Russia impacts U.S. fall elections
by George Porter

Russia’s invasion of neighboring Georgia has a broader background often ignored by main-stream U.S. media. Modern Georgia came into being in 2003 with the “Rose Revolution”, a bloodless revolution that displaced Russian backed Eduard Shevardnadze. In January of 2004 Mikheil Saakashvili was elected president of Georgia by a large majority. Residents in two regions of the new Georgia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, preferred to stay independent of the new Georgia and maintain closer ties with Russia.

When attempts by President Saakashvikli to get the leaders in South Ossetia and Abkhazia to accept the “broadest possible autonomy within the internationally recognized borders of Georgia” failed in recent weeks, he sent Georgian troops to put down an “internal rebellion” by force. Superior Russian troops quickly entered battle in support of the break-away provinces.

Nicolas Sarkozy, French President and currently head of the European Union, worked out a cease-fire that calls for the immediate withdrawal of Russian combat troops from Georgia but allows Russian peacekeeping forces to remain and to conduct patrols within six miles of the separatist regions until international mediators can be put in place.

August 13, Russian leaders received in Moscow the leaders of the two break-away provinces and pledged “to guarantee on the ground and internationally whatever status the two pro-Russian provinces of Georgia choose.” Abkhazia has previously voted for independence, South Ossetia has voted to join Russia.

Mr. Saakashvili said he would never accept the loss on any Georgian territory and President Bush reiterated that he wouldn’t allow Georgia to be broken up.

The leaders of pro-western governments in Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine flew to Tbilisi, capital of Georgia, to demonstrate their support for the territorial integrity of Georgia, and to condemn Russian aggression -- fearing Russian meddling with dissident groups within their own borders.

President Bush said his administration is “working closely with our partners in Europe and other members of the G-7 to bring a resolution to this crisis.” Seeking to exclude Russia from what is now the Group of Eight leading nations is one option being considered. Another option is to block Russia’s bid to join the World Trade Organization. The U.S. cancelled a planned joint military exercise with Russia.

Pennsylvania Democrat Rep. John Murtha, chairman of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, commenting on the Russian situation: “We’ve spent so many resources and so much attention on Iraq that we’ve lost sight of future threats down the road. The current conflict between Russia and Georgia is a perfect example.” Just before Congress recessed, Mr. Murtha’s subcommittee said it would fund an additional $523 million for 20 more F-22 fighters beyond what the White House asked for.

Now the Russian situation makes the debate over funding for the military a front burner issue. Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ approach was stated in a recently released Defense Department strategy document emphasizing a balance between developing capabilities to carry out unconventional warfare missions while fielding forces capable of handily defeating adversaries like Russia’s or China’s militaries.

Rev. Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback, the nation’s largest evangelical church with over 200,000 members, located in Orange County, Calif., recently had John McCain and Barack Obama in a forum where each candidate had one hour, and Rev. Warren asked the same questions of each candidate. One question was: “Does evil exist? If so, should we ignore it, negotiate with it, contain it, or defeat it?”

Sen. Obama took the question apart and spent time explaining that evil does exist – in Darfur, in U.S. cities and in parents who abuse their children. He then said “It has to be confronted.”

John McCain answered “Defeat it,” and went on to again promise he would follow Osama bin Laden “to the gates of hell” to stop terrorism. McCain in a separate response condemned Russia’s attack on Georgia.

In an Aug. 14 Wall Street Journal article by Sen. McCain titled “We are all Georgians” he wrote: “Two years ago I traveled to South Ossetia. As soon as we arrived in its self proclaimed capital – now occupied by Russian troops – I saw an enormous billboard that read ‘Vladimir Putin, Our President.’ This was on sovereign Georgian territory…Russian claims of humanitarian motives were further belied by a bombing campaign that encompassed the whole of Georgia, destroying military bases, apartment buildings, and other infrastructure, and leaving innocent civilians wounded and killed.”

McCain wrote that we must make clear to Russian leaders that the benefits they enjoy from being a part of the civilized world require their respect for the values, stability and peace of that world.

Barack Obama has been silent. McCain should ask Obama to join him in a town meeting on lessons from Russia’s aggression. Does Obama still oppose U.S. missile defense efforts? Does Obama still favor Russia being a member of the G-8? Should China be admitted? Should Russia be admitted to the World Trade Organization? Does Obama consider Putin helpful regarding Iran?

George Porter is a retired insurance company executive and a Duncan Banner columnist. He may be reached at geo.porter@att.net

IN OBAMA'S OWN WORDS!

Senator Barack Obama wrote a book entitled, Audacity of Hope. In it, he reveals how he has come to understand truth, and that his political views are really an extension of his religious views. Without my comments, here are some excerpts from Audacity of Hope.

Speaking of his mother, he says In her mind, a working knowledge of the world’s great religions was a necessary part of any well-rounded education. (p. 203)

In our household, the Bible, the Koran, and the Bhagavad Gita sat on the shelf alongside books of Greek and Norse and African mythology. On Easter or Christmas day, my mother might drag me to church, just as she dragged me to the Buddhist temple, the Chinese New Year celebration, the Shinto shrine, and the ancient Hawaiian burial sites. But I was made to understand that such religious samplings required no sustained commitment on my part…Religion was an expression of human culture, she would explain, not its wellspring, just one of the many ways…(p. 204)

And yet for all her professed secularism, my mother was in many ways the most spiritually awakened person that I’ve ever known. She had an unswerving instinct for kindness, charity, and love, and spent much of her life acting on that instinct…Without the help of religious texts…she worked mightily to instill in me the values that many Americans learn in Sunday school; honesty empathy, discipline, delayed gratification, and hard work. She raged at poverty and injustice, and scorned those who were indifferent to both. (p. 205)

But it was my mother’s fundamental faith—in the goodness of people and the ultimate value of this brief life we’ve each been given—that channeled those ambitions. (p. 206)

Almost by definition, faith and reason operate in different domains and involved different paths to discerning truth. Reason—and science—involves the accumulation of knowledge based on realities that we can all apprehend. Religion, by contrast is based on truths that are not provable through ordinary human understanding—the ‘belief in things not seen.’ When science teachers insist on keeping creationism or intelligent design out of their classrooms, they are not asserting that scientific knowledge is superior to religious insight. They are simply insisting that each path to knowledge involves different rules and that those rules are not interchangeable. (p. 219)

I am not willing to have the state deny American citizens a civil union…nor am I willing to accept a reading of the Bible that considers an obscure line in Romans to be more defining of Christianity than the Sermon on the Mount. (p. 222)

When I read the Bible, I do so with the belief that it is not a static text but the Living Word and that I must be continually open to new revelations… (p. 224)

Weekly Opinion/Editorial

ABOVE HIS PAY GRADE!

by Steve Fair

Saturday evening, Rick Warren, pastor of the mega Saddleback Church, in Southern California questioned the two Presidential candidates in what was billed as a civil forum. Each candidate was asked the same questions over the course of an hour with Senator Obama going first. The questions ranged from the candidate’s personal faith to their political views. Their style of answering questions as well as their answers reveal a great deal about the two candidates. I'm not a fan of Rick Warren's cheap grace theology, but the forum was fair and provided some valuable insight into the two candidates.

The most revealing moment of the two hours was when Warren touched on the subject of abortion. “When does life begin?” Warren asked both candidates. Recognizing answering this question with the right answer would alienate much of his liberal base, Obama stated that he couldn’t definitely say- either theologically or biologically. When asked most forthrightly by Warren as to when a child should have its God given rights protected, Obama, the father of two daughters, balked and claimed "knowing when something" that is obviously living, "begins to live" was, "above his pay grade."

Obviously uncomfortable with the subject, the Illinois Senator went into his patented tap dance. He said abortions should be limited and he was going to reduce them. He bragged about his insertion of a meaningless plank in the National Democratic platform that says abortions should be limited. This plank conflicts with another that states the government should provide funding for abortions.

Obama’s most outright lie was his claim that abortion rates had gone up over the last eight years. Within minutes pro-life groups like Americans United for Life and even the analyst panel on Fox News Channel had the stats in front of the American public. Abortion rates have actually decreased over the last eight years, and have done so in significant fashion. In fact in January of 2008 it was reported by the Guttmacker Institute and reported in UN News and World Report that abortions had reached a three decade low.

Obama said he would limit abortions in the late stages of pregnancy if there are exceptions for the mother's health. He said he knew that people who consider themselves pro-life would find his stance "inadequate."

McCain expressed his anti-abortion stand simply and quickly, saying human rights begin the instant a human egg is fertilized- at conception. McCain, who adopted a daughter from Bangladesh, also called for making adoption easier.

When Warren asked Obama a follow up question, “Have you ever voted to limit or reduce abortions, the Senator answered, “I am in favor, for example, of limits on late term abortions if there is an exception for the mother’s health. Now from the perspective of those who, you know, are pro life, I think they would consider that inadequate. and I respect their views. I mean one of the things that I’ve always said is that on this particular issue, if you believe that life begins at conception, then — and you are consistent in that belief, then I can’t argue with you on that because that is a core issue of faith for you.”

Has Barack Obama ever voted to reduce abortions? Obama never answered that question at Saddleback, but he hasn’t. He voted against the ban on partial-birth abortions, a bill that passed Congress on a bipartisan basis three times before finally becoming law. In Illinois, he voted to kill a bill that would have stopped Christ Hospital and other medical facilities from abandoning live infants from unsuccessful abortions so that they would die of neglect.

Why would Obama agree to participate in a forum where he knew the subject of abortion would come up? The reason is votes. In 1992 the presidential election was decided by fourty five percent of Christians who voted in favor of abortion and special privileges for homosexuals. The Clinton victory is particularly sour to those who supported Bush’s pro-life, pro-family stances. According to a Christian Coalition exit survey, 25 percent of all voters in 1992 identified themselves as white evangelical Christians – or 25 million voters. Only 55 percent of these voters supported George Bush Senior. The rest were divided: 28 percent supported Clinton; and 17 percent, Perot. This election stood in stark contrast to 1988, when Bush received 88 percent of the Christian vote. Those eight million Christians who switched over to Clinton or Perot, candidates who supported abortion on demand and homosexual rights, gave the election to Clinton. If this same group had supported Bush in 1992, he would have won by three million votes.

No matter what the political pundits are saying, Christians control elections. Obama knows that and that’s the reason he has been so cozy with Warren and other evangelicals. If Obama, like Clinton did in 1992, can convince Christians his post modern views are compatable with the Bible, he can get elected. Let’s hope that task is also above his pay grade.

SOAP BOX

by Charlie Daniels(CDB pictured above)

Posted August 11, 2008

More at http://www.charliedaniels.com/soapbox.htm

Last week I wrote a column about far-left liberals and some of you had some comments about what could be said about far-right conservatives. So in the interest of fair play we'll explore the other side of the equation. I am a far-right conservative. I believe in the accumulation of wealth earned by the sweat of your brow or the intelligence of your mind. I believe that everybody who is able should work for a living and nobody is entitled to lifelong benefits from an over-bloated government.I believe that a person should be able to keep the lion's share of what they earn. I believe in fair taxes but not in the nanny state, cradle-to-grave coddling that discourages productivity and encourages illegitimate birth of children to irresponsible parents who continue to create generation after generation of welfare families who actually think they're entitled to stay on the dole all their lives. I believe in charity to those who truly need it, but I believe that our welfare program surpassed that standard long ago and that a large share of the money paid out by government programs ends up in the pockets of drug dealers, in the cash registers of liquor stores and in the coffers of bookies. I also believe that charity should given from the heart and not be mandated by the government.I believe that when a man fathers a child he should be forced to provide for the child until it reaches the age of majority, whether it be one child or ten, and if they should fail to do so be kept in prison. I believe that life begins at conception, period. I believe that all Americans should be able to afford healthcare, but I don't believe the government is capable of handling it. Look at the fraud the Medicare program has brought on.I believe there should be a twenty-year minimum prison sentence for those who steal other people's identity.I believe in the death penalty in cases of cold-blooded murder and also in the cruel rape of a child. I believe that a child molester is the lowest form of scum walking on the planet and that anybody who cruelly violates an innocent child deserves a life sentence when the death penalty can't be applied.I believe that the Islamic crazies are blood enemies of the United States of America and all free men everywhere and it is an us or them situation. Either we destroy them or they destroy us. To think anything less is unbelievably naive.I don't have all the answers to our current energy crisis, but have enough gray matter to know that we can't make it through the decades we need to develop alternative energy sources without oil, and along with the help of a few new refineries. Yes, we can drill our way out of this situation and will need to, at least for the next few years.I believe that the United States should take a great national pride in what we have accomplished in the last century, the prosperity and technological advances, and be thankful that we are number one. I believe that we should do all we can to clean up our atmosphere and waters, but at the end of the day, if the rest of the world doesn't do the same thing it's not going to be enough.We should only bear our own responsibility, not be penalized for things we have no control over. If you've been watching the Olympics from China you'll know what I'm talking about.I've never seen a spotted owl but I know we have plenty of owls of some kind or another in my part of the country and they have no problem prospering where the timber is harvested and civilization abounds. Since snail darters are microscopic I don't know if we have them around or not, but I'm not really worried about them. Maybe they're all over at Al Gore's house.I believe that the Supreme Court should be apolitical, not influenced by the right or the left but a personal heartfelt interpretation of the Constitution.I want the government to protect my country, pave the interstates and get the heck out of the rest of my life. I don't need them to tell me which doctor I can go to, what kind of car I can drive or what light bulbs I can use and I know for a fact it doesn't take a village to raise my kids, it takes a family.If you ask me a question I will try to give you an answer, not ask you another question.My political philosophies will stand tall in the light of truth.I think Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi care much less about the American public than the proliferation of their own power. I believe they are extremely dangerous to the future of this nation.I believe that legal marriage can only exist between a man and a woman.I believe that this country… No, I know that this country was founded on Judeo-Christian principles and no amount of revisionist history or politically correct parsing can change that truth. I believe that man was created by Almighty God and subject to His judgment, a fact that will become perfectly clear to every person ever born on this Earth in the days to come.I believe that the United Nations is a corrupt, sad joke and takes up space on valuable property in New York, which could be put to a much better use, even if it was used for a trash dump.I believe in the sovereignty of nations, I do not believe in global government or global controls. I believe America should look out for the interests of America and our allies and stop playing up to the people who want to harm us.I believe that we should be as friendly and cooperative as we can with European nations, but we have absolutely no reason to imitate them.I do not believe that America should be the policeman for the world.I believe that CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post and many of the weekly magazines and Internet sites are in the tank for the libs. They hate opposing opinions and have no qualms about playing fast and loose with the truth.As far as Fox News being fair and balanced goes, it's been so long since you libs have heard a voice of reason that you think every media source that doesn't totally agree with you is a mouthpiece for the Republican party.I believe that General David Petraeus is a military genius. I believe the surge is a smashing success and I believe our military is the best on the planet.I believe that not to maintain the strongest and most technologically advanced military and intelligence services on Earth would be the height of folly. I will readily admit that President George W. Bush has made mistakes, but show me one president who hasn't. I predict that down the road people will look back at his presidency and admit, some people very grudgingly, that he was a leader, not a follower of polls who stuck his finger into the wind every day to see which way opinion was blowing.I believe that America is the greatest country the world has ever known, with more freedom, more opportunity and the biggest heart of any nation on Earth.If you have a guilt complex about living in America and sharing in it's greatness and prosperity, there is an easy remedy. Empty your bank account, sell your belongings and give it all to a third world country and use the last of it to buy yourself a plane ticket there.What do you think?Pray for our troops. God Bless America Charlie Daniels

CHAIR OF DEMOCRAT PARTY IN ARKANSAS SHOT!

http://www.politico.com/blogs/scorecard/0808/Arkansas_Dem_party_chairman_shot.html

WHERE IS JIM ROTH GETTING HIS MONEY?

Part of it came from THE VICTORY FUND, the national organization committed to electing gay candidates to office.- Roth was a special guest at the funds annual fundraiser in DC- see below:

VICTORY CHAMPAGNE BRUNCH: The Victory Fund, the national organization committed to electing gay candidates to official positions, holds a fundraising event in order to support its cause. Special guests include Oklahoma County Commissioner Jim Roth, Maryland State Delegate Anne Kaiser, as well as The Praise Team of The MCC of Washington, D.C., who will be performing at the event. Sunday, April 2, 2008 11:30 a.m. ­ 2 p.m. The Mayflower Hotel, 1127 Connecticut Ave., NW. $125. 202-842-7313 or www.victoryfund.org/brunch. To read the story, click on link below:
http://www.washblade.com/2006/3-24/calendars/bestbets.cfm

The Oklahoma Political News blog is reporting the openly gay Roth delivered the sermon at Mayflower Congretional Church? yesterday. According to his bio, he is a member of the "unapologetically" liberal church. For more on Mayflower click on the link below:

http://www.mayflowerucc.org/who/covenant.html

Dana Murphy, the Republican candidate for Corporation Commissioner's challenge will be getting the message out that she is running against an openly gay man- who flaunts his sexual perversion publically. No voter in Oklahoma should go into the voting booth November 4th without that information. Roth is gay and proud of it! He doesn't represent the values of the overwhelming majority of Oklahomans. Pass the word- Roth is Gay!

Weekly Opinion/Editorial

CHANGE NOT ALWAYS POSITITVE
by Steve Fair

In eighty plus days America will go to the polls and cast their ballots for President of the United States. Every four years, the same tune is played- “this is the most important election in our lifetime.” And each time, the tune is right- it is our most important election. Seldom have Americans had such a clear contrast between candidates than this year.

On the Republican side, you have a veteran U.S. Senator John McCain, R-AZ. McCain is a former POW and highly decorated veteran. On the Democrat side, you have freshman Senator Barrick Obama, D-IL, who did not serve in our nation’s armed forces, yet wants to command them.

Obama has gone on record that he would sit down and talk with terrorist leaders. He has also been against the war in Iraq from the beginning. While that makes Obama popular among the anti-war crowd, it doesn’t endear him to the majority in the military.

Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney said some conservative retired military leaders are concerned about Obama's "apparent lack of understanding on the threat of radical Islam to the United States."

Senator McCain has been consistent on Iraq. McCain says, “the best way to secure long-term peace and security is to establish a stable, prosperous, and democratic state in Iraq that poses no threat to its neighbors and contributes to the defeat of terrorists. When Iraqi forces can safeguard their own country, American troops can return home.”

Even Obama supporters admit McCain has more experience than their candidate. So to compensate for Obama’s lack of experience, they have opted to sell “hope” and “change,” to the American voter. In fact, Obama’s book coming out next month is entitled, Change We Can Believe In: Barack Obama's Plan to Renew America's Promise. It will include a campaign photo album from the road, a collection of seven of the hit speeches and new essays outlining his policy proposals.

The first major change President Obama would make would be the increasing of taxes and fees on hardworking Americans. These would be necessary to pay for Obama’s expansion of social programs.

The second major change would be in the area of America’s foreign policy. Obama's foreign-policy pronouncements promise a break from those of the past twenty years. Two tenets are most prominent. One is to engage our enemies and be nicer to our allies. The other calls for leaving Iraq on a set timetable. If Obama is elected President, he has publicly stated all American troops would be out of Iraq in sixteen months.

Gas prices are soaring. Americans are frustrated that we continue to beg the Saudis to pump another half-million barrels a day on their soil and off their shores to ease global tight supplies, when we could pump much more than that in Alaska, off our coasts and on the continental shelf -- and thus save hundreds of billions of dollars.

Yet Senator Obama's change probably wouldn't include more drilling; more nuclear power plants; or fuel extraction from tar sands, shale or coal. Instead, his strategy emphasizes more conservation; mass transit; and wind, solar and alternate green energy. All that is certainly wise and could be a winning combination by 2030, but right now it won't fill our tanks.

McCain is a known commodity. He is pro-life. He is a fiscal conservative. He supports offshore drilling and drilling in ANWA. McCain has worked with Democrats across the isle. When asked why he is supporting John McCain, Oklahoma’s junior U.S. Senator Tom Coburn said, “John McCain is the only person running for President with the courage to veto any legislation that has earmarks in it.” “Americans need to understand that we are in a fiscal crisis and Senator McCain is exactly what we need at this time in our nation.”

The real difference between McCain and Obama is that McCain is a known commodity. Part of that is because he has been on the national scene for over twenty years and has not always followed the party line on issues. McCain has a bottom line- a core- and as his North Vietnamese captors found out, he will only go so far and then his pride or his sense of honor takes over.
Obama may have a similar bottom line, core principles for which, in some sense, he is willing to die. If so, we don't know what they are. Nothing so far in his life approaches McCain's decision to refuse repatriation as a POW so as to deny his jailers a propaganda coup. In fact, there is little evidence that Obama takes positions that challenge his base or otherwise threaten him politically. Change for changes sake is a fools game. America should go with the person they know the best- John McCain.