Salt and Light

I wanted to share with all of you my Christmas Eve interview with Jerry Hughes on his show Straight Talk, on the Accent Radio Network. Jerry is always so insightful; a complete gentleman and challenges me with great questions. I had to break it up into six segments and below are the first three. I’ll be posting the last three in a day or two. I hope you enjoy the interview and please visit the above websites, including Jerry’s Blog.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Photo credit - FReeper dinasour

Well word certainly does spread fast! This morning Michelle Malkin posted about my conversation with Nancy Pelosi.

She, along with a few of her commentators, have a healthy skepticism about Ms. Pelosi’s motives. I stated as much but I’m still going to give Madame Pelosi credit for her kind gesture. Whether her motives were pure only God knows, but I’m going to give her the benefit of the doubt. Don’t worry, I’m still maintaining normal breathing patterns.

A big thanks to Michelle for posting about this and thank you to whoever alerted her about it.

On this Saturday evening, December 29, 2007, my cell phone rings at about 5:50 pm CST and I hear:

“Is this David Jeffers?”

“Yes it is.”

“This is Nancy Pelosi and I just wanted to call you and let you know that I got your packet from Congressman Jeff Miller and that I read all of your son Eddie’s articles. I want to first say how sorry I am for your loss and I imagine this must have been a tough Christmas for your family.”

That’s how my conversation with the Speaker of the House began. I told her because of our faith in Christ we were able to rejoice knowing that Eddie was with Jesus. I told her my daughters were able to come home for Christmas and we were thankful for that. She asked about the girls and where they lived and said it was great that they were close enough to come home. She said that it was good that we have a strong faith to lean on.

She said that Eddie’s words were profound and that although he is gone from us, his words will live on forever. She also stated that our soldiers are magnificent and regardless of our differences on the war or its conduct, we can all be thankful for such a wonderful military. We said a couple of more pleasantries and then wished each other a Happy New Year. I thanked her for taking the time to call and that I appreciated it.

Now I know some of you are probably pretty skeptical about her genuineness and I admit I was totally taken aback by her call, but she was very gracious. (Don’t worry; I’m not getting soft on anyone).

But a good friend of mine named Fran said that it is very significant that Ms. Pelosi called me on a Saturday night on my private cell phone, not knowing who she was going to get on the other line or what her reception would be. She didn’t introduce herself as the Speaker of the House, just Nancy Pelosi. We believe that Eddie’s words really touched a cord and she didn’t have to call me because in my personal note I wrote to her, which she addressed, I was pretty hard on her.

In my note I told her that Senator Reid, John Murtha, and she were becoming the enemy that Eddie wrote of in “Hope Rides Alone.” I know she read my letter because she talked about things that were in it.

In this day and age of hate politics, and even if it’s only a moment in time, wouldn’t it be nice to think that maybe, just maybe, Eddie’s letter and in a small way my note made her stop and think? Do I think she’s going to change overnight? No. But as I said when I first read Eddie’s words, I am naïve enough to believe that his words can affect a nation.

It already has.

So why not the Speaker of the House?

As I write this, there are barely 62 hours left in 2007 and with all that is left in this year and what we face in 2008, I wanted to invite you to join me in a moment of reflection. What’s important to you? My dear brother in Christ Scott Malensek shared with me that he wanted “to do better…to take actions that benefit others, and thereby better myself by helping others.”

What a magnificent goal! Scott would admit that he didn’t stumble on some new profound truth, but that he took the time to relearn some old lessons. I’m praying that Scott writes the New Years message he discussed with me in an email. It will bless all of us and start us off on the right foot for 2008. (No pressure Scott!)

Another friend is Ros and she sent me an incredible interview she found on Yankeemom’s site and I have to share it with all of you. It may be rainy outside as it is in NW Florida right now, or perhaps you’re in the middle of a snow blizzard; regardless the weather, may the love of Christ warm you and hatch a new desire in you “to take actions that benefits others.”

God bless!

My oldest daughter Tiffany sang the song “For Freedom” at her church on Veteran’s Day 2007 as a tribute to her brother Sergeant Eddie Jeffers and all our fallen heroes. I made a video out of it, enjoy…

Many read the Christmas story found Luke 2:1-20 as a family tradition. I would like to look at some other Scripture passages about Christmas that are not so familiar. I want us to look at some passages that will help us to better understand the significance of Jesus’ birth, which is why we celebrate Christmas.

In Luke 4:16-22 we read:

So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:

Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”

Jesus went to synagogue—He liked to go to church—and read from the scroll of Isaiah where it speaks about the Messiah. In verse 18 we see the word sent and it comes from the Greek apostello. Any guesses what that word sounds like? Yes, apostle! An apostle is someone who has been sent.

In John 17:1-5 we read:

Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.

In verse 3 is the word sent in the Greek is…that’s right, apostello.

Jesus came to earth as a little baby because He was sent by God. Why? Let me share with you something from C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity:

Christianity agrees that this universe is at war. But it does not think this is a war between two independent powers. It thinks it is a civil war, a rebellion, and that we are living in a part of the universe occupied by the rebel. Enemy occupied territory—that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed…

In our nation’s military history…WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War, Gulf War; all those wars were away from the United States, how did we fight those wars? We invaded those countries. Christmas is about an invasion, an invasion from heaven. In the song “Heaven in the Real World” by Steven Curtis Chapman there is a line that says, “God heard creation crying and He sent heaven to earth.”

That is what happened on Christmas morning; heaven came to earth in the form of a baby, miraculously conceived of a virgin, so that the sin from Adam passed on through generations would not be the final story. We needed a Savior and that is why Jesus Christ came to earth, from His throne, and took on the form of a baby.

One more Bible passage; Luke 4:42-44:

Now when it was day, He departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowd sought Him and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from leaving them; but He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent.” And He was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.

Jesus’ mission was to preach the good news of the kingdom of God; that is why He was sent. There’s that word apostello again. If we go back to Luke 4:18, we see Jesus came to:

1. Preach the gospel to the poor
2. Heal the brokenhearted
3. Free the captives
4. Give sight to the blind
5. Free the oppressed
6. Proclaim the year of the Lord—the Messianic Age

In Luke 2:11 the angel proclaimed: For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Jesus saves. The good news is Christmas and the good news is Easter. If you accept the good news, if you accept the free gift of salvation, you will be saved. This Christmas is going to be very different for my family not because Eddie is not here, but because Eddie is THERE! Do you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior? If not, why not?

Well I’ll be on two shows tomorrow. The first show is Detroit’s News/Talk 760 WJR-AM “The Great Voice of the Great Lakes” with Frank Beckmann. Frank’s celebrating his 35th in broadcasting and I am honored to be asked to be a part of his Christmas Eve show. I’m scheduled to appear at 9:20 EST, which means 8:20 my time here in the Florida Panhandle and for all my family in California, that means a 6:20 start. I’ll do my best to get an audio clip to share with you. You can hear the show online at WJR’s website.

Later in the afternoon, 3-4 pm central time, I’ll be making my third appearance on The Jerry Hughes Show on the Accent Radio Network. Jerry has graciously ask me to close his show in prayer my last two appearances and Jerry is a great host and patriot. You can check out Jerry’s blog known as Jerry’s Internet Outpost.

See you on the Internet!

You’ve seen Mike Huckabee’s floating cross (I know, it was just a bookcase)…hey, I like it!…

You’ve seen Rudy’s “I’ll give you a fruitcake or something” Santa ad…

You’ve seen Hillary’s Merry Socialist Christmas ad…

I actually like Obama’s…

Mitt Romney’s “I Can’t Help That I Sound Like a Slick Politician Even During A Merry Christmas” Ad:

John McCain’s Christmas Ad is somewhat touching:

John Edwards’ “Season” Ad is very lawyerly and “uplifting” (NOT!):

But my favorite Christmas Holiday Message is from my favorite Fred Thompson:

They say a picture is worth a thousand words…

Indeed!

Dictionary.com defines moron as “a person who is notably stupid or lacking in good judgment.” Now please understand that I am not using this word to be rude; I believe in using the English language accurately. I am using the word moron as a description, one that aptly fits US House of Representative Jim Moran from Virginia’s 8th Congressional District, which encompasses much of the Arlington and Alexandria areas.

Rep. Moran is notorious for putting his foot in his mouth:

1. Accused of using anti-Semitic remarks in 2003 when he said, “If it were not for the strong support of the Jewish community for this war with Iraq, we would not be doing this. The leaders of the Jewish community are influential enough that they could change the direction of where this is going, and I think they should.”

2. In 2006, Moran said that if the Democrats win the majority in Congress, “When I become chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, I’m going to earmark the s**t out of it” speaking of his congressional district and the amount of money he would bring.

Now his latest blunder was on the House floor yesterday during debate about the military appropriations bill, Rep. Moran disparaged the troops in the most heinous way. Take a look at the video that runs 2:16:

Did you get that part about us ethnically cleansing Baghdad? Here’s a shorter version:

I am calling on the House of Representatives to congressionally censure Rep. Moran. I have never heard a more hateful thing said about our military. In a press release, the Vets for Freedom have rightly condemned this statement and reminded us:

“The United Nations, along with the rest of the civilized world, commonly refers to ethnic cleansing as genocide.

“Once again, Congressman Moran demonstrates how far from reality he has fallen,” said Executive Director of Vets for Freedom and Iraq Army veteran, Pete Hegseth. “Jim Moran has a long history of putting his foot in his mouth, but this time he has gone too far. The men and women who make up our nation’s military are decent and honorable citizens who bravely serve to fight our enemies who threaten our national security. Insinuating that they are war criminals is outright despicable.”

If we the people allow this to go unpunished, then we have failed our troops. This type of conduct is maddening to our troops. I remind you of a line from my late son’s article “Hope Rides Alone”:

Let’s stop all the political nonsense, let’s stop all the bickering, let’s stop all the bad news and let’s stand and fight!

I for one will not allow these despicable politicians to besmrich the good character of our troops; I would dishonor the memory of my son.

I ask you to join me in the following:

1. Call Rep. Moran’s office(s) and tell them you condemn the Congressman for his heinous remarks. Here are his phone numbers:

Washington, DC
Phone: (202) 225-4376
Fax: (202) 225-0017

Alexandria Office
Phone: (703) 971-4700
Fax: (703) 922-9436

Reston Office
Phone: (703) 971-4700
Fax: (703) 922-9436

2. Contact your local representative and call on him/her to file a motion for censure.

3. Contact Speaker of the House Pelosi’s office and respectfully demand that she condemn Rep. Moran’s comments.

Please remember to be respectful and polite; remember the aide had nothing to do with what you are calling about. You may have to call the home offices since most in Congress have gone home for Christmas.

Thanks in advance for support of the troops and thanks to Larwyn Greer for sending out this alert.

The American Standard Dictionary defines a rogue as “an unprincipled, deceitful, and unreliable person; a scoundrel or rascal.” Dictionary.com defines a scoundrel as “an unprincipled, dishonorable person,” and a rascal as “an unprincipled, dishonorable person.” Mitt Romney is all three. I know, I know, you evangelicals just don’t like him because he’s a Mormon.

Let’s review, shall we? I said in my post “Make Believe Mitt” that I found Governor Romney to be “a phony” and “as despicable as they come in politics.” Well it seems as though FactCheck.org agrees with my assessment. This fine organization catalogs how Governor Romney is using “misleading description” when comparing his record as Massachusetts’ governor and Governor Huckabee’s tenure in Arkansas.

Governor Romney is accusing Governor Huckabee in an ad saying “Romney ‘got tough on drugs like meth’ while Huckabee ‘even reduced penalties for manufacturing methamphetamine.” That ad is deceitful in its content. The facts are that while Romney did offer tough legislation on methamphetamine criminals, the legislation never made it out of committee. And while Governor Huckabee did support legislation that “did shorten the amount of time a convict would have to serve before being eligible for parole from 70 percent of the sentence to 50 percent.”

FactCheck.org further explains: “But Arkansas has strict meth laws that remain on the books, and they are far tougher than those in Massachusetts. A convicted meth dealer can be sentenced to 40 years in Arkansas, but in Massachusetts the maximum term is 10 years. The mandatory minimum in Arkansas is 10 years in prison, but it’s only a two-and-a-half-year state prison term in Massachusetts. And, in fact, the bill this ad criticizes was drafted with the help of Arkansas state prosecutors to help alleviate overcrowding problems in the state penal system.”

In light of, um, the FACTS, is not Governor Romney’s ad unprincipled, deceitful, and unreliable? I thought so; I refer you back to the three definitions in paragraph one.

And this is the second misleading ad that FactCheck.org has chronicled about Romney’s attack on Huckabee. Just six days ago Romney released an ad accusing Huckabee of being soft on immigration (which Huckabee was) and Romney being tough, vetoing “in-state tuition for illegal aliens…” and opposing “driver’s licenses for illegals.” However, in 2004 the Boston Globe reported the Massachusetts Maligner was “reluctant to veto the tuition proposal.” The Globe quotes Romney:

Romney (June 2004): “I hate the idea of in any way making it more difficult for kids, even those who are illegal aliens, to afford college in our state. But equally, perhaps a little more than equally, I do not want to create an incentive to do something which is illegal.” FactCheck.org further writes that Romney “took no action to punish the ’sanctuary cities’ that he now rails against. And while he boasts that he authorized state troopers to enforce federal immigration law, that order came at the end of his term, never went into effect and was overturned by his successor.”

Governor Romney, that is just flat out unprincipled and dishonorable, and by definition, that makes you a rouge.

In case I missed you in my email announcement, Frank Salvato was once again gracious to publish my latest article, “His Best Christmas Ever.” This article is about my son Eddie, who was killed three months ago today, and I’ve dedicated the column to my daughters Tiffany and Becky. This Christmas is going to be different not because Eddie isn’t here but because he is THERE!

God bless and Merry Christmas!

How is it that so many conservatives are fooled by Mitt Romney? Is their fear of Hillary Clinton so severe that it has blinded these folks to follow after someone who is such a phony? Am I the only one who sees Romney as despicable as they come in politics? If you were going to cast the stereotypical politician, you would use either John Kerry or Mitt Romney as your template (both from Massachusetts by the way).

Gregg Jackson put it best in an email he sent me earlier today:

I am trying to warn people about this very very dangerous and deceptive individual who is essentially nothing more than a soulless zombie who will do and say anything to get elected. A lot of “conservatives” in the media who are evangelizing Romney will have to be exposed after this is all said and done. They have done a significant amount of damage to the conservative cause but perhaps it was good that Romney came along since as I said in the article it has served the purpose of providing an x-ray into the internal corruption of the GOP (pseudo conservatives like Hannity, Hewitt, Bennett, Sekulow, etc…) who have supported Romney and have ignored his record. It is malpractice in my humble opinion but has shown their true disdain for evangelical Christians. George Will and Peggy Noonan and the rest have always harbored these feelings about us, but now it is coming to light for all to see.

Spot on Gregg! He also sent me an eight minute video on Romney that is worth the time to watch. Please, please search your heart and come up with better than “he’s better than Hillary.” If all we can do is vote “against” someone (which evangelicals should never do, read my pastor’s perspective on that), we as a movement, conservatives are in serious trouble.

So much going on in the presidential race and news being made by the polls, it’s easy to find yourself “knee deep in the hoopla.” What with “Omentum,” “Huckaboom,” “Romney is a Conservative,” “Hillary’s Sorry,” “Fred’s Fizzle, “Rudy’s Ruin,” and a host of other news story, what’s a voter to do?

Simple…get out of the news bubble. Here’s my take on some of this mess and for full disclosure I want everyone to know that I am supporting Fred Thompson for President (There! I said it!!)

As far as Oprah Winfrey supporting Barack Obama, she definitely has a lot of clout, but it will only translate to a possible victory in the primaries and not the general election. I’ve been saying for two years now that Hillary Clinton is not a lock for the White House nor is she a lock for the nomination. Her ship is definitely listing to one side.

Mike Huckabee’s rise to political stardom is definitely breath-taking but time will tell if it is a Roman candle rise or the stuff of satellites. He is finding the spotlight quite hot and so far he’s handled himself quite well. Mike Huckabee is a fine man with the most executive experience of all candidates, yet I’m not sold on his economic policies, fearful of his nanny-state tendencies, and unless he brings on a big hitter in the foreign policy arena, I’m worried about where our foreign policy will lead to. If his ambush on Bush yesterday is any indication, I think we’ll be doing the “please like me” more than the “trust but verify” approach. As time marches on and if he’s still in the hunt after Super Tuesday in February, he could bring on Duncan Hunter (he’s alluded to that) or even John McCain to bolster that weak spot.

Romney: setting aside my concerns of his Mormonism, and they are huge (yeah, I know; I’m a bigot, so sue me), if the former Governor of Massachusetts was a member of my Southern Baptist church here in Gulf Breeze, FL, I doubt I would vote for him. His “convenient” switches from being a moderate (a liberal ashamed of his/her political leanings) to being a conservative is just, well, too convenient. Gregg Jackson, a godly man and excellent political pundit, has written a fine expose on Mr. Romney. Check out “Romney Hoax Fails To Fool Evangelicals That He Is a Conservative” - This is spot on!

Now I know that people change, but I want you to watch this performance of Romney debating Ted Kennedy and compare it with his current performances. The only differences is in what he says, he still looks like a “used car salesman,” as Gregg describes him.

Call it paranoia, but I just do not trust that man.

And then there’s Hillary; man this is fun to watch. Good thing she’s not a man with all her fence straddling and recent foot slipping. Here is just a sample of the commentary, both liberal and conservative, on Hillary’s troubles:

The knives come out in Camp Hillary (The Daily Kos) Liberal Blog
AMERICABlog.com (Don’t let the name fool you; very liberal blog)
“Is Hillary Clinton’s Presidential Bid Headed For A Great Fall?”
Hill’s Big Goof by Dick Morris
Is It Really the End for Hillary? by Rush Limbaugh

So is Fred Thompson really in trouble? If you watch the news? Yes! If you base the voting bloc on how you view Thompson in a speech? Absolutely! Does this necessarily translate into losing the nomination? Um, not even close. My good friend Bubba at What Bubba Knows (you might want to see his picture before you make a disparaging remark), has linked to a fantastic blog post titled, “Fret Not, Fredheads” and the writer, Michael Gene Hendrix aka “Mike,” gives us a much needed reminder about the real state of politics. Also, Quin Hilyer writes in The American Spectator that “Fred Ain’t Dead” yet.

As for America’s Mayor, Rudy is damaged goods and he is the actual candidate who the Dems want to run against. I know, I know, but Dave they said they want Huckabee and they’ll trounce him or they say they want Fred because he’s too old…yadayadayada! Grab your brown paper bag and breathe into it slowly.

Rudy Giuliani is the worst choice the GOP could make. First, he’s pro-choice stance is a non-starter for the majority of evangelicals (hush, we’ve already had this conversation), and second, this Bernie Kerik indictment hits way too close to Rudy. Here is just a sample of what the Democrats will roll out should Rudy win the GOP nomination: “Giuliani’s Longtime Support of Indicted Figure is Latest Chapter of Republican Culture of Corruption”

Or how about this for a campaign ad by the Dems: Howard Dean comes on and says, “America you have a choice, you can vote for change in America and vote Democrat or you can vote for a man who likes to change clothes depending on his/her mood. If you vote Republican, here’s what you can expect from President Giuliani” and they cut to this video:

Nice, real nice…

Let’s cut to the chase and how about visiting the candidates website or better yet go to my good friend Carolyn Elkins’ blog, “Keepin’ It Straight in 2008,” where she’s done all the work for you. Read their positions and then decide for yourself.

Lastly, since I’m supporting Thompson and this is my blog, I just have to share some videos with you. Have a great weekend!

No hand shows

What Fred would do first when elected

Biggest Obstacle to Education Reform: NEA

I want to invite my readers to join me in helping out our soldiers in Hawaii. I personally called this concerned Army wife, Sue Ollar and confirmed that her email is legitimate. I will be putting a check in the mail to buy a soldier a $40 voucher so his or her family can have Christmas dinner.

If you cannot afford the $40, then you can purchase a Hawaiian holiday ornament for $5 and the proceeds will go towards this worthy program.

I wanted to share the original email so you could read it for yourself. I appreciate Mrs. Ollar taking the initiative to meet this important need. What a wonderful way to say thank you to the troops; what an honor.

Here is Sue’s email:

Hey ya’ll,

From my heart,
Sue Ollar

Here is the flyer for the Christmas ornament (click on picture to zoom):

Well this post is about sports in one light but about life in the bigger scope. Tim Tebow, quarterback for the University of Florida Gators football team is the first sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy. The Heisman is awarded to the best college football player in the country. What makes Tim Tebow a good guy is not that he won the Heisman Trophy, but how he accepted the award. Please watch the video below of his acceptance speech:

Wow! How many complaints do you think there will be for his open thanks and acknowledgement to his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Was Tim Tebow saying he won the Heisman Trophy because he is a Christian? I wonder what Mr. Krauthammer would say of Tebow’s open profession of faith?

I say God bless you young man; well done!

Well it looks like Mike Huckabee has finally entered the rarified air of front runner. I’m sure he’s finding that it is actually harder to breathe the higher you rise.

Charles Krauthammer has written a blistering column titled, Huck’s Unholy Dance, which is about Mitt Romney’s speech. Governor Romney gave what I thought was an overall decent speech to defend his faith, both the faith itself and his dependence upon it.

Krauthammer does make the following interesting point:

Just imagine that Huckabee were running one-on-one in Iowa against Joe Lieberman. (It’s a thought experiment. Stay with me.) If he had run the same ad in those circumstances, it would have raised an outcry. The subtext — who’s the Christian in this race? — would have been too obvious to ignore, the appeal to bigotry too clear.

Here is the ad that Krauthammer is criticizing:

Now I don’t know about you, but since when is playing the Christian card bigotry or even an appeal to bigotry? Is it bigotry for a candidate to say, vote for me the only real evangelical in the race? If I choose to vote for someone based on their religion, does that make me a bigot? Better yet, am I expected to be a Christian more than a Patriot? Krauthammer states that Washington described God as the Great Author, but of who does Krauthammer think Washington spoke, some generic God? Quite the contrary, when Washington issued orders to his troops on May 2, 1778, he wrote:

While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion. To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest Glory to laud the more distinguished Character of Christian.

It would seem as though Krauthammer has fallen for the “Washington was a deist” myth.

John Jay was a Founding Father, a member of the First and Second Continental Congress, a key force in the Constitution’s ratification, author of Federalist Paper #64, and the first Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court appointed by Washington. I am curious as to how Krauthammer would respond to the following statement Jay made on October 12, 1816:

Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.

To follow Krauthammer’s line of reasoning, John Jay was encouraging Christian bigotry by the American voter.

I for one am sick of being described as a bigot because I want a Christian as president. And as for Article VI of the Constitution; the third clause states:

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

Article VI was written to prevent the government of being involved in any way as a determiner of religious beliefs or practices. It does not prevent voters from choosing a candidate based on his or her religious beliefs.

Just my way of bringing political and moral clarity into the fog of political correctness!

Thanks to my most devoted reader Carolyn Elkins for this excellent video from YouTube…just in time for the holidays, I mean Christmas with a “C”! Enjoy and Merry Christmas!!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything and I thought it was time even though I am in Okinawa, Japan. Every time I leave America I immediately realize what a great country I live in.

So here are some thoughts looking back at America through the miracle of the Internet; thank you Algore.

Do you ever wonder what country the Democratic presidential candidates live in or what color the sky is in their world? The answer to the latter question is absolutely dull and gray. Saturday the Dems had a meeting before officials of the Democratic National Committee and if I actually took what some of the candidates said, I might have to consider remaining in Japan!
Check out the doom and gloom conference these unhappy-go-unlucky downers conducted in Virginia.

It seems as though her highness was booed today in Iowa on her way to her coronation. Now mind you Hillary was not able to attend the political forum because of her “hostage” situation (I’m sure we won’t hear about this for more than, say, oh a week?). The only question is will the questioner in question who was questioning Hillary be roughed up the way the Clinton War Machine fried Tim Russert.

Something in our postmodern world has gone really haywire when the Democratic Party, along with its willing media, breathlessly awaits and vigorously pursues the most coveted endorsement during the presidential campaign. Am I speaking of the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, or the Washington Post; all three are definite liberal media stalwarts (no really they are!). No actually the most coveted endorsement within Democratic circles now is Oprah Winfrey…seriously! You actually have media types “wondering whether Ms. Winfrey might actually hold the Democratic nomination in her hands.” Wow, that’s power. Hey, don’t believe me? Read it for yourself!

On the GOP side, Mike Huckabee’s star is rising and depending on where you read, the Governor is either Huck Finn or the Huckster.

There is no doubt that Huckabee is a real contender and a viable candidate but as an evangelical he showed that his politics is more important than his faith. He was asked whether Mormonism is a cult and Huckabee whiffed on this softball pitch and then did something even more amazing. When describing why he would not comment on Mormonism he said, “I am not going to get into that argument, because my goal in life is not to evaluate what’s wrong with your faith or somebody else’s, but it’s to be able to live mine so that I remember that the greatest commandment is love my neighbor as myself.”

There are two things wrong with that statement, especially in light of the governor reminding us that he was a practicing Southern Baptist minister. He said “the greatest commandment is love my neighbor as myself.” Now I am not an ordained minister but I am a theology student and last time I checked Matthew 22:36-39 it read: “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “ You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” So actually it is the second greatest commandment reverend, I mean governor.

The Governor also said that he was not “getting into that argument, because my goal in life is not to evaluate what’s wrong with your faith or somebody else’s.” Well might I be so presumptuous as to remind you of the Great Commission? In Matthew 28:19-20 we read: “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen.”

As an evangelical Christian my most important goal is to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and Mormonism is clearly considered a cult in light of the Bible. He could have said something like that and still maintained that Americans have the freedom of religion and they are free to worship or not worship any entity they choose and I will defend that right to my dying breath.

Well I have to go and train some Marines and I’ve rambled long enough. Everyone have a blessed week and I look forward to your comments.