Who is Barack Obama?

Who is Barack Obama? Vanderleun writes in the American Digest that Obama's life is "less documented than the undocumented Democrats oozing across our southern borders." Is his administration "one that sees no foreign enemies, only domestic ones"? "I don't tell, so you don't ask," seems to be the agreement Obama has with the dominant liberal media. In this brilliant piece of writing, Vanderleun suggests that one can only understand Obama by looking at what he and his minions do in the present. He concludes that "this leader who cannot lead is the fruit of our more than fifty years of downward drift and rising degeneracy." What will it take for us to wake up?

Jonathan's Cochlear Implant activation

from You Tube via American Digest

Families of the flag remember

from You Tube via American Digest

Of beauty and God's love

Long anticipated beauty finally opened up this morning on the south side of the house. Two beautiful orange poppies burst forth, feeling safe now to show their incomparable beauty. No cosmetics (photoshopping) needed. To the naked eye they appear totally orange, except for the blue interior; but the camera reveals splotches of yellow, reflecting the sun, no doubt.



One has to be in the presence of beauty in order to notice it. If we don't walk in their midst, caring for them, we miss the revelation of their beauty. If we don't open ourselves to God's love, we miss His healing, guiding power. The poppy's beauty is fleeting; God's love is omnipresent. There is more beauty after this beauty fades. We won't see it though, unless we seek it; unless we open ourselves to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. If we seek, we will find.

"offering alternative paths to service"

Well, it is now front page news in the Denver Post. Tribune Company writer Peter Nicholas dutifully reports the results of a "White House investigation" into alleged bribery attempts made by the White House. The White House version is "Don't worry, citizens, we were only commiting acts of kindness:" "offering alternative paths to service to candidates weighing bids for public service."

We've got a long three day weekend ahead of us, folks. Let's not let this die, as the White House hopes, by its release of its investigation at the beginning of this long weekend. Who will be the next Woodward and Bernstein? Sean Hannity seems to be the one media person bird-dogging this story. Sean was also all over the Rev. Wright and Bill Ayres connections to community organizer Barry Obama.

Was the White House smart to enlist the services of world class liar ("I did not have sex with that woman, Miss Lewinsky") Bill Clinton? At the behest of Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel, Clinton made the phone call to Pennsylvania Congressman Sestac. Are we going to settle for the White House version of events? No! There must be a Special Prosecutor, as there was in Watergate.

Trivia question: do you know who was an assistant to the Special Prosecutor in the Watergate case? Fred Thompson.

"Search for answers everywhere. We will be the key!"

Cliff Stewart has been writing about the alleged White House bribery offers (using Bill Clinton as the bribe-offerer) to keep a candidate (Congressman Sestac) in Pennsylvania from challenging incumbent Senator Arlen Spector, who was (unsuccessfully) favored by the White House. Our country has been down a road similar to this one in the Watergate scandals beginning in 1972. I hope publishers will allow new Woodward and Bernsteins to emerge and replicate what was journalism's finest hour in my lifetime. It will help if "We the people" demand to know the truth, which will once again set our country free.

Oh, by the way: Denver Post writer Michael Riley has written about a similar offer made to candidate Andrew Romanoff here in Colorado, to try to persuade Romanoff not to challenge incumbent Michael Bennett. We the people should get the opportunity to ask these candidates for specifics, as they campaign for our votes this year. Ultimately, though, a special prosecutor will need to be appointed, as in Watergate. Attorney General Holder will not appoint one without tremendous pressure from the press and the people. Likewise, the slimy chairman of the Senate judiciary committee, Senator Leahy of Vermont, is not likely to agree to hold hearings unless the pressure from a free press and a free people becomes overwhelming.

As the music on the Glenn Beck show says, "Search for answers everywhere. We will be the key!"

Vote for this man. He needs a "steady job."

Do you think voter dissatisfaction is limited to America's dissatisfaction with Democrats? If so, you would be wrong! The man who is favored to win tomorrow's mayoral election in Reykjavik, Iceland is using humor and satire to make fun of the politicians who have joined with bankers (sound familiar?) to ruin Iceland's economy. Jon Gnarr is a popular radio host and comic. He says he is running because the mayor's office "has a very nice desk," and he "needs a steady job." Michael Casey writes about Mr, Gnarr's "Best Party" campaign in today's Wall Street Journal.

I find Gnarr's candidacy refreshing and attractive. A politician who does not b.s. us and who does not take himself too seriously would be a most welcome change here in America, too.

To Whom should we turn for solutions?

There is an article by Jeremy Meyer in today's Denver Post that just knocked my socks off. The article cites a survey of 24,000 U.S. students at 70 high schools. The survey shows that 95% of students admit that they have "participated in some form of cheating, whether tests, plagiarism, or copying homework! The conducter of the survey said the students justified their cheating.

The article goes on to say that some "educational psychologists" (here we go again) say that they "fear high-stakes tests and grade-point averages that determine college acceptance are leading students to cheat." Okay, secular psychologists, by that line of reasoning, then does that mean that there should be no high standards that we expect the little darlings to strive for? The article cites yet another study that concludes that "cheating in high school is a significant predictor of lying and cheating across a wide range of adult situations." We needed a study for this conclusion?

As soon as I finished reading this article I sat down with my sons. I told them that we expect them to try hard, but that if they try their hardest and do their homework to prepare, and still do not achieve a high score, we will be proud of them anyway for preparing and trying hard. Greg told me that he did not know how to proceed once with a math problem, so he just wrote in "blah, blah, blah" on the answer sheet to that particular problem.

I showed the boys the Denver Post article, where it says if you convince yourself that it is okay to cheat on one thing, then you are likely to cheat in other areas of your life, too. I told them that there is a solution: that God is always with us, always willing to forgive us, and if we learn to trust God, He will show us how to behave properly in any situation. I warned them that they might have to keep on asking God to forgive them, because it is just our human nature to keep making the same mistakes over and over. If they finally learn to just let go of behaviors that are not working well for them, and trust God to show them a better way, He will always be willing to do that.

I asked Greg if he knew of a better solution to that math problem. He said, "I could just leave it blank, and then tell the teacher that I don't understand how to do that problem." I agreed with Greg that his idea was a good one, but I also know of our sinful nature, and that we need to keep asking forgiveness and learn to trust God to show us The Way.

Let's shine some light on union thugs!

In November, will it be tea parties versus unions? Both were very active in primary elections last week. John Fund notes in the May 21 Wall Street Journal that so far the media has scrutinized the tea party people far more than it has the unions.

For example, have you heard anything in the media about the SEIU (government and healthcare workers) chartering nine busloads of protesters to go to the Washington D.C. house of Greg Baer, a lawyer for Bank of America, to scream and yell and wave their union placards? Only his teenage son was home, locking himself in a bathroom for fear of the union goons. The mob of 500 were protesting Bank of America's role in bank foreclosures. Andy Stern, the recently retired head of SEIU was the most frequent guest at the Obama White House last year.

The media has largely ignored SEIU's close ties to the discredited group ACORN, and also pays little attention to union violence. For example, did you know about union thugs beating up tea party supporter Kenneth Gladney in St. Louis? They were especially angry that Gladney, an African American, would support the tea party movement, and called him the "n" word while beating him.

Scientists have created the first synthetic cell!

Robert Lee Hotz writes about it in the May 21 Wall Street Journal. The synthetic cell is completely controlled by man-made genetic instructions. "This is literally a turning point in the relationship between man and nature," said one molecular biologist who was not involved in the project. The cell can reproduce. It is the birth also of an entire new field of scientific study called synthetic biology.

Applications are already being pursued in areas of industrial biology to breed industrial life forms that can secrete fuels, vaccines, and other commercial products. Politicians are already jumping on the issue: hearings will be held next week in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, where politicians will no doubt grandstand as only they know how to do.

E.coli and yeast cells helped in the development of the complete genome. The creators of the cell wrote their names into the cell's chemical DNA code, along with three "apt quotes from James Joyce and others." The article did not say what those quotes were, but I'm curious. How about you?

"You won't recognize America by the end of the year!"

Dow theorist Richard Russell: "Sell everything. You won't recognize America by the end of the year!"

"uncoordinated jerks"

Richard Fernandez, writing at Belmont Club: "It’s easy to believe the dysfunction is real. Faced by the linked yet separate crises in the Middle East and in Northeast Asia the Obama administration is acting like it was shot through the central nervous system, acting in uncoordinated jerks. The alliances with Korea and Japan and the special relationships with Israel and Britain lie almost forgotten like neglected toys on the floor of a spoiled child distracted by his latest bauble. Gone are the heady prospects of Grand Bargains with the Muslim world kicked off by dramatic speeches in Cairo. Gone is the idea of a swift drawdown from Iraq; or of a comprehensive solution in the Middle East. Gone is the promise of catching Osama Bin Laden. Gone is the notion that Europe, which once hated America because of George Bush, would turn like a blossoming rose to Obama. In their place are half-finished begun threads without closure: a growing Hezbollah menace in Lebanon; a defiant Iran; a belligerent North Korea; a buffoonish but menacing Chavez; a drug war on the southern border; an Eastern Europe with the shadow of the Russian bear growing ever longer across it."

When in doubt, blog it!

A little while ago Sara came running to me, saying "Dad, the boys flipped me off, and I flipped them off, and then they flipped me off again, so I flipped them off again too, and shaked my booty at them!"

I wasn't sure how to respond to this information, so I just decided to blog it.

Superstar

Sara is holding our new baby goat, Superstar, who was born last night. Her mother, Pinhead, doesn't want anything to do with her. Colleen thinks it's because she has four legs, and Pinhead probably thinks of herself as having two legs, since she was bottle-fed here in the house by two-legged creatures. Aren't baby goats cute?

Iatrogenic

I just got a call from my psychologist wife. "Bob, have you ever heard of the word iatrogenic?" It sounded faintly familiar, but I couldn't recall specifically, so I went to the dictionary and read the definition to her: "Caused by medical treatment: said especially of symptoms, ailments or disorders induced by drugs or surgery." "Yes!" she said, "and add the word therapy to that list of inducers."

Then she explained that increasingly she is finding she can be of most help to her clients by undoing what they have been taught by therapists! For example, today a mom told her that the best thing that ever happened to her family was when Colleen told them to ask their school to take off one of the goals of their child's "Individualized Educational Plan." You see, their son had become a narcissistic little brat. One of the goals of the plan had been to increase his self esteem. The mother requested that be taken off the plan.

Narcissism now almost gone. No longer a "child-centered" family. Parents, not the child, now in charge.

Here they go again!

Ed Morrisey, writing in the Hot Air blog, warns us of the latest attempt in Congress to limit political speech (and protect incumbents).

Enlightened tyrants

David Harsanyi is at his best when writing about the "enlightened tyrants" who think our freedoms are getting in the way of "progress." Today in the Denver Post he takes on Woody Allen, who wishes Obama could be a dictator, Thomas Friedman, who believes despotism can be a good thing if the despots are "enlightened, as in modern China," Chris Matthews, who wonders why we have not yet nationalized the oil industry, and Donald Berwick, Obama's choice to run Obamacare. Berwick is fond of the rationing program in Britain, called the National Hea lth Service.

An unsolved problem

Honey bees are continuing to decline, due to a mysterious affliction known as "colony collapse disorder," in which much of a colony suddenly disappears, leaving only the queen. Anne Marie Chaker writes about it in today's Wall Street Journal. Scientists have so far not been able to determine the cause - or come up with a solution.

If you were a bee, hanging around pesticides, wouldn't you disappear? Just sayin.

A Father's Day gift idea

My choice for President in 2008 was Fred Thompson. Fred has written a book entitled Teaching the Pig to Dance. Newsmax has this review, suggesting it would be a great Father's Day gift

Whatever Works!

All was peaceful. Sixteen-year-old Kim was seated in the big chair in the living room, computer lying dutifully on her lap. All of a sudden she let out a thundering yell: "They are awesome!" She was referring to the lensless black glasses she wore to school today to bring her good luck on her final exams. So far she has four A's and two B's, with two more finals tomorrow, the last day of tenth grade classes. She gives all the credit to the glasses. I say whatever works!