Blogs For Victory

Sorry guys and gals – I was out of blogging action for a little bit. Here’s an open thread until I can get back at it later.

The story:

Fr. John Malloy is a feisty priest, a Salesian of Don Bosco. He demonstrates the kind of courage so necessary in this new missionary age. This self described “87 years young” priest maintains a weblog entitled “A Shepherd’s Voice” where he updates the faithful on the latest fronts in the cultural struggle. On Wednesday he reported that “…board members of the Alameda Unified School District voted 3-2 to introduce a new curriculum that will expose children as young as five to homosexual activist propaganda. …The curriculum in question is defined as the “Safe Schools Curriculum Addressing Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.” However, a quick look at the lesson plans reveals that the issue of “safety” is being used as an excuse for indoctrination.”

He is correct…

Parents are the first teachers of their children. The family is the first school. To support “Parental Choice in Education” is to affirm that Parents should be able to make the choice of how to extend their own teaching mission by choosing a school for their children outside of the home. It is to support their right to participate in curriculum development. The teaching of the Catholic Church on this issue is crystal clear. The family is the first cell of society, the first church, first government, first school, first hospital, first economy, and the first mediating institution of society. That teaching is at the heart of Catholic Social Thought. It should also lay the foundation for building a truly just public policy in the area of education.

Which is why, of course, the left is so determined to war on the family – they don’t want Mom and Dad and those silly, old priests, pastors and nuns teaching the kiddies because that means the kiddies won’t be taught, to quote from the Grade 2 lesson plan:

Reinforce to students that in our school and community there are many varying family structures. Encourage students to notice that Roy and Silo were two male penguins but still were family…

…Reflect and Adjourn the Meeting

Reflect upon what is most important in a family is not who makes up the family but how they care for and love each other – just like Roy and Silo’s family…

And if that doesn’t work, there will always be re-education cam….errr…I mean, “sensitivity training” in high school and college if the message isn’t drilled in to their heads in grammar school: “Your family is not unique and beautiful, its just one of a swamp of human groupings, all of which are morally the same”.

The left hopes to use the public school system – very correctly identified these days by some as “government-funded indoctrination centers” – to create successive generations of people who are alienated from truth. Alienated from family, from God, from Church – enslaved to the flesh, dependent upon government and willing pawns of social control and leftist experimentation. Some people wonder why I keep battling it out – its because we have to stop these fools before they destroy all of us. Yes, even themselves – the dimwits don’t realize that the only reason they can be freakishly weird is because non-freak Christians, Jews, etc get the job of civilization done on a day to day basis. Some lefty’s understand this – and some get murdered for their trouble – but most seem to think you can have civil society absent civil observance of truth.

While I think Obama’s lame-ass attempt at damage control is inappropriate, I nonetheless am intrigued by this question, posed by FOX:

YOU DECIDE: If you could have a beer with any politician, living or dead, who would it be? Share your thoughts. Click on “Leave a Comment” below.

Now just to make things interesting, I want to know the answer to both, plus one other question.

Here are my answers:

1. If you could have a beer with any living politician, who would it be?

Answer: George W. Bush.

I think this is an easy one for people to understand. As most of you probably know, Blogs For Victory began as Blogs For Bush back in November 2003. I devoted a lot to helping his reelection in 2004, and that ultimately lead to be going to the 2004 Republican Convention, getting a book deal, and scores of things that began as a result of my blogging success. And, quite frankly, I greatly appreciate what he did for this country. I may not have always agreed with him, but I know he always did what he felt was the right thing to do. His leadership in the wake of the 9/11 attacks kept us safe. There is so much I’d love to talk to him about.

And, I know he doesn’t drink, but I would settle for coffee.

2. If you could have a beer with any dead politician, who would it be?

Answer: Ronald Reagan

I was born in 1980, so, there isn’t much I can really remember about Reagan’s presidency directly, but it is hard to deny the leadership he showed in the face of tough challenges. We all benefit today because of things he accomplished or set in motion.

3. What beer would you choose?

Answer: Dogfish Head 90-Minute IPA or Victory Brewing Company Golden Monkey

There’s not much that needs to be said here… Awesome brews from awesome breweries.

How about you? Feel free to explain.

Good for Oklahoma:

Oklahoma’s bipartisan congressional delegation this week accused the Obama Justice Department of trying to strong-arm the state into rejecting an English-only referendum by saying it could cost Oklahoma federal funding.

In a stern letter to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., the lawmakers – six Republicans and one Democrat – said Justice officials were meddling in Oklahoma affairs when they issued a pre-emptive April warning letter, well before any potential violation of law would take place.

“The Civil Rights Division letter was dubiously timed at the peak of legislative debate rather than in response to a particular state action,” the delegation wrote to Mr. Holder on Tuesday, questioning whether Oklahoma was being singled out and asking what funds would be jeopardized.

Obama’s “Justice” Department’s excuse is that they just wanted modifications to prevent conflict with federal laws – but that is pure, after-the-fact BS, if you ask me. Until a law is passed and enforcement is attempted – or, at least, a court case filed – there’s no way for Justice to determine if a law will violate some other provision of law. As the legislative process goes forward, Justice might be asked for an opinion, but it must not try to interfere with the process by threatening a loss of funding.

Obama’s Administration is getting a bad reputation for intimidation – they don’t want conservatism getting to the forefront because the liberals believe that conservatism was forever defeated in November, and thus liberalism should never have to argue with it, again, in the public square. All we’re supposed to argue about is the best means of implementing Obamunism – sticking to the “party line” as it were – we’re not supposed to do anything which might call in to question the underlying socialist, multi-culturalist and environmentalist assumptions of Obamunism. Oklahoma spoke out of turn, and His Majesty was not amused.

Three cheers for the courageous people of Oklahoma for standing up for their rights – and the rights of all Americans.

Gallup has Obama at a new low, and he’s lost 3-points just in the past week.

Amidst President Obama’s push in July to revamp the nation’s healthcare system, Gallup finds his average job approval rating registering 56% for the seven-day period ending Sunday, down from 59% the previous week. This three percentage point drop is the largest week-to-week decline seen in Obama’s job approval thus far in his presidency, and punctuates a gradual descent from his 66% rating in early May.

The trend is also seen in Rasmussen’s poll:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows that 28% of the nation’s voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty percent (40%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -12. That’s the lowest rating yet recorded for President Obama (see trends).

It’s nice to see Americans waking up to Obama’s partisanship and lack of leadership. He claimed to be a uniter, but has proven to be more divisive than any of his predecessors.

Just goes to show you that anyone can read off a teleprompter… but some people just aren’t cut out to be president. And Barack Obama has shown that he is really just an Illinois state senator playing a president on TV… and a really bad one at that.

Indeed:

Do not separate text from historical background. If you do, you will have perverted and subverted the Constitution, which can only end in a distorted, bastardized form of illegitimate government. – James Madison

Fascinating:

So much for the ongoing secrecy of the nation’s independent central banking system. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 75% of Americans favor auditing the Federal Reserve and making the results available to the public.

Just nine percent (9%) of adults think that’s a bad idea and oppose it. Fifteen percent (15%) aren’t sure.

Over half the members of the House now support a bill giving the Government Accounting Office, Congress’ investigative agency, the authorization to audit the books of the Federal Reserve Board.

The people just won’t have any more of this behind the scenes money shuffling which always ends up with Joe Average holding the bag. Eventually, no matter what Obama and his liberals do, it’ll be the hard work of average Americans which pulls us out of this mess…and I don’t think anyone wants to pull the cart out of the mud only to find the same, old power elites sitting on top, proposing to lead us, once again, in to the muck.

No more quasi-governmental agencies; no more unclear lines of oversight; no more unconstitutional over-reach. It is time for we, the people, to take charge.

An NRO reader notes the Nixonian secrecy of the Obama Administration:

The real problem, however, is not the president’s place of birth (it is highly unlikely that he was born anywhere but where he claims) but the Nixonian secrecy with which he has chosen to surround himself. Has Obama released his transcripts from Occidental College and Harvard? (we know all about Bush’s mediocre grades at Yale). Has he given permission for his theses and publications to be released? If not, why not? Michelle got into hot water when her thesis was publicized. Maybe Barack learned a lesson from that episode. And why the secrecy about the grades of such a smart guy as Obama? Might they reveal some kind of favoritism along the way?

We do know that there are things Obama tried to hide, such as his association with Jeremiah Wright and Father Pfleger as well as William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn. Do his records reveal other questionable associations or statements? Where is the transparency we expect of public officials? Why is Obama getting a pass when other presidents do not?

Secrecy is the mother’s milk of kooks – while the “birther” issue is, as I’ve stated, a non-issue in my book, the fact that Obama simply does not come clean on his past – all of it, from start to finish – just feeds the frenzy of speculation. The American people are tolerant and forgiving, so Obama’s unwillingness to relax and let us get to know him is mystifying. He’s admitted to drug use and it was a huge “big deal” from all of us…what is he hiding about his past and his associations? Its hard to imagine there’s something worse than Wright in there … unless, of course, it is Obama, himself, making Wright-like statements?

What could it be? Speculation will continue, as long as we don’t know.

This is happening so often that its starting to become a clear trend – that America’s broad middle is taking time out of the day to make it voice heard…something confined almost exclusively to the left is now becoming a center/right phenomena:

There are well over 300 people in Fort Collins right now for the counter-protest against ObamaCare…

And about 50 in support.

UPDATE: Trying to get a hard count, and I got to 76 pro-ObamaCare people and 337 in the counter-protest at about 11:50 a.m.

UPDATE 2: This is getting bigger by the minute (on our side of the street, that is). Then again, we’re on three of the four corners of the intersection, as opposed to their lonely outpost.

UPDATE 3 (12:15 PM): It will be interesting to see how this is reported in the press. It’d be hard to spin this as anything other than an embarassment for the “Organizing for America” machine. We’ll see…

UPDATE 4: Is Betsy Markey paying attention? This is a pretty interesting cross-section of the center-right coalition – lots of new faces.

UPDATE 5: I see a lot of cameras. Send photos if you’ve got ’em.

UPDATE 6: Ouch. There’s a pro-ObamaCare sign that says “VA HEALTHCARE FOR ALL”. If that’s your best pitch…

UPDATE 7: Hard count at well over 430 as of 12:30 PM. Not even 150 across the street (they’re spread out to try to fill the corner, so they’re easier to count.)

You can laugh, if you like, liberals – but the TEA Party movement is for real, growing and will become predominant in the 2010 campaign. Those who cross TEA, will be in peril while those who ride this movement – whatever their political party – will come out the winners.

This is the guy who is in charge of looking after America’s banking industry, boys and girls:

A senior House Democrat threatened banks Wednesday that if they don’t volunteer to save more homeowners from foreclosure, Congress will make them.

In a sternly worded statement, Rep. Barney Frank said Congress will revive legislation that would let bankruptcy judges write down a person’s monthly mortgage payment if the number of loan modifications remain low.

Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, also said his committee won’t consider legislation to help banks lend unless there is a “significant increase” in mortgage modifications.

It doesn’t quite work like that. Frank’s plan is actually so dumb that I theorize that it is the plan of the lenders, using Frank as a mouthpiece.

People can do a lot with their home loans – but for those who are upside down, the only rational thing to do is short-sale or let it go in to foreclosure. If someone owes $400,000 on a house currently worth $180,000, what is the point of staying even if the lender is willing to come down massively on the monthly mortgage payment? Does anyone really think the house will go above $400,000 in the next 10 years? Heck, in the next 20 years? The banks love very much to have a loan modified to keep the principle balance at boom market levels…but more and more home owners are starting to understand that there’s no sense at all – and no moral justification – to continue to shovel money in to a financial black hole.

The only leverage a borrower has over his lender is the threat of yet another house to sell in a saturated, depressed market. I’ve heard credible stories that 35,000 foreclosed homes in my area are being kept off the market in order to try to support home prices – do the banks want to add more to that pile? Probably not. But Frank wants more and more people to lose this leverage – or, at least, delay exercising the option until, perhaps, its too late to easily have done with it.

Take one for-instance I found out about recently. If a person is upside on his loan by 50% (let’s say) and approaches his lender to say, “hey, lets make a deal – reduce my principle by 40%. That way I keep my house, and you get more than market value for the home.” Except in the rarest of circumstances, this is not happening. Why? Because the investors – those who hold the note, as opposed to the banks which service the loan – would rather see the house short-sale for only 40% of the loan balance than “re-loan” the home owner 60%. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush – better to have the $150,000 for the short-sale than $200,000 in a loan which may yet default as the economy worsens.

Borrowers of America, Unite! You have nothing to lose but your FICO score! A bit silly, I know, but I’ve said before that we need a national bankruptcy reorganization of our housing market – and if Frank and his corporate, fat cat buddies won’t do it, we might have to take matter in to our own hands. Better a short-sale or even a foreclosure, and the books cleared, than to hang on to the dead hand of the 2005 housing market.