Trust but Verify

Just a few hours ago Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleimanand and a broad representation of major opposition groups had a sit-down in Cairo. Suleimanand offered new concessions including freedom of the press, release of those detained since anti-government protests began nearly two weeks ago and the eventual lifting of the country’s hated emergency laws. He offered to set up a committee of judiciary and political figures to study proposed constitutional reforms that would allow more candidates to run for president and impose term limits on the presidency.

With backing from the Muslim Brotherhood, Nobel Peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei appears to be destined to take the presidency this September; the final step in Egypt’s peaceful transition of power. It would also appear, President Obama’s so-called “soft revolution” policy has been picture perfect.

Time for Sarah Palin to set us straight.

President Obama has failed miserably. The 3:00 AM phone call went to voicemail. Even though the person who came up with that quip in the first place, Hillary, has been on point throughout this crisis. Most disturbing, however, is the fact that liberal secularists and conservative Islamists have found away to peacefully coexist. Not acceptable, according to Sarah:

“Remember, President Reagan lived that mantra trust but verify. We want to be able to trust those who are screaming for democracy there in Egypt, that it is a true sincere desire for freedoms and the challenge that we have though, is how do we verify what it is that we are being told, what it is that the American public are being fed via media, via the protestors, via the government there in Egypt in order for us to really have some sound information to make wise decisions on what our position is.  Trust but verify, and try to understand is what I would hope our leaders are engaged in right now.  Who’s going to fill the void?  Mubarak, he’s gone, one way or the other you know, he is not going to be the leader of Egypt, that that’s a given, so now the information needs to be gathered and understood as to who it will be that fills now the void in the government.  Is it going to be the Muslim Brotherhood?  We should not stand for that, or with that or by that.  Any radical Islamists, no that is not who we should be supporting and standing by, so we need to find out who was behind all of the turmoil and the revolt and the protests so that good decisions can be made in terms of who we will stand by and support.”

Two weeks ago the Egyptian people took to the streets to “take back” their country, and this is how our next President responds. The mind reels…

God’s Law

God needs your help. Actually, it’s even more dire than that – God is completely impotent without your help.

As I write this, the 700 Club is broadcasting their annual 700 Club Telethon. Pat Robertson’s organization was worth a paltry $295,140,001.00 as of their last FYE, 03/2009. That’s not gonna cut it in today’s economy. God has an efficiency level of 83.4%. That means, of the $295,140,001.00 He made 2 years ago, $240,899,620.00 went toward the 700 Club’s officially stated purpose “to prepare the United States of America and the nations of the world for the coming of Jesus Christ and the establishment of the Kingdom of God on Earth.”

Fine. But what’s in it for you? As Pat Robertson’s been explaining all day, it’s all about the Law of Reciprocity. Please remember, it’s a law. An incontrovertible fact. No faith required!!!

You must give in order to receive. God loves you. He wants nothing more than to bless you, and give you lots of money. But He can’t give you anything until you first give to Him. Not that He wouldn’t like to, but He has to follow the law. The Law of Reciprocity.

Please remember, you have free will. You can continue to worship Satan and keep whatever money you have to yourself; you’ll suffer the inevitable consequences – you’ll be poor and miserable for the rest of your life. OR. You can dig deep, and give God all the money you have. Sell your belongings and give everything to the Kingdom. Max out your credit cards. Then, and only then, God will shower His blessings upon you.

WTF Christianity

During a Philadelphia fundraiser back in 2008, Barack Obama said, in response to Republican attacks, “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun, because from what I understand folks in Philly like a good brawl. I’ve seen Eagles fans.” rousing applause…

Seems like an eternity ago, doesn’t it? Since then, America voted for Hope and Change. Healthcare was reformed. The Recovery Act saved our economy. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was repealed. And a new political party emerged and changed the landscape of Washington.

These days death threats against politicians are no longer major news stories. Since Sarah Palin’s comments about candidate Obama “palling around” with terrorists, the Town Halls of 2009, and the constant fear mongering by the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, when you speak your mind in public, you put your life on the line.

A State of the Union address boldly proclaiming American exceptionalism is nothing more than a “WTF moment”…

Super-Christian Sarah Palin is now responding to the Commander-In-Chief with what the fuck. Rush Limbaugh is defending his degrading imitation of Chinese President Hu Jintao while Asian Americans calling for an apology receive, you guessed it, death threats.

The point of this meandering post is this: Christians, American, true, Christians; you know, conservatives who place virtue ahead of kindness – what would someone like Jesus think of your behavior, your message, your living testimony to the world?

Dissecting Newt

Newt Gingrich is mad as hell and he’s not gonna take it anymore. President Obama included in his State of the Union Address the sentence “We will win the future.” No phrase including the words “win” and “future” are permitted to be uttered because Gingrich wrote a call to action entitled “Winning the Future: A 21^st Century Contract with America” in 2005.

The former Speaker of the House penned the work as a warning to republicans that they needed to be more conservative. You know, less taxes, less spending, less government regulation. And what’s his proof that he’s right and everybody else is wrong? I’m not making this up – these are actually his own words:

They didn’t listen and suffered the consequences in the 2006 and 2008 elections.

“They”, meaning fellow republicans who failed to heed his warnings. That’s right. In his attack piece against Obama and all things liberal, his entire defense is exactly one sentence long. Nothing wrong with brevity, let’s see if his argument makes sense.

Gingrich is trying to prove that America needs to be more conservative. He wrote a book espousing his beliefs. After the book was published, Americans voted to put more liberals in office. (Twice.) Therefore, America needs to be more conservative. This is called a post hoc fallacy in logic. Actually, the argument is so spurious, it falls into not just one, but several subsets of post hoc fallacy.

Should America be more conservative? Maybe, maybe not. (I happen to think not.) The point is, if Newt Gingrich is going to run against Barack Obama next year, he’s gonna need to sharpen his reasoning skills.

Paul Ryan’s Express

The Bush and Clinton administrations, the current and previous Federal Reserve chairmen, and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner all bear some responsibility for the economic collapse of 2008. Those are the just-released findings of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. However, only one of the Big Three agrees with those conclusions – the democrats. The Republican Party, along with their feistier younger brother, the Tea Party; refute the notion that risky financial schemes that netted trillions with virtually zero oversight should have raised any concern whatsoever.

As Paul Ryan explained, “We believe, as our founders did, that “the pursuit of happiness” depends upon individual liberty; and individual liberty requires limited government.” and, “Limited government and free enterprise have helped make America the greatest nation on earth.”

So we had to bail out the banks. Big deal. That doesn’t mean we have the right to regulate them. That’s not the American way…