Obama's Stellar IQ Is Showing

Never mind that the great orator seems to be having trouble completing a simple sentence without saying “uh” a few times. More importantly, listen as our Community Organizer in Chief uses his stellar IQ to promote his government-run ObamaCare:

“If you think about… If you... if you think about it... uh, ya know, UPS and FedEx are doin’ just fine. A’ight? The, uh... no, they are. I mean... it’s... it’s the post office that’s always havin’ problems.”

WOW! I'm impressed! Does this mean Obama finally gets it? At long last, does he realize it's always private sector businesses that are “doing just fine“ while government-run businesses are the ones “always havin’ problems“?

Oh, if only...

Someone needs to tell the genius this comparison is probably not the best analogy he could use -- even in a pre-selected house of friendly faces.

*******

I'll be taking the rest of the day for phone calling and emailing congressmen and senators -- mine and others, for the umpteenth time. But it's important! My new motto for the present time: Have you contacted your representative today?

Seniors, AARP is NOT looking out for YOU!

SENIOR CITIZEN ALERT!

SENIOR ALERT! Here is a chilling conversation with Betsy McCaughey and Fred Thompson about Obama's Federal Government Health Care, aka ObamaCare. This is particularly frightening for senior citizens.

In the ObamaCare Bill, on Page 425, it states the Federal Government will require all senior citizens to undergo a Counseling Session at 5 year intervals -- the objective being to explain how seniors can end their own lives. In brief, all seniors will be given SUICIDE COUNSELING.


Listen if you dare. But listen, you must:





Chilling, isn't it?

Listen to Betsy McCaughey's 2nd visit with Fred:




Why does AARP fail to call attention to this? Where are the voices of one of the largest blocks of voters in the country?

I recognize euthanasia, like abortion, as part of the signs of the end times, but I guess I'm still in shock over finding this one actually included in the Bill and no watchdog groups are sounding the alarm.

As one of my dearest former pastors, Dr. Adrian Rogers used to say, "It's getting dark, friend -- gloriously dark."

*******

Now, on to AARP's Townhall with Obama:

I sat in on Obama's townhall meeting with AARP yesterday, and it wasn't easy to stay awake. Boring. Nothing new from Obama and no tough questions from anyone representing AARP. And, not one single question about Page 425. It was the usual stump speech: You can keep your own doctor... you can keep your own insurance... you can keep your own prunes -- whatever. Just lies, more lies and damned lies.

Obama told lies about how the government plans to deliver more for less, to cover most of the 46 million uninsured Americans while lowering premiums, limiting out-of-pocket expenses and requiring insurance companies to cover preventive care. He lied about a lot of people getting more without anyone getting less, and he lied when he said that two-thirds of the cost of covering everyone in America can be paid for “by money that is already in the health-care system.” He lied again when he said he favors a public option to increase competition and keep costs down, and that he “will not sign a health-care bill that is not deficit neutral” and one that doesn’t lower health-care inflation over the long term. Those aren’t just lies, my friends, those are damned lies.

And judging from the articles on their website and their mailouts and calls to members, AARP is supporting Obama and his lies, and by throwing their support to Obama's government-run healthcare plan, AARP is definitely not acting in the best interest of America's seniors. Instead, AARP, with its massive membership rolls (and accompanying membership fees) has become a powerful political action committee (PAC) that brokers all kinds of insurance to seniors nationwide -- bypassing the constraint of state lines. But there's more.

AARP is a business and my guess is they are being cut in on the insurance for the Obama Plan; thus, they will have a vested interest in helping the Government Health Care Plan succeed. Their primary interest is the P&L -- Profit & Loss -- and their share of ObamaCare will supercharge their profits into the stratosphere.

I repeat, AARP is a business. AARP is not looking out for the best interest of senior citizens. Lest we forget, the Eskimos had an efficient way of managing senior healthcare -- they simply sent the elderly out to sea in an old canoe or on an ice floe. It wasn't exactly the Caribbean cruise Gramma and Grampa envisioned for their golden years, but it accomplished its intended purpose "for the greater good."

For all seniors who are confused about who to listen to regarding health issues, it is definitely not AARP. Once again, it's the usual caveat emptor.

Behind the Scenes at the Obama Show

The White House is in role-playing mode again and the featured act is the second scene of the original play we saw six weeks ago. President Obama is outraged that AIG, after taking billions in taxpayer bailout dollars, is now going to pay out bonuses to the very folks who helped put the insurance conglomerate – the one that was too big to fail -- into the financial abyss in the first place. And they want us to believe the government is just now finding out about this.

Remember the humongous stimulus package, the one that no one had time to read before voting on its passage? Is it possible that the huge rush to spend taxpayer dollars was an itty bitty mistake? AIG was an un-savable mega-mess and for the government to rush in and perform a huge cash infusion into its miserable business practices and then to expect a different outcome from what it got is absolutely ludicrous.

Like Claude Raines’ character in Casablanca, Obama is outraged – outraged that gambling is going on in this establishment. We didn't hear any outrage from Obama when AIG contributed over $100,000 to his political campaign. And no outrage from Chris Dodd for AIG's very generous contribution toward his political aspirations. And the list goes on.

Taxpayer dollars were thrown at the financial giant without any accounting oversight whatsoever. The bonuses were part of AIG's prior contractual arrangements – legally binding business contracts that must be honored. But did our government’s financial gurus bother to find out about such contracts? Why, no. There was no time, remember? There was only enough time to throw money in the AIG coffers.

Wasn’t it a mere three weeks ago when we were reading that the biggest banks were going to fail? And then a couple of weeks ago we were told that Nancy Pelosi wanted another stimulus package and the banks might need still more bailout money.

But that was then and this is now.

Now, Bank of America posts a profits for 2009! And Citibank won’t be begging for more money after all – at least, not yet.

Those terrible retail numbers that spelled The Great Recession and had over half of the nation saying we were headed for The Great Depression II. Well, as it turns out they were not so bad after all.

Pssssst! Retail sales were up in January, but that didn’t get much attention from the MSM because the narrative from Washington back then was DOOM! DOOOM! DOOOOOOOM!

Now, suddenly everything is beautiful!

So, what happened?

Could it possibly be that Obama’s inside polling numbers were not quite so warm and rosy with all that disaster talk running rampant? I’ve got my own opinion. I’ll let you decide for yourself.

But, if you’re like me, and you’re feeling somewhat manipulated and more than a little like Dr. Doolittle’s Push-Me-Pull-You, then welcome to the Obama Nation. It doesn’t look much like our America of old, does it?

There is a method to the Obama madness and it’s heads, Obama wins -- or tails, Obama wins. First, Obama declared “a catastrophe that we might never recover from.” That drove an already shaky stock market right through the basement floor, wiping out nearly half of every workers' 401K, seriously damaging investors and scaring the citizens into agreeing to a monumental porkulous stimulus bill that will cost our children and grandchildren much of their American dream.

As if that weren't enough, Team Obama has worked overtime to dumb us down, to numb our senses in hopes of causing us to accept a government takeover of other parts of the private sector. Frightened people easily become followers and much of America is frightened.

Here’s my take on the crisis strategy -- the behind-the-scenes deception -- exactly why Obama talked down the economy and talked up each crisis in magnanimous proportions:

1. He needed to create an atmosphere that would allow passage of the stimulus bill.
2. He wanted to bring the crisis to a fever pitch so that he could further advance his effort to pass other big government legislation – health care, for starters, and green energy.
3. He needed to give the impression that the economy is absolutely, positively as bad as it could ever get so that any progress would be viewed as a recovery, and any recovery would be credited to Obama and hailed as nothing short of a miracle.

In my opinion, Obama’s strategy was calculated. It was deceitful. It was manipulative. It was opportunistic. And unless taxpaying Americans shake off our fear and make our voices heard, it will be effective.

Loosely stated, Obama, the intellectual, was getting hammered. Even his own party was starting to revolt from his grandiose spending. His administration is making foreign policy gaffes left and right and he personally insulted our best ally. Some wonder if he is malicious or simply inept. He cannot seat his cabinet or treasury staff. His priorities seem disordered. He’s been picking fights with private citizens – Rush Limbaugh comes to mind, to create a nemesis. His nominations are giving him fits. He’s backtracking on campaign promises and he’s moving left – hard left, and he’s moving swiftly.

The Tea Parties are starting to organize to a point where the MSM might actually be forced to cover them.

We’ve got warships heading to China while Russia has bombers going to Venezuela for alleged maneuvers. Obama wants to raise taxes, but you can’t do that in a Great Recession. He wants Universal Health Care yet he wants to charge vets for their battle wounds. He must change the subject and give the appearance that he’s doing very well in order to move toward nationalization. And he can’t do that unless -- Ta-Da! -- things aren’t so bad, after all!

He’s hitting the reset button – again -- on his entire presidency.

Well, I hate to be cynical. But I’ll sleep better tonight knowing it’s really not all that bad, after all. You’ll sleep better too, won’t you? No point in feeling like a fool just because the president needs us to be fools in order for his plans to succeed. Let ‘im eat cake!

Rush Limbaugh, American Patriot

Rush Limbaugh is everywhere in the news, especially since Politico has uncovered a little White House plumbing action in which Rush has been systematically targeted by the Obama White House.

As a frequent listener, I naturally had to tune in today to hear his opening monologue. Rush did not disappoint. It was fascinating radio -- Rush was both amusing and amazing.

In a move that can only be called brilliant, Limbaugh cordially invited President Obama to come on his show and spend three hours in a debate with him. Limbaugh is offering the POTUS fully paid transportation and overnight accommodations – not one cent of it on the taxpayer’s dime -- for a debate.

Limbaugh seems utterly, supremely confident – in other words, his normal self. He suggests that if President Obama can debate without notes or teleprompter and defeat Limbaugh in the eyes of the audience (paraphrasing), “You will own America. You will have no opposition standing. Santelli is being silenced; Cramer will be gone soon, though not without a fight. You already have the press, you have Hollywood. The only thing standing between you and complete ownership of the United States is me and my little radio show.”

Obama once wrote of audacity, but today Rush hit him squarely with the reality of the word -- an audacious offer. Rush is calling Obama’s bluff. Limbaugh understands what so few in America seem to grasp: there has been a coup -- a bloodless, painless coup. The Obama presidency is only about six weeks old and America may never again be the same.

Of course, the White House won’t do the debate. Obama could never begin to go toe to toe, without notes, against Limbaugh – certainly not on the serious issues that concern this country. As a frequent listener, I believe that Rush Limbaugh could go toe to toe with the devil himself and in the end, the devil would wonder what happened.

In spite of the way he's portrayed in the mainstream media, Limbaugh is hardly a radical wingnut. He has never been that. He's magnificently informed, direct, compelling, uncompromising, down-to-earth, and incontrovertibly genuine. What lines he may cross via hyperbole, are backtracked by the man's genuine and admirable self-deprecation -- something of a lost art these days.

The over calculated and totally teleprompted Obama hasn't got half of Limbaugh's ability or certainty, which may not be saying much because, basically, Limbaugh is light years ahead in terms of conviction: he is a wise, sensible, potent, incomparable voice for conservative American politics.

Obama has a way of getting out of things. The White House canceled a joint press conference with the British Prime Minister yesterday, ostensibly because of snow. Many Brits viewed it as a snub.

Unfortunately for the country, this debate will never happen -- never in an uncontrolled environment where Obama would be publicly exposed in such a manner. But this Reagan conservative can dream, can’t I? I would pay good money to hear such a debate -- but I digress.

Obama’s supporters are furious, but why should they be so angry? Obama is an ivy-league educated orator with excellent skills; and besides, he’s the President of the United States. He should be able to out-talk college-dropout Limbaugh hands down, shouldn’t he? The callers want to re-negotiate the terms for Obama’s sake. It’s pretty funny radio.

Limbaugh replies, (paraphrasing) “Hey, Obama wants more diversity on the radio -- I’m offering time for the Democrats' view to be fully exposed and explained…”

It’s absolutely brilliant. The White House will send Press Secretary Gibbs out to chuckle about Limbaugh’s offer and try to dismiss all this as political theater.

The White House may regret targeting this college drop-out. Rush Limbaugh is a seriously courageous man. He loves this country unquestionably, and he sincerely believes in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. He believes in the First Amendment and places himself right beside it and says, “Go ahead, take your best shot.”

Rush is an American patriot.

Bravo, Rush, Bravo!

~~~~~

You can read Rush’s monologue here.

He's Barack -- We're Broke

So, here we are, going into month two of the Obama presidency and the Dow has now fallen below 7,000. It’s at 6809.17 as I type this. We haven’t seen these numbers since 1997. But at the White House, it's black tie and white wine, steak dinners and cocktail parties.

A week ago, Chris Matthews (the MSNBC liberal loon with the tingling leg for Obama), wondered aloud in a rare moment of Obama-doubt: “I thought 8,000 was the floor, and it looks like 6,000 is the floor. People are angry, I’m getting angry.”

And, there’s Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner – the so-called indispensible man who was presented to the public as the only one equipped to handle our economic crisis in spite of his "minor" problem with TurboTax. His performance has been less than reassuring. To the contrary, Geithner looks like a deer in the headlights -- the antithesis of confidence in a time when confidence and leadership are desperately needed. So much for the choices of our newly elected Community-Organizer-in-Chief.

How low will the Dow go? No one knows. I don’t know. But I do know that the market does not like the policies of this new president – no way, no how – and without confidence to give it direction, the market will continue to spiral downward. Personally, I can easily see Dow 5000. Whether it crashes there or reins itself in is anyone’s guess, but I can say with certainty that the U.S. economy is in shambles and the market sees no recovery on the horizon.

The president – the Anointed One -- seems wholly untroubled by any of this and is happily continuing on toward the creation of one world with a global “new deal” on his mind. The swiftness with which he is accruing and consolidating power is breathtaking, and sadly, most people don’t even realize what is happening. Impoverishing the people is only part of it. The underlying agenda is about power and change -- changing America into something freedom-loving people will not recognize and we most certainly will not like.

Some reporters are beginning to think it might be time to panic. Why now? It's not as if they weren't warned long ago by all of us lowly conservatives.

Obama is going to make the Carter years look like the best of times.

~~~~~~~~~~

The MUST READ: Larry Kudlow spells it out in no uncertain terms:

Obama Declares War on Investors, Entrepreneurs, Businesses, and More

Let me be very clear on the economics of President Obama’s State of the Union speech and his budget. He is declaring war on investors, entrepreneurs, small businesses, large corporations, and private-equity and venture-capital funds.

[...]

Study after study over the past several decades has shown how countries that spend more produce less, while nations that tax less produce more. Obama is doing it wrong on both counts.

And as far as middle-class tax cuts are concerned, Obama’s cap-and-trade program will be a huge across-the-board tax increase on blue-collar workers, including unionized workers. Industrial production is plunging, but new carbon taxes will prevent production from ever recovering. While the country wants more fuel and power, cap-and-trade will deliver less.

Read it all here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What Will YOU Do When Freedom Dies?

I Am Dying -- Will You Help Me?

The Insult and the Outrage!

The Porkulous Package -- the largest stimulus-spending bill in the history of the United States -- passed in the House a short time ago. The vote was 246 – 183. Thankfully, there was not one single Republican on board.

The Senate is scheduled to vote later this afternoon -- about 5:30 PM -- and I would suggest that the 3 blind mice -- Specter, Collins and Snowe -- the RINO's of the Republican Senate rethink their positions carefully. Before the Senate votes, you still have time to MELT THE PHONES. Call one -- call all. The American people cannot afford to lose this round.

Republican Ladies and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives, I thank you for your desire to serve the wishes of the American people who sent you to Washington. We will not forget you for today you served your country well.

This bill was supposed to be about jobs, jobs, jobs, but it quickly became Pelosi’s pulled pork of spend, spend, spend. Can anyone tell me how we are supposed to pay for this beast of a bill? Can anyone who voted today on the bill, say with all honesty that they have read it? Not possible -- the 1100 page bill was not made available until very late last night. Our elected officials voted on an $800 billion (yes, that's billion with a b) spending bill that they have not even read! And what about the American people's right to read it? What happened to Obama's campaign promise of putting bills on the Internet before a vote? Another campaign promise bites the dust.

I'm insulted and I'm outraged.

The American President, Madam Speaker and the rest of the Dems cannot stop the fear mongering and urgent yapping, and every time they yap, more jobs disappear as they reveal that they are driven less by a desire to serve than to control. They are more interested in backroom connivance than transparency. Back rooms with only one party allowed in does not equal transparency even in Obamaland. Transparency, it seems, is just another word.

Barack Obama must be giving fits to those backroom supporters who never meant for the nation to so clearly recognize his hyper-partisan purposes - and his limitations. And we’re only a mere three weeks into his presidency.

And Obama promised there would be no federal sprawl. What about those construction jobs in the new stimulus package? They are mostly FEDERAL construction jobs meant to construct or shore up FEDERAL buildings and agencies in and around Washington, DC, where FEDERAL SPRAWL will be allowed. Bigger government needs bigger buildings -- and you can be sure Obama is going to have bigger government. Of course, some construction companies in Bethesda, Maryland may see boom times, but what about the rest of the country? Is that Obama's idea of sharing the wealth?

So, what is the message here? Obama is telling the country to find something else to do, something other than growing, working, producing, creating, innovating, building. He wants energy independence but does not want drilling, refining, and the jobs that go with them to take place in America. He wants everyone to have a house, but apparently we’re not supposed to build any new ones. He wants Americans to become less materialistic, more personally responsible for our mistakes, and he wants the government to grow larger and to spend our way out of debt.

One thing is painfully clear -- Obama’s rhetoric is empty, and what is not empty is evasive. He is, increasingly, the “just words” president. He speaks of American dreams, but he works to limit them. And he is not alone.

Where does Barney Frank, a wealthy public official (I find it impossible to refer to him as a public servant), get off telling free Americans what their salary caps should be?

Where does the extremely wealthy John Kerry get off slobbering on the floor of the United States Senate that Americans are too “free to invest their money where ever they want!”?

How dare the set-for-life Chuck Schumer show such contempt for the “little” people, who simply want to know what we’re being put on the hook for?

Corrupt and singular, many of these little kings and godlings serve themselves alone. They are merely playing Lego's with the rest of us. And you can be sure they will not cap their own salaries.

Where do any of these public officials who have either grown wealthy on the public purse, or used their wealth to purchase their office, or have used their office to protect their wealth, get off telling us, the can-do Americans, how much we can earn?

How dare they begin to shred the Constitution and dismantle The American Dream? How dare they discourage the sort of dreaming that made America into Ronald Reagan's shining city on a hill, an exceptional nation of limitless possibilities?

How dare they -- those who aspire not to serve but to rule, create destructive, historic and transformational 1100-page bills behind closed doors and show them to lobbyists before they show them to legislators or to the American public they are supposed to be serving?

But it's done.

It's scandalous.

And no one is calling it treason.

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

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