Every Man Has a God

It is the start of Holy Week. Two Thousand years ago, Christ entered Jerusalem on his way to Calvary.

As we start the week, our nation finds itself in an interesting position. Unlike our cousins in Europe, we remain a church going nation with a majority who believe in God, or at least claim to. At the same time, it has become trendy to demagogue the Church.

ABC runs a show called “Good Christian Bitches” and the President of the United States declares war on faith trying to force secular beliefs into sectarian Christian faith.

We are still a mostly religious nation, but it has become cool to reject Christ or even to come out as an atheist. Atheists are routinely feted by our celebrity culture, appear on news shows mouthing off on the topics of the day, and are heralded as courageous for rejecting several thousand years of considered thought while mocking that considered thought as mythology.

The stupid are always the wise in this world.

Let’s start this week with one particular thought that so many of the so called wise will reject as stupid, but which is absolute fact.

Every man, woman, and child in this world has a god. Even atheists have gods. It may not be the actual risen Lord, but everyone has a god.

People need gods. It may be a job. It may be a drug. It may be family. It may be a hobby. Each person’s god may be different and it may even be yourself. But everyone puts their faith in something and it becomes their god whether they believe it or not.

In this day and age, many secularists have converted creation itself into their god and they worship God’s creation in place of God himself.

Where do you give your time, your talent, and your treasure? Where is your focus?

Where ever that might be, it most likely is your god.

This week, fix your focus, your time, your talent, and your treasure on Calvary. There the real God was nailed to a cross against his will, was crucified, died, and was buried. What some ridicule and mock as outmoded myth set off, three days later, the most significant event all of human history — one that shaped the world in a way no other before or after could.

As you start your Monday and focus on work, family, friends, holidays, and travel, keep some perspective about you. There are bigger things at work around us and one bigger than all of us at work for us.

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Morning Briefing for April 2, 2012

RedState Morning Briefing
April 2, 2012Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
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It is the start of Holy Week. Two Thousand years ago, Christ entered Jerusalem on his way to Calvary.

As we start the week, our nation finds itself in an interesting position. Unlike our cousins in Europe, we remain a church going nation with a majority who believe in God, or at least claim to. At the same time, it has become trendy to demagogue the Church.

ABC runs a show called “Good Christian Bitches” and the President of the United States declares war on faith trying to force secular beliefs into sectarian Christian faith.

We are still a mostly religious nation, but it has become cool to reject Christ or even to come out as an atheist. Atheists are routinely feted by our celebrity culture, appear on news shows mouthing off on the topics of the day, and are heralded as courageous for rejecting several thousand years of considered thought while mocking that considered thought as mythology.

The stupid are always the wise in this world.

Let’s start this week with one particular thought that so many of the so called wise will reject as stupid, but which is absolute fact.

Every man, woman, and child in this world has a god. Even atheists have gods. It may not be the actual risen Lord, but everyone has a god.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

You may remember that a few days ago a minor South Carolinian political blog tossed out the very serious allegation that South Carolina governor Nikki Haley was about to be indicted by the Justice Department for alleged tax fraud involving her parents’ temple*. The keyword? “Imminent.” Well, it turns out that the IRS is not actually investigating either the Governor or the temple (H/T @RBPundit) in fact, if I’m reading this correctly the entire thing was more or less based off of the usual bureaucratic paperwork (H/T Hot Air Headlines). The goofball progressive blogger n00b (some guy named Logan Smith) that put up the article in the first place at first tried to stand by his anonymously-sourced allegations, but has since more or less given up and done one of the more grudging and passive-aggressive retractions that it’s been my pleasure to read lately. I don’t even think that Smith is going to get fifteen minutes out of this; and, of course, he’ll never get another shot.

Tragic.

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What type of future do I want for my children and future grandchildren? I do not wish for them a future with a financially unsustainable, cradle-to-grave dependency on the federal government. Rather, I wish for those I love so much a future where the federal government encourages and empowers success, personal responsibility, and financial independence. I also want a future where state governments, or the federal government, can provide fiscally sound, dependable safety-net programs to protect our most vulnerable citizens from a life of poverty. We have a choice – government dependency, or a dependable, fiscally-sound federal government. We cannot have both. I ask America to join me in the fight to end the ever-growing cycle of government dependency – for our children and grandchildren – the fight for freedom and opportunity.

Liberals have continuously expanded entitlement programs far beyond stability. They have created generation after generation of citizens more and more dependent on the federal government. This has resulted in greater power for the federal government. We need to do what is necessary to keep these programs from collapsing under a mountain of deficit spending. It is a choice between saving and strengthening these programs, or further weakening and destroying the safety net programs that provide security and poverty protection to those most in need.

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It’s not too often that we have the opportunity to elect a conservative fighter who retired early from Congress and is seeking a second run. But with Dan Burton’s retirement in Indiana’s 5th district, we have the prospect to elect a battle-tested fighter in former Congressman David McIntosh.

David McIntosh was elected to Congress as part of the Republican Revolution in 1994. Unlike many of his colleagues, McIntosh never abandoned his commitment to fighting for limited government. Nor was he just a bench-warmer. After just a few years in the House, David was recognized as a full spectrum conservative leader, and in 1998, he became chairman of the Republican Study Committee. When Gingrich butted heads with conservatives at the RSC, McIntosh helped lead the coup against him. In 2000, McIntosh retired early to run for governor in Indiana, a race he unfortunately lost.

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In the race for U.S. Senate in Texas, the conservative candidate clearly is Ted Cruz. His record of fighting for conservative ideals is clear, as I have noted before. Senator DeMint has endorsed him, as has Senator Mike Lee, the Club for Growth and a number of other important conservative voices.

But the establishment and conventional wisdom remains behind Lt. Gov Dewhurst as the favorite – despite the fact he has shown relatively poor polling, mediocre fundraising and is relying on his personal wealth to try to persuade Texans he is actually conservative. But the truth is hard to hide. I have pointed out before that Dewhurst is a moderate in the mold of Florida Governor Charlie Crist. Thus, we affectionately refer to him as Dewcrist.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

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Tech at Night: FCC gives in to Chuck Grassley, Republicans question the rush to privacy regulations

Am I tired of expressing dissatisfaction with the Obama FCC and other government intrusions? Never!

Al Franken is setting up an unfalsifiable rationale for government action against Verizon and Comcast. Gotta love that, eh?

I’m sure he, the FCC, or both will try to overturn the courts who say bundling is not anticompetitive. I like bundling. It saves me money when I’m buying both things anyway. Then again, I like choices in the marketplace.

Why we want FCC subsidizing tablet makers though, I have no idea.

Chuck Grassley’s threat seems to be working at least, as FCC starts to break down on LightSquared transparency, a necessary step toward being able to confirm the President’s new appointees to the commission.

Sprint continues to try to drum up government action, and also continuing to strain the bounds of credulity. Sprint says there’s a 4G duopoly, conveniently forgetting the fact that Sprint was the first major entry into the 4G market. Sprint just chose the wrong technology (WiMAX, instead of the apparently-winning LTE), the latest in a series of bad business decisions.

PATENT WARS: Even as Apple considers changing its patent strategies against firms like Samsung deploying Android, it turns out Nokia may provoke a whole new patent war over SIM card technology.

I’ve long plead for Mary Bono Mack to ease up on privacy issues, fearing it would lead to bad government action. Fortunately she seems to see those risks as well, and other Republicans like Marsha Blackburn also see the dangers of “a massive expansion of government… that would put some limits on our individual liberties.” Yes, yes, yes, exactly. That’s why I say we need to get privacy issues back into the realm of common sense self precautions, not government dictates.

This will be the last Tech at Night from California. Also because of my move to Virginia next week, will be no posting Monday or Wednesday as I will be traveling across the country to my new home, so have fun until next week!

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Daily Links – March 31, 2012

REMINDER: Today is the LAST DAY to get the Early Bird Rate for the RedState Gathering. Read about it here, or sign up right away here!Today is March 31st. On this date in 1889, the Eiffel Tower had its first official tour, as Gustave Eiffel led a group of reporters and city officials throughout the structure. The ascent to the top was accomplished by stairs, as the elevators weren’t yet working. If I had to lead a group of people to the top of what is essentially an 81-story building, there’d need to be sherpas and possibly a yak, and it would probably still end in cannibalism and search parties. Also on this date, in 1536, philosopher René Descartes was born in France. Descartes was a drunken fart, who once famously said “I drink, therefore I am.” Truly a visionary. And finally, today is World Backup Day, and National Bunsen Burner Day. Way to go out on an exciting note, March! Consider this an Open Thread.

Media Silent As Left Attacks Kids Of Wi Lt. Gov. | Big Journalism
“She’s currently being targeted for recall and by some of the ugliest personal attacks you’ll hear — at least until the left launches the next one.”

AFL-CIO exec: Conservatives to blame for Trayvon Martin’s death | Daily Caller
“AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker told The Daily Caller that it is “conservative, right-wing policies that are to blame” for Trayvon Martin‘s death.”

Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s Shocking Ignorance | American Thinker
“The percentage of American people who took their son or daughter to an emergency room and were turned away because the parent didn’t have insurance is exactly zero.”

Stunning: Obamacare creates $17 trillion in unfunded liabilities | Right Scoop
“Ranking Member Sessions announced that a new Budget Committee analysis has found that the long-term, unfunded liabilities associated with President Obama’s health care law will reach $17 trillion.”

Today’s Word of the Day comes via Luciferous Logolepsy.
sabulous: adjective 1. like sand in texture; gritty 2. Also: sabuline (of plants) growing in sand

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Mitt Romney For President

This has been an extraordinarily difficult primary season for many conservatives, me among them.

Against what is probably the weakest incumbent president since Herbert Hoover, we have managed to field an array of candidates worse than those we had in 2008 and perhaps worse than those competing for the nomination at our low point of 1996.

Our best candidate, Texas Governor Rick Perry, was torpedoed by a lack of preparation on his part. Sure the patent dishonesty of Michele Bachmann’s Tardasil nonsense had an impact as well as the demagoguing of a state educational issue as a soft-on-immigration stance but let’s not excuse the fact that these attacks should have been anticipated by anyone participating in a GOP primary.

For some months I have held the view that conservatives could very well be better served by a President Obama opposed by a Republican Congress than a President Romney working in concert with a decidedly un-conservative Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

The events of the past few weeks have convinced me I was wrong. We are one election away from entering the death spiral to status as a Third World kleptocracy and I believe Governor Mitt Romney, for all his manifest faults, is the best man left standing to prevent that from happening.

To be clear, my endorsement and support of Romney is a function of the actions of President Obama rather than any eighty-leven point plan Romney’s campaign staff has devised to technocrat our way out of a philosophical and moral morass because our fiscal difficulties are merely the symptoms of the true problem.

I developed misgivings about my original strategy in January when Obama made patently illegal recess appointments. These misgivings have increased day by day as the EPA has essentially declared the coal industry illegal, religious liberty has been tossed under the bus in favor of consequence-free sexual gratification, Egypt and Libya have been turned over to either al-Qaeda or its sympathizers, billions of dollars have disappeared into the wallets of Obama donors in the guise of “green energy”, and our European allies have heard Obama tell a fellow kleptocrat that their security is up for grabs in a second Obama term.

None of these actions could have been prevented by a GOP Congress that could not override a presidential veto and there are no circumstances I foresee that gets us to that number of seats in the House and Senate. In the final analysis, the president controls the regulatory agencies and the policy making apparatus of the United States. A determined president can do pretty much what he will so long as he commands at least 35 votes in the United States Senate and the Congress is unwilling to impeach.

I’d feel a lot more comfortable with Governor Romney if I actually had a sense that he believed in anything. I don’t have that feeling and there is nothing in the man’s record that indicates he values principle over expediency. I don’t think bailing out the Salt Lake City Games by digging deep into Uncle Sugar’s pockets demonstrates very much skill, I find his record at Bain nauseating, and the disarray he inflicted upon the Massachusetts GOP gives me pause for the fate of the GOP under a Romney presidency.

On the other hand I have no doubt that the Romney’s will restore a dignity and grace to the White House and the Office of the President that has been trashed by the gauche, nouveau riche, and monumentally entitled Obamas, both the Mom-jeans, weenie-armed Barack and the hulking, hectoring Michelle.

In that way the situation will be similar for Governor Romney as it was for George Bush when the Clampetts departed. I think the Justice Department will again to begin to resemble a place where “justice” is a concern rather than peddling guns to Mexican narcotraficantes, arresting various Walter-Mittyesque groups as terrorists, and engaging in race-baiting of the worst sort. I don’t think the nation’s GPS system will be hamstrung to make a campaign donor very wealthy. We won’t be “investing” in solar panels and other cutesy technologies that have little demonstrable value. The Department of Defense will not be used as some sort of social laboratory to test out the latest academic theories. I will no longer fear for any of our basic rights. In particular, Ann Romney would be a stellar first lady.

This was a difficult choice as I find a lot to like in both Newt Gingrich, whom I have met, and Rick Santorum, whom I have not. Mr. Gingrich, in particular, embodies the enthusiasm for tomorrow that has long been a quintessentially American trademark. Mr. Santorum has demonstrated that morality matters to the electorate and it should not be shunted to the side in either the Fall campaign or in governance.

Unfortunately, both men have flaws that have convinced me they cannot win in November and that if they did win they would be ineffectual. The purpose of this is to not enumerate those flaws beyond the point of saying I have concluded that they outweigh any advantage either man brings to the table.

In closing I wish to acknowledge the surprise this endorsement is sure to cause some RedState readers.

For the past four years I’ve been very critical of Governor Romney and I continue to stand by those criticisms (read above if you have any doubts). Significantly for blogging in his support, I continue to find his supporters, with the possible exception of those I’ve yet to encounter, to be among the most ignorant, dishonest advocates of any candidate, anywhere, anytime possessing a blindness to facts and a subservience that borders on cult-like. I intend to continue to ban them at the slightest opportunity.

So after much soul searching I’ve decided to climb up on the roof, snuggle in beside Seamus, and enjoy the ride.

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