Make sure you check out the new posts on Political Figs and Theological Figs. Use the links on the right.

Boston.com / News / Boston Globe / Opinion / Op-ed / In the footsteps of FDR, Truman, JFK: "'THE SAME revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought' -- the president was speaking in Washington -- 'are still at issue around the globe: the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God.'"
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The words are not the words of George W. Bush--but they could be. The words are those of John F. Kennedy in 1961. The idea that rights come from God comes from Western Christianity with touches of the enlightenment and the Reformation. In fact, without John Calvin and Geneva, the concept is unthinkable as a political foundation for a state.

Jesus said to "Ask, Seek, Knock," not from the state or church but "from your Father in Heaven." Those who do not have a Father in heaven will never get it. They can see no higher than the state.

Dennis Prager: In defense of the 'commercialism' of Christmas: "Imagine that Christmas came around, the stores put up no Christmas decorations and no one bought gifts. Would we be a better society? To me, and I suspect to most Americans, the question is rhetorical. Of course we wouldn't. Why on earth would we be a better society if Thanksgiving to Christmas were no different than a month in October or August? Not having a special time of year such as Christmas time, a major part of which is gift buying, would be an incalculable loss to society.

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Way to go, Dennis Prager, my favorite Jew!

I love Christmas, every part of it. You should read my article.

Prager again: "When you buy Christmas gifts, you bring joy to the recipients, you feel good about giving, you have spent time thinking about what the recipients would like, you keep many businesses alive, and most of all, you honor the holiday. It is incredible that all this is not obvious to everyone who cares about Christmas and about American society."

Principle as Narcissism - How President Bush gets to believe what he does about Social Security. By Timothy Noah: "Until now, Bush has seemed either too dumb or too stubborn to recognize that Social Security privatization will necessitate either hitting up taxpayers or reducing Social Security benefits. "
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Amazing! These guys think that George Bush invented Social Security and what's wrong with it is his fault. Actually, wise men said when I was a boy that Social Security was not viable and that computing the numbers shows its won't work. But Roosevelt and Democrats bought votes with it for years, and those brave enough to touch the "third rail" lost elections and disappeared from the public screen. Until now.

President Bush is a man of principle--which is "narcissism" to those who have no principles and feel good about not having any. He is also cynical about the press, perhaps, and is not going to throw any blood in the water for the sharks to feed on. Drives them crazy you know.

I suspect that private accounts for Social Security and a booming econmy will take care of the so-called cost of the small percent that will be "diverted." I dunno. I am not an ecnomist, but those guys don't have a great track record on such things. Choose your own witch doctor.

Yes, yes, I know, and I apologize to you faithful you have been returning here day after day for the past three weeks or so. The truth is, it has been a hectic time.

The wife and I travelled to Iowa to be with son Jim for Thanksgiving. It was a great time, but on the return we had to spend an extra day at North Platte [what's that?] Nebraska because of the snow. Got home Monday night and spent the week in bed with a bad case of a cold or flu or some idiot thing. Then back to Wichita, KS, to conduct the funeral of a dear friend, then back home to attend to duties at New Geneva Seminary and Trinity Covenant Church. Very busy, very hectic, no time to blog. No real end in sight until the end of January, when regular classes begin at New Geneva again.

I have taken time to read Wheat and Chaff and Dead Men's Voices. Excellent stuff. You should go to these sites every day, for intellectual and spiritual stimulation.

My good friend Reverend Gene Sawtelle from Greeley is suffering from acute back pain and Andy McIntyre has been travelling up there to fill the pulpit. Leaves us a little short here at Trinity because he teaches the adult Sunday School here. Richard Stetler has been gracious to fill in for him and has done a fine job.

Tomorrow is Christmas Sunday. I love every bit of Christmas. The Bible doesn't tell us how we are to celebrate Christmas, or even if we are to celebrate it. The New Testament warns us about holy days and such things, for they can become a snare. But it does leave us free to enjoy and have fun remembering the birth of our Savior. Christmas it not a day enjoined for worship, but it is a great family day and a great season of good cheer and happy memories. People who cannot enjoy Christmas have a great empty place in their hearts, perhaps. If you have no good memories of Christmas, where are your good memories? I have a bundle of them.

I don't worship Santa Claus, and don't know anyone who does. But, he is a jolly old elf that provides enjoyment right up there with Winnie the Pooh and Aragorn. I believe there is a real devil, and he is not much into good cheer and happiness. You are more apt to find him in a jihad than a Christmas celebration.

God bless you all. I expect to be posting to all my sites on a more regular basis over the next few days.

The Heartland Institute - Black Caucus Member Proposes to Eliminate Personal, Corporate Income Taxes - by John W. Skorburg: "Congressman Chaka Fattah (D-PA) unveiled his bill on September 10, while attending the 34th Congressional Black Caucus Legislative Conference in Washington, DC."
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What do you know. A black liberal is out conservativing the republicans in a bill to get the government off the backs of the American people. The people who spend more would pay more.

Just think. No more invasion of privacy through the corporate and individual income tax. All the evils that the framers of the country foresaw by direct taxation has been experienced through the income tax. That is why direct taxation was forbidden by the Constitution. Roosevelt and the New Deal saw that the Constitution was amended to enable them to have a tremendous flow of power to the federal government through the income tax.

Let's get rid of it. I think this is a great idea. Representative Fattah is to be commended for his imagination and willingness to think outside the liberal box.

Cheers.

I like Fisher DeBerry, football coach of the Air Force Academy. He is a fine Christian man of integrity and one of the finest football coaches in America. He contributes a lot to the city of Colorado Springs, and I am very proud and happy that he is at the Air Force Academy. He cannot recruit the biggest and meanest football prospects, because of size and achievement requirements for the United States Air Force, but he fields a competitive team year after year.

But he blew it this week. The same week that news stories broke about religious discrimination at the Air Force Academy, Fisher put up a banner in the football locker room, something about “being on the team with Jesus.”

Now, of course, I think the whole discrimination thing is a crock—at least I suspect it is. I know that Christians can get aggressive some times as far as preaching their faith is concerned, but missionary activity is integral to Christian faith since Jesus told His disciples to go and preach to “every creature.” True Christianity is a very serious matter involving very serious issues, like going to heaven and staying out of hell.

Some Christians are very obnoxious. They are even obnoxious to other Christians, especially to other Christians who do not share their particular views concerning the Bible, church, sacraments, or whatever. But usually very emphatic actions will drive them away. Religious liberty and free speech go hand in hand and cannot exist without each other. [See Theological Figs for Nov. 20. Use the link on that page to return here.] Most Christians I know are perfectly willing to leave someone alone if they state it very clearly that they want to be left alone. But that is another story.

But what about Fisher DeBerry’s banner? It didn’t stay up very long, and he was told to take it down, as he should have. For several reasons.

1. Obviously, some members of the football team and staff may not share Fisher’s views. Are they not on the team?

2. Faith in Christ is not a slogan, certainly not a slogan to motivate a football team. There might be many reasons for trusting in Christ; one of them is not so you can win football games. Being a Christian should help you to do your best, be fair, regard your fellow man, take victory or defeat with graciousness and manhood.

3. There are too many people who seek Christ for earthly goals. They become Christians, hoping it will make them a success in business, popular in school, have joy, joy, joy, down in their hearts, and so forth. The best reason for being a Christian is to stay out of hell, and the best reason for speaking of your faith is to keep the other person out of hell. The faith should not be trivialized.

4. America’s enemies do not trivialize their faith. Islamists are deadly serious. It will take a serious faith to overcome them: 2Ti 4:18 And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

5. Fisher DeBerry’s witness for Christ and the rock-solid reputation that he has earned does not depend upon a banner, thank God. Christianity will not be spread by sloganeering, bumper stickers, and silly motivational schemes. Fisher is a serious Christian, thank God. His team is having a rough year in 2004, but it is also a serious Christian virtue to bear hardships and endure whatever God sends out way.

6. We should not compel a man to baptized and take communion; neither should we make them march under our banner. The invitation of the Gospel is the only banner that the Holy Spirit will honor in the spreading of the faith of Jesus Christ. That has proved very effective in time past, and it will continue to be effective.

At least that’s the way I see it.

Visit Political Figs [click on link on the right] for a new Political Blog.

The greatest of all values is to have values. If your own personal value system is dominated by the desire to be popular [win elections], then you will derive your "positions" from focus groups and polls.

If this is what drives the preacher, the columnist, or the politician then he is only pretending to have values and seeks to conceal his true value: the desire for power and popularity. Machiavelli once wrote, "It is unnecessary for a prince to have all the good qualities I have enumerated, but it is very necessary to appear to have them."

Machiavelli argued that because men are evil and seek their own pleasure, the successful ruler must deceive them in order to be successful. Click Although this idea is much deplored by public men, yet they often practice it. Even preachers do it, I am sad to say, forgetting the maxim of Paul, "If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ."

There are two contradictory principles operating in the nature of man. On the one hand he loves to be told what he wants to hear, and will punish the bearer of bad tidings. He will go in mobs to hear false prophets speak smooth and enticing words, putting his very soul in jeopardy. He will do the same thing to the false prophets of political or economic theory. Political correctness is no new thing. Jer 23:17 "They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you."

This first principle is the effect of sin in the heart of every man.

The other principle contradicts the first, even though men are not often aware of it as it pertains to themselves. They recognize it in others, but deny it in themselves. This second principle is this: Men, because they are in the image of God, have a longing for integrity and honesty and want to be known as honest men. Thus the proverb, "hypocrisy is the compliment that vice pays to goodness." Men do not mind being rascals, but they resent people thinking they are rascals.

So man is conflicted. He has the dilemma of seeking his own way while at the same time pretending to be seeking integrity. He seeks ministers and politicians who will tell him what he wants to hear, and he is outraged if he finds he has been lied to.

We forget the example of Christ who refused the kingdoms of the world when offered them by the devil for the price was more that Jesus would pay, the worship of the devil. He would not deny the truth: He is true Son of Man and must worship God alone.

This, of course, led to the Cross. This is the reason that the preaching of the Cross is so offensive to men. They may glory in silver and gold crosses and even crosses made of old rugged wood, but the message of the cross is highly offensive. "Christ died for our sins," implies that I am a sinner, and that is a message I do not wish to hear. I will go down the road to another preacher who will tell me that I am a jolly good fellow, with great potential. I do not mind making great sacrifices, and even give my body to be burned, as long as I can affirm myself while doing it.

That's why there is a difference between professing to be a Christian and being one. I may pick a few things out of the Christian message that is flattering to me, profess these things with great gusto and gain the reputation of being a great one in the church, even become a martyr for "truth." Such are found everywhere. The other is less attractive, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me," is the way Jesus put it. It means accepting the message of the Cross, not just wearing one around your neck. It means confessing the pollution of your nature and your natural hatred of the truth, in order to see the truth. As Luther said, "Blessed be all those prophets who say to the people of Christ, "Cross, cross," and there is no cross!" Click

"This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth." [1 John 1:5,6] Jesus put it in these words: "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God." [John 3:19-21]

So man, because of these contradictory principles, is at war with himself. To confess the truth in reality is to die to himself, but in order to affirm himself he must deny the truth. This is the reason that Jesus said, "He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. [John 12:25] I cannot affirm myself and the truth at the same time for I am a sinner by nature alienated from God.

But this is too tough for public consumption. Men affirm themselves and continue to lie. They affirm themselves and continue to listen to liars. This is the reason that Jesus died on the Cross, to save wretched sinners like you and me. It is through death that men live. Galatians 2:20: "Ga 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."

This is the truth, but you and I must die to see it.

Democrats fail moral test of helping gays - 11/15/04: "We also find ourselves here because the Democratic Party does indeed have a gay problem -- just not the one that the Republican Party and some prominent Democrats seem to think it has. The party hasn't done too much for gay Americans; it's done far too little. "
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Isn't it delicious? The libs controlling the Democratic party have a death wish. If they become more strident in equating sodomite rights with black rights they will alienate the vast majority of black citizens who are decent, bible reading, godly people. These people will find people like Walter Williams, Condi Rice, and Clarence Thomas more and more attractive, and Jesse Jackson less so. It would be the end of the Democratic party as we know it. R.I.P.

The civil rights movement of the 50's and 60's succeeded because it resonated with Christian people throughout America who believed that all men were created in the image of God. The sodomite agenda will never so resonate with Bible believers. Faithful Christian ministers will give their lives before they will agree that sodomy and lesbianism are anything else but sin against nature. The Bible teaches that the mercy of Christ is sufficient to cover all sins, but "he, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy." --Pr 29:1

There will always be false prophets among the people of God, but the core of Christianity is not to be found there. For the sodomite agenda to be realized [full acceptance] as normal, the Christian faith will have to be eradicated, and that involves removing Jesus Christ from His throne. Are they ready for that conflict? Will they be willing to persecute Christians, deprive them of office, homes, wealth, position, their churches, etc., in the name of tolerance. The history of humanism has not been promising with respect to persecution of Christians, but the outcome is always the same: the destruction of those that rise up against Christ and His people.

There is a new blog at Political Figs. Use the link at the right.

Please remember to visit the Fig subsites linked on the righthand menus. I intend to update them at frequent intervals. God bless all you frequent readers.

I think that Arafat ought to be buried in Jerusalem. A modest tomb should be erected for him in the Valley of Hinnom. Christians and Jews would get the joke. Islam may not.

You will see less activity on this site now that the election is over, and I revert to the mode described at the top of the blog.

I want to spend more time on my related blogs, the ones linked on the right side of the page. I also want to update and add to my major site, basketoffigs.org.

I also want to read some good books, bask in the glow of the Bush victory, and put out of my mind the human debris that dominates the liberal agenda. There are so many good things to do, and the danger of becoming preoccupied with evil is that it rubs off on you. It is rather like handling a fireplace poker, the black gets on everything. It is a shame even to speak of the things they think and do. I shan’t for a while. The week I took off recently was very rewarding.

I will expect to post to this site daily, so I will try to get some discipline [very hard for me], so that I can do good stuff, even if there is not so much.

My son Matt tells me that there are two kinds of bloggers: linkers and thinkers.

Linking helps to fuel your outrage, and serves its purpose. But thinking is far better.

FOXNews.com - Foxlife - Nicole Incites Bath Wrath in 'Birth': "But Nicole Kidman insists her new R-rated movie, which features a shocking scene of the Oscar-winner naked in the bathtub with a 10-year-old boy, is done in the best possible taste."
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Pervert Kidman and the producers, camera people, editors, support actors and actressess, promoters, advertizers, movie theater managers, and everyone who goes in to see this film ought to be arrested and put in jail for contributing to the deliquency of minors and child abuse. To say it was in the "best possible taste," is the moral equivalent of excusing a rapist because he said, "Thank you, Ma'am."

The liberal/conservative divide in this country is about sex. That is the basic issue. The protests about Viet Nam were not about Viet Nam; they were about sex. Obscenity was redefined. The Viet Nam War against communism was obscene. Hence, Mom and Dad were evil for supporting the war, and therefore I am excused because I want to smoke dope and fornicate. It was always about sex and the Viet Nam protests were not noble and caring, but a cover for fornication.

It is the major issue, the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about. Liberals have re-written the consitution by judicial decisions to permit pornography, adultery, homosexuality, fornication, and are on their way to make it permit pedophilia and sexual child abuse. Do no be deceived. The whole liberal agenda, in spite of what they say, is skewed to made it permissible to sleep with anyone or anything at any time under all possible conditions, and to make the practice acceptable and to demonize anyone who would protest. It is the phallic worship of the ancient world revived in the modern day. The high priests are people like Bill Clinton, Michael Moore and his set, the Hollywood set, Supreme Court justices, Homosexual preachers, feminists, and such. This was the reason that they went after Ken Starr, John Ashcroft. It was not a slip of the lip when John Kerry said they were the soul of America, because he believes that.

The Gnostic movement of the Sixties and the generation that is moving like a slug through the history of America was obsessed with sex and perversions of all types. Gnostics believe that it is sex that gives life and energy to art, music, literature, and psychology. They are now college professors, foundation heads, ministers, politicians, bankers, etc. But they are still slugs, perverts, and obsessed with sex. They are trying to shape America into their own image, and have succeeded above anything anybody dreamed in 1960.

Sexual perverts think 'way ahead of everyone else. They are three or four steps ahead always. They will defend freedom of speech because they know that any curtailment of an absolute right to say or print anything will deprive the pornographers of revenue which fuels their agenda. They will insist on absolute abortion rights because they do not want to be responsible for the results of their adultery and fornication. They will oppose any marriage act because they do not believe in marriage. David Letterman professes to love his little boy dearly, but leaves the child a bastard by not marrying the mother. Thus, this whole generation, except those who have truly repented and returned to a true church. By pornographers, this writer does not mean Larry Flynt and his sleaze only, but the everyday sleeze offered up on network tv, from the date shows to the CSI type shows that numb people to perversion and sadistic behaviors--behaviors that the majority of people would even know existed if they were not dished up night after night by this crowd. This indictment includes soft porn shows like "Friends" and "Seinfield" where young attractive fornicate through life. Hollywood knows what it is doing. They are moral terrorists. They don't want any family to be like the Brady Bunch--How square can you get?

Anyone who would put a nude adult into a bathtub with a ten year old boy is worthy of death. All who consent and all who go to get titillated are corrupt and godless.

But the whoredom and fornication is but a symptom of a much more serious disease, the disease of idolatry, worshipping that which is not God. Hosea 4:12-14. "My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God. They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery. I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom, nor your spouses when they commit adultery: for themselves are separated with whores, and they sacrifice with harlots: therefore the people that doth not understand shall fall."

God gives societies over to fornication and whoredom when they depart from Him. Where is the outrage? and the repentance?

"Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them."

The Vietnam War is finally over. I am so proud to be an American today. The slander and disgrace and shame that was heaped upon the brave Americans in that terrible war have finally been laid to rest. The defeat of John Kerry is a vindication of the Swift Boat vets who suffered so much abuse in this election from the the unreconstructed anti-war remant of that era.

America is not the America of the Vietnam days. International Socialism represented by the Soviet Union is discredited and rests on the dust heap of history. North Korea and Castro's Cuba are hollow-eyes hags, the only national remnants of that era.

It is a completely different war that we now wage. America understand that, and gave George W. Bush the great number of votes in the history of the nation. It is not that they agree with everything he has done; it is not that he captivates them with his rhetoric and glib speech. But they perceive him to be an honest man, nothing like the slippery guys of the antiwar movement. They were not honest then, and they are not honest now. The trouble with Kerry, is he wasn't smart enough to remember what he said yesterday.

Because of the rebels of the Vietnam anti-war generation we have dissipated much of our nation's moral capital. We have elevated and listened to the real scum bags, the Kennedys, the Michael Moores, the Scoroses, the Hollywood thugs, the Rathers, the Koppels, the Jimmy Carters, the Peter Jennings, the Brokaws, and all the rest of these liberal outlaws. These termites have gnawed away at the moral and spiritual fiber of the country, and equate the Christian faith of Americans with the faith of Saudi Arabia and Iran. "Because they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind."

"Hello, John? Good to talk to you, Buddy. Say, John, Hillary and I really want to compliment you on a very well-run campaign. Especially since I sent my advisers over there to help you. It's too bad that you came up a bit short--sorta like Al, you know."

"Well, you know, Mr. President, it has been a very long night, but we are not really ready to concede. I have a bunch of lawyers up there in Cleveland now. There is some evidence that there was a good bit of abuse of some of our voters there and in other places. You know, of course, that we have a great deal of friends in Cleveland who know how to ste..., ha, ha, I mean, know how to manage affairs like this."

"Ha, Ha, John. You really are a card. Too bad you couldn't have allowed that sense of humor to come out on the campaign."

"Thank you, Mr. President. As you know, Teresa is a great fighter, and she ... "

"John. I am sorry to interrupt, but perhaps you should take the high road. I know that concept is hard for you to understand, but Hillary and I would be glad to talk to you about the dangers of the low road. We know a bit about that, ha, ha."

"What do you mean, Mr. President."

"This is not the end of the world, John. Well, it is the end of your world for sure, but there are other Democrats. Some of them might want to run for president in four years. Hillary has been mentioned. She wouldn't want the people of America to think that Democrats are mean, narrow, self-serving. You can't pull it off, John, for you don't have the talents that I have. You don't lie well at all, if you know what I mean. I mean that you forget what you said and appear to flip flop. You will never be a democratic president because you have to have that talent, ha. ha. It is ok to be mean, narrow, and self-serving, but you mustn't let people think that."

"But...."

"John, don't talk too much. That's another weakness you have. The reality is this. It is time for you to take one for the team, John. I know I didn't do that--I mean in that ugly Monica business--but this is different. This is you and that was me. You understand the difference, don't you, Pal? I know you do. If you don't, I have some other people that you don't know who will be glad to explain it to you."

"Ha, ha. Mr. President, you are a real card."

"Yes, John. I really am. Hillary sends her love. She has to send it somewhere, you know. Ha, ha."

"Thank you, Mr. President. I understand."

"I knew you would. Give our love to Teresa. Goodby, John."

"Goodby, Mr. President."

OpinionJournal - Featured Article: "High-level officials of Saddam's regime have told investigators that oil and goods contracts were always awarded with an eye to helping Saddam politically, particularly to promote the lifting of the sanctions. The Volcker data bears this out. Iraq's top customer was Russia, whose firms bought $19.2 billion worth of Iraq oil and exported $3.3 billion in humanitarian goods. Fellow Security Council member France was a distant but significant second, at $4.4 billion and $2.9 billion respectively. China is also high on the list.
Oil voucher recipients are alleged to include the Russian presidential office, former French Interior Minister Charles Pasqua, and even former Oil for Food program director Benon Sevan of the U.N. Just this week our news side colleagues reported that French authorities have placed under formal investigation a top official of French oil giant Total, for possible misuse of funds including payment of the Iraqi kickbacks. Before the war Total was also openly courting Baghdad for the rights to develop two large Iraqi oil fields."
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Inspections never would have worked, and no resolution with teeth would ever have passed the UN, because Security Council members had sold their veto to Saddam Hussein. This was the reason for his arrogance. He knew nothing against him would ever pass the Security Council, for he had bought them off. Kedward's solution is pie in the sky.

HoustonChronicle.com - Liberals, please embrace the 'L' word again: "Whether John Kerry wins or loses Tuesday, the time has come for you to embark on a new project: taking back the dreaded 'liberal' label."
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I am not sure whether or not Mr. Chester is serious or if he is trying to sabotage the liberals, but I think it is a great idea, but not for his reasons. For liberals to admit to being liberals will not raise the debate in this country, for liberals are by definition "unfettered," which is the meaning of the word. They are free from logic, morals, god, and scripture. They are free to love birds more than men, trees more than churches, and forests more than cities. The result is to turn men into dodos, churches into woodpiles, and cities into jungles.

But please, please, please take back the liberal label, please.

The "hinterland" knows what liberalism means for them every time it is tried, whether it is FDR's welfare state, Jimmy Carter's sentimental foreign policy, LBJ's great society, or Bill Clintons foreign policy of sexual distraction and foreign campaign donations. They know what liberalism every time their life is choked by regulation and their property confiscated and their liberty is curtailed by increased taxation. They may not be able to explain it to snobbish academians who disdain those with dirt under their finger-nails, but they know. Believe me, they know.

So please take back the liberal label. That will assure this great nation of a long line of great and noble election victories. Give us more great liberals like Humphrey, McCovern, Carter, Dukakis. The prospect is delicious. Don't give us liberals who mask themselves as conservatives like Bill Clinton and John Kerry--coward who are afraid to tell us what they are. We are simple folk, who work hard, and might get confused and elect one once every thirty or forty years. Just put the "L" on their forehead, and we will know what to do to assure our prosperity and liberty.

DRUDGE REPORT FLASH 2004�: "Former CBSNEWS anchorman Walter Cronkite believes Bush adviser Karl Rove is possibly behind the new Bin Laden tape."
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As I said, liberalism turn the mind to mush.

Reformation Day, October 31.

October 31, 1517, is an important day in the history of Christianity. The next day, Nov. 1, was celebrated in the medieval church as All Saints Day, to honor the saints.

According to the cult and superstition of times, the relics of the saints were to be reverenced and the power of God could be manifest in them. Some relics could keep disease and storms away. Some brought healing. All were capable of working miracles especially in connection with images and pictures of the saints. Crosses of all sorts and sizes and richness were everywhere and possessed power beyond imagination, even to the quenching of fires.

There was a great collection of such relics at the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, and great crowds were expected to gather on All Saints Day in 1517.

The monk, Martin Luther, had been going through a transformation in his spiritual life for many months. He was distressed at the teaching of the church on the matter of indulgences. Rome taught that forgiveness of sins could be purchased with money through the instrument of an indulgence. The merit of the saints could be applied to a purchaser through the fiction of “works of supererogation,” works that the saints had performed above and beyond what was necessary for the saint’s own salvation.

In hearing the confessions of his parishioners, Martin Luther had come to understand the powerful influence of indulgences in their thinking.

Pope Leo X, in order to raise funds for the beautification and massive building program in Rome, had recently issued a new indulgence that was being offered for sale throughout Germany. A slick salesman, a Dominican monk named Tetzel, with a great show of pomp and ceremony, promised that the souls of loved ones would jump out of purgatory when money was dropped into the box. Thus, the power of the indulgence.

Luther’s holy soul was moved at the blasphemy. He had come to see that justification was by faith in Christ’s righteousness alone, and that there was no other righteousness except that of Christ which could save the soul—not the righteousness of saints, of indulgences, nor any works of his own, real or imagined.

As he put it later, under a powerful impulse Luther penned Ninety Five Statements, or Theses, against the selling of indulgences. According to the practice of the time, he fastened these to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg on All Hallows Evening, October 31, offering to debate them with any scholar who would take his challenge.

This launched the greatest revival in the history of the church, the Protestant Reformation. Luther’s Theses were duplicated by the newly invented art of printing, and spread throughout Germany and Europe.

Never again would the Pope and superstition have such rule in the church, for men everywhere rediscovered their liberty and privilege of coming directly to God through Jesus Christ alone. To God be the Glory.

Oh, the irony of it all!!!

America can take heart from one thing: this Osama guy is an idiot. If your enemies are murderers, terrorists, bombers, and thieves, it is a blessing to know that they are also idiots.

So he hates George W. He wants to influence the election. So he plays into Bush's strength--the war on terror, reminding us all what we are up against. The major networks, the bulletin boards for the DNC, refused to play the pictures of the fall of the Twin Towers, for fear voters will do something that the major media would consider a disaster: relect GWB. The democratic liberals whined about Bush "Exploiting 9/11." But Osama reawakened our memory with a vengeance. Thank you, Osama.

Kedwards had already taken the bait, following the lead of their bulletin board, the NYT, and had jumped all over the "stolen" explosives. That was good for a few fractions of a percentage point for Bush. Kedward's campaign managers must be wringing their hands. That was the first punch; the second one landed with a thud--the voice of Osama, tell us all that we are scum, are going to die, because of our leaders Bush and Cheney.

Well, Mr. Osama. This is not France. It isn't even Spain. This is the U.S. of A. People don't tread on us. We remember the Maine, the Alamo, and Pearl Harbor. We also don't cotton to people telling us how to vote. Specially the likes of you. We have gone from the Halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli. Our dead all over the world speak to us of the price of liberty and the price we are willing to pay.

In your ignorance of the core values of the United States you have assured the election of George W. Bush. Maybe you made the mistake of listening to the self-apointed effete elites of the East and West Coasts of America, but these are not the Americans that will be rooting you out of your holes. It's Middle America that you have to fear. In the last twenty-four hours Bush's numbers have gone up .7 percent to a lead of 3%.

Bush and Cheney will be back in the White House on Tuesday. Where will you be? Get a good night's sleep, for you don't many of those left. "Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad."

God bless America.

Dead Men's Voices: "Why, they are the undecided, the non-judgmental, the 'open-minded.' They do not decide for good or for evil. They refuse to judge about such things. They follow a banner which never takes a stand."
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They wander just inside the gates of Hell, according to Dante. One of the marks of perpetual childhood is the inability to make up one's minds. It usually is the result of having no core values, and no hierarchy of values that makes decision possible.

Check out the deadmensvoices blog. Good solid stuff.

NewsMax.com: Inside Cover Story: "And he had an interesting observation for those in the press who dismiss pre-war Iraq as a major player in global terrorism, noting that prior to stopping off at Al-Qaqaa, his unit has cleaned out a terrorist training camp."
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But the main stream press, especially ABC, NBC and CBS continue to report, in spite of overwhelming evidence, that there is "no evidence," for any terrorist connection in Iraq. They, however, are perfectly willing to rush forged documents and false news reports into production. The best thing you can do to understand the news is to turn off TV and surf the web or listen to radio. The major tv networks are completely ratherized.

:: Xinhuanet - English ::: "France will be always on the side of the Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat, French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier declared Thursday."
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Ah, the French! Anti-Semitic, but so urbane about it! Any evil, any corruption, any perversion is ok, as long as you are not a cowbow. These are the people that John Kerry would give a veto over American defense. Do not be deceived by his lying commercials. It is his history in the Senate and before that shows his true colors.

Hanoi Approved of Role Played By Anti-War Vets - October 26, 2004 - The New York Sun: "The communist regime in Hanoi monitored closely and looked favorably upon the activities of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War during the period Senator Kerry served most actively as the group's spokesman and a member of its executive committee, two captured Viet Cong documents suggest."
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See the following blog. Will we elect a traitor and foreign agent as President of the United States? Have we gone mad?

Democrats file 9 suits in Florida - The Washington Times: Nation/Politics - October 27, 2004: "Democrats in Florida already are pursuing nine election-related lawsuits, accusing state election officials of conspiring to disenfranchise minority voters. "
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They were such spoiled and bad losers in 2000 that they must continue the fiction that the election was stolen from them. These are the spoiled brats of the Viet Nam era who subverted institutions, destroyed our educational system, overthrew churches and doctrine, stood the constitution on its head, raided the treasury to buy votes, made adultery and sodomy acceptable, gave us the drug culture and pornography, abortion, and lawlessness in our streets. The methods that were used to bring about the defeat of America in Viet Nam are exactly the same ones that they are using now: Kerry lied, betrayed, postured, and lied some more to subvert the America he hates in order to transform America into a socialist state under the control of the thugs, murderers, and thieves of the socialist states of the United Nations.

Unlike Richard Nixon, a flawed man but the moral superior of these, they do not care what their litigation will do to republican constitutional government; no, they are wiser and smarter than others and they would rather have America destroyed than free from their rule. They profess faith but subvert the doctrines of their churches. The only faith they truly believe is the purity of their own desires and the only security they care for is the liberty to blaspheme and to fornicate under every green tree. They are a lawless bunch that cares not for laws, for customs, for institutions, for fathers or mothers, but will trample all under their feet so long as they have power and the liberty to follow their lusts.

Pr 30:11 There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother.
Pr 30:12 There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness.
Pr 30:13 There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up.

Mike S. Adams: Why Johnny's sociology professor is a Marxist:

"1. Which leader killed more Jews in the 20th century: a) Joseph Stalin or, b) Adolph Hitler?
2. Which of the following is more perplexing: a) A Jewish professor who calls herself a Marxist or, b) A black professor who calls himself a Klansman?
3. Whose idea was it to turn over Eastern Europe to Stalin after winning it from Hitler: a) Franklin Delano Roosevelt or, b) His advisor (and Soviet spy) Alger Hiss?
4. Which worldview is true: a) The Biblical perspective that human nature is flawed (to the point where utopia is impossible) or, b) The sociological perspective that we are inherently good until corrupted by society?
5. Which problem is harder for sociologists to explain: a) The logical assertion that inherently good people combine to form a 'bad' society that, in turn, corrupts previously good people or, b) The empirical fact that sociologists consistently explain around ten percent of the variance in delinquency while refusing to use the term 'free will' to explain the other 90% of the variance.
6. And (regarding question #5, part 'b') how can the team scoring one run be called the 'winner' against a team scoring nine runs?"

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Mike Adams is my favorite college professor. The above are questions you should ask your Marxist professor if you are in college.

Doctors of Death.

I mean the trial lawyers. They scour the world for victims. They launch class actions suits over exagerated and trumped up offenses, huge class actions suits against profitable corporations with deep pockets. The result: a few dollars for each of the victims, billions of dollars for the lawyers, and very often the death of an industry. No wonder the jobs go overseas.

Now they want to do it to American democracy. After the Florida election four years ago, Gore's henchmen descended upon Forida to search out victims, institute lawsuits, seeking his own advantage rather than the health of the institutions, refusing to follow the salutary example of Richard Nixon, a man more noble than he.

We are reaping the results today. If this election is close, the doctors of death will descend upon--not only Florida--but any other state that is close. They will manufacture--by their own admission--incidents of voter intimidation.

It was a lie in Florida, and it will be a lie today. But Al Gore and his henchmen could not bear to admit that they had lied about fraud in Florida. They have pretended the fraud was real--against every investigation made. They have defended the lie, allowed their rage to grow because of the lie, and campaigned in terms of the lie, and like a small boy caught in a lie, tried to divert attention from the lie by the intensity of their rage and outrage.

They are doctors of death. They pretend love of the truth and compassion for the poor, but their greed rules all. "The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel," Solomon wrote. If we get much more trial lawyer compassion, the nation will not survive.

They will sue democracy out of business. Self-government will be outsourced to the United Nations and world law, decided by the gangsters, thieves, and murderers that rule the member nations.

But the trial lawyers do not care. They get paid even if the patient dies.

Social Influence of Christianity vs. Islam: "Actually, the word 'peace' in the political sense (as the opposite of war) is 'suth' in Arabic, while 'salaam' means mental tranquility. True, 'salaam' and 'Islam' have the same root. So do in English the words 'mission' and 'submission,' but their meanings are different. 'Islam' means 'submission' or 'pacification.' A foreign nation is 'pacified' by Islamic war until the nation submits and thus gains 'salaam' 'mental tranquility.'"
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This is a very important article. Islam uses doublespeak just like the old Soviet Union. When the Communist said "I believe in peace," he meant "I believe in the conquest of the world by the armies of the people" because he did not believe there could be peace until communism ruled the world.

This is exactly what Islam believes. Don't believe the ideas of "peace." It would be harmless if they expected to win by the triumph of ideas, but that is not what they mean. We should welcome a dialogue and conversation, but when they start blowing up buildings our response should be swift, sure, and devastating.

A liberal rag in Britain, that I will not dignify by naming, has called for the assassination of George W. Bush, asking where is Lee Harvey Oswald and John Wilkes Booth when you need them.

I wouldn't fret about it. These liberal dweebs mostly sit around ringing their hands, feeling sorry for themselves, wishing other people would recognize how smart they are, and hoping someone in America will do their work for them. They are like the children Christ spoke of, sitting in the market, whining, [Mt 11:17] "We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented." The immature whine because others do not dance to their tune, a tune that alone are smart enough to direct. Adults do their own dancing to their own tune. The adults slogging along in Iraq; the children are democratic candidates in America.
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On another note: the bulletin boards for the DNC, otherwise known as the major media, have got another black eye. The munitions in Iraq that fell into the hands of the insurgents, were taken away before the US soldiers got there, not because they were guarded in a careless matter. But the jig is up, the talking heads are paid liars, as all thinking men know.
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We welcome all you who come from the link at Radio Blogger. Our prejudices are in the open. This author is an American, a Christian, Reformed in theology, a sinner saved by grace. All categories operate all the time but the order depends upon the situation.

I believe that Jesus Christ is the true ruler of all the nations, but he has no vicar on the earth: just witnesses to his grace and mercy.

I believe that all men are created in the image of God and will be judged by Him at the last day. This does not mean that a Charles Manson is of equal value to a John Calvin in the history of the world. A man's value to his neighbor depends upon the choices that he makes, and Charles Manson made very bad choices. In the same way the value of nations to the world depends upon their choices, and Hitler's Germany was of far less worth to the world than Switzerland or the United States. Those who see moral equivalence in all things are viciously immoral.

From the day of the covenant God made with Noah, the magistrate is given authority by God to punish evil, not only the internal evil that would fester and destroy his own nation, but also the evil that may fester in rogue states outside his borders, vicious evil that would imperil the liberty of the whole world. Wisdom would dictate that as much as possible any action against those rogue states should be in connection with other enlightened and civilized nations, but if those nations refuse to act, any magistrate may act alone to protect his authority and the liberty and safety of his people. The operative law of God is found in the covenant with Noah, "Whoso sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed."

You will not get the true benefit of this site unless you are willing to spend some time to meditate, the courage to face the truth, and the stomach for reality.

Hello again. I have had my intellectual palate cleansed by getting off the blog for a few days. Believe it or not, there are some very good things to read that you cannot find on the web.

I have been tasting the classic Personal Knowledge by Michael Polanyi. It is not light reading and I read a chapter or two at a sitting, interspersed with readings in my three volume set on the Crusades, along with other delicacies like Charles Hodge's Commentary on Second Corinthians and J. I. Good's History of the Reformed Church in the United States. It sure beats political commentary.

My son Matthew was ordained to the ministry of the Reformed Church in the U.S. this morning and installed as pastor of the joint charge of Providence Reformed Chapel of Limon, Colorado, and Blue Cliff RCUS of Karval, Colorado. It was a proud moment in my life. I have three sons in the gospel ministry, two in the RCUS and one in an independent church. I am proud of them, as well as proud of my sons who are not in the ministry, for I believe that the kingdom of God is very broad.

But the day will come in the next few years where America will once more appreciate the sacrifice and learning of faithful Christian pastors. That is not here yet, but radical Islam will not be defeated on the battle field. They will be defeated because Christ rose from the dead and His throne cannot be overthrown, but their defeat will come by weapons that are not understood by those who do not believe the Gospel.

The Apostle Paul spoke of these weapons in 2 Corinthians 10:4-6 "(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled."

This does not mean that weapons of warfare like stealth bombers, Apache Helicopters, and strong men are not necessary for the ultimate triumph of truth, but men will not use them or prevail if they are not motivated by a strong sense of truth and righteousness.

If the philosophy of effete and feminized and sodomite Europe prevails in the America the conflict will be lost in spite of our weapons. It is ultimately ideas that triumph, and the most blessed of these ideas, the heritage of the Christian West is the liberty of the Christian man, who under God is his own king and priest, the ruler of his own actions, and the master of the domain that God has given him, be it only a humble log cabin or a single patch of tillible land.

This liberty of the Christian man is based firmly upon the certainty that sins are forgiven by the righteousness and obedience of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. No one who attack these spiritual truths is the true friend of liberty or the friend of the free man. Any pot that does not contain this wonderful bread of life is poison to all who dine thereof. Those who mix these pots are enemies of America, the Christian faith, and every free man in Jesus Christ. They cannot win and they need to know that they cannot win. The war with radical Islam has been a long one with ups and downs for over 1400 years. This phase in the war might be a long slog [to borrow a phrase], but their defeat is certain. Christ himself declared it, "The gates of hell will not prevail."

Dear Friends of Basket of Figs Blog

I have decided to take a short break [about a week] from blogging. There are several reasons for this.
1. The election is over. Bush will win about 300+ electoral votes, and the lawsuits will be minimum. Duelfer reports that the WMD were moved to Syria. Kerry and Edwards have lost their minds.
2. I am tired of the whole affair. The people that this blog will influence have already made up their minds. The Kerry lies and demogoguery brings back the most unpleasant memories of the gnostic rebellions of the Viet Nam Era; people who have learned nothing in the last forty years and will learn nothing in the next twenty when they one by one will pass into eternity to weeping and gnashing of teeth.
2a. This election will be the end of the subversion of American manhood by Robert Kennedy who pulled a John Kerry by becoming anti Vietnam War [Which he had supported] in order to preempt the followers of Eugene McCarthy. Robert Kennedy waxed emotional and sentimental over the babies dying in VietNam and thought it was immoral to kill people overseas in order to avoid fighting communism at home. The result was the slaughter of millions of babies by the Viet Cong [the buddies of John Kerry] and by the Kymer Rouge. It has been replaced by the manly policies of a Texan, may God bless him. Although Nixon won over Humphrey the surrender of American defense continued until Reagan, and is now buried by Dubya, God bless him.
3. I have better things to do.
4. The war in Iraq is succeeding and elections will be held. Russia is supporting Bush's elections, and even France and Germany are sending signals that they they think they can more easily deal with Bush than with Kerry.
5. I have better things to do.
6. I am reorganizing how I will blog, making more use of the subsidiary blogs more narrowly directed: Good, Theological, and Bad Figs.
7. I want to finish the construction of the BasketofFigs.org site, which has been under construction for a couple of years.
8. I have better things to do.
9. I feel besmirched, defiled, and corrupted by thinking about the likes of Michael Moore, Carville, Barbra, Sodomites, and the rest of the despicable zoo that makes up the liberal bloc. The Apostle Paul said it best, "It is a shame even to speak of the things..." The rot defiles even the lips that speak of it.
10. I have beter things to do.
11. Trinity Covenant Church is prospering and I am busy with new members classes and leadership classes.
12. Did I say that I have better things to do?
13. My son Matthew is being ordained to the Gospel ministry Sunday, October 24, in Limon, Colorado. My good friend Gene Sawtelle of Greeley and I will be doing the rite of the Reformed Church in the U. S.
14. Did I say that I have better things to do?
15. What Kerry and Edwards do is irrelevant. It is God who appoints those who reign over the nations of the world. Our business is always with God.
16. Did I say that I have better things to do?

God bless America. Amen.

My Way News: "The U.S.-led war in Iraq hasn't made the world any safer, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said in a British TV interview aired Sunday.

"'I cannot say the world is safer when you consider the violence around us, when you look around you and see the terrorist attacks around the world and you see what is going on in Iraq,' Annan told the ITV network."
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Well, it has kept you from making millions from bribes from Saddam, hasn't it, Kofi?

Kerry Ad Says Flu Vaccine Shortage Is Typical of Bush's Policy Blunders (washingtonpost.com): "In what may be the first presidential campaign commercial dealing with the flu, the Democratic nominee is trying to portray the vaccine squeeze as typical of the president's mishandling of health care. Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt said that Kerry had opposed a legislative remedy and that his 'incredible hypocrisy just demonstrates again his willingness to say whatever will benefit him politically.' "
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For, you see. Liberals think that the government is the cure for everything, so if anything goes wrong, it is the government's fault. They are aided and abetted by their willing accomplices in the press who serve as a bulletin board for the Democrats liberal propaganda. Amazing that a dummy like Bush could be the cause of so much! But it does show that Kerry knows he is losing and he is pulling out the stops. I wonder how low he will be willing to go.

94Country WKKJ - The Best Country Around - Chillicothe, Ohio: "Michael Moore's anti-Bush documentary 'Fahrenheit 9/11' has sold more units in its first week of release than any other home video in history, according to Rentrak."
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Isn't it amazing how well lying and treason pays?

NewsMax.com: Inside Cover Story: "During his closing comments during Wednesday night's debate, Kerry proclaimed:

'My faith affects everything that I do, in truth. There's a great passage of the Bible that says, 'What does it mean, my brother, to say you have faith if there are no deeds? Faith without works is dead.'

'And I think that everything you do in public life has to be guided by your faith, affected by your faith, but without transferring it in any official way to other people.

'That's why I fight against poverty. That's why I fight to clean up the environment and protect this earth.

'That's why I fight for equality and justice. All of those things come out of that fundamental teaching and belief of faith.' "
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That's why he betrayed his country, lied and continues to lie about his Swift Boat comrades, lies repeatedly about President Bush, refuses to vote for supplying the troops, will never vote to restrict abortion in any way, and marries [twice] for money, but refuses to speak about his wife when asked bluntly, and turns to speaking about his mother, who from her deathbed felt it necessary to remind him about integrity. The man is indecent to invoke faith for advantage and shun it for advantage. A man of faith is consistent. Shame, shame, shame.

Paul Kengor on George W. Bush, Freedom & Middle East on National Review Online: "Next to September 11 -- which began the sequence of events that made this election possible -- the vote in Afghanistan is the most far-reaching occurrence of the young 21st century, holding profound implications for future generations. Mercifully, the one person who understands the ramifications as well as if not better than anyone is the so-called dummy in the White House."
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What a privilege I have had to live during the presidencies of some of America's greatest presidents. The older I get the more I apprcieate two Democrats: FDR and Harry Truman. Soft on socialism, yes, and both were much too trusting in the power of government to solve problems, but there is no question in my mind where they would be on this election. Remember, Zell Miller is an old time FDR democrat.

The other two are Republicans: Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. The biggest mistakes that Reagan made were choosing George Bush the first as Vice President and not getting rid of the Department of Education. But his towering achievement which overshadows all his mistakes was his clear vision that the USSR was an evil empire and giving America the will and the means to defeat it and win the Cold War.

The last is George W. Bush, the dummy. Looked down upon by the slicktalking lawyers, he has managed to outwit them all, and is poised to give liberalism one of its greatest defeats in the history of this country.

This country will choose in a few weeks whether to re-elect a man that will be in every Hall of Fame of liberty, from Afghanistan to Iraq to ???, or to elect the hero of the dark regime that rules the third power of the Axis of Evil, North Viet Nam. Kerry is their hero and has his picture in the North Korean war memorial because of his lying testimony before Congress that won the war of public opinion in the United States and betrayed and slandered his fellow servicemen, who came home despised and defamed.

That's a hard choice???

Ted Koppel and Nightline show they are following the direction of ABC See article to assure the election of Kerry etal. They sent a news [??] crew to the Axis of Evil to get an account of Kerry's Silver Star event. How sweet. So the Viet Cong are going to tell the truth about a hero of the Viet Cong--hmm? In an absolutely closed society where you can disappear into an Asian Gulag, you are going to say that John Kerry, the hero of the Viet Cong--whose picture is displaying in honor for his service to the Viet Cong in demoralizing American public opinion--is a liar? Get real. I am ashamed of Ted Koppel. He appears fair and honest, but would stoop to this. Is Dan Rather his hero? This story may be the death rattle of Night Line. The horror of impugning the honor of true American heros and warriors by the testimony of slave labor!! For crying out loud.

HoustonChronicle.com - Will: There are two 'L-words' in campaign: liberal, lawyers: "The Democratic Party's love � the word is too weak for the phenomenon - for lawyers is expressed in countless courtesies, from blocking tort reform to the multiplication of laws and regulations that make it impossible to navigate life without a lawyer in tow. Not surprisingly, as of mid-September lawyers were this year's leading political contributors, with 73 percent of their $132.4 million going to Democrats. In contrast, oil and gas interests, which Democrats demonize and Kerry reflexively deplored Wednesday evening, give 81 percent of their contributions to Republicans, but as of mid-September their total to both parties was only $16.7 million."
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If you love lawyers, especially trial lawyers, vote democratic.

FOXNews.com - You Decide 2004 - Kerry Clarifies 'Lesbian' Remark: "In an interview in the Oct. 26 issue of the gay magazine The Advocate, Kerry said gay Americans should support his candidacy because he will appoint Supreme Court justices who will fight for equality and a fair interpretation of the equal protection clause and due process. He said he pays a political price for opposing attempts at 'gay bashing' in the Senate."
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How come the major media allow the libs to have a litmus test in appointing and approving judges, but throw a tizzy fit if conservatives want to appoint judges that will interpret the constitution and not make law? How come? Of course, you know the reason. Something about bias and agenda.

An Edwards Outrage (washingtonpost.com): "Third, the implication that Christopher Reeve was prevented from getting out of his wheelchair by the Bush stem cell policies is a travesty.

"George Bush is the first president to approve federal funding for stem cell research. There are 22 lines of stem cells now available, up from one just two years ago. As Leon Kass, head of the President's Council on Bioethics, has written, there are 3,500 shipments of stem cells waiting for anybody who wants them.
Edwards and Kerry constantly talk of a Bush 'ban' on stem cell research. This is false. There is no ban. You want to study stem cells? You get them from the companies that have the cells and apply to the National Institutes of Health for the federal funding. "
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The divisions in America a the direct results of Gore's lies about Florida in the last election and the desperate attempts by ambitious and depraved Democratic liberals who will say anything, sow any hatred, utter any slander to destroy their enemies. Shame, shame, shame!

Did you notice how quickly Kerry got off the subject of his wife last night. The candidates were asked about the influence of their wives on them. Bush said his wife told him to stand up straight and not scowl, a charming bit of self-deprecating humor.

Kerry? He got off the subject like it was a hot firebrand and began to talk about his mother. Amazing! If anyone ever asked me in public about my wife and I changed the subject to talk about my mother, the arrow would have gone straight to my wife's heart. Mr. Kerry is not a good man. He is a thoughtless and arrogant man.

Another thing. Did Kerry's mother know something that we don't know? "Integrity! Integrity! Integrity!" My mother taught me about integrity long before her deathbed. That would not have been her dying exhortation. As a matter of fact, the last time I saw her before she died, I prayed with her and she told me how proud she was of me.

I wonder why Kerry's mom felt it necessary to give that three-fold exhortation. Hmmmm.

The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: Duelfer to France: J'accuse!: "owerful officials and their profiteering friends in France had a reason to try to stop the U.S. from overthrowing Saddam Hussein: they were pocketing billions in payoffs through a United Nations oil-for-food front.
That's the import of the Duelfer report. This nonpartisan investigation team found not only documents 'giving economic favors to key French diplomats or individuals that have access to key French leaders,' but also got Saddam's mouthpiece, Tariq Aziz, to sing about their purpose: 'According to Aziz, both parties understood that resale of the oil was to be reciprocated through efforts to lift U.N. sanctions, or through opposition to American initiatives within the Security Council.'"
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And these are the guys that we must get approval from to defend our nation, according to the Kerry foreign policy. France, in the pay of Saddam Hussein, is the major reason why certain nations such as Turkey did not support this Gulf War like they did the last one, because Turkey wants dearly to get into the EU, and they were afraid to go against France.

I hope and pray that the American people in November will send a strong message to all the Franco-philes like Kerry and Eastern liberals like Ted Kennedy and the rest of that crowd of appeasers and pseudo-humanists, who don't have enough love for America and her interests to put them above their effete love for the French and other anti-semites, a strong message that America knows who her friends are and that the war on terror and the nations who support them will continue until it is won.

FDR didn't seek to reduce fascism and nazism to a tolerable level of "nuisance" in WWII. Nor did Reagan have that has his goal in regard to the Evil Empire. Both knew that winning was possible and desirable, because they knew right from wrong. Kerry and his crowd don't know right from wrong and are embarrassed for those who do.

Kerry is a snake-oil salesman. He will say anything and do anything to make the sale. He doesn't care that he has no cure for anything. He just wants America to accept the deal on faith.

May God bless America and protect her from her enemies and the enemies of liberty and decency both at home and abroad. Amen.

WFTV.com - Education - School Board Bans Yearbook Photo Of Student Posing With Shotgun: "The school board has voted to ban a photo of a student from the senior section of his high school yearbook because he is posed with a shotgun."
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The kid is a sportsman and skeet and trap shooter. He can be a sodomite or a druid priest, but not a gun nut. Isn't it time that the American people took their schools back from radical humanism.

FT.com / World / Europe - Germany in rethink on Iraq force deployment: "Germany might deploy troops in Iraq if conditions there change, Peter Struck, the German defence minister, indicated on Tuesday in a gesture that appears to provide backing for John Kerry, the US Democratic presidential challenger. "
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So they not only received bribes from the Oil for Food program from Saddam, now they want to influence the U.S. presidential election. A pox on 'em.

Why are the liberal belly-aching about high gas prices, when they have been complaining for years about too-low prices? They have wanted higher prices in order to decrease consumption so that the environment will be spared. So why the gripe?

Because the high prices are the result of a shortage of supply due to increased consumption. This is not the kind of high prices that the liberals want. They always want power--and whatever the problem that they pretend to want to solve is for the ultimate purpose of increasing liberal power--it is never about solving the problem. They do not want the problem solved, for if the problem were solved, they would no longer have an excuse for holding on to their power.

Therefore, they do not want to have high prices come about because of market pressure--no, they want high prices through taxes. This will increase the flow of money to government and increase the power of government, the liberal ultimate goal, always.

Just keep your eye on the money and the power. This is the key to liberalism: less money and power to the people; more money and power to the government. It is really very simple.

RealClear Politics - Commentary: "It is consistent with his [Kerry's]views on Vietnam: that we should have left and abandoned Vietnam. It is consistent with his view of Nicaragua and the Sandinistas. It is consistent with his view of opposing Ronald Reagan at every step of the way in the arms buildup that was necessary to destroy communism. It is consistent with his view of not supporting the Persian Gulf War, which was another extraordinary step. Whatever John Kerry's global test is, the Persian Gulf War certainly would pass anyone's global test. If it were up to John Kerry, Saddam Hussein would not only still be in power, but he'd still be controlling Kuwait."
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Giuliani nails it.

Star Parker: The fight for black voters: "It is time for black children to stop hearing that they can't make it, and this is exactly what they are hearing from Democrats. "
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Star Parker is a black woman who writes for Townhall.com. She reports in this article that the liberals are in a panic for a significant amount of black votes will go to Bush this year.

New York Post Online Edition: postopinion: "October 12, 2004 -- CONSERVATIVES are up in arms about the memo written by the chief pol itics producer at ABC News, which leaked out on Friday. They shouldn't be. Mark Halperin's memo is very useful: It reveals as no other document ever has the existence of a deeply ingrained double standard in the way political news is reported in the United States. "
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Just listen to the nightly news and you will see it clearly if you will just be aware of one thing. For instance, in last night's news:

1. There was a report on an attack on Kerry by Bush. What it was doesn't matter for my point.
2. There was a rebuttal to the Bush attack by the news reporter. Not a quotation from some Kerry supporter, but a rebuttal which was passed off as reporting.
3. There was a report of an attack on Bush by Kerry.

What is missing here? There was no rebuttal of the Kerry charge. Not even a quotation from some Bush supporter. This happens over and over again.

I happened to be watching CBS, which I seldom do, but it could have been NBC, ABC, CNN--there is a tiresome monotony in it. That's the reason I do not watch the news on the major networks. It isn't news at all; just campaigning for the Kerry presidency.

Just be aware. It is so obviously and blatantly biased that you wonder if the Democratic National Committee is passing out talking points. Then you hear this from Halperin and you remember Dan Rather.

And they claim talk radio is biased. At least now two of the networks have had their cover removed. All we need now is warning labels on the networks similar to what they put on cigarettes: "Warning; this newscast originated in the Democratic National Committee and has nothing to do with the news."

Belmont Club:

"Bai's article reminds me of one of those products which are described on the packaging as being a new space age, high-technology, portable illumination aid which on closer inspection turns out to be a flashlight. When the newfangled description of terrorism as a "blended threat" is subtracted, the entire program consists of the policies of the late 1990s. Bilateral talks with North Korea. Oslo. G-8. The United Nations. Warrants of arrest. Extradition requests. Not a single new element in the entire package, except the fancy rationale. There is nothing wrong with that, any more than there is anything objectionable about a flashlight, but a more candid characterization of Kerry's proposals is not a voyage into uncharted waters so much as return to the world of September 10; in Kerry's words "back to the place we were". It has the virtue of producing known results, and suffers only from the defect that those results do not include being able to prevent massive attacks on the American mainland. ...

"I cannot help but think that September 11 was far more tragic to Liberalism than to anyone else. Over time it will be represented as a kind of Fall, the moment Eden was stolen, in a way that an earlier generation saw the Kennedy assassination as the end of a dream and the way some undefined instant in the 1970s marked 'the day the music died'. The United Nations, the photo opportunities with Yasser Arafat on the White House lawn, the outward solidarity with Europe must seem so tantalizingly close, an election away; just a month distant, but it may be already past, even with a Kerry presidency. In reality even Kerry will be forced to live in a changed world. He may mount the United Nations podium again, but it will not be the same podium; and revive the same policies only to discover they have acquired strange, new and unpredictable effects. Bai's most revealing exchange with Kerry is about water, the kind that you drink."
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This is a most thoughtful and important blog. The world changed in more ways that a lot of people understand on that day.

TIME.com Print Page: TIME Magazine -- What Saddam Was Really Thinking: "For years, Saddam Hussein showed himself to be a master practitioner of the big bluff. Everyone outside Iraq and just about everyone inside believed that he harbored a secret stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. So imagine the shock his generals received in late 2002 when U.S. forces were massing on the country's borders for an imminent invasion, and Saddam suddenly informed them that Iraq had no biological or chemical or nuclear weapons at all. Longtime aide Tariq Aziz told U.S. interrogators that military morale plummeted the moment senior officers learned Iraq would have to fight the U.S. without those weapons. The dictator's cunning policy of deception had deceived the wrong side. "
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His blood is on his own head.

News: "Italy's nominee to become the European Union's Justice and Home Affairs commissioner failed on Monday to win the backing of the European Parliament's Justice Committee, days after testifying that he considers homosexuality a sin. "
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There is a new morality that is more rigid and unbending than the bigotry it condemns. It is ruthless and unforgiving. It now requires acceptance of homosexuality and who knows what other wickedness in order to be accepted and rewarded. The church must beware. The beast roams the land.

Jerusalem Post | Breaking News from Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World: "Let us take a short pause from the geostrategic analyses swirling around the horrific terror attacks in the Sinai to consider this: Egyptians and Israelis continue to work side by side in the rubble to save lives and recover bodies, and the same two peoples are burying their dead. "
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Eygyt. Now will you get serious about terror?

Nobel peace laureate claims HIV deliberately created. 09/10/2004. ABC News Online: "Kenyan ecologist Wangari Maathai, the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, today reiterated her claim that the AIDS virus was a deliberately created biological agent. "
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She joins a long line of nuts who have received the Peace Prize, including Jimmy Carter and Yassir Arafat.

Nobel peace laureate claims HIV deliberately created. 09/10/2004. ABC News Online: "Kenyan ecologist Wangari Maathai, the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, today reiterated her claim that the AIDS virus was a deliberately created biological agent. "
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She joins a long line of nuts who have received the Peace Prize, including Jimmy Carter and Yassir Arafat.

OpinionJournal - Featured Article: "It should be an easy choice. The American left once displayed a real concern for poor people, but today they exhibit merely a morbid envy of the rich. Once they supported American engagement in the world. Today, they retreat to a timorous parochialism. Now it is President Bush who shows compassion for the world's poor and confidence rather than timidity before the forces of global capitalism. It is Mr. Bush who is embracing Asian dynamism rather than Eurosclerosis. For America, that is the winning side. "
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This article by George Gilder is a thoughtful and important one. It shows that modern liberalism has become reactionary and protective of the status quo. It will be left behind, but like the USSR retained until the end a capacity for doing much damage to the world, so left wing liberalism in the US retains the capacity to do much damage to the people of America and the world. Someday, and we hope very soon, the people of America will realize the disaster the Kerry campaign is to the future of America. People will scratch their heads and say, "Was he serious?" The answer, of course, is "Of course not." Modern liberals are serious about only one thing: "We are smarter than you and deserve the right to have power. Don't be a dummy. We will rather cut the baby in two and destroy everything in sight rather than let you have it."

Jack Kelly: Fantasy land: "'Memos from Iraqi intelligence officials, recovered by American and British inspectors, show the dictator was told as early as May 2002 that France -- having been granted oil contracts -- would veto any American plans for war,' the Scotsman newspaper reported.

"Evidence uncovered by the Iraq Survey Group (ISG) showed that Russia and China -- two other nations that have vetoes on the Security Council -- also had been bribed by Saddam.

"The primary motive for French cooperation, former Deputy Prime Minister Tarik Aziz told interrogators, was the promise of lucrative oil deals once U.N. sanctions were lifted. Among Frenchmen receiving bribes were two counselors to President Jacques Chirac, and the spokesman for his re-election campaign."
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FYI

The New Republic Online: Past Imperfect: "There's a grain of truth here: Kerry doesn't have any brilliant ideas for saving Iraq. But there's an even greater irony: The reason he doesn't is because the Bush administration has dug such a deep hole that, at this point, even Bismarck, Clausewitz, and Sun Tzu couldn't produce a four-point plan to turn Iraq into a beacon for the Middle East."
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Isn't this delicious? Old Dumb Dubya is such a goof that even a man as smart as Kerry is controlled by him. I guess the left is really intellectually bankrupt when Republicans are the cause of leftist vacuity. Translation: 'I'm dumb because you are dumber.' or 'This dumb Christian from Texas stole the election in 2000, and he outwitted all the really bright French and all the really bright thugs in the UN, and has left us without intellectual resources. Can you imagine anyone as stupid as this?"

DRUDGE REPORT FLASH 2004�: "French President Jacques Chirac warned Thursday of a 'catastrophe' for global diversity if the United States' cultural hegemony goes unchallenged.

"Speaking at a French cultural center in Hanoi ahead of Friday's opening of a summit of European and Asian leaders, Chirac said France was right to stand up for cultural and linguistic diversity.

"The outspoken French president warned that the world's different cultures could be 'choked' by US values."
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We probably ought to capture a few French to keep in museums, so that their decadent culture can be preserved and studied for the benefit of future generations.

My Way - News: "UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The Central Intelligence Agency has published hundreds of names of people, firms, political parties and government officials Saddam Hussein purportedly tried to buy off to get U.N. sanctions lifted.

"At the same time, Saddam and his government managed to amass some $11 billion through shadowy deals to circumvent the sanctions, first imposed in 1990 and lifted after the U.S.-led invasion a year ago, said the report, released on Wednesday.

"The report was part of a 1,200-page survey for the CIA by Charles Duelfer, a former U.N. weapons inspector, who concluded Iraq had no stockpiles of biological and chemical weapons or a nuclear arms program before the U.S. invasion last year.

"It was published on the CIA's Website: www.cia.gov."
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There more than way to pass the "Global Test."

Chirac calls for lifting arms ban on China - (United Press International): "French President Jacques Chirac is calling on the European Union to lift a long-standing arms embargo against China. "
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Wonder how much that cost the Chinese?

GOP Power Plan (washingtonpost.com): "If Sept. 11 had never happened -- if debate about domestic policy had not been drowned out by the roar of war -- the potential domestic ramifications of this election would give it unusual nation-shaping power. To understand why is to understand some of the Democratic rage about the specter of a second term for George W. Bush. "
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If you only read one article, read this one. It shows clearly what is at stake in this election, the recovery of liberty in America as well as in Iraq. The Democrats know this well, and are terrorized over another Bush term. This is the most important election in America since the New Deal years. Ol' Dumb Dubya might just pull it off; if he does, he deseves a fifth visage on Rushmore.

SignOnSanDiego.com > In Iraq -- S.D. school crisis plan is found on disk in Iraq: "A man arrested by U.S. authorities in Iraq had a computer disk in his possession containing a public report downloaded from a U.S. Department of Education Web site on crisis planning in school districts, including San Diego Unified.

"The man was described as an Iraqi national with connections to terrorism and the insurgency that is fighting U.S. forces in Iraq. Officials in San Diego said the man's intentions were unknown. "
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Must we wait until one of our schools is attacked; or five or six of them on the same day? Do we go whining to the UN, who has done such a good job of stopping massacres in the world in the last twenty years? Get real.

My Way News: "'Someone who lies about the little things will lie about the big things too,' Democratic Party chairman Terry McAuliffe told reporters in a conference call."
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But, but, but, Terry. Bill Clinton? But that was then, wasn't it?

Saddam paid off French leaders - The Washington Times: Nation/Politics - October 07, 2004: "Saddam Hussein used a U.N. humanitarian program to pay $1.78 billion to French government officials, businessmen and journalists in a bid to have sanctions removed and U.S. policies opposed, according to a CIA report made public yesterday. "
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But we must have their support [Global Test] to defend ourselves?

My Way News: "Sen. John Edwards, answering President Bush's blistering criticism of Democrat John Kerry, contended Wednesday that the Republican was 'completely out of touch with reality' about the Iraq war and the economy."
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So now he is going to use junk psychiatry to try to get elected president. Junk science served him well as a trial lawyer.

My Way News: "Duelfer's report said what ambitions Saddam harbored for such weapons were secondary to his goal of evading those sanctions, and he wanted them primarily not to attack the United States or to provide them to terrorists, but to oppose his older enemies, Iran and Israel."
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Oh, I get it. We just let Saddam nuke Iran and Israel. Hmmm. I wonder why Iran wants them. They just want to fry Israel, I bet, and would never give them to the likes of Osama. Of course not.

BuzzCharts: Jerry Bowyer on John Kerry, John Edwards, Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, and Halliburton on NRO Financial: "So, if you bought the John Edwards view of the world, then three and a half years ago when Bush won the election, wouldn't you have also bought Halliburton stock? If you did, you got hurt. Since Bush's inauguration, Halliburton's shares have fallen 11 percent. To put things in perspective, other oil-related industries have risen roughly 36 percent in this time.
In other words, not only has the Bush-Cheney administration failed to make the owners of Halliburton richer, it has instead made them poorer. And they are significantly worse off than the owners of other oil-related companies who are doing well. "
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Read the article if you want to know who is lying.

Radio Blogger: "The U.N. charter authorizes the use of military force by member nations acting in 'self-defense if an armed attack occurs' or when approved by the Security Council. "
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Hitler and the Nazis were not taken seriously until people like Churchill and FDR realized that words meant something and that Hitler and his cronies WERE saying what they meant.

Ronald Reagan took the USSR seriously, called them an evil empire, and brought them down.

It is time to take the Islamic terrorist seriously. They mean nothing less than the complete destruction of the West and the establishment of an Islamic world government. They say it, and we should respect their words.

We should also realize what it is that the UN test is for war. "You can only respond if you are attacked."

Kerry has endorsed this position: "Let there be no mistake: I will never hesitate to use force when it is required. Any attack will be met with a swift and certain response."

This was the position of Jane Fonda and rest of the Anti-Vietnam crowd: Communism has not attacked the US, and it is immoral for us to be fighting them in Viet Nam, Korea, or anywhere else. We can only punch back.

The Bush doctrine is, They have said they are going to get us. They have followed through on the USS Cole, at 9/11 and other places around the world. We respect them enough to take them at their word. Don't say it if you don't mean it. We will take you at your word.

People who have no respect for words are always surprised by their enemies. Jimmy Carter was surprised at the USSR's invastion of Afghanistan. He shouldn't have been.

Radioblogger again: "Also, doesn't this throw the 9/11 Commission right out the window? They were trying like crazy, with the Doomocrat spinmeisters carrying the water, to go after Bush for not acting soon enough to prevent 9/11 from happening? Give them their argument for a second. Let's say Bush did know it was coming. According to the UN, and Kerry for that matter, we aren't allowed to react until they hit first. That's the charter. Black and white. Kerry in his acceptance speech adopted that charter as his policy."

Excite News: "WASHINGTON (AP) - Contradicting the main argument for a war that has cost more than 1,000 American lives, the top U.S. arms inspector reported Wednesday that he found no evidence that Iraq produced any weapons of mass destruction after 1991. The report also says Saddam Hussein's weapons capability weakened during a dozen years of U.N. sanctions before the U.S. invasion last year.

"Contrary to prewar statements by President Bush and top administration officials, Saddam did not have chemical and biological stockpiles when the war began and his nuclear capabilities were deteriorating, not advancing, according to the report by Charles Duelfer, head of the Iraq Survey Group."
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Saddam's blood is on his own head. He could very easily have averted the whole thing by conforming to the UN resolutions. If a man over and over threatens the police, and then draws a fake gun, he dies by his own hand. So it is with Iraq. Saddam brought it on himself. But we may still find the weapons in Syrai, Iran, or in Miami, God forbid.

But, but, but.... Why does the United States think that it is ok for us to have nuclear weapons, and wrong for Iran and North Korea to have such weapons?

Answer: Why do we put Charles Manson in jail and allow Bud Powell to go free? Because Charles Manson has shown that he has no self-restraint and morality to be trusted with liberty. America did not object to England or even France becoming nuclear powers, but it is a problem when China and North Korea, because they do not treat their own people as the images of God, so how can they be expected to treat other nations with respect.

We turned our eyes away when Pakistan because nuclear, as a reward for their help against the old USSR's aggression in Afghanistan. We may pay for that dearly some day. On the other hand, the USSR was a present, known evil empire, and it was not foreseen that radical Islam would become such a threat.

We must not succumb to moral equivalency. Any one who would equate the policies of the United States, imperfect though they be, with the declared policies of nations like North Korea, Iran, and Saddam's Iraq simply has lost the ability to differentiate between right and wrong. Bud Powell is a sinner; Charles Manson is a sinner. The first does not belong in jail; the latter one certainly does.

George W. Bush is not Adolph Hitler. Anyone who says so is a fool and a liar.

Dick Cheney misspoke last night. To check the facts on Halliburton, go to factcheck.org.

The site that Cheney gave is a George Soros site that is a propaganda site that this billionaire fascist [I chose the word carefully] uses to try to buy an election and transform America into a pleasure ground for the rich elite.

Terence Jeffrey: True words from John Kerry: "After his largely stylistic victory in the presidential debate on foreign policy, John Kerry inadvertently reminded Americans of an imminent domestic threat to our system of government.

"According to the Chicago Tribune, a pumped up Kerry told a post-debate rally in Miami: 'I'll tell you, if you just needed three words of motivation, you want 'em? The -- Supreme -- Court.'

"Truer words were never spoken. The issue of the Supreme Court ought to drive everyone who believes this nation ought to be governed by the Constitution as it was written and ratified to go to the polls Nov. 2 -- to defeat John Kerry."
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Kerry would be a disaster to the United States. He would put our defense of the United States into the hands of "Global" consensus, France, China, North Korea, and Russia and Germany. That's the first thing. The second thing is every bit as serious: the Supreme Court justices. The court will be remade in the next four to eight years. It will take us a generation to recover our Constitution from Kerry liberal anti-constitutionalism. Abortion is not the only issue here; the worst thing will be submission of our laws and constitution to the United Nations. Not only will Kerry put our defense into the hands of the United Nations, he will also put our law into the hands of the World Court. World law will rule American Constitutionalism. If we survive the war on terror, we will not survive the war on our laws and constitutionalism.

This election is the most important in three-quarters of a century. Get out and vote; get your friends out.