Even though Democrats are being handed the opportunity to televise health care talks, they aren’t…

So much for transparency.

But what really stings is that Breitbart has clips of Barack Obama promising eight times to do televise health care talks… just goes to show you that they are liars, and have no interest in transparency..

Anyone care to defend this? Does anyone want to argue that transparency isn’t a good thing?

The left-wing opposition to Gitmo undoubtedly resulted in the ill-advised releasing of terrorists who mere went back to their terrorist ways. The Christmas Day bomber was linked to and trained by former Gitmo detainees. Despite this obvious fact Obama seems determined to continue to let terrorists go free. Pamela Geller at Atlas Shrugs has the details…

Seriously, can any of our left-wing reader justify the continued release of these captured terrorists? Can anyone justify the closing of Gitmo?

If you can do that, and if you have a tax problem, you might be qualified to be in Obama’s cabinet.

Excellent:

President Obama’s meeting with his top national security advisers does nothing to change the fact that his fundamental approach to terrorism is fatally flawed. We are at war with radical Islamic extremists and treating this threat as a law enforcement issue is dangerous for our nation’s security. That’s what happened in the 1990s and we saw the result on September 11, 2001. This is a war on terror not an “overseas contingency operation.” Acts of terrorism are just that, not “man caused disasters.” The system did not work. Abdulmutallab was a child of privilege radicalized and trained by organized jihadists, not an “isolated extremist” who traveled to a land of “crushing poverty.” He is an enemy of the United States, not just another criminal defendant…

…President Obama was right to change his policy and decide to send no more detainees to Yemen where they can be free to rejoin their war on America. Now he must back off his reckless plan to close Guantanamo, begin treating terrorists as wartime enemies not suspects alleged to have committed crimes, and recognize that the real nature of the terrorist threat requires a commander-in-chief, not a constitutional law professor.

This shows a clear sighted grasp of what we’re up against and likely reflects the fact that Sarah Palin has had far more real world and executive experience than Obama has – even after Obama has been in office for nearly a year. Obama needs to wake up from the leftist delusions about why terrorists do what they do. He also needs to lay aside ivory tower concepts of how terrorists should be treated when captured. If he doesn’t change, very soon, then the cost of his policies will be paid for in blood.

We made a horrendous mistake in November of 2008 and we can only partially undo it in 2010 – for the most part, we’re stuck with our foolishness until January 20th, 2013. Let this be a lesson to those who complain that this or that GOP candidate isn’t conservative “enough” – true, always better to have a true-blue conservative, but better a RINO than a liberal Democrat. Lives are at stake, and we can’t mess around and hope to put it all back together again later.

What our Party must be:

Our party must be based on the kind of leadership that grows and takes its strength from the people. Any organization is in actuality only the lengthened shadow of its members. A political party is a mechanical structure created to further a cause. The cause, not the mechanism, brings and holds the members together. And our cause must be to rediscover, reassert and reapply America’s spiritual heritage to our national affairs.

Then with God’s help we shall indeed be as a city upon a hill with the eyes of all people upon us. – Ronald Reagan

As usual:

While Nancy Pelosi is now dodging a request from C-SPAN CEO Brian Lamb to open up House-Senate negotiations over the final version of the health-care bill so C-SPAN’s cameras can show them to the public, back in July she pledged she would give the public an “ample amount of time” to read the final bill before brining it to a vote.

At a July 9 press briefing, CNSNews.com’s Nicholas Ballasy asked Pelosi: “Minority Leader Boehner has taken a pledge that he will not vote for a health care bill that he hasn’t read, that he hasn’t had a chance to read in its entirety or until it’s available to the public online for 72 hours. Will you take that pledge–a similar pledge and encourage other members to take it?”

In response, Pelosi did not pledge to post the bill online for 72 hours, but did pledge to give the public “ample time” to get to know the legislation.

Of course, our liberals will find new definitions for “ample” as required. But this is just like Pelosi’s pledge to have the most honest Congress, ever: just another lie, designed to sound good for a news cycle and then on to leftist policy and plundering the people.

Becoming quite a trend:

Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., announced today that he won’t seek re-election this fall.

Recent polling showed Dorgan getting clobbered by his likely GOP opponent. It could end up being a deadly year for red State Democrats.

UPDATE: Dodd quits, too. This kinda upsets me – I was hoping that we’d be able to crush a corrupt Democrat in a blue State. This does make it a bit more difficult to win, but I’d still rate this, at worst for the GOP, as a “toss up” State…the stench of Dodd will carry a long way.

They’re wrong:

The AP gathered data from the nation’s 90 bankruptcy districts and found 1.43 million filings, an increase of 32 percent from 2008. There were 116,000 recorded bankruptcies in December, up 22 percent from the same month a year before.

…Arizona saw the fastest increase, a jump of 77 percent from the year before, followed by Wyoming (60 percent), Nevada (59 percent) and California (58 percent).

Note: MSM report edited to get rid of the “its really not so bad” BS designed to soften the blow of truth.

A few days ago, the Mrs went to the deli to get a bagel. A couple days after that, I went there. The place is closed. Ever more empty storefronts are visible here in Las Vegas. Population is declining. House prices continue to decline (a couple I know have tried to short sale their house for the past 8 months – it has sold, three times; but each time the deal falls through and the prices drops some more…and, people, when the real estate people say “x number of houses sold in Month Y”, they never count how many of them drop out…and so, the “improving” sales numbers include the neighbors house, three times…and how many others like it are there?). We all sit on the edge out here, making mental plans for what we’ll do when we’re laid off…

The smoke and mirrors recovery has a few more months left to go…but the reality of continued economic depression will go on for quite a while.

UPDATE: Home sales dropped 16% in November.

If you have been wondering about where the race for Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat stands in the poll, you now have your answer…

Be sure to donate to Scott Brown’s campaign… his vote in the U.S. Senate will help us prevent Obamacare from getting passed.

Oh, please, let this be true:

Lawmakers who want to extend health coverage to illegal immigrants will not block the passage of the final health care reform bill so long as the White House offers a substantive promise to start pushing comprehensive immigration legislation this year.

Democrats who want a comprehensive bill that reforms immigration law but also offers a pathway to citizenship have threatened to vote against health care if illegals aren’t included in the new system, making immigration one of the sticking points as Democratic leaders negotiate the final details.

Democratic leadership aides believe that a firm White House promise of a comprehensive immigration bill will be enough to quell any House dissent.

So, our Democrats seem to be thinking that it’d be good political strategy to saddle America with an un-wanted health care plan and then go on to fight for an un-wanted immigration plan? Someone please find out if Karl Rove has some sort of mind-control ray he’s using on the Democrats.

As I’ve stated many times before, I’m in favor of comprehensive immigration reform. I am not in favor of what the Democrats want. This is because for Democrats, “comprehensive immigration reform” means “amnesty and citizenship and an open invitation for 12 million more to come in”. What I mean by it is “path to citizenship for long term illegals coupled with strict border security”. But even with my own preference, I wouldn’t be pushing it when we’ve got 10% unemployment, a rising threat of terrorism and the American people clearly in favor of border security first and foremost.

But, hey, Democrats, please go for it.

I guess I should have been watching TV yesterday rather than out on the golf course (I went after Church). Hume calls Woods to embrace Christ, and the world goes mad. The Anchoress covers the whole issue very well. The nutshell:

Hume had to know, when he was making his remarks, that he was opening himself (and to an extent, all of Christianity) for some criticism and ridicule; perhaps he expected that his remarks would foment debate and dialogue. As we see, though, from our Buddhist friends, Ms. O’ Brien, Charles Martin, and from Americablog, first reactions to his remarks have either completely misconstrued his intent (stone-throwing?) or his meaning (unproductive-faith-alone?) or his message (“Republican” Christians don’t sin?), and so any dialogue will begin with a deficit in understanding, on both sides.

Speaking only from my own perspective as a Christian, it seems to me there are a lot of non-Christians out there who really don’t understand Christianity, or the mystery and purpose of Christ, and this is partly the fault of Christians. If we lived our creed better, preaching the gospel by the way we live our lives, and by our love, then perhaps those who currently distrust us enough to be satisfied with incuriousness and stereotypes, would not be so quick to jump to the worst conclusions when a fellow like Hume speaks -very gently, it must be said, without stoning or consignment to flames of woe- on the Christian application to the human condition.

Should Hume have said what he did, on the air? I am a little ambivilent about it.

On one hand, as a Christian, I admire it; Hume put himself out there, as “a fool for Christ,” willing to face ridicule and scorn for his faith. On the other hand, I’m not comfortable with the venue. I don’t think I would like it if, for example, Christopher Hitchens suggested to Tiger, “don’t worry about it, there is no God, anyway,” or if some Muslim used a news broadcast to suggest that Woods should turn to Islam. As the writer at Americablog suggested, minding the salvation of Tiger Woods this is not Hume’s job as a newscaster.

It is his job as a Christian, however, and Hume might have done better, in a host of ways, by contacting Woods privately, and offering to pray for him (as he is likely already doing) and perhaps introducing Woods to the Good Shepherd, in the process.

But we don’t know everything…

And, indeed, we don’t know everything – but we Christians do know this much: Tiger Woods has a burden upon his back which can only be lifted, and made good, by grace. There’s nothing Woods can do to fix the problem as he can’t un-cheat on his wife. To be sure, he can make amends – to his wife and children, as well as to the women he so badly used – but he can’t make it good. He can’t make it, that is, as if it had never been. Only God can do that – and He’ll do it, just for the asking. The real trouble is getting someone to ask.

And I mean to really ask – not just a perfunctory “God forgive me so I can get out of this jam” but more along the lines of “O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of heaven, and the pains of hell; but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, who are all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve with the help of Thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance and to amend my life. Amen.” At first glance, it doesn’t sound like all that much, but in such an act of contrition there is no escape – you are taking full responsibility, offering no mitigating circumstances and understanding that what you’ve done wrong is to betray God, who created you as an act of love. As the only person actually offended by our sins is God, only God can make them as if they had never been. And thus, Christ.

And, so, Brit Hume – having felt the redeeming power of the Lord, offers it to Tiger Woods. Some people are saying this is out of order – that it is not Hume’s place to speak, and that Christianity has no superior claim to other faiths. Well, no. At least, such is not how Christians view the matter. Hume may have spoken out of turn but that is the nature of Christian morality – to speak out of turn. In fact, to speak at the most inconvenient time possible. To ask us to refrain is pointless – to demand we refrain because we, ourselves, often fail the test is laughable. To insist that we all attempt to live up to our own ethic, that is mere kindness to us.