Phoning It In

...just call my name; I'll be there in a hurry;

you don't have to worry...

~ Diana Ross, Ain't No Mountain High Enough

Call me on the line
Call me, call me any, anytime
Call me my love
You can call me day or night
Call me
~ Blondie, Call Me

I'm still in a state of disbelief over this statement by Obama, linked here. Call him if needed?? "If I can be helpful"??

If needed!!

Excuse me! A sitting U.S. senator, his salary paid by the increasingly-strapped taxpayers, dismisses the $700 billion--BILLION!--bailout proposal with a wave and a sniff as he announces he thinks his presidential campaign should continue. After all, he notes with overweening superiority, the president's job includes doing more than one thing at once.

Sure thing, you condescending rookie. It also includes knowing how and when to set priorities. John McCain has run circles around Obama in this area, but the junior senator from Illinois is too busy maintaining his pompous persona to even realize that fact. And by the way, Trainwreck Obama, you're not president--thank God. You're a U.S. senator, and you can't be bothered to do your current job.

And the U.S.A. is expected to trust this self-important jackass to run the whole enchilada?

Lord protect us if the dithering, clueless Obama gets elected. Putin, Chavez, Ahmadinejad, and all their sorry ilk, are virtually salivating with glee at the prospect. Charge up your cell phones, fellow Americans. It's going to be a long and frightening conversation--without much action--if Obama wins.

Beyond Faith

"Once I was thrown into another cell after a long and difficult interrogation. I discovered scratched into one of the cell's walls the creed "I believe in God, the Father Almighty." There, standing witness to God's presence in a remote, concealed place, recalled to my faith by a stronger, better man, I felt God's love and care more vividly than I would have felt it had I been safe among a pious congregation in the most magnificent cathedral."

~ John McCain, Faith of My Fathers

Among many gripping passages in John McCain's book, Faith of My Fathers, the above quote drew tears.

During the slow, ongoing process of sorting through Pete's belongings, I found McCain's book. I remember Pete reading it shortly after its publication in 1999. In view of current political events, I decided now is a timely moment to read it.

There is no doubt that John McCain has been tested in ways few of us can imagine, let alone survive. While reading, you can't help putting yourself in McCain's place and asking that imponderable question, "How would I do under those conditions?" In all honesty, I must say I have no idea what would become of me.

The book is a glowing love letter to his grandfather and, particularly, his father. I had not known, before the current presidential campaign, that his father had been CINCPAC (Commander in Chief Pacific) during McCain's imprisonment. McCain's father had to order bombings near his son's prison, a heavy load for any father to carry. One touching passage describes how the senior McCain had been seen each Christmas walking to the farthest edge of the DMZ's tarmac and spending time alone, looking north, towards his son's place of imprisonment.

Another moving chapter told the story of a fellow POW who had saved scraps of red, white, and blue cloth and stitched a makeshift American flag inside his shirt. The POWs would recite the Pledge of Allegiance to it each day. When the guards discovered it, they dragged the prisoner outside and beat him brutally. When thrown back into the cell, he had broken bones, a punctured eardrum, and was nearly unrecognizable.

After his cellmates helped him to his mat, everyone got quiet and tried to sleep. Before falling asleep, McCain glanced over to check on the beaten man.

Although his eyes were swollen nearly shut, he had picked up his needle and thread and begun sewing a new flag.

That is more than faith; it is sheer guts, raw courage, amazing grace, impressive strength, unimaginable perseverance and spiritual power, all qualities of character that, forged together, create the living soul of a nation. These are the heroes who have always stepped into the breach and, without fear or hesitation, taken the pain in our stead. These are the men I would trust with my own life, my family's life, and my country's life.

On November 4, I will be proud to vote for one of them.

A Rallying Cry

If you're voting this year, read every word of Bill Whittle's NRO article, The Undefended City. It makes you want to stand up and fight.

Now, where have I heard that before?

A Matter of Conscience

Visit CatholicVote.com, linked here, to view a powerful video on the moral values choices that are at stake in this year's election.

You don't have to be Catholic to relate to the message.

Penniless Patriots

Like most Americans, I have been pummeled in this week’s Wall Street meltdown. My retirement account is hemorrhaging cash on a daily basis. I’m not employed at the moment, and the stock options I had been granted by my former company will expire in two weeks. The options are currently worthless, many dollars under water, and I have no reason to think they will surface enough for me to cash in even the smallest gain.

World famous and revered names in finance are falling in domino fashion. Few people doubt that there is more pain to come in the markets. Even for “experts,” there is really no telling when the bleeding will stop. Of course, the “experts” never saw this disaster coming. Or so they say.

I remember my late husband predicting, in 2004, that the financial market would crash. “This whole setup is going to implode,” he told me. He drew that conclusion from easy money funding the housing frenzy. Pete had worked outdoors for most of his career, in construction. He never took a business management course in college. But he had plenty of common sense, and he knew that the runaway mortgage free lunch could not continue without severe consequences.

So here we are. Bank failures, government bailouts, wildly erratic stock market, plunging retirement accounts, total uncertainty about the next shoe to drop. To me, it seems like a bad time to be talking about increasing taxes on anyone. Even those “patriotic” $250K-makers can’t afford it right now.

Who's Out of Touch?

On September 12, Barack Obama declared that John McCain is "out of touch" with everyday, hardworking Americans.

On September 16, Barack Obama attended a $28,500 per plate dinner on his behalf with the Hollywood glitterati in Beverly Hills. The Barbra Streisand concert after dinner was extra, to the tune of $2,500. The combination gala raked in $9-11 million for Obama, depending upon which report one reads.

John McCain spent September 16 at a voters rally in Vienna, Ohio. No charge.

On the basis of these two events, it's not difficult for me to draw a conclusion about which candidate is more out of touch with hardworking Americans.

Knowledge is Power

That we have not yet had another terrorist attack in the United States is remarkable, but it will happen. Al Queda keeps its promises.

~ Brigitte Gabriel

I have heard Brigitte Gabriel interviewed many times on the radio, and she is always a compelling speaker. Hers is a riveting story of life under the hard fist of radical Islamic terrorism, escape, and triumph over adversity in her new home, the United States.

Now, through her writing, speaking engagements, and American Congress for Truth, she fights to keep her haven, the U.S.A., safe from the enemy she knows, from terrifying experience, will never stop seeking our destruction.

Author of Because They Hate, Gabriel's new book is entitled They Must Be Stopped. Although I have heard her discuss these works extensively in radio interviews, I have not yet read either book. But they are high on my must-read list.

In a Perfect World

I think I may have posted this link, "What If Firefighters Ran the World?"once before. If I did, excuse me, but it's worth repeating.

It would be heavenly to see these guys run Congress for just one day. If only wishing could make it so!

Remembering Reality

Misremembering is as dangerous as forgetting. If we must know one thing, it is that the Sept. 11 attacks were neither a natural disaster, nor the unfortunate result of human error. 9/11 wasn't the catastrophic equivalent of a 3,000-car pileup.

The attacks were not a random act of violence or insanity. They were a deliberate and brutal act of war committed by religious fanatics engaged in Islamic jihad against the United States, all non-Muslim people and any Muslim who wishes to live in a secular society. Worse, the people who perpetrated the attacks have explicitly told us that they are not done.
~ Debra Burlingame, sister of Capt. Charles Burlingame, American Airlines Flight 77

Do Not Forget

Shanksville, Pennsylvania - September 11, 2001

Manhattan, New York - September 11, 2001

My country saved me and I cannot forget it. And I will fight for her as long as I draw breath, so help me God.

~ John McCain