In the midst of a recession, Congress gives themselves a raise

I read this on Patriot Post this morning, columnist Jeff Jacoby explains it so well...

"Unemployment is at its highest level in 15 years. Housing prices won't stop falling. The stock market has suffered its most punishing collapse since 1931, and shareholders have lost $7 trillion in wealth. Millions of workers have lost their jobs; millions more are worried about losing theirs. IRAs and 401k accounts have been decimated, and companies are halting their contributions to retirement plans. Retail sales are dragging, the credit markets have seized up, and worse is expected in 2009. The government has gone to unprecedented lengths to improve the economy, yet the economy keeps getting worse. The federal budget deficit is headed for a trillion dollars, and the national debt is well over $10 trillion and climbing. ... So what do you do now? Well, if you're a member of Congress, you give yourself a raise. Beginning this week, US representatives and senators will be paid $174,000 a year. That represents an increase of $4,700 and the 10th time since 1998 that congressional pay has been given a boost. As has become routine, this salary hike is taking place automatically -- there were no hearings, no vote, no debate. No members of Congress stepped before the microphones to explain why their performance over the past year entitles them to a fatter paycheck. Or to make the case for helping themselves to more money at a time when so many Americans are out of work, the economy is in recession, and financial distress is spreading. Or to shed light on the curious fact that people who are chronically late when it comes to passing appropriations bills or confirming judges never seem to miss a beat when it comes to pocketing more money for themselves. ... You'd think members of Congress would be ashamed to take more of the public's money at a time when public approval of Congress is lower than ever. Then again, if they were capable of shame, they wouldn't be in Congress." --columnist Jeff Jacoby

Environmental propaganda on children’s network Nickelodeon

more news on indoctrinating our children with Liberal propaganda...

..."It’s not that that Nick has replaced “Sponge Bob” or “Fairly Odd Parents” with adult programming – Nick’s entertainment fare is still fun and silly. It’s that Nick has launched “The Big Green Help,” a multimedia campaign that encourages the network’s young viewers to become junior environmentalists, and major finger-waggers. “Nickelodeon’s Big Green Help is all about helping YOU find simple, positive ways to protect the Earth every day,” explains the home page on Nick’s Web site.

The Big Green Help is filled to the brim with throbbing dance music, bright colors (green most prominent, of course), grinning teen celebrities and feel-good phrases. Nick is indoctrinating kids into the secular cult of environmentalism, and it wants them to indoctrinate you in turn.

Where a Kid can be a Pawn

Nick is a very successful family of kid- and teen-centered channels, part of the MTV Networks owned by media conglomerate Viacom, which claims Nickelodeon is “the most-watched television network by kids in the United States, and basic cable's #1 network overall.”

Nick achieved its success by understanding what kids like and knowing how to convince them to like its wares. Done for profit, this is called marketing and branding. Done for politics, it’s propaganda. The Big Green Help is propaganda. ...

...If kids can be part of the solution, there must be a problem. Obviously, The Big Green Help takes it as a given that a) global warming is real and b) humans are causing it. Nick doesn’t acknowledge on the site or in the ads run continuously on the network the considerable skepticism of and disagreement with these views. That might not sit well with Nick’s partner in the campaign, the radical Natural Resources Defense Council." ....

Ann Coulter NOT Banned for Life - NBC caves after report on Drudge

and some more from Ann Coulter on CBS

Cool Bumper Stickers

from the Patriot Shop

Great Quotes!

"I think we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious." --Thomas Jefferson

"The deficit doctors have their scalpels out all right, but they're not poised over the budget. That's as fat as ever and getting fatter. What they're ready to operate on is your wallet." --Ronald Reagan

74 percent increase in number of families teaching own children

Great article the homeschooling boom and why people choose to homeschool:

• Concern about the school environment, including reasons such as safety, drugs or negative peer pressure – 88 percent

• A desire to provide religious or moral instruction – 83 percent

• A dissatisfaction with academic instruction at other schools – 73 percent

• Nontraditional approach to children's education – or "unschoolers" who consider typical curriculums and standardized testing as counterproductive to quality education – 65 percent

• Other reasons, such as family time, finances, travel and distance – 32 percent

• Child has special needs (other than physical or mental health problems) that schools cannot or will not meet – 21 percent

• Child has a physical or mental health problem – 11 percent

...Research has shown the positive effects of homeschooling through the years. While some critics say teaching children at home may stunt their social growth, studies indicate homeschooled students fare well or better than public and private school students in terms of social, emotional and psychological development.

Additionally, homeschoolers earn higher marks than peers who attend public schools. Academic Leadership, an online journal, cites findings from at least three nationwide studies across the United States and two nationwide studies in Canada."

Praying for the New President

This is a really insightful article on how we can pray for our President Elect when we know he stands for and supports evil. This has been a hard one for me, Ed Vitagliano from OneNewsNow writes a beautiful explanation of what we Christians can and should do.

"Just what does it mean to pray for our leaders? In 1 Timothy 2:1-3 the Apostle Paul urges "that entreaties and prayer, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, in order that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior...." ...

...In December it was made public that president-elect Barack Obama had tapped Rick Warren, evangelical pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, to give the invocation at the inauguration on January 20 in the nation's capital.

A ruckus immediately broke out, as some Christians criticized Warren for even accepting the invitation. For example, in an open letter to the Saddleback pastor, WorldNetDaily founder Joseph Farah blistered Warren. Farah stated his "profound and abject revulsion" at the fact that Warren would be giving the inaugural invocation.

Farah said he believed it was the responsibility of Christian leaders to "stand up to leaders, like Nathan did to King David," and confront them with God's truth. Specifically Farah said that meant that Warren should be confronting Obama about the president-elect's unwavering support of abortion. ...

..."I'm sure you would not want to invoke God's blessing on the inauguration of a figure like Adolf Hitler, whose rise to power brought the destruction of millions of lives," Farah said.

Ah, the Hilter card. It's hard to top that one. (Even a Stalin card can't trump it.) But let's follow this argument. Obama is like Hitler because, while Hitler primarily slaughtered the Jews in the Holocaust, Obama's support for abortion is similarly evil.

Now I think the moral equivalency of the Holocaust and abortion is a good, defensible argument. Both objectified a category of human beings and then took horrifying steps to pursue their murder. The depths of evil connected to the Holocaust and abortion are equally difficult to comprehend.

However, Farah's argument contains a non sequitur. Just because one prays for Adolph Hitler does not mean the prayer is meant to "invoke God's blessing." One could, conceivably, pray for Hitler's conversion, or for God to prevent the man from carrying out his wicked plans.

Moreover, the Apostle Paul does not appear to restrict the command to pray for leaders in any way. He does not say, "Pray for good leaders, but not for bad leaders." In fact, one could make the argument that Christians have more reason to pray for wicked leaders than good ones.

Thus, it would be the content of the prayer that would be decisive on January 20. If Rick Warren asks God to give Barack Obama success in every endeavor – which would include Obama's quite clearly expressed plans to push both abortion and the gay agenda – then Warren would be wrong to do so.

But if Warren prays for God to give Barack Obama wisdom and compassion, if he asks God to protect Obama and his family from harm, if he prays for God to give the new president a heart that responds to the leading of the Holy Spirit, is that a wrong prayer?

The vicious Nero was emperor when Paul wrote 1 Timothy 2 – the same Nero, ironically, who, according to Christian tradition, ordered the execution of Paul and the Apostle Peter. If Paul could urge Christians to pray for Nero, then we can certainly pray for Barack Obama.

And so can Rick Warren."

Saving Babies and Helping Women

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Maria Vitale's talked about the enormous disservice abortion is to women, "Thirty-six years after Roe, it's more obvious than ever that women deserve better than abortion, and that true equality means the right of a woman to be free from the pressure of coerced abortion and to have the support to help her bring her baby into the world."

"In the end, a truly compassionate society is one that recognizes the rights of all women, including those yet to be born."

Less than 10% believe abortion should be legal

"Four out of five American adults -- 82 percent -- think abortion should be either illegal under all circumstances or with limited legality, and only nine percent said that abortion should be legal for any reason at any time during pregnancy," she explains.

McQuade contends the results ought to send a message to Washington as the most pro-abortion president America has ever had is about to be sworn into office.

"It shows that the Supreme Court is out of touch with mainstream America," she contends. "It shows that, certainly, [the] pro-abortion advocacy groups are out of touch with mainstream America, even out of touch with people who describe themselves as pro-choice."

Three-fourths favor parents having a role in a minor's attempt to obtain an abortion, and nearly two-thirds support laws against partial-birth abortion."

Our Tax Dollars Bailing Out 'Gay' Groups...

"The group Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX) is outraged that even though government-backed mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac went broke and received a federal bailout, they still managed to give thousands of dollars this year to homosexual activist groups.

PFOX executive director Regina Griggs says Freddie Mac shelled out $65,000 over the past two years to the Human Rights Campaign to help homosexual couples adopt children. The Freddie Mac Foundation has given more than $125,000 to homosexual activist groups over the last three years, and the Fannie Mae Foundation has given $80,000 to such groups in the past decade. ..."

read the rest here

Updates...

Been out on vacation for a few weeks, & now trying to catch up on all the news. Here some interesting reads:

"The Kenyan government has barred unapproved contacts between the media and President-elect Barack Obama's extended family. ...
...This is not the first attempt to block press interest in President-elect Obama's African connections. Prior to the U.S. election, WND senior staff reporter Jerome R. Corsi was detained in Kenya while investigating Obama's close ties to the nation's prime minister, Raila Odinga. The Kenyan official who reportedly orchestrated the detention was Odinga himself, according to WND sources inside Kenya." ...

rest of story here

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Sarah Palin: Conservative of the Year

"Sarah Palin wins HUMAN EVENTS’ prestigious “Conservative of the Year” Award for 2008 for her genius at annoying all the right people." ...

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The Op-Ed, the New York Times wouldn't run

"On December 5, the New York Times afforded former domestic terrorist Bill Ayers a chance to publish an op-ed, in which he defends himself from various charges made during the 2008 presidential campaign. That Ayers was given such an opportunity by the Times seems extraordinary; ...

...Perhaps even more extraordinary, however, is that the Times allowed Ayers to publish obvious lies about his terrorist past and rejected a rebuttal by the former FBI informant who lived through the history Ayers tried to rewrite. ...

...In hopes of correcting the lies that Ayers put in print, Grathwohl twice submitted an op-ed of his own to the Times to rebut Ayers. The editors rejected Grathwohl’s op-ed, stating in a curt December 12 email...

...Grathwohl’s subsequent submission to the Times was then ignored. The rejected submission is now being run below as a Pajamas Media exclusive." ...

click here to read letter

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CBS's Chen: Leave Caroline Kennedy Alone, Criticism 'Unfair'

"On Thursday's CBS Early Show, co-host Julie Chen came to the defense of would-be New York Senator Caroline Kennedy, who has faced criticism for her lack of experience: "This is so unfair. I mean, look, the system is set up the way it's set up and Governor Paterson decides and that's it. Leave her alone, everyone." That comment followed a report by correspondent Meg Oliver, in which Kennedy avoided tough questions from the press: "She quickly got a taste of the pressure that comes with seeking a high-profile political office...questions mostly went unanswered"."...

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Rezko attorney 'owns' Obama mansion

"An attorney for convicted fundraiser Tony Rezko is listed as the owner and taxpayer for Barack Obama's Chicago mansion, according to records obtained by WND.

The controversy began when a website called News and Commentary for Thinking People published a 48-page document that lists Miceli as the owner of the Obama home at 5046 S. Greenwood.

Miner, Barnhill & Galland was Obama's employer when he did extensive legal work for Rezko, who awaits sentencing after he was convicted in June of fraud, money laundering and bribery-related counts.

Miceli, as a senior attorney at the firm, supervised Obama when the future president wrote letters on behalf of Rezko urging public authorities to award him new public properties to rehabilitate, notes the "Barack Book" website maintained by GOP.com." ...

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Newsweek Uses Year-End Edition to Take Potshots at Palin

"Newsweek sprinkled throughout its year-end double issue, with Barack Obama on the cover as the #1 member of "The New Global Elite," a bunch of potshots at Sarah Palin -- and even derided teen daughter Bristol too. In a list of those who committed "low behavior" during 2008 (which did at least also highlight John Edwards), the magazine accused Sarah Palin of a "smear" against Barack Obama, on another page Newsweek described her as an "ill-informed, inarticulate shopaholic" (while on the same page hailing MSNBC's Rachel Maddow as a "brilliant" woman who "gives libs a happy new voice") and deep in the December 29/January 5 edition the magazine ridiculed Bristol Palin: "For 30 years, the Moral Majority has promoted 'abstinence only.' Jamie Lynn Spears, Bristol Palin...how's that working out?" ...

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Democrats Vow to Block Blagojevich Senate Appointment

"Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich named former state Attorney General Roland Burris to fill President-elect Barack Obama's vacant U.S. Senate seat on Tuesday, stunning lawmakers both in his home state and in Washington, where Senate Democrats vowed to block the appointment.

Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, who must certify the appointment, said he will not do so and Senate leaders reiterated that they would not accept anyone appointed by Blagojevich.

Blagojevich, claiming he was obligated by law to fill the vacant Senate seat, called Burris -- a lobbyist and campaign donor to the governor -- a candidate of "unquestioned integrity" and urged the public not to "allow the allegations against me to taint this good and honest man."

"It is truly regrettable that despite requests from all 50 Democratic Senators and public officials throughout Illinois, Gov. Blagojevich would take the imprudent step of appointing someone to the United States Senate who would serve under a shadow and be plagued by questions of impropriety," Senate Democrats said in a written statement." ...

Click to read the statement on Blagojevich from U.S. Senate Democrats

Click to read Burris' resume

Click to read more in the Wall Street Journal

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'It's over': Ann Coulter banned for life by NBC 'We are just not interested in anyone so highly critical of President-elect Obama'

"NBC reportedly has banned best-selling author Ann Coulter for life after abruptly canceling an appearance on the "Today" show to promote her new book, "Guilty: Liberal 'Victims' and Their Assault on America."

"We are just not going to have her on any more, it's over," a top network source told the Drudge Report. ...

... NBC News issued a statement denying Coulter has been banned.

"We've had Ann Coulter on 'Today' many times, but because of the news in Washington and the Middle East, we decided to cancel her appearance tomorrow," the network's statement said. "Understanding the media as well as she does, we are sure she knows this happens from time to time. We look forward to welcoming her back in the future." ...

...But Drudge reported a "Today" show insider said the book's theme prompted NBC executives to cancel Coulter, who had been invited months ago. ...

...The "Today" show source told Drudge the network is "just not interested in anyone so highly critical of President-elect Obama, right now."

"It's such a downer. It's just not the time, and it's not what our audience wants, either," the source said.

The insiders said Coulter also will be barred from NBC's cable outlet, MSNBC." ...

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