I found these videos on Jimmy Akin’s Catholic blog. They are amazingly good at illustrating Obama’s budget cuts and spending, so I thought I would share them with the PonderPost readers. Enjoy!
I live in Florida and know a few gay couples that were married, here in Florida. You might be saying, “I thought gay marriage had not been legalized in Florida?” Well, you’re right. As far as the government is concerned, it’s not a legally binding contract, as a standard marriage.
However, they were married, in a church, in Florida, with the full bridal party, and rings. We’ll come back to that, in a minute.
Marriage is a sacrament — a state of grace or a vocation between you, your spouse, and God. When I got married, I wasn’t particularly concerned with what the government thought or did with respect to my marriage. I just wanted to be married to my wife. I wanted my church’s blessing and my parent’s blessing, but I did not concern myself with the state’s blessing.
Many churches (not the Roman Catholic faith to which I belong) in Florida will perform weddings for gay couples. You can have the full ceremony, complete with flowers, music, and reception. With the blessing of these churches and your family, you can be a married couple — what would seem to be the most important part of this sacred union.
With that in mind, I’m not stopping anyone from getting married in the state of Florida (or any other state, for that matter) and truly, neither is the state of Florida.
The “fight” for gay marriage is nothing more than a [click to continue…]
I’ve just finished watching the movie, “Enemy At The Gates”. It is a true story about a Russian Sharpshooting War Hero Vassili Zaitsev. The scene is towards the end when Vassili is sitting in a hideout with a Political Officer named Danilov. Danilov was the one who’s writings made Vassili’s conquests famous throughout Stalingrad and all of Russia. Enter the girl, Tania. Vassili and the Tania fall in love and the political officer is jealous. After praising Vassili, out of jealousy he then dictates an article to defame Vassili.
The next scene shows the Tania hit by shrapnel and Danilov, the political officer thinks she is dead. He is later seen with Vassili and makes the following speech: “I’ve been such a fool Vassili. Man will always be man. There is no new man. We tried so hard to create a society that was equal. Where there’d be nothing to envy your neighbor. But there’s always something to envy….a smile…a friendship…something you don’t have & want to appropriate. In this world, even a Soviet one, there will always be rich and poor….Rich in gifts, poor in gifts: rich in love, poor in love.” Danilov then gives up his life to save Vassili and help him root out the enemy sharpshooter and achieve the goal he had been trying for most of the movie.
It was a powerful illustration of how many people think about Socialism. They think it would be a better place if all wealth were distributed equally. They think that this class warfare will end if only the money were distributed equally there would be nothing to be jealous of and we all..in the words of Rodney King, “just get along”. It would seem to appeal to everyone’s idea of fairness; at least the perceived fairness as seen through the eyes of the individual Socialist. One problem is that one’s perception of fairness might be different than their neighbors. Does fairness mean all is a median? Is median a statistical average? Is average equal? Where is the statistical base?
If all things were equal who chooses what equal is? What do we compare equal to? Do we compare it within our own State, Country, or do we expand it into the entire world? Do we all need to live in mud huts, get rid of our indoor plumbing, and return to a community well to satisfy the terms of monetary fairness as seen in some of the poorest countries in the world? You may laugh but that could be the next logical step in this growing global economy.
One error is the sliding scale of equal and the other is that we are not dealing with a perfect world.
In a perfect world we wouldn’t need Socialism because [click to continue…]
During the Presidential campaign season we heard lots of talk about change. Barack Obama told us he would deliver change and, as President, that is exactly what he is doing. Few would doubt that he’s keeping that promise.
In no particular order, let’s look at some of the changes we’ve seen so far in these first 100 days.
- Ordered the closure of Gitmo within one year (learn more).
- Allowed travel and financial transactions to communist Cuba (learn more).
- Ended harsh interrogation methods for terrorist detainees (learn more).
- Releases secret Bush Administration documents about methods for handling terrorist prisoners (learn more).
- Called for nuclear disarmament and an end to nuclear testing (learn more).
- No longer calls the war against radical Islamic terrorists a “war on terror” (learn more).
- Allows federal tax dollars to fund embryonic stem cell research (learn more).
- Reverses the Mexico City policy and lifts the ban on federal funding of foreign abortions (learn more).
- Speaks at the Catholic Georgetown University but asks them to cover up their Christian symbols (learn more).
- Declares that the United states is not a Christian nation (learn more).
- Massively increases spending and doubles the national debt (learn more).
- Bows to the King of Saudi Arabia (learn more – includes photo & video) but not the Queen of England. [As President, he should not bow to any leader.]
- Fires the CEO of a private corporation — GM (learn more).
- Maintains control over banks by refusing the repayment of TARP money (learn more).
- Buddies up to Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez (learn more – see photos below). [click to continue…]
Author: Mike AllenArticles: 3
Website: http://www.ponderstorm.com
About: Founder of PonderPost & Ponderstorm.com. Entrepreneur, husband & father, business owner. Pro-life, fiscal conservative from Mississippi. Admirer of Jesus. Conservationist. Limited government advocate.
I was born and grew up in the Red River valley (that’s Red River of the north) in Breckenridge and Moorhead, Minnesota. As happens every year, the Red River is flooding this valley, as the spring thaw occurs. This year, however, the river is projected to rise higher than ever recorded (although, recent reports show it will not be as high as projected) – already above the previous record set in 1997.
I still have many friends in this area, although all of my family has since moved out of the region (one due to the fact that she lost her home in the 2006 flood). These floods can be as damaging as a hurricane is to those of us along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, only these floods occur in freezing cold weather. Please keep these people in your thoughts and prayers, as they fight to save their homes and families.
I do wonder, however, why you don’t hear any reports of WHY the river is cresting so high.
You see, in order to crest at record levels, the snowfall for the previous winter, as well as the depth of the freeze must also have been at record levels to produce so much water as the snow and ice melt. This in the time of critical “man-made” global warming? Something doesn’t seem right, here.
Maybe Al Gore has a good explanation for it. Then again, I doubt it.
The University of Notre Dame has invited President Obama to give the commencement speech at the spring graduation ceremony. Additionally, the university will bestow an honorary doctor of laws degree upon the President.
This has the Catholic community in quite a stir, as parishioners from both sides of the discussion weigh in. On one side, many are happy to have the President speak, including a growing Facebook group called, “We Will Be Honored to Have President Obama at Notre Dame.” On the other, you have ardent, pro-life groups that wholeheartedly oppose the President speaking at the premier Catholic university in the country.
While I try to see both sides of the coin, I believe Notre Dame has made an egregious error by inviting President Obama to give the commencement address at, if not the premier Catholic university in the US, the most well-known Catholic university.
The Catholic Church represents one of the most fervent supporters of the pro-life movement, while President Obama represents one of the most pro-abortion politicians, ever. President Obama has gone so far as to repeatedly vote for so-called pro-choice legislation that really amounts to infanticide, in the case of refusing medical care to live babies born after botched abortions. His current administration threatens to, at the very least, lessen the ability for Catholic hospitals to operate with the elimination of healthcare conscience rule and to increase abortions by 125,000 per year with his Freedom of Choice Act.
It would seem that Notre Dame would prefer a [click to continue…]
Everybody makes mistakes. As in life, in politics there is no exception to this axiom. However, while it is understandable that a new administration will make a few extra mistakes, some of the recent ones by Obama and Biden are being noted around the world. For example, British Telegraph.co.uk editor Toby Harnden’s “Top 10 Gaffes by Barack Obama and Joe Biden” post found its way at the top of the Drudge Report today. That means it’s being read worldwide.
In looking Harnden’s list over, most are rather serious gaffes (other than Obama mistaking a White House window for a door). Many are poor attempts at humor such as Obama’s suggestion that Nancy Reagan had seances in the White House and his Special Olympics bowling joke on the Jay Leno show last night. Perhaps it was that statement that prompted this list.
I think one of the most serious gaffes, though, occurred over the gift exchange between British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and President Obama. Gordon Brown presented Obama with a pen holder carved from wood taken from the HMS Gannett which was an anti-slavery vessel (wood from which her sister ship [HMS Resolute] was taken to make the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office). Brown’s gift also included the commissioning certificate of HMS Resolute and a first edition copy of the seven-volume biography of the great English leader Winston Churchill. Sadly, Obama’s gift in return was a [click to continue…]
Author: Mike AllenArticles: 3
Website: http://www.ponderstorm.com
About: Founder of PonderPost & Ponderstorm.com. Entrepreneur, husband & father, business owner. Pro-life, fiscal conservative from Mississippi. Admirer of Jesus. Conservationist. Limited government advocate.
As the author of Ponderstorm.com, I’ve had several requests from interested readers asking about writing guest posts. I liked the idea so much that I decided to create a sister blog for posts from Ponderstorm readers. In thinking of a name, which ultimately became PonderPost, the idea grew into a platform designed for thought-inducing posts from people who wanted to write periodically but not enough to support their own independent blog.
So, with this in mind, I welcome you to PonderPost. I invite you to think big — think of ways you can share your ponderings with others and enrich the blogosphere. Let’s together make PonderPost a place for reasoned discourse that questions the status quo and the political and social establishment. Let’s not just question for the sake of questioning, though, but let us also offer solutions to the pressing needs of our time. Let us be a breath of fresh air and a voice of reason. Let us think outside the box. Let us also laugh and have fun while we together encourage all Americans to reach for the stars!
Author: Mike AllenArticles: 3
Website: http://www.ponderstorm.com
About: Founder of PonderPost & Ponderstorm.com. Entrepreneur, husband & father, business owner. Pro-life, fiscal conservative from Mississippi. Admirer of Jesus. Conservationist. Limited government advocate.
