DARKNESS CANNOT VANQUISH LIGHT

For some time now, I've been thinking about, and concerned about, the darkness that seems to be creeping across this country of ours. I think we all feel it, sense it, and often believe we actually see it. We see it on our TV screens, read about it in our newspaper, see it in our movies (if we dare go to a movie anymore). We see it in the behavior of the teenagers and young adults that inhabit the malls and streets of the cities.

Most recently, we are seeing a trend toward the darker, seamier side of life in America, in the person of one of our presidential candidates, Barack Hussein Obama. This man has for many years been in the company of highly questionable individuals. He has consorted with a self-confessed and unrepentant terrorist, a man who committed the same crime for which Timothy McVeigh was executed- that of bombing a public building. Yet, this particular terrorist is walking free, boasts of his accomplishment, and seemingly fears no retribution. In fact, he and his accomplice/wife have moved on and are now "respected" college professors, according to one Googled account. One has to wonder under whose protection they exist.

There are many other things about Mr. Obama that I find questionable, if not downright scary, but it's not my intention to go into those things right here and now. What I am most concerned about is the identity and power source of whatever machine has put him where he is today - on the presidential election ticket of the United States. My parents would absolutely not believe it, and my grandparents would probably go into cardiac arrest.

Let me say right here, don't even bother waving the race card at me, because that dog won't hunt. Mr. Obama could be snow white and I would feel no differently about him. That's not even the issue, but his politics and his highly questionable background most definitely are. I think it's very interesting to note that if he were to apply for a job as a Secret Service agent, he would not be accepted. He could never be a presidential bodyguard. With his background, he could not pass the security check, not by a long shot, and yet he's running for president. It's evident that someone with a great deal of power wants him at the helm of this nation. Who? Why?

As I said, there is a darkness creeping across this land, and its name is Islam. If someone, somewhere, is funding Mr. Obama, and putting the right people in place to pave the way for him, I think we have to look no further than the Islamic powers. They have stated their intention to possess this land, and getting Mr. Obama in the White House will be a major coup. He says he is not a Muslim. I cannot judge him on that point, only God can do that. However, we can all see and judge his behavior toward the Muslims, and it seems to me that he is extremely cozy with them. I have not seen or heard anything that would make me think he would offer them any resistance at all. Having family members who are Muslims doesn't help much, either.

Now, about that spreading darkness. I sat in my church services last Sunday, and listened to my pastor's sermon. Some folks do listen in church, and would be able to tell whether their pastor was a radical, rabid, snot-flyin', anti-American racist. It wouldn't take twenty years to arrive at the conclusion, either.

The sermon was thoughtful, well-prepared and nicely delivered, as always. It was taken from Matthew, the fifth chapter, which admonishes Christians to be "the light of the world". The pastor spoke of our responsibility to take light into the world, to spread light, to illuminate the dark places. Somewhere along the way, a notion began to take shape in my mind, an idea about darkness versus light.

Darkness, you see, is a nothing. A neuter. A non-existent thing in and of itself. Darkness only exists where light does not. I once had the experience of being deep in Carlsbad Cavern, and our guide turned off the lights momentarily. The darkness was so thick, so black, you could almost feel it and taste it. I found it difficult to breathe, as though the darkness was suffocating me. Then he turned on one small lamp, and the darkness went away, instantly. It could only return if the guide turned that lamp off, and he did not. Instead, he turned on more lights, and even more on the trail ahead of us, and the darkness was cast out.

Darkness cannot impose itself on light. Just as cold is simply the absence of heat, so darkness is simply the absence of light. Darkness has no power over light, but light has total power over darkness.

This brings me to my point. If it is true that a darkness is spreading across this land, it is only because we are allowing the light to recede. This scripture has perhaps never been more relevant than it is right now:

You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. Matt. 5:14-16.

We are the light of the world? That's a pretty tall order, and it's getting taller day by day. The darkness is standing at our borders, ready to rush in when our light goes out. It will rush in, and it will suffocate us.

The leaders of that dark, oppressive, misguided belief system hate us, and want to see us dead, wiped away, exterminated, eliminated. They claim to be a "religion of peace" but their actions say otherwise. While we are allowing them to build their mosques in our suburbs, they are burning churches and slaughtering Christians by the numbers. They explain this by saying it's a "radical fringe" that does these things, but they do nothing to stop it. I would be very impressed if they arrested some of those radicals and held them accountable for their actions, but they do not.

Can you imagine the outrage, the screaming and posturing that would be exhibited if some lunatic here burned down a mosque? Imagine if some thugs killed a Muslim on his way to prayers. Never mind that our judicial system would convict the thugs of a hate crime and would punish them accordingly. That would not be enough to satisfy them, and the cries of protest would be heard around the world.

I'm no expert on Islam, not by any stretch of the imagination. However, I do know that it's a male-dominated system, in which women have little or no value and are subject to the whims of the men. Non-Muslims are considered "infidels", which is even worse than being a woman, and in fact, Muslim men are honored to have the opportunity to slay an infidel, thus buying themselves a higher place in paradise. This explains the suicide bombers.

This blind, hateful animosity toward non-Muslims is part of the darkness. It is not all of it, but it is a very dangerous part of it. Our only defense is light, the light of God and His plan for our salvation. We must let that light shine, not only our one little lamp, but we must continue to turn the light on ahead of us, to light the trail that goes beyond. We do this by teaching and thoroughly training our children, making sure that they are children of God. We do it through missions, by following Christ's commission to "go therefore into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature". We do it by witnessing to our friends and neighbors, not only by direct verbal witness but by leading a life that will point them to God. We do this so that when time turns our light out, all the lights around us will be so bright that it will be scarcely noticed. That's the only thing that will keep the darkness at bay.

The Muslims are deeply indoctrinated in their beliefs, from babyhood. They are very serious. Make no mistake. If we let the light of God go out in this country, the darkness of Islam will overrun us just as quickly as your bedroom goes dark when you turn off the lamp. It likely won't happen in my lifetime, since I'm already older than dirt, but it could happen in my children's lifetime, and my grandchildren almost certainly will see it. Are we ready for that?

THE TRUTH, THE WHOLE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH!

Like everyone else with an email account, I receive a lot of forwards every day. Some I just delete with barely a glance, especially those that warn me of damnation to follow if I don't forward it. Some I read, agree or disagree, and delete. Some make me laugh out loud, or provide my "Awwww" moment for the day. (I love those!) There are those which I just know instinctively are not true. However, if they're sufficiently intriguing, I vet them through Truthorfiction.com. If they can be verified, and I think folks on my list would be interested, then I might forward them. If they turn out to be hoaxes, I usually notify the sender, though that sometimes doesn't endear me to that person. Still, if it were me, I'd want to know.

Occasionally one comes along that just strikes all sorts of chords, and begs to be forwarded. I received one of those today. I was unable to verify this in its entirety, but it's really not necessary. The things that can be verified, such as the Kennedy thing, (and yes, TorF does have this one) live in the memories of many of us anyway. Who could forget Toad Kennedy's escapade at Chappaquiddick, when Mary Jo Kopechne drowned in his wrecked car, while he swam to safety? Remember how he made it to the compound for dry clothes and coffee, but was "too confused" to report the accident for over six hours, enough time to be sure the girl had drowned, and by which time the archangel of the Democratic party was sober enough to risk calling the police? Not everyone will remember that the girl was pregnant, because there was only one little newspaper article that mentioned it, but I do remember seeing it, with my own two little beady eyes, and remember searching for more about it in the papers, but it had been thoroughly squelched.

The rest of the specific events mentioned in this email are verifiable too. We all know about Ayers - he WAS convicted, you know - and his connection to Obama is documented and undeniable. How can we even consider a candidate who has ties to a convicted terrorist?

Some of the points in this email are matters of opinion and not verifiable, such as how fishing without a license stacks up to a lawyer practicing plagiarism. And by the way, if we want to consider liability for spousal errors, I'll take Mr. Palin's fishing license thing AND his 22-year old DUI, over Michelle Obama's America-bashing thesis any day. For these "opinion points", you'll just have to let your conscience be your guide.

Here's the body of it:

Listening to the mainstream media these last few days I've learned a few things about the GOP's VP nominee but also had to learn a few things on my own. To wit:

1. From the media I learned Sarah Palin's husband has a DUI conviction from 22 years ago. On my own I learned that Ted Kennedy (hero of last week's tribute at the DNC) was drunk while driving a car off a bridge in Chappaquiddick. That same crash killed a young campaign volunteer with whom he was having an affair. Oh, and that woman was pregnant with his child. Mr. Palin's (who is not running for office) DUI came a mere 4 years after Barack Obama (who is running for president) stopped using cocaine and marijuana (by his own admission in his autobiography).

Shocking - it's OK for the presidential candidate to use drugs or the party patriarch to kill someone while driving drunk yet the husband of a VP candidate should be demonized for something done 22 years ago.

2. From the media I learned that Sarah Palin's daughter is pregnant. On my own I learned that Joe Biden's (the other VP candidate) son was paid a large amount of money as a consultant to credit card company MBNA.
That same company had business before Senator Joe Biden concerning regulation of consumer credit practices. After the company paid a hefty sum to Mr. Biden's son, he voted in favor of legislation to help that company.
* That same son, Hunter, is also engaged in a legal investigation and suit for defrauding a former business partner

Shocking - it's a crime for the republican VP candidate to have a child who's pregnant even though it's irrelevant to how she performs her job. It's ok, however, for the democrat VP candidate while a senator to vote in favor of a company who paid his son over a quarter of a million dollars.

3. From the media I learned that Sarah Palin should be considered "selfish" for agreeing to run for VP knowing about her daughter's condition. Knowing that her public role would bring extra scrutiny on the family is selfish and she should have declined to protect her child (actually heard this on ABC this weekend).

Strange - the same people who said Sarah is selfish for running for VP did not seem to care about any impact on Chelsea when Bill Clinton had his dalliance with Monica Lewinsky. That was a private, personal matter, you see.

4. From the media I have learned to be "concerned" that Sarah Palin probably won't be able to manage her family and do an effective job of being VP at the same time.

Funny - I never heard anything about Hillary's ability to support Chelsea while re-doing healthcare or any of the other feminist icons who say you can balance work and family. They also never mention that Barack will have to balance time with his children while meeting with heads of rogue nations or how Joe Biden's kids don't even have a mom and will be fighting for his time while he hosts White House coffee fundraisers and sells nights in the Lincoln bedroom.

5. From the media I have learned that Sarah Palin is "too inexperienced" to be a heartbeat-away from the presidency. Apparently taking on corruption in your own party and running a state that's the same size people-wise as Delaware (hint hint: that's where Joe Biden is from) is not really experience. * However, time spent as a "community organizer" and less than 180 days in the senate where you've authored no significant legislation is just the type of "change" we're looking for from the top of the ticket.

Funny - inexperience at the top of the ticket is a mantra for "change" and "hope" while strong practical everyday experience as the #2 is cause for concern.
;
6. From the media I learned that Sarah Palin's husband once got a ticket for fishing without a license.
* I haven't heard much about the fact that if he were still a practicing attorney, the VP candidate Joe Biden would be dis-barred for plagiarism not once but multiple times.

It's ok to break the rules if you're a democrat candidate but not Ok if you are the spouse of a republican candidate.

7. From the media I learned that Sarah Palin doesn't know much about Iraq; in fact we wonder if she even knows where it is.
* Sarah's son volunteered into the US military and is now deployed in Iraq. I guess that doesn't count.

Sarah has spent more time with troops in Iraq (as commander of the Alaska National Guard she visited Iraq last year) than Obama has even while running for president. In fact, when Sarah went to Iraq she spent time with the troops. When Obama went there, he skipped a base visit to instead go work out at the Ritz Carlton.

8. From the media I learned that Sarah Palin is a "lightweight" and she better be a "quick study" to keep up with this team.

Funny, nobody is talking about how, after Barack Obama had "visited 57
states" according to him he only had "5 more to go" or endless other stupid gaffes that expose who he really is.

9. From the media I have learned that (gasp!), Sarah Palin's husband was once a registered member of a 3rd party that favored states' rights (man, this is really bad stuff).

* That same media has been silent to the story that when Barack Obama announced his first senate run, he did so in the home of William Ayers. Mr. Ayers is an un-repentant terrorist convicted for bombing the pentagon.
This same Mr. Ayers said on 9/11 that he and his group did not do enough to harm our military and he wished he had done more. During the same time as that comment, he was serving on a board with Barack Obama. All notes and information about their serving together is now locked up by the corrupt Chicago machine and reporter access to those records are being blocked by the Obama campaign.

If we've had any doubts about the bias of the media, it's pretty clear now where they stand. Pass this on to some of your friends who are on the fence and who get all their information from Katie Couric, Wolf Blitzer, Tom Brokaw and the gang. This is egregious and corrupt. The only way to stop it is to spread information using other outlets and make these guys irrelevant.

This brings me to the whole point of this particular edition of the blog. We HAVE those "other outlets". It's called email. It's called blogs. It's called the Internet, and Al Gore invented it! (Sorry, just kidding!) Home computers are almost as common as telephones these days. There are still a few homes who don't have one, but the residents of those homes usually have access to one at school, at work, or yes - on their cell phone. We have a network in place that can disseminate information at a very rapid rate. It's a blessing, if used properly.

The downside is that anybody who can touch a keyboard can put out anything they wish, and call it gospel. Unfortunately, far too many people do not take the time or effort to verify something before forwarding it. It sounds sensational, so hit "Forward" and "Global List" and off it goes. No, there are no HIV-infected needles hidden in the handle of gas pumps, and no, Bill Gates is not going to send you $100 for every email you forward, no matter how important the information in the email might be.

The bottom line here is that we must use this gift, this weapon, this terrible swift sword, with careful responsibility. It is a fearsome tool, one with which we can utterly defeat the biased traditional media, but it is going to take the most meticulous scrutiny on the part of everyone who ever hits a "forward" button. We can't afford to circulate trash and untruths. Fun stuff - sure. Cute pictures - of course. Inspirational messages - certainly, provided the stories are true.

Political matters are the dangerous ground. We have at our disposal the means to circulate truth when the news media - TV, radio, newspapers, magazines - are slaves to their bias and do not report all the truth, or put such a spin on it that it's not recognizable, or even in some cases, report blatant lies.

The fact is, there has been some "spinning" done on both sides, not just by the traditional media. For example, as much as I'd like to believe it, Obama did not say "I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction."- Fiction!
This is a corruption of a quote from Obama's book The Audacity of Hope. It is from a section that talks about the concerns of immigrants who are American citizens.

Here is the accurate and more complete quote: "Of course, not all my conversations in immigrant communities follow this easy pattern. In the wake of 9/11, my meetings with Arab and Pakistani Americans, for example, have a more urgent quality, for the stories of detentions and FBI questioning and hard stares from neighbors have shaken their sense of security and belonging. They have been reminded that the history of immigration in this country has a dark underbelly; they need specific assurances that their citizenship really means something, that America has learned the right lessons from the Japanese internments during World War II, and that I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction." (Per Truthorfiction.com)

As you can see, what he actually said in his book, is much less damning than the quote that has been circulated. As much as we might wish he had said it, and believe that he could have said it, the fact is, he didn't, at least not that we can prove.

Truth is truth, and should be reported as such. He has done enough to condemn himself, undeniable and unconscionable gaffes and slips that reveal where his head and his heart really are. It is not necessary for us to manufacture such things and repeat them. To do so only makes the Republicans and conservatives appear desperate and dishonest. Give him enough rope and he will hang himself. We do not need to build the gallows.

So, my friends, in the few weeks we have left, spread the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And then, VOTE!