Author: kingsjester

64 year old Christian Conservative husband, father, and grandfather who has been writing since April 2010.

The War Against Christianity: “Zealot”

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics2 Comments

American FreedomAmerica is still a Christian Nation. We comprise 78% of our country’s population. One might not believe that, given the disparagement of Christians by “the smartest people in the room”, i.e., Liberals, including the President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm).

Recently, a new book titled “Zealot” hit the book stands, and its author, Dr. Reza Aslan, started making the rounds, promoting his book. The Liberal Media has been praising his  “ground-breaking work of Literature” and coming to his defense, when his scholarship and motives are questioned.  For example, here is an excerpt from the Washington Post…

Reza Aslan, “an internationally acclaimed writer and scholar of religions,” according to his online biography, has gotten a boost in sales and popularity from his “embarrassing” interview with a Fox News anchor about his new book, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth. But those familiar with the Harvard graduate and former Christian’s work say Zealot is re-hashed scholarship that ignores much of what the New Testament actually says about Jesus.

Aslan has written an account of how he “found” Jesus as a teen at an evangelical youth camp but years later returned to Islam after his studies led him to doubt the veracity of the Christian Scriptures, which he says are “replete with the most blatant and obvious errors and contradictions.”

“The more I probed the Bible to arm myself against the doubts of unbelievers, the more distance I discovered between the Jesus of the Gospels and the Jesus of history – between Jesus the Christ and Jesus of Nazareth,” Aslan wrote. “In college, where I began my formal study of the history of religions, that initial discomfort soon ballooned into full-blown doubts. …

“And so, like many people in my situation, I angrily discarded my faith as if it were a costly forgery I had been duped into buying.”

…Charged in his Fox New interview that his personal faith journey somehow overshadowed his academic objectivity, Aslan insisted: “Well, to be clear, I am a scholar of religions with four degrees, including one in the New Testament, and fluency in biblical Greek, who has been studying the origins of Christianity for two decades, who also just happens to be a Muslim.”

“It’s not as if I’m just some Muslim writing about Jesus. I am an expert with a Ph.D. in the history of religions,” he added.

While his claims to being a “scholar of religions” and an “expert with a Ph.D. in the history of religions” have been challenged, those familiar with the contents and claims of Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth say Aslan has presented nothing new, although his meticulous research is evident.

Among some of the claims in Zealot, a biography in the top five of The New York Times Best Seller list and the leading book in a few Amazon categories, is that: Jesus was a revolutionary and a zealot who advocated the use of violence; as a devout Jew Jesus would have rejected the idea of an incarnate God; Jesus was crucified for sedition against the Roman Empire and not for the world’s sins.

The Fox interview that The Christian Post refers to, was conducted by Fox News’ Faith Editor, Lauren Greene, herself a Christian. Ms. Greene asked the Muslim “religious scholar” the questions that needed to be asked. Now, all of the Liberal Media is aghast that she actually dared to call Aslan out on his inaccurate book, which was, of course, slanted due to his own Mohammedanism.  Here are some excerpts…

Green: My question, yeah, I wanted to ask — actually there’s another chat coming, and I wanted to get this on before we end this interview. [A critic] just says so your book is written with clear bias and you’re trying to say it’s academic. That’s like having a Democrat writing a book about why Reagan wasn’t a good Republican. It just doesn’t work. What do you say to that?

Aslan: It would be like a Democrat with a PhD in Reagan who has been studying his life and history for two decades writing a book about Reagan. Again, I think that it’s unfair.

Green: Why would a Democrat want to promote democracy by writing about a Republican?

Aslan: Ma’am, may I just finish my sentence for a moment, please? I think that the fundamental problem here is that you’re assuming that I have some sort of faith-based bias in this work that I write. I write about Judaism, I write about Hinduism, I write about Christianity, I write about Islam. My job as a scholar of religions with a PhD in the subject is to write about religions and one of the religions and one of the religions I’ve written about is the one that was launched by Jesus.

Green: You’re not just writing about a religion from a point of view of an observer. I mean, the thing about it is that…

Aslan: Why would you say that?

Green: …you’re promoting yourself as a scholar and I’ve interviewed scholars who have written books on the resurrection, on the real Jesus and who are looking at the same information that you’re saying. To say that your information is somehow different from theirs is really not being honest here.

Ms. Greene was right to be suspicious. As Glenn Beck reported on his show last week…

He has, in 1995, he got a BA in religion, in religious studies, a BA. That’s not a PhD – Santa Clara University. In 1999, Masters in world religions from Harvard. Okay, good, not a PhD. In 2002, a Masters in fine arts in fiction, interesting – in the University of Iowa.

In 2009, a PhD in sociology. That is bizarre. So he’s studying us. He’s learning how to write fiction, and he learns how to speak the religious language. Wow, it’s a fascinating work here. But you know what I notice, there’s no history degree. There’s no history degree. He’s not a PhD in religions, and he’s not a historian. It’s possible that his Harvard theology degree included some history credits, but that’s not the same, not even on the same planet as an expert with a PhD in the history of religions.

…He’s not a PhD in the history of religions. He is not a historian. I tell you what, next time I’m on any channel, I’m going to insist that they put historian underneath my name. I spend a lot of time looking at history, a lot of time. Do you think they’d let me get away with historian? How about if I said I was a PhD in American history, and I don’t have that? Would anybody allow me to get away with it?

A cursory glance at his book reveals serious flaws in both fact and logic. But before I leave there, could you please put up where he’s teaching now, because he said I want you to know what I’m teaching here. This is what I do. I’m a professor of history specializing in the Gospels. No, actually he’s at UC Riverside, and he’s in the department of creative writing. Really? He also is…he’s at the University of Southern California in public diplomacy, which is an interesting place for him to be.

He’s also a contributor for The Daily Beast, but my favorite, my favorite is the last one. Can we put this up? He’s a sometimes professor, sometimes professor, and Tiffany, if you can please find that for me. He’s a sometimes professor, and what he’s doing is he’s teaching people something fantastic. He’s teaching people Middle Eastern revolution. That’s what he’s a professor of, revolution through – go ahead, here it is – revolution “on the art of protest in the Middle East, examining protest literature, film, art, and music. There it is, Drew University.

In other words, Professor Aslan is a Muslim Sociology Professor who decided to make money by writing an inaccurate book about Jesus Christ, while lying about his credentials, and not publicly acknowledging, (except when pressed about it and on page 2 of his book) that he is a Muslim, and therefore, does not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. 

Every Liberal review that I have read, concerning the Fox Interview, has savaged Ms. Green, calling the interview and the way she handled it, “an embarrassment”.

Since when has it been an “embarrassment” for an American Christian to stand up for Jesus Christ?

Ms. Greene deserves accolades, not admonishment.

She exposed a phony “religious scholar” and burst the collective bubble of “the smartest people in the room”.

They are the ones who should be embarrassed for supporting a phony. But, they’re not.

They still support Obama, don’t they?

Until He Comes,

KJ

“Arab Spring” in August…”Smart Power”, Indeed.

On By kingsjesterIn Politics3 Comments

obamabowIn December of 1985, five U.S. citizens were murdered in simultaneous Islamic terrorist attacks at the Rome and Vienna airports. Upon finding out that Libyan Despot Muammar al-Qaddafi was behind the attacks, U.S. President Ronald Reagan ordered expanded sanctions against Libya and froze Libyan assets in the United States. On March 24, 1986, U.S. and Libyan forces clashed in the Gulf of Sidra, and four Libyan attack boats were sunk. Then, on April 5, terrorists bombed a West Berlin dance hall known to be frequented by U.S. servicemen. One U.S. serviceman and a Turkish woman were killed, and more than 200 people were wounded, including 50 other U.S. servicemen. U.S. intelligence actually intercepted radio messages sent from Libya to its diplomats in East Berlin ordering the April 5 attack on the LaBelle discotheque.

On April 14, 1986, President Reagan ordered air strikes against Libya in retaliation for their sponsorship of terrorism against American troops and citizens. The raid, which began shortly before 7 p.m. EST (2 a.m., April 15 in Libya), involved more than 100 U.S. Air Force and Navy aircraft, and was over within an hour. Five military targets and “terrorism centers” were hit, including the headquarters of Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi.

In fact, the rumor was, we fired a Stinger Missile right into Qaddafi’s bedroom.

After this, Qaddafi left us alone and kept his mouth shut for 25 years. All it took to make the sponsor of Muslim Terrorism to back down was a show of strength and a United States President who was not afraid to use our military might in defense of our country.

Fast forward to today…

In the midst of new revelations about the horrible night of September 11, 2012 at the U.S. Embassy Compound in Benghazi, Libya, Obama and his Administration announced yesterday that

The United States will temporarily shut down its embassies and consulates around the world Sunday — including those in Iraq, Afghanistan and Egypt — as a precautionary measure over terror-related concerns, State Department officials said.

State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf did not say how long the international installations would stay closed — only that the decision was taken “out of an abundance of caution and care for our employees and others who may be visiting.” Officials would not describe the nature of the threat.

Sunday is a normal workday in many Arab and Middle Eastern countries, meaning that is where the closures will have an impact. Embassies in Europe and Latin America would be shuttered that day anyway.

“We have instructed all U.S. embassies and consulates that would have normally been open on Sunday to suspend operations, specifically on August 4,” a senior State Department official said Thursday night. “It is possible we may have additional days of closing as well.”

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Other U.S. officials said the threat was specifically in the Muslim world.

Additionally…

The Department of State alerts U.S. citizens to the continued potential for terrorist attacks, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa, and possibly occurring in or emanating from the Arabian Peninsula. Current information suggests that al-Qa’ida and affiliated organizations continue to plan terrorist attacks both in the region and beyond, and that they may focus efforts to conduct attacks in the period between now and the end of August. This Travel Alert expires on August 31, 2013.

Terrorists may elect to use a variety of means and weapons and target both official and private interests. U.S. citizens are reminded of the potential for terrorists to attack public transportation systems and other tourist infrastructure. Terrorists have targeted and attacked subway and rail systems, as well as aviation and maritime services. U.S. citizens should take every precaution to be aware of their surroundings and to adopt appropriate safety measures to protect themselves when traveling.

We continue to work closely with other nations on the threat from international terrorism, including from al-Qa’ida. Information is routinely shared between the U.S. and our key partners in order to disrupt terrorist plotting, identify and take action against potential operatives, and strengthen our defenses against potential threats.

Funny…after the Benghazi attack, Obama, is a series of Campaign Speeches, said at least 32 times, that al Qa’ida was “decimated”. Gosh, a U.S. president wouldn’t lie to the American people just to get re-elected, would he?

Does it take Moochelle two trips to haul…well…you know?

Instead of a show of strength against the murderous barbarians who want to kill us Infidels, Obama has embraced them, stating that he will stand with the Muslims “should the winds blow in an ugly direction”.

Courtesy of theblaze.com and the Investigative Project on Terrorism, here are some of the “guests” who Obama and his Administration have welcomed into OUR House:

  • Hussam Ayloush, Executive Director of CAIR’s Los Angeles Office: Has called Israel’s treatment of Palestinians “borderline genocidal,” and says Romney has “blind servitude” to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. He attended two White House meetings.
  • Louay Safi, Former Executive Director of the Islamic Society of North America: Worked at Fort Hood prior to the 2009 terrorist attack, and was suspended shortly thereafter. Said we must be “sympathetic” to those “fighting for freedom” in Palestine, and that we must be “against the occupiers and the oppressors.” He attended two White House meetings.
  • Esam Omeish, former head of the Muslim-American Society: Former head of an organization created by the Muslim Brotherhood, Omeish is one of the most radical in the group. The IPT writes that he personally hired radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in 2000 to head a Virginia mosque, and publicly mourned an airstrike that killed one of the founders of Hamas in 2004. He has visited the White House three times.
  • Muzammil Siddiqi, former head of the Islamic Society of North America: ​Said in a 2001 article for the San Francisco Chronicle that he does not support violence against gays, but supports laws in countries where homosexuality is punishable by death. Siddiqi had one meeting at the White House in 2010.
  • Mohamed Elibiary, Homeland Security Council: Spoke at a conference in 2004 honoring Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeni as a “great Islamic visionary;” condemned the prosecution of Hamas fundraisers in the United States; defends Sayyid Qutb, who Osama bin Laden cited as one of his main influences; accused of leaking documents to prove Islamophobia, and damage Texas Gov. Rick Perry. Invited to help craft Obama’s counterterrorism strategy in 2010.
  • ​Muslim Public Affairs Council Leaders: ​Representatives from the Muslim Public Affairs Council have visited the White House far more than the other groups, at least one of its leaders logging 24 visits between December 2009 and March 2012. They said Hezbollah’s 1983 attack on U.S. Marine Barracks– which killed 241 people– was not “in a strict sense, a terrorist operation,” and that it would have been praised had it been directed against Washington’s enemies. Founder Salam al-Marayati said in 2005 that “Counter-terrorism and counter-violence should be defined by us.” Often push the narrative that the U.S. is waging a war on Islam, conflating legitimate terrorism concerns with Islamophobia. President Obama personally called one of the organization’s leaders, Haris Tarin, to congratulate him for his “community engagement.”

Under his failed Foreign Policy of Smart Power!, Obama has put the entire Free World, including the country he swore to protect from “enemies foreign and domestic” in danger from barbarians, who will do and say anything to further their “Holy Jihad”.

President Theodore Roosevelt’s famous quote, when speaking about how to deal with your enemies, was

Speak softly and carry a big stick.

Obama has thrown our “Big Stick” upon the fires of Arab Spring.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Has Benghazigate Just Blown Wide Open?

On By kingsjesterIn Politics8 Comments

BenghaziGate3Our eternally campaigning President has been roaming the countryside recently, insisting that the scandals surrounding his Administration are phony, especially the scandals involving the IRS targeting Conservative Groups and the Administration’s Negligence of Duty concerning the night of September 11, 2012, at the US Embassy Annex in Benghazi, Libya.

For months, Americans have been sensing that there was more to the story of that horrible night, in which barbaric Islamic Terrorists savagely murdered 4 brave Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, of whom it is rumored that they sexually savaged, as well.

Yesterday, CNN’s Jake Tapper broke some news about that event, that if it is indeed true, could blow the lid completely off the Obama Administration’s cover-up of the event.

Sources now tell CNN dozens of people working for the CIA were on the ground that night, and that the agency is going to great lengths to make sure whatever it was doing, remains a secret.

CNN has learned the CIA is involved in what one source calls an unprecedented attempt to keep the spy agency’s Benghazi secrets from ever leaking out.

Since January, some CIA operatives involved in the agency’s missions in Libya, have been subjected to frequent, even monthly polygraph examinations, according to a source with deep inside knowledge of the agency’s workings.

The goal of the questioning, according to sources, is to find out if anyone is talking to the media or Congress.

It is being described as pure intimidation, with the threat that any unauthorized CIA employee who leaks information could face the end of his or her career.

In exclusive communications obtained by CNN, one insider writes, “You don’t jeopardize yourself, you jeopardize your family as well.”

Another says, “You have no idea the amount of pressure being brought to bear on anyone with knowledge of this operation.”

“Agency employees typically are polygraphed every three to four years. Never more than that,” said former CIA operative and CNN analyst Robert Baer.

In other words, the rate of the kind of polygraphs alleged by sources is rare.

“If somebody is being polygraphed every month, or every two months it’s called an issue polygraph, and that means that the polygraph division suspects something, or they’re looking for something, or they’re on a fishing expedition. But it’s absolutely not routine at all to be polygraphed monthly, or bi-monthly,” said Baer.

Among the many secrets still yet to be told about the Benghazi mission, is just how many Americans were there the night of the attack.

A source now tells CNN that number was 35, with as many as seven wounded, some seriously.

While it is still not known how many of them were CIA, a source tells CNN that 21 Americans were working in the building known as the annex, believed to be run by the agency.

Back on April 29th, Katie Kieffer, writing for townhall.com summed up what we knew, at the time,

We now know that President Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and then-CIA Director David Petraeus were likely behind a mishandled gun-trafficking program that ended up arming the radical jihadist rebels who stormed the U.S. consulate and CIA annex in Benghazi, Libya on that fateful day.

Our CIA is still playing the role of vetting which Syrian rebel groups will obtain arms including machine guns, ammunition, and rocket-propelled grenades. While Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are directly purchasing the weaponry, the Obama administration is aiding the Arab governments in shopping for these arms and transferring them from Libya, to Turkey, and finally into Syria.

Unfortunately the CIA has “vetted” shady intermediaries (including Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood) and shady recipients of thousands of tons worth of military equipment and millions of rounds of ammo. Consequently, weapons have fallen into the wrong hands. In the case of Benghazi, anti-tank weapons appear to have landed in the hands of terrorists.

Now, Clinton is denying even knowing about the program, although the evidence indicates it was largely her idea. Of course everything happened under Obama’s watch and the buck stops with him.

Indeed.

From whitehouse.gov, “Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies, SUBJECT: Transparency and Open Government”…

My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.

Government should be transparent. Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their Government is doing. Information maintained by the Federal Government is a national asset. My Administration will take appropriate action, consistent with law and policy, to disclose information rapidly in forms that the public can readily find and use. Executive departments and agencies should harness new technologies to put information about their operations and decisions online and readily available to the public. Executive departments and agencies should also solicit public feedback to identify information of greatest use to the public…

Remember…all of Obama’s promises have expiration dates. That promise was over the moment the words were written.

So, if the new revelation is true, what now?

More Senate hearings? More House Committee Meetings? More Dog and Pony Shows? More Bread and Circuses? More sound and fury signifying nothing?

Will Obama and his minions find another video to blame this new revelation on?

Think about this: A President of the United States, in the process of arming Islamic Terrorists, to bring about a takeover of countries run by Muslim Moderates, becomes responsible for the death of his own Ambassador and 3 other Americans, plus the wounding of 7 others.

And, that is just the tip of the possible treason. If this is all tue, that means that our Administration was working hand-in-hand with sworn enemies of the United States of America to topple foreign governments and surround our greatest ally, Israel.

It positively boggles the mind…and fills it with revulsion.

If all of this is true, we have moved beyond Congressional Hearings….well…all except for one kind of them:

Impeachment.

Ambassador Chris Stevens, Tyrone Woods, Glen Doherty, and Sean Smith remain unavailable for comment.

Until He Comes,

KJ

The Shelby County School Consolidation: A Lesson in Liberal Overestimation

On By kingsjesterIn Politics5 Comments

children41313I was entering the tenth grade in 1973, when forced busing began in the city of Memphis, TN. To say that it was a time of great upheaval would be an understatement.

In my Middle Class neighborhood, in my typical Memphis City School, our administration tried to make accommodations for the new students. They decided that there would be two Sophomore Commissioners on the Student Council, a White one and a Black one. I was elected as the White Commissioner, and the last I heard of the fellow who became the Black Commissioner, he was a Doctor at Johns Hopkins.

And now, 40 years later, students in the Former Shelby County School System, are beginning to enter their own “Brave New World.”.

You see, a couple of years ago, the then overwhelmingly majority-Black Memphis City School System was swirling down the ol’ porcelain receptacle at an alarming rate. Decades of poor management and fiscal irresponsibility had taken a fatal toll. The City School Board was besieged by parents and city leaders alike, wanting them to actually do their jobs, and turn the struggling school system around. Of course, neither they, nor the school system’s overpaid administration had a clue as to how to actually be fiscally responsible leaders.

So, one of the mountebanks on the school board had an idea: Surrender the System’s Charter to the state, thereby dissolving the System, and forcing a merger with the fiscally sound, White-majority Shelby County School System.

In fact, in the “interest of fairness”, they held a referendum to allow the citizens to vote on whether to merge the school systems or not. The motion overwhelmingly passed.

Of course, the fact that they only allowed Memphis residents, and not the entire county to vote on the measure, probably had something to do with the outcome, don’t ya think?

An Interim School Board was formed, whose make-up just happens to have more representatives from the city system on it than the county’s. (Yeah. I was shocked, too. …Not.)

Then a discussion was started as to which School Superintendent to keep, the City’s or the County’s.

They “compromised” and gave both of them the boot.

But, not so fast. Again, “in the interest of fairness”, an attorney for the City Schools was made the new Superintendent. (Are you catching on, yet?)

Sounds like things were going just as the City School Board’s Professional Politicians planned, huh?

Well, in every life a little rain must fall. The Tennessee State Legislature ruled that the municipalities in the county could form their own separate school systems, if their citizens voted for it.

They did. (Dateline: July 16, 2013)

Voters in six Memphis suburbs decided Tuesday [July  to start public school districts in the municipalities where they live.

Residents of Arlington, Bartlett, Collierville, Germantown, Lakeland and Millington overwhelmingly approved separate school systems in the second vote on the issue in less than a year. A federal judge invalidated the first vote.

More than 90 percent of voters in four of the six suburbs voted to approve new school systems, according to the Shelby County Election Commission. Eighty-seven percent of voters in Lakeland and 74 percent in Millington voted “yes.”

The suburbs want to avoid the massive merger between the struggling Memphis City Schools system and the more successful Shelby County Schools system. Suburban leaders and many parents fear that education quality and academic achievement will suffer if they join the huge merged system — known as the Unified School District — and they want control of their own school systems.

The merger, which has created a school system of 150,000 students, is to begin operating when classes start in August. Experts say the merger represents one of the largest school consolidations in decades.

But the makeup of that system could only last a year — the six new suburban systems could start operating in 2014.

Critics say the suburban separation will hamper the massive consolidation efforts, which have included intense budget battles and layoffs of hundreds of teachers and office employees. Some board members in the unified district worry about losing quality teachers and administrators to the new districts. They also stand to lose valuable tax dollars to the breakaway systems.

But the six suburbs have been galvanized in their efforts, spending hundreds of thousands in taxpayer dollars in a campaign that has included community meetings, public rallies and a bitter legal fight in federal court. All six municipalities already have voted to raise taxes to pay for schools.

A judge in November ruled that the earlier suburban schools vote in August 2012 violated the Tennessee constitution because it dealt with only one county. Lawmakers in Nashville wrote and passed a new law that applied statewide and allowed Tuesday’s vote.

You know , I saw yesterday where Nancy Pelosi and her Liberal brethren want to have a “National Conversation on Race”, in the wake of George Zimmerman being found not guilty of murder, in the case of Trayvon Martin.

This would not be a conversation, it would be a lecture, given by a bunch of didactic, pompous Liberals, who believe that they are smarter than average Americans.

Just like the Memphis City School Board thought that they were being smart by completely destroying what was once an award-winning school system, instead of taking responsibility for their own actions, or lack thereof.

Do you see the parallel, boys and girls?

Liberals overestimate their own intelligence…and nothing good ever comes from it.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Obama Pushes 40% Tax Rate on Small Businesses. Karl Marx Smiles.

On By kingsjesterIn Politics3 Comments

obamabiggovernmentPresident Obama delivered another speech in his Economic Campaign Tour on Tuesday, where he continued “playing his greatest hits”….or misses, depending on your point-of-view.

The Weekly Standard posted yesterday that,

The New York Times reports that President Obama is reviving an old proposal to lower the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 28 percent (and 25 percent for manufacturers). Obama’s push to lower the corporate tax rate to 28 percent comes less than a year after he raised the top individual income tax rate, paid by many small businesses, to 39.6 percent.

In a speech delivered Tuesday afternoon, Obama did not explain why he thinks it’s a sound economic idea to raise the top marginal tax rate on small businesses but lower it for corporations.

“Right now, our tax code is so riddled with wasteful loopholes that many companies doing the right thing and investing in America pay 35%, while the corporations with the best accountants stash their money abroad and pay little or nothing at all,” Obama said, according to the text of his prepared remarks. “I’m willing to simplify our tax code in a way that closes those loopholes, ends incentives to ship jobs overseas, and lowers rates for businesses that create jobs right here in America.”

Neither Obama’s Tuesday speech nor his February 2012 corporate tax reform plan explained in detail which loopholes would be closed. During the 2012 presidential campaign, the Obama campaign hammered Mitt Romney for not saying which loopholes he would close to pay for a proposed reduction in individual income tax rates.

Obama was singing a different tune last November, as thehill.com reported.

President Obama and his daughters visited an independent bookstore on Saturday to participate in “Small Business Saturday.”

Obama is urging Americans to shop at neighborhood stores as an alternative to big Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales by national chains. He also dispatched top White House aides to do holiday shopping at local small businesses on Saturday.

Obama has made a tradition of marking Small Business Saturday by visiting a non-franchise bookstore with Sasha and Malia. Last year, the president and his two daughters visited Kramerbooks & Afterwards Café in Dupont Circle.

This year, the trio visited One More Page Books in Arlington, Va., a short trip across the river from Washington, D.C. They stayed in the bookstore for just over half an hour, according to a White House pool report, and immediately returned to the White House.

Despite a lack of browsing, the president bought 15 children’s books during the stop. The White House reported the purchases will be given as gifts to family this year for Christmas. Obama explained that he prepared ahead, apparently consulting a Christmas shopping list on his BlackBerry.

“Preparation,” the president told shop owner Eileen McGervey, according to the report. “That’s how I shop.”

The federal government is offering stores free Small Business Saturday marketing materials and promoting the event on social and paid media in a partnership with American Express.

“From the mom-and-pop storefront shops that anchor Main Street to the high-tech startups that keep America on the cutting edge, small businesses are the backbone of our economy and the cornerstones of our nation’s promise,” Obama said in a statement Friday. “Through events such as Small Business Saturday, we keep our local economies strong and help maintain an American economy that can compete and win in the 21st century.”

As a matter of fact, Obama was on the side of Small Business Owners, as late as last February…

During the 2013 State of the Union Address on February 12th, Obama said,

Now is our best chance for bipartisan, comprehensive tax reform that encourages job creation and helps bring down the deficit. (Applause.) We can get this done. The American people deserve a tax code that helps small businesses spend less time filling out complicated forms, and more time expanding and hiring — a tax code that ensures billionaires with high-powered accountants can’t work the system and pay a lower rate than their hardworking secretaries; a tax code that lowers incentives to move jobs overseas, and lowers tax rates for businesses and manufacturers that are creating jobs right here in the United States of America. That’s what tax reform can deliver. That’s what we can do together.

We know that all of Obama’s promises have expiration dates. However, in a horrible economy, why is Obama trying to tax America’s Small Business Owners out of business?

You remember them…the people who actually create jobs for you and me.

That’s not the only problem America’s Entrepreneurs are facing.

Adding to Small Business Owners’ Burden will be ObamaCare, and the penalties for non-compliance.

Cato.otg explains,

If our small-business owner has 50 or more employees — or fewer full-time employees and lots of part-timers — he faces the prospect of tens of thousands of dollars in penalties under ObamaCare’s employer mandate if he does not provide “adequate” coverage to his workers.

The worst part is that these penalties will be triggered by factors that are unpredictable, unobservable, and totally beyond the control of our small-business owner. He could get hit with those penalties simply because a worker’s spouse loses or changes jobs. Or if a worker’s spouse moves out or dies. Or if an employee’s parents move in.

This creates so much uncertainty that a small-business owner with 55 employees may have to fire six of them just to eliminate that potential liability.

But if he splits his 60-employee small business into two 25-employee businesses, then the federal government — maybe the IRS — will start snooping around to determine whether he did so for legitimate business reasons or just to avoid the mandate.

Why is he doing this to the Backbone of Our Economy? I have a theory. (I know. You’re shocked.)

Remember the Obama-Biden Tax Plan?

The 40% tax rate on Small Businesses, which the Weekly Standard is referring to, was a part of that original plan, which Obama got passed during the Congressional negotiations over raising taxes on America’s “Wealthy”, the other folks who hire Americans.

Our Petulant President, like a little kid throwing a temper tantrum was determined to get what he wants. And, it appears that, what he wanted, was to tax America’s Small Business Owners out of existence…and replace them with those who he can control through Government Grants.

Think about it…if the Administration  can get rid of those Business Owners who are not obliged to them, say, those who vote Republican, and replace them with those who are indebted to Uncle Sugar for giving them the money to start their business, isn’t that, basically, creating a new voting bloc for Obama and the Democrats?

Just thinking out of the box, you understand…

And now, with his “Middle Out” Economic strategy failing miserably, because he’s taxing the Middle Class out of existence, he’s talking about lowering the Corporate Tax Rate, in order to get Corporations who have left the country due to the tax burden he and his fellow Democrats placed on them, to move back home, and bail him and his Political Party out.

Will expatriated American Businesses tell him to take his “Bargain” and shove it?

Does Moochelle like lobster?

Until He Comes,

KJ

Prince Alwaleed to Aku al Naimi: “We Have a Fracking Problem.”

On By kingsjesterIn Politics6 Comments

Saudi OilBillionaire Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal recently sent a letter to Saudi Oil Minister Aku al Naimi, warning him that the development of shale and natural gas energy sources represents a threat to their kingdom’s profiteering from their massive oil supply.

Per Sky News, the salient points of the letter read as follows…

Prince Alwaleed said demand for oil from Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) member states was “in continuous decline”.

He said Saudi Arabia’s heavy dependence on oil was “a truth that has really become a source of worry for many”.

…”Our country is facing a threat with the continuation of its near-complete reliance on oil, especially as 92% of the budget for this year depends on oil,” he said.

“It is necessary to diversify sources of revenue, establish a clear vision for that and start implementing it immediately.”

Our “Saudi Friends” may have reason to be worried.

Have you ever heard of the Bakken Formation?

The Bakken Formation is a rock unit from the Late Devonian to Early Mississippian age occupying about 200,000 square miles of the subsurface of the Williston Basin, underlying parts of Montana, North Dakota, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. It’s total area is

 200,773 sq miles.

On April 30, 2013, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) released an updated oil and gas resource assessment for the Bakken Formation and a new assessment for the Three Forks Formation in North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana. The assessments found that the formations contain an estimated mean of 7.4 billion barrels (BBO) of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil. The updated assessment for the Bakken and Three Forks represents a twofold increase over what has previously been thought.

The USGS assessment found that the Bakken Formation has an estimated mean oil resource of 3.65 BBO and the Three Forks Formation has an estimated mean resource of 3.73 BBO, for a total of 7.38 BBO, with a range of 4.42 (95 percent chance) to 11.43 BBO (5 percent chance). This assessment of both formations represents a significant increase over the estimated mean resource of 3.65 billion barrels of undiscovered oil in the Bakken Formation that was estimated in the 2008 assessment.

“These world-class formations contain even more energy resource potential than previously understood, which is important information as we continue to reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign sources of oil,” said Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell. “We must develop our domestic energy resources armed with the best available science, and this unbiased, objective information will help private, nonprofit and government decision makers at all levels make informed decisions about the responsible development of these resources.”

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said the following, in a report published in January of this year,

When considering the market implications of abundant shale resources, it is important to distinguish between a technically recoverable resource, which is the focus of this report, and an economically recoverable resource. Technically recoverable resources represent the volumes of oil and natural gas that could be produced with current technology, regardless of oil and natural gas prices and production costs. Economically recoverable resources are resources that can be profitably produced under current market conditions. The economic recoverability of oil and gas resources depends on three factors: the costs of drilling and completing wells, the amount of oil or natural gas produced from an average well over its lifetime, and the prices received for oil and gas production. Recent experience with shale gas in the United States and other countries suggests that economic recoverability can be significantly influenced by above-the-ground factors as well as by geology. Key positive above-the-ground advantages in the United States and Canada that may not apply in other locations include private ownership of subsurface rights that provide a strong incentive for development; availability of many independent operators and supporting contractors with critical expertise and suitable drilling rigs and, preexisting gathering and pipeline infrastructure; and the availability of water resources for use in hydraulic fracturing.

Because they have proven to be quickly producible in large volumes at a relatively low cost, tight oil and shale gas resources have revolutionized U.S. oil and natural gas production, providing 29 percent of total U.S. crude oil production and 40 percent of total U.S. natural gas production in 2012. However, given the variation across the world’s shale formations in both geology and above-the-ground conditions, the extent to which global technically recoverable shale resources will prove to be economically recoverable is not yet clear. The market effect of shale resources outside the United States will depend on their own production costs, volumes, and wellhead prices. For example, a potential shale well that costs twice as much and produces half the output of a typical U.S. well would be unlikely to back out current supply sources of oil or natural gas. In many cases, even significantly smaller differences in costs, well productivity, or both can make the difference between a resource that is a market game changer and one that is economically irrelevant at current market prices.

There’s the rub. While our nation appears to have an abundant supply of natural gas and shale oil deposits, the catch is: how economically viable is the harvesting of these potential energy sources?

And, how does that help us cut our dependency on foreign oil, right now?

Our nation’s leaders, along with an bunch of others, have to literally cater to OPEC, in order to keep their countries operating. That gives the Saudis the power to influence national elections and the day-to-day lives of the citizens of countries who must buy their product in order to survive.

If American Businesses could find a way to cheaply harvest our own oil, buried so deep under our blessed land, our dependency on foreign oil would rapidly evaporate.

Unfortunately, though, while Obama and his Administration talk a good game, they have no intention of making it easier for American Entrepreneurs to come up with a viable, inexpensive production method for harvesting our oil supply, still waiting for us, down below.

Isn’t it peculiar how the Obama Administration and their soul mates, the Environmental Wackos, want to free us from “Big Oil”, and yet, they won’t give American Businesses the freedom to harvest our own natural resources?

I believe that is called “cutting off your nose to spite your face”, isn’t it?

Until He Comes,

KJ

Anti-American Creative Director of 9/11 Memorial/Museum was an Anti-Vietnam War Activist at Harvard.

On By kingsjesterIn Politics11 Comments

According to the official website of the 911 Memorial and Museum,  911memorial.org…

911firefightersThe National September 11 Memorial Museum will open as the country’s principal institution concerned with exploring the implications of the events of 9/11, documenting the impact of those events and exploring 9/11’s continuing significance.

However, the iconic photograph, which accompanies this post, was almost left off the museum’s collection…and you are not going to believe the reason why…

Michael Shulan, the museum’s creative director, was among staffers who considered the Tom Franklin photograph too kitschy and “rah-rah America,” according to “Battle for Ground Zero” (St. Martin’s Press) by Elizabeth Greenspan, out next month.

“I really believe that the way America will look best, the way we can really do best, is to not be Americans so vigilantly and so vehemently,” Shulan said.

Shulan had worked on a popular post-9/11 photography exhibit called “Here is New York” in Soho when he was hired by Alice Greenwald, director of the museum, for his “unique approach.”

Eventually, chief curator Jan Ramirez proposed a compromise, Greenspan writes. The Franklin shot was minimized in favor of three different photos via three different angles of the flag-raising scene.

“Several images undercut the myth of ‘one iconic moment,’ Ramirez said, and suggest instead an event from multiple points of view, like the attacks more broadly,” the book says.

“Shulan didn’t like three photographs more than he liked one, but he went along with it.”

Shulan told The Post he didn’t know that the way Greenspan described the discussion about the photographs “is the way that I would have.”

“My concern, as it always was, is that we not reduce [9/11] down to something that was too simple, and in its simplicity would actually distort the complexity of the event, the meaning of the event,” he said.

Shulan was living in Soho on Sept. 11, 2011. He helped organize the “Here is New York” exhibit shortly after the attack, and it grew to include thousands of photographs taken by professionals and ordinary New Yorkers. The collection was later donated to the New-York Historical Society.

Being me, I began to research Mr. Shulan’s background. As the article explains, his claim to fame  is the collection of striking photographs of the Big Apple, which he took in the aftermath of the horrific events of September 11, 2001. So…why was he named Creative Director of the museum? On his artistic ability alone?

Au contraire, mon frere.

It was his political ideology which got him the job.

Posted at the online version of the Harvard University Student Newspaper, thecrimson.org, I found the following article titled, “Freshmen Discuss Action in Case Congress Ends Student Deferments”, dated March 10, 1971…

Nearly 200 Harvard freshmen met in the Freshman Union Monday night to discuss possible ways of counteracting President Nixon’s proposed abolition of H-S deferments granted after April 23, 1970.

The freshmen agreed to meet again next Monday in the Union Lounge to focus on specific proposals, including suggestions for a letter campaign to Congressmen and civil disobedience at Boston draft boards.

Monday night’s meeting grew out of a series of discussions among several members of the freshman class about the now-imminent threat of the draft. Nixon asked Congress on April 23, 1970, for the abolition of all student deferments granted after that date, and Washington sources expect passage of the proposal this spring.

“The important thing that came out of the discussions was a really strong feeling of togetherness.” said Mark Hunter ’74, one of the participants.

At the Monday meeting, a large group favored political action to fight for retention of II-S deferments, but others claimed that the problem was greater than just the question of student deferments.

Michael Shulan ’74, one of the members of the original discussion group, said, “We got scared into thinking about the draft, but now that we’ve started thinking it doesn’t much matter whether they take away the II-S.”

One freshman proposed financing an antiwar, antidraft drive through a 10 per cent surcharge on all dope dealing. “It would provide antiwar revenue and a moral justification for smoking,” he said.

Mmmm…a Far Left Activist and a Hahvahd Graduate…mmmm…isn’t President Barack Hussain Obama a Hahvahd Graduate? And wasn’t he a Far Left Political Activist, also? Small World,  Huh, y’all?

Why would a former Collegiate Anti-American Far Left Activist be appointed the Creative Director for a Museum memorializing the worst ever Terrorist Attack on American Soil?

It is all a part of Obama and the rest of the “Progressives’ quest to “radically change” America. They do not believe in America Exceptionalism, American Patriotism, and Love of God and Country.

To them, America is just another nation, and to them, we “had it coming” on 9/11/01. Somehow, in their feeble little minds, they believe that America slighted or aggrieved the Muslim World so horribly, that they were driven to attack us.

The ungrateful ignorance that Liberals, or Progressives, demonstrate, through their damaging Machiavellian schemes to bring down this “shining city of a hill”, proves to me that they just don’t understand the cost that our fellow countrymen have had to pay to defend and preserve our American Freedom, whatsoever.

So, why have these Progressives failed, so far, to bring down this nation?

The answer is simple.  Allow me to present a very special teacher to explain it to you, gentle reader:

Back in September of 2005, on the first day of school, Martha Cothren, a social studies school teacher at Robinson High School in Little Rock, did something not to be forgotten.  On the first day of school, with the permission of the school superintendent, the principal and the building supervisor, she removed all of the desks out of her classroom.

When the first period kids entered the room they discovered that there were no desks.

‘Ms. Cothren, where’re our desks?’

She   replied, ‘You can’t have a desk until you tell me how you earn the right to sit at a desk.

They thought, ’Well, maybe it’s our grades.’

‘No,’ she said.

‘Maybe it’s our behavior.’

She told them, ’No, it’s not even your behavior.’

And so, they came and went, the first period, second period, third period. Still no desks in the classroom

By early afternoon television news crews had started gathering in Ms. Cothren’s classroom to report about this crazy teacher who had taken all the desks out of her room.

The final period of the  day came and as the puzzled  students found seats on the floor of the desk less classroom, Martha Cothren said, ‘Throughout the day no one  has been able  to tell me just what he/she has done to earn the  right  to sit at the desks that are  ordinarily found in this classroom. Now I am going to tell you.’

At this point, Martha Cothren went over to the door of her classroom and opened it.

Twenty-seven (27) U.S. Veterans, all in uniforms, walked into that classroom, each one carrying a school desk. The Vets began placing the school desks in rows, and then they would walk over and stand alongside the wall. By the time the last soldier had set the final desk in place those kids started to understand, perhaps for the first time in their lives, just how the right to sit at those desks had been earned.

Martha said, ‘You didn’t earn the right to sit at these desks. These heroes did it for you. They placed the desks here for you. Now, it’s up to you to sit in them.  It is your responsibility to learn, to be good students, to be good citizens. They paid the price so that you could have the freedom to get an education. Don’t ever forget it.’

By the way, this is a true story. And this teacher was awarded Teacher of the Year for the state of Arkansas in 2006.

Most Americans understand the Cost of Freedom.  Freedom is not free. 

Never forget September 11, 2001.

Until He Comes, 

KJ

Keeping the Faith: Lighting a Candle in the Darkness

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics21 Comments

WashingtonPrayingI am an anachronism.

I was told that, in no uncertain terms, yesterday, by “Libertarians”, on a Conservative website I frequent.

My crime? I refused to be in favor of legalizing marijuana, and I had the nerve to say that I felt that it was more dangerous than alcohol. What’s more, I refused to say that there was a moral equivalency between them.

But, that’s a discussion for another day.

Dictionary.com defines an anachronism as

something or someone that is not in its correct historical or chronological time, especially a thing or person that belongs to an earlier time.

I suppose that’s me.

I started this Blog as a way to vent my frustrations with the ever-evolving “societal norms” and political mayhem around me. A lot of things just grated on my nerves. They still do.

I was “reared” (as we say in Dixie) by a Mother and Daddy (Southern colloquialism for a Male Parental Unit) who were members of the Greatest Generation. In fact, I was born 3 days before my mother’s 40th brithday. To this day, I believe that they were going to name me “Oops”.

My view of the world around me was shaped and nurtured by my Daddy, a Christian American, and the finest man I’ve ever known, who served with an Army Engineering Unit, as a Master Sergeant, in World War II, and who jumped off of a perfectly good boat into a hail of gunfire to join his American Brothers in the tide-turning American Victory known as “D-Day”.

Between him and my Mother, they taught me what it was to be a hard-working, Middle Class Christian American Conservative….and, to be proud of it.

But now, at 54 years old, having just seen an anti-American, Muslim-sympathizing, political-pandering, class warfare-preaching, card-carrying Communist, get re-hired for a job in which, if he were in the private section, his butt would have gotten canned  within the first 7 months, I’m beginning to feel like I’m beating my dadgum head against the wall until it’s bloody, and for no cotton-pickin’ reason at all.

Why am I feelng that way?

Well, there are several reasons.

1. This country re-elected an idiot. Now, I realize that’s been done before. But, they all paled in comparison to this guy. I believe that “Scooter”, my pet name for Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmm), burnt up the vast majority of his gray matter during his “Choom Gang” days in Hawaii, and now, as an old friend, a former Meth-head, who, sadly, later committed suicide this time of year, used to tell me, he has “2 brain cells left and they’re fighting to the death”. I pray we survive the next 4 years.

2.  Evidently, Americans, at least the majority of the ones that actually got up off the couch (Pookie, included) to vote on November 6th, want the Federal Government to take care of them, cradle to grave. Rush Limbaugh labelled this symptom, “The Baracky Claus Effect”.  I pray, that, just as the Proletariat eventually figured out in the old Soviet Union, Americans are going to wake up one day, to find that mega-dependence on The State to run your life, leads to the loss of personal freedom. And those, who believe that they are “the most enlightened people in the room”, will be the first ones hollering, when they discover that their freedom has been taken away.

3. America seems to be devolving into a collection of Libertines. Notice, I did not say “Libertarians”, although, both descriptive words come from the same root word. A Libertine is, per Merriam-Webster.com,

a person who is unrestrained by convention or morality: one leading a dissolute (lacking moral restraint) life

Being a Libertarian used to mean you wanted less Government in your life and less restrictions on your personal happiness. Notice I said used to mean. Now, Libertine and Libertarian both seem to mean the same thing to the majority of posters self-identifying as members of the latter group on Internet chat boards.

Caligula’s Horse approves.

I suppose I could pontificate on the fallen nature of Man at this point, but, that’s fairly self-evident…and, as the late Freddie Prinze used to say, “Ees not my yob, man.”

4. Finally, I was told the other day, during the before-mentioned “discussion” on that Facebook Page, that my blog was considered a “joke”. I allowed this to hurt me very deeply. You see, since April of 2010, I have devoted a lot of time and effort to putting my ideas, however old-fashioned and cornball they are, down on paper. I truly enjoy doing it. I must. I haven’t made a dadgum dime off of it. Although, as I’ve previously written, it did help me land my present job.

A while back, I was asked to define what it means to be a Christian American Conservative.  After all, that’s how I identify myself and that is what it says on the top of this blog, since I began this exercise in ranting and raving in April of 2010.

Let’s perform a dissection, shall we?

First word:  Christian – A follower of Jesus Christ.

I was raised as a Christian by my parents and accepted Christ as my personal Savior many years ago.

Here are some interesting things about Christianity to consider, written by Dr. Ray Pritchard and posted on christianity.com:

1) The name “Christian” was not invented by early Christians. It was a name given to them by others.
2) Christians called themselves by different names—disciples, believers, brethren, saints, the elect, etc.
3) The term apparently had a negative meaning in the beginning: “those belonging to the Christ party.”
4) It was a term of contempt or derision.
5) We can get a flavor for it if we take the word “Christ” and keep that pronunciation. You “Christ-ians.”
6) It literally means “Christ-followers.”
7) Over time a derogatory term became a positive designation.
8) Occasionally you will hear someone spit the term out in the same way it was used in the beginning. “You Christians think you’re the only ones going to heaven.”
9) There was a sense of suffering and reproach attached to the word in the New Testament.

In working my way toward an answer to “What is a Christian?” I decided to check out the dictionary. I found these two definitions:

1. One who professes belief in Jesus as Christ or follows the religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus. 2. One who lives according to the teachings of Jesus.”

That’s actually quite helpful because it gives some content to the word. To be a Christian means that you . . .

Believe Something
Follow Something
Live Something
A Fully Devoted Follower To borrow a contemporary phrase, we could simply say that a Christian is a “fully devoted follower of Jesus.” As I think about that, two insights come to mind.

1) It doesn’t happen by accident. You are not “born” a Christian nor are you a Christian because of your family heritage. Being a Christian is not like being Irish. You aren’t a Christian simply because you were born into a Christian family.
2) It requires conversion of the heart. By using the term “conversion,” I simply mean what Jesus meant when he said that to be his disciple meant to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow him (Luke 9:23). The heart itself must be changed so that you become a follower of the Lord.

Second word: American – A citizen of the United States of America.

Stephen M. Warchawsky, wrote the following in an article for americanthinker.org:

So what, then, does it mean to be an American? I suspect that most of us believe, like Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart in describing pornography, that we “know it when we see it.” For example, John Wayne, Amelia Earhart, and Bill Cosby definitely are Americans. The day laborers standing on the street corner probably are not. But how do we put this inner understanding into words? It’s not easy. Unlike most other nations on Earth, the American nation is not strictly defined in terms of race or ethnicity or ancestry or religion. George Washington may be the Father of Our Country (in my opinion, the greatest American who ever lived), but there have been in the past, and are today, many millions of patriotic, hardworking, upstanding Americans who are not Caucasian, or Christian, or of Western European ancestry. Yet they are undeniably as American as you or I (by the way, I am Jewish of predominantly Eastern European ancestry). Any definition of “American” that excludes such folks — let alone one that excludes me! — cannot be right.

Consequently, it is just not good enough to say, as some immigration restrictionists do, that this is a “white-majority, Western country.” Yes, it is. But so are, for example, Ireland and Sweden and Portugal. Clearly, this level of abstraction does not take us very far towards understanding what it means to be “an American.” Nor is it all that helpful to say that this is an English-speaking, predominately Christian country. While I think these features get us closer to the answer, there are millions of English-speaking (and non-English-speaking) Christians in the world who are not Americans, and millions of non-Christians who are. Certainly, these fundamental historical characteristics are important elements in determining who we are as a nation. Like other restrictionists, I am opposed to public policies that seek, by design or by default, to significantly alter the nation’s “demographic profile.” Still, it must be recognized that demography alone does not, and cannot, explain what it means to be an American.

So where does that leave us? I think the answer to our question, ultimately, must be found in the realms of ideology and culture. What distinguishes the United States from other nations, and what unites the disparate peoples who make up our country, are our unique political, economic, and social values, beliefs, and institutions. Not race, or religion, or ancestry.

Third word: Conservative -A person who holds to traditional values and attitudes.

J. Matt Barber wrote in the Washington Times that

Ronald Reagan often spoke of a “three-legged stool” that undergirds true conservatism. The legs are represented by a strong defense, strong free-market economic policies and strong social values. For the stool to remain upright, it must be supported by all three legs. If you snap off even one leg, the stool collapses under its own weight.

A Republican, for instance, who is conservative on social and national defense issues but liberal on fiscal issues is not a Reagan conservative. He is a quasi-conservative socialist.

A Republican who is conservative on fiscal and social issues but liberal on national defense issues is not a Reagan conservative. He is a quasi-conservative dove.

By the same token, a Republican who is conservative on fiscal and national defense issues but liberal on social issues – such as abortion, so-called gay rights or the Second Amendment – is not a Reagan conservative. He is a socio-liberal libertarian.

Put another way: A Republican who is one part William F. Buckley Jr., one part Oliver North and one part Rachel Maddow is no true conservative. He is – well, I’m not exactly sure what he is, but it ain’t pretty.

Even the Brits understand what American Conservatism is.

Per blogs.telegraph.co.uk:

Conservatism is thriving in America today because liberty, freedom and individual responsibility are at the heart of its ideology, one that rejects the foolish notion that government knows best. And its strength owes a great debt to the conviction and ideals of Ronald Reagan, who always believed that America’s best days are ahead of her, and for whom the notion of decline was unacceptable. As the Gipper famously put it, in a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference in 1988:

Those who underestimate the conservative movement are the same people who always underestimate the American people.

In conclusion, I, a Christian American Conservative, am a follower of Jesus Christ and a citizen of the United States of America (by the Grace of God), who holds to traditional values and attitudes.

So, where do I go from here? Do I run away, with my tail between my legs, and live out the rest of my days in quiet desperation?

To any of you who repled, “yes”…you don’t know me very well.

Greater is He who is in me, than he who is in the world.

My Creator, while endowing me with certain inalienable rights, also endowed me with an indomitable will. Then, somewhere along my journey, He gave me the gift of being able to express my thoughts and feelings on this computer keyboard.

I will not give up. I will not surrender my Christianity, my love of the greatest nation on God’s green Earth, or my Conservatism, to appease those who wish everybody would just get in line and acquiesce to the prevailing “societal norms”.  I follow another set of guidelines, written a long time ago, but which remain as relevant as the moment in which the Hand of God guided those who wrote them down.

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, – Colossians 3:23 (ESV)

I pray that you, the reader, are able to glean that from my blogs.  Because, as Matthew 6:21 tells us:

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

May God bless you and yours,

KJ

Obama Compares Vietnamese Despot, Ho Chi Minh, to Our Founding Fathers

On By kingsjesterIn Politics6 Comments

Obama and Founding FathersThursday, President Barack Hussein Obama met with Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang at the White House

During the meeting, which was held in the Oval Office, Obama says he and Sang “discussed the challenges that all of us face when it comes to issues of human rights,” which was a wussified reference to Vietnam’s horrible record on human rights.

Obama went on to say that,

And we had a very candid conversation about both the progress that Vietnam is making and the challenges that remain.

After the “Rice Wine Summit”, as he was leaving, Sang offered Obama a gift of a “copy of a letter sent by Ho Chi Minh to Harry Truman.”

And, then our Marxist-in-Chief proceeded to show his true colors, once again.

…And we discussed the fact that Ho Chi Minh was actually inspired by the U.S. Declaration of Independence and Constitution, and the words of Thomas Jefferson. Ho Chi Minh talks about his interest in cooperation with the United States. And President Sang indicated that even if it’s 67 years later, it’s good that we’re still making progress.

Liberals’, like Barack Hussein Obama, possess a passionate love  for Revisionist History, which is no more apparent than in the mythology they have built up since the 60s, concerning the Communist Despot, Ho Chi Minh.

Allow me to give you a little history, Mr. President…courtesy of the Blog, freedomforvietnam.wordpress.com, created by Ian Pham…

…Ho Chi Minh was a dictatorial, megalomaniacal, and extremely cunning man. Behind that fatherly smile was a diabolical mind that was capable of deceiving the entire world, leading us to believe that he had the country’s interest in mind. Ho Chi Minh claimed to live his life with only one goal in his mind: liberating the Vietnamese people from the grips of the French. Apparently his one and only ambition in life was to free the country and lead it to prosperity. Whether or not he meant it in the beginning is debatable, but the horrifying outcomes of his actions later on are absolutely undeniable.

…Throughout his entire rule, Ho Chi Minh labeled his forces the protectors of Vietnam, attacking the South on the pretext of “liberating our southern brothers from the American invaders.” Instead of the name Communist Party, Ho Chi Minh named his group the Labor Party, looking to gain support from the working population. This worked quite well, not only for the people inside Vietnam, but also to the observers from outside the country.

Besides the People’s Army in the north, Ho Chi Minh created another military force in the south, cleverly labeled as the “National Liberation Front (NLF).” In creating this alternate force, Ho Chi Minh wanted to simulate the illusion of rebellion and revolt in the south. Ho’s plan was to make the world think that Vietnam had two separate groups who fought for the same cause, defeating the Republic of Vietnam. In reality, the NLF (aka Vietcong) were directly under Ho Chi Minh’s command and was not a separate entity in the war.

The Mind of Modern Vietnam’s Greatest Villain

As you can see, Ho Chi Minh was a political genius who fooled the world into supporting his cause. Through propaganda, terror, and betrayals of his many allies, Ho Chi Minh formed the Communist movement in Vietnam, putting himself at the top of the pyramid. He incited the patriotism of his soldiers, tricking them into thinking that what they were doing was best for Vietnam. He used the entrance of the Americans to trash South Vietnam, calling them tools of foreign imperialism, and created anger and hatred in the hearts of his soldiers.

Many of his policies during the war were cruel and atrocious. The land reform programs resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent Vietnamese civilians in the north. His murderous policies in treating southern civilians was also disturbing and destructive. One such example was the Hue Massacre in 1968. His soldiers captured the city of central Vietnam, brutally murdering thousands of defenseless people, simply because they lived under the government of South Vietnam.

Sympathy From the West

Even while he was committing these evil deeds, Ho Chi Minh was able to cultivate a positive image in the eyes of the world. Throughout the 1960′s, many people in the west bought into his propaganda, protested the South, and praised the North. They didn’t know of his brutal massacres or his selfish intentions. They only saw what was on the surface, an elderly smile of a charming old man, backed by thousands upon thousands of biased media outlets. The “experts” in America believed that he was a saint, comparing him to real heroes such as Gandhi, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King. Judging by the evidence of all the Communists’ crimes, whoever made these comparisons should feel really stupid now.

They Should. Unfortunately, Liberals have no shame.

Lt. Col. Allen West posted on his Facebook Wall yesterday, that

My older brother was a Vietnam Marine wounded in a shelling at Khe Sanh. i find it perplexing and disturbing that our current Commander-in-Chief would refer to Ho Chi Minh as being “inspired” by our American founders. The individuals who inspired Ho were Karl Marx and Josef Stalin. I shudder to think President Obama regards them as our founders. Regardless, an apology is due to our men and women who served in the Vietnam War. I would have taken a walk with the new Vietnamese president over to the Vietnam War Memorial and made him see every name on that wall.

Indeed.

If Our founding Fathers were alive today to hear the Manchurian President compare the Communist Despot Ho Chi Minh to them, Obama would be picking up teeth….or challenged to a duel.

Our Founders were Men of Honor, not Men of Convenience, like the Prevaricator-in-Chief.

As his second term as president continues its descent down the porcelain receptacle, Obama’s mask has slipped down so far, it has fallen completely off. He’s either being extremely careless about maintained his persona as an American “just like us”, or Obama simply does not care what average Americans think about him any more. He’s going to do and say what he wants to.

Which explains how rapidly his poll numbers, currently at 41%, have started to fall.

The combination of Obama’s pomposity, Marxist/Alinsky-ite political ideology, and downright cluelessness as to the values and dreams of the average American, makes for a very dangerous United States President.

He’s dangerous, in that he can seemingly do and say whatever he wants, thanks to having no restrictions placed upon him by the RINOs in the House and the Democrats in the Senate.

In that one off-hand comment, he insulted our brave men and women who fought in the horrible conflict known as the Vietnam War.

An American President would have never made that statement.

Lt. Col. West is right. He needs to publicly apologize.

But, he won’t.

Until He Comes,

KJ

The Obama Administration Wants YOUR Internet Passwords.

On By kingsjesterIn Politics6 Comments

obamabigbroYesterday, I  wrote a post about the Prevaricator-in-Chief’s first of a series of speeches on the horrible economy he has delivered to us. In the speech, he assured Americans that all the scandals hanging over his head were “phoney”.

He lied…again…additionally, here comes another one…and it’s a doozy. First though, a little warm-up pitch…

During a U.S. House Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill Tuesday, Rep. Michele Bachmann defended the government’s recently disclosed surveillance programs and called the man who revealed them a traitor.

The director of the National Security Agency, Army Gen. Keith Alexander, testified that the programs – which collect U.S. phone records and track the use of U.S.-based Internet servers by foreigners with possible links to terrorism – are critical to national security.

Bachmann agreed and blasted the actions of Edward Snowden, a former government contractor, who leaked information on the programs to news agencies. Snowden had worked for a year in an information technology job at the NSA office in Hawaii.

“It seems to be that the problem here is that an individual who worked within the system … broke laws and chose to declassify highly sensitive classified information,” Bachmann said.

“It seems to me that’s where our focus should be on how there could be a betrayal of trust and how a traitor could do something like this to the American people. It seems to me that’s where our focus must be and how we can prevent something like that from ever happening again.”

Through her votes to extend the Patriot Act in 2011 and the Foreign Service Intelligence Act in 2012, Bachmann has voted to preserve the government’s power to collect private data, presumably to prevent terrorist attacks. She asked Alexander if Snowden’s disclosures put the United States at risk and aided the country’s enemies.

Alexander answered in the affirmative, saying the leaks caused “irreversible and significant damage to this nation.”

Now…here comes the fastball…right down “Broadway”…

The U.S. government has demanded that major Internet companies divulge users’ stored passwords, according to two industry sources familiar with these orders, which represent an escalation in surveillance techniques that has not previously been disclosed.

If the government is able to determine a person’s password, which is typically stored in encrypted form, the credential could be used to log in to an account to peruse confidential correspondence or even impersonate the user. Obtaining it also would aid in deciphering encrypted devices in situations where passwords are reused.

“I’ve certainly seen them ask for passwords,” said one Internet industry source who spoke on condition of anonymity. “We push back.”

A second person who has worked at a large Silicon Valley company confirmed that it received legal requests from the federal government for stored passwords. Companies “really heavily scrutinize” these requests, the person said. “There’s a lot of ‘over my dead body.'”

Some of the government orders demand not only a user’s password but also the encryption algorithm and the so-called salt, according to a person familiar with the requests. A salt is a random string of letters or numbers used to make it more difficult to reverse the encryption process and determine the original password. Other orders demand the secret question codes often associated with user accounts.

We should have known what Obama was going to throw at us, based on his past “pitching starts”…

Back in January of 2011, pcmag.com reported the following…

The Obama administration is planning to place authority for developing an Internet ID for Americans in the Commerce Department.

The news came at an event at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, where U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke spoke.

Details on the plans are essentially nonexistent, but Locke and others said a lot about what the IDs would not be: “We are not talking about a national ID card,” Locke said. It also won’t be government controlled. The goal is “…enhancing online security and privacy and reducing and perhaps even eliminating the need to memorize a dozen passwords, through creation and use of more trusted digital identities.”

White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt, who also spoke at the event, said that the ID, which they refer to as “trusted identities,” would not become mandatory. Anonymity and pseudonymity will remain possible on the Internet. There will be no central database and private industry will take the lead in implementation.

A vague outline for the program was released in June entitled the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC). That document was as vague as this week’s event; trusted identities will do good things and avoid doing bad things.

It’s not surprising that details are scarce. Designing an identity that is robust, affordable, secure, easy to use, and all the other things you’d want it to be, is not easy. In fact, many of the design goals operate at cross purposes with the others. Don’t be surprised if this program takes a long time to come to a deliverable, or if the deliverable is irrelevant by the time it’s here.

After some “pre-season games” during his first term, Obama and the rest of his team have decided to go full Marxist, and wear their Mao Uniforms with pride.

Because, God knows, it’s dangerous for us Americans to express our thoughts and feelings to other Americans on the Internet. I mean, something awful might happen…like …umm…Freedom of Speech, or something. And, when American Freedom is in the way, it is very difficult for our “benevolent despot” to follow through with his plans to “radically change” America into a Socialist Paradise.

As an incurable Internet Surfer, who hangs out on Conservative Websites and Facebook Pages, and follows Conservatives on Twitter, I can testify to the fact that millions of Americans have found a commonality in their thoughts about, ideas concerning, and wishes for, the future of this great nation.

It is wonderfully reassuring to know that good, old-fashioned American Patriotism…love of God and Country, is not passe, as Obama and all his minions would want us to believe.

And, that is why this Administration is moving so rapidly to suppress it.

 American Individualism and Exceptionalism stands between the Obama Administration and their Socialist Utopia.

And, Patriotic Americans scare the mess of these weasels. So, stay strong Americans.

Stay vigilant. Stay FREE.

Until He Comes.

KJ