I was the invited guest speaker at this morning’s Cocoa Beach Republican women’s club meeting.

I told them how I detest the way the media and the Left are determining who our Republican presidential candidate will be through their control of the debates and the first four primaries and caucuses. I shared my suggestions for how it should be changed. (”Change, change, change. Change the fools… “) Twenty solid minutes of how I’d change the political election world. Heh…

Following a Q & A session, I made my departure and this little group of the Space Coast Federation of Republican Women (and some men) then took a straw poll.

Club president Nancy sent the results to me. I wonder if it might be a microcosm of how Florida will vote in our primary on the 29th?

1 vote for Huckabee
1 vote for McCain
1 vote for Paul
5 votes for Thompson
8 votes for Guiliani
22 votes for Romney

We’ll be back to compare these results with the finals on Primary night. Stay tuned…

***

On tonight’s internet radio webcast we’ll be talking to the brilliant Selwyn Duke, national columnist whose works appear on The American Thinker, News with Views, World Net Daily, and other conservative journals of note.

Selwyn was with us for the final half hour of last Sunday night’s program, and we got on so well I invited him back for a return engagement. We’ve got him for the full hour tonight. We’ll be talking about the presidential campaign, the political landscape, conservatism, and whatever else comes to mind. Do join us! We get underway at 9 p.m. EST.

CALL IN NUMBER IS 646-478-4604.

Click the above button at 9 pm EST to hear us live.
ALL my shows are archived for your convenience.

*****

“I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” - Thomas Jefferson

We Americans are sensitive about our liberty - it was won at a high cost and throughout our history good men and women have died far from home to protect it. Some of the liberties we insist on keeping are used by the irresponsible to prey upon the civilized, like the right to bear arms or the first amendment right to express our political thoughts. Some ask why we pay such a high price for the right to enjoy such adult liberties? Our answer is that human history has taught us that no life is “so dear, or life so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains or slavery.” What the European has dismissed we cherish, asking ourselves “what infringement on our freedom are we willing to endure for promises of peace and equality? ” In America, such questions are answered by our willingness to endure ignorance and insult, we believe that to ban expression because it hurts feelings creates a standard so low that we are all soon in chains. There has been a movement to impose such a standard here, but we reject it as unbecoming of a free people, while believing that the relationship between a government and the citizen is built upon the belief that there is inherent dignity due every one of us. When our government begins to believe that its citizens are not worthy of the liberties of a free people - not worthy of the dignity afforded a living soul - then the relationship becomes one of the authoritarian to the child, and we are not free any longer. It is the legacy of the West that we have empowered the free man to direct his government to protect his rights, for in human history freedom is rare and the seduction of the tyrant draws a line of shame in blood unbroken to this very day. So we have learned only that freedom is fleeting.

There is a choice for the free man. A battle of civilizations has broken out; on one side Western values of individual liberties and equality, on the other submission and order. One claims to unburden mankind from its fetters of prejudice and poverty, the other claims to unburden man of his arrogance and greed. One offers a world free to express human aspirations and ingenuity, the other a world free from chaos and sin. The dichotomy is stark, and as the world grows smaller and these two visions collide, the debate rages about the rude influence of Western freedom on Islamic submission, or in grander terms, democracy versus totalitarianism. In America, Western values define us, and we will abide a Serrano’s crucifix in urine rather than legislate permissible expression pegged to the subjective reactions of those injured. It is another battle in the larger confrontation between cultures clashing, but a battle on the home front as important as the one the soldier faces in Iraq, Afghanistan or Pakistan.

Britain, home of the sagacious Winston Churchill, finds itself suppressing again his wisdom and faith in freedom. The birthplace of Western values finds today those values inconvenient in a multicultural environment, where the diminution of Western culture seems a small price to pay for peace and stability. Ayaan Hirsi Ali would tell you that a free society cannot trade away its freedom to accommodate immigrants who deny themselves such things - a state must teach freedom or soon the free will find themselves boxed into an argument pitting the chaos of freedom against the order of submission. Mother England finds herself there now, home to a growing insolence that mauls the hand that feeds it. Extremists argue that freedom breeds entitlement and arrogance, and it does, for all the reasons every slave, woman or minority might argue from a position of oppression. It was once deemed liberal to insist on such libertine avenues of expression - but today liberals argue for order over liberty, and collude in the deconstruction of notions that once freed a people. After banning the gun and the blade, they have now come to ban the word. Calling it the ‘Public Order Act of 1986‘, they have dropped to a knee in response to those who claim that the outrage directed at their efforts to undermine freedom ought to be silenced. Islamists in Britain are using the nation’s own laws to defeat any opposition to its home grown insurgency against British culture and Western values.

There is a case in point I’d like to use. Those who blog and those who read our musings may not recognize it but what you see before you is proof of our freedom here in America. The ability to write and disseminate our thoughts without censorship is crucial to any functioning democracy. What do you call a society that censors its bloggers, or censors any free expression whatsoever? Authoritarian might be an apt description. An English blog has become a victim of the authoritarian state in its quest to enforce peace and tranquility. The blog is titled Lionheart, and its writer, who goes by the same name, writes forcefully about the growing Islamist threat inside Britain - doing so without threats of violence but vows of defiance. His site is loaded with history and outrage, and unabashed opinions about the appeasement approach his government has taken even after the 7/7 bombings by British Islamic terrorists that killed 52 people and wounded scores more. He certainly represents those Brits yet uncowed by Big Brother, and that might be why the multiculturalists have come after him. He has been alerted by Ian Holden of the Bedfordshire Police that based upon the complaint by an unnamed person he will be arrested upon arrival back to his home country. When he contacted the police for an explanation, they replied ” The offence that I need to arrest you for is “Stir up Racial Hatred by displaying written material” contrary to sections 18(1) and 27(3) of the Public Order Act 1986. You will be arrested on SUSPICION of the offence. You would only be charged following a full investigation based on all the relevant facts and CPS consent.” What has he written about that is worthy of imprisonment? They won’t tell him, they want to arrest him first then tell him. Here are the sections of the Public Order Act that the officer mentioned:

18. - (1) A person who uses threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or displays any written material which is threatening, abusive or insulting, is guilty of an offence if—

(a)he intends thereby to stir up racial hatred, or

(b)having regard to all the circumstances racial hatred is likely to be stirred up thereby.

and:

27. - (3) A person guilty of an offence under this Part is liable—

(a)on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding [ seven years ] or a fine or both;

(b)on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or both.

The blogger Lionheart is being hunted by his government not for threatening the life of another, or urging the death of British Muslims, but for expressing thoughts considered offensive by those he intended to offend. Had this law been in force when Sir Winston Churchill stood and denounced Nazism and the Nazis that practiced such depravity, the savior of Britain would have been at the mercy of British Nazis who, with one complaint, could have had him silenced and imprisoned for insulting them. Are you curious to see what chains sound like when put into words? Then read the Public Order Act of 1986 - and imagine yourself confined to the sensitivities of those you disagree with! It would be near impossible to escape harassment, and would certainly prove paralyzing to anyone who dared depart from main stream opinion.

But the blogger stands and fights, and bloggers in England must understand that Lionheart fights for them as well, regardless of what they may think about what he has written. It is said that freedom is won wielding swords and armor and lost wearing silk slippers and robes. The decadence of the West has led to its slow demise, and from across the ocean, where God granted liberty is a reflection of inherent dignity, we see the English have left themselves in a very undignified condition. What is it that they are thinking will come from abandoning the right to rise up in outrage? How can they not see that they put their freedoms in the hands of those who care nothing for it? We must always teach the value of freedom, for we see ironically those that have it often forget what it was like without it. Whether what inspires such self loathing in the English is guilt or insecurity, they have abrogated the responsibility they have as a free people to prevent tyranny for ever darkening the globe again. Thank God there are still a few there like Lionheart who will fight, and God willing, will serve to inspire once again the will to carry the burden of freedom.

Political Vindication!

REP. DUNCAN HUNTER WILL BE MY GUEST TOMORROW (SUNDAY) NIGHT ON WDBO AM 580 - ORLANDO, FL. DETAILS HERE.

BREAKING NEWS ON THE DEBATE ISSUE (from Michelle Malkin).

NEED I SAY MORE?

NH GOP withdraws as sponsor from Fox News debate

By Michelle Malkin • January 5, 2008 12:55 PM

The Manchester Union Leader is reporting and blogs are buzzing over the NH GOP party’s withdrawal as a sponsor from the Fox News debate tomorrow night. U-L:

12:15 p.m. UnionLeader.com has learned that the New Hampshire Republican Party has quit as a co-sponsor of tomorrow night’s nationally televised GOP forum on FOX News. The event had become controversial when FOX refused to include Ron Paul.

Boston Globe reporting:

The New Hampshire Republican Party dropped their affiliation with a Republican debate sponsored by Fox News tomorrow night because they have limited the number of candidates that can participate.

“The first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary serves a national purpose by giving all candidates an equal opportunity on a level playing field,” said Republican chair Fergus Cullen. “Only in New Hampshire do lesser known, lesser funded underdogs have a fighting chance to establish themselves as national figures.

Tonight’s ABC News back-to-back debates will include Iowa caucus winner Mike Huckabee, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, Mitt Romney and Ron Paul at 7pm and Democrats Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Bill Richardson after the GOP event.

Denny K is going after Disney/ABC for the exclusion.
***

I’ve been invited to participate tonight in a discussion about our rights and the limits our nation’s founders placed on the federal government.

The conversation will take place at 8 p.m. EST on the radio show “The Halls of Valhalla: American Truth Warriors”. Program host is “A Newt One” and Loki. We’ll also be looking at the post-Iowa Caucus political scene leading up to this week’s New Hampshire primary.

CLICK HERE AT 8 P.M. TO TUNE IN ON BLOG TALK RADIO

***
OTHER POSTS ON THE DEBATE TOPIC:
FOX GUARDING THE HENHOUSE
I’VE SENT MINE OFF
IT’S AN OUTRAGE!

*****

CALL IN NUMBER IS 646-478-4604.

Click the above button at 9 pm EST to hear us live.
ALL my shows are archived for your convenience.

Whether you support Ron Paul for President or not, it isn’t fair to him or the American people that Fox News has decided to eliminate Dr. Paul or Cong. Duncan Hunter — two presidential candidates — from their next debate.

In fact, it is unconscionable.

The excuses Fox News is giving are as flimsy as a feather in a stiff breeze.

First they said it was because the “super bus” they were broadcasting the event from wasn’t big enough to accommodate all the candidates.

NOT BIG ENOUGH???

On the face of it, that has to be the lamest excuse of all. How long has Fox known it was going to host this debate? They couldn’t secure a large enough venue to accommodate ALL the qualified candidates??? Including candidate Alan Keyes, by the way?

The second excuse Fox spokesmen gave is that Duncan Hunter and Ron Paul aren’t polling high enough numbers.

Would someone tell me what polling numbers have to do with their qualifications to run?

They have a campaign infrastructure, don’t they? They have a campaign war chest, don’t they? They filled out the necessary paperwork and formally announced their candidacy, didn’t they?

And oh by the way, might their poll numbers (a dubious metric at best) be low because the media hasn’t paid them as much attention as their so called “top tier” candidates whose poll numbers reflect the maximum exposure afforded them by the big media??

Ron Paul, Duncan Hunter, and yes, even Dr. Keyes, are viable candidates who last I checked, are still in the race. And because of that, as qualified candidates they have the right to be included whenever and wherever there’s a “debate” before the American people.

The third excuse Fox tried to feed us was there never enough time to get meaningful answers to the debate questions. Are you kidding me? Have we seen a televised debate YET that allowed time enough — or format — to get “meaningful answers??? I mean, “raise your hand” ???

Sweet lovin’ Pete!

We the people should demand every opportunity to hear every candidate’s views, policies, and plans. It’s vitally important to the process that we be able to witness how they react under the pressure of questions and counter arguments. To assess how deep their understanding of domestic and foreign issues. The Constitution. Their responsibilities. How they’d handle unexpected world events. Another terrorism attack. Foreign policy. Limited government. Taxation.

Friends, we are about to elect someone to the highest position in our government at what is the most critical time in our national history since George Washington fought the Revolution.

Lawrence Lindsey observed in “What We Want in a President” on Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal op-ed page:

A process driven by 30-second commercials prepared by the candidates themselves, and so-called debates that ask candidates to explain in 60 seconds how they would bring about world peace or national prosperity, does not help. Nor does media coverage that focuses on whose commercials are moving polling points and who performed well in the last inane debate.

Bob Sullentrup, Founder of Rockthedebates.org says , “We have people dying in Iraq to promote democracy in that part of the world, and in this country, we can’t even have full, open, inclusive debates. There is something fundamentally wrong with that.”

It is censorship, plain and simple. By mainstream media and mainstream politics. And it is dangerous to our republic.

Friends, we the people have the RIGHT — and should DEMAND to hear from every qualified candidate who wants to lead this great nation. WE will be the ones to decide who makes it into the final cut, NOT the TV executives and the minions in political circles.

It’s time to take back our political process. It’s time to take back our responsibilities as an informed electorate. Write to Fox News and let them know we won’t stand for this.

We get underway at 9 p.m. ET. As always the Chat Room doors will be open for you!

CALL IN NUMBER IS 646-478-4604.

Click the above button at 9 to hear us live. We get underway at 9 p.m. ET — and in case you miss it, ALL my shows are archived for your convenience.

American politics – from both sides of the aisle — is saturated with deceit, half-truths and lies. Big corporations, for example, have influenced our elected officials and the way our government does business,” says tonight’s guest on my radio program. Jim Purcey asks “Is this for the ‘good’ of the American people? I think not.”

Purcey and I will look at the politics that are destroying our nation from within, such as:

• Immigration laws – since when did the idea of actually securing our borders become radical?
• Education – why exactly is our educational system so utterly pathetic?
• Lawyers, guns and money – the right to bear arms laid bare; what most of us don’t realize about this debate teeming with misconceptions
• Why corporations are allowed - even encouraged with tax advantages - to take their business abroad and put Americans out of work
• The outright absurdity of our dependency on foreign oil
• Why so many Americans live in fear of their own government: The IRS is a perfect example

Jim Purcey wants to know…Am I the Only American Who Thinks This Way?

We get underway at 9 p.m. ET. Join us — Just ring the doorbell below. We’ll have the Chat Room open for you!

Click the above button at 9 to hear us live. (Hit it before then and you’ll hear the archived previous show. ) We get underway at 9 p.m. ET — and in case you miss it, ALL my shows are archived for your convenience.

*****

Terry Funderburk goes to court in two days to defend himself against those who are breaking the law by hiring illegals. This during the same week when the US Senate continues to ignore the will of American citizens by screwing us again — this time slipping the Dream Act onto a Labor Appropriations bill.

Last night I received emails from Steve Elliott of Grassfire.org and Roy Beck of NumbersUSA, urging - PLEADING with us to write and call our Senators to tell them — yet again — that we won’t stand for this.

Elliott writes:

I’ve just received stunning news that amnesty Senators are ready to make yet another run at passing the Dream Act as soon as late today or tomorrow!

Three weeks ago we warned this would happen, and here we go.

According to our sources, the Dream Act will again be offered as an amendment to the Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations bill (H.R. 3043) on the Senate floor.

Now read Terry’s email — it’ll set your hair on fire. Or at the least, cause you to worry for your job and your future ability to compete in a market that is being gifted to those who break our law to steal our livelihoods and commit other crimes against us. The Senate continues to ignore the will of the people. CALL YOUR SENATOR NOW!

Did you ever get the feeling that sometimes you should just stay in bed and maybe all the bullcrap would take a day off too? Well, that’s the way I felt yesterday morning. Don’t get me wrong here, I am not talking about feeling sorry for myself, I am talking about all the politically correct crap that has infected this nation. The fear of enforcing the laws, the joys of multiculturalism and the politically correct assholes that control this state and country? Sometimes I think it is better to just stay in bed and pretend that all is right in the world.

Let me tell you what I am talking about, I have a friend, Doug, he drives a public bus for the city of Columbia. He has had this job for 27 years, very religious, and a thoroughly good person. Monday, he pulled into the parking lot where he works and noticed an asphalt company was repaving part of the lot, he also noticed that there were 3 Hispanic males working for this company. He walked over to the guy in charge and asked him why was he employing illegal aliens when there were thousands of Americans workers needing job? Well, guess what happened? Yep, the guy went to Doug’s supervisor and my friend Doug got fired from that job he had for 27 years. It is a travesty.

Yesterday evening we went to some friends home in Camden, the husband asked me how was it going and said he would like to make a suggestion. He said that I should just forget my business and move on to something else. That in his view I was letting racism come into the picture, and that down the road I would regret what I was doing. I wanted to walk out of there at that moment. But I held my ground, this guy works in a civilian capacity at Fort Jackson so he never has to worry about being replaced by people that sneaked into our country. He doesn’t work in the real world that I have to face head on every day. I asked him how could I so easily give up a business that I have been in for 20 years? How can I give up a business that made almost 180 grand last year? He said that sometimes it is better to just walk away.

It is attitudes like that, that has put this country in the position it is in today. Did George Washington just walk away from Valley Forge? Did Abraham Lincoln calmly walk away from what he faced? Did the Marines on Iwo Jima turn around and get back on their ships? No, none of them did. They all did the right things and made this country great. And it is up to every American to stand fast and do the right thing, and that is to take this country back from the sniveling cowards that have hijacked it. They have dishonored those great Americans for their own selfish and narrow ends. And they need to pay a price for it.’

I also talked to my lawyer yesterday about the trial coming up Friday. He said that the homeowner in my case told the prosecutor that I need to plead guilty because if I don’t he plans on bringing charges against me for dirtying his good name. Lol. For accusing him of being cheap and employing illegal aliens. I want to help him refresh his memory a bit here, he told me a month before the incident that international roofers had installed the shingles on his roof for 4 to 5 dollars an hour and that if I wanted to do the copper work then my bid needed to be as low as theirs. Seems to me that he has conveniently forgotten this conversation he had with me. Well, I haven’t, it is forefront in my mind every day that passes by. Here is this bum, living in a 600 grand house and he wants to be greedy and break our laws and then thinks he is in the right. I am going to prove him wrong. I am going to show exactly how cheap he really is in a public forum.

And that is why I am not going to plead guilty, I am going to fight him and every other cheap bastard until I cannot fight anymore. They have brought dishonor onto this country and themselves by their criminal actions and the only thing I am guilty of is exposing it. And I will have some support Friday, about 20 to 25 people will be there standing there beside me, hopefully most of them will have on shirts that say “ENFORCE OUR LAWS!”.

Terry will join me tonight on BlogTalkRadio. We’ve also invited Steve Elliott of Grassfire.org to join us. Program begins at 9 p.m. ET. Click button below to join us.

Other posts about The Lone Protester:
Lone Protester on CNN’s Lou Dobbs
Who’s Really To Blame?
Still Mad As Hell
*****

FAITH UNDER FIRE
Hanged witch in Massachusetts sparks allegation of ‘hate crime’
Halloween celebrated with sorceress in noose, pagan worshipper likens it to lynching blacks

---

Posted: October 14, 2007
2:51 p.m. Eastern
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com In the state made famous for persecuting witches in the late 17th century, a modern day sorceress in Massachusetts is burning mad about a neighbor’s Halloween decoration depicting a witch hanging from a noose, calling it a hate crime against her religion.

Witch hanging from noose as part of Halloween decoration in Chicopee, Mass. (courtesy WSHM-TV)

“I want to see him take it down,” said Kelly Lynch of Chicopee, Mass. “Look at what’s going on in Louisiana. That would be the same thing. If a black family had … crosses outside of their house or nooses hanging from their trees, it’s basically the same thing.”

***

As many of you know, I’m a native of Salem, Massachusetts. I grew up in this Witch City, a colonial seaport town whose ubiquitous witch-on-a-broom image is found everywhere, including the city’s newspaper masthead, business signs, weathervanes, on bags of potato chips. Salem High School’s football team? The Mighty Witches. My high school yearbook? The Witch. The City police uniforms and vehicles bear the witch motif.

During the summer of 1970, several episodes of the popular TV program “Bewitched” were filmed in Salem and surrounding communities. Several movies about the witch trials have been filmed there, including The Crucible, Three Sovereigns for Sister Sarah, and Hocus Pocus.

Each October the “Witch City” celebrates its history with a month-long schedule of activities culminating in the week-long festivities called “Haunted Happenings”, overflowing Salem’s coffers with tourist dollars. “Discover the Magic of Salem” touts publicity materials.

Salem’s official witch Laurie Cabot was the subject of an award-winning TV video report I did about Halloween in 1981.

So it was with this as background that I read this report in today’s World Net Daily and thought “WTF?”:

---

An accompanying WorldNetDaily poll reveals that more than half of those answering say they don’t think it’s any big deal. Do you?Tonight I’ll be talking to Alison di Meori, Education Director at the Salem Witch Museum, about this latest development, and whether it might have a negative impact on the city that touts its witchcraft history to attract tourist dollars.

It all begins at 9 p.m. ET and I promise, it will be — spellbinding!

Previous Posts About Salem on The Radio Patriot:

No Place Like Home

Something Fresh is Always Brewin’ Here

You’re a Grand Old Flag

*****

In tonight’s podcast my guests, along with Siggy,
are Rachel Ehrenfeld, author of Funding Evil, Updated: How Terrorism is Financed and How to Stop It.
The book the Saudis don’t want you to read

and Cinnamon Stillwell, who has been reporting on libel tourism

At question is the publication of books and other writings
that seek to shed light on the financing of Islamic terrorism. Increasingly, American authors who dare enter this territory are finding themselves at risk of being sued for libel in the much more plaintiff-friendly British court system in what amounts to an attempt to censor their work on an international level.

What is at stake is not only the war on terrorists, but also the First Ammendment rights at the core of our nation.

Join us tonight for this podcast at 9PM Eastern.

Presidential debates are supposed to test a candidate’s depth of knowledge and understanding of the issues facing us, and give us some clue of how a candidate handles himself under pressure. Does the candidate grasp the complexities? How closely does their record adhere to the principles laid out in the US Constitution? (Today is Constitution Day, btw).

Tonight we’ll have a chance to find out, when ValueVoters.org hosts a GOP Presidential Debate. Participants will include Duncan Hunter, Mike Huckabee, Tom Tancredo, Sam Brownback, Ron Paul and John Cox. Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, John McCain, and Fred Thompson all declined.

Joseph Farah, editor of World Net Daily, will moderate. Questions will be posed by some of America’s Conservative leaders, including Phyllis Schlafley and Judge Roy Moore. You can watch the event by logging on to ValuesVoterDebate or American Family Association.

ValueVoters.org’s membership reads like a “Who’s Who” in the conservative movement.

The debate, which originates from Ft. Lauderdale, will be streamed beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Following the debate, you’re invited to tune in to my program at 9 ET. Chuck Muth, former executive director of the American Conservative Union, is organizing the first annual Conservative Leadership Conference which will be held next month in Reno, NV. More than 45 speakers and panelists have been confirmed. Chuck has the details tonight when he joins me on BTR. Also on board for the ride — Doug V. Gibbs, the original Political Pistachio!

*****

Man, a Romney scriptwriter couldn’t have plotted this any better:

Less than two hours after a judge struck down Iowa’s decade-old gay marriage ban, two Des Moines men applied for a marriage license as bride and groom, and county officials said they expected to see more same-sex couples doing the same on Friday.

“I started to cry because we so badly want to be able to be protected if something happens to one of us,” said David Curtis Rethmeier, 29, who was listed as the bride on that first marriage form, with Gary Allen Seronko, 51, as his groom.

Polk County Judge Robert Hanson cleared the way for the two men on Thursday when he ruled that a state law allowing marriage only between a man and woman violated the constitutional rights of due process and equal protection.

The judge ordered local officials to process marriage licenses for the six gay couples who sued. With the ruling, gay couples across the state can now apply for a marriage license in the central-Iowa county.

County attorney John Sarcone said the county would appeal to the state Supreme Court, and he immediately sought a stay from Hanson that would prevent gay couples from seeking a marriage license until the appeal is resolved.

A hearing on the stay motion is likely next week, said Camilla Taylor, an attorney with Lambda Legal, a New York-based gay rights organization.

In the meantime, Deputy County Recorder Trish Umthun is taking calls from gay couples, five of them in the first hours after the judge filed his ruling Thursday afternoon.

I’ve got nothing to say about the erstwhile “Seronkos”.  Well, that’s not true, I have all kinds of things I could say about the “blushing bride,” but it would be about as sporting as fishing with depth charges.

It would also be beside the point - the same point that Fred Thompson misses when he opposes a Federal Marriage Amendment to the Constitution yet advances the notion of preventing states from imposing their respective legal definitions of marriage on each other.  In this case, as in Massachusetts three years ago, the people did not choose to legally eviscerate the institution of marriage; local judges did. (I would say “unelected” except that many judges are elected at the state and county level - although not to legislate from the bench.)  Which means that the state of Iowa has not chosen to end its “gay marriage ban” (a biased nomanclature if ever there was one, since there’s no such thing as “gay marriage” and therefore nothing to “ban”), but has had the move effectively imposed upon it.  If the appeal is unsuccessful, that will activate the “full faith & credit” clause of the U.S. Constitution, and voila, one Polk County judge has imposed sodomarriage on the entire country.

FDT’s distinction is one without a practical difference in any case, as an Amendment modifying Article IV Section 1 for interstate marriage meddling would be resisted just as fiercely by the lavender lobby as a Marriage Amendment, and for the same reason.

As for Rudy Giuliani, this would be a golden opportunity for him to flesh out his thus far skeletal grounds for his pledge to appoint federal judges “in the mold of Roberts and Alito”.  If he stays silent, that promise will look even phonier, and it will be correspondingly less likely that the obliviousness of the GOP nominating electorate to that factor will continue.

Notice, though, the top-tier candidate who pounced on this story like a starving cannibal on Michael Moore:

The ruling in Iowa today is another example of an activist court and unelected judges trying to redefine marriage and disregard the will of the people as expressed through Iowa’s Defense of Marriage Act. This once again highlights the need for a Federal Marriage Amendment to protect the traditional definition of marriage as between one man and one woman.

And it was an Iowa judge.  Is this whole thing right down Romney’s wheelhouse or what?

(Yeah, McCain piped up too.  That’s why I used the term “top-tier” candidate.)

Robert Spencer will join Siggy and I in today’s podcast at noon Eastern time. Join us!

Got an email today from Terry Funderburk, the South Carolinian construction worker whose business is going down the tubes because he can’t compete with those who hire illegals. It reminded me that we have the government we deserve.

Thomas Jefferson said on many, many occasions that an informed citizenry is indispensable for the proper functioning of a republic. He knew something that we have evidently forgotten or chosen to ignore, and it’s this:

Self-government isn’t possible unless we, you and me — the citizens — are sufficiently educated and aware so we can exercise oversight. Jefferson said it is imperative we be suitably educated — aware and alert to the legislative process and what our elected representatives are doing. It is our responsibility. And it’s not optional.

Well, herein lies the problem. See, we’ve been asleep at the switch for decades, ignoring what’s been going on in our schools, our courts, our halls of congress, allowing those with a lust for power to remake our republic into what it is today — a socialist “utopia”. Lately, more and more of us are discovering we don’t like it. Some of us, like Terry Funderburk, are looking around asking “What the hell has happened to my country?”

We have forgotten that we are supposed to bind men down by the chains of the Constitution. Hell, we can’t even protect our homeland.

Woe, woe, woe to us.

Now, it’s awfully tempting to blame “the government”. Many do. But where were we when all this was evolving into the mess we have today???

Why, shopping… of course.

***

“But I’m busy! I don’t have time! Throw the bums out! Secede from the union! ”

Sorry. Not acceptable. You failed Jefferson’s Good Citizen test.

Yeah, we’re busy putting a roof over our heads, food on the table, gas in the car, paying the health, life and homeowner insurance premiums, forking it over to the IRS gestapo before we even put it in our pocket, making ends meet, and on and on…

We’re so overextended on our credit cards and house payments we can’t breathe, much less look up long enough to pay attention to what our elected reps in Congress and state capitols are doing.

So here we are. Frustrated. Angry. Depressed. Divided as a nation between those who think government is The Answer and those who understand the danger in that thinking.

Terry Funderburk — the “everyman” who represents each of us — has taken a stand. He told us about it on my radio program last night. He’s taken to writing about it. He’s found a good man to represent him in court, and he’s ready to take it all the way to the top if he has to. He says,

“Just imagine a government of the people, by the people and for the people. Imagine a justice system that favors no one and treats everyone the same. Imagine a legal system that enforces all the laws fairly. Boy, that sure sounds like a place I know that was called America.

But wait, this is America. But, if this is America, then what in the hell is going on? If this is America why aren’t our laws being enforced? If this is America why are certain classes of people being treated different than others?”

Thomas Jefferson knew the answer to those questions. He predicted it.

“Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves, therefore, are its only safe depositories. And to render even them safe, their minds must be improved to a certain degree.”

Back to Terry Funderburk:

“In my last article I mentioned the Statue of Liberty sitting in New York Harbor. What I didn’t mention is that she now has tears in her eyes. Tears for the way her leaders are tearing away the foundations of this great country. Tears for the way that most of her citizens are treated as second class. Tears for the way that her justice system is being manipulated by some for the benefit of a few. Tears for the way that her citizens are just allowing these things to happen.”

Thomas Jefferson told us nearly 200 years ago that “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”

Terry Funderburk:

“It is time to get angry, fellow Americans, it is time to get out of your homes and start setting things right again. It is past the time to vote out of all the bums who are profaning this great nation and to set her right again. It is time to take back our country.”

Hey, Jefferson would have agreed. “No nation is permitted to live in ignorance with impunity,” he warned us.

Here’s what you need to do. NOW. Start learning the history of our great nation. Of other ages and nations. Make sure your kids are learning it. Check their history books. If they don’t contain enough information about what made this nation great, if they’re not learning the principles that this nation was founded upon, TEACH THEM! It’s your responsibility as a citizen and a parent of future citizens. Prepare yourself and them. It is critical to understand where we’re headed and what needs to be done about it. And we can only know that for certain by learning what history teaches us. Ignorance is NOT bliss. It’s dangerous.

At about the time our original 13 states adopted their new constitution, in the year 1787 Alexander Tytler, a Scottish history professor had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years prior:

“A Democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can exist only until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury.

From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.

The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations has been about 200 years. These nations always progressed through this sequence:

from BONDAGE to SPIRITUAL FAITH; from spiritual faith to GREAT COURAGE; from courage to LIBERTY; from liberty to ABUNDANCE; from abundance to SELFISHNESS; from selfishness to COMPLACENCY; from complacency to APATHY; from apathy to DEPENDENCY; from dependency back into BONDAGE.”

It’s time for you to become informed. And involved. Our country’s viability depends on you. GET BUSY!!!

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TONIGHT (Tuesday, July 31st) at 9 Eastern, I will be talking to Hazleton, PA mayor LOU BARLETTA, whose city enacted ordinances prohibiting businesses from hiring illegals and landlords from renting to them.

However, last week, a federal court judge ruled the ordinances violated the Constitutional rights of the illegals. Mayor Barletta says the city will appeal the ruling and take it to the Supreme Court if necessary.

BARLETTA has been on several TV and radio talk shows in recent days. He joins us tonight on “A Conversation with Andrea and …” Click here to listen:

Here’s how you can call in with your questions or comments: 646-478-4604

Here’s how you can join others in the LIVE Chatroom:
CHAT

ALSO — the podcast of SUNDAY Night’s show on WDBO is available for download at ASK Show.

See you tonight at nine…
Andrea
The Radio Patriot

TONIGHT ON “A Conversation with Andrea and…” guest Paul Ibbetson takes a scholarly look at the Patriot Act. Author of “Living Under The Patriot Act: Educating A Society”, Ibbetson says the book educates instead of advocates a position on this law.

“I have issues with the ACLU on the Patriot Act and their stance on about every issue dealing with national security. However, there are many conservative groups including but not limited to the gun owners of America, the conservative union, Cato Institute, among others who oppose the Patriot Act and I cover those groups in the book,” Ibbetson says.

“My goal is to take learning beyond the 30 second soundbite and help people to make their own independent, educated conclusions on where they stand on the most powerful law in the country in the war on terror.”

Join us at 9 p.m. EDT on Blog Talk Radio. You can get there from here:

See a timeline of the creation of the Patriot Act at Patriot Act Research.
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Also posted at The Radio Patriot

MEET AMERICAN HERO RANDY TERRILL!

More than 100,000 illegal immigrants are estimated to live in Oklahoma. The Federation of American Immigration Reform has said they cost state taxpayers up to $200 million a year in public benefits, law enforcement costs and other resources. Most folks in the Sooner State are FED UP with supporting these illegal freeloaders, and have done something about it.

Rep. Randy Terrill took the initiative to bring it to a stop by authoring HB 1804, the nation’s most meaningful legislation to deny jobs and public benefits to the illegals.

The Oklahoma State Legislature passed it by overwhelming margins and Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry signed it, describing it as a stopgap measure to deal with an illegal immigration problem that is actually the responsibility of the federal government.

The “Oklahoma Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act of 2007″ contains tough language. Rep. Terrill will be with me tonight on my internet radio program at BlogTalkRadio to tell us what’s in the bill.

Join me tonight to meet Randy Terrill, an American Hero. Get there from here:

 Also posted at The Radio Patriot

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