Let's get our heads out of the sand! You with me?

Information that is worth your time...that is, if you truly care about staying involved in our current events.

TODAY'S SPOTLIGHT: Mr. Glenn Beck

Your thoughts?

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Our Future and Our Past - A Discussion: PART FOUR

PART FOUR: The Constitution, Slavery and America's Founders

I was recently asked the following about this series in the comments under PART TWO.

"Also, what about the changes in our reality? These principles were set up in a time when our gov't didn't recognize women, or people of color as 1st class citizens. We had to make a change. It's sort of what I call the "We know better now" principle."

The vast majority of our founders believed that the Constitution was inspired by God. Therefore, it has inherently built into it ways to adjust to issues/injustices that the men at the time did disagree with and in addition issues they could not fathom. However, I don't believe that negates the power and thoroughness of that document as it stands. It was built to change but not easily, which is a good thing. When our government moves quickly it often makes mistakes we pay for later.

I challenge those who feel our founders created a document that isn't fit or is out of date for today, and/or that a God inspired document couldn't foresee what the future held and would be able to adapt properly, to do further research.


Starting with the links to these articles:

The Bible, Slavery and America's Founders

A Tale of Two Constitutions

A Godless Constitution?: A Response to Kramnick and Moore


Our society is extremely ignorant of the actual writings of our founders, myself included and I am working on that. I blame our educational systems for this lack of knowledge of our history but that's a whole different topic for another day.

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Our Future and Our Past - A Discussion: PART THREE

I am taking a different approach to this series. Let me know if you guys like it better or not. I can use all the feedback I can get.

I want to add personal thoughts and outside sources. In this post I want to share a few quotes I find profound and relevant, even today.

PART THREE:
Founders of our Republic and framers of our Constitution in their own words.

"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
-John Adams

"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.... And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion."
- George Washington

"Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt. He therefore is the truest friend to the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue, and who ... will not suffer a man to be chosen into any office of power and trust who is not a wise and virtuous man."
- Samuel Adams

I find these quotes as relevant today as they were when the Constitution was created. The current events we see on our news everyday proves the accuracy of these statements. And they are only a small sample of our founder's thoughts and warnings during the infancy of our Republic.

Here are the links to previous posts (in order) within this series in case you missed them:

Why Am I A Conservative

Our Future and Our Past: An introduction to a series of discussions

Our Future and Our Past - A discussion: PART ONE

Our Future and Our Past - A discussion: PART TWO

Photoshop of the day:

Schmucky says “Let them eat pork”

By Michelle Malkin • February 20, 2009 05:44 PM

Our wonderful friend and Photoshop guru Tennyson Hayes has returned with yet another delicious take on Beltway snobs. In response to Sen. Chuck Schumer’s derision of Americans who care about the pork in the porkulus, Tennyson powders up Schmucky and tops him off with Marie Antoinette’s big white wig.

Perfect:

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And In case anyone missed it here is the inspiration for this great Photoshop picture. I give you Sen. Schummer speaking for us, no wait...I, and a lot of us don't agree, someone should tell him to stop speaking for people he is clearly out of touch with. Oh well, without further adieu the esteemed Senator...

Let's Play: What's Missing From This Picture?

I friend of mine told me I should check out Rachel Maddow's website. So I did. After a general overview of her website on "Air America" I noticed this "poll" and thought to myself, wait, where's the rest of the options? Apparently there aren't any other options. Hmmmmm. Regardless of political party or opinion of President Bush's administration, one has to wonder why these are the ONLY options provided.

I'll leave it at that and you can answer that pending question yourselves.

Our Future and Our Past - A Discussion: PART TWO

PART TWO:
The Challenge for Each of Us to Learn and Pass on to the Next Generation the Fundamental Truths and True History of the Foundation of This Nation

One example is the following book and brief explanation of each principle provided below:

5000 Year Leap: A Miracle that Changed the World"
by W. Cleon Skousen

Discover the 28 fundamental beliefs of the Founding Fathers which they said must be understood and perpetuated by every people who desired peace, prosperity, and freedom.

These beliefs have made possible more progress in 200 years than was made previously in over 5,000 years.

The following is a brief overview of the principles found in The Five Thousand Year Leap, and one chapter is devotes to each of these 28 principles.

Principle 1 - The only reliable basis for sound government and just human relations is Natural Law.

Natural law is God's law. There are certain laws which govern the entire universe, and just as Thomas Jefferson said in the Declaration of Independence, there are laws which govern in the affairs of men which are "the laws of nature and of nature's God."

Principle 2 - A free people cannot survive under a republican constitution unless they remain virtuous and morally strong.

"Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." - Benjamin Franklin

Principle 3 - The most promising method of securing a virtuous people is to elect virtuous leaders.

"Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt. He therefore is the truest friend to the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue, and who ... will not suffer a man to be chosen into any office of power and trust who is not a wise and virtuous man." - Samuel Adams

Principle 4 - Without religion the government of a free people cannot be maintained.

"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.... And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion." - George Washington

Principle 5 - All things were created by God, therefore upon him all mankind are equally dependent, and to him they are equally responsible .

The American Founding Fathers considered the existence of the Creator as the most fundamental premise underlying all self-evident truth. They felt a person who boasted he or she was an atheist had just simply failed to apply his or her divine capacity for reason and observation.

Principle 6 - All mankind were created equal.

The Founders knew that in these three ways, all mankind are theoretically treated as:

1. Equal before God.

2. Equal before the law.

3. Equal in their rights.

Principle 7 - The proper role of government is to protect equal rights, not provide equal things.

The Founders recognized that the people cannot delegate to their government any power except that which they have the lawful right to exercise themselves.

Principle 8 - Mankind are endowed by God with certain unalienable rights.

"Those rights, then, which God and nature have established, and are therefore called natural rights, such as are life and liberty, need not the aid of human laws to be more effectually invested in every man than they are; neither do they receive any additional strength when declared by the municipal [or state] laws to be inviolable. On the contrary, no human legislation has power to abridge or destroy them, unless the owner [of the right] shall himself commit some act that amounts to a forfeiture." - William Blackstone

Principle 9 - To protect human rights, God has revealed a code of divine law.

"The doctrines thus delivered we call the revealed or divine law, and they are to be found only in the Holy Scriptures. These precepts, when revealed, are found by comparison to be really a part of the original law of nature, as they tend in all their consequences to man's felicity." - William Blackstone

Principle 10 - The God-given right to govern is vested in the sovereign authority of the whole people.

"The fabric of American empire ought to rest on the solid basis of the consent of the people. The streams of national power ought to flow immediately from that pure, original fountain of all legislative authority." - Alexander Hamilton

Principle 11 - The majority of the people may alter or abolish a government which has become tyrannical.

"Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes ... but when a long train of abuses and usurpations ... evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security." - Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence

Principle 12 - The United States of America shall be a republic.

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
And to the republic for which it stands...."

Principle 13 - A Constitution should protect the people from the frailties of their rulers.

"If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.... [But lacking these] you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself." - James Madison

Principle 14 - Life and liberty are secure only so long as the rights of property are secure .

John Locke reasoned that God gave the earth and everything in it to the whole human family as a gift. Therefore the land, the sea, the acorns in the forest, the deer feeding in the meadow belong to everyone "in common." However, the moment someone takes the trouble to change something from its original state of nature, that person has added his ingenuity or labor to make that change. Herein lies the secret to the origin of "property rights."

Principle 15 - The highest level of prosperity occurs when there is a free-market economy and a minimum of government regulations.

Prosperity depends upon a climate of wholesome stimulation with four basic freedoms in operation:

1. The Freedom to try.

2. The Freedom to buy.

3. The Freedom to sell.

4. The Freedom to fail.

Principle 16 - The government should be separated into three branches .

"I call you to witness that I was the first member of the Congress who ventured to come out in public, as I did in January 1776, in my Thoughts on Government ... in favor of a government with three branches and an independent judiciary. This pamphlet, you know, was very unpopular. No man appeared in public to support it but yourself." - John Adams

Principle 17 - A system of checks and balances should be adopted to prevent the abuse of power by the different branches of government.

"It will not be denied that power is of an encroaching nature and that it ought to be effectually restrained from passing the limits assigned to it." - James Madison

Principle 18 - The unalienable rights of the people are most likely to be preserved if the principles of government are set forth in a written Constitution.

The structure of the American system is set forth in the Constitution of the United States and the only weaknesses which have appeared are those which were allowed to creep in despite the Constitution.

Principle 19 - Only limited and carefully defined powers should be delegated to government, all others being retained by the people.

The Tenth Amendment is the most widely violated provision of the bill of rights. If it had been respected and enforced America would be an amazingly different country than it is today. This amendment provides:

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

Principle 20 - Efficiency and dispatch require that the government operate according to the will of the majority, but constitutional provisions must be made to protect the rights of the minority.

"Every man, by consenting with others to make one body politic under one government, puts himself under an obligation to every one of that society to submit to the determination of the majority, and to be concluded [bound] by it." - John Locke

Principle 21 - Strong local self-government is the keystone to preserving human freedom.

"The way to have good and safe government is not to trust it all to one, but to divide it among the many, distributing to every one exactly the functions he is competent [to perform best]. - Thomas Jefferson

Principle 22 - A free people should be governed by law and not by the whims of men.

"The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom. For in all the states of created beings, capable of laws, where there is no law there is no freedom. For liberty is to be free from restraint and violence of others, which cannot be where there is no law." - John Locke

Principle 23 - A free society cannot survive as a republic without a broad program of general education.

"They made an early provision by law that every town consisting of so many families should be always furnished with a grammar school. They made it a crime for such a town to be destitute of a grammar schoolmaster for a few months, and subjected it to a heavy penalty. So that the education of all ranks of people was made the care and expense of the public, in a manner that I believe has been unknown to any other people, ancient or modern. The consequences of these establishments we see and feel every day [written in 1765]. A native of America who cannot read and write is as rare ... as a comet or an earthquake." John Adams

Principle 24 - A free people will not survive unless they stay strong.

"To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace." - George Washington

Principle 25 - "Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations -- entangling alliances with none."- Thomas Jefferson, given in his first inaugural address.

Principle 26 - The core unit which determines the strength of any society is the family; therefore the government should foster and protect its integrity.

"There is certainly no country in the world where the tie of marriage is more respected than in America, or where conjugal happiness is more highly or worthily appreciated." Alexis de Tocqueville

Principle 27 - The burden of debt is as destructive to human freedom as subjugation by conquest.

"We are bound to defray expenses [of the war] within our own time, and are unauthorized to burden posterity with them.... We shall all consider ourselves morally bound to pay them ourselves and consequently within the life [expectancy] of the majority." - Thomas Jefferson

Principle 28 - The United States has a manifest destiny to eventually become a glorious example of God's law under a restored Constitution that will inspire the entire human race.

The Founders sensed from the very beginning that they were on a divine mission. Their great disappointment was that it didn't all come to pass in their day, but they knew that someday it would. John Adams wrote:

"I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene and design in Providence for the illumination of the ignorant, and the emancipation of the slavish part of mankind all over the earth."

Book Summary Provided by: Learn The Constitution

(Link for information provided above HERE)

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Our Future and Our Past - A Discussion: PART ONE

Let's start with an explanation of this series of posts. Earlier this month I posted a very abbreviated explanation of why I am a conservative. Click here for a link to my post "Why am I a Conservative?" That got me thinking (which can be dangerous) and I decided it would be interesting to have a more detailed explanation and/or discussion on specific "conservative" topics from time to time. Click here for a link to my post "Our Future and Our Past - An introduction to a series of discussions."

I admit for some this will be boring, for some this will be interesting. I do hope anyone and everyone, who wishes to gain more detailed information or explanation from alternate sources, will take the time to read and/or watch the information posted in this series.

At this point I simply wish to put out information and keep my personal take out of it. Mainly because a lot of this is non-partisan research. My opinions are often viewed as very "partisan" (even though I am neither a Republican or Democrat). However, I will then post comment(s) on these posts and sometimes I will wait to comment until others have shared their thoughts and/or questions.

Let me know if you have any topic/issue suggestions for future posts!

PART ONE:
The US Constitution and Jurisprudence


Just to get things started let's begin, at the beginning. When is the last time/if ever you read IN FULL the Declaration of Independence, US Constitution or Bill of Rights? I admit that I can't remember and after this is posted I commit to reading each one line by line. Will you?

How to Read the Constitution: Self-Government and the Jurisprudence of Originalism (Article Link)

Judicial Independence and the Role of the Judiciary (Video Link)


Republic v. Democracy (Article Link)


Don't misunderstand, this is far from an exhaustive list of resources on this topic but I think it is just enough to get things started. There will almost certainly be other posts on the same or similar topics as ones that would have already been addressed in this series.

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Where's the transparancy we were promised during Obama's campaign? And where is his missing "Position Paper" on government transparancy?

During the campaign, Obama released a position paper stating his commitment to open government. As president, he said, he would not only insist on transparency in his own administration, he would press Congress to revamp its practices as well.

Obama has no constitutional authority to set rules for Congress, but he suggested he would use his influence to see to it that Congress doesn't conduct its work "in the dead of night and behind closed doors."

In the first major piece of legislation pushed by Obama, transparency was missing.

CLICK HERE for the link to the full article from which I quoted above from the Los Angeles Times entitled "Missing from Congress' stimulus negotiations: transparency."

CLICK HERE for an interesting read on President Obama's take on ethics in government - by shining the light on lobbying, federal contracts, tax breaks and ear marks.


Barack Obama on transparency in government. Mountain View, CA - November 14, 2007.

So what are we to make of all of this?

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JUST RELEASED: A New Valentine Candy Heart

Screw the Political Parties (they are all pretty much the same anyway)...BUT WHAT HAPPENED TO COMMON SENSE?!

** WARNING **
I HAVE TO VENT BEFORE I MY HEAD EXPLODES...

I am ticked off with all of them! Where is the outrage over how this is being handled? Where is the outrage from those decent politicians may be left and ALL AMERICANS! Forget all the issues, forget the specifics, forget if it is good or bad. What are we paying them to do? Just cast a vote but have NO CLUE ON WHAT THEY ARE VOTING FOR??? HOW IRRESPONSIBLE CAN OUR CONGRESS GET?

You know I will give President Obama and the Democrats (and RINOs - Republicans in Name Only as well) credit if they are right and have good ideas. I won't NOT support them just because of political party but where is the transparency we were promised? I would be just as upset if the political party roles were reversed right now!

I JUST WANT HONESTY AND A STOP TO THE HYPOCRISY!

It is just disgusting. They all work for us and this is pathetic!






SURPRISE! Dems Break Promise: Stimulus Bill to Floor Friday (click for article)

The Transparency of "Change" (click for article)

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Our Future and Our Past - An introduction to a series of discussions.

I want to hear your thoughts on where our country is heading. In general or a specific issue.


Maybe this will help get the conversation started.
Click Below...
We Surround Them

Why am I a Conservative?

A good friend of mine asked me some very interesting questions that stemmed from a post regarding President Obama’s respect or lack thereof for the Oval Office (dated Jan. 31^st “A Contrast in Symbolism"). I recommend checking it out if you haven’t yet read it or the comments that followed.

I wanted to share these questions that were e-mailed to me and my thoughts with those that read my blog. This wasn’t easy for me or my personality. I had to figure out how to approach this. Do I take a Biblical approach, where my personal foundational views stem from? Not everyone (including conservatives/republicans) agrees or believes the Bible as truth. So should I try to approach it in a way that leaves those types of arguments out? Then to top it all off my instinct and obsessive nature wanted to back up each statement of mine with sources, specific research, quotes, etc.

Then I got a grip, and realized I am making this far too complicated. So I will attempt to take each issue and just answer it simply. If my thoughts need expanding after that, I have no doubt someone will inquire at that point. This should be very interesting since there is no “simple” answer to these issues. And especially when you are addressing people that come from all kinds of different philosophical and religious viewpoints.

First is the statement or question that was posed to me and then my response.

1) “Did you wear a suit when you went to the Oval Office?”

I was only at the doorway of the Oval Office (it was roped off) but yes, actually I did.

2) “And how did you so quickly jump to more serious infractions from that? That's a little extreme considering he hasn't done anything else that is down that line.”

Aside from it being symbolically offensive to many, I was simply drawing a concern that this could be a slippery slope. Showing a lack of respect in this way could be a symptom that may lead to more severe issues or expose serious character flaws. If I tell little “white lies” to my husband it will eventually lead to me telling bigger ones, and it will become easier and easier. President Obama may not agree with the tradition and perhaps there is nothing more to it. But it was still a good discussion and something to ponder in my opinion. The character of a man is extremely important and this “change” was disappointing (and potentially concerning) to many people. I’m just going to leave it at that.

3) “I mean, would you be satisfied if he wore a tuxedo and worked 20 hours a day?”

The tuxedo is extreme so I’m assuming you were being sarcastic here. I’m sure there are many 20 hour days for a lot of people. Just putting in the hours or putting on the suit isn’t the point. It’s about appropriate respect and nothing more. Sure, this is not a matter of national security but an issue that was worth discussing.

Ok, now for the second part of your statement and I will keep my personal religious views out of my answers and/or arguments.

1) “As I understand it, conservative, or right leaning politics likes to keep government intervention to a minimum.”

Our Republic was set up with very limited powers for the Federal Government and more power for the individual States. We have strayed a long way from that system. Reading the actual writings of our founders makes that very clear. If it isn’t provided specifically in the Constitution it isn’t a role for the Federal Government. Unfortunately, as an example when the Judicial Branch goes outside its constitutionally provided role and doesn’t stick to only “interpreting” the constitution this system fails and its original role for our Republic becomes unbalanced. This weakens the power of how our founders set up the roles for each branch and the checks and balances for our government.

2) “Fewer taxes, fewer government programs, lower regulations, etc. Let people make their own decisions. States rights. However, when it comes to social issues there is so much force to the arguments to outlaw abortions or limit rights for same sex couples.”

My comments to the previous statement apply here as well. In addition, I believe we can spend our money better than the government. Most government programs are not as effective as private ones (and that is more likely an understatement in reality). Why would people/private groups take care of something if the government is doing it/paying for it? It is human nature to let government/or someone else take care of it if you don’t have to. However, I think we would be shocked at how the private sector would take over if the government got out of these areas.

I also support lower regulations in respect to allowing the consumer/market (if it is truly a “Free Market” - one without government intervention as was NOT in the case of Fannie and Freddie for example) to control the power. If a company is irresponsible we don’t support it and they will change or fail. Allow the consumer/free market to reward or punish. No one is entitled to never get hurt, never lose money, and never have their company fail, etc. even if they didn’t deserve it. That’s life. I will say it again; the government is not good and not effective in these areas. And it wasn’t meant to be that way.

Giving the States more power and keeping the Federal government to basic issues (i.e. protecting us) allows each individual more power in the decisions that affect their lives. That is a very good thing. You might find it interesting to know that I don’t technically believe in a Federal Constitutional amendment to keep “marriage” between a “man and a woman.” However, considering the situation I can see why it could be a viable option in these days in order to protect the traditional meaning of marriage. But I think all those types of issues are more adequately addressed at the state level just as was intended by our founders. The problem in this particular example is allowing say “gay marriage” in one state is going to mean all states (even those that do not recognize “gay marriage”) will be forced to recognize that “marriage.” This is directly due to expanded and inappropriate roles of the Judicial Branch legislating from the bench and would force those other states to recognize it under “federal law” and therefore circumvent the power of the vote for the voters of those states.

Basically I have the same argument for the abortion issue. As complex as these issues can be I will try to keep my comments on this issue as simple as I can. I would argue that the Constitution protects ALL people. Slaves were once not considered “people” and that was abhorrent. Let’s keep this really simple. Take “partial birth abortion,” as my specific example. Why would the difference between someone being a “person” be dependent upon being “in the womb” verses “out of the womb?” Why aren’t they offered and deserve equal protection under the law?

As a woman, yes I should be able to have control over my body. However, my decisions have consequences (and we can discuss rape separately but I am trying to keep this simple). That baby was not created by only a woman. Where are the father’s rights in this? It isn’t his fault that only a woman can carry the baby.

Nevertheless, many feel very strongly that Roe V. Wade was just simply bad law. Take all other issues out of it and you will find it was legislating from the bench. Again, not the role provided for in our Republic. That would be the role for the Legislative Branch if the people wanted that issue addressed and then legalized.

3) “Can you explain to me why those are issues that it's OK for government to legislate while conservative/right/republicans typically like less government intervention? You can't get more to the heart of people being able to make their own choices than to who you choose to spend your life and share your assets with or your choice about pregnancy.”

I think I have somewhat addressed the first part of this statement but there is an argument to be made that sometimes conservatives feel left with no option but fighting fire with fire (in other words using federal law/constitutional amendments) and to use the government to reverse/protect some issues. I also feel I addressed the issue of choice with pregnancy earlier. I will simply add that I don’t have the “choice” to take an innocent life and the location of that life doesn’t make basic sense to define that legality.

Now, I will agree whole heartedly that same sex couples, close friends, etc. should have some rights that only “families/spouses” currently have. For example; access to visitation in the hospital or deciding who gets your estate. Now, the reason we currently have government “reward” so to speak with tax issues (i.e. tax deductions) for married couples is because it is a fact that the most stable situation for children and therefore the family unit is one with a married man and woman. In fact, take my family. My two step-sons (and therefore to a different extent my daughter as well) do not have the most stable family unit. I see the negative effects every day and it breaks my heart. There is so much more that could be said but I think that is as far as I will go now.

I hope that helps shed some light on where my views come from. Please let me know if there was something that I wasn’t clear on but I tried to keep it as simple as I could. And for those who know me best that was quite a task!

ALERT! Senate Majority Leader states that paying your taxes IS VOLUNTARY.

What do you think will happen if we take him up on that idea and decide to skip it this year?

Is our tax system voluntary?
VOTE NOW on my poll at the top left side of my blog!!

A REAL and URGENT radical threat to the family and American sovereignty!

Senator Boxer To Call for Swift Action on U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child

By Denise Burke | February 10, 2009

Recently, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) promised to call on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the U.S. State Department to complete its review of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child and to send it to the Senate for ratification within 60 days.

If ratified, this international convention could severely undermine parents and their inherent right and responsibility to care for and raise their children without governmental oversight and interference. It would also directly undermine U.S. sovereignty and the enforceability of American laws, subjecting U.S. citizens and American laws to the administrative oversight — and even “veto” power — of the United Nations.

A fundamental presumption of the convention is that parental responsibility exists only in so far as parents are willing to further the independent choices of their children. To advance the convention’s purposes – seeking to make children (even young children) autonomous from their parents and arguably supplanting parents with the State — the convention grants to children a list of inviolable and radical “rights” including “the right to privacy,” “the right to freedom of thought and association,” and the right to “freedom of expression.”

Specifically, the provisions of this convention could be used to undermine and eliminate laws mandating parental involvement in a minor daughter’s abortion decision. Article 16 of the convention purports to invest a minor with an absolute right to privacy which, in light of the U.N.’s support for unfettered abortion-on-demand, would necessarily permit a minor to obtain an abortion without the benefit of parental involvement and even without her parents ever knowing about the abortion.

Ominously, Article 19 the Convention permits the “identification, reporting, referral, investigation, treatment, and follow-up” of those – like parents – who interfere with a child’s fundamental “rights.”

For more information on this radical threat to the family and American sovereignty, go to THIS LINK.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION REGARDING THE UN CRC (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child):

20 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

Ten things you need to know about the structure of the CRC.

1. It is a treaty which creates binding rules of law. It is no mere statement of altruism.
2. Its effect would be binding on American families, courts, and policy-makers.
3. Children of other nations would not be impacted in any direct way by our ratification.
4. The CRC would automatically override almost all American laws on children and families because of our Supremacy Clause.
5. The CRC has some elements that are self-executing, while others would require implementing legislation. Federal courts would have the power to determine which provisions were self-executing.
6. The Courts would have the power to directly enforce the provisions that are self-executing.
7. Congress would have the power to directly legislate on all subjects necessary to comply with the treaty. This would constitute the most massive shift of power from the states to the federal government in American history.
8. A committee of 18 experts from other nations, sitting in Geneva, has the authority to issue official interpretations of the treaty which are entitled to binding weight in American courts and legislatures. This effectively transfers ultimate authority for all policies in this area to this foreign committee.
9. Under international law, the treaty overrides even our Constitution.
10. Reservations, declarations, or understandings intended to modify our duty to comply with this treaty will be void if they are determined to be inconsistent with the object and purpose of the treaty.

Ten things you need to know about the substance of the CRC.

1. Parents would no longer be able to administer reasonable spankings to their children.
2. A murderer aged 17 years, 11 months and 29 days at the time of his crime could no longer be sentenced to life in prison.
3. Children would have the ability to choose their own religion while parents would only have the authority to give their children advice about religion.
4. The best interest of the child principle would give the government the ability to override every decision made by every parent if a government worker disagreed with the parent’s decision.
5. A child’s “right to be heard” would allow him (or her) to seek governmental review of every parental decision with which the child disagreed.
6. According to existing interpretation, it would be illegal for a nation to spend more on national defense than it does on children’s welfare.
7. Children would acquire a legally enforceable right to leisure.
8. Teaching children about Christianity in schools has been held to be out of compliance with the CRC.
9. Allowing parents to opt their children out of sex education has been held to be out of compliance with the CRC.
10. Children would have the right to reproductive health information and services, including abortions, without parental knowledge or consent.
    

For a full explanation of all of these points, check out Mike Farris's article, Nannies in Blue Berets.

My Cousin: PVT MICHAEL JONES, USMC

It is definitely worth noting that there are many ways to serve our country and many different callings on our lives. This post is not meant to diminish the contributions each of my family makes everyday. However, this is an accomplishment and sacrifice I need to share with each of you.

Michael, just saying "thank you" to those who choose to serve and protect our country feels like such an inadequate way to express just how much we support you and are praying for you. I am a very proud cousin and want you to know that we are praying for you guys every day!

Click image to enlarge.

US Marine Recruits Endure "The Crucible"

God Bless our United States Military

My cousin Michael Jones is currently (Feb. 5-7) going through what the Marines call "The Crucible." When completed they are only then officially a United States Marine. Please keep all of these men and women in your prayers during this final phase.

To learn more about "The Crucible" please click HERE for a short video. Click on my pictorial montage above to enlarge.

UPDATED: The Daschle Cover-up

They say it was due to unpaid taxes. I offer the following proof that it was actually because of his ophthalmological style choices.

Unpaid back taxes? I say no. Red glasses did him in.

UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE!

I ran across this cartoon (click to enlarge) that I believe helps back up my theory that it was the red glasses that did him in....those glasses made it on this cartoon. Why? Hmmmmmm.