Supporting Fraud

Political Cartoon is by Nate Beeler in The Washington Examiner.

Baptist Preacher Prays For Obama's Death

At my rather advanced age, I've heard a lot of right-wing hate speech -- so much that most of it doesn't shock me anymore. But I have to admit that it still surprises me when I hear it from an ordained christian minister. Consider the case of Wiley Drake.

Mr. Drake is an ordained Southern Baptist minister, and currently serves as the pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Buena Park, California. He is also a past officer of the Southern Baptist Convention, having served for a year as second vice-president of the SBC.

So this is no outlaw preacher or self-appointed religious nutjob like Fred Phelps. Drake is a respected member of the Southern Baptist community. That makes his statements on the Alan Colmes radio show all the more shocking.

After telling Colmes he had prayed for the death of Dr. Tiller in Wichita, Colmes asked Drake if he had prayed for anyone else's death. Drake answered, "The usurper that is in the White House is one, B. Hussein Obama."

To make sure he heard him right, Colmes asked, "So you're praying for the death of the president of the United States?" Drake answered, "Yes."

Colmes then asked if he was afraid he might be put on a Secret Service or FBI watch list, and Drake replied, "What I am doing is repeating what God is saying, and if that puts me on somebody's list, then I'll just have to be on their list."

Colmes asked once more, "You would like for the president of the United States to die?"

Drake answered, "If he does not turn to God and does not turn his life around, I am asking God to enforce imprecatory prayers that are throughout the Scripture that would cause him death, that's correct."

That doesn't sound very christian to me. Even worse is that he puts his own hatred back on his God. He says he is just doing what God told him to do. I have to wonder, is God unhappy because Barack Obama is a Democrat, or because he is African-American?

The truth is that the Obama presidency is not anti-Biblical, and if there is a God, I doubt he cares who is the President of the United States (or any other country). This sick man is not praying for Obama's death because of any christian principles or beliefs. He is just acting on the disappointments and insecurities contained in his own tiny black heart.

What do you think? Is this man really a christian?

Public Insurance Saves Money

Found at the excellent website of What Would Jack Do?

Change ?

Found at the gallery of Destonio.

What's Wrong With Democrats ?

America has a badly broken health care system. There are 40-50 million people without any health care insurance at all. Many millions more are in danger of losing their health insurance if they lose their job, or if their health care bills become too large. Nearly two-thirds of the bankruptcies in the country are due to medical costs the insurance companies refuse to pay.

It has become obvious to most Americans that the private insurance companies either will not or cannot solve the problem on their own. They are far too concerned with maximizing their profits to be worried about the health care of ordinary Americans.

One reason the voters put Democrats back into office in huge numbers last year, was to do something about the broken health care system. And the public has not changed their minds since then. Consider the results of a new NY Times / CBS News poll. It clearly shows the people want sweeping reforms to the health care system, and one of the changes they want is the creation of a public health insurance option. Here are the poll numbers:

Do you favor a government-run health insurance program?
YES..........72%
NO..........20%

Breakdown by party of those favoring a government-run program.
DEMOCRATS..........87%
INDEPENDENTS..........73%
REPUBLICANS..........50%

Would you be willing to pay higher taxes so all Americans can have health insurance they can't lose no matter what?
YES..........57%
NO..........37%

Do you think government would do a better or worse job than private companies in providing medical coverage?
BETTER...........50%
WORSE..........34%
SAME..........2%
NO OPINION..........14%

With numbers like these, I would think Democrats would be eager to pass sweeping changes to American health care, including creating a public government-run health care option -- something similar to Medicare for all ages. With the American people showing this kind of support, it wouldn't even take any political courage (something the Democrats seem to be short of).

And yet, with each passing day we seem to be getting further and further from real health insurance reform. Some Democrats are now talking about not doing a public option at all, but instead creating insurance co-ops and forcing all Americans to buy private insurance. Instead of fixing the current problems, this would do nothing but give the giant private insurances a huge payday.

Even as solid a Democrat as Diane Feinstein (D-California) believes the president may not have enough votes for a sweeping overhaul of the system. Worse yet, she is even threatening to vote against the president herself!

I am left to wonder just what the hell is wrong with Congressional Democrats? How can they fail to see the crises in the current health care system? We know the Republicans have been bought and paid for by the insurance lobbies. Have they also now bought enough Democrats to kill reform?

With 72% of the people supporting reform with a government-run option, if the Democrats cannot act now, when will they?

The Scope

Political Cartoon is by Steve Sack in The Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

Bell Accused Of Patent Theft

Is the French government trying to give Eurocopter an advantage over their main rival, America's Bell Helicopter, by interfering with Bell's ability to do business during the prestigious Paris Air Show? It certainly looks like that could be the case.

Bell Helicopter and Eurocopter are the two largest helicopter manufacturers in the world, and major rivals. Bell has recently introduced a new civilian helicopter for sale (the model 429 pictured above). They were featuring the new aircraft at their booth at the Paris Air Show.

But a year ago, Eurocopter filed a lawsuit in Canada claiming that the landing skids on the new Bell copter looked like a patented design of Eurocopter. Bell denied the charge, saying the design was developed at their Fort Worth plant.

Last week, a French bailiff showed up at the Bell booth at the Paris Air Show. He had a subpoena, and demanded documents and access to Bell's display of the model 429. This tied up the Bell exhibit for most of the day, because they had to partially dismantle the 429 display to allow lawyers to examine and photograph the landing skids. Bell was also unable to offer demonstration flights on the model they had on hand.

Bell spokesman Joe LaMarca said, "They significantly impeded our ability to conduct business, which is why we’re here. They could have asked to photograph the skids at a time that was less disruptive to our customers."

It looks like LaMarca has a point. The air show lasted for several days. Why couldn't they have done the inspection and taken pictures at night, or some other time? Why did they feel it necessary to do it during business hours? Were they intentionally trying to give Eurocopter an advantage by interfering with Bell's sales?

There is no evidence that Eurocopter requested the French interference, but it certainly looks suspicious.

The Power Of Tweet

Political Cartoon is by Jimmy Margulies in The Record (New Jersey).

Obama On Fatherhood

The following quotes from Barack Obama about fatherhood are taken from msnbc.com.

Father's Day 2007: "Let's admit to ourselves that there are a lot of men out there that need to stop acting like boys; who need to realize that responsibility does not end at conception; who need to know that what makes you a man is not the ability to have a child but the courage to raise a child."

Father's Day 2008: "Any fool can have a child. That doesn't make you a father. It's the courage to raise a child that makes you a father."

Father's Day 2009: "We need to step out of our own heads and tune in. We need to turn off the television and start talking with our kids, and listening to them, and understanding what's going on in their lives."

The Flowering

Political Cartoon is by Patrick Chapatte in The International Tribune.

Obama & DOMA

"Deep Throat" And The FBI

In 1972, a porno movie called Deep Throat was released in the United States. It wasn't a very good movie. Like most pornos, it had a lot of explicit sex scenes with only a glimmer of a plot and a lot of bad acting. It only cost $25,000 to make, but would up making hundreds of millions of dollars. Nearly 40 years later, it is still the most famous porno movie ever made.

Why did a run-of-the-mill porno movie acheive such fame and extreme profitably? The authorities of that time can take credit for that. Authorities at every level (local, state and federal) all across the nation, picked this movie to demonize as the worst of the pornos. They wanted to ban this movie, and use it to ban pornos in general. They failed miserably.

All they did was make the movie famous (or infamous). And as usual, when authorities try to ban a book or movie, it just makes people want to read or see it. People who normally wouldn't have considered going to see a porno movie all of a sudden just had to see this movie. Everyone wanted to see what the authorities were making such a big fuss about.

One of the police agencies that tried to stop the movie was the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), but I don't think most people realized the extent of the FBI's involvement. According to documents released to the Associated Press recently, the FBI had a 5,800 page file on the movie's director.

Memo's showed the involvement reached from nearly every FBI field office to the highest levels of the FBI. According to the AP, "Agents seized copies of the movie, had negatives analyzed in labs and interviewed everyone from actors and producers to messengers who delivered reels to theaters."

Today, it would be unimaginable for the FBI to waste this much time and resources on investigating a porno movie, but 1972 was a different time. At that time, the FBI considered itself not only a policing agency, but also the guardian of America's culture and morals. Mark Weiner, a law professor at Rutgers, says, "The story of 'Deep Throat' is the story of the last gasp of the forces lined up against the cultural and sexual revolution and it is the advent of the entry of pornography into the mainstream."

One of the most ironic things about the investigation was that the FBI's second-in-command, W. Mark Felt, was one of those who received copies of all the investigative memos. A few years later, he would be nicknamed "Deep Throat" because of his revelations about White House wrongdoings to reporter Bob Woodward.

Congress And Health Care

Political Cartoon is by David Fitzsimmons in the Arizona Daily Star.

More Red-Light Cameras For Amarillo

Some cities, like Lubbock, have done away with their red-light cameras, and there was a move in the last Texas legislative session to outlaw the red-light cameras. But that doesn't represent the view here in Amarillo.

While some people continue to run red lights and rear-end collisions have climbed somewhat, the city leaders in Amarillo believe the program has generally been a success. In fact, the city's traffic engineer, Taylor Withrow, says he will probably recommend "the commission approve installing cameras at the intersections of Georgia Street and Interstate 40, Paramount Boulevard and I-40, Grand Street and Northeast 24th Avenue, and at Ross Street and 10th Avenue."

I think this is a good idea. All four of those intersections are very dangerous. They have a high volume of traffic, and a lot of red-light violators. Installing cameras at these intersections should save lives.

A couple of notes on the rise in rear-end collisions. These are generally far less life-endangering than the higher-speed side collisions caused by red-light runners. And they will decrease once most people get used to the cameras (and to actually stopping at red lights).

Running a red light is one of the most dangerous things a city driver can do. Let's give the cameras a chance to help control this violent criminal act.