May your stuffing be tasty, may your turkey be plump,

May your potatoes and gravy have nary a lump.

May your yams be delicious, may your pies take the prize,

May your Thanksgiving dinner stay off of your thighs!

~~ GOBBLE TILL YOU WOBBLE ~~

---------------------------

"It is the duty of every man to render to the Creator such homage, and such only, as he believes to be acceptable to him. This duty is precedent both in order of time and degree of obligation, to the claims of Civil Society. Before any man can be considered as a member of Civil Society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe."

~~ James Madison ~~
A Memorial and Remonstrance, 1785

Happy Thanksgiving!
Nikki

Does Cancer Ever Just Go Away?

Gina Kolata reports in the NYT about an interesting research study that suggests some cancers may merely go away on their own. I know what you're thinking, but stay with me a minute. We've all heard a story or two – the person dying of cancer who was miracously healed – cured -- without medical treatment. These cases were rare and most always viewed with raised eyebrows. But that could be about to change.

"Now, though, researchers say they have found a situation in Norway that has let them ask that question about breast cancer. And their new study, to be published Tuesday in The Archives of Internal Medicine, suggests that even invasive cancers may sometimes go away without treatment and in larger numbers than anyone ever believed.

At the moment, the finding has no practical applications because no one knows whether a detected cancer will disappear or continue to spread or kill.

[ ... ]

Dr. Barnett Kramer, director of the Office of Disease Prevention at the National Institutes of Health, had a similar reaction. "People who are familiar with the broad range of behaviors of a variety of cancers know spontaneous regression is possible," he said. "But what is shocking is that it can occur so frequently."

The study used large groups of women and dealt with various stages of breast cancer. Please read the whole article to get the overview because this just may prove to be an important study.

The study gives rise to the question of whether knowing one has cancer, and acknowledging it, makes the cancer more powerful. That's an old argument that goes to the psychosomatic -- the mind-body connection. Is it possible that in some cases one can simply not name or acknowledge the cancer, and by refusing to do so, keep it at bay? While I am not a subscriber to that theory, I'm open to be convinced by the triers of the proof.

I had a great aunt who died of cancer. The doctors surmised that, given the cancer's size and metastasis to other parts of her body, she must have had it for 10 years -- undiagnosed and virtually symptom-free. Once diagnosed, she became critically ill and died in less than two weeks.

This study will be interesting to follow.

Nikki

Requiem

When I began this, my first venture into the blogosphere on September 18^th of this year, I said I had no specific agenda and that's still absolutely true. I write about what's on my mind; the issues that move me; the good that people do, the bad, the wrongs that need to be made right. I hope someday soon to be able to write something trivial, joyful, and perhaps even silly. That day is not yet.

The election is now history and the outcome no surprise. The nation is gleefully planning the coronation of King Barack Hussein Obama. I'll watch the proceedings from the comfort of my home but I won't be celebrating. There is too much to mourn.

Elections have consequences, and I fear many consequences were born on November 4^th that will take us to places that we never intended to go.

One such consequence happened in the state of Washington with the passage of legalized physician-assisted suicide -- one more acceptance of the culture of death in America.

It's important to note that I'm not referring to an informed person's right to die by refusing medical treatment for a terminal condition even if the patient chooses to receive medication for pain. There is a strong moral distinction between allowing death to come naturally, without being prolonged by artificial means, and in ending a life by suicide.

I'm talking about death by design, death that is planned, death on purpose. I'm talking about death that masquerades under names like euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, abortion, embryonic stem cell research, human cloning. By any name, it's the culture of death.

Proponents of the abortion industry call their business healthcare. They cite the health of the mother or even the life of the mother as a reason to justify the murder of the innocent unborn. That's a lame and deceptive excuse that does not stand in light of medical facts.

I write from personal experience when I say that killing the unborn child is never required to save the life of the mother. I know. I've been there. I chose to go against the advice of my doctors and carry my third child to term and deliver by Cesarian section. It was a very close call -- I did indeed come very close to death, but I did not die. My doctors were wonderful Christian men and my personal faith was in Jesus Christ. I never doubted that He had the ultimate control. He brought me through the valley of the shadow of death and blessed me with a wonderful, healthy son. Even though I live with some residual health problems, I have never regretted my decision.

The abortion industry is about killing the most innocent and defenseless of all human life and doing it in the cruelest and most vicious ways imaginable. To those who do it, and to those who approve of it, and to those who tolerate it, you are supporting the most horrific and sinful actions ever embraced by any culture in human history. Over forty-eight million innocent babies have been killed in the U.S. alone -- and still counting. In light of this, how can we possibly expect God to continue His blessings on our country?

Peggy Noonan reminds us that The Children Are Watching. Indeed, they are and Barack Obama's election should eradicate once and for all the blight of racism from our national conscience.

But I wonder if the children will see and learn the most ironic lesson of all -- that Barack Obama, the man who has pledged to provide absolutely no support whatsoever for the rights of the unborn, or even to those born alive after botched abortions, is himself a shining example of the enormous opportunities available to anyone born in America –- that is, if they are wanted by their mothers and if they can live long enough to be born.

Barack Obama, the child of a white mother and a black father, was conceived out of wedlock and abandoned at a young age by his father. Raised by his white mother and white grandparents, he has now grown up to be the President of the United States. That in itself is a remarkable accomplishment. Had Obama's birth come a generation later, after Roe v Wade, such difficult circumstances could have caused his mother to legally end his life before he had a chance to take his first breath.

Let me be brutally honest -- the culture of death is not about choice; it's not about rights or freedom, and it's certainly not about private decisions made between a woman and her doctor. Most often, it's about convenience for the mother, but it's always about killing, it's about death. If they cannot inflict death inside the womb, they'll settle for doing it outside the womb, and it's legal. (See Born Alive Truth for Obama's shocking voting record on this.) And in several states, it's no longer just infants, they can now kill the infirm and the aged, and with the added attraction of providing physician assistance for the procedure. But it's still about killing – everything else is merely timing and geography.

I mourn the decline of the greatest nation in the world. I mourn America from sea to shining sea, Ronald Reagan's "shining city on a hill;" a nation born of faith in God and the sacrifices of its people. I mourn a nation that is now losing its way and its bearings, exchanging the Godly moral accord of our Founding Fathers for the floundering depravity of the secular progressives.

I mourn a nation so easily misled, so willing to ignore character and embrace fleeting visions of change with little consideration to where such change could lead. I mourn the triumph of the superficial over the substantial; the culture that now chooses death over life, frivolity over faith, pandering over productivity, political correctness over truth, and selfishness over sacrifice.

I mourn the failure of the people to learn the valuable lessons of history; a people so desperate for the One that they would joyfully invite an inexperienced illusionist to lead them. I mourn the foolishness -- the myopia that pervades our land in the most dangerous and unstable time in our nation's history.

It is doubtful we will ever again see -- ever again be -- what we once were.

I mourn for America but I know that a sinful and corrupt culture cannot change from the outside. Change must come from within -- one life, one heart, one soul at a time. Now is an excellent time to start. The best place to begin is on our knees.

Nikki

E Pluribus Unum

I congratulate Barack Obama and I wish him well as he prepares to assume his role as our 44th President. I truly do wish him well. I will be praying for his success and safety as he undertakes the toughest, and what's been described as the loneliest job in the world. I hope all American conservatives will join me in doing the same.

It was indeed an historic election for African-Americans. Obama made history. Obama is history. But for me, the election was never about race -- it was about character and all that character entails -- judgements, choices, associations; things that serve to form core values and beliefs that make us who and what we are.

Last night was a bad night for conservatives. While it wasn't the blow-out the Dems were hoping for, it was certainly bad enough to be felt painfully by all of us on the conservative side. Obama won soundly but his coattails weren't as long as the Dems had hoped. It doesn't pay to misbehave too badly when you're the controlling party -- just ask the Repubs.

As much as he would like to convince us otherwise, Obama is no centrist. His voting record is proof, and it would be a mistake for him to give in to the far left of his party, Pelosi, Reid, et al, and unleash an ideological and vengeful congress on the American people. Such a thing would not be wise. There is another election in two years -- there always is -- and it's said that an elephant never forgets -- especially GOP elephants who know all too well that it's more difficult to build the barn than to knock it down.

While most presidential elections culminate with calls for national unity, Barack Obama issued no such call in his acceptance speech last night, with the possible exception of this: "And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn — I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your president too."

He was speaking to me. I heard his words. I did not, however, hear his heart, and that is what I most wanted to hear. Does this man's heart hold a genuine love for this great country that so many Americans have bled and died to preserve and defend? Or is he merely seeking power and self-aggrandizement? Knowing where a man’s heart is based is monumentally more important than hearing him deliver rafter-reaching speeches or moving huge crowds to tears. Mr. President-Elect, show me your heart for this country that I love so much.

On this, the morning after, we conservatives know that the President-Elect is a socialist with deep ties to cultural and ethnocentric radicalism. We also know that Barack Hussein Obama’s executive and legislative agendas pose a greater threat to our American way of life than those of any president in the history of our great republic. These are the facts and we cannot escape what we know to be true. We will be watchful and we will be wary. We will also be hopeful that Obama, once fully briefed on the secret things that only presidents know, will moderate his course and take the centrist road. Reality checks can bring forth that sort of change.

I am a flag waving American and I love my country. I desperately want to support my president but I can only do that if he governs fairly from a centrist position. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt as he settles into the job and learns the ropes, but I cannot and I will not support the hard leftist position of socialism.

Nikki

Note: America has long held to three little words that carry monumental meaning for the life and liberty of every American -- E Pluribus Unum. Thanks to Michael Ramirez's clever insight in the above cartoon.

Edited 11-5-08 @ 9.49 PM to add: The stock market dropped 500 points the day following Obama's presidential victory. It was the worst post-election day drop in history. No further comment necessary.

The Audacity of the Blank Screens

"I am new enough on the national political scene that I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views... I am bound to disappoint some... of them."

~~ Barack Hussein Obama in "The Audacity of Hope" ~~

I cannot shake the icy feeling of an ill wind sweeping across my beloved land of the free. It's a wind that I fear will change America, not for four years or for eight, but for many generations to come. The election of November 4th, 2008 has brought forth a reckless abandonment of rationale among the people, a cult-like following of all ages and races who are blindly willing to surrender their liberty and security in order to hold up their tiny paper cups to be filled with the Kool-Aid of socialism by The Anointed One. Meet the blank screens.

I never expected to see such a thing in America. Even some life-long conservatives are caught up in the insanity of the blank screens. They timidly attempt to explain their unexpected switch to Obama, but they end up being un-persuasive and somewhat pitiful. Otherwise intelligent people became embarrassingly illogical. Blank screens are not limited by education, IQ or personality.

There's a cult-like atmosphere surrounding Barack Obama; one which includes a messiah complex complete with worshipful followers. And then there are the special Obama flags, and an Obama presidential seal – a colorful graphic in the shape of a capital O. The seal adorns everything from Obama's plane to his campaign literature.

Blank screens have no boundaries. There were the young school children who sang praises to the Anointed One: "Obama's gonna' change it." And there were teens wearing camouflage, marching military style and chanting Obama's name as each one named a profession that Obama will make available for them.

And there was the Obama world tour where the visitor acted more like a host than several of the actual hosts themselves. It was embarrassing but it made for amazing television that culminated in a speech in Berlin where Obama proclaimed that we are all citizens of the world. Perhaps he sees the whole world as nothing more than blank screens on whom he is going to imprint his world view.

Dear readers, this is scary stuff -- scary, but it is not exactly new.

We've all seen the very old, grainy, black and white film clips where throngs of people stood spellbound as they listened to a new exciting personality on the scene. Oh, how this man could turn a phrase! He was an orator extraordinaire! He promised to uplift the poor, comfort the downtrodden, and strengthen the weak.

He was the agent of change. He would make all things new -- make the government work for all the people. He bashed the wealthy and promised everyone their share of prosperity. There were no obstacles too large -- not when the gifted one spoke. The blank screens entertained no doubt about a bright future coming.

The great one from long ago also had a seal of his own. The new seal was seen on flags, on uniforms, on everything. The great one was new and exciting and he made his appearance at a time when the people were weary, worn, and economically broken. They loved Hindenburg but they viewed the old soldier as weak and ineffective. The blank screens were ripe and ready for change.

Did I mention that this great one also wrote a book before he became famous? He wrote to the world and spelled out all he planned to do. His book was Mein Kampf. It was read by only a few, and those who did, dismissed it as nonsense – the ravings of a mad man. No one believed that anyone could carry out such radical, terrorist programs. By the time Adolph Hitler became Chancellor of the Third Reich in 1933, his book had become a bestseller.

If Germany had not been a country of blank screens when Mein Kampf was published in 1925, there's every reason to believe the history of the 20th century could have been very, very different.

The election of 2008 is only two days away, and the question now is whether the majority of voting Americans understand the magnitude of what’s at stake; and if they do, whether they care enough to become informed about the issues. Or are they merely blank screens following the allure of the charismatic demagogue of socialism?

Nikki