Tag: America

Head of World’s Largest Evangelical Denomination on Gay Marriage: “The Supreme Court…is Not the Final Authority.”

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics1 Comment

th1DXO5NI3The world’s largest Evangelical Christian Denomination, with approximately 16,000,000 members, is holding its yearly Convocation.

And, its newly-elected President has left no doubt as to the denomination’s stance on the hot-button social issues, which our nation is presently wrestling with.

The Christian Post reports that

Ronnie Floyd, president of the Southern Baptist Convention and pastor of Cross Church in Arkansas, speaks during AVANCE 2015 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Ohio, June 14, 2015. 

Southern Baptist Convention President Ronnie Floyd told messengers gathered at the opening day of the denomination’s annual gathering Tuesday that “now is the time to lead,” on issues such as abortion, same-sex marriage, and racism.

“We are in spiritual warfare, and this is not a time for Southern Baptists to shrink back in timidity or shrink back with uncertainty,” said Floyd during his opening address at the SBC annual meeting in Columbus, Ohio. “Crises abound; the need is great hour is late, and now is the time to lead.”

The SBC president also highlighted global calamities including the advance of ISIS, human trafficking, Boko Haram, the persecution of Christians as well as crippling problems in the U.S., such as poverty, debt, and race relations.

“We are adrift in denial,” said Floyd, quoting Peggy Noonan.

The senior pastor at Cross Church in Springdale, Arkansas, prayed for the next great spiritual awakening, stating “we need a Jesus revolution” in the U.S. before addressing hot-button moral issues under fire in the legal system today like abortion.

“America, we stand believing that abortion is a glaring desecration of the unborn child’s purpose and value,” said Floyd. “We must be vigilant in this fight for the unborn child. All human life and human dignity — from the womb to the tomb. God has created all of us for His glory, and when we devalue human life, we are robbing God of his intended glory for every person in the world.”

Referring to the U.S. Supreme Court’s upcoming decision on whether gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry or whether state bans against same-sex marriage can remain in place, Floyd took a firm stance in his religious conviction that marriage is strictly between one man and one woman.

“We do not need to redefine what God himself has defined already,” he said.

Floyd explained to the audience that they will be asked to approve a resolution that affirms Southern Baptist beliefs on marriage. The resolution also reminds Christians to love our neighbors and extend respect to all people, even those who disagree with them.

“While we affirm our love for all people, including those struggling with same-sex attractions, we cannot and will not affirm any behavior that deviates from God’s design for marriage,” said Floyd. “Our first commitment is to God and nothing else and no one else. I humbly remind everyone today the Supreme Court of the United States is not the final authority, nor is the culture itself, but the Bible is God’s final authority about marriage and on this book we stand.”

In his final comment on same-sex marriage, Floyd took an oath to never sanctify gay marriage.

“I declare to everyone today as a minister of the Gospel, I will not officiate over any same-sex unions or same-sex marriage ceremonies, I completely refuse,” said the pastor.

On the issue of race relations, Floyd asserted: “America, we stand believing that all humanity bearing of God’s image is not contingent upon one’s skin color, and we also believe all racism and injustice must end. We need to let grace begin uniting our hearts in the bonds of peace. We need to learn to love one another as Christ loved us.”

That eardrum-shattering shriek that you just heard was the 24% of Americans, who self-identify as Liberals, beginning their hissy fit.

The truth of the matter is, Pastor Floyd is exactly right. Regardless of how the United States Supreme Court rules on same-sex marriage, God will have the final word.

He always does.

Modern Liberals seem to have great difficulty comprehending the role which Our Creator, the God of Abraham, played and plays in this Grand Experiment, known as the United States of America.

From adherents.com:

There were 95 Senators and Representatives in the First Federal Congress. If one combines the total number of signatures on the Declaration, the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution with the non-signing Constitutional Convention delegates, and then adds to that sum the number of congressmen in the First Federal Congress, one obtains a total of 238 “slots” or “positions” in these groups which one can classify as “Founding Fathers” of the United States. Because 40 individuals had multiple roles (they signed multiple documents and/or also served in the First Federal Congress), there are 204 unique individuals in this group of “Founding Fathers.” These are the people who did one or more of the following:

– signed the Declaration of Independence
– signed the Articles of Confederation
– attended the Constitutional Convention of 1787
– signed the Constitution of the United States of America
– served as Senators in the First Federal Congress (1789-1791)
– served as U.S. Representatives in the First Federal Congress

The religious affiliations of these individuals are summarized below. Obviously this is a very restrictive set of names, and does not include everyone who could be considered an “American Founding Father.” But most of the major figures that people generally think of in this context are included using these criteria, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, John Hancock, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and more.

Religious Affiliation
of U.S. Founding Fathers		 # of
Founding
Fathers		 % of
Founding
Fathers
Episcopalian/Anglican 88 54.7%
Presbyterian 30 18.6%
Congregationalist 27 16.8%
Quaker 7 4.3%
Dutch Reformed/German Reformed 6 3.7%
Lutheran 5 3.1%
Catholic 3 1.9%
Huguenot 3 1.9%
Unitarian 3 1.9%
Methodist 2 1.2%
Calvinist 1 0.6%
unknown 43  %
TOTAL 204

Here are some quotes about God and Christianity from 3 Presidents of the United States, whom you might recognize:

John Quincy Adams

My hopes of a future life are all founded upon the Gospel of Christ and I cannot cavil or quibble away [evade or object to]. . . . the whole tenor of His conduct by which He sometimes positively asserted and at others countenances [permits] His disciples in asserting that He was God.

The hope of a Christian is inseparable from his faith. Whoever believes in the Divine inspiration of the Holy Scriptures must hope that the religion of Jesus shall prevail throughout the earth. Never since the foundation of the world have the prospects of mankind been more encouraging to that hope than they appear to be at the present time. And may the associated distribution of the Bible proceed and prosper till the Lord shall have made “bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God” [Isaiah 52:10].

In the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior. The Declaration of Independence laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity.

Thomas Jefferson

The doctrines of Jesus are simple, and tend all to the happiness of man.

The practice of morality being necessary for the well being of society, He [God] has taken care to impress its precepts so indelibly on our hearts that they shall not be effaced by the subtleties of our brain. We all agree in the obligation of the moral principles of Jesus and nowhere will they be found delivered in greater purity than in His discourses.

I am a Christian in the only sense in which He wished anyone to be: sincerely attached to His doctrines in preference to all others.

I am a real Christian – that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus Christ.

George Washington

You do well to wish to learn our arts and ways of life, and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ. These will make you a greater and happier people than you are.

While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion. To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian.

The blessing and protection of Heaven are at all times necessary but especially so in times of public distress and danger. The General hopes and trusts that every officer and man will endeavor to live and act as becomes a Christian soldier, defending the dearest rights and liberties of his country.

I now make it my earnest prayer that God would… most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of the mind which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion.

Recently, a Gallup Poll showed that a little less than 3/4 of Americans proclaim Jesus Christ as their Personal Savior and half of Americans attend Religious Services on a regular basis.

While Modern American Liberals, under the rights granted to us by our Constitution, have every right to speak their mind, blackmail and intimidation of the Majority, is not a guaranteed right.

 Additionally, without being anchored on the Solid Rock, America would have been a failed experiment, assigned to the dustbin of history, years ago.

That still, small voice which resides within each one of us, has led Americans to do great things, in service to their country and the concept of American Freedom, as personified by Lady Liberty, standing so majestically in New York Harbor.

God gave us this nation, ensconced in the concept of “Liberty and Justice for all”.

By His Grace, we will keep it.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

Bruce, Caitlin, Rachel…Sliding Down the Slippery Slope (Original KJ Parody Song Included)

On By kingsjesterIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

untitledJust as those of us here in the Heartland are getting over the incredulity of seeing a Former Olympic Decathlon Winner shave his legs, augment his topside, put on a dress, pose for Vogue magazine, and declare that you CAN call him Shirley…or Caitlin…or whatever…comes a story that’s even weirder.

The Washington Post reported yesterday that

A controversy is raging over whether a prominent Washington state civil rights activist and Howard University graduate who claimed she was African American is actually white.

Rachel Dolezal, 37, is the president of the Spokane NAACP and has claimed to be the victim of a number of hate crimes. As questions were raised about the veracity of some of her reports this week, a white couple from Montana came forward to claim that Dolezal is their daughter.

Earlier this week, KXLY4 asked Dolezal about a photo posted to the NAACP chapter’s Facebook page of a black man identified as Dolezal’s father.

“I was wondering if your dad really is an African American man,” Jeff Humphrey of KXLY4 asked Dolezal.

“That’s a very … I mean, I don’t know what you’re implying,” Dolezal said.

“Are you African American?” Humphrey said.

“I don’t understand the question,” Dolezal said. She walked off-camera as Humphrey asked: “Are your parents, are they white?”

Dolezal did not return requests for comment.

In a telephone interview with The Washington Post and others, Lawrence and Ruthanne Dolezal of Troy, Mont., said Rachel Dolezal is their daughter, and that they are Caucasian.

“There seems to be some question of how Rachel is representing her identity and ethnicity,” Lawrence Dolezal said. “We are definitely her birth parents. We are both of Caucasian and European descent — Czech, German and a few other things.”

The Dolezals provided The Post with family photos of Rachel as well as what they said was her birth certificate.

Lawrence and Ruthanne Dolezal, a Christian couple who adopted four young children — two of whom are black — while Rachel was a teenager, said her decision to misrepresent her racial background, if that’s what she’s doing, may be related to her family and social justice work.

“The adoption of the children definitely fueled her interest as a teenager in being involved with people of color,” Ruthanne Dolezal said. “We’ve always had friends of different ethnicities. It was a natural thing for her.”

Lawrence Dolezal said his daughter was involved in Voice of Calvary, a “racial reconciliation community development project where blacks and whites lived together,” while at Belhaven University in Jackson, Miss.

“You speak and sound and act and take on the mannerisms of the culture you live in,” he said. When Rachel applied to Howard University to study art with a portfolio of “exclusively African American portraiture,” the university “took her for a black woman” and gave her a full scholarship.

“You’ve got a white woman coming in that got a full-ride scholarship to the black Harvard,” Lawrence Dolezal said. “And ever since then she’s been involved in social justice advocacy for African Americans. She assimilated into that culture so strongly that that’s where she transferred her identity.”

He added: “But unfortunately, she is not ethnically by birth African American. She is our daughter by birth. And that’s the way it is.”

For the past five years of writing this blog, I have been pointing out how our nation has been traveling sown the Slippery Slope of Relative Morality and Situational Ethics. And, how this country seems to have resigned itself to the notion that “whatever gets you through the night…it’s alright…it’s alright”, as the late John Lennon sang.

However, where does “self-realization” end and honesty and simply being a good person begin?

Are Bruce…Caitlin…Whatever…Jenner and this “Homegirl” wannabe being true to “themselves” or to their pocketbooks?

Or, are they both just “Mentally Irregular”?

With those questions in mind, sitting here on a hot Saturday Morning in Dixie, I put fingers to keyboard, and came up with this little ditty.

Everybody sing…

WEIRDO (Sung to the tune of “Lola” by the Kinks)

I saw her in the paper just the other day
She was on the front cover and certainly did look weirdo…
W-e-i-r-d-o
Her picture looked so familiar to me
Didn’t I see her on a box of Wheaties?
Wheaties W-h-e-a-t-i-e Wheaties…

Now, that threw me and I wasn’t sure
But, wasn’t she a guy and now she’s a girl?
Oh how weirdo wa-wa-wa-wa weirdo
Well I’m not dumb but I can’t understand
Why she looks like a woman, but lusts like a man
Ol’ Bruce Jenner…J-e-n-n-e-r…Jenner…

Here in the Home of the Brave and the Land of the Free,We can be anything that we want to be,
For wealth or fame or pride or money
We can even change from a dude to a honey

 Now, I’ve a big heart and am a compassionate guy
But, I think ol’ Caitlin’s pullin’ a con. She’s still Bruce Jenner.
Ja-ja-ja-ja Jenner Ja-ja-ja-ja Jenner
Jenner Ja-ja-ja-ja Jenner

Is it identity or fame?
Either way, it’s so lame
His inner “woman” came out
Please put “her” back in
I can’t look anymore…I may throw up

Well that’s the way that this story goes
I still think that “her” story blows. Ol’ Bruce Jenner
Ja-ja-ja-ja Jenner
Bruce was a boy and now he’s a girl
Was it for contentment or his pocketbook?
Ja-ja-ja-ja Jenner

And, now we have another weirdo hack
Her folks say she’s white, but she says she’s black
I guess this weirdness goes all the way to Spokane
Now, the N-double A-C-P will never be the same again

Well I sure do miss the Good Ol’ Days
When the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave
Was not so weirdo
Wa-wa-wa-wa weirdo Wa-wa-wa-wa weirdo
Wa-wa-wa-wa weirdo Weirdo Wa-wa-wa-wa weirdo…

Until He Comes,

KJ

American Exceptionalism and Our Place in the World

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics4 Comments

Obama-Shrinks-2After almost 2 terms under the failed “Smart Power!” Foreign Policy of Petulant President Pantywaist, Barack Hussein Obama, our allies around the world are asking themselves, “Will America still have our back in the future? Are they still a Super Power?”

Telegraph.co.uk posted the following interesting story, yesterday…

After six decades serving as the global policeman, the United States is now signalling its retreat from the world. With the Middle East engulfed by the flames of sectarian conflict, Europe’s borders menaced by the threat of war and China starting to flex its muscles in Asia-Pacific, it is clear the world has entered a new period of volatility.
That uncertainty begs tough questions for Britain: how should we respond to this new American pragmatism? And as our traditional ally turns inward, what should that mean for British foreign policy?

Ian Bremmer, the American foreign policy guru who coined the phrase “G-Zero” to describe this new and unstable world, is the author of ‘Superpower’, a best-selling new book that explores America’s options as a superpower in the 21st century.
 
Here he talks exclusively to Peter Foster about the strategic choices now facing America…

…PF: As we enter this period of post-Cold War instability, is the current US disengagement good or bad for what comes next?

IB: “It’s not good, but let’s be clear- engagement cannot be half-assed. Engaging doesn’t mean telling people you’re going to engage and then screwing them over. It means really engaging. It doesn’t mean setting a red line, and then backing off. And if you asked me if I believe it is credible right now to take big bets and tell the Europeans ‘we’re really there for you’, and the Japanese, ‘we’re really there for you’, and the Gulf States ‘we’re really there for you’, then the answer is ‘no’.

Are we going to get presidents that are going to consistently get behind that and really support an American-led world order? It’s possible, but I doubt it.”

PF: So is playing the ‘indispensable’ Superpower role essentially beyond the capacity of America now? Fiscally, militarily? 

IB: “No, there are absolutely things we could be doing that would be ‘indispensable’. America has money, interest rates are low, and if we want to print money, we can. If we want to support allies, we can. But indispensable doesn’t just mean, ‘oh we’re going to do drone strikes against Isis’. It means actually going to develop the kind of support that would, over the long-term, build economic opportunities for all these disenfranchised people across the Middle East.

“We’re the only country in the world that could put the resources on the ground that could actually fix the Middle East. We’re the only country in the world that can create global architecture, global alliances. We’re the ones that created Nato. Even if our allies like the Brits say ‘we don’t want to spend as much’, we still have to stick with it – because the absence of that is chaos. That’s what the ‘indispensables’ would argue.”

PF: But right now the American public won’t buy into that? 

IB: “I don’t think so. ‘Indispensable’ America is now an increasingly extreme sell, domestically, for any American president.

“Americans have gotten disillusioned with the inauthenticity of their own leaders, and the politics and politicians in Washington. After living through the 2008 financial crisis, Bush vs Gore, Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib – all of this stuff – and now we’re facing a $5 billion dollar election campaign where the most recognisable names are another Bush and another Clinton – you can’t ignore the disillusion.”

Like the present occupant of the Oval Office, Ian Bremmer evidently  believes that America is presently, and is inevitably destined to be “just another country”.

On March 7, 1978, Ronald Wilson Reagan, at the 5th Annual CPAC Conference , spoke the following prophetic words:

America will remain great and act responsibly so long as it exercises power — wisely, and not in the bullying sense — but exercises it, nonetheless.

Leadership is a great burden. We grow weary of it at times. And the Carter administration, despite its own cheerful propaganda about accomplishments, reflects that weariness.

But if we are not to shoulder the burdens of leadership in the free world, then who will?

The alternatives are neither pleasant nor acceptable. Great nations which fail to meet their responsibilities are consigned to the dust bin of history. We grew from that small, weak republic which had as its assets spirit, optimism, faith in God and an unshakeable belief that free men and women could govern themselves wisely. We became the leader of the free world, an example for all those who cherish freedom.

If we are to continue to be that example — if we are to preserve our own freedom — we must understand those who would dominate us and deal with them with determination.

We must shoulder our burden with our eyes fixed on the future, but recognizing the realities of today, not counting on mere hope or wishes. We must be willing to carry out our responsibility as the custodian of individual freedom. Then we will achieve our destiny to be as a shining city on a hill for all mankind to see.

You see, Mr. Bremmer, where the exceptionalism of America lies…is not in the Halls of Power…but in the courage and spirit of the average American. A courage and spirit, which our history proves, has driven American Citizens to build a nation, which is indeed exceptional among all others.

Thr secret of this country’s exceptionalism is the “Average Joe”, the 9 to 5′er, working himself into the grave to try to provide for his family.

It was this same “Average Joe”, who fired the shot heard around the world and began the War for American Independence, who stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-Day in World War II, who waded through rice paddies in Vietnam, and who swallowed sand in Desert Storm and Desert Shield. The same “Average Joe” who, as a New York City Policeman or Fireman, ran up the stairs of the World Trade Center on 9/11/01, instead of running down them. The same “Average Joe”, who simply wants things to be easier in this life for his children and grandchildren, than he had it.

It is this same “Average Joe”, who takes family and friends in, when they are in the midst of a life-altering tragedy. The same “Average Joe”, who volunteers on a soup line or at a Senior Citizens Home, or, who begins a successful business in his basement.

Liberal Bureaucrats, like Secretary of State John Kerry and his boss, are professional political prevaricators. Men and women, whose ethics and morality change with the direction of the wind, and whose egos override their judgment…every time.

America is a Constitutional Republic. We are not ruled by a faceless all-powerful government. America’s politicians, including President Barack Hussein Obama, are OUR SERVANTS….not the other way around.

And, as their Boss, we expect them to possess a more complete knowledge of the history of the most exceptional nation on the face of God’s green Earth. We expect them to honor and respect the lives given and the sacrifices made by courageous Americans, who paved the way for you and the rest of this selfish generation, who are so desperately attempting to rewrite American History in order for it to be in accordance with the tenets of their Liberal Ideology.

America’s place in the world is not a thing so fragile that it can be unalterably changed by a lightweight like Barack Hussein Obama.

As author Dinesh D’ Souza wrote…

What does the doctrine of American exceptionalism empower the United States to do? Nothing more than to act better than traditional empires – committed to looting and conquest – have done. So that’s American exceptionalism: an exceptionalism based on noble ideas, ideas that it holds itself to even when it falls short of them.

In conclusion, it is not a single politician that decides America’s place in the world.

It is the fact of American Exceptionalism.

Until He Comes,

KJ

KJ’s Sunday Morning Thought: A Selfish Generation

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity2 Comments

American Christianity 2During every generation, there comes a point, where the previous generation becomes frustrated in their attempts to communicate with the current generation.

The era we are living in now is no different.

However, as far as the effect that this failure to communicate may have on the future of America as a strong and vibrant nation, it is definitely more frightening.

The Christian Post reports that

A San Diego State University study published earlier this month has found that millennials appear to be the least religious generation ever recorded. SDSU psychology professor Jean M. Twenge suggested that one main reason for millennials abandoning religion is rising individualism in American culture, which is less prone to showing commitment to institutions.

“These trends are part of a larger cultural context, a context that is often missing in polls about religion,” Twenge said in an article published by Eureka Alert.

“One context is rising individualism in U.S. culture. Individualism puts the self first, which doesn’t always fit well with the commitment to the institution and other people that religion often requires. As Americans become more individualistic, it makes sense that fewer would commit to religion.”

The detailed study, which published its findings in the journal PLOS One, looked at data from 11.2 million respondents from four nationally representative surveys of U.S. adolescents ages 13 to 18 taken between 1966 and 2014.

The study defined millennials as “American adolescents and emerging adults in the 2010s,” and said that they were “significantly less religious than previous generations (Boomers, Generation X) at the same age.”

The analysis, led by researchers Ramya Sastry from SDSU, along with Julie J. Exline and Joshua B. Grubbs from Case Western Reserve University and W. Keith Campbell from the University of Georgia, presented that twice as many 12th graders and college students today never attend religious services.

Additionally, twice as many 12th graders and entering college students in the 2010s give their religious affiliation as “none,” compared to those in the 1960s-’70s.

“Recent birth cohorts report less approval of religious organizations, are less likely to say that religion is important in their lives, report being less spiritual, and spend less time praying or meditating. Thus, declines in religious orientation reach beyond affiliation to religious participation and religiosity, suggesting a movement toward secularism among a growing minority,” the study said.

The findings noted that millennials are the least religious generation of the last six decades, and possibly in the nation’s history.

Earlier in May, a major Pew Study found that Christianity continues declining in the U.S. as a whole, while the religiously unaffiliated keep rising.

Pew said that Christians as a whole fell from 78.4 to 70 percent of the population between 2007 to 2014, while the religiously unaffiliated group rose to 22.8 percent share of the population. The “nones” now outnumber American Catholics, Pew said, who fell to 20.8 percent.

Some Evangelicals, such as Russell Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, commented on the study by saying that the “increasing strangeness” of Christianity is “good news” for the church.

“Christianity isn’t normal anymore. It never should have been. The increasing strangeness of Christianity might be bad news for America, but it’s good news for the church. The major newspapers are telling us today that Christianity is dying, according to this new study, but what is clear from this study is exactly the opposite: while mainline traditions plummet, evangelical churches are remaining remarkably steady,” Moore said in a statement.

He is exactly right.

The church I attend, which happens to be Southern Baptist, is in the process of growing weekly, with Baptisms being witnessed every Sunday morning.

San Diego State psychology professor Jean M. Twenge’s theory is 180 degrees off.

It is not an act of ‘individualism” which is causing these young people to turn away from the “Faith of Our Fathers”.

It is selfishness and an innate conceit, imbued in them by those, whose familial nurturing and raising, with or without exposure to Christianity, could not compete with the Siren Song of American Popular Culture and secular socialization.

While the Scriptures of our Christian Faith tell us that “nothing is impossible with God” (Luke 1:37), America’s Popular Culture, reinforced by the current President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama, and his fellow “Progressives”, tells those who have achieved, through the Grace of God,

You didn’t build that.

Popular Culture, under the guise of “making the individual feel better about themselves”, actually constrains individual achievement.

These “millennials”, by believing that they are “their own god”, are limiting themselves.

History has shown us, time and again, what happens to a society, when man starts worshiping himself.

As Proverbs 16:18 tells us

Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

Right now, you’re probably saying to yourself,

Hold on, KJ, you just said that the individual CAN achieve.

Yes, I did.

Those who have gone before us, such as our Founding Fathers, our military leaders, our civic leaders, and our spiritual and familial leaders, all had one thing in common:

They all possessed a spirit of self-sacrifice.

Not sacrificing their will to achieve for the “good of the State”, but, rather, unselfishly sacrificing their time and talents for the betterment of those around them.

And, that is where the “Progressives” (i.e., Liberals), such as Professor Twenge, get it wrong.

It is not “the State”, nor the community-at-large, that drives, or allows, Individual Americans to succeed.

It is that “still, small voice” that resides within each one of us that has endowed us with our “certain inalienable rights” as Americans, of Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness”, that gives us the strength and discernment to succeed.

Without God, nothing is possible.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Does Obama Want to Change “The Thin Blue Line” Into a Brown-Shirted One?

On By kingsjesterIn Politics1 Comment

white-house-youth-corpsThe scene is post-World War I Germany, the year is 1921. In a country badly in need of national pride, a cadre of ambitious politicians and political organizers known as The National Socialist German Workers’ Party decide to establish a German militia, also known as Brownshirts, or the SA. These young people were placed under the leadership of Ernst Röhm, who would be in charge of physical training and political indoctrination.

“Originally uniformed stewards to organize demonstrations, they became street brawlers who dealt with any political opposition to party rallies.

When the Nazis gained power 1933 their strength was about 400,000 and they considered themselves the rival to the German Army. At the instigation of the Army and SS leaders, Hitler had all the SA’s leaders murdered 30 June 1933, the ‘Night of the Long Knives’, and the organization disbanded.”

Fast forward to July 2, 2008. Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama proclaims in a speech:

“We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we’ve set,” he said. “We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.”

This part of Barack Hussein Obama’s political platform was quickly hidden away, never to be spoken of again.

At least, not openly.

As is my wont to do, I have been thinking back over Obama’s Imperial Presidency, and his statements concerning America’s Municipal Law Enforcement Organizations.

When issues involving law enforcement have arisen during his presidency, time and again, Obama has come down on the opposite side from every single local law enforcement organization.

Now, isn’t the president of the United States supposed to be on the side of Law and Order?

Why would Barack Hussein Obama not support local law enforcement?

Perhaps, because he wants to build a National Municipal Law Enforcement Organization, under his command and the command of the Department of Justice.

A caller to Rush Limbaugh’s Syndicated Radio Program posited that notion, yesterday.

Rush responded by saying that

Just like if the private sector can’t do health care right, then we must.  We must move in with Obamacare in the name of fairness and equality and take it over.  And, “If  local cops actually can’t do the job anymore, somebody has to,” Obama will say.  And why not us?  Why not the federal government?  Everybody loves the federal government.  Everybody trusts the federal government.  Everybody turns to the federal government.  So why not turn to the federal government for community policing?  And then we get our own national police force without a coup.  The national police force, couple of military usually use to do a coup, but we’re gonna put one together here before the coup, maybe obviate the need for the coup.  Anyway, Christine, I appreciate the call.  It’s a great point. 

I’m just thinking here.  Obama has already got 25 police departments under the thumb of the federal government.  Cleveland is the most recent.  It was it was during the campaign of 2008 now, I remember, that Obama proposed a civilian security force, and he compared it to a national version of the military.  He pointed out that he can’t use the military for local police forces, but maybe we should create a civilian security force.  He was talking about a national federal police force.  He didn’t use that terminology because people would have revolted at that but he’s thinking — maybe not.  The way they’re going about it tier taking over via these consent decrees from the DOJ.  It’s basically blackmail.  You want money from the government to help run your police department?  Well, you gotta accept our guidelines on how you’re gonna do your jobs, and they’re all accepting, because they’re being forced.  St. Louis, Ferguson, Baltimore, Cleveland is the latest, Oakland, Newark.  I mean, there’s 25 of them now that are actually have been taken over by guidelines from the DOJ to run these local police departments.  I find it just all happening right there in front of our faces.  

Think about it.

From Ferguson to New York to Baltimore, Obama has not sided with the police force of any of those cities. He has sided with the protesters.

And, instead of providing federal assistance to the police force who were being attacked by the so-called protesters, he got his Department of Justice involved to make sure that those who were destroying their cities, were not having their civil rights violated while bringing destruction and anguish to people of the same color as themselves, whose businesses they were burning to the ground.

And, to add to the puzzlement, I reported recently that

According to frontpagemagazine.com,

ACORN’s successor group in Missouri has been paying protesters $5,000 a month to generate civil unrest in Ferguson, the troubled St. Louis suburb where black youth Michael Brown was killed by a white police officer last August.

We know this because some of the protesters haven’t been paid and, now, they are demanding what they were promised. They held a sit-in at the offices of Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment (MORE) and posted a demand letter online.

MORE is the rebranded Missouri branch of the former Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) which filed for bankruptcy in late 2010. That ACORN state chapter reconstituted itself in December 2009 as MORE under orders from ACORN’s national headquarters. President Obama used to work for ACORN and he represented it in court as a lawyer.

Of course, ACORN spear-headed the “Ground Troops” for the successful election of Barack Hussein Obama to Illinois State Senator, US Senator, and United States President.

By now, I’m sure that you’ve heard, that Mayor Stephanie Rawlins-Blake of Baltimore told her police force to stand down during the heart of the riotng, and allow all the destruction to occur unabated.

Why would any self-respecting Mayor do that?

As a result of her incompetency, Baltimore has set a record in this past month for Homocides, as the police force is reluctant to be aggressive.

The reason for their passivity, is the fact that when they attempt to perform their jobs, they are surrounded by people with phone cameras, attempting to catch them in some form of abuse, so that they could be reported, and lose their jobs, the jobs they depend upon to provide for their families.

Who advised Baltimore Mayor Rawlins-Blake to handcuff the police?

I will give you a clue: It is probably the same fellow who gave that Stump Speech, way back in July of 2008, pushing for a Civilian National Security Force, the same fellow who supported the law breakers in Ferguson, Missouri and New York City, New York.

I hope that I am wrong, but I foresee a Federal Police Force in our country’s future.

Brown shirts, anyone?

Until He Comes,

KJ

Federal Appeals Court Tells Obama “No” to Amnesty E.O. Presidential Temper Tantrum Ensues.

On By kingsjesterIn Politics1 Comment

illegal immigration 7714The high-pitched wailing, which was heard around America yesterday afternoon, was not our Civil Defense Warning System being activated.

It was Petulant President Pantywaist himself, Barack Hussein Obama, having a Presidential Temper Tantrum, because he did not get his way.

The New York Times reports that

A federal appeals court on Tuesday denied the Obama administration’s request to lift a hold on the president’s executive actions on immigration, which would have granted protection from deportation as well as work permits to millions of immigrants in the country illegally.

Two of three judges on a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in New Orleans, left in place an injunction by a Federal District Court judge in Brownsville, Tex. The ruling comes in a lawsuit filed by Texas and 25 other states against actions President Obama took in November. Many of the initiatives were scheduled to take effect this month.

The appeals court found that the states had sufficient legal grounds to bring the lawsuit and that the administration had not shown that it would be harmed if the injunction remained in place and the programs were further delayed.

Also denied was a request by the administration to limit the injunction to the states bringing the lawsuit. The ruling is a second setback for programs the president hoped would be a major piece of his legacy, raising new uncertainty about whether they will take effect before the end of his term and casting doubts on the confidence of administration lawyers that their case was very strong.

In a statement, Ken Paxton, the attorney general of Texas, said Mr. Obama had tried to impose “a drastic change in immigration policy” without the consent of Congress. The appeals court decision is “a victory for those committed to preserving the rule of law in America,” Mr. Paxton said. “We will continue to fight the brazen lawlessness that has become a trademark of the Obama administration.”

White House officials said the ruling was not surprising, but they declined to discuss the next legal move for the administration.

“Today, two judges of the Fifth Circuit chose to misrepresent the facts and the law,” a White House spokeswoman, Brandi Hoffine, said. “The president’s actions were designed to bring greater accountability to our broken immigration system, grow the economy and keep our communities safe. They are squarely within the bounds of his authority and they are the right thing to do for the country.”

The Justice Department could appeal the ruling on the emergency stay to the full appeals court, but legal experts said it was more likely that the administration would skip that conservative court and ask the Supreme Court to allow the programs to proceed.

The legal wrangling suggests that Mr. Obama and his aides may have underestimated the legal and political challenges to offering protections to more than four million illegal immigrants without a congressional vote.

In the 70-page opinion, two judges wrote that Texas had shown it would incur significant costs in issuing driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants who would be allowed to stay in the country. The judges, Jerry E. Smith and Jennifer Elrod, also rejected the administration’s argument that the programs could not be reviewed by the courts because they stemmed from policy decisions by the president on how to enforce the immigration laws.

Judge Stephen A. Higginson disagreed. He wrote that the administration was “adhering to the law, not derogating from it.”

Immigrant advocates supporting the president worried that the longer the initiatives are held up, the harder it could be to persuade immigrants to come forward to sign up.

So, with 40% of America’s Workforce giving up on the American Dream and dropping out of our workforce, King Barack the First decided that he would increase the competition for America’s jobs, by issuing a Royal Decree (Executive Order) granting amnesty to those who have illegally entered our Sovereign Nation, to the detriment of legal American citizens.

In 2013, brilliant American Economist and Political Pundit, Dr. Thomas Sowell, was interviewed by Laura Ingraham, on her syndicated radio program. Here is what he had to say about Amnesty and the Economy:

That’s incredible. I mean —first of all to an economist, it is incredible to speak about shortages without talking about prices, in this case wages…You know there, there have been so many predictions of shortages of so many occupations and the shortages don’t materialize. And why not? Because if there is a shortage, the wage rate goes up. That attracts in more people and lo and behold, the jobs are filled.

In agriculture, the farmers would obviously prefer to get workers who get low pay rather than workers they have to pay a higher wage. And as long as there are an unlimited supply of farm workers coming in from Mexico, they will never have to raise the wages very much. They say Americans won’t do these jobs. These are jobs Americans have done for generations, if not centuries. And it’s a time when millions of Americans are out of work, and are looking for any kind of work. And so this is utter nonsense.

…They constantly talk about immigrants in the abstract. You know, there are no such thing as abstract immigrants. There are immigrants from country a, b, c, d. They are radically different. People coming in from some countries almost never go on welfare. Immigrants coming in from other countries go on welfare to a great extent. If we’re going to have a rational immigration policy, then we have to be able to decide what people, what countries, what occupations — things like that, instead of rushing everything through.

The other main thing though is that if we don’t control the borders, we don’t have an immigration policy because regardless of what policy you put on paper, if people can just walk across the border when they darn well please, then your policy means nothing. The other thing that bothers me is the Republicans seem to think we will give — illegal immigrants citizenship if they do a, b or c. Democrats say x, y and z. I don’t know why we need promise anybody citizenship before we get control of the borders and have time to sit down and think and look at the facts, and then try to draw up some rational policy.

In 1903,  Jacob A. Riis,  a reporter who was born in Denmark in 1849 and immigrated to America at the age of 21, wrote the following about the immigrants who landed at Ellis Island,

The railroad ferries come and take their daily host straight from Ellis Island to the train, ticketed now with the name of the route that is to deliver them at their new homes, West and East. And the Battery boat comes every hour for its share. Then the many-hued procession-the women are hooded, one and all, in their gayety shawls for the entry-is led down on a long pathway divided in the middle by a wire screen, form behind which come shrieks of recognition from fathers, brothers, uncles, and aunts that are gathered there in the holiday togs of Mulberry or Division Street. The contrast is sharp-an artist would say all in favor of the newcomers. But they would be the last to agree with him. In another week the rainbow colors will have been laid aside, and the landscape will be poorer for it. On the boat they meet their friends, and the long journey is over, the new life begun.Those who have no friends run the gauntlet of the boarding-house runners, and take their chances with the new freedom, unless the missionary or “the society” of their people holds out a helping hand. For at the barge-office gate Uncle Sam lets go. Through it they must walk alone.

I know that you have heard America referred to as a Melting Pot.

That phrase was actually made popular in the 1908 play, “The Melting Pot,” a stage play by Israel Zangwill that encouraged assimilation into our nation’s culture by the immigrants of the time.

Zangwill was the London-born son of Russian Jewish immigrants. His play made its debut in Washington in 1908 and played in New York for four months the next year. The main character is David Quixano, a Jewish immigrant, orphaned by a pogram, which is a massacre of Jews. Quizano lives with his uncle on Staten Island and becomes smitten with the daughter of a Russian nobleman.

In the end, the good guy(David) gets the girl, which inspires him to shout from the rooftop of a Lower East Side settlement house that “America is God’s crucible” and to proclaim: “What is the glory of Rome and Jerusalem where all nations and races come to worship and look back, compared with the glory of America, where all races and nations come to labor and look forward!”

What Petulant President Pantywaist and his sycophantic Liberal supporters in Washington, the Main Stream Media, and elsewhere fail to realize, is that you can’t buy loyalty to a nation. 

The British found that out with their hired German Mercenaries, the Hessians, during the Revolutionary War.

In their self-absorbed Political Greed, America’s professional politicians are setting the stage for the possible fall of our nation.

Legal Immigrants earned their citizenship. They showed that they were willing to become a part of the Great American Melting Pot (from the Schoolhouse Rock video of the same name).

Illegal Immigrants do not respect the laws of our land, to begin with. Why would that change, if they were given the rights of citizenship?

And, what about the 40% of America’s Workforce, who have dropped out due to frustration, depression, and aggravation?

How about taking care of those whom you are supposed to be serving, first, Mr. President?

Until He Comes,

KJ

Michelle Obama Tells Graduates to “Rise Above the Noise”. Irony Abounds.

On By kingsjesterIn Politics1 Comment

michelleobama2The least-admired First Lady in my lifetime gave a Graduation Speech this weekend.

It was…interesting.

The Weekly Standard reported yesterday, that

First Lady Michelle Obama spoke today to graduates of Oberlin College. She encouraged the graduating class to “rise above the noise and shape the revolutions of your time.”

“[T]hink about how even with all the gridlock and polarization in Washington, we have made so much change these past six years:  12 million new jobs.  Sixteen million people who finally have health insurance.  Historic agreements to fight climate change.  Epic increases in college financial aid.  More progress on LGBT rights than any time in our history. And today, it is no longer remarkable to see two beautiful black girls walking their dogs on the South Lawn of the White House lawn.  That’s just the way things are now,” Obama said to applause at the liberal arts college.

“See, graduates, this is what happens when you turn your attention outward and decide to brave the noise and engage yourself in the struggles of our time. And that’s why, in his remarks 50 years ago, Dr. King urged the class of ‘65 to “stand up” and “be a concerned generation.” And, graduates, that call to action applies just as much to all of you today.

” And I want to be very clear: Every city ordinance, every ballot measure, every law on the books in this country –- that is your concern. What happens at every school board meeting, every legislative session –- that is your concern. Every elected official who represents you, from dog catcher all the way to President of the United States –- they are your concern.

“So get out there and volunteer on campaigns, and then hold the folks you elect accountable. Follow what’s happening in your city hall, your statehouse, Washington, D.C. Better yet, run for office yourself. Get in there. Shake things up. Don’t be afraid. (Applause.) And get out and vote in every election -– not just the big national ones that get all the attention, but every single election. Make sure the folks who represent you share your values and aspirations.

“See, that is how you will rise above the noise and shape the revolutions of your time. That is how you will have a meaningful journey on those clamorous highways of life. And, graduates, that is how you will carry on the proud legacy of this great institution for generations to come.”

Please note that “Mooch” did not mention the fact that 40% of America’s Workforce has given up trying to find a job. Or, the fact that the LGBT Community is only, according to the experts, from 1.6-3% of America’s total population. Or, the fact that Obamacare will soon collapse in upon itself, because as British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher so rightly said,

The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.

And, who is paying for all of that collegiate “financial aid”? I’ll give you a clue, gentle readers, it’s you and me, kids. Those of us who are fortunate enough to still have a job.

Michelle Robinson Obama is the most useless, racially divisive, and downright hateful excuse for a First Lady that this country has ever seen.

Bess Truman was Mother Teresa compared with the woman whom I affectionately refer to as “Mooch”…

On January 23rd, 2008, during a speech given in Columbia, South Carolina, Michelle Obama said:

We don’t like being pushed outside of our comfort zones. You know it right here on this campus. You know people sitting at different tables, y’all living in different dorms. I was there. Y’all not talking to each another, taking advantage of the fact that you’re in this diverse community because sometimes it’s easier to hold onto your own stereotypes and misconceptions, it makes you feel justified in your ignorance. That’s America. So the challenge for us is, are we ready for change?

Then, in February of 2008, while campaigning for her husband in Wisconsin, Mrs. Obama said:

Let me tell you something. For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country, because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback.

And let me tell you something. I need to believe that we live in that kind of nation, where hope and possibility and unity is still what drives us.

She made the “proud” comment twice in 2 different speeches.  David Axlerod, Obama’s Chief Strategist, tried to explain it away at the time, saying:

She gives this talk all the time, and I don’t think she formulates the words quite that way generally. But if you look at the whole quote and read beyond it, she was plainly talking about this burst of participation, this sense of hope, the sense of possibility and so on. And she was talking about the politics of our country.

In an article titled “The Other Obama”, published on March 10, 2008, in The New Yorker Magazine, writer Lauren Collins gives us the following insights into the Future First Lady’s true feelings about America:

The four times I heard her give the speech—in a ballroom at the University of South Carolina, from the pulpit of Pee Dee Union, at an art gallery in Charleston, and in the auditorium of St. Norbert College, in De Pere, Wisconsin—its content was admirably consistent, with few of the politician’s customary tweaks and nods to the demographic predilections, or prejudices, of a particular audience.

Obama begins with a broad assessment of life in America in 2008, and life is not good: we’re a divided country, we’re a country that is “just downright mean,” we are “guided by fear,” we’re a nation of cynics, sloths, and complacents. “We have become a nation of struggling folks who are barely making it every day,” she said, as heads bobbed in the pews. “Folks are just jammed up, and it’s gotten worse over my lifetime. And, doggone it, I’m young. Forty-four!”

From these bleak generalities, Obama moves into specific complaints. Used to be, she will say, that you could count on a decent education in the neighborhood. But now there are all these charter schools and magnet schools that you have to “finagle” to get into. (Obama herself attended a magnet school, but never mind.) Health care is out of reach (“Let me tell you, don’t get sick in America”), pensions are disappearing, college is too expensive, and even if you can figure out a way to go to college you won’t be able to recoup the cost of the degree in many of the professions for which you needed it in the first place. “You’re looking at a young couple that’s just a few years out of debt,” Obama said. “See, because, we went to those good schools, and we didn’t have trust funds. I’m still waiting for Barack’s trust fund. Especially after I heard that Dick Cheney was s’posed to be a relative or something. Give us something here!”

Her expensive tastes, during his time as “First Lady”, which include Wagyu Beef and Lobster, her penchant for taking the most expensive vacations ever imagined by man (with larger entourages than an NBA Player), along with her attempts at telling Americans what we HAVE to feed our children and grandchildren, and how we should be raising them, have not exactly endeared herself to the overwhelming majority of Americans.

Especially when she started telling us how to feed our children and grandchildren…

Past First Ladies always took a cause to tackle during their husbands’ terms.

Usually, it was a non-intrusive cause such as literacy or combating hunger in America.

Not, in the case of our globe-trotting (on our dime) present First Lady, “Moochelle” Obama.  Under the guise of battling Childhood Obesity, she decided to sic the food police on America’s school menus, turning our children into the Liberal Administrations’ own personal lab rats and overruling the parental authority of the average American Family.

Mrs. Obama has had to adjust her diet plan over the last few years, because children were not receiving enough nourishment from her Diet Plan and literally falling out by the middle of the afternoon.

In response to this danger to the health of their students, several school systems across the nation have told the First Lady what she can do with her non-nutritious Diet Plan, the latest being the Liberal Bastion of New York State!

Do Americans a favor, Mrs. Obama.   Stand in front of a full-length mirror, with your back to it, and look over your shoulder.  Perhaps then, you’ll realize just how hypocritical you’re being.

You know…Glass Houses?

It is a shame that we can’t impeach the President’s Spouse.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Memorial Day Weekend: The President Who Still Remembers

On By kingsjesterIn Politics3 Comments

veteranflagand wheelchairWhen I decided to write about the subject of this blog, on this Memorial Day Weekend, I knew that I would catch a lot of flack.

Former United States President George Walker Bush remains a polarizing figure.

The Bush Derangement Syndrome from the Liberal Side of the Political Aisle is a given. They, following the lead of their president, are still desperately attempting to blame Obama’s failures, in both his Domestic and Foreign Policies, on BOOOSH!, 6 1/2 years into the Presidency of Barack Hussein Obama.

On my side of the aisle, the consensus among Conservatives is that he spent too much.

However, that are three things that Conservatives, and all those with any common sense whatsoever, agree upon:

1. Former President George W. Bush loves our country.

2. Former President George W. Bush loves and honors America’s Brightest and Best, our Fighting Men and Women of our Armed Forces.

3. Thank God, George W. Bush was the President of the United States of America on September 11, 2001…and not Barack Hussein Obama. (mm mmm mmmm)

But, I digress…

bush-soldierThe following is an excerpt from Fox News anchor and political analyst Dana Perino’s new book, “And the Good News Is… Lessons and Advice from the Bright Side”…

The president was scheduled to see 25 patients at Walter Reed. Many of them had traumatic brain injuries and were in very serious, sometimes critical, condition. Despite getting the best treatment available in the world, we knew that some would not survive.

We started in the intensive care unit. The chief of naval operations (CNO) briefed the president on our way into the hospital about the first patient we’d see. He was a young Marine who had been injured when his Humvee was hit by a roadside bomb. After his rescue, he was flown to Landstuhl U.S. Air Force Base in Kaiserslautern, Germany. At his bedside were his parents, wife, and five-year-old son.

“What’s his prognosis?” the president asked.

“Well, we don’t know sir, because he’s not opened his eyes since he arrived, so we haven’t been able to communicate with him. But no matter what, Mr. President, he has a long road ahead of him,” said the CNO.

We had to wear masks because of the risk of infection to the patient. I watched carefully to see how the family would react to President Bush, and I was worried that they might be mad at him and blame him for their loved one’s situation. But I was wrong.

The family was so excited the president had come. They gave him big hugs and thanked him over and over. Then they wanted to get a photo. So he gathered them all in front of Eric Draper, the White House photographer.

President Bush asked, “Is everybody smiling?” But they all had ICU masks on. A light chuckle ran through the room as everyone got the joke.

The Marine was intubated. The president talked quietly with the family at the foot of the patient’s bed. I looked up at the ceiling so that I could hold back tears.

After he visited with them for a bit, the president turned to the military aide and said, “Okay, let’s do the presentation.” The wounded warrior was being awarded the Purple Heart, given to troops that suffer wounds in combat.

Everyone stood silently while the military aide in a low and steady voice presented the award. At the end of it, the Marine’s young child tugged on the president’s jacket and asked, “What’s a Purple Heart?”

The president got down on one knee and pulled the little boy closer to him. He said, “It’s an award for your dad, because he is very brave and courageous, and because he loves his country so much. And I hope you know how much he loves you and your mom, too.”

As they hugged, there was a commotion from the medical staff as they moved toward the bed.

The Marine had just opened his eyes. I could see him from where I stood.

The CNO held the medical team back and said, “Hold on, guys. I think he wants the president.”

The president jumped up and rushed over to the side of the bed. He cupped the Marine’s face in his hands. They locked eyes, and after a couple of moments the president, without breaking eye contact, said to the military aide, “Read it again.”

So we stood silently as the military aide presented the Marine with the award for a second time. The president had tears dripping from his eyes onto the Marine’s face. As the presentation ended, the president rested his forehead on the wounded warrior’s for a moment.

Now everyone was crying, and for so many reasons: the sacrifice; the pain and suffering; the love of country; the belief in the mission; and the witnessing of a relationship between a soldier and his Commander in Chief that the rest of us could never fully grasp. (In writing this book, I contacted several military aides who helped me track down the name of the Marine. I hoped for news that he had survived. He did not. He died during surgery six days after the president’s visit. He is buried at Arlington Cemetery and is survived by his wife and their three children.

I remember my ex-brother-in-law, Dave. My late step-sister met him at the USO in Memphis during the Vietnam War. David was a Polish Catholic from outside of Detroit, a Navy guy who received his training in the computers of the day, while in service to our country. When he got out, they got married and moved to Dearborn (now Dearbornistan), Michigan, where he got a job with Burroughs. I remember Dave, because he was always good to me, even though I was just a runt kid, 15 years younger than him. I remember him cleaning his service rifle, sitting on the living room floor of our house, and, making sure it was empty, allowing me to to hold it. At the time,I thought that was the coolest thing I had ever done.

I also remember John. John was a friend of my sister’s, who stayed with us, because of problems at home. As I have related before, my folks were the ones whom all my sister’s friends would talk to when they had trouble at home. John was great guy, as well, who wound up enlisting and serving in that “crazy Asian War”, as Kenny Rogers and Mel Tillis once referred to it in song.

I have related before about my own Daddy and my Uncles, and their service in World War II. I have also had friends that served over the years, and one who is still serving in the Air National Guard.

All of these men were/are Patriots. They enlisted out of duty to God and Country.

Our Brightest and Best, who wear the uniform today, are no less dedicated. They deserve to be treated with respect, not as pawns in a game of political expediency, whose rules including social experimentation, political correctness, and blatant disrespect by the Commander-in-Chief…

Instead ,as his fellow Democratic Presidents before him, Barack Hussein Obama uses our Best and Brightest as political tools, following the tradition of previous Liberal occupiers of the White House, such as the Clintons, who used them as banquet staff at White House Events, having Marines in dress blues carry trays of munchies.

Our sons and daughters in uniform, both our heroic veterans and those serving and protecting our country today, both deserve and command our respect.

They are not just “Ancillary Staff”, as seems to be the prevailing opinion in the Administration.

The greatest American President in my lifetime, Ronald Reagan, once said,

Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S. was too strong.

Reagan was a realist. He realized that, as President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt once advised, the best way to keep America safe, is to “Speak softly and carry a big stick”.

Unfortunately for us, we are presently suffering through a president who speaks like a wuss and carries a feather pillow, a Mexican Flag, and a prayer rug.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

Kenya Tells Obama to Keep Gay Marriage Lecture to Himself…America Agrees

On By kingsjesterIn Politics4 Comments

obamaobliviousOne thing is for sure, America has changed under the **cough** leadership of President Barack Hussein Obama.

And, not for the better.

Obama and his intolerant Liberal Minions are presently, as they have been for a while, engaging in a political movement designed to change the meaning of a word that has meant the same thing for thousands of years. They have been feverishly attempting to equate the Civil Rights Struggle of the 1960s, in which black Americans were murdered, incarcerated, attacked by dogs loosed on them by Southern Democrats, and knocked down and almost drowned by fire hoses, with the fact that homosexuals could not “marry” their own gender, and the majority of citizens in the majority of states did not want them to and voted accordingly.

This “righteous outrage” of the select few, led to Liberal, and in some cases, homosexual activist judges, overturning the results of fairly-held state elections, which had banned gay marriage in the overwhelming majority of American States.

And now, as I write this post, the Supreme Court is considering whether or not to make “Gay Marriage” the law of the land.

The fact that this attempt by Obama, his Administration, and their Liberal Minions to marginalize the 74% of Americans who proclaim Christ as their Personal Savior, while at the same time tearing apart the fabric of our society, has not escaped the notice of the rest of the world.,,not even in the country of Obama’s birth…err…I mean his father’s birth.

Yeah…that’s the ticket.

Both of the following articles are from The Christian Post.

Article #1 –

President Barack Obama has been urged by the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya, comprised of 700 pastors, not to “preach” and impose his views in support of same-sex marriage on the Kenyan people when he visits the African country in July.

“We would like to send a strong message to the U.S. president that the homosexuality debate should not become part of his agenda, as it has been his tendency whenever he comes to Africa,” Bishop Mark Kariuki of the Evangelical Alliance, told the Kenyan Daily Nation newspaper on Monday.

“[Obama] should respect the faith, culture and people of Kenya when he comes in July,” he added. “He should not put [homosexuality] as one of his main agenda[s] in the country.”

The pastors said in a separate statement that “President Barack Obama is welcome to visit Kenya this summer — but please, leave the preaching to us.”

And Nairobi Cardinal John Njue, who serves as president of the Kenyan Episcopal Conference, said that Obama has “ruined” American society with his support for gay marriage.

“Those people who have already ruined their society … let them not become our teachers to tell us where to go,” Njue said. “I think we need to act according to our own traditions and our faiths.”

Obama’s state visit to Kenya, the country where he traces back part of his heritage, will be his first return trip to the country since he became president, the LA Times noted.

America has shared a strained relationship with Kenya in recent years, stemming from the U.S.
government’s opposition to President Uhuru Kenyatta, who was elected in 2013 despite being charged with crimes against humanity in the International Criminal Court.

July’s state visit is aimed at rebuilding that relationship, with Secretary of State John F. Kerry already meeting with Kenyatta earlier in May to discuss counter-terrorism efforts and security cooperation.

Obama has urged the African government to decriminalize homosexuality, and in 2013 said during a speech alongside Senegalese President Macky Sall that gay people should not be discriminated against.

“When it comes to people’s personal views and their religious faith, I think we have to respect the diversity of views that are there,” Obama said at the time.

“But when it comes to how the state treats people, how the law treats people, I believe that everybody has to be treated equally. I don’t believe in discrimination of any sort,” he added.

The comments prompted Kenyan officials to urge Obama to respect culture and religious beliefs.

“No one should have any worry about Kenya’s stand as a God-fearing nation. President Obama is a powerful man but we trust in God as it is written in the Bible that cursed is the man who puts trust in another man,” Kenya Deputy President William Ruto said back then.

Kenya, a majority Christian country, does not allow gay marriage and criminalizes same-sex acts, as is the case in a number of other African states.

The Inter-Religious Council of Kenya has also said that it is wary of Obama’s upcoming visit.

“We are not prepared to accept, hear or listen to anyone lecturing us on how our culture is good or bad,” said IRCK Chairman Adan Wachu.

And, continuing with this subject, under the heading of “Not Trusting Man”…

Article #2-

A United Methodist body approved proposed legislation that would, among other things, allow clergy to perform gay marriage ceremonies and local conferences to ordain non-celibate homosexuals.

The Connectional Table voted 26 to 10 in favor of proposed legislation that would allow clergy to perform gay weddings without concern of facing church discipline or to be “openly self-avowed practicing homosexuals.”

The Christian Post reached out to the Connectional Table, but due to scheduled meetings a representative could not return comment by press time.

John Lomperis, director of the United Methodist program at The Institute on Religion and Democracy, told The Christian Post that the Connectional Table proposal was a bad idea.

“This legislation would essentially replace the UMC’s current biblical policies on marriage and sexuality with the same sort of liberalized policies of denominations like the Episcopal Church, with similarly disastrous results,” said Lomperis.

“Thus, with this move, the Connectional Table has further committed itself to an agenda that would split apart our denominational connectional. But the majority of members have made clear that they simply care about ‘winning’ at any cost, no matter whose voices they exclude from the table …”

According to the UMC’s governing document the Book of Discipline, homosexuality is “incompatible with Christian teaching.”

The Discipline also says that clergy can neither bless gay weddings nor can non-celibate homosexuals be ordained.

At the UMC’s most recent general conference, held in 2012 in Tampa, Florida, a resolution introduced to change the Discipline’s language on these positions was voted down. But the controversy over the Mainline Protestant denomination’s position on homosexuality continued.

Last month, the UMC Commission on General Conference, which plans the general conference meetings, proposed a way to specifically handle proposed legislation, like that which was voted on in 2012.

Called a “Group Discernment Process,” if approved, the new method will involve sexual ethics petitions going through small group review before entering the usual committees.

Regarding the possible success of the Connectional Table proposal, Lomperis of the IRD told CP that “I do not at all expect this to pass General Conference.”

“People who expect General Conference to pass this either don’t understand our system well or else simply don’t get out much from their left-wing echo chambers,” said Lomperis.

Christian Americans have been under constant attack since January 21, 2009, by Liberals, or “Progressives” (a misnomer) from both within and without the American Christian Church.

Liberal Denominations, such as the Presbyterian and the Episcopalianm Churches have seen their congregations shrink dramatically, teetering on extinction, as a result of following the current Popular Culture of Man, instead of the Eternal Word of God.

Now, the United Methodist Church, where I spent the first 40 years of my life, serving on my home church’s Council of Ministries as Choir President, is starting to strain at its edges, as the “Smartest People in the Room” are attempting to place man’s culture above God.

As these Liberal Denominations are finding out the hard way, that never works out.

God always has the last word.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

 

Pope Francis: The Pope of the Far Left

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, PoliticsLeave a comment

th (7)The current Leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis, has chosen a very different path than any of his predecessors.

And, from this Christian American’s Viewpoint, that is not necessarily a good thing.

Yahoo News Canada reports that

Pope Francis’ hard-hitting criticisms of globalization and inequality long ago set him out as a leader unafraid of mixing theology and politics. He is now flexing the Vatican’s diplomatic muscles as well.

Last year, he helped to broker an historic accord between Cuba and the United States after half a century of hostility.

This past week, his office announced the first formal accord between the Vatican and the State of Palestine — a treaty that gives legal weight to the Holy See’s longstanding recognition of de-facto Palestinian statehood despite clear Israeli annoyance.

The pope ruffled even more feathers in Turkey last month by referring to the massacre of up to 1.5 million Armenians in the early 20th century as a “genocide”, something Ankara denies.

After the inward-looking pontificate of his scholarly predecessor, Pope Benedict, Francis has in some ways returned to the active Vatican diplomacy practiced by the globetrotting Pope John Paul II, widely credited for helping to end the Cold War.

Much of his effort has concentrated on improving relations between different faiths and protecting the embattled Middle East Christians, a clear priority for the Catholic Church.

However in an increasingly fractured geopolitical world, his diplomacy is less obviously aligned to one side in a global standoff between competing blocs than that of John Paul’s 27-year-long papacy.

This is reinforced by his status as the world’s first pope from Latin America, a region whose turbulent history, widespread poverty and love-hate relationship with the United States has given him an entirely different political grounding from any of his European predecessors.

“Under this pope, the Vatican’s foreign policy looks South,” said Massimo Franco, a prominent Italian political commentator and author of several books on the Vatican.

He said the pope has been careful to avoid taking sides on issues like Ukraine, where he has never defined Russia as an aggressor, but has always referred to the conflict between the government and Moscow-backed rebels as a civil war.

That approach is intended to ensure he remains more credible with countries like Syria, Russia or Cuba, all nations where Francis feels he can help local Christians best by steering an independent course.

DIPLOMATIC RISKS

Francis already has his hands full overhauling the Vatican’s complex internal bureaucracy after a series of financial and sexual scandals involving abuse of children by priests which date back decades.

But clearly deeply interested in how the world outside the walls of the Vatican works, he appears determined to use his position and the huge global audience he commands to challenge entrenched diplomatic positions as well.

The former secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, a veteran insider whose office formerly controlled both relations with foreign powers and many internal Vatican affairs, has been replaced. His office has been downgraded to resemble a more classical diplomatic service while Francis has set a bolder, more personal stamp on Vatican foreign policy.

“He’s someone who’s capable of praying in the Blue Mosque in Istanbul and then talking about the Armenian genocide. He’s not someone who’s bound by political correctness,” said former Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini.

“It’s the diplomacy of a real leader.”

Whether it is to the taste of all the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, world politicians with priorities of their own or even the many layers of the Church’s own administration is another matter.

With many conservative Catholics unhappy about the pope’s focus on issues like economic injustice and his relatively tolerant tone on sensitive social topics like homosexuality and the status of divorced people, pronounced views on delicate diplomatic issues could cause further division in the Church.

It is a point where he will be particularly tested in September on his upcoming visit to the United States, where some conservative U.S. Catholics are openly hostile.

After helping to foster last year’s agreement reviving diplomatic relations between Havana and Washington, Francis reaped criticism from many U.S. conservatives, including Marco Rubio, a candidate for the Republican nomination for president.

Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants and a practicing Catholic, avoided directly admonishing the pope, but said he should “take up the cause of freedom and democracy” in Cuba.

That kind of veiled criticism from a politician who would normally be considered a staunch Church ally reflects the wider unease some Catholics feel at the change Francis has ushered in at one of the world’s most conservative institutions.

“Bishops complain that he becomes popular by attacking the Church,” said Franco.

“He speaks directly to the people and doesn’t respect the usual command structures. He decides on his own or with people who are not those who previously had a central role.”

In other words, he is the first pope who seemingly represents the Far Left Political Viewpoint.

Pope Francis seems more comfortable reaching out to Communist and Socialist countries, then he does to the Vatican’s Traditional allies, those countries who enjoy strong economies, built upon freedom and a competitive marketplace.

I know that I may sound like an old cracker, but my generation was blessed with three very remarkable leaders: United States President Ronald Reagan, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and Pope John Paul II.

These three stood for everything that was good about freedom.

All three knew the dangers and corruption of the implementation of Marxist Theory through the governments of man.

Here is what the wonderful and gracious Pope John Paul II said about an out-of-control Nanny-State (Socialist) Government:

By intervening directly and depriving society of its responsibility, the Social Assistance State leads to a loss of human energies and an inordinate increase of public agencies, which are dominated more by bureaucratic thinking than by concern for serving their clients, and which are accompanied by an enormous increase in spending, In fact, it would appear that needs are best understood and satisfied by people who are closest to them who act as neighbors to those in need. It should be added that certain kinds of demands often call for a response which is not simply material but which is capable of perceiving the deeper human need.

And, while this present Pontiff is romancing the Palestinians, Pope John Paul II reached out to God’s Chosen People.

In 1994, John Paul II established full diplomatic ties between the Vatican and Israel. He said,

For the Jewish people who live in the State of Israel and who preserve in that land such precious testimonies to their history and their faith, we must ask for the desired security and the due tranquillity that are the prerogative of every nation . . .

Pope John Paul II also said…

The historical experience of socialist countries has sadly demonstrated that collectivism does not do away with alienation but rather increases it, adding to it a lack of basic necessities and economic inefficiency.

Why is this present Pope supporting the enemies of Freedom…and of God’s Chosen People?

Being a peacemaker is one thing. Being an enabler of the Enemies of Freedom is quite another.

 Until He Comes,

KJ