Sunday: Lon Solomon Takes on Relative Religion In No Uncertain Terms

JUST HOW DEEP DOES THE AUTHORITY OF THE BIBLE GO? When Jesus Meets the Sadducees---the elite religious class.

Jesus believes what the Bible says and says what it means. The Word of God will never pass away.

When Your Hard Drive Dies

THERE'S NOTHING TO DO BUT REPLACE IT---as soon as possible.

Was a beautiful day yesterday morning when I woke up, so after turning on my computer and finding the hard drive had expired overnight, I decided to call for help, close it down, leave for the day putting the key under the mat. It was a good call for such a sunny day. When I returned home late last night after lots of fresh air and fun, WP my wonderful computer consultant was there slaving away at my laptop. Then he took it home with him to work on it over-night, as I hit the sack.

Today, early this afternoon, he brought it back fully operational. What a genius! What a magician! How fortunate I am to have someone who can fit my crisis into his life and schedule----and during the weekend no less. I am deeply appreciative.

Now back to Sunday and all that's going on in the world.

Coming Sunday? Weekend Wreck

MEMBERS OF CONGRESS PRESSURED FROM ALL SIDES

TRAIN WRECK. RULE OF LAW. DEMOCRACY. MEDICAL 'JUSTICE.' PICTURE WORTH THOUSAND WORDS. STATE'S RIGHTS NEXT STEP? AMENDING THE CONSTITUTION?

GOOD MAY COME FROM THE WRECKAGE?

Michelle Malkin,more.

Continuing Series: Reason Saves Cleveland With Drew Carey

BRING BACK THE PEOPLE


NICE WORK, DREW AND NICK. However, I'm still not convinced that Cleveland is on anything but a downhill spiral. Sadly, the world may have moved on.

Kudlow and Cramer Reunite For Healthcare Discussion

CATERPILLAR PREDICTS MAJOR LOSSES


PROBABLE EFFECTS ON THE STOCK MARKET, SMALL BUSINESS START-UPS AND PRIVATE SECTOR JOBS. Well worth a watch.

Healthcare: Bring on the Police State Or Another Reason to Kill the Bill

PAUL IN HOUSTON: DEMOCRACY DENIED
GALLUP: CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL AT 16%

WITHOUT DOUBT ONE OF THE MOST OMINOUS PROVISIONS in this whole healthcare debacle provides for thousands more IRS employees and agents to enforce mandatory insurance requirements and collect fines from or prosecute those who don't fall into the government's line.

Assuming it becomes law, the Congressional Budget Office expects the IRS will need roughly $10 billion over the next 10 years and nearly 17,000 new employees to meet its new responsibilities under health reform. That's $10 billion.

If this passes, I will consider that we've just entered the dawn of a new police state in America as the power of the federal bureaucracy vastly expands to fulfill its rule over us. This could be only the beginning, as government could hire the food nazi police, the carbon police, the trans-fatty acid police----but all for our own good, of course. And to keep healthcare costs down.

I won't even go into the Constitutionality or the legalities of the government forcing its citizen to buy anything. Or the legalities of passing this bill procedurely on a limited vote basis. This whole process is such a farce that lots of out-of-work lawyers have got to be licking their chops over all the money they'll make suing and counter-suing these provisions.

Oh, and the Founding Fathers have got to be twirling---on speed dial---in their graves. We've not seen such a complete and shameful spectacle in Washington in our lifetimes.

Sandra Bullock Moves Out Of Home With Dirtbag Jesse James

HONEY, DIDN'T EVEN HIS NAME CLUE YOU IN?

I NEVER GOT THE ATTRACTION BETWEEN SANDRA AND JESSE, HER CELEBRITY MECHANIC HUSBAND, IN THE FIRST PLACE. Perhaps it's because he's always come across as a dirt bag on a dirt bike. Or perhaps it was because I first saw him in an undershirt with horrific tattoos all over his body. Frankly, you could show me the most fabulous man on earth---a master of the universe, master of the Internet, a government or business executive--- none of which Jesse is---in an undershirt with tattoos and I would run kicking and screaming out of the room. I find it vulgar, like a character from the deep underworld.

When I find a man vulgar or profane, it's over for me. Completely over. Whether it's business or personal. Sometimes it takes me a while to come out of denial about it, but now I do sooner rather than later. When a man is vulgar and profane, you can count on him being unfaithful---to any and all women in his life--- to his values under pressure, to whatever integrity he thinks he has.

Unlike men, who apparently get superficially turned on by women in scantily clad underwear or novelty nude, I find manly men much more attractive in fully-clothed mode. It speaks volumes.

The fact that the tattooed Jesse James had an 11-month affair with a porn star and woman who is tattooed from head-to-toe doesn't surprise me at all. In fact, busy actress Sandra is the last to know the facts of life about men. She may be a great actress, but she's stupid when it comes to choosing a life partner. Choosing Jesse was a joke.

He's sorry (he got caught, to be exact) and also a sorry dirtbag. Perhaps there could be some unexpected reconciliation down the road, against all odds. But, like cities building billion-dollar convention centers in hard times, I wouldn't put money on it or buy the bonds. Jesse is a rat who's attracted to other rats. Only God can change that. And until and unless He does, there's nothing but heartache and fast-track learning ahead for Sandra who is now reportedly in hiking.

My sympathies to both of them. The 'sexier' the man and the more addicted he is to fast women, cigarettes and alcohol, the more addictive he is to the women he hangs with. It's always heartache for them.....cause they're stuck like glue to him and to his sleazy drama. One more thing while I'm at it: A woman who can't truly leave any man---for good reason or no reason at all--- is not a woman who can ever really have him either.

NY Post has the full story.

Ann Coulter Gives Her One-Page Treatise On Healthcare Reform

WHAT'S NOT TO LIKE HERE IN THE LAND OF THE BARELY, STILL, ALMOST FREE? ANN WRITES DEFLY AT HUMAN EVENTS:

LIBERALS KEEP COMPLAINING that Republicans don't have a plan for reforming health care in America. I have a plan!

It's a one-page bill creating a free market in health insurance. Let's all pause here for a moment so liberals can Google the term "free market."

Nearly every problem with health care in this country – apart from trial lawyers and out-of-date magazines in doctors' waiting rooms – would be solved by my plan.
In the first sentence, Congress will amend the McCarran-Ferguson Act to allow interstate competition in health insurance.

We can't have a free market in health insurance until Congress eliminates the antitrust exemption protecting health insurance companies from competition. If Democrats really wanted to punish insurance companies, which they manifestly do not, they'd make insurers compete.
The very next sentence of my bill provides that the exclusive regulator of insurance companies will be the state where the company's home office is. Every insurance company in the country would incorporate in the state with the fewest government mandates, just as most corporations are based in Delaware today.

That's the only way to bypass idiotic state mandates, requiring all insurance plans offered in the state to cover, for example, the Zone Diet, sex-change operations and whatever it is that poor Heidi Montag has done to herself this week.

President Obama says we need national health care because Natoma Canfield of Ohio had to drop her insurance when she couldn't afford the $6,700 premiums, and now she's got cancer.
Much as I admire Obama's use of terminally ill human beings as political props, let me point out here that perhaps Natoma could have afforded insurance had she not been required by Ohio's state insurance mandates to purchase a plan that covers infertility treatments and unlimited ob/gyn visits, among other things.

It sounds like Natoma could have used a plan that covered only the basics – you know, things like cancer.

The third sentence of my bill would prohibit the federal government from regulating insurance companies, except for normal laws and regulations that apply to all companies.
Freed from onerous state and federal mandates turning insurance companies into public utilities, insurers would be allowed to offer a whole smorgasbord of insurance plans, finally giving consumers a choice.

Instead of Harry Reid deciding whether your insurance plan covers Viagra, this decision would be made by you, the consumer. (I apologize for using the terms "Harry Reid" and "Viagra" in the same sentence. I promise that won't happen again.)

Read it all at Human Events. Could anyone have said it better?

It's really true. Liberals complain that conservatives don't offer any healthcare reform plans. It's utterly ridiculous, as Ann points out. Conservatives do offer plans and have been beating the drums for months. Problem is it's so simple, short, powerful, uncomplicated, flexible and right-on that complicated, liberal elite thinkers simply dismiss it as nothing. It's simply not the case.

Birth Tourism, Where Dropping In and Popping Out In the United States Is Hopping

KOREAN, MEXICAN MOTHERS-TO-BE OFFERED "BIRTH PACKAGES" here so their children can be born U.S. citizens? It appears it's increasingly happening here at hospitals. Where there's a profit will, there's a way. Nothing wrong with that. Still, what's left of us taxpaying citizens wonder if we can't do something to stop pregnant tourists from dropping in to birthing centers during their ninth month of pregnancy for this express purpose?

The Corner at NRO wonders and asks the question: Can and should the U.S. limit temporary visas to women who are coming here to give birth and automatically gain citizenship for their babies? I don't have a defined opinion of a solution at this point, however, it's certainly something to be aware of in coming years.

And the poor, exhausted U.S. taxpayers should certainly have a say in re-thinking the rules. As if we have any say in anything today.

Reason TV With Drew Carey Offers Series On How To Fix Declining Cities Like Cleveland

TAKE CARE OF BUSINESS: LOWER TAXES AND LESS RED TAPE


PRIVATIZE IT


FIX THE SCHOOLS




THINK THIS IS A GREAT IDEA. However, I wonder if the demographic/economic trends of migrating to the Southeast/Southwest don't preclude a real and sustained rejuvenation of cities like this? Have cites like Cleveland's time come and long gone, I wonder? Time will tell. But the series and focus can't hurt. I like the idea and will post the entire series, even though I'm skeptical.

Valerie Jarrett: Stuff Like This Makes Post-Feminism Look Absurd

TRANS-PRESIDEXUAL?

HURRAY FOR PRESIDENT OBAMA'S WOMANLY LEADERSHIP IN THE FREE WORLD?

If this is women of the world's best idea of leadership---i.e. the continued feminizing and neutering of the manly man in politics, or in anything for that matter----then we're in even worse shape than I think. Valerie Jarrett eats it up in a sippy cup.

Thanks to Michelle Malkin for bringing this to the front of our poor trans-modern brains and hitting the nail on the head:

It’s moronic exchanges like this one between White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett and rambling Indian magazine editor Shoma Chaudhury — who slobbers all over President Obama for his “womanly” leadership — that should make every rational woman cringe.

First, there’s the nauseating gender identity politics pandering.

Second, there’s the snort-worthy detachment from reality (the Chicago thug-in-chief is “bringing the temperature down”?).

Third, there’s the embarrassing non-question question of a “journalist” unabashedly engaging in the obscene ego stroke of a government official.

This is the danger of thinking with your ovaries instead of your brain.

All I can say in response is Amen, Sister. I do cringe. Regular women should cringe, and so should regular men who still have an ounce of testosterone left in them.

So let us all cringe away!

Feminist 'Women of the World' Conclude Confab...

WITH TINA BROWN CALLING HERSELF AND ALL HER FEMINIST COHORTS EXTRAORDINARY

I'M SURE WHAT FOR SOME WOULD BE CALLED THE WORLD'S LONGEST WEEKEND meeting of 'women of the world' including all the usual suspects of far left feminism/politics---Meryl, Nora, Valerie, Campbell and Tina herself among many others---undoubtedly ended on a high-note. I'm also sure many of these women have worked very, very hard in their lives and undoubtedly deserve credit where credit is due. Unfortunately, today there's a highly-charged additional element of high-partisan, strident post-feminist politics most of these women imbibe and imbue that rubs a great many Americas the wrong way, including me.I'm a woman who cuts a modest swath through the world from time to time but certainly not extraordinary by any stretch of the imagination---even if Tina Brown told me so. Unfortunately I'm also a woman who believes the likes of Sarah Palin is pretty outstanding and full of decent sense. That very fact mercifully excludes me from ever having to RSVP to any such conferences. My greatest gripe with this whole latter day feminist saint movement is--- as with civil rights--- race and gender have become so over-politicized that they continue to create and perpetuate the very beasts (no pun intended, Tina) they purport to eradicate. Feminism and racism are now used as clubs to intimidate and annihilate anything/anyone that's not in its sphere of political correctness. For the most part, I find the majority of these women silly and unappealing. And that's OK since most of them would likewise find me equally so. Still I hope some good came from this grandiose summit.

Sunday Quote: Christ's Free Gift of Righteousness Which Comes Only Through Faith

CHRISTIANS NEVER COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND this themselves, and thus do not take advantage of it when they are troubled and tempted. So we have to constantly teach it, repeat it, and work it out in practice. Anyone who does not understand this righteousness or cherish it in the heart and conscience will continually be buffeted by fears and depression. Nothing gives peace like this [received] righteousness. The troubled conscience has no cure for its desperation and feeling of unworthiness unless it takes hold of the forgiveness of sins by grace, offered free of charge in Jesus Christ, which is this passive or Christian righteousness....Once you are in Christ, the Law is the greatest guide for your life, but until you have Christian righteousness, all the law can do is to show you how sinful and condemned you are. But if we first receive Christian righteousness, then we can use the law, not for our salvation, but for his honor and glory, and to lovingly show our gratitude.

— Martin Luther

H/T Redeemer

Mark Driscoll Explores Luke

MARK DRISCOLL AT MARS HILL CHURCH IN SEATTLE last fall began a three-year study of Luke--both the Gospel the Gentile writer, the famous doctor turned evangelist who never met Jesus personally but began to explore the evidence and found its evidence overwhelming. He later joined the Apostle Paul on his journeys and also write the book of Acts.

I hope you'll avail yourself to this ongoing series---I'll post more of his videos over time---on the gospel writer who wrote primarily to those who were not Jews.

Thanks for this post to Mike at OneYearBibleblog who posted this week about Driscoll's series on Luke as we began our study of Luke online. at Mike's site. Meanwhile, more from Driscoll's introduction of Luke as he puts it and him in historical context:

IBD's Ramirez Nails Demo-Obamacide

WAVERING DEMOCRATS CRITICAL FOR PASSAGE OF HEALTH CARE WHO NEED TO BE CONTACTED ASAP

AN AMERICAN SUICIDE MISSION IS NOW UNFOLDING BEFORE US in Washington. All eyes are transfixed on the spectacle---and it is an epic spectacle in every bad sense of the word. President Obama wants so desperately to score a victory on this by next Thursday that he's changed his travel plans to Asia by a day.

I have said it before, this healthcare bill is the radical left's way of putting the American people in slavery circa 2010. We need to write, call and let our voices be heard loudly in Congress next week. To that end, I want to post several links that I find helpful. For the next few days, except for Sunday, I will focus mostly on the healthcare bill that should never, ever be passed:

Sen. Scott Brown bashes President Obama's 'bitter' health push. He concluded by saying "We need to drop this whole scheme of federally controlled health care, start over, and work together on real reforms at the state level that will contain costs and won't leave America trillions of dollars deeper in debt."

Dr. Dennis Wolf, President Obama's second cousin several times removed, pens a scathing indictment of the ill-begotten bill and the inevitable bad consequences of its passage.

Roger Kimball writes at Pajamas Media about the latest, desperate Obama-Pelosi-Reid scheme to make an end-run around democracy, accountability and the rule of law.

Finally, how the Obama thugs are working Rep. Dennis Kucinich the last liberal holdout to join their suicide mission.

*********
This Friday night from Rep. Marsha Blackburn, a staunch opponent of the current bill, who gives a rundown of the latest from Capitol Hill and what we might expect next week:

Friends,

Rumors about what could happen with the health care bill next week are spreading across Capitol Hill. I thought I would pass on those I am reasonably sure are accurate.

We KNOW two pieces of legislation will need to pass the House. The Speaker will need to find votes for the bill that passed the Senate last Christmas Eve (the Senate bill). The Majority is also putting together a second bill, the reconciliation bill, which makes "fixes" to the Senate bill to make it palatable to House Democrats.

We HEAR the Democrat leadership team could make this reconciliation bill available publicly over the weekend. Some Members have indicated that this bill will be publicly available for a week before it comes up for a vote.

We KNOW the Majority had hoped to pass the Senate bill and the reconciliation bill under what is called a "self-executing rule." In this scenario, the House would first vote for a rule that says any vote to pass the reconciliation bill is essentially a two-fer which would also constitute a vote on the Senate bill. The Speaker then planned to hold the Senate bill until the Senate passed the reconciliation bill, thus guaranteeing the Senate would act on House priorities before the President could sign anything into law. The Senate Parliamentarian popped this balloon yesterday by instructing the Leadership that the President must first sign the Senate bill before the Senate could act on the reconciliation bill.

We HEAR the Parliamentarian's decision has made things difficult for the Speaker. It is one thing for the Speaker to ask Members to trust her; it is entirely different to ask them to trust the Senate. As one colleague said, "The Republicans are the opposition, but the Senate is the enemy."

We KNOW the White House had initially set next Thursday as the deadline for House action on the bill- the date the President was scheduled to depart for Asia. The deadline has been pushed back, as has the President's trip.

We HEAR we can expect a vote next week or possibly next weekend. This will make the week to come very interesting and very important. As always, I will keep you updated as events develop.

My best, Marsha

As Legislative, Intellectual Elites in D.C. Continue To Ram Socialism Down Our Throats, Sweden's Been There, Done That

SWEDEN JUST SAYS NO TO ALL THE SOCIALISTIC NONSENSE CONGRESS AND OUR president wants to ram down our throats. After thirty years of increasing its welfare state with poor results and a sluggish economy, Sweden is changing direction and going towards privatization, decreased regulations, free markets, lower taxes and individual responsibility. Needless to say, it's a lesson we need to review and learn from again. We certainly need to vote our big government, socialist, big spending jerks out of office.

H/T Carpe Diem

After the Earthquake in Chile

A WOMAN sleeps outside her house in Talcahuano, Chile, Sunday, eight days after a powerful 8.8 earthquake.

WSJPhotos

Just When We Thought It Was Safe To Take Our Eyes Off Washington For Just A Few Minutes...

DEMS DESPERATION DEEPENS

....RAHM WENT TO THE SHOWER AND GOT DOWN AND DIRTY WITH A DEMOCRAT DISSENTER ON HEALTHCARE. MASSA SQUEALS, Rahm would sell his own mother to get votes.

I have a friend in D.C. who tells me she got to know Rahm's wife pretty well several years ago through a ladies group they were both in. At some point they talked about getting together with their husbands for dinner. A time and place was set. But at the last minute Mrs. Emmanuel called and cancelled, confessing somewhat chagrined that Rahm was flat-out refusing to go out with them because he saw them as 'moderate conservatives' which was totally unacceptable to him. My friend said that had taught her the extent of Rahm's ultra partisan lifestyle and MO.

No one I know is the least bit surprised at the shower stunt Rahm just pulled. He's the president's right-hand terrorist and hatchet man. As such he's an incredible bore.

Oscar Night: Seven Beautiful Women, Two (Maybe Three) Fabulous Gowns, One Femme Fatale

KNOW WHICH ARE THE GREAT GOWNS? I'll be back later tonight or in the morning to flesh this one out. It's not rocket science. Meanwhile, here are some captions that I would tag under the assorted pics: A) What ever was she thinking? This is not esoteric Manhattan or an Egyptian evening at the Temple of Dundur. Oscar night is for showing your great figure, not draping it. B) Ruffles Have Ridges: The dress that grew and took over the Oscars. C) Demi-flesh and Jen-white take the night as long as Angelina doesn't appear in sultry black. D) Going for pure glam with hair, dress, attitude and glitter. D) Showing off her best assest. E) Great color, lousy cut.

I love it that Sandra Bullock won best actress, however, I did not heart her look as much Cameron's. Sandra looked like she was wearing a glorified bridesmaid gown.

Sunday: True Spirituality Verses Hocus Pocus

TRUE SPIRITUALITY IS A GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

DR. MICHAEL YOUSSEF IN ATLANTA IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE PASTORS IN ALL AMERICA. His is truly Spirit-filled, Bible-based preaching and teaching. When I'm in his fair city I hotfoot it on Sunday morning to his early service at Church of The Apostle, just off I-75 near West Paces Ferry. Last May, I heard one of the most important sermons of my life on the various stages of faith at this service.

When I'm not in Atlanta I often listen----and now sometimes watch---- online through my sidebar link OnePlace.com. At OnePlace we can choose various ministries, clicking on the pastor icon of our choice. I usually click on Youssef. Today I'd like to share a recent sermon on real Spirituality verses faux spirituality which never quite gets it. The real thing involes the Holy Spirit, directed by Jesus Christ and nothing else. The false spirituality is directed by various dark phenomena, not of God but of the powers of darkness. They can be intriguing and momentarily fetching. However, it's the Holy Spirit that convicts us and changes us in real and sustained ways.

Dr. Youssef talks on how the Holy Spirit works in believer's lives.

Does The Academy Have the Guts....

....TO GIVE BEST PICTURE AWARD to the only true story of redemption that's nominated for Best Picture this year? Frankly I doubt it. But it would signal a sea-change in Hollywood. Meanwhile, this is a movie worth seeing, perhaps several times. Sandra Bullock gives a stellar performance. Call me old-fashioned, I like movies that have meaning and imbibe inspiration and the transformative power of Christ working in real people's every day lives and relationships. Roger Simon of the Academy weighed in earlier this week.

Ann McElhinney on James Cameron and Avatar

SO ANN, NEXT TIME TELL US WHAT YOU REALLY THINK! Please don't hold back.

How Bad Is Liberal Indoctrination In American Colleges and Universities?

AN ARTICLE WELL WORTH READING from reformed radical lefty turned conservative commentator and critical thinker---David Horowitz. Thanks Rob DeWitt for the tip.

The linked piece above by Horowitz shows yet another example of uber-political correctness gone awry on college campuses as he highlights his recent visit to the the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and Sheldon Goldman's political science class:

...while I was there I audited an hour-and-a-half lecture about the Warren Court’s landmark decisions on civil liberties by a well-known and highly respected political scientist named Sheldon Goldman, a nationally recognized expert in the field......

OK, so we want to know what happened. But first Horowitz sets the stage by defining what he means by indoctrination:

"Let me begin by stating what I believe indoctrination to be and what it is not. Indoctrination is presenting opinion to students as though it were scientific fact or as though no rational, decent, and moral person could have any other view. It is the equivalent of presenting students with ready-made conclusions which they cannot realistically feel free to challenge. There are entire fields of study that are in fact programs of indoctrination. For example, all Women’s Studies programs with which I am familiar are programs to train students to be radical feminists and specifically to instill in them the doctrine that gender differences are “socially constructed” – that they are artificially created by male elites to subordinate and oppress women.

"The social construction of gender is not a theory that students in Women’s Studies courses are free to adopt or reject. It is taught in the same way university courses in physics teach Newton’s laws of motion."

Kind of sounds like what's taken over global warming science, doesn't it? Opinions masking as absolute facts that no sane human being could or should ever refute. And if we do, well, we're to be shamed and harassed.

Anyway, reading Horowitz's piece makes me remember why I stopped tithing to several high schools and universities a long time ago. It's scandalous what's being taught as fact, often underwritten by taxpayers. Horowitz gives another example of the dreadful left-leaning industrial-educational complex all around us. Well-worth reading.

Pulling Out All The Stops

SERIOUS AND HUMORLESS AS A HEART ATTACK, President (He Means Business!) Obama brings in clowns in white coats yesterday in last ditch efforts to convince us to follow him into the insane asylum. (Honestly, when I first saw this photo, I thought it was a wax museum statute of our president.) He intends to get a healthcare bill passed in Congress, come hell or highwater and show us his Chicago swagger. It's for our own good, you understand. Government, after all, really knows what's best for us.

MEANWHILE, the seven words that will save America.

Photo Credit

For BFF

GOT YOUR EMAIL A LITTLE WHILE AGO and I'm blown away. You've been in my and Alder's prayers hourly these past few weeks as I/we have known you were in the hospital in intensive care going through so, so many struggles and I've been on the other side of the world. I can only say right now that I give thanks and praise to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that you're still alive and God is So Very Merciful and Good. Rest and we'll have some words and a few laughs soon. xxoo to you, D and K

And Now For Some Good News.....

THE MIRACLE OF DEMOCRACY AND THE VOTE IN IRAQ CONTINUES TO UNFOLD

WHEN TUNKU VARADARAJAN WRITES at the Daily Beast, I go straightaway and read every word. It doesn't matter what the subject is, when Tunku writes, I listen. My only regret is his name is so appallingly hard for me to spell or remember---which means it's almost impossible for a poor speller like me to tackle. I want to run every time I see it in print and have to cut and paste when I link. Though I'm beginning to see I might be able to make a little rhythmic poem out of VA-RA-DA-RA-JAN and someday be able to commit it to rote memory....kind of like I did with Ahmadinejad---which I first learned by something about a dinner jacket.

But I digress. Today Mr. VA-RA-DA-RA-JAN writes about the good news in Sunday's upcoming elections in Iraq and how far the country has come in the last five years in spite of all the naysayers and anti-Bush crowd who said all our efforts in Iraq were doomed to failure. Of course now the Obama/Biden administration wants to take credit for it all, after years of dissing their predecessors and the courageous stand our country took under Bush/Cheney. It's all so ironic and hypocritical, isn't it?

Anyway, I hope you will avail yourself to this wonderful piece by a man who knows what he's talking about. A man who owns a name that one day I hope I can say and spell as easily as I can say Palin.

The Spectacle That's Washington, D.C.

LARRY KUDLOW TO OBAMA AND CONGRESS: STOP THE INSANITY!

IT'S NOT OFTEN I'M AT A LOSS for words. But for the past day I've been almost speechless, with little desire to write and frankly less to read, while I watch the healthcare drama of Obama unfold in D.C. I'm on the verge of not wanting to hear or watch anymore. I ponder where this Congressional session will end. It can't be good. Is there anything any of us can do at this point? Yes, yes, I know about mid-term elections and the inevitable court challenges to the constitutionality of this monstrous bill. Still, I feel utterly helpless, as others I talk to do also. These Democratic legislators are absolutely hellbent on passing a piece of insane legislation almost nobody wants. It's do or die for them. Obama seems desperate to display some sort of faux leadership. It feels like we the American people are now here to serve government's agenda.

It's mind boggling to me. And dreadful.

My eyes glaze over and I feel rather numb. At least momentarily. I supposed that's how our genius legislators Pelosi, Reid, Obama etc. want us to feel...with numb acquiescence and blind, exhausted submission. Meanwhile, the weather forecast for the next four days here is for sunshine!

So maybe after a good night's sleep and a few hours of sun tomorrow, my blind, pitiless indifference and stony cold silence will thaw into a few well chosen words and even thoughts of optimism for what seems an out-of- control government that's lost its way and in desperate need of its Founding Principles and mega-doses of fiscal restraint.

MEANWHILE, George Will writes today on our culture of modern immaturity reviewing a book by the same name I really want to read and no doubt will agree with.

Coming To A Health Care Plan Near You

AN UNDEMOCRATIC ABUSE OF POWER

KEEP YOUR EYE ON INTRADE

WEDNESDAY, OBAMA DROPS A BOMB. RECONCILIATION. DO OR DIE. SWALLOW IT OR CHOKE TO DEATH. If the nuclear option is detonated, we will take another unsustainable step towards government takeover of our lives and pocketbooks, fiscal insolvency, and ultimate economic collapse.

Money Morning has a good piece on the nuclear option/reconciliation process with its potential superficial pitfalls---like abortion and immigration. But the larger pitfall is that it was never intended for life-changing legislation such as this. My friend Bobbie Petray emails me this morning:

Reconciliation is attractive to proponents because it sharply limits debate and amendments to a mere 20 hours and would allow passage with only 51 votes (as opposed to the 60 needed to overcome a procedural hurdle). But the Constitution intends the opposite process, especially for a bill that would affect one-sixth of the American economy.

This use of reconciliation to jam through this legislation, against the will of the American people, would be unprecedented in scope. And the havoc wrought would threaten our system of checks and balances, corrode the legislative process, degrade our system of government and damage the prospects of bipartisanship.

Less than a year ago, the longest-serving member of the Senate, West Virginia Democrat Robert Byrd, said, "I was one of the authors of the legislation that created the budget 'reconciliation' process in 1974, and I am certain that putting health-care reform . . . legislation on a freight train through Congress is an outrage that must be resisted." Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, also a Democrat, said last March, "I don't believe reconciliation was ever intended for the purpose of writing this kind of substantive reform legislation." They are both right.

Reconciliation was designed to balance the federal budget. Both parties have used the process, but only when the bills in question stuck close to dealing with the budget. In instances in which other substantive legislation was included, the legislation had significant bipartisan support. For example, Congress used reconciliation to carry welfare reform in 1996, which ultimately passed with 78 votes. And when reconciliation was used to create the Children's Health Insurance Program that I authored with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy in 1997, the program got 85 votes and served as the glue to passing the first balanced budget in 40 years. Both plans were negotiated with, and signed into law by, President Bill Clinton. Read more here.

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I can only say if this travesty comes to pass against our collective will, it will heartily be challenged on Constitutional grounds in every court in the land, including SCOTUS. It will also be taken up big-time by American voters in the mid-term elections this year. And if none of that works, then there's always moving to Texas where secession is not a dirty word.

Today At SCOTUS: Our Constitutional Right To Bear Arms

DOES OUR SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHT SUPERCEDE STATE AND LOCAL LAWS BANNING GUNS? MARCO RUBIO SAYS YES!

A GREAT DEAL IS AT STAKE IN TODAY'S Supreme Court case. Personal liberty and the right to bear arms to protect one's life, liberty and property are as fundamental as our First Amendments rights of free speech. But gun issues have been clouded over the years by well-meaning liberals and bleeding heart legislators who have sought to make it impossible for us to buy and hold guns and handguns especially in urban areas in the name of crime prevention. But study after study reveals that crime is cut when private citizens own them. Sure there can be regulations for buying guns, wait times, and barring people with criminal and felony records to acquire guns. However, this should never prevent law-abiding citizens from their Constitutional right of owning guns. Period. Freedom loving Americans will be watching this case closely, as well we should.

Living The Life of....Riley?

NANCY TO STAND BY HER (CHAIR)MAN

OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK IN THE DOMINICAN

OH NO, I MEANT RANGEL. Wikipedia clarifies: The expression, "Living the life of Riley" suggests an ideal contented life, possibly living on someone else's money, time or work. Rather than a negative freeloading or golddigging aspect, it instead implies that someone is kept or advantaged.

If the shoe fits for Charlie, why shouldn't he wear it? I guess he's Nancy's kept man and we the taxpayers are aiding and abetting his contentment. Guess life's a beach after all. I just realized it might help the country if all his House brethren followed Charlie to the beach and took a break. After all, isn't the most merciful thing Congress could do for our country right now would be to just do nothing---as in Don't just do something, sit there? Er lie there? So, good work, Charlie. We taxpayers will keep an open mind about this photo as we go into the fall elections. By all means soak up all those rays and have a nice day. More.

ELSEWHERE, OFF THE BEACH:

John Tamny writes today for Forbes.com: The Volcker Rule will quickly make the banks forced to rein in their activities irrelevant. This would be fine if the out-innovated banks were allowed to die at the hands of Washington regulations, but as the S&L crisis from the past shows us, heavily regulated and subsidized sectors develop strong political ties, much as the banks weakened by the Volcker Rule will. The banks made pointless by Volcker's plan will in time lobby for reduced restrictions to compete - just as the S&Ls did - and they'll compete for assets with government protection from failure just as the S&Ls did. (MORE) Regulations remain the problem, not the solution.