ledeagenda.com

Our Children will be forced to pay homage to The President, the country under HR1388, the “Serve America Act”. 

From Redstate.com:

And here are just a few of the lowlights in the legislation:

1. The bill will substantially increase the size and reach of an existing federal government program;
2. The bill will burden taxpayers with more than 5 billion tax dollars at a time when we should be cutting back, not spending more;
3. The bill will steer funding and volunteers for public service away from churches, individuals, neighbors, and others who would like to lend a helping hand and toward organizations selected by bureaucrats;
4. The bill is full of vague language and has insufficient safeguards to prevent left-wing special interest groups from using tax dollars to advance their agenda in the name of “community service;”
5. The bill risks politicizing charity and community service by funneling funds and volunteers toward the preferred organizations picked by ideologues;
6. The first 25% of this bill is really education legislation, and should be in an education bill at the state level; and
7. The bill will compound the disincentives created by new limits on federal tax deductions for charitable giving, thereby decreasing the role of families, churches and other local organizations in their communities.

When you look at the details – one realizes that it’s far worse than even that… more along the lines of full-scale indoctrination camps toward Statism. The legislation will, in many circumstances, force our children to participate in charitable activity as part of school – and that activity may well be chosen by or approved by a bureaucrat. The bill causes a federally chartered, Washington-based institution to, essentially, pick priorities and winners and losers in the charitable universe – undoubtedly putting many charities at a significant disadvantage…

None of this even considers the lack of Constitutional basis for such a massive federal intervention into local charities and volunteerism… but when does that ever stop anyone in Washington? And when coupled with the soon-to-be-reduced lower tax deductions for charities, the Obama-Democrat machine is massively shifting the focus of charity from the individual to the State.

As usual, your typical group of unprincipled, spineless Republicans is supporting it – and it’s hard not to forecast swelling numbers given the total eclipse of fortitude among Senate Republicans and the lack of direction from their leadership. Already co-sponsoring the Senate companion (S.277) are Senators Gregg, McCain, Hatch, Cochran, Wicker (MS pork alert!!), and Snowe. And Senator Isakson waxed on about its virtues on the Senate Floor just yesterday… hardly surprising, unfortunately.

This is compulsory national service, a clear advancement of the state and an attempt to legalize politically correct attitudes in free-market service transactions. This isn’t fear-mongering, this bill WILL scrub charities for the goals of societal engineers at the State. Our children will be left will no choice but to succumb to the brainwashing or risk destroying their educational foundation. This bill will all but certainly usher in a thought-police state to narrow us to the social goals mandated by Washington.

The Compulsory National Service is also clearly unconstitutional. Even if parents have to fight the fight, we will win.

This bill is just yet another reason why I consider myself a Libertarian, for as long as the McCain, Rudy, and Arnold types still have a place in the party, our slim ability to block Obama’s socialist legislation in the U.S. Senate is doomed.

John McCain isn’t in danger of losing Idaho. Or Utah for that matter. Or any area filled with traditional family value Mormon voters. But John McCain’s strong embrace of powerful women, such as Carley Fiorina or Cindy McCain, begs the question: will moms play a role in this election?

I can recall a conversation I had with a devout Mormon housewife shortly after McCain announced his running mate. They attend seminary every Sunday, have their 72-hour kits packed and generally adhere to Mormon teachings on proper living. Mind you, this person is no candidate for a Obama vote, but was only lukewarm on the subject of John McCain.

Being somewhat perplexed that a fellow conservative voter wasn’t enthusiastic about the Sarah Palin pick, as many around me seemed to be, I picked her brain a bit.

“I didn’t like how the cameras focused on Trig Palin so much” was her initial, and somewhat reserved reply.

“It just seems like she should be there for her kids” she said after a moment’s thought.

Ah ha. Mormon housewife meet hockey mom.

If I hadn’t heard the same argument from so many different Mormon folks, I wouldn’t be writing this post. But once too often living in this conservative Mormon state I have heard comments about Palin needing to put “family first” or “being away from her family too much” because of politics.

To be fair, I would suspect a lot of people face the same dilemma- can a candidate with a new child bear the burdens of parenthood while being effective in office?

But there is another element to the Palin story: her connection to the strongly anti-Mormon Assemblies of God denomination . Certainly that is doing her no favors in Mormon housewife circles. Add in the “she should be at home with her kids” factor and you can see some fraying at the edges of the conservative/Republican alliance.

It’s sad really. There are so many conservative women that Republicans can look up too. Locally I was raised during the Helen Chenoweth era. She fought federal intervention and regulation on Idaho lands. Then there is Deloris Crow from Nampa who aggressively fought tax increases and government growth. And Sharon Ullman, running for the Ada County Commission, who has always fought for open and transparent government.

On the national stage what about Pamela Geller who has led the fight against Islamo-Fascism? What about Ann Coulter or Michelle Malkin? And do I really need to remind anyone of Condoleezza Rice? I would hope not.

There are thousands more strong, conservative women- locally, nationally, even internationally, these are just some of the ones that have touched my life.

I’m willing to place a bet- I will bet that uncertainly around the future and direction of the Republican party is only adding fuel to the fire, so to speak. Women who may place family values as a strong first see the Republican party wandering off course and then suddenly get introduced to Sarah Palin out of the blue. It’s only natural that a little doubt would creep in.

But the good news: states that are overwhelmingly Mormon lean heavily Republican. So if McCain manages to pull off an upset special over the next 5 days conservative Mormon women will have 4 years to get to know, and be able to judge, the true character of Sarah Palin. Based on what I have seen so far, she will be able to more than easily dispel the myth that she is anything less than what Republican voters need her to be.

I think once time has given Palin an introduction in more households people will see Palin not as a woman and a conservative, but yet another strong, proud leader with the boldness to carry the Republican ideology. One need only to re-watch her speech at the Republican convention to affirm this belief.

That is at least the hope that Republicans can use to carry them through the next 4-8 years. God help us all if Palin is not what she is cracked up to be or if the cesspool that is Washington corrupts her. Another failed Republican leader would be too much to bear.

Yes, that is the title of his book in Indonesian. No it’s not in the translation, it’s a whole new title that is being marketed in the Muslim countries. Yet more proof Barack is trying to hide his Islamic connections.

A must read, brought to you by the wonderful Atlas Shrugs.

Newspeak claims another win.

This time we cannot refer to those who want to destroy us for what they are- Islamic terrorists. What the hell is going on in this country? The government/media complex is so throughly entrenched that they are already starting to “sift out” President Bush’s war on terror before he has even left office.

Be certain of this: this is not a policy that is being implemented to help the U.S. State Department or the CIA capture more intelligence on pending terrorist activities against America. No, this policy is driven out political correctness which will ultimately serve to weaken our identification of the enemy and further stalwart public opinion against the War on Terror.

Another thing to consider: the government probably had no choice but to implement ”Words That Work And Words That Don’t: A Guide To Counter-Terrorism Communication”. After all, the vast majority of the news outlets in the country, both print and television, operate in a void of patriotism and national pride. Instead, these outlets have taken the side of the United Nation’s human-rights screamers. A system where “terrorist” is deemed a “freedom fighter” and where identification of religious groups is discouraged.

So know this, our security is being compromised by the same mentality that existed Pre-9-11. Namely that, “we can all just get along” and that no individual groups actions represent a grave enough threat for an individual nation to respond.

Perhaps the bureaucrats who wrote this report will not want us to consider the statement, “Death to America! Praise be to Allah!” as a overt threat of planned intentions against the United States. Perhaps they are just, “struggling with cultural identities in the global community”.

Please, what a bunch of bullshit.

The good news:

In a recent interview with the Washington Times, a McCain aide said the senator would continue to use the term Islamic terrorism.

And that, my friends, is yet another reason to support this man in the general election.

This story is almost too good to be true. Now the liberals are saying the National Day of Prayer is ‘hijacked’. Gee, imagine that, a Christian organization organizing a Christian event? Who would of ever thought? Yet more examples the left’s attempts to destroy our religious heritage and cultural freedoms.

NYTimes auto section complains, “hybrids are too quiet”

Parenting Squad Blog notes, “energy efficient bulbs contain house poisoning levels of mercury when broken open”

More later

Only 12% of Idahoans would choose public school over private or charter school options.