PETE’S PAGE–BLUE TUESDAY

Posted by Pistol Pete

This is a no-fun type day.

Busted: ObamaCare Navigators committing fraud

James O’Keefe and Project Veritas are at it again!

Obama’s stunning snub

Obama announced his campaign in the same place Lincoln announced his and he recreated Lincoln’s 1861 train trip to Washington as part of his own inaugural spectacle.

On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous “I have a dream” speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Last summer, Barack Obama commemorated the 50th anniversary of that speech by giving a speech of his own in the same spot.

On November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln gave his famous “Gettysburg Address” speech at the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Lincoln had plenty of justifiable, honorable reasons to beg off from the ceremony. His ten-year-old son, Tad, lay sick with a fever in the White House; the war was going poorly out West; he was locked in a budget showdown with Congress, and his re-election bid looked grim against a general he fired for incompetence a year earlier.

He came anyway. And the speech he made went down in history as one of the great moments in American history.

On November 19, 2013, Gettysburg will commemorate the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s speech with a ceremony at the same Soldiers’ National Cemetery.

• The U.S. Marine Band and Governor Tom Corbett will be there.
• President Barack “I’m just like Lincoln” Obama will NOT be there.

He has given no reason for declining the invitation, but to be honest, given his petty, finger-flipping behavior toward people he doesn’t like … Republicans topping the list … I have to wonder if the “great statesman” can’t stomach being on the same podium with the REPUBLICAN governor of Pennsylvania.

Source:

• http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/28/barack-obama-speech-full-transcript
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Have_a_Dream
• http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2013/11/11/obamas_stunning_snub_120627.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettysburg_Speech

H/t Pistol Pete

Brief news items

Some of these are from Pete’s report, but some are from Facebook and my email. I forgot to mark which were which, so please forgive the repeats.

TYPHOON HAIYAN: The U.S. military’s Pacific Command is helping relief efforts in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan. The U.S. effort is expected to include at least 90 Marines and sailors as well as a cargo planes and helicopters.

A FIRST CLASS THANK YOU: A small group of First Class passengers swapped tickets with a group of vets returning from Afghanistan, so they could enjoy a more comfortable ride on the last leg of their 3-day journey home.

HHS MANDATE: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit voted 2-1 against the HHS mandate requiring all businesses to pay for birth control or abortion-causing drugs for its employees, regardless of the religious or conscience objections of the owners. The court also ruled the defendants cannot be forced to abide by mandate while the Obama administration appeals to the Supreme Court.

BHO APPROVAL GAP: The latest RCP average shows the largest spread of Obama’s presidency at -11.2 points (approvals minus disapprovals). The largest previous gap was -10.2 points in August 2011.

DEM CRONYISM: Washington Examiner reported the Obama DOE has again shoveled tax dollars into Dem donor businesses. Nine of the 14 grants went to firms that gave more than $100,000 each to Democrats and Left-leaning groups.

BUT WHAT HAVE THEY DONE FOR THE HOMIES? The national unemployment rate for 16-19 year olds is 7.3%. The unemployment rate for blacks in this age group is 36.0% …. 393% higher than the national unemployment rate.

BUT AT LEAST THEY GET FOOD STAMPS, RIGHT? Uh, not so much. Food stamp allotments are going down, not because of Eeeevil Republicans, but because Obama the Caring has taken money from the food stamp program to help fund his wife’s anti-obesity initiative, the “Let’s Move” program.

BØGUS: The White Hut claims they’re going to finally release an official number of ObamaCare sales. However, an administration official told WaPo they’re going to count in people who have placed policies in their online shopping carts, but haven’t actually purchased them.

MØRE GØØFS: The Seattle Times reported the state’s ObamaCare Web site messed up their numbers. Nearly 8,000 Washington state residents will soon find out they will be paying more for ObamaCare than they were told when they purchased it.

CØVER UP: The White House won’t allow their computer boss to testify about why he didn’t do his job in the first place cuz, you know, he’s too busy trying to make the damn website work … six weeks after it was opened for business.

HEALTHCARE.GOV: Scam-artist web pages pretending to be Healthcare.gov are tricking people into divulging sensitive information or buying fake products. Important consumer warning: If an insurance shopping website is usable, it’s not the federal government’s.

WE TOLD THEM BUT THEY WOULDN’T LISTEN: “Had Americans known that Obamacare would actually raise premiums and cause millions of folks to lose their health policies, it never would have become law.” –Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas

Let us press on

I was intrigued by the Bible passage in my GodVine email today:

“Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.”” – Hosea 6:3 (NIV)

• In modern American Chrissy speak, “acknowledge” is a weak act. It’s the kind of thing you say about your debate opponent’s point, right before you say “but” and blow their case out of the water.
• But “press on” is strong. It’s an action word, the kind of thing you say to encourage your fellow travelers to push through their weariness to get to the next rest stop or camping site or finish line. I like this latter idea. It goes well with “as surely as the sun rises” … the night gets awfully long and dark and discouraging, especially around 3 a.m.

I don’t know anything about the original language of this passage, but sometimes I feel I can get some sense of them by comparing parallel translations. I looked up a bunch and found these variations helpful:

Press on

• So let us know, let us press on to know the LORD. His going forth is as certain as the dawn. (NASB)
• Oh, that we might know the LORD! Let us press on to know him! Then he will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn. (NLT)

Strive

• Let us know, let us strive to know the LORD; as certain as the dawn is his coming. (NABRE)
• Let us know, let us strive to know Yahweh; that he will come is as certain as the dawn. (New Jerusalem)

Follow on

• And let us know, let us follow on to know Jehovah: his going forth is sure as the morning. (ASV)
• Then shall we know, [if] we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning. (KJV)

There’s a strong suggestion here that

1. knowing God requires effort on our part and
2. if we keep on keeping on, even when we feel worn out, He will surely come.

Peter Kreeft lists 12 ways we can know the Lord @ http://peterkreeft.com/topics/12-ways.htm.

I think they can be boiled down to three:

1. study,

2. prayer, and

3. doing God’s will.

The hard part is doing these things DAILY.

Come to think … the “daily” idea is in the Hosea passage’s reference to dawn, isn’t it? Hmm. Food for thought.