When my good friend, Gene Hoyas, the Bulldog Pundit, introduced me yesterday, he described me, and rightfully so, not only as Christian Conservative, but, also a Reagan Conservative.

As President Ronald Reagan so eloquently said in Proclamation 4826, on the National Day of Prayer, March 19, 1981:

Throughout our history Americans have put their faith in God and no one can doubt that we have been blessed for it.

It is quite telling, that as we enter into the 2012 Presidential Campaign, a beleaguered Democratic Party is desperately attempting to camouflage the ineptness of their president by attacking the faith of the opposition candidates.

Per Byron York of  washingtonexaminer.com:

…Now some of Obama’s activist allies and supporters in the press are engaged in a sharply focused effort to change the subject. Even as economic anxieties continue to rise, some of the nation’s premier political journalists are consumed with the alleged influences of obscure religious philosophers on Republican candidates; on questions of creationism, evolution, and the age of the Earth; and on the fantasy that a Republican president might transform the United States into an Iranian-style theocracy.

For example, the Daily Beast/Newsweek recently published an article titled “A Christian Plot for Domination?” claiming that Perry and Bachmann are “deeply associated with a theocratic strain of Christian fundamentalism” known as Dominionism. A widely discussed article in the Texas Observer claimed that Dominionists — a “little-known movement of radical Christians” — are readying an “army of God” to “commandeer civilian government,” with Perry the “vessel” for their ambitions. Finally, the New Yorker published a long article claiming that Bachmann believes “Christians, and Christians alone, are Biblically mandated to occupy all secular institutions until Christ returns.”

Surveying those articles, the executive editor of the New York Times, Bill Keller, concludes that “an unusually large number” of Republican candidates “belong to churches that are mysterious or suspect to many Americans.” Perry and Bachmann, in particular, are connected to “fervid subsets of evangelical Christianity,” which Keller says “has raised concerns about their respect for the separation of church and state, not to mention the separation of fact and fiction.” Fearing that Perry or Bachmann could be a “Trojan horse” for a religious takeover of the government, Keller advocates strict questioning of candidates on doctrinal issues.

You know, I’ve sung in churches and led services for over 30 years, and I’ve never heard of a “Dominionist”. Have you?

The Left’s strategy is painfully obvious.  Instead of attacking the true issues going into the 2012 Campaign Season, they have decided instead to lash out, attacking the majority of Americans’ belief systems, hoping that they can provide cover for their petulant man-child of a president.

Lately, they’ve doubled-down in their efforts to identify any American that questions the competency of Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm) as being a RAAACIIIST.

For example, this little sterling bit of oratory, as reported this past Tuesday by foxnews.com:

Democratic Rep. Andre Carson told a Miami crowd last week that the Tea Party movement would “love” to see black Americans “hanging on a tree.”

The comment is the latest charged remark made by a member of the Congressional Black Caucus as lawmakers tour the country talking about jobs. Carson, D-Ind., lamented at the event that the Tea Party was stopping “change,” in an effort he said was reminiscent of the “Jim Crow” era.

“Some of these folks in Congress right now would love to see us as second-class citizens,” he said. “Some of them in Congress right now with this Tea Party movement would love to see you and me … hanging on a tree.”

Of course, now that he’s been called on his stupid statement, Carson is backtracking…sort of:

I said there are some who have espoused a certain philosophy that takes us back 50 or 60 years. But the Tea Party as an organizational body has made some excellent points in terms of cutting back on excessive government spending, increasing transparency in government – I actually stand in solidarity with them. But I’m concerned about some of the extremist elements who tend to be remnants or leftovers from the John Birch Society or George Wallace’s Dixiecrats. They’re a small group of people. I think most Tea Partiers are well intentioned and want to see our country in a better place. I just don’t want to see the rhetoric increase where we’re cutting entitlement programs, we’re hurting working class Americans, we’re hurting poor people. It’s the wrong way to go.

…What I’m deeply concerned about is the rhetoric involved – the divisive rhetoric that has separated the races. The divisive rhetoric that separates Americans, that has diverted us from getting back on track, investing in infrastructure, investing in our schools and making sure we reclaim the crown of being the greatest nation on planet earth.

Rep. Carson, it’s not about the color of Obama’s skin.  It’s about the content of his character.

Thankfully, Liberals are failing miserably in their attempts to distract Americans from the real issue of the 2012 Presidential Campaign.  The clarifying issue of this election is not the make-believe intolerance of “Christianists”, as the Left has labelled us.  Nor, is the backlash against the Obama presidency based on the color of his skin.

Instead, the whole crux of the 2012 President Election can be summed up in a rather eloquent statement by James Carville, a raving Liberal himself, who quipped:

IT’S THE ECONOMY, STUPID!

Today’s article will be cross-posted at 2:00 p.m. Eastern on genehoyas.com (Bulldog Pundit), a great Conservative website.

Yesterday afternoon, word was sent out by Royal Missive from the Royal Palace, err, I mean the White House, that his Royal Highness, President Barack Hussein Obama, will  deliver a proclamation before The House of Commons and the House of Lords (better known as the House of Representatives and the Senate) at 8:00 p.m. Eastern on September 7th, in the year of our Lord, 2011.

Part of the missive, written by his Highness’ Royal Hand, states:

It is my intention to lay out a series of bipartisan proposals that the Congress can take immediately to continue to rebuild the American economy by strengthening small businesses, helping Americans get back to work, and putting more money in the paychecks of the Middle Class and working Americans, while still reducing our deficit and getting our fiscal house in order.

Now, where have we heard that before? Can you say, Stimulus II, gentle reader?

The air must be rarefied these days at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, for it caused the president to miss the following announcement from his Royal Lackeys at politico.com, posted on January 24, 2011:

The first presidential primary debate has been set for May 2, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation announced Monday.

The debate, co-hosted by POLITICO and NBC News, will be held at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley.

POLITICO Editor-in-Chief John F. Harris and NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams will moderate the debate, which will be aired on MSNBC, CNBC, and Telemundo and streamed live on POLITICO.com.

Or this announcement, posted on politico.com, March 30, 2011:

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation has postponed its debate for Republican candidates from May 2 to September 14.

The move, announced Wednesday in conjunction with cosponsors NBC and POLITICO, follows an unexpectedly slow start to the Republican presidential nominating contest.

And the White House evidently missed this announcement by their Political Lackeys on msnbc.com, posted on May 3, 2011:

Update your calendars: The NBC-Politico-Reagan Library GOP presidential debate has been moved from Sept. 14 to Sept. 7.

“After consulting with a number of the campaigns about our September debate, we’ve made the decision to move it up one week to September 7, 2011,” said John Heubusch, executive director for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, in a news release. “This new date works better for the campaigns, and positions the Reagan Library debate as the first stop post-Labor Day when campaigns are in full swing and voter interest is high.”

Of course, little things like previously scheduled Republican Debates do not matter when the King wants to grace his peons with his benevolent presence.

Obama’s problem, however, is that this is not his royal kingdom, and he is not our king.  Americans revolted and overthrew our last monarch almost 250 years ago.  The president must ask permission from congressional leaders in order to deliver a joint address.

The president’s request was met with a mixed reaction from Congressional Leaders.

Of course, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi whole-heartedly supported the president, while Speaker John Boehner sent the president a letter late Wednesday afternoon stating that he would like Obama to pick a different time.

Boehner also told Republican House members during a conference call that he’d invite Obama to speak on Thursday, Sept. 8.  The Speaker did not mention the debate.

The House does not return back from vacation until Sept. 7, with votes scheduled for that evening.

Boehner expressed concern in his letter to Obama about the time it would take to conduct the security sweep in time for a presidential speech. He also explained that a joint session is a difficult procedure to pull off in a short time:

It is my recommendation that your address be held on the following evening, when we can ensure there will be no parliamentary or logistical impediments that might detract from your remarks.

A spokesman for Boehner issued a statement that the White House ignored protocol by not first requesting a date from the speaker’s office:

It’s unfortunate the White House ignored decades — if not centuries — of the protocol of working out a mutually agreeable date and time before making any public announcement.

A senior House Democratic aide fired back, calling Boehner’s request for the president to reschedule “childish”:

The childish behavior coming out of the speaker’s office today is truly historic. It is unprecedented to reject the date that a president wants to address a joint session of the Congress.

Per Obama’s Royal Page (Press Secretary), Jay Carney, the peremptory scheduling was strictly a coincidence. He told reporters that there were many scheduling “considerations” while suggesting the president had no interest in detracting from the debate viewership.

He went on to announce that the administration would “welcome” a decision by debate hosts to “adjust the timing of their debate so that it didn’t conflict.”

The sheer gall and pomposity of the president’s actions in this matter is staggering.  Not only does he expect a long-planned debate featuring the opposition party to be moved, he also expects the nation to believe that he did not know about it.

If you believe that the White House’s scheduling was coincidental, I have a couple of bridges over the Mississippi River at Memphis to sell you.

Today’s article will be re-posted @ genehoyas.com (Bulldog Pundit) at 2:00 p.m.  Please be sure to check out this new, excellent Conservative website.

The Obama Administration has been busy…and not in a good way.  I’m going to allow this article, posted 8/29/11, at  nytimes.com to speak for itself…while I try to calm down:

The White House has issued detailed guidelines to government officials on how to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, with instructions to honor the memory of those who died on American soil but also to recall that Al Qaeda and other extremist groups have since carried out attacks elsewhere in the world, from Mumbai to Manila.

The White House in recent days has quietly disseminated two sets of documents. One is framed for overseas allies and their citizens and was sent to American embassies and consulates around the globe. The other includes themes for Americans here and underscores the importance of national service and what the government has done to prevent another major attack in the United States. That single-page document was issued to all federal agencies, officials said.

After weeks of internal debate, White House officials adopted the communications documents to shape public events and official statements, and they sought to strike a delicate balance between messages designed for these two very important but very different audiences on a day when the world’s attention will be focused on President Obama, his leadership team and his nation.

The guidelines list what themes to underscore — and, just as important, what tone to set. Officials are instructed to memorialize those who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and thank those in the military, law enforcement, intelligence or homeland security for their contributions since.

“A chief goal of our communications is to present a positive, forward-looking narrative,” the foreign guidelines state.

Copies of the internal documents were provided to The New York Times by officials in several agencies involved in planning the anniversary commemorations. “The important theme is to show the world how much we realize that 9/11 — the attacks themselves and violent extremism writ large — is not ‘just about us,’ ” said one official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe internal White House planning.

Some senior Obama administration leaders had advocated a lengthy program of speeches and events to mark the anniversary, but the final decision was for lower-key appearances by Mr. Obama and other senior leaders only on the days leading up to the anniversary and on Sept. 11 itself.

Mr. Obama in his weekly address on Saturday said that this year’s anniversary will be one of “service and remembrance.”

Service and Remembrance?  No, Mr. President.  This is the 10th anniversary of the worst Islamic Terrorist (yeah, I said it) Attack ever perpetrated on American soil.

THIS DAY IS ABOUT US….AMERICA.  WE SHALL NEVER FORGET.  YOU CAN TAKE YOUR ATTEMPT AT DEFLECTION…YOUR DAY OF COMMUNITY SERVICE AND …WELL…YOU KNOW.

Meanwhile…speaking of “The Religion of Peace”…

From ynetnews.com:

The Israeli Navy (INF) has decided to boost its presence and patrols near Israel’s maritime border with Egypt due to a viable terror threat in the area, as Iran announced it was set to send its 15th fleet to the Red Sea as well to “convey message of peace and friendship to all countries”.

Israeli security sources told the Associated Press on Tuesday that two additional warships have been dispatched to Israel’s Red Sea border with Egypt. Another source said that the operation was routine, telling Reuters that “two naval craft have been sent to the Red Sea. This is not unusual.”

On Monday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen Benny Gantz ordered that deployment across the entire southern sector be bolstered, especially in the area near the Israel-Egypt border, following intelligence indicating an imminent threat.

The area adjacent to the border has become the scene of military deployment described by one security source as “unprecedented.” The IDF has also deployed advanced technology in the area in order to thwart terror attacks. Still, No changes in security alignments were observed on the Egyptian side of the border.

Military intelligence suggests that an Islamic Jihad terror cell has left the Gaza Strip and intends to infiltrate Israel through Sinai. Minister for Home Front Defense Matan Vilnai has been quoted as saying that the cell may number as many as 10 terrorists.

The security situation in southern Israel has been particularly tense following a series of terror attacks that claimed the lives of eight Israelis in mid-August; as well as several days in which Israel’s western Negev communities suffered heavy shelling by Gaza Strip-based terror groups.

Following the terror attack, in which five Egyptian troops were also killed, Israel and Egypt agreed to increase the presence of Cairo troops in the Sinai Peninsula. As a result, some 1,500 Egyptian soldiers deployed across Sinai on Monday.

Meanwhile, Iran’s Press TV reported Tuesday that Tehran has decided to dispatch the 15th fleet to the Red Sea once more.

Iran’s Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari told the state-run agency that the Islamic Republic is planning to send its 15th fleet to the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, adding that the fleet’s main operational objective will be to patrol the high seas and thwart pirate raids.

The Islamic Republic’s 15th fleet is comprised of a submarine and a several warships.

Sayyari noted that Iran’s Navy plans to have “an active presence in the high seas in line with the guidelines of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei with the purpose of serving the country’s interests.

“The presence of Iran’s army in the high seas will convey the message of peace and friendship to all countries,” he said.

And if you believe that, I have a couple of bridges over the Mississippi River at Memphis to sell you.

I’m waiting to see what the President of the United States, the Leader of the Free World, Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm), has to say about the Defense of God’s Chosen People against these barbarians. 

Given the track record of Smart Power!, he’ll probably call for negotiations…and a Day of Community Service.

Yeah.  That’s the ticket.

As the next Presidential Election, scheduled for November 6, 2012, looms closer and closer, the competition for the nomination of both parties is heating up.

On the Republican side of the aisle, per cnn.com:

A new national survey is further proof that Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s entrance earlier this month into the race for the White House has dramatically altered the battle for the Republican presidential nomination.

According to a CNN/ORC International Poll of Republicans and independent voters who lean towards the GOP, Perry now sits atop the list of Republican presidential candidates, with strong support from most demographic groups.

The survey, released Monday, indicates that 27 percent of Republicans nationwide support Perry for their party’s nomination, with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who’s making his second bid for the White House, at 14 percent. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin follows at ten percent, with Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani at nine percent, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who’s making his third bid for the presidency, at six percent. Every one else listed on the questionnaire registered in the low single digits.

The survey follows a Gallup poll out last week which also placed Perry at the top of the GOP field. Other polling released in the past week also confirms the findings of the CNN and Gallup surveys.

“Perry’s support is higher among Republican men, at 32 percent, than Republican women, at 23 percent, but he has more support among either group than any other candidate,” says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

According to the survey, Perry supporters tend to be older and have higher incomes, but the longtime Texas governor also tops the list, albeit by smaller margins, among lower-income Republicans and those under 50 years old.

“Perry’s biggest support comes from Republicans who say they are supporters of the tea party movement – he wins 37 percent of their vote – but he also edges Romney by a couple of points among Republicans who don’t call themselves tea party supporters,” adds Holland.

So, what is Romney’s campaign strategy for defeating Perry?  Well, according to washingtonpost.com:

Romney has been criticized for refusing to engage Perry, but his campaign advisers see no need to do so now. They point out that the Democratic National Committee is going after Perry, hundreds of reporters hoping to make names for themselves are scouring his life and record, and other candidates that Perry has passed in the polls are determined to take him down. Why should Romney attack Perry directly when the Democrats, the liberal media and Michele Bachmann will do it for him? Romney’s strategists note that Perry will have to survive five debates in six weeks — ample opportunity for Bachmann to “rip his eyes out” (as she did to Tim Pawlenty) or for Perry to blow himself up.

…The Romney campaign will argue that Perry repels independents and can’t win in key swing states such as Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan — while Romney can.

Will this strategy work? As Romney wrapped up his Dover town hall, I asked a veteran reporter how he thought Romney did. People were leaving impressed with Romney, the reporter said, but no one was leaving “in love.” Therein lies Romney’s problem. Perry is the exciting guy in the cowboy boots who people fall in love with. Romney is the steady, clean-cut guy who waits patiently while you flirt with other candidates — hoping you’ll realize they’re not right for you. He’s the guy you settle for.

The question is: Are Republicans willing to settle in 2012?

Nope. Not this time.

A couple of observations:

1.)  Palin’s in Third Place and she has not even announced…yet.

2.) Romney’s fading faster than the Nationwide Insurance guy.

Meanwhile, unexpectedly, on the Democratic side of the aisle, per washingtonexaminer.com:

A new poll by CNN and ORC International finds that 27 percent of Democrats would like to see their party nominate a candidate other than Barack Obama for president in 2012.

In response to the question, “Do you think the Democratic party should renominate Barack Obama as the party’s candidate for president in 2012, or do you think the Democratic party should nominate a different candidate for president in 2012?” — 72 percent said they wanted to see Obama renominated. But 27 percent, slightly more than one in every four, said they wanted to see Democrats nominate a different candidate. One percent had no opinion.

The poll was taken August 24-25. In a survey taken in early August, 28 percent of Democrats said they wanted a different candidate. Polls taken in July and before showed Obama in a stronger position, with no more than 22 percent saying they preferred a different candidate. The current poll is based on interviews with 463 Democrats and has a margin of error of 4.5 percent.

On the heels of this little tidbit, things got curiouser and curiouser yesterday, gentle reader.

Realclearpolitics.com reports that there was a testy little exchange during yesterday’s White House press briefing.

WorldNetDaily White House correspondent Lester Kinsolving asked Jay Carney if President Obama is “certain” that Hillary Clinton won’t primary him. Per RCP, this comes after Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said Obama has moved to the right because he has no primary opponent.

Moved to the Right?  Sen. Sanders needs to quit drinking.

But, I digress…

Here’s a transcript of what happened:

Lester Kinsolving: “Vermont’s Senator Bernie Sanders said, and this is a quote, “one of the reasons the president has moved so far to the right is there is no primary opposition to him.” And my question: Why is the president certain Hillary won’t run against him?”

Jay Carney: “You win the award for originality today.”

Kinsolving: “Thank you very much.”

Carney: “The president is focused not on any election, he’s focused right now on doing his job to grow the economy, create jobs, ensure Americans who are in the path of this hurricane are taken care of.

Kinsolving: “I understand. Why are you running away from this question? Can you guarantee, I mean, are you sure Hillary is not going to run.”

Carney: “You’ll have to ask her. We’re fairly confident — that we need to focus on the task at hand.”

Oh, my goodness. A tad bit defensive, aren’t we, Jaybird?  

The Administration’s Internal Poll Numbers must stink on ice.

Perhaps it’s not so good to be the King.

Did you notice how filled with anticipatory glee the Main Stream Media was over the arrival of Hurricane Irene?

It was sad and amazing at the same time.

Now, please don’t misunderstand me.  Storms are dangerous.  Eighteen people lost their lives due to Irene, and 3,000,000 lost power.

However, it did not turn out to be the Rehearsal for Armageddon that the MSM claimed that it was going to be.  They were hoping that it was going to be just like Hurricane Katrina and that their president, Obama, was going to get to show his magnificent leadership skills in this time of crisis.

Instead, it basically turned out to be less damaging than an Oklahoma tornado, and all of those pictures of Obama sitting in his Command Center wound up looking about as serious as an adolescent playing video games.

Toby Harnden, in an article posted at telegraph.co.uk, summed it up this way:

For the television reporter, clad in his red cagoule emblazoned with the CNN logo, it was a dramatic on-air moment, broadcasting live from Long Island, New York during a hurricane that also threatened Manhattan.

“We are in, right, now…the right eye wall, no doubt about that…there you see the surf,” he said breathlessly. “That tells a story right there.”

Stumbling and apparently buffeted by ferocious gusts, he took shelter next to a building. “This is our protection from the wind,” he explained. “It’s been truly remarkable to watch the power of the ocean here.”

The surf may have told a story but so too did the sight behind the reporter of people chatting and ambling along the sea front and just goofing around. There was a man in a t-shirt, a woman waving her arms and then walking backwards. Then someone on a bicycle glided past.

Across the screen, the “Breaking News: Irene Batters Long Island” caption was replaced by stern advice from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA): “Stay inside, stay safe.”

The images summed up Hurricane Irene – the media and the United States federal government trying to live up to their own doom-laden warnings and predictions while a sizeable number of ordinary Americans just carried on as normal and even made gentle fun of all the fuss.

There was almost palpable disappointment among the TV big guns rolled out for the occasion when Irene was downgraded to a mere ‘tropical storm”. In New York city, CNN’s silver-haired Anderson Cooper, more usually seen in a tight t-shirt in a famine or war zone, was clad in what one wag dubbed “disaster casual”.

He looked crestfallen and fell briefly silent when a weatherwoman told him that the rain was not going to get any worse. “Wow, because this isn’t so bad,” he said. “It’s an annoying rain but it isn’t even a sideways rain.”

Disappointment.  Disillusion.  A bunch of hype leading to something that wound up fizzling out.  Sound familiar?  I’ve got three words for ya:

Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm)

Do you remember all of the campaign promises Obama made?  Politifact.com does.  In fact, they have a list called The Top Promises on the Obameter:

1. Create a foreclosure prevention fund for homeowners
2. Create a tax credit of $500 for workers
3. Repeal the Bush tax cuts for higher incomes
4. Begin removing combat brigades from Iraq
5. Train and equip the Afghan army
6. End the use of torture
7. Close the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center
8. Restrict warrantless wiretaps
9. Seek verifiable reductions in nuclear stockpiles
10. Centralize ethics and lobbying information for voters
11. Require more disclosure and a waiting period for earmarks
12. Tougher rules against revolving door for lobbyists and former officials
13. Secure the borders
14. Provide a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants
15. Reform mandatory minimum sentences
16. Secure nuclear weapons materials in four years
17. Strengthen antitrust enforcement
18. Create new financial regulations
19. Sign a “universal” health care bill
20. Create 5 million “green” jobs
21. Reduce oil consumption by 35 percent by 2030
22. Will “reduce oil consumption overall by at least 35 percent, or 10 million barrels of oil, by 2030.
23. Create cap and trade system with interim goals to reduce global warming
24. If you don’t have insurance, or don’t like the insurance you have, you’ll be able to choose a new plan on a health insurance exchange.
25. Cut the cost of a typical family’s health insurance premium by up to $2,500 a year.
26. Bring Democrats and Republicans together to pass an agenda

According to The Obameter Scorecard that Polifact keeps up with, here’s how Obama is doing with his 500 campaign promises that they’re tracking:

Promise Kept 144

Compromise 41

Promise Broken 44

Stalled 73

In the Works 204

Not yet rated 2

Not so great, huh?

In fact, just yesterday, gallup.com reported that Obama had reached his lowest disapproval ate yet, scoring 55% disapproval as compared to 38% who approved of the job he was doing as President of the United States.

As of April 17,2009, Gallup showed Obama’s approval rating averaging 63% for the First Quarter of his Presidency.

That means that his approval rating has fallen 25 percentage points in just  27 months.

Talk about fizzling out.

Last Wednesday, the Feds recreated a scene from The Untouchables, as they busted into factories and offices in Memphis and Nashville, seizing contraband.

Only it wasn’t illegal booze as during the days of Elliot Ness. Barack Obama’s and Eric Holder’s Department of Justice seized American-made guitars!

Supposedly, the Gibson Guitar Company is making guitars composed of endangered wood.

Huh? You mean with all these forests that International Paper and others are planting, this kind of wood cannot be re-grown, also? How do you endanger a tree?

Gibson’s chairman and CEO, Henry Juszkiewicz, has since issued a statement in defense of his company’s manufacturing policies, and, at the same time, accusing the Justice Department of being a bunch of bullies:

The wood the government seized Wednesday is from a Forest Stewardship Council certified supplier.

This wasn’t the first time that Obama has sent agents of the Fish and Wildlife Service to harass Gibson Guitars, the world-famous American maker of such legendary instruments as the Les Paul electric guitar, the J-160E acoustic-electric John Lennon played, and F-hole jazz-boxes such as Charlie Christian’s ES-150.

Back in 2009 the Feds seized several guitars and pallets of wood from a Gibson factory, and both sides have been going back and forth over the goods in a case curiously named “United States of America v. Ebony Wood in Various Forms.”

According to the Feds, they raided Gibson in 2009 because the company had been buying illegally harvested hardwoods from protected forests, such as the Madagascar ebony that composes their legendary fretboards.

If they can prove that Gibson did, with prior knowledge, import illegally harvested ebony from Madagascar, that would be a serious offense.

According to Peter Lowry, ebony and rosewood expert at the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Madagascar wood trade is the “equivalent of Africa’s blood diamonds.”

Wood, huh?

Sorry, tree huggers.  It was revealed yesterday, by Andrew Lawton, of landmarkreport.com, that the reason for the raids has about a much to do with wood as a buffalo nickel:

…It’s worth pointing out that Henry E. Juszkiewicz, Gibson’s Chief Executive Officer, is a donor to a couple of Republican politicians. According to the Open Secrets database, Juszkiewicz donated $2000 to Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN07) last year, as well as $1500 each to Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN). Juszkiewicz also has donated $10,000 to the Consumer Electronics Association, a PAC that contributed $92.5k to Republican candidates last year, as opposed to $72k to Democrats. (The CEA did, however, contribute more to Democrats in the 2008 election cycle.)

When warrants as ridiculous such as these are issued and executed, there appears no other reason than because the company or individual at hand is being targeted, not because there is any sort of wrongdoing. As a company, Gibson is a legendary. They’ve done nothing wrong, except, apparently, deigning to have a Republican CEO.

The plot thickens, however.

One of Gibson’s leading competitors is C.F. Martin & Company. The C.E.O., Chris Martin IV, is a long-time Democratic supporter, with $35,400 in contributions to Democratic candidates and the DNC over the past couple of election cycles. According to C.F. Martin’s catalog, several of their guitars contain “East Indian Rosewood.” In case you were wondering, that is the exact same wood in at least ten of Gibson’s guitars.

The Gibson facility wasn’t raided over allegations of tax evasion, charges of embezzlement, or even something as drab as child labor. Not even close. It was raided over what the DOJ deems an inability to follow a vague domestic trade law in India (one that apparently the Indian government didn’t seem too concerned about enforcing) regarding a specific type of wood. Not illegal wood, just wood with obscenely specific procedural guidelines.

Why is the Obama Administration going after America’s leading Guitar manufacturer, endangering American jobs, in the middle of the worst economy since the Great Depression?

According to Andrew Thomas, in an article posted on October 26, 2010 on americanthinker.com, it’s all about punishing his enemies:

Who is the real Barack Hussein Obama? Harvard-educated professor of law? Radical community organizer? Union flack? Or Chicago Way thug politician?

…This past Monday, speaking on Univision, he warned that attaining his goals will be harder “[I]f Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, ‘We’re gonna punish our enemies and we’re gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us’.”

What kind of Harvard professor talks like that? It appears that a majority of the electorate are about to be added to Barry’s enemy list. And how will he “punish” us? Put a “boot on our throats”? Find out “whose a- to kick”? On the same day, speaking in Rhode Island, he told Republicans “they can come for the ride, but they gotta sit in the back”.

With Obama now in complete command of 50% of the US economy thanks to ObamaCare and Financial Reform (with pending Cap & Trade legislation, EPA regulations, FDA food regulation, and FCC internet regulation to grab most of the remaining economy), finding creative ways to punish enemies and reward friends should be a snap.

Being the President of the United States comes with some unique responsibilities. The President must put aside petty politics and represent all of the American people, whether they be perceived “enemies” or “friends”. Apparently, Mr. Obama has not transcended the thuggish ways of his Chicago political past.

What next? Is the Politboro, err, I mean the Obama Administration, going to seize every vintage Gibson guitar in America?

I guess I had better hide my 1981 Epiphone Sunburst, then.

Oops.  Forget you just read that.

Last evening, my Preacher, a great man of God, posted the following on his Facebook Wall:

Strongest earthquake in 100 years in D.C. Only days later, the strongest storm threat coming in 2 decades. I hope by the time the locusts and plagues show up that somebody in the capital realizes that God may be a little ticked off.

This morning, I surfed over to drudgereport.com to find inspiration for today’s post. The main picture shows Hurricane Irene’s path, hugging America’s East Coast, straight up through Martha’s Vineyard, where President Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm) and his family are still vacationing. The headlines associated with this story read:

STORM ALERT: FROM DC TO BOSTON…

NYC BRACES FOR DIRECT HIT…

EVACS POSSIBLE…

STATE OF EMERGENCY…

NAVY MOVES SHIPS…

FLIGHTS CANCELED, UP AND DOWN…

National Cathedral to be blocked off pre-Irene…

On top of all that, they’ve been forced to indefinitely postpone the dedication ceremony for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, scheduled for this weekend.

So, I said to myself:

Self, what in the Wide, Wide World of Sports is a’goin’ on here?

If all of this is God trying to get our attention, why is he ticked off?

Could it be, that as His Word tells us, he is a jealous God?

Deuteronomy 5:9

You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,

John Adams, our 2nd President, from 1797-1801, wrote:

Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

In America, in the year of Our Lord, 2011:

92% of Americans believe in God.

75% of Americans self-identify as Christians.

Only 2 % of  Americans are Muslim.

Therefore, if 92% of Americans believe in God, it stands to reason that only 8 % of us do not.  If you surf the web or your TV channels, you would think that Atheism is practiced by the majority of our citizens.

And, if you listen to the President of the United States, you would think that America’s Muslim Population is taking over, due to their own “righteous” ways:

From Obama’s book, The Audacity of Hope (2006), pg. 261:

Of course, not all my conversations in immigrant communities follow this easy pattern. In the wake of 9/11, my meetings with Arab and Pakistani Americans, for example, have a more urgent quality, for the stories of detentions and FBI questioning and hard stares from neighbors have shaken their sense of security and belonging. They have been reminded that the history of immigration in this country has a dark underbelly; they need specific assurances that their citizenship really means something, that America has learned the right lessons from the Japanese internments during World War II, and that I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.

And Obama slapped the majority of Americans in the face when he said this:

From cbn.com, July 30, 2007:

…Obama believes that religious conservatives need to accept the fact that America has evolved and government policies need to encompass all faiths because the country is no longer just a Christian nation.

I think that the right might worry a bit more about the dangers of sectarianism. Whatever we once were, we’re no longer just a Christian nation; we are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers. We should acknowledge this and realize that when we’re formulating policies from the state house to the Senate floor to the White House, we’ve got to work to translate our reasoning into values that are accessible to every one of our citizens, not just members of our own faith community.

…In a speech last month to a church convention, Senator Obama told the audience, “Somehow, somewhere along the way, faith stopped being used to bring us together and started being used to drive us apart. It got hijacked. Part of it’s because of the so-called leaders of the Christian Right, who’ve been all too eager to exploit what divides us.”

This from the man who pushed for laws legalizing partial-birth abortion while in the Illinois State Senate, and signed a bill supporting abortion rights on a global scale as soon as he became president.   And then, there’s his shoddy treatment of Israel, showing his willful ignorance of Genesis 12: 1-3:

1 Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

I don’t know Who Scooter worshiped for those 20 long years in Rev. Wright’s church, but the God Christians worship unites us all under His Banner of Love.

Oh, by the way, did you hear what Mayor Bloomberg of New York said yesterday?

He is barring religion from the 9/11 10th Anniversary Memorial Service.

Newsmax reports:

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is under attack for refusing to allow members of the clergy to play a role in the city’s commemoration of the tenth anniversary of 9/11.

Bloomberg insists the ceremonies should focus on the families of those killed in the attacks on the World Trade Center. He is also barring political speech. But pastors and politicians are lining up to lambast his decision, reports The Wall Street Journal.

“This is America, and to have a memorial service where there’s no prayer, this appears to be insanity to me,” said Rudy Washington, a deputy mayor under Bloomberg’s predecessor Rudy Giuliani, who organized a nationally televised interfaith ceremony at Yankee Stadium in the days after the 2001 attacks.

“I feel like America has lost its way,” added Washington. “I am very upset about it. This is crazy.”

Indeed.

May God protect those in the path of Hurricane Irene.

The Former Vice-Presisdent of the United States, Dick Cheney, is about to release a book, titled, In My Time.

According to a source close to Cheney:

This is not an apology tour. It’s the book of a proud conservative. He’s not looking to kiss and make up with the NEW YORK TIMES set, or for that matter, some of his former Bush administration colleagues,.

Some of the highlights, per drudgereport.com, include:

In a chapter entitled, SETBACK, Cheney is blunt about failures in Bush Administration foreign policy, especially in the second term. He criticizes ‘concessions delivered’ to North Korea ‘in the naive hope that despots would respond in kind,’ and says the president was badly served by his State Department, including through advice that was ‘utterly misleading.’

Cheney excoriates Colin Powell for standing by silently, knowing that his deputy Richard Armitage was responsible for leaking Valerie Plame’s identity to the press.

Says that it’s not Guantanamo Bay that hurts America’s image abroad but rather critics like Barack Obama who ‘peddle falsehoods about it.’

Says that Attorney General John Ashcroft approved the controversial Terrorist Surveillance Program that tracked terrorist communications no less than 20 times before his deputy, James Comey, objected. In a briefing delivered by Cheney and NSA Director Mike Hayden, Democratic congressional leaders Pelosi, Daschle, Harman and Rockefeller unanimously agreed the program should continue and that the administration should not seek any further authorization from Congress. ‘The view around the table was unanimous… They feared, as did we, that going to the whole Congress would compromise its secrecy.’ When it did leak in the NEW YORK TIMES, Cheney writes that the NEW YORK TIMES clearly violated the law by printing information about classified communications intelligence programs.

Unrepentant on Iraq. Even in hindsight, Cheney asserts it was the right decision, even taking into account mistakes on intelligence. Says those Democrats, like John Kerry, who supported the war and then flipped for political expedience and accused the president of ‘peddling untruths’ are guilty of just that themselves.

Another one of the revelations in the book is the existence of secret resignation letter that only one of Cheney’s staffers knew about. The letter was signed in March 2001 and was keptlocked in a safe at all times.

Vice-President Cheney told NBC’s Jamie Gangel in an exclusive interview that will air on NBC’s “Dateline” at 10 p.m. ET Aug. 29:

I did it because I was concerned that — for a couple of reasons. One was my own health situation. The possibility that I might have a heart attack or a stroke that would be incapacitating. And there is no mechanism for getting rid of a vice president who can’t function.

To quote “Darth” Chaney:

There are gonna be heads exploding all over Washington.

The book was ranked #267 on AMAZON’s hit parade late Wednesday. It will be available for the world to consume on August 30th.

Meanwhile, what is our current Vice-President up to?

Well, he’s currently in the middle of a Tour of Asia, doing what he does best:  making an embarrassment of himself.

Per foxnews.com:

Vice President Biden is facing criticism after telling a crowd in China that he doesn’t have a problem with the country’s one-child policy.

The vice president addressed the policy while answering a question about the U.S. budget deficit at a university in Chengdu on Sunday. He was trying to explain how China has a looming entitlement crisis on its hands because its strict enforcement of the one-child-per-family rule has essentially eroded the “safety net” for seniors. Fewer children means fewer people earning money and supporting retirees.

But in explaining that concept, Biden appeared to condone China’s policy.

“You have no safety net. Your policy has been one which I fully understand — I’m not second-guessing — of one child per family,” Biden said, according to the official transcript of the event. “The result being that you’re in a position where one wage earner will be taking care of four retired people. Not sustainable.”

With that statement, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, immediately (after sticking his finger up in the air, in order to see in which direction the political winds were blowing) announced that China’s policy “gruesome and barbaric” and questioned how Biden could have given it a pass.

Releasing a terse statement, Romney declared:

Vice President Biden’s acquiescence to such a policy should shock the conscience of every American. Instead of condoning the policy, Vice President Biden should have condemned it in the strongest possible terms.

Gee. Ya think, DiNozzo?

The CEO of Concerned Women for America, Peggy Nance, also released a statement, saying that Biden’s comment “crosses the lines of ignorant and wrong.”

Then, a spokesman for Biden released a statement later Tuesday stating that:

The Obama Administration strongly opposes all aspects of China’s coercive birth limitation policies, including forced abortion and sterilization.

The Vice President believes such practices are repugnant. He also pointed out, in China, that the policy is, as a practical matter, unsustainable. He was arguing against the One Child Policy to a Chinese audience.

Uh huh.

For the record, China began their horrendous policy three decades ago to help curb population growth. While it does not apply to those in rural areas, families living in cities can be subjected to stiff fines for breaking the rule. The policy has also resulted in families choosing to have male children more frequently than female children, and compassionate (usually Christian) Americans attempting to adopt those unwanted Chinese baby girls.

Little did I know just how prophetic I was, when I posted the following comment on the great Conservative website, hotair.com on 10/19/2010 at 8:45 p.m., Eastern:

We went from Darth Cheney to Jar Jar Biden.

C’mon, January 2013.