A Midlevel Flight Across Revelation: Rev 12-13

See Part One – A Midlevel Flight Across Revelation: Rev 1-3

Part Two – A Midlevel Flight Across Revelation: Rev 4-5

Part Three: A Midlevel Flight Across Revelation: Rev 6-7

Part Four: A Midlevel Flight Across Revelation: Rev 8-9

Part Five: A Midlevel Flight Across Revelation: Rev 10-11

In Rev 12:1-6 we see what has actually happened on earth being depicted as a great celestial battle.  “A great and wondrous sign” appeared, a miraculous signpost conveying the idea that men should look upon the woman and clearly see the hand of the God of the Bible in history.  Who is the woman? The nation/people of Israel.  Do you remember the dream (Gen 37:9-10) of the man who would become the Jewish patriarch who would father the twelve sons and establish the twelve tribes of Israel?  How the son, the moon and eleven stars would bow down before him?  Jacob correctly saw the sun symbolizing himself, the moon symbolizing Joseph’s mother Rachel and the eleven stars symbolizing his brothers.  Joseph’s dream, of course, came true.  We already have a powerful symbol of the woman as the nation Israel.  But the description of the woman continues: the “woman” gives birth “to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.”  That is a reference to Psalm 2:9, which prophecies Messiah (see Rev 19:15).  And, again, if the woman is the mother of Messiah, who is she but Israel?  Christ will one day return as King of kings to rule with that rod, but after His Resurrection He was caught up by God in the Ascension; hence the reference “her Child was snatched up by God and to His throne.”  And we saw Messiah “standing in the center” of that throne in Rev 5:6.

What we find in this celestial drama is that Satan (the red dragon) possesses an irrational hatred of Israel and particularly of the Messiah Son she would bear.  I say “irrational” because, for example, God allowed the satanically-originated Holocaust in order to bring the world to the place where the nations would officially recognize the state of Israel.  Satan slaughtered Jews, but it was that very act of demonic hate that God sovereignly used to bring about the prophesied miracle of the state of Israel being born out of dead and dried bones (Eze 37).  Christ can be symbolized with red because of His own blood that He shed for us; this dragon is red only because of the bloodshed he has caused.  The dragon has seven heads and ten crowns; the seven heads is a reference to the plural “heads” of Leviathan (Ps 74:13) with the number “seven” referring to the seven successive world empires the dragon has controlled: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome – and Antichrist’s future empire (Rev 17:9-10).  The ten crowns – likely all worn on the seventh head – represent the ten kingdoms Antichrist will dominate.

Rev 12:7-12 describes an incredible supernatural battle between Satan and the third of the angels who followed him into becoming demons and Michael and the angels who remained with God.  Satan is thrown out of heaven so he cannot slander and accuse believers before God anymore (see Job 1:6-11; 2:1-6; Zech 3:1-2).  Jesus saw Satan falling from heaven (Luke 10:17-18).  And Jesus also saw Satan driven out in John 12:31-32.  I submit that this battle occurred during Jesus’ earthly ministry; and that Satan’s power to go before the throne of God was broken by Christ at that point.  Which is why Rom 8:33 can say, “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?”  John places this event here to tell us that during the second half of the Tribulation, Satan “recognizing that he has but a short time” will try to attack Jews as he never has before.

Rev 12:6 is really incredible.  Jesus in Matt 24:15-16 prophetically warned the generation of Jews living in Judea and Jerusalem at the time that Antichrist would go into the newly rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem  (see Daniel 9:27; 12:11; Matt 24:15) and declare himself “God” to flee immediately.  And one day, all-too soon, that event will happen in the middle of the Tribulation as the beast declares himself God.  But we’re told in Rev 12:6 that there will be “a place prepared for her by God” to flee.  God has actually already prepared this place at Petra.  And these Jews will be divinely protected by God for 1,260 days (or forty-two months or three and a half years or a time, times and half a time).  And so we look at Rev 12:13-17 and see how the action plays out.  Jesus told Jews to bug out of Judea when the Antichrist commits the abomination that shall cause desolation.  When Antichrist declares himself God in the Temple mid-way through the Tribulation, Jews in Judea will know EXACTLY where to flee: about 150 miles south of Jerusalem at the other end of the Dead Sea to a place called “Petra.”  Petra is a giant network of caves carved out by the Nabataeans and completed by the Romans over centuries in the Mountains of Edom at Mount Seir in modern day Jordan.  Many caves hold 30-40 people; one holds 300.  The Romans built an amphitheater that holds 5,000 people.  There is room for 250,000 people.  And it is only accessible by way of a narrow corridor 12’ wide.  When the Jews flee into Petra, God will sovereignly cause an earthquake that will devour the pursuing army of Antichrist and simultaneously miraculously shelter the Jews (see Daniel 11:41, which prophesies that Edom would be off limits to the beast).  Isaiah prophesied of this Petra event in Isa 26:20.  And as we speak, the Jordanians are fixing the place up, having installed a modern water and sanitation system!

How do Christians overcome the devil (Rev 12:11)?  Three ways: 1) by the Blood of the Lamb which renders Satan powerless; 2) by the words of our testimony because the gospel is the salvation-power of God (Rom 1:16) and when we’re not ashamed of the gospel, we have that power; and 3) by not loving our own lives and being willing to follow Christ even to death.

Revelation 13 gives us a more complete introduction to the two coming beasts and describes how they will operate.  Like many dictators (e.g. Hitler), they will initially be heralded as saviors.  They will promise a Utopia but unleash hell on earth.  Mankind frankly ought to know better, but as Georg Hegel observed, “History teaches us that man learns nothing from history.”  But the Bible tells us all about Antichrist: he is called “the king of Babylon” (Isa 14:4), the little horn (Dan 7:8; 8:9), the man of lawlessness and the man doomed to destruction (2 Thess 2:3), Antichrist (1 John 2:18) and the beast (Rev 13:1).  We find in Daniel (e.g. Dan 11:32) that whereas Daniel was given the wisdom to reveal mysteries, Antichrist will have the ability to so entangle the truth into knots that no one will be able to resist his distortions.  Regardless of how Antichrist sees himself or how he deceives the world into seeing him, God sees him as a ruthless, unfeeling dictator and monster.

The first beast – the political Antichrist – arises out of the sea (Rev 13:1) – which in both Revelation (Rev 17:15) and elsewhere in Scripture depict the violent and erratic political turmoil of the Gentile nations (Isaiah 57:20; Jer 49:23; Jude 13).  The seven heads ties him to Satan (see p. 1), to his eschatological role in the last days, and to his counterfeiting of God.  But in addition we’re told in Rev 17:9-11 that the “seven heads” are “seven kings” with Antichrist being an eighth king who rules over these seven kings.  Horns always symbolize political power.  Why ten horns?  Ten kingdoms that he has power over.  Consider this view, because we know that Antichrist will rule the entire world (Rev 13:3,8):

“The forces that are intent on creating a one world government want to divide the world to ten interdependent and mutually interacting regions. One of the agencies promoting a one world government is the Club of Rome, a collection of the mega rich and intellectual elite that established a think tank in Rome in April 1969. The Rockefeller family is part of this group… On September 17, 1973 the COR issued a report… that expressed a vision for the world. In the COR report the world is divided into ten political/economic regions which are called “kingdoms.” In his summary of the report by Mesaroviv and Pestel Peccei stated,

‘Their world model, based on new developments of the multilevel hierarchical systems theory, divides the world into ten interdependent and mutually interacting regions of political, economic or environmental coherence … .’”

Rev 13:2 presents Antichrist in terms of a leopard, a bear and a lion.  This takes us to Daniel 7 and the description of the four successive empires that would rule the world (Greece=leopard; Medo-Persia=bear; lion=Babylon).  Like Greece, he will be lightening fast in his maneuverings; like Medo-Persia he will display raw power in his conquests; and like Babylon he will represent boastful arrogance.  The Antichrist will have the mightiest features that made these previous empires so deadly.  Satan will give him his power and his influence over mankind.

“One of the heads of the beast seemed to have a fatal head wound, but the fatal wound had been healed.”  This is an imitation by the Great Imitator; the beast’s suffering a fatal wound is a parody of Christ’s Passion and his seeming to return to life is a parody of Christ’s Resurrection.  But Satan can only “seem” to copy what Christ already factually accomplished.

Rev 13:5-8 is a section filled with what scholars refer to as “divine passives,” denoting God’s divine control over all things, very much including the forces of evil.  Hence “the beast was given…” is one of three places in the paragraph that the divine passive indicates that God sovereignly allows the beast to blaspheme, to conquer the saints and to control the nations and cause them to worship him.  God is sovereign over everything that happens – even during the “godless” Tribulation when Antichrist and Satan rage as human history has never seen.  Which ought to tell us that God is surely in control over our situations NOW!  God limits Antichrist temporally (to only 3 ½ years) and spatially (to earth).

Rev 13:8 refers to those who worship the beast as “all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the lamb.”  The book of life is a divine register of all true believers (e.g. Ex 32:32-33; Psa 69:28; Dan 7:9-10, 12:1).  If your name is found in this book you are a citizen of heaven no matter WHAT the forces of evil do.  There IS no true power in evil, for God is NEVER not in complete control.  Satan will only be able to give the beast his authority because the sovereign God allows him to do so.  And here it belongs to the Lamb, because it was the Lamb who won victory over the dragon for the saints (Rev 12:11).  And God’s redemptive plan was established “from the creation of the world.”  Thus John warns us in Rev 13:9-10 that, for instance, “If it is God’s will that anyone be taken captive, then he must go into captivity,” etc.  More than any other time in history, the ethical requirement for these Tribulation saints will be clear: to meekly accept their imprisonment and martyrdom and place their trust entirely in God while refusing to take action against the forces of evil – but instead to merely continue to proclaim the gospel message.

Satan’s final rebellion will be waged in a war of total annihilation.  Satan’s goal is to either dethrone God or destroy God’s creation in the attempt.  And to this end Satan parodies the Trinity, the dragon (himself), the beast from the sea (Antichrist) and the beast from the earth or the false prophet.  When the first beast “rises from the dead,” the second one will exploit the event to forge a new world religion worshiping the Antichrist and behind him the dragon as its focus (Rev 13:3-4, 12).  And the beast will blaspheme God by taking God’s divine names for himself (Rev 13:5-6), by taking worship that belongs to God to himself (13:7-8) and persecuting God’s saints (13:7).  He will abrogate for himself divine status and pretend that his actions are answerable to no one (hence the title “man of lawlessness”).  I submit that we are already seeing morality being supplanted by rhetoric and demagoguery as we never have before; but under Antichrist it will be categorically worse as he “justifies” absolutely everything he does.

The second beast arises from the land.  He is labeled as a false prophet (Rev 16:13; 19:20; 20:10).  The first beast has the political and military power to conquer; this one has the religious power to deceive the world into worshiping the first beast.  In pseudo-Trinitarian terms, as the Holy Spirit glorifies Christ (John 16:14), so the false prophet glorifies Antichrist.  The dragon gave his authority to the Antichrist and the Antichrist gives his authority to the false prophet.  Note that his two horns are uncrowned (cf. the first beast).  Just as in Dan 8:3 Medo-Persia was viewed as a ram with two horns representing the empire in its opposition to God, so also the horns of this imposter with his two horns “like the Lamb.”

If you like socialism – the government takeover of the private sector economy – you will absolutely LOVE the government of these two beasts.  The Bible warned us of the coming of global totalitarian government (Dan 7:23; Rev 13:7-8); and we’re going to get it.  The European Union and the United Nations are two powerful current examples of this trend that is coming to take over.  Globalists in every level of government from every nation are seeking to unite the world. Connecting the world economically and monetarily – which they have already largely accomplished – is crucial to their goal.  It is frankly incredible how the socialists and secularists have been so successful at establishing all the necessary powers and capabilities which will fall into the Antichrist’s hand like a ripe apple falling from a tree.  Big government has never honored God; it seeks to replace Him as Savior of the people.

Revelation is clear that the mark of the beast will be an act of worship of the first (political) beast.  You will find that worshipers of big government LOVE religion – provided that said “religion” validates the worship of big government.  Here the false prophet exploits his religious influence over the world to obtain a political act on the behalf of the political beast; he institutes an economic system that only allows those who have publicly announced their worship of the Antichrist – and received his mark on their right hands or foreheads – to be participants.  I have no doubt “the mark of the beast” will be technological: a microchip, an RFID, or a bar code.  If you have the mark, socialism will work for you: you will not only have money in your account and the ability to buy and sell, but you will likely have the goods and wealth of those who refuse to take the mark “redistributed” to you.  If you refuse to take the mark, you will have NO money and NO means of buying or selling ANYTHING.  Money will be tracked to the point in which bartering is impossible; because those who purchase too many groceries or too much gasoline will trigger an audit and be caught if they barter goods with one who has not taken the mark.  What socialists dream today will happen: government will control all money and the entire economy.  And it will result in literal hell on earth as Antichrist exploits the system to assume dictatorial power.

Part Seven: A Midlevel Flight Across Revelation: Rev 14-15

Part Eight: A Midlevel Flight Across Revelation: Rev 16-18

Part Nine: A Midlevel Flight Across Revelation: Rev 19-20

Part Ten: A Midlevel Flight Across Revelation: Rev 21-22

Left Calls Terrorists Good And Israel Evil. Shame On Them.

One Youtube video is worth all the morally depraved leftist arguments in the world:

Why are Israelis so harsh when it comes to allowing Palestinians to enter Israel?

The answer is agonizingly simple: because Israelis have had long and hard experience with what the Palestinians are like.

The above video shows a woman (Wool Wafa Samir Ibraim Bas) who had been given a medical certificate to go to Soroka Hospital in Israel for treatment on compassionate grounds by Israel being stopped for an inspection.  It turned out she was a suicide bomber with a massive explosive device concealed in her pants.  She detonated herself at the Erez barrier checkpoint; had she been allowed to pass she would have murdered countless hospital staff.

At every turn, Palestinian Muslims take advantage of every kind and charitable act by Jews and turn it into another attempt to do the worst evil imaginable.

At every turn, Muslims have attempted to target and murder Jewish children.  They are despicable, as is every single member of the left who takes their side against Israel and against Jewish children.

This is the truth of the Islamic worldview versus the truth of the Judeo-Christian worldview.

And here is what the Scriptures say about both the terrorists and the leftists who take their side:

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools – Romans 1:22

For God’s wrath is being revealed from heaven against all the ungodliness and wickedness of those who in their wickedness suppress the truth – Romans 1:18

You love evil more than good, Falsehood more than speaking what is right. — Psalm 52:3

But he who sins against Me injures himself; all those who hate Me love death — Proverbs 8:36

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! — Isaiah 5:20

You who hate good and love evil, Who tear off their skin from them And their flesh from their bones — Micah 3:2

In their case, the god of this world has blinded the minds of those who do not believe to keep them from seeing the light of the glorious gospel of the Messiah, who is the image of God. — 2 Corinthians 4:4

Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron — 1 Timothy 4:2

For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. — 2 Tim 4:3-4

Pray for Israel.  Pray for the apple of God’s eye.  Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.  And then make sure your elected officials know where you stand, and that your vote for them depends on whether they will stand with Israel through thick or thin.

On Why The Left So Viscerally Despises Sarah Palin

First, the accompanying brief as I discovered it on Politicons.net:

The very sound of her name provokes reactions that run from reverence to loathing. She has become for better or worse a hopeless tangle of causes and effects. Here is a woman who carries all the symbolic freight of America’s culture war. It has become her fate to symbolize everything that some people like, and others detest about this country’s red states.

Sarah Palin has been criticized not only for her record and positions but for her intelligence, her accent, her body, her clothes and even her fitness as a mother. And all this in a time of history celebrated as progressive and forward thinking on the issues of women and power. Many of us watched as her sudden rise provoked a kind of hysteria among liberals and media elite that can only be seen to the objective eye as venomous and cutting. The vicious snobbery and breathtaking double standards will certainly have media consequences for years to come.

Now for the seven minute Youtube video via the Atheist Antidote:

Here’s the latest despicable episode in the long, long list of despicable episodes of the left vs. Sarah Palin: more death threats by the very people who incredibly call HER the hater.

“Due to an onslaught of personal attacks against Governor Palin and others associated with her appearance, it is with deep sadness and disappointment that, in the best interest of all, we cancel the event for safety concerns.”

I also thought it interesting to read about where the political usage of the term “sheep” came from and why it applies so perfectly to liberals – especially media liberals.

This notion as to how the left – particularly liberal women – just viciously tears down Sarah Palin like rabid dogs in spite of the fact that what she is at her core is just a strong, successful woman made me think of this exchange:

Kirsten Powers is an analyst for Fox News.  She is a proven liberal.  But it turns out she is no friend of the N.O.W.

During the 5 September 2008 broadcast of the Fox News program “Hannity and Colmes,” Kirsten Powers said this:

It’s not the National Organization for Women, right?  But it’s not.  It’s really the National Organization for Liberal Women.  It’s not the National Organization for Women, because she’s a woman.  And they put out a statement saying, “Not all women speak for women.  Sarah Palin doesn’t speak for women.”  Well, look; this woman, when I look at her – even if I don’t support her, you know, a lot of her policies, she is the embodiment of what feminism was all about.  She’s a mother, she’s successful, her husband helps with the children.  You know, we should be exited about this, even if you don’t support her.

Alan Colmes then said:

If you support someone just because they’re a woman, and the National Organization for Women supports anybody whose a woman,then you’re saying we’re just supporting them because they’re a woman, and you’re not being discerning at all.  So you can’t have it both ways.

And Kirsten Powers responded:

I would agree with that if they had any kind of actual moral authority, but they don’t, because they don’t ever support any women who don’t support their very narrow agenda.  So they should just rename themselves and say what they’re really for, and stop pretending like they really care about the advancement for women.

I believe it’s becoming clear that the convoluted “feminism” of the N.O.W. is in trouble.  If it dies tough, successful, intelligent and independent women like Sarah Palin and Kirsten Powers will have been the ones that killed it.

I especially liked the part of this video where you have the speaker describing liberals accusing Sarah Palin of being “a retard” and then pointing out that if they really believed that, it should clearly engender a reaction of sympathy rather than hate piled on top of hate.

I have described Sarah Palin and liberals in terms of Jesus and demons.  Whenever a demon heard the mere mention of Jesus’ name, it just came unglued.  And that’s pretty much what happens every time a liberal hears the name of Sarah Palin: she just brings the devil right out of them so that any discerning eye can see who and what these people truly are.

Why Did The Salamander Cross The Road? To Get $150,000 In Obama Stimulus

Who can forget such classic moments in liberalism as the woman who showed up to get “Obama money”:

ROGULSKI:Why are you here ?

Woman: To get some money

ROGULSKI: What kind of Money ?

Woman: Obama money

ROGULSKI: Where’s it comin; from ?

Woman: Obama

ROGULSKI: And where did Obama get it from ?

WOMAN: I don’t know, his stash. I don’t know. I don’t know where he got it from, but he’s givin’ it to us. And we love him. That’s why we voted for him. O-ba-ma. O-ba-ma.

And, of course, there was the woman who cheered Obama’s victory because he was going to fill her gas tank and pay for her mortgage:

“It was the most touching moment of my life! I never thought this day would ever happen! I won’t have to work to put gas in my car! I won’t have to worry about paying my mortgage!

You know, if I help HIM, he’s going to help us!”

And, it turns out that anyone who would have thought liberals had anything over salamanders IQ-wise were wrong.  Because the salamanders are actually bringing home the Obama pork, whereas these two Obama supporters are still most likely waiting to get Obama to fill their gas tanks and pay their mortgages out of his stash:

Vt. town gets $150K grant for salamander crossing
AP updated 7:39 a.m. ET April 2, 2010

MONKTON, Vt. – Future generations of salamanders in one Vermont town are going to be getting some help crossing the road.

The Monkton Conservation Commission says it has won a $150,000 state grant to install one or two culverts under a stretch of road to protect salamanders, other amphibians, reptiles and small mammals crossing between a swampy area and the uplands.

The Burlington Free Press says the project will be the first wildlife-crossing retrofit of a Vermont highway.

While it seems quite obvious at this point that salamanders are much smarter than Obama voters, there nonetheless remains the question that salamanders may not be smart enough to realize that they need to use the culverts.

Mind you, salamanders failing to use the culvert wouldn’t in any way, shape or form undermine their claim to intellectual superiority over Obama voters.  Remember, when it comes to Obama stimulus money, it doesn’t matter whether the money actually gets invested in anything that actually makes any sense or ever gets used; it only matters that you got it.  And the salamanders clearly got their share of the pig.

On Obama’s 17-minute, 2,500-word response to woman’s claim of being ‘over-taxed’

I looked over this story, and immediately realized that there was just something biblical about it.

First, as it ever should be, the words of the Bible:

Proverbs 10:8 “The wise of heart will receive commands, But a babbling fool will be thrown down.”

Proverbs 14:7 “Leave the presence of a fool, Or you will not discern words of knowledge.”

Proverbs 17:12 “Let a man meet a bear robbed of her cubs, Rather than a fool in his folly.”

Proverbs 17:24 “Wisdom is in the presence of the one who has understanding, But the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth.”  Which is to say, the prudent man keeps the word of God continually in view. But the foolish man cannot fix his thoughts, nor pursue any purpose with steadiness.

Proverbs 17:28 “Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise; When he closes his lips, he is counted prudent.”

Proverbs 18:2 “A fool does not delight in understanding, But only in revealing his own mind.”

Proverbs 26:12 “Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.”

Proverbs 27:22 Though you pound a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, Yet his folly will not depart from him.

Ecclesiastes 5:3 “For the dream comes through much effort, and the voice of a fool through many words.”

Ecclesiastes 10:12 “Words from the mouth of a wise man are gracious, while the lips of a fool consume him”

Ecclesiastes 10:14 “Yet the fool multiplies words. No man knows what will happen, and who can tell him what will come after him?”

And now for the words of Obama:

Obama’s 17-minute, 2,500-word response to woman’s claim of being ‘over-taxed’
by Anne E. Kornblut

CHARLOTTE – Even by President Obama’s loquacious standards, an answer he gave here on health care Friday was a doozy.

Toward the end of a question-and-answer session with workers at an advanced battery technology manufacturer, a woman named Doris stood to ask the president whether it was a “wise decision to add more taxes to us with the health care” package.

“We are over-taxed as it is,” Doris said bluntly.

Obama started out feisty. “Well, let’s talk about that, because this is an area where there’s been just a whole lot of misinformation, and I’m going to have to work hard over the next several months to clean up a lot of the misapprehensions that people have,” the president said.

He then spent the next 17 minutes and 12 seconds lulling the crowd into a daze. His discursive answer – more than 2,500 words long — wandered from topic to topic, including commentary on the deficit, pay-as-you-go rules passed by Congress, Congressional Budget Office reports on Medicare waste, COBRA coverage, the Recovery Act and Federal Medical Assistance Percentages (he referred to this last item by its inside-the-Beltway name, “F-Map”). He talked about the notion of eliminating foreign aid (not worth it, he said). He invoked Warren Buffett, earmarks and the payroll tax that funds Medicare (referring to it, in fluent Washington lingo, as “FICA”).

Always fond of lists, Obama ticked off his approach to health care — twice. “Number one is that we are the only — we have been, up until last week, the only advanced country that allows 50 million of its citizens to not have any health insurance,” he said.

A few minutes later he got to the next point, which seemed awfully similar to the first. “Number two, you don’t know who might end up being in that situation,” he said, then carried on explaining further still.

“Point number three is that the way insurance companies have been operating, even if you’ve got health insurance you don’t always know what you got, because what has been increasingly the practice is that if you’re not lucky enough to work for a big company that is a big pool, that essentially is almost a self-insurer, then what’s happening is, is you’re going out on the marketplace, you may be buying insurance, you think you’re covered, but then when you get sick they decide to drop the insurance right when you need it,” Obama continued, winding on with the answer. [That entire droning paragraph full of drivel is ONE sentence, btw].

Halfway through, an audience member on the riser yawned.

But Obama wasn’t finished. He had a “final point,” before starting again with another list — of three points.

“What we said is, number one, we’ll have the basic principle that everybody gets coverage,” he said, before launching into the next two points, for a grand total of seven.

His wandering approach might not matter if Obama weren’t being billed as the chief salesman of the health-care overhaul. Public opinion on the bill remains divided, and Democratic officials are planning to send Obama into the country to persuade wary citizens that it will work for them in the long run.

It was not evident that he changed any minds at Friday’s event. The audience sat politely, but people in the back of the room began to wander off. [People in the front of the room were cursing over the tragic fact that they were sitting in the front of the room].

Even Obama seemed to recognize that he had gone on too long. He apologized — in keeping with the spirit of the moment, not once, but twice. “Boy, that was a long answer. I’m sorry,” he said, drawing nervous laughter that sounded somewhat like relief as he wrapped up.

But, he said: “I hope I answered your question.”

And, of course, I’m sure he didn’t.

For what it’s worth, do you remember how Brett Baier was attacked by the left for interrupting Obama during their interview on Fox News? That 17 minute answer ought to more than tell you why.

I actually quit watching Obama during the campaign.  This man who is billed as the greatest orator who ever lived has a habit of droning on and on without actually saying anything.  He hedges his phrases with so many caveats and exceptions that he never actually seems to come to a meaningful conclusion.  And that’s the primary reason that most people still don’t know who the hell he is or what the hell he truly stands for going on three full years after he started talking to the nation.

I heard Obama say one thing, and then later say a different thing, while saying, “As I’ve been saying,” too many times.

If I want to know what Obama said, I look for a transcript.  He’s reading practically everything he says off a teleprompter; why shouldn’t I read it as well?

The American mainstream media may swoon over Obama (or at least get shivers running up their legs), but Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, would have seen right through him.

“… the voice of a fool through many words.”

Update: Here’s an article entitled, “Obama’s 17 minutes of hate,” which supplies a few corrections to Obama’s blathering rhetoric.

Obama The Leering Cad: Not The Return To The Clinton Era We’d Hoped For

Note: Important Update and Comment appears below.

To be filed under the category, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”

Democrats are going to say, “He’s not looking at her butt!  He’s looking at… well, he’s looking at something on the floor!!!”

And I say, “Not with that look on his face, he isn’t.  And don’t think Sarkozy doesn’t know exactly what’s going on, either.”

There are many Democrats who laud the Clinton era, and yearn for a return to that gilded age when the streets were paved with gold.

There are flaws with their memories, of course: a comparison between the Bush and Clinton years doesn’t make George Bush look bad at all; the Bush tax cuts, contrary to Democratic talking points, actually led to “the largest four-year revenue increase in U.S. history”; the Clinton budget surplus turns out to be a myth that really should be exposed as such once for all; and everything else aside, Clinton’s biggest successes as president came AFTER voters rejected disastrous Democrat rule in the Republican revolution of 1994.

But let’s agree: things were a whole heckuva lot better with Bill Clinton at the helm than they are now under Obama’s faulty steering.

That said, this is NOT the return to the Clinton years anybody was wanting.  If you really want to be more like Bill Clinton, Barry Hussein, PLEASE don’t be like Bill was with women.  ANYTHING BUT THAT.

I hope Michelle slaps you silly, Barry.  I hope you sleep on the lawn tonight.  I hope a few $6,000 purses don’t cut the mustard.

UPDATE: I have since seen the video, which I will post, that presents a very different “picture” as to what happened:

The still image seems to show a laser-beam focus on the girl’s rear end; the video shows what would amount to a quick glance in the course of helping another woman down a step.  To the extent that Obama is “leering,” it amounts to something in momentary passing.  Nothing to get worked up about.

For the record, I wouldn’t have run the story if I’d seen the video rather than the picture.

I don’t take down articles.  I have NEVER taken down an article.  Why not? Because that’s what the left does, all the time.  They run absolutely terrible stories (such as the Daily Kos story questioning whether Sarah Palin faked her pregnancy with Trig because it was really Bristol Palin who was actually pregnant with a child fathered by Todd Palin), and when the facts come out disproving such an attack they simply delete it and move on like nothing happened.  There was never an apology, never a mention that they had participated in anything wrong.  Just nothing.

I don’t want to be like that.  I want to take responsibility.

Someone took a “still” of a video that – while itself unedited and therefore “true” – created a very different inference as to what actually transpired than the whole story (or video) would have provided in context.  This is what the left does all the time: they isolate one aspect of a story from the context and broadcast an artificial and propagandized view of reality.  And they rarely ever admit what they are doing.

Here’s a fact-checked example of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton – not to mention most of the mainline media – doing almost exactly the same thing with statistics that someone did with that “Obama leering” video:

With growing violence on the U.S.-Mexico border fueled by powerful drug cartels, officials from both countries have been repeating a shocking statistic to suggest this isn’t just a Mexican problem.

“This war is being waged with guns purchased not here but in the United States . . . more than 90 percent of the guns recovered in Mexico come from the United States, many from gun shops that lay in our shared border,” President Barack Obama said on a visit to Mexico on April 16, 2009. “So we have responsibilities as well.”

Obama joins many other U.S. and Mexican officials — from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the Mexican ambassador to the U.S. — who have cited versions of the 90 percent figure in arguing for greater U.S. intervention. For his part, Obama has pledged to commit more money and resources to stem the flow of guns south of the border.

But Obama, Clinton and others have left out important qualifiers when citing the 90 percent statistic, which originates from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The agency doesn’t have statistics for all weapons in Mexico, where gun sales are largely prohibited; the figure is based on only guns that the Mexican government sent to the ATF for tracing and that the ATF found were traceable.

Along those lines, the number was cited correctly by William Newell, an ATF special agent who oversees the bureau’s operations along border in Arizona and New Mexico, when he testified before a House subcommittee on March 24.

“In fact, 90 percent of the firearms recovered in Mexico, and which are then successfully traced, were determined to have originated from various sources within the continental U.S.”

Gun rights groups say the number has been widely and intentionally distorted to advance a gun control agenda.

And on April 2, 2009, Fox News ran a story on its Web site dismissing the statistic as a “myth.” The article cites statistics from the Mexican government that suggest only about a third of the guns recovered at crime scenes in Mexico are submitted to the ATF for tracing; and it notes that many guns submitted to ATF cannot be traced. Therefore, the writers conclude, only 17 percent of guns found at Mexican crime scenes have been traced to the United States.

According to the article, “a large percentage of the guns recovered in Mexico do not get sent back to the U.S. for tracing, because it is obvious from their markings that they do not come from the U.S.” The article goes on to say many weapons are coming from a wide variety of foreign sources including China, South Korea, Spain and Israel, as well as from the Russian mafia and other nefarious sources in Asia, South and Central America.

“Reporter after politician after news anchor just disregards the truth on this,” National Rifle Association spokesman Chris Cox told Fox News. “The numbers are intentionally used to weaken the Second Amendment.”

ATF officials challenge the suggestion that Mexico only sends them guns they suspect are from the United States. In fact, the ATF found about a quarter of the 90 percent were made in other countries and then taken illegally from the United States into Mexico.

Here’s the Fox News story with the fuller array of facts.

What the mainstream media, and what President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton, did with guns in Mexico is what largely passes for “news” today.  Half truths frequently amount to whole lies.  And we get carefully edited half truths that appear to tell a story supporting the liberal agenda as a matter of course today from our “journalists.”

Whenever you tell a story from one side, one “snippet,” you run the risk of bias.  And our drive-by media is filled with bias today.

I am doing something that the above media and persons have not done; I am presenting what amounts to a retraction, along with the full evidence so that people can come to their own conclusions.

So any liberal who wants to criticize me for this story, go ahead.  Just realize that even when I’m wrong, I’m STILL better than your people and your sources.

Who’s Really Been Holding Women Down?

An interesting poll: more women think Sarah Palin is “unqualified” for the job she is seeking than men.

It’s really quite fascinating, when you think about it.  Liberal women have been portraying men as chauvinistic, sexist, dismissive, and patronizing toward women for my entire adult lifetime.  And then a talented, intelligent, courageous, and attractive woman comes along to pursue the highest level ever reached by a woman, and who is for her?  And who is against her?  And as we look at Sarah Palin’s opposition, who is it that is apparently out ot destroy her at all cost?

Sarah Palin is on the verge of blowing historically-closed doors wide open, and I thank God for that.

But she has already blown the liberal-feminist propaganda blaming men for women’s problems right out of the water.  And I really thank God for that.  Men’s attitudes toward women have been changing for years; maybe it’s time that entrenched liberal feminists’ attitudes began to change, as well.

Note to the Little Rascals: the He-Man Woman-Haters Club has been officially disbanded and folded into the Sarah Palin You-Go-Girl club.  And both sexes are herein invited to participate in all club functions.

Sarah Palin Speech: Enter The Happy Conservative Warrior

If you’re a conservative, chances are you are happy right now.

If you were wondering whether Sarah Palin would be able to rise to the grandest stage of her entire life and meet expectations, you now know – she met them, and then soared above and beyond them.

She was as comfortable on that platform as the small town girl in her stomping grounds; she was as feminine as a beauty queen; she was as tough as a steelworker.  And she had it all, because she’d been it all.

The base was energized at her selection; they are on fire now.

Before Vice President Debate, Palin Already Beating Biden

Initially, 67% of voters didn’t have enough information on Sarah Palin to have any opinion whatsoever.  But after the rush of media coverage, 53% now have a favorable opinion of her, versus only 26% with an unfavorable opinion, said Rasmussen.

The most important quote:

“Palin earns positive reviews from 78% of Republicans, 26% of Democrats and 63% of unaffiliated voters. Obviously, these numbers will be subject to change as voters learn more about her in the coming weeks. Among all voters, 29% have a Very Favorable opinion of Palin while 9% hold a Very Unfavorable view.”

By way of comparison, on the day he was selected as Barack Obama’s running mate, Delaware Senator Joseph Biden was viewed favorably by 43% of voters.

What I find significant about this is the two numbers – 53% and 63%.  We have never seen Barack Obama or Joe Biden – or for that matter John McCain – poll over 50% at any time.  Paliln’s pull with unaffiliated voters seems incredibly promising.

The full article followed by additional commentary appears below:

Wow, That Hot Sarah Palin Sure Looks Good In Her… Character

Sarah Palin is a real pretty lady.  She’s got that “hot librarian” thing going on, no doubt about it.

But this former Miss. Alaska runner-up looks best of all where it counts the very most: on the inside.

This woman is simply amazing.  I am looking at her with increasing admiration building toward awe.

This is a woman who – shortly after being elected as Governor – fired the Governor’s chef because “her children could fix their own breakfast and sandwiches.”

This is a Governor who put the private jet purchased by the previous Governor with state money on eBay.

This is a Governor who sold the Governor’s limousine and instead drives her Volkswagon Jetta to work.

This woman is better than any giant-killer; she’s the slayer of the infamous “Bridge to Nowhere.”

Last year, this woman “vetoed 13 percent of the state’s proposed budget for capital projects. The cuts, the Anchorage Daily News said, ‘may be the biggest single-year line-item veto total in state history.'”

Now, that is a woman I can look at all day!

Sarah Palin is a pulchritudinous champion of the people against pork, corruption, and pretentious hoity-toity disconnect between leaders and the people they are supposed to serve has a remarkable personal story.  If you read on, you’ll get to see a titillating picture…