I Remember When...

Way back last year during the campaign, it was considered poor form if not outright racist to mention then Senator Obama's racial background, middle name, Muslim roots and non-American upbringing. That was then...this is now.

In a deliberate step, Obama gave his first media interview to an Arab-language Middle Eastern satellite network in which he highlighted all of those things we weren't supposed to mention back then. It's truly sad that America is now led by a man who doesn't seem to grasp the differences between our enemies and our friends. My fear is that he won't realize those differences until it is too late.

All the pretty talk in the world won't make Russia, or China or the Muslim world like us. No number of interviews will change the reality. We live in a cold and unforgiving world governed by O'Toole (who in his commentary on Murphy's Law famously said "Murphy was an optimist!") not by unicorns of hope and change. Many of the protections put in place during the Bush Administration to prevent another attack on our nation have already been weakened or scrapped. When the bill comes due, hopefully enough of us will left alive to remember and regret the ascension of our least-qualified President in memory to an office I still don't believe he understands.

Remember this: If Barack Obama completes a single term as President, it will be the longest he's ever held a full-time job in his life.

Mourning in America

Thirty six years ago today, the Supreme Court of the United States voted 7-2 to legalize the murder of babies in the womb by declaring a (completely invented) Constitutional right to abortion on demand. Since that day, some fifty million--yes, fifty million--abortions have been legally performed in America.

The Centers for Disease Control says heart disease is the number one cause of death in America, killing about 900,000 each year. Estimates on the number of abortions annually vary from 1.1 to 1.5 million. If that range is correct, one out of every three deaths each year (though of course they don't count the murder of the unborn) takes place due to abortion. The most dangerous place to be in America is in a mother's womb.

According to the exits polls, one out of five people who identified themselves as evangelical Christians voted for Barack Obama--the most pro-abortion candidate in history...the man who wouldn't want his daughters "punished with a mistake" if they got pregnant too soon. Every one of those people has blood on his or her hands.

Lincoln said that if God took away all of America's wealth for the sin of slavery all we could say is "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous all together." Enslaving men and women was evil; murder is worse. God hates it, and we have allowed it to continue...even helped it to continue. One day the bill will come due, and we will deserve it.

These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren. Proverbs 6:16-19

Tribute to Whom Tribute Is Due

Though I voted for him twice, President Bush often disappointed me during his eight years in office. He lacked the ability and/or the will to explain to the American people the necessity and reasoning behind his policies and decisions. He failed to restrain Congress when it was controlled by Republicans and failed to resist Congress when it was controlled by Democrats. He expanded the size and scope of government more than anyone since Lyndon Johnson (if not FDR) in ways that will not easily if ever be undone. He leaves office with the economy in tatters, his popularity near record lows and his political party in the wilderness.

Having said all that, I come to praise Bush, not to bury him.

On the morning of September 10, 2001 almost no one in America was worried about the threat of terrorism. On the morning of September 12, 2001 almost no one in America believed that we would not be attacked again within weeks, let alone for more than seven years afterward. Yet we have not.

This George Bush has done. He has defended the United States from our foreign enemies with complete success. This success has not come due to the surrender of our adversaries. They are just as committed to destroying America as they were on 9/11. But we have stopped every plot, killed or jailed most of their leaders, and seriously degraded their capacity to do us harm. Bush batted 1.000 on the single biggest challenge he faced. For that he deserves our undying gratitude and respect.

If Barack Obama takes these threats and those who make them seriously (sadly there is no evidence to date that he does), devotes huge amounts of attention and resources to countering them (sadly there is no evidence to date that he will) and maintains our focus on the war we are fighting (ditto), he might be able to equal Bush's record...but he cannot surpass it. We will miss the 43rd President. For all of his failings and shortcomings, he protected our nation in a time of war.

Reflections on the Inauguration of President Obama

Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD. And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee. Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them. And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the people that asked of him a king. And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants. And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day. Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us; I Samuel 8:4-19

I pray for our new President, that his godly plans will succeed and his ungodly plans will be brought to confusion. I pray that he will take seriously his vitally important responsibility to defend our nation. I pray that he will repent and forsake his wicked support of the murder of the unborn. I pray that he will heed wise counsel and reject foolish counsel. I pray that he will be safe and well during his time in office. I pray that his family will be sheltered from the winds of political warfare.

Most of all, I pray that our nation will repent and turn back to God, though I fear that we have passed a deadline, just as Israel did.