That’s Right Nate

Movies like Groundhog Day have helped to secularize Candlemas.

Like many people this season I enjoyed the heartwarming story of how Christianity’s message was spread using the Christmas Carrol The Twelve Days of Christmas.  There are a lot of seemingly secular holidays and traditions in our society that have a Christian tradition behind them.  In the middle ages Christians throughout Europe were persecuted and in many countries the teaching of Christian doctrine was forbidden.  The Christians of the time being men and women of good faith looked for a way to pass the story of Christ’s resurrection down to their children.

The day which the Europeans called Candlemas Day was full of symbolism.  For those of you that need a refresher, on February 2nd the groundhog comes out of his burrow and looks around.  If he sees his shadow there will be 6 more weeks of winter.  If not there will be an early Spring.  This story was used to teach children of how Christ exited the tomb after 40 days.  Those 40 days are represented by the 6 weeks.  The shadow represents the shadow of sin.  Of course Spring represents the new life that Jesus calls us all to.

I suppose the obvious question is why a groundhog?  The groundhog was chosen because the European groundhog is considered a noble animal and the combination of white and gray fur can sometimes give the appearance of a robe like Jesus’s burial robes.  Also, the early Christians needed an animal that hibernated and the only two animals native to Europe that hibernate are the bear and the groundhog and you sure wouldn’t want to be waking up a bear for this.

For many centuries, European Christians used this holiday on February 2nd to keep their faith alive in the face of great persecution.  When the earliest settlers came to Pennsylvania they brought Candlemas with them.  Unfortunately, much like in our own times there was a battle over Candlemas between those for whom it was a sacred religious holiday and those who wanted to call it Groundhog Day and remove all religious significance from the day.  Sadly, Groundhog Day won that war and much of Candlemas’s religious significance was lost.   My goal is this year to remind everybody of the religious significance of Candlemas.

If you by any chance have a law firm that is in need of help, I would consider it a personal favor to me if you could take a look at Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ resume.  Gonzales is  a dedicated and diligent worker who is a motivated self-starter.  He is dynamic and not afraid to do whatever his employer asks of him.  While a position as an attorney is sought, Mr. Gonzales would also be available for the right position as a law clerk or paralegal.

According to the former Attorney General, “It’s a rough economy right now, and it’s a tough time for a lot of law firms right now. Obviously they are very careful about bringing on new people, and they are going to be careful about bringing on people where there are questions about things that may have happened in their past,”  My heart goes out to this brave man who kept this country safe from terrorists and the Department of Justice safe from Democrats.  I’m sure there are a lot of things he could do besides law if he so chooses.

I know it has to be hard for him to be out on his own right now without a job with whatever medical conditions causes all his memory problems that were so evident under congressional questioning.  He has said his dream job would be being commissioner of baseball.  I would love for major league baseball to consider it.  I would think that he could do a lot to clean up the scourage of steroids.  Suspension is one thing, but water boarding would definitely get those players to follow the straight and narrow.

Liberal media has jumped on the Center for Diseas Control’s report that shows Mississippi has become the number one state in the union for teen pregnancy.  You see, it makes the liberals feel good about themselves to point out that with abstinence only education Missisippi’s teen pregnancy rate is 60 percent higher than the national average.  However instead of looking at the 6.8% of teen girls in Misissippi who were pregnant, why not look at the 93.2% of the state’s teens who weren’t.

The reason that Mississipi has such problems with abstinence only education is pretty obvious–its teacher’s unions.  Lazy teachers who are union protected do a half ass job of teaching abstinence because they know that every teen who gets pregnant is another student who will need teaching.  This is blatant conflict of interest.  If they really want somebody to make a case for abstinence bring religious leaders or even parent volunteers into a classroom.  Boys are hopeless at this age, but we can reach the girls.   I can tell you if you let me talk about sex for half an hour with a room full of high school girls they will choose to remain virgins for a very long time.

As I’ve mentioned before, I didn’t appreciate it at the time, but I was very lucky that I grew up in the 1980s when nobody had premarital sex.  Oh it wasn’t from lack of trying on the guys’ part, but the girls always said no.   I worry about my daughter growing up in this era where morals have gone to pot, but I know that I have instilled good values in her and I know that when she starts dating I will watch her like a hawk.

Piranha Perrelli leaves all our cyborg futures in doubt

Back in 2005, a battle raged in the Senate of this country over the life of one woman.  Terry Schiavo was a courageous woman whose husband sought to kill her by removing her feeding tube simply because  she had been in a persistent vegetative state for 15 years and some doctors who examined her said damage to her cerebral cortex has made her incapable of emotion, memory or thought.

This wouldn’t even have been an issue except her husband Michael wanted to take the easy way out.  I’m sorry, but wedding vows say “til death do us part” not “til persistent vegetative state and the inability to think, feel, or remember do us part.”  Seeing Michael Schiavo’s actions for the national crisis they were, Republicans in the  Senate got involved and demanded that Terry Schiavo be kept alive.  Senator Bill Frist who was a Doctor was even able to diagnose Mrs. Schiavo over the television and see all sorts of brain activity disproving the claims of doctors who had observed her in person.

The Constitution guarantees non-aliens the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  Who is Michael Schiavo to deny his wife the right to life.  In the event that I am in a persistent vegetative state like Terry Schiavo, I wish to be kept alive by whatever machines are necessary until such a time that I can have my consciousness transferred to a cyborg body.  I would make an awesome cyborg and I have no doubt that such technology will be here soon.

Getting back to Obama, he has nominated Thomas Perrelli for the number 3 spot in the Justice Department.  Mr. Perrelli is one of the lawyers who represented Michael Schiavo in his 7 year effort to get Terry Schiavo’s tube removed.  Can’t you imagine what will happen if he gets the job?  Life and death decisions will be made be the spouses of patients instead of the politicians who were elected to make such decisions.  Fortunately, conservative groups have  stepped forward to lead the charge against Perrelli.  According to the Washington Times:

Andrea Lafferty, executive director of the Traditional Values Coalition, derided Mr. Perrelli’s selection as “just another death-peddler Obama has added to his list of nominees.” She said he’s earned the nickname among pro-lifers of “Piranha Perrelli” for his work on the case.

Tom McClusky, vice president for government affairs at the Family Research Council, said several end-of-life issues could make their way to the federal level in the next four years and having Mr. Perrelli at the department means pro-life causes would have a tougher time winning those debates.

“If the Justice Department isn’t going to do anything about it, the states, what’s to stop them from cases like Schiavo and even worse cases,” Mr. McClusky said.

As a sucker for traditional family values, I applaud these groups and shudder to think of what could happen if “Piranha Perrelli” is confirmed.  Will any of have a chance if our families can go around pulling our feeding and life support tubes willy nilly?  Will their be any kind of future for any of us?

Since the election, many of us on the right have been awaiting a new leader to emerge from the Republican party.  I am happy to say we finally have one in Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell.  McConnell made a lot of news during the auto bailout crisis. He didn’t really attract my attention then because it isn’t like turning Detroit into a wasteland of poverty has a very high degree of difficulty.  However, recently McConnell has set his sites much higher by taking on the financial wellbeing special interests.  These special interests have already gotten to Obama.

These financial wellbeing people are willing to turn their back on the sound financial Republican principles that built this economy for things like economic recovery and jobs.  McConnell has steadfastly refused to play this game by leading the charge against any kind of economic initiative or giving into the Unemployment Lobby.  If only we had men like him to stop the New Deal.  McConnell frequently reminds folks Republican senators representing 37% of the nation’s population and that’s half.  What I really like about McConnell is the new bipartisan spirit he has embraced since sometime in Fall of last year.  If Obama wants a successful administration he will work with McConnell to craft the type of legislation that us Republicans will get behind, the type of legislation that President Bush would have gotten behind.

I love the mainstream media.  They always seem to miss the real story.  As Israel pours attacks down on the Palestinians hoping to root out Hamas I have to laugh.   I mean first it is quite amusing to see a country make all the same mistakes it made in a previous war.  Could you imagine if an American President ever did that?  The press would be all over them.  Just as important are all those mainstream media reports that attacking Hamas will only make it stronger.

Nothing could be further from the truth.  Israel may be able to destroy Hamas once and for all by radicalizing the Palestinians.  You see what Israel is counting on is the large number of Wahhabi or Salafi Jihadists who see Hamas’s attacks on Israel basically the same way Ronald Reagan saw Jimmy Carter’s military policy.  The group has been waging an internal struggle in Gaza with Hamas who they see as “Islamism lite”.

According to Abu Mustafa, the 33 year old leader of a group of Salafis, “Hamas represents an American style of Islam. They have tried to curry favor.” The Salafis meanwhile do not intend to be so compromising.  It is only by destroying Hamas, that Israel can turn Gaza over to the Salafis so that they can destroy them and bring moderates to the forefront.  As more and more foreign fighters trained by al-qaeda or the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan enter Gaza, the US may look forward to a new place to strike at terrorists so they don’t strike us in the United States.

Make no mistake about it, a monument like this says a lot about Roland Burris

They say politics makes strange bedfellows and as I sit here campaigning hard for the Democrat controlled US Senate to seat Roland Burris to replace Barrack Obama.  However, that is exactly what I am doing.  I’ve made no mystery of my fondness for Governor Blagojevich despite our differing politics, but the important thing here is that as governor of Illinois Blagojevich was doing his Constitutional duty.  Therefore, Burris  should be seated.

On top of his past in statewide office, one of the things that makes Burris so qualified is like great leaders of the past such as Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, Roland Burris has a monument.    I have noticed that throughout the world it seems that the greater the man is the greater her monument.  Burris is no exception.  Not content to wait for his posterity to honor him after his demise, Burris has taken the mantle of honoring himself by the horns and the results are spectacular.

We could wait until there was a special election in Illinois or until the Lieutenant Governor appoints somebody, but what are the odds that anyone will ever build them a monument let alone one this nice.  The other problem of course is that he is African-American so by not seating him isn’t the congress just engaging in racism?  It sure seems that way.  As Burris calls himself on his monument, he is indeed a Trail Blazer.

Deers better not start anything now that I'm packing.

Imagine you take your family out for a lovely picnic lunch in your local national park.  You’re hiking down the path looking for a nice shady place to eat your lunch–dum de dum–you’re minding your own business when all of a sudden WHAM!!  Out comes a ravenous mountain lion.  You’re able to run away, but what about your poor wife and children. Chances are, they’ve become that mountain lion’s lunch.

The above scenario used to happen all the time, but now thanks to President Bush, if you go into the national parks you can do so with the confidence that you can pack heat.  If that mountain lion pops out now, you simply reach for your trusty handgun and your children are not only safe, but they also have a wonderful story to tell their friends.  Not only that, but since we can carry concealed weapons in state parks, wild animals will have absolutely no idea who is armed.  Sure, some bear may be tempted by your picnic basket, but he’ll leave you alone because he’ll know that he could wind up as a rug if he doesn’t watch his step.

The last days of an administration is a time of great statesmanship when Presidents can count on building their legacy instead of getting reelected. Already Bush has helped pardon several people who were wrongly imprisoned because either they or their families were large Republican donors and protected American businesses from excessive environmental laws. It is no wonder that Bush’s approval rating has been threatening to break into double digits.