A Convenient Concussion

On December 28, 2012 By kingsjesterIn Politics6 Comments

Hillary2 It was announced yesterday that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will return to work next week, after being off the job for 3 weeks, with what is being described as a “stomach virus” and a concussion from a fainting spell.

TheCable.com reports that

Clinton’s ongoing recovery will still prevent her from flying abroad, but will allow plans to move forward for her to testify in open hearing on the Sept. 11 attack on Benghazi, testimony that she was unable to give — as per her doctor’s orders — on Dec. 20. Her return to a public schedule could also end the weeks of conspiracy theorizing and wild speculation about whether or not she was faking or misrepresenting her illness to avoid testifying.

“The secretary continues to recuperate at home. She had long planned to take this holiday week off, so she had no work schedule. She looks forward to getting back to the office next week and resuming her schedule,” Clinton aide Philippe Reines told The Cable.

Reines declined to say whether Clinton was at her Washington home or her house in Chappaqua, New York, but he said she did spend the holidays with her family. There’s no definite schedule for her Benghazi testimony, but she has pledged to appear before both House and Senate foreign relations committees in January.

Since Dec. 9, when Clinton’s stomach illness was first disclosed as the reason she pulled out of a planned trip to the Middle East and North Africa, a torrent of conservative pundits and media outlets have suggested or outright accused her of avoiding the public eye. Insinuations that Clinton was faking or exacerbating her illness to avoid the Benghazi issue came from the Weekly Standard, the New York Post, the Daily Caller, hosts on Fox News’s evening shows, Rep. Allen West (R-FL), the conservative website Pajamas Media, the Investors’ Business Daily website, conservative blogger Lucianne Goldberg, and others.

The National Enquirer actually claimed that Clinton was suffering from brain cancer. “Considering the source I can’t believe we even have to say this. But it’s absolute nonsense,” Reines said.

Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton became the highest-ranking former government official to publicly accuse Clinton of faking her illness on Dec. 18.

“Every Foreign Service officer in every foreign ministry in the world knows the phrase that I’m about to use. When you don’t want to go to a meeting or a conference or an event, you have a ‘diplomatic illness.’ And this is a diplomatic illness to beat the band,” Bolton said.

“I certainly hope it’s nothing serious, but this was revealed in a way that I think that was not transparent, and I think there is an obligation here, especially if Secretary Clinton decides to run for president, to indicate what happened,” Bolton said. “She may beat testifying this week, but she’s not going to escape it forever.”

Bolton’s accusation came three days after Clinton’s doctors, Lisa Bardack of the Mt. Kisco Medical Group and Gigi El-Bayoumi of the George Washington University, issued a detailed statement about the secretary’s injuries.

“Secretary Clinton developed a stomach virus, leading to extreme dehydration, and subsequently fainted. Over the course of this week we evaluated her and ultimately determined she had also sustained a concussion. We recommended that the Secretary continue to rest and avoid any strenuous activity, and strongly advised her to cancel all work events for the coming week,” they said.

But Bolton accused Clinton of a pattern of avoiding the public that predated her illness and concussion. “The secretary has stayed out of the limelight ever since the attack of Sept. 11,” he said.

As you can tell by reading, “The Cable” definitely leans to the Left.

About the so-called “speculation”….on 12/16/12, Breitbart.com explained that

This is the second time Clinton will not be able to answer key questions about Libya because of her health. Susan Rice, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, said Clinton was first asked to go on the Sunday shows after terrorists attacked the U.S. consulate in Benghazi but was too worn down to do so. Rice ultimately went on the Sunday shows in Clinton’s place and parroted the administration’s lies about how an anti-Muhammad video caused the attacks. Those Sunday show appearances would be largely responsible for Rice having to withdraw her name from consideration as Obama’s next Secretary of State.

On December 10, the State Department announced Clinton would cancel an important trip to Morocco due to a stomach virus.

“Since she’s still under the weather, we’ll be staying put this week instead of heading to North Africa and the Middle East as originally planned,” State Department spokesman Philippe Reines said in a statement on December 10.

Reines’ comments that Clinton was “still under the weather” indicated Clinton had been sick for some time. It has since been revealed Clinton caught the stomach virus on a trip to Europe, but Reines gave murky answers when initially pressed about the severity of Clinton’s condition.

Last Thursday, reporters asked Reines if Clinton had been hospitalized, and Reines simply responded that “she had seen her doctors and was home, without additional details.”

Clinton, as Secretary of State, not only holds the most senior position in the cabinet but is also fourth in the line of succession after the vice president, Speaker of the House, and president pro tempore of the Senate. But Reines still declined to answer why he was not as forthcoming last week about Clinton’s health.

On Saturday, Reines, according to Politico, finally answered reporters by telling them that Clinton “was not and never had been hospitalized” but still “did not respond to questions about why Clinton’s fainting was not disclosed sooner.”

Madame Secretary is not the first person to pretend to be sick, in order to get out of taking a test which they knew they would fail.

However, schoolchildren and college kids don’t have the power of a U.S. President and his Administration, along with a sycophantic Media, to back up their story.

But just like Hillary, they wind up having to take a Make-up Test.

Hillary’s will be graded “Pass/Fail”.

Romney: A Failure to Communicate

On December 27, 2012 By kingsjesterIn Politics2 Comments

romney4 Conservatives, such as myself, were presented a raw deal by the GOP in the past election. Their chosen one, Willard Mitt Romney, was no Conservative. He was a Moderate, who, regarding many Social Issues in his past history, took stances to the Left of the Political Spectrum. On top of that, “Romneycare” in Massachusetts, was the Godfather of the State-run Healthcare Monster known as Obamacare.

That was an awful lot of baggage for a Republican candidate to be carrying.

When the Conservative Base raised questions about the GOP Elites’ predetermined candidate, were their concerns met with empathy?

Hardly.

Shut up!

the GOP Establishment and New England Moderate wing explained.

So, dutifully, out of love for our country, Reagan Conservatives held our noses and voted for Mitt Romney…because anyone would be better than the present occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC.

…And…he lost.

Why? How could he? Obama was, and is, an anti-American, Muslim-sympathizing, political-pandering, class warfare-preaching, tax-the-rich, spread-the-wealth, card-carrying Communist.

Michael Barone, writing for the Washington Examiner, presents the following theory:

In both elections [2004, 2012], each candidate concentrated on a more or less fixed list of target states, and in both elections the challenger depended heavily on outside groups’ spending that failed to achieve optimal results.

The popular vote margins were similar — 51 to 48 percent for George W. Bush in 2004, 51 to 47 percent for Barack Obama in 2012.

The one enormous difference was turnout. Turnout between the 2000 and 2004 elections rose from 105 million to 122 million, plus 16 percent. Turnout between the 2008 and 2012 elections fell from 131 million to 128 million, minus 2 percent.

Turnout is a measure of organization but also of spontaneous enthusiasm.

In 2004 John Kerry got 16 percent more popular votes than Al Gore had four years before. But he lost because George W. Bush got 23 percent more popular votes than he had four years before.

Kerry voters were motivated more by negative feelings for Bush than by positive feelings for their candidate. They disagreed with Bush’s major policies and disliked him personally. The Texas twang, the swagger, the garbled sentence structure — it was like hearing someone scratch his fingers on a blackboard.

Bush voters were more positively motivated. Political reporters had a hard time picking this up. His job rating was weak, but Bush voters tended to have a lot of warmth for him.

He had carried us through 9/11, he had confronted our enemies directly, he had pushed through with bipartisan support popular domestic measures like his education bill and the Medicare prescription drug benefit.

His criticism of his opponents was measured and never personal, and he blamed none of his difficulties on his predecessor (who had blamed none of his on his).

This affection evaporated pretty quickly, in the summer of 2005, with scenes of disorder in the streets of Baghdad and New Orleans. But it was there in 2004 and you can see it in that 23 percent turnout increase.

The 2012 election was different. Barack Obama got 6 percent fewer popular votes than he had gotten in 2008. And Mitt Romney got only 1 percent more popular votes than John McCain had four years before.

In retrospect, it looks like both campaigns fell short of their turnout goals. Yes, examination of election returns and exit polls indicates that the Obama campaign turned out voters where it really needed them.

That enabled him to carry Florida by 1 percent, Ohio by 3 percent, Virginia by 4 percent, and Colorado and Pennsylvania by 5 percent. Without those states he would have gotten only 243 electoral votes and would now be planning his presidential library.

But the conservative bloggers who argued that the Obama campaign’s early voting numbers were below target may have been right. If Mitt Romney had gotten 16 percent more popular votes than his predecessor, as John Kerry did, he would have led Obama by 4 million votes and won the popular vote 51 to 48 percent.

Romney, like Kerry, depended on voters’ distaste for the incumbent; he could not hope to inspire the devotion Bush enjoyed in 2004 and that Obama had from a diminished number in 2008.

But, to continue this counterfactual scenario, if Obama had won 23 percent more popular votes this year than in 2008, he would have beaten Romney by 85 million to 69 million votes and by 54 to 44 percent.

Unfortunately, if “ifs” and “buts” were candy and nuts, we all would have had a Merry Christmas!

The reality is, Mitt Romney lost. And, now, his son, Tagg Romney, tells us, his Dad never really wanted to be president, in the first place.

Okay, kid. Thanks for telling us…after the election is long over.

I have a couple of questions, then.

1. If he did not want to be president, why did he run?

2. If he did not want to be president, why did he attack the other primary candidates, especially the Conservative Republicans, with a fury reminiscent of Johnny Weissmuller as Tarzan, rolling around in an African river, as he killed a humongous crocodile with his knife?

Was he put up to this by the GOP Elite, so desperate for an easily-manipulated Washington Insider, that they overlooked Romney’s failures as a candidate in previous elections?

If you will notice, immediately after the man-made disaster, known on November 6th, 2012, the GOP Elite were calling for the direction of the Party to move even farther Left, in order to “be more competitive”.

Sorry, boys. All that backroom cigar smoke has rotted your brains.

The majority of Americans, except for those little blue dots in the urban areas, denoting Democrat voters, on the map showing the election results, remain Conservative.

If you would have presented a Conservative candidate, who could articulate Conservatism and the Party Platform, and thereby, connect with us average Americans, living here in the Heartland, then that Republican would have beaten the Manchurian Candidate, Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm).

Instead, what we had heah, was, failure to communicate.

Obama’s Presidency: Very Taxing…For All of Us

On December 26, 2012December 26, 2012 By kingsjesterIn Politics3 Comments

obamagolf122512 I hope you all got what you wanted for Christmas. I, personally, would have liked my sanity back…but, that ain’t happenin’ anytime soon.

The nation’s economy remains in the toilet, while the largest tax hike in American History is only 5 days away.

But, hey…up in DC, the fiddle business is doing great…while Rome burns.

Per Reuters.com:

Though Republicans and Democrats have spent the better part of a year describing a plunge off the cliff as a looming catastrophe, the nation’s capital showed no outward signs of worry, let alone impending calamity.

The White House has set up shop in Hawaii, where President Barack Obama is vacationing.

The Capitol was deserted and the Treasury Department – which would have to do a lot of last-minute number-crunching with or without a deal – was closed.

So were all other federal government offices, with Obama having followed a tradition of declaring the Monday before a Tuesday Christmas a holiday for government employees, notwithstanding the approaching fiscal cliff.

Expectations for some 11th-hour rescue focused largely on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, in part because he has performed the role of legislative wizard in previous stalemates.

But McConnell, who is up for re-election in 2014, was shunning the role this year, his spokesman saying that it was now up to the Democrats in the Senate to make the next move.

“We don’t yet know what Senator Reid will bring to the floor. He is not negotiating with us and the president is out of town,” said McConnell’s spokesman, referring to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat. “So I just don’t know what they’re going to do over there,” he said.

Two-day-old tweets on leadership websites told the story insofar as it was visible to the public.

House Speaker John Boehner’s referred everyone to McConnell. McConnell’s tweet passed the responsibility along to Obama, saying it was a “moment that calls for presidential leadership.”

eid’s tweet said: “There will be very serious consequences for millions of families if Congress fails to act” on the cliff.

The next session of the Senate is set for Thursday, but the issues presented by across-the-board tax hikes and indiscriminate reductions in government spending, were not on the calendar.

The House has nothing on its schedule for the week, but members have been told they could be called back at 48 hours notice, making a Thursday return a theoretical possibility.

So, just how big is Obama’s proposed Tax Increase?

NationalReview.com reports that

When we look at just nominal dollars, the president’s plan would, unsurprisingly, be much bigger than any tax increase ever, at $189 billion in the fourth year after implementation, topping the Affordable Care Act, which Tempalski calculates will raise $76.8 billion in revenue in its fourth year of implementation. (The CBO doesn’t find that level of revenue until 2020.) The largest increase before this was the 1993 budget act, which raised $66 billion in the most expensive year Tempalski measured, its fourth.

But more meaningfully, the president’s proposal is also the biggest tax increase since 1940 when adjusted for inflation. If you convert the revenue estimates from 2017 into 1992 dollars, the year that the original Treasury paper uses, the president’s plan raises $108 billion. No plan that Tempalski considered raised a higher amount, and it is possibly the highest amount ever. The second-biggest tax increase overall since 1940, after Obama’s, is the Revenue Act of 1942, which raised $73 billion in 1992 dollars. The second-biggest increase since 1968 was the 1993 tax hike, which in its fourth year raised $62 billion.

A final measure of the size of President Obama’s proposed tax increase is the increase as a percentage of total federal receipts. The president’s budget would raise that total by 5.1 percent in 2017 relative to the revenue baseline the document provides. That’s more than all but two increases since 1968: again, the 1982 act, which raised tax revenue by 7.2 percent in its fourth year (and 5.7 percent over its first four years), and the 1968 bill, which raised tax revenue by 6 percent over its first two years. These numbers all pale in comparison with some increases from the 1940s and 50s, six of which increased federal receipts by more than 9 percent. (The Revenue Act of 1942 raised receipts by 71 percent. Remember when we used to do big things, America?)

True, the nominal size of President Obama’s tax increase, like that of the taxes contained in the health-care law, dwarfs anything the U.S. government has ever raised from a tax proposal, though this comparison is almost meaningless. But his ten-year revenue plan is big enough to rank up there on the Mount Rushmore of revenue: It is the third-biggest tax increase as a percentage of GDP since 1968 and, in dollars adjusted for inflation, the biggest since 1940.

Now, doesn’t that just give you the warm fuzzies?

Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. – Ronald Reagan

If these idiots, who are supposed to be working for US, not THEMSELVES overtax those who actually provide jobs for Americans, how is that supposed to “get our nation’s economy up and running again”?

Seems to me, all Obama’s plan will do is tax our nation’s economy into another Depression.

…And, maybe that’s what he wants.

The Celebration of the Greatest Gift of All

On December 25, 2012 By kingsjesterIn Christianity3 Comments

Luke 2: 8-14 (ASV)

⁸ And there were shepherds in the same country abiding in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock.

⁹ And an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

¹⁰ And the angel said unto them, Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all the people:

¹¹ for there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.

¹² And this is the sign unto you: Ye shall find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger.

¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

¹⁴ Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men in whom he is well pleased.

In 1912, C.P.J. Mooney worked as the editor for the Commercial Appeal in Memphis, TN. He wrote an editorial that has become a yearly tradition, not only in Memphis, but around the world. Here it is, as my Christmas Gift to you, my much appreciated readers.

Jesus, The Perfect Man

There is no other character in history like that of Jesus.

As a preacher, as a doer of things, and as a philosopher, no man ever had the sweep and the vision of Jesus.

A human analysis of the human actions of Jesus brings to view a rule of life that is amazing in its perfect detail.

The system of ethics Jesus taught during His earthly sojourn 2,000 years ago was true then, has been true in every century since and will be true forever.

Plato was a great thinker and learned in his age, but his teachings did not stand the test of time. In big things and in little things time and human experience have shown that he erred.

Marcus Aurelius touched the reflective mind of the world, but he was as cold and austere as brown marble. …

Thomas a Kempis’ ”Imitation of Christ” is a thing of rare beauty and sympathy, but it is, as its name indicates, only an imitation.

Sir Thomas More’s ”Utopia” is yet a dream that cannot be realized.

Lord Bacon writing on chemistry and medicine under the glasses of the man working in a 20th century laboratory is puerile.

The world’s most learned doctors until 150 years ago gave dragon’s blood and ground tails of lizards and shells of eggs for certain ailments. The great surgeons a hundred years ago bled a man if he were wounded.

Napoleon had the world at his feet for four years, and when he died the world was going on its way as if he had never lived.

JESUS TAUGHT little as to property because He knew there were things of more importance than property. He measured property and life, the body and soul, at their exact relative value. He taught much more as to character, because character is of more importance than dollars.

Other men taught us to develop systems of government. Jesus taught so as to perfect the minds of men. Jesus looked to the soul, while other men dwelled on material things.

After the experience of 2,000 years no man can find a flaw in the governmental system outlined by Jesus.

Czar and kaiser, president and Socialist, give to its complete merit their admiration.

No man today, no matter whether he follows the doctrine of Mill, Marx or George as to property, can find a false principle in Jesus’ theory of property.

In the duty of a man to his fellow no sociologist has ever approximated the perfection of the doctrine laid down by Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount.

Not all the investigations of chemists, not all the discoveries of explorers, not all the experiences of rulers, not all the historical facts that go to make up the sum of human knowledge on this day in 1912 are in contradiction to one word uttered or one principle laid down by Jesus.

The human experiences of 2,000 years show that Jesus never made a mistake. Jesus never uttered a doctrine that was true at that time and then became obsolete.

Jesus spoke the truth, and the truth is eternal.

History has no record of any other man leading a perfect life or doing everything in logical order. Jesus is the only person whose every action and whose every utterance strike a true note in the heart and mind of every man born of woman. He never said a foolish thing, never did a foolish act and never dissembled.

No poet, no dreamer, no philosopher loved humanity with all the love that Jesus bore toward all men.

WHO, THEN, was Jesus?

He could not have been merely a man, for there never was a man who had two consecutive thoughts absolute in truthful perfection.

Jesus must have been what Christendom proclaims Him to be — a divine being — or He could not have been what He was. No mind but an infinite mind could have left behind those things which Jesus gave the world as a heritage.

So, on this Christmas Day, as you spend time with family and freinds, remember the we have an Advocate in Jesus Christ the Righteous…and Rejoice! For unto us a child is born…unto us a Son is given. Hallelujah!

I know I posted this one yesterday, but, hey…I like it! God Bless you all…and Merry Christmas!

From the Innkeeper’s Point of View

On December 24, 2012December 24, 2012 By kingsjesterIn Christianity7 Comments

Luke 2: 1-7 (ASV):

¹ Now it came to pass in those days, there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be enrolled.

² This was the first enrolment made when Quirinius was governor of Syria.

³ And all went to enrol themselves, every one to his own city.

⁴ And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David;

⁵ to enrol himself with Mary, who was betrothed to him, being great with child.

⁶ And it came to pass, while they were there, the days were fulfilled that she should be delivered.

⁷ And she brought forth her firstborn son; and she wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

I remember it like it was yesterday. Caesar Augustus had come up with the bright idea that a census should be taken of the whole Roman Empire, in order to more effectively tax the stew out of all of us.

It especially hurt small businessmen like me. You see, I’m nothing but a lowly innkeeper, barely keeping my head above water, working 16 hour days. Oy! I could continue to gripe, but who would listen?

Anyway, like I said, Caesar decreed that everyone should get themselves registered for the Census. In terms of business, that actually turned out to be a good thing.

I was about to lock up for the night, when a young man and woman came to the door. He was a strong, rugged-looking young man. I think he was a carpenter. She was a beautiful, pregnant little thing. Bless her heart, she looked like she would deliver at any moment. Their names were Joseph and Mary.

My inn was packed, for once, and I had no rooms available. But, some part of my heart told me that I just couldn’t send them away, so I offered them my stable, which would at least offer some protection from the elements.

What happened that night was wondrous. Men are still talking about it to this day. A precious little baby boy was born that night and the most miraculous things happened. People said that animals actually spoke! And the local shepherds said that angels came to them and told them about this baby. They sang His praises and told the shepherds that they needed to come to my stable to see and worship that little baby.

Three wise men, sent by Herod, showed up later, bearing gifts for that special infant. They were overcome by that little one and decided that they would not report back to Herod, but, instead, would return to their homes.

It was quite a remarkable time. As the years went by, I heard stories about that child. They named Him Jesus. He grew in knowledge and stature. At 12, his parents lost Him. They found Him in the synagogue, teaching the old men that should have been teaching Him! Can you imagine?

He grew up working beside His father in his carpentry business and when He was 30, I heard that He was baptized by that wild man, John The Baptist. According to witnesses the heavens parted, and they heard the voice of God saying:

This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.

For three years, He traveled with a group of twelve disciples, performing miracles, preaching and teaching about God’s love and His plan for mankind.

And, now I’ve heard that just yesterday, they nailed Him to a cross, executing Him as they would a common criminal.

So sad. But, you know, there is a still, small voice inside of me that’s telling me that His story is not over, yet.

I truly hope that you enjoyed this post today. I originally wrote the preceding story 3 years ago today in honor of this special night.

Tonight, we celebrate the birth of Our Savior Jesus Christ. In closing, I want to share two videos with you. The first is a video entitled, “That’s my King!”, as read by Dr. S.M. Lockridge. The second video is a song that I’ve had the privilege of performing many times, “The Hallelujah Chorus”, which has become a favorite of Believers everywhere.

Merry Christmas to you and yours! And may God bless us, everyone!

The Fiscal Cliff: ‘Twas the Day Before Christmas

On December 23, 2012 By kingsjesterIn Politics3 Comments

Obama Claus While we get ready to celebrate the Greatest Gift of All, President Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm) is about to get his wish that we all give more…until it hurts.

BusinessInsider.com reports that

President Barack Obama delivered an unexpected update on the status of negotiations to avert the year-end fiscal cliff, saying he was still optimistic that a “comprehensive” deal could get done before a deadline in 10 days.

“I want next year to be a year of strong economic growth. … Call me a hopeless optimist, but I still think we can get this done,” Obama said.

At the same time, he called on Congress to ensure that taxes do not go up on middle-class Americans by Jan. 1, leaving open the possibility of putting off negotiations on a “grand bargain.”

“As of today, I am still ready and willing to get a comprehensive package done,” Obama said. But, he added, “there is absolutely no reason — none — not to protect” the middle-class from a tax increase.

Obama was more than a half-hour late to a scheduled 5 p.m. press conference, explaining that he had met with both House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid beforehand.

Obama said he hoped that the coming holiday break would give all parties in the fiscal cliff debate some “perspective,” telling members of Congress to “cool off, drink some egg nog, sing some carols” and eat Christmas cookies. Obama and his family will leave for Hawaii at 7:30 p.m. tonight.

“Now’s not the time for more self-inflicted wounds. Certainly not those coming from Washington,” Obama said. “Think about the hardship that so many Americans will endure if Congress does nothing at all.”

Obama’s statement came a day after a setback to John Boehner, who proposed a “Plan B” alternative after he became frustrated with the pace of negotiations with the White House earlier in the week. Boehner failed to garner enough support to bring Plan B to a vote on Thursday.

Boehner shifted the onus last night to Obama and Reid, who went back and forth with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on the floor earlier this afternoon. Reid also urged the House to immediately pass the Middle Class Tax Cut Act, which the Senate narrowly passed in July. The bill made permanent all of the Bush-era tax cuts on incomes of less than $250,000 for couples and $200,000 for individuals.

Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck said in a statement tonight that Boehner told the president it was “time for the Democratic-run Senate to act.”

Here’s the full statement:

“Though the President has failed to offer any solution that passes the test of balance, we remain hopeful he is finally ready to get serious about averting the fiscal cliff. The House has already acted to stop all of the looming tax hikes and replace the automatic defense cuts. It is time for the Democratic-run Senate to act, and that is what the Speaker told the President tonight. Speaker Boehner will return to Washington following the holiday, ready to find a solution that can pass both houses of Congress.”

In honor of this ongoing saga, which is headed toward a finish just like “Thelma and Louise”, I have penned this sonnet, with apologies to Clement Clarke Moore.

‘Twas the day before Christmas,

And all through the land,

Americans were seething

At John and his band.

Congress had gone home

And were snug in their beds

While visions of high taxes

Danced in Americans’ heads.

A Fiscal Cliff

We’re about to come to,

Meanwhile, up in the House,

It’s been quite a zoo.

It all started back when,

Our Leader, Dear

Submitted a budget

That would make Marx cheer.

Republicans, he said,

would have to agree.

After all he’s the Preezy,

And, this is his decree!

“The rich folks, he said,

Must pay their “Fair Share”.

If they lay people off,

I really don’t care.”

Speaker Boehner got mad,

He stood up and said,

“To accept this junk,

We must be brain-dead.”

So a counter-offer ensued,

And, to the Preezy was given.

Who then sent it back

With a lot of derision.

Upset and tear-filled

John made a vow:

Let’s go with Plan B,

We’ll vote on it now!

Then to the House Floor,

Boehner took his Bill.

The Reps said no,

This bill just won’t cut it,

Over the cliff we must go.

The RINOs exclaimed

“It’s the Tea Party’s fault,

We must tax the rich

And get “Revenue”

from their vault.”

And, where was Dear Leader,

When it all hit the fan?

On a plane to Hawaii,

To work on his ?tan?

So, as the Preezy “hangs loose”

And the Cliff gets closer,

It’s hard to believe

They re-elected this poser.

You and I will be worried,

About the taxes to come,

And, wondering if we’ll survive,

Four years of this bum.

We’ll make it, I’m sure.

We’re made of strong stuff.

Just remember the Depression

That sure was rough.

While we want answers

The President wants to hula,

“Merry Christmas to all,

Let them eat arugula!”

The NRA Fires Back…With Both Barrels!

On December 22, 2012 By kingsjesterIn Politics5 Comments

gun-control Yesterday, the President of the National Rifle Association, Wayne LaPierre, held a Press Conference to respond to the horrible murders in Newtown, Connecticut, which were committed by a blood-thirsty psychopath.

Here is an excerpt from the speech he gave to open yesterday’s Press Conference:

…The truth is that our society is populated by an unknown number of genuine monsters — people so deranged, so evil, so possessed by voices and driven by demons that no sane person can possibly ever comprehend them. They walk among us every day. And does anybody really believe that the next Adam Lanza isn’t planning his attack on a school he’s already identified at this very moment?

How many more copycats are waiting in the wings for their moment of fame — from a national media machine that rewards them with the wall-to-wall attention and sense of identity that they crave — while provoking others to try to make their mark?

A dozen more killers? A hundred? More? How can we possibly even guess how many, given our nation’s refusal to create an active national database of the mentally ill?

And the fact is, that wouldn’t even begin to address the much larger and more lethal criminal class: Killers, robbers, rapists and drug gang members who have spread like cancer in every community in this country. Meanwhile, federal gun prosecutions have decreased by 40% — to the lowest levels in a decade.

So now, due to a declining willingness to prosecute dangerous criminals, violent crime is increasing again for the first time in 19 years! Add another hurricane, terrorist attack or some other natural or man-made disaster, and you’ve got a recipe for a national nightmare of violence and victimization.

And here’s another dirty little truth that the media try their best to conceal: There exists in this country a callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells, and sows, violence against its own people.

Through vicious, violent video games with names like Bulletstorm, Grand Theft Auto, Mortal Kombat and Splatterhouse. And here’s one: it’s called Kindergarten Killers. It’s been online for 10 years. How come my research department could find it and all of yours either couldn’t or didn’t want anyone to know you had found it?

Then there’s the blood-soaked slasher films like “American Psycho” and “Natural Born Killers” that are aired like propaganda loops on “Splatterdays” and every day, and a thousand music videos that portray life as a joke and murder as a way of life. And then they have the nerve to call it “entertainment.”

But is that what it really is? Isn’t fantasizing about killing people as a way to get your kicks really the filthiest form of pornography?

In a race to the bottom, media conglomerates compete with one another to shock, violate and offend every standard of civilized society by bringing an ever-more-toxic mix of reckless behavior and criminal cruelty into our homes — every minute of every day of every month of every year.

A child growing up in America witnesses 16,000 murders and 200,000 acts of violence by the time he or she reaches the ripe old age of 18.

And throughout it all, too many in our national media … their corporate owners … and their stockholders … act as silent enablers, if not complicit co-conspirators. Rather than face their own moral failings, the media demonize lawful gun owners, amplify their cries for more laws and fill the national debate with misinformation and dishonest thinking that only delay meaningful action and all but guarantee that the next atrocity is only a news cycle away.

Today, I will be out among the masses, shopping for my bride’s Christmas Present(s). However, not everybody will be shopping for the season, they’ll be shopping for their family’s defense. They will be buying guns.

Whatever Obama and his Liberal Legion of Liars thought that they would be accomplishing by starting the War on Guns, again, the fact of the matter is:

Their threat to confiscate Americans’ guns is backfiring spectacularly!

Per CNBC.com:

The shootings triggered both a wave of anti-gun talk and a wave of buying by gun owners and enthusiasts. President Obama appointed Vice President Joe Biden to lead a gun violence task force. The group’s charge is to present to the President by the end of January the best ideas to reduce gun violence. It is a charge that has many fearing a ban on owning some, if not all, guns.

“Talk of banning the weapons is driving sales,” said Jeff Dillard, co-owner of the National Armory Gun Store & Range in Pompano Beach, Fl. “It’s an incredible knee jerk reaction to what the President said. He put Biden in charge of it and they [politicians] will go crazy like they usually do. So customers want to get weapons before a ban is put in place.”

Dillard called sales in the four days “incredible.” On Wednesday he said the store did four times the sales volume it did on the same day last year. “The expensive guns went first, then the middle of the road guns went next,” he said. “The cheap, less expensive guns will probably go today.”

It is not only guns that are people are buying up, it is ammunition too.

“I’ve sold more bulk ammo (1000 rounds) in the last three business days than I have all year,” said Henry Parro co-owner of Parro’s Gun Shop and Police Supplies in Waterbury, VT. “Customers are using their hand carts to load their cars.”

Parro said with Biden in charge of the gun violence task force, his clients sees the handwriting on the wall and they are deciding to exercise their right and buy guns now. As a senator, Biden steered a now expired ban on assault weapons through Congress, and has been a long-time supporter for stricter gun laws.

What Obama, his Administration, Internet-trolling Liberals, and their propagandists, the Main Stream Media, have not figured out, is this simple fact: Americans love our freedom. We are not like any other people on this planet. Just as our Forefathers were men of faith and conviction, so remain Americans here in the Heartland.

You know of whom I refer: that massive ocean of red you see, when you look at a map of the way Americans voted on November 6th, 2012.

We remain the bedrock of America. The citizens who pay their taxes, work on its farms and in its factories, and fight and die on far-flung battlefields.

We are Americans. We never quit. We never surrender.

And, we will not give up our Second Amendment rights.

It’s a Freedom Thing.

It’s…an American Thing.

Until He Comes,

Fiscal Cliff: Congress Takes Their Toys and Goes Home

On December 21, 2012December 21, 2012 By kingsjesterIn Politics3 Comments

demrep As you’ve know doubt heard by now, even if you’re one of those “‘low information voters” , with your head stuck up your…ummm…I-pod, Congress is at a standstill, regarding negotiations over Obama’s Marxist, Class Warfare-based, ludicrous plan to over-tax Americans who make over $400,000 per year, while offering no spending cuts to reign in his Soviet-styled out-of-control Mega-Government.

So, Congress…both sides, both Houses, have pulled a Cartman:

Sc@#w you, guys. I’m going home!

Per The Washington Times:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday he plans to send his chamber home for Christmas and then reconvene on Dec. 27 to try to work through the “fiscal cliff” — even as House Republicans said they’ll keep their troops in town to try to strike a deal.

The moves come as both sides jockey for the upper hand in trying to avoid blame for a possible breakdown in the budget talks to avoid the fiscal cliff. House Republicans are poised to pass a bill Thursday that would prevent spending cuts and most tax increases, and have said they’ll stay here to get a deal done. But there won’t be anyone on the other side of the table — at least not until next week.

“We want to be able to get home for a few days for Christmas, even though we will be back on the Thursday after Christmas,” Mr. Reid, Nevada Democrat, said in opening the Senate’s session.

Senators will be attending a funeral service Friday for the late Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, Hawaii Democrat and the chamber’s senior lawmaker, who died this week. Many also will attend his funeral services this weekend in Hawaii.

“I honor the legacy of Dan Inouye; I’m going to the memorial service; I’m going to the funeral,” Mr. Reid told reporters later.

Nothing like blaming a dead guy, Dinghy Harry.

Across the Capitol, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said his lawmakers want to stay in town to try to get a deal done and will stay in Washington even if they pass their own “Plan B” approach to stave off tax increases and rewrite the looming $110 billion in spending cuts due in less than two weeks.

“We do not intend to send members home after this vote. We want to stay here. We want to avoid the fiscal cliff from happening,” Mr. Cantor, Virginia Republican, told reporters at a brief press conference. “I think the decision is for the White House and Senate Democrats to come join us so we can avoid the tax hike on the American people and avoid the fiscal cliff.”

But Mr. Reid said the House Republicans should forget about passing their bill and not bother sending the Senate anything, but instead go deal with President Obama.

“We’re here to reach out to our Republicans in the House and tell them, get back and start talking to the president,” Mr. Reid said.

Meanwhile, in the House, and on the other side of the aisle, Reuters reports

With only 11 days left for bickering politicians to prevent automatic tax hikes and spending cuts, U.S. stock futures fell sharply on the news of the rebuke to Boehner.

The Ohio congressman had hoped to demonstrate Republican unity by passing a bill through the House, known as “Plan B,” that would limit income-tax increases to the wealthiest sliver of the population – those earning $1 million and more, a far smaller slice of taxpayers than Obama wants to pay higher taxes.

But Boehner canceled the vote after failing to round up enough support from his party because many conservative Republicans are opposed to tax hikes on even the richest wage-earning Americans.

“The House did not take up the tax measure today because it did not have sufficient support from our members to pass,” Boehner said in a statement after huddling with other Republican leaders.

The White House pledged to work with Congress to reach a deal as quickly as possible.

“We are hopeful that we will be able to find a bipartisan solution quickly that protects the middle class and our economy,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement.

The bill, had it passed, would have put Republicans on record as supporting a tax increase on those who earn more than $1 million per year, breaking with decades of orthodoxy. It won the blessing of influential anti-tax activist Grover Norquist, but other conservative groups fiercely opposed it and many rank-and-file members said they would not support it.

Obama wants to raise taxes on families earning more than $400,000, a much lower threshold.

Unless these spineless, self-serving jellyfish sitting up on Capitol Hill return to work on Thursday, acting like adults, and performing the job they were all elected to do, average Americans are going to get clobbered with the biggest tax hike in American History.

To quote the late Slim Pickens from “Blazing Saddles”,

What in the Wide Wide World of Sports is a’goin’ on here?

Hold on to something. Here comes another world-famous KJ Rant:

I want Conservative Leadership. I want somebody to stand up on their hind legs and tell Obama the way the cow ate the cabbage. I want someone to actually give a hoot ‘n holler about the average American, not the special interest groups, not the lobbyists, not “the smartest people in the room”…me.

I want an American President and competent American Congress people.

I want a dadblamed budget, first. I want them to be good stewards of MY money. Not their “revenue”. I want someone to stand up and be a MAN…or a WOMAN.

I am so dadgum tired of mealy-mouth squishes and political niceties and expediences, I could spit. Too many Americans are out of work and doing without this Christmas, while the three ring circus performs unabated under the Big Top on Capital Hill.

The American people are tired of cleaning up after the donkeys and the elephants.

/rant off

Until He Comes,

It’s the End of the World As We Know It…or Something

On December 20, 2012December 21, 2012 By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics3 Comments

Doomsday So, here we are, boys and girls…December 21, 2012, the day the ancient Mayans said that the world would end.

Today, at 5:00 a.m., the Mayan Calendar ran out. The Mayans date back 4,000 years. They measured time in 394-year periods known as baktuns. The 13th baktun ends around Dec. 21 — and 13 is considered a sacred number.

People are freaking out around the world, in a scene reminiscent of Orson Welles’ famous “War of the Worlds” Radio Broadcast on Halloween Night, 1938.

Just ask NASA.

The space agency said it has been flooded with calls and emails from people asking about the purported end of the world — which, as the doomsday myth goes, is apparently set to take place on Dec. 21, 2012.

The myth might have originated with the Mayan calendar, but in the age of the Internet and social media, it proliferated online, raising questions and concerns among hundreds of people around the world who have turned to NASA for answers.

Dwayne Brown, an agency spokesman, said NASA typically receives about 90 calls or emails per week containing questions from people. In recent weeks, he said, that number has skyrocketed — from 200 to 300 people are contacting NASA per day to ask about the end of the world.

“Who’s the first agency you would call?” he said. “You’re going to call NASA.”

The questions range from myth (Will a rogue planet crash into Earth? Is the sun going to explode? Will there be three days of darkness?) to the macabre (Brown said some people have “embraced it so much” they want to hurt themselves). So, he said, NASA decided to do “everything in our power” to set the facts straight.

That effort included interviews with scientists posted online and a web page Brown said has drawn more than 4.6 million views.

It also involved a video titled, “Why the World Didn’t End Yesterday.” Though the title of the video implies a Dec. 22 release date, Brown said NASA posted the four-minute clip last week to help spread its message.

NASA suspected it might have to create such a campaign a few years ago, when the idea of the world ending began “festering,” Brown said. The apocalyptic action movie “2012,” released in 2009, didn’t help, he said.

“We kind of look ahead — we’re a look-ahead agency — and we said, ‘You know what? People are going to probably want to come to us’ ” for answers, Brown explained. “We’re doing all that we can do to let the world know that as far as NASA and science goes, Dec. 21 will be another day.”

NASA has handled high-profile events before, Brown said, including the Venus transit this year, but nothing the agency has had to “debunk” has been this big.

“It’s been a very, very busy week,” he said.

Examiner.com also assures us that we have nothing to worry about:

Will the world end on Dec. 21, 2012? Some say yes, others say no. The first clue that the world will not end on December 21 is that earlier in 2012, archeologists uncovered a cave with Mayan calendar calculations going forward 4,000 years. “The Los Angeles Times” was among those reporting the discovery in May, just in time for the non-end of the world. In fact, the Mayan date 13.0.0.0.0. is a new beginning.

The Mayans never intended their world to end on December 21; their calculations did, however, show the ending of a long cycle (“the long count”) and the beginning of a new 5125.36-year cycle that gives humanity plenty of wiggle room without apocalpses to worry about — zombie, Mayan, or otherwise.

Need more persuasion? Discovery News reported in June, 2012 that another discovery in Guatemala referred to the “end date” but did not foretell a cataclysm. The idea of the world ending on December 21 is a modern invention. Still more? At the time of writing it’s already Dec. 21 in Australia and New Zealand. No reports of their disappearance are in.

What should we, as Christians think about all of this?

Hugh Ross, an astronomer and president of the science-faith think tank Reasons to Believe in Glendora, California who posted a “Response to 2012 Prophecies” at http://www.reasons.org/2012, says the celestial events expected to unleash unprecedented disasters in 2012 – a solar maximum, Venus’s transit of the Sun, a collision of Planet’s X with the Earth and an asteroid impact – are false or blown out of proportion.

Ross says Venus’ gravity is too weak to impact the Earth, astronomers have determined with “considerable confidence” that Planet X doesn’t exist and increased solar activity in 2012 – in the worst case scenario – will only cause temporary satellite disruptions. As far as asteroids, Ross says none of the thousands NASA is tracking are expected to hit the Earth in the near future.

“The Bible makes it clear that the end cannot happen until certain things take place and none of those events, in my opinion, have occurred,” Ross says. “For example, the end will not happen until God’s people fulfill the Great Commission by taking the Good News to all the people groups of the world.”

So, there you have it. It’s just another day.

After all, when the trump sound, we’ll be outta

Just kidding.

Until He Comes,

Obama: Using Newtown for Political Extortion

On December 20, 2012 By kingsjesterIn Politics4 Comments

obamaoblivious President Barack Hussein Obama has become downright shameful in his attempts to use an unspeakable tragedy to further his own political plans and schemes. And, his ego won’t let him take “no” for an answer.

Last night on Fox News Special Report, Dr. Charles Krauthammer said:

I think the president invoking the massacre of children to essentially say the Republicans need to accept his terms of surrender in the negotiations is not just a non sequitur, I think it’s sacrilege. And it’s of a piece with the whole tone of his news conference and this is the way he conducts them generally, which is he is excessively self-righteous. He talks about the other side of being unprincipled, not interested in the national interest, slaves of ideology which he says makes no sense. And as you mention, invested in opposing him to the point they are willing to let the country suffer.

So it’s a combination of self-righteousness and narcissism. It’s just a very unpleasant tone and there is no reason he can’t either avoid that or give some credit to the other side for sincerity in just seeing a different way to approach the crisis the country has. I think that would be respectful but it’s a lot to ask of Obama and he never delivers on that.

Back on May 24th, Dr. K remarked that Obama’s narcissism would not allow him to replace VP Biden with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for the remainder of his Re-election Campaign.

In an article, written in response to this statement, posted on AmericanThinker.com, June 9, 2010, titled “Narcissist in Chief?”, Eileen F. Toplansky wrote:

…His contempt for America is staggering. His haughtiness towards the American electorate and his puffery with dictators in a bid for their admiration is breathtaking.

Furthermore, the president intimates that we are not capable of understanding and clarifying issues — Joe the Plumber could not possibly be accurate when he correctly asked if Obama’s ideas were, in fact, socialist. What does a guy who works with a wrench know about such things?

Obama accepts the notion that he is the messiah — that he and he alone can fix this country and, for that matter, the world. If ever there was an exaggerated achievement without commensurate accomplishment, the Nobel Peace Prize given to Obama would be it. He expects to be recognized as superior even when he has achieved nothing positive to show it. He ignores the evidence about global warming and man’s alleged interference because this simply does not comply with his demands — details be damned.

There are no substantive examples of his school achievements. His portfolio is razor-thin, and there is evidence that he did not author his own books, yet he rides on the crest of all-consuming power and privilege.

Author Rob Saar states that “people with narcissistic personalities tend … to deprecate and treat with contempt those from whom they do not expect anything (often their former idols). Their relations with others are often exploitative … Beneath a surface that is often charming and engaging, one senses coldness and ruthlessness.”

How often have we been privy to that allegedly cool demeanor of Obama’s turning into a dismissive disdain for anyone who does not agree with him and/or stands in his way? He distanced himself from his pastor of over twenty years because that relationship hurt his ends. He has knifed companies in the back that once financially supported him. He seems obsessed as he constantly bashes former President Bush and rails, yet again, against the oil companies and others. All of these entities receive derision and abuse from this man.

He can do no wrong in his own eyes, as he views “others as objects to be manipulated.” Arrogantly he dismissed a reporter’s question at a press conference that was supposed to be about the Daniel Pearl Freedom of Press Act!

He exploits all issues, making everything into a crisis, and yet when he accomplishes nothing to ameliorate the difficulty, he turns and blames it on everyone else.

Hence, his political leveraging of the horrible massacre of innocent children in Newtown, Connecticut into an attempt to force the House Republicans into bowing down, kissing his…ummm…feet, and acquiescing to his monumentally Marxist Fiscal Cliff Proposal, while simultaneously, using the same tragedy in an attempt to confiscate law-abiding citizens’ guns.

In October of 2008, on a campaign stop outside of Toledo, Ohio, Obama spoke to a plumber named Joe Wurzelbacher, who was concerned that, if elected president, Obama was going to raise taxes on small business owners, just like him. Obama told Joe:

…it’s not that I want to punish your success – I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you – that they’ve got a chance at success too.”

…I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.”

So, why do I say that Obama’s Fiscal Cliff Campaign and his renewed push for Gun ~~Control~~ Confiscation are tied together?

Almost a century ago, Marxist Revolutionary Vladimir Illyich Lenin wrote:

One of the basic conditions for the victory of socialism is the arming of the workers (Communist) and the disarming of the bourgeoisie (the middle class).

The arming of the workers…

In February of 2012, the IRS ordered 60 Remington Model 870 police 12 gauge pump action shotguns for the Criminal Investigation Unit.

…In March DHS ordered 750 million rounds of hollow point ammunition. It then turned around and ordered an additional 750 million rounds of miscellaneous bullets including some that are capable of penetrating walls.

(August, 2012) The Social Security Administration (SSA) confirms that it is purchasing 174 thousand rounds of hollow point bullets to be delivered to 41 locations in major cities across the U.S.

The disarming of the Middle Class…

From the New York Times:

President Obama declared on Wednesday that he would make gun control a “central issue” as he opens his second term, promising to submit broad new firearm proposals to Congress no later than January and to employ the full power of his office to overcome deep-seated political resistance.

Now, boys and girls, I’m not one given to tin-foil hat conspiracy theories. However, if all this information I’ve compiled in today’s Blog doesn’t make you stop and take notice, then, I suggest you go back to watching The Kardashians.

The rest of us will remain vigilant.

It’s that “enemies, foreign and domestic” thingy that has us Americans, who are paying attention, a little worried.