Today brings a lot of information. It might overwhelm some of you, so strap in and hang on:

From Texas Fred comes this first piece. Chief justice publicly accepts WND’s eligibility petition reports on how Chief Justice John Roberts has accepted the challenge of Orly Taitz to read the challenge of Barack Hussein Obama’s citizenship. Full story is here. I am not a conspiracy theorist, but I will not believe that Obama is a natural born citizen until he quits blocking efforts to prove otherwise. I’m pretty sure McCain, Bush, Clinton, Bush the Elder, and so on back to Washington would not have had an issue with this basic question: Where were you born?

From Gawfer, via e-mail, comes this piece written by Star Parker:

Back on Uncle Sam’s plantation
Star Parker – Syndicated Columnist

Six years ago I wrote a book called Uncle Sam’s Plantation. I wrote the book to tell my own story of what I saw living inside the welfare state and my own transformation out of it.

I said in that book that indeed there are two Americas — a poor America on socialism and a wealthy America on capitalism.

I talked about government programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training (JOBS), Emergency Assistance to Needy Families with Children (EANF), Section 8 Housing, and Food Stamps.

A vast sea of perhaps well-intentioned government programs, all initially set into motion in the 1960s, that were going to lift the nation’s poor out of poverty.

A benevolent Uncle Sam welcomed mostly poor black Americans onto the government plantation. Those who accepted the invitation switched mindsets from “How do I take care of myself?” to “What do I have to do to stay on the plantation?”

Instead of solving economic problems, government welfare socialism created monstrous moral and spiritual problems — the kind of problems that are inevitable when individuals turn responsibility for their lives over to others.

The legacy of American socialism is our blighted inner cities, dysfunctional inner city schools, and broken black families.

Through God’s grace, I found my way out. It was then that I understood what freedom meant and how great this country is.

I had the privilege of working on welfare reform in 1996, passed by a Republican Congress and signed 50 percent.

I thought we were on the road to moving socialism out of our poor black communities and replacing it with wealth-producing American capitalism.

But, incredibly, we are going in the opposite direction.

Instead of poor America on socialism becoming more like rich American on capitalism, rich America on capitalism is becoming like poor America on socialism..

Uncle Sam has welcomed our banks onto the plantation and they have said, “Thank you, Suh.”

Now, instead of thinking about what creative things need to be done to serve customers, they are thinking about what they have to tell Massah in order to get their cash.

There is some kind of irony that this is all happening under our first black president on the 200th anniversary of the birthday of Abraham Lincoln.

Worse, socialism seems to be the element of our new young president. And maybe even more troubling, our corporate executives seem happy to move onto the plantation.

In an op-ed on the opinion page of the Washington Post, Mr. Obama is clear that the goal of his trillion dollar spending plan is much more than short term economic stimulus.

“This plan is more than a prescription for short-term spending — it’s a strategy for America ‘s long-term growth and opportunity in areas such as renewable energy, healthcare, and education.”

Perhaps more incredibly, Obama seems to think that government taking over an economy is a new idea. Or that massive growth in government can take place “with unprecedented transparency and accountability.”

Yes, sir, we heard it from Jimmy Carter when he created the Department of Energy, the SynfuelsCorporation, and the Department of Education.

Or how about the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 — The War on Poverty — which President Johnson said “…does not merely expand old programs or improve what is already being done. It charts a new course. It strikes at the causes, not just the consequences of poverty.”

Trillions of dollars later, black poverty is the same. But black families are not, with triple the incidence of single-parent homes and out-of-wedlock births.

It’s not complicated. Americans can accept Barack Obama’s invitation to move onto the plantation. Or they can choose personal responsibility and freedom.

Does anyone really need to think about what the choice should be?

Last, we will go back to Texas Fred and read about the Oath Takers that will not allow the current administration to enact socialist measures against We, the People.

Quick note – BlogRolling is back up (for now!) but has added an annoying ad banner across the top of the links if you don’t pay the ransom to remove it. I am still looking for a truly free blog listing service. My BlogRoll is on the page “All BlogRolls Here” but I will not remove my sidebar blog list until/unless I find that truly free service.

In the meantime, I have added a few and removed a few. Enjoy!

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

Missed a few days there – sorry about that. I got a small remodel job, and I’ve been trying to squeeze in time to work on that in between job hunting and chasing after a certain 2 year old.

Oh, and my nephew (the son of LeaAnn) got married this weekend. It was good to see the family in the area. I was doing OK until I saw my other sister wearing the outfit that LeaAnn was supposed to wear at Sean’s wedding. I gathered myself back up, went and hugged necks of my two brothers and their families that were in attendance, and then caught myself scanning the crowd for LeaAnn.

Nah, that’s not why I put my shades back on. It’s because the wedding was outside on a golf course on a sunny day that I put my shades back on.

No, really.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

On this day, in 1945, Mt. Surabachi on the island of Iwo Jima was captured and held by forces from the United States Marines. The second raising of the US flag generated this memorable photograph for Joe Rosenthal, to be a point of inspiration for the entire country:

I am on the tail end of a round of antibiotics (Z-pak is my friend!) and the resultant coughing up of a lung on a constant basis makes sleep difficult and muscles sore from the coughing. I’m going to go sit quietly until MEG wakes up.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

Yup, raining here in the Valley of the Sun. I understand Flagstaff is expecting up to a foot of Global Warming (see #4) today, on top of the seven inches of Global Warming (see #4) they got on Sunday. Speaking of Sundays…

Did I tell you the one about NFC Sunday and the guy who should have lost his mancard privileges?

I had a cab on a 24 hour lease for the Sunday that the Cardinals played the Eagles for the NFC title. The “conventional wisdom” at the cage was that sitting at a cabstand at Westgate (where the University of Phoenix Stadium is located) (i know, naming a “professional” stadium for a college…) would be the big money. Knowing that the “conventionally wise” drivers would be doing just that, I stayed away from Westgate, on the theory (proven time and again, by the way) that while all the cabs are jockeying for places at Westgate, no one was available to pick up all the rides wanting to get anywhere else. So, I was busy from the time I got out of church until I turned the cab in on Monday morning. At any rate –

I had taken a short break about 1500, since I was near the home 20, and grabbed a bite to eat. I then got back on the stick, and cruised over towards Westgate, about three miles from my house to begin with. I was at the corner of Glendale Avenue and 91st Avenue when a 20something guy flagged me down. Geekboy jumped in, and said that he needed to pick up his girlfriend. He was on the phone with girlfriend, and kept chatting and cajoling her to hurry. Where was she? On Maryland Avenue, supposedly meeting him at 91st Ave. Maryland is one of the streets that got extended into the former cotton fields to provide more access and egress for Westgate and the resultant development around it. I couldn’t go south on 91st, since it was the fourth quarter and traffic control had already started setting it up for mass exit. I turned around, went to 83rd, and dropped south to Maryland there. An officer was working traffic control there, also, keeping non-residents from cutting through the neighborhood. I told him my fare wanted to pick up his girlfriend at 91st and Maryland. The nice officer let us through. (i’m pretty sure he thought i meant that geekboy’s girlfriend lived in the neighborhood in the vicinity of 91 and maryland, but that was not my concern) Once I got over to the other side, we saw that traffic control was not allowing traffic straight through – you had to turn north, so I pulled over to the curb. All this time, geekboy (and i’m being kind – he musta been born in the ugly tree, and hit several branches when he fell out) is on the phone, telling “Susie” to hurry and meet us – he had a cab, and we were sitting at 91 and Maryland…I know it’s a long way, but run, babe, because we hafta move soon…

The officer working traffic control on the west side of the neighborhood sauntered over. I told him we were waiting for geekboy’s girlfriend, and she should be right there soon. He told me he would work with me – I couldn’t sit on the curb like I was, but if I pulled up to the light I didn’t have to go through the light unless someone came up behind me. I thanked him, and pulled up to the stop line. Soon after, a vehicle pulled in behind me (of course!). I had to move, so I went north a little bit to the next break in the traffic cones, glanced around, and u-turned back to Maryland – we were going to get in!

I made the turn in at Maryland, and was cruising along in the single lane of cone-marked access allowed, when geekboy said “There she is! Hey, Susie!” She was walking along the other side of the street, oblivious to the BRIGHT GREEN CAB that geekboy was hanging out of while talking to geekboy on the phone. I found a spot where the cones were a little spread apart, and pulled another u-turn. I am so glad the police were paying attention to the cones, and not me…

I pulled up next to oblivious girl – I mean, Susie – and geekboy jumps out, gets her attention, and they start talking about how she wants to stay and party at Westgate and he wants to go to their place. I have to interject here, though – she was not in his class. Actually, he was nowhere near HER class, based on looks – she was a drop-dead, stonecoldfox, good looking kid. You know – makes the cheer squad on looks alone type. I figure either he was a really good kisser (wink wink nudge nudge) or his credit line made Bill Gates look poor. I digress.

She wanted to stay and party, he wanted to go to their place. Why? It turns out that the Eagles were enjoying theire one and only lead in the game, and he was upset that the Cardinals had blown their massive lead. He kept telling me to go to 43rd Avenue and Union Hills (a pretty nice fare from Westgate, on top of the running in circles we had already done) and she kept telling him that she wanted to stay and party. All this time I was still sitting at the curb, and their argument was running about 45 cents per minute. Finally, he got huffy, told her to get in, and as she was getting in the back he got in the front seat. I took off, turning north on 91st and hitting a red light at Glendale, where the argument peaked. She said “Fine. Just let me out here, and you can go where ever.” “Oh, come on, Susie – don’t be like that!” The light turned green, and I started across the intersection.

She decided to assert her independence at that particular point in time, and opened her door – as we were accelerating across Glendale. I hollered at her to close the door and wait until I pulled over – I aimed for the bus pull out on the other side. No sooner had I pulled in there that she was out and gone. He was sitting there, looking all hurt, and kind of crying a little bit. I thought to myself “wow. what a weird chain of events.” Then, out loud – “Uh, where to, then?”

Being all butthurt, he choked out “83rd and Cactus. I wanna go to my parents house.”

When I got to the house he directed me to, the meter read $32 and change. He gave me two twenties, jumped out, and ran to the front door. I left, thinking I should have told him that the meter was $32 and his man card.

Still, not bad for a half hour’s work and I still had the rest of the night to make lots of runs – which I did.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!