Does President Barrack Hussein Obama Lie? You Read and Decide.

Friday, September 18, 2009

Does He Lie?

by Charles Krauthammer

You lie? No. Barack Obama doesn't lie. He's too subtle for that. He ... well, you judge.

Herewith three examples within a single speech -- the now-famous Obama-Wilson "you lie" address to Congress on health care -- of Obama's relationship with truth.

(1) "I will not sign (a plan)," he solemnly pledged, "if it adds one dime to the deficit, now or in the future. Period."

Wonderful. The president seems serious, veto-ready, determined to hold the line. Until, notes Harvard economist Greg Mankiw, you get to Obama's very next sentence: "And to prove that I'm serious, there will be a provision in this plan that requires us to come forward with more spending cuts if the savings we promised don't materialize."

This apparent strengthening of the pledge brilliantly and deceptively undermines it. What Obama suggests is that his plan will require mandatory spending cuts if the current rosy projections prove false. But there's absolutely nothing automatic about such cuts. Every Congress is sovereign. Nothing enacted today will force a future Congress or a future president to make any cuts in any spending, mandatory or not.

Just look at the supposedly automatic Medicare cuts contained in the Sustainable Growth Rate formula enacted to constrain out-of-control Medicare spending. Every year since 2003, Congress has waived the cuts.

Mankiw puts the Obama bait-and-switch in plain language. "Translation: I promise to fix the problem. And if I do not fix the problem now, I will fix it later, or some future president will, after I am long gone. I promise he will. Absolutely, positively, I am committed to that future president fixing the problem. You can count on it. Would I lie to you?"

(2) And then there's the famous contretemps about health insurance for illegal immigrants. Obama said they would not be insured. Well, all four committee-passed bills in Congress allow illegal immigrants to take part in the proposed Health Insurance Exchange.

But more importantly, the problem is that laws are not self-enforcing. If they were, we'd have no illegal immigrants because, as I understand it, it's illegal to enter the United States illegally. We have laws against burglary, too. But we also provide for cops and jails on the assumption that most burglars don't voluntarily turn themselves in.

When Republicans proposed requiring proof of citizenship, the Democrats twice voted that down in committee. Indeed, after Rep. Joe Wilson's "You lie!" shout-out, the Senate Finance Committee revisited the language of its bill to prevent illegal immigrants from getting any federal benefits. Why would the Finance Committee fix a nonexistent problem?

(3) Obama said he would largely solve the insoluble cost problem of Obamacare by eliminating "hundreds of billions of dollars in waste and fraud" from Medicare.

That's not a lie. That's not even deception. That's just an insult to our intelligence. Waste, fraud and abuse -- Meg Greenfield once called this phrase "the dread big three" -- as the all-purpose piggy bank for budget savings has been a joke since Jimmy Carter first used it in 1977.

Moreover, if half a trillion is waiting to be squeezed painlessly out of Medicare, why wait for health care reform? If, as Obama repeatedly insists, Medicare overspending is breaking the budget, why hasn't he gotten started on the painless billions in "waste and fraud" savings?

Obama doesn't lie. He merely elides, gliding from one dubious assertion to another. This has been the story throughout his whole health care crusade. Its original premise was that our current financial crisis was rooted in neglect of three things -- energy, education and health care. That transparent attempt to exploit Emanuel's Law -- a crisis is a terrible thing to waste -- failed for health care because no one is stupid enough to believe that the 2008 financial collapse was caused by a lack of universal health care.

So on to the next gambit: selling health care reform as a cure for the deficit. When that was exploded by the Congressional Budget Office's demonstration of staggering Obamacare deficits, Obama tried a new tack: selling his plan as revenue-neutral insurance reform -- until the revenue neutrality is exposed as phony future cuts and chimerical waste and fraud.

Obama doesn't lie. He implies, he misdirects, he misleads -- so fluidly and incessantly that he risks transmuting eloquence into mere slickness.

Slickness wasn't fatal to "Slick Willie" Clinton because he possessed a winning, near irresistible charm. Obama's persona is more cool, distant, imperial. The charming scoundrel can get away with endless deception; the righteous redeemer cannot.

Personal Boundaries - Where Do You Draw The Line? By Kathy Jackson

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From Chateau Amoire at Tybee Island, Ga. --- I have long advocated to my men and women friends that you must take the time to think through what you would do in a true "life or death" situation whether you carry a weapon or not.

What would you do if someone tried to kidnap you?

What would you do if you were taken by force and told to get on your knees with you back to the attacker?

What if you were on a plane that was being hijacked by a homicide terrorist?

What would you do if you saw someone being beaten, raped, or kidnapped?

I have thought through all the above scenarios mainly because at one time I was responsible for seeing that none of these happened to my clients.

I also have considered what I would do for myself, my wife and my friends.

The following article by Kathy Jackson is thought-provoking and a good read. It is time for you to think through each scenario and come to your own conclusion.

"Personal Boundaries:

Where Do You Draw the Line?"

"...I will not kneel. No one is going to execute me.

If I die, I'll die fighting....."

by Kathy Jackson

The last few weeks we have been republishing some articles from past issues of Concealed Carry Magazine to give everyone a taste of what they are missing if they aren't a subscriber to the United States Concealed Carry Association. This week's article is from the Web Only Articles. We have way too much great info to squeeze into the issues of Concealed Carry Magazine, so we publish the additional articles on the web. New articles are added every week.

Listed below are some conditions under which I intend to fight back even if I don't think I can win.

I have made this list for myself because I understand that the natural thing to do, when something bad happens, is to deny that it is happening: "This can't be happening to me!"

Even if you get past that thought (a lot of victims never do), the other natural tendency is to tell yourself that if you wait, if you do what the other person says, things will get better. The situation will work itself out. All you have to do is cooperate. The attacker will take your wallet, your car keys, whatever, and leave you alone. Just wait, do what he says, and everything will be okay. That's what most people who are attacked tell themselves -- and in most cases, that is exactly what people should do. Even if you are armed, why kill someone if you don't have to? It's only stuff!

But while waiting for an opening and cooperating with the attacker might be the best survival strategy in many situations, there are a few very specific situations where waiting and cooperating are the worst things the victim can possibly do.

A woman forced into a car by an attacker, for instance, has a 95% or higher chance of getting killed if she complies. Even if it seems highly likely the attacker will kill her right there if she doesn't get in the car, the fact is that right at that moment, the odds are the very best they will ever be for her. They might be lousy odds, but they aren't going to get any better. So I have decided, in advance, that if I'm ever in that situation, that's when and where I will fight back no matter what my frozen brain and in-denial guts are telling me about my odds.

Similarly, a man forced into a back room on his knees, with his back to the attacker, has just been put into the execution position. Most of the time, when someone is forced into this position, what comes next is a bullet in the back of the skull. Once you are on your knees, you don't have any more choices left, even if do you suddenly realize what is about to happen. If you're going to save your own life in such a situation, you have to make the choice to fight back before you're on your knees.

The purpose of analyzing this stuff beforehand is to make sure that even my frozen brain and my in-denial guts cannot lull me into cooperating if I am ever in one of the extreme places where a victim really needs to fight if she is going to survive. Because I've thought about this stuff in advance, if something like it ever happens, even my frozen brain will have a definite decision point.

Some of my personal boundaries are:

* I will not go anywhere at gunpoint. If the bad guy wants me to go somewhere else, it's because he will be able to do something to me there that he is unwilling or unable to do to me right here, right now. Therefore no matter how bad the tactical situation seems right here and now, right here and now is the absolute best chance to fight back I will ever have and I intend to use it.

* I will not be tied up. If the bad guy wants to tie me up, it is because he wants to do things to me that I would be able to prevent if I were not tied up. Therefore, I will resist while I am still able to do so.

* I will not kneel. No one is going to execute me. If I die, I'll die fighting.

* If someone tries to take one of my children, I will fight even at the risk of my child being killed in the resultant firefight. I plan this not because I have positive assurance that I would be successful, but because I would not be able to live with myself if I simply "allowed" my child to be taken, brutalized, and his body perhaps never found. I'd rather watch him die in front of me. (Yes, that's harsh ... but given those two options and only those two, which would you choose?)

My point is not that your boundaries should be the same as mine. It is simply that even though you can wait until the very last moment to make the final decision about fighting back, you should have certain things already set into your decision-making machinery beforehand. If you don't, and if you are ever attacked, you may not have enough time to do anything but stand there with your brain frozen solid while your attacker takes all your choices away.

Kathy Jackson is the Managing Editor of Concealed Carry Magazine.

"History Unfolding" by "TPS" - Author Yet Known

From Chateau Amoire at Tybee Island --- Snopes.com says that David Kaiser nor Dr. Timothy Wood wrote this article. As best as they can tell it was written in response to a post on Pat Dollard's blog by "TPS" in November 2008.

I would like to meet the person that did write this.

Simper Fi,

Dr. Darryl

"My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try to change it." President Barack Hussein Obama

History Unfolding

I am a student of history. Professionally, I have written 15 books on history that have been published in six languages, and I have studied history all my life. I have come to think there is something monumentally large afoot, and I do not believe it is simply a banking crisis, or a mortgage crisis, or a credit crisis. Yes these exist, but they are merely single facets on a very large gemstone that is only now coming into a sharper focus.

Something of historic proportions is happening. I can sense it because I know how it feels, smells, what it looks like, and how people react to it.. Yes, a perfect storm may be brewing, but there is something happening within our country that has been evolving for about ten to fifteen years. The pace has dramatically quickened in the past two.

We demand and then codify into law the requirement that our banks make massive loans to people we know they can never pay back? Why?

We learned just days ago that the Federal Reserve, which has little or no real oversight by anyone, has "loaned" two trillion dollars (that is $2,000,000,000,000) over the past few months, but will not tell us to whom or why or disclose the terms. That is our money. Yours and mine. And that is three times the $700 billion we all argued about so strenuously just this past September. Who has this money? Why do they have it? Why are the terms unavailable to us? Who asked for it? Who authorized it? I thought this was a government of "we the people," who loaned our powers to our elected leaders. Apparently not.

We have spent two or more decades intentionally de-industrializing our economy. Why?
We have intentionally dumbed down our schools, ignored our history, and no longer teach our founding documents, why we are exceptional, and why we are worth preserving. Students by and large cannot write, think critically, read, or articulate. Parents are not revolting, teachers are not picketing, school boards continue to back mediocrity. Why?

We have now established the precedent of protesting every close election (violently in California over a proposition that is so controversial that it simply wants marriage to remain defined as between one man and one woman. Did you ever think such a thing possible just a decade ago?) We have corrupted our sacred political process by allowing unelected judges to write laws that radically change our way of life, and then mainstream Marxist groups like ACORN and others to turn our voting system into a banana republic. To what purpose?

Now our mortgage industry is collapsing, housing prices are in free fall, major industries are failing, our banking system is on the verge of collapse, social security is nearly bankrupt, as is medicare and our entire government. Our education system is worse than a joke (I teach college and I know precisely what I am talking about) - the list is staggering in its length, breadth, and depth.. It is potentially 1929 x ten... And we are at war with an enemy we cannot even name for fear of offending people of the same religion, who, in turn, cannot wait to slit the throats of your children if they have the opportunity to do so.

And finally, we have elected a man that no one really knows anything about, who has never run so much as a Dairy Queen, let alone a town as big as Wasilla , Alaska . All of his associations and alliances are with real radicals in their chosen fields of employment, and everything we learn about him, drip by drip, is unsettling if not downright scary (Surely you have heard him speak about his idea to create and fund a mandatory civilian defense force stronger than our military for use inside our borders? No? Oh, of course. The media would never play that for you over and over and then demand he answer it. Sarah Palin's pregnant daughter and $150,000 wardrobe is more important.)

Mr. Obama's winning platform can be boiled down to one word: Change. Why?

I have never been so afraid for my country and for my children as I am now.

This man campaigned on bringing people together, something he has never, ever done in his professional life. In my assessment, Obama will divide us along philosophical lines, push us apart, and then try to realign the pieces into a new and different power structure. Change is indeed coming. And when it comes, you will never see the same nation again.

And that is only the beginning..

As a serious student of history, I thought I would never come to experience what the ordinary, moral German must have felt in the mid-1930s. In those times, the "savior" was a former smooth-talking rabble-rouser from the streets, about whom the average German knew next to nothing. What they should have known was that he was associated with groups that shouted, shoved, and pushed around people with whom they disagreed; he edged his way onto the political stage through great oratory. Conservative "losers" read it right now.

And there were the promises. Economic times were tough, people were losing jobs, and he was a great speaker. And he smiled and frowned and waved a lot. And people, even newspapers, were afraid to speak out for fear that his "brown shirts" would bully and beat them into submission. Which they did - regularly. And then, he was duly elected to office , while a full-throttled economic crisis bloomed at hand - the Great Depression. Slowly, but surely he seized the controls of government power, person by person, department by department, bureaucracy by bureaucracy. The children of German citizens were at first, encouraged to join a Youth Movement in his name where they were taught exactly what to think. Later, they were required to do so. No Jews of course.

How did he get people on his side? He did it by promising jobs to the jobless, money to the money-less, and rewards for the military-industrial complex. He did it by indoctrinating the children, advocating gun control, health care for all, better wages, better jobs, and promising to re-instill pride once again in the country, across Europe , and across the world. He did it with a compliant media - did you know that? And he did this all in the name of justice and ..... . .. change. And the people surely got what they voted for.

If you think I am exaggerating, look it up. It's all there in the history books.

So read your history books. Many people of conscience objected in 1933 and were shouted down, called names, laughed at, and ridiculed. When Winston Churchill pointed out the obvious in the late 1930s while seated in the House of Lords in England (he was not yet Prime Minister), he was booed into his seat and called a crazy troublemaker. He was right, though. And the world came to regret that he was not listened to.

Do not forget that Germany was the most educated, the most cultured country in Europe . It was full of music, art, museums, hospitals, laboratories, and universities. And yet, in less than six years (a shorter time span than just two terms of the U. S. presidency) it was rounding up its own citizens, killing others, abrogating its laws, turning children against parents, and neighbors against neighbors .... all with the best of intentions, of course. The road to Hell is paved with them.

As a practical thinker, one not overly prone to emotional decisions, I have a choice: I can either believe what the objective pieces of evidence tell me (even if they make me cringe with disgust); I can believe what history is shouting to me from across the chasm of seven decades; or I can hope I am wrong by closing my eyes, having another latte, and ignoring what is transpiring around me..

I choose to believe the evidence. No doubt some people will scoff at me, others laugh, or think I am foolish, naive, or both. To some degree, perhaps I am. But I have never been afraid to look people in the eye and tell them exactly what I believe-and why I believe it.

I pray I am wrong. I do not think I am. Perhaps the only hope is our vote in the next elections.

Let's Get Back to Business Congress!

From Tranquilla II on The Back of Eddy Creek on Lake Barkley ---

Congressman Joe Wilson apologized personally to President Barrack Obama through a telephone call for having referred to the POTUS as a “liar” during his speech the other evening.

Good for Wilson and good for the President for taking the call and accepting the apology. After all we don’t live in England where such rambunctious behavior is actually tolerated and even encouraged. Although I for one wish we did have this system to hold all the pols accountable daily.

Then the Democrats yesterday decide to not only rebuke Wilson but they also lay out specific restrictions on language that can’t be used on the floor of the House including the infamous restriction that you can’t refer to any “sexual misconduct” on part of the President nor can you call him a “hypocrite” or “intellectually dishonest”. Too bad, President Bill Clinton didn’t have such provisions when he was office. I find it odd though that the party that says it is “for the people” want to legislate against the First Amendment. Don’t you?

It’s time Congress to get over it on both sides. The behavior was inappropriate on Wilson’s part. He apologized. POTUS accepted.

What the Dems don’t understand is their rebuke will only harden the situation more and Wilson will actually benefit in the long run. This you can take to the bank.

It’s time to move on and get back to the health care debate and other truly pressing matters such as the fraud and criminality of ACORN; however, I suspect the Congress, the administration and the POTUS would prefer not to have to deal with these real issues.

Dr. Darryl

Jasmine - One of God's Great Creations

Jasmine In 2003, police in Warwickshire, England , opened a garden shed and found a whimpering, cowering dog. It had been locked in the shed and abandoned. It was dirty and malnourished, and had clearly been abused.

In an act of kindness, the police took the dog, which was a Greyhound female, to the nearby Nuneaton Warwickshire Wildlife Sanctuary, run by a man named Geoff Grewcock and known as a willing haven for Animals abandoned, orphaned or otherwise in need.

Geoff and the other sanctuary staff went to work with two aims to restore the dog to full health, and to win her trust. It took several weeks, but eventually both goals were achieved.

They named her Jasmine, and they started to think about finding her an adoptive home.

But Jasmine had other ideas. No-one remembers now how it began, but she started welcoming all Animal arrivals at the sanctuary. It wouldn't matter if it was a puppy, a fox cub, a rabbit or, any other lost or hurting Animal, Jasmine would peer into the box or cage and, where possible, deliver a welcoming lick.

Geoff relates one of the early incidents. "We had two puppies that had been abandoned by a nearby railway line. One was a Lakeland Terrier cross and another was a Jack Russell Doberman cross. They were tiny when they arrived at the centre and Jasmine approached them and grabbed one by the scruff of the neck in her mouth and put him on the settee. Then she fetched the other one and sat down with them, cuddling them."

"But she is like that with all of our animals, even the rabbits. She takes all the stress out of them and it helps them to not only feel close to her but to settle into their new surroundings.

"She has done the same with the fox and badger cubs, she licks the rabbits and guinea pigs and even lets the birds perch on the bridge of her nose."

Jasmine, the timid, abused, deserted waif, became the animal sanctuary's resident surrogate mother, a role for which she might have been born. The list of orphaned and abandoned youngsters she has cared for comprises five fox cubs, four badger cubs, 15 chicks, eight guinea pigs, two stray puppies and 15 rabbits.

And one roe deer fawn. Tiny Bramble, 11 weeks old, was found semi-conscious in a field. Upon arrival at the sanctuary, Jasmine cuddled up to her to keep her warm, and then went into the full foster mum role. Jasmine the greyhound showers Bramble the Roe deer with affection and makes sure nothing is matted.

"They are inseparable," says Geoff "Bramble walks between her legs and they keep kissing each other. They walk together round the sanctuary.

It's a real treat to see them."

Jasmine will continue to care for Bramble until she is old enough to be returned to woodland life. When that happens, Jasmine will not be lonely. She will be too busy showering love and affection on the next Orphan or victim of abuse.

From left, Toby, a stray Lakeland dog; Bramble, orphaned Roe deer; Buster, a stray Jack Russell; a dumped rabbit; Sky, an injured barn owl; and Jasmine with a Mothers heart doing best what a caring Mother would do...

Such is the order of God's Creation.

DON'T BECOME A VICTIM - The $10k Scam Artists

From Tranquilla II on The Back of Eddy Creek on Lake Barkley --- A few years ago my wife had her laptop stolen while sitting and working in a very elegant and well-known hotel in Riverside, Ca. Three punks scammed her. They got her to take her eyes off her computer and purse. They got the computer but fortunately not her purse.

I will be the first to tell you that such behavior infuriates me. Oh, I know there are those of you who will tell me these are children from poor and broken homes who have no other way to feed their habits, get $300 Nikes and put food on their parents' tables and I tell you I have no sympathy whatsoever for them.

Even though I am a pretty non-violent and peace loving kind of fellow most of the time, when someone steals from another person I agree with the Muslim's Sharia law - cut their hand off and let them worry about how they will feed and wipe themselves in the future. Pretty harsh huh?

Not if your consider the injustice, the time, the pain and the sense of violation caused by such criminal acts on people of every age every day.

Have you ever had your house broken into and your things stolen?

I have!

I will tell you right now I still want 5-minutes alone with the thief. You will feel a violation that will stay with you forever. As someone, who given the opportunity literally would "handle the situation" with these low-life scum - I have often wondered why someone didn't reveal some of the "tricks of the trade."

Finally, someone has. I am thankful to my colleague Lt. Stephanie Daniels, Miami-Dade Police Department.

The following video is instructional, educational and will make you well aware of what you need to do to protect yourself from these scammers.

On the black market a PIN and bank card is worth $10,000.

Is it worth 15-minutes of your time to watch this video and not become a victim?

I hope so.


How to Prevent Scammers from Stealing Your Stuff

http://www.wimp.com/goodsamaritan

Dr. Darryl

My Friend Judge Bill Cunningham's Assessment is Right on Spot

From Tranquilla II on The Back of Eddy Creek on Lake Barkley --- I have known and worked with Judge Bill Cunningham from his early days as a young and practicing lawyer in Lyon County. I consider him a friend, a scholar and a gentleman. He and his wife Paula live not far from us here on Lake Barkley. His assessment of the current state of education and our country could not be more on spot. Not only do I agree with Bill, who is an avowed Democrat of the "Conservative Southern Democrats," but I endorse his position fully. I thought you might find his latest column of interest. LPG, Dr. D.

"Leaving No Child Behind Needs A Non-Bureaucratic Approach"

By Kentucky Supreme Court Justice Bill Cunningham

I have a friend whose name is Cecil Neel. He is an auto repair mechanic. He is a super guy and a super mechanic.

One hot summer afternoon recently, I stopped by his garage to chat. Cecil was underneath the hood of a car, sweating and working. Cars were stacked up in his lot, awaiting repairs. Cecil has a reputation. On this day, he was all alone.

I asked, “Where’s your help, Cecil?”

“You’re looking at him,” was his reply.

We talked about the shortage of available good help for mechanical duties. He had more work than he could get to. A couple of state agencies also wanted him to service and maintain their cars. Like I say, Cecil has a reputation. I walked away pondering Cecil’s dilemma.

The next morning, I was riding my bicycle in the neighborhood and ran into my good friend, Wayne Oliver. He pumps and treats water in my hometown of Kuttawa. He was “flushing” a fire hydrant.

I plied him with questions about the purpose of spouting out gallons of water onto a city street on this hot and steamy morning. He briefly gave me the nuts and bolts about keeping safe water coursing into our homes. He explained that periodic flushing of the lines is required by law. He told me how it was done and why. He also explained how fire departments hooked into the hydrants. He knows his stuff.

I told Wayne that I appreciated his good work, which keeps my water running and makes my life more comfortable. As I was leaving, I said: “Wayne, if I don’t go to work today, no one will know the difference. But if you don’t go to work today, the whole town will be calling.”

The very same day that Cecil and I had our conversation, I also visited an elderly friend of mine who is in a retirement home in Paducah. He does not have a high school education and has spent his career as a brick layer. As I sat there and talked to him, I wondered how many foundations he had laid for beautiful homes? How many patios he had constructed for the outdoor pleasure of others? How many schools and churches he had helped raise from the dust to enrich our communities? All of this with his skilled hands – with the bending of his back and the sweat of his brow.

My friend can get in his car, drive his grandchildren around town, and point out various structures he has helped to build – most of which will remain standing long after he is gone. That’s more than his state Supreme Court Justice can do.

I remember the words of my father, who said many times: “There will come a day when someone who can work with his hands will make more money than anybody else.”

Folks, that time is fast approaching. But it seems our educational system is blind to it. Here we are in the deepest economic recession of my lifetime, with people desperate for jobs, and Cecil Neel can’t find a capable, trained mechanic to assist him.

Why? Is it because our educational system is failing?

Today, our experts in education preach the gospel of science, math, and computers. They push high school graduates to go on to college. There is a tremendous focus on GPA’s, CAT scores, testing, testing, and more testing. Ask any teacher in the trenches and they will tell you this: testing has swallowed up teaching.

Many of the national voices of education are encouraging a longer school term, longer school days, more and more time in the classroom for our youngsters. For what? Education was around long before classrooms and dry marker boards. Could it be that a kid with a summer job helping Cecil at his auto repair shop, or selling Bibles door to door, or working for his father down at the bank, or working on a ranch out west, might receive a broader summer education than that found in megabytes or algebraic formulas?

The teaching of our young has become an elitist system geared toward making every young man and woman a brain surgeon, a rocket scientist, or a computer whiz. In doing so, we have neglected the training and education for the most important jobs in our society.

Vocational school has always been a stepchild of our educational system – kind of like an afterthought. It has been treated more like babysitting for those kids who can’t cut it very well in mastering differential calculus or valence charts. But let your heat go off on a sub-zero night and we are calling on those very kids we sent off to shop. College degrees, computer programming, and SAT scores fade away into the frigid night.

A school system is graded in part on the number of kids who go on to college. A high school is given high marks for churning out 65% of its graduates who enroll in college. So these youngsters go off and get college degrees in an ever widening array of majors, including history, English, psychology, sports management, marketing, and the like. These college graduates then join the growing roll of the jobless, with huge student loan debts knocking at their doors.

Not every kid can, or should, go to college. The standard of excellence should at least include an alternate question: “How many kids educated at this school have been taught skills which have landed them jobs that make them happy, productive citizens?” Fixing our cars. Building our houses. Keeping the electricity running through our houses. Making certain that we have running water, heat, and air conditioning. These are all very important skills.

I get the sinking feeling these days, as we talk about education, that we are missing something. When we talk about, “No Child Left Behind,” we might start considering the possibility that some children may not need to be – nor should be – dragged along into the dreary world of computers, doctoral theses, or mathematical equations. As long as we push children in the direction we want them to go, instead of where destiny calls them, there will always be children left behind. You can’t put in what God left out; and you can’t take out what God put in.

Perhaps a larger segment of our younger people may be meant for the equally noble purpose of working with their hands, as well as their minds. They can serve us with their hands just the same – and sometimes better – than lawyers and doctors service us with their minds. I stand amazed at things that carpenters, mechanics, and electricians can do. Just as I am amazed at how teachers can – day in and day out – stand in the classroom and teach children, many of whom are unwilling to learn.

The best way that we can make certain no child is left behind is to train them in accordance with their unique gifts, instead of trying to channel them along some bureaucrat’s pre-conceived notion of what success is all about.

Meanwhile, the cars stack up on Cecil’s lot.

(Editor's note: Cunningham is a Lyon County resident, Kentucky Supreme Court Justice, and author of several non-fiction books).

S.C. Joe Wilson Spoke the Truth; Shame on Him for His Apology

From Tranquilla II on The Back of Eddy Creek on Lake Barkley --- Congressman Joe Wilson caved in and "apologized" for shouting out that President Barrack Hussein Obama "you lie" Wednesday night when PeBO says that illegal aliens will not be covered on the government health care option.

Ed Whitfield R-KY says it was inappropriate for a fellow Republican to shout "You lie" at President Obama during his health care speech to Congress.

Whitfield said Thursday that Rep. Joe Wilson's outburst was out of character because the South Carolina lawmaker is usually "low-key."

Wilson's outburst came after Obama said in his speech Wednesday night that extending health care to all Americans who seek it would not mean insuring illegal immigrants. Wilson offered a swift apology afterward.

Whitfield told Kentucky reporters in a conference call Thursday that health care legislation in the House (House Bill 3200) does not require proof of citizenship for coverage. Seems to me that would cover illegal aliens, or as Senator Specter D-PA would like to say "undocumented" residents.

Wait a minute: Wilson says Obama lies. Yet Whitfield admits that House Bill 3200 does not require proof of citizenship for coverage. Seems to me Wilson was correct in his assessment and that Whitfield agrees but is too much of a "statesman" to admit he agrees.

Maybe Wilson's outburst was not appropriate on the floor of Congress, however, I never heard any of the Dems that called President George W. Bush names ever offer up any apology for anything they called him. Should we expect a double-standard these days? It seems we should.

One other point. Some of you may have missed this. PeBO last night says there are only 30 million uninsured people these days. Yet on July 22, 2009 he clearly stated there were 47 million. So, we must be making some progress Mr. President? In actuality there is closer to maybe 15 million people uninsured. Why not focus your time and attention Mr. President on fixing the system for these truly uninsured folks and leave the rest of us alone?

Integrity is built on behavior Mr. President.

PeBO took longer to decide on a dog than he did on laying out reform for health care. Some would say PeBO "lied" even about that simple act because he said he was going to "rescue one" from the pound but chose a purebred instead.

When you don't "walk your talk" you don't build integrity, trust or credibility.

When 53% (Rasmussen poll today) of the American people don't trust you Mr. President and your "plan" to fix health care it is time to start all over.

Frankly, Congress when you have ratings in the "teens" you can probably figure out that we don't trust you either.

Republicans and Democrats are both guilty - it is time to vote them all out and start all over! In 2010 the American voters will speak - and the "real lion" will roar!

For all of you who wish to debate this issue I recommend you read the bill - you can see it here: http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h3200/text


Dr. Darryl

Dog Saves Boy Lost in Wilderness

From Tranquilla II on The Back of Eddy Creek on Lake Barkley --- I am bed ridden for a couple of days per doctors orders due to a rather severe respiratory infection. I tried to do a little work this morning but it whipped me quickly so I wanted to post this before I returned to bed and the meds which make me feel pretty groggy. Good news is I feel better than yesterday and the mega-dose of antibiotics apparently is kicking in. Here is the story form AOL News this morning that I thought some of you might be interested in reading since we are all dog lovers. Love, pace and grace, Dr. D

(Sept. 8) - A stray pooch who got a helping hand from a Canadian family more than repaid the favor when he saved the family's 2-year-old son in the Yukon wilderness.

The British Columbia family, whose name was withheld at their request, took the yellow dog under their wing after encountering him on their trek through the bush. The scruffy-looking mongrel had porcupine quills sticking out of his snout, and the family tried to help him by pulling some out, The Globe and Mail newspaper reported.

Last Thursday, as the parents were setting up a trailer in the evening, their 2-year-old son, Kale, disappeared wearing only a T-shirt. News of a missing boy triggered a full-scale search involving rescue professionals and many local volunteers.

Rescue parties located Kale more than 24 hours after he vanished. With him was the stray dog, who had kept the little boy warm by cuddling with him during the damp, cool night and protected him in the bear-infested woods. "The night was cold and wet and the terrain in the area is rough ... Most adults wouldn't make it through the night before succumbing to hypothermia, let alone a 2-year-old child," Michael Pealow, a member of the Whitehorse District Search and Rescue Society team, wrote in a blog post, according to The Globe and Mail.

"A bear could have got him. Anything could have happened," Mike Bondarchuk, a volunteer who helped search for Kale, told the newspaper. "What we do know is the dog stuck with him, all night and all the next day."

The dog's owner heard the whole story and came forward. Kim Dolan instantly recognized the canine hero as her dog, Koda, who had been missing for about a week. She said she had adopted Koda several months earlier after the dog was abandoned in Ross River, British Columbia.

"He's a total mutt. A total kid dog … he just wants to be loved," Dolan told The Globe and Mail.

Although she said it was hard to do, Dolan decided to give Koda to Kale's family.

"He was meant to be there at that time," she said. "It was tough to give him away. I was in tears … but it was the right thing to do."