Free In Idaho!

Individual liberty. smaller and limited Federal government, lower taxes, much lower spending, get the Feds out of the nanny business, strengthen defense, empower business… we all know the tenets of conservatism, and we all ought to be measuring our candidates by those tenets and beliefs rather than some made-up criteria of “electability” (or “winability” if you like).  In keeping with that, over at WorldNetDaily, Michael Ackley has given us a great piece titled “I want a president who…”

• Believes in God and that our inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness come from “the Creator.”
• Will proclaim loudly: “If your children aren’t learning, it’s your fault.” (This would eliminate candidates – and that would be most of them – who believe government is the answer, to education and everything else.)

• Will explain – if possible – why the United Nations is worth saving, and why the United States should continue to provide its principal financial support.
• Will refute the idea – popular in Congress – that the national debt is no problem as long as it is only a small percentage of the gross domestic product.
• Will ask Sen. Harry Reid and Rep. Nancy Pelosi – as Spain’s King Juan Carlos asked Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez – “Porque no te callas?” (”Why don’t you shut up?”)
• Won’t go six years before vetoing a bad bill.

Go read the rest, I think you’ll find many more that you’ll agree with.  I’d like to add a couple of my own…

• Will not turn out to be some kind of closet globalist, or North American Unionist.
• Will love the American people enough to tell them “NO” once in awhile, instead of pursuing some misguided ideal of being all things to all people.

Do you remember a few months back, when there was a minor disagreement on the blogs about whether or not God and Allah are the same?  Some argued that it didn’t matter which name was used, because “everyone is speaking to the same Being”, or some such silliness as that.  Here’s an interesting news article from Malaysia that might perhaps clarify it for you

(CNSNews.com) -The government of Muslim-majority Malaysia will not renew a Catholic newspaper’s license to publish unless it stops using the word “Allah” to denote God.

The editor of the Herald has come up against an issue that has affected inter-religious relations before in the Southeast Asian country, which is often cited as an example of pluralistic democracy in the Muslim world.

Shortly before Christmas, the Internal Security Ministry sent a directive ordering the weekly to drop the use of the word “Allah,” when referring to the God who Christians worship, editor Fr. Lawrence Andrew said Wednesday.

Instead, the newspaper should use the word “Tuhan,” which is a general term for God in the language spoken by the majority of Malaysians, Bahasa Malaysia.

A ministry official was quoted as saying that “Allah” referred only to the Muslim god, and its use was designed to confuse Muslims.

That makes it difficult to argue that we’re all praying to the same Being, doesn’t it.  And Christian conservatives aren’t the only ones who object to the idea.  Seems the Muslims don’t agree either.

Aliran and others note that the Arabic word “Allah” was used as a name for a supreme being even before Mohammed established Islam in the seventh century. Many Christian Arabs use the same word for God.

Nonetheless, there are considerable differences in the Judeo-Christian and Islamic conceptions of God (not least of all the concept of the Trinity and God becoming man in the form of Jesus, versus the Koranic injunction that Allah “begets not, nor is he begotten.”). Many evangelical and other Christians hold the view that Muslims and Christians do not worship “the same god.”

Words matter, and so do ideas and belief systems.  The concept of one Supreme Being with all the religions being different spokes from the same hub is more of a liberal American idea, not shared by believers of any of the “spokes”.  When was the last time you saw that bumpersticker “coexist” on a car in the parking lot of a mosque, or a synagogue, or the local LDS temple for that matter?   Trying to tell a believer of any religion what they believe, and what words to use, is a losing proposition, and Catholic newspapers and bishops who insist on using the term Allah will always run into trouble, and not only from believers in Islam. 

“You’re not electing a set of position papers, you’re electing a leader.”

Fred has a new video out, to wrap up his pitch to Iowa voters, and speak directly to all Americans.  He even speaks directly to Democrats who have watched their party “lurch to the left” and leave them behind.  The more I watch him, the more I like him.

“What you see is what you get.  I dance to no man’s tune.”

Great stuff.  Go Fred.

Sunday music today is “Now Thank We All Our God“.

It snowed enough to be exciting yesterday.  And it’s supposed to do it again tonight, if you believe those guys on the TV.  We were at a work party at church this morning and went by the governor’s mansion.  It sits on top of a hill with a tremendous view of the city, the mountains, and the valley.  And the hill is the stuff of every kid’s sledding dreams.  I would have traded one of my siblings for a hill like this, with snow on it, when I was young.  Alas, I never had access to a hill like this. 

Because Idaho is a wonderful place and, as yet, not totally wussed over by nanny staters, they still allow the common folk to bring the kids and sled on this hill.  I know, I know… there are trees to run into, parked cars to hit, and a street at the bottom you have to look out for.  It’s wonderful!  Lots of folks on it today too, but they’ve about used up all the snow for now.  I hope we get more… I bet I could con my sweetie into a slide down it.

Did I tell you they ride ice blocks down it during the summer?  Yeah, I know, Idaho is awesome. 

I watched the news about Pakistan and the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, and all of the clips and quotes from the various candidates as they jockeyed for position, trying to be first and most presidential.  “Bring these people to justice” seems to be a favorite topic.  And I notice that Mrs Bill Clinton is trying to spin it that she was close to Ms Bhutto.  But you knew that already, didn’t you?  Of course she was.  But after watching all these quotes, and the various talking heads trying to make sense of it all, it struck me that not a one of them was really getting it.  Then I read a very interesting piece by Andrew McCarthy over at NRO, and I think that he does.

..There is the Pakistan of our fantasy. The burgeoning democracy in whose vanguard are judges and lawyers and human rights activists using the “rule of law” as a cudgel to bring down a military junta. In the fantasy, Bhutto, an attractive, American-educated socialist whose prominent family made common cause with Soviets and whose tenures were rife with corruption, was somehow the second coming of James Madison.

Then there is the real Pakistan: an enemy of the United States and the West.

The real Pakistan is a breeding ground of Islamic holy war where, for about half the population, the only thing more intolerable than Western democracy is the prospect of a faux democracy led by a woman — indeed, a product of feudal Pakistani privilege and secular Western breeding whose father, President Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto, had been branded as an enemy of Islam by influential Muslim clerics in the early 1970s.

The democratically elected Hamas government wasn’t enough of a clue for you, was it?  The democratically elected mess in Iraq isn’t further proof?  And the turmoil in Pakistan over the last two months, was what, good old pre-election campaigning?  We’re kidding ourselves in every country in the Middle East, which is our part of why this “war on terror” is not only incorrectly named and prosecuted, it will continue to tie the world in knots for decades to come.

..For the United States, the question is whether we learn nothing from repeated, inescapable lessons that placing democratization at the top of our foreign policy priorities is high-order folly.

Pick up and read a good history of the United States, something like A Patriot’s History of the United States by Schweikart and Allen.  Re-read the beginning and pay attention to the foundation and underpinnings of our form of government.  Then, reconsider the countries that we are dealing with in the East, and the histories, cultures, and religion that they have for a foundation.  Tell me again how just giving them a “democratic style goverrnment” is going to effect the changes that might make our country safer?  And while you’re at it, how about explaining to me how having a big group hug, talking nice with them, and giving them a huge bunch of cash is going to help.  Explain to me why -I- am the naive one.

..We don’t have the political will to fight the war on terror every place where jihadists work feverishly to kill Americans. And, given the refusal of the richest, most spendthrift government in American history to grow our military to an appropriate war footing, we may not have the resources to do it. But we should at least stop fooling ourselves. Jihadists are not going to be wished away, rule-of-lawed into submission, or democratized out of existence. If you really want democracy and the rule of law in places like Pakistan, you need to kill the jihadists first. Or they’ll kill you, just like, today, they killed Benazir Bhutto.

Wake up Republicans.  Wake up Democrats.  Wake up America, and soon.  Or perhaps it will take a nuclear armed democratically elected jihadi Pakistan to make the point?  I pray that isn’t so.

and through the woods, from “grandfather’s house” we returned.   Snow… in Seattle on Christmas day.  And then on the road, most of the way home.  Especially in the Blues (Blue Mountains of Oregon).  Too much adventure for me, but at least the Cabelas gift card made it safely home.

So, I’m reading the news this morning, waiting to go meet the kids and trade hugs and gifts.  Oh, here’s an interesting article, especially considering this is Washington State…

A Kent man who shot and killed a suspected intruder inside his home Saturday was armed with his own handgun when he walked in the door and found the stranger inside his home, police said.

A man and woman came home to their condo on Kent’s East Hill at 6 p.m. Saturday to find another man inside. The 28-year-old homeowner used his own gun to shoot the suspected intruder, said Kent police spokesman Paul Petersen.

It’s unknown why the homeowner had a handgun, Petersen said.

Police aren’t releasing the homeowners’ names. The dead man, believed in his mid-20s, has not been identified.

Neighbors reported four to five gunshots, but there were no witnesses other than the homeowners, Petersen said.

After the man was shot, he ran through a broken sliding-glass door and died in the backyard. He was carrying a bag that contained some stolen property from the couple’s home, Petersen said.

One of the multitude reasons we left Washington State was the fact that it is a hopelessly clueless liberal/nanny state. I’ve been good, and non-whining, since we’ve been here. But that sentence just stuck in my craw this morning.

It’s unknown why the homeowner had a handgun, Petersen said.

That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve read all week. I can think of a number of reasons the homeowner had a gun. They are some of the same reasons that I have one as well. He had a gun because the United States Constitution says he can. He had a gun because there are bad guys out there. He had a gun because the bad guys want to steal his stuff, rape his lady, and hurt him badly. He had a gun because the bad guys don’t care that it is not their house, or that it is 6pm in the evening.  He had a gun because the cops and the State can’t do squat to stop the bad guys before they do what they do (which, by the way, contrary to liberal thinking, they DO NOT have a Constitutional right to do). He had a gun because he made the decision that he was not going to be a victim so he had to be responsible for his own and his lady’s defense.

Simple. But not in Washington State…

The people walking in darkness
       have seen a great light;
       on those living in the land of the shadow of death 
       a light has dawned.
For to us a child is born,
       to us a son is given,
       and the government will be on his shoulders.
       And he will be called
       Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
       Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.       IS 9:2,6

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.
And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly.

But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

“She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
“BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL,” which translated means, “GOD WITH US.”         MATT 1:18-23

May God bless you and yours this Christmas time.

My reward for many days of family, hotel, shopping, and a big city full of too many people… in an hour and a half they’re going to put one of these in front of me.  Yup.  I’m easy.