Obama's Safe Schools Czar and the Assault on Our Children

An excellent cataloging of the litany of filth and the sexual assault of our children
 by Obama's so called "Safe Schools Czar." From Gateway Pundit:

For any of you out there who haven’t been following this story, I suggest
 you go back here and read for yourself what Kevin Jennings’
 organization GLSEN has been pushing on children in America. Then ask
 yourself if this man should be the “Safe Schools Czar.” If you still think
 he should keep his job you should probably seek help. This scandal isn’t
 about left or right. It’s not about being a good Democrat or Republican.
 It’s not about gay versus straight. This story is about keeping
America’s children safe. (more)

U.S. Loan Effort Is Seen as Adding to Housing Woes

Raising more false hopes... from the NY Times. You know things are bad
when you're getting bad press from Mother Times...

The Obama administration’s $75 billion program to protect
 homeowners from foreclosure has been widely pronounced a
disappointment, and some economists and real estate experts 
now contend it has done more harm than good. (more)

The bankruptcy of the United States is now certain

New Year's Resolve

Ten Questions to Ask at the Start of a

 New Year

 or On Your Birthday (by Donald Whitney)

Once, when the people of God had become careless in their relationship 

with Him, the Lord rebuked them through the prophet Haggai.

 "Consider your ways!" (Haggai 1:5) he declared, urging them to reflect

 on some of the things happening to them, and to evaluate their

 slipshod spirituality in light of what God had told them.

Even those most faithful to God occasionally need to pause and think

 about the direction of their lives. It's so easy to bump along from 

one busy week to another without ever stopping to ponder where 

we're going and where we should be going.

The beginning of a new year is an ideal time to stop, look up, and

 get our bearings. To that end, here are some questions to ask 

prayerfully in the presence of God.

1. What's one thing you could do this year to increase your

 enjoyment of God?

2. What's the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God

 to do this year?

3. What's the single most important thing you could do to

 improve the quality of your family life this year?

4. In which spiritual discipline do you most want to make 

progress this year, and what will you do about it?

5. What is the single biggest time-waster in your life, and what

 will you do about it this year?

6. What is the most helpful new way you could strengthen

 your church?

7. For whose salvation will you pray most fervently this year?

8. What's the most important way you will, by God's grace, try

 to make this year different from last year?

9. What one thing could you do to improve your prayer life 

this year?

10. What single thing that you plan to do this year will matter

 most in ten years? In eternity?

In addition to these ten questions, here are twenty-one more 

to help you "Consider your ways." Think on the entire list at 

one sitting, or answer one question each day for a month.

11. What's the most important decision you need to make this year?

12. What area of your life most needs simplifying, and what's

 one way you could simplify in that area?

13. What's the most important need you feel burdened to

 meet this year?

14. What habit would you most like to establish this year?

15. Who is the person you most want to encourage this 

year?

16. What is your most important financial goal this year, 

and what is the most important step you can take toward

 achieving it?

17. What's the single most important thing you could do

 to improve the quality of your work life this year?

18. What's one new way you could be a blessing to your

 pastor (or to another who ministers to you) this year?

19. What's one thing you could do this year to enrich

 the spiritual legacy you will leave to your children 

and grandchildren?

20. What book, in addition to the Bible, do you most 

want to read this year?

21. What one thing do you most regret about last year,

 and what will you do about it this year?

22. What single blessing from God do you want to seek

 most earnestly this year?

23. In what area of your life do you most need growth, 

and what will you do about it this year?

24. What's the most important trip you want to take

 this year?

25. What skill do you most want to learn or improve 

this year?

26. To what need or ministry will you try to give an

 unprecedented amount this year?

27. What's the single most important thing you could do

 to improve the quality of your commute this year?

28. What one biblical doctrine do you most want to 

understand better this year, and what will you do about it?

29. If those who know you best gave you one piece of 

advice, what would they say? Would they be right? 

What will you do about it?

30. What's the most important new item you want to

 buy this year?

31. In what area of your life do you most need change,

 and what will you do about it this year?

The value of many of these questions is not in their

 profundity, but in the simple fact that they bring an

 issue or commitment into focus. For example, just by 

articulating which person you most want to encourage

 this year is more likely to help you remember to 

encourage that person than if you hadn't considered

 the question.

If you've found these questions helpful, you might want

 to put them someplace—in a day planner, PDA, calendar,

 bulletin board, etc.—where you can review them more

 frequently than once a year.

So let's evaluate our lives, make plans and goals, and

 live this new year with biblical diligence, remembering

 that, "The plans of the diligent lead surely to advantage"

 (Proverbs 21:5). But in all things let's also remember 

our dependence on our King who said, "Apart from Me

 you can do nothing" (John 15:5).

It’s Not So Bad

Looking around ourselves, it may be easy to feel just a little bit desperate. Unemployment numbers are

 high, and people we know may be out of work, and may have been so for some time. Massive 

government spending accelerates, with no end in sight. Those we have elected to represent us in the halls

 of government have lost sight of who placed them in their positions of responsibility. In truth, they seem

 to have lost their understanding of the very word “responsibility”, except as it has been twisted by them

 to place all sins upon the heads of those who have gone before. We see new laws being thrust upon us

 that we fear will threaten if not destroy basic freedoms we enjoy today.

Now I feel desperate. However, turning away from the 24-hour news cycle and its 30-second analysis, there are encouraging signs all around us.

First, we can look at the approval polls. Americans are waking up. Glancing at the Real Clear Politics average, we see the President’s job approval currently sitting at 49.5 % approval, 45.1 % disapproval.

 That does not sound like he is bringing a lot of hope and change, at least not the kind of hope and

 change that people thought he would be bringing. The numbers are even worse on Congressional

 approval 27.4 % approval, 65.8 % disapproval. 56% of Americans believe that the country is headed

 down the wrong track. This is a recipe for change, and the harder big government statists push, the

 worse these numbers will get.

Second, we can look at the moves being taken right now surrounding the health care bill. Looking at

 page 1020 of the bill, the Senate is trying to make it more difficult to repeal the health care bill. They

 have to have a sense that this is a very deeply unpopular move. Moreover, while they may be saying

 that they are not expecting a huge backlash among voters when they return to their districts this

 holiday season, something tells me they are a) mistaken, and b) they know it.

I am not saying things are peaches and cream. We have a long fight ahead of us. We have many

 people to convince. Making our representatives aware that we are not pleased with them is a first

 step.

The next one is convincing our friends and neighbors that those representatives should be fired and

 replaced.

In addition, while we are at it, we need to convince them that Americans do better without the 

well-meaning parental guidance of the government – any government. We stand best when we 

stand on our own, helping each other of our own free will. We learn best when we make our own

 choices and our own mistakes. This will not be an easy task. We need to remind them of our

 great heritage – of the sacrifices our forefathers made for us, and of the need for us to make those 

same kinds of sacrifices for those who follow after us.

None of this will be easy. We have a lot of momentum built up against us. We also will be 

contending with those in positions of power and influence who stand to lose a lot if we can convince

 people to stand on their own two feet. We cannot expect things to be quick or simple. Nor can we

 expect to convince everyone. It is going to be a long, hard slog. Nevertheless, let us not forget the 

things that we do have going for us.

Despite these recent, regrettable moves by our elected representatives, we still live in a country that

 is one of the most free, most successful and most secure as any in recorded history.

We have the strength of our principles, which give us a compass to chart our course.

We have the weight of history, which supports our views on small government, and the power of

 the individual.

And we are not alone.

So, this next year, let us move forward. Let us learn to speak and act with forethought and 

confidence. Let us rely on each other and on Divine Providence, no matter what form you may believe.

 In addition (to coin a phrase that has been less popular of late), let us stand up for truth, justice, and

 the American Way.

The Optics Are Not Pretty

From Breitbart:

....What is on the White House Web site’s front page for the third day
in a row is the White House ‘photo of the day’ that features an empty
Oval Office save for a cleaning woman running a vacuum in front of
the president’s vacated desk. A more telling image could not be
presented to the public of an absent leader, yet that is the message
Team Obama has conveyed to the world for the past three days.

It is a time-honored public relations technique to release photos of the
president taking meetings and otherwise appearing to be focused on
the nation’s business while on vacation or away from the White House
when a crisis strikes. While Team Obama focused on keeping the
prying eyes of media cameramen out of sight of Obama for most of his
vacation activities, they failed to provide a countering image of Obama
at work behind the scenes.

Yesterday, in addition to releasing the one photo of Obama at work,
Team Obama allowed the media to photograph Obama at his movie
outing and golf game.

The photos of Obama on the golf course show him playing with a passion
that was sorely lacking in his initial speech to the nation about the
Christmas Day terror attack.

David Axelrod used public imagery to create an air of inevitability
of an Obama presidency months before the election. He created
the aura of a co-presidency between Obama and President George
W. Bush in the two months between Obama’s election and inauguration.

The whereabouts of Axelrod and his magic touch are unknown.
But in their absence Obama, who has been living like an aloof king
at his $4000 per night $8.9 million Hawaiian vacation estate, is looking
more and more like an emperor with no clothes.

The optics of this are not pretty. (more)

Mayo Clinic in Arizona to Stop Treating Some Medicare Patients

Dec. 31 (Bloomberg) -- The Mayo Clinic, praised by President
Barack Obamaas a national model for efficient health care,
will stop accepting Medicare patients as of tomorrow at one of 
its primary-care clinics in Arizona, saying the U.S. government 
pays too little.

TSA nominee misled Congress

I'm not sure its more newsworthy that another individual associated with
the Administration is lying, crooked, shady, etc.,
or that the WaPo is actually reporting it...

The White House nominee to lead the Transportation Security
Administration gave Congress misleading information about
incidents in which he inappropriately accessed a federal database,
possibly in violation of privacy laws, documents obtained by
The Washington Post show. (more)

Did The Obama Administration Violate An Executive Order By Releasing Qais Qazali?

From the Weekly Standard Blog:


Did the Obama administration, by releasing Qais and Laith Qazali and
 more than 100 members of the Iranian-backed Asaib al Haq,
violate an executive order put in place by President
Ronald Reagan to prevent negotiations with hostage
takers?  (more))

Rocket Launcher Found In Apartment

I'm sure it was just to bring in the New Year.....


...When officers went inside, they found something that made them
concerned enough to call the bomb squad.

They found an AT-4 shoulder-mounted rocket launcher. 

It can shoot a missile nearly 1,000 feet through buildings
 and tanks....


...the woman did tell police that the rocket launcher belonged to 
Nabilaye I. Yansane, someone whom she allowed to store items 
at her apartment.

Police records show that she didn't want Yansane at her apartment,
so she called them.

According to court documents, officers also found Jihadist writings
that allegedly belonged to Yansane. The woman didn't want to talk
to KPRC Local 2 about that, either.( More)

Under Construction

This site will be under construction for a few hours. I'll be posting more soon.