Labels: politics

Today the Supreme Court overruled Judge Sonia Sotomayor, Barack Obama's appointment to the Supreme Court, in Ricci v. DeStefano, where "white and Hispanic New Haven firefighters sued when their test scores for promotion were discarded when the city decided that not enough black test-takers received high scores. The Court held that it violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act for a city to throw out test scores for promotions simply because of the racial makeup of the results." This is a great victory for the civil rights movement, for the high court has ruled that men must be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin.

This is a sad day for Barack Obama. His appointee apparently has "a victimhood mindset that minorities can't get ahead in life unless government tilts the scales in their favor." Unfortunately for Obama, Sotomayor's prior rulings reveal who she -- and ultimately he -- really is. I'll let you connect the dots for yourself.

Labels: politics

The verdict is in. Bernie Madoff was sentenced to prison for 150 years. The man who operated the most expensive and elaborate Ponzi scheme in history is going to spend the rest of his life in a cage. And for good reason, too. The man cheated victims out of billions of dollars of their hard-earned money so that he and his wife Ruthie could live a life of luxury beyond belief. The man is an evil villain, for he has destroyed countless lives by swindling others and living off of their hard work.

The liberal media portrays the Bernie Madoff scandal as yet another example of Wall Street greed at its worst. But I see it in a different light. Rather than use this story as a tool to promulgate class envy and criticize capitalism and the private sector, I want to examine the underlying principle of what makes Madoff's actions so evil.

Fundamental to liberty is the possession of private property. As Mark Levin states in his book, Liberty and Tyranny, "Private property is the material manifestation of the individual's labor -- the material value created from the intellectual and/or physical labor of the individual, which may take the form of income, real property, or intellectual property." (p. 62) Human beings were created to work, created to imagine, created to be creative and spontaneous, to achieve ends, and to have a purpose. The property we acquire, in whatever form is takes, is tangible validation of our efforts, a physical reminder that what we do with our lives has meaning and purpose. It is true, materialism is the perversion of human achievement. Once material things supersede the immaterial in importance, the proper order of things become corrupt. But material possessions, in themselves, are not an evil.

Abraham Lincoln said it well:

Property is the fruit of labor...property is desirable..is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may be rich, and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another; but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built.

God created human beings with the capacity to work, to acquire, and to share. But there is a huge difference between freely sharing what you have and someone forcefully taking it from you.

In the final analysis, is there any calculable difference between what Bernie Madoff did to his victims and what the United States federal government is doing to its citizens right now? Every day, as the federal government and its massive budget deficit grows larger and larger, private property ever becomes public property. The massive redistribution of wealth in America through taxation is the liberals' attempt to impose a governmental, economic, and moral structure on individuals through controlling and destroying the human spirit. The government steals what is rightfully earned for the supposed "public good." This public good is determined by the elected few whose motives are tainted by political self-survival and special interests. These people believe that through the redistribution of wealth they may achieve a Marxist utopia, and to them the death of liberty is merely a casualty of war.

Bernie Madoff's victims are left without their hard-earned money, and along with that their security and in many ways their children's futures. A lifetime of hard work of so many has been flushed down the drains for the benefit of those who did not earn it. My fear is that the same thing is happening in Washington D.C. as I speak.

Our Father's fought tyranny and died for the cause of liberty. They established a Constitution that served to restrict the scope, size, and role of the federal government. A day may soon be coming when this country's citizens may once more need to stand up and fight for liberty. I, for one, am not willing to lose this battle through ignorance and apathy. What about you?

Labels: politics

Congratulations, America. The Congress and President that you elected are poised to pass Cap and Trade -- which is essentially Cap and Tax -- legislation tomorrow. As the WSJ puts it, "Under a cap-and-trade system, government sets a cap on the total amount of carbon that can be emitted nationally; companies then buy or sell permits to emit CO2. The cap gets cranked down over time to reduce total carbon emissions." Translation: Raise the price of energy consumption so that less energy is consumed. Sounds good, right?

Wrong. Cap and Trade is essentially just another tax hike (see The Heritage Foundation's analysis here). It will not only create a heavier burden on the already burdened lower class (who have greater energy costs compared to disposable income than the middle and upper class), but will have a devastating impact on America's GDP. The WSJ continues:

The hit to GDP is the real threat in this bill. The whole point of cap and trade is to hike the price of electricity and gas so that Americans will use less. These higher prices will show up not just in electricity bills or at the gas station but in every manufactured good, from food to cars. Consumers will cut back on spending, which in turn will cut back on production, which results in fewer jobs created or higher unemployment. Some companies will instead move their operations overseas, with the same result.

The Heritage Foundation says it well:

In the name of saving our planet from “catastrophic global warming” for future generations, what we’re really doing is ensuring they live in a world with less opportunity and paying for our mistakes through increased debt, all for a change in the temperature too small to ever notice. All of these costs accrue in the first 25 years of a 90-year program that, as calculated by climatologists, will lower temperatures by only hundredths of a degree in 2050 and no more than two-tenths of a degree at the end of the century.

As I've said before, the whole point of the 'green' movement is control. "Scare/anger/disenfranchise enough people, and they will give you that much more control of their lives and the lives of everyone else." This legislation, which few in Congress will even read before voting on, is tyranny cloaked as a hero. What is being promoted as the salvation of the world is nothing more than another bureaucratic power-grab. These things are true: Climate change is normal. CO2 is a natural gas. Humans are not destroying the world with carbon emissions. And liberals in Washington DC will stop at nothing to control your life, even if it means forcing us all back into the economic stone ages.

Contact your elected officials today and implore them not to vote for Cap and Trade legislation.

Labels: politics

Courtesy of The Heritage Foundation:

Labels: politics

From Mark Levin's Liberty and Tyranny (p.8). Simply brilliant:

The Statist has an insatiable appetite for control. His sights are on his next meal before he has fully digested his last. He is constantly agitating for government action. And in furtherance of that purpose, the Statist speaks in the tongue of the demagogue, concocting one pretext and grievance after another to manipulate public perceptions and build popular momentum for the divestiture of liberty and property from its rightful possessors. The industrious, earnest, and successful are demonized as perpetrators of various offenses against the public good, which justifies governmental intervention on behalf of an endless parade of "victims." In this way, the perpetrator and the victim are subordinated to the government's authority--the former by outright theft, the latter by a dependent existence. In truth, both are made victims by the real perpetrator, the Statist.

The Statist veils his pursuits in moral indignation, intoning in high dudgeon the injustices and inequities of liberty and life itself, for which only he can provide justice and bring a righteous resolution. And when the resolution proves elusive, as it undoubtedly does--whether the Marxist promise of "the workers' paradise" or the Great Society's "war on poverty"--the Statist demands ever more authority to wring out the imperfections of mankind's existence. Unconstrained by constitutional prohibitions, what is left to limit the Statist's ambitions but his own moral compass, which has already led him astray? He is never circumspect of his own shortcomings. Failure is not the product of his beliefs but merely want of power and resources. Thus are born endless rationalizations for seizing ever more governmental authority.

Labels: politics

No one disputes the fact that the health care system in the United States has problems. Despite the fact that it remains the best in the world, much can and needs to be improved. I don't think, however, that nationalizing is the answer. Here are a few reasons why.

There is no level playing field when the government enters an industry for which it sets the rules of operation. Despite Obama's promise that a nationalized plan will simply be one among many options for American citizens, a government plan will destroy the private health insurance sector. It has been likened to a Trojan Horse in that it is introduced as a competing option but will ultimately change the entire system to single-payer, that being you and me, the American tax payer. And if the public education system in America is any indication of what a government monopoly does to a given sector, that will be a disaster.

This, of course, is assuming that the Federal government would even have sufficient revenue to pay for such a system. Once again, despite the rhetoric from the White House, there is NO MONEY for nationalized health care, and there will be no money in the foreseeable future given a deficit that is expanding faster than the visible universe. There is already no money for the current medical entitlements that the Federal government has committed itself to, so how does President Obama intend on financing his multi-trillian dollar health care initiative? The CBO's preliminary estimates are that current nationalized health care legislation would cost up to $2 trillion over 10 years, with most of that being borrowed money. This same legislation would still leave millions of Americans without health care. And when was the last time that the government spent less than what it projected it would spend? The truth is that a nationalized option would grossly increase the burden of debt passed to American citizens in the form of new taxes and inflation without even accomplishing its utopia-ized vision of health care for everyone. It is farce, typical of political propaganda.

Furthermore, if we take a cue from other countries where the health care system was socialized we will learn its dirty secrets. Doctors will make less money leading to fewer people entering the medical profession. This will lead to a general lack of doctors and thus a rationing of care, with the government being the determining body of who gets what kind of care and how and when. The overall quality of health care in America will plummet, and we will fall behind in innovation and the advancement of medical science. In short, when the government takes over the costs go up and the quality goes down.

But perhaps the most dangerous aspect is more philosophical than practical. It has to do with the general role that the federal government plays in American life. The founders of our country did not envision a system where the people relied on the government for everything. Quite the opposite, the government, established by the people and for the people, exists to preserve and protect liberty, freedom, security, human rights, and individuality. Our country is great because it is a place where the individual has the right to pursue happiness and success through creativity and hard work. When you socialize, you essentially destroy the human spirit. Those who achieve become less inclined to do so, and those who don't have no incentive to try. Meanwhile, a bloated federal government, dominated by special interests and political self-survival, remains corrupt and inefficient.

There are a whole host of other problems with nationalized health care. These above are just a sample. To learn more about this topic from a conservative perspective, consider the Heritage Foundation's research center in general and their article on the Kennedy Health Bill in particular.

I don't know about you, but I don't want this government in control of one more apsect of American life, especially one so important as health care. There are other options available besdies nationalizing. We the people simply need to let our elected officials know that we want them to be considered.

Labels: politics

-From The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life, by Hannah Whitall Smith:

Lord Jesus, I believe that thou art able and willing to deliver me from all care and unrest and bondage of my Christian life. I believe thou didst die to set me free, not only in the future, but now and here. I believe thou art stronger than sin, and that thou canst keep me, even me, in my extreme of weakness, from falling in its snares or yielding obedience to its commands. And Lord, I am going to trust thee to keep me. I have tried keeping myself, and have failed, and failed, most grievously. I am absolutely helpless. So now I trust thee. I give myself to thee. I keep back no reserves. Body, soul and spirit, I present myself to thee as a piece of clay, to be fashioned into anything thy love and thy wisdom shall choose. And now I am thine. I believe thou dost accept that which I present to thee; I believe that this poor, weak, foolish heart has been taken possession of by thee, and that thou hast even at this very moment begun to work in me to will and to do of thy good pleasure. I trust thee utterly, and I trust thee now.

Do you believe that God can be a present help in your wage against sin in your life? Is He strong enough? Is He able? I would challenge you this day to consider whether God, who spoke the cosmos into existence, is strong enough to conquer sin in your heart at this very moment in time.

Perhaps the question isn't whether or not God is able, but rather are you willing to let Him.

As you can see, Truth Dialogue - The Blog, along with the rest of truthdialogue.com, has undergone a significant overhaul. While I have updated the appearance, structure, and content of the site, the real changes come 'beneath the hood' so-to-speak. You will find that not only does the site have an enhanced appearance, but the pages load much faster and more reliably across multiple browsing platforms, including mobile devices.

I have worked hard to make the technical and visible aspects of this website practical and appealing. While I continue to complete this process I promise to continue trying to make the substantive aspects of this site worth your while as well.

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This from an open letter written by Lou Pritchett, former vice president of Procter & Gamble whose career at that company spanned 36 years before his retirement in 1989:

AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA

By Lou Pritchett

Dear President Obama:

You are the thirteenth President under whom I have lived and unlike any of the others, you truly scare me.

You scare me because after months of exposure, I know nothing about you.

You scare me because I do not know how you paid for your expensive Ivy League education and your upscale lifestyle and housing with no visible signs of support.

You scare me because you did not spend the formative years of youth growing up in America and culturally you are not an American.

You scare me because you have never run a company or met a payroll.

You scare me because you have never had military experience, thus don't understand it at its core.

You scare me because you lack humility and 'class', always blaming others.

You scare me because for over half your life you have aligned yourself with radical extremists who hate America and you refuse to publicly denounce these radicals who wish to see America fail.

You scare me because you are a cheerleader for the 'blame America' crowd and deliver this message abroad.

You scare me because you want to change America to a European style country where the government sector dominates instead of the private sector.

You scare me because you want to replace our health care system with a government controlled one.

You scare me because you prefer 'wind mills' to responsibly capitalizing on our own vast oil, coal and shale reserves.

You scare me because you want to kill the American capitalist goose that lays the golden egg which provides the highest standard of living in the world.

You scare me because you have begun to use 'extortion' tactics against certain banks and corporations.

You scare me because your own political party shrinks from challenging you on your wild and irresponsible spending proposals.

You scare me because you will not openly listen to or even consider opposing points of view from intelligent people.

You scare me because you falsely believe that you are both omnipotent and omniscient.

You scare me because the media gives you a free pass on everything you do.

You scare me because you demonize and want to silence the Limbaughs, Hannitys, O'Relllys and Becks who offer opposing, conservative points of view.

You scare me because you prefer controlling over governing.

Finally, you scare me because if you serve a second term I will probably not feel safe in writing a similar letter in 8 years.

Lou Pritchett

Labels: politics

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