As 2014 Recedes in the Rearview Mirror

Cal Thomas writes an insightful article about the rise and fall of empires citing the late British diplomat Sir John Glubb and his book called The Fate of Empires and Search For Survival. Thomas writes:

"Glubb noted the average age of empires since the time of ancient Assyria (859-612 B.C.) is 250 years. Only the Mameluke Empire in Egypt and the Levant (1250-1517) made it as far as 267 years. America is 238 years old and is exhibiting signs of decline." 

He continues,
" 'All empires begin,' writes Glubb,' with the age of pioneers, followed by ages of conquest, commerce, affluence, intellect and decadence.' America appears to have reached the age of decadence, which Glubb defines as marked by 'defensiveness, pessimism, materialism, frivolity, an influx of foreigners, the welfare state, (and) a weakening of religion.' "

Decadence, he writes, "... is due to: Too long a period of wealth and power, selfishness, love of money (and) the loss of a sense of duty."

The final straw: "Glubb says the 250-year average of empires has not varied in 3,000 years." 

Well, that's not a very cheery message to look forward to in 2015! I hope it is not as inevitable as Glubb and Thomas seem to believe - God is still in charge and nothing is impossible for Him. Regardless, our job is to be faithful - not successful, and if we listen and follow Him in 2015, good things will happen. If that means manning lifeboats and picking up survivors while the Ship of State sinks, then so be it. Happy New Year anyhow!

townhall.com/columnists/calthomas/2014/12/30/america-interrupted-n1936742/page/2

Merry Christmas from West Jet!

WestJet Airlines from Canada has made a lot of people happy at Christmas the last several years with novel gift giving. 2014 was no exception with a trip to a little village in the Dominican Republic that made a lot of kids - and adults - very happy. Way to go WestJet! I like your spirit!

Merry Christmas!

Overcome Evil with Good

A shoplifter in Alabama, caught stealing 5 eggs because she was trying to feed her 2 kids and assorted nieces and grandchildren who hadn't eaten in 2 days, gets a big surprise when the police show up. It's a nice story about what's right with people and America.  

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:21
www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/entry/12/26595?spMailingID=10234854&spUserID=MTMyMjUyNjY4OAS2&spJobID=441920324&spReportId=NDQxOTIwMzI0S0

Yankees Foundation Sending Murdered NY Cops' Children to College

A foundation started by the late George Steinbrenner, owner of the NY Yankees, will cover the college costs of the children of the two NY policemen murdered over the weekend. Salud George!

www.sportingnews.com/mlb/story/2014-12-21/yankees-pay-for-education-nypd--police-officers-murder-rafael-ramos-wenjian-liu-brooklyn-silver-shield-foundation

The Intellectual Acuity of Earthworms

Campus Reform, as its name implies, is focused on bringing change to the anti-American and anti-intellectual atmosphere on American college campuses. Recently it conducted a faux poll at George Washington University in D.C. to see if they could come up with a position on immigration that even uber progressive students would choke on. They were unsuccessful. 

CR "petitioners" asked students to sign a faux "petition" to President Obama to deport one native American while importing one illegal alien, explaining thusly:

"Everyone must be allowed a shot at the ‘American Dream.’ Americans should not be greedy. Let us right the wrongs of our past and make another’s dreams come true."

No brainer, right? Right. The petition was happily signed by 2/3 of the GWU students that were approached. Sigh. 

Perhaps these students would volunteer to be the first to go. With their demonstrated lack

of intellectual ability they are not going to be of much use in this country.  One wonders why their parents are paying a bazillion dollars for their "education" at GWU. 

townhall.com/tipsheet/sarahjeanseman/2014/12/19/unbelievable-students-support-deporting-americans-to-make-room-for-illegal-immigrants-n1934123

Et Tu, Paramount?

Paramount reportedly has ordered a theater in Texas not to show its movie from a few years ago, Team America, which also trashes the Norks.  The spineless shall rule the movie industry! I can hardly wait for the next movie showing the evil and sadistic Tea Party boss as the uber-villain!

www.breitbart.com/texas/2014/12/18/paramount-orders-texas-theater-not-to-show-team-america/

The Proper Position When Confronted by Evil

A purported journalist from CNN, Sharon Waxman, opined on TV that we need to be sensitive and caring when it comes to foreign thug dictators when we make movies, write pieces, etc.:

"I also want to point out something else that does not seem to be part of the discussion which is, where are our responsibilities in our exercising of the First Amendment? And I mean both those of us in the media and those of us who are making movies and those of us who are writing about the community that makes movies which is to say what is the thought process behind making a movie in which we decide to depict the assassination of a living foreign leader," said Waxman, "I think common sense has to prevail when we express our artistic freedoms."

She is referring, of course, to the new comedy movie by Seth Rogen and James Franco depicting Nork dictator Kim Jong Whatshisname getting taken out that Sony pulled this week after a cyber attack by the Norks. 

Normally "jounalists" are foaming at the mouth when it comes to defending the First Amendment but apparently that only now applies when they are whacking Republicans or conservatives. What is wrong with these people?  Seth Rogen's movies are typically self-indulgent crap and this one probably is too but justifying pulling it because of threats from some tinhorn nut-burger? Really? Be sure there is no shortage of such "leaders" and we can now expect the threats to escalate based on this type of response from the media and "journalists."  Where is the real America and when is it going to stand up and say, "Enough!"?

townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2014/12/19/journalist-first-amendment-rights-means-not-offending-the-north-korean-dictator-okay-n1934032

We Had to Destroy You to Save You

Here ya go - the effect of increasing the minimum wage in the real world. A new study found that increasing the minimum wage has so far cost 1.4 M jobs. Perhaps, but the warm and fuzzy feelings that progressives get when they take actions like this are worth it, don't you think? Unless of course you are one of the 1.4 M newly unemployed. 

www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/12/11/Minimum-Wage-Cost-Americans-1-4-Million-US-Jobs-Study-Finds

Beavers Lead to Global Warming

Look for the PC Police in Oregon to begin a push to eliminate Oregon's mascot. That's right, beavers have got to go because they are making a massive contribution to Global Warming - 800 M kg of methane annually to be exact. How? Magic I think - not sure -but they've gotta go along with SUVs, farting cows, coal, heated houses in the winter, Twinkies, sparkly things, and who knows what else. Save the planet - kill the Beavs! Duck fans should be happy.  

www.ibtimes.co.uk/climate-change-beavers-boost-emissions-800-million-kg-methane-every-year-1479809

SERVE Others

Ken Sande literally wrote the book for Christian peacemaking. Although no longer with Peacemaker Ministries, he has founded a new ministry called Relational Wisdom 360 designed to acquaint people with Biblical principles to "be a light" to the world and avoid the need for peacemaking. The link below is to a story about a young barista that he ran into at Washington's Dulles International and the SERVE principle that he used to help brighten her day. It's worth reading - and doing.

rw360.org/2013/08/04/serving-a-barista/

The Senate Intelligence Committee Report

The Senate Intelligence Committee's "report" on the CIA's post 9/11 interrogation activities was authored solely by the Committee's Democratic staff members and issued by its Democratic senators - so much for bipartisanship. In actuality it was a hit piece to position the Dems for 2016 and to draw attention from Jonathan "the American people are stupid" Gruber's testimony about how the Dems passed Obamacare, e.g. - they lied big time. 

Putting the lie to what they are trying to do with this "report" all previous CIA directors have publicly come out and said that much of the report simply isn't true and very valuable intelligence data was obtained from high-value prisoners that kept the U.S. from getting hit again by follow-on 9/11 attacks. Even President Obama's current CIA Director, John Brennan, agreed in an extraordinary press conference at the CIA that this was so:

"At the heart of Brennan's remarks was an exquisitely nuanced argument: That while today's CIA takes no position on whether the brutal interrogation tactics themselves led detainees to cooperate, there is no doubt that detainees subjected to the treatment offered "useful and valuable" information afterward."

www.oregonlive.com/today/index.ssf/2014/12/cia_director_acknowledges_brut.html#incart_river

I have been impressed in the past that Sen. Feinstein, head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has taken issue with the Obama Administration on national security issues when she believed that what was being proposed jeopardized American's security. This, however, is a cheap political stunt that ranks with the worst that this Administration has pulled and it has pulled a series of gigantic stinkers. It is easy to be armchair Monday-morning quarterbacks on intelligence matters, but when solid intelligence is coming in about a nuke hit on D.C., dropping 10 airliners in mid-flight over the Atlantic, or a CBW strike in the middle of the Las Vegas Strip or New York, I bet they will be the first to give a panicky go-ahead with "enhanced" interrogation techniques on any high-value prisoners who are connected - and then knife the intelligence community after the fact. Disgusting. We are being led by a bunch of pygmy weasels. 

The Light of the World Shines in the Darkness

During Advent every year the French city of Lyon famously celebrates a Festival of Lights to graphically illustrate God's arrival in this world at Christmas. The Archbishop of Lyon took it a step further this year by taking it on the road to Erbil, Iraq in support of embattled Iraqi Christians in that war-torn country. Bravo Messr. le Archbishop! That other Christians worldwide would have similar courage to stand with our persecuted brothers and sisters.

www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2014/12/10/French-Christians-Bring-Lyon-s-Festival-of-Lights-to-Erbil-in-Solidarity-with-Iraqi-Christians

Out-Marxing the Marxists

"... the maximum corporate income tax rate in Russia is just 20 percent, while the U.S. has the third-highest top marginal corporate income tax rate in the world at 39.1 percent."

And we wonder why our economy stinks?

townhall.com/columnists/rachelmarsden/2014/12/09/is-america-headed-for-a-sovietstyle-collapse-n1929599

Fight Against the Darkness

Columnist Bethany Blankley has an excellent piece today at Townhall about being resolute against evil and cites Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher as examples. Here is an interesting quote from Churchill in 1936 regarding then Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain that is just as apropos today:

“Virtuous motives, trammeled by inertia and timidity, are no match for armed and resolute wickedness. A sincere love of peace is no excuse for muddling hundreds of millions of humble folk into total war.”

This was followed 2 years later by Churchill's recognition after Chamberlain's meeting with Hitler at Munich that the end-game with the Nazis was at hand:

“You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor and you will have war.”

Think of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry and a host of lesser lights when you read these quotes because they are trotting out today the same sort of wishful thinking as a substitute for resolutely confronting the evil of ISIS, Russia, Iran and a host of other evil actors on the world stage. Sadly, it will end up the same way and we will be presented with a major war not because we want it, but because the bad actors of the world do and we did not stop them when we could.
townhall.com/columnists/bethanyblankley/2014/12/08/british--american-christianity-denial-and-inertia-no-match-for-resolute-wickedness-n1929132

Observation Point

Christmas is the end of thinking you are better than someone else, because Christmas is telling you that you could never get to heaven on your own. God had to come to you. It is telling you that people who are saved are not those who have arisen through their own ability to be what God wants them to be. Salvation comes to those who are willing to admit how weak they are.  Tim Keller

Never Forget!

Unfortunately we are, both 1941 and 2001. 

Putin Has the Trots

That's right - his economy is leaking because world oil prices are down because of massive new oil competition from the U.S. and Canada. The Saudis have decided to keep prices down to effectively compete with the new North American oil colossus and this leaves place like Russia, Iran and Venezuela sucking air. Aw, too bad - couldn't happen to a nicer bunch. May they crash and burn! And incidentally, any U.S. politician that tries to interfere with this Western renaissance is either a fool or on the payroll of one of these bad guys and, knowing politicians, my guess would be the latter however they gussy it up with green trimmings. 

townhall.com/columnists/austinbay/2014/12/03/putins-kemlin-losing-the-oil-price-war--and-thats-good-n1926549

Keep Increasing the Minimum Wage

Robots. Yup, that's what will happen as is the case with Amazon which is phasing in 15,000 robots to fetch goods from its warehouses to fill customer orders. As the writer points out, Amazon has it all "wrong" as corporations exist to provide jobs for those who want to be at least occasionally employed, as opposed to fulfilling customer needs and repaying investors, but the net result will be lower costs to the consumer and that's a win in this economy.

townhall.com/columnists/michaelhausam/2014/12/03/amazons-latest-actions-are-a-clear-call-to-action-for-labor-leaders-n1926661

Here's Something for Oregonians to Unite On

The Coast Guard is planning to pull it's helicopter based at Newport in mid-December. Five guys pulled from the frigid North Pacific off Newport on Saturday by this very helicopter think that's a terrible idea. In fact, had it already occurred they probably wouldn't be saying anything at all because they would be dead. With all the crap in the Federal budget, not spending $6M per year for something that has saved lives again and again is asinine and Oregonians should write their Congressional delegates and tell them so in no uncertain terms. Keep the helo!

www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2014/12/oregon_fishermen_saved_by_coas.html