Ugly numbers...

Usually, when one points out Obama's unprecedented spending spree, his supporters start deflecting by saying bad things about Bush's spending or even Reagan's. Indeed, it's probably bad under any circumstances to increase the nation's debt. But what the president has done staggers the mind and shows what happens when you elect a guy who hasn't run a business and has no real economic acumen.

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has projected that over the next ten years, cumulative deficits will reach $9.7 trillion and federal debt 90% of the gross domestic product. Global capital markets are unlikely to accept that credit erosion. If they revolt, as they did in 1979, ugly changes in fiscal and monetary policy will be imposed on Washington.

How bad is the outlook? The size of the federal debt will increase by 250% over 10 years. Other than during WWII, this hasn't been seen since record-keeping began in 1792. It is so bad that by 2020, the country will have to borrow $5 trillion a year just to refinance maturing debt and raise new money.

No family can long survive spending beyond its means...sooner or later, it has to shut down all-but-necessary spending and try to get the wheels back on the road. Obama loves big government and he's the answer to every liberal's prayer. But this ain't play money he's tossing around. And to help cover his uncontrollable spending habit, he is resorting to another Democrat favorite...raising taxes. For our sake, and the future of our kids and grandkids, this neophyte spender-in-chief needs to be reined in. His first trip to the woodshed will occur in November.

The party makes 'em nervous...

The liberals don't quite know what to make of the tea party movement that has swept across the land. But they do know they're scared of it. Most of us clean-living folk had never heard the term "tea-bagger" until CNN and MSNBC hosts started gleefully using it with accompanying leers. They also quickly rushed to judgment and claimed the tea party movement was saturated with racists and homophobes.

Now there's this. In a desperate effort to try and derail a groundswell of conservative sentiment, liberals have launched a website which recruits folks for the purpose of infiltrating the tea party movement. Once inside, these fine people will try to give the entire movement a bad name by making racist posters and signs, misspelling words on such posters and signs, and generally acting like rabble-rousers. This is typical of the Chicago-style politics of which Obama is so keen. Pretty much anything goes when your opponent has the upper hand.

And upper hand it is. Obama's popularity is at an all-time low (Gallup). Most want the health-care mess repealed. Democratic politicians around the country are trailing potential Republican candidates by double-digits. So it's time for them to trot out the really ugly tactics. It's all so predictable. As long as you can call folks racists and homophobes, you stand a chance.

So don't be aghast if you see someone holding a sign claiming Obama is Hitler (or maybe "Obamma is Hilter"). It's just business as usual for the party-crashers.

Welcome, enemies of America!

Barack Obama continues to demonstrate in a very bold way that he is not only out of touch with the American people, but that he may be more in touch with our enemies.

Today, he voiced his goal to make nuclear weapons obsolete and apparently, he wants to start this process with our own. This guy is the anti-Reagan. He has overridden his own Secretary of Defense and announced that we won't be developing any new nukes. And then in a truly stunning move, Obama said the U.S. will not retaliate with nuclear weapons if we are attacked with chemical/biological warfare.

If I weren't already convinced that this guy is naive and nuts, well, this does it. It's an open invitation to our enemies (you know, the ones that want to destroy us?) to hit us with their best shot...we'll just turn the other infected cheek. You never give your adversaries this kind of information. There's a reason a catcher in baseball uses discreet hand signals with his pitcher to indicate the kind of pitch he wants...rather than shouting out, "I'd like a fastball, please!" Of course, we've seen this bizarre behavior from our Mohammed-in-Chief before. Remember when he told the world his timetable for withdrawing troops from Afghanistan? Absolutely brilliant!

And I haven't even brought up (yet) Obama's weird hatred of Israel. Oh, yeah...that's right. Israel is a long-time ally, therefore they are the enemy. Let's buddy up to Iran (how did that work out, sir?) and castigate our main friend in the Middle East.

Conservatives warned about this guy during the campaign. We told deaf ears that his values weren't ours, his past was obscure and cloudy, and his list of achievements non-existent. We detailed the long list of shady characters who've influenced Obama. But too many were caught up in the rush to make history with him and to believe his deliberately vague "hope and change" mantra. Sadly, we were right. Almost daily, our president is indeed making history. The kind that dooms us as a world leader.

Transitions

A week ago, I lost a brother-in-law. Ralph was a consummate gentleman, a man of God who oozed integrity. These days, it's increasingly hard to find guys who qualify for words like "gentleman" or "integrity". He was the type of friend who would do anything for you and you didn't necessarily have to ask. Last year, even when his health was obviously limiting his activities, he repeatedly offered to come help me clean out and organize my garage. The point is not that he wouldn't have been able to help much...it's that he still wanted to be a buddy even in his condition.

I couldn't get Ralph to ever say anything bad about anyone. He simply considered others better than himself and refused to be drawn into discussions that included put-downs or gossip. Very simply, he was a better man than I. This in spite of the fact that I nearly cut his hand off many years ago. We were using a chain saw to cut down a large tree in our in-laws' yard. We were almost finished, but I was trying to cut a large piece into smaller pieces and Ralph's hand drifted a little too close. The saw kicked upward and nailed one of his thumbs. The thumbnail was almost completely severed and there were other slices all around the nail. The rest of his life, Ralph carried around maybe the ugliest thumb I've ever seen. And, he refused to blame me, saying it was all his fault. Yeah, right.

Four days after Ralph died, our 7th grandchild entered this world. Julia Kate Hall arrived, the 2nd daughter of our only daughter. Most Perkins babies are bald and stay that way for months. This kid has enough hair to wear curlers today. And she is drop-dead gorgeous. Now we know that everyone tells new parents that their baby is beautiful. Even if the kid looks like Joe Biden. But as an impartial (ahem) bystander, I sense that visitors are truly blown away by this kid's looks. In today's parlance, she is smokin' hot. She's already been asked out by two boy babies in the newborn nursery. I'm gonna have to start screening her boyfriends immediately.

So we said good-bye to Ralph, hello to Julia. But it's all good news. Ralph has been freed from a worn-out physical body and been given a new eternal one. We will see him again. Julia arrived less than 24 hours after we gathered around Ralph one last time. Transition. Nothing stays the same, nothing is stagnant. Every day, we are 24 hours closer to our reward. This week served as a poignant reminder to seize the day, live wisely, serve others, and enjoy every minute given us for what it is...a gift from God.