#48 - Before We Get To the New Year...

Because my health has prevented me from blogging regularly, there are a few things I haven’t got to share about in awhile that I want to do before 2009 ends.

1.Christmas – *** Have you noticed how people on television were not saying “Merry Christmas” but “Happy Holidays?” I don’t fault people if they were they trying to be politically correct, but why couldn’t they say “Merry Christmas” AND “Happy Holidays?” When I said “Merry Christmas” to cashiers, I never got a “Merry Christmas” back but usually a “same to you.” It drives me nuts that students no longer have “Christmas vacations” but “Winter breaks” but now I can’t even hear the word “Christmas” said in public. You can probably tell that I feel that being “politically correct” or somehow sensitive to how others feel has just gone much too far.

***The best part of being in some stores or watching any Christmas special on television – even PBS- during Christmas was to hear Christmas carols. It must be a nightmare for the ACLU-Separation of Church and State-Atheist types who want all mention of God erased from the public square. For example, “Glory to the newborn King…God and sinners reconciled…Christ by highest heaven adored; Christ the everlasting Lord…Hail the Heaven born Prince of Peace! Hail the Sun of Righteousness…Born that man no more may die, Born to raise the sons of earth, Born to give them second birth…” (“Hark! the Herald Angels Sing”) Every carol preaches the gospel as clearly as any Sunday morning sermon. Interestingly, though, I did learn that not all Christmas songs speak of Jesus’ birth. For example, in “Joy to the World,” phrases such as “…the Savior reigns,” “He rules the world truth and grace, And makes the nations prove, The glories of His righteousness” speak not of the result of His FIRST coming but of His SECOND coming. It’s just like verses in the Bible where some refer to His first and some to His second coming.

2.Health Care Reform – *** When the “pro-life” Democrat from Nebraska, Senator Ben Nelson, who had said that he would not vote for the bill unless there was clear language in it that prohibited tax payer funding for abortion and represented the ONE vote that would stop the bill from passing the Senate, indicated that he would vote FOR the bill, I all but screamed! Despite what’s been said, the language of the bill he agreed on will NOT, in truth, prevent such funding. If every Republican amendment proposed to CLEARLY outlaw any tax dollars going to abortion services was defeated by the Democrats, do you really believe the final language of the bill was going to do that? (By the way, over 70% of Americans polled do NOT want tax payer funds going to abortion, with over 50% now opposed to abortion on demand.) The Senator knows this. And so, what really caused him to give in – his state was promised an exemption from Medicare taxes that will result from the bill. In other words, he was bought off. Just as I am sure all the other so-called “pro-life” democrats who voted for the bill also did. (Even the mainstream media that can be counted on to support policies promoted by the Democrats were forced to report on what favors many of the not so liberal Senators were given in exchange for their votes.) After Senator Nelson's utter failure to stand on principle and to sell-out the unborn, I believe every person in Congress who says they are "pro-life" should put an asterisk by their name so that we know that it doesn't mean their convictions cannot be bought at the right price.

*** I was stunned that the Senate Democratic leader Reid actually said that there was nothing unusual about this, that these were just “compromises” that are part of negotiations! I was surprised his nose didn’t take on a Pinnochio-size length as he spoke. As someone said when they called into a radio talk show: “The Democrats slogan is: If you have trouble passing a bill, lie, lie, again.” I would change that to say, …lie, bribe, and steal some more.” (Every time they add something to a bill, they increase our national debt and STEAL from future generations.) The real clincher that this wasn’t a compromise was the not-often quoted statement by one of the Democrats that the President got 95% of what he wanted. (This is the President who has made some clear promises to Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest provider of abortions.) Wow, he compromised on 5%.

*** When their victory in passing the bill was assured, I was struck by the Senators who were self-congratulatory to gloating. It didn’t seem to matter to them that over 2/3 of Americans polled said that they are not in favor of the Senate’s bill. It seems that they are more interested in getting their way, that they are more interested in what they think is best rather than what the American people want. They call their bill “historic” and any combination of the Senate and House bill probably will be. But not historic in that it will accomplish good but bring great evil to this country. Ever since the election, people have gotten to like the use of that word so much they forget that many things in history were very destructive. Calling something “historic” doesn’t guarantee it will be something good. *** I was so upset by Senator Nelson’s sell-out that I decided against finding some way to share all this the next day because it would not be in keeping with this Christmas season. But I’m still very upset, and if you are pro-life and you care about what the Democrats reform will actually cost this country and future generations, I hope you’re upset. I hope you’ll join me in praying that somehow, as they try to mesh the Senate bill with the House bill, there will be enough problems to derail this very dangerous bill.

3. The President’s First Year in Office: ***During an interview with Oprah, one of his wealthiest supporters, the President was asked what grade would he give himself. While the grade most Americans polled gave the President was a “D,” he said he gave himself a “B+.” It tells you why teachers never ask students what grade they think they deserve. I would give him a “D-.” At least he is sending most of the troops our commander in Afghanistan requested, though it’s not clear to me (and I’m sure most Americans) why it took him 3 months to decide and why he didn’t anticipate such a request long before it was made. And praise God, he FAILED to persuade the Olympic committee to hold the 2016 in Chicago, which would have bankrupt the city that was already dealing with a deficit. (Montreal, Canada, which held the winter Olympics in the ‘70’s only recently paid off its debt from that Olympics!) And double praise, that he did NOT commit America to any binding and debt-incurring commitments at the Copenhagen Climate Conference. I give him low marks for plunging us into so much debt with the stimulus bill, the attempted (praying it still fails) Health Care Reform bill, his attempted energy (cap and trade) bill, his sending US dollars worldwide to provide for abortions during his first few weeks in office, for his approving more federal dollars to go to unnecessary research into EMBRYONIC stem cell research, and his having the federal government assume control of the financial and auto industries. I’m sure there are other things I’ve forgotten in this “historic” year but these were the ones that upset me the most.

*** I could not believe it when the President actually accepted the Nobel Peace Prize. (Did you know he was nominated just 2 weeks after he was sworn in?) He originally said that he didn’t know what he had done to be awarded the prize (as did almost 80% of the American people) and the Nobel committee itself said that it was given for what they HOPED he would do as a result of his overtures to Muslims and others hostile to American policies. (As some have said, it’s like he got a prize just for not being George Bush, who Europeans so dislike.) At least he is said to have given the $1 million plus prize money to charity, though what charity that is has not been disclosed. (Planned Parenthood, ACORN?) And, while on the subject, did you also know that the Nobel Prize was NOT given to Mahatma Gandhi, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (for his part in leading the fight in WWII), nor President Ronald Reagan (whom most credit with helping to end the scourge of Soviet communism and the threat of nuclear war).