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July 30, 2008
Ellis Washington is systematically reviewing and parsing a great book
Nietzsche and the damnation of ideas
Go Here to purchase 10 Books That Screwed Up the World: And 5 Others That Didn't Help
Ellis Washington is carefully reviewing this book with his recent columns. Check them out.
Here is the article on Nietzsche:
"Do ideas have consequences? Do damnable, evil ideas have damnable and evil consequences? If so, then a unbiased view of 20th century history would have to link Nietzsche's "Will to Power" directly to World War I, but more directly to Hitler's Third Reich, World War II and the Holocaust. Hitler, Hess, Rohm, Goering, Bormann, Himmler, Heydrich and all of the top Nazi officers venerated Nietzsche's radical ideas of Ubermenschen and modeled their Third Reich on his grim philosophical speculations.
The consequence of Nietzsche's damnation of ideas was his own personal, protracted descent into madness beginning in January 1889 – his perhaps syphilitic-derived dementia so completely cast him into despair that his daily rantings and ravings were: "I am dead because I am stupid. … I am stupid because I am dead."
Regarding the popular "political correctness" movement that dominates the modern academy, politics, culture and civil discourse where one cannot even tell the truth about anything for fear of offending someone, Nietzsche howled against that immature view in his own inimitable style – "Niceness [political correctness] is what is left of goodness when it is drained of greatness."
Where will Nietzsche's Will to Power take a people, a society, a nation, a world that has long since disposed with the inconvenient niceties of Christianity and morality? Lenin, Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler, Mao, Ho Chi Mihn, Pol Pot, Edi Amin, Osama bin Laden, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, North Korea, Syria, Iran, the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have given us a glimpse into the abyss, and it is not very hopeful.
British historian Paul Johnson wrote about Nietzsche and his indelible place in history: "The greatest event of recent times – that 'God is dead,' that the belief in the Christian God is no longer tenable – is beginning to cast its first shadows over Europe."
Nietzsche, admittedly, was a brilliant and influential philosopher, but because his ideas are rooted in atheism, humanism, Social Darwinism, eugenics and nihilism, the latter of which is an extreme view that there is no need for values and no justification for good, evil or morality, in the end he can only offer society perpetual war, genocide, utter despair and no future hope of eternal life with God, because Nietzsche declared, "God is dead."
America, we can do better than Nietzsche … can't we?"
Yup.
For a great talk on the opposite end of the political spectrum from Nietzsche please review this movie I put together from a talk by Ezra Taft Benson.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 8:56 AM
Little House on the Prairie Now a Musical!
Photo by Michal Daniel
From left, Maeve Moynihan, Steve Blanchard, Melissa Gilbert and Jean Gambatese as members of the stage Ingalls family.
The New York Times is reporting today that the new Little House on the Prairie Musical is open at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis.
I have been hearing rumors for years that someone was working on this show and am so exicted it is now out. I pray that they fast track it for community groups to produce so I can direct it sometime soon! These books have been favorites since I was a child, and it was a weekly tradition during the years our parents allowed us to watch television to watch Little House on the Prairie on TV. I am hoping the musical is equal to the stories!
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 7:33 AM
City Journal: Economics Does Not Lie by Guy Sorman
I live in a part of the world where even mentioning the world Capitalism unleashes a fury of distress and discomfort in those around me. This wonderful article is one of the best I have ever read on economics and I share it with my readers to help promote the ideal in Economics.
PS Please click on the link to read the whole article, my blog entry is just an overview.
Economics Does Not Lie
The dismal science is at last a science—and the world is the beneficiary.
The creation of complex financial instruments brings about economic progress: nothing real has ever been produced without first being financed.Though economics as a discipline arose in Great Britain and France at the end of the eighteenth century, it has taken two centuries to reach the threshold of scientific rationality. Previously, intuition, opinion, and conviction enjoyed equal status in economic thought; theories were vague, often unverifiable. Not so long ago, one could teach economics at prestigious universities without using equations and certainly without the complex algorithms, precise (though not infallible) mathematical models, and computers integral to the field today.
No wonder bad economic policies ravaged entire nations during the twentieth century, producing more victims than any epidemic did. The collectivization of land in Russia during the twenties, in China during the fifties, and in Tanzania during the sixties starved hundreds of millions of peasants. The uncontrolled printing of currency destabilized Weimar Germany, facilitating the rise of Nazism. The nationalization of enterprises and the expulsion of entrepreneurs ruined Argentina during the forties and Egypt a decade later. India’s License Raj—requiring businesses to obtain a host of permits before opening their doors—froze the country’s economic development for decades, keeping millions impoverished.
On an even larger scale, the century witnessed a war between two economic systems: state socialism and market capitalism. In the socialist system, property was public, competition forbidden, and production planned. In the market system, property was private, competition encouraged, and production determined by entrepreneurs. Faced with the choice of which system was superior, nations hesitated and economists remained divided.
The state of affairs today is entirely different. When the Soviet Union crumbled, the socialist model that it embodied imploded, too—or, more precisely, the Soviet Union fell because the socialist economic system proved unworkable. Now only one economic system exists: market capitalism. Virtually everywhere, the public sector has given ground to privatization; currency has escaped state control, to be governed by independent central banks; competition has taken wing, thanks to the deregulation of markets and the opening of borders; taxation has become less progressive, so as to encourage entrepreneurs and create jobs.
The results have been breathtaking. Opening economies and promoting trade have helped reconstruct Eastern Europe after 1990 and lifted 800 million people, many of them in China, Brazil, and a now-license-free India, out of poverty. Even in Africa and the Arab Middle East, nations that have embraced capitalism have begun to escape from the terrible underdevelopment that has long plagued them.
Behind all this unprecedented growth is not only the collapse of state socialism but also a scientific revolution in economics, as yet dimly understood by the public but increasingly embraced by policymakers around the globe. The revolution began during the sixties and has finally brought economists to a broad, well-founded consensus about what constitutes good policy. No longer does economics lie; no longer would Baudelaire be able to write that “economics is a horror.” For the mass of mankind, on the contrary, it has become a source of hope.
If economics is finally a science, what, exactly, does it teach? With the help of Columbia University economist Pierre-André Chiappori, I have synthesized its findings into ten propositions. Almost all top economists—those who are recognized as such by their peers and who publish in the leading scientific journals—would endorse them (the exceptions are those like Joseph Stiglitz and Jeffrey Sachs, whose public pronouncements are more political than scientific). The more the public understands and embraces these propositions, the more prosperous the world will become.
1. The market economy is the most efficient of all economic systems.
2. Free trade helps economic development.
3. Good institutions help development.
4. The best measure of a good economy is its growth.
5. Creative destruction is the engine of economic growth.
6. Monetary stability, too, is necessary for growth; inflation is always harmful.
7. Unemployment among unskilled workers is largely determined by how much labor costs.
8. While the welfare state is necessary in some form, it isn’t always effective.
9. The creation of complex financial markets has brought about economic progress.
10. Competition is usually desirable.
These ten propositions should guide all economic policymaking, and to an increasing degree they do, worldwide. Does this mean that we’ve reached an “end of history” in economics, to borrow a phrase made famous by Francis Fukuyama, by way of Hegel and Alexandre Kojève? In one sense, perhaps: economic science will never rediscover the virtues of hyperinflation or industrial nationalization. Some critics charge that economics is not a science in the way that, say, physics is—after all, economists can’t make precise predictions, as an exact science can. But this isn’t quite true: economists can predict that certain bad policies will lead necessarily to catastrophe. If economics, a human science, lacks the precision of physics, a natural one, it advances the same way—evolving from one theory to the next, each approximating a reality that eludes our complete grasp.
But if we understand the end of history in economics to mean the complete realization, in practice, of the findings of economic science, then it has not arrived. The free market still has enemies and critics, ranging from those who dream of a world more just, more spiritual, or transformed in some other utopian way to those who simply seek to defend their own narrow material interests to those legitimate researchers who try to look beyond the market. And we must not overlook ignorance: economic principles aren’t widely understood among the public or even among lawmakers. The indisputable fact that the world has experienced a long period of growth as global trade has expanded remains strangely unknown. Doubtless the news is too good.
In the future, the threat to the beneficent influence of economic science will come less from tired socialist revolutionary rhetoric than from new dangers, such as terrorism and epidemics. Terrorism is, in part, a consequence of globalization: young, uprooted people unable to adapt to a dynamic, capitalist world invent new global ideologies and seek to put them into practice with global weapons. Globalization can also accelerate the proliferation of deadly illnesses. The AIDS epidemic was the first global attack by a mutant virus; SARS, avian flu, or some unknown illness could follow, surging from uncontrolled Chinese, Indian, or African backwaters and following the massive migrations of a global economy. Terror and epidemics could both unleash political upheavals that would undermine the market order itself.
Then there’s the fear of ecological disturbances, which could result in incoherent policies that wouldn’t necessarily diminish risks to the environment but might prevent development and thus harm the interests of the poorest peoples. One example: prohibiting genetically modified organisms—which, evidence suggests, pose no threat whatsoever to the environment—will hurt the productivity of farming at a time when global demand for food will grow.
Another danger is inseparable from the very nature of economic systems: growth is cyclical. Despite the present anxiety about a recession, the time of major global economic crises seems to have passed, in large part because the progress of economic science allows governments and economic actors to understand crises and manage them better. The Great Depression probably couldn’t happen again, since the political mistakes that aggravated it, such as protectionism and the drying-up of credit, aren’t as likely to be repeated in the future: the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, and the Bank of England have demonstrated as much in the current mortgage crisis by supporting the banking system. But smaller crises are inevitable, bound up as they are with innovation—and as the new drives out the old in creative destruction and forces sometimes painful adaptations, we find these upheavals harder to bear as we grow more accustomed to perpetual growth.
Similarly, free trade means that some people will lose their jobs, as we all know; foreign competition can wipe out entire companies or even entire industries. We all know it because, as Friedman argued, layoffs and closings get disproportionate media coverage. Meanwhile, nobody talks about the ongoing reduction in prices for consumers and investors, scattered among a huge number of beneficiaries. That helps explain why politicians are prone to deride free trade and voters are too often ready to agree.
To help the losers in the free market, government shouldn’t back away from either free trade or creative destruction and start subsidizing doomed and obsolete activities, a protectionist course that guarantees only economic decline. Instead, it should help the losers change jobs more easily by improving educational opportunities and by facilitating new investment, which creates more employment. An essential task of democratic governments and opinion makers when confronting economic cycles and political pressure is to secure and protect the system that has served humanity so well, and not to change it for the worse on the pretext of its imperfection.
Still, this lesson is doubtless one of the hardest to translate into language that public opinion will accept. The best of all possible economic systems is indeed imperfect. Whatever the truths uncovered by economic science, the free market is finally only the reflection of human nature, itself hardly perfectible.
Guy Sorman, a City Journal contributing editor, is the author of numerous books, most recently The Empire of Lies: The Truth About China in the Twenty-First Century. His article was translated from the French by Ralph C. Hancock
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 6:56 AM
July 28, 2008
ABC News: Baby Feeding by Moms Friends
My Comment:
"I was tandem nursing my two year old son and my newborn when A mother in my church community adopted a very ill newborn. He had multiple surgeries to heal his damaged heart and bowell, and when released from the hospital, was not doing well on formula. A woman in our congregation convinced his mother to let some of us breastfeed him to supplement his formula feeds.
Five mothers helped breastfeed him for a few weeks while he recovered from surgery. He had a big turnaround with his health and lived two more happy years before he died at the age of two from his heart condition. This was a very sweet experience for all of us. Nobody pumped, we just latched him on and he nursed like a pro.
I also tried to nurse my best friends baby once when I was tending him, and he used his two new little baby teeth to bite me so hard I bled."
Babytalk Poll: 45 Percent Say Cross-Nursing is 'Disgusting' or 'Weird'
By ANN PLESHETTE
July 28, 2008 —
Breast-feeding, what many believe to be the most intimate act between a mother and child, is also generally believed to be an act exclusively between a mother and child.
According to experts, however, there is a growing trend of cross-nursing, in which a mother will allow another woman to breast-feed her baby.
"I think that it's just not been our social norm," said Morgan McFarland, who has been breast-feeding her friend Sarah Griffith's son since he was just 3 months old. "In some cultures, it is, and you would think nothing of, you know, nursing your neighbor's child if something happened, or nursing your sister's baby if she has to go to work."
To Lisa Moran, editor in chief of Babytalk magazine, the rising trend is not surprising.
"Cross-nursing is the logical extension to the rise in breast-feeding rates that we've seen in the past 15 years," she told "Good Morning America." "Moms are really committed to breast-feeding exclusively and finding new ways to do that. Cross-feeding, cross-nursing is one of those."
Not everyone sees cross-nursing so clearly, however.
According to a poll by Babytalk, 45 percent of people say cross-nursing is 'disgusting' or 'weird.'
McFarland believes some people have problems with an implicit "sexuality" connected to breast-feeding.
"They assume that anything that is to do with breasts has to be sexual," she said. "So, it's, I guess, bad enough if you're doing it with your own child. But then, you add another child to the mix and they're really concerned about it. It's silly."
Though it is seen by some as taboo, other experts have more practical concerns.
Leigh Anne O'Connor, leader of La Leche League International -- an organization that provides support to breast-feeding mothers -- warned parents that the milk their children gets from another woman should be screened for diseases, such as tuberculosis, syphilis, HIV and hepatitis-associated anitigens.
Rather than accepting milk from a friend, the La Leche organization recommends mothers try milk banks where the milk is screened and pasteurized.
But, for McFarland, cross-nursing is about more than the health risks and benefits.
"I think that a move back towards cross-nursing, or even just getting together with your nursing babies and sharing stories and becoming comfortable talking about the topic ... meets a very primal need for us -- that sense of bonding in the community."
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 9:06 AM
July 26, 2008
3 year anniversary of The Natural Family BLOG!
I put together this short montage as an overview of my three years of Blogging:
It is also located on my share page
On Friday July 4th, 2008 I celebrated three years of Blogging.
This video is an overview of some of the photos and videos from these three years of sharing portions of my life on the internet.
I discovered this amazing song in the easy listening music catagory at One True Media. Only by Faith is the music used to accompany the montage.
It was written by Rom Ryan.
Here are the lyrics to the song:
ONLY BY FAITH by Rom Ryan
FAITH A VOICE IN THE DARKNESS
A STAR THERE TO GUIDE US
WHEN WE LOSE OUR WAY
FAITH
EVEN WHEN WE ARE FALLEN
INTO THE FIRE
CONSUMED BY THE FLAME
WELL RISE FROM THE ASHES
ONLY BY FAITH
FAITH
A PROMISE UNBROKEN
THE POWER THAT GUIDES US
WHEN WE BELIEVE
FAITH
EVEN WHEN WE ARE FALLEN
INTO THE FIRE
CONSUMED BY THE FLAME
WELL RISE FROM THE ASHES
ONLY BY FAITH
INSTRUMENTAL BREAK
ONLY BY FAITH
LOVE CONQUERS HATRED
PEACE DEFEATS WAR
ONLY BY FAITH
JOY OVERCOMES SORROW
HOPE REPLACES DESPAIR
WE FALL IN THE FIRE
CONSUMED BY THE FLAME
WE RISE FROM THE ASHES
ONLY BY FAITH
I sent an email to Rom yesterday asking him about the lyrics and he was kind enough to email them to me, he also said:
QUOTE:
Hi Jenny,
Thanks for the generous comments. I've got a cd coming out sometime in the next year that will be vocal based, and will have all material along the lines of OBF. The singer on the recording you heard is Arlandus Chimney he's the bass player in Moodafaruka as well as a wonderful singer.
The lyrics to OBF are below.
Thanks for having us in the mix,
Rom
If you enjoyed this song, go check out his web site for more information on the new CD as well as his other wonderful CD's!
www.moodafaruka.com
Jenny Hatch
Mommy Blogger
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 8:37 AM
Thy Will be done sung by Jenny Hatch
I love the message of this song!
Jenny Hatchhttp://WWW.NaturalFamilyCo.com
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 8:34 AM
Wall Street Journal Opinion Page - a great place for news
One of my daily stops for news is the Opinion Journal of the Wall Street Journal. The look and feel of this excellent resource has been changed to include video and it is free. Check it out if you would like to read some of the best opinion writers in America.
The opinion forum is fun to read as well.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 8:28 AM
Sunday School Lesson 25: Controlling our Anger
Here is a link to the lesson I taught last sunday:
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 8:24 AM
Bob Barr for President
I know it has been a wacky presidential year for those of us who are confirmed Freedom Lovers. I was a strong supporter of Mitt Romney and then switched to Ron Paul. When Dr. Paul left the race, I felt that the only choice left for me was Bob Barr, who is the Libertarian Candidate for president.
At this point I am not really concerned about my vote being "wasted", I am going to vote for the candidate who will guide America toward Freedom.
Here is Bob Barrs video:
And a link to his web site: Go Here
And his issues page: Go Here
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 8:16 AM
LA Times: John R. Bolton: One world? Obama's on a different planet
Boltons take on the recent German Speech by Mr. Obama
One world? Obama's on a different planet
The senator's Berlin speech was radical and naive.
By John R. Bolton
July 26, 2008
SEN. BARACK OBAMA said in an interview the day after his Berlin speech that it "allowed me to send a message to the American people that the judgments I have made and the judgments I will make are ones that are going to result in them being safer."
If that is what the senator thought he was doing, he still has a lot to learn about both foreign policy and the views of the American people. Although well received in the Tiergarten, the Obama speech actually reveals an even more naive view of the world than we had previously been treated to in the United States. In addition, although most of the speech was substantively as content-free as his other campaign pronouncements, when substance did slip in, it was truly radical, from an American perspective.
The Huffington Post has a complete round up of pictures, video and the speech transcript.
These troubling comments were not widely reported in the generally adulatory media coverage given the speech, but they nonetheless deserve intense scrutiny. It remains to be seen whether these glimpses into Obama's thinking will have any impact on the presidential campaign, but clearly they were not casual remarks. This speech, intended to generate the enormous publicity it in fact received, reflects his campaign's carefully calibrated political thinking. Accordingly, there should be no evading the implications of his statements. Consider just the following two examples.
First, urging greater U.S.-European cooperation, Obama said, "The burdens of global citizenship continue to bind us together." Having earlier proclaimed himself "a fellow citizen of the world" with his German hosts, Obama explained that the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Europe proved "that there is no challenge too great for a world that stands as one."
Perhaps Obama needs a remedial course in Cold War history, but the Berlin Wall most certainly did not come down because "the world stood as one." The wall fell because of a decades-long, existential struggle against one of the greatest totalitarian ideologies mankind has ever faced. It was a struggle in which strong and determined U.S. leadership was constantly questioned, both in Europe and by substantial segments of the senator's own Democratic Party.
In Germany in the later years of the Cold War, Ostpolitik -- "eastern politics," a policy of rapprochement rather than resistance -- continuously risked a split in the Western alliance and might have allowed communism to survive. The U.S. president who made the final successful assault on communism, Ronald Reagan, was derided by many in Europe as not very bright, too unilateralist and too provocative.
But there are larger implications to Obama's rediscovery of the "one world" concept, first announced in the U.S. by Wendell Willkie, the failed Republican 1940 presidential nominee, and subsequently buried by the Cold War's realities.
The successes Obama refers to in his speech -- the defeat of Nazism, the Berlin airlift and the collapse of communism -- were all gained by strong alliances defeating determined opponents of freedom, not by "one-worldism." Although the senator was trying to distinguish himself from perceptions of Bush administration policy within the Atlantic Alliance, he was in fact sketching out a post-alliance policy, perhaps one that would unfold in global organizations such as the United Nations. This is far-reaching indeed.
Second, Obama used the Berlin Wall metaphor to describe his foreign policy priorities as president: "The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand. The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between races and tribes; natives and immigrants; Christian and Muslim and Jew cannot stand. These now are the walls we must tear down."
This is a confused, nearly incoherent compilation, to say the least, amalgamating tensions in the Atlantic Alliance with ancient historical conflicts. One hopes even Obama, inexperienced as he is, doesn't see all these "walls" as essentially the same in size and scope.
But beyond the incoherence, there is a deeper problem, namely that "walls" exist not simply because of a lack of understanding about who is on the other side but because there are true differences in values and interests that lead to human conflict. The Berlin Wall itself was not built because of a failure of communication but because of the implacable hostility of communism toward freedom. The wall was a reflection of that reality, not an unfortunate mistake.
Tearing down the Berlin Wall was possible because one side -- our side -- defeated the other. Differences in levels of economic development, or the treatment of racial, immigration or religious questions, are not susceptible to the same analysis or solution. Even more basically, challenges to our very civilization, as the Cold War surely was, are not overcome by naively "tearing down walls" with our adversaries.
Throughout the Berlin speech, there were numerous policy pronouncements, all of them hazy and nonspecific, none of them new or different than what Obama has already said during the long American campaign. But the Berlin framework in which he wrapped these ideas for the first time is truly radical for a prospective American president. That he picked a foreign audience is perhaps not surprising, because they could be expected to welcome a less-assertive American view of its role in the world, at least at first glance. Even anti-American Europeans, however, are likely to regret a United States that sees itself as just one more nation in a "united" world.
The best we can hope for is that Obama's rhetoric was simply that, pandering to the audience before him, as politicians so often do. We shall see if this rhetoric follows him back to America, either because he continues to use it or because Sen. John McCain asks voters if this is really what they want from their next president.
John R. Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and the author of "Surrender Is Not an Option."
I agree with Mr. Boltons assessment of the Berlin Speech this week. Mr. Obama is NOT the man to lead us to freedom and his misunderstanding of human nature is going to lead to appeasement of enemies and war. The great lesson taught by the Reagan years was peace through strength. This is also the message of The Book of Mormon. Over and over again peace was achieved through military strength and preparation. I just re-read Alma Chapter 45-62 this past week and it was a timely read.
This passage in particular was interesting given the current political debates:
"Now, Moroni being a man who was appointed by the chief judges and the voice of the people, therefore he had power according to his will with the armies of the Nephites, to establish and to exercise authority over them.
And it came to pass that whomsoever of the Amalickiahites that would not enter into a covenant to support the cause of freedom, that they might maintain a free government, he caused to be put to death; and there were but few who denied the covenant of freedom.
And it came to pass also, that he caused the title of liberty to be hoisted upon every tower which was in all the land, which was possessed by the Nephites; and thus Moroni planted the standard of liberty among the Nephites.
And they began to have peace again in the land; and thus they did maintain peace in the land until nearly the end of the nineteenth year of the reign of the judges."
I understand the temptation Mr. Obamas rhetoric and world view presents to the American Voters. It all sounds so good. But as a confirmed American Patriot, I get just a bit agitated when I hear socialist politicians talking about World Unity. Unity to freedom haters means that we who live in freedom kowtow to their bullying and threats.
These are interesting times we live in. I am not a McCain supporter. With Ron Paul out of the race, I am planning to vote for Bob Barr in the fall.
Here is his video:
Let Freedom Ring!
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 7:47 AM
LA Times: Obama the naive by John R. Bolton
His views on world affairs ignore history and imperil the U.S. and our allies.
Obama the naive
His views on world affairs ignore history and imperil the U.S. and our allies.
By John R. Bolton
June 5, 2008
Barack Obama's willingness to meet with the leaders of rogue states such as Iran and North Korea "without preconditions" is a naive and dangerous approach to dealing with the hard men who run pariah states. It will be an important and legitimate issue for policy debate during the remainder of the presidential campaign.
Consider his facile observations about President Kennedy's first meeting with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, in Vienna in 1961. Obama saw it as a meeting that helped win the Cold War, when in fact it was an embarrassment for the American side. The inexperienced Kennedy performed so poorly that Khrushchev may well have been encouraged to position Soviet missiles in Cuba in 1962, thus precipitating one of the Cold War's most dangerous crises.
Such realities should cause Obama to become more circumspect, minimizing his off-the-cuff observations about history, grand strategy and diplomacy. In fact, he has done exactly the opposite, exhibiting so many gaps in his knowledge and understanding of world affairs that they have not yet received the attention they deserve. He consistently reveals failings in foreign policy that are far more serious than even his critics had previously imagined.
Consider the following statement, which was lost in the controversy over his comments about negotiations: "Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, these countries are tiny compared to the Soviet Union. They don't pose a serious threat to us the way the Soviet Union posed a threat to us. ... Iran, they spend 1/100th of what we spend on the military. If Iran ever tried to pose a serious threat to us, they wouldn't stand a chance."
Let's dissect this comment. Obama is correct that the rogue states he names do not present the same magnitude of threat as that posed by the Soviet Union through the possibility of nuclear war. Fortunately for us all, general nuclear war never took place. Nonetheless, serious surrogate struggles between the superpowers abounded because the Soviet Union's threat to the West was broader and more complex than simply the risk of nuclear war. Subversion, guerrilla warfare, sabotage and propaganda were several of the means by which this struggle was waged, and the stakes were high, even, or perhaps especially, in "tiny" countries.
In the Western Hemisphere, for example, the Soviets used Fidel Castro's Cuba to assist revolutionary activities in El Salvador and Nicaragua. In Western Europe, vigorous Moscow-directed communist parties challenged the democracies on their home turfs. In Africa, numerous regimes depended on Soviet military assistance to stay in power, threaten their neighbors or resist anti-communist opposition groups.
Both sides in the Cold War were anxious to keep these surrogate struggles from going nuclear, so the stakes were never "civilizational." But to say that these "asymmetric" threats were "tiny" would be news to those who struggled to maintain or extend freedom's reach during the Cold War.
Had Italy, for example, gone communist during the 1950s or 1960s, it would have been an inconvenient defeat for the United States but a catastrophe for the people of Italy. An "asymmetric" threat to the U.S. often is an existential threat to its friends, which was something we never forgot during the Cold War. Obama plainly seems to have entirely missed this crucial point. Ironically, it is he who is advocating a unilateralist policy, ignoring the risks and challenges to U.S. allies when the direct threat to us is, in his view, "tiny."
What is implicit in Obama's reference to "tiny" threats is that they are sufficiently insignificant that negotiations alone can resolve them. Indeed, he has gone even further, arguing that the lack of negotiations with Iran caused the threats: "And the fact that we have not talked to them means that they have been developing nuclear weapons, funding Hamas, funding Hezbollah."
This is perhaps the most breathtakingly naive statement of all, implying as it does that it is actually U.S. policy that motivates Iran rather than Iran's own perceived ambitions and interests. That would be news to the mullahs in Tehran, not to mention the leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah.
It is an article of faith for Obama, and many others on the left in the U.S. and abroad, that it is the United States that is mostly responsible for the world's ills. In 1984, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Jeane Kirkpatrick labeled people with these views the "San Francisco Democrats," after the city where Walter Mondale was nominated for president.
Most famously, Kirkpatrick forever seared the San Francisco Democrats by saying that "they always blame America first" for the world's problems. In so doing, she turned the name of the pre-World War II isolationist America First movement into a stigma the Democratic Party has never shaken.
This is yet another piece of history that Obama has ignored or never learned. There may be one more piece of history worthy of attention: In 1984, Mondale went down to one of the worst electoral defeats in American political history. We will now see whether Obama follows that path as well.
John R. Bolton is the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. He is now a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and the author of "Surrender Is Not an Option."
I completely agree with Mr. Boltons views on this topic
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 7:39 AM
Sunday School Lesson 24: Self Mastery
Here is the link to the lesson I taught to my sunday school class last week:
Note to the teacher
Many youth are concerned most with what they want at the present moment. They may have difficulty thinking about the long-term consequences of their actions. Help class members see that most worthwhile things in life, both temporal and spiritual, can only be achieved by mastering ourselves.
Suggested Lesson Development
Living without Self-Mastery Is Dangerous
Picture discussion
Display the picture of a car (if you do not have a picture, describe such a car). Ask class members:
• Would you like to ride in or drive this car? Why? What do you like about this car?
Allow class members a few moments to comment on the car.
• Would you want to ride in or drive this car if it had no brakes? Why not?
Point out that no matter how beautiful a car is or how good its engine or tires may be, if it does not have brakes it will soon be the cause of an accident. It would be very dangerous to ride in such a car.
Explain that today’s lesson is about something that is as important to our lives as brakes are to a car: self-mastery (also called self-control or self-discipline).
Discussion and quotation
• What do you think self-mastery is?
Allow a few moments for comments, then have a class member read the following statement from Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles:
“You consist of two parts—your physical body, and your spirit which lives within your body. You may have heard the expression ‘mind over matter.’ … I would like to phrase it a little differently: ‘spirit over body.’ That is self-mastery” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1985, 38; or Ensign, Nov. 1985, 30).
Explain that self-mastery is the ability of your spirit to control your body, the ability to do what you know you should do even if a part of you does not want to do it. You exercise self-mastery when you do God’s will instead of your own.
• How is a person without self-mastery like a car without brakes? Why is it important to exercise self-mastery?
Self-Mastery Brings Blessings
Scripture discussion
Explain that Jesus taught us that we must be able to master ourselves if we are to be his disciples.
Have class members read and mark Matthew 16:24.
• Why must a person “deny himself [or herself]” to be a follower of Jesus Christ?
Point out that the Joseph Smith Translation of Matthew 16:24 (see footnote d in the Latter-day Saint edition of the Bible) clarifies that we are to deny ourselves “all ungodliness.” We are to give up unrighteous actions and replace them with righteous ones. Exercising self-mastery involves using our agency to choose to live righteously.
Help class members understand that exercising self-mastery does not mean denying oneself everything that is enjoyable or fun. When we practice self-mastery, we give up some things or experiences in order to receive things or experiences we want more. For example, when we fast, for a time we give up eating, which is enjoyable, in order to receive spiritual strength and growth. On a larger scale, we give up sin (which may sometimes appear enjoyable) in order to have peace of mind and the opportunity to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ again.
Video presentation and discussion
Show the video segment “The Consequences of Our Choices (The Pump).” Then discuss the following questions:
• How does this man’s experience show the need for self-mastery? (Because he lacked self-mastery, he satisfied his immediate desire instead of preparing for the future.)
• How would his experience have been different if he had exercised self-mastery? (If he had primed the pump before taking a drink, he would have had all the water he needed.)
• How is this man’s decision (whether to drink the water in the bottle or prime the pump with it) comparable to spiritual decisions each of us must make?
We Can Exercise Self-Mastery
Chalkboard discussion
• What are some ways you demonstrate self-mastery? (If class members have difficulty coming up with answers, point out that they show self-mastery when they fast for spiritual strength despite being hungry or when they get up on time even though their bodies want to stay in bed.)
Explain that self-mastery, like other skills, is developed through practice. In some instances, we practice self-mastery simply by doing the desired action each day and thus forming a habit. Self-mastery in other areas, however, may require more effort.
Write the heading Self-Mastery on the chalkboard.
• What actions can help us exercise self-mastery?
List class members’ answers on the chalkboard under Self-Mastery, and discuss each suggestion. You may want to include the following suggestions in the discussion:
1. Work to achieve appropriate goals.
When we recognize areas in our lives that require greater self-mastery, we can set goals with clear achievable steps to help us. For example, if we need greater self-mastery in getting ready for church on time, we can plan what things need to be done on Saturday in order to achieve this goal.
2. Replace bad habits with good ones.
It is easier to break a bad habit if we replace it with a better habit or activity. For example, a person trying to increase self-mastery over procrastination can replace a habit of leaving homework until the last minute with a better habit of doing it at a specific time every day.
3. Ask friends or family members to help.
Sometimes simply telling someone else about a goal we have set or a habit we are trying to develop can motivate us to work harder. Friends and family members can also give us encouragement and assistance as we work to exercise greater self-mastery.
4. Pray and read the scriptures.
When we pray, we can ask Heavenly Father to give us the strength we need to reach our goals or change our habits. As we study the scriptures, we can be guided by the Lord’s counsel and the example of others who have exercised self-mastery, such as Daniel or Joseph of Egypt. If we are receptive to the influence of the Holy Ghost, he can also help us achieve self-mastery.
We Can Accomplish Great Things with Self-Mastery
Story and discussion
Tell in your own words the following story about a man who exercised self-mastery:
“Many years ago [Roger Bannister] participated in the Olympic Games as a champion in the one-mile race. He was supposed to win, but he wound up finishing in fourth place. He went home from the Olympics discouraged, disillusioned, and embarrassed.
“He had his mind set on giving up running. He was a medical student at the time, and his studies were so demanding. He decided that he’d better get on with life and devote all of his time in preparing for medicine and forget his hopes about running the world’s record in the four-minute mile. He went to his coach and told him, ‘Coach, I’m through. I’m going to devote all my time to studying.’ His coach said, ‘Roger, I think you are the man who can break the four-minute mile. I wish you’d give it one last try before you quit.’
“Roger … went home knowing not what to say or to do. But before the night was over, he had convinced himself that he would develop an iron will before he quit running. He was going to break the four-minute mile.
“He knew what this meant. He would have to set a pattern and live by it. He realized he would have to study seven, eight, or even nine hours a day to get through medical school. He would have to train for at least four hours a day. … He knew he would have to eat the best foods. He knew he would have to go to bed early every night and sleep nine or ten hours, to let his body recuperate and constantly build up for the great day. He determined within himself that he was going to follow the rigid pattern he and the coach knew was necessary for victory and achievement.
“On May 6, 1954, the four-minute-mile barrier was broken by Roger Bannister, … a man committed to a winning pattern which would bring him recognition worldwide. … Roger Bannister set the pattern many years ago and followed it with total commitment, self-discipline, and a will of iron” (Marvin J. Ashton, in Conference Report, Oct. 1990, 25–26; or Ensign, Nov. 1990, 22).
• What did Roger do to exercise self-mastery?
• How might Roger’s life have been different had he not exercised self-mastery?
Personal experiences
Give class members a few minutes to think of examples of how they or someone they know accomplished something that required self-mastery, such as overcoming a handicap or personal problem, learning to play a musical instrument, developing a spiritual gift, developing a sports ability, or achieving a special honor at school. Invite several class members to share their examples, and ask each of these class members the following questions:
• How did you (or the person involved) realize this achievement?
• How much time did it take? How much work and effort were required?
• How do you feel about this achievement? Was it worth the time and effort required?
Remind class members that self-mastery can require hard work, but it also brings great blessings.
Scripture discussion
Read Luke 22:39–46 with class members.
• How did the Savior exercise self-mastery? (He did what Heavenly Father wanted, not what he wanted to do.)
• What were the results of his self-mastery? (He suffered for our sins and made salvation possible for us when we repent.)
Point out that as we develop self-mastery, we develop a greater ability to say, as Jesus did, “Father, … not my will, but thine, be done.”
We Must Decide Now to Master Ourselves
Quotation
Read or have a class member read the following statement:
President David O. McKay urged us to remember that “the greatest battle of life is fought out within the silent chambers of your own soul” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1969, 95; or Improvement Era, June 1969, 30).
• What do you think this statement means?
Activity
Give class members pens or pencils and paper and ask them to write down their answers to the following question (assure them that no one else will see their answers):
• What is one thing you can do this week to increase your self-mastery?
Encourage class members to keep their papers in a place where the papers will remind them to work on the action they have written down.
Testimony
Bear your testimony about the rewards you have received as you have learned to master yourself.
Encourage class members to pray for help in exercising self-mastery. Remind them that all the blessings promised to the faithful in the plan of salvation come to those who learn to deny themselves of all ungodliness and follow the Lord.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 7:28 AM
My older brother Dave Tripp
Seven years ago this month my brother Dave died.
I put together this montage of some still pictures and a little video from our family home movies to remember some good times:
And the link to this vid at One True Media: Go Here
Dave's death was the trigger that brought up my past traumas. I have spent the past seven years healing from the various assaults. I have felt his spirit many times these past few years encouraging me as I healed. Through suicidal overwhelm and much mental angst my big brother has comforted me from beyond the veil and provided much emotional support. I will be eternally grateful for his help these past few years. I know I will see him again.
Here is a poem/song my friend Melanie wrote about him two years before he died, she sang it at his funeral.
Quiet Revelation
Feb 9, 1999
Lying in the darkness,
I listen to you play
and your notes tell me a story
that your mouth cannot betray.
Somewhere in this twilight
my heart can clearly see
the reaches of your soul,
that the music has set free.
Lying in the darkness,
I see a gentle man
who is driven by his passion
and his need to understand.
This quiet revelation,
the kindness in your eyes
vibrates through my body,
a song from deep inside.
And it’s a vision of hope,
and a spector of doubt
moving slowly to the notes,
unaware.
It’s a battle of the spirit,
that turns you inside out
and the notes define the beauty
hidden there,
hidden there ….
A Song Written by Dave Tripp’s
friend Melanie Larson
after watching him play the piano.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 7:05 AM
Kamut Muffins
This video is hosted on My Share Page at One True Media:
Go Here to view it
Recipe:
Raspberry Cinnamon Kamut Muffin Recipe:
4 C Freshly Gound Whole Organic Kamut Grain
1/4 C Freshly Ground Whole Golden and Brown Flax Seeds
2 C Brown Sugar
1 C White Sugar
2 tsp Sea Salt
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
6 Organic Eggs
1 C Whole Organic Milk
3/4 C Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Grease 24 Muffin Tins
Fill the tins 3/4 with muffin batter
Drop 2 raspberries and a dollop of organic butter on the muffins, then add 1 tsp of cinnamon sugar mix onto the raspberries. Cover with a little cap of dough and bake for thirty minutes in a 350 degree oven.
These yummy muffins are a crowd pleaser!
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 7:00 AM
Theatre Fun
I spent a few weeks this summer directing a K through 12 Musical Theatre Camp at my childrens school. We produced three shows. The one act version of High School Musical, a Variety Show titled This Little Light of Mine, and a One act childrens audience participation play that I wrote.
It was a really fun project and I hope, the beginning of many shows to come. I put together a little montage of our final rehearsal before show week. 1/3 of the cast was on vacation for this final run through rehearsal before Dress, and I was directing a little, and shot the video and still pictures with my junkie little digital camera, but hopefully the spirit of the theatre camp shines through. Many of the students were beginners and we had a cast that ranged in age from 5 to 17 in age and only three boys.
Here is the montage:
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 6:51 AM
July 9, 2008
The Second International Husband/Wife Homebirth Conference and Provident Living/Birthing
My Journey to Unassisted Homebirth by Jenny Hatch:
Watch this Unassisted Childbirth Video on My Share Page at One True Media
The You Tube Version of that same UC Birth Video:
These past few months I have had an increase in spiritual promptings around Provident Living.
I have found myself tweaking and resupplying our food storage. And I have had an increase in preparedness dreams.
I have had these dreams my whole life. Ever since I was a child I was drawn to survival literature, stories, and real life accounts of individuals and families struggling through this situation or another. My parents spent quality time teaching me the gospel of Jesus Christ and I learned at a young age that the scriptures provide a map to the future that can safely guide and direct our lives.
My friends Lauren and Kent have been helping me with some musical productions. This picture was taken last week at a rehearsal.
As I have studied and learned the skills that have enabled me to break free from the snares of the Medical Gestapo, I have come to believe that some of the most empowering information parents can aquire are in fact those tied to birthing and parenting autonomy.
For me, Unassisted Birth has always been about Living Providently. Planning and preparing for a time of medical self sufficiency simply because during that time we may not have the luxury of driving to a hospital for help with a birth.
So many scenarios in our world could bring on that time when doctors and hospitals may not be available to help with the birth of a child. This recent article from WND outlines one of the little known challenges that present with terrorism. I wonder what effect a nuclear electromagnetic pulse attack would have on electronic fetal monitors, epidural machines, and obstetric operating theatres???
It is not my intention to catalog the various situations that may present. All one has to do is read the Book of Revelations and Matthew 24 to get a sense of the trials and tribulations that confront us today. In fact, it was while reading Matthew 24:19 that I first began to feel the need to learn Childbirth and Mothering self sufficiency.
It is my intention to once again point parents to the empowering information contained in the carefully prepared texts of my books and the video that has been continually available on my web site for the past seven years, sharing the stories, information, and testimony from families who have walked down the Unassisted Childbirth path.
If you would like to read my book Elijah Birth, prepared especially for Fathers during this time in our worlds history....Go Here to purchase the E-book.
If you would like to watch the 2nd International Husband/Wife Homebirth Conference on a web stream E Video, Please go here to purchase the conference. A conference transcript is also available for purchase.
These materials have been thoughtfully and prayerfully put together to help families quickly focus on the principles and practices that will help them during a time of upheaval and distress.
I pray that all families will take the time to ponder and prepare for a time of Childbirth self sufficiency.
Setting reasonable goals - like putting in a two week water supply, a 72 hour kit, and a three month supply of basic foods like wheat and beans will comfort and protect the innocent as well as provide insurance against a time of want and need.
As stated above, the spiritual promptings I have had lately have been unusually strong these past few months. Please take the time to ponder your life without a car, water flowing from the tap, electricity, and/or access to medical professionals. And then spend some time thinking about how to MITIGATE problems before they show up.
Many people have commented to me over the years how amazed they are by the LDS Church's focus on Provident Living.
One of the main reasons Mormons take all of this so seriously is that we believe the scriptures are real, the prophecies are real, and unlike some of our Christian brothers and sisters, we actually believe the prophecies around the end times are going to happen. And so we prepare.
It is my hope and prayer that you who are reading this today will step back from your life for a couple hours and thoughtfully think through some scenarios and preparations that may help you and your family.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 6:19 AM
Another UK Freebirth Story
I thought this article was pretty good, and the pictures with it are incredible!
Rise of the 'freebirthers': the mothers defying their doctors
"So emphatically did she believe in the power of her body that she allowed her unassisted birth to be filmed for a Channel Five documentary, Extraordinary People: Outlaw Births. It is an incredible event to witness. Howie calmly sits in the birthing pool, smiling and talking while her baby boy emerges and is lifted out of the water. At no point does she cry out in pain or scream – if ever there was an advert for an "ideal" intervention-free birth, this is it.
"It was a spiritual experience," she says. "I wanted my son to enter this world as a pure being and without fear. The best way to do that was by having an unassisted birth."
PS The comment section tied to the article has some great conversation as well. Here is the comment I made (don't know yet if they will publish it)
"Alexis,
The most "scarily uninformed" mothers in my life are those who blindly trust the medical profession to hand them a healthy baby.
You Said:
"Unfortunately, I have encountered some scarily uninformed UCers. Some do not do prenatal care. Others believe that if you just "trust birth" it will all go well. This is not true. I had a perfectly normal, healthy pregnancy until I suddenly developed preeclampsia at 38 weeks. I did not know I was ill. I felt fine. I didn't know there was a problem until my urine came back 4+ protein and I was admitted to hospital."
Preeclamsia is completely preventable with a high protein diet. Do some research on the Brewer Diet. Proper nutrition is a mothers key to a healthy baby.
Only a self absorbed medical profession blinded by Big Pharma money and useless obstetric training in surgical interventions would overlook prenatal nutrtion education for mothers, but that is what they have done."
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 5:42 AM
July 5, 2008
Sunday School Lessons 22 and 23
I don't have time to blog my lessons, so here is the link for last week and here is the link for this week.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 6:09 AM
July 4, 2008
A More Perfect Union
I watched this documentary on BYU Television on the 4th, as I do every year at this time. It is such a great movie, go buy it for your family library!
You can watch it live on BYU tv on July 11th, or watch it streamed from the internet.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 6:55 AM
July 2, 2008
CBS News: Doctors under the Influence
Go Here to read this excellent CBS story.
Drug Companies paying doctors?
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 5:08 AM
ABC News: Ron Paul to End Campaign, Launches New Effort
I'm still keeping his stickers on my car till after the election.
The political platform of Ron Paul is the ONLY constitutionally based ideology that will save America's future for our children and grandchildren. May his presidential campaign be a beacon for us Freedom Lovers for decades to come.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 5:00 AM
Yahoo News from the AP: Newspapers reeling
Newspapers, reeling from slumping ads, slash jobs
"Some say complacency in the industry about the threat the Internet posed is to blame for the current quagmire."
Sniff, sniff.....
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 4:57 AM
Business Week: Drug Makers and College Labs
Drugmakers and College Labs: Too Cozy?
Medical researchers at Harvard and Stanford have failed to disclose millions in payments from Big Pharma, an Iowa senator charges
"Grassley serves as the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over the federal Medicare and Medicaid programs. In early June, he released information alleging a group of Harvard psychiatrists received more than $4 million from drug companies that they didn't report to the university. On June 23, he singled out another prominent psychiatrist, Dr. Alan Schatzberg of Stanford, saying the university should have demanded more stringent disclosure from its faculty member.
The senator alleged in the Congressional Record that Schatzberg failed to report to Stanford some payments from 2000 to 2006 from Eli Lilly (LLY) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) for consulting and other services. Grassley also chastised Schatzberg for not fully informing the university about the value of his personal stake in a drug development company he co-founded—although the psychiatrist appears to have followed Stanford's disclosure rules.
"I am concerned that Stanford might not have been able to adequately monitor the degree of Dr. Schatzberg's conflicts of interest," Grassley said in a June 23 letter to Stanford President John Hennessy that was published in the Congressional Record. The senator suggested the university reexamine its disclosure policies.
Concerned about the influence of drug industry money on patient care, Grassley began investigating physicians at research universities across the country last year. The senator believes his findings will help generate support for a bill he is co-sponsoring that would require drug and medical device companies to report any payment to a physician exceeding $500. Doctors' names and details about the payments would be posted on a Web site. "The public relies on the advice of doctors and leading researchers," Grassley said in an e-mail to BusinessWeek. "The public has a right to know about financial relationships between those doctors and the drug companies who make the pharmaceuticals prescribed by doctors."
Amen and Amen.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 4:53 AM
Business Week: Doctors under the influence
Controversy over a Pfizer antismoking drug is fueling debate about whether patients should be told of corporate ties
QUOTE:
"In January and then again in May 2008, Pfizer added warnings to Chantix's label saying patients should be watched for unusual psychiatric symptoms such as suicidal thoughts. The company says in an e-mail that it sought to give doctors "more direct guidance" on using the drug.
On May 21, the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, a nonprofit group in Horsham, Pa., released a paper based on 3,063 reports of "adverse events" submitted to the FDA by people taking Chantix. Among the findings: 227 had suicidal thoughts or behaviors, and 525 said they had acted with hostility or aggression. Pfizer has sent a Chantix team on the road to speak to financial analysts and journalists. Still, some Wall Street analysts fear that the FDA will require Pfizer to add a "black box"—one of the strictest warnings that can appear on a label—to draw more attention to side effects.
Steinberg says he might revert to prescribing more patches and gum if Chantix acquires a black box. But for now he adds: "If someone is doing well for six months, and they say, 'I think if I stop [taking Chantix] I might relapse to smoking,' I would feel comfortable continuing that medication."
Yet another drug with psychiatric side effects.
Bleech!!
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 4:49 AM
Human Events: Ann Coulter - You can't fuel all of the people all of the time
Ann has a really great column this week!
"Liberals dismiss studies that show a link between abortion and breast cancer, claiming they are biased because the people promoting the studies are "anti-choice."
For the same reason, no one should believe the Democrats' "energy" policies.
Democrats couldn't care less about high gas prices. The consistent policy of the Democratic Party, going back at least to Jimmy Carter, has been to jack up gas prices so we can all start pedaling around on tricycles.
...Six long years ago President Bush had the foresight to demand that Congress allow drilling in a minuscule portion of the Alaska's barren, uninhabitable Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). In 2002, Bush, Tom DeLay and the entire Republican Party were screaming from the rooftops: Drill! Drill! Drill!
We'd be gushing oil now -- except the Democrats stopped us from drilling.
Drilling on only 0.01 percent of ANWR's 19 million acres was projected to produce about 10 billion barrels of oil. From all domestic sources combined, we currently produce about 1.8 billion barrels of oil per year. To a layperson like myself, 10 billion barrels seems like a lot of oil.
The other party -- plus John McCain -- ferociously opposed drilling in ANWR, drilling offshore or drilling anyplace else. Instead of Drill! Drill! Drill!, their motto could be: Kill! Kill! Kill!
They refuse to believe our abortion studies? I refuse to believe they care about Americans having to pay high gas prices."
Really good insights....
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 4:44 AM