A victory for law and common sense:

It’s a “victory for plain old common sense,” says a legal group in describing a court decision to keep the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance.

The case before the First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals would have stopped recitation of the Pledge in New Hampshire’s schools. But Eric Rassbach with The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty tells OneNewsNow the court gave a solid ruling late last week.

“They rejected what is the latest in a series of attacks on the constitutionality of the Pledge of Allegiance — and specifically [targeting] the words ‘under God,'” the attorney explains…

As per usual, a group of anti-religious nit wits had brought suit holding that saying “under God” in the pledge violates the “separation of Church and State” – a thing which exists nowhere in the United States Constitution. Liberals, naturally, don’t care what is actually in there – and all too often find judges willing to agree. Here, fortunately, they ran up against some judges who, quite simply, refused to be stupid.

Still, we do need a Religious Liberty Restoration Act which would permit people to engage in religious practices – essentially, a law to enforce the First Amendments assurance of the right to freely exercise religion. We need to shut down the bigoted, anti-religious fanatics who would leave our public square naked of all that is decent…of all, that is, which makes our civilization worthy and vibrant.

The Revolution advances – from Politico:

Seeking to move past an intra-party squabble over earmarks, Senate Republicans on Tuesday night showed a united front and called on Democrats to join them in opposing the long-standing practice.

During a closed-door caucus meeting, Republicans passed by voice vote a two-year moratorium on earmarks, identical to one approved by the House GOP earlier this year. They also approved a resolution sponsored by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky challenging their Democratic colleagues to enact an earmark ban of their own.

A good step, but just a baby step – now the ball is in the court of Harry Reid and his corrupt Democrat Party. Be interesting to see how this plays out…

The good news:

Republican Joe Walsh has defeated incumbent Democrat Melissa Bean for Congress in Illinois’ 8th District with all absentee and provisional votes now counted.

County clerks in McHenry, Cook and Lake counties tallied up the remaining provisional and late-arriving absentee ballots today. Unofficial results indicate Walsh won by 290 votes out of more than 200,000 cast…

Makes for a total of 84 new Republicans and a net gain of 62. Still a couple more outstanding races which we have a chance of winning.

Most of you probably know that my claim to fame in the blogosphere was starting Blogs For Bush back in 2003. In less than a year the site became one of the most highly referenced and highly visited political blogs of the 2004 presidential campaign season. My support for George W. Bush hasn’t waned, even though I haven’t always agree with the decisions he’s made. Since he left office I have been looking forward to the eventual publication of his memoirs. So, you can imagine how excited I was to finally start reading Decision Points when it was published last week.

Decision Points, unlike traditional memoirs chronicle the more consequential decisions he made during his life and presidency. As a supporter who didn’t always agree with his decisions, I was glad he chose to structure his memoir that way. I wasn’t expecting his words to change my mind, but it did offer fresh glimpses into the process he went through to reach the conclusions he did. Because of this memoir is even more important for his critics to read the book, and I highly suggest they do.

Decision Points also ties in stories from Bush’s personal life which would influence consequential decisions. When you learn about how his sister’s death, and his mother’s miscarriage during his youth built the foundation for his pro-life views, you understand more about his his position on stem cell research and abortion.

There are lots of interesting new facts that have been revealed in this book, and I certainly don’t want to spoil the experience of reading them yourself to learn them. But there are a few things I want to talk about.

Reading Chapter 5, “Day of Fire” gave me chills. And President Bush goes into a lot detail about the events of and following 9/11, from his initial reaction sitting in the classroom at Emma Booker Elementary School, to believing that Flight 93 had been shot down on his orders, his infamous visit to Ground Zero, and so on. You can’t help remembering that day, and what it was like for you. To get President’s Bush’s story was not only enlightening, but crucial to understanding so many decisions that followed that would ultimately define his presidency. In some ways, in was frustrating to continue reading how so many in Washington DC were slowly losing their resolve to do everything necessary to defeat terrorism. Often times, Bush had to make what would become unpopular decisions. But his resolve never wavered. When you read his account of 9/11, and understand the unique burden he had being President when the nation was under attack.

After nearly two years of waiting, Decision Points does not disappoint. It reinforced my feelings that we should be grateful as nation to have had the right leader in charge during such a consequential period in our country’s history.

I hope one day to meet George W. Bush. I hope I one day get to thank him in person for his leadership during a turbulent time for our country. After reading Decision Points you’ll have a better understanding of how turbulent they were, because while we all had opinions about what was going on and what should or shouldn’t be done, George W. Bush had the responsibility to act on behalf of a country moving into uncharted territory.

GOProud and some TEA Party leaders write a letter:

Dear Senator McConnell and Representative Boehner,

On behalf of limited government conservatives everywhere we write to urge you and your colleagues in Washington to put forward a legislative agenda in the next Congress that reflects the principles of the Tea Party movement.

Poll after poll confirms that the Tea Party’s laser focus on issues of economic freedom and limited government resonated with the American people on Election Day. The Tea Party movement galvanized around a desire to return to constitutional government and against excessive spending, taxation and government intrusion into the lives of the American people…

…Already, there are Washington insiders and special interest groups that hope to co-opt the Tea Party’s message and use it to push their own agenda – particularly as it relates to social issues. We are disappointed but not surprised by this development. We recognize the importance of values but believe strongly that those values should be taught by families and our houses of worship and not legislated from Washington, D.C…

Well, how’s about we social conservatives go form a Christian Democrat Party, split the vote and then you more libertarian types can watch as Obama, Pelosi and Reid steal your money and bankrupt the United States in to oblivion. You can then argue all you want in favor of “laser focus” on the issue of economic freedom. Does that suit you?

No? Why not – oh, yeah; you still lose all your money and freedom. Hey, maybe we can’t just have “laser focus” on just one aspect of liberty, that of the economic side? Maybe we should make a little room for that more fundamental freedom, that of people to live their lives as they see fit?

Its all well and good for the fine people at GOProud to want to leave aside the social issues because that means that those of us opposed to gay marriage will have our say. But the pragmatic facts of life are that no one gets anything unless we social conservatives get ours. We won’t just be here to provide votes and donations – we want a bit more than just to be stood in a corner, only to be called upon at election time.

And, in truth, it is absurd to have a “laser focus” on mere economic issues. Part of the reason we have such a bloated, grasping government is because of the disintegration of the family – and the primary culprits in that family disintegration are government subsidies of immoral behavior (especially government efforts which are detrimental to family formation) as well as the erosion of public decency caused by an insistence that “liberty” means “get out there and have as much sex as possible”. The restoration of strong families is the best assurance any libertarian can have that there won’t be a political constituency in favor of Big Government – and this, in turns, means we must have a focus on social issues.

Now, to be sure, while we are on the brink of economic collapse, financial issues must take front and center. We must balance our budget; we must reform our taxes; we must re-create a viable American currency; we must cut back on the way government disrupts wealth creation. But we must also address such issues as family break up, illegitimacy, rampant violence and pornography in popular culture…and, ultimately, any nation which is not in favor of Life is a nation which is doomed to Death.

Political coalitions are, by their nature, the coming together of people with many similarities, but some differences. We on our side recognize that we have allies among those who would prefer to allow gays to marry, or to keep abortion legal. We are fully ready for the debate and for a resolution based upon America’s founding principles – but we are not prepared to do nothing, most importantly because we know that doing nothing on our issues means that even if we get a temporary revival of economic liberty, it will fall anew before Big Government if our social disintegration is not reversed.

UPDATE: The American Catholic points out that you can’t be libertarian without being pro-life.

UPDATE II: Gay Patriot chimes in.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640

Greek credit default swaps are going through the roof as no one really believes the Greeks have controlled their spending.

The Irish are unwilling to mortgage themselves to the European Central Bank…but this, in turn, puts all of the Eurozone at risk.

Wal Mart can’t shake off the sales doldrums.

China’s running ’round like a chicken with its head cut off as everyone tries to figure out just how high Chinese inflation is (hint: its probably a lot higher than the official government better-agree-with-them-or-we’ll-shoot-you numbers).

Interest rates are rising in spite of the Fed’s efforts.

Government employees owe billions in delinquent taxes.

Portugal goes to the brink of default.

All in all, I get the distinct impression that no one really knows what is going on, or has even the first clue of what to do – mostly because they are all trying to shore up a failed economic model based on usury and fiat money.

Will they hold the line this time as they did in the spring? Possibly – but one day it will all be done; it really can’t go on forever.

But, we already knew that:

A House ethics panel has convicted Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) on 11 of 13 counts of violating House ethics rules.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), the chairwoman of the adjudicatory subcommittee and the full House ethics committee, announced the decision late Tuesday morning following an abbreviated public trial of the 20-term lawmaker and nearly six hours of deliberations.

“We have tried to act with fairness, led only by the facts and the law,” Lofgren said. “We believe we have accomplished that mission.”…

We’ll now see if they’ve learned anything at all from November 2nd. Expulsion from the House is the proper answer to this; censure is the bare minimum…but will they end up just slapping his wrist? We shall see.

Great news, if it works out – from NRO’s The Corner:

…Without naming names, DeMint cautioned that those who continued to support the earmarking process would be help accountable by the American people at the polls. “This is just the beginning,” DeMint said. “2012 is going to make what just happened look small if we continue.”

Phil Kerpen, AFP’s vice president for policy, was more explicit. “They have to ban earmarks,” he said of Senate Republicans. “Any Republican who does not vote to ban earmarks will have a primary challenge.” Kerpen urged the fired-up crowd to “keep the heat on” senators who may be wavering; cries of “They’re next!” were shouted back in response…

…DeMint said he was “optimistic” Senate Republicans have gotten the message and told reporters on a conference call earlier today that “we probably have the edge by a vote or two.”

I’m not sure if that means DeMint figures he’s got enough to pass it through the Senate, or just enough to ensure the GOP caucus goes on record against earmarks. Either way works out fine, for us. Better, of course if we could get a ban on earmarks (or even a two year moratorium on them), but as long as the GOP shows the American people that we’re serious about cutting the waste, we’re on solid ground.

The American people spoke very loud and clear on November 2nd – Government must be reformed to reflect the will of the American people. This is not a time for politics as usual – we need to clear out the rot, and banning earmarks is vital for this. Not just for the amount of money (which is relatively small compared to total government spending), but as a signal that the message has been received, and a new game has come to town.

A bankrupt nation needs a government which clearly understands what the people want. We are probably in for some very hard times over the next few years, even if things go well for us. In order for people to have an retain faith in government – indeed, in our way of life – they must see that the people in government understand. Spending cuts, rooting out corruption, tax reform – all of these, and more, are what the American people want, and we’d better give it to them…or face a tidal wave of anger in 2012 and beyond.

That is the percentage increase in federal workers making over $180,000.00 per year over the past five years – from Zero Hedge:

…The numbers are stunning: those earning over $150,000 in the past five years have grown from 7,420 to 82,034, a 1,006% increase. More shockingly, those earning over $180,000 has surged from just 805 in 2005, to 16,912 in 2010: a 2,001% increase. And it is on the background of this that Congress is planning on giving 2.1 million federal workers another 1.4% across the board pay raise! Additionally, it appears that the bulk of the gains have taken place since Obama took office…

This is the sort of insanity we’re dealing with. We’re a bankrupt nation – there is no money left; we’re faced with making harsh choices on what to keep and what to let go, and here’s the federal government larding up the payroll. At a time when Americans in the private sector wonder if they’ll even have a job, federal workers are experiencing a boom. This just can’t go on – the government can only prosper if the American economy prospers, but we’ve got a situation where a dying economy is forced to splurge on an out of control government.

Naturally, our liberals are fully behind this – the more government workers get paid, the more dedicated they are to expanding government, and the more union dues are available as Democrat campaign cash. Your tax dollars at work – paying Democrats to stay in charge so they can take more of your money to lavish on themselves!

At the minimum, there should be a 10%, across-the-board pay cut for all government employees…20% for all elected officials; no cuts to members of the armed forces and armed law enforcement. Even such a cut would be symbolic – but at least a bow to the fact that the people are hurting. If the government can’t do even this in solidarity with the people, then it is no good, entirely.