Reformation
A Sinister US Senate is the Problem
sin·is·ter [sin-uh-ster], adjective
1. Threatening or portending evil, harm, or trouble; ominous: a sinister remark. 2. Bad, evil, base, or wicked; his sinister purposes. 3. Unfortunate; disastrous; unfavorable: a sinister accident. 4. Of or on the left side; left. (Dictionary.com)
The theme for Barack Obama’s re-election campaign is now clear. He can’t run on “hope and change” because though he is trying to change America into a European social democracy he’s decreasing hope at home. He can’t campaign on his economic achievements–unemployment is 8.6% and federal deficits are exploding.
He can’t run on his foreign policy successes. Despite the one positive of killing Osama bin Laden, it is the premature removal of troops from Iraq, his waffling on Iran, and thumbing his nose at Israel have made the world a far more dangerous place.
So here’s the campaign theme that the president and his media allies will trumpet throughout 2012: We have a “Do Nothing Congress” headed by the House Republicans that is preventing America from going forward.
That’s a lie.
What we really have is a “Sinister US Senate” that desperately needs replacing.
Yeah, I know that a week ago the House Republicans were stupid and lost the PR campaign on the payroll tax. They were right to resist the “two month” gimmick–but they messed up the negotiations with the Senate, then blinked and capitulated when the Democrats and their media allies successfully branded them the enemy of middle class tax cuts.
But who are we trying to kid? Tax cuts? It’s twenty dollars a week for the average American–for two measly months? Total = $160.
That’s a tax cut? You can’t even buy half an iPad with $160.
But the Senate was craftier at this legislative game and now the President Obama can perpetuate the myth that this is a “Do Nothing” Congress and that both Republicans and Democrats are equally to blame. His campaign theme will be to “elect an outside like him (!)” who does not vote up on dysfunctional Capitol Hill and can get on his white horse (War Horse?) and lead us to victory.
Don’t believe the spin.
Here’s the reality: We do not have a “Do-Nothing Congress.” We have a sinister US Senate that is recklessly dragging our nation in a wrong direction. On the other hand, the House of Representatives is desperately trying to get us to change course–to head us the right way.
But they are currently losing the battle to the bad guys. That’s because the US Senate has become a very sinister institution.
Don’t believe me? Let’s look at the facts.
November 2010 was a watershed election in which millions of everyday Americans who were laughingly labeled “the Tea Party” woke up and realized that America was in deep trouble. We were spending too much; We were growing the government monster and moving toward European socialism; Illegal immigration was out of control; The institution of the family was under attack.
So rallies took place all across the country and many patriotic Americans stepped into the electoral process. The result in November 2010 was a “re-born” House of Representatives that was the biggest shift from liberal to conservative in over seventy years. It was a mandate from the people that the nation needed to change direction.
Then Tea Party Representatives-elect came to Washington, D.C. to right the ship of state.
However, there was a problem. The Senate also became more conservative in 2010, but Harry Reid, the Democratic leader was re-elected, and the Democrats barely held on to a majority. And this majority of socialist-leaning progressives have been the thorn in America’s side for the past three years.
What we really have is a sinister Senate and a White House in collusion. And if America is to survive our careening-out-of-control 15 trillion dollar debt, then we need to elect a conservative majority Senate in 2012 and also a conservative president.
A sinister Senate is a bridge to nowhere (no good).
I’m not being extreme in using the label “sinister.” Look again at the above definition.
1. Threatening or portending evil, harm, or trouble
The Senate has been the true “Do Nothing” political body for two years now. Though the House passed 24 bills that would have helped bring down the deficit and create jobs in America, the Senate rejected them all. For over one thousand days they refused to approve a budget. And when it came to negotiating some desperately needed changes in entitlement programs, they refused to give in and brought the government to a standstill. There is no question this brought great harm and trouble to our nation and “threatens'” our very future.
Why is the Senate stalling everything? Why are they rejecting all the House bills and refusing to pass no legislation on their own? Because they know their radical agenda is out of step with the American people. They know it won’t fly and they don’t want to reveal their true nature by attaching themselves to “bad” votes. This is selfish, cynical politics at its worst.
2. Bad, evil, base or wicked. Not doing the peoples’ business is bad. Failing to deal honestly with the American debt crisis is absolutely evil in its ramifications. Three hundred and ten million people could be plunged into poverty and ruin by their neglect. Astronomical debt is immoral. It is slavery. The Senate is also the greatest proponent of anti-family, anti-security policies that threaten America’s social fabric such as the weakening of our defense capabilities and the promotion of homosexual marriage.
3. Unfortunate; unfavorable; disastrous.
It is completely unfortunate at this point in our history that the US Senate refuses to deal the immense problems this nation faces. They won’t seal the borders. They won’t scale back the size of government. Their lack of a job program that highlights de-regulation, freedom, lower taxes and smaller deficits is totally “unfavorable” to our families and economy. The sinister United States Senate is holding the entire nation hostage to their Big Government utopian dream. Their inaction–their wrong actions–are absolutely disastrous to future generations.
4. Of or on the left side.
It was quite enlightening to realize that the original definition of the word “sinister” related to being “left of center.” Quite an appropriate analogy. I didn’t make it up. It’s in the Dictionary. It’s high time for the America people to realize that “leftist” policies are hurtful and un-American. They are a sinister attempt to take that which is right and corrupt it for the purposes of power and control.
The definitions say it all. We have a House of Representatives that are trying to do the right thing, and a sinister Senate that is holding up the turning of the American ship back to the right path of greatness. Unfortunately, we have a president who also could wear the sinister label..
Here’s an analogy of our current situation in Washington, D.C.
Imagine a boat heading toward a steep waterfall where all will lost is they plunge over the edge.There are four oars in the boat. One oar is the presidency. The second is the Senate. The third is the mainstream media. The fourth is the House (backed by the Tea Party and other patriotic Americans.)
From 2008 to 2010, all four oarsmen were furiously paddling in the wrong direction toward the waterfall of doom. In the 2010 election, the oar of the House was taken back, and now that one oar is desperately trying to slow down the speed of the out-of-control vessel or even turn it around.
This fight should never be likened to gridlock. Gridlock occurs when there are two many boats all going the same direction, with too little space for them to keep up their speed. Everything bottlenecks and slows down to a stop.
Our current political fight is not like traffic flow. It’s more like a sports contest where one group wants to advance the ball their direction and score a touchdown. The other team is resisting their efforts and wants to get the ball in their hands and score the other way.
In reality, we are engaged in a cultural fight to the death over the expiration or resurrection of the United States as a nation.
For the next twelve months, the pro-left American media will say that the problem is “gridlock,” the “extreme” House of Representatives, and that the Republican presidential nominee is not up to the task.
Don’t believe them.
Our problem is a sinister Senate and its ally in the White House. Fortunately, with the retirement of Senator Ben Nelson D-FL yesterday, there are now seven of the sinister ones that will not running next year. That’s a positive sign.
Because what we really need in 2012 is a “change” of personnel in the US Senate and presidency that will bring a renewal of “hope” for the American future.
2012: The Year of a Leadership Tsunami?
Chinese New Year is known for the animal that symbolizes the prospects for the coming year. 2011 was “The Year of the Rabbit.” Is that why it went so fast, or am I just showing my age? On a serious note, was this one of the reasons for rapid-fire changes in leadership in the Arab world which continue to this day (Syria is now on the brink).
It seems like Muslim dictators are scampering like rabbits.
The Chinese say that 2012 will be “The Year of the Dragon.” Of course, that’s their national symbol, so maybe China will continue to rise. One thing we know: There will be a leadership tsunami taking place around the planet in 2012–dragon, rabbit, or otherwise.
Here’s why and how you can pray.
I probably don’t need to remind you that we live in a era of dizzying changes. Here’s how I state it in the first chapter of my book The Fourth Wave: Taking Your Place in the New Era of Missions:
“We live in an era of amazing change, including:
- Urbanization – people moving to cities,
- Globalization – our economies and cultures becoming linked together,
- Exploding population growth – heading for double digit billions,
- Technological wizardry – got the latest “app” yet?
- Clashes of cultures, numerous wars, and
- The greatest hopes, dreams, concerns and fears of all time.”
Add to that list changing leadership in the nations of the world.
That’s what’s coming in 2012. It’s time to get ready, and certainly time to pray.
Let’s begin with the “Arab Spring” which could become a “summer” of democracy and positive change from Iraq to Morocco. On the other hand, rising Islamicism in Libya, Eqypt and now possibly Syria could also plunge the Middle East and northern Africa into a “winter” of quasi-religious dictatorships.
Other nations, such as Saudi Arabia, could also experience revolutions that would dynamically change the world economy currently based on Mid-East oil. Fortunately, political strategists such as Dick Morris believe these leadership changes could prompt energy independence in the United States and other nations–but only if we elect leaders who will tap into the supply.
Let’s pray for a blazing summer of freedom to sweep across the Muslim world. It will take many courageous leaders to blow such a trumpet.
Then there is China. I’ve been to the most populated nation on earth twice this past year. Vast changes are happening all over the country that are social, religious and economic. In 2012 there will also be a major leadership change in the world’s largest communist enclave. It won’t happen by ballot box–but power will be passed.
By the end of the year, through the secret maneuvering of the Communist leadership, both President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao–will be replaced. A British magazine, The Enonomist, describes it this way:
“The leadership changes will be the focus of the party’s 18th congress, a five-yearly event that is likely to take place in October. It will select a new central committee, that will in turn will convene and “elect” a new Politburo of about 25 members.”
“For the first time in twenty years, President Hu Kintao and the Prime Minister, Wen Jibao, will not be among them. Other top posts will be changed. New heads are likely to be appointed of the central bank and finance and commerce ministries. Provincial leaders are already being shuffled.”
“It is all but certain that Vice-president Xi Jinping Will take over from Mr. Hu… Mr. Wen will be replaced by his deputy, Li Keqiang…Some seventy percent of Chinese leadership wil change and China will experience its most clear-cut transfer of power since the death of Mao Zedong in 1976.”
We need to pray for Xi Linping and Li Keqiang. They could be the “Gorbachev and Yeltsin of Chinese history” or something very different.
Then there is Russia. “Elections” have already begun in that nation and Vladimir Putin is about to receive back his title as president. You remember he stepped aside six years ago due to constitutional constraints and made a deal with out-going president Dmitry Medvedev.
But the Russian people sense that the “elections” are rigged and there have been some problematic demonstrations this week. Putin will probably re-ascend to power, but two more six year terms are no longer a done deal.
At any rate, there will be an old/new leader in Russia next year.
Pray for Vladimir Putin and revival of freedom in Mother Russia.
Next is France. According to The Economist, “Nicholas Sarkozy, the president of France, is probably the one most in danger of losing his job. Long before the election (the second round will take place on May 6), Mr. Sarkozy was trailing all possible challengers from the Socialist Party in the opinion polls.”
France is a key player in the current European debt-crisis meltdown. Along with Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany, Mr. Sarkozy has played a key role in holding together the European monetary Union.
What will a new socialist leader bring to Europe’s future?
Let’s pray for God’s choice for France–and for all of Europe.
Finally, we know that the United States will also choose a new president on November 6, 2012. Many believe this election is the most important one of our lifetimes: a win by Barack Obama could cement America’s decline and drift into European socialism or a victory by the Republican candidate could lead to a shrinking of the Federal Government and re-birth of freedom.
China, Russia, France, and the United States. Do you recognize something about this list?
These nations are four of the five members of the United Nations Security Council–a critical block in world politics. The only missing nation is Germany with Angela Merkel–and she’s busy holding the European Union together.
Four of the five key nations in our world could see a change of leadership in 2012. Add to that the substantial changes taking place in Muslim nations and the rise of many developing countries such as Brazil, India, Nigeria and South Korea.
It appears that a political leadership tsunami (change) could be just around the corner.
Interestingly, this is also an insecure time in spiritual leadership in the U.S. The respected Barna Group reported on November 21:
“No single Christian leader captures the attention of the nation’s population. When asked to identify the single most influential Christian leader in the U.S. today, two out of every five Americans (41%) are unable to think of anyone who would meet that description.”
“Billy Graham is the name mentioned most often in response to the unaided survey question (a measure often described as “top-of-mind” awareness). One out of five Americans names the nonagenarian evangelist, with 19% of adult residents identifying Mr. Graham as the nation’s most influential Christian leader.”
“Half as many adults (9%) believe “the Pope” or Pope Benedict to be the most significant Christian leader in the nation. Nearly the same proportion (8%) considers President Barack Obama to hold this prominent role.”
“One out of 20 U.S. adults (5%) think that Joel Osteen is the most significant Christian leader, more than double the proportion that name Charles Stanley (2%) or Joyce Meyer (2%). A variety of individuals – including pastors, ministry leaders, authors, politicians, and other public figures – are considered the highest ranking Christian leaders by 1% of U.S. adults each. These include: Franklin Graham, George W. Bush, T.D. Jakes, Oprah Winfrey, James Dobson, and Maya Angelou. All other individuals are named by less than 1% of Americans.”
So there’s a spiritual leadership vacuum in the United States as well. Forty percent can’t name a significant spiritual leader. Billy Graham tops the list, but he is currently 93 years old and past his time of influence. At the least, a spiritual leadership transition is occurring in the United States that also demands some answers in 2012 and beyond.
If there was ever a need for courageous spiritual and political leaders, 2012 is the year. Much is going to change. New leaders are going to rise.
Let’s pray fervently for authorities of God’s choosing during the coming crucial twelve months (Romans 13:1-7). We are commanded by God to pray for our leaders in 1 Timothy 2:1.
Let’s also keep our eyes “up” toward the Ultimate Leader whose return will signal the end to the current leadership vacuum on earth–the Lord Jesus Christ. Next week we celebrate his first visit to Planet Earth when he came as a baby to die for our sins.
On his second visit, he will be coming as a King–the Rightful Sovereign of all the Earth. Here’s the Heavenly announcement:
“Then I saw heaven opened, and a white horse was standing there. And the one sitting on the horse was named Faithful and True. For he judges fairly and goes to war. His eyes were bright like flames of fire, and on his head were many crowns. A name was written on him, and only he knew what it meant. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood and his title was the Word of God…From his mouth came a sharp sword, and with it he struck down the nations. He ruled them with an iron rod and he trod the winepress of the fierce wrath of almighty God. On his robe and thigh was wirtten this title: King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:11-16).”
A leadership tsunami may be coming in 2012. Let’s pray for God’s “will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
But let’s also point our prayers toward the coming Prince of Peace.
He is our true and lasting hope.
The 15 Trillion Dollar Time Bomb
I’m deeply concerned about the ticking time bomb of US debt. This week the “Super Committee” is tasked to enact important budget cuts–but the Democrats won’t budge on raising taxes and the Republicans are showing weakness.
The problem cannot not be solved by increasing taxes. Out-of-control SPENDING is our scourge. Raising taxes will discourage economic recovery and only grow the size of government. That’s a lethal combination. Our current politicians are like pimps that are perpetuating their power and the dependency habits of their citizen-prostitutes by refusing to do what’s right–dramatically cutting spending.
We need to throw out the cowards in 2012 and elect some courageous leaders who will save this Republic from a frightful financial suicide.
The following article by John Hayward of Human Events could not be more clear. Read it, weep, pray, and get involved. And don’t forget: “In God We Trust.” Happy Thanksgiving. RB
Fifteen Trillion And Counting
Signposts on the road to systemic collapse
by John Hayward – 11/18/2011
The United States government officially passed the $15 trillion debt milestone on Tuesday. The Republican National Committee produced a little video to commemorate the occasion, and remind us of the bygone days when Barack Obama stridently declared $9 trillion in debt was too much, and he’d cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term:
Many people have become concerned about the staggering amount of American debt purchased by China. Those people can relax, because China is no longer the largest holder of U.S. government debt. Who is? Why… none other than the U.S. Federal Reserve. That’s right. The largest share of Uncle Sam’s debt is held by Uncle Sam. We borrow the money from ourselves, so Barack Obama can buy votes with over a trillion dollars a year more than the government actually takes in.
In its latest monthly report, the Federal Reserve said that as of Sept. 28, it owned $1.665 trillion in U.S. Treasury securities. That was more than double the $812 billion in U.S. Treasury securities the Fed said it owned as of Sept. 29, 2010.
Meanwhile, as of the end of this September, entities in mainland China owned $1.1483 trillion in U.S. Treasury securities, according to data published today by the U.S. Treasury Department. That was down slightly from the $1.1519 trillion in U.S. Treasury securities the Chinese owned as of the end of September 2010, according to the same Treasury Department report.
Thus, at the end of September 2010, the Chinese owned about $339.9 billion more in U.S. Treasury securities than the Fed owned at that time. By the end of September 2011, the Fed owned about $516.7 billion more in U.S. Treasury securities than the Chinese owned.
Okay, so we’ve got the feds chewing on its own tail, with a swollen belly full of madly churning printing presses, ready to explode in a shower of devalued dollars. But at least Obama’s madcap spending spree helped stimulate the economy, right?
Nope. Not only did we get nothing for the trillions in debt Obama has piled on, his “stimulus” ideas were worse than useless. It will have a net negative effect on GDP over the next ten years. Republican Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama wondered how that was possible in a budget hearing on Tuesday, and Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf laid out the dismal situation:
Bonus: things will get even worse in the next decade, as the enormous cost of financing Obama’s debt keeps rolling along.
We could pay off the national debt today… provided every single man, woman, and child on Earth sent $2,000 to the U.S. Treasury. Of course, a lot of them don’t have $2,000. That’s more than the per-capita income of 70 countries. Maybe we could ask everyone in the developed world to work one month out of the year to get good old Uncle Sam out of debt? Unfortunately, only 29 countries have a per-capita income above $2,000 per month. That includes Greece and Italy. They’re kind of busy with their own debt issues right now.
Greece and Italy, by the way, have a combined national debt of about $3.1 trillion, one-fifth of ours, and their economies are on life support. Of course, we’re a larger country with a much larger economy, so we can handle the debt load, can’t we? Look at it this way: the per-capita debt of Greece is about $56,000 per person, while in Italy it’s $45,000 a head… and we’re right in the middle, with just a hair under $49,000 in debt piled on every single American’s shoulders. We’re on schedule to hit Greek levels of per-capita debt within two years.
No level of taxation can ever erase that burden. Outright confiscation kills the goose that lays the golden eggs. High tax rates crush GDP growth even faster than high deficit spending. And if our GDP finally perks up, and brings us some decent job creation, interest rates will probably go up too… raising the cost of financing the debt. We’ll stumble out of the Obama woods and walk right into the debt-service bear trap he’s set for us.
The deficit-reducing Super Committee is locked in a death struggle over the right mixture of tax increases and spending cuts to reduce the deficit by $1.2 trillion over 10 years. That’s not the same thing as reducing the debt – it will continue to grow. They’re just arguing about reducing the rate of increase by 10% or so, at best. $1.2 trillion over 10 years is $120 billion per year. The United States of America borrows $120 billion roughly every three weeks.
The cost of financing all that debt will eat an increasing portion of the federal budget. Debt service gobbles up over 6% right now. That means either tax increases, or even higher deficits, will be necessary merely to maintain current spending levels – and that’s before the automatic “baseline” increases built into every government program are factored in. Today’s staunch opposition to tax hikes means ever-greater debt, which siphons away even more federal money into debt service, and builds the pressure for tomorrow’s even more massive tax increases.
If you think the “evil Rich” are being demonized now, just wait until debt service has eaten away another 5% of the budget – something that will happen within the next 10 years, and probably the next five, even if America’s credit rating doesn’t take another serious hit. It will happen even if Obama doesn’t get the next $450 billion “stimulus” he’s been demanding. Our government is quite large enough to die of a fiscal coronary even if it stops eating donuts.
The spending death spiral has long passed the point where it’s self-perpetuating. Citizens of Greece coping with austerity programs feel as if they have no good choices – they can’t afford reduced pensions or higher taxes, but their government will die if it doesn’t get its debt under control. The last “good choices” for Greece were a generation ago. The next generation of Americans will feel exactly the same way, if we don’t wise up and do something about it, right now.
Fifteen trillion in debt and counting. You won’t like what happens when we hit twenty. We’ll probably get there by the end of Barack Obama’s second term.
[Let’s work and pray so that there will not be another disastrous four years….RB]