Blogs For Victory

Good morning, dear friends, conservatives, Americans…and you liberals, too.

It never rains, but it pours, as they say – and as if my beloved mother-in-law passing away this past Sunday wasn’t enough, I’ve now also got my father and elder brother both in the hospital (different hospitals, totally unrelated illnesses) – the elder bro’ will probably be ok, but my father is 82 and in poor general health, so we are concerned.

I would appreciate your prayers for my family during this most difficult time, and your patience with the spotty blog updates.

UPDATE: Thanks, everyone, for your words of concern and support. As it turns out, it seems the old man’s kidneys are not “kidneying” properly, and so he was short a significant amount of blood. So, they gave him some blood and he’s at least temporarily back in the pink – tests are being done to determine if its a general problem with the kidneys, or something more treatable. As for the older brother – haven’t got the latest update on him, though I should hear something tomorrow.

Not much hope of a turn around, but with Christ all things are possible:

Benedict XVI is urging legislators to uphold the sanctity of human life according to Church teaching, he affirmed in an meeting with U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives.

The Pope received Nancy Pelosi and her entourage briefly today after the general audience, reported a Vatican communiqué.

He “took the opportunity to speak of the requirements of the natural moral law and the Church’s consistent teaching on the dignity of human life from conception to natural death,” the Vatican reported afterward.

The Pontiff added that these teachings “enjoin all Catholics, and especially legislators, jurists and those responsible for the common good of society, to work in cooperation with all men and women of good will in creating a just system of laws capable of protecting human life at all stages of its development.”

Pelosi, naturally, didn’t take the hint – rather than addressing her pro-abortion fanaticism, she opted for lauding the Pope for being a leader on global warming. An issue I was unaware the Pope was leading on. From what I can tell, and pardon me if I haven’t been paying attention, the Pope has been rather on and on about life, morality, human solidarity and such…haven’t heard a lot of pontifical statements on greenhouse gasses.

Be that as it may…

The day of reckoning is coming for American Catholics who presume to have it both ways – be liberal on social issues and remain Catholic. Really, there is no way to reconcile the two. One can be in favor of massive – event socialist – levels of welfare spending and remain a good Catholic, but one can’t be in favor of liberal abortion laws, embryonic stem cell research, euthanasia, etc, etc, etc and remain a good Catholic. The Pope and other Church leaders are repeating loud and clear the message that a Catholic in the public square must advance Church teaching on the crucial issue of Life, or cease to claim the name of Catholic. Push will come to shove in the next few years, and the Pelosis, Bidens, Kennedys and Kerrys will have a choice to make – renounce their Catholicism, or renounce their culture of death actions.

I do wonder how it will come out – whether our erring brothers and sisters will repent, or whether they attempt to split off and form some sort of “American Catholic Church” where they’ll pretend to be Catholic and then make trouble for the actual Catholic Church in law and regulation? Time will tell.

And, boys and girls, this will be far worse than ours:

Hungary’s forint fell to an all-time low on Monday, and Poland’s zloty slumped to the lowest in five years on plunging industrial output. Half of all loans to the private sector in Poland are in foreign currencies so borrowers face a severe debt shock after the 40pc fall of the zloty against the euro since August.

“We’re nearing the level were things could get out of hand,” said Hans Redeker, currency chief strategist at BNP Paribas.

The mushrooming crisis has already started to spill over into Germany’s debt markets, lifting credit default swaps on German five-year bonds to a record 70 basis points. The gap between French and German CDS spreads has narrowed abruptly for the first time since the credit crisis began.

“Investors are beginning to ask whether Germany is going to have to pay for the rescue of Eastern and Central Europe,” he said.

A report by Moody’s released on Tuesday said the region’s banks were coming under severe stress as the property bust combines with a rising debt burden. “Local currency depreciation is a major risk to East Europe banks,” it said.

There are contagion worries for Western banks that have lent $1.74 trillion (£1.22bn) to the ex-Soviet bloc — split between $1 trillion in foreign loans and $700bn in local currency debt through subsidiaries.

Why do we care? Because our President just signed, effectively blindfolded, a trillion dollar or so spending bill and unless we want to print ourselves into hyperinflation, we’re going to have to borrow the money. But European money markets are going to have their hands full just trying to stave off complete collapse in Europe. Meanwhile, China’s structurally weak economy is slumping on a big drop in the export trade as recession dampens the market for Chinese goods, so they won’t have a lot of cash to buy US debt with. Where do we get the money from for Obama’s big plans?

As I watched the Spendulus wind its way through Congress to the backdrop of increasing job losses and near-bankruptcy of firm after firm, I started to get a gnawing fear in my gut…now, I’m way past that. Crushing poverty is heading our way, and I’m already used to the fact – I hope to retain my job through this economic meltdown, but I’ve already braced myself for the loss of all my material possessions and mentally adjusted myself to a willingness, when necessary, to take any honest work I can find.

There is still that chance that we’ll dodge the bullet, and I’ll be ok with that, too – but, really, the bill for the past half century or more of profligacy here and around the world has come due, and if we want our children and grandchildren to have a shot at liberty and prosperity, we’d better be willing to lose all we have, today, in order to give them a clean slate, tomorrow.

Here is how it works:

Three contractors are bidding to fix a broken fence at the White House. One is from Chicago, another is from Tennessee, and the third is from Minnesota.

All three go with a White House official to examine the fence.

The Minnesota contractor takes out a tape measure and does some measuring, then works some figures with a pencil. “Well,” he says, “I figure the job will run about $900: $400 for materials, $400 for my crew and $100 profit for me.”

The Tennessee contractor also does some measuring and figuring, then says, I can do this job for $700: $300 for materials, $300 for my crew and $100 profit for me.”

The Chicago contractor doesn’t measure or figure, but leans over to the White House official and whispers, “$2,700.”

The official, incredulous, says, “You didn’t even measure like the other guys! How did you come up with such a high figure?” The Chicago contractor whispers back, “$1000 for me, $1000 for you, and we hire the guy from Tennessee to fix the fence.”

“Done!” replies the government official.

And that, my friends, is how the new stimulus plan will work..

This being sent to me by a friend – I won’t put the name up of the person who seems to have written it, because I’m not certain at this time he wants his name in the public square.

But that is about it, friends – a lot of money is going to be spent, but not a lot of it is going to go for what it was advertised to do. The reason for this is that the bill was rushed through without any real vetting or debate and as no one really knows what is in it, it will be low-level White House and Congressional aides, as well as unknown bureaucrats, who get to decide how the money is spent.

And, my dear liberals, remember that this was set up by your guys – who are oh, so much smarter than we idiot conservatives…

The news story:

.. The new troop deployment is expected to include 8,000 Marines from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, as well as 4,000 additional Army troops from Fort Lewis, Washington.

“This increase is necessary to stabilize a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, which has not received the strategic attention, direction and resources it urgently requires,” Obama said in a written statement…

… Another 5,000 troops will be deployed at a later date to support combat troops, bringing the total to 17,000 the Defense Department said. A senior administration official confirmed the total.

The Obama administration has been conducting several reviews of U.S. policy in Afghanistan, including a review by Gen. David Petraeus, the commander in the region. The president and the Pentagon have been considering a request from the top commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David McKiernan, to send as many as 30,000 additional troops.

It is to be hoped that this is being done right – the commanders seem to have asked for 30,000 troops, we’re sending 12,000 now, with 5,000 to go later, and maybe the rest of the 30,000 at some future point. Now, commanders do often ask for more than they need, because its always better to end up with too much than too little, so this reduction in numbers might just be the result of a more hard-nosed look at the mission requirements…or, it might be a sign of a vacillating President who can’t make up his mind to either 100% support or entirely over rule his military commanders. The prayer of all patriots is that we’re sending enough to win, not merely enough to lose slowly.

Seems like some people over in Democrat-land have hankering not just to hush Rush, but to block blogs:

Waxman is also interested, say sources, in looking at how the Internet is being used for content and free speech purposes. “It’s all about diversity in media,” says a House Energy staffer, familiar with the meetings. “Does one radio station or one station group control four of the five most powerful outlets in one community? Do four stations in one region carry Rush Limbaugh, and nothing else during the same time slot? Does one heavily trafficked Internet site present one side of an issue and not link to sites that present alternative views? These are some of the questions the chairman is thinking about right now, and we are going to have an FCC that will finally have the people in place to answer them.”

I guess this means that if I put up a comment negative to Obama, I’d have to link to a pro-Obama comment? What if it turns out that my particular bit of negativity about Obama is not matched by positive comment on the same subject, elsewhere? Do I have to make up a pro-Obama comment to make certain that I’m being “fair”? And who gets to decide what is fair, anyways?

This is the fascist element in the left rising to the surface – this desire not to be bothered by dissenting opinion based upon a presumption that the left has it right and those who disagree are either stupid or destructive. Nothing gets under the skin of a lefty faster than saying “you’re wrong” to him – you can call a lefty’s mother a whore and not have as negative a reaction. The entire world view of a lefty is based upon a presumption of superior intellect over conservatives, and thus when a conservative refuses to acknowledge this, it is the ultimate insult.

They will try to do this – censor talk radio, censor conservative blogs…they will do everything they can to block, slow down, intimidate and otherwise harass conservative voices. And keep in mind that when they do it, they’ll be convinced they are doing the right thing. So, eternal vigilance will be the price of our liberty until we can get people into office who actually understand what freedom is.

HAT TIP: Sister Toldjah

Getting Dodd out of the Senate, in and of itself, would be the shining triumph of 2010:

Is Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) really in trouble?

At first glance, it’s hard to believe. Since his first election to the House in 1974, he’s won every campaign by double digits. He crushed his last two Senate opponents by landslide 2-to-1 ratios.

But reports about an alleged special mortgage deal from Countrywide Financial and criticism of his tenure as chairman of the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee appear to have dented his popularity, as reflected in a new Quinnipiac poll that suggests the five-term Democrat is highly vulnerable heading into his reelection next year.

A 51 percent majority of Connecticut voters said they “definitely” or “probably” won’t be voting for him, with only 42 percent saying they’d likely support him.

Connecticut, New York, Illinois, Delaware – four enormously safe Democrat seats which now have to be defended in 2010, the first mid-term of a Democrat Presidency. Yeah, Dodd is in trouble – though, of course, the GOP will have to come up with a good candidate. Can’t beat even a creep like Dodd without someone who appeals to the people of Connecticut.

There is a Dump Chris Dodd website, for anyone interested in getting him out of the Senate.

One does begin to wonder if Democrats, on the whole, know what law is, and why we must be a nation of laws, not men:

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is demanding the Kansas Legislature join with her in violating state law to use the budget crisis to score political points, top House Republicans told Kansas Liberty Monday.

“The Legislature doesn’t have the luxury of operating outside the law,” said House Speaker Mike O’Neal. “Kansas for years has had on the books procedures a governor can follow in times like these, but she’s refused to exercise those options, to the detriment of the state. She’s better than that. It just seems she’s going out of her way to make people upset with the Legislature.”

The latest budget drama began Monday when Sebelius called a meeting of the State Finance Council to seek authority for a $225 million certificate of indebtedness to cover a cash flow crisis.

That meeting ultimately was postponed, Republican legislative leaders said, when they made clear to Sebelius that the Legislature couldn’t authorize additional debt.

O’Neal and House Majority Leader Ray Merrick, in conversations with Kansas Liberty, cited an analysis by Legislative Research Director Alan Conroy that concludes such an action would be illegal because the state wouldn’t be able to cover the certificate by the end of the current fiscal year, on June 30, as required by state statute KSA 75-3725(a).

However, the Sebelius administration contended Monday that approval of an additional certificate of indebtedness would not be contrary to state law.

“Legally we are ready to go,” said State Budget Director Duane Goossen at a hastily called press conference late Monday.

Goossen had created a spreadsheet that he said described how the certificate of indebtedness could be used to borrow money, and that all that was needed was authorization by the State Finance Council. He was less clear on how the money would be repaid, a legal requirement. The certificate would raise internal borrowing to record levels.

The relevant statute is here, and it does appear to agree with the Majority Leader’s assertion about the illegality of Governor Sebelius’ proposal.

Be that as it may, here is what we’ve got – a budget crunch in Kansas will require some cuts in spending which the Democrat governor does not wish to make; the governor cooks up a plan to illegally used debt to cover the shortfall so that she doesn’t have to cut her pet projects; naturally, such a plan would not pass muster with a GOP-controlled legislature, so the governor announces that the people of Kansas won’t get their tax refunds and State employees won’t get paid and then relies on the MSM to use her narrative of events, thus putting the onus on the GOP, which merely wants to obey the law. Its clever politics, but entirely dishonest and in direct contravention of the long-term interests of the people of Kansas…but such considerations aren’t important for Democrats, only power and the spending which creates power matter.

We can now see why governor Sebelius has found herself de-facto excommunicated from the Catholic Church – the dishonesty which propelled her to making immoral moves on the issue of life is the same dishonesty which is now instructing her to break the laws of Kansas. I urge the governor of Kansas to re-think her life’s work…to come to an understanding that politics is not the highest expression of human life and that some times we have to bend to the harsh realities of our times. In the end, remember, its really just a matter of not spending as much as she’d like as soon as she’d like – it profits a man (or woman) nothing to gain the whole world, but lose his soul…governor Sebelius seems to be willing to lose hers over a bit of welfare spending, plus or minus.

A video clip from On the Record. Shows you what we missed having in our Executive branch, and makes you long for 2012…

Judith Woods in the Telegraph gives an excellent run down of the Patten scandal and when anyone with moral sense reads it, the reasons for the affair jump right out:

..Alfie’s dad, Dennis – father of nine, or possibly 10 children by various mothers – wearing a bizarre devil mask…

…Neighbours of “the couple” in Eastbourne report that children barely into their teens routinely have sex behind the hedges in gardens…

…Chantelle and Alfie shared a room, with her parents’ blessing, when he stayed at her house…

…Chantelle, one of five children, whose parents are both unemployed, says she was on the pill, but had forgotten to take it…

…Britain has the highest underage pregnancy rate in western Europe, despite channelling substantial resources into sex education for children as young as five…

Sex education for five year old children; parents unemployed but able to wallow indefinitely on the public dime; unmarried dad who has managed to convince many women to have sex with him; different sex children able to sleep in the same room together…this is what happens when you have this sort of situation. All that Master Alfie did was what we told him to do – he’s not at fault, and anyone who complains about his role in this affair is directing ire in entirely the wrong direction.

And this is liberalism – no judgments of a moral character, valueless education, welfare dependency. And this is just what stodgy, boring old Christians said would happen if we allowed morality to fade, failed to impart morals into children and created a welfare State. There is another bit in the article which must be noted:

While nobody would wish to return to the days when gymslip mothers were stigmatised…

Oh, yes we bloody well do – or, at least, we’d better wish to return to such days, and this time also do a much better job of stigmatising the boys who father such children out of wedlock, too (though don’t buy revisionist history which holds that such boys got off scott free). We can’t police every action people do – and this means that, ultimately, only public shaming will keep such gross immorality under control. People get what they want – what we wanted was a disgusting, nauseating society which has 13 year old boys having sex, and that is what we got. If we want to have a society which doesn’t have situations like this – and I’m talking the whole situation, not just the 13 year old father – then we have to ask for it.

And asking for it means starting to act like men and women and insisting upon decent behavior as the price for being permitted in society.