'Amazing Grace, the movie is due out on the 23rd, so mark your calendars to go see this film. 

"Amazing Grace  is the true story of William Wilberforce, the man, the parliamentarian and the Christian who spent his life in leading the effort first to abolish the slave trade and ultimately abolish slavery itself throughout the British Empire (oh, and to a more limited degree, it is also the story of John Newton, the former slaveship captain who wrote the hymn which gives the movie its name). This is probably the most inspiring movie I have ever seen, and it very likely has more potential to impact the country and the culture than any movie of our time. There is no audience (except hardcore racists) who won’t love it; but African-Americans and Christians will be uniquely pleased. Absolutely everyone should see it; and if you see it, you’ll absolutely want to see it more than once"    Comments by Rod Martin at theVanguard.org..

A good and very relevant question considering current events.  Here we are, The greatest Country ever, but the greatest generation is dying out and a new generation of progressive secularists are taking over.  Will the US fall in the same way that Europe is falling as you read this?

Read the rest of this article here.

Pacifism: The belief that disputes between nations should and can be settled peacefully. Opposition to war or violence as a means of resolving disputes. Such opposition demonstrated by refusal to participate in military action.

Does that define the Democrat Party?   It certainly defines the anti-war group.  It defines the current state of affairs that the multiculturalism dogma of our educational system.   How many years?   Global warming is just a side issue compared to the threats within along with the open border allowing more to migrate within.



As I See It Now.

If you are not familiar with the Fair Tax Plan, get familiar with it.   It's a grassroots effort to completely overhaul our federal tax system, the IRS included.   Here are the current co-sponsors of the bill.  I have an article of this new tax plan in the featured posts section over there on your right.   

The following is a note from John Linder.

FairTax Momentum Builds on Capitol Hill
 
With so much happening on Capitol Hill during the change from Republican to Democrat control, I have not had an opportunity to update you on the status of the FairTax.  I have heard from many of you who fear that the change in power on Capitol Hill has doomed the FairTax, but I am writing to tell you that nothing could be further from the truth.

A decisive election like the one last November has an uncanny way of focusing politicians on the real reasons that their constituents sent them to Washington .  Given the broad nationwide support of the voters for the FairTax, this refocusing is very good news for the FairTax cause.
 
The opportunity for FairTax this year was obvious on the very first day of this 110th Congress.  I reintroduced H.R. 25 on that day, and I did it with more than twice as many original cosponsors than we had for its introduction in the last Congress.  Even more exciting, I was able to introduce the FairTax as a bipartisan bill for the first time since 2003.  Congressman Dan Boren, a Democrat from Oklahoma , joined me and 23 other colleagues from 11 different states to reintroduce the bill on January 4, 2007.  Never before has the FairTax been reintroduced with such broad support.
 
This record-setting first day of the 110th Congress was only the beginning.  Today, just over one month into this Congress, the FairTax and its supporters have amassed an extraordinary 52 cosponsors from 24 states.  To put this accomplishment in perspective, in the 107th Congress, we never came anywhere close to this number; in the 108th Congress, we only barely achieved it after two full years; and in the last Congress, the 109th, the FairTax reached 52 cosponsors only after 15 months of hard work by volunteers across the country.  As of today in the 110th Congress, the FairTax has garnered this level of support after just one month.  Friends, I am under no illusion that we will continue to double the number of Congressional FairTax cosponsors every 30 days, but I am certain that this record-breaking start will produce more broken records and surpassed milestones for the FairTax as we move forward.

As you celebrate these early successes with me, I encourage you to make particular note of the FairTax cosponsors who have never before cosponsored the legislation.  Among these names are freshmen Congressmen Timothy Walberg from Michigan and David Davis from Tennessee and veteran Congressmen Dave Weldon of Florida and Ed Whitfield of Kentucky .  Another new name on the FairTax that I know you will want to notice is long-time supporter but first-time cosponsor, former Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert.

 
Of course, the success we are seeing on Capitol Hill is simply a reflection of the enthusiasm for the FairTax that is growing across the entire nation.  Hundreds of thousands of people have joined together with Americans for Fair Taxation to promote the FairTax.  Newspaper articles and editorials are being written almost daily to help educate people on the many benefits of the FairTax, and FairTax rallies are being attended by thousands of people.  I want to continue to participate in these exciting FairTax events, and I hope that you will join me at one of them.  

The FairTax will be the next grassroots revolution, but the FairTax is a huge idea that will take a great deal of passion to enact.  I encourage you to get out there and support the FairTax by telling your friends and neighbors.  Everyone knows that the income tax code is complicated and oppressive, but not everyone knows that the FairTax will free them from this intrusive burden.  One-by-one, we will win their hearts and minds.

Congratulations to you and all other FairTax supporters on the incredible success that we have seen so far this year.   Together, if we remain firm in our commitment and dedication to the cause, we will make the FairTax a reality.
 
My best,

John Linder

Folks.  This is revolutionary.  The time has come.  Read about it.   Write your reps.

A well known Muslim cleric was invited to offer a prayer at the annual winter meeting of the Democratic Party in Washington.  What were they thinking?   Is this the base of the new direction party?   Is this the new direction the Democrats wish to take the country?  What part did Keith Ellison have in the selection of inman Husham Al-Husainy as the invited cleric for the prayer? 

Two commentaries are out this morning about this travesty of an American tradition.  Kevin McCullough and David Limbaugh have more to say about this.

What ever happened to the tradition of a Christian pastor, or a Jewish rabbi giving the opening invocation of a meeting of a major American political party?   You might expect it of the Socialist Party, or the Communist Party.  Where will this new direction lead now that a Muslim has joined their ranks, and a major president wannabe of the party has an Islamic background, having attended schools in Indonesia, an Islamic nation?

And this party is in the majority?  God help us if they also capture the presidency.  God, we need your help.  "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways: then will I hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."  ll Chronicles 7:14


As I see It Now.

As it turns out, a family friend of the drug smuggler was Christopher Sanchez, a special agent with DHS and the agent who accompanied Aldrete-Davila (the drug smuggler) to the Army hospital to have the bullet removed.  And then, get this, took Aldrete-Davila home with him for the night, before turning in the evidence (removed bullet fragments).   Sanchez was the contact the mother of Aldrete-Davila called and complained to about her son being shot.  This case is as corrupt as corruption is.  Again, thanks to the work of Jerome Corsi, there is hope yet that these two agents will walk out of that prison and be free men again. 

"Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas, yesterday called for the resignation of four DHS investigators, including Assistant Inspector General Elizabeth Redman, after DHS Inspector General Richard Skinner testified under oath his deputies had lied to Congress about non-existent reports that were supposed to have established Ramos and Compean as rogue cops who wanted to "shoot some Mexicans."

Even the 77 page DHS report submitted to Congress wednesday did not go into details of the involvement of Sanchez in the case, but other bits and pieces fit together to implicate Sanchez.  Read that part here.

According to Andy Ramirez, chairman of Friends of the Border Patrol., Sanchez and Aldrete-Davila grew up together in San Ysidro, Mexico, and they have remained life-long friends. 


Come on Mr. President, pardon these two agents. 

An article appeared in the LA times today by Jonah Goldberg that has all the arguments needed to just forget the entire thing and go on. Forget about global warming, the possible corrective effects that we could do to change the pattern, if there ever was a definitive warming pattern to begin with, are not worth the costs to fix it, if we could. Wait another 20 years, another generation and then the cost of the technology to fix problems like the greenhouse effect should be drastically reduced. Take the computer for example. As technology advanced the costs were greatly reduced. A computer main frame at the beginning would fill an entire room, now it's confined to a small box, and a hole bunch cheaper. How many days did it take to get across the country in a wagon trail? Now, 100 years later we count the time in hours, not days.

Jonah writes:

"PUBLIC POLICY is all about trade-offs. Economists understand this better than politicians..." "We can build a hospital, but it might come at the expense of a little patch of forest. We can protect a wetland, but that will make a new school more expensive."

"You get it already. But let me just add that in the great scheme of trade-offs in the history of humanity, never has there been a better one than trading a tiny amount of global warming for a massive amount of global prosperity. The Earth got about 0.7 degrees Celsius warmer in the 20th century while it increased its GDP by 1,800%, by one estimate."

There is the trade off. A huge amount of economic advancement and prosperity for a barely measurable amount of the reduction of the so-called warming.

"... the costs are just too high for too little payoff. Even if the Kyoto Protocol were put into effect tomorrow — a total impossibility — we'd barely affect global warming. Jerry Mahlman of the National Center for Atmospheric Research speculated in Science magazine that "it might take another 30 Kyotos over the next century" to beat back global warming."

Jonah has it right. Al Gore has it wrong. Finally, we can lay to rest this hysteria of Global Warming, and Gore can archive "The Inconvenient Truth" for the next generation or more down the road. It will be interesting viewing 100 years from now, and the comments may be: "You mean the people back then actually believed that stuff". Boy, were they backwards.

But, the part that will not cease is the media hype, the weather stations, the scientists wanting to do more studies under federal grants, the UN mentioning it ad nausea as they have been doing, and leftist politicians, those against free market capitalism will still beat the dead horse. And, we will still have ozone alert days. Once a government program, always a government program, and no one, not even if Al Gore himself debunked the entire premise, could gather enough muscle to cancel the EPA, or even reduce it's spending.

But all is not over. The hysteria will continue as scare tactis makes news, and news updates generates advertising generating a payroll for the media to generate readers.

Christian persecution in Pakistan.
The Voice of Martyrs reports that as Christians were handing out tracts outside a conference of Muslims, they were beaten by a group of Muslims.  "The team was at a Muslim festival in the city of Pakpattan on a Friday late last month. The four-member team handed out more than 13,000 Christian messages at that event before being attacked by radical Muslims."  WND has a summary of the report.

The world of peace loving Muslims not being very peace loving.

*****

Christian persecution in Florida.
And on the home front, another story hard to believe that it could happen right here in the USA.  In Florida, still one of our 50 States, although it is turning into an Hispanic playground, two volunteers for Gideons were handing out Bibles to any one interested were arrested for handing our Bibles.  School officials complained.  Police arrested them.  Read the story here.

The world of intolerant school administrators. 

*****

Christian persecution in Russia
"A spokesman with the Slavic Gospel Association (SGA) says Christians in Russia face uncertain times because of a new religion law due to take effect this spring that would impose registration and reporting restrictions on churches. The "law on non-governmental organizations" set to take effect in Russia in April reportedly would require non-governmental groups (NGOs), including churches, to register with state agencies. The groups would also be required to list their funding sources and provide records of all meetings." 

"Required to list all funding sources" (I guess the donations from grandmothers may be suspect)  "Provide records of all meetings" (You never know when an uprising is being planned in a Bible study). 

*****

And in Canada.
"A city councillor in British Columbia, Canada, has agreed to pay a $1,000 fine and apologize for his remarks about homosexuality, uttered at a public meeting last summer, rather than face a Human Rights Tribunal. Americans for Truth's Peter LaBarbera is warning U.S. Christians to pay heed, as they may be in danger of facing the same kind of censorship."  Read that report here.

This could very well happen to you in America, home of free speech for everyone, except those not adhering to the official doctrine of 'diversity' and 'tolerance' and special civil rights for gays.


These are signs of more to come.

A press outrage to further inflame the anti-war efforts.  Read between the lines.  "The US flew nearly $12bn in shrink-wrapped $100 bills into Iraq, then distributed the cash with no proper control over who was receiving it and how it was being spent."   So says this special report at The Guardian.   Henry Waxman (anti-war) is one of the top critics of how the money was handled. 

"Details of the shipments have emerged in a memorandum prepared for the meeting of the House committee on oversight and government reform which is examining Iraqi reconstruction."   First of all, to put everyone at rest a bit, it was not taxpayers money, not part of our governments spending budget according to a statement near the bottom of the report.  These shipments were "funds belonging to the Iraqi people held in the so-called Development Fund for Iraq. These are not appropriated American funds. They are Iraqi funds."    "Our top priority was to get the economy moving again. The first step was to get money into the hands of the Iraqi people as quickly as possible."

It was not American money.  It belonged to Iraq for reconstruction.  Are there questions?  You betcha.  But, the media will just report part of the story, because, well, the media is .....  kinda anti-war.   Makes for beautiful anti-war headlines.  Makes for beautiful blame America first headlines.

As I See It Now.

Your sins will expose you.  Oh, that government people would remember this, and think before the sin.  This case of the two border patrol agents, Ramos and Compean, gets a bit stickier each and every day.  Now we learn that Jose Compean made a complete, in-person verbal report to his supervisor at the scene immediately following the shooting incident for which he and colleague Ignacio Ramos are now in prison.  Johnny Sutton said they covered up the evidence.  If the supervisor was present at the time of the shooting, then the supervisor also knew what had happened.  If the supervisor was at the scene and he did not insist on a written report being filed then he is as guilty as Ramos and Compean. 

WND has obtained a Department of Homeland Security memo.   "Even management at the station in Fabens was fully aware of what had transpired and for whatever reason nothing was ever generated … and once all this comes forward, I mean, it's my belief even his attorneys' belief that even once that does come forward and all that information is presented that the charges will possibly be dropped … or dismissed … or he will be found not guilty … based on that … what did transpiree."

This is part of Compean's testimony on the tape:  "I knew we were going to get in trouble because the way … the way it's been at the station the last two … three years … uhh … I mean everything always comes down to the alien. The agents are as soon as anything comes up … it is always … always the agent's fault. The agents have always been cleared but, with management, it's always been the agent's fault. We're the ones that get in trouble."

"Richard Skinner admitted yesterday under oath that his top deputies gave members of Congress false information painting Border Patrol agents as rogue cops who were not in fear for their lives and who were 'out to shoot Mexicans," in another scoop by WND.  "Rep. John Culberson of Texas confronted DHS Inspector General Richard Skinner about his agency's claim it had documentary proof of the guilt of former agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean."  In a meeting the congressman had with DHS officials back in Sept of '06, along with 3 other congressmen, they had been told that Ramos and Compean had:

1. confessed to knowingly shooting at an unarmed suspect;
2. stated during the interrogation they did not believe the suspect was a threat to them at the time of the shooting;
3. stated that day they "wanted to shoot a Mexican";
4. were belligerent to investigators;
5. destroyed evidence and lied to investigators.

A big turn in events in this case and thanks to the diligent and determined efforts of WND, it appears that the truth is coming to light.  Hopefully some heads are going to roll and these two agents will be released, their conviction overturned and they file a giant wrongful criminal charge suit against those who have done these agents wrong.   An injustice.  What a shame on our justice system. 

Here in the Rogers and Hammerstein country of Oklahoma, the hispanic population is rising so fast that the public schools are having difficulties dealing with the increase.   In one school district way out in there in the panhandle, Guyman, the hispanic pupils amount to 58% of the 2400 students.   Language has become a major barrier, even though the school has seven teachers devoted to teaching English to these students who obviously have not been in the country for very long, because of their lack of English skills.   Because the Hispanic growth came so fast, Oklahoma City Public Schools have not developed systems to best help them, said Chris Brewster, principal Sante Fe South High School.   Article here.

In the capital, Oklahoma City, "Hispanic enrollment has boomed in recent years, growing from 25.2 percent in 2001-02 to 38 percent this year. Hispanics make up the largest portion of district students, followed by blacks at 30.5 percent and whites at 23.4 percent." 

Notes sent home to parents must be in English with a spanish translation so the parents can understand.  Are they all legal?  A question this reporter did not ask as she was gathering information for this article.  Oh, gee, I forgot, that would be invasion of privacy, and their legality is a problem for the feds, and not the State.  Schools teach.  ICE enforces immigration laws.  Separation of powers.

Now what would you say is the cause of the problem, the reason that the spanish population is increasing so much faster than caucasian or black, or in Oklahoma, the indian population?   Are they just that much more prolific?   Well, the motivation sure is greater, as any child born in the US is automatically a citizen, and a citizen can not be deported.   The invasion is well on the way.  Right here in Oklahoma.  Oklahoma has yet to jump on the bandwagon of making English the official language of the State as 34 other states have some sort of legislation recognizing English.  Attempts have been made, but have fallen at the hands of civil rights groups. 

How about your State? 

I still don't like pressing 1 for English.

I just don’t understand the reasoning for the opposition to the Real Id Act.  A friend and I were discussing his recent transaction at Amazon.com. It had been several years since his last purchase of a book from amazon and he was amazed that as soon as his computer loaded the amazon page, that there was a “Richard, welcome to your Amazon.com” message. “If you’re not Richard [last name], click here”. He was amazed. Hey, it’s just a large database. It keeps your information from your last order and will make the next purchase a bit easier to complete and check out.  It’s just an encrypted database. Is it secure? Ask the millions of users if they feel safe in purchasing a product at amazon. The conversation then went to our SSN as kept by the IRS, the three main credit verification companies, Banks, Insurance companies, doctors, hospitals, Visa, MasterCard and even the State for linking to our drivers licenses. Databases. All of them with our SSN linked to our name, address, sex, date of birth along with previous transactions. Is there a big fuss about this private information being stored on these large databases?

Then, why all the fuss from civil rights organizations about the Real ID Act.

I can understand why many States, 34 to date, are fussing over this Act, because it puts the burden of complying with the act upon the states financially and technically. Now this I can somewhat agree with. But the cost has to come from somewhere, and it will still be us, the taxpayer, whether the feds assume the burden or the individual States.  Which would be cheaper, the State or the Feds? The taxpayer still pays and that’s us.

But, to get to the point of this post. This Act, in my way of thinking, is needed to help in the identification of people who are in the US illegally. An article from National Review Online provides additional support, as does “Phyllis Schlafly, who yields to no one in her suspicion of the federal bureaucracy, approves of the bill.”

But, I don’t think the bill goes far enough to close the loopholes of illegal immigrants continuing to live and find work in the US while being an alien having illegally crossed our borders. Why?  Because the bill puts the burden of proof that a person is legally entitled to a drivers license on the States to verify and confirm. It’s the same with the program called EEVS, Electronic Eligibility Verification Service, which employers are to use to determine a workers legal status. It puts the burden of proof on the employer. The employer is certainly not qualified to determine whether a document is forged, and the state is somewhat more suited, but it is still the feds who issue social security numbers and the IRS keeps track of income tied to social security numbers and names.  

The burden of determining fraudulent identification should be on the Feds.

Now, back to the discussion I had with Richard about databases having our personal information encrypted in large databases. He could not understand why a similar database of the names and addresses, sex, date of birth, along with SSN accessible by employers by a computer linked to a web site set up by the feds to verify the legality of an applicant.  Hey, each employer licensed to do business has a unique EIN “Employer Identification Number” that could be used, along with his privately generated password, to enable the employer access to a database to verify the information the applicant supplies. “ABC construction, welcome to the Employee Verification System.” “Please enter the applicants personal information below.”

Now, where is the great concern about the invasion of privacy by the Real ID Act of 2005?

Are we so far off base because we just live in a normal city, lead normal lives, and do not have access to all the information, all the ramifications, all of the conflicting voices, all of the special interest groups special interests?   Are we so far off base in our simple solution?   Are we so far off base thinking the government complicates simple solutions on purpose?   Well, it may not be simple technically, but gee wiz, Amazon found a way to encript information so that millions of users trust them with having all that personal information.  Where is all that fuss about Amazon and it's invasion of privacy?

Shut down the ability of illegal aliens to get work and to get paid by legitimate employers.  There will always be the situation where someone will pay in cash to get small temporary jobs performed, but these are not the main problems and these can be enforced locally at the parking lots etc.


For Richard and I, that's As I See It Now.

"Such a man ... will spread confusion and disorder on the earth," the book says. "He will, without the least compunction, shed blood, violate other men's rights, be cruel to them, and create disorder and destruction in the world. His perverted thoughts and ambitions, his blurred vision and disturbed scale of values, and his evil-spelling activities would make life bitter for him and for all around him."   This quote from the book: "Towards Understanding Islam,"by Sayyid Abul A'la Maududi. 

Who do you think the author is referring to in the above quote?   If you guessed Christians, you are right on the money.   Christians are the problem because they speak out in favor of Jesus Christ as the center of their beliefs about how to achieve peace about that nagging question about eternal life.  This is a threat then to Muslims.

Thank you Mr. Maududi, we now have a better understanding of Islam.

Islam is against free speech.  Free speech enables dissidents to spread contrary messages, and yes, confusion around the world, and possibly disorder.  Look at Hitler.  His speech eventually won an entire country to rally around the idea that Jews were evil and should be exterminated.  You can think of many more examples where the principle of free speech has resulted in numerous disorder and blood shedding around the world, but in the interest of brevity, I'll leave you to your own examples.

But, who or what is to be the determinant of what speech is not allowed?  Who are we going to elect to be the speech inspector if free speech were totally eliminated around the world?  

Folks, there is already an anti-free speech campaign penetrating the world, and it's name is "hate crimes legislation".   Read an account of right here in America where 70 year old grandmothers are imprisoned for speaking out. 

Hate crime legislation is not just stiffer penalties for crimes against minorities, but crimes for having the wrong thought and saying it.  




 

I thought the ads on the super bowl this year were just normal stuff.  The only part of the half time show worth watching were the lights.  But, THE best ever advertisement was the Budweiser ad in 2005.

Link here to go view it

The BEST EVER.

I'm sure I'm not the first to catch this outrageous injustice that the two border agents sentenced to over a decade in prison are now being assaulted while in prison.  Revenge from illegal aliens in prison ganging up on a border agent.    "Border Patrol agent Ignacio "Nacho" Ramos has been assaulted in prison by as many as 5 other inmates -- news confirmed by three family members."   "They were yelling at him in Spanish, 'Maten a la migra'. which means kill the Border Patrol Agent." 

Is this justice?    Wrongly convicted.  Wrongly imprisoned.  Openly assaulted.  Let me just say that the American system of justice is the best in the world, the best and the fairest justice system there ever has been, but whenever a case such as this is exposed to light, we get outraged.  We expect the system to work all the time.  Even the OJ trial did not have the outrage from the American grass roots as this case against these two border patrol agents. 

Now they are in jail, and they are not even safe under the watchful eye of constant surveillance by prison guards. And then the report states that medical care was not immediately available for the wounds suffered during the assault by five hispanic criminals. 

So what went wrong in this case?   The letter of the law may have been followed, but was justice served?   The American public does not think so.  But again, we are thrilled that our laws are not driven by public polls as this can very easily lead to tyranny by the majority and that is not what America is about.   We must follow the laws as on the books.   But then, there are times that some good old common sense should be the overriding factor considered by prosecuting attorneys.   And this is one of those cases.   It could have been a very harsh reprimand, a suspension, and a fine as the punishment,  to send a message to the other border agents to follow the procedures in place, be honest and do not cover up your own evidence.   Now we have a mess.  It's turning into a national nightmare for the President to immediately pardon the agents, but he is also bound by the law and procedures to follow for granting pardons. 

But dag gone it, protect these men while they are in prison.

It's just As I See It Now.

An article just out out yesterday about ICE investigation into the 5,000 workers at Smithfield Packing Co.'s gigantic Bladen County North Carolina slaughterhouse were thought to be illegal immigrants.  21 were arrested last week, as more searching the records of the company to find fraudulent social security numbers continues.

The investigation is also causing fear amongst the Hispanic work force of being caught and deported, many of whom have been faithful workers for 6 to 8 years, have started families and blended into the community.  I can understand the concern of  families being broken up because Dad is illegal, the child born here is an American citizen, and Dad must now be sent back to Hispanic land.  It's a messy situation.    But. 

It seems that ICE has developed a new "get tough policy"  "They're beginning to do their job," Ron Woodard of Cary, founder of a nonprofit group that opposes illegal immigration, said of ICE officials. "Illegals are going to get the message that, if you come here the wrong way, your days are numbered." 

Fear of being caught.  Now that is really a novel idea.  Let's see if the media will play this up and let this message sink into the minds and hearts of the people wishing to cross the borders illegally.   For decades, the message has been that once you get across the border and work your way into the hinterland of America, you'll be able to settle down, get a good job, get married, have a baby (who is automatically an American citizen who cannot be deported) and then Hosea, you got it made. 

Is there a chance that the mainstream media will play up this thought..  The federal government is finally starting to do it's job by finding those here illegally, arresting them and deporting them back to their home country, so there is a fairly good chance that from now on, you just might be caught and deported anyway, so don't even try to cross over.  If you want to come to America, then get in line like everybody else, wait your turn, do it legally and you'll be able to sleep at night without the fear of being caught. 

Decades of not enforcing the laws has led us to this situation.  Now it's time to enforce.  Now it's time to use fear along with enforcement.


As I See It Now.