httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Tcahn7PwQU

I still think McCain will win the election, but here’s my response:

Domestically:
My church does not ordain women, nor will we marry homosexual couples. Nor are we going to cease reading the Bible and preaching through all of the text. If Obama is elected president, I believe my church will lose its tax-exempt status and quite possibly face hate-speech/hate-crime charges within the next four years.

Obama will sign the federal freedom-of-choice act (he has pledged to do so in his first week) which will federalize the regulation of abortion, and repeal all state laws regulating abortion. There will be more abortions.

Obama will further federalize education. There will be pressure to enroll students at a younger age, and to “screen” families at risk for those in “need of services.” Nothing frightens homeschoolers more — with good reason.

Obama will seek to nationalize healthcare. This will result in higher taxes, lower to no economic growth, and a rationing of health care benefits. It works so well in Canada and the UK.

Foreign policy:
Obama will simultaneously capitulate in Iraq, abandoning everything that has been accomplished there while escalating in Afghanistan and Pakistan (partially in compensation). This will de-stabilize the region, leading to more bloodshed and more terrorism.

Obama will all-but-abandon our alliance with Israel, further emboldening the terrorist opponents of Israel. Significant loss of life and further terrorism.

Obama will appear reasonable to the Europeans and contemptible to the Russians, the Chinese, and the N. Koreans. The Europeans will continue to sneer at us behind our backs. The Russians and the Chinese will be emboldened and become more confrontational, believing they have little to fear by way of retaliation. The N. Koreans are just plain nuts. Obama’s new secretary of state will repeat Madeleine Albright’s hug of Kim Jong Il.

Obama’s reasonableness will be mistaken for weakness which will lead to power and territorial grabs by the Axis of Evil and we will be in another shooting war. In that war, the draft will be revived, “out of fairness,” and women will be included in the draft “out of fairness.” RedHatRob will go to jail attempting to resist the drafting of his daughters.

On the other Hand, if McCain wins . . .

Domestically:
McCain will not make federal hate-crime legislation a priority, thus postponing the creation of the thought-police for at least 4-8 years.

McCain will not federalize abortion regulation. Neither will the Supreme Court overturn Roe (much as I wish they would), but there will still be room for crisis pregnancy centers and adoption agencies to continue their work reducing the number of abortions.

McCain will not further federalize education (I wish he would repeal No Child Left Behind, but he probably won’t). Homeschoolers will still have to fight a never-ceasing battle to protect the right to homeschool against state legislatures, but at least the federal government won’t be leaning on the table-top tilting the playing field.

McCain will not institute nationalized healthcare. The people who pay taxes will breath a sigh of relief.

Foreign Policy:
The Europeans and the Axis of Evil won’t like McCain. But they won’t want to mess with him either. McCain will gradually withdraw combat troops from Iraq, without announcing any date certain for a complete pull-out. With a little luck, the Iraqi government will survive and the impact in the middle east will continue to be game-changing. McCain will retask the missions in Afghanistan & Pakistan, but quietly – no fanfare, no public announcements. That too has a reasonable chance to succeed.

McCain will continue US support for Israel. The Arab world won’t like it. But they won’t want to mess with him either.

N. Korea will remain nuts. Who knows?

There will be no need for a draft. Women will not be conscripted.

Oh… and we will have our first woman elected as Vice President!

Caveat:
On two issues, McCain will disappoint conservatives.

One: He will push an immigration reform package which includes amnesty for those already here.

Two: He will push an energy package which will fund research into alternative energy sources, open up drilling in limited parts of AK and the gulf & east coast, AND which will impose some sort of carbon emissions reduction scheme. Everybody will like parts of it and hate parts of it. The global warming component will be increasingly embarrassing as temperatures fall and new records are set for colder winters, more snowfall, and larger icecaps. But it will pass anyway, cause most congressman are stupid.

you asked…

- Rob Shearer (aka RedHatRob)

Before the news about Bristol Palin’s pregnancy was barely a few hours old, the hyenas of the left gathered — gleeful and gloating, set to make Bristol’s pregnancy as difficult and stressful as possible.

Every candidate takes a position on the Life issue, establishes himself or herself as either a pro-pro-life or an anti-pro-life. Everyone stakes out a position, but, very few candidates actually walk out those positions in the way the Palins have and are.

So how do Barack Obama and Sarah Palin come across?

Obama on what he would call “inconvenient” life:

Before birth: Abortion. After birth (when abortion fails): Infanticide. Severely handicapped adults like Teri Schiavo: Death by starvation and dehydration.

And yet, citing the Gospel According to Matthew, Obama tells Rick Warren that American’s biggest moral failing is selfishness. “We still don’t abide by that basic precept of Matthew: that whatever you do for the least of my brothers, you do for me.”

Of course, Obama conveniently redefines “least of these” to mean anything but the pre-born, accidentally newborn, or the handicapped adult.

Palin on what she would never call “inconvenient” life:

“We’ve both been very vocal about being pro-life. We understand that every innocent life has wonderful potential.”

Children born with so-called disabilities: “I see a perfect child.”

Pregnant, unmarried children: “Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. We are proud of if Bristol’s decision to have her baby,”

Grandchildren conceived outside of marriage: ” . . .and [We are] even prouder to become grandparents.”

The Obama attitude toward babies:

“I’ve got two daughters. I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals, but if they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby, I don’t want them punished with an STD.”

In other words, Obama’s position is that an unwanted baby is about as welcome as an STD.

The Palin attitude toward babies:

Whatever the circumstances of a baby’s conception, prenatal development, or birth, babies are beautiful, perfect, and cherished.

To the salivating hyenas of the left, one question: Whose grandchild would you rather be?

- Cyndy Shearer (wife of RedHatRob)

Look over this list of “modern” presidents (since Lincoln)

1860 Lincoln – Congressman from Illinois (he had served one term 1846-1848)
1868 Grant – General of the Army
1876 Hayes – Governor of Ohio
1880 Garfield – Congressman from Ohio (the only sitting congressman ever elected President)
1881 Arthur – Collector of the Port of New York (administrator of the Customs House)
1888 Harrison – Senator from Indiana
1892 Cleveland – Governor of New York
1896 McKinley – Governor of Ohio
1904 Roosevelt – Governor of New York
1908 Taft – Secretary of War
1912 Wilson – Governor of New Jersey
1920 Harding – Senator from Ohio (first sitting Senator ever elected President)
1924 Coolidge – Governor of Massachusetts
1928 Hoover – Commerce Secretary
1932 Roosevelt – Governor of New York
1948 Truman – Vice-President, Senator from Missouri
1952 Eisenhower – General of the Army
1960 Kennedy – Senator from Massachusetts
1964 Johnson – Senator from Texas
1968 Nixon – Vice-President, Senator from California
1976 Carter – Governor of Georgia
1980 Reagan – Governor of California
1988 Bush – Vice-President, Congressman from Texas
1992 Clinton – Governor of Arkansas
2000 Bush – Governor of Texas

Before we go judging Sarah Palin’s resume too harshly, it’s worth remembering a governor chosen vice-president a century ago.

A governor who had served less than two years of his first term when he was placed on the ticket as Vice-President.

He had reputation as a maverick with an explosive temper. As a state legislator, he had once threatened his committee members with a broken chair leg. His private life had caused raised eyebrows as well. When his wife died shortly after the birth of their first child, he abandoned his infant daughter to the care of relatives and fled town – not returning for almost three years.

He was only 41, and when he was unexpectedly elevated to the presidency the press and pundits of the day ranged from skeptical to scathing. He was dubbed “His Accidency.”

Nonetheless, Theodore Roosevelt went on to prove the critics wrong and proved quite successful as President. He remains the only US President to have won both the Nobel Peace Prize and the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Which one of these looks more like Teddy to you?

- Rob Shearer (aka RedHatRob)

cartoon by Pansy

Hey Rocky! Watch this!

- Rob