Charles Spurgeon offers godly advice on battling depression

The great English minister, Dr. Charles Spurgeon, reached heights untold in his life's work that saw thousands, perhaps millions of souls saved and the Kingdom of Christ on earth greatly magnified.

Yet Spurgeon was subject to occasional bouts of deep depression. In those dark hours, he persevered and rose again to minister. This great man penned a short essay on depression, a subject he was thoroughly acquainted with. All of us have our ups and downs. Take a few minutes and read what Spurgeon had to say. His pearls of wisdom still speak today in our troubled times.

As to mental maladies, is any man altogether sane? Are we not all a little off the balance?

Some minds appear to have a gloomy tinge essential to their very individuality. Of them it may be said, "Melancholy marked [them] for her own"; fine minds withal and ruled by noblest principles, but yet they are most prone to forget the silver lining and to remember only the cloud.

These infirmities may be no detriment to a man's career of special usefulness. They may even have been imposed upon him by divine wisdom as necessary qualification for his peculiar course of service.

Some plants owe their medicinal qualities to the marsh in which they grow; others to the shades in which alone they flourish. There are precious fruits put forth by the moon as well as by the sun. Boats need ballast as well as sail. A drag on the carriage wheel is no hindrance when the road runs downhill.

Pain has, in some cases, developed genius, hunting out the soul which otherwise might have slept like a lion in its den. Had it not been for the broken wing, some might have lost themselves in the clouds, some even of those choice doves who now bear the olive branch in their mouths and show the way to the ark.

I've been there, done that and survived. You can too, by the grace of God.

Matching pair of John Wayne Ruger Vaquero Revolvers

Shameless Commercial Plug: Wish I could afford this matching pair of John Wayne Centennial Ruger New Vaquero Stainless single-action revolvers, part of a Talo limited edition of 1,000 with consecutive serial numbers.

I posted these on gunbroker for the gun shop where I work so I just had to show them off.

I don't think I've ever seen a better looking pair of specimens of engraved artistry in stainless-steel and walnut.

And they can be yours for a mere $2,100.

Oh well, at least I can look at them and enjoy.

'Most Ethical Administration'? How 'bout crookedest evah!

Remember the Obamessiah's promises he would have "the most ethical administration" in the history of the universe, blah, blah, blah? Well here we are in the real world seven months into the deep muddy and pushing on. And the Obama administration's worst nightmare is a skinny little Asian-American woman who wouldn't weigh 100 lbs. in a wet raincoat, Michelle Malkin.

Michelle has a new book out, The Culture of Corruption, that pulls the curtain back on Obama's crooked ways thus far.

In Culture of Corruption, Malkin reveals:

• Why nepotism beneficiaries First Lady Michelle Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are Team Obama's biggest liberal hypocrites-bashing the corporate world and influence-peddling industries from which they and their relatives have benefited mightily
  
  
• What secrets the ethics-deficient members of Obama's cabinet-including Hillary Clinton-are trying to hide
  
  
• Why the Obama White House has more power-hungry, unaccountable "czars" than any other administration
  
  
• How Team Obama's first one hundred days of appointments became a litany of embarrassments as would-be appointee after would-be appointee was exposed as a tax cheat or had to withdraw for other reasons
  
  
• How Obama's old ACORN and union cronies have squandered millions of taxpayer dollars and dues money to enrich themselves and expand their power
  
  
• How Obama's Wall Street money men and corporate lobbyists are ruining the economy and helping their friends

Shameless commercial plug, get Michelle Malkin's book free with a subscription to Townhall Magazine.

Obama's 10 Commandments just slightly different than God's

Stole this from The Patriot Depot website because I agree wholeheartedly that President Obama is obviously governed by a different set of rules than many of the rest of us, particularly us Bible believers. The Patriot Depot says they've been watching and have figured out what Obama's top 10 rules are, and it ain't the 10 Commandments that God gave Moses on Mt. Sinai.

After observing Obama on the campaign trail and during his first six months in office, we have concluded that our President lives and governs according to his own set of “Ten Commandments.” They’re certainly NOT the Ten Commandments you learned in Sunday School. In fact, many are the direct opposite! To prove that our conclusions are correct, you will find a link to source documentation for each commandment on the Patriot Update web site.

The text on the front of the T-shirt reads:

The Ten Commandments According to Obama

I. Thou shalt have no God in America, except for me. For we are no longer a Christian nation and, after all, I am the chosen One. (And like God, I do not have a birth certificate.) SOURCE

II. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, unless it is my face carved on Mt. Rushmore. SOURCE

III. Thou shalt not utter my middle name in vain (or in public). Only I can say Barack Hussein Obama. SOURCE

IV. Remember tax day, April 15th, to keep it holy. SOURCE

V. Honour thy father and thy mother until they are too old and sick to care for. They will cost our public-funded health-care system too much money. SOURCE

VI. Thou shalt not kill, unless you have an unwanted, unborn baby. For it would be an abomination to punish your daughter with a baby. SOURCE

VII. Thou shalt not commit adultery if you are conservative or a Republican. Liberals and Democrats are hereby forgiven for all of their infidelity and immorality, but the careers of conservatives will be forever destroyed. SOURCE

VIII. Thou shalt not steal, until you've been elected to public office. Only then is it acceptable to take money from hard-working, successful citizens and give it to those who do not work, illegal immigrants, or those who do not have the motivation to better their own lives. SOURCE

IX. Thou shalt not discriminate against thy neighbor unless they are conservative, Caucasian, or Christian. SOURCE

X. Thou shalt not covet because it is simply unnecessary. I will place such a heavy tax burden on those that have achieved the American Dream that, by the end of my term as President, nobody will have any wealth or material goods left for you to covet. SOURCE

If you're looking for a t-shirt to make a statement, here's one. The Patriot Depot has more too.

Terrorists home-grown in North Carolina: Tar Heels lock and load!

Lock and load, North Carolinians, the Islamic terrorists ain't just in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and other points far east. They're right here at home, plotting terror in the Old North State.

The News & Observer in Raleigh has the details of this home-grown terrorist cell in our midst.

RALEIGH -- To those they lived among, seven men accused of an intricate terrorism plot lived simply, quietly and kindly.

To neighbors and friends, Daniel Boyd was a father who stopped his work at noon each day for prayer. Dylan Boyd, Daniel's son, was a college student at N.C. State University who until last year worked as a clinical services technician at WakeMed Raleigh Campus. Mohammad Omar Aly Hassan was a newlywed; his father owns a Raleigh car dealership.

To federal authorities, these men and four others plotted to kill themselves and others in the name of Islam. Their activities, tracked by FBI agents over three years and detailed in federal indictments released Monday, tell of an elaborate scheme hatched in a quiet Johnston County neighborhood and nondescript apartment complexes across Raleigh and Cary.

Those arrested Monday include Daniel Patrick Boyd, 39, who was considered the ringleader of the group, and who fought with Afghan Muslims against the Soviets; Hysen Sherifi, 24; Anes Subasic, 33; Zakariya Boyd, 20, and Dylan Boyd, 22; Mohammad Omar Aly Hassan, 22; and Ziyad Yaghi, a 21-year-old Cary High School graduate.

All but one of the defendants are American citizens. Sherifi, a native of Kosovo, is living in the United States legally.

All seven men are charged with conspiring to provide support to terrorists and conspiring to murder, kidnap, maim and injure people abroad. Each is expected to have a detention hearing this week. Until then, they are being held without bond.

Boyd, the ring-leader, was too radical for a mosque in Raleigh so he recently split with them and joined a mosque in Durham more to his liking.

Investigators say the Boyds stockpiled military-style weapons and trained at a rural site in Caswell County, on the Virginia border north of Alamance and Orange counties. The investigators say that Daniel Boyd split from his mainstream mosque in Raleigh this year over "ideological differences," according to the indictment.

A spokesman at the Islamic Center in Raleigh said he did not know the suspects; an estimated 1,200 people attend Friday services at the center. Hassan and Yaghi both attended Al-Iman School, which shares space with the Raleigh mosque, according to former teacher Samar Hindi. Most recently, Daniel Boyd had been attending Jamaat Ibad Ar-Rahman, a mosque in Durham.

"In our dealings, we found them to be people of good moral character," said Hisham Heda, board chairman at the Durham mosque.

Whew. That makes me feel much better knowing the Durham mosque leader says this terrorist cell's members are all "people of good moral character." Don't you feel reassured?

Israeli Jews wake up to Obama's plan to abandon Israel

President Obama's approval rating here at home has sunk into negative territory, largely due to his Obamacare "healthcare reform" plans to socialize America's health insurance industry.

But there's one part of the world where his approval rating is down to single digits, nearing zero, in the nation which has been America's only faithful ally in the Middle East, Israel. There Obama has also managed to vastly improve the popularity of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who Israelis now see as a hero for standing up to Obama's demand that growth be immediately halted in all Jewish settlements under dispute by Palestinian Arabs.

Aluf Benn, editor at large of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, pens an op-ed in the Noo Yawk Times to ask the question: Why Won't Obama Talk to Israel?

A Jerusalem Post poll of Israeli Jews last month indicated that only 6 percent of those surveyed considered the Obama administration to be pro-Israel, while 50 percent said that its policies are more pro-Palestinian than pro-Israeli. Less scientifically: Israeli rightists have — in columns, articles and public statements — taken to calling the president by his middle name, Hussein, as proof of his pro-Arab tendencies.

What went wrong? Several explanations come to mind.

First, in the 16 rosy years of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, Israelis became spoiled by unfettered presidential attention. Memories of State Department “Arabists” leading American policy in the Middle East were erased. The White House coordinated its policy with Jerusalem, and stayed out of the way when Israel embarked on controversial military offensives in Lebanon and Gaza. This approach infuriated America’s Arab and European allies, which blamed Washington for one-sidedness — something they were willing to forgive of Bill Clinton but not of George W. Bush.

Mr. Obama came to office determined to repair America’s broken alliances in Europe and the Middle East. One way to do this — to prove that he was the opposite of his predecessor — was to place some distance between Israel and himself.

Second, Mr. Obama’s quest for diplomacy has appeared to Israelis as dangerous American naïveté. The president offered a hand to the Iranians, and got nothing, merely giving them more time to advance their nuclear program. In Israeli eyes, he was humiliated by North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests. And he failed to move Arab governments to take steps to normalize relations with Israel. Conclusion: Mr. Obama is a softie, eager to please his listeners and avoid confrontation with anyone who is not Mr. Netanyahu.

Third, Mr. Obama seems to have confused American Jews with Israelis. We are close emotionally and politically, but we are different. We speak Hebrew and not English, we live in the Middle East and have separate historical narratives. Mr. Obama’s stop at Buchenwald and his strong rejection of Holocaust denial, immediately after his Cairo speech, appealed to American Jews but fell flat in Israel. Here we are taught that Zionist determination and struggle — not guilt over the Holocaust — brought Jews a homeland. Mr. Obama’s speech, which linked Israel’s existence to the Jewish tragedy, infuriated many Israelis who sensed its closeness to the narrative of enemies like Mahmoud Ahmedinejad.

Fourth, as far as most Israelis are concerned, Mr. Obama has made a mistake in focusing on a settlement freeze. For starters, mainstream Israelis rarely have anything to do with the settlements; many have no idea where they are, even when they’re a half-hour’s drive from Tel Aviv.

More important: in the past decade, repeated peace negotiations and diplomatic statements have indicated that larger, closer-to-home settlements (the “settlement blocs”) will remain in Israeli hands under any two-state solution. Why, then, insist on a total freeze everywhere? And why deny with such force — as the administration did — the existence of previous understandings between the United States and Israel over limited settlement construction? There is simply too much evidence proving that such an understanding existed. To Israelis, the claim undermined Mr. Obama’s credibility — and strengthened Mr. Netanyahu’s position.

I fear we're seeing the beginning of the end of America's future. As an evangelical Christian and a fundamental believer in the Bible, I firmly believe what the Bible says is true about the nation of Israel, whoever is a friend of Israel will be blessed by God. And the reverse, the nation that abandons Israel will be abandoned by God. The Israeli people have woke up and seen their abandonment coming. I pray the American people will realize the consequences of Obama's coming abandonment of Israel and speak out before it's too late.

The guns & ammo buying rush slows from panic to brisk

Ask any gun-shop owner and they'll tell you the same thing Les Jones is reporting, The Obama-inspired gun-buying rush is over.

Last November Barack Obama was elected president. Obama’s official platform included a renewal of the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban and he was widely (and accurately) perceived as being anti-gun. His election set off a massive gun-buying spree that saw record numbers of gun purchases. That, in turn, led to empty shelves and inflated prices, not just for guns but for complementary goods such as ammunition.

Now people on The High Road are asking is the panic buying over? I think so. It peaked a month or two ago and now it seems to be going in the opposite direction. The best data I have for that is the Colt 6920, a popular AR-15 model.

Colt 6920 price history

A week before the 2008 election someone was selling thirty Colt 6920 AR-15s on Gunbroker for $1,200 a pop, which was a bit under the usual price. A few weeks after Obama won those same 6920s soared to $1,800 or more. (GunBroker’s auction search only goes back 90 days, but here ’s an April auction for $1,750.)

Since then I’ve been watching Clyde Armory, which lists Colt prices on its Web site. Over time I’ve seen the sticker drop to below $1,600, then to $1,449, then to $1,349 last week, and to $1,249 today. An identical gun on GunBroker sold for $1,050 a few weeks ago.

The Obama-inspired gun-buying panic is over. Everyone who wants an AR-15 rifle and can afford it has one, at least until another ban looms. (Well, except me, but I’m not all that fired up about buying an AR-15. I bought a lower and some 30 round magazines last fall as insurance against a ban, but I refused to pay those inflated prices for a complete gun.)

At the gun shop where I've worked since January, the hysteria has faded into at least mild panic if not gone back to normalcy. I'm no expert on "normal" sales at a gun shop as I have previously experienced the gun business only as a buyer prior to this new job.

As Les Jones notes, the drop in price and rise in availability of AR and AK rifles is one good sign that benefits gun buyers, the other is the accompanying slowdown and rise in availability of ammo. Until just this past week or two, we could not keep some types of ammo in stock, such as .380 ACP, which was overly popular due to the release of several new .380 pocket pistols. Now we actually have a good selection of various brands of .380, FMJs and JHPs, at prices that have returned to reasonable from outrageous.

Gun shows since the election have been frantic, but have in the past month or so slowed down to brisk. Same is true about sales in the shop. We now have occasional periods of slow sales, then a dozen customers will show up at once and it goes nuts again until everybody is waited on.

And on gunbroker.com sales, which is what I do primarily for the gun shop, sales have slowed to the point where occasionally we have days when nobody buys a gun. This was unheard of until the past couple of weeks. But we have anedotal evidence that other gun shops are seeing little to no sales on gunbroker. One shop owner recently told our boss that his Internet sales were zero.

Maybe our Internet sales are continuing fairly strong has something to do with our inventory. We currently have 393 guns listed on gunbroker, so nobody can say they can't find what they're looking for, handguns, rifles or shotguns.

But all it will take to reignite the panic is for U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder or President Obama to wave the bloody shirt of gun control and it will be on again. Let's hope they've got enough on their plates to keep them busy without trying to grab our guns. Again.

Virginia's governor race a win-win for gun owners

It's a very good sign for gun lovers that the governor's seat in Virginia will be filled by a pro-gun candidate, regardless of whether it's a Democrat or Republican who gets elected.

Because both Virginia gubernatorial candidates are trying to outdo each other as to which is more pro-gun. Both have very good credentials, so this election is a win-win for Virginia gun owners. The Washington Post reports both sides with an easy-to-spot preference for the Democrat, of course.

The question of how much to regulate the sale and possession of guns has always been a dividing line in Virginia political contests. This year's gubernatorial candidates -- former attorney general Robert F. McDonnell (R) and state Sen. R. Creigh Deeds (D) -- both have extensive pro-gun records.

The only clear issue on guns that divides the candidates is the so-called gun show loophole.

Until recently, Deeds, as a lawmaker from rural Bath County, had been a more staunch advocate of gun rights than McDonnell, whose career began in Virginia Beach. One of Deeds's signature pieces of legislation was a state constitutional amendment guaranteeing Virginians the right to hunt and fish. Deeds also secured the National Rifle Association's backing in the 2005 attorney general's race against McDonnell, who won by 360 votes.

Former Virginia governor L. Douglas Wilder, a Democrat, pointedly declined to endorse Deeds in that campaign because Deeds, as a delegate, had refused to support legislation limiting handgun purchases to no more than one per month -- a measure McDonnell backed.

But both candidates have gravitated closer to positions generally embraced by their party's base.

McDonnell, for example, now says he supports a repeal of the one-a-month law because computerized background checks and other advances make it unnecessary. In an interview last week, McDonnell also said he opposes further regulating gun shows because statistics show only a tiny number of guns used in crimes were obtained at gun shows.

"I'd say it's a little bit of a misnomer to call it a loophole," McDonnell said. "It's really an attempt to regulate private sales."

But McDonnell touted his work with Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) in closing a loophole that allowed the Virginia Tech shooter to evade a ban on transferring firearms to someone with serious mental illness.

"I'm very sympathetic to the victims at Virginia Tech," McDonnell said. "The problem that occurred at Virginia Tech had nothing to do with the gun show loophole."

Deeds, who owns several firearms and has hunted since he was a child, said he understands the importance of the Second Amendment and has no interest in working for broader gun controls except for the gun show loophole.

"For me, everything changed on April 16, 2007," Deeds said in an interview Sunday. "As a father, I felt just a need deep down in my soul to respond to their grief somehow."

During the 2008 and 2009 General Assembly sessions, Deeds voted to close the loophole, including a compromise that would have exempted antique firearms. That soured his chances with Steve and Annette Elliott, owners of C&E Gun Shows, which promoted the three-day gun show at the Dulles Expo Center.

The gun grabbers have been gabbing about the so-called gun show loophole for decades, but as usual, it's a big lie. This ain't about gun-show sales, it's about private sales between individuals.

Do you suppose when Thomas Jefferson sold a flintlock to his buddy John Adams, they filled out a yellow form and sent it in by horseback to some paper-pusher in Washington, D.C. to approve?

Any private gun buyer that has enough sense to come in out of the rain will get a copy of the ID and/or driver's license of the seller and/or buyer and hand-write out a simple contract, "I (seller) sold this (make, model and serial number) to (buyer) on (date)." Both buyer and seller sign it, you make two copies and each gets one. Simple common sense. Then if some idiot uses a gun I sold him to rob a bank or shoot up a "gun-free zone" at a college, I can prove I sold it legally to him and it ain't mine anymore.

This gun-show loophole nonsense ain't about gun shows at all. It's about private sales between two lawful individuals. But that's the last thing the gun grabbers will ever admit.

Obama's planets are aligning for 'The Age of Nefarious'

Doug Giles has a sing-along for us from President Obama's big "healthcare reform" press conference.

Being the sensitive guy that I am, sometimes I can’t express how I truly feel about Obamaland without writing a song. Here’s my take on what I believe is happening to the good old USA.

The Age of Nefarious (to be sung to the tune of the Age of Aquarius).

When the moonbats are in the White House

And Deceiver is appointing czars
Then thieves will steal our nation
and socialism will steer the stars

This is the dawning of the age of Nefarious
The age of Nefarious
Nefarious!
Nefarious!

Disharmony and reparations
Blame shifting and spin abounding
No more transparency or integrity
Golden septic streams of drivel
Mystic liberal machinations
And the mind’s true incarceration
Nefarious!
Nefarious!

When the moonbats are in the White House

And Deceiver is appointing czars
Then thieves will steal our nation
and socialism will steer the stars

This is the dawning of the age of Nefarious
The age of Nefarious
Nefarious!
Nefarious!

Let the Thugs slime in.

Let the Thugs slime in.

The Thugs slime in.

Don't hold back there Doug, tell us how you really feel about the Liar In Chief.

Me too Doug.

North Korean woman executed for handing out Bibles

Here in the land of the free and the home of the brave, here's something to ponder as you decide tomorrow morning whether you're going to get up and go to church. From North Korea:

SEOUL | A Christian woman accused of distributing the Bible, a book banned in communist North Korea, was publicly executed last month for the crime, South Korean activists said Friday.

The 33-year-old mother of three, Ri Hyon-ok, also was accused of spying for South Korea and the United States, and of organizing dissidents, a rights group said in Seoul, citing documents obtained from the North.

The Investigative Commission on Crime Against Humanity report included a copy of Mrs. Ri's government-issued photo ID and said her husband, children and parents were sent to a political prison the day after her June 16 execution.

Note the woman's crime, handing out Bibles. And for this she was murdered and her husband, children and parents all rounded up and slapped into a "political prison." I'm willing to bet that prisons for criminals are very bad in North Korea and that political prisons are even worse.

And this is no isolated incident. God only knows how many other Christians are being persecuted and killed in North Korea.

"What religious practice or venues exist ... [are] tightly controlled and used to advance the government's political or diplomatic agenda," the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said in a May report. "Other public and private religious activity is prohibited and anyone discovered engaging in clandestine religious practice faces official discrimination, arrest, imprisonment, and possibly execution."

The commission report cited defectors as saying an estimated 6,000 Christians are jailed in "Prison No. 15" in the north of the country, with religious prisoners facing worse treatment than other inmates.

Mrs. Ri reportedly was executed in the northwestern city of Ryongchon, near the border with China.

The South Korean rights report also said North Korean security agents arrested and tortured another Christian, Seo Kum-ok, 30, near Ryongchon. She was accused of trying to spy on a nuclear site and hand the information over to South Korea and the United States.

It was not clear whether she survived, the report said. Her husband also was arrested and their two children have since disappeared, it said.

Pray for the Christians in North Korea and while you're at it, pray for persecuted Christians around the world. We don't appreciate the freedom to worship we have here in America.

And when the sun comes up tomorrow, get out of bed, get ready and go to church.

Back to the good ol' days of President Jimmy Carter?

The minimum wage went up again today. Good news for low-income workers, right? Wrong. Bad news for employers who won't be able to hire as many low-wage workers (who are by definition low-income workers) and may in fact have to lay some off and push the jobless rate even higher. It's only good news for unions, who can compete better with non-union employers. And in case you haven't noticed, good news for Democrats, who the unions support financially.

At present, we're almost in double digits as the jobless rate nears 10 percent. "Happy Days are here again!" the libtards are signing as Obama-Pelosi-Reid lead us back into Jimmy Carter territory, those good ol' days of double-digit unemployment, interest rates and stagflation.

On the other hand, there are five fingers. And also the obvious solution for our jobless economy, how about a payroll tax cut for businesses? It worked for Reagan and even John Kennedy, both Presidents who cut taxes and saw the national economy improve dramatically.

In other news about prominent Democrats, have you read about the big scandal among New Jersey politicians which reaches all the way up to the governor's office? If so, you probably had to do what I did, read all the way to the end of the story in the New York Times (just across the river) to finally find out what party the political criminals belong to:

Among the public officials arrested were Mayor Peter J. Cammarano III of Hoboken, who was a City Council member before he took office as mayor on July 1, and Mayor Dennis Elwell of Secaucus, both Democrats; Assemblyman L. Harvey Smith of Jersey City, also a Democrat; and Assemblyman Daniel M. Van Pelt, a Republican from Ocean County.

Ahah, one Republican joins the long list of Democrat big-shot crooks. Gotcha. Sorta. The NY Times ain't about to name any parties unless they can find at least one Republican to add.

Have you heard New Jersey's state motto? "Some of our politicians haven't been indicted yet!"

Two MSM "signs" that Sarah Palin is a great candidate for Prez

In the vein of Jeff Foxworthy's signs that "you might be a redneck," you might be a great candidate for President if you're not even running yet but the mainstream media and a pair of leftwingnut wannabe/hasbeen politicians feel obligated to attack you.

Sarah Palin hasn't officially resigned as governor of Alaska yet or begun campaigning for any other political office, much less President, but here's two "signs" from the Washington Post.

Palin Favorability Rating Dips As She Nears Exit, Poll Finds
As Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin prepares for the next stage of her political career, a majority of Americans hold an unfavorable view of her, and there is broad public doubt about her leadership skills and understanding of complex issues, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
(By Jon Cohen and Philip Rucker, The Washington Post)

What Palin Got Wrong About Energy
We invite the Alaska governor to join the reality-based debate.
(By Barbara Boxer and John F. Kerry, The Washington Post)

You don't have to read either story to get the point. The Washington Post-ABC News poll was commissioned and paid for by those two so-called mainstream media outlets to determine what? Whether she's popular or not? You can make a poll say anything depending on how you ask the questions, as in the famous "Have you stopped beating your wife yet?" Yes or no answer only.

Yes. "Ahah! So you admit you've been beating your wife!"
No. "Well why won't you stop beating your wife?"

And then there's Senator Barbara Boxer (Lunatic-California) and John Kerry, hasbeen senator and presidential candidate and wannabe taken seriously "I coulda been a contender!" inviting Sarah Palin to "join the reality-based debate" on the nation's energy policy. Palin, the governor whose state is energy independent because of the deal she personally negotiated with big oil companies that the "experts" said could never be done, needs to take "reality" advice from Boxer and Kerry? If anybody in the energy debate is out of touch with reality, it ain't Sarah Palin. And it just might be Boxer, whose state has outlawed oil drilling, nuclear power plants and any other kind of energy plants except wind power (at which Boxer is a great source), and Kerry who's never had a clue about anything except having a Ph.D. in "how to marry a rich wife so you don't have to work." You can tell a lot about a person by their enemies. Sarah has great enemies.

The Bible verse that stopped a home invader in his tracks

This widow lady had a bedtime habit of memorizing a verse of the Bible every night. She would pick a verse, read it and say it aloud several times until she had it memorized, then turn out the light and go to sleep.

One night she memorized Acts 2:38, in Peter's sermon on the Day of Pentecost.

Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

Then she turned out the light to go to sleep. But before she was asleep, she heard a noise. She raised up and looked and a man had raised her bedroom window and was climbing inside!

She shouted out the first thing that popped in her head: "Acts 2:38! Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

The burglar froze, halfway through her window. She waited a minute and when he didn't move, she picked up the phone and dialed 911. The burglar still didn't move. He stayed frozen in her window until the police arrived and arrested him, put him in a squad car and headed to jail.

As they were driving away, the policeman asked him, "Why didn't you run?"

The burglar replied, "You didn't hear what she said! She said she had an ax and two .38s!"

Now, memorize Acts 2:38 and you'll be ready for a burglar. But keep two .38s loaded too.

Who's for National Reciprocity ... and who's against it

In the interest of public service to all gun lovers, here the list of who voted for and against the National Reciprocity amendment yesterday in the U.S. Senate. I proudly note that both of North Carolina's U.S. Senators, Democrat Kay Hagan and Republican Robert Burr, voted for it.

Here's the list I stole from the NRA-ILA site:

YEAs ---58
Alexander (R-TN) Barrasso (R-WY) Baucus (D-MT) Bayh (D-IN) Begich (D-AK) Bennet (D-CO) Bennett (R-UT) Bond (R-MO) Brownback (R-KS) Bunning (R-KY) Burr (R-NC) Casey (D-PA) Chambliss (R-GA) Coburn (R-OK) Cochran (R-MS) Collins (R-ME) Conrad (D-ND) Corker (R-TN) Cornyn (R-TX) Crapo (R-ID)	DeMint (R-SC) Dorgan (D-ND) Ensign (R-NV) Enzi (R-WY) Feingold (D-WI) Graham (R-SC) Grassley (R-IA) Gregg (R-NH) Hagan (D-NC) Hatch (R-UT) Hutchison (R-TX) Inhofe (R-OK) Isakson (R-GA) Johanns (R-NE) Johnson (D-SD) Kyl (R-AZ) Landrieu (D-LA) Lincoln (D-AR) Martinez (R-FL) McCain (R-AZ)	McConnell (R-KY) Murkowski (R-AK) Nelson (D-NE) Pryor (D-AR) Reid (D-NV) Risch (R-ID) Roberts (R-KS) Sessions (R-AL) Shelby (R-AL) Snowe (R-ME) Tester (D-MT) Thune (R-SD) Udall (D-CO) Udall (D-NM) Vitter (R-LA) Warner (D-VA) Webb (D-VA) Wicker (R-MS)

NAYs ---39
Akaka (D-HI) Bingaman (D-NM) Boxer (D-CA) Brown (D-OH) Burris (D-IL) Cantwell (D-WA) Cardin (D-MD) Carper (D-DE) Dodd (D-CT) Durbin (D-IL) Feinstein (D-CA) Franken (D-MN) Gillibrand (D-NY)	Harkin (D-IA) Inouye (D-HI) Kaufman (D-DE) Kerry (D-MA) Klobuchar (D-MN) Kohl (D-WI) Lautenberg (D-NJ) Leahy (D-VT) Levin (D-MI) Lieberman (ID-CT) Lugar (R-IN) McCaskill (D-MO) Menendez (D-NJ)	Merkley (D-OR) Murray (D-WA) Nelson (D-FL) Reed (D-RI) Rockefeller (D-WV) Sanders (I-VT) Schumer (D-NY) Shaheen (D-NH) Specter (D-PA) Stabenow (D-MI) Voinovich (R-OH) Whitehouse (D-RI) Wyden (D-OR)

Not Voting - 3
Byrd (D-WV)	Kennedy (D-MA)	Mikulski (D-MD)

Remember those Nays come November. NRA-ILA leader Chris Cox sums up the vote.

“While we are disappointed that the 60 vote procedural hurdle was not met, the vote shows that a bipartisan majority agrees with the NRA,” said NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris W. Cox. “We would like to thank Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) and Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), along with all senators who voted in favor of this amendment on both sides of the aisle. The efforts of these senators were not in vain, as the NRA will continue to work tirelessly to ensure this important legislation finds the right avenue to come before Congress once again.”

And Senator Thune said afterward it ain't over yet. He promised to bring this issue up again.

Why the leftwingnuts hate Sarah... and why America loves her

Janice Shaw Crouse at Townhall.com asks the big question about Sarah Palin: Why do the leftwingnuts and the so-called mainstream media hate her so much?

Why, in the wake of her resignation as Governor of Alaska, do the mainstream media continue their efforts to destroy Sarah Palin? What right do the likes of Maureen Dowd and her ilk have to continue their mean-spirited attempts to besmirch and tarnish Palin’s success in politics by their scornful attacks on her and her family? She is beautiful and accomplished, has a hunk of a manly-man as a husband, and lovely children, but the media elites continue on a warpath of ridicule and derision. Her family’s success is denigrated; they are described as “blue-collar” or derided as Alaskan “hillbillies.” Previously, children of politicians were protected, but the Palin children have been subjected to unprecedented vitriol.

...Yet while the character assassination continues, SarahPac, Palin’s political action committee, has raised $733,000 since it was formed at the end of January, with an additional $200,000 raised in the few weeks since she announced her resignation. While there is hopeful speculation by the left that Palin is leaving politics, it is highly unlikely. Even if she does, her time in the spotlight of the 2008 election and its aftermath made significant advances for conservatives and women. It’s time for American women to say “thank you” to Sarah Palin.

Then Crouse outlines four reasons why the left hates Sarah ... and why the rest of Americans love her. Read the whole thing.

1. Palin illustrates that a woman can be feminine while being a strong, smart leader.

2. Palin illustrates that a woman can be happily married, have children, and maintain her family priorities while pursuing a demanding career.

3. Palin’s drawing power as a highly sought after public speaker clearly demonstrates that a woman with conservative values represents the ideal for a vast number of American women.

4. Palin illustrates that a woman can handle the glare of the spotlight and the attacks of the mainstream media.

Sarah Palin is clearly a pioneer. Typically, female leaders are single or, if married, childless. Also, when married they are usually married to older, wealthy men; often they are second wives to a man who already has raised a family with a first wife. Sarah Palin appeals to women who want to “have it all” –– including staying happily married to the love of their youth … and bearing his children.

It is no wonder that she appeals to women who want to live the American dream of fulfilling their own potential while helping their husbands and children fulfill theirs. Thank you, Sarah Palin! You proved it can be done.

And thank you, Janice Shaw Crouse, for cutting through the crud to the crux of the "Sarah" issue. I still think Sarah Palin is "the best man for the job" in returning our nation to sanity.

Two turncoat Republican Senators sink national reciprocity

Et tu, Brutus? We lost the vote for national reciprocity by two stinking votes, 58 yes and 39 no, but the unkindest cut of all is that two Republican Senators joined the libtards in voting no.

WASHINGTON — The Senate on Wednesday turned aside the latest effort by gun advocates to expand the rights of gun owners, narrowly voting down a provision that would have allowed gun owners with valid permits from one state to carry concealed weapons in other states.

A group comprising mostly Republicans, along with some influential Democrats, had tried to attach the gun amendment to the annual military authorization bill, a must-pass piece of legislation. But the provision got only 58 votes, two short of the 60 needed under Senate rules.

Two Republicans, Senators Richard G. Lugar of Indiana and George V. Voinovich of Ohio, joined with 35 Democrats and 2 independents to reject the amendment, which was bitterly opposed by a number of big-city mayors, including Michael R. Bloomberg of New York.

With friends like Dick Lugar and George Voinovich, we don't need no stinkin' enemies. A pox on both their houses. And as King James would say, it really sucketh big time that we got 58 votes but still lost. That's what happens when the deck's stacked against you with the libtards in power. You gotta have a supermajority, not just a majority to stop them from screwing you.

And guess which very prominent Democrat big shot in the Senate voted for the measure?

Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, who is up for re-election in 2010, also supported the measure.

You know you've got a lame excuse for being in power when even the Majority Leader of the frickin' Democrats in the Senate votes with the Republicans and conservative Blue Dog Democrats. Just shows you Harry "The War Is Lost!" Reid knows there's enough gun owners in Nevada to ride him out of town on a rail if he voted against their right to keep and bear arms.

Oh well, another day, another battle. We will win in the end because we're on the right side.

Poll confirms the obvious: Americans are buying guns and ammo

If you've been in a gun store or gone to a gun show since last fall, you probably already know that Americans have been in a gun-buying frenzy since roughly the time of the November elections.

I've been working in a gun store since late January and only in the last week or two has there been any sign of the frenzy slowing down a bit, but not terribly much. Say it's gone from frenzy to mild panic. Business is still quite brisk, both in Internet sales on gunbroker.com, where I do the photography, writing and posting of auctions for my shop, and in the shop and at gun shows.

So the results of a Rasmussen poll reported in the latest gunbroker.com newsletter showing Americans are in a gun-buying mood is no surprise.

A new Rasmussen poll reveals that 57 percent of American citizens believe gun sales are up over the past several months because of widespread fears that the government will tighten restrictions on gun ownership.

"The poll results confirm what we've been saying," noted Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. "American citizens are fearful that the Obama administration and a Democrat-controlled Congress will pass new laws to further erode the individual right to own firearms. This concern was further enhanced by [the July 7] ruling in Minnesota that far left anti-gunner Al Franken should be seated as a U.S. Senator representing that state, giving Democrats a 60-member majority."

The Rasmussen telephone survey found that only 23 percent of the respondents believe gun sales have risen due to concerns about rising crime. Twenty-one percent are not sure. The poll also revealed that 63 percent of male Americans and 51 percent of women believe gun sales are linked to concerns about new gun control schemes. Another finding is that 65 percent of Republicans and 66 percent of those not affiliated with either major political party think booming gun sales are connected to fears about increased government restrictions.

"Americans realize that despite all of the campaign rhetoric, Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are waiting for the right moment to spring new gun control measures," Gottlieb stated. "There is little doubt they would like to renew the ban on semiautomatic sport-utility rifles, place limits on the number of firearms someone may purchase, and maybe institute some kind of licensing and registration scheme, as Pelosi hinted during an appearance on ABC's Good Morning America.

"Wherever these measures have been tried on the local level, they have invariably failed to prevent or reduce violent crime. The Clinton gun ban failed. One-gun-a-month schemes have failed.

"How many times do you have to fail at something before you reach the inescapable conclusion that your plan isn't going to work?" he questioned. "The Rasmussen poll affirms that Americans are waking up to the Obama-Pelosi agenda, and they are stocking up for what they think is an inevitable attack on gun rights."

When the Iron Curtain fell, there was much speculation in the media about whether the eastern Europeans would stay where they were for 75 years of Communist rule or migrate to the west. Let's see, which would you choose? Freedom and free enterprise or more of the same slavery they had endured since the end of World War II? No surprise, eastern Europeans voted with their feet, streaming to the west by the millions.

So it should be no big surprise that when the Obama-Pelosi-Reid gun grabbers take power, Americans decide, "Hey, I better go buy a gun before they outlaw them ... again." The people are voting with their wallets and purses as men and women continue to flock to the gun stores.

Maybe there's so many other fish to fry they won't find time to ban guns. But I ain't betting on it and neither are many Americans, many of which are first-time gun buyers, including women.

National reciprocity for right-to-carry vote tomorrow

I love it when the leftwingnuts get their panties all up in a wad. And they're just about to have a lay-down-and-have-a-hissy-fit breakdown. Also known as a conniption fit. The NRA-ILA says the Thune-Vitter Amendment is coming to a vote tomorrow and the brown stuff's in the fan.

The U.S. Senate will vote at 11:30 a.m. tomorrow -- Wednesday, July 22 -- on an amendment to protect your right to self-defense. The anti-gunners are now doing everything that they can to defeat this amendment and the vote by your Senator is likely to determine the outcome. So it is critical for you to call and e-mail your Senator now and urge her to support and vote for the Thune-Vitter Amendment.

The Senate is now considering an amendment by Senators John Thune (R-SD) and David Vitter (R-LA) that will provide interstate recognition of Right-to-Carry licenses and permits. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his "Mayors Against Illegal Guns" -- and other anti-gun leaders and organizations -- are running ads and spreading lies to scare your Senators into opposing this important self-defense reciprocity reform.

The flap has gotten serious enough that even the Washington Post has taken notice. My, my!

Senate Democrats are scrambling to defeat a Republican-backed provision that would allow gun owners to carry their weapons across state lines, overriding the stricter laws of many jurisdictions and giving preference to states with looser standards.

Critics, including police organizations, big-city mayors and gun-victims groups, decried the legislation as creating "a new national lowest common denominator" for ownership of firearms. But twice this year, Republicans have succeeded in rolling back restrictions on guns with substantial backing from moderate Democrats, many newly elected from Western states with strong Second Amendment traditions.

For a minority party with little influence on Capitol Hill, the gun votes represent a rare opportunity to divide a filibuster-proof Senate Democratic majority. In May, the GOP lured 27 Senate Democrats to support looser rules on firearms in national parks; the measure passed the House and was signed by President Obama as part of an unrelated credit-card bill.

In February, 22 Senate Democrats joined Republicans to stall the District's quest for House voting rights by demanding that the legislation also ease D.C. gun restrictions.

The latest measure, offered by Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), has far greater reach. Offered Monday as an amendment to the defense authorization bill, it would allow people to carry concealed firearms across state lines, provided they "have a valid permit or if, under their state of residence . . . are entitled to do so."

And there's good reason for the Democrats to smell defeat on this issue. Even Senate Majority Leader Sen. Harry "The War Is Lost!" Reid, supposedly leader of the fight against this dastardly plot by the Republicans, is (gasp!) expected to vote for the Thune-Vitter amendment.

... Reid voted for both pro-gun measures earlier this year and is viewed as a likely "yes" on Thune's amendment, although he has not declared a position. A vote on the amendment could come Wednesday, said Jim Manley, Reid's spokesman.

Thune described his amendment as a crime-prevention tool. "Since criminals are unable to tell who is and who is not carrying a firearm just by looking at a potential victim, they are less likely to commit crimes when they fear that they may come in direct contact with an individual who is armed," he said in the statement.

What a concept! Armed, lawful citizens causing armed criminals to think twice about crime. What will they think of next? How about taking the 2nd Amendment seriously, at long last.

I wholeheartedly agree with the NRA-ILA, if you haven't contacted your Senator, do it now!

Please be sure to contact both of your U.S. Senators today, and urge them to cosponsor and support the Thune-Vitter interstate right to carry reciprocity amendment. E-mail and call them immediately!

To find contact information for your U.S. Senators, please click here, or call (202) 224-3121.

N.C. Right-to-Carry gets boost from Legislature and Governor

More good news on the self-defense front. North Carolina now has a new law in effect which stops slow-moving local sheriff's departments from depriving concealed-carry permit holders of rights.

Until this new law, if you applied for renewal of your carry permit and it expired before the local sheriff's office got its paperwork done, sorry Jack, you gotta go through the whole process again, take the state-law class, reapply as if you haven't already been a lawful carry citizen. No more.

The NRA-ILA reports the good news.

On Friday, July 17, Governor Bev Perdue (D) signed the Right-to-Carry permit renewal improvement bill into law (House Bill 1132).

HB 1132 will now ensure that if a Right-to-Carry permit holder applies to his or her sheriff for renewal of a permit within 90 days of the permit's expiration, and the renewal application is not approved or denied by the expiration date, the permit will remain valid until the renewal decision is final. HB 1132 will also require sheriffs to notify permittees when their permits are about to expire. Finally, should a permittee fail to apply to renew a permit before the expiration date, the permittee may apply within 60 days following the expiration of the permit, and ask the sheriff to waive the requirement of taking another firearm safety training course.

My permit doesn't expire for two more years, but I'm glad I won't have to worry about it running out. Bravo, state legislators and Gov. Perdue!

Obama vs. 'W' on the mound: Which one throws like a girl?

You be the judge. Which Prez can throw a strike to home plate and which one throws like a girl?