A Question of Faith

  America is truly one of the greatest experiments in world history. Prior to it's founding, no people on Earth had ever governed themselves, had the freedom to speak out about whatever they wished, even the government. The freedom to assemble freely, and the freedom to worship the God (or Gods), of their choice, without fear of government retribution.
  Freedom of religion. Freedom from religion. People have come here for one of those two things since day one. They have come with nothing but the clothes on their backs, and risked their lives for this simple idea.
  Two recent cases of people coming here to be able to worship freely, and the Obama State Department barely lifting a finger to help in either case is truly disturbing.

  Pastor Saeed Abedini is an Iranian who became an American citizen in 2010. He and his wife, both converts from Islam to Christianity. Abedini traveled back and forth between Iran and the U.S. to work with the underground house church movement, and most recently, was helping to build an orphanage. On his last trip to Iran, he was arrested, and sentenced to eight years in Iran's notorious Evin Prison. The State Department did not provide a witness at a hearing last week where Abedini's wife Naghmeh spoke. The U.S. Representative to the U.N. Human Rights Council, Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe, has been very vague in her statements to the Council, even failing to comment on this specific case. Rep. Frank Wolf R-Va, and other lawmakers have sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry, urging him to make this case a top priority, as the Iranian government does not recognize Abedini's American citizenship.
  Uwe and Hannalore Romeike, evangelical Christians from Germany, applied for and were granted political refuge in the U.S. in 2010. Under German law, it is illegal to home school children. The Romeikes maintain that their children are being taught things in German schools that go against their beliefs. The Department of Homeland Security is now attempting to deport the family, claiming that the German law, originally implemented during the Nazi era, does not violate the family's human rights. If the family is deported to Germany, they face fines, possible imprisonment, and almost certain loss of the custody of their children to the State.
  So what could be the reason for the Obama administration's reluctance to help people who have escaped religious persecution in their home countries and sought refuge in the United States? They seem to have no trouble accommodating Muslims whenever they want to build a mosque, even a block away from Ground Zero. Is it the entire anti-Christian sentiment that seems to permeate our culture today? Certainly the mainstream media does nothing but encourage it. Hollywood does everything it can to portray Christians as Bible-thumping, judgemental neanderthals, who tell everyone around them that they are going straight to Hell if they do not repent and become one of them this instant. But society as a whole is rather good at that, notice the stereotype of Witches next fall around Halloween.
  Secretary of State John Kerry issued a statement late last week condemning Iran's treatment of Pastor Saeed, and calling for his immediate release. But we all know how much weight that will hold with the Iranian government. The Romeikes appeal to the 6th Circuit Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on April 23.
  Are we learning that if you are a Christian who merely wishes to practice their faith without fear of persecution, that perhaps Barack Obama's America is not the place for you?

 To help Saeed Abedini and sign a petition for his release, and find out more, go to www.Savesaeed.org.
 To help the Romeike family, and find out more about their case, visit the National Home School Legal Defense.

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New Kids On The Block

  As the dust settles from the annual pilgrimage to Washington D.C. by Conservatives, otherwise known as CPAC, several things were on display that made for an interesting weekend.
  All the big names, and rising stars of the Party were on hand. Paul, Rubio, Palin, Santorum, Cruz, Gingrich, Romney, Ryan. Of course, this is not the complete list, and no doubt some of those names were auditioning for bigger and better things.
  One thing was glaringly obvious, the names that were not there. McCain, Graham, Boehner, Rove, and others of their ilk. The names that are often collectively known as "the old guard".
  The Old Guard are not happy campers these days. Life is just a tad precarious if you are what is commonly known as an "establishment" Republican. There are fresh faces, demanding fresh ideas. The old guys are having trouble keeping up.
  Poor Old Guys. It's just not their father's GOP anymore. Back in the good ol' days, they didn't have to worry about the message, or how it was getting out, and to whom. Messages were for campaign season. As soon as they got to Washington, it was business as usual. Go along to get along. They knew that if they just kept trying, kept being nice, the Democrats and the media would like them and say nice things. Well, no, it hasn't happened yet, but they will! Just you wait!
  Well, Old Guys, there are new kids on the block. They are young, educated, informed, articulate, hungry, and tired of being nice. The New Kids were were hanging around way back in 2011, even voted Ron Paul the winner of the Presidential Straw Poll. But the Old Guys sniffed at them, and promptly dismissed them. Then came 2012. The Old Guys did not do so well.

  So the New Kids came back in 2013. Ready to take over and get to work. The New Kids don't care whether or not the Democrats and the dinosaur media like them or not. They have their own media. The New Kids are tired of losing elections. The New Kids want smaller government, free markets, and adherence to Constitutional principles. The New Kids don't want to change the message. They want to tweak it, make it better, and make it resonate with all who are able to hear.
  The bending and stretching of the Republican Party between the old and the new may not be pretty, but it is necessary. A growing pain that must be felt in order to get to the next level. Some will emerge on the other side. Some will not. It is the next phase that has to happen, so that no one else but ourselves will identify who we are, and what we stand for.
  Fur may fly, and hair may be pulled, but it is our fight.
  The true Conservatives will emerge victorious.     

Boys Will Be Boys

  We have all heard this old, tired cliche.  It has been said about professional athletes, politicians, and frat boys to name a few.  But a case out of tiny Steubenville Ohio may make a lot of Americans wonder, is this just an old saying, or is this attitude alive and well?
  Friday night football attendance and participation in Steubenville is practically mandatory. and the case of two of the Big Red's star players have the small town split over charges that a rape is being covered up to protect the team, or that high school kids are being tried and convicted in the media.
  Trent Mays and Ma'lik Richmond were at a series of parties last August. parties that were reportedly  flush with teenagers and alcohol, but sorely lacking any parental supervision. The victim remembers little to nothing of what happened that night, piecing together Facebook and Twitter postings to get even a part of the evening's events. Witness accounts range from incriminating photos of the girl, intoxicated, naked, and sem-conscious, being taken and posted to social media, to eye witness accounts of a sexual assault, and highly likely, a rape.
  With little physical evidence to go on, there is a chance that the two boys could be acquitted of all the charges. Teen agers have been having illicit beer parties since beer and parties were invented. What happens when the next crop of star football players engage in bad behavior with girls who might not have officially consented to anything? Will they feel a sense of entitlement? Would a guilty verdict in this case deter them? The answer to that is probably no.

  At the risk of sounding 150 years old, the one thing that Facebook, Twitter, and the Internet in general has robbed us of is any sense of decorum and shame. The old saying, "just because you can do it, doesn't mean you should", does not seem to apply to today's young people. We all did stupid things in high school and college that those of us over 30 are thanking our lucky stars was not captured for all eternity on some one's timeline, or in a series of tweets. Young men have always been guilty of some level of disrespect towards young women from time to time. But the lengths it goes to now, is quite frankly, ghastly. Is it the number of boys with no decent male role model in their lives that can not only teach them to properly respect women, but just teach them how to be a man? Granted, teen age boys are creatures like no other, but will these boys, and others like them, continue to treat the females in their lives in this manner when they are 20? 25? 35?
  The trial begins this week in a Steubenville courtroom. Will the legacy of Steubenville Big Red Football remain intact, or will boys continue to be boys?                 

Can't We All Just Get Along?

  We Americans are a welcoming bunch. We love meeting people from all over the world, asking them questions about their home countries, and we are eager to share with them, all of the things that make America the exceptional, amazing place that it is.
  Within the last few years however, some people have come here for reasons other than becoming Americans. They come for jobs and education, and unfortunately, sometimes they come for more sinister purposes. And they have no desire whatsoever to assimilate.
  Ironically, since September 11, 2001, the Muslim population in America has grown exponentially. For the most part, they are peaceful, hard working people. But for a small faction, it seems as if it is all about imposing their way of life on us.
  From writer and blogger Debbie Schlussel, comes the story of 24 year old Kevin McCarron. McCarron and a group of friends from Andover Massachusetts were leaving a pizza parlor in New York's Greenwich Village on January 17 around 5am when they encountered a group of Middle-Eastern men. Words were exchanged between the two groups. The Muslim men claimed someone in McCarron's group called them "f--- Arabs." The Muslims proceeded to produce a tire iron, bat, and other weapons from the trunk of a car. How convenient for them that they just happen to have these weapons on hand. McCarron's skull was fractured so severely, that he may have permanent damage. According to Schlussel, McCarron "was beaten for the 'crime' of being a non-Muslim tourist in Greenwich Village".

  If one is looking for any accounts of this story at all, you will only find them online. The mainstream media, of course, would not dream of being so politically incorrect as to put any Muslims in a possible bad light. CBS News online, The New York Daily News, and even the local Andover Massachusetts paper, The Eagle Tribune, would give no possible motive for the attack. But they made sure to include the possible racial slur allegedly made by someone in McCarron's group to the Muslims. The NYPD would not release an incident report. Why?
  One would have had to crawl out from under the rock of their choice to not know that the media operates on a series of double standards that has become all to familiar to people such as  Conservatives, especially African-American Conservatives, church-going Americans, and most recently, gun owners. But the kid gloves they reserve for Muslims is extra special. No no, don't want to make them mad! Why not? We know that if Kevin McCarron had been beaten within an inch of his life by a bunch of Gadsden flag waving Tea Party members, it would be front page news. Why must one search for this story? Maybe for the same reason why the Fort Hood shooting is classified as "work place violence" If a Muslim is accused of a crime in this country, should it not be treated the same as any other that is reported in a newspaper or online news site?
  As of this writing, Kevin McCarron is home, and recovering from his ordeal. His attackers are all due back in court in April, two of them facing 11 counts of attempted murder. It remains to be seen if this case will be prosecuted as a hate crime.
  It is probably as safe bet that Kevin McCarron and his friends have lost that welcoming feeling.
                    

How Much Are We Willing To Take?

  When Barack Obama won re-election, most Conservatives knew that there was plenty more coming from the Liberal well of absurdity that is the Obama administration. But at what point does an irritating trial balloon become a constant finger in the eye of the American people just to see how far we can be pushed?
  The more we find out about Obama care, we find out that, A-the administration was less than truthful about many parts of it. No doubt just so it would pass, and B-it is, as we predicted, going to be a costly monstrosity. But elections have consequences, and the consequences of Obama care will only continue to get outrageous.
  Because of a mentally deranged individual who managed to get his hands on a weapon, go to an elementary school, and murder 27 people, there is a not too subtle attempt to disarm law abiding citizens. With over 9,000 gun laws currently on the books, Democratic lawmakers want still more laws. All this does is infringe on the second amendment rights of Americans. This gun-grabbing attempt by Liberals will not be taken lightly by gun-owners. They are well-versed in their Constitutional rights. This is a group of American citizens who are definitely not willing to take much more.
  Any poll you look at, the number one concern for Americans is jobs and the economy. However, since Obama took office in 2009, eight million people have left the work force. Many of those people have simply stopped looking for work. The unemployment rate continues to hover around 8%. Small businesses are smothered under the weight of more and more government regulation, and with impending health care, are unable to hire new employees or upgrade by buying new equipment. How much more will this group of hard working Americans be expected to take?
  On September 11, 2012, four Americans were killed when the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi Libya was attacked. Answers about who did what that night have trickled out at a snail's pace. Hillary Clinton has stepped down as Secretary of State, and gone home to Chapequa with no more than a bad day testifying before a Senate committee. We still don't know who the survivors of this attack are, and the latest eye-poke to national security is the nomination of former Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense. Hagel went into his Senate confirmation hearing so obviously unprepared and unqualified for the position he was nominated for that one must wonder if this is the level of importance that the President places on the defense of this nation. Is the dismantling of the Military the real agenda? Many on the right are of the opinion that Barack Obama feels that America is just too full of herself. How much more are the brave men and women of America's Military going to be expected to take?
  Topping this all off is a fawning and complicit media ready to cover for this administration at all costs. They cater to a low information population, most of whom can't name one Senator from their state, but know the winner from every season of American Idol. They see us as bumbling fools and idiots. They decide what we need to know, and when, and why and how we need to know it.
  How many more fingers in the eye are Americans who know what is happening to our country willing to take?

  How long before we must decide what time the revolution begins?     

Will Rubio Get "Palinized"? You Bet 'cha!

  When Sarah Palin came into the public eye in 2008, she was a breath of fresh air. Even though she was a two-term Governor of Alaska, being north of the lower 48 gave her some insulation from the dysfunctional circus that is the mainstream media. But as soon as someone took a long hard look, well, something had to be done about this! A two-term Governor who had taken on cronyism in her own State Party, attractive, smart, likable, happy marriage, nice family, and related well to ordinary people. She maybe was not the most articulate person ever, but she said what she believed and lived her values.
  No sooner had she been announced as John McCain's Vice Presidential pick, the goons in the mainstream media made a beeline to Wasilla Alaska to go through the Palin's trashcans. Quite a feat actually when you think about it. After all, how many of the Manhattan Elite media could even spell Wasilla, much less find it on a map and go there.
  They did their very best to surgically tear her apart. They used everything they could to make her look stupid, incompetent, a hayseed, a hick, a rube. Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric did their part to make it look like Palin was illiterate. If she did not read Time or Newsweek, how could she possibly be "informed"?

  Enter Florida Senator Marco Rubio. Rubio gave the Response to the State of the Union address on Tuesday night. He is every Liberal Democrat's worst nightmare. He is young, good-looking, smart, a family man. He has an American Dream story that is hard to top. The son of Cuban immigrants who came to America to escape Fidel Castro. His father worked as a bartender, his mother a maid. They knew America would offer their children unlimited possibilities. He articulates Conservative principles in a way that has not been seen in quite a while. And the scariest part for Liberals, he connects with people. He can look into a camera in a way that Joe Six-pack knows he is speaking to him personally. When he reached for a bottle of water while giving the response Tuesday night, Liberals knew that this was their chance. If they could make Rubio look foolish in any way, and spark national outrage over a simple case of dry mouth, well, they had better jump on it.
  Rubio is a rising star in the GOP. He is not going away any time soon. He is already being talked about as a possible Presidential candidate in 2016. That means, by next week, there will be a swarm of no-name reporters descending on West Miami to dig through the Rubio household refuse. They will hunt down old girlfriends, college roommates, and old political foes. All in an effort to discredit him, and make him appear incompetent and unfit for any other elected office.
  Luckily, for Marco Rubio, and any other Conservative contemplating a run for office, they had a front row seat to the media's attempted destruction of Sarah Palin. They know what is coming. They know what to expect. Think they are prepared?
  You bet 'cha.       

An Evening with Toure

  Anyone who has lived in St. Louis for any length of time knows that St. Louis University is a Catholic institution. One would expect that they would follow the doctrine and teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. So it was a little curious for a little Witch like me to see that on Thursday, February 7, SLU had invited controversial MSNBC commentator Toure, to speak as part of a Black History Month celebration.
  The members of St. Louis-based Move-On-Up.org, a group of Black Conservatives, also thought this idea just a little odd. Not so much for the blatant disregard for Catholic ideology, but for the fact that Toure is very publicly, and quite militantly pro-choice. It would also seem that Toure does not know much black history himself. The facts are that abortion is quite a big problem in the black community. Roughly 1900 black babies are aborted every day in the United States. It is also no secret that early Progressives like Margaret Sanger founded Planned Parenthood as a means of black genocide. Even if the University invited this person to speak, why at the very least wasn't someone of an opposing viewpoint invited as well? Is that not what colleges and universities are for? For the free and open exchange of ideas? Apparently not at St. Louis University.
  So Move-On-Up planned a protest. They protested outside the hall where Toure was speaking. The protest went well. Then, the Move-On-Up members were invited to come in to hear the presentation. Some of them did just that. Your humble correspondent among them. We seated ourselves in the back of the auditorium, and proceeded to listen to Toure attempt to indoctrinate a group of young black college students, telling them that America was inherently racist, and because of that, they really did not have a fair chance at the American Dream. He rambled on, seemingly all over the place, about oppression, rap music, "Afrocentrism", and "white privilege". We talked amongst ourselves, or so we thought, until we were escorted out of the auditorium because someone had complained that "we were making the students uncomfortable by some of our comments." Huh?
  So we walked into the hallway with who I assume was someone from the Black Students Association. Co-founder of Move-On-Up, Martin Baker asked if he could speak to Toure after the program. He was told he could. On one condition. That he ask no questions about abortion, or Toure's very incendiary recent comments regarding abortion. Hooray for free speech at St. Louis University!
  The Black Student Association spoke with members of Move-On-Up outside after the program. They did agree to have someone from Move-On-Up come to speak to them. So there is hope. Hope that at least a small portion of a generation of young African-Americans will not let this MTV reject indoctrinate them into believing that all white people are racist, that they do not have to depend on government for everything in their life, and that the American Dream is alive and well, and can be achieved no matter who you are, if you are willing to work for it.
  St. Louis University on the other hand, maybe should do a little research in the future on who they invite as their speakers. Is the advancement of liberalism higher up on their agenda than the protection of the unborn and remaining a well-respected Catholic institution?

A healthy dose of free speech couldn't hurt either.