since the blowout in the Gulf occurred. He is a long time owner of a leading investment bank to the oil industry, now retired. His knowledge base is extensive and I'm sure his contacts in the industry are legion.

Simmons has said since day one that this blowout cannot be stopped short of putting a nuclear device down the bore and melting it closed. He believes that the Gulf coast should be evacuated because he thinks that the chance of a major toxic cloud of methane covering the area is extremely high.

He just did another interview, this time on King World News. Click here and give it a listen. So far, everything he's said would happen has happened so I do believe what he is saying now. This thing is far from over and damned near everything we're hearing from BP, the government and the media is a lie.

OIL CONTINUES TO SEEP INTO GULF

It seems to be looking as though the initial reports of seepage are, in fact, accurate. If this is the case then the sea floor is compromised and the only way to even partially control the leak will be to open the cap and try to recover the oil. Maybe a new cap with hoses allowing the oil to bleed off in an orderly manner to ships on the surface will work. Maybe a pipeline could be permanently constructed to carry the oil to shore. I don't know.

The thing is that if the sea floor is compromised then I doubt that the relief wells will work. We are looking at a continuous flow that, best case, we can hopefully manage but never shut off. If this is the case, BP needs to get the cap off and take the pressure off the well to stop the seepage as much as possible. If oil is being forced through the sea floor it is eroding the floor with each passing day, creating greater chance of failure and uncontrollable flow.

GULF WATER SAMPLE EXPLODES

I've got to be honest here and say I grew up around marinas so the sample that came from the side of the boat in the marina, the one that exploded, doesn't come as a great shock. There can be fuel in the water around marinas; maybe not enough to explode in the open but trapped in a bottle, where the fumes could collect? I'm not so sure that this wasn't the cause.

Interesting how much they did find though. Of course, I wonder what the normal level in those areas is? I know the chemist said around 5 ppm but that kind'a sounded like a guess.

WKRG.com

WKRG

OIL AND METHANE MAY BE SEEPING NEAR WELL

This would explain why the pressure isn't getting as high as expected on the cap and why officials are continuing the tests. If BP won't follow the plan and figure out a way to get the oil flowing to the surface and the pressure off the sea floor the government may have to step in. If seepage is occurring that means that keeping the pressure up will eventually cause a failure somewhere.

If they have to allow oil to flow into the gulf for a short period of time to allow for the fitting of the pipes needed to accommodate the pumping of oil to the surface, do it. Sure, it'll look bad and BP will catch some grief but they can't let the sea floor fail due to the increase in pressure.

"BP and the Obama administration offered significantly differing views Sunday on whether the capped Gulf of Mexico oil well will have to be reopened, a contradiction that may be an effort by the oil giant to avoid blame if crude starts spewing again.

Pilloried for nearly three months as it tried repeatedly to stop the leak, BP PLC capped the nearly mile-deep well Thursday and wants to keep it that way. The government's plan, however, is to eventually pipe oil to the surface, which would ease pressure on the fragile well but would require up to three more days of oil spilling into the Gulf.

"No one associated with this whole activity ... wants to see any more oil flow into the Gulf of Mexico," Doug Suttles, BP's chief operating officer, said Sunday. "Right now we don't have a target to return the well to flow."

An administration official familiar with the spill oversight, however, told The Associated Press that a seep and possible methane were found near the busted oil well. The official spoke on condition of anonymity Sunday because an announcement about the next steps had not been made yet.

The concern all along — since pressure readings on the cap weren't as high as expected — was a leak elsewhere in the wellbore, meaning the cap may have to be reopened to prevent the environmental disaster from becoming even worse and harder to fix.

The official, who would not clarify what is seeping near the well, also said BP is not complying with the government's demand for more monitoring."
Yahoo

ALL OR NOTHING - THE BREAD OF LIFE AND THE TRUTH

Does this scandalize you?


(Thanks, Ros)

John 6:47-67
Amen, amen I say unto you: He that believeth in me, hath everlasting life.
I am the bread of life.
Your fathers did eat manna in the desert, and are dead.
This is the bread which cometh down from heaven; that if any man eat of it, he may not die.
I am the living bread which came down from heaven.
If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give, is my flesh, for the life of the world.
The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying: How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you.
He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day.
For my flesh is meat indeed: and my blood is drink indeed.
He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in me, and I in him.
As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth me, the same also shall live by me.
This is the bread that came down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead. He that eateth this bread, shall live for ever.
These things he said, teaching in the synagogue, in Capharnaum.
Many therefore of his disciples, hearing it, said: This saying is hard, and who can hear it?
But Jesus, knowing in himself, that his disciples murmured at this, said to them: Doth this scandalize you?
If then you shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?
It is the spirit that quickeneth: the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I have spoken to you, are spirit and life.
But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning, who they were that did not believe, and who he was, that would betray him.
And he said: Therefore did I say to you, that no man can come to me, unless it be given him by my Father.
After this many of his disciples went back; and walked no more with him.

IS MARK WILLIAMS A RACIST - OR JUST STUPID?

"Racism is tearing the Tea Party movement apart.

The National Tea Party Federation has expelled a prominent activist group, the Tea Party Express, because it wouldn't rebuke and fire one of its leaders for writing an offensive blog post.

Mark Williams, a California radio host who is leading protests in New York against a proposed mosque near Ground Zero and has drawn Sarah Palin to his rallies, had previously called the President an "Indonesian Muslim turned welfare thug" and said Muslims were "animals" who worship "a monkey god."

But when he posted a satirical letter this week from "the Colored People" to President Lincoln about how little they want to work, that apparently crossed the line - especially after the NAACP called on Tea Party leaders to oust racists from their ranks.

"We have expelled Tea Party Express and Mark Williams from the National Tea Party Federation because of the letter that he wrote," federation spokesman David Webb said on CBS's "Face the Nation."

He called the July 14 letter "clearly offensive."
New York Daily News

Really? Racism is tearing the Tea Party apart? For that to be true wouldn't there need to be an actual Tea Party to tear?

At this point the Tea Party is still more of a concept, a set of beliefs that link various people of all different political persuasions together. The primary tenet of the Tea Party movement seems to be smaller, Constitutionally limited government. This racism canard is something being constructed out of thin air by those of a Progressive nature on a mission to besmirch others with different views.

What does this Mark Williams or his Tea Party Express group have to do with anything? It seems as though he has tried to create some authority where none exists. He looks to have tried to piggy back onto an organic movement for personal gain. Or maybe he's a true believer just trying to do his part. I don't know.

One thing's for sure, though. He's made a really stupid mistake or he let his true feelings out. Now, anyone that has been associated with his group, such as Palin, Breitbart or Coulter will be smeared along with him.

So now we'll see how the members of the Tea Party movement react. If they're truly racist, they'll close ranks and defend Williams and his stupid attempt at satire, or whatever it was. If they're not, they'll distance and disassociate themselves from him publicly and permanently. Unless of course it turns out that there is some sort of logical or reasonable explanation for this idiocy, which I kind'a doubt.

The National Tea Party Federation, a group that is trying to form some sort of cohesive coalition out of these disparate groups of Tea Party's has already kicked Tea Party Express and Mr. Williams out of their organization. Good for them.

This is more than the NAACP has done to distance itself from the New Black Panthers and far more than our President has done to distance himself from Jeremiah Wright or Van Jones.

The Tea Party Movement must be incredibly vigilant as regards any sort of stupidity about race. This seems to be the tool the Marxists have chosen to use to destroy it. It will always be held to a way higher standard in this regard than any organization on the left, such as the NAACP or the eugenicist, black hating Planned Parenthood.

Watch your step, guys!

HUGO CHAVEZ AND THE HERESY OF COLLECTIVE SALVATION

"Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has once again lashed out at the Catholic Church, this time against Pope Benedict XVI, saying, “He is not an ambassador of Christ.” “Christ,” he asserted, “is in the people.”

“Christ doesn’t need any ambassadors,” Chavez said, announcing that the the relationship between Venezuela and the Holy See would be reviewed. “We must review those accords, with all due respect to the Vatican State and to the Pope, who is no ambassador of Christ on Earth, as they say.”

“Christ is in the people and in those who fight for the justice of the liberation of the meek, that’s where Christ is - the true Christ, Our Father, the liberator of the poor on Earth, the supreme example of sacrifice for those who suffer,” Chavez went on."
Catholic News Agency

This is a perfect example of Liberation Theology and collective salvation put into practice. Just as the Pope has written, in Liberation Theology the work of Christ on the cross is not sufficient. Salvation comes through the collective and the good works of the people. This heresy turns Christianity on its head. The state becomes the authority and the Church declines in importance because, after all, it teaches a lie.

This same ugly perversion seems to be the theological foundation that our current President has built his belief system on. The belief itself is evil and Satanic and it will corrupt and convert its followers.

Pray for the soul of our President and the American people. Given enough time, this perversion will be accepted in our country because it sounds so appealing. It has already gained a strong foothold in the leadership of many of our churches and is being preached from the pulpit as the truth.

THE VENEZUELA / IRAN URANIUM CONNECTION - THE STORM CLOUDS ARE BUILDING

Is this why the Navy is putting all those ships and Marines in Costa Rica?

Between oil and uranium and the upcoming war with Iran, I'm thinking our old buddy Hugo is living on borrowed time.

"Venezuela and Bolivia are supplying Iran with uranium for its nuclear program, according to a secret Israeli government report obtained Monday by The Associated Press.

The two South American countries are known to have close ties with Iran, but this is the first allegation that they are involved in the development of Iran’s nuclear program, considered a strategic threat by Israel.

“There are reports that Venezuela supplies Iran with uranium for its nuclear program,” the Foreign Ministry document states, referring to previous Israeli intelligence conclusions.

It added, “Bolivia also supplies uranium to Iran.”
New York Times

And what kind of message would it send to the other Central and South American countries that back Iran? Or would we have to go in to them also? It almost looks as though we've found our next place to go in our bid to create a state of perpetual war.

"Amid the sanctions imposed by the west, the government of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said today (14) that they have received support from representatives of Member States of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA). The official news agency of Iran, IRNA, reported that Iran was referred to in a statement supported by ambassadors and heads of that block of states.

Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador and Nicaragua are integrated into ALBA. In a statement, according to IRNA, the countries have condemned the "aspirations of destabilization" attributed to the governments of the United States and Israel. In the document, the block also expresses support for the Iranian nuclear program. According to IRNA, ALBA warned that any military action against Iran would cause "terrible consequences for the world." According to the statement, it is essential to seek dialogue and a peaceful solution to the Iranian nuclear case."
Pravda

We've been looking for a reason to get rid of Mugabe in Zimbabwe for years. Is this it?

"On April 22, the Drudge Report linked to an article about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad meeting with Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe. It failed to cause a fuss, but it tells us a lot about why General David Petraeus believes that Iran’s nuclear program has been delayed and we have at least until the end of the year before it gets the bomb.

Iran secretly agreed last month to provide Zimbabwe with oil in return for being given access to its uranium ore, the basic material that must be enriched in order to create the fuel for a nuclear bomb. Iranian scientists have been studying the African nation’s deposits for over a year to prepare for mining. The Iranian regime may have enriched some of its uranium to 20 percent, but they will still need a lot of uranium ore to create a nuclear arsenal. This latest cooperation with Zimbabwe confirms reports that this is where the Iranians are having trouble.

...This is almost certainly the reason for General Petraeus’ statement and the recent bro-love between Mugabe and Ahmadinejad. A secret Israeli report said last May that Iran was also getting uranium from Venezuela and Bolivia. The Iranians and Venezuelans have talked about nuclear cooperation, and Chavez has agreed to allow Iran to explore for uranium in its Roraima Basin region. Venezuela’s mining minister says that Iran has already conducted surveys and testing and determined that the potential exists for the country to have uranium reserves, but it would take three years to certify the results. The news report says that only partial certification is needed for a project to begin.
Pajamas Media

It appears that Zimbabwe would be a relatively simple task with very little direct U.S. military invovlvement.

"America has military power just across the border in Botswana. The government of Botswana can't stand Mugabe, and is pro-American, pro-Western and pro-Capitalist. Many of the Blacks of Zimbabwe, as well as almost all Whites, are pro-American in many ways. The whole region is staggering under the weight of the Zimbabwe collapse - especially Botswana, which is being flooded with a sea of Zimbabwean refugees searching for jobs, food or simply protection from Mugabe's "war veterans". The Zimbabweans loved talking, but this time there seem to be real possibilities to defeat the Mugabe dictatorship.

Mugabe can be overthrown at a small price. If America were to divert the money it spends on Iraq in just one day, which is $12,500,000, it would be enough to see Mugabe out of power and the whole southern Africa would be changed in a way that would be extremely positive. For that bit of money, they could arm thousands of men. In no time at all, you would see serious results."
Global Politician

Is a new world war, sparked by Iran's bid to become a nuclear power, the pretext needed to consolidate power with the Marxist powers here in America? I've been looking for that perfect crisis to emerge just before the November elections and I'm thinking that this is all coming together rather nicely.

Potential targets for attack include Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, and a host of other countries in our own hemisphere. Not to mention the biggie, Iran. Along with our perpetual war in Afghanistan we'll be so bogged down we'll never get out.

And don't forget the potential for race war and union riots here in America. And the ongoing nightmare in the Gulf. Not to mention the collapse of the American economy.

The perfect storm looms on the horizon. Prepare yourselves and your families and pray, pray, pray!

BRIAN NIEVES FOR MISSOURI STATE SENATE

State representative Brian Nieves is running for the Missouri Senate in the 26th district. Even though I've pretty much sworn not to vote for another Republican (and I've never in my life voted for a Democrat), Brian is the real deal as far as limited, Constitutional government goes. I've seen him speak and have met with him; he and I are on the same page about the direction this country needs to go. You can go to his campaign website here.

The video below shows exactly what he is up against with the dishonest tactics of former Washington, Missouri Mayor Dick Stratman. Push polling is part of politics and its use is widespread. The only way to combat it is to expose it, so I hope I can do my part with this post.

If you live in the 26th here in Missouri get out on August 3rd and vote for Brian Nieves. The local T.E.A. Party supports him and so do I.

FIRST THEY TESTED US FOR DRUGS AND WE SAID NOTHING

"All Americans, by 2014 will be required to have an individual obesity rating electronically recorded. It has been determined that under the new health stimulus law passed by President Barack Obama recently, that all Americans, by 2014, will be required to have electronic health records which will include their height, weight and body mass index (BMI)."
Huliq

All this started years ago when Americans rolled over and allowed themselves to be forced into drug testing. Next, we became accustomed to going through scanners to enter public buildings, on the off chance that one of us may endanger the rest with a pocketknife. Soon, scanners were the norm in urban schools. Now, we've grown so used to these infringements on our liberty that we've agreed to be prodded through full body scanners that view us as though we're naked, had our First Amendment rights abridged and even agree to be taken away at the whim of a government lackey for rectal exams just to board a plane.

So what's next? Forced health examinations with the results available to employers and anyone else the government deems worthy. We will be excluded from jobs and God only knows what else if we don't conform to some arbitrary standard.

At some point, this same information will be used to determine our worth; to decide whether we live or die.

Does that sound extreme? That's what everyone told me thirty years ago when I predicted the outcome of allowing ourselves to be tested for drugs. And today, everything I imagined and more has come true.

A PURE HEART

THE POPE AND COLLECTIVE SALVATION

Today I was listening to Glenn Beck's show and he used the following quote from Pope Benedict XVI:

"Wherever politics tries to be redemptive, it is promising too much. Where it wishes to do the work of God, it becomes not divine, but demonic."

This quote comes from the book "Truth and Tolerance" written by the Pope years before he was elevated to his current position.

Beck has been spending a lot of time lately talking about collective salvation and liberation theology. At least somebody is doing it. I believe, based on his membership in Jeremiah Wright's church for over twenty years and so many of the statements he's made, that this is the animating force behind the beliefs of our President. Liberation theology is a distortion of the truth with Marxist roots that echo all the way back to the early heresy of Pelagianism.

The Pope's words are worth reading regarding this demonic lie that is being used by the government and the leaders of many churches, including the Catholic Church, to justify an all powerful state and the subjugation of the individual. I've posted a sizable excerpt from the Pope's writings below but I would recommend that you go to the site where I found this and read the whole thing.

The excerpts below come from "The Ratzinger Report" which I found at Christendom-Awake.

"...An analysis of the phenomenon of liberation theology reveals that it constitutes a fundamental threat to the faith of the Church. At the same time it must be borne in mind that no error could persist unless it contained a grain of truth. Indeed, an error is all the more dangerous, the greater that grain of truth is, for then the temptation it exerts is all the greater.

Furthermore, the error concerned would not have been able to wrench that piece of the truth to its own use if that truth had been adequately lived and witnessed to in its proper place (in the faith of the Church). So, in denouncing error and pointing to dangers in liberation theology, we must always be ready to ask what truth is latent in the error and how it can be given its rightful place, how it can be released from error's monopoly.

...A theologian who has learned his theology in the classical tradition and has accepted its spiritual challenge will find it hard to realize that an attempt is being made, in all seriousness, to recast the whole Christian reality in the categories of politico-social liberation praxis. This is all the more difficult because many liberation theologians continue to use a great deal of the Church's classical ascetical and dogmatic language while changing its signification. As a result, the reader or listener who is operating from a different background can gain the impression that everything is the same as before, apart from the addition of a few somewhat unpalatable statements, which, given so much spirituality, can scarcely be all that dangerous.

...At this point we come to the second element of our situation to which we have already referred: the new philosophical climate of the late sixties. In the meantime the marxist analysis of history and society was largely accepted as the only "scientific" one. This means that the world must be interpreted in terms of the class struggle and that the only choice is between capitalism and marxism. It also means that all reality is political and has to justify itself politically. The biblical concept of the 'poor" provides a starting point for fusing the Bible's view of history with marxist dialectic; it is interpreted by the idea of the proletariat in the marxist sense and thus justifies marxism as the legitimate hermeneutics for understanding the Bible.

Since, according to this view, there are, and can only be, two options, any objection to this interpretation of the Bible is an expression of the ruling class's determination to hold on to its power. A well-known liberation theologian asserts: "The class struggle is a fact; neutrality on this point is simply impossible."

This approach also takes the (g)round from under the feet of the Church's teaching office: if she were to intervene and proceed against such an interpretation of Christianity, she would only prove that she is on the side of the rich and the rulers and against the poor and suffering, i.e., against Jesus himself: she would show that she had taken the negative side in the dialectic of history.

This decision, apparently unavoidable in "scientific" and "historical" terms, automatically determines how Christianity shall be interpreted in the future, as regards both the activities of this interpretation and its content.

As far as the arbiters are concerned, the crucial concepts are people, community, experience and history. Previously it was the Church, namely, the Catholic Church in her totality — a totality which spanned time and space and embraced laity (sensus fidei) and hierarchy (Magisterium) — that constituted the hermeneutical criterion; now it is the "community". The experience of the "community" determines the understanding and the interpretation of Scripture.

...Hope is interpreted as "confidence in the.future" and as working for the future and thus is subordinated once more to the history of class conflict.

Love consists in the "option for the poor"; i.e., it coincides with opting for the class struggle. In opposition to "false universalism"'; the liberation theologians emphasize very strongly the partiality and partisan nature of the Christian option; in their view, taking sides is the fundamental presupposition for a correct hermeneutics of the biblical testimony. Here, I think, one can see very clearly that amalgam of a basic truth of Christianity and an un-Christian fundamental option which makes the whole thing so seductive: The Sermon on the Mount is indeed God taking sides with the poor. But to interpret the "poor" in the sense of the marxist dialectic of history, and "taking sides with them" in the sense of the class struggle, is a wanton attempt to portray as identical things that are contrary.

...In trying to arrive at an overall evaluation it must be said that, if one accepts the fundamental assumptions which underlie liberation theology, it cannot be denied that the whole edifice has an almost irresistible logic. By adopting the position of biblical criticism and of a hermeneutics that grows through experience, on the one hand, and of the marxist analysis of history, on the other, liberation theologians have succeeded in creating a total picture of the Christian reality, and this total view seems to respond fully both to the claims of science and to the moral challenges of our time, urging people to make Christianity an instrument of concrete world transformation; it seems to have united Christianity, in this way, with all the "progressive forces" of our era."

WEEKLY WRAP UP

Sorry that I haven't been writing much this week. I've been fairly busy at work and the heat has been, shall we say, oppressive? I get home from work with the best of intentions to sit down at the computer but just never seem to muster the energy.

We can be thankful the flow of oil has stopped, at least at the blow out preventer. The question is, what's happening in the bore and how much is being forced, by the increase in pressure, through the cracks and fissures in the sea floor. Pray that BP has turned a corner.

"Now the wait begins.

BP finally gained control over one of America's biggest environmental catastrophes by placing a carefully fitted cap over a runaway geyser that has been gushing crude into the Gulf of Mexico since early spring. Engineers, politicians and Gulf residents will watch anxiously over the next day and a half to see if it holds.

"It's a great sight," said BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles, who immediately urged caution. The flow, he said, could resume. "It's far from the finish line. ... It's not the time to celebrate."

...Regardless, for the first time since an explosion on the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon oil rig killed 11 workers April 20 and unleashed the spill 5,000 feet beneath the water's surface, no oil was flowing into the Gulf."
Yahoo

The Obama administration has managed to force financial reform through the Congress. My guess is that this bill will not in any way create any meaningful reform that will stop a future crisis but instead is filled with language meant to satisfy particular special interest at the expense of the people.

And it will further consolidate government control of the market, advancing the socialist agenda of our political masters.

"Congress approved a rewrite of rules touching every corner of finance, from ATM cards to Wall Street traders, in the biggest expansion of government power over banking and markets since the Depression.

...Now, the legislation hands off to 10 regulatory agencies the discretion to write hundreds of new rules governing finance. Rather than the bill itself, it will be this process—accompanied by a lobbying blitz from banks—that will determine the precise contours of this new landscape, how strict the new regulations will be and whether they succeed in their purpose. The decisions will be made by officials from new agencies, obscure agencies and, in some cases, agencies like the Federal Reserve that faced criticism in the run-up to the crisis."
Wall Street Journal

Surprise, surprise. The newly minted reform bill benefits unions and activist groups. Who would have seen that coming?

"The financial reform bill expected to clear Congress this week is chock-full of provisions that have little to do with the financial crisis but cater to the long-standing agendas of labor unions and other Democratic interest groups.

Principal among them is a measure to make it easier for unions, environmental groups and other activist organizations that hold shares to put their representatives on the boards of directors of every corporation in the United States.

The so-called "proxy access" provision, which activist groups say they will use to try to improve oversight of corporate financial practices, has provoked a backlash from the Business Roundtable, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other major non-Wall Street business groups."
Washington Times

Senator Jeff Sessions says that Republicans may filibuster the Kagan nomination but only under extraordinary circumstances. Would suddenly growing a pair be extraordinary enough?

"Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) told HUMAN EVENTS that he would not rule out filibustering Elena Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court. In an exclusive interview, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee said that a "filibuster is not off the table," but cautioned that such a procedural tactic would only be employed under "extraordinary circumstances." Asked if Kagan's penchant for judicial and political activism hit the benchmark of "extraordinary circumstances," Sessions wouldn't commit, but noted how Kagan did not "help herself in her testimony."
Human Events

I wonder if buying the votes of his fellow Senators would be extraordinary enough for Senator Sessions?

"Sources tell ABC News that Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pennsylvania, has informed the White House that he would like to consider remaining in public service after his Senate term ends at the end of this session, and White House officials are keeping an open mind about possible job openings for him."
ABC News

We can't force Switzerland to give up Roman Polanski but we still have enough power to serve as mercenaries for our enemies in the Muslim world when they need to settle old scores.

The things we'll do for oil; all while making it illegal to drill in our own waters.

"The U.A.E. may be about to support the U.S. and Israel in their rumored plans to attack Iran, according to reports from Der Spiegel.

"The U.A.E.'s ambassador to the U.S., Yousef Al Otaiba, recently expressed his concerns that the costs of having Iran be a nuclear power were too high for his country, and worth the costs of going to war with the country:

But, he added, "if you are asking me, 'Am I willing to live with that versus living with a nuclear Iran,' my answer is still the same. We cannot live with a nuclear Iran. I am willing to absorb what takes place at the expense of the security of the U.A.E."

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev recently expressed his concerns that Iran was close to building a weapon, after Iran announced it had 20 kilograms of 20 percent enriched uranium.

This will only lead to growing worries over the plans of both the U.S. and Israel regarding war with Iran."
Business Insider

While American kids die in pointless foreign wars and the middle class is slowly destroyed, the "too big to fails" and their executives continue to profit on the backs of future generations of Americans; if there is a future.

"US banking giant JPMorgan Chase on Thursday announced a net profit of 4.8 billion dollars in the second quarter, up nearly 80 percent from the same period last year.

Reporting solid performance across most business areas, the New York-based bank's profits included 1.5 billion dollars that had been set aside to cover bad loans."
Raw Story

And now we all get to not only finance wars that we don't want but we get to pay for the murder of innocent children, too. Is this a great country or what?

"Anti-abortion groups are claiming that millions of federal dollars are about to go into a Pennsylvania health care plan that would cover abortion, contrary to lawmakers' pledge to erect a virtual wall between such coverage and taxpayer funds.

The Pennsylvania Insurance Department announced at the end of June that the federal government had approved $160 million to set up a high-risk insurance plan for thousands of Pennsylvania residents with pre-existing conditions. Though the announcement made no reference to abortion and the policy itself says "elective abortions" are not covered, the National Right to Life Committee claimed it would cover abortions in almost every circumstance.

"What their plan actually does is say if it's legal, it's covered," said NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson. "Abortion ends up being covered if it's not explicitly excluded."
Fox News

At least here in Missouri our politicians are doing what they can to protect the babies in the womb. I realize that for political reasons our Democrat Governor didn't want to sign the bill but at least he had the decency to let it become law.

"Today, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon will allow SB 793 to become law without his signature, which will significantly enhance the state's informed consent protections for pregnant women and make Missouri the fifth state to opt-out of the abortion mandate in the federal health care law.

"We applaud our allies in the Missouri legislature for dramatically enhancing the informed consent protections for women in Missouri and making Missouri the fifth state to opt out of taxpayer-funded abortion," said Dr. Charmaine Yoest, President & CEO, Americans United for Life. "This new law protects women, their unborn children, and taxpayers making it a win for everyone in the state."
Christian News Wire

Not only that, but in just a couple weeks Missouri gets to be the first state to tell the federal government to get out of our healthcare. Pray this bill passes!

"Missouri is poised to become the first state to put a new federal health insurance mandate to a vote of its residents.

The Missouri House gave final approval Tuesday (May 11) to a measure that will appear on the Aug. 2 ballot stating that people and employers cannot be compelled to have health insurance nor penalized for paying for health care out of their own pocketbooks.

The referendum seeks to defy a federal health care law signed earlier this year by President Barack Obama that requires most Americans to have health insurance or face fines beginning in 2014. But the legal impact of the state measure is questionable, because courts generally have held that federal laws trump those in states."
Columbia Missourian

Our Governor in Missouri, Jay Nixon, is a Democrat, as is our Attorney General, Chris Koster, while our Lt. Governor, Pete Kinder, is a Republican. Since the Governor and Attorney general would not oppose the Democrats health care power grab, Kinder has filed suit on his own to block implementation here in my state. This ought to be fun.

"Missouri Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder filed a lawsuit Wednesday over the federal health care overhaul, accusing Congress of overstepping its authority, trampling on state sovereignty and attempting to interfere with consumers' health decisions.

Numerous states have challenged the federal health care overhaul since it was signed into law last March. Missouri's lawsuit — filed by Kinder in his personal and official capacities and by three other residents — asserts that the federal government cannot compel people to buy a product and cannot require state officials to participate in enforcing a "federal scheme."
Columbia Missourian

Of course, our turn coat, one time Republican, now Democrat Attorney general is going to do everything he can to stop all of this from happening.

"Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster is trying to block the state from becoming involved in a lawsuit over the federal health care overhaul.

Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder filed a lawsuit last week in federal court challenging the federal health care law. Kinder, a Republican, sued in his personal and official capacities and is raising private funds to pay for the lawsuit.

The attorney general contends in a motion that Kinder should not be allowed to sue in his official capacity and wants that part of the lawsuit dismissed. Koster left the Republican Party and became a Democrat in 2007.

A Kinder spokesman said Monday the lieutenant governor has a statutory duty to advocate for Missouri seniors. The lawsuit contends part of the federal health care overhaul will harm the state's seniors."
Southeast Missourian

And in the midst of all this news over the past week I'm still left with two, at least in my mind, unanswerable questions; who the hell is LeBron James and why should I care about Mel Gibson's descent into hell? Both would seem to be personal matters best left out of the public eye.

Maybe I'm just old fashioned.