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Prayer For Our Nation

: December 31, 2008 7:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

'Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance.

We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done.

We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.

We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.

We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.

We have killed our unborn and called it choice.

We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.

We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem.

We have abused power and called it politics.

We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition.

We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.

We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and Set us free.

Amen.

(hat tip Freddie Langston )

The "Prayer for Our Nation" piece reproduced above has in recent years come to be attributed to venerable evangelist the Rev. Billy Graham, and before that it was circulated as "Paul Harvey's Prayer" (or "Paul Harvey's On Air Prayer"). However, it was neither written nor first presented by either of those men.

This prayer burst into the public consciousness back in January of 1996, when the Rev. Joe Wright, senior pastor of the 2,500-member Central Christian Church in Wichita, was invited to deliver the opening prayer at a session of the Kansas House of Representatives. On that occasion he offered the following "Prayer of Repentance" (which was not entirely of his own crafting but rather was a version of a prayer written in 1995 by Bob Russell, who had offered it at the Kentucky Governor's Prayer Breakfast in Frankfort): (source)

Let them eat cake!

Rick Richbourg

: December 19, 2008 4:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Okay, so the Apostles of Ignorance have outdone themselves today!

With a sputtering economy and companies shedding jobs like a sycamore in a snow storm, Congress has decided to say "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche" - "Let them eat cake"!

In a move that would make Marie Antoinette seem like the great philanthropist, Lawmakers have determined they deserve a pay raise. Quickly, overlooking the fact that they had the chance to do the "right thing" and freeze their pay, instead, Lawmakers "pimped their pocketbooks" and voted themselves a raise.

While I supposed we should take heart that congresses has confidence that there will indeed some taxpayers left and we all won't be in breadlines, this certainly is a biter pill to swallow when 2 million Americans have lost their jobs - so far this year.

The hypocrisy of these "congressional confiscators" is unbelievable, their "over-the-top" histrionics while forcing auto exec to accept a one dollar a year salary - yes, I mean a buck a year - is beyond any sane understanding. And it's obvious that their hubris knows no bounds. It's okay for us to "tighten our belts" yet their ever expanding appetite for our money shows no sign of satiation.

Instead of representatives, we now seem to have "Washingtonian monsters" whose hunger for money and the power it buys is unquenchable.

Regrettably we just missed the most recent opportunity to make things right with the voter's equivalent of 'pitchforks and torches' known as the ballot box. Will it be too late to set things right in 2010? And, with such Congressional Jackassery on proud display, when might the need arise to switch the ballot box for the real pitchforks and torches to chase these monsters out of office?

High Price of Ignorance

Rick Richbourg

: November 24, 2008 7:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We pay a high price for ignorance in this country - I have often wondered if we could "afford the note". Now I surmise that we can't even afford the interest.

US officials flunk test of American history, economics, civics

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US elected officials scored abysmally on a test measuring their civic knowledge, with an average grade of just 44 percent, the group that organized the exam said Thursday.

- Full Story here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081120/od_afp/ushistoryeducationoffbeat

Perhaps one of the reasons why so many of our legislators are eager to change much about the basic foundation of our country is that - They know so little about it ! - Apparently, they know little about how precious our liberties and rights are.

Heck, it seems that many that run our government don't have the slightest appreciation for just how unique the United States is among all the histories of the world. And, what an anomaly it is for a country to extend such freedoms to its citizens without the arbitrary and capricious control and abuse of a governing elite.

Tipping Point? - The Sheathed Sword

Rick Richbourg

: November 22, 2008 8:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

in response to comments yesterday

The Sheathed Sword

Sun Tzu said: In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy's country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good. So, too, it is better to recapture an army entire than to destroy it, to capture a regiment, a detachment or a company entire than to destroy them.

Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.

skipping ahead . . .

Therefore the skillful leader subdues the enemy's troops without any fighting; he captures their cities without laying siege to them; he overthrows their kingdom without lengthy operations in the field.

This indeed is part of the battle - convince the 48% of the producers - "the payer vote" - that the battle for ideas is over!

But, the battle isn't over as long as your voice is also heard among the land.

Preaching to the Choir

Rick Richbourg

: November 20, 2008 9:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (1)

Sometimes there really is a point to preaching to the choir . .

Just as one lit candle in a dark jungle - shines a light that can be seen for miles, so too is your voice among your family, friends, and acquaintances.

It is vital among us all - to bring illumination where there is darkness, knowledge where there is ignorance and truth where there is none.

To say these are unparallel times would be quite an understatement. But, there is "much a foot" that is either evil or too incredible to be unplanned and uncoordinated and random.

These are but a few:

As Dick Morris wrote yesterday:

... the seamless integration of the United States into the European economy . . . and surrendered, in toto, to the Western European model of socialism, stagnation and excessive government regulation. Sovereignty is out the window. . . . Full story here: http://www.dickmorris.com/blog/2008/11/19/bush%e2%80%99s-legacy-european-socialism/

As Devvy Kidd wrote yesterday:

There is a ...growing crisis over Barack Hussein Obama refusing to prove he is a natural born citizen story here: http://www.newswithviews.com/Devvy/kidd415.htm

Massive influence of foreigners working on behalf of the BHO

Previous Harangue here . . . watch the video

The recent uptick in rocket attacks against Israel and

Testing of America under the new President - what does Joe Biden know that we don't? He's on the flipping committee we're not.

Marxist, Communist, Socialist - in fact "ISTs" of every variety are popping up everywhere like some global game of "whack-a-mole"

Possible US Stock Market Manipulation and Economic Terrorism

http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2008/10/16/economic-terrorism-is-the-stock-market-being-manipulated/

The clarion call is clear: be informed, speak truth to unawareness and be ready.

Voter Fraud - Universal Suffrage and the Media!

Rick Richbourg

: November 19, 2008 7:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Fantastically - the "right to vote" is conferred on every US citizen - both natural born and naturalized alike.

Of course, there are some restrictions! I mean, they don't let children vote, non-citizens aren't allowed to vote (though some suggest they might, thanks to motor-voter bills in many states) and often, the mentally deranged are precluded from voting.

Why?

The perceived right to "universal suffrage" is indeed based on a capacitance -err I mean capacity or should say incapacity issue. And excepting those low barriers to entry, nearly all above 18 are allowed to vote.

"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind... "

(John Donne)

Just as Donne expressed that we are all connected, so too are the consequences of our votes! No vote is cast in a vacuum; each vote either reinforces or dilutes every other vote. The consequences of each vote extend beyond the single voter to the entire voting public.

In this context, I present the following video (hat-tip Chris Casler) Please watch the entire video.

Here is the link refernced in the video: http://howobamagotelected.com/

As the video clearly demonstrates - we do have a voting problem in the United States. Not because too few are allowed to vote. Instead, too many are allowed to vote without full understanding of the consequences. Moreover, the uninformed may be intentionally misinformed from the vary news sources they depend on for accurate information. The Mainstream Media who - at least in this election - appear to 'have a dog in the hunt' and is certainly culpable in perpetrating voter fraud on us all.

Of course there is a remedy; but, what would yours be?

Blessing of Liberty (Pt1)

Rick Richbourg

: November 14, 2008 9:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (3)

"...

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence (sp), promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

..."

As I blogged yesterday in - Circle of Trust - blessing of faith, liberty is endowed to us by God. So, what are some of those blessings of Liberty as described in the Bill of Rights?

Well . .

First and foremost - you have the right to Worship God - ever wonder why this is first? - You have the right to speak and write freely- in private or public- particularly about political matters - though you are not guaranteed an audience. You also have the right to assemble peacefully and even the right to petition the Government for grievances.

[There are many places in the world today where these 'taken for granted' blessings are NOT ALLOWED. Even today there are countries that prohibit even simple things like permission to marry, permission to travel, permission to freely associate, permission to work, permission to own property, in some places you are simply aborted because you are the wrong sex, or killed because you are the wrong religion.]

Secondly, you have the right to keep and bear arms, AND a right to security from foreign danger - as secured by a well 'regulated militia'.

Pt 2 - tomorrow . . .

And as Madison write in The Federalist 41; "Every man who loves peace, every man who loves his country, every man who loves liberty, ought to have it ever before his eyes, that he may cherish in his heart a due attachment to the Union of America, and be able to set a due value on the means of preserving it."