Commentary: Recent Headlines

By Jim Pierce

Here are some headlines which have appeared recently:

NYC Mayor Bloomberg declares war on salt. Table salt!

Mayor – don’t you have anything better to do? How about putting some smokers in jail?

Stimulus Gives Cash to Illegals. No Social Security Number Needed.

Pelosi justifies $335,000,000 stimulus expenditure for STD.

Stimulus ear marks 25,000,000 for an ATV trail. Why does an ATV need a trail?

Obama’s Illegal Aunt seeks asylum after ignoring a 2004 deportation order. Hey Barack – have some cohones and give her asylum and while you’re at it send your half brother that lives on 20.00 a month a few of your bucks.

Jack Murtha offers to take Gitmo prisoners. Speak for yourself Jack. I don’t want terrorist in my back yard.

Holder receives Spector OK as Attorney General. Great judgment Arlen. You and Holder must have the same set of blinders. He O.K.’s the Mark Rich pardon and you OK him.

Secretary of Treasury, Tim Geither who oversees the IRS has been picked and confirmed by the Senate after it was disclosed that he “made a mistake” on his taxes. Obama wants him to lead the economic recovery and he either can’t do his taxes on Turbo Tax or he is a tax cheat.

Does anyone have any trouble believing the lowest approval ratings in history for Congress and the government in general? Sure Obama has high numbers now but I am sure he will catch up with Congress in no time.

We have the worst leadership I can imagine. Almost every elected official has one goal in mind and that is to increase their own power; the good of the country be damned. (Both Republicans and Democrates) We are now in the middle of a terrible economic downturn, recession, depression what ever you want to call it and our governmental leaders are only looking out for themselves.

Memo to Congress: If you want to stimulate the economy cut out taxes. I don’t mean reduce them I mean cut them out completely. Your going to borrow a trillion dollars before this stimulus package is paid for so instead of borrowing to spend it on the stimulus just stop collecting it. It is easy, fast, and equal. This country would be back on its feet before the 4^th of July.

Memo to Obama: Try hiring honest, hardworking, truthful people as aides. So far all I have seen is Clinton retreads, lobbyist, tax cheats, and pardon sellers. My apology goes out to those aides who are hardworking, honest, and truthful people. I hope you are there but right now I can’t see you through the cloud of b.s. which is hanging over Washington.

Why do I think this will fall on deaf ears?

StimuLess

No deal is better then a bad deal. It nice to see some GOP members waking up. How was your 8 year nap?

Dems were the only ones to vote for the Obama stimulus package in the house last night. Even 11 members of the democratic party opted to vote nay.

At a news conference, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi defended the Democrat-only passage of the economic stimulus package, contending that Republicans were indeed included; their suggestions on tax cuts had become part of the bill itself, she said. But several G.O.P. senators and representatives hit the airwaves today, criticizing the spending portions and promoting their view of a more palatable alternative — bigger, broader tax cuts and incentives.

When Mrs. Pelosi was asked whether the vote — 244 to 188 without a single Republican’s approval — represented a failure on her part to advance President Obama’s desire for a broad bipartisan bill, she practically snapped:

“I didn’t come here to be partisan. I didn’t come here to be bipartisan. I came here, as did my colleagues, to be nonpartisan, to work for the American people, to do what is in their interest.

The president’s agenda is reflected in this legislation. It’s — I mentioned, some of the priorities that were there about creating jobs, cutting taxes, helping states through this difficult economic time, and to do so in a fiscally sound way.

People vote for what they believe in. Clearly, the Republicans did not believe in the agenda that I just described for you, and that’s probably one of the reasons they voted that way. I think they probably voted their conscience and they couldn’t support that. …

We reached out to the Republicans all along the way, and they know it. And they know it. They were part of the original bill, with the — some of the tax provisions were their suggestions. They had what they asked for in terms of committee mark-up. They had the rule on the floor that gave them plenty of opportunity to make changes. They just didn’t have the ideas that had the support of the majority of the people in the Congress. ”

She pushed back strenuously in response to remarks made by Minority Leader John Boehner and other House Republicans, who slammed the bill as “partisan” and full of excessive spending rather than the approach of using tax cuts.

Let hope the Senate takes good hard look at this!

BLAG - GO!

Gov. Blagojevich at 4:51 p.m. Thursday became the first governor in Illinois’ 190-year history to be driven from office by impeachment in a 59-0 vote. Wow that speech of his was really effective...

The Pitty Tour 2009 had a short and painful run. Balgo went out with an act of defiance. In one of his last official acts, Blagojevich wiped away the convictions of Jimmie L. Beck, a janitor at a homeless shelter and prominent Chicago real-estate developer Fred S. Latsko circumventing the prisoner review board.

Blagojevich issued a pardon and an expungement for the 40-year-old Beck, who was sentenced to a year of probation in 1986 on a battery conviction and was sentenced to a year in prison in 2000 for a drug conviction, court records show.

Patti Blagojevich, who started Sept. 1 as development director of the 100-year-old Chicago Christian Industrial League, was quietly dismissed from her $100,000-a-year job about a week ago. also expunged the 1985 deception and forgery conviction of Latsko, who had received a pardon for the conviction in 1989 from then-Gov. Jim Thompson.

Latsko, 43, is a Chicago socialite who reportedly was one of Oprah Winfrey’s guests at her fund-raiser for Barack Obama at her California mansion in 2007. He bought her sprawling estate in Rolling Prairie, Ind., in 2005.

Patti Blagojevich, who started Sept. 1 as development director of the 100-year-old Chicago Christian Industrial League, was quietly dismissed from her $100,000-a-year job about a week ago.

I'm sure we will see Blagojevich on HBO one of these days.

Radio Waves

Online Offline

Renda Broadcasting's WISH (99.7) and WJAS (1320) ceased their online broadcasting feature on January 1, 2009 "due to escalating royalty fees for online streaming broadcasts." Renda Broadcasting was among the first to pull music from the internet a number of years ago when the RIAA challenged whether there should be further royalties incurred for broadcasting over the net.

In Make Me Vomit TV News...

HBO's is airing "The Trials of Ted Haggard" the former leader of the National Association of Evangelicals, who fell from grace after a scandal involving gay sex and drugs. Haggard comes off as pitiful, a self-described "first-class loser" who appears to be suicidal at one point. But the timing on this is interesting after new allegations came out late last week that Haggard had a relationship with a twentysomething male church volunteer. The new guy stepped forward to talk about his supposed relationship with Haggard because he feared the HBO doc would present Haggard as a victim.

Haggard told Newsweek that he never had an adult same-sex encounter with anyone other than male prostitute Mike Jones, whose revelations kicked off the Haggard scandal in 2006. Someone is not telling the truth.

My suggestion to Ted is to just go away. I forgot about you until you ran back in to the HBO spotlight. How many evangelical preachers would even admit they watch anything on HBO? Maybe Ted should audition for Sex in the City next?

Port Authority's Convenient Memory Loss

In an effort to explain the recent revelation that the North Shore Connector would need another $117.8 million to complete—bringing the total cost to $553 million—a Port Authority (PAT) spokesperson said the project’s cost was based on valid estimates for normal conditions. According to PAT the problem was drastic increases in costs that were not anticipated. Continue

Traditional Anglican Communion set to Enter Catholic Church?

An announcement could be made soon after Easter this year. Pope Benedict XVI has taken a personal interest in the matter and has linked the issue to the year of St Paul.

The National Catholic Register cites a "Vatican Source" as saying that "nothing's been decided" by the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Reports abound that the Congregation has recommended the creation of a personal prelature as the vehicle through which to receive the members of the Traditional Anglican Communion into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church. The Register contends that an official at the Congregation spoke with their correspondent Edward Pentin saying,“It’s something that has appeared on the blogosphere and then been reiterated, but the truth is nothing’s been decided.”

Reliable sources confirm that the ongoing dialogue between the Holy See and the Traditional Anglican Communion may soon bear historic fruit in Church history.

Reports say it appears Rome is on the brink of welcoming close to half a million members of the Traditional Anglican Communion into membership of the Roman Catholic Church. Such a move would be the most historic development in Anglican-Catholic relations in the last 500 years. But it may also be a prelude to a much greater influx of Anglicans waiting on the sidelines, pushed too far by the controversy surrounding the consecration of practicing homosexual bishops, women clergy and a host of other issues.

The Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has decided to recommend the Traditional Anglican Communion be accorded a personal prelature akin to Opus Dei, if talks aimed at unity succeed.

We will keep you up to date.

UPDATE: Federal Birth Contol May Be Dropped

House Democrats are likely to jettison family planning funds for the low-income from an $825 billion economic stimulus bill, officials said late Monday, following a personal appeal from President Barack Obama at a time the administration is courting Republican critics of the legislation.

Several officials said a final decision was expected on Tuesday, coinciding with Obama's scheduled visit to the Capitol for separate meetings with House and Senate Republicans.

The provision has emerged as a point of contention among Republicans, who criticize it as an example of wasteful spending that would neither create jobs nor otherwise improve the economy.

Under the provision, states no longer would be required to obtain federal permission to offer family planning services - including contraceptives - under Medicaid, the health program for the low-income.

Democrats considered the politically-potent change as congressional budget experts estimated it would take slightly longer for the overall legislation to achieve an impact on the economy than the administration projects.

Do They Think We Are Stupid?

Every once in awhile I use PowerBlog! as my soapbox to vent. Let the venting begin!

Obama gives his first TV interview to Arabic satellite TV network Al-Arabiya, delivering a message to the Muslim world that "Americans are not your enemy."

He is right, but he failed to mention the Muslim world has a significant number of nutcases that claim to represent Islam and if they are not willing to put a boot on their back we will. This is like Rodney King as president. "Can't we all just get along?" Well, no we can't. Not when people get their head cut off on TV.\

Al Gore is scheduled before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday morning to once again testify on the 'urgent need' to combat global warming. One problem, a 'Winter Storm Watch' has been posted for the nation's capitol and there is a potential for significant snow... sleet... or ice accumulations.

Give it up Al. I'm freezing my ass off and you want to trudge through an ice storm to whine like droopy dog about "the planet has a fever". Why don't you wait till spring when natural global warming does finally occur. You might not look like a boob to every one.

While we are hugging frozen tress ....According to an article in Bloomberg, as many as 600 private jets were expected to touch down in D.C. for the inauguration. The runway at Washington Dulles was closed Saturday to allow as many as 100 small planes to park. And the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said it expected a total of 500 small jets to land from Jan. 16 through Jan 21.

“That would set a record, topping the 300 the airport accommodated for President George W. Bush’s 2004 inaugural,” an Airports Authority says in the article.

You mean the vast majority of Obama supporters didn't car pool in hybrids? Flying a private jet to a celebration of a pro-environment President is a bit like the Detroit execs jetting to Washington for bailout money. How do you call for social responsibility after touching down in a $40 million, gas-guzzling Gulfstream? I understand now the party of change. It's everyone ELSE that has to do the changing.

Editorial Opinion: The Future of the Pro-life Cause

By Randy Sly

Several years ago I stood with some friends on the Edmund-Pettus Bridge in Selma, AL as we reflected on an event that occurred on March 7, 1965. On that day Martin Luther King led 600 marchers across the bridge on their way to Montgomery, the state capitol. Alabama State Troopers and Selma police were waiting for them.Orders had been given by Governor George Wallace to stop the march at any cost, so they were attacked with bullwhips, nightsticks and tear gas as they attempted to cross.

While attending the March for Life on Thursday, January 22, I began to think about the future of the pro-life movement. We now have a President and Congress in lock step with regard to abortion. As late as yesterday, statements coming from branches of government indicated they are not backing down.

So where is the pro-life movement heading? Now, I am not a Randall Terry or a Fr. Frank Pavone, in terms of giving my energies wholly and completely to Life. I am, however, passionate in my pro-life convictions and active in putting feet to my faith. That being said, permit me to offer one person’s portrait of our pro-life future.

1. The pro-life movement will be re-emphasizing prayer.

We have never stopped praying for the cause of life. It is a constant and consistent discipline for many Christians – Catholic and Protestant – on behalf of those who have no voice.This vigil of prayer must be extended to the millions of complacent believers who have given lip service to their belief and infrequent visits to the cause of life. The last eight years of a pro-life presidency and a congress unable to enact pro-choice legislation has given birth, I’m afraid, to a lethargy on the part of many.

Those days are over. We are now living in a country where our government is openly and aggressively on the side of killing children in the womb. We cannot look at our elected officials for resolution. We must now adopt all the weapons of spiritual warfare, where prayers are offered on behalf of those officials that hearts will be changed and rulings overturned.

This is the time to take seriously praying the Rosary, observing Novenas, praying in our masses daily and on Sunday for life issues, and initiating our own daily discipline of personal prayer on behalf of the unborn and for the conversion of our society from a culture of death to a cutlure of life. Should we even see the overturning of Roe vs Wade, we must still see the turning of hearts in society for the lives of the unborn for true protection.

2. The pro-life movement will be writing powerful and compelling messages.

Apologists, activists and theologians are being stirred as never before. In this world of social networking and instant communication, work in the area of life will take on a level of activity as never before. These messages will be built upon the bedrock of truth and crafted logically in a rhetoric that cannot be refuted. Passion is again coursing through the veins of many, some whose words had impact in the past and others who are just now on the horizon.

I also believe that the pro-life message will be heralded in our culture through new avenues. Movies, like Bella, can challenge hearts and convictions. Music and media should also be used. Creativity must be unleashed for the cause of Christ and those whom he loves, “from the womb to the tomb.” On January 23, 2009 the Holy Father encouraged the church regarding the use of new media, saying, “These technologies are truly a gift to humanity and we must endeavor to ensure that the benefits they offer are put at the service of all human individuals and communities, especially those who are most disadvantaged and vulnerable.”

3. The pro-life movement will be returning to the streets.

While we have maintained our sidewalk counseling vigil at abortion clinics and held such powerful events at the Liturgy for the Pre-born at the Time of Death, we are very likely to see strong public demonstrations that will take courage and conviction on the part of those standing for life.For those of us who remember the days of Operation Rescue in the late 80’s and early 90’s, those days will be returning. We may have our own bridges, like the Edmund-Pettus, to cross and there may be some suffering involved.

During the March, Randall Terry stated that we must look at the templates of past social revolutions. Slavery was wrong. Child labor was wrong. Segregation was wrong. All of them, however, required sacrifice for change. This may very well become our template for future strategy and action. In the opening event for the March for Life, Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life, issued a call for stronger resolution regarding the issues that we are upholding as well as a strong challenge for more Christians to take up the cause of Life

4. The pro-life movement will still be relying on the Church

The success or failure of the cause of life does not rest in the hands of the few who can argue before the Supreme Court, lobby the halls of congress or arouse the crowds on the National Mall. The future lies with the Church and those who dwell within her embrace. This is a time for the composite action of Christians, Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant, who rise up and march together.

Is Life the only cause of Christ? Surely not. Is Life one of his important causes? Absolutely. In fact, it is the foundation for every human rights and social justice concern. Personhood is at the center of the gospel. As the all-familiar words of St. John from Holy Scripture declare, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

We must stand strong and visible for the personhood of all humanity whether they dwell in the womb or in a petri dish. We must stand with those in nursing homes and hospitals whose lives could be arbitrarily declared worthless.I personally believe the call is clear and unmistakable. God is stirring His Church and raising up an army for apologetics and action. Now is not the time to lift our hands in surrender but supplication, and ask the Lord of Life to show us our place in His work for such a time as this.

Randy Sly is the Associate Editor and Home and Family Editor for Catholic Online.

Obama’s Evangelicals: The Liberals’ New Useful Idiots

This comes from a Townhall friend of mine, Doug Giles. Read it and weap.

In less than a week after Obama’s swearing in, our nuevo POTUS unfurled his radically liberal abortion and family plans together with his juicy pro-homosexual agenda.


Good job, all evangelicals who voted for Obama, as these aforementioned ditties—from a biblical perspective—are about as sanctified as the Antichrist French kissing a crack whore in Bret Michaels’ hot tub.

Yep, I wanna give a special shout out to all the “major” ministers who fawned and swooned over Barack and swayed their congregations to vote for him in spite of his anti-scriptural stances on life, marriage and sexuality.

My colleague and co-belligerent compadre right here on TownHall.com, Matt Barber, pointed out to me during an interview on my show last week that literally within minutes after President Obama took the oath of office Tuesday, the official White House webpage was updated—under the heading of “Civil Rights”—to detail Obama’s wholesale “support for the LGBT (homosexual activist) community.” His stated plans include the following:

• Defeating all state and federal constitutional efforts to defend the millennia-old definition of natural marriage;

• Repealing the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) signed by Bill Clinton—the only line of defense keeping all 50 states from being forced to recognize so-called “same-sex marriages” from extremely liberal states like Massachusetts and Connecticut;

Repealing the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy;

• Passing constitutionally dubious and discriminatory “hate crimes” legislation, granting homosexuals and cross dressers special rights—denied other Americans—based on changeable sexual behaviors;

• Passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) which would force business owners (religious and otherwise) to abandon traditional values relative to sexual morality under penalty of law; and,

• Creating intentionally motherless and fatherless homes and sexually confusing untold thousands of children by expanding “gay adoption.”

Barber went on to say, “While millions had hoped for a political ‘messiah,’ it’s rapidly becoming evident that, instead, we’ve stuck ourselves with an extreme leftist ideologue whose brand of ‘change we can believe in’ is, in reality, ‘change we never imagined.’

“The gravity of this situation cannot be overstated. Right out of the shoot, Obama has told the world that he is signing off, without exception, on every demand of the extremist homosexual and transsexual lobbies. The radical homosexual agenda and religious and free speech liberties cannot occupy the same space. It’s a zero-sum game. When 1 - 2 percent of the population is granted special rights based on deviant sexual proclivities and changeable sexual behaviors, to the detriment of everyone else, that’s called tyranny of the minority. People of faith and those of you with traditional values: hold on to your hats—it’s going to be a bumpy four years,” concluded Barber.

And that’s just the tip of the pink iceberg, folks.

If it’s change you wanted, “Christian,” it’s change you’re about to get, as in more unborn babies are going to get offed, more Brad and Chad, and if things go Obama’s way, chunks of Scripture will officially get tagged as hate speech, your church will have to hire RuPaul or face punishment, and our military will have to make room for Chippendale dancers on the base partly because of you, the Obama evangelical, who voted for such a change.

Pelosi: Birth Control Funding Part of Stimulus Plan

Excommunicate Her! What in the heck does one have to do to get kicked out the Catholic Church? This woman says she is Catholic, yet spits in it's face in public. She kissed the ring of the pope on his U.S. visit and now defends a move to add birth control funding to the new economic "stimulus" package, claiming "contraception will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government."

Pelosi, the mother of 5 children and 6 grandchildren, who once said, "Nothing in my life will ever, ever compare to being a mom," seemed to imply babies are somehow a burden on the treasury.

I wonder if she would be willing to give up her children, grandchildren and her own life to help the economy. That's 12 people gone.

Does she even know where money comes from? The money paid to her for spewing this garbage comes from people who work hard. They have taxes sucked out of their checks, so people like Pelosi can decide how to waste it. Those people that pay taxes, vote and give a rats rear about the economy, all have one thing in common. Democrat, Republican, Conservative or Liberal. They all have one thing in common. THEY WERE BORN!!!!

They made it into this world despite the twisted logic of these fools. This is scary stuff. Next she will want to off anyone over 70 to save social security. Trim some life in the beginning and in the end and we can all live happy economically stimulated lives. That's is if you make the cut .....

Proposal to Lease Parking to Fund Pensions Raises Opportunities, Questions

Seeking a major infusion of cash for the City’s three pension plans, the Mayor of Pittsburgh has proposed leasing parking facilities owned by the City’s Parking Authority. The Mayor is to be commended for this groundbreaking approach as it represents the type of new thinking Pittsburgh needs. Continue

$553 Million and Counting for PAT’s Big Dig

We knew it was coming. The folks at the Port Authority (PAT) have now admitted what everyone has known for some time: $435 million will not be enough to complete Allegheny County’s biggest boondoggle so far in the 21st century. We are being told the infamous North Shore Connector project will need another $117.8 million to cover the cost overruns PAT now reckons will occur. Of course, the cost overruns are blamed on unexpected construction cost increases no one could have foreseen back in September 2006 when the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) gave final approval to the $435 million project. The FTA committed $270 million in new funding while another $80 million or so in Federal funds are being diverted from other Southwest Pennsylvania transportation projects. State and County funds make up the remainder. Continue

Radio Waves

KEEP TALKING

Could the dreded Fairness Doctrine bring an end to tlak radio? WPGB program director Jay Bohannon thinks the new Obama Administration might keep things cooking for the talk format in 2009. He tells the Post-Gazette, "These guys are pretty much salivating over the whole state of politics at this point." He continues, "I do see the conservative genre of talk radio being extraordinarily popular over the next four years. When Bill Clinton was in office, Rush Limbaugh exploded."

Hey Jay, how about the Powerball show??? Call the station now folks!

Meanwhile the recent returning member of KDKA Mike Pintek and Fred Honsberger don't see their jobs changing. Pintek says "If Obama does something right, I'm going to say good for him, and if he does something I think is wrong, I'm going to say that, too."

QUINN LISTED
Media watchdog group Media Matters recently gave local host Jim Quinn a "radioactive" rating because they feel his speeches could be "hazardous to listeners." According to the Post-Gazette, Media Matters was founded in 2004 as a progressive/liberal organization keeping a watchful eye on all media. It was founded by David Brock whose conversion from a right-wing journalist is told in his book, "Blinded by the Right" Oh great, now I have Manfred Man stuck in my head.

The organization's mission is to "draw awareness to what is being said on the public airwaves and analyze and correct conservative misinformation in the media." Mr. Brock, please review the first four letters in the word ANALYZE

CATHOLIC RADIO TO REMAIN
There are some changes coming to 1590 WZUM. It's developing and I'll let you know as things happen.

It's Been Awhile

Hi all. My apologies for the lack of posts lately. I have watched the change of power in the good ol' USA and despite my hopes, our new president seems to be the exact type of person I fear. I don't like to judge, but if you claim Christianity and voted for Obama who on day one tossed the sanctity of life out the window .... well it downright shameful.

In other news.... I've also been continuing the launch of Pierce Events. I've decided to take my years of promotions, event experience and production and out it use planning and producing events for corporate, private and non-profit groups. The website is up (although sill being developed) you can check it out at www.pierceevents.net

Please call me if you, your church or anyone you know could use some help with an event. We do everything from weddings to fund raisers.

I have to get back to regular posts. Please check back often and thank you for your continued support of PowerBlog!

Shaun Pierce
PowerBlog Editor.

Catholic Resources

Recent audio additions include "The Fourth Cup" by Doctor Scott Hahn, compliments of Lighthouse Catholic Media. Also listen to Father Benedict Groeschel discuss "The Struggle for Inner Freedom".

Listen online to Catholic Bible teachings and hundreds of additional free talks 2 at www.catholicmentoday.org.

Listen to ten minute audio reflections on the upcoming Sunday Mass readings from the perspective of Catholic Masculine Spirituality. (www.CatholicMensPodcast.org) .

Join Bishop David Zubik and Danny Abramowicz for a morning of fellowship, prayer and inspiration on January 24th at St Paul Seminary. For details visit http://www.cmfpitt.org/holyhour.aspx

For men who want an introduction to Pope John Paul II's popular teaching on the Theology of the Body we are offering a two evening workshop on February 6th and 20th. Dinner is included. We encourage the men to bring their spouses and make it a date night! For more details visit:http://www.cmfpitt.org/TOB-Workshop.aspx

Kissinger: Obama primed to create 'New World Order'

From Worldnet Daily

Conflicts across the globe and an international respect for Barack Obama have created the perfect setting for establishment of "a New World Order," according to Henry Kissinger, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and former secretary of state under President Nixon.

Kissinger made the remark in an interview with CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" hosts Mark Haines and Erin Burnett at the New York Stock Exchange, after Burnett asked him

"The president-elect is coming into office at a moment when there is upheaval in many parts of the world simultaneously," Kissinger responded. "You have India, Pakistan; you have the jihadist movement. So he can't really say there is one problem, that it's the most important one. But he can give new impetus to American foreign policy partly because the reception of him is so extraordinary around the world. His task will be to develop an overall strategy for America in this period when, really, a new world order can be created. It's a great opportunity, it isn't just a crisis."

The phrase 'new world order' traces back at least as far as 1940, when author H.G. Wells used it as the title of a book about a socialist, unified, one-world government. The phrase has also been linked to American presidents, including Woodrow Wilson, whose work on establishing the League of Nations pioneered the concept of international government bodies, and to the first President Bush, who used it in a 1989 speech.

"A new partnership of nations has begun, and we stand today at a unique and extraordinary moment," said Bush before a joint session of Congress. "Out of these troubled times, our fifth objective – a new world order – can emerge: A new era … in which the nations of the world, east and west, north and south, can prosper and live in harmony."

The phrase "New World Order" causes alarm for many Americans, particularly those concerned about an international governing body trumping U.S. sovereignty or those that interpret biblical prophecy to foretell the establishment of a one-world government as key to the rise of the Antichrist. Conspiracy theorists, too, have latched on to the phrase, concerned that powerful financial or government figures are secretly plotting to rule the world.

Kissinger's ties to government and international powers – as well as his use of the phrase – have made him suspect in the eyes of many who are wary of what "new world order" might actually mean.

"There is a need for a new world order," Kissinger told PBS interviewer Charlie Rose last year, "I think that at the end of this administration, with all its turmoil, and at the beginning of the next, we might actually witness the creation of a new order – because people looking in the abyss, even in the Islamic world, have to conclude that at some point, ordered expectations must return under a different system."

Kissinger was also part of last year's super-secret Bilderberg Group, an organization of powerful international elites, including government, business, academic and journalistic representatives, that has convened annually since 1954.
According to sources that have penetrated the high-security meetings, the Bilderberg meetings emphasize a globalist agenda and promote the idea that the notion of national sovereignty is antiquated and regressive.

Mid East Mess

IRANIAN COMMANDER CALLS ON ISLAMIC WORLD TO CUT OIL EXPORTS TO ISRAEL'S SUPPORTERS...
RAIN OF FIRE ON GAZA...
ISRAELI TANKS, TROOPS SLICE THROUGH CITY...
Heavy blow against Hamas ...
Underground tunnel in sights of warplanes...
PAPER: 'Obama's silence is damaging'...

Obama Eyes $300 Billion Tax Cut

President-elect Barack Obama and congressional Democrats are crafting a plan to offer about $300 billion of tax cuts to individuals and businesses, a move aimed at attracting Republican support for an economic-stimulus package and prodding companies to create jobs.

The size of the proposed tax cuts -- which would account for about 40% of a stimulus package that could reach $775 billion over two years -- is greater than many on both sides of the aisle in Congress had anticipated. It may make it easier to win over Republicans who have stressed that any initiative should rely more heavily on tax cuts rather than spending.

Full Story

And We Off

So 2009 is here. Last year brought many changes and I'm sure the trend will continue.

I stopped by WORD FM just before Christmas. It was good to see those that were there. Stephanie has departed for greener pastures and there is now a bit of an on air contest to find a partner for John. No, I'm not entering. They know me and where to find me.

It seems like the world was turned upside down in 08. The stock markets, and gas pumps crashed, Obama gets his four year shot and a self-proclaimed hockey mom is now the most googled political figure in history.

That's enough looking back. Let's look forward. When you are at the bottom there is nowhere to go but up. I think.....

As for me, I've launched my own company. Pierce Events. I'm taking my experience, contacts and talents and putting them to work for companies, individuals and non-profit organization in the area.

The website is still being developed by you will find it at www.pierceevents.net

If I can help with your next event please give me a call.

Well let's cross our fingers (whatever that does) and hope for the best.

Many blessings in 2009 to you!

Metcalfe Challenges McCall for PA House Speaker

From the Press Release: Massive budget deficits created by excessive state spending; out of touch state government salary increases and bonuses; billions of dollars in increased taxation and debt, both past and currently looming over the 2009-2010 state budget process, have all motivated Representative Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler) to announce his candidacy for Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives with the following statement:

“The recent history-making headlines of financial institution bailouts, automobile manufacturer bailouts to the governor’s Boscov’s department store bailout scheme have left Pennsylvania taxpayers legitimately perplexed and dismayed at the reality disconnect of their government.

“It would be beyond naïve to expect any degree of fiscal responsibility from the Democrat candidate for Speaker who represents and continues to support all the most reprehensible elements of past legislatures, including his votes for the:

• Rendell administration’s welfare state expanding, deficit-creating budgets.

• Rendell administration’s 2003 Personal Income Tax increase.

• July 2005 unconstitutional state government pay raise.

“Collectively, his actions expose him as part of the problem, not the solution. In sharp, crystal clear contrast, I have consistently voted against the excessive spending, appropriated not only by the legislature during the Rendell administration, but also during the Ridge administration. During my ten years in office I have never voted for a tax increase and I voted against, and led the fight in the state House to repeal the 2005 state government pay raise in its entirety. Read more....