Editorial Sketch of the Week: A different double standard

© Dana Summers, Orlando Sentinel

“If I were the Devil”

Paul Harvey (1918-2009) was one of our finest broadcasters. Some 47 years ago, he offered a bit of commentary, under three minutes in length, that has proven more prophetic that he could have ever anticipated.

If I were the Devil - Paul Harvey (Warning for America) from anberlin_fan on GodTube.

Sunday’s Quote: Thoughts for the New Year

c/o Red Dog Report

A friendly acquaintance named René recently posted the following on Facebook:

I’m a RACIST for criticizing Obama. I’m a TERRORIST because I’m not afraid to stand up for what's right. I'm a TEA-BAGGER for supporting the Constitution. I’m a TROUBLEMAKER for asking unanswered questions. I’m a TRAITOR for blowing the whistle on my corrupt government. I’m a CONSPIRACY THEORIST for presenting documented facts.  . . .  I’m ANTI-AMERICAN for supporting Constitutionalists. Yep, GUILTY! Are U Guilty Too?

Food for thought indeed. And make no mistake, this is the year we need to turn it all around. Consider those who came before us.

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“Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.”
~ The original motto intended for the reverse side of The Great Seal of the United States. Although largely attributed to polymath and all-around icon Benjamin Franklin, the committee (formed on July 4, 1776) was also made up by fellow Founders John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. The Great Seal itself would not be finalized until 1782.

“Resistance to tyranny becomes the Christian and social duty of each individual. Continue steadfast and, with a proper sense of your dependence on God, nobly defend those rights which heaven gave, and no man ought to take from us.”
~ John Hancock, President of the Second Continental Congress and holder of perhaps the world’s most famous signature; from History of the United States of America, Vol. II by Henry Adams [1921], p. 229

“Suppose a nation in some distant Region should take the Bible for their only law Book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited! Every member would be obliged in conscience, to temperance, frugality, and industry; to justice, kindness, and charity towards his fellow men; and to piety, love, and reverence toward Almighty God. What a Eutopia [sic], what a Paradise would this region be.”
~ John Adams, a Founding Father, the second President and first Vice President of the United States; from Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, Vol. III [1782-1804], p. 9

What part of CHRISTmas do you not understand?

c/o Credo House Ministries

Instead of the usual Sunday’s Quote, I’ve opted to republish the same piece I’ve posted on this day for each of the past three years. . .

I could bloviate about those who seek to eliminate any trace of Christianity – or at least, the authentic criterion thereof – from the national landscape, just as I could reference any number of acts committed by the secular Left in the name of “separation of church and state” as if the phrase was pulled from the Constitution itself. But I will resist.

I could foil the pugilist with a comprehensive assessment, almost pretentious in length, regarding “separation of church. . .” (among other things) from Supreme Court decisions that were taken from their originally intended context to endorse a “progressive” disposition that concedes to practically anything but Christendom. Yet I will abstain.

Eschatology of the Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant creeds warn the Believer about agreeable-sounding pontificators who employ abstract reasoning fused with arguments that take aim (in the seemingly nicest possible way) at the very axioms they hold most sacred; a ploy most commonly achieved by admonishing the born-again, yet inattentive adherent to yield to every outlandish form of pluralism for the sake, and in the name of, tolerance.

Even more, far too many Christians have become more consumed with what's “cool” instead of keeping their focus upon what is right (something to which I can truly relate), essentially abandoning the substance of their beliefs – and thus, depreciating the sacrifices made by those who came before us – because they became fearful of false characterizations by a faction that unabashedly hates the Truth for which we are called to give our lives if necessary.

I’m beating this war drum because of a slowly growing entente that abates the less passionate into submission with half-truths, platitudes, and double standards while laboring to dilute, or redefine, our long-established values that are almost entirely based upon the Holy Scriptures. And thus it may not be much longer before opposing the coalition of enlightened, altruistic, open-minded sojourners of egalitarianism will be deemed a “hate crime.”

So say Merry Christmas while you still can. The clock is ticking.

Editorial Sketch of the Week: If the Nation could sit on Santa’s lap. . .

© Jerry Holbert, Boston Herald

Sunday’s Quote: O’ the value of obscure sources

Note: Don’t bother reading if you’re of any Left-leaning orientation, as the following will almost certainly result in a convulsion.

I recently stumbled across a treasure trove of books I didn’t know were in my possession. By chance I turned to the epilogue of the first one I picked up, saw a 60-year-old picture of Ronald Reagan, and read a tribute that reflects the central thesis of what made our country special while validating how far the entertainment industry has fallen from the beaten path.

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“The American image is still one that celebrates freedom, space, and opportunity. It turns sour, as it has in contemporary films, when those virtues are denied or perverted. Today’s Hollywood is quick to exploit the sourness, the disillusion, and the cynicism, but for all that Americans still like to think of themselves in terms of John Wayne. Wayne took a rapping from youngsters in the seventies, but as those youngsters have grown older they tend to share the regret that the Duke is gone. The mood of America as it entered the eighties was markedly conservative.

“The election of Ronald Reagan to the highest office in the land is an affirmation of the American return to conservatism. Reagan himself was of the generation of the Hollywood macho giants. He came from that age of American innocence in which a man could make it on his way – without government help or hindrance, by God! Reagan was well in line with the good old American image. He came from a working family, worked his way through college, excelled at football, got a job as a sports announcer in small-time radio, and worked his way up.  . . .

“What could be more American? The story of Ronald Reagan is itself like a Hollywood movie of the Golden Age. The fact that the American public elected him is strong evidence of an almost desperate yearning for the images of the American past. The fact that such a yearning exists gives hope that all is not lost. The Spirit of ’76 may be battered, but it is not moribund.”
– from Hollywood and the American Image [1981] by Tony Thomas

Sunday’s Quote: The Founders speak to us still

Many among the Left – American Atheists and the Freedom From Religion Foundation, for example – have mastered the art of taking the Founders out of context. Off-base references to Madison’s Remonstrance is a perfect example. Yet they tend to leave out the portion below.

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“We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self government [sic]; upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.”
– James Madison, the “Father of the Constitution” and fourth President of the United States, from A Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments; June 20, 1785

Picture credit: James Madison University

Editorial Sketch of the Week: The Fairness Doctrine, ver. 2.0

Here’s the bottom line when Obama talks about “fairness” – something he will do at length (ad nauseam) over the next 10-11 months.

© Eric Allie

Just Thinking Out Loud: The 51st State

Photo by Damian Dovarganes/Associated Press, c/o Examiner

By what legitimate standard, lawful or ethical, are the citizens of this country obligated to approve of an illegal alien population spread throughout our sovereign Republic presently comparable to the size of Pennsylvania?

Editorial Sketch(es) of the Week: Perfectly stated

I couldn't single out one (for the first time), so here are four for your viewing pleasure:

© Adam Zyglis, The Buffalo News

© Brian Fairrington, Arizona Republic

© Dick Locher, Chicago Tribune

© Rick McKee, The Augusta Chronicle

Just Thinking Out Loud: End of an era?

Call it a hunch, but I think the phenomenon that spawns this kind of character is now beyond its pinnacle. Somehow I believe we will be seeing less of this borderline insult to the Black community from now on.

 

c/o People WTF!

Editorial Sketch of the Week: Fee-income oriented

I spent five years in banking, so from my perspective this was inevitable. . .

© Jeff Parker, Florida Today

Us vs. Them

As I've said before, friends on Facebook post some of the best stuff. When words alone aren't enough. . .

Editorial Sketch of the Week: The future's not so bright

© Pat Bagley, The Salt Lake Tribune

Sunday's Quote: The Christian tradition

© Arnold Friberg

There is a peculiar intelligentsia that rejects with increasing boldness our claim as a Christian nation. The current President, a professed Christian (of some sort), is evidently among them.

Indeed many amid this highbrow herd take a similar issue with our Founders – 49 of the 56 to be exact – by flatly denying the otherwise irrefutable evidence of their mutual belief in the central figure of the world's largest religion. Below is our first President offering a bit of clarity for those hell-bent on misrepresenting the core of his Faith:

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"While I reiterate the professions of my dependence upon Heaven as the source of all public and private blessings; I will observe that the general prevalence of piety, philanthropy, honesty, industry, and œconomy seems, in the ordinary course of human affairs, particularly necessary for advancing and conforming the happiness of our country.

"While all men within our territories are protected in worshipping the Deity according to the dictates of their consciences; it is rationally to be expected from them in return, that they will be emulous of evincing the sanctity of their professions by the innocence of their lives and the beneficence of their actions; for no man, who is profligate in his morals, or a bad member of the civil community, can possibly be a true Christian, or a credit to his own religious society."
– from George Washington's Letter to the General Assembly of Presbyterian Churches; May 1789

Editorial Sketch of the Week: When faulty rhetoric backfires. . .

© Nick Anderson, Houston Chronicle

Sunday's Quote: The day everything changed

Photo by Carmen Taylor/Associated Press

"Mohammed is God's apostle.  Those who follow him are ruthless to the unbelievers but merciful to one another."

– Quran 48:29 (Surat Al-Fath, a.k.a. The Victory)

I was the operations manager for a trucking company in south Memphis on this particular day in history ten years ago.  Upon returning to my office from a drop yard on Elvis Presley Blvd., an ominous sounding voice on the radio abruptly interrupted a commercial and said "We now go to Howard Stern live."

Stern was broadcast on an hour delay in most of his syndicated markets, so I knew something substantial must have occurred for the recorded airing of the shock jock's program to be suddenly preempted.  The catastrophic terrorist attacks that would change the world forever were revealed to me from that moment on.

The numbers are astonishing.  Subsequent to the 17,727 acts of terrorism executed globally in the name of Islam since 9/11, the Associated Press reported last week that 35,117 convictions have ensued from the arrest of 119,044 terror suspects worldwide since that fateful day in which 2,977 innocent lives in New York City, Washington, D.C. and Stonycreek Township, Pennsylvania were snuffed out by the concerted and misguided acts of aggression that, to this day, remain somewhat difficult to fully process.

The Global War on Terror – a label President Obama discontinued some two years ago in favor of the more inauspicious Overseas Contingency Operation – got its unceremonious start when 19 men hijacked three passenger jets to implement the will of Allah.  Operation Enduring Freedom, the official campaign that commenced in Afghanistan, was launched a little over three weeks later on October 7.  Since then, nearly 6,000 of our military's finest have been killed and over 40,000 more have been injured, often severely, while endeavoring to rid our planet of these fanatical vermin – all of which has come at a fiscal cost in the trillions of dollars.

But the hits just keep on coming.  The Taliban, just today, claimed responsibility for a truck bombing in the Wardak province of eastern Afghanistan that killed two civilians and wounded nearly 80 American soldiers.  Such exploits have become so common, and we have become so desensitized, that you could be learning about this most recent attack for the first time from this very post.

Although former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee referred to the events of 9/11 as "my generation's version of Pearl Harbor" on his Fox News program yesterday, one could surmise that the fervent adversary facing the world today, and the resulting 10-year confrontation that has no end in sight, is exceedingly worse than an enemy that was defeated less than four years after their initial attack on American soil.

Our Founders did not ascribe the First Amendment to the Bill of Rights to enable those with less honorable intentions the capacity to determine how "We the People" respond to calamity.  Yet hypersensitive nonsense from television pundits (Huckabee excluded), politicians and the press at large often dictate how we react to a hostile foe, to the point that charges of hate speech could be levied for merely speaking with candor about the commonality of events once unthinkable.

Consequently those who embrace ideologies that are acknowledged nation destroyers – communism and socialism, just to name a couple – are equally influenced, and thus, driven by erroneous interpretations about our establishing documents, which, in no small twist, now encourages those who might otherwise be faithful allies to instead view our nation as a target for conquest and our Founders as subjects for derision.

To be sure, adherents and sympathizers alike who view Islam as a vehicle to put Americans in their place, as it were, only causes the vitriol about tolerance – for the sake of their traditionally peculiar sensitivities – becomes more intolerable by the day.  In addition, the so-called "peace loving" Muslims, who supposedly comprise the majority, seem quite content to allow the rest of the world to clean up the tragic mess left by their more militant counterparts.

Be not fooled.  They're laughing at us.

William Gladstone (d. 1898), the only four-time Prime Minister of Great Britain and a prominent classical liberal, is somewhat famously noted for referring to the Quran as an "accursed book," once even going so far as to hoist it amid a session of Parliament and proclaim "So long as there is this book, there will be no peace in the world."

Dutch politician Geert Wilders, a self-proclaimed right-wing liberal, made a number of similar statements in 2007 that were not received nearly as well.  Accused of criminally insulting religious and ethnic groups and inciting hatred and discrimination, Wilders was finally acquitted of all charges just three months ago.

As mentioned before, all painstaking efforts will go for naught if civilized nations insist upon circumnavigating both the initial source and the resulting philosophy of what produces the abundance of likeminded extremists who have been a relentless thorn in the side of peaceable societies for well over a millennia.  Verily we will chase our tails ad infinitum until the international community and its leaders become bold enough to confess, finally and collectively, that stomaching those who refuse peace and assimilation is a formula for continued upheaval and ultimate conquest.

The Pentagon has been repaired, a memorial has been built to the victims of the plane that crashed in southern Pennsylvania, and Ground Zero is beginning to rediscover its identity.  But it's been no easy task.  Ten years later, it still feels like yesterday.

Here is noted English commentator (and atheist) Pat Condell to further the perspective.

Sunday's Quote: The conundrum of the underprivileged

The notion that Obama would be an avenger of the poor and downtrodden is one of the more illogical rationales that ultimately led to his election, as waiting in hopeful expectation for those who rule from an ivory tower to lift the subjugated multitudes from the ruins of their destitute existence has never been part of the mantra that separates America from all other nations.  Here's one of the Founders to better explain why.

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"I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means.  I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it.  In my youth I travelled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer.  And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.

"There is no country in the world where so many provisions are established for them; so many hospitals to receive them when they are sick or lame, founded and maintained by voluntary charities; so many alms-houses for the aged of both sexes, together with a solemn general law made by the rich to subject their estates to a heavy tax for the support of the poor.  Under all these obligations, are our poor modest, humble, and thankful; and do they use their best endeavors to maintain themselves, and lighten our shoulders of this burthen?  On the contrary, I affirm that there is no country in the world in which the poor are more idle, dissolute, drunken, and insolent.

"The day you passed that act, you took away from before their eyes the greatest of all inducements to industry, frugality, and sobriety, by giving them a dependence on somewhat else than a careful accumulation during youth and health, for support in age or sickness.  In short, you offered a premium for the encouragement of idleness, and you should not now wonder that it has had its effect in the increase of poverty.  Repeal that law, and you will soon see a change in their manners.  St. Monday, and St. Tuesday, will cease to be holidays.

"SIX days shalt thou labour, though one of the old commandments long treated as out of date, will again be looked upon as a respectable precept; industry will increase, and with it plenty among the lower people; their circumstances will mend, and more will be done for their happiness by inuring them to provide for themselves, than could be done by dividing all your estates among them."

– from "On the Price of Corn and Management of the Poor" by abolitionist, author, diplomat, inventor, politician, scientist and co-Founding Father of the United States Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790); November 29, 1767

Note: Other sources also list the year as 1766 and 1776.  But according to The Cambridge History of English and American Literature, VOL. XVIII, part III (via Bartleby), the credited date above appears to be accurate.

Iconic Shot: God bless America

Our flag embodies what makes our nation great.  Britney Spears, in this pic, is just Exhibit A:

Original source unknown

Sunday's Quote: When conspiracy theories cease being theoretical

Whether it's through a picture, a quote, or an audio/video clip of some kind, I sometimes find it better to have the pros do the talking for me.  So for today's Quote, I have radio host Michael Savage offer a quick four-minute lecture about one of the more unexpected elements in Obama's massive heath care overhaul (with evidence).  You just might be shocked: