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The Hostile Opposition Admin | 22 Dec 2008

The Purpose Driven Hypocrite

Preface:
As I am sure that this piece may induce fits of anger from some of my regular readers, for it touches on the always delicate topic of religion, I feel it necessary to say a few preemptive words in my defense. I am not here to discuss religious doctrine or to validate one man’s religious practices over another; I am here to discuss things as they exist in the material world of politics and social constructs. To delve into the spiritual realm and cast pronouncements on salvation and the methods by which it is achieved is beyond my God given ability, for that responsibility lies within God himself and no man should lay claim to that right. A man’s religion lies in his heart and since no one can claim to know the true nature of his beliefs, no man can begin to evaluate them. What I intend to do is discuss the hypocrisy on display when someone, in this case Mr. Warren, betrays his publically stated beliefs through the celebration of those who openly disparage and ridicule him as they ascend to power. With that being said I strongly encourage my readers to continue this discussion in the comments section and express their approach to the afore mentioned topic. 

Your ever faithful servant,
The Angry Capitalist

The idea that President Elect Obama would select Pastor Rick Warren to speak at his January 20th inauguration should take no one by surprise. Obama is after all in the continuing process of defrauding the public by portraying himself as some sort of moderate centrist, something which his history, what little there is, clearly contradicts. Through the selection of Pastor Warren he is simply pandering to the evangelical segment of the Republican base in a vain attempt to curry their favor and make it appear as though he is one of them. Clearly he couldn’t select one of those vile proliferators of racial hatred and perverted theology such as Jeremiah Wright of Father Flager as it would only serve to confirm the allegations made by his opponents on the right and reveal to all his ability to obfuscate and deceive. This is all to be expected from someone who has expended so much effort into manufacturing a marketable image that would be appealing to the average citizen, he is simply doing what all corrupt politicians do; lie about who he is and what he stands for. While Obama deserves scorn for the deceptive practice in which he is engaged, the true contempt should be directed at Pastor Warren for being manipulated into selling out his religion and beliefs for a few fleeting moments on the world stage.

Reputable men often fall prey to the temptation to stoke the fires of the ego through the participation in what they perceive as a historically significant event. Regardless of the nature of the event they are compelled by that inner driving force to abandon all principle in order to be on the stage at a moment when the whole world is focused on that one particular event. Either all convictions are abandoned or some mental contrivance is constructed in order to nullify the here to for existent moral constraints that should preclude their participation in an event honoring someone who contradicts everything they have stood for and fought against their entire careers. This is a loathsome scheme they have developed within their mind in order to rationalize their hypocrisy. Their motivation is nothing more that self aggrandizement and pure unrestrained vanity, those vicious beasts who have proven time and time again to be the downfall of many who claim to have a moral foundation. These men are despicable for they abandon everything, their beliefs, their world view, and in the case of Mr. Warren, their congregation, in the vain attempt to be recognized amongst what they feel are the powerful and influential. To those who fall prey to these temptations everything appears to have lost importance in that moment of egoistic ecstasy as they bask in the diffused radiance that lies at the edge of the spotlight. In that one single moment they are in their earthly glory and all else melts in to nothingness for at last they have achieved greatness through the achievements of other men.

One is presented with the feeling that Mr. Warren is just such an opportunist feeding on the self glorification produce by Obama and his sycophants. He too falls in that category of men who, as I spoke of in my December 17th essay, harbors no ideological fortitude that would enable him to ignore the urge to compromise his beliefs by honoring such a scurrilous man as Obama. Has he not fought for the rights of the unborn for years and now abandons all his efforts for the chance to lay the wreath at the feet of the anointed one? Has he not fought against the steady encroachment of the homosexual agenda on the moral fabric of this nation? Yes Mr. Warren has in the past displayed a penchant for liberal economic policies in hopes of relieving the sufferings of the poor (a view both foolish and misguided I might add) but to honor someone who so ardently promotes the abhorrent practice of abortion and has worked tirelessly to promote its protection is a open and blatant display of hypocrisy. It would appear that Mr. Warren is playing us all for the fool, as he engages in the age old game of speaking from both sides of his mouth in hopes that no one will be wise enough to dissect his charade. Through his participation in Obama’s inauguration Mr. Warren is not only sanctioning the policies Obama promotes but bestowing a form of divine ordination on them as well. In his capacity as a religious leader respected amongst the Evangelical community he possesses the ability to influence a great number of his parishioners. Therefore through this endorsement he runs the risk of leading a great number of people astray by appearing to lessen the degree of importance attached to such core values as the right to life, traditional morality, and private property.

Mr. Warren now appears as nothing more than a simple opportunist willing to sell out his beliefs for a few moments in the radiant glow of the collectivist’s political messiah. He has finally revealed himself for what he truly is, and sadly it is not who he has promoted himself to be all theses years. Perhaps he will take this opportunity to castigate Obama for his planned assault on the moral fabric of this country and say a few words to encourage all of us who feel as though these principals are in danger of being abandoned. Perhaps, but it is highly unlikely for Mr. Warren has displayed time and time again that to him, acceptance by our enemies is more important than challenging them head on.
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The 46 Admin | 22 Dec 2008

Leftist Collapse in Zimbabwe

Dinner

The Utopia of Socialism

Land redistribution often turned into a land grab by the political elite, and frequently poor farmers who received land did not get necessary support. The annual harvest of corn, the main staple food, has fallen to about a third of its previous levels, the Development Program reported.

The narrow roads that threaded this part of Mashonaland used to be lined with beautifully tended farms, residents say. Now, much of the land is overgrown with grasses. Trees sprout in the fields.

In Nzvere, a group of scrawny men sat under a Musasa tree, rolling cigarettes in bits of newspaper and chewing over the central fact of life in rural Zimbabwe: It is impossible to make a living as a farmer anymore.

In the 1990s, these men said, they harvested a cornucopia of vegetables on their small farms and sold the surplus in Harare. Now their land doesn’t yield nearly as much. With the formerly white-owned, large-scale farms no longer productive, the economies of scale that kept prices low for hybrid seed and fertilizer are gone. These small farmers cannot afford the higher prices.

The dollars and cents of farming simply do not add up, they said. The government monopolizes the buying and selling of corn through the Grain Marketing Board. With inflation running officially at hundreds of millions of percent, anything the board pays them is worthless by the time they get it out of the bank.

The farm redistribution has done them no good, they said, instead benefiting those who helped the ruling party grab the land. Even when food aid has come, only those in the ruling party hierarchy have gotten any, the farmers said.

So they have become scavengers, living off the land and surviving on field mice and wild fruit, white ants and black beetles.

This is where a society based on resentment and “equality” ends up.
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Brain Jockey Admin | 21 Dec 2008

Are You Smarter Than A First Grader: “Under God” and Other Important Phrases From the Pledge

Gotta love the intelligence that comes my way from the back seat, as I drive.

Spontaneously, my son asked “mom, what does ‘Under God’ mean?” He then quickly followed by asking the meaning of “justice.”

The irony is that my son was born in and adopted from Ukraine and–according to their laws–until he rejects his Ukrainian citizenship when he turns 18, he has dual citizenship. I believe he was asking about something that many U.S.-born citizens take as just rote–spitting out the words with little thought to their meaning. Words than many on the far left would just as soon flush down the toilet in a warping of the concept of diversity and humanism.

Oh. And the other irony is that my son is in first grade.

What Does It Mean?

Moms and dads both know that you generally don’t have time to think about the answer to questions from the backseat. So, after fiddling with the volume on the radio, I composed my answer. Sure, it was in first-grade “speak” but maybe that’s how we need to teach our population as a whole on this issue.

I explained. “Under God” means several things. First, if we are “under” Him than He is over us. We recognize that there is a power greater than ourselves and our government. That God has blessed us and expects us to act in a way that makes him happy, by obeying his laws even while we make our own laws. I also added that there are some people who don’t believe in God and want us not to say his name in our Pledge, but that I disagreed with that.

Justice. Well, explaining that was a bit tougher and required examples. I told him that “justice” meant being fair. (I knew I had to go further, because “fair” and “not fair” to a first grader has an entire different meaning–like sharing a new toy you just received–not “fair.” )

I explained that justice means more than fair. It means there are responsibilities, rewards and consequences. Say, for example, someone broke into our house and stole our things, or hurt someone in our family. Justice would be finding a fair punishment for them for what they did; there should be consequences. If someone works hard to provide money, a house and things for their family, it is fair that they keep what they worked for. (Of course “not fair” to the far left might be defined as not letting the family keep the fruits of their labor–letting the government redistribute it to others, but I’ll leave that for another time–say, 3rd grade).

I’m sure we’ll have many more of these conversations in the future, but for now, I think he “gets it.” I’m delighted he thinks about these things.

Do you? Are you smarter than a first grader?

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White Horse Musings Admin | 21 Dec 2008

Aaron Shock, Generation Y Conservative Republican Success Story

Elizabeth Meinecke has a great piece in Human Events on Aaron Shock.

He’s from Illinois, young, smart and has a natural talent for relating to voters. And no, he’s not Barack Obama: he’s Aaron Schock, the newly elected U.S. representative for Illinois’ 18th district. Even Biden would like him — he’s young, clean, and articulate, and at 27, will bring a Generation Y voice to Congress in January.

In four campaigns (school board, state legislature twice, and now U.S. representative), he’s never run a negative ad. Instead, he talks about what he wants to do. He has taken his message into an urban district, even to the pulpits of his constituents’ churches. And when the mud starts slinging in Shock’s direction, he always has a clean and clear response…

“She’s a Democrat in a Democrat district, and she’ll be there as long as she wants,” Schock said people told him. He ran against her anyway, and he won.

He’s done all this, unlike the Kennedys, without wealth or the backing of a political family.

“People look at me and my age and say, “Oh, you know, [he] must …come from this political family. Couldn’t be further from the truth,” Schock said. “Nobody had ever run for office. My parents never said, “Hey, you should run someday for office.” When I decided to run for the school board at 19, they thought I was crazy…”

He comes battle-tested from an Illinois environment where conservatives could claim protection only as an endangered species. As a state representative, the Republican Schock’s demographic was an urban district where 20,000 of the 40,000 voters were on food stamps. 25 percent of his constituents were African American. He had to overcome $980,000 worth of attack TV commercials against him in his first state house race (it was the most expensive house race in state history). His re-election race set a new record. When he got to the state legislature, the good old boy network advised him to keep quiet if he wanted re-election — in fact, they told him he shouldn’t vote like a Republican.

“I said, you know what, I’m 23 years old, I ran because I wanted to do what I think is right…I don’t need to be here, and if I lose, so be it, ” Schock said, and ended up voting twice against increase in minimum wage. “I have one of the most conservative voting records in the state house. I’ve got a 100 percent pro-life, pro-family, 100 percent with the second amendment. “

Aaron Schock will vote his conscience, and that may be lucky for conservatives.

Aaron Shock shows that conservatism can win in districts once thought impregnable to Republicans. He shows the power of someone who walks the conservative Republican talk. I hope he is representative of many of the future leaders of our party, & we elect many more who will vote their conscience - conservative Republican conscience.

Crossposted at Rebuild The Party.
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Ron Miller Admin | 21 Dec 2008

My Attitude of Gratitude

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because I believe we all need an occasion to pause and reflect on our blessings, especially in an age when grievance and entitlement have overtaken praise and obligation as appropriate acknowledgments of the liberties we enjoy. It is therefore with an attitude of gratitude that I share with you the things for which I am grateful this Thanksgiving week.

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Ron Miller Admin | 21 Dec 2008

Tying Our Own Noose

The victory of traditional marriage initiatives in California, Arizona and Florida left me once again bemused over the black community’s duality on the issues. Whether it’s the sanctity of human life, the societal imperative to protect traditional marriage, school choice or wealth building, the black voter supports a broad range of conservative policies but consistently and overwhelmingly elects liberal politicians who oppose them. Because of a misguided devotion to identity politics, we’re voting against our own values and interests.

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Ron Miller Admin | 21 Dec 2008

The Lost Boys

If a political movement could be sued for social malpractice, black Americans ought to be rushing to their nearest courtroom to indict liberals for condemning scores of young black males to lives of desperation and hopelessness. The symbiosis between the Democrats, local school boards, and the teacher’s unions has spawned an education bureaucracy that robs these young men of their future. While their actions are criminal, the tragedy is the apparent willingness of black people to enable this malpractice with their support or silence.

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Ron Miller Admin | 21 Dec 2008

Weird Science

Last week brought two more reports of medical breakthroughs using adult stem cells. These and other milestones reported over the past year are lending considerable scientific credibility to the practical and ethical use of adult stem cells for medical purposes. The continued liberal push for government funding of embryonic stem cell research, however, suggests they either can’t read, an accusation they normally level against us uneducated, ignorant and unsophisticated conservatives, or they are guilty of the same abuse of which they accuse us, that of injecting ideology into science. If anything, we conservatives have ethics and evidence on our side; the left has only hope - sound familiar?

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Ron Miller Admin | 21 Dec 2008

A Veteran’s Rude Awakening

Between my father and myself, we served in the U.S. Air Force for over three decades because we believed in the promises of America, if not always its practices. I used to believe the people I was defending shared the same values and differed only in how to realize them. It took the Presidential campaign of 2008 and its aftermath to cause the scales to fall from my eyes and help me see there is yet another war to be fought, but this time against a culture that finds life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness repugnant and believes the end of subjugating us to their worldview justifies the means.
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Ron Miller Admin | 21 Dec 2008

Dry-Eyed

I’ve been puzzled and a little worried about my reaction to Barack Obama’s victory. I’ve seen black people weep openly, choke up in public, and exult in President-elect Obama’s accomplishment, yet I’ve been sober and dry-eyed about it. Yes, I’m intellectually capable of acknowledging the historical and symbolic nature of his election but I’m not emotional about it.

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