Holy Week in America - What Happened to Spiritual Values?

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It is Holy Week and Passover, a time of reverence in the world when people of all faiths should be focused on the values that helped shape America when the Founding Fathers were debating on the type of Republic America must be to help it overcome the factors that ultimately destroyed all major civilizations in the world, immorality and corruption.



From the first days of the American Revolution it became clear that this was to be the first Republic in world history to fully embrace individual freedom, with guarantees written into the Constitution, and the first Republic to embrace the following concept articulated in the Declaration of Independence.



"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."



Certain unalienable Rights endowed by their Creator. Historic and powerful, yet steeped in spirituality like no other previous form of government. Article 3 of the US Constitution Bill of Rights further clarified the role of spirituality in America with the following statement of religious freedom.



"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."



Beginning with the Founding Fathers the phrase "In God We Trust" was used as an unofficial motto of the USA until it was finally made a law in the 1950's, about the same time the Pledge of Allegiance was modified to include the words "under God" which reads "one nation under God". The linkage between God or the Creator and America is clear.



So while Holy Week is a time of revered religious observances it is also a time to rededicate ourselves to our principles and foundation. It matters not whether you are Christian, Islam or Jewish there is significance to this time. More than that, all three traces their roots to the Holy Land and Jerusalem.

Followers of Judaism hold Passover sacred as the time to honor the escape of the Jews from Egypt, when Moses led them to the Promised Land.

The Christian and Islam followers honor Jesus as the Messiah during this time as it represents the end of his earthly mission. To the Christians he performed the sacrament of the Eucharist at the Last Supper then died and was resurrected as a symbol of everlasting life in the Kingdom of God.



Though the Islam Holy Quran we discover the following:

Many do not know that the true spirit of charity which the Muslim displays, always, towards Jesus and his mother Mary spring from the fountainhead of his faith - the Holy Quran. He does not know that the Muslim does not take the holy name of Jesus, in his own language, without saying Eesa, alaihi assalam ("Jesus, peace be upon him")

We do not know that in the Holy Quran Jesus is mentioned twenty five times. For example:

"We gave Jesus, the son of Mary, clear signs and strengthened him with the Holy Spirit" (The Holy Quran 2:87)

"O Mary! God giveth thee glad tidings of a Word from Him: his name will be Christ Jesus, the son of Mary..." (3:45)

"...Christ Jesus the son of Mary was (no more than) an apostle of god..." (4:171)

"...And in their foot steps we sent Jesus the son of Mary..." (5:46)

"And Zakariya and John, and Jesus and Elias: all in the ranks of the righteous." (6:85)

Though Jesus is mentioned by name in twenty-five places in the Holy Quran, he is also addressed with respect as: Ibn Maryam, meaning "The son of Mary"; and as the Maseeh (in Hebrew it is the Messiah), which is translated as "Christ". He is also known as Abdullah, "The servant of Allah"; and as Rasul u Allah, the messenger of Allah.



He is spoken of as "The Word of God", as "The Spirit of God", as a "Sign of God", and numerous other epithets of honor spread over fifteen different chapters. The Holy Quran honors this mighty messenger of God, and the Muslims have not fallen short over the past fourteen hundred years in doing the same.

In eight verses from Holy Quran, verses 42 to 49 we are told:
(a) That Mary, the mother of Jesus, was a virtuous woman, and honored above the women of all nations.
(b) That all that was being said was God's own Revelation to mankind.
(c) That Jesus was the "Word" of God.
(d) That he was the Christ that the Jews were waiting for.
(e) That God will empower this Jesus to perform miracles even in infancy.
(f) That Jesus was born miraculously, without any male intervention.
(g) That God will vouchsafe him Revelation.
(h) That he will give life to the dead by God's permission, and that he will heal those born blind and the lepers by God's permission, etc.



About the only difference between Christians and followers of Islam when it comes to Jesus and His mother Mary is He is considered the Son of God to Christians and the Mighty Messenger of God in the Holy Quran. Christians believe He died and was resurrected while in the Holy Quran He was taken by Allah. Is that really so different?



All three faiths agree that we must have faith in God (Allah). All three agree that we must follow the Ten Commandments. All three faiths have Holy Sripture that tell much of the same story.



If we honor all faiths in America then we must show respect for all faiths as a Constitutional responsibility. There can be no hatred, no condemnation of other faiths, no disrespect of the Holy Scriptures of all faiths and there must be a rededication by all people to the truths of these Holy teachings.



America is the great experiment. It was the first nation on Earth to guarantee religious freedom. In proclaiming these certain unalienable rights from the Creator we set ourselves apart from all other nations and civilizations and we must never forget it. If we are true to our Constitution and individual scripture there is no room for immorality and corruption in America.

Holy Week would seem to be the right time to remember our roots and to honor our responsibilities.

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Obama and Abortion - What Does He Really Think? Fifty Million USA Abortions and Counting

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After watching the President try and explain his abortion position during the entire campaign and do it in a way that neither infuriates his far left, liberal, pro abortion constituency nor his moderate, Christian and anti-abortion constituency, it is still difficult to understand what he really believes on the abortion issue.

His latest venture, signing an Executive Order to assure no federal funds in health care are used for abortions, a move required to get pro life votes necessary to save his health care extravaganza, was done in such a secret and unusual manner it shows how far from the issue he tries to remain. There was no press, no cameras, no public statement, no press release and just a handful of unidentified pro life members of Congress invited to the White House to witness the signing. It was a far cry from the hoopla over the nationally televised health care signing a couple of days earlier.



Yesterday his Press Secretary Robert Gibbs continued to downplay the event with the White House press corps who were insulted by being locked out of the event, in spite of the administration pledge of full transparency. Gibbs ignored the questions from the press and told them the White House photographer has a picture that could be used by the media, refusing to answer why Obama banned the press.

At least House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, in the euphoria of getting health care approved, said that President Obama signing the anti-abortion Executive Order was a victory for life. Remember this was done for the group of Democrat pro life congressmen who opposed the health care bill because it did not make it clear no federal funding could be used for abortions. Once Obama took Congressman Bart Stupak for a ride on Air Force One the door was open to win over the group.

When Obama agreed to issue the Executive Order at the last moment before the health care vote because he did not have the votes to win without the pro lifers, it sealed the deal. But Gibbs said the Order was no big deal because it did nothing but say the president was abiding by the current federal abortion laws. He should also have said the president could change his mind any moment and cancel it, the next president could throw it out, or congress could even override it.

Yet the Washington Times reported that pro life groups are getting an unexpected boom from the fallout of the controversial Health Care law. They’ve been receiving contributions at the highest rate since the partial-birth abortion debates of the 1990s.



This following the deal struck by Representative Bart Stupak (D-MI) regarding abortion funding in the new Health Care law. Stupak agreed on Sunday to vote for President Obama’s Health Care bill in return for an Executive Order maintaining the current levels of abortion funding.

According to the Washington Times, ‘The Susan B. Anthony List immediately stripped Rep. Stupak of a Defender of Life award it was planning to bestow on him Wednesday.’

Brian Burch, president of CatholicVote.org, called the deal 'unconscionable.' In an interview with CNCNews.com, Burch said 'The Executive Order is a band-aid solution that fails to solve the fundamental problems in this bill, and can be repealed at any time, for any reason, by the president or future presidents. The order is likely to be challenged by pro-abortion groups, and could be struck down by the courts.'



What is really discouraging is the failure of all politicians to really frame the abortion issue in terms anyone can understand. Try this. Since the 1973 Roe versus Wade decision, there have been FIFTY (50) MILLION abortions performed in the United States. That means over 1.3 million abortions are performed every year. Worldwide there have now been ONE BILLION legal abortions performed.

Advocates claimed abortion was needed in three cases, rape or incest, a threat to the health of the baby, or a threat to the health of the mother. History has proven them wrong. Multiple studies performed with the advantage of actual statistics show only 1% of all abortions resulted from rape or incest, just 2% resulted because of the health of the baby, and 2% resulted from the threat to the health of the mother. In other words the three major causes for passing Roe versus Wade actually represented no more than 5% of the total abortions performed.



Based on the claims in the debate over Roe versus Wade we should not even have a law since so few abortions performed meet the primary needs used to justify the law. However, there is another reason to reconsider the language of the law besides 50 million deaths and no justification for the law, that is what the law did do in the first place.

Roe versus Wade was a ruling by the Supreme Court that centrally held that a mother may abort her pregnancy for any reason, up until the "point at which the fetus becomes ‘viable'". The Court defined viable as being potentially able to live outside the mother's womb, albeit with artificial aid. In 1973 viability usually occurred at about seven months (28 weeks) but might occur earlier, even at 24 weeks. Medical breakthroughs since the ruling and prenatal advances have demonstrated that the ability of the fetus to live outside the mother's womb can come at a much earlier time.

In fact just recently the youngest baby in history was delivered at 21 weeks and 6 days, survived and has now gone home to live a normal life. Amillia Sonja Taylor was born October 24, 2009 in Florida. She is living proof that Roe versus Wade is scientifically wrong, a baby can survive at 21 weeks, not 28 weeks.







Clearly the language of the law is flawed, so what should it be? Here is the test for all pro abortion groups who claim they really aren't advocating taking lives. There is one medical test widely accepted and upheld by the courts to establish that a human is legally alive or dead.

The Uniform Determination of Death Act, promulgated in 1980 and supported by the President’s Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research, has served as a model statute for the adoption of state legislation that defines death. The act asserts: “An individual, who has sustained either irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions, or irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brainstem, is dead. A determination of death must be made in accordance with accepted medical standards.”

Since brain activity is the legal measure for the cessation of life, then it must also be the legally accepted measure of the beginning of life. A fetus becomes a living baby when brain activity can be first measured. According to established science with the use of an electroencephalogram, or EEG, activity in the brain can be detected as early as six weeks gestational age (6). Whether brain activity begins at this time or started earlier but becomes detectable at this time is uncertain; it is known that neural connections begin forming as soon as neurons begin forming, as early as 14 days gestation.

A Constitutional lawyer like President Obama should embrace scientific advances that have proven when brain activity is detected, at six weeks, and since the courts accept brain activity as a reliable measure of life or death, then life can be scientifically proven at six weeks.



Roe versus Wade, adopted nearly four decades ago, is medically and scientifically obsolete in the determination that life begins at 28 weeks. Responsible members of Congress and the White House should advocate, in the interest of scientific accuracy, a change in the law to reflect the latest scientific advances. With 50 million abortions already performed, do we really want to keep terminating the lives of babies we know are living beings?

Abortion is not a matter of pro choice when the baby being aborted is a living, human being in the eyes of science. Pro Life and Pro Choice advocates should join in seeking this correction of a flawed law and the Obama Administration and Congress should make it the law of the land.

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Sarah Palin Again Sends MSNBC into a Tailspin with New TV Series

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When MSNBC has everything to talk about what with Obama and the health care approval they still cannot resist interrupting the news to take a shot at Sarah Palin. There is nothing more entertaining than watching a media enterprise like left leaning MSNBC working up a dither over the moose hunter from Alaska.

NBC refuses to believe Palin has a strong and loyal backing no matter what she does and every time she has a little success the reporters at MSNBC line up to trash her achievement. Why don't they just shut up and leave Palin alone?

Since MSNBC seems to promote books over everything else, especially those written by MSNBC staff, they must still be fuming since Palin ignored them on her book tour and took the rest of the country by storm. In the end Palin sold over 2.4 million copies, having one of the highest selling political biographies in history.



The elitists at MSNBC just cannot accept that a backwoods, rifle toting soccer mom could do that. The fact she snubbed the cable network and still was a nationwide best seller is too much for them to take.

The same was true when Palin landed the job with Fox News. And now, when Palin has landed a TV series with the Discovery Network to show the world the wonders of the State of Alaska at a reported price of over $1 million per episode they are flabbergasted.

How could the hick from the wilderness have become a multi-millionaire TV star just months after giving up the governorship of Alaska? It would never occur to the media elitists that Sarah Palin paid her dues under a barrage of false charges and innuendo and incessant efforts by the media to smear her reputation and ruin her career.



Palin, smiling through the deluge of negativity and brushing off the media as if they were gnats on a moose in Alaska, just did her thing and kept getting stronger in popularity. Now if it was jealously on the part of the liberals I could understand. Every time Sarah appears on television her ratings bury the meager ratings of the MSNBC elite. Millions of Americans watch Palin while a much smaller number watch MSNBC.

Maybe they are in shock because Sarah managed to negotiate her own TV studio in Alaska so she would not be just another voice in Washington or New York. Maybe it is because her new series will bring attention to the state she clearly loves. Or maybe it is because she earns a salary that dwarfs the normal TV reporter's salary.

It would never occur to the media pundits that Palin commands such a high salary because she brings millions of viewers to the show when she appears. Ad revenue is everything and Palin is a gold mine on television. Just ask Oprah, who went out of her way to get Sarah on her show after Palin lost the election and resigned as governor, and still she significantly boosted Oprah's ratings. The same happened with Jay Leno and helped propel him back into first place in the Late Night ratings race.



Wake up MSNBC! Jealously is not good for your image. Bashing Sarah Palin does not help your ratings. If you really want to do something to help your network and give you some degree of credibility, then get Palin on the show like Oprah and Leno. Or do you prefer the Letterman approach of trashing Palin and watch your ratings sink into last place?

Just get over it MSNBC. The election is over. Obama is president. Palin is not in public office and there is nothing you can do about it. You should be happy she is making so much money in private business that she can't afford to take time off to run for president. You had your chance to destroy her and you blew it.

HOLD THE PRESSES: Very quietly today and very early this morning before it was even light out MSNBC admitted they had misrepresented the facts about the Palin story. Today they acknowledged their assault on Palin yesterday had two things wrong. First, it wasn't Discovery Channel but the TLC Network that is owned by Discovery.

Second they admitted she was not receiving over a million dollars for each show but the total production budget of each show was over a million dollars. Discovery said the show is called "Sarah Palin's Alaska" and is a documentary series on the wonders of Alaska.

Do you think all the MSNBC shows will air the retraction during daylight hours? Don't count on it. Maybe they should fact check themselves before shooting off at the mouth.


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Dark Clouds over the Middle East - Is Israel Going to War?

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Late yesterday, after the White House enjoyed the signing of the health care bill, there was a 90-minute closed-door meeting between US President Barack Obama and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It was extended another 70 minutes after the formal meeting. Then Israeli and White House support staff met until after 1:00 am this morning.



Just 24 hours before the meeting between the two heads of state Netanyahu spoke to the pro Israeli AIPAC, one of the most powerful lobbying groups in the United States. AIPAC stands for the America Israel Public Affairs Committee and was in Washington for its annual convention where over half of the United States Congress trooped through its doors to attend the Gala Banquet.

For those of you not familiar with AIPAC, their lobbying clout in Washington is second to none as proven by the $3 billion in US foreign aid going to Israel, a new record and up from $2.4 billion last year. At this meeting Netanyahu again defied President Obama and said Israel would build 1,600 more homes in the contested East Jerusalem settlement.



You may remember that Vice President Biden was embarrassed on his recent trip to Israel to restart the Middle East Peace negotiations when Israel announced the housing construction the same day he arrived. Obama had been adamant in his request that Israel stop all settlement construction in disputed territories in order to start the peace negotiations.

This curious action by the Israeli Prime Minister is the latest in a series of actions that seem to be burning bridges with the most ardent supporters of Israel in the world, the United States and Britain.



International outrage against Israel was already in evidence because the Israeli Mossad secret service was accused by the Dubai police of using fake passports from a number of allies including 12 from Britain to send 27 assassins to Dubai and assassinate a ranking leader of Hamas, Mabhoub al-Mabhouh, on January 19, in Dubai. The investigation and disclosures led the British to expel an Israeli diplomat from Britain in protest against the murder.

To date Israel has not commented on the Mossad role in the assassinations but did say they were pleased with the outcome, the death of al-Mabhouh. Relations between Israel and the United States led the Israeli ambassador to America to say they were the worst in 30 years. After the Biden incident the US canceled a visit by US peace envoy George Mitchell.



Could it be the Israelis are threatening relations with their two prime allies because they have decided to go to war with Iran over the nuclear capability of that rogue state? It is becoming clear that the United Nations will never take effective action to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapons capability. There is no way China or Russia will ever approve tougher sanctions against Iran and earlier attempts by Obama to negotiate with the Iranians failed miserably.



Israel is armed with hundreds of nuclear weapons even though they refuse to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Agreement and right now they are the only nation in the Middle East with such a stockpile of weapons. They have consistently insisted if diplomatic negotiations fail they will destroy the Iranian nuclear capability.



Could it be the perceived conflicts between Israel and the United States and Britain are a precursor to an attack on Iran by Israel, staged to put distance between the attack and their allies? It would not be in the interest of the United States or Britain to encourage such an attack and this is a rather simple way to show they were at odds with Israel, thus preventing them from being blamed for any consequences.



Stranger things have happened in the long history between the United States and Israel.

So the Obama and Netanyahu meeting took place in the shadow of these diplomatic controversies. Unlike past meetings between the two, it was held behind closed doors with no news media allowed. There were none of the usual photo ops, formal handshake photos, press briefings or public announcements on the meeting. In fact a veil of secrecy not seen often in our nation's capitol was tossed on the whole affair as if it never really took place.

To recap, these are the actions that happened.

Secret meetings between leaders and staff last long into the night.
Obama gets his proposals rejected by Israel.
Netanyahu defiantly defends East Jerusalem settlements before AIPAC.
Biden gets embarrassed by Israel.
Obama cancels a trip by George Mitchell to Israel.
Israeli Mossad accused of assassination in Dubai.
Forged passports are used by assassins.
British expel Israeli diplomat in protest of 12 British passports being used.



Dark clouds are indeed on the horizon casting a foreboding shadow on peace efforts in the Middle East and the chain of events would indicate that something far more serious may be underway. Do not be surprised if Israel does attack Iran and that may only be the beginning of a new wave of horrific warfare in the Holy Land.

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Letter to our National Leaders on Health Care - From Main Street

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Dear President Obama and Speaker Pelosi:

With all the Democrats and media caught up in a feeding frenzy over the passage of health care reform in America I thought I would give you a little advice from the people you serve.

First, when the media becomes the cheerleader for social reform it is a sad state of affairs in America as the media were supposed to be the objective reporters of news, not the initiators of news. Somewhere along the way our media stopped reporting news and started trying to make news.

Perhaps that explains why only about 50% of the eligible voters in America don't even register to vote. Or maybe that is why network news rating have collapsed and cable news rating get far more attention than they deserve.



You don't get it but America does. When only a few million people watch cable, and just 20 million watch all network news, that means about 285 million Americans do not trust the news and don't watch it. Newspapers of course are collapsing in readership at a faster rate than television.

My advice is to take the adoration of the news media with a grain of salt. Why even the Obama love fest on The View on network television only pulls an audience of about 350,000 viewers out of 315 million. So don't assume what you see or read in the media has much credibility.

Now, as for health care, why did it take the Democrats 13 months of painful deliberations to the exclusion of the economy, unemployment and everything else to figure out you had the votes to slam through the bills? In the end the bitter partisanship that has resulted from this protracted debate has driven a stake through the heart of America being a nation of people and not political parties.



You seem to forget the majority of Americans can't identify with either political party and the independent movement gets stronger by the day. The Tea Party movement is but one of many that will be heard from in the next few years.

As for the health care bill, good old salty VP Joe Biden was right, it was a F###ing big deal. But it isn't even done until the changes are made in the Senate. If it gets done there are still some serious questions for us Americans. As I read it, and finding the truth in the claims of both political parties and the news media is a serious struggle, I believe it is the first time in our history that Americans are being forced by Congress to buy something we may not want from private companies we may not like regardless of the cost. If we don't we get fined.

Where in our Constitution does it say the federal government can do that? Does that mean you can force us to join a union whether we want to or not? Or force us to participate in public education when private, Parochial and charter schools are much better for our kids?



The Governor of Pennsylvania was on TV assuring us that the federal government has the right to force us to do this and has done it before. He gave as examples Passports and Immigration. Nonsense. We don't have to buy a Passport or get fined. And the 15 million illegal immigrants prove the government doesn't force people to get immigration papers. Where is the truth?

I heard the US Attorney from South Florida talking about Medicaid fraud. You claim this bill will save hundreds of billions of dollars in fraud. Why does this fraud still exist if you know it is there? The US Attorney says in South Florida there are $2 billion worth of fraud cases backed up waiting for criminal investigation and prosecution. He said he has 270 employees and that if he had three shifts of 270 employees working 24 hours a day seven days a week he still couldn't process the cases that are already pending. How in the world is the Justice department going to handle a caseload going after billions and billions of more in fraud? Why not increase the punishment for ripping of the government to huge fines, mandatory prison sentences and stripping guilty parties of any licenses forever?



If so much fraud exists and you all know it, then maybe you are guilty of mismanagement of billions of federal dollars and a failure to perform your fiduciary responsibilities. It would have been a bigger travesty of justice had you not passed some kind of health care reform.

You promised coverage for 32 million uninsured Americans yet they are not covered until 2014. Did you forget to tell us that? How are the states going to be able to increase taxes by hundreds of billions of dollars in 2018 to pay for Medicaid cost increases? I guess if a state has to increase state taxes by billions it does not count as a tax increase yet your action imposed that burden on the states.



Much of what was promised to us will not take effect until 2014. We wonder what you promised others to get the votes that takes effect immediately? How many pork barrel projects, special funding, or other forms of political corruption are buried in the negotiations to get this approved?

We did need health care reform. We are watching to see what we really got. And if health care reform means we have given up the last of our individual freedom and can now be forced by the federal government to buy what we may not want or be fined by our own government then you may have a much bigger fight on your hands getting this thing implemented than you think.



Finally, every small businessman I have talked with insist their health care costs are going up, not down, because of this bill. They fully expect insurance companies to adjust premiums upward to pay for all the benefits in the bill. They do not expect any government subsidies or tax credits to cover the increased costs and they dread the paperwork involved. We will be watching your actions.

Health care reform was needed. Let us hope your solution will help. Let us also hope that the flaws in the bill will not just result in another industry in the private sector becoming a slave to the federal government. Let us hope that single payer and public option elements that were originally demanded by you then defeated do not suddenly appear in the laws of the land.

Be very careful how you implement this bill. Be very cautious with the truth. So many lies and distortions have already been shouted we do not need any further reason to question the credibility of our government.

Sincerely,
Main Street America

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It is Time for Responsible Republicans to Be Heard

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While Obama and Pelosi have captured center stage in the media with the health care reform and they have already declared a host of other social issues will be pursued next, I wonder what the Republican alternative to the Obama agenda might be?

The Democrat White House and Congress are clear in their intentions to overthrow, I mean overhaul the federal agenda and continue building their single payer, single employer and single owner social empire, meaning a very fat federal government.

Now we know that the Republicans by nature are opposed to Uncle Sugar and having the government hire and own everything. We also know that up until the beginning of the 21st century the Republicans were also the protectors of our economy and opposed to increasing the national debt. During the first decade of this century they seemed to have gone brain dead regarding the debt but there was hope they would come to their senses eventually.



Now that they are the minority party, meaning they blew it the last decade, one would think they might be offering an alternative to the Obama social juggernaut and demand the attention of our government be focused on what is being ignored in Washington. I mean there are a few issues still being ignored by everyone like the economy, jobs, unemployment and credit markets. How quickly we forget Main Street.

Then there are the massive number of fixes that are needed within the federal government covering everything from Financial reform to Housing Mortgage reform, Campaign reform to Energy independence, stronger ethics and conflict of interest laws to limits on lobbying and special interests. Fact is we are still waiting for Obama to start prosecuting all those crooks who manipulated federal laws and nearly destroyed the world economy. Those crooks remain in their offices on Wall Street.

So my question is this? If the public seems to dislike Obama's agenda though they like him okay, and if nothing has happened in Congress for over a year except the nasty old health care reform, where are the GOP ideas, initiatives and reforms to lead us out of the quagmire in Washington? Why are they not screaming about the trillion dollar debt the Obama agenda has created and why are they not offering alternatives?



Most days it seems as if the Republicans just trash Obama and the Democrats but offer nothing in terms of new ideas. If either party was really interested in Main Street they would be pushing for investigations and prosecutions of all the people who caused the economic meltdown, paid the outrageous bonuses, and profited from all the market manipulations.

The Democrats complain about the crooks on Wall Street but can't even pass a financial reform bill with enough teeth to prevent corruption, let alone prosecute the corrupters. Don't suppose it has anything to do with the fact these same crooks are filling the campaign coffers of the Democrats?

Yet the Democrats blame the Republicans for being the protector of Wall Street and stalling the financial reform laws. If I were a Republican I would be offering a comprehensive financial reform bill that does stop the corruption and prosecutes the corrupters because neither has any place in a free market economy. Then I would go after the Democrats for protecting the fat cats. Of course that assumes the GOP is not trying to protect the old ways of Wall Street.



I have trouble finding any Republican position on financial reform or anything else for that matter. It seems their agenda is stopping Democrats, not fixing America. If they want to get all worked up over the health care that's okay, but fix the bill, don't destroy the progress that has been made.

No benefit will come to the GOP if they simply oppose everything Obama and Pelosi want and then there is no alternative being offered. If I were a Republican every time I spoke I would preface it with a stand against increasing the national debt further and then offer alternatives to bigger government.

I think the GOP might have a false sense of security about the mood of the public. If they read the polls and think everyone hates the Democrats they better read again. If they think they are the natural alliance for the Tea Party movement they are also mistaken.



The independent movement in America belongs to no one and no party. As the Democrats continue to pursue more and more liberal goals and the Republicans continue to blabber more and more conservative opposition to everything both parties are at risk of being booted into oblivion by a public that is fed up with all politicians.

The social agenda of the president is certain to get the liberal and moderate Democrats in trouble in the fall elections and will increase the Republican resolve to win back seats. But without an agenda, without a plan and without concrete proposals the Republicans will just be blowing the same hot air as the Democrats and may find themselves on the endangered species list along with the Democrats.

We do not need politicians whose purpose in life is to tear down and destroy. We do not need politicians who believe there is a single political philosophy everyone must embrace. This is a big country. There is room for a lot of diverse ideas. Political leadership requires acknowledging the diversity of Americans and the diverse needs that result.



A good conservative can still have a social conscious and a free spending liberal can still show restraint for the good of the people. But they don't. The GOP leadership needs to stand for something. Spouting you are the party of fundamental conservative principles is nice, but will it assure food and housing for the poor? Being fiscally conservative and opposed to big government carries a responsibility to make certain those who benefit from such a system do not abuse it like Wall Street.

I figure anyone who offers real meaningful campaign reform and abolishes legal loopholes preventing prosecution of crooks on Wall Street and in Washington, and anyone who first considers the impact on the national debt before spending more billions we don't have, can't be all bad. Now I find myself still waiting for someone to come through with the ideas we need to fix America.

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Obama - New Social Architect or Special Interest Stooge?

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Now that President Obama has his coveted health care reform in hand, albeit there is a ways to go before it can become a reality, and we have seen what he did with the banks, insurance companies, auto companies and mortgage companies, it is time to ask if he is truly a social architect intent on forming a new American social structure based on government ownership and/or control, or if he is simply a stooge for the powerful special interests who helped finance his campaigns.



With his detached attitude and unwillingness to get immersed in the mechanics of fighting for his own legislative agenda, it seems he may be the consummate compromiser yet his actions are leading us in a very specific direction. Since he first took office there has been an obvious pattern of first taking care of his special interest contributors which leaves his true intent in question.



Look at the record. Several of the first Executive Orders he issued as president greatly strengthened the unions and even gave them a degree of control and influence over construction projects and other activities that were contained in his economic stimulus program. No Democrat or Republican president before ever made such blatant concessions to the unions.



The auto bailout he engineered guaranteed the unions major control of General Motors and protected them from losing billions of dollars in unsecured losses from GM stock they owned while the bond holders from General Motors were left out in the cold.



He even delayed the provision in the health care reform bill to tax the most luxurious health insurance policies until 2018, long after he would be president. Under the contracts negotiated by the unions with auto makers these luxury policies were a major contributor to the very bankruptcy of the auto industry.



The most frequent visitor to the White House is Andy Stern, President of the SEIU, the service workers union who Stern claims spent more than $60 million to get Obama elected. So who is to benefit most from expanded health care, the service workers union of Stern who is trying to unionize the health care industry.



Then when Congress did not approve his Deficit Reduction Task Force he created it by Executive Order and then promptly appointed the same Andy Stern to the group. I find it rather odd that a union organizer qualifies as an expert in economics and knows how to reduce our federal debt when he has been benefitting from the very Obama initiatives that have resulted in an avalanche of new debt.



Of course Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the housing mortgage companies, were taken over by the Obama government although the media does not seem interested in talking about it. In this case Obama took care of Wall Street poster boy Goldman Sachs, another major Obama contributor and supporter, whose actions in selling the sub-prime mortgages helped destroy the housing market.

Did you know $217 billion have already been given by Obama to these two housing agencies to bail them out of their last mess?. Did you know Rahm Emanuel was on the Board of one of them and when he was with the Clinton administration they passed the federal commodity loopholes that allowed the deceptive investment practices that caused oil price spikes and brought down the world economy?



In fact his ties to Goldman Sachs are best illustrated by the fact he approved the AIG insurance bailout to protect a too big to fail company and $64 billion in government money went to Goldman and other banks who recouped 100% of their toxic holdings in the bankrupt company while the stock and bond holders got a fraction of their value.



Finally, though Obama promised he was considering taking on the powerful Trial Lawyers Association and was going to incorporate tort reform to reduce the multi-billion dollar cost of medical malpractice, it was left out of his final bill. It's not surprising since they were at the top of the list of special interest contributors to his campaign.



Social architect or special interest stooge, the jury is out but the actions seem to have taken a sharp left turn. Big government and multi-trillion dollar debt are the products of his efforts, a very left leaning legacy to date. Yet he may be the godfather of his own special interests and at the top of the list come Goldman Sachs (Wall Street), the Trial Lawyers and the unions, particularly SEIU. All stand to benefit greatly from his health care reform.



His unfinished agenda includes more social redirection as he says Immigration reform is next followed by Cap and Trade and other initiatives. Ironically, he and the Democrats controlling congress still are not even talking about the economy, unemployment, jobs and credit issues affecting Main Street, the very issues Main Street wants addressed.

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