Obama Is a Failing, Unpopular President. So Why Are Republicans Still So Afraid of Opposing Him?

Look at the numbers below. Even with the mainstream press working day and night to sell the Barack Obama agenda (as well as dutifully covering up his "progressive" dismantling of the Republic), Obama is the least respected President in modern history.  So tell me, why are Republicans so timorous -- no, make that terror stricken -- to oppose him? 

Obama's "I Won't Rest" Promise Revisited

At a GM plant in Warren, Ohio on September 15, 2009, Barack Obama boldly promised the employees, "But I want you all to know, I will not rest until anybody who's looking for a job can find one -- and I'm not talking about just any job, but good jobs that give every American decent wages and decent benefits and a fair shot at the American Dream."

That promise drew enthusiastic applause and shouts of hurrah -- well, from the adoring press corps anyhow.

Obama went on in subsequent speeches to make the same pledge. "I will not rest until every American who wants a job has a job. A good job."

He won't rest, huh? How's that promise worked out?

Well,  President Obama has had 83 vacation days overall and at least 57 vacation days since that much-heralded pledge. That's quite a lot of rest, don't you think?

And, of course, those vacation days don't include the President's restful hours spent in lavish parties, being entertained by Hollywood celebrities at the White House, and zipping around Air Force One to those innumerable shindigs where extremely rich people give him adulation, cash, and shout-outs to move even faster in the remaking of the Republic.

Oh yes…one other pertinent point. Since Mr. Obama's promise, the numbers of unemployed have not decreased at all. Indeed, they have increased. Just as have the numbers of Americans receiving food stamps, the number of Americans who have dropped under the poverty level, the number of businesses that have closed, the numbers comprising our atrocious national debt, and so on.

And that folks, is the "rest" of that story.

Today's Posts

When Swing Was King "Turns" 21

Little Church, Big Impact

Things Ain't Pretty, People

Remember When It Was the Bing Crosby Tournament?

Propaganda Aplenty: TV Networks & Gun Control

When Swing Was King "Turns" 21

Well, not exactly.

But 21 is the number of different "When Swing Was King" presentations now completed. And every one is ready with music, photographs and entertaining trivia to take travelers on a sentimental journey back to the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s.

The completion of the 21st edition of "When Swing Was King" means a couple of important things. 1) With just two more editions to create, Claire and I will then have two whole years worth of monthly shows. That's two years of terrific entertainment for the residents of the 13 nursing homes and assisted living facilities we visit every month without having to repeat (except for the Christmas edition) any of them. Beautiful.

And 2) with the completion of those editions, I will have several more hours each month to spend on something else. That will be very nice. We've figured that the previous "When Swing Was King" editions have taken anywhere from 18-26 hours to create.  Each. And even more when you toss in the search for and editing of the photos. Being free from this duty every month will be great.

Anyhow, let me go ahead and let you know the songs, bands and singers that are a part of "When Swing Was King" Number 21. It's an impressive lineup.

1) Glenn Miller Orchestra -- "Sunrise Serenade" (1939)

2) Kay Kyser Orchestra -- "Playmates" (1940)

3) Duke Ellington Orchestra -- "Chelsea Bridge" (1941)

4)  Harry James Orchestra (Vocals by Helen Forrest) --
"I Had the Craziest Dream" (1942)

5) Artie Shaw Orchestra -- "Blue Skies" (1936)

6) Tommy Dorsey Orchestra
(Vocals by Frank Sinatra, Connie Haines, & the Pied Pipers) --
"Oh, Look At Me Now" (1941)

7) Gene Kelly -- "Singin' In The Rain" (1952)

8) Chick Webb Orchestra -- "Strictly Jive" (1937)

9) Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra (Vocals by Helen O'Connell) --
"I'm Stepping Out with a Memory Tonight" (1940)

10) Benny Goodman Orchestra -- "Here's Love In Your Eyes" (1936)

11) The Mills Brothers -- "Glow Worm" (1952)

12) Ethel Merman -- "There's No Business Like Show Business" (1954)

As always, we have the WSWK schedule up on the Vital Signs Ministries website and we would be delighted whenever you'd like to come along and join the party.

Little Church, Big Impact

In the swirl of decadence, injustice and false religion which marks modern America, what can one small, relatively poor church congregation from the inner city do? 

Well, they could hide in the sanctuary and hope the bad guys won't bother them if they're quiet and manageable. Or they could close up shop and let their folks slide into entertaining modern churches where the definition of "missional" emphasizes cultural compatibility.

Or...they could emulate the model of Faith Bible Church on the near south side of Omaha. For though this congregation is small (40-70 in a Sunday morning service) and is representative of a wide variety of backgrounds, levels of Christian maturity, education and life experiences, etc.,  this is a congregation which takes the Bible quite seriously -- studying it, applying it personally, and promoting it in the general culture.

Thus you'll find in Faith Bible Church high-level expository teaching of the Word of God from the pulpit and in Sunday school classes, in the AWANA club for neighborhood youth, and in Bible studies held in homes, the church gym and a nearby high-rise apartment building.

You'll also see outreach efforts from the people at Faith Bible Church which involve several types of mercy ministries to people in the neighborhood, summer barbecues and block parties, a weekly open gym night, Good News clubs for kids, summer camp, film events, Christmas caroling, visitation in nursing homes, and the generous sharing of their building and resources with a Hispanic church.

And, for a church located in a poor section of Omaha and with a congregation of very limited means, the financial situation is wonderfully healthy. It is notable that the church doesn't pay salary and benefits for a full-time pastor. Instead they utilize the services of an older Christian who, though experienced and dependable as a Bible teacher, fills the pulpit as a perennial guest speaker. (And stability isn't a concern either; he's done so for more than 5 years.) This practical agreement, along with the fact that the building is paid for, helps free church funds for other important things like a generous support of mission activities here in the U.S. and in several other countries.

Another testimony of the congregation's commitment to live out their Christian faith in the public square is the participation of a remarkable percentage in events like the annual Walk for Life in Lincoln, neighborhood cleanups, petition signings, visitation in nursing homes, the annual Life Chain, and quarterly letter-writing parties.

Principled, prayerful, persistent, and practical -- Faith Bible Church may be just a little church but the job it is doing in living out Christ's kingdom is very big indeed. And yes, you're cordially invited to join us in our adventure.

Postscript: One of those quarterly letter-writing meetings occurred at Faith Bible Church just last night. While the Spanish-speaking church was using the gym and the main kitchen for a celebration dinner (3 years since its founding), about 17 people from FBC took Sunday school space in the basement to spend 90 minutes writing letters. The targets included church missionaries, persecuted Christians, the Military Religious Freedom Act, the Boy Scouts, de-funding Planned Parenthood, Nebraska LB 300 (a 4-D ultrasound right to know bill), thanks to Hobby Lobby, protests to the Carol Wright company for including sex-themed articles in unsolicited "family" catalogs, Russia's ban on American adoptions, Valentine's Day cards for nursing home residents, etc.

By the end of the evening, those Faith Bible Church letter-writers had penned almost 50 Valentine's Day cards and over 70 letters! Like I said -- little church, big impact.

Things Ain't Pretty, People

 * The National Debt Is Eeeeeeeenormous! And it includes over a trillion bucks to Communist China!

In data released Thursday afternoon, the Federal Reserve revealed that its holdings of U.S. government debt had increased to an all-time record of $1,696,691,000,000 as of the close of business on Wednesday.

The Fed's holdings of U.S. government debt have increased by 257 percent since President Barack Obama was first inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2009, and the Fed is currently the single largest holder of U.S. government debt.

As of the end of November, according to the U.S. Treasury, entities in Mainland China owned about $1,170,100,000,000 in U.S. government debt, making China the largest foreign holder of U.S. government debt...

* Constitution, Congress, Democracy -- Obama Isn't Going to be Bothered by Any of That Stuff!

President Obama is considering a series of new executive actions aimed at working around a recalcitrant Congress, including policies that could allow struggling homeowners to refinance their mortgages, provide new protections for gays and lesbians, make buildings more energy-efficient and toughen regulations for coal-fired power plants, according to people outside the White House involved in discussions on the issues...

The moves underscore Obama’s increasingly aggressive use of executive authority, including 23 administrative actions on gun violence last month and previous orders that delayed deportations of young illegal immigrants and will lower student loan payments. These and other potential actions suggest that Obama is likely to rely heavily on executive powers to set domestic policy in his second term. One White House official said that while the president does not see the actions as substitutes for more substantial legislation, he also wants to move forward on top priorities...

 * The Absentee Commander in Chief -- The Defense secretary told the president that Americans in Benghazi were under attack. Then: nothing.

* California lacks doctors to meet demand of national healthcare law -- Lawmakers are working on proposals that would enable physician assistants, nurse practitioners, optometrists and pharmacists to diagnose, treat and manage some illnesses.

* Federal employees' union head: Obama pay raise proposal 'simply not enough'

* Muslim Brotherhood Demands It All (In the Country To Which We're Giving Jet Fighters)

Egypt's ruling Muslim Brotherhood has nominated one of its senior leaders for the influential position of grand mufti, the nation's top cleric, defying critics who accuse the Islamist group of seeking to dominate all institutions…

The mufti is empowered to issue opinions (fatwas) on any matter, influencing legislation on social and cultural issues, public behavior and court rulings...

* Iranians on revolution day chant ‘death to America’

* Horsemeat found in British supermarkets 'may be donkey' 

Remember When It Was the Bing Crosby Tournament?

Now here's an interesting story on several fronts. Maybe you remember Bing Crosby with fondness and would like an update on one of his very successful kids. Or perhaps you like golf history. Maybe it's business that you're into. Or you simply like insightful human interest stories.

It's all here in this piece on former golf champion, business success, and son of the greatest of all American crooners, Nathaniel Crosby.

Propaganda Aplenty: TV Networks & Gun Control

Media watchdog Brent Bozell examines just how deliberately unfair is the TV network's news coverage on guns, gun control, and the 2nd Amendment.

A new Media Research Center study reviewed a sample of 216 gun-policy stories on ABC, CBS and NBC in the first month after Newtown, from the Dec. 14 shooting through the morning after President Obama's Feb. 16 speech pushing new gun control proposals. The number is instructive. That's not 216 stories in a month on Newtown. That's 216 stories just about the policy "solution" -- more gun control.

There are zero stories tilting toward a "solution" of curbing violence in TV and movies. That's because the TV networks show violent scenes nightly and are owned by companies with movie studios that profit from violent scenes. Try finding the word "violence" next to "movies" or "television" in a post-Newtown story on the TV networks where it isn't a casual afterthought.

The First Amendment is treated as sacred; the Second Amendment as profane.

As one might suspect, stories advocating more gun control dominated. But "outnumbered" is an understatement. They smothered stories tilting against gun control by 99 to 12, or more than 8 to 1.

It's easy to arrive at that results when anti-gun sound bites were aired almost twice as frequently as gun rights sound bites (228 to 134). When the Big Three network "news" operations sought out guests for interviews, the tilt was 26 to 7…

After Newtown, the networks again demonstrated that there's no story on which they can't dramatically stack the deck. Liberal news stories lead to liberal legislation. They know it; and relish it.

Today's Posts

This Past Week at The Book Den

Joni Eareckson Tada: Roe v Wade Goes Way Beyond Abortion

Colleges Now Teaching Sex Techniques (Because Pop Culture So Carefully Avoids the Subject!)

The Latest Global Warming Effect? The Chicago Murder Rate.

"If You Give the Bureaucrats the Children..."

Starve the Child to Death Because of...What?

The FDA is Failing Us

This Past Week at The Book Den

A Love Story We Will All Do Well to Read

(A video preview of a new book from Ken and Joni Tada)

Excellence in Historiography: SE Morison's Two-Ocean War

(I'm recommending this 1963 book very highly, just as highly as I've recommended its author for decades.)

Was Mozart Dissed in Death?

(Sometimes a great story is just that -- a story that's not real.)

Music, Fire and a Moment of Respite

(Reflecting on fireside moments, torch singers and the occasional break from the spiritual battles of life.)

Is It Insomnia...or Just a Good Book?

(A clever cartoon)

Joni Eareckson Tada: Roe v Wade Goes Way Beyond Abortion

Forty years ago when the US Supreme Court legalized abortion, people assumed it was only a private matter for women alone. But not so. The Roe vs. Wade decision has had a devastating impact on Americans with disabilities. 

To explain this, Joni Eareckson Tada recorded a video for the Americans United for Life Legal Conference recently held at the National Press Club in Washington DC. Take a moment and watch the video (right here) which details how dismantling the rights of an unborn child has impacted newborns with disabilities, people in comas, the uninsured, and the elderly.

Then Joni encourages you to please share it with friends, family, church members and your social networking contacts.

Colleges Now Teaching Sex Techniques (Because Pop Culture So Carefully Avoids the Subject!)

"I heart female orgasm" is a public event taking place at the University of Minnesota to teach young women and girls enrolled in the school how to achieve and improve their orgasms. Yes, you heard me right. "Sex Week" at Yale and now this. There is only one way to combat this insanity. Minnesota parents need to threaten to withhold their tuition payments until this ceases.

Do college students really need this class? Women have been having orgasms since time immemorial and learned it all on their own without the aid of university classes. If someone has problems in this arena, this very personal matter should be discussed in private with a doctor or therapist. Sex should be a private concern but we are trivializing it with programs like this at the same time we are making it too pressing of an issue in our already sex-obsessed culture.

Today's pop culture and university system are working hard turning sex into an open and public endeavor. The messaging to young people is that it is nothing special, it does not require intimacy, it's for sport and entertainment, it's something you just have to do like going to the bathroom or blowing your nose, and whoever you can do it with when you need to do it, is just fine.

The overriding message is this is an animal urge and follow your instincts at all times. The need for control and restraint is passé.

Well, we aren't just animals. We do possess free will and discipline and that is, after all, what distinguishes us from our animal pals. Is there a course on this at college?

Read more of Sally Zelikovsky's "Whatever Happened to Private Sex?" over at the American Thinker.

The Latest Global Warming Effect? The Chicago Murder Rate.

Speaking of the stunning murder rate in the city of Chicago, Christie Hefner, the former chairwoman and chief executive officer of Playboy Enterprises, explained to the small (but oh-so-progressive) audience of MSNBC that one factor being overlooked is climate change.

“Yes, last year we hit a record number of murders from guns. And this year we are already outpacing last year’s numbers. Now, there are contributing factors that are not under anybody’s control and may seem odd, but it is factually true. One of them is actually the weather. There is a dramatic increase in gun violence when it is warmer. And we are having this climate change effect that is driving that.”

How absurdly irrelevant for liberals to keep looking for "contributing factors that are not under anybody's control" while ignoring those factors that clearly and overwhelmingly are responsible; namely, the post-Christian Nanny State's removal of civilizing influences from the "hood" -- civilizing influences like religion, quality education, work ethic, business opportunity...and dads.

"If You Give the Bureaucrats the Children..."

"This notion that the children belong to the state, that their education must be provided for by the state … is inimical at every step to liberty. If you give the bureaucrats the children, you might as well give them everything else as well.”

(J. Gresham Machen, Professor of New Testament at Princeton Seminary between 1906 and 1929 and a leader of the conservative revolt against theological modernism and heterodoxy.)

Starve the Child to Death Because of...What?

We’re aware that many doctors in the United States recommend abortions for babies whose potential disabilities show up on ultrasounds or in prenatal testing. We’re also aware that, sadly, all too many parents choose abortion in these cases. And all too often, their babies are discovered to either be perfectly “normal” or the parents later on discover that the disability or defect was one they definitely could have lovingly dealt with, had they only been given accurate and complete information.

Our society has become consumer and product focused in an ultimately dangerous way. When we, the consumer, discover the news that our child, the product, is not quite up to par with our expectations, we are given the choice to end an innocent life. Perfection – though impossible to define – is the standard demanded. And who among us truly meets it?

But has our culture deteriorated to such a degree that doctors are recommending babies who are born but have such relatively mild problems such as a bilateral cleft lip and palate be allowed to starve to death?

Alas, that's the depth to which we've plunged. Indeed, here's the story of one family's experience who encountered just such a "care treatment" as far back as 1997.

On October 7, 1997, our 8 pound, 14 ounce son Aidan was born at a hospital in Modesto, California. Immediately after he was fully delivered, we knew something was wrong. The doctors lowered him out of our sight instead of putting him on Jodi’s stomach and began whispering to each other. That’s when they told us he was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate. It did not show up on an ultrasound. We were shocked.

What advice were you given?

The day after he was born, Aidan was taken into the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) because he was unable to breastfeed, and was becoming dehydrated and weak. The hospital did not have the type of bottles babies with a cleft use to feed. The hospital pediatrician called my husband into the nursery and advised us to sign Aidan over to the hospital. He told us that we were still young, we could still have other children, and that these kids (kids with cleft lip and palate) tend to have neurological problems, he would require many surgeries that could bankrupt us, and that if we were foolish enough to ignore medical advice and take our baby home he would end right back at the hospital as a “failure to thrive.”

The “treatment plan” the doctor told us was that they’d give our son pain medicine, and let him die (of starvation and dehydration). Jodi began to cry and refused, at which point the doctor turned to Quentin and said, “Get her out of here, she’s being irrational.”

Read more of this LifeNews.com story by Kristi Burton Brown right here.

The FDA is Failing Us

In a couple of posts this week ("Look Closer -- RU-486 Is a Very Dangerous Drug" and "This Is What It's Come To -- Abortion by Vending Machine?"), I've referred to the problem of the highly-politicized Food and Drug Agency failing to regulate dangerous drugs.

Well, it seems that the FDA is failing in another sense too; namely, over-regulating and controlling drugs that are beneficial and much-needed.

Here's a note I received from a friend this week, a pro-life Christian whose perspective I fully trust.

He writes, "My wife, who is a pharmacist, was explaining to me how hospitals (she works at one) are beginning to run out of necessary drugs because of FDA over-regulation. One drug company representative said their company is about an inch or two from having to close up because of the regulations. [This company sells a drug that helps] all the electrolytes that keep your body in balance, which is one of the biggest issues for critically ill people. Today, the hospital where she was working at was running short of atropine, dextrose, calcium chloride, sodium bicarbonate, potassium phosphate, and potassium acetate."

My friend closed his note with this, "Isn't Obamacare going to be fun!"

Today's Posts

Adoption. What a Beautiful Choice!

Hillary Clinton's Arrogant Performance...and Why It Should Scare You to Your Socks

Freedom, Economy and Moral Sanity Under Fire

Wednesday Tea Break (Broadway)

Adoption. What a Beautiful Choice!

Hillary Clinton's Arrogant Performance...and Why It Should Scare You to Your Socks

"The terrifying mindset of Secretary Clinton" -- Joseph Curl writing in the Washington Times:

Her words are already long gone from the daily flow; in fact, they never really resonated at all, were all but ignored by the mainstream media, and were characterized more as a feisty in-your-face comeback than what they truly were.

And what they truly were was horrifying — but at the same time a deep insight into the Democratic mindset, as well as a peek at what may be coming in 2016…

But Mrs. Clinton made clear at the hearing that she didn’t have to answer to anyone — certainly not elected lawmakers, let alone the American people. “What difference does it make?!” she bellowed. Now, this hearing was in fact a hearing intended to find out why the administration said the attack came after an impromptu protest over a video. Senators made clear in the days preceded the hearing that they planned to ask just that, get the answer to that most pressing unanswered question.

“You know, to be clear,” the secretary explained, as if to children, “it is, from my perspective, less important today, looking backwards, as to why these militants decided they did it [sic], than to find them and bring them to justice.”

So, from her perspective, there doesn’t need to be any investigation into why the administration said what it said. It’s like a child breaking a lamp, lying about it to his parents, and then saying, “Look, we could go on and on about who said what about breaking the lamp, but fixing the lamp now is really all that’s important — let’s move on.”

And that is terrifying. The secretary of state said simply, “The ends justify the means.” The Obama administration had lied about what happened in Benghazi to help secure a second term for the president, buried the murder of Americans in a private investigation, then, when finally questioned, said, “What difference does it make!?” what we said way back then.

The tactic is, of course, how Democrats operate. They feel that what they are doing is morally superior; thus,  however they can achieve their goals is above question or reproach. In fact, in this case, they can lie about it — bald-faced — and then dismiss lawmakers’ questions with an indignant huff.

It is, as we know, exactly how the Clintons operate. Bill Clinton lied for weeks and months over his sexual dalliance with an intern only a few years older than his daughter — even under oath — and Democrats decried the probe as a witch hunt. Remember when Mrs. Clinton made $100,000 through spurious cattle futures contracts? Of course not: By the time it all came around, the Clintons said, “Oh, that old stuff?” Or the time the Clintons announced they had suddenly found papers demanded by investigators for years? And don’t even ask about Vincent W. Foster Jr.

This is what’s coming in 2016. A politician running for president who need not answer questions from anyone.

And that truly is horrifying.

Freedom, Economy and Moral Sanity Under Fire

Here's just a few dispatches from the culture wars. (And please note, I use the term "culture wars" in a hopeful sense; that is, I HOPE someone is daring to fight back against the forces of decadence and tyranny.)

* The U.S. economy posted a stunning drop of 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter, defying expectations for slow growth and possibly providing incentive for more Federal Reserve stimulus.

* Chicago murders top Afghanistan death toll -- This is the city whose strict gun control laws Barack Obama thinks should be the model for every city in the country.

* George Will: Obama "Lives In Parallel Universe Where A Dollar Spent On A Can Also Be Spent On B."

* Obama Appointee: There’s Too Much Freedom, Censor the Press

President Obama recently nominated John Brennan for the office of Director of the CIA but is he the right man for the job? One might worry that “no” is the answer to that as we’ve since found out that in the 1980s Brennan thought Americans could have “too much freedom” and suggested that the press should be censored. He also felt the citizenry’s rights should not be considered sacrosanct.

So, a man that thinks freedom should be restricted because there’s too much of it has just been named to America’s premiere secret policing agency, one that is supposed to interact with the rest of the world? How can anyone think this is a good idea?... (Read more of Warner Todd Huston's column at Liberty News right here.)

* Democrat Senator's sex scandal unreported by the press for more than a week finally gets some coverage...when the FBI raids the office of his buddy!

*  Colorado Democrats yesterday killed a bill that would add the state to the list of more than 25 states that provide justice and protection for pregnant women and unborn children.

* Dereliction: 60 Minutes Ignores Benghazi for Obama/Clinton Love-Fest

* Boys Scouts Ready to Cave In to Homosexual Pressure

Facing diverse and ceaseless protests, the Boy Scouts of America is signaling its readiness to end the nationwide exclusion of gays as scouts or leaders and give the sponsors of local troops the freedom to decide the matter for themselves.

If approved by the Scouts' national executive board, possibly as soon as next week, the change would be another momentous milestone for America's gay-rights movement, following a surge of support for same-sex marriage and the ending of the ban on gays serving opening in military...

* The Largest Extortion Attempt in Commercial History...and the Obama Administration Doesn't Care a Whit.

The Chevron case is an inexplicable mess of nested fraud schemes and bribery, the sort of thing that would be an international scandal if the victim were any entity other than a multinational oil company. Chevron simply is not a sympathetic defendant. Never mind the rule of law — the Chevron-Ecuador fiasco is a case study in the rule of P.R.

But the United States government still has a Department of State and a Department of Commerce, both of which ought to be keenly interested in the fact that corrupt representatives of a foreign power are trying to shake down the shareholders of a U.S.-based firm for tens of billions of dollars. The major shareholders of Chevron are not monocle-wearing plutocrats, but regular-guy mutual-fund investors and retired schoolteachers from San Bernardino. Surely this government has a responsible to protect them from theft?

The Obama administration is of course nowhere to be seen in this. We can dole out billions to vaporous “green energy” companies but we do nothing when somebody is trying to plunder billions of dollars from an oil company...

* Now They Tell Us: Obama's Tax Promises Were Bogus

Remember all those mainstream news reports before the election about how President Obama's expansive spending plans would require massive tax hikes on everyone, not just millionaires and billionaires? Neither do we. But somehow after the election, reporters are finally admitting that Obama's budget numbers simply don't add up and that new taxes on the middle class — including a European-style value added tax — are "inevitable."…

* EPA Email Scandal Is Worse than Originally Thought