My Demented Space

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“After 9/11, America didn’t always live up to her ideals.”- President Barack Obama

“You might say that America is a Muslim nation.”- President Barack Obama, Egypt 2009

Thinking about these and other statements made by the man who wears the title of president. I keep wondering what country he believes he’s president of.

In one of my very favorite stories, Edward Everett Hale’s “The Man without a Country,” a young Army lieutenant named Philip Nolan stands condemned for treason during the Revolutionary War, having come under the influence of Aaron Burr. When the judge asks him if he wishes to say anything before sentence is passed, young Nolan defiantly exclaims, “Damn the United States ! I wish I might never hear of the United States again!”

The stunned silence in the courtroom is palpable, pulsing. After a long pause, the judge soberly says to the angry lieutenant: “You have just pronounced your own sentence. You will never hear of the United States again.. I sentence you to spend the rest of your life at sea, on one or another of this country’s naval vessels – under strict orders that no one will ever speak to you again about the country you have just cursed.”

And so it was. Philip Nolan was taken away and spent the next 40 years at sea, never hearing anything but an occasional slip of the tongue about America. The last few pages of the story, recounting Nolan’s dying hours in his small stateroom – now turned into a shrine to the country he fore swore – never fail to bring me to tears.  And I find my own love for this dream, this miracle called America , refreshed and renewed. I know how blessed and unique we are.

But reading and hearing the audacious, shocking statements of the man who was recently elected our president – a young black man living the impossible dream of millions of young Americans, past and present, black and white – I want to ask him, “Just what country do you think you’re president of?”

You surely can’t be referring to the United States of America , can you? America is emphatically a Christian nation, and has been from its inception! Seventy percent of her citizens identify themselves as Christian. The Declaration of Independence and our Constitution were framed, written and ratified by Christians. It’s because this was, and is, a nation built on and guided by Judeo-Christian biblical principles that you, sir, have had the inestimable privilege of being elected her president.

You studied law at Harvard, didn’t you, sir? You taught constitutional law in Chicago ? Did you not ever read the statement of John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and an author of the landmark “Federalist Papers”: “Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers – and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation – to select and prefer Christians for their rulers”?

In your studies, you surely must have read the decision of the Supreme Court in 1892: “Our lives and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise; and in this sense and to this extent our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian.”

Did your professors have you skip over all the high-court decisions right up till the mid 1900’s that echoed and reinforced these views and intentions? Did you pick up the history of American jurisprudence only in 1947, when for the first time a phrase coined by Thomas Jefferson about a “wall of separation between church and state” was used to deny some specific religious expression – contrary to Jefferson’s intent with that statement?

Or, wait a minute.  Were your ideas about America’s Christianity formed during the 20 years you were a member of the Trinity United Church of Christ under your pastor, Jeremiah Wright?  Is that where you got the idea that” America is no longer a Christian nation”?  Is this where you, even as you came to call yourself a Christian, formed the belief that ” America has been arrogant”?

Even if that’s the understandable explanation of your damning of your country and accusing the whole nation (not just a few military officials trying their best to keep more Americans from being murdered by jihadists) of “not always living up to her ideals,” how did you come up with the ridiculous, alarming notion that we might be “considered a Muslim nation”?

Is it because there are some 2 million or more Muslims living here, trying to be good Americans? Out of a current population of over 300 million, 70 percent of whom are Christians? Does that make us, by any rational definition, a “Muslim nation”?

Why are we not, then, a “Chinese nation”? A “Korean nation”? Even a “Vietnamese nation”? There are even more of these distinct groups in America than Muslims. And if the distinction you’re trying to make is a religious one, why is America not “a Jewish nation”? There’s actually a case to be made for the latter, because our Constitution – and the success of our Revolution and founding – owe a deep debt to our Jewish brothers.

Have you stopped to think what an actual Muslim America would be like? Have you ever really spent much time in Iran ?  Even in Egypt ?  You, having been instructed in Islam as a kid at a Muslim school in Indonesia and saying you still love the call to evening prayers, can surely picture our nation founded on the Quran, not the Judeo-Christian Bible, and living under Shariah law. Can’t you? You do recall Muhammad’s directives [Surah 9:5,73] to “break the cross” and “kill the infidel”?

It seems increasingly and painfully obvious that you are more influenced by your upbringing and questionable education than most suspected.  If you consider yourself the president of a people who are “no longer Christian,” who have “failed to live up to our ideals,” who “have been arrogant,” and might even be “considered Muslim” – you are president of a country most Americans don’t recognize.

Could it be you are a president without a country?

Congress NO to Cap and Trade

I posted to Twitter yesterday facts of the bankruptcy of the United States if we do not curb the spending spree of the current administration. This morning I find the Wikipedia page to have changed to omit the OMB information thus making George W. Bush the President with the highest deficit spending. Digging a lillte deeper I found what I needed:

What is truly alarming is the percentage to GDP Obama is causing. We cannot allow for the United States to go bankrupt and that is exactly what is going to happen unless the spending stops or Obama gets the VAT on top of all the other taxes he is raising.

Please call Harry Reid’s office and tell him how much this SUCKS!

March 23, 2010

Dear Fellow Nevadan,
Today our nation won a tremendous victory when President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law. This historic health reform legislation will improve the lives of millions of Americans, and is truly great news for Nevada’s families and small businesses, who will see lower premiums on their existing plans and new, more affordable options.
It is good news for the more than 600,000 Nevadans who will now be able to receive quality, affordable health care to keep themselves and their families healthy. It is good news for more than 50,000 Nevada seniors who will be able to get cheaper prescription drugs, no longer have to fear the Medicare “Doughnut Hole” gap in coverage, and see Medicare’s solvency extended by nearly a decade without cutting even a dime of guaranteed benefits. It is good news for Nevada residents who will receive $5 billion in tax credits to purchase private insurance within the first five years of this bill’s enactment. And it is good news for future generations because it reduces deficits by nearly $1.4 trillion over the next 20 years.

This legislation provides consumers with more protection and more choice, and ensures that medical decisions are made by patients and doctors, not insurance companies. And it means that we don’t have to face the double-digit premium increases – some as high as 60% – that would have occurred had we done nothing to reform our health insurance industry. This is a real-life impact for so many Nevadans and Americans.

The Senate has worked closely with the House to make this good bill even better, and we plan to finish our work as soon as possible. While there is one more leg of this journey to complete this week, I wanted to write Nevadans today to talk about what is in this legislation for them. Please read the information below and visit my website to learn more about how this historic legislation with improve the lives of Nevadans like you.

HARRY REID
United States Senator for Nevada
Highlights of Benefits of Health Insurance Reform for Nevada
•Up to 518,000 residents who are uninsured and 132,000 residents who have individual market insurance will gain access to affordable coverage.
•Up to 311,000 residents will qualify for premium tax credits to help them purchase health coverage.
•328,000 seniors will receive free preventive services and 58,200 seniors will have their drug costs in the Medicare Part D “donut hole” covered over time.
•Up to 24,000 small businesses will be eligible for tax credits for premiums Premium Tax Credits to Expand Private Insurance Coverage in Nevada
Reduced Premiums
•Health insurance reform will lower premiums in the nongroup market by 14 to 20% for the same benefits – premium savings of $1,380 to $1,970 for a family in Nevada
Premium Tax Credits to Expand Private Insurance Coverage in Nevada
•Reform will provide $5.0 billion in premium tax credits and cost-sharing tax credits for residents in Nevada from 2014 to 2019 to purchase private health insurance. This is $180 million greater than under the Senate-passed bill.
Increased Medicaid Support
•The Federal government will fully fund the coverage expansion for the first three years of the policy, and continue substantial support, paying for 90% of costs after 2020, compared to Nevada’s current FMAP of 50.2%.
•In total, Nevada could receive $3.6 billion more dollars in federal funds for Medicaid as a result of the expansion from 2014 to 2019, $240 million more than under the Senate-passed bill.
Improved Value for Medicare Advantage
•The 228,000 seniors in Nevada who are not enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan will no longer cross subsidize these private plans, saving $45 in premium costs per year.
•The proposal will gradually move toward a fair payment system that rewards performance.

Contact Information
Las Vegas
Lloyd D. George Building
333 Las Vegas Boulevard South
Suite 8016
Las Vegas, NV 89101
Phone: 702-388-5020
Fax: 702-388-5030 Reno
Bruce R. Thompson Courthouse
and Federal Building
400 South Virginia Street
Suite 902
Reno, NV 89501
Phone: 775-686-5750
Fax: 775-686-5757 Carson City
600 East Williams Street
#302
Carson City, NV 89701
Phone: 775-882-7343
Fax: 775-883-1980
Washington
522 Hart Senate Office Building – Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202-224-3542 – Fax: 202-224-7327
Toll Free for Nevadans: 1-866-SEN-REID (736-7343)
Restricted to calls originating from area codes 775 and 702