In 1925 Tennessee passed the Butler Law.  It prohibited the teaching of evolution in our public schools.  John Thomas Scopes was convinced by the ACLU to challenge the law in court.  The result was a very public show trial with Clarence Darrow, a famous criminal attorney representing Scopes and William Jennings Bryant, a dying politician, assisting in the prosecution.  It was a fiasco from start to finish.  The following link provides interesting details on the trial:

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug97/inherit/1925home.html

The typical liberal spin on the case is that Clarence Darrow carried the day by humiliating Bryant:

“You have given considerable study to the Bible, haven’t you, Mr. Bryan?”
“Yes, sir; I have tried to … But, of course, I have studied it more as I have become older than when I was a boy.”
“Do you claim then that everything in the Bible should be literally interpreted?”
“I believe everything in the Bible should be accepted as it is given there …”
Darrow continued to question Bryan on the actuality of Jonah and the whale, Joshua’s making the sun stand still and the Tower of Babel, as Bryan began to have more difficulty answering.
Q: “Do you think the earth was made in six days?”
A: “Not six days of 24 hours … My impression is they were periods …”
Q: “Now, if you call those periods, they may have been a very long time?”
A: “They might have been.”
Q: “The creation might have been going on for a very long time?”
A: “It might have continued for millions of years …”

The sad reality is that largely as a result of this fiasco, our children have been force-fed the theory of evolution for decades.  Clarence Darrow has been deified and William Jennings Bryant dismissed as an ignorant, out-of-touch right-wing Christian buffoon.  One will note that Clarence Darrow was literally picking on a dying man.  Bryant died five days after the trial was over.

During the 2008 primary season Republican candidates were constantly questioned about their view of evolution.  The New York Post ran a major article about this, as did most of the main stream media:

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2011/08/evolution_gop_candidates.html

For example:  Rick Perry was dismissed as too stupid to be President because he said that:  “evolution is merely a theory that’s out there, with some gaps.”

The New York Post was: “Shocked to witness a Presidential candidate question the validity of one of the most basic and universally accepted tenets of science?”

This is mind boggling stupidity here, by the New York Post.  Our children are taught that all of life started when a couple of amino acids accidently bumped uglies setting off a miraculous chain of events.  Scientists are not sure how this happened, but they are absolutely certain that no creator was involved.  This miraculous conception was followed by millions of other undocumented and high improbable miracles resulting in the magnificent world we see today.

In reality evolution itself is evolving because every time they find a new fossil they have to revise the theory to make up for inconsistent facts.  The latest example of this was found in the following New York Times article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/05/science/at-400000-years-oldest-human-dna-yet-found-raises-new-mysteries.html?_r=0

Notice how scientists are now “rethinking” human evolution over the past few hundred thousand years.  They even propose that there may be many extinct human populations that scientists have yet to discover.  Oh how easy it is for scientists to assume that all the gaps in any unproven theory is explained by things yet to be discovered.  Please!

I believe that if a Scopes trial was held today and an evolutionist was put on the stand and questioned by someone like Clarence Darrow they would make William Jennings Bryant look like a Rhodes Scholar.  The reality is that in spite of academia preaching the gospel of evolution for decades the vast majority of Americans aren’t buying it.  According to the following article only 21% of Americans believe that modern humans evolved without some kind of divine intervention:

http://today.yougov.com/news/2013/07/22/belief-in-evolution-up-since-2004

The majority of folks aren’t buying this crap because the vast majority of them recognize crap.  I wish just one Republican candidate for President would have responded by saying:  “what an incredibly stupid question.  Perhaps a better question is why you believe in evolution in spite of the overwhelming evidence against it?”  Why do Republicans get defensive when asked really stupid questions?  Granted the majority of the main stream media swallows evolution hook line and sinker.  They also swallow global warming hook line and sinker. The liberal media believes a lot of things that aren’t true.

We need more people willing to challenge the status quo.  When you think about it, the theory of evolution is absurd.  The only reason scientists cling to the random chance theory is that all other explanations require a creator.  The theory of evolution only makes sense if you start with the assumption that no intelligent design is possible.

Let me explain this in more simple terms.  Suppose a future civilization lands on earth 1,000 years from now.  Humans have pretty much wiped out everything, so the only thing they find is a 1998 Ford Explorer.  The aliens look at this vehicle and they are intrigued by the design.  They notice how all the parts fit together and the engine powers the entire vehicle.  They wonder how this happened.  One of them decides that there must have been some intelligent creature that made this machine.  But, that alien is shouted down by other, more cultured aliens who point out that there is no possibility of intelligent life on earth.  Any theory explaining how the Ford Explorer came to be must not include intelligent design.  So, finally in desperation, one alien comes up with the theory of evolution.  The Ford Explorer started with two pieces of iron ore accidently rubbed against each other while blown around by the wind.  Over millions of years similar things kept happening all over the world eventually coming together at just the right time in just the right place to make a Ford Explorer.   Sounds pretty good until a little later they find a Ferrari.

As it says at the top of this blog:   “What is obviously true is obviously true.”

TDM

In the book of Daniel, the story of told of King Belshazzar and the writing on the wall.  The King was having a gay ole time, drinking wine with his Lords when suddenly a hand appeared and started writing on the wall.  The words were:

מנא, מנא, תקל, ופרסין

Ok, perhaps you prefer the version in the King James Bible:

Mene mene tekel upharsin

When I was a child, I could never remember these words, so we changed them to read: “Meanie, meanie he tickled the parson.”

Neither version made much sense to me at the time.  They also didn’t make much sense to King Belshazzar.  He freaked out.  He didn’t know what the words meant, but he knew it was bad.  So he gathered all of his senior advisors and offered a huge bonus to anyone who could interpret the words for him.  Finally, in an act of desperation, he called upon Daniel to see if he could make sense of it.

Daniel told the king that the words meant that the king had been weighed and found wanting and that he was about to lose his kingdom.  If you want to read the actual story, check out Daniel, Chapter 5.

I believe the writing is on the wall for the Obama administration.  He has been weighed and found wanting by just about everyone.  Conservatives are furious because of his drive toward socialism, his weak foreign policy and his willingness to ignore the constitution.  Liberals are furious because he botched ObamaCare, he botched his foreign policy and he didn’t totally ignore the constitution.  They are both united in the opinion that Obama is a disaster as a president.

ObamaCare is officially dead and buried.  The main stream media is still looking for some sign of life, but there is zero chance this will survive.  The final blow was when the new and improved website failed.  Jay Carney was at his press conference trying to put a positive spin on this.  He says things are much better because now, instead of the website crashing, visitors just get a queuing message saying telling them they could check back later.  This is so bad that we need a new stronger word to replace pathetic.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2013/12/02/carney_vs_ed_henry_on_obamacare_website_youre_confusing_error_messages_with_queuing_messages.html

ED HENRY: It sounds like you did not meet the deadline, the more I listen to your answers, because Ezekiel Emanuel said yesterday the website is working well and you say it is vastly improved. There has been significant progress. Not necessarily that it is working well and effectively for the vast majority of users, as you acknowledged with Jim and John and others. People are still getting the same error messages they got a couple days ago.

HENRY: The goal is obviously to enroll more people, right? If they are still waiting – 

Obama was an obvious failure from day one, but the main stream media refused to cover the story.  I am certain that a lot of senior Democrats knew this from the start too, but those who dared hint at a problem were humiliated.  Remember when Bill Clinton referred to the Obama candidacy as a joke?  The main stream media turned on him in a furious rage.  How dare anyone hint that Obama might not be up to the job?  Nothing scares a liberal Democrat more than being accused of being a racist.

None of the Obama narrative stood up to scrutiny, but there was no scrutiny.  The failure of the ObamaCare website changed everything.  This was the writing on the wall for this administration, because the failure became impossible to ignore.  I sometimes wonder if liberals realize that God also understands modern technology.

TDM

Abraham Lincoln made Thanksgiving a national holiday.  He did this in the fall of 1863, when things were still pretty grim.  The Union Army had defeated the Confederates at the Battle of Gettysburg, but then the Confederate Army got away, again.  There was no evidence that the bloody civil war was about to end anytime soon.  So I had to ask, why was Lincoln so thankful?  He certainly wasn’t riding high politically.  Lincoln was facing opposition in both parties.  About the only thing people agreed on was that Lincoln was doing a lousy job as President.  He was so unpopular that he almost wasn’t even invited to speak at Gettysburg.  At the most he was expected to say a few, meaningless words.  Lincoln was still looking for a general who could lead the Union to victory.  So far, every General he had chosen was a miserable failure.  Even when the Union won a battle, the loss of life on both sides was beyond horrific.  Yet, Lincoln was grateful.  Following is the text of that Thanksgiving proclamation:

http://history1800s.about.com/od/abrahamlincoln/a/Lincoln-Thanksgiving-proclam.htm

Lincoln was thankful that the carnage of the civil war was unable to destroy the bountiful crops or the healthful skies.  He was grateful that no foreign country took advantage of our civil war to attack us.  He was thankful that the country continued to grow both in wealth and population and even the bloody civil war did not change that.  Lincoln recognized that these were unearned gifts from almighty God.

No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercys. 

It is so easy to point out everything that is wrong in the world today.  Only a naïve liberal fool would think that things are going well.  Pessimists are wondering how this country can even recover.  Our economy is pathetic.  We have become the laughingstock of the world.  The problems are very obvious and all too real.  But ultimately, God is still in control and what really matters will continue to matter tomorrow, the day after tomorrow and forever.  Our fields are indeed bountiful.  We continue to find the natural resources we need.  Men and women continue to marry, they continue to have children and they continue to raise families.  No government has ever been able to stop that.  While the world is truly a dangerous place, we live in a remarkably free society with a standard of living unimaginable in much of the world.  We are truly blessed.

Governments come and governments go.  No government is as strong as they think.   Good governments aren’t as great as we think and terrible governments aren’t as powerful as they seem.  All political power is fleeting.  The Bible reminds us that pride goes before a fall and a haughty spirit before destruction.  It was true in the past.  It will be true in the future.  It is true now.  It is true when Conservatives are in power and it is true when Liberals are in power.

For this reason, I choose to be thankful.  I am thankful that the things that really matter are not subject to the whims of mortal man.  I am thankful that God is still on the throne and the future continues to look bright and promising.  Give thanks for what really matters.  The rest is just temporary anyway.

TDM

Just when you thought this administration was terminally stupid, they moved the idiot lever up another knotch.  John Kerry signed this great deal with Iran and Obama went on TV to celebrate peace in our time.  Almost imediately the deal was panned by most people remotely familiar with the subject.  Key Democrats, like Chuck Schumer rejected it immediately.  Benjamin Netanyahu threw a world class hissy fit.  This was only so bad that the only support came from the ever shrinking group of addicted KoolAid drinkers who continue to chant irrational talking points from the liberal hymn book.

Of course CNN ran a poll today saying that Americans support the deal 2 to 1.  My guess is that this was a push poll taken before it became obvious there is no deal.  Of course now we know that we don’t even have a bad deal.  We have no deal.   Iran issued a statement accusing the White House of deliberating distoring the terms of the agreement:

http://freebeacon.com/iran-white-house-lying-about-details-of-nuke-deal/

This reminds me of the scene from animal house where the boys borrowed Flounder’s car and then totally trashed it.  Their only excuse was that he was stupid to have trusted them in the first place.  Why would he have expected anything different?

We now know that the deal signed with Iran was not a deal at all, it was simply a deal to consider a deal.  In the meantime, we drop the sanctions and Iran proceeds full speed ahead on developing a nuclear bomb.  Nice!

I really don’t remember anything similar to this happening before.  At least Adolph Hitler waited a couple of months before he dismissed the Munich agreement as meaningless.  At the same time Obama is telling us we have to trust Iran, Iran is telling the world not to trust Obama.  Unfortunately, Iran probably got that one right.

TDM

John Kerry signed a peace agreement with Iran.  Obama gave a speech praising peace in our time.  But there is a huge problem.  I cannot recall a previous time when a U.S. President made such a deal without strong bi-partisan support.  There is a reason for that.  If a President speaks on an international issue and the country does not support him, he is finished.  How on earth can an administration have an ounce of international credibility if his own country will not support him?  Yet, in this case, Obama has already lost critical support and it is likely to get worse.

Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat from New York is already on record opposing the deal and saying that he will discuss the possibility of congress bypassing the President and increasing sanctions on Iran.  Obama has been secretly removing sanctions for months.  This is an irreconcilable difference:

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/11/24/schumer-iran-pact-does-not-seem-proportional/

This is a slap shot at the President of the United States by one of the most influential members of his own party.  But perhaps the most serious slap at this President came from Bob Schieffer.  Following is the link to the YouTube video of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cfOXFog54Q&feature=youtube_gdata

He asked the following stunning questions of Kevin McCarthy:

Is Iran Deal ‘Diversionary Tactic’ for Obama Admin?

One will note that McCarthy was more hesitant to throw President Obama under the bus than Chuck Schumer.  This is not because McCarthy approves of this deal, but rather that McCarthy knows the significant of opposing a President of the United States with regard to foreign policy.  Republicans have a strong tradition of backing a President, even if they disagree with him, because they strongly believe that politics should end at the nation’s borders.

The real problem here is that no one believes either President Obama or John Kerry.  We have simply been told one lie too many by this administration.  Even if they are right about this, which is open to debate, no one trusts them. How very sad.  At a time when this country desperately needs a President with real leadership ability, we have Barack Obama. So I thought, what could make me even more skeptical.  The following answers that question:

http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/1.559875

“We are all aware of the risks involved,” said Jimmy Carter. “But I am convinced that, after 35 years of animosity and distrust, there is an historic opportunity to rebuild relations with the government and people of Iran on solid foundations of mutual respect.”

Kofi Annan, the chairman of the Elders and former secretary-general of the UN, said he hoped the deal would be “swiftly followed up with practical measures to put the agreement into effect. “After years of inconclusive negotiations, this is an important step forward in restoring confidence between Iran and the international community,” Annan said.

When the most inept President, with the exception of Obama, in the history of the United States and the most inept Secretary General of the United Nations call this a great deal don’t expect good results.  It is hard to imagine why anyone would ever consider taking advice from Jimmy Carter on how to deal effectively with Iran.

TDM

On September 30, 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain arrived back in England after signing the Munich agreement with Germany.   Adolf Hitler had signed an agreement saying the following:

“We are determined to continue our efforts to remove possible sources of difference thus to contribute to assure the peace of Europe.”

Neville Chamberlain said the following:

We, the German Führer and Chancellor, and the British Prime Minister, have had a further meeting today and are agreed in recognizing that the question of Anglo-German relations is of the first importance for two countries and for Europe.

“We regard the agreement signed last night and the Anglo-German Naval Agreement as symbolic of the desire of our two peoples never to go to war with one another again.

“We are resolved that the method of consultation shall be the method adopted to deal with any other questions that may concern our two countries, and we are determined to continue our efforts to remove possible sources of difference, and thus to contribute to assure the peace of Europe.”

“My good friends this is the second time in our history that there has come back from Germany to Downing Street peace with honor. I believe it is peace in our time.”

Winston Churchill was less than impressed:

I do not grudge our loyal, brave people, who were ready to do their duty no matter what the cost, who never flinched under the strain of last week – I do not grudge them the natural, spontaneous outburst of joy and relief when they learned that the hard ordeal would no longer be required of them at the moment; but they should know the truth. They should know that there has been gross neglect and deficiency in our defences; they should know that we have sustained a defeat without a war, the consequences of which will travel far with us along our road; they should know that we have passed an awful milestone in our history, when the whole equilibrium of Europe has been deranged, and that the terrible words have for the time being been pronounced against the Western democracies:

And do not suppose that this is the end. This is only the beginning of the reckoning. This is only the first sip, the first foretaste of a bitter cup which will be proffered to us year by year unless by a supreme recovery of moral health and martial vigour, we arise again and take our stand for freedom as in the olden time.

Now, President Barack Obama with the help of John Kerry is once again announcing peace in our time.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/iran-nuclear-deal-reached-5th-day-talks-20993376

Today, that diplomacy opened up a new path toward a world that is more secure – a future in which we can verify that Iran’s nuclear program is peaceful, and that it cannot build a nuclear weapon.

John Kerry tweeted from Geneva:  “Agreement in Geneva”  “First step makes world safer.  More work now.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not impressed:

https://www.facebook.com/OfirGendelmanpmo/posts/504665979640236

“What was achieved last night in Geneva is not an historic agreement; it is an historic mistake.

The Iranian regime is committed to the destruction of Israel and Israel has the right and the obligation to defend itself, by itself, against any threat. As Prime Minister of Israel, I would like to make it clear: Israel will not allow Iran to develop a military nuclear capability

I pray they got this right.  I fear that is very unlikely.  We are depending on firm negotiating skills from two men who have never demonstrated such skill in the past.  We are depending on Iran keeping its word regarding a subject for which it has been notoriously untrustworthy.

Perhaps it is just me, but right now Barack Obama looks a lot like Neville Chamberlain and Benjamin Netanyahu looks a lot like Winston Churchill.  I really hope I am wrong, because the consequences of Iran getting a nuclear weapon could result in even more carnage than World War II, as unimaginable as that seems.

TDM

Harry Reid may have set off an unprecedented constitutional crisis Thursday with his decision to allow the Senate to approve judicial nominees without 60 votes. A little historical background is in order.

When Reagan was President, Democrats vowed to block any Reagan appointment to the Supreme Court on the principle that no one acceptable to Reagan would be acceptable to them.  They did block the nomination of Robert Bork.  Reagan was forced to choose “moderates” because Democrats would never have confirmed a true conservative.

Republicans, however, did not block liberal Supreme Court appointments when Clinton was President.  That is how we ended up with Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer. Neither candidate was considered acceptable on ideological grounds by Republicans, but Republicans acknowledged that elections have consequences.  They decided that in spite of what Democrats did when Reagan was President, Republicans would allow Clinton to appoint anyone who was legally qualified.  Republicans could have blocked those appointments without resorting to a filibuster, because they had majority control of the Senate.

When George W. Bush became President, Democrats immediately began to block nominations on ideological grounds again.  Apparently liberals believe that elections have consequences only when a liberal is elected.  Republicans received zero credit for confirming Bader and Breyer.  Democrats were determined to block both John Roberts and Sam Alioto.  That is when Republicans considered the “nuclear option.”   Then Senator Obama and Senator Harry Reid were outraged at the thought of this and gave angry speeches about how changing the Senate rules would be a threat to democracy.  Ultimately Roberts and Alioto were confirmed after John McCain organized the gang of eight to by-pass the filibuster.

What makes this different and particularly dangerous is that Obama wants to fill three slots on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.  There are current 11 slots with eight of them currently occupied.  Obama wants to fill the three open slots.  Republicans believe the court is adequately staffed for the current workload.  They do not see the need for additional judges.  Currently the court is evenly balanced with 4 Democrats and 4 Republicans.

This court is extremely important because it handles the initial legal challenges to regulations and executive orders. That obviously includes ObamaCare.  If President Obama is able to add three new judges, there is a very good chance that the judges making the initial ruling on critical decisions will be likely to rubber stamp the administration’s position.  In other words, Obama is trying to stack the court and Harry Reid just helped him do it. This also stopped the filibuster by Lindsay Graham that was forcing this administration to answer questions on Benghazi.   The following article in The Hill explains this:

Senate poised to tip regs court in Obama’s favor

This happened once before.  FDR was frustrated because the Supreme Court had a bad habit of ruling that much of his “New Deal” legislation was unconstitutional.  At first Democrats tried to argue that congress could just over rule the Supreme Court.  Democrats don’t like courts telling them no.  Even FDR realized this wouldn’t fly, so he tried to add six new judges to the Supreme Court to tilt the balance in his favor.  The following article describes this in detail:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125789097

Ultimately FDR’s great plan to stack the court fizzled.  In part this was because he managed to get some of his legislation approved by the existing court.  But the point was that a Democratic President, with the cooperation of a Democratic congress set about to change the rules by stacking the court.  Now we have a different day and a different set of issues but the same strategy.  By changing the rules in the Senate, Democrats are once again trying to stack the courts.

There are two questions here.  The first question is whether or not this is legal.  We don’t know the answer to that one yet.  The second question is whether or not this is ethical.  The answer to that is a resounding no.  One of the principle things that have kept us free for all these years is the separation of powers between the legislative, the executive and the judiciary.  This is a deliberate attempt by one part of the legislature, the Senate, to coordinate with the President to change the judiciary.  This may be the single most dangerous thing President Obama has ever done.

It appears as though both President Obama and Harry Reid are going on all in on ObamaCare.  That seems incredible when there is so much evidence that ObamaCare is self-destructing.  The plan seems to be to jam this through during the next 12 months without regard to the consequences so that repeal will become impossible.  This looks and feels desperate.

It was interesting to note the scathing response of John McCain.  Republicans in the House are furious with Senate Republicans, like John McCain, for throwing them under the bus with regard to the debt ceiling.  This is the reward those Senate Republicans got for cooperating with Harry Reid.

I do not know what to predict, but this could go almost anywhere.  Republicans were publicly slapped in the face when Democrats passed ObamaCare without a single Republican vote in either the House or the Senate.  Now, when ObamaCare has turned out to be a disaster, Democrats in the Senate have resorted to the nuclear option in a desperate attempt to save it.  I can’t imagine anything that would infuriate Republicans more.

It is hard to predict where we go from here.  Almost anything is possible.  We have not seen this type of hostility between political parties in congress during our lifetime.  In effect, Republicans are forced to acknowledge that Democrats are at war with the Republican Party.  Don’t be surprised to if Republicans start to fight back.  The main thing that has happened here is that by this action President Obama and Harry Reid have unified the Republican Party and filled it with a terrible resolve.  History shows us that war seldom ends well.  Expect major casualties on both sides…

TDM

When I was attending flight school we had an instructor no one could tolerate.   I will call him Fred, but that obviously was not his real name.  Fred was very quick to ridicule people and was extremely arrogant.  One day Fred crossed the line and really made us mad, so the “secret committee” took things into hand.  I of course will never acknowledge whether or not I was personally a member of the secret committee, but I was very aware of what went on.  A strategy was developed to teach Fred a lesson.

It started with the phantom noise.  We were being trained on cutting edge electronic equipment.  One of our guys had an uncanny ability to make this high pitched noise without moving his lips.  It sounded like the worse kind of electronic feedback.  At random intervals he would make the noise and then the rest of us would act shocked and look around.  We would ask Fred for help.  It was hysterical.  Fred, who was incapable of admitting he didn’t know how to fix the problem, would go through a complicated procedure to adjust the equipment and eliminate the feedback.  Of course the sound would increase or decrease whenever he adjusted anything, so he thought he was making progress.  Eventually he thought he had it fixed.  But, as soon as he got up, the “hum” returned.  Sometimes the “hum” would go away for several hours, even a complete day.  Then, at the most inopportune moment it would start up again.  The biggest problem the rest of us had was avoiding the giggles as Fred went crazy trying to fix this.

Then attention was turned to Fred’s car.  Step one was to put a small rock in his hub cap.  This of course made a lot of racket and sounded scary.   This worked better than we expected, because incredibly Fred asked us for help.  We were all glad to offer advice.  One guy took the car for a test ride.  As soon as he got out of sight, he removed the hubcap and put the rock in his pocket.  Then he returned the car and said he couldn’t hear anything wrong.   Fred took his car around the block and miraculously the noise was gone.  He was very relieved.  But while Fred wasn’t looking, another guy took a different hub cap off and put the rock back.  This went on for weeks.  Sometimes the rock was there, sometimes it wasn’t.  The sound moved from one side of the car to the other and even moved from front to rear.  Finally one of our guys offered to fix the problem for $50.  He took the car, drove out of sight, pulled over and took out the rock.  Then he picked up the rest of us and we spent the evening spending that $50.  When Fred got his car back the next morning, he was thankful that the problem was fixed and considered the $50 well spent.  We actually agreed on that.

The secret committee probably would have left Fred alone, except that someone heard Fred on the phone talking with his girlfriend.  Fred mentioned that he was going to try a fuel additive that was supposed to increase gas mileage.  The secret committee voted to help.  The first time he filled up, someone waited until his tank was half empty and added an extra gallon.  Fred bragged about the improvement in gas mileage.  The next week someone added two gallons of gas.  Fred was ecstatic.  He bragged about his gas mileage to anyone who would listen.  This of course could not continue, so the secret committee voted to stop adding gas.  Fred was depressed.  That is when the secret committee wondered what would happen if a gallon of gas was siphoned off.  Now Fred was really concerned.  As the final touch, the decision was made to siphon off two gallons of gas.  Now Fred was near tears.   Once again he asked us for help, so someone suggested it was time for a tune-up.

Fred got the tune-up and his car was running great.  That, of course, was not acceptable.  So the secret committee came up with a new plan.  A spark plug was pulled and the top of the plug was covered with scotch tape.  Naturally that sparkplug wouldn’t fire anymore, so the car started to miss.  Fred didn’t seem to be concerned enough, so the decision was made to up the ante.  This time two sparkplugs were disabled.  Now his car ran just plan awful and it was hard to start.  Fred was totally depressed and talked about selling his car.  Once again he asked for our help.  The car was taken for another test drive.  Once again, as soon as the car was out of sight, the driver pulled over and took the tape off the spark plugs.  Fred was thrilled that his car was running great again, but worried about this happening again.  That is when someone suggested that the whole problem was probably just bad gas, so the suggestion was made that Fred switch from Texaco to Shell.  Of course the only Shell Station was way on the other side of town, and it was more expensive.  Fred became a life-long fan of Shell gas.

At this point we were pretty much done with our training, so we moved on.  To the best of my knowledge Fred never figured out we were messing with him.  Perhaps the best part of this story is that Fred was much nicer to us while all this was happening, because he appreciated all the help.

There is no point to this story, other than I thought it might be a nice break from ObamaCare.

TDM

In the midst of all the fuss about ObamaCare, many people are ignoring a very important story.  Republicans have issued subpoenas with regard to Fast & Furious.   Up until this point, Attorney General Eric Holder has played the slow walk, filing appeals with the Federal Court so that he can delay turning over these documents.  He just lost that battle.  Not only did the Judge deny his appeal, she prevented him from immediately appealing to a higher court.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2013/11/judge-wont-allow-holder-appeal-now-in-contempt-case-177796.html

The judge also made a very interesting comment:

“While the Court agrees with defendant’s characterization of the matter as significant, that is not the test,” 

Keep in mind that Watergate was a minor scandal, until a House committee started to subpoena documents and a court ordered the White House to comply.  Erik Holder is now in a serious legal pickle.  If he continues to refuse to comply with the subpoenas the House can take legal action against him.  When you combine that with a political climate where the President has lost all credibility it becomes toxic.  “He lied to us about ObamaCare, how can we possibly trust him?”

Don’t be shocked to discover that Fast & Furious is far more serious than anyone thought.  Watergate was only about a third rate burglary of the DNC.  Who really cared about that?   No one cared, until documents were released that provided evidence of a cover-up.  It wasn’t the burglary at the Watergate Hotel that did in Richard Nixon.  He probably didn’t even know about that.  What did him in was the cover-up.

History has a nasty habit of repeating itself.  Will that happen here?  Probably not, but it is a lot more likely to happen now than ever before because of this court ruling.  At a minimum, there has been some turning of the screw and that is going to put incredible pressure on Eric Holder.

TDM

If you visit London today you will probably notice the statute of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square.   He is widely regarded as the greatest Prime Minister in the history of Great Britain.  But during the 1930s, Winston Churchill was scorned by members of his own party.  His warnings about Nazi Germany were ignored.  The political establishment in his own party thought that Winston Churchill was a joke.  They humored him only because he did have what they perceived to be a small but dedicated political following.

Winston Churchill was loud, arrogant and stubborn.  He often argue for his case long after it was clear that he had lost in the court of public opinion.  No one in the cultured elite wanted him around.  He simply never knew when to give up.  He was on no one’s short list for the next Prime Minister.

But then things began to change.  It became increasingly obvious that Winston Churchill had been right all along.  When Britain finally declared War on Germany, Churchill was appointed to the cabinet as First Lord of the Admiralty.  Ultimately, the situation got so bad that in absolute desperation, the British parliament turned over power to the man they despised.

Now, when we listen to a recording of Churchill speeches from the 1930s we are stunned by the eloquence and the insight.  If only someone had listened, really listened to what he had to say.  Perhaps at least some of the carnage of World War II could have been avoided.   But, obviously, few people listened.  Unfortunately, great leaders are seldom appreciated until the situation becomes more than desperate.

When Abraham Lincoln was elected President his own cabinet was appalled.  They believed he was totally unqualified for the job and they determined to lead the government in spite of him.  History now shows that it was Lincoln who was manipulating them.    The scorn and ridicule lasted long after his leadership had been well established.  Just recently a Pennsylvania Newspaper published a retraction of their contemporary report on the Gettysburg Address.

http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/11/14/pennsylvania-newspaper-retracts-bad-review-of-gettysburg-address-from-1863/

Here is what they wrote:

“We pass over the silly remarks of the President. For the credit of the nation we are willing that the veil of oblivion shall be dropped over them and that they shall be no more repeated or thought of.”

I must admit that this gives me no small amount of comfort.  It is comforting to note that the editorial writers in 1863 were just as stupid and biased as the ones working at places like the Sacramento Bee or the San Francisco Chronicle today.   We may think that bias in the media is worse than ever, but history shows us it has always been this way.

Things are very bad.  They are going to get worse.  ObamaCare is worse than you can imagine.  The damage will be difficult to repair.  Our foreign affairs are in shambles and our economy appears to be in permanent stagnation.  We have a President who lies to the American people and then ignores the constitution.  Many people wonder if our country will ever recover.  It will.  We have been in far worse shape than this.  One could argue that it is a miracle this country even got started.  In 1776 the Revolutionary War was not going well.  The Continental Army had been driven out of New York and was retreating through New Jersey.  Many of the troops were just deserting the cause and going home.  Thomas Paine wrote “The Crisis” with the following lines:

These are the times that try men’s souls.  The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country, but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.   

Great leaders do not happen by accident, they are always the result of great crisis.  None of our greatest President governed during good times.  Look around you.  There is a new breed of leader that is ready, willing and able to take on the political establishment in both parties.  Like every great leader, these people can expect vicious resistance by the political establishment.   They can expect nothing but scorn from the cultured elite and the main stream media.  But all of us should remember the lesson of Winston Churchill and Abraham Lincoln.  Great problems create great leaders.  Sometimes, it really is darkest just before dawn.

TDM