Posts Tagged ‘Free Speech’

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Rand Paul Pays Homage to Constitution

03/08/2013

I am often depressed about the direction the country is taking. The Republicans barely qualify as opposition. The leadership is weak and mute. Democrat-lite while real Democrats destroy this great nation.

But something extraordinary happened this week. A mild-mannered, slight man, a senator, but a gentle-sounding person, Rand Paul filibustered the nomination of the next CIA director.

Not to stop the confirmation of John Brennan, which was not ideal but was a foregone conclusion, but to shed light on the issue of the use of drones to kill American citizens on American soil.

Attorney General Eric Holder refused to answer a simple question about whether the administration thought it was constitutional to take the life of an American citizen on American soil without due process of law.  After Sen. Paul’s half-day filibuster, Holder finally admitted that the government does not have the right to target and kill American citizens in the United States.

While the answer was a victory, although not one to be trusted considering the source, what really matters is what one man could do. Paul was able to bring such an important issue to the attention of millions. He told the truth. He did his job. He didn’t back down.

We should all be grateful.

And we now know who can be trusted on our side as a result of the filibuster. Several old, institutional, perhaps in need of being institutionalized, Republican elders denounced Rand Paul. They might as well be Democrats and they need to be voted out. At this point we are better off having real Democrats instead of fake ones (RINOs) in office so we know who our enemies are.

No question that we are betrayed by fake Republicans all the time. Without them the Dems could not get as far as they do.

We need 99 more Pauls in the Senate. We need a House full of him.

Instead of capitulating and becoming Democrat-lite, the Republicans should elect more Tea Party types like Paul. Promote them and respect them. They represent real Americans.

We need to let our leaders know we want more Paul and less McCain. Time for the good old boys to retire and let the Pauls of the world–who actually love the country and want to protect it–get back to the business of governing this country pursuant to the Constitution and not a liberal agenda.

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Posted in Culture, Politics | 1 Comment »

Forty Years of Roe v. Wade: Shame on Us!

01/22/2013

I keep seeing things in the media and the world that make me feel ashamed to be an American. Whether it is seeing gay men get married under state law or politicians exploiting children to ban guns or Hollywood using its award shows to slam conservatives like Sarah Palin, I cringe.

This is not the nation I grew up in. But maybe I am wrong. Maybe this is exactly the country of my birth. I was born not too long after the Supreme Court upended our nation’s laws and legalized the killing of innocents.

Since I was old enough to know abortion was wrong, I have opposed it. It has defined me and horrified me. The pro-choice arguments have angered and puzzled me. Angered me because they were untrue and puzzled me because they were so blatantly wrong and evil that I could not see how people could be misled by them–unless they wanted to be misled.

Abortion is ultimately about being selfish. Being a mother–or even giving a child up for adoption–is a selfless act. Killing a baby because the child is inconvenient is the most selfish thing I can imagine. My favorite argument that used to be prevalent was that abortion prevented child abuse. So one kills the child so he will not live to be abused!

It is like when former Attorney General Janet Reno ordered the Waco compound raided, killing the people inside, including the children, to save them from child abuse. By killing them!

To liberals this makes sense but it cannot make sense to a rational human being. Unfortunately, using reason is going the way of the typewriter. We are instead in the age of emotion and feelings.

I don’t feel like having a baby, a woman can think, but instead of zipping up her pants, she engages in inappropriate sexual behavior and becomes pregnant. A good time to man up and take personal responsibility–also verboten in our society–but often it leads to ending a baby’s precious life.

The worst thing one can do–kill the innocent.

Yet, unfortunately, this is not considered the worst thing a person can do. Among things that are considered evil in our society are not recognizing sodomy as a civil right, being fat, making a woman pay for her own contraceptives, and judging liberals for their lifestyle choices.

Abortion doesn’t even crack the top ten of social sins in post-reason America. And it is a shame on the level of slavery, which we all recognize as the worst thing this nation had done prior to the legislation from the bench known as Roe v. Wade.

For forty years we have seen our nation deteriorate and few dare link the decline to a society where women kill as often as they nurture, a nation that glorifies violence while trying to blame it on guns and not perpetrators, and a country where unloving sexual activity is celebrated at the expense of intact family units and traditional values. Values that helped to develop this land into the greatest nation the world has ever seen.

In light of the moral decline, which can be attributed to abortion on demand combined with unrestrained sexuality, I am not only ashamed of my country for what it is now but for what it has been all my life. It just took this long to fully bear the evil fruit.

We must outlaw abortion, embrace traditional morality and repent if we hope to have a country we can be proud of again. Like ending slavery, making abortion illegal is a very important first step.

All righteous movements must start with the tiniest step like that of a little baby. Do enough of us have the moral fiber not to give up and to continue to advocate for our unborn brothers and sisters?

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Posted in Culture, Politics, Religion | 1 Comment »

Celebrate Gun Appreciation Day!

01/19/2013

Today is National Gun Appreciation Day. We need to appreciate our Second Amendment rights while we still have them. We need to stand up for them and defend them. We can lose them at the rate we are going.

Rahm Emanuel said never let a good crisis go to waste. The Newtown massacre was such a crisis. Ready-made for liberals who want to erode our rights and greatly expand government control over our lives. They didn’t cause it but they are taking advantage of it.

Perfect example is my governor, Andrew “I’m as bad as my dad Mario” Cuomo. He decided we don’t need magazines containing more than seven bullets for hunting. Gun rights are not about hunting. The Founding Fathers were not concerned about bagging a deer. (And note how he rammed it through after a backroom deal done very quickly before the public had an opportunity to comment–typical liberal transparency!)

Cuomo and the other gun grabbers are not ignorant. They know what the Second Amendment is about and why it is a crucial part of the Bill of Rights.

“A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.”

This is not about hunting or sport shooting. It is about people having a right to protect themselves–from criminals and from a tyrannical government.

Remember the Jews were disarmed before the Holocaust. They were not allowed to protect themselves. This is a common theme in history–people are disarmed and then oppressed by their government. Freedom is not what most people today or in the past have experienced.

We ought not discard the wisdom of the Founding Fathers. We ought to protect the rights we inherently have but which they were smart enough to codify into law.

Not only have we had our gun rights since the founding of this nation, the amendment was recently affirmed by the Supreme Court in the Heller decision.

Despite the right to bear arms being clear to anyone with a functioning brain, liberals–whose brain function is questionable–will grab at our rights anytime they can. We as people cannot be persuaded by the specious arguments, such as it will save the children, to take legal guns away. People who are law-abiding are not the ones we need to fear. And criminals by their nature will not comply with the law.

Gun control does not work. It does not prevent crime whereas free Americans protecting themselves and their families prevent crime frequently. What gun control does is empower the government at the expense of the people.

We must protect our rights by speaking up–using our First Amendment rights–against attempts to diminish our gun rights. We have them for a reason and our very freedom depends on us being vigilant about protecting them.

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Over the Spiritual Cliff!

12/27/2012

Everyone is talking about this country going over the fiscal cliff–nice job, America, re-electing the novice Barack Obama–but really I think what is more significant is the state of the nation’s spirit.

We have been heading over the spiritual cliff since the 1960s and we are soon to reach the point of no return. I fear January 1 may be the end for this once-devout nation.

Parts of Obamacare that are hostile to the faith of believers are set to go into effect in 2013, including compelling business people to provide contraceptives, including abortifacients, for employees.

Churches are exempt but religious organizations and secular companies are not. If they refuse to provide what is contrary to their faith, they will be hit with massive fines that will lead to the companies shutting down.

While these various cases are being litigated, the law is set to go into effect. A request for a temporary restraining order while these matters are litigated was denied by Obama’s Supreme Court justice, Sonia Sotomayor.

She placed the alleged right of women to free contraception above the rights of American citizens to practice their faith. The latter is protected by the First Amendment–ever hear of that, Sonia?–and the former is part of the contrived right to privacy that is actually not in the Constitution.

Even a right to privacy as envisioned in Roe v. Wade does not mandate that ladies–and I use that term loosely–get their contraceptives for free.

Obama, in choosing this radical route where the American government is attacking the most fundamental rights of the American people, is leading our society–if we do not quickly get educated and oppose this!–over the spiritual cliff.

Unlike the fiscal cliff from which we could recover with spending cuts and better tax policy under a future conservative leader, a spiritual cliff is harder to surmount.

If you have not noticed–and you would have to be living under a rock or have had your ears covered by earbuds attached to an iPhone for many years–the country is eagerly paving its way to Hell.

From abortion to gay marriage, from embryonic stem cell research to cloning, we have chosen as a society to embrace that which separates us from God. We have also let the atheists and secularists run God out of our public institutions.

We can survive military enemies and economic catastrophes, but we cannot survive without faith. We certainly cannot thrive as we did before. Instead we will turn into socialist Europe which is dying demographically because of the demise of its spirituality. Materialism and selfishness are part of the spiritual cliff from which we must turn away.

John Adams spoke truthfully when he said that this nation cannot survive unless the people embrace their faith. We see an increasingly desolate, depressed, debauched country which has turned its back on God and religion.

Let’s not go over the spiritual cliff. Let us turn away from materialism and vice and embrace God and faith. Repentance is the only way for the American people to avoid the cliff that will lead this nation to its end.

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Posted in Culture, Religion | 1 Comment »

Tragedy Should Not Be Exploited by Gun Grabbers

12/15/2012

When I first heard about the school shooting, I thought it was horrific. We must pray for the victims and the survivors. We must look into the causes as we always do when these things happen. This is twice in one week.

The easy–and wrong–response is to blame guns. Just recently a man in China attacked almost two dozen kids with a knife. There is less crime in states with right to carry laws. An armed citizenry can stop the occasional nut who starts shooting at innocent people.

If banning guns is not the answer, then we need to figure out what is. I previously had written about the culture, specifically violence as entertainment, as at least one cause of this kind of violence. We see movie after movie where violence is glamorized and is unrealistically portrayed. Human life is presented as highly disposable.

Young men–the usual suspects in any society for meaningless and angry violence–are raised on this visual violence and may be increasingly unable to separate fact from fiction. Between the movies and the video games that are so life-like, my thought is that these young teens and adults want to act out what they experience in the video games they have played maniacally for years.

It is like pornography. If you recall serial killer Ted Bundy, who repented before he was executed, he said he started looking at porn as a young man and it awakened something in him wherein he had to escalate. Unlike most people who view porn who are damaged by it but who do not become homicidal, he could not control his urges and murdered many innocent women.

I wonder if that is happening with these mass shootings. Instead of one by one killing like a serial killer does, the mass shooter is in effect living out the violent video games. Just like the rare person, perhaps a sex addict, who becomes a serial killer, it is the rare person, perhaps a gamer, who becomes a mass murderer.

We do not know what the case is here. This young man possibly had mental health issues which are generally not adequately treated in this country although the population is highly medicated. But blindly banning guns is not the answer. We could just as easily advocate banning violent video games. While that is a First Amendment issue, banning guns is a Second Amendment issue.

Most people can watch video games, even violent ones, and not commit crimes. Most people who own guns use them responsibly. Banning is not the answer.

Besides video games, this is a culture that puts no restraints on people. And, as Gov. Mike Huckabee correctly pointed out, it is a culture that has kicked God out of the classroom and the town square. And then some people have the nerve to blame God! God did not shoot anyone and we have told Him as a society we don’t want Him or His protection.

Besides not letting this crisis be used as an excuse to disarm the American people, we need to repent and turn to God and become a good society once again. These things did not happen when we were a moral culture.

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Posted in Culture, Politics, Religion | 1 Comment »

TV Teen Star Tells the Truth About “Filth”

11/27/2012

I was delighted to see that Angus T. Jones, teen star, told the truth about his television show, Two and a Half Men. I have only seen the show a couple of times over the years. I have avoided it because it is exactly what Jones says; it is filth.

One can be watching TV and see a promotion for this show and know how indecent it is. If this is what they are showing on the commercial, then I can imagine what is actually on the program. The couple of episodes I saw showed virtual nudity and casual, meaningless sexual activity.

Filth is exactly what I have called it and I am pleased that, in finding Jesus, Jones sees it the same way.

The elite are mocking him by saying he doesn’t dislike the show so much that he is saying no to his salary. He has been cashing his checks. This is unfair. First, he only recently became religious. Second, he is a young man finding his way. Third, his parents are responsible for him being on the show. He was a minor when he was cast.

(Source: news.yahoo.com)

His mother, who is divorced from his father, an event which may have led the young man on his soul-searching journey of faith, has drawn the wrong conclusion about his recent statements. She expressed concern that he was being “exploited” by his church.

I am shocked that a mother could see the church as the exploiter as opposed to the disgusting so-called comedy on which he has been a key player. By being exposed to such immorality, this child was in effect being abused by Hollywood.

That is not right. Most kids who are celebrities do not turn out well. Impurity ruins many of them along with drugs and alcohol. This young celebrity has a chance because he realizes what is important. How many adults twice his age cannot even say that?

I salute Angus T. Jones for being brave even when it is unpopular and even though it subjects him to scorn and job insecurity. Being Christian can be difficult but nothing is more rewarding.

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Posted in Culture, Religion | 1 Comment »

What We Are Thankful for as Americans

11/22/2012

Based on what I have observed lately in the culture and particularly in the election results, I think I understand what Americans want, at least a growing portion of the American public.

People want comfort and things, for themselves and their children. They are interested in their own lives which they can control as opposed to what is happening in the Sudan or the Middle East. Even politics has little allure either because they lose or nothing really changes even if their guys win.

Americans also want to look a certain way. They spend much time on their appearance but little on their spiritual selves. To make themselves feel better they knock on wood so as not to “jinx” themselves; they practice yoga to become “centered”; they read New Age spiritual books for “enlightenment”.

Americans want sex and plenty of it. Being denied is the greatest insult. This is why they have to spend so much time looking a certain way to ensure they get it whenever they want it. So the ladies need contraception and if it fails, they need abortion as a back-up. The men have their Internet pornography which they can watch even at work so their sexual appetites can be satisfied 24/7.

It is for stuff and sex that Americans appear most thankful. Who would admit it, however, since this materialist, sensuous philosophy seems shallow? But we show our thanks by how we live. It is what we value that is the focus of our lives.

On this Thanksgiving, I am most thankful for my relationship with God, for Whom I am here and why I do what I do. As best I can which is not always good enough. But God asks us to try; we are not required to succeed.

I am also thankful for my freedoms while they last. True freedoms as protected in the Bill of Rights, not made-up freedoms that the American people seem to favor these days. You know, like “rights” to abortion and sodomy, which are surprisingly not in the Constitution next to freedom of religion and speech.

Imagine that.

I am thankful for my country, which really is the last great beacon of hope on earth. As we can see from the rest of the world and increasingly from our own country, people either are willing to let go of freedom in exchange for something they value more–such as security–or it is taken away from them unwillingly by violent, authoritarian regimes.

God and country versus sex and stuff? It should be no contest but the fact that there are more and more people who are grateful for the latter rather than the former shows we have not honored the America our Founding Fathers sacrificed everything they had to create.

Pray to God for a change of heart in the American people so next year we will be able to give much thanks.

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Revenge of the 47% Against Romney

11/17/2012

In addition to losing the election, we are losing free speech. Starting with Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney.

Speaking to donors after the election, he attributed his loss in large part to President Obama’s freebies. The recipients paid him back with their votes. Call it the revenge of the 47%, who are unfortunately now the majority.

This is considered shocking perhaps because it is so patently true. No wonder Louisiana Governor Jindal said Mitt should not say it. But it does not make it untrue.

The media is attributing Obama’s victory to African Americans, Hispanics, young people and women. These groups have been beneficiaries of what Romney calls “gifts” and which I call freebies or handouts (except other groups are largely paying for them).

For African Americans there is free health care (and I would add pride in having one of their own be president–nothing wrong with that as the Catholics supported Jack Kennedy back in 1960 just because he was theirs).

For Hispanics there is amnesty for illegal aliens (which does not help law-abiding Latinos, but people cannot seem to make the distinction).

(Source: educationworld.com)

For young people there is forgiveness of college loan debt (which is important since half of college graduates cannot find jobs with which to pay their loans back).

And last but not least for single women there is free contraceptives through the HHS mandate. We all know from Sandra Fluke that women cannot be expected to buy contraceptives, which are cheap and abundant. Yet they can buy Starbucks coffee and designer make-up. Well maybe under the coming Pax Obama all such things will be free.

Hey, a girl can dream. And apparently many of us do.

Their dreams are now our nightmares.

But the point is that Mitt Romney was right when he talked about the 47% and he was right when he disclosed the key factors in his loss. Sure, no one–including the weak and pathetic Republicans, many of whom are quickly caving into Bam–wants to hear this right now. Or ever. But I think it needed to be said.

Who knew “moderate” Mitt could be the Paul Revere of telling the truth about the state of our nation? Instead of criticizing him, we need to encourage free speech–while we still have it–and let our fellow Americans know that freebies–like freedom–are not free. Those who voted for Obama to enhance their entitlements have to realize that there is no free lunch.

Someone else is footing the bill. But that can only last so long. And the more Americans hand over their freedom in exchange for freebies, the less this country will resemble where we grew up. Or a place any of us will want to live.

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Election Disaster: America Says Goodbye!

11/07/2012

I was shocked by the outcome of the election because I had allowed myself to believe Michael Barone and Dick Morris and Fox News and my common sense.

President Obama–two words that should not be side-by-side–has been an utter failure as our nation’s leader. But, according to his supporters, he has tried. Even while playing golf and hanging out with the stars, he has been working hard.

If this is working hard, I shudder to think what his slacking off would mean.

A failed economy. Religious freedom under attack. Foreign policy scandals. The list goes on and on.

He has waited for his second term to finish what he started on this country. And finish it he will. We are well on our way to becoming Europe, to being Spain and Greece. Time is running out to prevent this and this choice has sealed America’s fate. Because the truth is we are already bankrupt. Obama has been borrowing and spending to keep us afloat and to get people addicted to freebies to vote for him again.

It is brilliant but diabolical. It is Rome’s bread and circuses. The old America was proud and would have none of it. The new America–completely unrecognizable–demands something for nothing. As if that were possible.

Those who work will continue to subsidize those who do not work. The non-workers don’t pay taxes, get food stamps, receive welfare and many other goodies (think free Obamaphones!). Why would they want to give up living on the dole to work for a living? And they are victims so they don’t have to feel bad about it!

(Americans celebrating Obama’s victory/Source: bradenton.com)

Except at some point, the workers will say they are fools for working while their brethren live off them and their productivity will decrease. And while taxes increase on the workers and the incentive to succeed decreases, the downward slide America has been on will continue and accelerate.

Worse, as I repeatedly have mentioned, the attack on the Catholic Church will get worse and we can expect no relief from the Supreme Court where the battle will eventually end. This alone is the worst thing that Obama can “accomplish”–taking away our religious liberty. And all the other amendments will soon follow. First they came for the Catholics…

Ultimately, I think this election was not about the economy, but about social issues. Americans have become debauched and want abortion and sodomy and free contraceptives and recreational marijuana. Their desire for these things to facilitate their decadent lifestyles trumped their empty pockets.

Again, this is not your grandparents’ America. I don’t recognize this country, these people.

And that is why I was shocked by the results of the election and why I must say goodbye to the America of my (recent) youth that is but a fond memory.

To paraphrase our First Lady, last night was the first time I was truly ashamed to be an American. I literally weep for my fallen country, which I miss terribly.

May God have mercy on us!

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Posted in Culture, Politics, Religion | 4 Comments »

Catholics Have a Duty to Vote for Romney

08/22/2012

I write this as a practicing Catholic who loves my faith and my country. I believe with all my heart that a second term for President Obama would spell disaster not only for the United States, but also for the Catholic Church and individual Catholics.

Obama has set his sights on any institution that stands in the way of his leftist agenda.

The most egregious thing he has done as president is the HHS mandate requiring Catholic and other religious institutions to provide contraception, sterilization, and abortifacients for employees. The Church herself is exempt but Catholic organizations will be forced to provide medications that violate the Church’s teaching. This is being challenged in the courts, but if the courts provide no relief, we will see Catholics facing an impossible situation: violate God’s teaching or shut down.

(Source: visualphotos.com)

The only choice for Catholics is to shut down their organizations rather than betray their consciences. The country will be worse off if productive and faith-based groups are prevented from carrying out their missions.

And the freedom of Catholics, as well as other people of faith, will be a thing of the past.

In addition, Obama has advanced the most radical pro-abortion agenda in the history of this country. Some of the “lowlights” of his administration include using Obamacare to provide funding for abortion, appointing pro-abortion Supreme Court justices and judges, and funding embryonic stem cell research.

Obama pretended not to be a radical, but the proof is in his record.

Furthermore, Obama has announced he supports same-sex marriage. I was not shocked at this announcement which was preceded by his alleged Catholic running mate’s declaration in favor of two men or two women marrying. Obama had already instructed his Justice Department not to enforce the Defense of Marriage Act, signed into law by President Clinton. He is no friend of marriage as defined by Catholicism and all major religions.

His administration has made it clear that the so-called rights of homosexuals are more important than Catholics’ religious freedom. Our rights are enshrined in the First Amendment but the right to sodomy is nowhere to be found in the Constitution. Just like abortion.

Catholics who were misled by Obama’s claims to being a religious man who would not be extreme on abortion or gay marriage should not be bamboozled again. Failure to vote for Romney, the only candidate who has a chance to defeat Obama, is tantamount to a sin in light of the repercussions that will result if Obama gets four more years.

And it goes without saying that voting for Obama, who has revealed himself to be pro-abortion in rhetoric and action, is a sin. And inexcusable since advocating for abortion is an offense for which a Catholic can be excommunicated.

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Posted in Culture, Politics, Religion | 5 Comments »

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