How Many Lies Competition

I just can't believe anyone is this...uhhh...I guess I ought not to say. I decided to watch this with my kids and count the number of lies this woman tells. We lost count. See if you can keep count.



Type your count in the comments section.

Biden & Bloody Noses

I just could not see this little moment on Rush's show today become lost in the annals and archives of the Limbaugh Museum of Broadcasting. Rush made Biden eat his words. Read here till the site updates.

BIDEN: My dad who fell on hard times always told me, though, "Champ, when you get knocked, get up. Get up." I was taught -- I was taught that by my dad, and God, I wish my dad was here tonight. But I that I think God and I'm grateful that my mom, Katherine Eugene Finnegan Biden is here tonight. ... When I got knocked down by guys bigger than me, and this is the God's truth, she sent me back out and said, "Bloody their nose so you can walk down the street the next day," and that's what I did.

RUSH: Well, now, isn't this amazing? This is from the guy who tried to author defeat in Iraq! This is the guy who opposed the Gulf War in 1991. This is the guy who voted for the war in Iraq, but he opposed the surge. So what have we learned here in this little bite? First off, sounds like little Joe's house was pretty conservative. It sounds like his parents loved him, cared about his future. It sounds like he had a mom and dad that were there for him, and his mom has her own little message after dad says just get up: Go out there and bloody the bully's nose. Now, from this story, ladies and gentlemen, we have to assume that simply breaking a nose would not be good enough for mom.

Nope. She insisted upon little Joey Biden drawing blood. You have to respect that. Joey's mom wasn't a micromanager. She kept it simple, trusted her son could work out the details. Just go out there and kick their butt, bloody their nose. So I think maybe ought to send Joe Biden around to various schools in the country and say, "The way we deal with bullies like Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden is to bloody their nose." Now, how did it happen, ladies and gentlemen? Joe Biden was taught all of these values. Do you realize that crowd last night applauded violence? Where was the conflict resolution, Joe?

Why didn't your parents tell you to go out there like you are having kids be taught today? Why didn't you go out there and try to negotiate with the bully and resolve the conflict? Oh, no! When it was you, Joe, your dad goes, "Bloody their nose." You didn't even ask your allies to help, Joe! You didn't care what your family's reputation was, you didn't care whether the neighborhood loved you or hated you and you didn't care what the neighborhood would think of you after you went out and bloodied the guy's nose. You just went out and did it! Now all of a sudden your country is not worth the house you grew up in. Your country is not worth the values you grew up with! (shouting) You phony baloney, plastic banana, good-time rock 'n' roller. I'm sorry, folks. I cannot handle these people anymore! (sigh)

If He Wins, He Wins By Default

John McCain's campaign has been busy making commercials against Obama. They have been funny and perhaps even effective. What strikes me is that I am still waiting for some kind of leadership from the McCain campaign. So what policy does McCain stand for?

Is this merely an up or down vote on Barak Obama? McCain has arrived at his current position by default. Did he really win the Primaries or was there a split? Mike Huckabee attempted to claim on Rush Limbaugh's show today that he was in no way teaming with McCain to split the vote. Instead he blamed it on Ron Paul. Either way, McCain won by default. Is the National Election between the non-leader McCain and Obama any different in substance? Let's look at the issues.

On tax policy, McCain opposed George Bush's tax cut for many years. Now he is for lower taxes?

“There’s one big difference between me and the others–I won’t take every last dime of the surplus and spend it on tax cuts that mostly benefit the wealthy.” [McCain campaign commercial, January 2000]

“I am disappointed that the Senate Finance Committee preferred instead to cut the top tax rate of 39.6% to 36%, thereby granting generous tax relief to the wealthiest individuals of our country at the expense of lower- and middle-income American taxpayers.” [McCain Senate floor statement, May 21, 2001]

“But when you look at the percentage of the tax cuts that–as the previous tax cuts–that go to the wealthiest Americans, you will find that the bulk of it, again, goes to wealthiest Americans.” [NBC’s “Today,” Jan. 7, 2003]

These quotes sound like Democrats. Now he has changed his tune. This is pure political pandering. For a man who accuses Barak Obama as one who would rather get elected than love his country, this is a bit over the top. Conclusion: McCain is a follower, not a leader.

First Amendment and cleaning money in politics. Every four years politicians talk about how they are going to clean up money in politics. McCain decides he is going to follow the old tactic and destroy the First Amendment. This is not leadership. This is pandering to the people in the worst way. Conclusion: McCain is a follower, not a leader.

McCain claims to be Prolife. All of a sudden Prolife groups are endorsing McCain. Yet, McCain is not leading a Prolife movement. I have already argued that McCain does not want to be a strong advocate and bring this debate to any kind of boil. McCain wants everyone to like him. I agree with John Piper. We as a country fought over and spilled blood for less. Surely babies are worth more than some kind of economics or slavery issue. Yet McCain clearly states he would never want this to be a National Issue dealt with by political leaders. In other words, it is not worth fighting over. This from a man who fought in a war? Apparently that war took the fight out of him unless it is against Conservatives or George Bush. Conclusion: McCain is a follower, not a leader.

Securing the border is also a major issue. Here McCain shines as a leader. It is just that he is leading in the wrong direction. So yet another policy issue that McCain is not worth voting for.

Nominating Judges is extremely important. Yet without sound Conservative leadership, his ability to nominate Conservative Judges is not going to happen. He will pander to Democrats. Any opportunity to get Conservative Judges was blown by his gang of 14. Instead of defeating Democrats, he seeks to get everyone to like him and strike back at George Bush. If he is a leader, he is leading against the base of the Conservative movement and shows nothing but contempt for it. Conclusion: once again McCain is a follower, not a leader.

As for the homosexual debate and the definition of marriage here is a quote from On the Issues Website:

• Don't ask, don't tell is working; don't tamper with it. (Jun 2007)
• Leave gay marriage to the states. (Jan 2007)

So what kind of leadership is he providing to defend God's creative purpose and commands to the state? NONE! He simply doesn't want to deal with it. Seems to me he just wants to be President, but I have yet to figure out why. He has no ability to articulate the foundation for marriage because like every other politician speaking before a Liberal Press, he is embarrassed. Conclusion: McCain is a follower, not a leader.

The same Web Site says he is for homeschooling and vouchers. If so, then lead already!!!!!

As for the Environment the site also says:

Support much tougher regulations on emission requirements.

Make EPA into a Cabinet department.

He is literally all over the place. Conclusion: he is a follower, not a leader.

So what am I to conclude as a Conservative? For eight years he has dissed people such as me. He has fought against Bush and sought to side with Bush's political enemies. Now I am supposed to just go vote for him. Can anyone please give me sound reasons as to why I should?

In essence my point is this, if the Republican party wins in November can we really say it is a win or an Obama loss? McCain winning by default is not a victory. The Press knows this and will take every advantage they can to exploit it. If McCain wants the moderate and not my vote, then I wish he and Rush Limbaugh would quit assuming I should vote for him.

Fountain of Youth, Perpetual Engines and Magic Fuels

Several years ago, a man promising free electricity via his perpetual running engine that operated on the 5 law of something came through town and the state. I met several people who bought into this snake oil scam. One person even had a booth at the State Fair. Are Politicians such as T. Boone Pickens any different?

I heard yet another Pickens commercial this afternoon. This one really suggested that his entire plan is only to buy time. I guess we are running out of time? Apparently, he thinks the American public believes in the magic pill, fountain of youth, perpetual engines and now the imaginary perfect fuel. If he is right, Americans watch to many movies. BTW, the movie Back To the Future is fiction.

If you have recently watched the Modern Marvels program on Crude Oil, you might be beginning to realize that oil is the magic fuel. It does so much it is ridiculous we would look for another fuel source. What impressed me was how we are able to take the Crude apart at the molecular level to come up so many things such as propane, petroleum products (lipstick), gasoline, diesel, kerosene, asphalt base and literally hundreds of other uses. This happens at the Refinerys.

Now there are people who probably would still like to burn water. We have so much of it. Why not burn it? But is that really the issue? We would all need cars that would have to have some kind of small refinery in order to break down the water into a usable form. This would require some kind of catalyst or engine that would defeat the purpose. Are we all going to drive around with Nuclear power plants under our hoods? What Leftist is going to sit idly by and allow that? In fact, I think that would come under Saturday Night Live's Bad Idea Jeans.

So why reinvent the wheel? We got the oil. Ignore the whiny Leftists and allow companies to go get what the free-market allows. Again, the issue is not about oil, it is about freedom. Pickens is playing on fears and promising fictional solutions in the future. This is not Conservatism.

Don't buy his snake oil.

Samuel Adams and Discussing Justification

After 16 years I sat down with my brother and had a Samuel Adams. Yes, I liked it. We had our tasty beer while discussing the doctrine of Justification and the Gospel.

I am not writing this post to argue the points of a good beer. I really think alcohol is a non-issue. The discussion at that time was far weightier. Although we agreed on certain points, we disagreed as to what a person needed to know to be Justified. Having a zeal for Jesus seemed to be something that was important. The problem arose as to what that means. As I pointed out in our conversation, even Mormons and Muslims have great Zeal. Both of these groups believe in Jesus (in a name only since there are false versions of Jesus). So I concluded that a certain level of knowledge of who Jesus is and the truth of the Gospel is required.

No one has perfect knowledge, but is that really a point of dispute. Jesus Christ teaches that those who abide in His teaching are saved. How in the world could a Muslim or a Mormon say they are abiding in His teaching when they deny what Jesus teaches about Himself? As Paul says about the Jews which would have included himself prior to his conversion,

Acts 22:3-4 I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day. And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.

and again

Romans 10:2 For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.

Galatians 1:14 And profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.

It is very clear in Paul that having Zeal without truth is good intentions that paves a road to hell as the old saying goes.

We also discussed Rome's Gospel. I made the point that Rome has rejected the Gospel. Nevertheless, I agree with John Calvin that within Rome is a true church, but Rome is not a true church. She denies the Gospel. I was challenged at one point in our conversation to demonstrate that Rome denies the Gospel, so I will quote Rome.

CANON 9: "If any one saith, that by faith alone the impious is justified; in such wise as to mean, that nothing else is required to co-operate in order to the obtaining the grace of Justification, and that it is not in any way necessary, that he be prepared and disposed by the movement of his own will; let him be anathema."

CANON 12: "If any one shall say that justifying faith is nothing else than confidence in the divine mercy pardoning sins for Christ's sake, or that it is that confidence alone by which we are justified ... let him be accursed"

Canon 14: "If any one saith, that man is truly absolved from his sins and justified, because that he assuredly believed himself absolved and justified; or, that no one is truly justified but he who believes himself justified; and that, by this faith alone, absolution and justification are effected; let him be anathema."

Now unless you are a cafeteria RC, you must as a RC accept this. If you do...fine. But we must agree that if you are going to be RC, then at least believe what she teaches. You must by her own definition deny the teaching of the Reformers that a man is saved through the merits of Christ by Faith Alone. It is Christ's finished work fully and sufficiently imputed to a man by faith...never through faith coupled with works. One should also be willing to pray to Mary and believe she was assumed into heaven, purgatory, indulgences, their view of the Mass and ect..

By the end of our conversation we had each finished our beer. We obviously did not agree on every point. Brothers often disagree. Yet, I do believe the Gospel was discussed in an honorable way, and I pray God was glorified in that conversation.

Pickens Plan Is Not a Plan

Alright, I heard another silly plan by the T. Boone Pickens campaign. You may read about his energy plan here. His commercial spoke of his plan in stages. The first stage is for wind power. Now anybody that knows about wind power knows we are blowing millions of dollars into the wind. Pun is intended. Now as the stock guru noticed, there really is no plan, but let's pretend there is.

Apparently, Sweetwater's demise was saved by wind power. The plan says,

"When a large wind power facility was built outside of town, Sweetwater experienced a revival. New economic opportunity brought the town back to life and the population has grown back up to 12,000."

Whenever I hear a politician speak, Republican or Democrat, I get really nervous. Politicians are by definition against free markets. They must control the markets in order to maintain their positions of authority and power. So here we have an artificial market sustained only by politicians. Is this true job growth? Are we really going to say that wind energy created 2000 jobs in one town? I smell a rat.

Stage 2 is more troubling and deceiving. He appeals to Natural Gas. His site says,

"According to the California Energy Commission, critical greenhouse gas emissions from natural gas are 23% lower than diesel and 30% lower than gasoline."

I reject the premise. The premise is that burning oil and coal is destroying the planet. That is just a bunch of ____ (= nonsense).

"Natural gas vehicles (NGV) are already available and combine top performance with low emissions."

Yes, they are available. We owned one at the company I work for. The free-market has determined that Americans do not want this. Only by forcing the market to use this fuel will this work. Artificially creating a market is bad news.

"Natural gas is significantly less expensive than gasoline or diesel. In places like Utah and Oklahoma, prices are less than $1 a gallon. To see fueling stations and costs in your area, check out cngprices.com."

I must confess this man is clever. Of course it is cheaper. The demand for it is low. If we force the entire nation to use NG, do we honestly believe the price will stay low?

1) Oil companies have filling stations almost everywhere. How many NG stations are you aware of? So drilling for more oil is not going to solve our nations "crisis" but drilling for more NG is?

2) Regular gas is easily transported by trucks? Are we going to build pipelines to every gas station in the country for cars?

3) I do work for a NG distribution company. In the last 8 years the price of NG has tripled. I have watched many electric lines installed to replace NG engines for irrigation. Is adding demand going to solve this? Perhaps I am speaking ignorantly here, and this could be done. I would just like to know where this NG is coming from that would meet the nation's demand.

Natural gas is our country's second largest energy resource and a vital component of our energy supply. 98% of the natural gas used in the United States is from North America. But 70% of our oil is purchased from foreign nations.

This is an interesting stat. The thing about stats is that you can make them say anything you want. First of all, where else would it comes from? It is generally not economical to transport NG via ships. So of course most NG would be located here. Where else would it be?

Another problem with this is competition. If only a couple of companies produce something, they control the market. Competition is a good thing, even from overseas! This is a major premise that Boone must be challenged on. No one is doing it. This is not Conservatism. This is Isolationism.

Also, the largest importer of Petroluem into the U.S. is Canada. Of the top five largest importers to the U.S. is Canada and Mexico. Venezuela is also in the top five. So if we are going to use the term North America, we must remind ourselves this does not equal United States. Pickens is equivocating hoping no one will notice. That is deception, a typical politician trait.

So if we are going to be consistent with the definition of "foreign nations", we must see that almost 20% of NG is imported from foreign nations according to the Energy Information Administration (read here). Of course those foreign nations happen to border our own. This is causing a problem for Pickens' plan. One article is entitled "Demand for Natural Gas Brings Big Import Plans, and Objections" (read here). So Pickens will be importing or does he have another plan?

You must understand that the Left will criticize anything. If we got rid of oil today, they would go after whatever technology that comes along. The issue has never been about oil, it is about anti-capitalism cloaked with saving the planet language.

"The Pickens Plan is a bridge to the future — a blueprint to reduce foreign oil dependence by harnessing domestic energy alternatives, and buy us time to develop even greater new technologies."

Apparently, this is the plan. No mention of free-market in his plan what-so-ever. This should be troubling to all who fear the loss of freedom and the ever expanding government. The price of oil will drop tomorrow if we go and get it today. Don't fool yourself for the imaginary "new technology". Men like Pickens will promise the world in order to get elected. This is not a plan. This is simply the typical "politicians lining their pockets while grand standing" routine. Don't be fooled.

SBTS Conference

Tom Ascol's Founders Blog has noted an upcoming conference at SBTS with the theme The English Baptists of the 17th Century. Ascol notes that Jerry Vines is speaking during the conference. He cites Vines as saying that the LBCF may not be Calvinistic.

...the London confessions, Philadelphia confession, New Hampshire Confession...these confessions bear a close resemblance to some of the five points although there is no clear cut evidence that Baptists in their confesssions of faith ever truly subscribed to everything that the five points of Calvinism would teach."

What I love about Ascol is his response to this,

"Perhaps the conference will provide opportunities to explore this and other related doctrinal/historical theses related to 17th century Baptist beliefs."

I must confess that Ascol is far more kind than I will ever be. Anyone (Ascol is definitely a part of this anyone) who knows even the smallest amount of 17th century baptist history knows full well why the English Baptists produced the 2nd London Baptist Confession in the first place.

I must learn patience with this one. I am certain the Conference will air out the historical facts of these confessions.

This Silly McCain Business

All right. Just a quick comment about this McCain business at Saddleback church. Rush was praising McCain's quick answers as being core beliefs on display. That is why he was able to give quick and substantive answers. For instance, McCain was asked when life begins to which he responded by saying "conception". He is now supposedly the pro-life candidate. Just a couple of questions I'd like to pose to Rush.

What about this gang of 14 that Mccain built to get back at George Bush which ended up stalling Bush's nominations?

If this is such a core value, why did McCain "float" Tom Ridge as a running mate? If this is not a lick the finger and stick it in the wind I don't know what is.

How many Pro-life bills has McCain introduced to save babies from being murdered?

Why did McCain say he would not be willing to overturn Roe V Wade if given the opportunity?

When Democrats are willing to stall Republican nominated Judges to the Supreme Court, McCain wants to play nice with Political enemies. Is this Pro-life? Is this the character being portrayed when he talks about his war-hero status?

Why did McCain believe the First Amendment could be dismantled to silence all groups, including Pro-Life Pacs "to even mention the name of a candidate within 30 days of a primary, or 60 days of a general election"?

I must part ways with Rush Limbaugh. As impressive sounding at Saddleback church McCain made himself out to be, he is clearly being political. I don't care what he did in a war that took place 40 years ago. He obviously did not learn from it. He has sided with Leftists on too many fronts. He has tried to be liked by the Media and Moderates. He has chosen to attack Conservatives on his own side. Why should I expect anything different from him if he were elected President? Isn't it obvious as well that if he were President he will work together with Leftists in Congress instead of defeating them?

I don't want a compromiser. I don't want someone who speaks at a church and says what Conservatives want to hear. I want a leader. John McCain is no leader.

Creation Museum

One of the highlights of our trip was the Creation Museum in Kentucky. The Museum offers not only a walk through of the 7 "C's, Creation, Corruption, Catastrophe, Confusion, Christ, Cross, and Consummation, but also has a Planetarium and classes defending the Biblical account in Genesis. For instance, Dr. Menton teaches a class on biology that is nothing short of amazing. He simply gets out his microscope and teaches about the basics of cellular life. That lecture alone was worth the day there.

By the end of the day you will learn at least one thing. That is Evolutionists and Biblical Creationists both agree upon and possess the same evidence. It is simply the starting point or presuppositions that must be acknowledged. Man starts with his pompous self. Christians ought to start with God's revelation.



Jacob has some scary moments. :-)



See the Dinosaur Jacob wanted to see.



Here is Jacob's reaction.

More Pictures

A couple of more pictures.

We Made It!

One thing is quite obvious when you leave western Kansas. It is humid in the rest of the country to the east. We have been looking like someone that has been dunked in a tank during Fair time. We just can not manage to stay dry. Fortunately while we camped in Virginia the weather was dry for a brief period. Here is a picture of Monticello.

Tuesday we spent the day in Washington D.C.. What an incredible day to be at Arlington Cemetery. We watched the change of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. While walking to Kennedy’s tomb, we were stopped by a funeral procession of presumably a four star general. He received a 21 gun (canon) salute. Taps was played. Perhaps half of the Pentagon was there? It was difficult to know if we were breaking etiquette when were decided to leave the grounds to go to the Washing Mall.

Four out of five of us stayed awake when we arrived at Lincoln’s Memorial.

Jacob woke up in time to touch the Washington monument.

Seeing these timeless documents fade reminds me of how precious our Republic is. Jefferson was right. Every generation must contend for the principles fought over during the Revolution. Although, I wonder if Jefferson envisioned what has become of this Nation. I think in many ways, it has. In many ways, it also reminds us that every generation must fight against tyranny. The fact that the Supreme Court upheld the Second Amendment only proves that truth all the more.

I wonder if this would legal today? This was in the floor of the Nation Archives.

While we were at Jefferson’s Monticello, the tour guide mentioned that Jefferson loved to read. He literally had a library of thousands of books. When the Brittish had burned the Library of Congress, Jefferson donated his books. My son wanted to see this library. So we went. I had forgotten about the fact Jefferson had done this. The books were on display. After reading the titles of these books, I am more convinced than ever that the Framers of the Constitution were far more intelligent than any lawyer I have ever met.

Just as we were rounding the Capitol building, a man from the Talk Radio News Service came up to us and asked us what we thought of the Republicans demanding a vote on the Energy Bill while standing in the dark. Since we have been traveling we simply had no idea what the political news of the day was. The News Guy proceeded to explain to us the situation and again asked me my opinion. Now, for those of you who know me, I gave him a microphone full. He then explained that I would be on the program that evening, at least on the internet at www.talkradionews.com.

Independence Hall at Philadelphia was amazing. We stood in the room where the Founders of this nation debated and declared the Revolution. Unlike the Leftist Revolution occurring today, these men were simply brilliant. I'll post some video later. Here are a couple of pictures.




Update:

We have made it to Massachusetts. It is nice to finally be at our destination.

Days 2 & 3 & 4

For the last couple of days I have been in parts of this country that is still living in the dark ages. So I have not been able to login for a bit. We are now in Virginia staying with some friends.

As you can see we went through St. Louis.


Abraham Lincoln must have been a man of amazing character. We went to a museum in Indiana, the place of his boyhood home.


Jacob decides he can catch the chickens at the Lincoln farm.


BURN COAL BABY! This shot was taken in Virginia.


Thomas Jefferson's Monticello is a nice place to visit. He really represents the thinking of the time.


Rachel learns to use a quill at Jefferson's home.


Steph visits with a good friend.