Yet Another Obama Bumper Sticker

Obama Bumper Stickers #2

Obama Bumper Stickers

As I had previously mentioned, there is a virtual plethora of wonderful Obama negative wear out there. And from about now until the November election, I  thought I'd share them with you. If you like 'em, go out there and purchase one for your bumper.

Religion of Peace Alert: FBI Advises ‘Draw Muhammad’ Cartoonist to Disappear

By Andy McCarthy (NRO)

Fox News reports that, at the urging of the FBI, Molly Norris, the “Everybody Draw Muhammad Day” cartoonist from Seattle, has gone into hiding and changed her name after being threatened with death for insulting Islam. Maybe she can hide at Justice Breyer’s house.

As I mentioned in Tuesday’s column, the Obama administration last year co-sponsored a UN resolution to encourage countries to enact laws that would make it illegal to criticize Islam. The president was on the “Repeal the First Amendment” bandwagon before the justice hopped aboard. But if top levels of government are going to signal that Islam should get special immunity, and states like New Jersey are going to follow suit by firing people from state jobs for criticizing Islam, the FBI better be prepared to reassign a few thousand agents to the new “We Can’t Protect You” division.

I didn't know the U.S. co-sponsored the resolution with Egypt to "encourage" countries to enact laws to protect Islam. Did you? That just didn't come up last year in the mainstream media. What about protecting the artist from harm instead of telling her to disappear? It's official folks, the world has just gone plain nuts. -Cliff

Falling Smile, Inc.

Greg (9) and Jon (10) have formed a corporation. Well, not one sanctioned by the state, but they just like the sound of the word "incorporated." Jon actually asked me "What does incorporated mean?" I started to formulate an answer, but before I did, the conversation had already rushed on to other topics.

The name of their "corporation" is "Falling Smile, Inc." It is Jon's idea, so I asked him what it means. An impish smile appeared on his face, but he only offered this answer: "I just have this HUGE imagination." Both boys like to draw humorous pictures. This morning I could not find the one Jon did last night as I was tucking them in for the night. Greg drew this one. It is a pencil drawing of "Pumpkin Man," who is smiling while wearing a necktie and cowboy boots. In the upper right hand corner, purposely upside down, is the logo of Falling Smile, Inc.

Can she convince Barack?

A new book co-written by Carla Bruni quotes Michelle Obama as saying that being America's first lady is "Hell." "I can't stand it," Michelle tells Italian actress and wife of French President Sarcozy. Now, if she can just convince Barack that one term is enough...

Nancy Pelosi is the Wicked Witch of the West

Here you go, eveybody.  No "powers that be" at my house. Enjoy.

Would that be cheating?

Sara was getting her "Sisterlocks" done today, so Jon (10), Greg (9), and I went on a bike ride on the sandy country road. Greg's bike is perpetually under the weather, since he rides it like a cowboy riding a bull, so he took Sara's. First, though, Greg had to make a sign to cover the Barbie bike bag on Sara's bike. "NOT MY BIKE" read the sign.

When Sara (6) got home from getting her hair done, I read her some stories and tucked her in. When it came time for prayers, I ended with "In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." "What about the Daughter? Sara yelled indignantly. I told her "I don't know." I suggested she ask God about that the next time she sees HIm. She immediately responded that God is with her all day long. He usually sits in Ian's chair, because Ian is usually absent. The only time God is not with Sara, she asserted, is when she is doing a spelling test. "That would be cheating, to ask God how to spell a word."

How much longer can he play this "poor me" game?

via Theo Spark

Tuesday Humor

Checking out Mike Rosen's humor page is always gratifying. For example, there is Doug Powers' column on what leftists wish were different about the Bible. Here are a few of my favorite quotes from that column:

Instead of gold, frankincense and myrrh, they should have brought hummus, incense and a representative from Child Protective Services.

And the thing about the Bible that drives the left the most crazy? People can find salvation without their assistance.

Then, there is this one on Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder:

Diagnosed with AAADD
Recently, I was Diagnosed with AAADD - Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder. This is how it manifests:

I decide to water my garden. As I turn on the hose in the driveway, I look over at my car and decide my car needs washing. As I start toward the garage, I notice that there is mail on the porch table that I brought up from the mail box earlier.

I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car. I lay my car keys down on the table, put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table, and notice that the can is full. So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the garbage first.

But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take out the garbage anyway, I may as well pay the bills first. I take my check book off the table, and see that there is only 1 check left. My extra checks are in my desk in the study, so I go inside the house to my desk where I find the can of Coke that I had been drinking.

I'm going to look for my checks, but first I need to push the Coke aside so that I don't accidentally knock it over. I see that the Coke is getting warm, and I decide I should put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold. As I head toward the kitchen with the Coke, a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye--they need to be watered. I set the Coke down on the counter, and I discover my reading glasses that I've been searching for all morning.

I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I'm going to water the flowers. I set the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container with water and suddenly I spot the TV remote. Someone left it on the kitchen table. I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV, I will be looking for the remote, but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs, but first I'll water the flowers.

I pour some water in the flowers, but quite a bit of it spills on the floor. So, I set the remote back down on the table, get some towels and wipe up the spill. Then, I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.

At the end of the day:
1) The car isn't washed
2) The bills aren't paid
3) There is a warm can of Coke sitting on the counter
4) The flowers don't have enough water,
5) There is still only 1 check in my check book,
6) I can't find the remote,
7) I can't find my glasses,
8) And I don't remember what I did with the car keys.

Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all day long, and I'm really tired. I realize this is a serious problem, and I'll try to get some help for it, but first I'll check my e-mail.

The Wicked Witch of the West

Nancy Pelosi actually has someone who is running against her for the San Francisco seat in the House of Representatives...and, he has a sense of humor! How cool is that? His name is John Dennis. Go to You Tube and search for wicked witch Nancy Pelosi. Note the reference to the McCain-Feingold incumbent-protection-mandated-message at the end of the video. Surprisingly, (heh) the powers that be would not allow me to post the video here.

On Communism, Capitalism, and Christianity

via Theo Spark







The Wall Street Journal has a front page story today about the fact that Cuba is going to lay off half a million state workers between now and March, and try to encourage the development of free market capitalism! Interestingly, the Journal article says that the Catholic Church has been recommending this course of action to the Castro brothers for some time now. But, how will these laid-off workers be absorbed into the private economy, when there is not much of a private economy to absorb them? 85% of Cuba's workers belong to the state union, and work for the state. Unlike here in America, where public sector jobs pay more than private sector jobs, when all benefits are considered, in Cuba it is the opposite. The few private sector jobs they do have pay three times what the public sector jobs pay.

Capitalism is based on the simple principle of providing goods or services that people decide voluntarily to choose to buy in a competitive marketplace. Socialism, of course, is based on the principle of taking away from some people to distribute to others; the opposite of voluntary choice.

One of the companies that has succeeded in the free market is Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart emphasizes the three A's. All cashiers are trained to Acknowledge the customer with a warm smile as soon as the customer gets within ten feet of the cashier. Then Wal-Mart expects the cashier to Act on behalf of the customer; providing excellent service to that customer. Finally, Wal-Mart expects their cashiers to Appreciate the customer; to let the customer know that their business is appreciated. One of the features of the Wal-Mart experience is that there is a greeter at the door to make sure you have a shopping cart and are greeted with a friendly hello when you enter the building and thanked when you leave. Simple, but basic. Wouldn't all of us be better off if we ran our families on those three basic principles?

Of course, there is much more to the Wal-Mart story. There is also the principle of providing people with the stuff they want at a price that is lower than anybody else's. Those cashiers I mentioned? They have to be willing to put into practice cheerfully and sincerely those three A's, while working for wages and benefits that are lower than the union-operated stores of Wal-Mart's competitors. To survive on the low wages, Wal-Mart employees have to be willing to go along with the Biblical injunction not to lay up for themselves treasures on this Earth; meaning that they have to live simply with not a lot of material possessions, and still be people who practice the golden rule established a couple of centuries ago by Jesus Christ.

Fed up with appeasement

Talk radio has a real lively issue today: the Florida pastor's desire to burn the Qu'ran tomorrow. Judging by the calls I have heard, there is widespread support for this idea. People are tired of what they perceive as our country's kowtowing to muslims. There can be no doubt that Obama is an appeaser, and that he is solidly supported in these endeavors by the dinosaur media, and that a large segment of Americans are fed up with it.

"Conservatism's Extreme Makeover"

In my daily trip to the Washington Rebel blog, I was referred to an excelllent piece in the American Thinker blog by J.R. Dunn entitled Conservatism's Extreme Makeover. Dunn examines the history of conservatism from William F. Buckley to today's Tea Party movement.

Here are a couple of excerpts, but I urge you to read the whole thing.

Conservatives wasted effort and energy on silly crusades against popular culture, style, and behavior that isolated them still further from average Americans. Nothing about American music, film, sport, or social life seemed to please the new center-right. This deepened their isolation along with earning them a reputation as humorless, over-intellectualized stuffed shirts.

His conclusion:

The year 2010 is likely to be a banner year for the conservative impulse in American life. The Tea Parties have already pushed aside several go-along-to-get-along Republican hacks (which in itself repudiates accusations of partisanship). The sweep of corrupt and ideologized Democrats promises to be an order of magnitude larger. But the 2010 election may well turn into no more than another good election season if we don't take advantage of the disarray in the left's messaging system. We need to look farther and deeper than a single election. We need to bury the calumnies against conservatism that have given the left the advantage for a half-century and longer. To remove the weapon of slander from leftist hands. Elite conservatives failed to attempt this for decade upon decade. The time has arrived to see that it gets done. We must move to change the culture, to establish once and for all the truth that conservatism is a core element of American life, that it is no oddity, no perversion, no dead end. That the modernist political debate is over, with the failure of leftist progressivism manifest and undeniable, and that the game must now be played on American terms.


We will have no better opportunity than this. That most American of political phenomena, the Tea Parties, has established once and for all that conservatism is American and that America is a conservative nation. If we can build upon this, our road will be a lot smoother than it has been.

Blood-sucking relationships

There are many things happening in today's world that I do not understand. Close to the top of the list is people's fascination with vampires. In times like this, when money is tight, to say the least, how is it that so many people spend their limited discretionary funds on books, movies, and cable t.v. shows that glorify blood-sucking relationships?

Who on Madison Avenue is behind this? How did so many people get this addiction? If any reader of this blog has any insight into this phenomena, I would really appreciate hearing from you. It is not just teenage girls; the phenomena has a solid grip on adults, too. It seems to be mainly females, though, who are caught up in this. Why?

Colleen thinks it is about risk containment. A woman knows that a relationship with a man involves risk, but she also believes she can change him, domesticate him.. By engaging in romantic love with that man, does she hope to contain the risk? Kinda like a romance novel with extra bite?

The Burning Platform

Tonight I read a blog with which I was very impressed. Backing up esays with impressive graphs, The Burning Platform had these stories: THE AGE OF MAMMON, RETAILERS - REALITY CHECK TIME, To Burn - or Not to Burn (The Qu'ran), YOU CALL THIS AUSTERITY?, WHERE THE JOBS AREN'T, and REAL WORLD IMPACT OF OBAMACARE.

Demographics matter

Daphne, who writes the Jaded Haven blog in the great state of Texas, has some thoughts about what Texas is going to look like in the not-too-distant future. As Mark Steyn showed in his brilliant book America Alone, demographics matter. Here is an excerpt from her post on the demographics of Texas:

Texas will become a majority Hispanic state within eight short years. By 2020 the majority of Texas voters will be Hispanic and we will no longer be a reliably red state in senate or presidential elections. Several other western and southern states will quickly follow suit as the tide of Hispanic births drastically alters predictable voting patterns and we’ll eventually watch the political fruits of our GOP business friendly immigration policies fundamentally change the American face of politics forever.

The "new tyranny of multiculturalism"

Victor Davis Hansen, in a new blog called RIGHTNETWORK, posts on the subject of multiculturalism. Here is a brief excerpt:

What are the wages of this new tyranny of multiculturalism?

One, the double standard is untenable. Once we deify multiculturalism, all else becomes subordinate. There is no reason why feminists should object that Muslim immigrants arrange marriages or practice female circumcision inside the U.S. In sum, multiculturalism will eventually discredit liberal feminism and the entire idea of universal racial and religious tolerance.

Two, bigotry abroad will only grow, as others sense that the United States lacks the confidence in its own values to extend its self-critical principles abroad. Already, countries not only smile at the notion that a self-proclaimed liberal United States proves not so brave in its criticism overseas, but also believes, even if in condescending fashion, that non-Westerners enjoy some sort of high moral ground that shields them moral audit.

Three, the contradictions lead to caricature. This was best evidenced last summer in Cairo when President Obama falsely claimed certain historical achievements on the part of Islam—from helping to foster the European Renaissance and Enlightenment to Muslim opposition to Christian inquisitions in Cordoba—all the while delineating Western shortcomings. The problem was not just that even President Obama’s compliant audience in Cairo did not believe all that, but they also earned certain delight with his strange eagerness to bend the truth on their behalf. Here at home, supporters did not care that their President had fabricated and distorted history; it was his intention to reach out to the other that mattered.

Multiculturalism is a good reminder that when standards are relative, there are no standards at all.

Can laughing at serious problems help you to solve them?

I have hinted a few times that I am trying to deal with an incredibly difficult situation in my life. Faithful and much appreciated reader, Terri Wagner, read my recent post on Christopher Buckley's satirical novel, Boomsday, and shared this insight in the comments section at the end of the post at Bob's Blog: "Sometimes laughing at a serious problem helps you to solve it, now why is that so?" If that question is not fodder for a blog post, I don't know what would be!

In a recent blog post entitled Making Good Choices, I quoted from two consultants who advised, among other things, that the person who has the problem should try to go directly to the source in order to "get the real story." But what if that leads one to heartbreak or to self-pity, two highly undesirable experiences? The consultants also advised that we try to be optimistic and hopeful; to look at the future with positive expectations, even though one is trying to deal with an extremely difficult situation in the present. I like that approach. Humor is one way to turn negative expectations into positive ones. It also helps rid one of self-pity, anxiety and heartbreak.

Most helpful of all, though, is belief in a loving God, and faith that by acknowledging my own role in the creation of the problem, asking for the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit, and trusting God, a better reality will emerge. Maybe it is the Holy Spirit who is leading me to utilize humor in solving the problem!

But wait, there's more!

This morning I turned on the radio and heard that a preacher in Florida plans to have a book-burning on September 11. The problem is that the book he plans to burn is the Koran! General Petraeus has asked that he not do so. My first thought was that this is straight out of a Christopher Buckley novel!

Then there was the story about the woman who for years has been involved with a lawsuit pending against the USDA for millions of dollars on behalf of black farmers in Georgia. The Obama administration hired her to have a high level position where? The USDA! But wait, there is more! Someone sent to Andrew Breitbart excerpts of a video in which the woman, Shirley Sherrod, is seen addressing a predominantly black audience, telling them that she had received a request from a poor white farmer for some assistance. The audience appeared to happily receive her initial words that she did not want to help the white farmer. Breitbart published the video. Sherrod was fired from her USDA position

But wait, there's more! It turns out that in fact she did help the white farmer, as a viewing of the entire video, not an excerpt, would have revealed. The "mainstream media," whose biases Breitbart is dedicated to exposing, skewered Breitbart. Breitbart blogs at Andrew Breitbart.com, but he also is the proprietor of three other excellent blogs, Big Hollywood, Big Journalism, and Big Governemnt.

But wait, there's more! An incident had allegedly occurred in which members of Tea Party groups had spat upon two black members of Congress as they were walking into the Capitol building. The Tea Party members also allegedly used the vile "n" word. Breitbart had obtained videos of the members of the black caucus as they walked into the capitol, and in the videos there is absolutely no evidence to support the allegations. Breitbart took the videos to NBC, CBS, and ABC, but none were interested in exposing the fact that no one confronted the Black politicians on their walk to the Capitol. No one from the black caucus has produced videos or eye-witnesses to substantiate their allegations. Do you suppose it is possible a scenario of alleged racism was cooked up by politicians to discredit the Tea Party movement? Nah, that sounds like something straight out of a Christopher Buckley novel!

My point is that a wonderful satirical novelist like Buckley can help us realize that politicians really can have sinister motives behind the actions they take. Laughing at the novel helps us not to take seriously the allegations made by politicans in real life to manipulate us one way or another on issues.

Church Planning to Burn Korans on 9-11

As a follower of Jesus, I am extremely concerned when "fellow followers of Jesus" feel the need to take drastic action to make a point, like burning Korans.

I cannot in good conscience support this action. I have been struck again and again by the need to consider seriously the words of Jesus and the early church of "overcoming evil with good" and "when your enemy strikes you on the cheek, turn the other cheek so he may strike it also".

I have struggled mightily in my life between pacifism and fighting back. I still debate that in my heart. I do think there is a difference between the actions of the church and the actions of a government.

In this case, to burn Korans is to become the enemy. This is an action that will sow discord, hatred and fear in my opinion. We must overcome evil with good. Evil, not being Muslims, but evil being those who would want to enforce Sharia law upon humanity, overthrowing Western ideals like democracy and the rule of law providing equal access and freedom to express ideas like my own and contrary to my own.

Lord, please guide our church leaders to channel their frustration to righteous deeds and action.

Cockroach Brains May Be a Source of Antibiotics

I have officially seen everything!

From Bloomberg: "Cockroach brains may be a source of new antibiotics capable of killing deadly drug resistant bacteria, according to research that suggests the germ spreading pests may be good for something after all..."

Democrats Bringing Surprise Tax Cut?

Niall Ferguson, History Professor at Harvard University, and one of the more prescient thinkers today is predicting a surprise tax cut from the Democratic Party just before the election to take some of the steam out of the Republican Party. This is a 6 minute or so CNBC interview and Mr. Ferguson speaks with refreshing frankness as to the current political climate and the economic situations both in the US and in Europe. Mr. Ferguson, a Brit, is interviewed in Europe and I have to admit whenever I see several British guys talking in an interview format, that really, this is a Monty Python skit...

Good interview nonetheless!

The Lancer

Making good choices

If you are like me, you are faced with difficult decisions. Reading the Denver Post's job section again today brought me some pearls of wisdom from consultants Jamie and Maren Shokeir. These tips are designed to help you in the workplace, but it seems to me they also work in the home, and I added my own perspective.

1. Acknowledge your role in the problems you are trying to deal with. See yourself in control of your future.
2. If you spend too much time speculating on what may happen next, things may get worse.
3. Get the real story. I am prone to anxiety attacks, fear of loss. The best way to deal with anxiety is to ask direct questions about the bottom line.
4. Don't play the victim. That leads nowhere except Hell.
5. Think big picture. Put aside rivalries. Collaborate.
6. Be more of a listener than a talker.
7. Try to focus on the possibility of better times ahead.

To these I would add: Turn to the Almighty. Ask for the Holy Spirit to guide you. Be aware of the things that push your anxiety and fear buttons, and turn to God when you know you are about to be tested.

A Brief Reminder Of Christian Theology

Boomsday

Now reading Boomsday, Christopher Buckley's hilarious take on how to fix the Social Security mess. The boomers reach the magic age of retirement, and who is left with the bill?

Once again, the chief character of the story is a woman. Ditto Florence of Arabia and Supreme Courtship. No doubt this reflects the influence of the complex and powerful woman who was Christopher's mother. Not only was he the beneficiary of such a fascinating woman, but now, we are, too.

To whom do we give attention?

Whenever I am home in the evenings I like to ask the kids if they want to go on a bike ride. Greg and Sara said yes last evening. I don't have gears in my bike, so the kids invariably charge out ahead of me on the sandy country road. Toward the end of the long ride, though, Sara fell behind and started to whimper loudly. I asked what was wrong. She did not answer. So, did I continue to cater to her and give her attention for expressing her misery? No! Instead, I told her that she would be going to bed as soon as we arrived home. She recovered amazingly, and soon passed me on the home stretch.

If you give kids attention when they are whining and wimpering, you lay the groundwork for that child to become a whiny, wimpering adult. I want to give attention to the child who is tackling a challenge, who is displaying good humor and enjoying life.

Front row students

After paying an unannounced visit to my sons' classrooms, I couldn't help but inquire of them how it is that both ended up being placed immediately adjacent to their teachers desks. Ten-year-old Jon explained that his teacher thought he might need that in order to focus on the tasks at hand. I noted that his teacher seemed like the type not to put up with clowning around. Jon agreed and said she is "really good about that." I asked him, "you mean you respect her for not putting up with your silliness?" He said yes, he did. We then had a good discussion about how kids need to know that adults care enough about them to not let them run over them. Those adults who do allow children to just always do what they want, are really giving the kids a message that they do not care.

Nine-year-old Greg then noted that teachers put kids in the front row who have demonstrated that they need to be "kept an eye on." I asked Greg if it was really true that he put up two fingers behind the teacher's head (making rabbit ears) while walking behind the teacher. He said yes, that is the reason he is now in the front row.



It was while paying my daily visit to the Washington Rebel blog, that I came across this parody from The Onion News, which reminded me to post about my discussion with my sons about being front row students.

Stephen Hawking: God didn't create universe

LONDON, England (CNN) -- God did not create the universe, world-famous physicist Stephen Hawking argues in a new book that aims to banish a divine creator from physics.

Hawking says in his book "The Grand Design" that, given the existence of gravity, "the universe can and will create itself from nothing," according to an excerpt published Thursday in The Times of London.

"Spontaneous creation is the reason why there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist," he writes in the excerpt.

"It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper [fuse] and set the universe going," he writes.

His book -- as the title suggests -- is an attempt to answer "the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything," he writes, quoting Douglas Adams' cult science fiction romp, "The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy."

It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper [fuse] and set the universe going.

--Stephen Hawking

His answer is "M-theory," which, he says, posits 11 space-time dimensions, "vibrating strings, ... point particles, two-dimensional membranes, three-dimensional blobs and other objects that are more difficult to picture and occupy even more dimensions of space." He doesn't explain much of that in the excerpt, which is the introduction to the book.

But he says he understands the feeling of the great English scientist Isaac Newton that God did "create" and "conserve" order in the universe.

It was the discovery of other solar systems outside our own, in 1992, that undercut a key idea of Newton's -- that our world was so uniquely designed to be comfortable for human life that some divine creator must have been responsible.

But, Hawking argues, if there are untold numbers of planets in the galaxy, it's less remarkable that there's one with conditions for human life.

And, indeed, he argues, any form of intelligent life that evolves anywhere will automatically find that it lives somewhere suitable for it.

From there he introduces the idea of multiple universes, saying that if there are many universes, one will have laws of physics like ours -- and in such a universe, something not only can, but must, arise from nothing.

Therefore, he concludes, there's no need for God to explain it.

But some of Hawking's Cambridge colleagues said the physicist has missed the point.

"The 'god' that Stephen Hawking is trying to debunk is not the creator God of the Abrahamic faiths who really is the ultimate explanation for why there is something rather than nothing," said Denis Alexander.

"Hawking's god is a god-of-the-gaps used to plug present gaps in our scientific knowledge.

"Science provides us with a wonderful narrative as to how [existence] may happen, but theology addresses the meaning of the narrative," said Alexander, director of The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion.

And Fraser Watts, an Anglican priest and Cambridge expert in the history of science, said that it's not the existence of the universe that proves the existence of God.

But, he said, "a creator God provides a reasonable and credible explanation of why there is a universe, and ... it is somewhat more likely that there is a God than that there is not. That view is not undermined by what Hawking has said."

Hawking's book will be published on September 7 in the United States and September 9 in the United Kingdom.

The Blaze

Glenn Beck has a new internet site called The Blaze. It advertises itself as a news, information, and opinion site. We'll see if he can do what he does not believe the "lamestream media" (Sarah Palin's phrase) is doing: seek the truth in a fair and balanced way.

"Search for answers everywhere; we will be the key."

I am one who listens regularly, albeit not for long stretches at a time, to Glenn Beck's talk radio show. You may have noticed that he held a rally on August 28 at the Lincoln Memorial that was attended by hundreds of thousands of people. The coverage in the Denver Post said "tens of thousands," in the first pages, but then admitted in paragraph thirteen, the next-to-last paragraph, that it was between 300,000 (archrival NBC's estimate), and 500,000 (Beck's people's estimate).

Now, the columns are flying. Today's Denver Post devotes one-half page to two columns ridiculing Beck and his supporters. Jonathan Capehart of the Washington Post calls Beck a person who has poisoned American political discourse. Look in vain for any factual basis for Capehart's claims. Kathleen Parker ridicules Beck's recovering alcoholic and addict background, and the fact that he is now rich. A Miami Herald cartoonist alleges that Beck has replaced Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" with "I have a scream."

Let's see now, what exactly is Beck standing for? Living an honorable life. Worshipping and praising God. Restoring individual responsibility. Strengthening America. Exposing evil and corruption. Uniting people of all faiths and political parties to promote faith, hope and charity. Yeah, I can see why he makes the left so nervous.

"Downright Offensive"

After rereading Mark Steyn's America Alone, I have a dream. That dream is that if Republicans regain the White House in 2012, whomever we elect will have the good sense to make Mark Steyn the right hand man of the president. Secretary of Defense would not be bad, either...or, Secretary of State.

By the way, did you hear that Hillary Clinton has reported Arizona to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights? The State Department sent to the U.N. a report on America's record on human rights, and noted that the federal government has taken legal action against Arizona. Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has demanded that Clinton remove the reference to the Arizona anti-illegal immigration law, calling its inclusion "downright offensive."

Anyway, back to Mark Steyn. I don't know anyone who is as knowledgeable about the state of the world as it is, and, more importantly, has the courage to write and speak about it. Mostly, he writes in this book about the threat of Islam, but he also does a lot of writing about the fall of Europe (which he refers to as Eurabia), and the weakening of America (our increasing dependence on entitlements and our loss of individual responsibility and self-reliance).

Some thoughts to ponder

After reading Christopher Buckley's Supreme Courtship, I wanted more of Mr. Buckley's wonderful insights. I spent a little time with his Washington Schlepped Here, a wonderful walking tour of our nation's capital. Then I picked up Florence of Arabia, which is chock full of delicious ideas about how America could really make a difference in the Middle East. Now I am reading his wonderful memoir Losing Mom and Pup, which is about the lives and deaths of his two famous parents, both of whom died in the same year recently.

Here are some quotes that were meaningful to me as I began reading the last book. "Industry is the enemy of melancholy," a phrase penned by Oscar Wilde, is a thought most meaningful to me right now as I am in the midst of a major loss.

"The most beautiful words in the language are "I'm Sorry." Christopher Buckley.

Medical malpractice suits are declining, because doctors are learning how to say, "I'm sorry." (an article in the New York Times)

"Demons slipping their leash" a phrase used by Buckley in the book.

"I've searched all my life for the perfect Christian...and I've found him: a non-observant Jew!" (I can't remember whom that quote is from).

In today's Denver Post there are these tips for staying positive at work from Sonia Lyubomirsky, author of The How of Happiness, A New Approach to Getting the Life You Want." Each of these points are expanded upon in her book, but here is the list:
Embrace gratitude
Commit random acts of kindness
Be optimistic
Reach out to others
Refuse to ruminate.

The Post article includes three more tips:
Plant something and nurture it.
Give yourself a treat every day, and take the time to really enjoy it.
Have a good laugh at least once a day (I need many more than one per day).

How Great is our God?

from the Washington Rebel blog

Is it all about Obama?

Recently certain pundits of the left leaning variety have been saying that the next election is not really about Obama, but about people's frustration with things as they are today, like the economy, etc. While I tend to agree with them about the general level of frustration among the people, I do think that there must be an acceptance that most of the frustration is focused on a leadership devoid of a basic level of competence. In other words, "Heck yeah, it's about Obama!"
Why? Well, lets see, there's that whole he-can't-seem-to-keep-his-mouth-shut thing. What does a leader of the United States need to speak about a local building project, the supposed Ground Zero mosque? He never spoke up about the Orthodox church that was actually leveled on 9/11 and had it's plans to rebuild put off for ten years. No outrage there, I guess.
And yet again there is the timing of speaking in front of muslims at  a Ramadan dinner, when he won't go near Christians who ask to peacefully pray for him and his government at a national prayer day, two years in a row. And we're supposed to think he's a Christian. which is the other funny thing going around the table talks these days.
You have seen on this site and others Obama's open derision and lack of respect for Christians and the Christian scriptures. He publicly mocked the idea of Christian moral influence in the public square on more than one occasion. If Obama is a Christian, he is a conflicted and confused, which goes just great with the rest of his beliefs and stances.
So, let's see, is it possible that those of us who are Christians, who seriously follow Jesus, and consider the Bible sacred, would see a problem with a President of the United States preferring a religion that has caused much death and destruction in the last twenty five years, and is the belief system of a group of killers bent on our nation's destruction?

So what do you think, is this next election all about Obama? No doubt.

Dow Dips Below 10000 as Gloom Persists

The Dow dropped below the psychologically-important 10000 level and hit fresh seven-week lows on Thursday as new data revealing the first drop in weekly jobless claims in a month failed to puncture the cloud of economic gloom hovering over Wall Street.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 74.25 points, or 0.74%, to 9985.81, the S&P 500 lost 8.11 points, or 0.77%, to 1047.22 and the Nasdaq Composite sank 22.85 points, or 1.07%, to 2118.69. The FOX 50 dropped 5.55 points, or 0.72%, to 760.27

Wall Street opened solidly higher in the wake of the better-than-expected labor data, but those gains proved to be fleeting as the markets' economic jitters persisted, leaving the benchmark index in four-digit territory for the first time since July 6. The markets were also bracing for a key speech on Friday from Fed chief Ben Bernanke amid worries the U.S. economy could succumb to a double-dip recession.
(read more at foxbusiness)

KARL ROVE: Obama's Disastrous 'Summer of Recovery'

In what will rank as one of the all-time presidential P.R. disasters, we're now well over half way through what the White House called "the summer of recovery." And what a recovery it's been.

Earlier this month, first-time claims for unemployment hit a nine-month high. The unemployment rate remains at 9.5% and 18.4% of workers are out of a job, can only get part-time work, or have given up looking for a job altogether. Sales of existing homes dropped 27% from June to July, hitting the lowest point since data were first collected in 1999. The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index fell to 50.4 in July, continuing a slide that started in February. And the stock market is down 11% from its peak in April.

All of this has helped shatter public confidence in the president. In early May, Mr. Obama's approval on the economy in the YouGov/Polimetrix poll was 42%. By mid-August, it was 35%—a frightening number for Democrats less than 70 days from a midterm election. According to this week's Reuters poll, 72% are "very" worried about jobs and 67% "very concerned" about government spending.

Mr. Obama's credibility is crumbling, and for good reason: He and his people are saying things people don't believe. At the start of his summer of recovery road show, the president flatly asserted that last year's massive stimulus package had "worked." Vice President Joe Biden, not to be outdone, promised monthly job gains of up to 500,000 and insisted that the recovery's pace "continues to increase, not decrease" as stimulus spending was "moving into its highest gear."

It's slightly surreal. "Who are you going to believe," as Groucho Marx once said, "me or your own eyes?"

The administration's claims have collided with reality in other instances as well. Mr. Obama's Council of Economic Advisers Chair Christina Romer—speaking before the 2009 stimulus was approved—said unemployment would top out at 8% by the third quarter of 2009 and decline to less than 7% by the end of 2010. Even the White House now admits that the unemployment rate will stay at or above 9% through 2011.

The White House also frequently asserts that "between 2.3 million and 2.8 million jobs were either saved or created" by the $620 billion in stimulus money spent by June. Set aside the absurdity of the administration inventing the "saved" category and then pretending it can ascertain, with scientific precision, the number of jobs that have been "saved." Since the stimulus passed, 2.6 million Americans have lost their jobs and 1.2 million people have given up even looking for work.

Mr. Obama and his people also mischaracterize where most stimulus dollars go. Their constant prattle about "shovel ready projects" is an attempt to leave the impression that most goes to bricks and mortar. Not true: Only 3.3% of the $814 billion stimulus went to the Federal Highway Administration for highway and bridge projects.

The administration's misleading statements and obfuscations aren't limited to the economy. On health care, for example, Mr. Obama continues saying that (a) health-care reform will reduce costs and the deficit, (b) no one who wants to keep existing coverage will lose it, and (c) the law's cuts in Medicare won't threaten any senior's health care. These assertions are laughable.

The president's habit of exaggeration and misstatement has infected other Democrats. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, for example, routinely talks about how the recently passed "Stimulus II" spending bill protected the jobs of police and firemen.

But it didn't.

Stimulus II consisted of two parts: $10 billion for education and $16 billion for Medicaid. States can't spend Medicaid money for anything but Medicaid, and they can only spend the education money on education, i.e., they can't shuffle state funds around. Language allowing Stimulus II dollars to pay for police and firemen didn't make it out of the Senate. Yet Democratic leaders persist in saying that their latest stimulus has helped keep police and firefighters on the job. The claim is flatly untrue.

By overselling the stimulus before its passage in 2009 and exaggerating its benefits with layer upon layer of slippery half-truths in 2010, Mr. Obama has made voters angrier. This is not America's summer of recovery; it is a summer of economic discontent that will ensure that Democrats take a pounding in the midterm elections.

Mr. Rove, the former senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to President George W. Bush, is the author of "Courage and Consequence" (Threshold Editions, 2010).




(from Wall Street Journal)

Highly Recommended Recent Reads

I just finished The Supreme Courtship by Christoper Buckley. It offers hilarious insight into our American culture. A good-guy President of the United States vetoes every spending bill sent to him by Congress. Congress gets back at him by refusing to confirm first one stellar nominee to the Supreme court, then another who is equally well-qualified to serve. One night, while lying in bed with his faithful dog, the president is channel-surfing and comes across one of the most popular American television shows, featuring a beautiful, witty judge. Voila! He has got the answer to his dillema! He offers Congress the nomination of Pepper Cartwright. What follows is one hilarious scene after another. The son of William F. Buckley is an amazingly witty writer. I had read only one other book by him, entitled Thank You For Smoking, about the hypocritical cigarrette company executives. That one was made into a movie, which I have not seen. I want to read every book this man writes (or has written).

Now I am re-reading Mark Steyn's brilliant book America Alone. As Saul Alinsky was fond of saying, "Do you want to live in the world as it is, or the world as you would like it to be?" Steyn should be required reading for anyone who wants to understand the world as it is.

Australian election ends in possible hung parliament

Sydney, Australia (CNN) -- With no clear winner emerging from a cliff-hanger national election, Australian political leaders jostled for support from a handful of independent lawmakers Sunday.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said she was speaking with independents in an effort to build a minority government. Opposition leader Tony Abbott also told reporters he had spoken with independent lawmakers.

Results were still being tallied by Australian elections officials Sunday. Analysts have predicted both parties will fall short of securing the 76 seats needed to win, meaning Australia could end up with its first hung parliament since 1940.

The tight election results mean a handful of independent lawmakers will likely play a key role in shaping the country's government.

Gillard, the head of the country's Labor Party, stressed that her discussions with independent and Greens Party lawmakers were preliminary.

"It's my intention to negotiate in good faith an effective agreement to form government," she said.

But Abbott told reporters Sunday that a Labor government would be dysfunctional.

"I think that the public expects a change of government as a result of yesterday's result," he said.

With 78 percent of the votes counted, Labor was leading slightly with 50.6 percent of the vote, while Abbott's Liberal-National coalition had 49.3 percent, according to results posted online by the Australian Electoral Commission.

Abbott leads the Liberal Party, which is nevertheless conservative and forms a center-right coalition with The Nationals. A fourth party, The Greens, is much smaller and has strong environmental ethos.

The two main parties have no massive ideological differences. Instead, many saw the election as a chance for voters to pass judgment on Labor's ouster of Kevin Rudd, who once enjoyed some of the highest popularity ratings of any Australian leader.

Rudd's poll numbers took a hit after he placed his proposed carbon emissions trading plan on the back burner and introduced a 40 percent tax on the country's powerful and wealthy mining industry.

That prompted many in his party to doubt whether he could lead the party to victory in the election, so Rudd stepped aside in June.

CNN's Kylie Grey and Dan Rivers contributed to this report.
_______________________________________________________

Seems like we have a trend in political elections this year, which is no clear majorities leading to difficult and unlikely partnerships. The one major difference between this election and the British hung parliament is that the likely coalition will be between conservatives and the break-off third party which is basically all former conservatives, which would lend to a little easier going for setting up a coalition than in Britain. I'll say it again. Are we in the U.S. headed for a similar fate? I think that by the end of the year we will have our own version of the hung parliament here in the states, but that it will provide a new impetus for discussion and vision casting. Are we living in interesting times? Maybe so. - Cliff

The Obama Boom: Join the Movement!

Yes, it's true, folks! I have found the great boom of commerce and entrepreneurial hope the Obama administration is looking for. It is in Anti Obama sales of t-shirts, posters and bumper stickers. Just Google the term "anti Obama" and you will be inundated with over 76, 700, 000 individual site locations with help, advice, suggestions, and products to express your particular anti-Obama sentiment.

There are even sites that will allow you to create your own personal memorabilia item of anti-Obama-ness, in all the colors of the rainbow.

If it is your "hope" to find something in the arena of jewelry or even Christmas ornaments, it's all there for you, at an affordable price, of course.

Or if you "change" your mind and want to teach all of those smug pro-Obama folks a lesson you can get that pithy saying that says just how disappointed you are in them. There is no limit to the ways and means by which you can express your outrage.

You can put up an inspiring quote from a founding father, or just go straight to the point with an "Obama sucks" t-shirt.

So, go ahead America, indulge yourself in a little part of the history of this great nation, and express your anti-Obama frustration with as much class, flare, and panache, or lack thereof, as you can stand. Here are my particular favorites:

Where the wild thoughts are...

Should we stop complaining now?

Evangelists Say Muslims Coming to Christ at Historic Rate

Christians ministering quietly in the Middle East say Muslims are coming to Christ at an unprecedented pace despite intense persecution of those who leave Islam.

"Probably in the last 10 years, more Muslims have come to faith in Christ than in the last 15 centuries of Islam," said Tom Doyle, Middle East-Central Asia director for e3 Partners, a Texas-based missions agency.

A former pastor, Doyle has been to the Middle East around 80 times and last week returned to the U.S. from a trip to Jerusalem, where he said both Muslims and Jews are turning to Christianity.

Earlier this month, more than 200 former Muslims were baptized during a training conference in Europe led by Iran-born evangelist Lazarus Yeghnazar. Brenda Ajamian, a former missionary to the Middle East who partners with Yeghnazar's 222 Ministries International, said the event was unlike anything she'd seen during her years ministering in Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan.

"That many Muslims who converted to Christ in one place boggled my mind because missionaries have worked in the Arab world and Muslim world generally for years and without much fruit," Ajamian said. "God is at work among Muslims." 

Ajamian said she was told at the conference that drug addiction and depression run rampant in many nations, particularly in Iran, where the cleric-led government has attempted to squash pro-democracy movements. "People are so fed up with the kinds of lives they lead. ... They're turning to Christ even in spite of the very real possibility of persecution and death and imprisonment,"she said.

Desperation is also a big factor in bringing many Jews to Christ, Doyle said. "In the last 20 years more Jews [also] have become followers of Jesus than in the last 2,000 years of Christianity," he said.

Radio, television and Internet-based Christian programming have been key in evangelizing Muslim nations. Yeghnazar claims more than 3,000 Iranians are converted each month through his Farsi-language television and Internet broadcasts.

And Doyle said Father Zakaria Botross, a born-again Coptic priest, reaches about 60 million people through his television programs broadcast across the Middle East. "The apostle Paul to the Muslims is no question Father Zakaria," Doyle said.

But many Muslim-background believers have said they came to Christ after having dreams and visions of Jesus.

"I can't tell you how many Muslims I've met who say: ‘I was content. I was a Muslim, and all of a sudden I get this dream about Jesus and He loved me and said come follow Me," Doyle said.

Doyle notes that the supernatural is an important part of the Islamic faith. Through the course of his life, Mohammed claimed to have had visions and encounters, particularly of the angel Gabriel.

"God is going into their context," said Doyle. But instead of finding guidance from Allah, Muslims are finding Jesus.

Haytham Abi Haydar, pastor of the Arabic Fellowship Alliance Church in Dearborn, Mich., a heavily Islamic Detroit suburb, said dreams and the supernatural are important to Muslims. "They're so powerful and real. They do consider that as a channel to speak to God and see something important," said Abi Haydar, who's also heard of Jesus coming to Muslims in dreams. 

Ajamian said churches of Muslim-background believers are growing "like wildfire" both in the Middle East and in Europe, which has seen a boom in immigration from Muslim nations.

"The Muslims that are saved ... it's like they can't tell the story fast enough," Ajamian said.

Doyle said though the harvest is ripe in Middle Eastern nations, the spiritual warfare also has ramped up. "People feel it. It just feels more intense," he said.

The stress, he said, is particularly high right now during Ramadan, the time Muslims fast and pray in commemoration of the time they believe Mohammed divinely received the first verses of the Quran. He said people are getting sick and even having nightmares.

"When Ramadan comes, you really sense the war in the heavenlies," he said.

Christians in many Muslim nations can be imprisoned or killed for converting from Islam. But Ajamian said the persecution is a sign that God is answering prayers for the Muslim world. "

There's a move of God," she said. "...The devil doesn't like it, but there is a huge move.

(from Charisma Magazine)

The best photography on the web: Motel Zero

Later this evening, surfing the web, I learned that someone else was thinking about Ronald Reagan's famous quote: "Trust me. I'm from the government, and I'm here to help." The best photograpy on the web is found at Motel Zero, and now he has added pithy prose to go along with the wonderful photographic works of art.

Should we "tolerate an ideology that would end our ability to tolerate?"

Perhaps the hottest topic of the day is the mosque two blocks from Ground Zero. Greg Gutfeld has some very spot-on observations on the subject.

"So when the chips are down, Barack Obama is less a President than a lawyer, carefully parsing out manicured statements, designed to straddle fences."

"The fear of appearing insensitive is driving our government's behavior, which scares the crap out of me. Funny how we are asked to tolerate an ideology that would end our ability to tolerate, period."

"the progressive word of the decade: tolerance. They are demanding that we tolerate a doctrine that enforces intolerance. And if you don't tolerate intolerance, then you, in fact, are intolerant. You are a bigot, for rejecting bigotry."

A concommitant debate is also taking place on whether or not Barack Obama is a Muslim. It seems to be a choice of either a Christian believer in Black Liberation Theology ala his minister for twenty years, Reverend Wright, or his earlier training in the Muslim faith. C. Edmund Wright notes in the American Thinker that "we were required to have enough suspension of belief to count Black Liberation Theology as Christian in the first place. Right. Never mind Jeremiah Wright's relationship with and support of Louis Farrakhan."


I would just like to see Obama stand up for America. Please? Just once?

Reagan was right...and oh, so prescient

(found at the Washington Rebel blog)

"Reload," Dr. Laura

Liberals are elated that Dr. Laura plans to end her radio program at the end of the year. Below, thanks to Town Hall, is the unabridged conversation Dr. Laura had with a woman from Colorado Springs, who, I believe, may well have set up Dr. Laura. Notice how the woman asks, "How about the "n" word?" Yep, definitely a set up. Now the woman is on national t.v., the new darling of the left. You think that is an accident? No way.

Dr. Laura has been an important voice. Why do I say that? Primarily because she does not allow callers to whine. She realizes that going down the "poor me" path is wrong, unhealthy, toxic for each and every one of us every single time we allow ourselves to go down that Satan-influenced path.

I am with Sarah Palin, who advised Dr. Laura to "reload."

Grover Norquist: A U-Turn on the Road to Serfdom

How to celebrate Cost of Government Day.

Every year, Americans for Tax Reform calculates Cost of Government Day — exactly how many days of the year Americans work to pay the total cost of government. This includes all government spending by federal, state, and local government. It also includes the costs forced into every product and service we buy in the private sector by state and federal regulations. Some regulations are silly and destructive. Others are important and useful. But none are free.

In 2008, Americans worked 197 days, until July 16 — in other words, more than half the year — to pay for the total cost of government. As a result of the bailouts, stimulus, and increased discretionary spending in the federal budget and new taxes for health care, Americans this year have worked until August 19, fully 231 days.

In two years, the American people have lost over a month of wages to the higher cost of government. Of the total, approximately 104 days are for federal spending, 52 days for state and local spending, 48 days for federal regulations, and 26 days for state and local regulations.

We know the problem. How do we do a U-turn on the road to serfdom?

Step one is to stop digging the hole deeper. The TARP bailout should be ended, all unspent funds used to pay down debt. Any money not yet spent on the stimulus should be left unspent. And the trillion-dollar spending hike over the next decade that Congress passed in 2009 should be repealed. Two years of that trillion have been spent. The rest can be saved now by refusing to spend it.

At the federal level, recent studies have shown that federal workers are paid — in wages, benefits, and salary — an average of $123,000. Private-sector workers are paid $61,000. That means taxpayers in the real economy are paying $62,000 more than they earn themselves to each of their “civil servants.” Pay fairness would save taxpayers $175 billion each year and $2 trillion over the next decade. State and local government workers earn an average of $80,000 compared with $61,000 for the private sector — this includes pay, benefits, and pensions. Since there are 19 million state and local employees, we simply multiply the $19,000 per worker overpayment times 19 million and find that state and local taxpayers are overpaying by $361 billion every year, or $4 trillion over a decade. Pay equity for taxpayers would save 33 percent of all state and local taxes.

Three good ideas have bubbled up about changing the way Washington spends money that would result in large, if difficult-to-quantify, savings for taxpayers.

First, every piece of legislation that spends money should be required to be put online so every American can read it for five working days before either the House or the Senate can vote on the bill. And if a single word is changed by amendments, the five-day waiting period begins again so that the final product stands naked to the world for five full days. No more surprises. No more thousand-page bills hiding untold corruptions and payoffs for lobbyists.

Second, Congress should bring back the Joint Committee on Reduction of Nonessential Federal Expenditures, formerly known as the “Byrd Committee.” This committee, created in 1942, actually proposed and won $38 billion in spending cuts measured in today’s dollars. It is the committee that proposed ending the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Work Projects Administration. Imagine the power of an Anti-Appropriations Committee that would send out subpoenas demanding accountability from the federal bureaucracy as it spends our money and the power to write laws that defund failed programs.

Third, the Appropriations Committee itself, the source of bridges to nowhere and tens of thousands of earmarks, needs to be reformed. Membership on the powerful and tempting-to-corruption committee should be limited to six years for any member. Then no member of Congress would spend his or her career in Washington as a professional spender of other people’s money.

And last, transparency of all government spending and contracts should be the law of the land at the federal, state, and local levels. In Texas, Gov. Rick Perry got the ball rolling by putting every check written by the state, and every contract, online so every American can see it. Missouri followed, as did 29 other states. Utah and Florida went further and mandated that all local-government spending and contracts be put online. When Americans can see how their money is spent, they will become more informed and competent defenders of their rights.

Federal, state, and local spending is growing too fast. It has gotten much worse in the past two years. But we can change the future. We can make a U-turn on the road to serfdom.

— Grover Norquist is president of Americans for Tax Reform. The Cost of Government Day study can be viewed at CostOfGovernment.com.
(from: National Review Online)

Movie Trailer: I Want Your Money

Highlight: Ronald Reagan's statement that the government spends like drunken sailors, but that at least drunken sailors are spending their own money!

Decision Not to Rebuild Church Destroyed on 9/11 Surprises Greek Orthodox Leaders

Greek Orthodox leaders trying to rebuild the only church destroyed in the Sept. 11 terror attacks expressed shock this week after learning, via Fox News, that government officials had killed a deal to relocate the church.

The St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, once a tiny, four-story building in the shadows of lower Manhattan, was destroyed in 2001 by one of the falling World Trade Center towers. Nobody from the church was hurt in the attack, but the congregation has, for the past eight years, been trying to rebuild its house of worship.

Though talks between the church and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey stalled last year, church leaders say they've been trying to kick-start discussions ever since. But amid debate over whether a proposed Islamic community center should go forward near Ground Zero, government officials threw cold water on the prospect of any deal with the church -- telling Fox News the deal is off the table.

Confronted with the Port Authority's verdict, Father Mark Arey, of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, said it's the first he's heard that.

"Negotiations did break off last year. We were expecting to hear from their lawyers -- we never did. We're still expecting to hear from them," he told Fox News. "We're disappointed. ... 130 Liberty Street was promised to us."

Arey was referring to the address, about 100 yards away from the original site, where the government earlier proposed relocating the church. The Port Authority and the church announced a deal in July 2008 under which the Port Authority would grant land and up to $20 million to help rebuild the church -- in addition, the authority was willing to pay up to $40 million to construct a bomb-proof platform underneath.

Within a year, the deal fell through and talks ended -- apparently for good, according to the Port Authority.

The archdiocese and Port Authority now offer sharply conflicting accounts of where things went wrong. The Port Authority has previously claimed the church was making additional demands -- like wanting the $20 million up front and wanting to review plans for the surrounding area. They say the church can still proceed on its own if it wishes.

"The church continues to have the right to rebuild at their original site, and we will pay fair market value for the underground space beneath that building," a spokesperson with the Port Authority told Fox News.

But Arey said the original site is no good. Archdiocese officials disputed the Port Authority's claims, saying the church has complied with all conditions.

"It's not about money," Arey said. He expressed hope that the project can still be salvaged.

"This little church deserves to be rebuilt. It's symbolic, not just for Orthodox Christians, not just for Christians, but for all Americans," Arey said, calling the mosque debate "helpful" to the church's cause. "I believe that people around the country are asking themselves the question -- why all this talk about a mosque being built near Ground Zero? What about a little church that was destroyed on 9/11? ... This is basically a bureaucratic impasse. This will dissolve in the face of the American public consciousness."

Former New York Gov. George Pataki, who worked with the church as governor, told Fox News on Tuesday that the church should be rebuilt.

George Demos, a Republican candidate for New York's 1st Congressional District, also has drawn attention to the negotiations. He released an open letter to President Obama Tuesday urging him to, as he did with the mosque debate, weigh in on the church discussions.

"While we may disagree on the appropriateness of the mosque, we can surely agree that it is an issue of national importance that the only house of worship actually destroyed on September 11, 2001, the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, be rebuilt," Demos wrote. "Mr. President, please stand up and defend our Judeo-Christian values, express your public and unwavering support for St. Nicholas Church, and ensure that it is rebuilt."

Father Alex Karloutsos, assistant to the head of the Greek Orthodox Church in America, Archbishop Demetrios, told FoxNews.com that the Port Authority "simply forgot about the church" at Ground Zero.

Fox News' David Lee Miller and Kathleen Foster and FoxNews.com's Judson Berger contributed to this report.

Best Buy Takes on Priest for Copyright Violation Over 'God Squad' Mobile

It's God versus the Geeks.

A major electronics retailer is threatening legal action against a Wisconsin priest over his "God Squad" vehicle, claiming the logo on the clergyman's Volkswagen Beetle is identical to its own "Geek Squad" design.

Rev. Luke Strand, pastor of Holy Family Catholic Church in Fond du Lac, Wis., is no longer using the logo after Best Buy served him a cease-and-desist order, arguing that his religious vehicle is a copyright violation of its famous "Geek Squad" mobile.

The trademark of "Geek Squad" -- a Best Buy subsidiary that offers computer-related services to customers -- is a black Volkswagen Beetle with a catchy sticker logo on its front door. Strand's vehicle, also a black Volkswagen Beetle, has a black and white circular logo on its door that reads "God Squad." Rosary beads hang from the car’s rearview mirror and the license plate says "Godlvya."

"They feel that the shape and the font of the logo and the fact that it's on the Volkswagen bugcauses confusion with their Geek Squad," Rhea Behlke, a spokeswoman for the church, told FoxNews.com.

Behlke said Strand, who was not available for comment Tuesday, has agreed to no longer use the logo. She said he was initially surprised by the letter threatening legal action but understands the company’s argument.

"They really have a responsibility to protect their trademark," she said. "There’s absolutely no animosity. He understands their position -- legally they have to do that."

"He's very aware that every company has to protect its trademark and that 'Geek Squad' is a protected trademark," Strand’s fellow clergyman, Rev. Bob Stiefvater, said in an interview with WLUK-TV.

Behlke said Strand has driven the "God Squad" around Fond du Lac for a "number of years" as a "creative way to bring God to the streets."

"It's just another tool to make the church open and accessible to people who may not otherwise feel comfortable approaching a priest. That is the purpose of the car and that will continue to be the purpose of the car," Behlke said, adding that the "God Squad" vehicle "will continue in some form."

A representative for Best Buy was not immediately available when contacted Tuesday by FoxNews.com. The company reportedly struggled with its decision to order Strand to give up his logo.

"At the end of the day it’s bad precedent to let some groups violate our trademark while pursuing others,” Paula Baldwin, a spokeswoman for Best Buy, said in a statement.

Click here to read more on this story from Fox11Online.com

FoxNews.com's Cristina Corbin contributed to this report