Sandy Rios Blog

Could Barack Obama’s ambivalence in Syria be because of torn affections between the Russians and the Islamists? Radical, I know, but consider this:

According to “Dreams from my Father,” President Obama’s mom and dad met in Russian class at the University of Hawaii. Barack Hussein Obama Sr. was a Communist, his mother exposed early to the teachings of Marx and Margaret Mead. His mentor, Frank Marshall Davis, was a member of the Communist Party, editor of a Communist newspaper in Chicago and later a Communist Activist in Hawaii during Obama‘s formative years. He was identified on the FBI’s Watch List as a “Stalinist agent.”

It’s hard for younger Americans to imagine, but Soviet Russia held great romance for the American Left from the 30′s through their glory days of the 60′s and 70′s. There existed a fascination with the Communist system and a convenient denial of its brutality. Bill Ayres and Bernadine Dorn, of the Weather Underground who held Obama’s first political fundraiser in their home remain proud of their Communist Revolutionary status. Students like Bill & Hillary Clinton were admirers of the Soviet system. Hillary was a disciple of the aging communist, Saul Alinsky, writing a thesis on his methods of community organizing. And interestingly enough grew up to be the Secretary of State who handed Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, a huge, tacky, “reset button” upon their first official encounter. Reset what?

The tension and ideological chasm that separated Russia and the United States through the 1980′s under Ronald Reagan was palpable. It drove history, and was the centerpiece of world security concerns. America believed in freedom of thought, not gulags and re-education for non- group-think conformists. America believed in free enterprise, not state-controlled, poorly run farms and businesses. And America believed in God while the Soviets worshipped the “State.” The Soviets murdered millions including their own while America saved millions and sacrificed their sons even for those who were not their own.

Barack Obama must have grown up hearing about the glories of the Russian Soviets. It’s what the Left believed and taught. But he grew up with competing affections.

Reciting the Muslim Call to Prayer with “a first-rate accent,” according to Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times in March of 2007, Barack Obama described it as “one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset.” Yet in the campaign of 2008, anyone daring to suggest that Barack Hussein Obama was Muslim was ridiculed and silenced. But one thing critics now could say for certain is that his sympathies are with Islam…and …one could argue, Islamists.

His self-described best friend among world leaders is Prime Minister Recep Erdogan of Turkey, an Islamist. His best friend at the University of Chicago was Rashid Kalidi, a fellow professor formerly with the PLO. Obama has authorized millions of dollars of aid to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt while helping topple its secular leader, Hosni Mubarak. He did the same in Libya with Khadafy who for all his violence, was not an Islamist. Yet in Iran, arguably the only true manifestation of an “Arab Spring,” where demonstrators actually wanted democracy and freedom, not radical Islam, he remained silent and neutral.

But Syria has presented a dilemma. His admiration, demonstrated repeatedly in deferential actions toward Russia on missile defense, the “reset” button, off- mike promises of “more flexibility” after his second election, must certainly be at odds with his devotion to the Muslim world, which he demonstrated clearly by giving his first international address to in 2008. Putin and Russia are backing mostly secular Bashir Assad in Syria, while Islamists in various forms are opposing him.

Could this explain his ambivalence? Body language experts might point to his interactions with Putin at the G-8 Summit this week in Ireland; Putin, sitting straight, facing forward, jaw set…while Obama leaned toward him glancing occasionally…nervously even to see the reaction of his comrade.

Obama placed himself in a corner by proclaiming that Assad must go. He should have asked Vladimir first. But now he must put some skin into a game he seems only to be half-heartedly playing.

It’s tough to choose between two murderous forces, especially if you favor them both.

What same-sex marriage advocates won in the Illinois Senate on Valentine’s Day 2013 was just reversed. After weeks and months of hard work to accomplish what should have been easy, gay Democrat sponsor Greg Harris could not muster the votes, while Democratic Speaker of the House, Michael Madigan, did not even call for a vote to establish same sex marriage in Illinois.

“Today a broad grassroots coalition of Illinois families of Faith of all creeds and colors took on all the Illinois political bosses from Washington to the Governor’s Mansion to Chicago’s City Hall who tried to pay back the homosexual community for their political support,” said Paul Caprio, Spokesman for the Coalition to Protect Children & Marriage.

Throughout the day, same-sex marriage proponents hammered the Speaker relentlessly, threatening to withhold support for his daughter, Attorney General Lisa Madigan, a gubernatorial hopeful.

Equality Illinois and other groups brought in celebrities and generated thousands of phone calls. Governor Pat Quinn pushed hard, purportedly offering back room deals to members of the Black Caucus. But under the leadership of former Democrat Senator the Reverend James Meeks and Bishop Lance Davis, black legislators pushed back.

Representative Monique Davis, when asked by the Sun Times if same-sex marriage is a civil rights issue, said, “Have they ever hung from trees? Were they ever slaves for 500 years? Then I don’t think so.”

“I don’t think (the issues are) equal… simple as that,” she explained. “African-American people have the same right to be conservative on issues that everybody else has.”

With Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel, Obama advisor David Axelrod, Republican State Chairman Pat Brady, Republican Senator Mark Kirk, the Chicago media, and hometown favorite President Barack Obama lobbying hard for the measure, it was a stunning defeat.

The battle in Illinois began just before Christmas 2012, when same-sex marriage activists moved to call a vote during the holidays. Twelve family groups quickly formed the “Coalition to Protect Children & Families.” In an unprecedented act of cooperation, the Illinois Family Institute rallied thousands to the capitol and Family PAC made over 600,000 calls into legislative districts.

While pastors held breakfasts, the National Organization for Marriage gave financial support and provided expert testimony in Springfield with Dr. Jennifer Rohrbach Morse on the troubling side of same-sex marriage. Cardinal Francis George wrote and spoke with conviction against the proposal, as did Bishop Thomas John Paprocki of Springfield. Churches rallied and, in spite of the odds, to the surprise of Chicago media and the much better resourced gay gobby, pro-traditional family forces stopped the vote.

In the end, it came down to enormous pressure on twenty black Democratic legislators “I think after President Obama came out as a supporter of equal marriage there was a belief that it would be a no-brainer,” Representative Christian Mitchell said. “But I don’t think folks properly understood the influence and role of the church as it relates to African-American politics.”

Illinois is the first state to stop the gay marriage momentum since North Carolina in 2012.

If Republicans cave on same sex marriage, they will lose their base and the “party” will be over. Phyllis Schlafly knows this and Republicans would do well to listen to her. Drawing a line in the sand, Schlafly, a member of the 2012 Platform Committee has written a letter to RNC Chairman Reince Priebus with this warning:

“We expect all Republican officials to support the Platform. The endorsement of same-sex marriage is not acceptable…We call on the Republican National Committee to consider passing a resolution, at its next meeting, re-affirming its support of the Platform and of the Defense of Marriage Act, which was overwhelmingly passed by Congress.”

 Former First Lady Laura Bush disagrees, “When couples are committed to each other and love each other, then they ought to have the same sort of rights that everyone has.” Speaking on behalf of Respect for Marriage Coalition, in a commercial advocating gay marriage, she and Vice-President Dick Cheney along with General Colin Powell all agree.

At the same time, an impressive list of 100 Republicans signed a legal brief urging the Supreme Court to overturn California’s Proposition 8, a voter initiative limiting marriage to one man and one woman.

 But according to a recent FOX Poll, 66 % of Republican voters oppose same-sex marriage while Americans in general are evenly split. The pressure is on. The party divided.

So what’s a party out of power to do?

And who is Phyllis Schlafly that Republican celebrities should listen? A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Washington University School of Law, one of the first female students to complete a Masters degree in Political Science at Harvard, her early interest in public policy was nuclear disarmament. But she was thrust into the public eye when radical lesbian feminists, throwing blood on the Capitol steps in Springfield, Illinois, made her mad enough to confront their demands and become a spokesman for millions of American women. The “Equal Rights Amendment” intended to strip women of all gender distinctions from marriage law to wartime combat.

Explaining that “equality” did not mean “sameness,” Phyllis rightly understood the ERA was a precursor to the current confusion on gender differences.

Because of her valiant leadership, it did NOT pass in Illinois, thus preventing it from becoming Federal Law. But the radical feminist view of the world was implemented through the classroom and the media. Protective barriers were broken and bright lines between men and women…even the good distinctions were eradicated.

Phyllis founded Eagle Forum and became a staunch and powerful arm of the Reagan Revolution. She has been a delegate to the Republican Convention every year since 1952 and a major voice on the party platform since 1980.

Exactly…some would say; A voice from the past, NOT the GOP’s future. According to FOX, 60% of voters under the age of 45 favor same sex marriage while 57% of those over 45 oppose it.

For young people especially (and I’m almost talking under age forty here) gay marriage is a fait accompli,” observed former PJ Media CEO Roger Simon.

But while Republican pragmatists hold their finger to the wind, they should hold it up in one of the bluest states in America.

In Illinois, Governor Pat Quinn, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel, Attorney General Lisa Madigan and father, Speaker of the House, Michael Madigan, along with Democratic majorities in both houses in Springfield, plus Pat Brady, the Republican Party Chairman, the President of the United States and the entire body of Chicago media are all loudly, aggressively pushing gay-marriage. Gay rights advocates tried to pass legislation during the Lame Duck Session, setting wheels in motion the Friday before Christmas 2012. Family groups, in the midst of their Christmas celebrations unexpectedly fought back.

They formed what proved to be the very effective “Coalition to Protect Children and Marriage,” so that the legislature lost the support to even bring it up for a vote.

The newly elected Illinois Senate passed SB 10 handily, but in preparation for a vote in the House, traditional families descended on the Capitol, nearly 5,000 strong. Catholics, Evangelicals and Orthodox Jews rallied, and expert witnesses were brought to testify. For the first time in most of their lives, legislators heard the other side of the same-sex marriage story from a former lesbian, a professional family expert, and an impassioned black pastor. They heard what they have never heard on television or at the movies or in their public schools for the past twenty years; that same-sex marriage is harmful, especially to children. It robs them of the basic need to have a mother AND a father. Extensive studies show that children raised by same sex parents have more problems with drugs and alcohol and sexual identity.

As legislators listened, minds began to change. What was expected to be an 8-4 slam-dunk in committee became a squeak-by majority of one. The fight in Illinois is not over and if there is a vote, it will be close. But the fact that there IS a fight is the untold story.

Now GOP leader Pat Brady is under fire for his support of same-sex marriage. The catalyst for Schlafly’s letter to Reince Priebus was the Republican Party Chair’s intention to attend a Brady-sponsored luncheon in Illinois. The luncheon was abruptly canceled.

Mrs. Bush and the others should educate themselves on the real costs of homosexual marriage to society. One can only look to Massachusetts to see the devastating effects of gay marriage and the LGBT movement on public schools where children are encouraged to change genders without parental approval or knowledge, and public school girls’ bathrooms are accessible to boys who think they are girls.

If this madness is what Mrs. Bush, Colin Powell, or Dick Cheney want for their grandchildren in the misguided notion of “fairness” then so be it. But when one day, the other side of this sordid story is told, they will be glad the wisdom of Phyllis Schlafly prevailed and not their fickle, feckless leadership in dangerous times.

Cupid’s arrow has found a new mark. Homosexual marriage was passed on Valentine’s Day in the Illinois Senate by a vote of 34-21-2 and now moves to the House. Conservative groups and churches are fighting back, but in a blue state like Illinois, is there any hope?

While families were celebrating Christmas 2012, gay rights advocates in Illinois had something else in mind. Equality Illinois and their partners in Springfield decided to move quickly during the Lame Duck Session to pass gay marriage while pastors, Christian families and conservatives weren’t looking.
On the Monday before Christmas, Paul Caprio of Family Pac convened an emergency meeting with pro-family leaders to form the Coalition to Protect Children & Marriage.

The Illinois Family Institute, led by Dave Smith, sent an urgent letter to over 7,000 churches co-signed by highly respected pastors. Bob Gilligan and the Catholic Conference of Illinois went into full court press. Family Pac placed thousands of phone calls, invading homes at Christmas-time to voters unaware.

Members on both sides of the aisle were flooded with protests. Desperate for votes, gay marriage activists did everything they could to get a Republican member of the legislature visiting her dying mother to come back and vote. Another member defeated in the 2012 election was cajoled into stepping down early so that a “friendly” could take his place. He declined. And so Gay Rights advocates could not get the support they needed and the vote was never called.

But with a fresh-faced forty votes in the newly elected Senate, it was an easy sweep. “Marriage Equality is coming to Illinois!” predicted Governor Pat Quinn. Pat Brady, the head of the Illinois Republican Party made clear in January he believed and hoped for the same. “We need to deliver to a bigger audience and convince them we’re not just a party of angry old white guys… that we do understand everyone’s problems and we want to help everybody.”

Gay marriage is coming. Proponents are sure. Daily news articles and reporters tell Illinoisans trends are changing. Polls are conducted to convince legislators and voters alike. Hollywood actors like Jesse Tyler Ferguson of “Modern Family” were flown in to seal the deal. Rallies attended by hundreds in Chicago demanded “Equal Marriage Now!”

Clever to a fault, the movement has called the same-sex bill “The Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act.” The bill began with ominous language for clergy that threatened to force them to open churches and synagogues to same-sex marriage even if not forcing them to perform the weddings. In the guise of non-discrimination, it would have forced churches, religious schools and charities to hire staff of any sexual proclivity if they claimed to be of the same faith. Pastors were up in arms. Gay marriage proponents held breakfasts to sympathetically feign interest in their grievances… all the while planning to remove that language to eventually render their objections meaningless.

Cardinal Frances George of Chicago, not to be suckered, made sure Catholics have not relied on Religious Freedom alone as their argument. In a burst of simple elegance he stated,

”Sexual relations between a man and a woman are naturally and necessarily different from sexual relations between same-sex partners. This truth is part of the common sense of the human race. It was true before the existence of either Church or State, and it will continue to be true when there is no State of Illinois and no United States of America. A proposal to change this truth about marriage in civil law is less a threat to religion than it is an affront to human reason and the common good of society. It means we are all to pretend to accept something we know is physically impossible. The Legislature might just as well repeal the law of gravity.”

But so far homosexual activists continue to defy the “law of gravity” thinking, as others in the past have on abortion, that what’s legal is moral too.

And much like pro-lifers were maligned and denigrated as weirdo’s…worse yet, clinic bombers and radicals in the 80’s so are opponents of same sex marriage regarded in the new millennium. It wasn’t until the truth about the brutality of abortion and the tremendous harm to women became common knowledge that people’s hearts on abortion were profoundly changed. And so it will be with the issue of homosexual marriage.

The push for the moment is all one-sided. People opposed are “haters.” Movies, television, print, social media and public schools provide a constant barrage of gay propaganda. There is no discussion of the health risks, lower mortality rates and heartbreak among gay men. Punishment and/or loss of employment can result for anyone reporting statistics on the effects on children raised by same sex parents. Studies like that of sociologist Mark Regnurus of the University of Texas or stories like that of Robert Lopez, professor of English and Literature at Cal State Northridge, raised by lesbians are never told. No one knows about Dawn Stefanowicz and her book retelling life with a gay dad and his partner. People are silenced and maligned by reporting findings and real life experiences that don’t comport with the powerful agenda of homosexual activists.

Someday these things WILL become common knowledge and much as the beautiful image of a preborn baby has moved hearts and minds so we will rediscover the beauty of husband, wife and children.

But will the homosexual marriage bill pass in the Illinois Legislature and be signed into law? Not without a fight. Pro-family PACs will target all Republicans who have made the fatal mistake of voting for this bill. Chairman Pat Brady is being challenged by conservatives who will not give up the fight. And even if they win, homosexual activists will not be able to sustain the myth forever.

Suitable, then, that the vote on homosexual marriage should take place on a day celebrating a myth. The tale of Cupid and his trouble-making bow makes February 14th the perfect day for this vote.

With twenty little children and six adults freshly slain, how can we celebrate Christmas? Many in the grieving community of Newtown, Connecticut, in a show of solidarity with shattered friends are removing Christmas from their homes. News anchors seem desperate to make sense of the tragedy. Mourners flocked to an interfaith service. Millions tuned in to hear President Obama for words of comfort and clarity.

Americans heard prayers from Catholic priests and Jewish Rabbis, readings from the Koran, a Baha’i poem and passages from the Bible. They heard statistics on gun violence, mental health and school safety. But when one is grappling with overwhelming grief, one needs powerful truth.

If ever there were a time when the unique message of Christmas was needed more, we are hard pressed to find it. Christmas is the celebration of life over death. That God loved us so much, he gave the only son he ever had to die a brutal death so that we might find forgiveness for our sins and lose our fear of death. That baby in a manger was the very real and precious son of a God who knew when he sent him, it would one day break his Holy heart. The parents of the children who died in Newtown now understand God’s grief, but they did not willingly choose it.

The story of Christmas is also that of a mother, Mary, who gave birth to a boy, knowing one day because of him a “sword would pierce her heart.” Indeed it did as she sat on the hill years later and watched her son agonizingly suffer execution on a cross. This is a powerful comfort to all mothers who mourn the loss of their children.
Even at ballgames, we used to be reminded of this by John 3:16 signs; “For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

But it’s not clear now that Americans think they need a savior. People often declare, “I am a good person.” We have only to look in the mirror of American pop culture to see how “good” we really are. We have only to look at our politicians to see what manner of people we are because they reflect us.

Donning the spectacles of grief allows us to see the world with 20/20 clarity. We look at scenes of Newtown reflecting the idyllic. But the beauty betrays the inward darkness we have allowed to creep in, even into communities as lovely as Newtown. We have abandoned our children to violence and depravity. We have abandoned ourselves to our appetites. But we still look good, so we can’t see; not until a child of ours dons the garb of death and marches into a school to reveal the horrific underbelly of the evil we have masterfully covered.

Much like Bella and the Beast, the Old Testament prophet Samuel said, ”Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.”
It’s not our North Face jackets or pocket technology that define us. We purchase these and adorn ourselves as though they are badges of our worth. Much more difficult is the hard work of character and discipline that you can’t see.

Contrary to Steve Carell’s rendition, the real story of Noah’s Ark isn’t very funny. God sent the flood because the earth was corrupt and filled with violence. The thoughts of man were “continually evil all the time” and God repented he had made man.

Is that now so hard to imagine? Killing the innocent in public places is near epidemic. Teens are murdering their mothers, husbands their wives. Mothers are killing their own children, while priests and coaches molest little boys. Teachers are seducing young students while men and women abandon vows and families. We crave what we can’t have, envy, steal, lie and boast about it.

“The thoughts of man were continually evil all the time.” Sound familiar?

Christians don’t celebrate a silly fairytale. We celebrate a very compelling story of deep sorrow and great joy with hope for redemption…for all who will listen and receive it.

That’s the real clarity of the Sandy Hook tragedy. During this time of overwhelming grief and national depravity, how we need a savior. The good news of Christmas is, we have one!

Egyptian Islamists stormed the American Embassy compound on 9/11, destroying the American flag, draping the black fabric of al Qaeda over the walls shouting “death to America!”

The Obama State Department responded by apologizing, claiming this was actually a good thing. We brought democracy to Egypt, they explained, and now Muslims have a right to express their free speech through protest.

Two weeks later, Coptic Christians in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula are now fleeing their homes after death threats from Islamists have gone unanswered by the governing authority. Since the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak, supported enthusiastically by President Barack Obama, they have been murdered, expelled, their children kidnapped, with reports from the Arab press even of crucifixions.

After months of pleading from American Copts for intervention, the Obama Administration responded to them, at least symbolically, by blaming the murder of the American ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, on an American Coptic Christian film maker. The Obama Justice Department bristled at the offense to Islam. Their surrogates went hard after “Sam Bacile,” taking him into custody in a very public way…revealing his Egyptian name and location for the mere suspicion that he broke his parole by possibly using the internet and certainly an assumed name. He languishes now in a California prison with a significant Muslim population eager to exact revenge.

While the Obama Administration is still not sure what happened that killed three Americans in Libya, and will not allow FBI agents into Benghazi to investigate weeks later, they were certain Sam Bacile’s silly South Park-like trailer on Mohammed was the cause of it.

“The future does not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam,” declared the President of the United States to the United Nations. Evidently not. The Coptic Christian Sam Bacile is dangerously, securely incarcerated while the Islamist murderers of the U.S. Ambassador run free.

It isn’t just the Copts who fear for their lives right now in Egypt. Under past president, Hosni Mubarak, who the Obama Administration drove out with a vengeance, Egyptian women enjoyed rights never afforded in Islam. The statutes were named after Mubarak’s first lady and known as “Suzanne’s laws.” They allowed, among other things, women whose husbands had left them and were free to remarry to be free themselves to get a divorce. In addition it allowed those women to maintain custody of their children until fifteen and keep the family home while raising those children.

Now the new Islamist movement in Egypt wants to turn that law and others back, rightfully claiming they are not compatible with Sharia Law. At stake is the reinstatement of female circumcision, wife beating, honor killings and child brides.

A recent cartoon in an Egyptian newspaper shows an old bridegroom with a little girl dressed like a bride, clutching her teddy bear. “Okay, I’ll take you to the amusement park but only after we’ve consummated our marriage,” he says.

“Egyptian Women Fear Regression on Rights,” blares the headline from the Financial Times. And yet the Obama State Department led by consummate feminist, Hillary Rodham Clinton, assisted by Muslim Brotherhood born and bred Huma Abedin, turns a deaf ear to this frightening threat to Egyptian women.

“Speaking at a meeting of the Group of 8 Nations in New York,” reported the New York Times, Hillary Clinton “said on Friday that the world needed to do more to support the governments that have emerged from the Arab Spring uprisings, including those in Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia.”

The Obama State Department’s response to this poison of a spring that killed one of their very own and threatens the lives of Egyptian women? A proposal to send 450 million dollars of one billion in aid to assist the new Egyptian Brotherhood government led by Islamist Mohamed Morsi.

“Obama, Obama! We are all Osama’s!” cried the protestors at the Egyptian Embassy as the brother of al Qaeda strategist, Ayman al-Zawahiri watched on from the crowd.

This may not be a transfer of American weapons as in Fast and Furious, but make no mistake, American dollars will be spent to shed American blood in Egypt and here at home.

And here at home President Obama has his own “kill” list. Like a deadly reality show, he chooses a victim and drones come on the screen to carry out the “kill.” He doesn’t seem to care much for who dies in all of this, including his own ambassador. He holds the lives of 3000 Americans killed on 9/11 and the subsequent sacrifice of American military lives cheaply…the blood of American soldiers slaughtered by Afghan soldiers with no sense of urgency, the lives of thirteen American soldiers slain by a traitor American Islamist at Ft. Hood, an issue of “workplace violence.” All of those lives are seemingly in his own words a mere “bump in the road” on his way to achieving the new understanding with Islam he so carefully laid out in his first major presidential speech delivered to the Muslim world, heavily attended by the Muslim Brotherhood, in Cairo, Egypt.

Obama may not be wielding the death sword, but he is exhibiting a consummate disregard for life that rivals the Brotherhood who declare they “love death more than we love life!” We have every right to suspect a dangerous connection.

Congressman Todd Akin claims refusing to step down from the Missouri Senate race is his way of taking a stand to “strengthen our country… standing on a principle of what America is.” But Akin claims heroism where only self-preservation exists.

Clinging to this race may recklessly put at risk the nation and all the principles conservatives hold dear. By clinging to this seat, Akin may actually cost lives rather than saving them. Conservatives who still support his candidacy must remember how rabidly anti-life President Obama is…from cradle to grave. With the race so close, the smallest incident can tip the scales in either direction. And Congressman Akin’s awkward words were a potential brick load.

Control of the Senate may rest on a conservative Senator from Missouri. With Akin only a point ahead at this writing, and money drying up for him while pouring in for Senator Claire McCaskill from enraged feminists, winning will be an uphill battle. If the Left maintains control of the Senate, America can count on at least two nightmare picks for the Supreme Court, the inability to stop Obamacare, and more massive spending.

Akin can say all he wants that he’s standing on principle, but when unfairly pummeled for his comments on “legitimate rape” coupled with his inept analysis of the way women’s bodies respond, he chose not to clarify but to apologize. “I’m sorry…please forgive me” doesn’t sound courageous. It sounds like equivocation.

Congressman Akin has been a strong pro-life conservative for many years. We can be grateful for his service and still determine his inability to articulate this a fatal flaw.

Some conservatives have responded as though this were solely a battle with the establishment. While it’s true Karl Rove, John McCain and others said inexcusably rude and belittling things about Congressman Akin, it doesn’t make them wrong on the need to replace him. Conservatives seem to be confusing animus with the establishment with what’s right and what’s all wrong with this picture. Many seem to believe supporting Akin means defending Life, when supporting him for this seat may cause us to go backwards on the issue. We can love and appreciate Akin and still believe he should step aside. Whomever is chosen for the seat will certainly be pro-life. Missourians would not abide anything else.

Already Akin’s incident has caused the light of scrutiny to shine brightly on a very strong and strategic plank of the Republican Party. This plank allows for abortion only for the life of the mother, but once the anti-life press turn their sites on it, may fall to a lesser version. In fact Akin’s insistence on staying may force Romney to address it when his silence would have been preferable.

It will make it much harder for pro-life politicians to stay committed to protecting life in difficult cases if Akin stays in the race. The pressure may become so great, many may fold in order to survive.

Stepping down would NOT mean conceding his point. He has, in fact already conceded his point in a rush to apologize. Rape does have various iterations. A fifteen year old girl impregnated by a nineteen year old boyfriend is also considered rape…statutory rape. And confusion still exists over disputed claims of rape in dating and marriage that do indeed bring shades of grey to a cobalt act of violence. But Akin explained none of that.

For the first time in months, the base has rallied with excitement at the selection of a strong pro-life, pro-family, fiscally conservative VP. If Akin remains, the torpedoes aimed at him will also hit Paul Ryan and may mortally wound him for the race ahead. One has only to remember Sarah Palin, destroyed by what she wore and what she didn’t read. If Akin steps aside, Ryan will have dodged a potentially lethal attack.

Staying in the race will likely cost the Senate and perhaps the White House. Akin should call a press conference and read a carefully worded statement explaining what he has failed to explain so far: that all life is sacred and killing an innocent baby resulting from rape is yet another act of violence that will potentially hurt the woman in even deeper ways. A new life has the potential to bring healing while violently taking that life most certainly will not. He should explain that pro-lifers around the country regularly come to the aid of such women offering comfort and care and medical help and adoption through crisis pregnancy centers.

He should stop apologizing and explain himself…and then step aside. If he doesn’t do that, Akin’s pride will ultimately cost unborn lives, not save them.

Watching Space Shuttle Discovery soar over the great American monuments in DC on the back of a 747…gutted and consigned to a museum brought back wonderful memories of America’s marvelous achievements, but also reminded us it was our triumph in the space war that bankrupted the Soviet Union and created a bitterness they shall never forget.

It was a curious thing when shortly after Obama’s inauguration, the new Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, handed Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, a large red button, meant to indicate a “reset” in American-Russian relations.  And reset relations, we did.

President Obama did a “reset” on the space program, gutting ours and making it virtually impossible to do space travel without going through the Russians at an exorbitant future cost. He did a “reset” on plans to build defense missiles in Poland, breaking our promise and disheartening friends and allies.

And it made no sense.  With Russia the pitiful remains of the old Soviet Empire, plundered of her natural resources by the Oligarchs, struggling for new identity, disillusioned with newfound wealth…in the midst of scandal from poisonings of journalists and dissidents, Russia was weak…a non-player on the international stage; Her only treasure her history and scattered sights of valuable nuclear material.  There was no need to bargain with Russia…no need acquiesce to her demands.

“After my (last) election, I’ll have more flexibility,” said President Obama to Russian President Medvedev reaching out to touch his hand.  “I understand.  I will transmit that to Vladimir,” replied Dmitri with a knowing nod.  Sounds like the opening to a cheap spy thriller, but this was an actual conversation heard recently between an American president and the leader of that former foe.

We know now the President was rendering our trusted allies, Poland and the Czech Republic defenseless against the still looming Russian threat, and ourselves neutered by agreements to share nuclear secrets we had no reason to share.

This convergence of decisions coupled with that overheard conversation could mean nothing.  Or it could mean a great deal.  But in order to understand it, we would have to go back in time to the days of the Cold War and the romance of the Left for Mother Russia.

The Venona Files revealed in 1995 that the Soviets infiltrated our government at the highest levels in the 50’s.  From Alger Hiss to the Rosenberg’s and Hollywood, and later the Civil Rights movement and the anti-war Left, Communist subversives were deeply entrenched. In an 1950 interview with U.S. News and World Report, FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover made this statement:

The teachings of Communism are directed toward one final result—world revolution and the triumph of international Communism. The achievement of this aim would mean the violent and complete destruction of the American Government. Any person who subscribes to these teaching… is working against American democracy and for the benefit of international Communism’s chief leader, Soviet Russia.

The FBI waged war against Communist subversives from its earliest years until the 1980’s when President Ronald Reagan brought the godless “Evil Empire,” soaked in the blood of millions slain by Joseph Stalin, to its knees.

Yet the American Left idolized that empire and it’s Manifesto.  The KGB was actively recruiting young American college students at the time young Bill Clinton mysteriously showed up in Russia while travel was still forbidden.  In their own manifesto, “Prairie Fire,” William Ayres and Bernadine Dorn wrote, “We are a guerrilla organization…We are communist women and men…We need a revolutionary communist party in order to lead the struggle, give coherence and direction to the fight, seize power and build the new society.”   The Weather Underground sought the “violent over throw of the United States government.”

The Marxist Barack Obama Sr. came to America and married Ms. Stanley Dunham, who he met in Russian class.  Frank Marshall Davis, an editor of a Communist newspaper in Chicago with a damning FBI dossier, was a close friend to Ms. Dunham’s father and later a mentor to his grandson, Barack Obama Jr., referred to affectionately as “Frank” in Dreams from my Father.

From the cousin Obama campaigned for, Kenyan Marxist Prime Minister, Raila Odingo, to Green Job Czar-Communist, Van Jones, to former Whitehouse Communications Director, Anita Dunn whose favorite political philosopher was Mao Zedong…to Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett, daughter in law of Vernon Jarrett, philosophical friend and coworker of Frank Marshall Davis, the circle of Soviet romanticists surrounding the President seems endless.

So…what did the administration mean about resetting relations with Russia?  And if this proclivity to “make it up” to the weakened Russians, handing them the tools to reclaim power, is already in place, is the gutted Space Shuttle Discovery a metaphor of what comes next?

A growing avalanche of Republican support has been orchestrated to push the grassroots to embrace Governor Mitt Romney. Only halfway through the primary, Republican leaders are telling voters the decision is made.  Mitt Romney will be the Republican Candidate for President of the United States.  Will Wisconsin voters fall into line on Tuesday’s primary or will they speak with a mind of their own?

In 2008 John McCain took the nomination to a less than enthusiastic response.  But when Sarah Palin hit the stage in Minneapolis, the roof nearly came off the convention center, the base electrified.  One of the first campaign stops was Wisconsin.  Crowds were enormous as Wisconsinites craned their necks to get a glimpse of the new conservative VP candidate.

One man stood to express the exasperation many conservatives felt with the clueless McCain who had been facing Barack Obama with timidity and deference,  “Fight for us, Senator McCain!  Fight for us!”  McCain pulled the mike close…delivered his signature grunt-laugh, and made a joke.  The Heartland’s heart sunk to realize the former war hero had become their hapless champion against a formidable foe he didn’t even understand.

Why then are so many Republican leaders rushing to anoint a similar candidate, Mitt Romney, who describes President Barack Obama as a “nice man” who “just doesn’t understand?” For some it is a matter of power.  They fear a conservative candidate, in spite of the fact that no moderate Republican has won the nomination in years; Gerald Ford…. Bob Dole… John McCain…all moderates…all losers.  The only Republican to win during those lost decades was conservative Ronald Reagan, after battling the same Republican Establishment.

There is much to be gained by supporting Mitt Romney.  There are nominations for Vice President to be considered and payoffs of campaign debt.  This might explain Newt Gingrich’s reportedly “very friendly” meeting with Governor Romney last week.  There is an orchestrated effort by insiders in Washington and by the Romney camp sweetening the deal for anyone who will come his way.

But the race is not over!!!!   Walter Shapiro has articulated it beautifully in “Why is the Press so ready to Count Santorum Out?”

http://www.cjr.org/swing_states_project/why_is_the_press_so_ready_to_c.php?page=all

Right now only one man stands in the way of Mitt Romney getting the Republican nomination.  Rick Santorum is statistically tied with Romney in North Carolina, ahead in Pennsylvania by double digits, strong in California and Nebraska, yet many are clamoring for him to get out of the race.

Rick Santorum was eloquent and powerful in almost every brief debate exchange.   But afterward pundits ignored him.  Why?  Romney, who had been campaigning for president since 2007, had quietly begun donating to conservative organizations and media outlets.  He had strategically positioned himself for the nomination well before the candidates ever took the stage.

But he can’t buy the American people.  And even now after spending millions, he has low support among Republican voters and a very high unfavorable rating.

While Rick Santorum steadfastly holds to the convictions of conservative America, Mitt Romney has been shirring up support for his candidacy by changing positions on issues like gun control, global warming, Cap and Trade, and certainly government healthcare.   Romney’s advisors on Romney Care were later advisors on Obamacare.

If his so-called conversion to pro-life was so profound why was the nation’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood, given a place on a board for Romney Healthcare and why does his plan offer abortions for a $50 co-pay?

As soon as “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” was repealed for the military Romney issued a statement that he would do nothing to reverse it if elected.

Who at EPA just issued green house gas regulations to effectively ban new coal-fired power plants?  Romney’s former green energy advisor, Gina McCarthy. Part of Romney’s campaign money can be traced to radical environmentalists like Julian Robertson who funded the efforts behind passing Cap and Trade.  John Holdren, who believes in population control thru forced abortion and compulsory sterilization, currently serves as Barack Obama’s top science czar and was once part of Governor Mitt Romney’s policy team.

Unlike Mitt Romney, Santorum is fully committed to stopping the march to the Left on moral, social, economic and national security issues.

Americans are tired of beltway disingenuousness.  Many find Rick Santorum’s candor refreshing… like an elixir to our politically correct, mind-numbed interactions.

Where does this boldness from Santorum come from?  Perhaps partly from his family’s odyssey with Bella.  Bella Santorum is three years, diagnosed with Trisomy 18 who in a bout of uncontrollable seizures was recently nearly lost to them during the campaign.

American voters should know that almost 90% of husbands and fathers leave their families when they have disabled children.  It takes character to absorb the blows of disappointment, endure exhaustion and endless sorrow and…stay.

That’s an indicator of what kind of a man Rick Santorum is and what kind of a president he might be: Steadfast…committed to the best for his American family just as he for his own.

Wisconsin has given us some of the finest public servants in recent years.  From Paul Ryan to Ron Johnson to Scott Walker.  They have done a great service to the nation in infiltrating it with leaders of character.

Will they now allow Washington to tell them whom they should select as a candidate for the next president of the United States?

Conservatives around the country will be watching on Tuesday’s primary to see.

Imagine you had to make a case against Ellen DeGeneres being the new spokesman for JCPenney. Ellen is charming and delightful…witty, warm and engaging. What’s not to like about Ellen DeGeneres? And yet for thousands…yeah millions of Penney’s customers it is an unsettling proposition.
American Family Association’s One Million Moms have said as much. In fact they’ve asked JCPenney to reconsider their choice of a spokesperson. They’ve launched a campaign to get Penney customers to tell the retailer how they feel. But thousands are fighting back, including the new CEO of Penneys, former Apple executive, Ron Johnson who said, “I think Ellen is someone we all trust. She’s loveable, likeable, honest and funny, but at her soul, we trust her.” On-line petitions have sprung up sponsored by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Discrimination, GLAAD, in fierce defense of DeGeneres. It’s the intolerant Religious Right pitted against the affable and charming Ellen DeGeneres and really, on that basis it is a losing battle.
But this isn’t about Ellen’s winsome personality or her caring approach to her guests. It’s about the private choices she has publicly flaunted and the profound influence she has chiefly because of her charm and likeability. Openly lesbian, Ellen is “married” to her partner Portia Rossi. Militantly gay, DeGeneres has fought for homosexual rights including marriage and indoctrination in public schools.
Some scoff and laugh while others yawn at the backward demands of so narrow-minded a group as One Million Moms. But here is what is happening while America nods in acquiescence:
Kevin Jennings, founder of GLSEN and former Obama Safe Schools Czar was the keynote speaker at a state-sponsored workshop on March 25, 2000 at Tufts University. Massachusetts Department of Education employees described to students as young as twelve the pleasures of homosexual sex. Here is part of the transcript:
“Fisting [forcing one's entire hand into another person's rectum or vagina] often gets a bad rap [It's] an experience of letting somebody into your body that you want to be that close and intimate with…[and] to put you into an exploratory mode.”
In California public schools there are no longer barriers to bathrooms distinguished by gender. If a student “thinks” he is a girl, he can go to the girl’s bathroom. No textbook or teacher can mention marriage in traditional terms like “husband” and “wife” but must now use “partner” as the acceptable description.
In Minnesota, a battle is currently raging to allow teachers to propagate homosexuality, transgenderism and gay marriage openly in the classroom.
At Boston Children’s Hospital, a transgender clinic now administers medicine to pre-adolescent children as young as nine to stop puberty, later administering hormones to make boys into girls and girls in to boys. In the process, these kids are rendered infertile and readied for surgeries to alter and remove sex organs accordingly. The Dr. Mengele of the project, Dr. Norman Spack, was showcased in the Boston Globe while at the same time featured by a bondage and sado-masochism group, the New England Leather Alliance.
Young girls at a New England conference were shown videos of how to remove healthy breasts if they “feel” they should be boys.
School health classes are challenging students to consider whether they might be gay. One in Glen Ellyn, Illinois went so far as to suggest students try sex with a same sex friend to find out.
Parents are increasingly unable to object or opt out their children as young as kindergarten from participation in gay promotion from “Days of Silence” and “Transgender Days” to closed-door graphic orientations by homosexual students to children as young as fourteen.
This is what we’ve come to in the United States of America. And yet most of America yawns. How can that be?
Humans are capable of adjusting to almost anything. Soldiers freak out at the first sign of death, but are hardened by battle in due course. Women adjust to men who beat them…young girls to fathers who rage in a drunken stupor. Patty Hearst accustomed herself to the views of her Symbionese Liberation Army Captors. We can adjust to almost anything, but it doesn’t make that “anything” healthy, normal or right.
We have adjusted ourselves to the point of breaking on the issue of homosexuality. Through media we have invited what would have been unthinkable ten years ago into our own homes. We have opened our doors to deviancy and adjusted ourselves to the dark, foul draft. We send our children off to be indoctrinated by teachers indoctrinated themselves with homosexual advocacy by the National Education Association and declare our schools “safe.” We laugh at gay characters in sit-coms, reality and talk shows and have become so desensitized; we can no longer distinguish from personal affection for them and disapproval of how they live.
And so it is with Ellen DeGeneres. We like her and therefore cannot bring ourselves to condemn what she does or see any harm in her being the spokesperson for a company where America’s traditional families shop. We are incapable of making the distinction and so we open wide the gates and assure for ourselves the future homosexual activists have long written about, the complete eradication of the traditional family and the acceptance of any sexual choice anyone wants to make.
At least with Ellen we’ll have some laughs as we descend into moral chaos.