What's up with these gas prices?

Today, Ohioans were shocked to see gas spike to a record $4.15/gallon across most of the state.  The previous day's average was around $3.80.  Apparently we're not done yet.  Some stations are now in $4.25/gallon territory.  My husband has an 80 mile round-trip commute to work each day, so this is not a good development for our family.  


Gasbuddy.com has a great tool to generate charts showing the historical gas prices both nation wide and by state.  Here are some charts showing the prices for Ohio over the last month, 6 months, 12 months, 24 months, and 72 months.  It's quite shocking to see it in black and white (and blue). 









 










Sitting at a Smithville High School baseball game today I overheard a parent blaming "Big Oil." He said that Exxon made huge profits last year - "millions and billions and trillions of dollars."  I'm sure Exxon would like to know where those "trillions" disappeared to!  While it's true that Exxon has reported billions in profits this week,  that's not the whole story.  According to ExxonMobil:

"ExxonMobil’s earnings are from operations in more than 100 countries around the world. The part of the business that refines and sells gasoline and diesel in the United States represents less than 3 percent – or 3 cents on the dollar – of our total earnings. For every gallon of gasoline, diesel or finished products we manufactured and sold in the United States in the last three months of 2010, we earned a little more than 2 cents per gallon. That’s not a typo. Two cents."

It's clear from the chart below that ExxonMobil is a bit player among the Big Players in this game.  When we talk about BIG OIL, we need to be talking about the nationalized oil companies like the Saudis, the Iranians, and our friend from Venezuela, Hugo Chavez.  Note that Exxonmobil, Chevron, and BP are all investor owned companies. 

ExxonMobil also wants us to know that they think they are "paying their fair share":

"ExxonMobil is one of the largest taxpayers in the United StatesLast year, our total taxes and duties to the U.S. government topped $9.8 billion, which includes an income tax expense of $1.6 billion. Over the past five years, we incurred a total U.S. tax expense of almost $59 billion, which is $18 billion more than we earned in the United States during the same period. Critics often try to ignore these facts by saying the oil and gas industry receives “subsidies.” But what they really mean is that they want to increase our taxes by taking away long-standing deductions for our industry while leaving these same deductions in place for other sectors of the economy."

I admit I'm no tax expert and neither am I a business expert, but this doesn't seem like a very good deal for ExxonMobil.  Under these conditions, why would any company want to do business with our country?  

So who exactly is getting rich off these skyrocketing gas prices?  Here's where the money goes:

In Ohio, we pay 18.4 cents/gallon in federal taxes and 28 cents/gallon in state excise taxes.  The good news, I suppose, is that he percentage of taxes per gallon falls as the price of gas per gallon climbs, right?  The majority of the cost of a gallon of gas falls into the "crude oil" category.  CNN Money describes it this way:

"This is the most expensive part of a gallon of gas. Of every gallon of gas $2.07 from every gallon of gas goes to producers of crude like Chevron (CVX, Fortune 500), BP (BP), and smaller outfits like Anadarko (APC, Fortune 500) and Marathon (MRO, Fortune 500), or national oil companies controlled by countries like Saudi Arabia, Mexico or Venezuela.

Crude currently trades around $110 a barrel, but breaking down the money in that barrel of oil is tough. Exploration and production costs, royalty payments - all a big part of $110 a barrel oil - vary widely country by country and project by project."

In other words, there's a lot more that goes into a barrel of oil than oil.  Just like the drug companies, oil companies have significant costs for development, production costs and, increasingly,  significant costs related to environmental regulations. 


The same CNN Money article also dispels the myth that "speculators" are to blame:

"While often blamed for pushing up prices, traders don't necessarily benefit from the high price of crude or gasoline; they profit from how much the price changes. Traders can get rich - as long as they bet correctly on whether prices will rise or fall.

For example, an investment bank that makes a bet that the price of oil will rise makes money when oil prices go from $95 to $100 a barrel - or $100 to $95 if it bet the price will fall - not on the difference between production cost and trading price.

'If you wanna keep your job, you gotta be more right than wrong,' said John Kilduff, an energy analyst at the trading firm MF Global in New York, explaining how traders make their money."

So what can be done to bring the costs down?  The Heritage Foundation has some suggestions:

 1. Increase Drilling
First and foremost, drill. Yes, the petroleum market is a world market. No, “drill, baby, drill” is not a panacea. And it is true that the U.S. is not likely to eliminate all oil imports with even an aggressive drilling program. But more petroleum on the world market helps to hold prices in check.

2. Shelve “Low-Carbon Fuel Standards”
The concept of “low-carbon fuel standards” is driving opposition to a petroleum pipeline from Canada. With its oil sands, Canada has more proven petroleum reserves than any country other than Saudi Arabia. A consistent ally and long-time friendly neighbor, Canada is exactly the sort of supplier the U.S. should want to fill the gap in the petroleum it cannot produce on its own. But some policymakers want to put these vast reserves off limits to American consumers....

...The Keystone XL pipeline would bring the U.S. over a million barrels of petroleum each day—more than it imports from either Saudi Arabia or Venezuela (the U.S.’s two largest suppliers after Canada and Mexico). Along with the pipeline and petroleum would come increased energy security and a boost to the U.S. economy.

3. Stop EPA Abuse of the Clean Air Act
The EPA’s abuse of the Clean Air Act will drive up refining costs and, therefore, gasoline prices. Though the use of the act to regulate carbon dioxide (CO2) would create large problems in many places, the EPA recently started the process to regulate CO2 emissions from refineries. This regulation goes beyond the gasoline reformulation mandates that balkanize gasoline markets with higher-cost boutique fuels.

The new CO2 regulation puts an additional burden on refiners’ costs and subsequently raises prices of gasoline, diesel fuel, and home heating oil. Further, it will increase the amount of refined product the U.S. imports and reduce employment in an industry with wages that are more than 40 percent higher than the national average.

The Heritage Foundation concludes:

"When petroleum and gasoline prices shot up during the energy crisis of the 1970s, the experts and pundits predicted imminent resource exhaustion, skyrocketing prices, and energy poverty. Instead, markets responded by searching for, discovering, and producing enough oil to provide over two decades of low prices. For instance, in the U.S. alone, the number of drilling rigs more than tripled between September 1973 (before the Yom Kippur War and the subsequent Arab oil embargo) and December 1981.

Now, imminent oil depletion and the futility of drilling are again supposedly on the horizon. However, increased drilling activity follows increased petroleum prices. Blunting this natural market response will drive up energy prices and reduce national income. This, plus the Keystone XL pipeline and scaling back EPA expansion of the Clean Air Act, would do much to stabilize gas prices and energy costs in general."

Unfortunately, the Obama administration has given no indication that it will take any of these steps.  In fact, they are going in the complete opposite direction.  $4.15/gallon may just be the tip of the iceberg.  If this keeps up,  a transatlantic voyage on the Titanic would be cheaper than a trip to Cleveland in my PT Cruiser. 

April 28, 2011

Illiterate Children Reciting the Koran on Film: The Left Gives a Standing Ovation for Islam | NewsReal Blog:

 "One of our stars is a 10-year-old kid from Tajikistan named Nabiollah, an angelic, big-eyed moppet who can recite the entire Quran from memory in an astonishingly pure boyish soprano, with remarkable command of melody and intonation. He’s like the Justin Bieber of Quran recitation, and judges at the Cairo event seize on him as an amazing gift from Allah. But memorizing the Quran (in Arabic, which he does not otherwise speak or read) at a rural madrassa has nearly been Nabiollah’s entire education; he is functionally illiterate in Tajik, his own language.

How does the Left respond to clear anti-education?  They are a bit uncomfortable, but still manage to rise to their feet and applause this pro-Islam film.  In the conflict of education versus Islamic propaganda – Mohammad wins every time."

Salon.com summarzied the film this way:

It’s “Spellbound” plus a poetry slam. Plus Islamic fundamentalism…but if you’re open to the possibility that Islam in practice is an incredibly diverse spiritual and social movement that embraces 1.6 billion human beings and a lot of internal discussion and disagreement, and that the more we know about it the better, then “Koran by Heart” is a movie you’ve got to see...

...She recounts that at the screening Rifdha and her parents were actually there along with the film’s director.  Afterwards they took questions.  And one person had the guts to ask the father directly if he would be open to letting Rifdha get more education and be a scientist.  The Muslim father responded by saying Rifdha must be a housewife.

Just when Osman and all the Progressives are about to come to their senses about Islam, the director of the film speaks up.  Here’s how Osman ends her article: 

The director quickly took the microphone and spoke some words of wisdom. When we go around the world making films we don’t tell people how to live their lives, he said. Nobody tells us how to live our lives, he added. He graciously thanked the family for coming all the way to New York to attend the opening. Inspiring film. Good point. Lesson learned...

...And there you have it.  It doesn’t matter what the Left believes about education, women, or freedom. The spread of Islam must happen.  We must not fear it or reject any part of it.  We can’t push our values on them, no matter how much the culture of Sharia spreads into our own borders.
Many of the articles on the film screenings reported the movie getting large standing ovations" 

It's tricky being a liberal these days, isn't it?  At least if you're trying to be consistent.

~~~~~

Allen West is Right: Leftist Women Castrate Our Men | NewsReal Blog: (HT: Joel)
Author and blogger Suzanne Venkner, who is the niece of Phyllis Schlafly responded to the following statement by Rep. Allen West:

"We need you to come in and lock shields, and strengthen up the men who are going to the fight for you. To let these other women know on the other side — these planned Parenthood women, the Code Pink women, and all of these women that have been neutering American men and bringing us to the point of this incredible weakness — to let them know that we are not going to have our men become subservient. That’s what we need you to do. Because if you don’t, then the debt will continue to grow…deficits will continue to grow."

Venker said,

 ...The problem is that too many Americans, women in particular, are afraid to take a stand against feminism. They think being opposed to feminism means being against women’s rights or being throwbacks to a bygone era when women were at home doing nothing else with their lives but caring for children — which, besides being untrue, is not a bad thing anyway. But that is precisely how liberal women want people to think of feminism: as American women’s saviors.
But feminism did not save the women of America. If anything, it ruined them...

...That’s because feminism is about rejecting the timeless institutions that makes most people happy and any good society flourish: marriage and motherhood.
Liberal women don’t explain it this way, of course. They insist they’re not against the traditional family but merely want women to have choices. Hogwash. Not only do feminists subtly and overtly undermine traditional gender roles, they take credit for something they didn’t do. American women’s choices (a.k.a. “progress”) were expanded not from the bra-burning demonstrations that sought to reform society but from a natural evolution that was aided by technology – technology that was invented by men, I might add. American women should be thanking men, not feminists, for the lives they have today. 

Allen West’s argument that liberal women have neutered men was courageous and spot on. It just wasn’t self-explanatory. West would have done well to quote antifeminist warrior Carolyn Graglia when making his argument:

"The traditional family will remain in peril until we derail the feminist engine of reform by killing the sexual revolution, by replacing no-fault divorce laws with laws that protect homemakers and families, by ending preferential treatment of women in education and workplace, and by reforming all laws that discriminate against one-income families through requiring them to subsidize child care for two-income families.

But these things will not happen until a change occurs in those men who have rejected the value of a woman’s traditional role and of a man’s contributions that make this role viable. Without those contributions, what do men think will define their manhood? If women’s traditional role is expendable, then, as increases in the number of well-educated, never-married mothers indicate, so also are men expendable for all purposes other than sperm donor. The result is a society increasingly like Sweden’s, which has the lowest marriage rate and one of the highest illegitimacy rates and employment rates of working-age women in the western world."

The liberal feminists need to be reminded every now and then that the most significant "liberators" of women were not Gloria Steinem or Margaret Sanger, it was the men who invented the electric washing machine, the electric stove, and running water. 


It's rather humorous that "The Donald" is getting so much attention for being a straight-talker and not being afraid to say controversial things.  Of course, half of what he says falls into the realm of reality show fiction and the other half is shameless self promotion.   Meanwhile,  Rep. Allen West is saying actual substantive controversial things, speaking about matters of consequence with intelligence and eloquence.  Let's hope we Americans wise up and demand more of West and less of Trump.

~~~~~

Pornography raid underscores Wi-Fi risks - Technology & science - Wireless - msnbc.com: 

(HT: Challies)

"BUFFALO, N.Y. — Lying on his family room floor with assault weapons trained on him, shouts of 'pedophile!' and 'pornographer!' stinging like his fresh cuts and bruises, the Buffalo homeowner didn't need long to figure out the reason for the early morning wake-up call from a swarm of federal agents.

That new wireless router. He'd gotten fed up trying to set a password. Someone must have used his Internet connection, he thought.

'We know who you are! You downloaded thousands of images at 11:30 last night,' the man's lawyer, Barry Covert, recounted the agents saying. They referred to a screen name, 'Doldrum. 

'No, I didn't,' he insisted. 'Somebody else could have but I didn't do anything like that.'

'You're a creep ... just admit it,' they said.

Law enforcement officials say the case is a cautionary tale. Their advice:

Password-protect your wireless router."

I happen to be married to a techie who is very fussy about suchs things and I always wondered what the big deal was.   OK....I get it now! Those SWAT team goons would probably confiscate my super-cool Google Chrome CR-48 notebook computer....what a tragedy that would be!  


But seriously, this story does raise some important questions.  Like,  should the internet be free and open to anyone?  Some who were interviewed for the story  and commenting on it thought so and purposely leave their routers open as a courtesy to passersby, hoping others will do the same.   This raises some obvious privacy concerns, although many in the younger generation don't seem to have the same worries their parents do.  I suppose the rise of cloud computing will change this landscape as well.  


The other question is why a heavily armed SWAT team was even needed for this operation.  Could they have just knocked on the door and taken him into custody?  Viewing child pornography, as vile and disgusting as it is, is hardly drug running or gang activity.  What is the likelihood this guy was lying in wait for them with a cache of weapons?  What kind of police state do we live in that an innocent man is subjected to the SWAT team breaking down his door in the middle of the night? 

~~~~~

Do you have questions about Ohio's SB5 and what it means for union members and taxpayers of the state?  The American Policy Roundtable has prepared and excellent guide:

Frequently Asked Questions: Ohio SB5 as passed by the Ohio General Assembly

The guide takes on questions such as:

• What does the collective bargaining process look like under SB5?
• Will repealing the salary schedules put teachers with higher salary at risk for losing their jobs?
• Will tenured teachers (continuing contracts) lose their tenure?
• What does it mean to base salaries or wages on performance? 
• If public employees can't negotiate for their health care benefits, won't their health coverage be much worse? 

APR has done Ohioans (regardless of which side you're on) a huge service in preparing this detailed FAQ that cuts through the spin.  I hope it makes it into the hands of every Ohio voter as the rhetoric continues and opponents of SB5 prepare to wage a well-funded campaign in their attempt to repeal it.  

April 27, 2011

The Gospel is preached on MSNBC

It's clear that MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell (who calls himself a Socialist)  was attempting to show that Franklin Graham was some kind of  GOP tool for his positive statements about Donald Trump as a presidential candidate.  While I'm certainly baffled by Graham's positive statements about Trump, who is clearly no conservative, social or otherwise, the statements certainly did not rise to the level of "semi-endorsement" as O'Donnell claimed.  

They then moved on to the subject of whether or not President Obama is a Christian.  O'Donnell surely thought he was being clever and that he would "get" Graham with his carefully chosen proof-text verse, ripped out of context.   A fascinating discussion ensued about what it means to be a Christian.  To O'Donnel, it means saying you're a Christian and making an appearance at church now and then.  To Graham, it is receiving forgiveness for your sins by trusting in the work of Christ on the cross.  

I happen to be a bit of a cable news junkie and have seen Franklin Graham do these brief interviews dozens of times.  WITHOUT EXCEPTION, the man finds a way to get a short gospel presentation into the interview.  And this interview was no exception.  In fact, I think it was exceptional - Graham, I thought, was especially earnest.  He came out swinging with the Gospel and ended the interview with this:

"God loves us and he wants us to be saved from Hell. There is a Hell and there is a punishment for those who reject God. And there is salvation in Jesus Christ and for me as a minister the most important thing is not who's going to be president, or who is trying to run for president. The most important thing is, is a person ready to stand before Almighty God? Are they ready to have that time face-to-face with God and answer to him, because God's going to ask you, "What did you do about my Son? I sent my Son to take your sins. Did you accept him or did you reject him?"

~~~~~

Speaking of Donald Trump, conservative columnist and intellectual Thomas Sowell warns the GOP about the dangers of a Trump candidacy in an excellent piece at Town Hall.  Aside from Trump's inconsistency on a number of issues, which Sowell calls his "versatility of viewpoints,"  he says this: 

"Donald Trump is dangerous in at least two senses. If, by some tragic miracle, he should become the Republicans' candidate for president in 2012, that would be the closest thing to an iron-clad guarantee of a second term in the White House for Barack Obama. 

That would be a huge setback for the Republicans-- and, far more important-- a historic catastrophe for this country. 

What seems more likely is that Donald Trump as a candidate for the Republican nomination would use his superior articulation skills-- not to mention brash irresponsibility-- to trash all the other Republican candidates for that nomination, leaving them damaged goods in the eyes of the public, and therefore less able to gather the votes needed to prevent the reelection of Obama."

We can all hope that Trump-as-Presidential-Candidate would follow Reagan's 11th Commandment and never publicly criticize another Republican, but Sowell is right, Trump will do and say anything to promote the Trump Brand.  In fact, he has already started trashing the GOP by going after Paul Ryan and his budget plan:

"I'm very concerned about doing anything that's going to tinker too much with Medicare. I protect the senior citizens. Senior citizens are protected. They are lifeblood, as far as I'm concerned. I think Paul Ryan is too far out front with this issue. I think he ought to sit back and relax."

~~~~~

I'm no libertarian, but I do agree with many of their principals.  This video clip about the influence of tax money on education makes some good points.  In particular, I agree with him when he says that "school choice" isn't really "choice" when the government is involved.  For example, charter schools are closed when they don't meet government standards even though the parents may feel that it's a good school and their children are learning and in an environment that best suits their needs.  So their "choice" becomes a victim of government accountability. 

I think at this point government involvement in education is so entrenched that it would take something cataclysmic to get the toothpaste back into the tube, but the more we can think and work outside the box and try innovative solutions, the better. 

~~~~~

Earth Day Ends Obama's 53,300 Gallon Trip - Washington Whispers (usnews.com): 

"President Obama declared today's 41st annual Earth Day proof of America's ecological and conservation spirit—then completed a three-day campaign-style trip logging 10,666 miles on Air Force One, eating up some 53,300 gallons at a cost of about $180,000. And that doesn't include the fuel consumption of his helicopter, limo, or the 29 other vehicles that travel with that car."

Meanwhile, the Green Police are coming after Google, Facebook, and other companies that rely on cloud computing:

Cloud computing and Internet use suck energy, emit CO2, says Greenpeace | Technology | Los Angeles Times:

"Computer servers in data centers account for about 2% of global energy demand, growing about 12% a year, according to the group.  The servers, Greenpeace said, can suck up as much power as 50,000 average U.S. homes.

But most of what powers the cloud comes from coal and nuclear energy rather than renewable sources such as wind and solar, according to Greenpeace. Clusters of data centers are emerging in places like the Midwest, where coal-powered electricity is cheap and plentiful, the group said.

In its report, the organization zeroed in on 10 major tech companies, including Apple, Twitter and Amazon. Recently, the group has waged a feisty fight against Facebook, which relies on coal for 53.2% of its electricity, according to Greenpeace."

But wait, electric is good, right?  These are the same people who are pushing the electric cars, aren't they?  I'm so confused.   If these people get their way, the internet of the future will be solar and wind-powered server farms.  Instead of "HTTP error 504" we're going to start seeing "NWT Error - No Wind Today."  

~~~~~

 Pro-Choice Vandals Desecrate Cemetery of the Innocents Display - Students for Life: 

"In a breathtaking public display of anti-Christian and anti-Life motivations, 350 crosses were pulled up and re-inserted in inverted fashion, a well-known anti-Christian symbol. Additionally, red paint was splattered on crosses and signs. Even eerier was the mock bloody footprints of an infant painted in front of the display...

 ...Last week was Clarion Students for Life’s annual “Life Week”. Each year the group organizes a Cemetery of the Innocents Display in the middle of campus. They have 350 crosses and two signs explaining that each cross represents 10 children aborted every day.

Every year Clarion SFL experiences some sort of vandalism – broken crosses or knocked over crosses – during their Life Week, but this year the opposition on campus has taken its vandalism to a whole new level. Members of Clarion’s Students for Life group see an anti-Life motivation to this vandalism, but also an anti-Christian motivation as well. The inverted cross has long been a symbol of anti-Christian and anti-religious sentiments."

 

 ~~~~~

Republican Study Committee (RSC) - Ensuring Pay for Our Military Act of 2011: 

"Washington, Mar 31 - Reps. Jack Kingston and Louie Gohmert introduced the “Ensuring Pay for Our Military Act of 2011” to authorize the Secretary of Defense to continue to provide pay and allowances without interruption to members of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps who perform service during any funding gap. Without action on the measure such funds could be delayed or withheld. During the government shutdown in 1995, soldiers were paid because the Defense Department had already been funded through the year; the current funding for the Defense Department is set to expire on April 8."

Let's hope they can get this passed and take military pay off the table when it comes to these budget negotiations.  Our men and women in uniform should never be used as human shields in the budget wars.  Would any legislator dare to vote against this?

~~~~~

And just for fun....

A Barack Obama Easter Tale

President Obama's Easter and Good Friday Proclamations...


Did you get a chance to hear them?  No?  That's because he didn't get around to it.  If you're in need of an Official Proclamation,  you can read Obama's proclamations for: Earth Day, National Park Week,  Education and Sharing Day, U.S.A., The Civil War Sesquicentennial, National Equal Pay Day, National Former POW Recognition Day, Pan American Day, Cesar Chavez Day, Greek Independence Day, 150th Anniversary of the Unification of Italy Week, 50th Anniversary of the Peace Corps, National African American History Month, Martin Luther King, Jr. Federal Holiday, Stalking Awareness Month...


We also have this:

Statement by the President on the Occasion of Ramadan | The White House:

"These rituals remind us of the principles that we hold in common, and Islam’s role in advancing justice, progress, tolerance, and the dignity of all human beings.   Ramadan is a celebration of a faith known for great diversity and racial equality.  And here in the United States, Ramadan is a reminder that Islam has always been part of America and that American Muslims have made extraordinary contributions to our country."

Advancing justice, progress, tolerance, and the dignity of all human beings? He ought to have lunch with Rep. Allen West some time.   Lt. Col West could give the President the run-down of Muslim "justice" before they finished their appetizers.  Here's a 60-second summary of the history of the "Religion of Peace"over the last 1300 years,  including clashes with Charles Martel in the Battle of Tours, The Venetian Fleet at Lepanto, and the conquer of Constantinople:

his

This was President Obama's message to Jews on the occasion of Passover:

'The story of Passover...instructs each generation to remember its past. This year that ancient instruction is reflected in the daily headlines as we see modern stories of social transformation and liberation unfolding in the Middle East and North Africa."

Because we all know that the story of Passover is reflected in the uprising of  Muslims against their fellow-Muslims in  countries united in their desire to annihilate Israel.   Israel, understandably, is a little nervous about the upheaval and resulting anti-Israeli rhetoric.  A shout-out to these Muslim countries on Passover can't sit very well with them either. 


So, should Christians demand that President Obama issue some banal Christian platitudes to make us all feel better?   Last year in his pre-Easter weekly address, Obama said this about the most important holiday on the Christian calendar:

 "Make no mistake: we live in a dangerous world, and we must be strong and vigilant in the face of these threats. But let us not allow whatever differences we have with other nations to stop us from coming together around those solutions that are essential to our survival and success.

As we celebrate Passover, Easter, and this time of renewal, let’s find strength in our shared resolve and purpose in our common aspirations. And if we can do that, then not only will we fulfill the sacred meaning of these holy days, but we will fulfill the promise of our country as a leader around the world."

No....no, not really.  The "sacred meaning" of Easter has nothing to do with our "shared resolve and purpose in our common aspirations."  It's about the God of the Universe sending his only Son to experience God's wrath for the sins of the whole world so that those who believe in the Son would have their sins forgiven and inherit eternal life:

 "In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.  In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:9-10).

That is the true message of Easter.  


Besides, President Obama's Press Secretary, Jay Carney,  assures us that the Obama family did their duty by making a "high-profile" appearance at church on Easter:

“He personally celebrated Easter with his family and went to church to celebrate that...Come on…the fact is the president took his family to church in a very high-profile way to celebrate Easter. I think it was a highly visible to most Americans.”

Unfortunately, out of all the thousands of churches in the D.C. area, the Obama family managed to stumble into the church of another race baiter:

'[Pastor Smith] talked about how his baby grandson's gurgling is actually 'talking' because he is saying 'I am here ... they tried to write me off as 3/5 a person in the Constitution, but I am here right now ... and is saying I am not going to let anybody from stopping me from being what God wants me to be.''

The link above has more info about Pastor Wallace Smith of Shiloh Baptist church, who equates Fox News and talk radio (and Rush) with the KKK. 

To be fair, the President hosted an Easter Prayer Breakfast on Tuesday and said this, 

"We all live in the hustle and bustle of our work. But then comes Holy Week. The triumph of Palm Sunday. The humility of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet. His slow march up that hill, and the pain and the scorn and the shame of the cross. And we’re reminded that in that moment, he took on the sins of the world – past, present and future – and he extended to us that unfathomable gift of grace and salvation through his death and resurrection.”

Very good and properly Christian-y....but at the risk of sounding cynical, all of these Proclamations and religious remarks remind me of an insecure teenager trying to get everyone at school to like him. Instead of being 'himself,' he acts like whichever group he's hanging out with.  Peer pressure causes him to do and say anything to get people to like him.  


For the record, I will NOT be calling the White House to demand that President Obama apologize for neglecting to make an Easter Proclamation.  I'll hold out for the real thing rather than demanding some cheap imitation.  

Saturday, the worst day ever...

Dan Phillips has an excellent post today about Saturday - the day of Holy week we often glaze over. For most Christians there is no special church service or particular meaning in the day....it's the "in between" day. Dan makes us think about the profound loss and disillusionment Jesus's disciples must have felt that long, miserable, hopeless Saturday:

"But then Saturday dawned. Reality hit. It had really happened. They were now waking up, for the first time in three years, with no Jesus. That meant no Messiah, no Lord.  No hope, no guide; no one who really knew what He was doing. No point to doing what they had all left their jobs and their lives to do.

And nothing had changed overnight. He died Friday. He was still dead, Saturday.
Horrible, throbbing reality settling down on their chests like a massive elephant. What now? Dear God in Heaven, what now? What do we do? What do we say? What do we tell the crowds? What do we tell our families? Do we go back with our tail between our legs, and beg for our jobs back? And what, what do we make of the world now, now that we had repented because the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand... and yet it seems more distant than ever?

Not only that, but there had to be the throbbing pain of guilt. We think of Peter's big talk, but remember: everyone had said the same (Mark 14:31). Big talk, big promises, massive failure, every one of them. 

What, what to do about all that?

For them, Saturday had to be the worst day, ever. 

All that, for one reason: because they did not believe the Word of God."

Read the whole thing here.

It's Only Friday....

April 21, 2011

Roe v. Wade: Is it still the law of the land? - By Dahlia Lithwick - Slate Magazine:

Abortion opponents are on the offensive and the pro-abortion crowd is getting nervous:

"Opponents and supporters of abortion appear to have taken the position that Roe v. Wade is no longer the law of the land. 

Since the start of this year, 916 measures seeking to regulate reproductive health have been introduced in 49 states. According to the Guttmacher Institute, by the end of March, 15 laws had been enacted in seven states."

The strategy of chipping away at Roe v. Wade appears to be working:

"Gone are the days in which legislatures at least attempted to ensure state regulations conformed to the broadest interpretation of the Roe constraints. The new game lies in expressly violating Roe and Casey, at the state level, in the hopes of either forcing the issue at the Supreme Court or making abortion unobtainable as a matter of fact. Either way, abortion opponents believe they will win—and here pro-abortion rights groups may actually agree."

Terry O'Neill, president of the National Organization for [liberal] Women even thinks the chipping away has led to a de facto overturning of Roe:

 "[T]he fear that Justice Samuel Alito would vote to overturn Roe is so deep that reproductive rights groups may be opting to leave the state bans in place. And, as she conceded in that interview, wherever unconstitutional state abortion bans go unchallenged, they become law."

D.A. Kolodenko wrote:

 "This is a dangerous Catch-22. In order to keep in place the existing federal law protecting a woman's right to choose, pro-choice organizations are limited in what they can do about the spate of new anti-abortion laws being passed in states dominated by anti-choice conservatives. What we're witnessing is a stealth campaign to make an abortion illegal or as difficult to obtain as possible in as many states as possible, and it's working."

It's working.  This is why states must continue to enact laws to protect the unborn, including Ohio's Heartbeat Bill, which would ban abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected.  Ohio Right to Life says the bill would violate Roe v. Wade and therefore would be struck down by the Supreme Court.  Terry O'Neill from NOW disagrees. 

~~~~~

The College Republicans at University of California - Mercid tried to get their fellow students to sign a petition asking the university to redistribute G.P.A.'s.  After all,  most of these students believe the government should tax the rich more, so it's only right that the top students should "share" their G.P.A.'s with students who are less fortunate...those who come from disadvantaged backgrounds or who have to work part-time to pay for school.

Not so much....

~~~~~

Costs of policing protests tops $3 million - JSOnline: 

"Madison — Law enforcement agencies ran up more than $3.27 million in pay, overtime, mileage, food and hotels while providing security during weeks of protests at the state Capitol, according to preliminary numbers compiled by the Journal Sentinel."

WI still tallying up various protest costs - JSOnline: 

"For many days on end, there were hundreds of law enforcement officers on duty inside and outside the building. The cost of policing is already in the millions of dollars....

...The spokeswoman provided some details on two contracts. One involved a contract worth as much as $2 million to provide miscellaneous services, including food, to county and municipal law enforcement and support staff.

That contract called for providing ear buds for officers' radios because of all the noise inside the Capitol. Also, a health-care provider was brought in for on-site health checks for officers who worked long periods of time.

The second contract was with a private security agency to provide security for the parking lots where police officers parked their vehicles while they were at the Capitol. That contract was worth as much as $98,784."

Protesting Teachers Cost WI Taxpayers $3 Million a Day | MacIver Institute
The chart below represents about a third of the districts that closed.

 

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Janet Napolitano: 6-Year-Old Groped Professionally | The Daily Caller: 

“Nobody likes to see those kinds of things [...] even though it was done professionally according to the protocols,” she said. “But, what TSA is doing is reexamining those protocols all the time. It’s all in relation to threat – what is the threat? And one of the things we do see is if you categorically remove a group from any type of screening, well those who seek to do us harm will then exploit that group. So you have to be very careful on how you do it.”

Napolitano said they are working on identifying frequent travelers as well as biometric cards to streamline the airport screening process.  Apparently, in Janet's world, those people would not possibly fall into her hypothetical group of "those who seek to do us harm [and] will then exploit that group." But the 6-year-old blond girl on her way to Disneyland....let's just say the parents had better not leave her unattended or allow another traveler to carry her while in the airport lest someone call the bomb squad. 

April 20, 2011

We hear very little about international law in the U.S. these days, but we need to take a good look at what's happening in Europe and learn from it.  There are many in this country who would have us sign on to any and every treaty, agreement, and convention set forth by the U.N. and other intentional agencies.  The end-game is ultimately, a loss of our national sovereignty 


Will Britain Defy the European Court of Human Rights?

 "In a blatant attempt to overrule Britain’s Parliament, judges at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled on April 12 that Britain must reverse its 140-year-old ban on prisoners voting. The ruling is leading to a showdown between the British government and the echr over who really runs the country. The court gave Britain six months to change its voting laws. This comes two months after members of Parliament voted not to remove the ban—234 votes to 22...

...Britain’s Daily Mail reports that backbench Conservative MPs are pushing for the government to simply ignore the court’s ruling. A leaked government document says the court has no legal powers to force the government to pay compensation to prisoners denied a vote. Other countries have ignored 8,000 ECHR rulings...

...The ECHR is a thorn in Britain’s side. Analyst Dr. Lee Rotherham estimates that Britain spends around £2.1 billion [around $3.4 billion U.S.] a year complying with ECHR judgements—with a total cost to date of £17.3 billion [$28.3 billion U.S.]. He also estimates that the “compensation culture” fostered by the courts costs a further £7.1 billion a year [$11.6 billion U.S.]. That comes to just under £150 [$245 U.S.] per person in the UK per year...

...But perhaps the bigger cost is Britain having to comply with absurd ECHR rulings. Even soldiers on the battlefield have to change their behavior because of the court. For example, soldiers are told not to fire on an insurgent after he has thrown a hand grenade. They can shoot him before that point, but once he has thrown it, he is unarmed and must not be shot."

~~~~~

Protests | Rebel Pundit: 

"These protesters at the Madison, Wisconsin Tea Party Protest featuring Andrew Breitbart and Sarah Palin unleashed a furious message in the following video. Unfortunately, we have absolutely no idea what this message means…

I've watched this several times and I can't stop laughing at it!

~~~~~

And then we have the Public School Employees of Washington and the SEIU staging a flash mob at a Target store. And a very unfortunate-looking flash mob it is.  In fact, I've been forever scarred by it.  Do they really think the average shopper at Target is standing in solidarity with the SEIU, considering that unionization of stores like Target and Walmart would necessarily  raise prices?  There's a reason these shoppers are purchasing the Isaac Mizrahi brand at Target rather than Versace on Rodeo Drive.  Message to SEIU:  Target shoppers WANT Target to succeed and stay open and keep their prices low.   

By the way, note that these union members arrived by SCHOOL BUS. 

~~~~~

Many people have seen the video of a 6-year-old girl being fondled by TSA agents in an airport.  The uniformed agent runs her fingers through the little girl's hair, up and down her legs and back side, and sticks her hands inside her pants to search for contraband:

The little girl's mother has asked how she is supposed to teach her daughter about strangers and inappropriate touch when a uniformed stranger is permitted to manhandle her on demand in an airport. 

Slightly less offensive, but nonetheless troubling this week, was the frisking of  Phil Johnson, of  Pyromaniacs blog fame.  For those who aren't acquainted with Phil Johnson,  he's the Executive Director of Grace to You,  John MacArthur's radio ministry, and edits MacArthur's books.  Author and  Johnson's Team Pyro blog-mate Dan Philips expressed his outrage that this fine man who poses absolutely no threat to airline travelers would be subjected to the groping hands of TSA "handlers."  He shared a copy of Phil's TSA complaint form. Disgusting.  Johnson said, 

"After having to wait fully 10 minutes for an agent, the "patdown" (more like a rubdown) he gave me was unnecessarily invasive.  He put virtually his whole hand into my waistband. And he lingered far too long when he reached the crotch area. "

Because the agent (who was already wearing gloves when he first approached Johnson) found something on the swab he ran over the gloves, Johnson was taken to a private room for another "enhanced patdown."

"His patdown was not as invasive as Agent #1; he didn't reach as far into my waistband as the first guy did (and he made a point of putting on fresh gloves); but I still thought his fondling of my private parts was unnecessarily "personal," and he gave me the distinct impression he enjoyed it."

Phillips summarize his feelings:

 "Let me put it to you: Phil is not a private, unknown quantity. There is zero percent chance that he poses a threat to national security or anything the TSA is supposed to care about. Yet he is singled out for this sort of punishing sexual molestation. Do you feel safer now? As you tuck your children in tonight, are you comforted by the thought that folks like Phil (and housewives and children and your wife and grandmother) are being felt-up for no rational reason, with the State's smiling approval?"

Well, have no fear my dear fellow citizens!  The TSA has responded to the plight of this poor six-year-old girl and the outrage it has sparked around the world.  In a blog post last week the official blogger of the TSA said, 

"A video taken of one of our officers patting down a six year-old has attracted quite a bit of attention. Some folks are asking if the proper procedures were followed. Yes. TSA has reviewed the incident and the security officer in the video followed the current standard operating procedures."

That's right...our government says it's completely appropriate for uniformed government agents to stick their hands down the pants of little girls who have done nothing wrong. 

This TSA blog is a story in itself.   When I first started reading I thought it was satire.  Surely our government would not have a blog post titled "TSA Space Alien Detection Officers," right?  Wrong!

"New intelligence suggests that space aliens with invisibility cloaks have been going through our checkpoints for years. We know they’ve been observing flight operations at some of our busiest airports, but we had no idea they were coming in.

It’s not entirely clear what their intentions are, but they need to be screened just like anybody else. We don’t mind space aliens visiting our airports. In fact we think it’s kind of cool. However, they need to go through security just like everybody else."

OK, haha, April Fool's! This is the TSA blog that has an official .gov address and is linked directly from the front page of the official TSA website.  Not only is something like this  in  unprofessional and in very poor taste, it also undermines the credibility of an agency that already has lost a great deal of respect in the eyes of the American people.  As I said, I thought it was a satirical site and didn't take it seriously.  I actually took several extra steps to verify this was a legitimate TSA-sponsored blog.  You can't make this stuff up.  


Another disturbing aspect of this whole issue with the TSA and the patdowns is we can be certain that a percentage of the "patters" are looking at pornography in their spare time:


TSA Officer Admits Plot to Post Porn on Christian Site – Patriot Update: 

"On April 10, Bob Seashols, a Coordination Center Officer for the Transportation and Security Administration (TSA) at the Richmond International Airport (RIC) and an administrator for Atheists United’s Facebook page, took part in a coordinated effort to populate pornographic images, extreme profanity, and sexually explicit anti-Christian hate-speech on the Facebook page of Ken Ham, an internationally known Christian ministry leader who serves as president of Answers in Genesis-U.S (AiG) and the popular Creation Museum, located near Cincinnati, Ohio.

Sunday afternoon visitors to Mr. Ham’s “public person” Facebook site found pages of sexually explicit commentary aimed at mocking him and deriding Jesus Christ and the Christian faith. The Internet-based Facebook assault, directed from four different Facebook accounts, involved pornographic and sadomasochistic imagery."

We know that anyone with a cell phone with internet access is only a few clicks away from the most vile, violent, disgusting  pornography, including child pornography.  Pornographers rake in billions of dollars in revenues every year because it's such a popular pastime.   And some of their customers are touching our grandmothers and our little girls and boys.