On the State of the Union

I agree with this article.

 clipped from www.frc.org

The More Things Change...

The White House kitchen must have been fresh out of humble pie before last night's State of the Union. Facing a profound crisis of confidence, many assumed that the President would shed those thick layers of self-importance and embrace a little vulnerability. In the end, this President was neither apologetic nor empathetic. Instead, he stubbornly regurgitated an agenda that is no more popular--and even less achievable--than it was in 2009. Where the country wanted consolation, he offered conceit. Rather than a capacity to listen, he showed the audacity to lecture. When there could have been consensus, he brought division.

"Let's try common sense," he said. But "common sense," as defined by this administration, is turning the military into a homosexual playground, socializing child care, and bankrupting families. While he blames social conservatives for distracting the country with "wedge" issues, this White House has just raised one of the most controversial issues of all: homosexuality in the military. Toward the end of the speech, the President interrupted the serious concerns facing America for a brief shout-out to his liberal friends. "This year, I will work with Congress and our military," he promised, "to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are."

While we confront two wars and a national security policy so full of holes you could fly a commercial plane through it, this President proved that he is more committed to fighting the homosexuals' battles than our own. After 14 hearings on the issue over the last decade and a half, Congress has made it clear that the prohibition on gay and lesbian servicemen is absolutely necessary in the unique circumstances of military service. If President Obama succeeds in repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," it would put our military in the strange position of actively recruiting people who have an expressed intention to violate the Uniform Code of Military Justice (which still bans certain forms of sexual conduct, including homosexuality). As the topic heats up on the Hill, we urge you to sign our new petition and remind Capitol Hill that the military isn't a laboratory for political correctness.

The rest of the speech was so fictitious in parts that the President would have been better served to start with, "Once upon a time..." Both the Associated Press and PolitiFact were cranking out pages of inconsistencies between the President's claims and the facts. He stretched the truth on everything from lowering taxes and banning lobbyists from the White House (at least seven are employed there) to creating two million jobs (make that 640,000) and subtracting $1 trillion from the deficit (he meant to say adding billions) through health care. The President said, "The best anti-poverty program is a world-class education," when volumes of FRC research will tell you that the best anti-poverty program is an intact marriage and family. After he openly derided the Supreme Court (in what must have been a State of the Union first) for "reversing a century of law," even the liberal Huffington Post said, "Alito was right. The President was wrong about the Supreme Court decision."

Later, it was déjà pork. "I'm also calling on Congress to continue down the path of earmark reform... And if I have to enforce this discipline by veto, I will." (Funny, he didn't seem to mind signing 8,570 earmarks into law as part of the last omnibus.) "To close the credibility gap... [we must] do our work openly." (Yet he refused to let C-SPAN broadcast the health care negotiations.) The commander-in-chief repeatedly "called on Congress" to right the country's wrongs. With all due respect--you first, Mr. President.

Get Clipmarks - The easiest way to email text, images and videos you find on the web.

Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi

 clipped from www.dailyprayer.us

Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;

and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen.

Get Clipmarks - The easiest way to email text, images and videos you find on the web.