This is the last post from Knight's Cross. Until we meet again...
Friday, October 2, 2009
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Lemmings for Obama
Top 10 Reasons Obamacare Is Wrong for
by Human Events
08/12/2009
(Compiled by the Heritage Foundation)
1. Millions Will Lose Their Current Insurance: President Obama wants Americans to believe they can keep their insurance if they like. Proposed economic incentives, plus a government-run health plan would cause 88.1 million people to see their current employer-sponsored health plan disappear.
2. Your Health Care Coverage Will Probably Change Anyway: Even if you keep your private insurance, eventually most remaining plans will have to conform to new federal benefit standards. Moreover, the necessary plan “upgrades” will undoubtedly cost you more in premiums.
3. The Umpire Is Also the First Baseman: The main argument for a “public option” is that it would increase competition. However, if the federal government creates a healthcare plan that it controls and also sets the rules for the private plans, there is little doubt that
4. The Fed Picks Your Treatment: President Obama said: “They’re going to have to give up paying for things that don’t make them healthier. ... If there’s a blue pill and a red pill, and the blue pill is half the price of the red pill and works just as well, why not pay half for the thing that’s going to make you well.” Does that sound like a government that will stay out of your healthcare decisions?
5. Individual Mandate Means Less
6. Higher Taxes Than
7. Who Makes Medical Decisions? While the House and Senate language is vague, amendments offered in House and Senate committees to block government rationing of care were routinely defeated. Cost or a federal health board could be the deciding factor. President Obama himself admitted this when he said, “Maybe you’re better off not having the surgery, but taking the painkiller,” when asked about an elderly woman who needed a pacemaker.
8. Taxpayer-Funded Abortions? Nineteen Democrats recently asked the President to not sign any bill that doesn’t explicitly exclude “abortion from the scope of any government-defined or subsidized health insurance plan” or any bill that allows a federal health board to “recommend abortion services be included under covered benefits or as part of a benefits package.” Currently, these provisions do not exist.
9. It’s Not Paid For: The CBO says the current House plan would increase the deficit by $239 billion over 10 years. And that amount will likely continue to rise over the long term.
10. Rushing It, Not Reading It: We’ve been down this road before -- with the failed stimulus package. Back then, we also heard that we were in a crisis and that we needed to pass a 1,000-plus-page bill in a few hours -- without reading it -- or we would have 8% unemployment. Deception is the only reason to rush through a bill nobody truly understands.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Birds of a Feather...
Take this hypothetical: imagine that Barack Obama announced that he was going to hold a referendum on legalizing a third term for himself. Imagine that even his attorney general, Eric Holder, advised him that it was illegal. Imagine that the Supreme Court ruled that holding the referendum was unconstitutional. In spite of that, let's imagine that Obama coerced the FEC into holding the referendum anyway. Then - let's further imagine -- we found out that Venezuelan strongman Chávez (who has pulled off a similar power grab in his own country) was financing the referendum. What should the Joint Chiefs do in such a case? And if they removed Obama from office, would they be destroying the Constitution or preserving it?
This is exactly what has occurred in
Obama is on the same side as Chávez, Ortega and the Castro brothers...Dictator's for life...VIVA LA PRESIDENTE!
Saturday, June 6, 2009
The Longest Day
Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force! You are about to embark upon a great crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers in arms on other fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of
Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle hardened, he will fight savagely.
But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man to man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our home fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to victory!
I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory!
Good Luck! And let us all beseech the blessings of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.
-- Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower
65 years ago today '160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of
Honor and remember these men who gave much, so we could have more.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Monday, May 25, 2009
Memorial Day 2009
"Your silent tents of green
We deck with fragrant flowers;
Yours has the suffering been,
The memory shall be ours."
- Henry
Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service.
In 1915, inspired by the poem "In Flanders Fields," Moina Michael replied with her own poem:
We cherish too, the Poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led,
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies.
She then conceived of an idea to wear red poppies on Memorial day in honor of those who died serving the nation during war. She was the first to wear one, and sold poppies to her friends and co-workers with the money going to benefit servicemen in need. Later a Madam Guerin from
On May 25th this year we honor the men and women of the
Saturday, April 11, 2009
A Great Debt. Who Can Pay?
An illustration showing the great gift we have in the death and resurrection of Jesus. He came to pay a debt that we could not pay.
Harry Ironside used to tell about a young Russian soldier. Because his father was a friend of Czar Nicholas I, the young man had been made paymaster in one of the barracks.
The young man meant well, but his character was not up to this responsibility. He took to gambling and eventually gambled away a great deal of the government's money as well as all of his own.
In due course the young man received notice that a representative of the czar was coming to check accounts, and he knew he was in trouble.
That evening he got out the books and totaled up the funds he owed. Then he went to the safe and got out his own pitifully small amount of money. As he sat and looked at the two he was overwhelmed at the astronomical debt versus his own small change. He was ruined! He knew he would be disgraced.
At last the young soldier determined to take his life. He pulled out his revolver, placed it on the table before him, and wrote a summation of his misdeeds. At the bottom of the ledger where he had totaled up his illegal borrowings, he wrote: “A great debt! Who can pay?” He decided that at the stroke of midnight he would die.
As the evening wore on the young soldier grew drowsy and eventually fell asleep. That night Czar Nicholas I, as was sometimes his custom, made the rounds of the barracks. Seeing a light, he stopped, looked in, and saw the young man asleep. He recognized him immediately and, looking over his shoulder, saw the ledger and realized all that had taken place.
He was about to awaken him and put him under arrest when his eye fastened on the young man's message: “A great debt! Who can pay?”
Suddenly, with a surge of magnanimity, he reached over, wrote one word at the bottom of the ledger, and slipped out.
When the young man awoke, he glanced at the clock and saw that it was long after midnight. He reached for his revolver to shoot himself. But his eye fell upon the ledger and he saw something that he had not seen before. There beneath his writing: “A great debt! Who can pay?” was written, “Nicholas.”
He was dumbfounded. It was the Czar's signature. He said to himself, “The czar must have come by when I was asleep. He has seen the book. He knows all. Still he is willing to forgive me.”
The young soldier then rested on the word of the czar, and the next morning a messenger came from the palace with exactly the amount needed to meet the deficit. Only the czar could pay, and the czar did pay.
We compare [God's righteousness] with our own tawdry performance, and we ask the question: “A great debt to God! Who can pay?” But then the Lord Jesus Christ steps forward and signs His name to our ledger: “Jesus Christ.” Only Jesus can pay, and He did.
By Greg Koukl, Stand to Reason
Long live the King!
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Marines invade Iwo Jima
On this day, 64 years ago, Operation Detachment(February 19–March 26, 1945), the U.S. Marines' invasion of Iwo Jima, is launched. Iwo Jima was a barren Pacific island guarded by Japanese artillery, but to American military minds, it was prime real estate on which to build airfields to launch bombing raids against Japan, only 660 miles away.
The Americans began applying pressure to the Japanese defense of the island in February 1944, when B-24 and B-25 bombers raided the island for 74 days. It was the longest pre-invasion bombardment of the war, necessary because of the extent to which the Japanese--21,000 strong--fortified the island, above and below ground, including a network of caves. Underwater demolition teams ("frogmen") were dispatched by the Americans just before the actual invasion. When the Japanese fired on the frogmen, they gave away many of their "secret" gun positions.
The amphibious landings of Marines began the morning of February 19 as the secretary of the navy, James Forrestal, accompanied by journalists, surveyed the scene from a command ship offshore. As the Marines made their way onto the island, seven Japanese battalions opened fire on them. By evening, more than 550 Marines were dead and more than 1,800 were wounded. The capture of Mount Suribachi, the highest point of the island and bastion of the Japanese defense, took four more days and many more casualties. When the American flag was finally raised on Iwo Jima, the memorable image was captured in a famous photograph that later won the Pulitzer Prize.
U.S. casualties: 6,821 dead / 19,189 wounded
Japanese casualties: 21,703 dead / 1,083 captured
"Victory was never in doubt. What was in doubt in all our minds was whether there would be any of us left to dedicate our cemetery at the end." Major General Graves B Erskine, Commander, 3rd Marine Division
Monday, February 16, 2009
Watching the Watchmen
The Warner Bros. movie Watchmen will be released on 6 March.
The movie is based on a 1986-7 Graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons which was 'revolutionary' for the superhero genre. It was was recently named one of the 100 greatest novels of the past century.
One blogger commented, "These types of stories turned the comic book genre on its head because of how human it makes its characters. As it turns out, none of these people really do what they do for truth, justice, and the American way...or at least not in the boy scout manner that Superman does. They aren't so noble and clean-cut. Their motives aren't so pure. Their actions aren't always so heroic. Watchmen was considered revolutionary because of all of this - it deconstructed the genre and explored a much darker, more conflicted side of 'masked adventuring.'"
'Watchmen is set in an alternate reality which closely mirrors the contemporary world of the 1980s. The primary point of divergence is the presence of superheroes. Their existence in this iteration of America is shown to have dramatically affected and altered the outcomes of real-world events such as the Vietnam War and the presidency of Richard Nixon. In keeping with the realism of the series, although the costumed crime fighters of Watchmen are commonly called "superheroes", the only character who possesses obvious superhuman powers is Doctor Manhattan. The existence of Doctor Manhattan has given the U.S. a strategic advantage over the Soviet Union, which has increased tensions between the two nations. Additionally, superheroes have become unpopular among the public, which has led to the passage of legislation in 1977 to outlaw them. While many of the heroes retired, Doctor Manhattan and the Comedian operate as government-sanctioned agents, and Rorschach continues to operate outside the law.'
The title references a line by Roman poet Juvenal, "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" – "who watches the watchmen?" – a question which occupies the regular folk in the film's world.
I think it will be worth a look and a good vehicle to spark discussion at least about the nature of man.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Economics 101
Calvin and Hobbes is a comic strip written and illustrated by Bill Watterson, following the humorous antics of Calvin, an imaginative six-year old boy, and Hobbes, his energetic and sardonic—albeit stuffed—tiger. The pair are named after John Calvin, a 16th-century French Reformation theologian, and Thomas Hobbes, a 17th-century English political philosopher.[1] The strip was syndicated daily from November 18, 1985 to December 31, 1995. At its height, Calvin and Hobbes was featured in over 2,400 newspapers worldwide. To date, more than 30 million copies of the 18 Calvin and Hobbes books have been printed.[2]
Calvin and Hobbes comics are still fresh, 'enlightening' and funny.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Top 10 Reasons to Oppose the Stimulus
The Government is getting ready to spend your money like a bunch of drunken sailors on shore leave.
1. The Stimulus Will Not Work
Our history is replete with examples of “stimulus” spending failing to move our economy toward prosperity—Bush just tried it, Ford tried it. Even Christina Romer, Obama’s Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers agrees. Romer wrote in a study, “Our estimates suggest that fiscal actions contributed only moderately to recoveries.” The New Deal didn’t end the Great Depression and Obama’s stimulus package won’t end this recession. In fact, two UCLA economists published a study in 2004 finding FDR’s similar New Deal policies prolonged the Great Depression by seven years. It fails because you don’t increase economic output by taking a dollar from one person and giving to another. The idea of “stimulus” spending falls for the “ broken window fallacy”—the allure of what is seen versus what is not seen. We will see the jobs created by the government spending. What we won’t see are the jobs lost because consumers have less money to spend because the government got the money its spending from us—the only place it can get money.
2. The Stimulus follows the same plan that ruined Japan’s economy
Japan, after a dramatic market crash and a drop in real estate prices responded with government spending not unlike what the US Congress is considering today. In fact, they had 10 stimulus bills between 1992 and 2000, spending billions on infrastructure construction, building bridges, roads, and airports as well as pouring money into biotech and telecommunications. While many countries enjoyed booming economies and falling unemployment during this time, Japan had a lost decade, seeing its unemployment more than double. They spent double the US level of GDP on infrastructure, and now have a lousy economy and have one of the highest national debts in the world. After 10 stimulus packages, Japan has gone from having the second biggest economy in the world by a long shot, to being well behind the new number two, China, and is close to falling behind India. We do not want to follow their lead.
3. The Stimulus is full of Wasteful Projects
While we were told the stimulus bill would focus on rebuilding America’s infrastructure—mainly the roads and bridges—only 5% of the current bill goes to such projects. The rest of the bill goes to pet projects like:
o $400,000,000.00 for researching sexually transmitted diseases
o $200,000,000.00 to force the military to buy environmentally-friendly electric cars
o $34,000,000.00 to renovate the Department of Commerce headquarters
o $75,000,000.00 for a program to end smoking which, if successful will bankrupt the State Children’s Health Program Democrats are about to pass (SCHIP) that is paid for by cigarette taxes
o $650,000,000.00 for digital TV coupons
o $50,000,000.00 for the National Endowment for the Arts
These programs are just the 2008 version of the “ midnight basketball” program that derailed Bill Clinton’s attempt to ram through a “stimulus” bill in 1992. Despite that bill failing, the economy quickly recovered and the economic boom of the 1990s began.
4. The Government Can’t Afford the Stimulus
President Bush pushed the government deep into a $1.2 trillion deficit this year, the third time he has set a record for biggest deficit ever, and President Obama’s stimulus bill follows his lead, piling on more debt. The deficit in 2008 amounted to about 8 percent of GDP. The entire debt is about 35 percent of GDP. Even for those who do still believe in Keynesianism, it is important to remember his theory didn’t start with the government already over a trillion dollars in the hole, he was generally operating from balanced budgets.
5. We Can’t afford the Stimulus
How much is $825 billion? The Heritage Foundation has calculated that that comes to over $10,000 per American family. To further put that in context, on average, families annually spend:
o $2,230 on apparel and services
o $3,595 on health care
o $4,322 on food at home
o $11,657 on shelter
6. The Stimulus is Bigger Than the Economic Output of Most Countries
If this bill were a country, it’d be the 15th largest country in the world, ranking between Australia and Mexico. It is bigger than the economies of Saudi Arabia and Iran combined. In fact, the $875 billion it calls for is more than all the cash in the United States.
7. Central Planning like the Stimulus Doesn’t Work, Ask the USSR
If centrally planned government spending on a grand scale produced economic growth, the Soviet Union would have won the Cold War. If government spending on a grand scale produced economic growth we would be in the middle of the Bush Boom right now. It doesn’t. Working, saving, and investing leads to economic output and increases in productivity lead to growth. As economics professor Steven Horwitz said, “The stimulus plans assume consumption is the source of growth. It is not. It is the consequence of said growth.”
8. Remember the $750 Billion Bailout from this Fall?
It was just a couple months ago when we were told if we would just quickly hand over $750 billion to the Treasury Secretary to bailout his friends on Wall Street, he would make the economy all better. That didn’t work, and neither will an additional $825 billion.
9. This Money Doesn’t Grow on Trees
And this has nothing to do with paper money being made of cotton and linen. The only way the government gets money is through taxing, borrowing, or printing—that is, it has to take it out of the economy in order to put it back into the economy. If government borrows the money for the stimulus, then it will either have to print money later or raise taxes to pay it back. If it raises taxes to pay for the stimulus, it will, in effect, be robbing Peter to pay Paul – probably with interest. If it prints the money, inflation decreases the value of the dollar for every American – robbing Paul to pay Paul.
10. Economists do NOT Agree this is a Good Idea
No matter how many times supporters of the bill say it, economists do not all agree this bill is a good idea. In fact, hundreds of economists have come out against it, including Noble Laureates, who signed a letter the Cato Institute ran as a full page ad in several major newspapers opposing the stimulus. Still more economists submitted statements to the US House of Representatives opposing the stimulus proposal.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
1943 : Von Paulus to Hitler: Let us surrender!
Finally back from the front after two splendid trips: Vienna, Austria and Normandy, France (pictures later).
I turn to one of my passions...The Battle of Stalingrad. Today in history (66 years ago) German Gen. Friedrich von Paulus, commander in chief of the German 6th Army at Stalingrad, urgently requests permission from Adolf Hitler to surrender his position there, but Hitler refuses.
The Battle of Stalingrad began in the summer of 1942, as German forces assaulted the city, a major industrial center and a prized strategic coup. But despite repeated attempts and having pushed the Soviets almost to the Volga River in mid-October and encircling Stalingrad, the 6th Army, under Paulus, and part of the 4th Panzer Army could not break past the adamantine defense of the Soviet 62nd Army.
By January 24, the Soviets had overrun Paulus' last airfield. His position was untenable and surrender was the only hope for survival. Hitler wouldn't hear of it: "The 6th Army will hold its positions to the last man and the last round." Paulus held out until January 31, when he finally surrendered. Of more than 280,000 men under Paulus' command, half were already dead or dying, about 35,000 had been evacuated from the front, and the remaining 91,000 were hauled off to Soviet POW camps. Paulus eventually sold out to the Soviets altogether, joining the National Committee for Free Germany and urging German troops to surrender. Testifying at Nuremberg for the Soviets, he was released and spent the rest of his life in East Germany.
On 30th January, 1943, Adolf Hitler promoted to Paulus to field marshal and sent him a message reminding him that no German field marshal had ever been captured. Hitler was clearly suggesting to Paulus to commit suicide but he declined and the following day surrendered to the Red Army. The last of the Germans surrendered on 2nd February.
In 1946 Paulus appeared at Nuremberg as a witness for the prosecution. Although he admitted he had been guilty of a criminal attack on the Soviet Union he refused to incriminate Alfred Jodl or Wilhelm Keitel. Paulus remained in a Soviet Union prison until being released in 1953. He settled in Dresden, East Germany, where he worked as an inspector of the People's Police. Friedrich Paulus died of cancer on 1st February, 1957.
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