Category: Politics

Liberalism: The Political Ideology of Stupid Choices

On By kingsjesterIn Politics8 Comments

WWIIMemorial10213illegalsmarchApproximately 21% of our American population believe that they are smarter than you. It’s true! These Soooper Geniuses call themselves “Progressives”, because the term “Liberal” has a bad connotation…and, rightfully so.

Liberals believe that, since they are “the smartest people in the room”, they know what’s best, not only for us, but for our children, as well…even if it turns them into a bunch of sniveling wimps.

The CBS New York Affiliate posted this report about a Middle School on Long Island…

…officials at Weber Middle School in Port Washington are worried that students are getting hurt during recess. Thus, they have instituted a ban on footballs, baseballs, lacrosse balls, or anything that might hurt someone on school grounds.

Tossing a football during recess has long seemed to be a rite of passage for kids in the school community.

“I think we need the soccer balls, the footballs and everything, so we can have some fun,” one student said.

But the students will have no such option anymore. They were just informed that during recess, football is out and Nerf ball is in. Hard soccer balls have been banned, along with baseballs and lacrosse balls, rough games of tag, or cartwheels unless supervised by a coach.

Students were not thrilled about the news.

“Cartwheels and tag — I think it’s ridiculous they are banning that,” one said.

“You go for recess — that’s your free time to go let loose and recharge,” another said.

“That’s all we want to do,” a third student said. “We’re in school all day sitting behind the desk learning.”

But Port Washington schools Supt. Kathleen Maloney said the change in policy is warranted due to a rash of playground injuries.

“Some of these injuries can unintentionally become very serious, so we want to make sure our children have fun, but are also protected,” Maloney said.

Without helmets and pads, children are much more susceptible to getting hurt, experts said.

Long Island Jewish Medical Center emergency room director Dr. Salvatore Pardo said he has been seeing “head injuries, bumps, scrapes; worried about concussions.”

But some parents said it is really about liability and lawsuits.

“Children’s safety is paramount, but at the same time, you have to let them live life,” said Port Washington parent Ellen Cohen.

Several districts from outside Long Island are already contacting Nassau County educators. Soon, additional schools may be jumping on the banning balls bandwagon.

The Port Washington district said the softer foam balls put students in the best situation to cut down the chance of getting injured.

It is this same kind of “we know what’s best for you” attitude that is behind the selective shutdowns of National Parks, Monuments. roadways, and even the ocean, by President Barack Hussein Obama, in a futile attempt to prove that less government is somehow painful.

As part of Obama’s selective enforcement of the Government Shutdown, it was announced yesterday that a Pro-Illegal Immigrant (Pro-Amnesty) Rally is scheduled to take place today on the National Mall, which is evidently not closed if Obama does not want it to be, Government Shutdown or not.

Organizers for the “Camino Americano: March for Immigration Reform” were spotted Monday setting up a stage and equipment on the National Mall for the rally which will take place on Tuesday.

A few scattered barriers around the park have signs informing visitors that the area is closed as a result of the government shutdown.

Susana Flores, a spokesperson for the rally, confirmed for the Washington Examiner that the Park Service will allow the event to take place under the group’s rights granted by the First Amendment.

About 30 members of Congress are expected to attend the rally, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J.

The event is hosted by several immigration activist groups, together with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the AFL-CIO.

Okay, boys and girls…try to wrap your minds around this: The President of the United States will not allow American Veterans to visit the Memorials paid for with the blood of American Heroes, but, he will allow people who are in our sovereign nation illegally, to protest against our system of laws on our National Mall.

Welcome to Venezuela.

The brilliant Conservative Economist, Dr. Thomas Sowell wrote,

…Perhaps the most remarkable feature of the world envisioned by today’s liberals is that it is a world where other people just passively accept whatever “change” liberals impose. In the world of Liberal Land, you can just take for granted all the benefits of the existing society, and then simply tack on your new, wonderful ideas that will make things better.

The problem is the fact that Liberal Ideas always cost taxpayer money…and they never make things better for the average American.

As President Ronald Reagan so famously said, 

It isn’t so much that liberals are ignorant. It’s just that they know so many things that aren’t so.

Which explains their gross overestimation of their own intelligence.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

The Shutdown: The Tyranny of a Presidential Temper Tantrum

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics5 Comments

obamabillofrightsNarcissism – A psychological condition characterized by self-preoccupation, lack of empathy, and unconscious deficits in self-esteem.

This past week, Americans have witnessed something that we never thought that we would see: The President of the United States, who swore an oath to protect us, punishing us, because he is not getting his way is a battle with Congress.

His punitive measures against us have bordered on the insane, as this past week he not only threw barricades and barbed wire in front of our national parks and monuments, Obama even put safety cones out on the highway below Mount Rushmore, forbidding Americans from pulling their cars to the side of the road, to view this wonderful monument which honors past American Presidents.

Heck, this weekend he even tried to close the ocean down at Florida Bay.

These measures were bad enough. However, now the President of the United States is, literally, attacking our children.

President Pantywaist has shut down America’s Amber Alert System.

WashingtonExaminer.com has the story…

The Amber alert system, the national missing-child warning program, has been shut off due to the government shutdown, according to the Department of Justice.

“Due to the lapse in federal funding, this Office of Justice Programs website is unavailable,” it says on amberalert.gov.

Just 17 percent of the government is shut down, and Friday the Obama administration allowed union representatives to return to work.

So, union members could return to work, but the website to alert Americans to missing children had to be taken down?

The AMBER Alert Program is a voluntary partnership between law-enforcement agencies, broadcasters, transportation agencies, and the wireless industry, to activate an urgent bulletin in the most serious child-abduction cases. The goal of an AMBER Alert is to instantly galvanize the entire community to assist in the search for and the safe recovery of the child.

AMBER Alerts are broadcast through radio, television, road signs and all available technology referred to as the AMBER Alert Secondary Distribution Program. These broadcasts let law enforcement use the eyes and ears of the public to help quickly locate an abducted child. The U.S. Department of Justice coordinates the AMBER Alert program on a national basis.

The AMBER Alert Program was named in honor of 9-year-old Amber Hagerman who was abducted while riding her bicycle in Arlington, Texas, and was later found murdered. The program is used in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

As of January 1, 2013, the Amber alert system had saved over 600 children.

What is Obama’s purpose in shutting this program down?

What sort of man, much less an American President, would do something this petty and callous?

Fighting with Congress is one thing, but, don’t take your vindictiveness out on America’s children, Obama.

And, while I’m at it, are you aware that Obama and his Administration threatened furloughed Catholic Priests, telling them that if they performed their duties, i.e., Sunday Mass and Baptisms, that they would be fired?

What sort of American President interferes with our Military personnel’s Freedom of Religion?

Answer to both of the above questions: a tyrannical one.

Jonathan Mayhew (October 8, 1720 – July 9, 1766) was a noted American minister at Old West Church, Boston, Massachusetts.

Mayhew graduated from Harvard College in 1744 and in 1749 received the degree of D.D. from the University of Aberdeen. The following is an excerpt from “A Discourse Concerning Unlimited Submission and Non-Resistance to Higher Powers”.

. . . Those nations who are now groaning under the iron scepter of tyranny were once free. So they might probably have remained by a seasonable caution against despotic measures. Civil tyranny is usually small in its beginning, like “the drop of a bucket” till at length, like a mighty torrent or the raging waves of the sea, it bears down all before it and deluges whole countries and empires. . . .

. . . Tyranny brings ignorance and brutality along with it. It degrades men from their just rank into the class of brutes. It damps their spirits. It suppresses arts. It extinguishes every spark of noble ardor and

generosity in the breasts of those who are enslaved by it. It makes naturally-strong and great minds, feeble and little; and triumphs over the ruins of virtue and humanity. This is true of tyranny in every shape.

There can be nothing great and good where its influence reaches. For which reason it becomes every friend to truth and human kind, every lover of God and the christian religion, to bear a part in opposing

this hateful monster. It was desire to contribute a mite towards carrying on a war against this common enemy, that produced the following discourse. And if it serve in any measure to keep up a spirit of civil

and religious liberty amongst us, my end is answered. There are virtuous and candid men in all sects; all such are to be esteemed. There are also vicious men and bigots in all sects, and all such ought to be

despised.

I realize what I am saying. by using the word “tyranny” and I stand by its use. Obama has exceeded his Constitutional Authority and completely forsworn his Presidential duties as protector of America’s Citizenry, tossing both aside to embrace an ego-driven role of didactic dictator, determined to teach his “subjects” a lesson for trifling with him.

The fact that Obama even thought that Americans would side with him in his battle with Congress, knowing that it would mean the full implementation of Obamacare, the socialist healthcare System, which no one wants in the first place, was a prime example of narcissistic behavior. And, as his Gallup Poll Approval Rating of 41% shows us,

Pride goeth before the fall.

Until He Comes,

KJ

KJ UPDATE: The Amber alert system has been restored. It appears that President Pantywaist, AG Holder, and the rest of the Administration caught some heat for taking it down…and, rightfully so.

Catch a Falling Star: It’s Not the Years…It’s the Miley-age.

On By kingsjesterIn Politics3 Comments

Miley CyrusWhat is it about a train wreck that captures our attention? It is the sight of something that was once sleek and beautiful, now a twisted pile of debris, that holds our gaze? Or, perhaps it’s the memory itself, that we see among the carnage.

Ever since the days of Fatty Arbuckle, our nation has held a fascination with the spectacle of a rising star being brought back down to Earth by their own reckless behavior.

Another example, before some of you were born, is the late, great Judy Garland. This wonderful entertainer could sing, dance, and act. She was remarkable, and an American Favorite from the moment she put on those ruby red slippers and followed the yellow brick road, until she left us much too soon, passing away in 1969, of a drug overdose, a victim of her own demons.

It is rather ironic, the Ms. Garland starred as the young ingenue, Esther Blodgett, in the 1954 classic movie, “A Star is Born”, with the great James Mason.

The movie is about a movie star who helps a young singer/actress find fame, even as age and alcoholism send his own career into a downward spiral.

Judy Garland was an amazing performer.

I can see and hear her now, in a black dress, on a nightclub stage, with her short black hair, and those huge, expressive eyes, singing

Forget your troubles, c’mon get happy. Get ready for the Judgement day.

Sadly, there have been too many talented women, who have fallen victim to their demons.

I’m afraid, dear friends, that we are watching another talented young woman begin her own downward spiral right before our eyes: Miley Cyrus.

America first became aware of Ms. Cyrus, as a fresh-face teeny-bopper in the Disney Channel program, Hannah Montana.

Boys and girls all over the world tuned in to watch the adventures of a normal American Girl, who led a double-life as the teenage singing sensation, Hannah Montana.

Her real-life Dad, Billy Ray Cyrus, of “Achy Breaky Heart” fame, played her Dad in the series, and also wrote the songs she sang.

Her fresh-faced innocence  shown through the glitz and glamour of her weekly TV series, to the extent that the entire country fell in love with her. Soon, Walmarts from coast to coast were carrying Hannah Montana lunch boxes, t-shirts,  school supplies, and everything else you could think of.

Once  the series was over, as she tried to grow into young adulthood, things looked strained, at best.

Even though she was growing into a beautiful young woman, Miley was still, in the eyes of America, Hannah Montana.

In the meantime, Miley Cyrus was **ahem** exploring her own sexuality **ahem**…and decided that the public needed to explore it, too.

Beginning with a pole dance at the Nickelodeon Awards, Miley let the whole world know that she did not embarrass easily, even if we were all embarrassed for her.

During this past year,Miley, with her barely-dressed appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards with Robin Thicke, during which she “twerked”, (which is a pleasant way of saying that she had “clothed sex” on stage) and then, in a music video, where she appeared, riding naked on top of a wrecking ball, and licking a sledge hammer, continued her descent into the all – consuming darkness.

Annie Lennox, of the 1980s MTV Sensation, the Eurythmics, recently wrote the following on her Facebook page;

I have to say that I’m disturbed and dismayed by the recent spate of overtly sexualised performances and videos. You know the ones I’m talking about. It seems obvious that certain record companies are peddling highly styled pornography with musical accompaniment. As if the tidal wave of sexualised imagery wasn’t already bombarding impressionable young girls enough..I believe in freedom of speech and expression, but the market forces don’t give a toss about the notion of boundaries. As long as there’s booty to make money out of, it will be bought and sold. It’s depressing to see how these performers are so eager to push this new level of low.Their assumption seems to be that misogyny- utilised and displayed through oneself is totally fine, as long as you are the one creating it. As if it’s all justified by how many millions of dollars and U tube hits you get from behaving like pimp and prostitute at the same time. It’s a glorified and monetized form of self harm.

Ms. Lennox is right. However, she did not take it far enough.

The young American girls, who idolized Hanna Montana, are now young adults,  watching Miley Cyrus’ musical hootchie-coochie show, believing that it is perfectly acceptable to act like a dog in heat in public.

One of my favorite Bible verses is Ephesians 6:12. which warns us

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Young folks have a lot to deal with, growing up nowadays. I realize that. And, Ms. Cyrus has had more pressure on her than most.

However, as the Bible also tells us 

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6 ESV)

 By his own admission, Billy Ray Cyrus, as Miley was growing up, and even now, as a young adult, pictures himself as a “bud”, instead of a father.

Perhaps, her hedonistic behavior is simply a cry for attention, combined with an attempt to be “MTV-Cool” and relevant, in a desperate attempt to re-live the celebrity status she held as Hannah Montana.

Hopefully, the same forces who, in the past, have caused the lives of other talented entertainers, like Ms. Cyrus, to end in a “train wreck”, will not succeed in hers.

She has the Power, living within her, to avoid this. All she has to do…is ask.

Until He Comes,

KJ

The Shutdown : “A Republic, If You Can Keep it.”

On By kingsjesterIn Politics21 Comments

obamaiwojimaAs I, and other Conservative Bloggers, have been reporting all week, there is a struggle going on in the Halls of Power in Washington, DC. It is a struggle for the future of the greatest country on the face of God’s green Earth.

It is a struggle which began the moment that a group of brave Christians, pariahs in their own country, persecuted because of their desire to worship their God, in the manner in which they wanted to, landed on the shores of a vast wilderness, determined to secure their God-Given Freedom, for themselves and their progeny.

Their quest for freedom from a tyrannical Despot led to civil disobedience…and then, war.

Once they had won their Freedom, and formed their new nation, our Founding Fathers set upon the task of putting quill to paper, creating a Constitution, stating for all the world to know, the rights, given to them by their Creator, which they would put in place as the guidelines upon which they would carry this new nation to its destiny.

Outside Independence Hall, when the Constitutional Convention of 1787 ended, Mrs. Powel of Philadelphia asked Benjamin Franklin, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” With no hesitation whatsoever, Franklin responded, “A republic, if you can keep it.”

What did he mean by that? Was he merely speaking of the inner workings of the Federal Government, which he and the Founding Fathers so masterfully designed?

Or, was he talking about this complex matter known as American Freedom?

Ronald Reagan said,

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.

Was Ronaldus Magnus speaking about our Freedom as a nation? Or, the freedom of the individual?

The answer is yes. Both.

President Reagan knew how fragile this precious thing called freedom is. So did Dr. Franklin.

Dr. Franklin, along with our other Founding Fathers, pledged his life, his fortune, and his sacred honor in pursuit of it.

When he made that now-famous quote to Mrs. Powel, he was expressing his worry that seceding generations, having attained their freedom so easily, might grow lackadaisical and so spoiled by it, that they would squander it through self-indulgence. Franklin was, in fact, so leery of losing this new republic that he said,

Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

He was afraid that Americans would rely and trust those in power over them to the extent that they would surrender their freedom to them.

What we have been witnessing this past week, Americans, is, another attempt to take away the Freedom, which our Founding Fathers, and each succeeding generation, have fought so hard to protect, to the point of sacrificing their lives for it.

That’s why Americans are now focused on the Government Shutdown. For the majority of Americans, living in the Heartland of America, it is not about the present-day “benevolence” of the Federal Government being in danger, by the Government’s doors being closed.

It’s much more important than that.

It is an attempt, by a self-serving, out-of-control President and his Administration, to impose restrictions on our American Freedom.

The flash-point, which caught average Americans’ attention, was the shutting down of our National Monuments, including those who are privately funded. An act which has never been perpetrated before, during previous Government Shutdowns.

Make no mistake. These closings are designed to bring inconvenience and emotional pain to Americans, in order to gain sympathy for the present Presidential Administration’s Political Position.

As an angry Park Service Ranger explained,

We’ve been told to make life as difficult for people as we can. It’s disgusting.

Indeed.

This is not the first time that Government Services have been shutdown during budget battles. That is simply a by-product of holding the feet of the “Public Servants”, who are supposed to represent us, and not themselves, to the fire of fiscal responsibility.

However, this time is different.

This is nothing less than a struggle to retain our Constitutional Republic, or, replace with a Central Government-run, Democrat Socialist, European-style nation, where fiscal responsibility is thrown out the window (think Greece) and the Christian Faith of Our Founders, upon which this blessed country was formed, is regulated in practice to Sunday Mornings from 10:00 a.m. to Noon.

This struggle came into focus for even Low Information Voters, the moment that a group of octogenarian American heroes, members of the Greatest Generation, with the help of their elected Representatives, busted down the barriers to THEIR Memorial, reminding all of us that our American Freedom is still worth fighting for.

Our Legacy of Freedom, bequeathed to us as American citizens, is not  just the blessing of being a free people, but, the responsibility that goes with it, as my late Father, and those American Heroes we witnessed make their final charge against tyranny earlier this week, knew all too well…

It is a responsibility to our family, our friends, our fellow citizens, and the Author of Our Freedom as Americans, Our Creator.

A responsibility that is our charge to keep.

Until He Comes, 

KJ

Obamacare Phone Number Flips Off Entire Nation

On By kingsjesterIn Politics3 Comments

obamababyAs the Government Shutdown continues, so do the revelations concerning the out-of-control, rampaging monster known as Obamacare, and the mad scientist who created it, Barack Hussein Obama, and his minions, the Democrats and Vichy Republicans in Congress and his Administration.

Bizpacreview.com reported yesterday that

The Obama administration seemingly remained consistent with its brand when one considers the phone number for the Obamacare hotline.

A reporter for the Washington Free Beacon, Lachlan Markay, tweeted the following (cleaned up, for language):

“@lachlan Fun fact: if you exclude the 1 (no associated letters), the federal Obamacare hotline is 1-800-F***-YO.”

Taking into account that the number 1 on most keypads doesn’t have any letters associated with it, one seeking answers to their Obamacare questions would dial 24 hours a day, 7 days a week: 1-800-F1*-**YO.

Though the phone number is missing the important “U” at the end, which would have simply required taking out the unassigned number 1 and adding an 8 at the end, it’s still pretty much the message Obama has had for the American people since day one.

No one should be surprised by this. Ever since the Manchurian President first sat on his throne, his petulant, imperious nature, has literally screamed these two words at the American people.

Then, on that fateful night in March of 2010, when, in the middle of night, the Affordable Care Act was passed, Obama might as well have stood on the top of the Capitol Building, shouting these two words , with both his middle fingers extended.

As his reaction this week to the Government Shutdown has shown, he is a vulgar, petulant , shallow individual, who cares more about his personal accomplishments, than the welfare of the American Citizens, whom he is supposed to lead.

For example…

First, he refuses to negotiate with Congress, in order to end the Shutdown, he has created.

At the White House, Obama joined the Republican and Democratic leaders of Congress in a one-and-a-half-hour meeting that Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the Senate minority leader, called “cordial but unproductive.”

Leaders of both parties said afterwards that Republican demands to defund or delay Obama’s signature health law, which helped lead to this week’s shutdown, remain a critical obstacle to any agreement.

House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) said the president “reiterated tonight he will not negotiate.”

“We’ve got divided government. Democrats control the Senate, Republicans control the House,” he said. “All we’re asking for here is a discussion and fairness for the American people under Obamacare.”

But Senate Majority Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said the president was unbending, calling him “strong, strong, strong.”

He added, “One thing we made very clear in that meeting: We are locked in tight on Obamacare.”

The back-and-forth Wednesday came on the second day of a partial government shutdown that has furloughed 800,000 federal workers and appears likely to remain for an extended period of time.

The next crucial deadline comes on Oct. 17, the last day that the Treasury Department estimates that the federal government is certain to have enough money to pay all its bills. Investors have been demanding higher interest rates for U.S. Treasury bills in recent days, a sign of concern that the federal government could have trouble servicing its debt.

Second, Obama has been “barry-cading” National Monuments, such as the World War II Memorial, which I wrote about earlier this week. Now, Obama has shut down access to Normandy Beach.

Yes. That Normandy Beach, where my Daddy and thousands of our Brightest and Best, landed on D-Day.

Heck, Obama even attempted to block the road leading to Mt. Vernon. The problem is, the government does not own Mt. Vernon, nor does it fund the WWII Memorial.

So, why is The Lightbringer doing this?

Is it…

A.  He does not like our Military

B. He is making the American People share HIS pain.

C. He is a petty, petulant little man.

D. All of the above.

If you picked “D”, you were absolutely right.

In April of 2008, at a San Francisco Fund Raiser, Presidential Candidate, Barack Hussein Obama, infamously said,

You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not.

And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

The Petulant President has never had any respect whatsoever for America, her traditions, or her people. We are simply, as in the old Soviet Union, the Proletariat. lab rats to serve, and be experimented on,by a less-than-benevolent Marxist Regime….and, that includes our Brightest and Best.

The “Barry-cading” of the WWII Memorial, showed everybody how Obama feels about the sacrifices made by our Greatest Generation. When these brave American heroes defied him the first day, Obama sent Mounted Police to attempt to enforce the “Barry-cades” the next day. 

On top of that. what’s the logical purpose of closing Normandy Beach, far away in France, except as a punitive measure?

This week has been nothing but a full-blown Presidential Temper Tantrum. There is nothing noble about it. 

The President of the United States has. once again, said “F*** You!” to all of us. And, I am tired of it.

How about you?

KJ

“If You Can Help One Child Who Has Cancer, Why Wouldn’t You Do It?” “Why Would We Want To Do That?” – Senator Harry Reid

On By kingsjesterIn Politics6 Comments

3stoogesobamapelosireidSo far, this has been a very revealing and remarkable week. We’ve seen the President of the United States  “Barry-cade” National Memorials, which have no government funding, such as the World War II Memorial.

The optic of octogenarian veterans, busting through the barricades to visit THEIR Memorial, has stirred the red, white, and blue corpuscles of Patriotic Americans from coast-to-coast.

It has been quite obvious, and therefore, telling, that these closings have only been set up to punish Americans, in order for Obama and his Democrat Minions to score political points, by showing how mean the Republicans are, by forcing the Government Shutdown.

Unfortunately for Scooter, Dinghy, and the rest of the “Most Compassionate” Political Party,

The best laid plans of mice and min oft’ times go awry.

On Wednesday, Senator Harry Reid revealed more of the self-serving nature of the Democrats’ dark souls.

In face,  Senator Reid allowed his mask to fall completely off, while appearing on CNN, in an interview with reporter Dana Bash.

“If you can help one child who has cancer, why wouldn’t you do it?,” Bash asked.

“Why would we want to do that?,” Reid shot back. “I have 1,100 people at Nellis Air Force base that are sitting home. They have a few problems of their own. This is — to have someone of your intelligence to suggest such a thing maybe means you’re irresponsible and reckless.”

In the exchange with Bash, Reid had been trying to argue that Democrats would not bow to Republican attempts to pick and choose what parts of the government to fund, because they were looking to fund everything except for ObamaCare.

Democrats have so far rejected the GOP’s piecemeal approach, and Republicans have countered by voting on bills, such as funding for veterans, to put the Democrats in the difficult position of voting against something that has strong public support.

Conservatives jumped on Reid’s comment, with the Drudge Report leading with the headline: “Why would we want to help one kid with cancer?”

Later, in an interview with The Bill Press Show, Reid elaborated on the exchange.

“The whole answer is this – why would we want to have the House of Representatives, John Boehner, cherry pick what stays open and what should be closed?,” he said. “Listen, I gave a speech on the floor talking about the babies – 30 babies, little kids who are not going to have clinical trials. Of course I care about that. I have 16 of my own grandchildren and five of my own children.”

Reid said that there are other agencies, like the Center for Disease Control, that are just as important to fund, and that he’s working to get everything back online.

“What I told Dana Bash, who is a fine reporter, is that we care about all of these things,” he continued. “We care about our state parks, we care about our veterans, but we can’t fall into the trap…of Cruz-led Republicans. That is this…we’ll cherry pick…and finally at the end, everything will be open except for ObamaCare.”

The National Institute for Health is renowned for their Pediatric Oncology Department. according to their website,

The Pediatric Oncology Branch is dedicated to improving outcomes for children and young adults with cancer and genetic tumor predisposition syndromes. We conduct translational research that spans basic science to clinical trials. Our clinical studies are performed in an environment that supports our patient’s medical and emotional needs, alongside cutting edge scientific research. Whether you are a referring physician, family member or patient with childhood cancer or neurofibromatosis, or are interested in training at the Pediatric Oncology Branch, we hope that this website will provide the information you need to access our programs.

The NIH is one of the “victims” of Obama’s petulance, as  government funds are being withheld from this fine institution.

The Democrats, including Speaker of the Senate Harry Reid, while pretending to be concerned, while withholding money from the NIH on purpose to make a point and putting on a public mask of “righteous indignation”.

Once upon a time, Reid, said,

It’s time that America’s government lived by the same values as America’s families. It’s time we invested in America’s future and made sure our people have the skills to compete and thrive in a 21st century economy. That’s what Democrats believe.

About that “American Values” thingy, Harry. Americans sacrifice for their children.

The denizens of DC live a bubble, isolated from the citizens they are supposed to be serving.

Remember a couple of years ago, when Reid referred to Americans visiting Washington, as “smelly tourists”?

Why should anyone be surprised that he made such a cold, calloused statement?

If you visit any Political Website where comments are being made about the WWI Veterans storming the memorial Site “Barry-cades”, you will note young Liberals asking “What makes THESE Veterans so special?”

Their stunning ignorance is due to a number of factors.

1. Being Liberal.

2. Our Dumbed-down Educational System

3. Not being raised to respect our flag, our country, and the people who sacrificed their lives for their Freedom.

As evidenced by Sen. Reid, this disrespectful callousness begins at the top of the Liberal Hierarchy, and has been passed along to this latest generation.

Fortunately, average Americans, living in the Heartland of America, still believe in the principles that made this country the greatest on the face of God’s green Earth.

And, that is why this ill-conceived Shutdown is backfiring on the Petulant President and the “most compassionate political party evah!”

Stay strong, Americans.

Until He Comes,

KJ

American Heroes Bust Blockade at WWII Memorial. Petulant President and Congressional Minions Retaliate.

On By kingsjesterIn Politics7 Comments

WWIIMemorial10213Yesterday morning, the Government Shutdown took effect.

In his petulance, the 44th President of the United States, decided to close our National Parks, in order to make Americans suffer for his inability to lead.

However, thanks to some Republican House Members, including some from the Magnolia State, where I live, our Petulant President’s Plans were thwarted…at least for yesterday.

FoxNews.com reports that

What was meant to be a final gathering of heroes Tuesday instead became a final victory for dozens of World War II combat vets who refused to let the government’s budget battle block a visit to their memorial in the nation’s capital.

With bagpipers playing “Amazing Grace,” nearly 200 veterans from Mississippi and Iowa swept past barricades and security guards at the World War II Memorial in Washington in order to keep a commitment to visit the site, which was closed today due to the partial government shutdown. The veterans, in their 80s and 90s, were accompanied by Rep. Steven Palazzo, R-Miss., a former Marine who earlier vowed not to let the National Park Police keep them from a planned visit to the open-air monument.

“Well, I would have been so down-and-out if I got all the way up here and wasn’t able to get in,” Navy veteran Oscar Leroy Russell, 90, who is blind after he suffered a stroke, told FoxNews.com.

Some veterans on hand wiped away tears when they saw a crowd waving the American flag as they came out of their bus.

“These men and women didn’t cower to the Japanese and Germans,” Palazzo said. “I don’t think they’re about to let a few National Park Police stand in their way.”

Palazzo, who was joined by several other members of Congress, moved the barricades at the memorial and police did not try to stop the veterans’ access.

“I’m not going to enforce the ‘no stopping or standing’ sign for a group of 90 World War II veterans,” a U.S. Park Police officer, who declined to give his name, told The Washington Post. “I’m a veteran myself.”

The veterans are traveling as part of Honor Flight, a program that enables World War II veterans to partake in an expense-paid trip to view the memorial. Tuesday’s trip is the second-to-last flight, with the last scheduled for November. But prior to their arrival early Tuesday, there was fear that the government shutdown and federal worker furloughs would mean no access to the monuments on the National Mall.

But with lawmakers leading the charge, the American military heroes, some in wheelchairs, surged into the memorial.

“It’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission,” Palazzo said. “We lined the veterans up along the blockade, we saw an opening and we took it.”

When I read what had happened yesterday morning, in Washington DC, at the World War II Memorial, my eyes teared up.

Allow me to try to explain why.

D-Day, also called the Battle of Normandy, was fought on June 6, 1944, between the Allied nations and German forces occupying Western Europe.

The codename for the invasion was Operation Overlord. The assault phase was known as Operation Neptune. Operation Neptune began on D-Day (June 6, 1944) and ended on June 30. Operation Overlord also began on D-Day, and ended with the crossing of the River Seine on August 19.

Less than 15 percent of the young men called upon to sacrifice their lives for our freedom in the invasion had ever seen combat.

Basically, the invasion of Normandy was a success, due to sheer force of numbers. By July 1944, some one million Allied troops, mostly American, British, and Canadian, were entrenched in Normandy. During the great invasion, the Allies assembled nearly three million men and stored 16 million tons of arms, munitions, and supplies in Britain.

Among the young men who stepped off those boats, in a hail of gunfire, was a fellow named Edward, whom everyone called Ned, from the small town of Helena, Arkansas.  Already in his young life, Ned had been forced to drop out of school in the sixth grade, in order to work at the local movie theatre to help support his mother, brother, and sister faced with the ravages of the Great Depression.

He was a gentle man who loved to laugh and sing, having recorded several 78 rpm records in the do-it-yourself booths of the day. And now, he found himself, a Master Sergeant in an Army Engineering Unit, stepping off a boat into the unknown, watching his comrades being mercilessly gunned down around him.

Ned, along with the rest of his unit who survived the initial assault, would go on to assist in the cleaning out of the Concentration Camps, bearing witness to man’s inhumanity to man.

The horrors he saw had a profound effect on Ned.  One that he would keep to himself for the remainder of his life.  While his children knew that he served with an Engineering Unit in World War II, they did not know the full extent of his service, until they found his medal, honoring his participation in the Invasion of Normandy, going through his belongings after he passed away on December 29, 1997.

Fast forward 22 years later…

On a night in 1966, a 7-year-old was laying on his family’s den couch in Memphis, TN, watching his favorite TV Series “Batman” with a fever of 105, brought about by a severe bronchial infection. Tending to that sick child were 3 veterans of World War II: his Daddy, a Master Sergeant with the Army Engineers, his Uncle “R” (Robert), US Air Force, and his Uncle Perriman, a full-blooded Indian from Albuquerque, who was an Army Corpsman.

Those three veterans, now all gone, took turns putting cold wash cloths under the child’s arms and on his forehead, until his fever finally broke, sometime during the night.

That child was me.

And, the young hero who stepped off of a perfectly good boat, into a hail of gunfire, fighting for our freedom, was my Daddy.

I was privileged to be raised by members of the Greatest Generation. The legacy that they gave to me of love of God, Family, and Country is a heritage that I hold very dear.

Just as it happened with Obama’s petulant actions regarding Sequestration, in which he stopped White House tours for average Americans, but kept access open for Muslim Terrorists and Lobbyists and cancelled all public appearances of the Blue Angels and the Thunderbirds, Obama’s cancellation of public activities, involving “government property”, which in fact was bought and paid for by OUR TAX DOLLARS, during this “Government Shutdown, is nothing but a public display of petulance, by a President having a temper tantrum, because he did not get his way.

Just as elections have consequences, so do actions. Obama’s performance during his tenure as President of the United States has been marked by an ego-driven petulance, which has brought shame to the Office of the Presidency and has affected the way our country is viewed throughout the world.

His supporters in Congress, going through life with their heads firmly planted where “the sun don’t shine”, last night defeated a bill proposed by the House Republicans to grant access to all the thousands of WWII Veterans already scheduled to come to DC during the Shutdown, blocking these American Heroes from visiting the Memorial built to honor them.

We owe those brave American heroes, whom Obama and Congressional Democrats, are treating with disdain, our utmost respect, admiration, and loyalty for defending our freedom.

We owe our Petulant President and his Congressional minions, nothing…but scorn.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Welcome to Obamacare…and Government-Funded Hedonism

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics4 Comments

obamadoctorToday is October 1st. Welcome, Americans to the beginning of Obamacare…and the beginning of the New Soviet Union…or, is it the New Roman Empire?

Obama once remarked that we were no longer a Christian Nation. …and, with this massive failure in the making, he’s making sure that his statement is made true.

The Washington Times reports

The Office of Personnel Management ruled Monday that members of Congress and their staffs will be able to buy health care plans that pay for abortions, even though the premiums are funded largely by taxpayer money — a move that conservatives say breaks federal law on abortion funding.

Under the terms of Obamacare, lawmakers and their aides are required to ditch their government-sponsored plans and buy insurance on state-based health care exchanges, though unlike most people on the exchanges, the staffers and members will have most of the costs of their premiums paid by their employer — in this case, taxpayers.

Federal law generally prevents taxpayer money from being used to pay for abortions, but OPM said the health care plans offered through the exchange were private. The agency also said it will make sure the money is segregated so that the portion that pays for abortions comes out of the employees’ own contributions, which amounts to about a quarter of the premiums.

“While plans with such coverage may be offered on an Exchange, OPM can and will take appropriate administrative steps to ensure that the cost of any such coverage purchased by a member of Congress or a congressional staffer from a designated [exchange] is accounted for and paid by the individual rather than from the government contribution, consistent with the general prohibition on federal funds being used for this purpose,” OPM said in its ruling.

Rep. Christopher H. Smith, New Jersey Republican, said OPM is violating a law he wrote in 1983 that prohibits OPM from paying any expenses to administer plans that cover abortion, except in cases of rape or incest or when the mother’s life is in danger.

“You can’t break the law, Mr. President, and just issue a final rule as if somehow you’re comporting with the law,” Mr. Smith told The Washington Times. “We don’t want to subsidize abortion on demand, and the public is absolutely with us.”

Back on June 4th of this year, examiner.com told us that

…Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that Obamacare will place a special focus on members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community because “for too long…[they] were pushed to the side,” Paul Bedard reported at the Washington Examiner.

“LGBT individuals have faced limited access to health care and insurance. They have been less likely to get the preventive care they need to stay healthy, they have higher rates of tobacco use, and they are often at increased risk for mental health illness,” she said.

To counter this, the administration is drawing attention to new benefits under Obamacare targeted to gays, Bedard said, and will add gender status to health surveys and questionnaires critical in determining services under Obamacare.

“Like all Americans, LGBT Americans deserve respectful health care providers and the security of accessible, affordable health care that meets their needs,” Sebelius said.

The announcement coincides with Obama’s proclamation of June as LGBT Pride Month.

“As we observe LGBT Pride Month, I am pleased to say that the Department of Health and Human Services continues working hard to make this a reality for the LGBT community,” she added.

Bedard posted the key benefits gays and lesbians will receive under Obamacare, according to Sebelius:

  • “Insurers can no longer impose lifetime dollar limits on health insurance coverage, and annual limits will be phased out in 2014. This is particularly important for people with cancer, HIV/AIDS, and other chronic diseases requiring comprehensive, long-term care.”
  • “Starting in 2014, insurers cannot deny coverage or charge higher rates based on a pre-existing condition or because an individual is lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender.”
  • “Insurers generally must cover such vital preventive services as HIV screening, vaccinations, depression screening, contraception, intimate-partner violence screening, and annual well-woman visits, at no out-of-pocket charge.”
  • “Healthcare.gov includes a health plan finder tool that allows consumers shopping for health insurance to filter for plans offering coverage for domestic and same-sex partners.”

Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. – John Adams, Second President of the United States of America

Several times on the internet, I have attempted to engage in discussion with Kool-Aid drinking Liberals who insist that the Godless Socialization of American’s Healthcare System, the greatest in the world, is exactly what Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, would do.

I refute that, by carefully explaining to them  that no, Christ was not the author of “social justice”, sinful man was. Christ, in fact, said the following:

“For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But, you will not always have me.” – Mark 14:7( ESV)

Yes, we are called upon to show Christian Compassion, through individual good works, or charity in action, through the organized “Body of Christ” (America’s churches).

I even had a Liberal tell me that Mosaic Law justified welfare, as it was the world’s first Welfare System.

First, I explained to the ill-informed young man that Christians are not under Mosaic Law, we are covered by the blood of Christ, and are under the New Covenant, as a result of His sacrifice.

Then, I explained that the teachings of Jesus, the Council of Jerusalem, and other New Testament teachings , (Romans 2:25-29, 8:1-4, 1 Corinthians 9:19-21, Galatians 2:15-16, Ephesians 2:15) make it clear that Christians are not required to follow the Old Testament rules about crimes and punishments, warfare, slavery, diet, circumcision, animal sacrifices, feast days, Sabbath observance, ritual cleanness, etc.

As Christians, we still look back to the Old Testament scripture for moral and spiritual guidance (2 Timothy 3:16-17). However, when there is a conflict between Old Testament laws and New Testament principles, Christians follow the New Testament because it represents the most recent and most perfect revelation from God.

So, the next time a Liberal gives you a bunch of garbage about Obamacare being the “Christian” thing to do, please set them straight, in a clear and gentle manner.

Then, feel free to quote them two of my favorite Bible verses:

1. “Judas went out and hung himself.”

2. “Go thou and do likewise.”

Because Christians aren’t perfect. Just forgiven. 🙂

Until He Comes,

KJ

Countdown to the Shutdown

On By kingsjesterIn Politics5 Comments

government shutdownHere we are. The day before the Government shuts down.

Yesterday, the House of Representative sent their modified Continuing Resolution back to the Senate.  This latest Continuing Resolution calls for delaying by a year, key parts of Obamacare and the repeal of a tax on medical devices, in exchange for avoiding a shutdown.

Here’s a big secret: The Government will not actually shutdown.

Social Security checks will not be interrupted. Troops will remain at their posts. Doctors and hospitals will get their Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements.

The fact of the matter is,virtually every essential government agency, like the FBI, the Border Patrol and the Coast Guard, will stay open. Furloughed federal workers probably would get paid, eventually. Transportation Security Administration officers would continue to man airport checkpoints.

The hitch is, sometime around late October or early November, the government might possibly run out of cash. If that were to happen, our government would be unable to pay all of its bills in full and on time for the first time in history if it couldn’t borrow more money.

Even though the Treasury Department probably would make interest payments to bondholders to prevent a catastrophic default on the debt, it wouldn’t be able to make other payments on time, which would mean delays in Social Security benefits and in paychecks for federal workers and troops in the field.

Congress must pass a temporary spending bill before Oct. 1, to prevent the “Shutdown”. To prevent a default, it must raise the $16.7 trillion cap on government borrowing.

Senator Ted Cruz knows exactly at whose feet this imminent shutdown lies…

“So far, [Reid] has essentially told the House of Representatives and the American people, ‘Go jump in a lake,'” Cruz said on “Meet The Press” on NBC. “He said, ‘I’m not willing to compromise, I’m not willing to even talk,’ His position is 100 percent of Obamacare must be funded in all instances, and, other than that, he’s going to shut the government down. I hope he doesn’t do that. If Harry Reid forces a government shutdown, that will be a mistake. I hope he backs away from that ledge that he’s pushing us towards, but that is his position.”

Cruz continued: “Twice Harry Reid has said, ‘We won’t even have a conversation. I refuse to compromise. We want to fund it all. We want to stick it on the American people. And we won’t budge.’ That’s not a reasonable position. And if we have a shutdown, it will be because Harry Reid holds that absolutist position, and essentially, holds the American people hostage.”

Cruz commended the House’s early Sunday vote to keep the government open and delay Obamacare for a year, despite Reid’s contention that the bill would be dead on arrival when the Senate resumes work Monday.

“President Obama has granted a delay for giant corporations,” Cruz said. “Every big company in America has gotten a one-year delay. If Harry Reid shuts the government down, what he will be saying is, “American families don’t get treated as well as we treat giant corporations.” Giant corporations don’t have to suffer, get a delay on the horns from Obamacare. But hardworking American families, he’s going to insist that they suffer now.”

Cruz, who last week made headlines with an epic 21-hour filibuster-like speech on the Senate floor railing against Obama’s landmark health care law, continued his crusade.

“The American people overwhelming reject Obamacare,” Cruz said. “They understand it’s not working. The only people who aren’t listening to the argument are the career politicians in Washington. It’s Harry Reid who wants to use brute political force.”

During his Senate speech, Cruz was criticized for comparing the funding of Obamacare to the rise of Hitler in Nazi Germany. On Sunday, he denied he made such a comparison.

“There have been many voices in Washington who’ve said, ‘We can’t do this, we can’t do this, we can’t do this.’ And I went through the contracts where, over and over again, when facing big challenges, Americans have risen to the occasion, whether it was the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World War II, whether it was going to the moon under John F. Kennedy, or whether it was winning the Cold War,” Cruz said. “At every stage, there were voices of conventional wisdom who say, ‘This can’t be done.’ And at every stage, the American people rose to the occasion. And what I said is, ‘We should do the same here.’ We should look to, if we empower the American people, if we get Washington to listen to the people, that’s how we get this changed.”

Former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin made a good point on her Facebook Page:

A friend sent me this graphic today [see above]. It says it all. “If there’s a government shut down, who will spy on me, waste my money and have contempt for me?”

We could add so much more to this list, friends. For example, if the government shuts down, who will:

*block responsible resource development
*borrow more money from foreign countries to give to foreign countries
*mortgage my kids’ future to bail out their friends on Wall Street & finance their big government crony capitalism
*”misplace” IRS receipts and ledgers to the tune of tens of millions
*stockpile ammo at DHS
*commandeer pro athletes to testify in front of Congress while watching bureaucrats plead the Fifth

The Democrats themselves, along with their buds, the Vichy Republicans are responsible for this mess.

Last week, Rush Limbaugh pointed out that

Okay. So this Dan Pfeiffer guy, he’s in charge of White House communications, senior advisor to the president for strategery and communications, he says the Republicans are running around with a bomb in their vests and they want to blow up the economy, defund Obamacare and government shutdown and all that kind of stuff. Don’t forget, back in 2006 Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Harry Reid, Pelosi, the rest of the Democrat Party, demanded that we defund our troops or they would vote against raising the debt ceiling.

Do you remember this? And Obama and Pfeiffer were asked about this. Well, wait a minute, now. How come, you know, Obama said it was purely political. He was against raising the debt limit, funding the troops and all that, and they said, “Well, that wasn’t political like the Republicans are doing now.” But these guys — Obama, Biden, Pelosi, Reid — they all threatened, demanded, that they wanted Bush to lose. They wanted America to lose the Iraq war. They threatened to defund the military operation in Iraq or they’d vote against the debt ceiling, raising it.

As I wrote yesterday, this whole fiasco is a cross between a game of ‘Chicken” and a game of “Dare”.

All brought about by a president who promises bi-partisanship…and who still wants it.   …as long as everybody keeps their mouths shut and does what he wants.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Obamacare: A Game of Chicken on Capitol Hill. Dems Impersonate Dr. Peter Venkman.

On By kingsjesterIn Politics1 Comment

chickenlittleThe game of “Chicken” continues up on Capitol HIll. …Or, perhaps, it’s a game of “Dare”.

Thehill.com reports that

House Republicans approved a stopgap spending bill that delays ObamaCare in an early-morning Sunday vote that increases the chances of a government shutdown.

The high-stakes GOP move intensifies a game of chicken with Senate Democrats with just 48 hours to go before the lights could go out on the federal government.

The White House threatened to veto the measure, while Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) proclaimed it dead in the upper chamber.

…Republicans characterized the bill as a safety net in the event Congress can’t reach a deal. Democrats countered with charges that the proposal is evidence that the GOP’s CR strategy is designed to shutter the government.

The CR package was designed to cater to conservative Republicans, who have insisted that any spending package must scale back ObamaCare. Those conservatives had revolted earlier in the month when Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) tried to move a funding bill without that direct link.

The resistance forced GOP leaders to approve a CR last week that would have defunded the healthcare law – language that was stripped by Senate Democrats Friday, putting the ball back in Boehner’s court.

At a closely watched meeting of the GOP conference Saturday afternoon in the Capitol basement, Boehner outlined his hard-line strategy, leading to cheers from a conference that’s often been wary of his conservative credentials.

“This is exactly what we hoped for so we’re all getting behind leadership,” said Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), a Tea Party favorite. “We’re excited [and] we’re united.”

The bill now moves back to the Senate, where Reid is expected to scrap the two healthcare amendments with a single vote on Monday, when the Senate returns, and return the “clean” CR, yet again, to Boehner and House Republicans.

“To be absolutely clear, the Senate will reject both the one-year delay of the Affordable Care Act and the repeal of the medical device tax,” Reid said in a statement. “After weeks of futile political games from Republicans, we are still at square one: Republicans must decide whether to pass the Senate’s clean CR, or force a Republican government shutdown.”

That move could potentially come just hours before the Tuesday shutdown.

“ObamaCare is based on limitless government, bureaucratic arrogance, and a disregard of the will of the people,” said Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.).

If you listen to the Democrats, a “Government Shutdown” is equal to a sighting of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

GhostbustersTheir over-the-top reaction to the possibility of aGovernment Shutdown that would delay their grandiose socialist scheme, Obamacare, from be implemented, and taking away our freedom, reminds me of the following scene from the classic movie “Ghostbusters”.

Dr. Peter Venkman: This city is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions.
Mayor: What do you mean, “biblical”?
Dr Ray Stantz: What he means is Old Testament, Mr. Mayor, real wrath of God type stuff.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Exactly.
Dr Ray Stantz: Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling!
Dr. Egon Spengler: Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes…
Winston Zeddemore: The dead rising from the grave!
Dr. Peter Venkman: Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria!
Mayor: All right, all right! I get the point!

However, in reality…

During Ronald Reagan’s presidency from 1981 to 1989, shutdowns were a fairly regular occurrence and the government faced a funding shortfall on eight occasions. However, none of those lasted more than three days and many of them occurred over a weekend. Because stocks don’t trade over the weekend and the shutdowns were brief, investors had little reaction back then.

When shutdowns are prolonged and federal employees are out of work for weeks, the effect on the market is usually more negative. Under the Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter administrations, when the government was shut down for 10 days or more, the average decline for the stock market was more than 3 percent during closures.

But in the last major pair of shutdowns, from November 1995 to January 1996, the stock market actually rose.

President Bill Clinton and the Republican House leader Newt Gingrich failed to agree on a plan to reduce the nation’s budget deficit as well as cuts to Medicare premiums. As a result, the government shut twice in three months. First, it closed for five days between Nov. 13, 1995 and Nov. 19, 1995. Then a second shutdown lasted 21 days, from Dec. 15, 1995 to Jan. 6, 1996.

The S&P 500 rose 4 percent between Nov. 13 and Jan. 6, suggesting that investors were focused elsewhere. The stock market had just started its five-year, technology-fueled bull run, during which the S&P 500 more than doubled.

Even if the government shuts again, investors should take a long view because Europe and the U.S. are more stable than two years ago, says Dan Veru, chief investment officer of Palisade Capital Management.

“If things get really tricky, maybe there will be a three to five percent pullback,” in stocks, Veru says.

On October 27, 1964, the Great Communicator, Ronald Wilson Reagan, spoke the following words, in his classic speech, “A Time for Choosing”:

…Not too long ago, two friends of mine were talking to a Cuban refugee, a businessman who had escaped from Castro, and in the midst of his story one of my friends turned to the other and said, “We don’t know how lucky we are.” And the Cuban stopped and said, “How lucky you are? I had someplace to escape to.” And in that sentence he told us the entire story. If we lose freedom here, there’s no place to escape to. This is the last stand on earth.

And this idea that government is beholden to the people, that it has no other source of power except the sovereign people, is still the newest and the most unique idea in all the long history of man’s relation to man.

This is the issue of this election: Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capitol can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves.

You and I are told increasingly we have to choose between a left or right. Well I’d like to suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There’s only an up or down—[up] man’s old—old-aged dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order, or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. And regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course.

In this vote-harvesting time, they use terms like the “Great Society,” or as we were told a few days ago by the President, we must accept a greater government activity in the affairs of the people. But they’ve been a little more explicit in the past and among themselves; and all of the things I now will quote have appeared in print. These are not Republican accusations. For example, they have voices that say, “The cold war will end through our acceptance of a not undemocratic socialism.” Another voice says, “The profit motive has become outmoded. It must be replaced by the incentives of the welfare state.” Or, “Our traditional system of individual freedom is incapable of solving the complex problems of the 20th century.” Senator Fullbright has said at Stanford University that the Constitution is outmoded. He referred to the President as “our moral teacher and our leader,” and he says he is “hobbled in his task by the restrictions of power imposed on him by this antiquated document.” He must “be freed,” so that he “can do for us” what he knows “is best.” And Senator Clark of Pennsylvania, another articulate spokesman, defines liberalism as “meeting the material needs of the masses through the full power of centralized government.”

Well, I, for one, resent it when a representative of the people refers to you and me, the free men and women of this country, as “the masses.” This is a term we haven’t applied to ourselves in America. But beyond that, “the full power of centralized government”—this was the very thing the Founding Fathers sought to minimize. They knew that governments don’t control things. A government can’t control the economy without controlling people. And they know when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose. They also knew, those Founding Fathers, that outside of its legitimate functions, government does nothing as well or as economically as the private sector of the economy.

Back in the day, when I was in school, and we pledged allegiance to the Flag, and not the president,, we were taught How Marxism, in both its forms, socialism and communism, took away the individual rights of the people, and made them a single, faceless entity, subservient to the will of the all-powerful Central Government.

That, boys and girls, is exactly what Obamacare is designed to do.

And, that is why Obama and his Progressive Minions, on both sides of the aisle, are so anxious to see it implemented.

Obamacare was not passed for YOUR benefit, Pookie. They did it for THEIR’s.