Requiem for a Bad Dog: John McCormack 1955-2011

If, when we’re standing before God, the amount of good we do with our lives, and the amount of joy and happiness that we are able to bring to this world of pain is brought up, then, Thursday afternoon, the Pearly Gates shook with the infectious laughter of one giant of a man.

John “Bad Dog” McCormack lost his long battle with AML late Thursday Afternoon at Methodist University Hospital in his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee.  Bad Dog was an on-air personality for 22 years at WEGR Rock 103, a Classic Rock Station.

Bad Dog began as a part of the Wake-up Crew with Tim Spencer and Bev Hart.  Dog was basically a 14-year-old kid in a man’s body.  He was a natural-born prankster, and became known for his creation of “The Twilight Phone”, an anonymous prank call he would make to unsuspecting citizens. 

In one memorable call, he impersonated an Apartment Manager, calling a guy who dumped his fiance’s dead pet Piranhas into the apartment lake, claiming that they came back to life and the poor sap had to reimburse the apartment $2,8000 for draining and restocking the lake.  And then, there was Bad Dog”s possibly most famous call, where he talked to an older gentleman named Mr. Lannum, impersonating a collector attempting to collect on a  past-due cable bill.  Mr. Lannum went ballistic, cussing a blue streak that is still talked of in hushed tones to this day, 20 tears later:

When he finally clued the individuals in to whom they had been talking to, each one of them eventually forgave him, because, after all, it was Bad Dog.

Another routine that Bad Dog came up with, was remarkable.  In a city known for racial polarization, he came up with the idea of numbering their show’s Black listeners, thinking that actual black listeners would be few and far between.  Well, Bad Dog received a big surprise.

The routine became very popular among Memphis’  Black Community, as people called in to talk to Bad Dog.  He would make up a hilarious “oath” for the listener to say, and from then on, whenever this individual would call in to talk about the subject of the day, they would self-identify as Black Listener Number So-and-So.  Everyone loved Bad Dog.

However, the most incredible thing that this man accomplished during his time with us started when he, Spencer, and Hart decided to begin a yearly Radiothon in support of St. Jude Hospital’s Ronald McDonald House.

Over the last 20 years, Bad Dog and his co-workers have raised over $7 million dollars to help build and maintain the refuge for cancer-stricken kids and their families, so they could have some semblance of normal life while they undergo treatment at St. Jude. 

Bad Dog McCormack was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia in late October 2009.  He was still working mornings, though his new partner was Ric Chetter.  Clear Channel Communications, in their infinite wisdom, had split up the popular Wake Up Crew in November of 2006, firing Newsperson Bev Hart, and, eventually moving Rock 103 Program Director Tim Spencer to Mid-days.

Bad Dog continued to work as he underwent treatment, as he felt that this was the best medicine for him and what God had called him to do.  His courage in the face of his own mortality was an inspiration to the entire Mid-South, as his barrel-house laugh continued to reverberate through the car speakers of the Mid-South every morning.  He also continued to work the annual Rock103 Radiothon, letting nothing stand in his way of helping the kids.

Bad Dog underwent a bone marrow transplant in November of 2010.  He seemed to be doing better, and, in December, an online poll of Memphians voted him The Most Noteworthy Memphian of the Year.

On February 10-11th, Bad Dog was at the mic, around the clock, for the 20th Annual Rock103 Radiothon.  When it was over, he announced that more Leukemia had been found.  He remained upbeat, and said that this was just par for the course.

Meanwhile, Clear Channel Communications, again in its infinite wisdom, fired Ric Chetter, and moved Bad Dog and Tim Spencer to afternoons, while bringing in a morning show named Free Beer and Hot Wings, 5 guys syndicated out of the Great White North, whose humor about hockey games is about as relevant to the Mid-South as hunting moose.

Bad Dog took this change in his usual good-natured stride, happy to be back with his old partner-in-crime, Tim.

Then, last Thursday, Bad Dog took a turn for the worse.  He was rushed to Methodist University Hospital in Downtown Memphis, where he passed away from an aneurysm, brought about by his Leukemia.

In an interview with the Commercial Appeal, Bad Dog made this comment about his battle against Leukemia and his love for the kids at St. Jude:

When I see what they are going through, I have no reason to complain. They are so young and have so much pain. I’ve lived a blessed life. If I died tomorrow, I’d go with a smile on my face.

He also, in his usual big-hearted, gentle way, left a statement to be released after his death:

I have gone to be with God and he is holding me tightly and I am surrounded by many of the Ronald McDonald’s House kids. Do not say you have lost a friend… One is only lost when you don’t know where they are… you know where I am. I thank each and every one of you for your support and prayers. I love all of you and that will never go away. When you are having a bad day… think of my laugh or a Twilight phone or the time we met. None of us is guaranteed tomorrow, make every day great, be the spiritual leader of your family. May peace be with you. Your friend, Bad Dog.

John”Bad Dog” McCormack, 55,  leaves behind his two sons, Buck and Tucker, a huge family, and thousands of fans.

As one of those fans, please allow me to say thank you, Bad Dog, for brightening up a lot of dreary mornings. 

A sign currently on display outside  a local jewelry store says it all:

BAD DOG MADE MEMPHIS A BETTER PLACE.

Priorities….

While the Middle East continues to implode, gas prices in our country continue to skyrocket, our Best and Brightest remain in hard’s way in hostile countries, and 1/6th of our population remain on Food Stamps, President Barack Hussein Obama spent Saturday working on his number one priority: 

HIS GOLF GAME .

Well, I mean, you really can’t blame him, can you?  The weather in D.C. was over 60 degress and beautiful.  And he had his usual buds with him:  Ben Finkenbinder of the press office, Marvin Nicholson, the president’s trip director and David Katz, a Dept of Energy staffer.

This is the president’s 60th time golfing as president, meaning Obama has spent two months of his presidency on the golf course.

These golf outings usually take about five hours, including travel time for the 10-vehicle Presidential motorcade to travel to the course and back to the people’s house.

CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller reports that Obama played 30 rounds in 2010, 28 rounds in 2009, and two this year, including yesterday.

I can hear the Libs whining now:   Boooosh played golf, too!

Well, yeah, he did…24 times.

President Bush stopped golfing in 2003.  He explained why in an interview with politico.com in 2003:

I don’t want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander-in-chief playing golf.  I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal.

Evidently, the present occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue doesn’t have that problem with his conscience.

On the other hand, Obama has attended church 6 times since becoming President.  The last time was last September, when he and his family went to St. John’s Episcopal in D.C. 

For you that are mathmatically-challenged out there, this means that Scooter plays golf 9 times for every time that he goes to church.

It is no wonder then, when Time magazine conducted a poll last August that the Abt SRBI survey of 1,002 adults revealed that 24 percent think the president is a Muslim.

The poll was taken after Obama made remarks in support of the right of Muslims to build a mosque at Ground Zero in New York City, where the Twin Towers fell and 3,000 Americans were killed on September 11, 2001.

Right now, the Libs are screaming:  But…but…he went to Reverend Wright’s Church for 20 years.

About that…from my post, The Great Disconnect, Part 2:  Columbia, Community Organizing, and “Hahvard”:

From 1985 – 1988, Obama was a Community Organizer in Chicago. What does a Community Organizer do? I’m glad you asked.

Per Byron York in an article found at nationalreview.com:

Community organizing is most identified with the left-wing Chicago activist Saul Alinsky (1909-72), who pretty much defined the profession. In his classic book, Rules for Radicals, Alinsky wrote that a successful organizer should be “an abrasive agent to rub raw the resentments of the people of the community; to fan latent hostilities of many of the people to the point of overt expressions.” Once such hostilities were “whipped up to a fighting pitch,” Alinsky continued, the organizer steered his group toward confrontation, in the form of picketing, demonstrating, and general hell-raising.

Obama was hired by Jerry Kellman, a New Yorker who had gotten into organizing in the 1960s. Kellman was trying to help laid-off factory workers on the far South Side of Chicago, in a nearly 100% black community. He led a group, the Calumet Community Religious Conference, that had been created by several local Catholic churches in the industrial community. Kellman was advised to hire a black organizer for a new spinoff from CCRC. They called it the Developing Communities Project, designed to focus solely on the Chicago part of the area.

One of Obama’s projects while he was there, was to try to build an alliance of white and black churches and enlist them in the cause of social justice. Obama had a problem, though. He didn’t go to church himself. And that, brothers and sisters, is how Obama, drawn to the preaching of Rev. Jeremiah Wright (and a political opportunity), joined Trinity United Church of Christ on 95th Street.

It was simply a matter of political expediency.

This being Sunday morning, I’m about to go wake up my beloved bride to get ready to attend our church.  It’s something that I and millions of other Americans will be doing this morning, because He is our priorityand our Rock.

A Tragic End to a Noble Quest

When you speak about rich people on a yachting adventure, your mind probably immediately visualizes Thurston B. Howell III and his wife, Lovey.

Unfortunately for 4 Americans yachting around the coast of Africa, their story was not a television comedy series. It was a tragedy.

Yesterday, Somali Pirates, who were holding the 4 Americans hostage, killed them in response to being shadowed by a U.S. Navy Destroyer.

One of the pirates fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the Destroyer. Then, gunfire erupted and U.S. special forces boarded the yacht. too late. The 4 innocent Americans were fatally wounded.

Pirates had been in control of the 58-foot yacht Quest south of Oman on Friday.  They had been shadowed since then by four U.S. warships and sky-high drones, as the pirates tried to sail it to the Somali shore. U.S. officials tried to negotiate with the thugs via radio.

The owners of the Quest, Scott and Jan Adam, of Marina del Rey, California, were missionaries, who had been sailing around the world since 2004, handing out bibles. Also killed were Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle, both of Seattle, Washington.

Around Christmas, they joined the Blue Water Rally, an around-the-world race. Race organizers said the Quest recently left the race despite warnings about the dangers of sailing in Horn of Africa region.

However, the Blue Water Rally admitted in a statement Tuesday that even though yachtsmen are discouraged from sailing in the region, the only other choices are to sail around the stormy and dangerous tip of South Africa or sail back across the Pacific.

The experienced yacht enthusiasts from California and Washington are the first Americans killed by Somali pirates since the start of attacks off East Africa several years ago. One of the American couples on board had been sailing around the world since 2004 handing out Bibles.

Adam, in his mid-60s, was an Associate Producer in Hollywood a decade ago, when he decided to give his life to God and enrolled in seminary, according to Robert K. Johnston, a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena and a friend of Adam’s.

He decided he could take his pension, and he wanted to serve God and humankind.

Johnston and Adam started a film and theology institute. Adam also taught a class on church and media at the school.

Since 2004, the Adams lived on their yacht. They docked at Marina Del Rey for about half the year and then, the rest of the year, they sailed around the world, often distributing Bibles in remote parts of the Fiji Islands, Alaska, New Zealand, Central America and French Polynesia, Johnston said.

The Christian couple documented their missionary work on their website, S/V Quest Adventure Log.

The website has been removed.

The Adams’ friends, Riggle and Macay, were eulogized by Joe Grande of the Seattle Singles Yacht Club, where they were members, as:

Great sailors, good people. They were doing what they wanted to do, but that’s small comfort in the face of this.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton strongly condemned the killings, saying in a statement that the slayings were “deplorable”. She called for international cooperation in fighting the scourge of piracy in waters off the Horn of Africa.

If they won’t do it, we must, Madame Secretary.

President Barack Hussein Obama, was told about the deaths at 4:42 a.m. Washington time. He had authorized the military on Saturday to use force in case of an imminent threat to the hostages, according to new White House spokesman Jay Carney.

That’s fine, Mr. President.  But, it’s time for you and your Administration to quit talking about international cooperation.  You’ve tried that already.  As president, you are responsible for the lives of Americans, no matter where they are in the world.

May I suggest reading about Thomas Jefferson and the Barbary Pirates.  Just like Muslim Terrorists, they only respond to one thing…and it’s not a reasoned debate.

According to a pirate who identified himself as Muse Abdi, killing hostages

…has now become part of our rules. From now on, anyone who tries to rescue the hostages in our hands will only collect dead bodies. It will never ever happen that hostages are rescued and we are hauled to prison.

Fine. The United States needs to oblige them. You reap what you sow.

Obama and the UN Vote on Israel: How to Shaft a Friend

Upon returning from this week’s Wednesday night church service, where my Preacher framed the happenings in Egypt and the Middle East in biblical prophetic terms, I returned home to the following headline on the Drudge Report:  US TO REBUKE ISRAEL AT UN.

According to the story, reported on turtlebay.foreign policy.com, the Obama Administration informed Arab governments Tuesday that it will turn on our ally, Israel, and support a U.N. Security Council statement which declares sanctimonious that the 15-nation body “does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity,”.  This is a peremptory move by the UN designed to avoid a veto vote on an upcoming Palestinian resolution proclaiming the settlements illegal.

This would be Obama’s first veto vote since taking office in 2009.

The sad fact is, Israel is building on its own land.

However, the Palestinians rejected the peremptory offer late Wednesday from the US and the Arab nations. Instead, the Palestinians planned to call for a vote on their resolution Friday.

At the time, the Obama Administration hoped that their involvement in this ignorance will be seen as a renewed willingness to seek a way out of the current impasse, even if it requires shafting a friend and joining others in the council in telling Israel to stop its construction of new settlements on its own land.

But, as of this morning, the worm has turned…

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas has ordered an urgent session of the Palestinian leadership this morning.

The meeting will include members of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the central committee of Abbas’ Fatah movement, scant hours ahead of a Security Council vote in New York, officials said.

Why the Palestinian panic?

Well, US President Barack Hussein Obama (peace be upon him) called Abbas late last night about the UN vote.

According to Palestinian Presidential Spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina:

During the conversation, they reviewed … the question of taking settlement activities before the UN Security Council.

The tight-lipped spokesman said that several ideas were raised during the hour-long conversation and Obama and Hamas agreed to continue consultations.

He would not elaborate.  I’ll bet.

Obama is trying to walk a fine line.  He evidently told Abbas that he and his Administration do not believe this matter should be handled within the UN Security Council, meeting today from 3.00 pm New York time (2000 GMT).

US Secretary of State (and Palestinian backer)Hillary Clinton said on Thursday:

Our focus is on doing what is best to advance negotiations between the parties. And we have consistently — over many years — said that the United Nations Security Council, and resolutions that would come before the Security Council, are not the right vehicle to advance that goal.

Supposedly, earlier in the week, Obama’s ambassador to the UN had offered the Palestinians various compromise solutions to entice them to withdraw the resolution, but they rejected the overtures, according to Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Maliki.

US-brokered peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians stopped at the end of 2010 over an argument about Israel building settlements on land that the Palestinians want.

The Palestinians will not negotiate while Israel builds on its own land that the Palestinians want to take from them.

Why did Obama and crew pull a quick 180 degree turn?  Perhaps it’s because of the reaction in Washington over Obama’s handling of this tense situation. 

Wild-eyed Liberal schmuck Rep. Anthony Weiner was not impressed:

This is too clever by half. Instead of doing the correct and principled thing and vetoing an inappropriate and wrong resolution, they now have opened the door to more and more anti-Israeli efforts coming to the floor of the U.N. The correct venue for discussions about settlements and the other aspects of a peace plan is at the negotiating table. Period.

And according to thehill.com:

On the last Thursday in January, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor(R-Va.),Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), ranking member Howard Berman (D-Calif.), incoming Middle East subcommittee Chairman Steve Chabot (R-Ohio) and ranking member Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.), Sent a letter to Obama asking him to

…pledge in response to this letter to veto any U.N. Security Council resolution that criticizes Israel regarding final status issues”

Instead of negotiating directly with Israel to achieve a peaceful solution to the conflict, Palestinian leaders continue to seek to circumvent the negotiating process by advocating anti-Israel measures by the U.N. Security Council, U.N. General Assembly and U.N. Human Rights Council. In fact, Palestinian leaders are currently seeking consideration of a Security Council resolution that would condemn Israel for the aforementioned housing construction and demand that Israel cease all such activity.

Mr. President, the passage of this resolution would simply isolate Israel and embolden the Palestinians to focus on further such pyrrhic victories, immeasurably setting back prospects for achieving real peace.

So, Obama’s 180 was not made out of any love for Israel.  Last night’s late night phone call was made to maintain harmony within his own political party.  Scooter and Madame Clinton will still shaft Israel the first chance that they get.

God protect us.

CPAC and GOProud

Merriam-Webster.com defines Conservatism as:

…tending or disposed to maintain existing views, conditions, or institutions : traditional b : marked by moderation or caution <a conservative estimate> c : marked by or relating to traditional norms of taste, elegance, style, or manners

Synonyms (like words) for this word include: archconservative, brassbound, button-down (or buttoned-down), die-hard, hidebound, mossbacked, old-fashioned, old-line, old-school, orthodox, paleoconservative, reactionary, standpat, traditional, traditionalistic, ultraconservative, unprogressive

Antonyms (opposite words) include: broad-minded, large-minded, liberal, nonconservative, nonconventional, nonorthodox, nontraditional, open-minded, progressive, unconventional, unorthodox

The year, the annual CPAC (Conservative Political Action Committee)  meeting has created a ton of buzz among Conservatives by the Gay Republican organization, GOProud, to attend their annual event, which, in the past, has featured keynote speakers such a Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.

The Conservative Internet websites have been abuzz the past couple of weeks as to the merits of this group attending the annual event.

I thought it might be helpful to find out exactly who GOProud is.

According to their website GOProud.org:

GOProud represents gay conservatives and their allies. GOProud is committed to a traditional conservative agenda that emphasizes limited government, individual liberty, free markets and a confident foreign policy. GOProud promotes our traditional conservative agenda by influencing politics and policy at the federal level.

 How, you ask?  I’m glad you did.

According to their site, their Federal Legislative Priorities are described thusly:

The so-called “gay agenda” is defined by the left through a narrow prism of legislative goals. In contrast to the approach of the left, GOProud’s agenda emphasizes conservative and libertarian principles that will improve the daily lives of all Americans, but especially gay and lesbian Americans.

1 – TAX REFORM – We support replacing the current tax code with the Fair Tax. Until then, we support death tax repeal; domestic partner tax equity; cuts in the capital gains and corporate tax rates to jump start our economy and create jobs; a fairer, flatter and substantially simpler tax code.

2 – HEALTHCARE REFORM – Free market healthcare reform. Allow for the purchase of insurance across state lines – expanding access to domestic partner benefits; emphasizing individual ownership of healthcare insurance – such a shift would prevent discriminatory practices by an employer or the government.

3 – SOCIAL SECURITY REFORM – The only way to permanent solvency in the Social Security system is through the creation of inheritable personal savings accounts. Personal savings accounts would give gay and lesbian couples the same opportunity to leave their accounts to their spouses as their straight counterparts.

4 – RESPECTING THE PROPER ROLE OF THE JUDICIARY – We believe our Constitution should be respected and that judges appointed to the federal bench should recognize the proper and appropriate role of the judiciary as laid out by our Founding Fathers.

5 – HOLDING THE LINE ON SPENDING – Standing up for all tax payers against wasteful and unnecessary spending to protect future generations from the mounting federal debt.

6 – FIGHTING GLOBAL EXTREMISTS – Standing strong against radical regimes that refuse to recognize the basic human rights of gays and lesbians, women and religious minorities.

7 – DEFENDING OUR CONSTITUTION – Opposing any anti-gay federal marriage amendment. Marriage should be a question for the states. A federal constitutional amendment on marriage would be an unprecedented federal power grab from the states.

8 – ENCOURAGING COMMUNITY ENTREPRENEURSHIP – Package of free market reforms to encourage and support small businesses and entrepreneurship. Such reforms would create jobs for all Americans – including gay Americans.

9 – REVITALIZING OUR COMMUNITIES – A package of urban related reforms; expanding historic tax preservation credits; support for school choice.

10 – DEFENDING OUR COMMUNITY – Protecting 2nd amendment rights

Is this group, Conservative?  Why does the phrase “having your cake and eating it, too” come to mind?

GOPProud is about to hold a private event featuring Andrew Breitbart and singer Sophie B. Hawkins.  Mr. Breitbart is a well-known Conservative media figure. 

On the other hand, Sophie B. Hawkins, singer/songwriter is a Pro-Gay, Pro-Abortion, environmentalist who is a frequent contributor to Huffington Post.  In researching information about her, I have found that she sings about both men and women, and has said:

Just because I sing about women doesn’t mean I’m gay. Just because I sing about guys doesn’t mean I’m straight.

Whatever gets you more free publicity and listeners, huh, Sophie?

CPAC is well within their rights as an American organization to invite GOProud, if their purpose in attending is to advance a united Conservative message.  If their purpose in attending is to advance the acceptance and normalization of their sexual orientation, that is another matter indeed.

As I have said and done many times, in my ever-lengthening life, if you tell me you’re homosexual, I’ll pray for you.  I’ll pray with you.  I’ll work with you and I’ll treat you with the same Christian kindness that I treat other men and women.  I will love the sinner and hate the sin.

A Sacred Trust? Or a Punishment?

This is a picture of Laminin, a glycoprotein found in basement membrane.



Colossians 1:15-17 tells us:

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Abortion Provider, Dr. Kermit Gosnell, operator of a clinic sponsored by the Women’s Medical Society in West Philadelphia, PA has been indicted by a grand jury and arrested for delivering 8 late-term babies alive at his clinic, severing their spines with scissors, and keeping their precious little bodies in refrigerators at his dirty, run-down office, next to his staff’s lunches. Tiny baby feet were discovered in specimen jars, as if they were a collection of specimens for Biology Class.

Prosecutors have charged this Americanized Josef Mengele with the death of seven babies born alive and with the 2009 death of a 41-year-old refugee after Gosnell botched her abortion procedure. Prosecutors say that they were dealing drugs at the clinic, also. Gosnell netted at least $1.8 million a year, most of it in cash, for his butchery. Prosecutors are not sure exactly how many babies died there. but they are believe that the count is in the hundreds.

According to the investigating grand jury:

(He) regularly and illegally delivered live, viable babies in the third trimester of pregnancy and then murdered these newborns by severing their spinal cords with scissors.

The grand jury also said that while it believes Gosnell killed most of the babies he aborted after 24 weeks, it could not recommend murder charges for all of the cases:

In order to constitute murder, the act must involve a baby who was born alive.

After saying that, the grand jury also said that a lot of files were falsified or removed and possibly destroyed, making their investigation very difficult:

In a 300 page report that was released Wednesday, the grand jury stated that:

His entire practice showed nothing but a callous disdain for the lives of his patients.

The jury also blamed Pennsylvania state health and medical regulators. They said that the authorities had numerous opportunities to shut Gosnell down over the years but turned a deaf ear to complaint after complaint about the slaughterhouse.

Prosecutors reported that state officials refused to inspect the clinic despite repeated complaints from 1993 until January 2010. At that time,the Feds raided the clinic, investigating heavy painkiller distribution and shut it down.

Gosnell, when he was arraigned Thursday, claimed that he did not understand why he was being charged with eight counts of murder:.

I understand the one count, because a patient died, but I didn’t understand the seven counts.

Gosnell described himself as someone who wanted to serve the poor and minorities in the neighborhood where he grew up and raised his six children, who include a doctor, a college professor and two children who are still at home, during an interview with the Philadelphia Daily News after the clinic raid last year.

Gosnell aborted babies at his squalid excuse for a clinic from 8 p.m. until after midnight. This brave man only showed up after his pregnant patients were dilated, sedated and ready for the abortion procedure.

In the light of day, his untrained or undertrained staff ran the clinic and practiced medicine there, authorities said. They ranged from two supposed “doctors” who had finished medical school but had no licenses to Ashley Baldwin, the 15-year-old daughter of office manager Tina Baldwin, according to prosecutors. The teenager came after school to administer anesthesia and assist with abortions, even past midnight, the grand jury charged.

Gosnell is certified in family practice but never finished an obstetrics/gynecology residency. In the words of Joanne Pescatore, a lead prosecutor on the case:

He does not know how to do an abortion.

The grand jury report says that this butcher

…perforated the uteruses, bowels and cervixes of countless patients. He left fetal parts inside, ignored postoperative pain and bleeding and passed venereal diseases from one patient to the next through bloody and dirty instruments.

As if the abortions were not enough, Gosnell ranked third in the state for the number of prescriptions he wrote for OxyContin, the highly addictive narcotic painkiller. Per authorities, he left blank prescriptions for such drugs at his office and allowed staff to make them out to the cash-paying patients who streamed in during the day, when he wasn’t there.

Do you wonder how President Obama feels about this baby butcher?  Here’s a clue:

President Barack Hussein Obama issued the following statement yesterday, concerning the event of the 38th anniversary of Roe v. Wade:

Today marks the 38th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that protects women’s health and reproductive freedom, and affirms a fundamental principle: that government should not intrude on private family matters.

I am committed to protecting this constitutional right. I also remain committed to policies, initiatives, and programs that help prevent unintended pregnancies, support pregnant women and mothers, encourage healthy relationships, and promote adoption.

And on this anniversary, I hope that we will recommit ourselves more broadly to ensuring that our daughters have the same rights, the same freedoms, and the same opportunities as our sons to fulfill their dreams.

While the President was making this statement, I witnessed faculty and students at a Parochial school in Memphis, TN, prepare for the long bus ride up to Washington, DC in order to participate in the annual Pro-Life Rally there.  May God bless them on their journey

Once again, this President, who was raised differently from the majority of Americans, holds fast to his view that a baby is not a sacred trust from God, but a punishment.

Pushing Back the Envelope

Last Monday night on MTV, a new dramatic series premiered entitled Skins.  No, it isn’t about a touch football game.  But, they are trying to move society’s cultural goalposts.

Skins tells the story of a bunch of 15-year-old-or-so teenagers doing drugs, having sex, doing more drugs, sharing their teenage angst with each other, and basically doing every hedonistic thing that the scriptwriters could think of in order to boost this poor-excuse-for- a-television program’s ratings, such as showing the rear view of a 15-year-old boy, running naked down the street, freaking out over the effects of the Viagra that he’s taken.

Pitiful.

By the way, is it just me or does that picture remind you of a scene from the Spencer Tracy movie, Dante’s Inferno?  But I digress…

Per hollywoodreporter.com:

Executives at Viacom, MTV’s parent company have already reportedly told producers to tone down the show. Meanwhile, the Parents Television Council said this week that it’s urging the Department of Justice and U.S. Senate and House Judiciary Committees to open an investigation.

The group sent a statement to those organizations, saying:

In addition to the sexual content on the show involving cast members as young as 15, PTC counted 42 depictions and references to drugs and alcohol in the premiere episode.

It is clear that Viacom has knowingly produced material that may well be in violation of [several anti-child pornography laws],” added the PTC, which earlier called the show “the most dangerous program ever for children.

MTV responded:

Skins is a show that addresses real-world issues confronting teens in a frank way. We review all of our shows and work with all of our producers on an ongoing basis to ensure our shows comply with laws and community standards. We are confident that the episodes of ‘Skins’ will not only comply with all applicable legal requirements, but also with our responsibilities to our viewers.

Uh-huh.  Yeah, right.  And Snookie will win an Oscar someday.

The PTC also called for the boycotting of Taco Bell for advertising on the program.

Per Fox News, Taco Bell has since pulled their advertising from the program.

So has General Motors, after airing commercials for the Chevy Volt during the show’s premiere on Monday night.

According to one of the teen actors on the series, Sofia Black-D’elia, the content of the show is no big deal:

It’s pushing the boundaries for teen drama because I think Skins goes where other shows are afraid to.

The actress, who plays a teen lesbian on the program, made her remarks on the HDNet show Naughty But Nice With Rob earlier this week. 

This young lady also says: 

It’s what teens are doing. It’s the way teenagers believe, I think, especially you know in certain situations when you come from home lives where your parents don’t really support you or really listen to you. That’s what most of these kids are going through. And so, um, the drugs and the sex, they’re vices, and that’s what teenagers have.

Not the majority of them, sweetie-pie, even if the Progressives who run MTV desperately want them to be. 

Skins debuted Monday night with 3.3 million viewers. It is now MTV’s highest-rated new scripted series in the network’s key 12-34 demo – a 3.4 – which translates to roughly 2.7 million.

This fact is, it’s MTV’s only scripted series.  People slow down to look at a car wreck, too.

Like the new SyFy series, Being Human, this is not even a original series, but is an Americanized version of a program shown on the BBC.

Explains why Sharia Law is on the verge of taking over England, doesn’t it?

Time for another “It seems like it was just yesterday” moment:

The year was 1981.  I was just out of college, working in the Local Programming Department of my city’s Cablevision franchise.  One of the guys brought in a 3/4″ U-matic video tape of a new channel that was premiering called Music Television.  The tape had 3 videos on it:  Phil Collins’ In the Air Tonight, a song by .38 Special, and a concept video by a group called Split Enz, One Step Ahead.

Later that year, MTV premiered with the aptly-titled song Video Killed the Radio Star by the Buggles. 

As with all great ideas, the Progressives eventually changed MTV into something that it was never meant to be.  They used MTV to attempt to change America’s cultural mores, first through music videos and genres, such as Heavy Metal and Rap, and later through racy reality series and live satellite-delivered programs from Spring Break in Florida.  The reality series became national water cooler topics,  like the one where they put a bunch of amoral losers in a house together, competing to be top dog.

As I mentioned before, it’s the train wreck effect, otherwise known as the “did-you-see-what happened-on-that-show-last-night-syndrome”.

With Skins, MTV and Viacom are once again attempting to move American Society’s Cultural Goalposts.  Only this time, it seems that they pushed the envelope too far, and Americans are pushing back.

The War Against Christianity: The European Theatre

Have you heard about this?

The European Union has published a school calendar that leaves out Christian holidays, like Christmas and Easter, while noting significant Jewish and Muslim celebrations.

3 million copies have already been printed and will be given out freely to students who request it from the union’s 27 member countries.

According to the Catholic News Agency, former French politician and government minister Christine Boutin noted the omission of Christian holidays in a Jan. 11 blog post, saying the calendar slights the religion practiced or recognized as forming the cultural assembly of our ‘old’ continent.

She also wrote that Christianity has fallen into the limbo of collective ignorance.

The European Union, meanwhile, claims that leaving out Christian holidays on this calendar given out to millions of students was simply an error.

Yeah, right.

The calendar was created as an educational tool for students. They can write their homework and activities on each page. Below each calendar page, there are inspirational quotes, information or comments for reflection.

I wonder if any Bible verses are included? Probably not.

There are no Christian holidays on the calendar, but the EU made darn sure that Sikh Baisakhi-Day, Yom Kippur, and the Muslim holiday Aid-el-Kebir remain listed.

The European Union sent out the following explanation:

At the bottom of each page of this ‘class journal’ are small quotes or information devoted to various subjects and perhaps less known to European students. Some of them sometimes refer to cultural events, historical and religious…This approach led, without any deliberate intent, in the absence of references to events and important religious festivals that are very much a part of European heritage, particularly…Christmas and its importance in the Christian religion.

The EU claims that the Christian holidays will be put back on the calendar for future printings.

Only because the public noticed.

On the other hand, per billionbibles.org:

Sharia law entered Europe after WWII when the weakened European nations retracted from their colonies, bringing to Europe their former colonial subjects as both refugees and cheap labor from such Muslim nations as Pakistan (UK), Turkey (Germany) and Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia (France).

Initially, Sharia law was applied discretely within the small Muslim communities of Europe. But after two generations of high birth rate and immigration, those communities have grown to where the Sharia law now challenges the Judeo-Christian foundations of their host European nations.

In Germany, for example, Muslim men have successfully used the Sharia law in court to defend their right to beat their wives and to practice polygamy.

In United Kingdom, where Islamic imams now outnumber Christian pastors and converting empty church buildings into mosques has become a cottage industry, the Archbishop of Canterbury – the leader of the Church of England – recently stated that adopting elements of the Sharia law into the English judicial system was “unavoidable”.

In France, home to an estimated 14 million Muslims, including 9 million illegal immigrants, the government no longer controls the banlieus, the densely-populated, predominantly Muslim ghettos that encircle most major French cities.

It is still legal in France to distribute Bibles and tracts but doing so in the banlieus, where the French police seldom enter, invites mob violence, and even the legality is expected to end by 2040 when France is projected to become a majority-Muslim nation (The Netherlands will become Western Europe’s first majority-Muslim nation by 2015). Sharia is also gaining in North America.

You say you don’t believe that?

From nypost.com, post this morning:

A lawsuit aimed at shutting down the controversial Ground Zero mosque may get tossed on a technicality because opponents failed to properly name the project’s owners.

The American Center for Law and Justice, a conservative advocacy group suing on behalf of retired firefighter and 9/11 responder Timothy Brown, had named mosque financier Sharif El-Gamal’s company, Soho Properties — rather than the legal owner, 45 Park Place Partners LLC — in court papers.

That technicality, argued 45 Park Place Partners attorney Adam Leitman Bailey in papers filed Friday, is one more reason why the suit should be tossed.

The two sides are scheduled to be back in Manhattan Supreme Court tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the beautiful building known at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, sitting in disrepair at the site of the worst Islamic Terrorist attack in the history of America,has yet to be rebuilt.

Loughner: Of Princes and Principalities

Ephesians 6:12

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Per nydailynews.com, an altar with a skull sitting on top of a pot filled with shriveled oranges has been found behind a camouflage tent in the back yard of mass murderer Jared Lee Loughner.

Photos show a row of ceremonial candles and a bag of potting soil lying around near the shrine.

According to experts, these things are used  in the ceremonies of a number of occult groups.

This discovery definitely puts a crimp in the argument being pushing by the Left and all their Media Minions, broadcast, cable, and internet, that have been blaming Conservative vitriol, Tea Party Rhetoric, and even Sarah Palin for the actions of the psychopathic Loughner.

A note was also found saying:

I planned ahead.

According to students and faculty at Pima Community College, where the murderer attended until he got himself suspended last summer, Loughner was just plain weird.

Alex Kotonias, a 20-year-old classmate told USA Today:

He was one of the last kids to come in, and he sat down and almost immediately started laughing to himself in a way that was just kind of creepy.

As soon as the teacher started going over the syllabus, he had this outburst out of nowhere, didn’t even raise his hand, and started asking the teacher some sort of weird questions about whether he believed in mind control.

Adjunct Prof. Ben McGahee, 28, told USA Today that he was concerned about Loughner turning violent:

I remember going home and thinking to myself, ‘Is he going to bring a weapon to class?’

Then, why didn’t you tell somebody?

According to The Washington Post, Lynda Sorenson, 52, a student in McGahee’s basic algebra class with Loughner, told her friends that she was scared, also:

She wrote on June 14th:

We have a mentally unstable person in the class that scares the living crap out of me. He is one of those whose picture you see on the news, after he has come into class with an automatic weapon. Everyone interviewed would say, ‘Yeah, he was in my math class and he was really weird.’ I sit by the door with my purse handy.

College officials went to Loughner’s parents’ home, where he lived, with a letter telling him that he could not return without a mental health professional’s written assurance that his presence at college would “not present a danger to himself or others.”

Neighbor Anthony Woods, 19, said:

It was obvious to everyone that Jared wasn’t a normal guy.

The killer worked as a volunteer at the Pima Animal Care Center, where he walked dogs and cleaned cages.

According to a fellow worker:

He loved animals and was a good worker.

And he was evil incarnate.

Per phoenixnewtimes.com, Caitie Parker, another classmate of Loughner, has described him as “left-wing” and a “pot head” in a series of posts on Twitter Saturday afternoon.

She “tweeted” after the shooting, describing Jared Loughner as a substance-abusing loner who had met Giffords before the shooting.   According to Parker, Loughner described the congresswoman as “stupid and unintelligent.”

The Phoenix New Times has confirmed that Parker and Loughner went to school together at Mountain View High School in Tucson and that both attended Pima Community College.

Parker “tweeted” that she and Loughner were in the band together and were friends until 2007 when he became “reclusive” after getting alcohol poisoning and dropping out of college.

She described him as “quite liberal” and as a “political radical.”

Guy Benson, of The Tipsheet on townhall.com, reiterates what Parker tweeted and adds sauce to the goose:

For a time, Loughner drank heavily, to the point of poisoning himself, the friends said. Once, during school lunch break as a junior, he downed so much tequila that he came back to class, within five minutes passed out cold, had to be rushed to the hospital and “almost died,” one friend said.

Mistrust of government was Loughner’s defining conviction, the friends said. He believed the U.S. government was behind 9/11, and worried that governments were maneuvering to create a unified monetary system (“a New World Order currency” one friend said) so that social elites and bureaucrats could control the rest of the world.

 

All this information does nothing at all to back up the classless rhetoric which has been spewing from the Left since this horrible massacre occurred.  This monster was not a Conservative.  His actions were not the fault of the resurgent Conservative movement in America, and they sure as all get out were not the fault of former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin.

Whether the Left wishes to believe it or not, evil exists.  And trying to limit the free speech of Conservative Americans and/or issuing Internet IDs to track Americans and what they say on the internet is not going to impact humanity’s ongoing battle against princes and principalities.

2010 in review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

Healthy blog!

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

Featured image

About 3 million people visit the Taj Mahal every year. This blog was viewed about 35,000 times in 2010. If it were the Taj Mahal, it would take about 4 days for that many people to see it.

In 2010, there were 278 new posts, not bad for the first year! There were 583 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 33mb. That’s about 2 pictures per day.

The busiest day of the year was October 24th with 490 views. The most popular post that day was The Pledge and the Progressives.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were hotair.com, facebook.com, digg.com, healthfitnesstherapy.com, and mail.yahoo.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for kingsjester’s blog, faithful america, shirley sherrod husband, kingsjester, and farrakhan and ahmadinejad.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

The Pledge and the Progressives October 2010
10 comments and 1 Like on WordPress.com,

2

One Nation March: Epic Fail October 2010
6 comments

3

The Strange Saga of Shirley Sherrod, Part 2: Her Spouse July 2010
3 comments

4

Two Treasonous Weasels and an Ineffectual President November 2010
6 comments

5

This Land is Your Land? July 2010
3 comments

A Note From KJ:  As you may have noticed, I’ve been taking a few days off at the end of the year.  I’ve been thanking God for his bountiful blessings, enjoying my family, (including my 3 year old grandson who has worn Grandpa smackdab out), and composing my thoughts as to what 2011 might have in store for us Average Americans.  We’ll explore these things together during the year.  Until then, please remember:

The Past is a memory.

The future is a promise.

Today is a gift from God.

That is why it is called “The Present”.

Thanks for sticking with me.

May God bless you and yours in this New Year.

– KJ