Who Will You Thank?

                     Who Will You Thank?
This week we’ll celebrate that very unique and wonderful American holiday, Thanksgiving.  Although the residents of the Virginia Colony actually celebrated a special day of thanks for their survival a few years earlier than the Pilgrims, it is the Pilgrims Thanksgiving celebration whose story is most often recounted.

Thanksgiving is, of course, a day known for its turkey dinners, football games and being with friends and family.  It’s recognized by everyone as a day to be truly thankful for all the blessings we have, but who are we thankful to?

Today our public schools teach our children to be thankful to the Indians who taught the Pilgrims about shell fish like oysters, about corn, about tomatoes, and even potatoes.   In fact, I am thankful that the peaceful Indians like Squanto were so helpful to the Pilgrims.  But is Thanksgiving about giving thanks to the Indians?

But who are you thankful to?  Who do you credit for all your blessings and who did the Pilgrims and our Forefathers credit for all their blessings?  Who do you believe is responsible for the blessings, the physical abundance of your life?  Yourself?Government?God?

Here is Massachusetts Governor William Bradford’s 1623 Thanksgiving proclamation…

        Inasmuch as the great Father has given us this
        year an abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat,
        peas, beans, squashes, and garden vegetables,
        and has made the forests to abound with game
        and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch as
        he has protected us from the ravages of the savages,
        has spared us from pestilence and disease, has granted
        us freedom to worship God according to the dictates
        of our own conscience.

        Now I, your magistrate, do proclaim that all ye
        Pilgrims, with your wives and ye little ones, do
        gather at ye meeting house, on ye hill, between
        the hours of 9 and 12 in the day time, on Thursday,
        November 29th, of the year of our Lord one thousand
        six hundred and twenty-three and the third year
        since ye Pilgrims landed on ye Pilgrim Rock, there
        to listen to ye pastor and render thanksgiving to ye
        Almighty God for all His blessings.
Can any doubt that this proclamation of Thanksgiving was directed at any other party than the God of the Bible which the Governor and his fellow Pilgrims relied so heavily upon?

Moving along 166 years later to the Thanksgiving proclamation of our first President, General George Washington, to who did the Father of Our Country give thanks?

        WHEREAS, It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge
        the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will,
        to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore
        His protection and favor;

        WHEREAS, Both the houses of Congress have, by
        their joint committee, requested me "to recommend
        to the people of the United States a day of public
        thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by
        acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and
        signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording
        them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of
        government for their safety and happiness:"

        Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday,
        the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by
        the people of these States to the service of that great
        and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of
        all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that
        we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our
        sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and
        protection of the people of this country previous to
        their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold
        mercies and the favorable interpositions of His
        providence in the course and conclusion of the late
        war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and
        plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable
        and rational manner in which we have been enable to
        establish constitutions of government for our safety
        and happiness, and particularly the national one
        now lately instituted' for the civil and religious liberty
        with which we are blessed, and the means we have
        of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in
        general, for all the great and various favors which He
        has been pleased to confer upon us.

        And also that we may then unite in most humbly
        offering our prayers and supplications to the great
        Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon
        our national and other transgressions; to enable us all,
        whether in public or private stations, to perform our
        several and relative duties properly and punctually; to
        render our National Government a blessing to all the
        people by constantly being a Government of wise,
        just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully
        executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns
        and nations (especially such as have show kindness to us),
        and to bless them with good governments, peace,
        and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice
        of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science
         among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all
        mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He
        alone knows to be best.

Washington’s proclamation wasn’t about some vague God, but about the very personal and loving God of the Bible to whom Washington ascribed all power, glory and honor.  Washington was, after all, not just a certified parishioner of the state church in Virginia, but an active Vestryman who not only worshiped regularly, but also prayed regularly to the God of the Bible.

Only 15 years earlier, Washington, as a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses supported a resolution in support of the beleaguered Massachusetts Colony calling for a day of fasting, humiliation and prayer which read…

        Being deeply impressed with apprehension of the
        great dangers, to be derived to British America, from
        the hostile Invasion of the City of Boston, in our Sister
        Colony of Massachusetts bay, whose commerce and
        harbour are, on the first Day of June next, to be
        stopped by an Armed force, deem it highly necessary
        that the said first day of June be set apart, by the
        members of this House as a day of Fasting, Humiliation,
        and Prayer, devoutly to implore the divine interposition,
        for averting the heavy Calamity which threatens
        destruction to our Civil Rights, and the Evils of civil
        War; to give us one heart and one Mind firmly to
        oppose, by all just and proper means, every injury to
        American Rights; and that the Minds of his Majesty
        and his Parliament, may be inspired from above with
        Wisdom, Moderation, and Justice, to remove from
        the loyal People of America all cause of danger,
        from a continued pursuit of Measures, pregnant with
        their ruin.

        Ordered, therefore that the Members of this House
        do attend in their Places, at the hour of Ten in the
        forenoon, on the said first day of June next, in Order
        to proceed with the Speaker, and the Mace, to the
        Church in this City, for the purposes aforesaid...
Now, let’s move forward in time another 74 years to Abraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Day Proclamation of October 3, 1863…

        The year that is drawing towards its close, has
        been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and
        healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so
        constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget
        the source from which they come, others have
        been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature,
        that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even
        the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever
        watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst
        of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity,
        which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to
        invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has
        been preserved with all nations, order has been
        maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed,
        and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in
        the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre
        has been greatly contracted by the advancing
        armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions
        of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful
        industry to the national defence, have not arrested
        the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has
        enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the
        mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious
        metals, have yielded even more abundantly than
        heretofore. Population has steadily increased,
        notwithstanding the waste that has been made in
        the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the
        country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented
        strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance
        of years with large increase of freedom.

        No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal
        hand worked out these great things. They are the
        gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing
        with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless
        remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and
        proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and
        gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one
        voice by the whole American People.

        I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of
        the United States, and also those who are at sea and
        those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart
        and observe the last Thursday of November next, as
        a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent
        Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend
        to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly
        due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings,
        they do also, with humble penitence for our national
        perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender
        care all those who have become widows, orphans,
        mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in
        which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently
        implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal
        the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as
        may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full
        enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.
 Lest there be any doubt as to what God Lincoln was thanking, let us move back in time just a few months to March 30, 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln, at the request of the United States Senate set aside a day of fasting…

        And whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of
        men, to own their dependence upon the overruling
        power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions,
        in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine
        repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to
        recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy
        Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations
        only are blessed whose God is the Lord.

        And, insomuch as we know that, by His divine law,
        nations like individuals are subjected to punishments
        and chastisements in this world, may we not justly
        fear that the awful calamity of civil war, which now
        desolates the land, may be but a punishment,
        inflicted upon us, for our presumptuous sins, to the
        needful end of our national reformation as a whole
        People? We have been the recipients of the choicest
        bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these
        many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown
        in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation
        has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have
        forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in
        peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened
        us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness
        of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced
        by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.
        Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become
        too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming
        and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God
        that made us!

        It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the
        offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to
        pray for clemency and forgiveness.

        Now, therefore, in compliance with the request, and
        fully concurring in the views of the Senate, I do, by
        this my proclamation, designate and set apart Thursday,
        the 30th. day of April, 1863, as a day of national
        humiliation, fasting and prayer. And I do hereby
        request all the People to abstain, on that day, from
        their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite, at their
        several places of public worship and their respective
        homes, in keeping the day holy to the Lord, and
        devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties
        proper to that solemn occasion.

        All this being done, in sincerity and truth, let us then
        rest humbly in the hope authorized by the Divine
        teachings, that the united cry of the Nation will be
        heard on high, and answered with blessings, no less
        than the pardon of our national sins, and the restoration
        of our now divided and suffering Country, to its former
        happy condition of unity and peace.

Every presidential proclamation of Thanksgiving, right up until the present time has clearly identified the source of our blessings, the God of the heavens and the creator of the universe.  The following Thanksgiving Day Proclamation by President John F. Kennedy is particularly poignant…

        "It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord."

        More than three centuries ago, the Pilgrims, after
        a year of hardship and peril, humbly and reverently
        set aside a special day upon which to give thanks to
        God for their preservation and for the good harvest
        from the virgin soil upon which they had labored.
        Grave and unknown dangers remained. Yet by their
        faith and by their toil they had survived the rigors of
        the harsh New England winter. Hence they paused in
        their labors to give thanks for the blessings that had
        been bestowed upon them by Divine Providence.

        This year, as the harvest draws near its close and the
        year approaches its end, awesome perils again remain
        to be faced. Yet we have, as in the past, ample reason
        to be thankful for the abundance of our blessings. We
        are grateful for the blessings of faith and health and
        strength and for the imperishable spiritual gifts of love
        and hope. We give thanks, too, for our freedom as a
        nation; for the strength of our arms and the faith of our
        friends; for the beliefs and confidence we share; for our
        determination to stand firmly for what we believe to be
        right and to resist mightily what we believe to be base;
        and for the heritage of liberty bequeathed by our
        ancestors which we are privileged to preserve for our
        children and our children's children.

        It is right that we should be grateful for the plenty
        amidst which we live; the productivity of our farms,
        the output of our factories, the skill of our artisans,
        and the ingenuity of our investors. But in the midst of
        our thanksgiving, let us not be unmindful of the plight
        of those in many parts of the world to whom hunger is
        no stranger and the plight of those millions more who
        live without the blessings of liberty and freedom...

        I urge all citizens to make this Thanksgiving not merely
        a holiday from their labors, but rather a day of
        contemplation. I ask the head of each family to recount
        to his children the story of the first New England
        thanksgiving, thus to impress upon future generations
        the heritage of this nation born in toil, in danger, in
        purpose, and in the conviction that right and justice and
        freedom can through man’s efforts persevere and
        come to fruition with the blessing of God.

        Let us observe this day with reverence and with prayer
        that will rekindle in us the will and show us the way not
        only to preserve our blessings, but also to extend them
        to the four corners of the earth. Let us by our example,
        as well as by our material aid, assist all peoples of all
        nations who are striving to achieve a better life in freedom.

Our nation has a rich heritage of faith and freedom.  In fact, it is freedom rooted in faith that has blessed our nation with abundance far, far above that of any nation on the face of the earth.  It is through faith that we understand the fallen state of man, his human frailties and his sinfulness.  It is through faith that we have confidence that God will bless us as long as we bend our knee and acknowledge Him as our creator and redeemer.  And it is through grace that our forefathers were granted the faith and the understanding to create a society that restricted the power of those in government to control our lives.  They were wise men whose goal was to secure freedom for themselves and those that followed.  For more than 200 years their “experiment” has proved to be successful.  May it continue to be so for our children and for their children.

Let me take this opportunity to wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving.  Enjoy the good food, the football, family and friends as you give thanks for the blessings we enjoy as Americans.

A Scandal Worse than Watergate?

                    A Scandal Worse than Watergate?
I just finished reading Injustice, a recently released book by J. Christian Adams (copyright 2011, Regnery) that describes a widespread scandal in Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ).  This is not a personal scandal like Watergate that consisted of a failure of character, and political machinations, but rather an officially supported undermining of the rule of law and of due process of law.  The threat posed by the Civil Rights Division not only undermines the rights of Americans of all colors, but also threatens the integrity of the entire electoral process, especially in 2012.

The scandal does not consist of incompetence, or laziness, or a lack of intellect, but has its roots in the rejection of honesty, integrity, adherence to the rule of law, and to the American tradition of equal justice under the law.  Essentially, it consists of those charged with law enforcement openly disregarding the law and in giving comfort and aid to individuals who are actively working to subvert the integrity of the electoral process.

This book is not written by some ideologue, nor are the facts it cites disputed by men and women who have fought long and valiantly to protect the rights of all Americans, especially black Americans.  In some cases the victims are men who risked their own lives to advance the cause of equal rights for African Americans in the 1960’s Civil Rights era.  These honest men and women understand that when you condone the undermining of the rights of any member of American society, you threaten the rights of all members of that society.  When the rule of law is forsaken and man puts himself above the lawbecause he “knows better than those who wrote the law” we have started down the certain road to despotism.  It is the rule of law that protects everyone and underpins our free society.  Without it, freedom will die.

I won’t try to reveal all the details of the Adams’ book.  In fact, I strongly encourage you to get a copy and read it.  Here, however, are a few tidbits taken directly from Injustice.

Adams documents repeated cases of attorneys in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice refusing to protect the rights of all voters, but instead openly discriminating against and making it harder for anyone but pro Democrat voters to get a fair shake.  One of the cases assigned to Adams was the New Black Panthers voter intimidation case in Philadelphia.  It was a cut and dried case captured on video by FOX News that was seen by millions of Americans.  When the militia dressed New Black Panthers did not respond to the legal efforts of DOJ, all that was needed to lock them up and put them in jail was to file for a summary judgment.  But that was vetoed by the Holder DOJ.  When the legal team at DOJ, including author Christian Adams was told to dismiss the case against the New Black Panthers, they were stunned…

                This was a blatant act of voter intimidation by a race-hate
                group that was caught on tape and seen by the whole nation,
                yet we were being ordered to do almost nothing about it.  At
                that moment it became clear to me that the people running the
                division under the Obama administration were irredeemably
                rotted and corrupt.  Our superiors had sided with thugs, and
                all we could do was silently look at each other; helpless and beaten.”

                “…I told a good man who was willing to stick his neck out
                to protect the right to vote that he could count on the DOJ. 
                And I was wrong.  After a lifetime fighting for civil rights,
                [Bartle] Bull deserved better from his government—and so
                did the American people.”
Bartle Bull is a veteran civil rights activist who has a long history of working for Democratic candidates including Charles Evers in Mississippi, Robert F. Kennedy and Jimmy Carter.  He was outraged by the intimidation tactics of the New Black Panthers at the polls in Philadelphia in 2010.  Bull said to Adams…

                “Bobby Kennedy didn’t die so jackbooted thugs could stand
                out in front of the polls.”

                “Bull noted that in his forty years of involvement in politics
                and civil rights, he had ‘never encountered or heard of another
                 instance in the United States where armed and uniformed men
                blocked the entrance to a polling location.”
In a sworn statement by Bull in front of a Senatorial Committee he said…

                “To me, the presence and behavior of the two uniformed
                men was an outrageous affront to American democracy and
                the rights of voters to participate in an election without fear. 
                It would qualify as the most blatant form of voter intimidation
                I have encountered in my life in political campaigns in many
                states, even going back to the work I did in Mississippi in
                the 1960’s”

Attorney General Eric Holder was sanctimoniously outraged…

                “When you compare what people endured in the South in the
                60s to try to get the right to vote for African Americans, and
                to compare what people were subjected to there to what happened
                in Philadelphia…to describe it in those terms I think does a
                great disservice to people who put their lives on the line, who
                risked all, for my people.”
Adams responds…

                “It was a telling moment.  One might think the Attorney General
                of the United States would regard the entire American people as ‘
                his people.’  But no—for Holder, only one race of Americans is
                his people.”

According to Adams…

                “   the Civil Rights Division is now being utilized to energize
                the president’s political base and alter the electoral ground
                rules to benefit Obama’s campaign.”

The Voter intimidation case of the New Black Panthers on election day 2008 was dismissed by DOJ even though there was abundant evidence of their intimidation efforts at the polls.  In countless similar cases of black extremists threatening both black and white voters with physical harm, the Civil Rights Division of DOJ didn’t just turn a blind eye to their fraudulent activities, but in fact openly aided them in corrupting the integrity of the election process.  The result of turning a blind eye to these illegal activities is that they have continued and expanded in subsequent elections.  They will likely play a major factor in the outcome of the 2012 election.

Christian Adams fellow DOJ attorney, Chris Coates, has a long record of fighting for the rights of African Americans.  However, when he sought to also protect the rights of white Americans at the ballot box he was the subject of open hostility by radicalized lawyers in the Justice Department.  Here is an excerpt from the Adams’ book…

                “A Voting Section lawyer who entered the United States
                as an illegal alien, Luz Lopez-Ortiz, referred to Coats in
                a DOJ email as a ‘Klansman.’  For militants like Lopez-Ortiz,
                 enforcing the law equally was tantamount to joining a group
                of racist terrorists.”
When a blatant case of voter intimidation and vote fraud came to the attention of Chris Coats he was told by Voting Section attorney, Avner Shapiro…

                “I didn’t come to work in the Civil Rights Division at the
                Department of Justice to sue black people.”

Adams also explains how the balanced hiring of attorneys from a wide variety of viewpoints was scuttled once Eric Holder took charge as the Attorney General.

                “Under Eric Holder, if a candidate has not worked for a
                leftist activist group or otherwise demonstrated some affinity
                for the Left’s causes, he or she will not be hired at the Civil
                Rights Division—period.”

The new hires at DOJ weren’t just lawyers who believed in enforcing Civil Rights laws on a colorblind basis or even attorneys who had a long history of working on behalf of civil rights.  To the contrary, these new hires were men and women who had and have low regard for the law, the US Constitution, and for equal justice under the law.  Instead, they see their position as an opportunity to wield power to advance their radical agenda.  And it has often gotten them into trouble.

According to Adams’ book, the current Civil Rights Division of the current DOJ…

                “…has been sanctioned $4,107,595 for bringing frivolous
                cases or engaging in misconduct, none of which was assessed
                during the Bush administration.”
Requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act (something that Eric Holder recently sought permission to lie about) were treated unequally at DOJ.  While responses to FOIA inquiries from any party they disagreed with regularly took six months or more for a response, their radical allies often received same day service.  According to Adams, high ranking DOJ political appointee…

                “…Julie Fernandes exploits FOIA requests to benefit
                Obama’s leftwing allies.  Specifically, sources say she
                instructs Voting Section staffers to inform leftwing groups
                about specific data from DOJ files that they might find useful
                in advancing their agenda.”
Contrary to some mainstream media reports, Adams documents that this kind of radical, off the reservation politicization of the DOJ has never taken place previously under any administration, Republican or Democrat that he worked under. 

What Adams describes is corruption at the highest levels of government with the full support of Attorney General Holder.  It apparently exists on an unprecedented scale with the goal of dishonestly affecting the outcome of the 2012 and future elections.  It’s what might be expected from Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, but not in the United States of America.  The defenders of the law have become the law breakers according to Adams and they have the power and the will to provide comfort and assistance to their allies as well as the power to alter the outcome of the election process.

Buy this book!  Read this book.  Liberal or conservative, Republican or Democrat, if you are an honest person who believes in equal justice under the law you will be shocked.

Herman Cain

Herman Cain

First, for those of you who do not know, I am not a disinterested party when it comes to Herman Cain and his run for President of the United States.  I was an early fan and I am currently under contract with his campaign to raise money on his behalf.  I have also personally donated to his campaign on several occasions and I have volunteered to help get his name on the ballot in Virginia.

One of the first things that drew me to Herman Cain was his integrity and his character.  I was tired of politicians who claimed to be Reagan Republicans, but were willing to change their positions to personally advance themselves.  I wanted to support a man of principle like Ronald Reagan, not someone who you cannot trust when the chips are down.  That’s basically what I told Mr. Cain when I offered to raise funds on his behalf.  I believed that Herman Cain was a man of unquestioned integrity the day I met him and I still believe that today.  I have not been disappointed.  While other politicians I have worked with didn’t want to pay their bills, Herman Cain has run his campaign like a business, spending no more than the net revenue generated by the fund raising effort.  Such integrity is nearly unheard of in the political fund raising business and it gives testimony to his character and his honesty.

I do admit to being stunned when the first charges were levied against him for sexual harassment.  Although I felt that the charges could not be true, I had reservations.  Perhaps I was mistaken about Herman Cain’s integrity.

As I write this I just finished listening to his news conference after the vivid allegations of an alleged sexual attack by an alleged victim, Sharon Bialek.  Mr. Cain’s rebuttal of those charges was very persuasive, but I wasn’t there and neither were you.  So, how do we sift fact from fiction?  How can we borrow some of the wisdom of Solomon and discern the truth?  Evaluating people on the basis of God’s standards of conduct, primarily the Ten Commandments, is a good place to start.

I wish Ms. Bialek no ill or harm, but she has placed a very damming and unsubstantiated charge on the table.  It is in legal terms, hearsay, nothing more, nothing less.  This is not to say that the charges are not serious, but only to observe there is no evidence, pro or con, that the alleged sexual attack took place.  It is just an accusation that may be true or false.  There is no evidence, but only the word of Sharon Bialek versus the word of Herman Cain. 

Therefore the only basis with which you and I can judge her charge in the court of public opinion are the character traits of the two parties, their pattern of integrity or lack thereof, and their record of making moral and ethical choices.  There is no other legitimate basis upon which to judge the accusation made by Ms. Bailek against Herman Cain.  All else is just speculation.

You and I can never know for certain who is lying and who is telling the truth, but based on past actions and choices we can determine the likelihood of who is the liar and who is telling the truth.  Let’s take a look at the past of both individuals in terms of facts, to see who is most likely to have veracity in this situation, Herman Cain, or Sharon Bailek.

    Here are some facts about Ms. Bailek.   

• In less than 20 years she has held nine different positions.  Of course, lots of people move from job to job for various reasons.
• She has been terminated (fired) from at least one position for non-performance.  Some people get fired when they can’t do a job because it is simply a position for which they do not have the necessary skills.
• She has filed for personal bankruptcy on several occasions, being unable to pay her bills or meet her obligations.  Others have filed for bankruptcy, but rarely twice.
• In her verbal statement to the news media she alluded to the fact that she was living out of wedlock with her boyfriend in New Jersey, expressing no shame whatsoever for this adulterous relationship.  I realize that it is old fashioned to talk in these terms, but it’s not my personal standards that count, only God’s standards are important.
• Ms. Bialek filed a paternity lawsuit to force the man who she believed to be the father of her child to support her and the child.  Clearly the identity of the father was in doubt and thus the need for a lawsuit. 
• In court proceedings between Bialek’s current boyfriend/fiancé, Mark Harwood and his ex-wife, Patricia, Bialek was subpoenaed but failed to appear in September for a deposition regarding her finances.  Failure to appear for a subpoena is grounds for being held in contempt of court. Source: Chicago Tribune
• In her statement to the press she said she complained to Herman Cain about his alleged attack because she had a boyfriend in New Jersey.  That’s hardly a statement of shock or moral concern.
• She waited 14 years to bring up the alleged attack, only doing so after Herman Cain became a front runner for the Republican Presidential nomination.
• Admitting that she has no funds, she has hired a very high priced, high profile, Feminist attorney, Gloria Allred, who is a big donor to Democratic and liberal causes.
• No one has identified where the funds are coming from to pay Gloria Allred even though there is no possibility of a lawsuit against Herman Cain.

Thus far, on a strictly factual basis, these are all the facts we have in regard to the character and integrity of Sharon Bailek.  While I suspect that new facts will be divulged in the future, this is all we have to go on at the present time.

What about the character, integrity, and moral principles of Herman Cain?  What are the facts?

• Herman Cain was born into extreme poverty and spent his early years in the Atlanta, Georgia projects.
• Cain came from an intact, functional family where his mother worked as a domestic worker and his father held down three jobs to support his family.
• In spite of Cain’s impoverished background, and thanks to the hard work and values passed along to him by his father and mother, Herman Cain went to college, eventually receiving an MBA from Purdue University.
• Herman Cain was raised as a Christian, a believer in Jesus Christ.
• After getting his BS at Morehouse College in 1967, he married Gloria Etchison in 1968 and has been married to her for more than 43 years.  They have two children, Melanie and Vincent.
• Herman Cain steadily worked himself up the corporate ladder, facing and overcoming challenges along the way.
• At the age of 32 Cain joined the Pillsbury Company in Minneapolis, Minnesota where after hard work and many commendations and promotions he became a Vice President of that organization.
• After an extremely successful stint at a Pillsbury subsidiary, Burger King, Cain was given the opportunity to become President of Godfather’s Pizza based in Omaha, Nebraska, a struggling restaurant chain on the brink of bankruptcy.  In less than 15 months he turned that chain into a very profitable business and when presented the opportunity to purchase it, did so along with other key employees.
• While in Omaha he was appointed to the board of the Midwest Federal Reserve, eventually becoming a successful Chairman of that entity.
• After selling his interest in Godfather’s Pizza, Cain became President of the National Restaurant Association, turning that organization into a powerful voice for the restaurant industry.  Upon leaving NRA, he went on a motivational speakers tour and eventually became a talk show host in his native Atlanta, Georgia.
• Being diagnosed with stage 4 cancer in 2006, he sought out the best medical care and put his faith in God that it would work out for the best in His sight.
• Herman Cain and his family have always been active Christians, working, praying and serving others through their church where he serves as an Associate Pastor.
• Until the recent charges of sexual harassment and a sexual attack, there has never been a hint of any kind that Herman Cain is a sexual predator even though he has held positions of authority and power for many decades.

Herman Cain would readily acknowledge that he is a sinner saved by the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ.  It’s not that Herman Cain or you and I aren’t capable of the worst kind of sins. As believers, we don’t condone such immoral behavior, but  always repent and ask God to forgive us.

King David of the Old Testament was one of the greatest leaders of all time.  But he committed adultery and murder.  When he was confronted by the prophet, Nathan, with his sin David said, “I have sinned against the Lord.” (2 Samuel 12:13)

During my lifetime I have seen high profile Christians exposed for their sin.  Christians are not exempt from being sinners, but the difference is that they repent and are forgiven by God as he promises.  All men (and women) sin daily, but to not understand that the violation of the Ten Commandments is always a sin and to publicly acknowledge living in sin with a man or woman not your husband or wife, shows that there is no repentance, there is no forgiveness.  In fact such public actions show contempt for the laws of God and for His moral standards.  It is a clear indication that there is no respect or commitment to any one of the Ten Commandments including the one forbidding the giving of false testimony against someone.

You and I have all violated every one of God’s Ten Commandments.  You say that you haven’t killed anyone, but God says that he that hates his brother is a murderer (1 John 3:15).  You say that you haven’t committed adultery, but God says that he who looks at a woman with lust has committed adultery in his heart (Matthew 5:28).  There are no saints on this earth, only sinners (Romans 3:23).
The issue, of course, is not who is a sinner, Herman Cain or Sharon Bailek, but who is telling the truth.  Just what are the odds that someone who by her own admission has low or no regard for God’s moral standards is lying?  Just what are the odds that a man who reveres God’s laws and has been married for 43 years, living a circumspect life without a hint of sexual impropriety for decades is lying?  It’s possible, but does it stand to reason that it is likely?

A man getting entangled in the Devil’s web of non-marital, immoral sex usually starts early in life.  While that person may be successful in business, he develops a very well known reputation for being a skirt chaser.  Where is the evidence that Herman Cain has ever been a skirt chaser?

Looking at the facts only, it is evident to me that it is highly likely that Sharon Bialek is motivated by political considerations, and possibly by a financial payoff, not by telling the truth.  Who is lying and who is telling the truth between Herman Cain and Sharon Bialek?  I believe it would take a great deal of bias and prejudgment to conclude that Herman Cain is lying and Sharon Bialek is telling the truth.  One would have to suspend logic and reason to conclude that the attacks on Herman Cain are anything less than a carefully contrived political attack.

The real question is not whether these attacks are true or false, but rather who is paying for and orchestrating these scurrilous attacks?  That’s the question the media should be trying to answer, not if a man who has lived his life beyond reproach is a sexual predator.  Someone or some organization has to be paying the very large bill that has created this political maelstrom that is designed to take out Herman Cain as a presidential nominee.  Who is it?

High Tech Lynching

High Tech Lynching

“High Tech Lynching” was the way that Clarence Thomas described the venomous attacks on his character by the establishment Democratic Party and their allies in the so-called mainstream media.  It was an accurate description of the attacks orchestrated against him by the Democratic Party apparatus. They were in a full-blown panic.  They executed a character assassination like one never seen before.  It was driven not by any concern for truth or accuracy, but by a fear that the elevation of a black conservative to the high bench would mortally wound the Democratic Party. 

Today the Democratic Party is an embarrassment to its name.  It’s not the Party of Harry Truman or John F. Kennedy.  This noble old political party has been captured and subverted by far left ideologues that previously populated the fringes of American politics.  The interlopers come from the Socialist Party of Norman Thomas and the Communist Party of Gus Hall.  Their base has its roots in the violent Weather Underground of Barack Obama’s good friend, Bill Ayers and his wife, Bernadette Dohrn.  Ayers, as you may recall, helped to launch Barack Obama’s political career after he was released from prison for his bombing of the Capitol Building (he was released on a technicality).  Ayers still brags about the bombing and has expressed his regret that it wasn’t more successful.  Bernadette Dorn is known as a Red diaper baby because she is the daughter of Communist Party members Bernard and Dorothy Dohrn.  It is not unfair to characterize people like Ayers and Dohrn as the core of today’s Democratic Party.  Sadly, today’s Democratic Party is a far left fringe political party that is dedicated to undermining and replacing the principles of America’s founders—a limited government of laws designed to minimize governmental intervention into the lives of American citizens and to maximize the individual freedom of its citizens. 

The words “High Tech Lynching” can also be aptly used to describe the current frenzied attack on Republican front runner, Herman Cain.  The success of Herman Cain and his possible election as President of the United States threatens to drive a terminal stake into the heart of the Democratic Party Plantation.  Democrat operatives know that the only way to maintain political control over millions of black Americans living in poverty is to keep them in poverty.  It is one of the most cynical, heartless political strategies ever undertaken by a major political party.  These operatives of the Democratic machine understand that they must have nearly monolithic control of the black vote in order to maintain political power.  In fact, without it, there is no future to the Democratic Party.  As long as they can control those African Americans living in poverty through hand outs and outrageous lies, they can keep winning elections.

They and their black Congressional overseers are willing to sacrifice the welfare and future of their loyal followers in order to continue their manipulation of them on Election Day.  No act is too low to be undertaken to keep them on the Democratic Plantation—lies, threats, payoffs—the betrayal is complete and devastating.  The results are in plain sight for all to see—70% drop out rates in high schools, 16% unemployment rate, and a future filled with misery and without hope.  This is the manifestation of more than a half century of cynical manipulation and abuse by the Democratic Party political bosses.

This fear, this panic by the Democratic Party bosses is the sole and only reason for the attempted “High Tech Lynching” of Herman Cain.  The Democratic Party fears Herman Cain more than any other candidate for President of the United States.  Just as they made up unfounded and unconfirmed lies to destroy Justice Clarence Thomas, they have begun a vicious smear campaign against Herman Cain.  They know a Cain election would spell the end of today’s Democratic Party.  They know and fear that it would also be the beginning of a true post racial society in America, one that would feature racial harmony, instead of the racial division that is currently encouraged by Democratic leaders.  While Obama and the Democratic Party seek to divide the races, Herman Cain would not only open the doors to black prosperity, but also promote racial harmony.  It’s a political formula that doesn’t work to the advantage of the Democratic Party.

I predict the attempted “High Tech Lynching” of Herman Cain will not only fail, but will result in an unprecedented backlash that will add momentum to his drive to the White House.  Moreover, Cain will not only win the Republican nomination for President and defeat President Barack Obama, he will shatter the monolithic control the Democratic Party has exercised over the black community once and for all time.  Mass political desertion from the Democratic Plantation will spell the political end of today’s Democratic Party.  The liberal establishment has already witnessed the mass exodus of the black intelligentsia from their ranks.  Walter Williams, Shelby Steele, Thomas Sowell, Carol Swain, along with scores of other college professors and PhDs left the Democratic Plantation long ago.  That horse already left the barn.  It was only a matter of time until black political leaders rose to the forefront of the Republican Party and sped away from the Democratic Plantation. 

The late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. often quoted the words of the famous Negro Spiritual, Free at Last, by J.W. Work.  The words of that spiritual remind all of us the true source of our freedom, no matter our race or ethnic origin…

Free at last, free at last
I thank God I'm free at last
Free at last, free at last
I thank God I'm free at last

Way down yonder in the graveyard walk
I thank God I'm free at last
Me and my Jesus going to meet and talk
I thank God I'm free at last

On my knees when the light pass'd by
I thank God I'm free at last
Tho't my soul would rise and fly
I thank God I'm free at last

Some of these mornings, bright and fair
I thank God I'm free at last
Goin' meet King Jesus in the air
I thank God I'm free at last

Money Laundering, Chicago Style

Money Laundering, Chicago Style

I really like Chicago style pizza.  Thin crust, great toppings, that’s my kind of pizza.  I like the White Sox and even the perennial losing Cubs (when they are not playing the St. Louis Cardinals).  I love the Chicago skyline and I loved the Chicago Tribune when it was truly a great paper under the leadership of Colonel Robert R. McCormick.  The Chicago museums and the zoo are terrific and who could not cheer for the Chicago Bulls when Michael Jordan was there?

But I really hate corrupt Chicago machine politics.  It was bad enough when it was limited to Cook County, but now that it has spread to the White House, it really stinks.  The old joke was that not only do the dead vote in Cook County, they vote in alphabetical order.

The latest “jobs” bill proposed by President Barack Obama does justice to the legacy of the original Chicago Mayor, Richard Daley.  It was never designed to pass, and if it does no one gets helped except the Prez and his re-election campaign.

Let’s start with the first so-called “stimulus” package that may have created a few government jobs, but nary a private sector job.  The price tag on that one was a trillion dollars plus.  And that trillion, plus all the other trillions this President and his far left cronies in Congress spent when they had super majorities in both the House and Senate during the first two years, brought our nation to the brink of bankruptcy.  In fact, we aren’t so sure yet if he has actually taken us past the brink. 

So the first stimulus failed miserably and now comes “stimulus” 1.1 that proposes to spend a mere $450 billion.  Of course, that bill, if passed, would fall as flat on its face as the first “stimulus” but that’s not the point.  The main point of the Hypocrite in Chief is to tell lots of lies about the Republicans—how they hate people and won’t do anything while poor Mr. Obama is trying so hard to save us from their evil intentions.  In the background all the cheering and clapping you hear is the mainstream media that has sold its soul to become the cheering section of the Democratic Party. 

Now, as the President insults his opponents as idiots, he has announced that he will break his “jobs” bill up into small parts so the stupid Republicans can understand it.  How presidential!  What great leadership!

Let’s just suppose that some part or parcel of his “jobs” bill passes.  What will it do?  Will it reduce the tax burden on the jobs creators so that they can make a profit and hire new workers?  No, it doesn’t do that.  Will it slice through the red tape so that it’s easier to start and run a business profitably?  No, it doesn’t do that.  Does it roll back Obamacare so that we don’t strangle an already weak economy?  No, it doesn’t do that.  Does it put the brakes on an Environmental Protection Agency that is killing off tens of thousands of jobs based on a man caused climate change fantasy?  No, it doesn’t do that.  Does it expand drilling for oil and natural gas to create tens of thousands of jobs and move America toward energy independence?  No, it doesn’t do that.

Just what does this bill do?  Folks, it’s all about money laundering to finance the President’s billion dollar re-election campaign.  That’s all it is.  The money is directed almost exclusively at unions who will obligingly in return send a large portion of your tax dollars back to the President for his re-election efforts.  That’s what it’s really all about.  The unions provided hundreds of millions of dollars to help the President get elected in 2008 and now they need more money to funnel back into the President’s campaign.  Will the crocodile tears of the Vice President and the libelous attacks he launches each day on his Republican opponents result in passage of a portion of the so-called “jobs” bill?  If that happens, the good portion of the money the unions receive will turn right around and come back into the coffers of President Barack Obama’s Presidential Campaign.  It’s called money laundering.

Slick, the idea is to use your tax dollars to finance his Presidential re-election campaign.  After all, you have already purchased an elaborate campaign bus for him and paid for weeks of campaigning in the Midwest and in the South.  Why shouldn’t you pop for another few billion dollars (that we don’t have) to finance the rest of his campaign.

Al Capone had nothing on the scheming of the modern Democratic Party machine.  He would have felt right at home.  Meanwhile, you and I and all the others whose hard work and dollars support the government continue to get fleeced. 

Shameless Political Freeloading

Shameless Political Freeloading

Maybe I am naïve, but has there ever before been a sitting President who has so blatantly spent millions of tax dollars for clearly political purposes?  Sure there have been times that presidents have tiptoed over the line and made political remarks while on true presidential business, but I just can’t recall such political arrogance by any President, Republican or Democrat, during my lifetime. 

I remember a number of occasions when the Nixon White House announced that the Republican National Committee would pick up the tab for a political excursion by President Nixon in Air Force One.  I’m pretty sure the Democratic National Committee did the same thing for President Kennedy and other presidents.  Both parties endeavored to be circumspect in not using public funds for private political purposes.

But this President is shameless.  There’s virtually no attempt to camouflage recent political junkets to the Midwest and now to the South.  And it’s not just air, protection, and other lavish expenses, but even the construction of a kingly land yacht for his Excellency to be carted around in.  There’s been talk in the past of “an imperial Presidency” but past Presidents were pikers compared to the present occupant of the White House.  The Obamas act as if they are the King and the Queen of the United States, not the President and the First Lady.

Outlandish flights on Air Force One to New York City for a sightseeing flyover, extravagant taxpayer paid visits by a huge entourage to Spain hosted by the First Lady, etc.  Nothing, it seems is too great a taxpayer expenditure to accommodate the desires of the first family.

I certainly don’t begrudge treating the President of the United States in a way that is respectful of the office he holds, but there is a difference between living in grandeur and living as the temporary occupant of the White House as a guest of its citizens.  George Washington and those who came after him would not approve.

Somewhere, someplace we have lost the idea of public office holders as public servants.  Public office holders, the President included, are not to be masters of the people, but their servants.  The respect and dignity accorded office holders is for the important position they hold, not the man or woman who happens to be temporarily holding the position.

It is said that King George III observed of George Washington that he would be a great man indeed if he willingly surrendered the office of President.  It was a selfless act that set the standard for limiting personal power.  Voluntarily stepping down as President set an important precedent for service as President of the United States.  It was not until Franklin D. Roosevelt breached that practice that it became necessary to enact the 22nd Amendment to the US Constitution limiting Presidents to two terms.  Because Washington voluntarily stepped down, he was known as a modern day Cincinnatus.  Cincinnatus was a Roman statesman who gained fame for his selfless devotion to the Roman republic in a time of crisis and for giving up the reins of power when the crisis was over.  Because he surrendered his power he is forever remembered as a great statesman just as Washington is remembered in the same vein today.

The great irony life is that those who brag on themselves, talk highly of themselves, flaunt respect for custom and the law, and lecture others, garner less respect and honor than those humble public servants like George Washington, who revered the rule of law and acknowledged his own limitations.  Where is that man or woman today who understands that public service is a privilege and an honor bestowed on them by their fellow citizens?  Americans grant this opportunity to serve not because the public servant is better than they are, after all Americans are equal under the law, including the person holding the highest office in the land.  President Obama does himself a great disservice by flaunting custom, bending the rules, and generally ignoring any practice or any law that gets in his way of conducting the most imperial presidency in the history of the United States.  It is no wonder that his popularity continues to shrink.  And soon, when he departs the office to which he has been entrusted I doubt he will understand why the American people have rejected his imperial style, his lecturing attitude, his mockery of opponents, and his hard left ideology.  The wisdom of humility and the exceptional nature of the United States of America is apparently far beyond his comprehension.