Best Wishes from us to everyone for a Happy New Year!

May 2010 be banner year for individual and corporate resistance to tyranny at home and abroad, and in following The Empirically Verifiably Resurrected Leader of the Resistance in knowing truth and thereby being set free (John 8:32) to live as whole people across the totality of life in a hard and dangerous world.

"Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continues her reign as the Most Admired Woman in the eyes of Americans, but barely edges out former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin this year, 16% to 15%," reports Jeffrey M. Jones at the Gallup organization.

Meanwhile, in the Rearview Mirror: "Talk show host Oprah Winfrey and first lady Michelle Obama finish third and fourth."

Robert Stacy McCain writes at American Spectator:

During my trip to Orlando last month, I had the opportunity to meet Sal Russo, an alumnus of the Reagan campaign team who helped organize the Tea Party Express tour.

So when the liberal blog TPM portrayed the involvement of Russo's firm in the Tea Party movement as scandalous, I blogged in Russo's defense.

Today I received this e-mail from Joe Wierzbicki of the Tea Party Express organization . . .

"The tea-party participant -- the individual who is frustrated America's leaders don't seem to want to 'preserve and protect' the republic and gives up his or her own time, talents and money to warn elected leaders to choose the straight and narrow -- has been selected by WorldNetDaily editors as WND's 2009 'Person of the Year'," writes Bob Unruh at WorldNetDaily.

"72 hours after the Christmas Day terrorist attack on Northwest Flight 253, Barack Obama finally checked in with the American people -- while still on vacation in Hawaii," writes J.C. Arenas at American Thinker.

"Will millions of anxious eyes fixated on television screen, the president emerged onto the tubes with an unpresidential look that suggested he had just finished a nightclub scene with Eva Mendes from the sequel to Hitch."

Janet Porter issues a 5-step call to action, including "A Cry to God for a Nation in Distress" to be held May 1, 2010, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

What Is Obama Really Up To? Our children cannot live in freedom if this insane recklessness is not stopped," David Limbaugh writes. "It's not about the economy, stupid! It's about the survival of this great nation."

"Conservative challenger Marco Rubio has surged into a dead heat in his Florida Senate campaign against establishment-backed Charlie Crist in a primary battle that is the first major test of the growing power of the "tea party" movement," writes Donald Lambro at the Washington Times.

"Despite the ease with which an alleged terrorist got an explosive aboard a Detroit-bound flight, the Obama administration says the incident shows the U.S. aviation security system worked," reports AP.

There are tremendous reasons to celebrate Christmas.

May you, family, and friends enjoy a blessed day of days.

We look forward to "seeing" you again next Monday, December 28.

"A campaign is being assembled to demand that the American Conservative Union, whose annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington draws the biggest names of the movement, reject a sponsorship from a homosexual activist group," reports WorldNetDaily.

"CPAC's tenuous 'Big Tent' could collapse altogether as social conservatives led by Liberty Counsel's Matt Barber threaten to launch a boycott of the conference . . . unless CPAC drops a homosexual activist group, GOProud, as a co-sponsor," WND quotes Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality as saying.

"Senator Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) said that Congress has the authority to mandate that people buy health insurance and that there is no constitutional limit on Congress’ power to enact such mandates, adding that this unlimited authority stemmed from the Commerce clause of the Constitution," reports CNSNews.com.

How Is This Constitutional? Harry Reid's Democrat-controlled Senate "Sets Up Requirement for Super-Majority to Ever Repeal Obamacare," alerts Erick Erickson at Red State.

Erickson recommends a solution that recalls the mainstream of the American experiment:

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

"This, Ladies and Gentlemen, is one of those causes," Erickson concludes. "When the men and women who run this nation, which is supposedly a nation of laws not men, choose to ignore the laws and bribe the men, the people cannot be blamed for wanting to dissolve political bands connecting them to that government."

Dr. Stephen C. Meyer, author of Signature in the Cell, writes at Human Events:

Believers in human-caused global climate change have been placed under an uncomfortable spotlight recently.

That is thanks to the Climategate scandal, centering on e-mails hacked from the influential Climate Research Unit (CRU) at England’s University of East Anglia.

The e-mails show scientists from various academic institutions hard at work suppressing dissent from other scientists who have doubts on global warming, massaging research data to fit preconceived ideas, and seeking to manipulate the gold standard “peer review” process to keep skeptical views from being heard.

Does this sound familiar at all?

To me, as a prominent skeptic of modern Darwinian theory, it sure does.

For years, Darwin-doubting scientists have complained of precisely such abuses, committed by Darwin zealots in academia.

"The West is disappearing into a New World Order," writes Pat Buchanan, "and against globalism, the tea-party folks may represent our last best hope."

"A pro-family leader says organizers of the Conservative Political Action Conference are engaging in 'moral surrender' by allowing a Republican homosexual activist group to co-sponsor the prestigious event," reports OneNewsNow.

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"The now-finished climate change summit in Copenhagen marks the 'arrogance of man,' former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) said this weekend," reports The Hill.

"Rachelle Crile, 31, of Naperville was offering pro-life literature on a frigid day outside the Aurora, Illinois, Planned Parenthood clinic when she saw a car parked nearby occupied by two passengers," reports OneNewsNow. "She walked around the front of the car and approached the driver's side holding pro-life literature."
 
"That's when I saw him lift a gun up toward me," OneNewsNow quotes her as saying. "I kind of stood there for a second in shock looking at it. I picked up my hands, like, 'okay, I get the message'."

A poll by USA Survey "shows that 58 percent of Americans believe that decisions by the Obama administration have been 'bad for America,' as opposed to 37 percent who think Obama’s decisions have been 'good for America'," reports CNSNews.com.

"Allen West hasn't changed his core message since falling short in a run for Congress last year," reports Art Moore at WorldNetDaily, "but with the political winds now at his back, the retired Army officer's passionately delivered emphasis on constitutional principles of liberty, fiscal responsibility, strong national defense and free-market solutions is attracting an audience well beyond Florida's 22nd district."

Watch: "A video of his rally cry to the party base in preparation for a 2010 run has drawn more than 1.2 million views on YouTube.com," saysMoore at WND.  

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"In response to a Swiss vote banning the construction of new mosque minarets, a group of Muslims this month went into a church building in eastern Turkey and threatened to kill a priest unless he tore down its bell tower, according to an advocacy group," reports Will Morris for Compass Direct News at Christian Post.  

Hat tip: Joseph Lawler

"Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s favorability rating is up 4 percentage points since October -- placing her within 9 percentage points of President Barack Obama -- according to a new Gallup poll out Thursday," reports Andy Barr at Politico. "While Palin’s numbers have ticked up of late, Obama’s have remained stagnant after a drop in approval and favorability this summer."  

"Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) told CNSNews.com that Congress has the authority to force individual Americans to buy health insurance because the U.S. Constitution 'charges Congress with the health and well-being of the people'," reports CNSNews.com (here is audio).
 
However, as CNSNews notes, "The words health and well-being do not appear anywhere in the Constitution. The closest approximations to these words come in the Preamble, which includes the phrase 'promote the general welfare,' and Article 1, Section 8, which includes the phrase 'provide for the common Defence and General Welfare.' As per the CBO's historical analysis, neither of these phrases has ever been used to justify Congress forcing individual Americans to purchase something."

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"A student says a Dallas public community-college teacher compared crosses to swastikas while explaining a school ban on religious items made in ceramics classes," reports Chelsea Schilling at WorldNetDaily.

"Liberty Legal Institute sent a Dec. 15 demand letter on behalf of Joe Mitchell, a retired General Motors employee, Dallas resident and student, to Eastfield College in the Dallas County Community College District," Schilling reports. "The complaint accuses the school of an 'unconstitutional attack on religious expression in the classroom'."

WND reports that the attack, according to the complaint, was launched by ceramics department chairman James Watral, who was filling in for the "regular ceramics instructor on the first day of a spring 2009 class."

According to the demand letter, "As Mr. Watral was giving students a tour of the pottery department, he took them to a shelving area where ceramics pieces are stored prior to being fired in the kiln. Mr. Watral then pointed to a cross and stated in front of the entire class with contempt: 'I don't like that.'"

WND notes that "concerned individuals may contact professor James Watral by e-mail or by calling (972) 860-7656. Interim college President Jean Conway can be reached by calling (972) 860-7001." Here is the website of Eastfield College.

Two Camps: "Most people involved in public affairs fall into two grand schools," writes Bruce Walker at American Thinker. "Some believe that America is a unique nation, a nation built upon extraordinary and good moral values, and a country which is a microcosm of what the world should be. These people need not be Americans. Churchill, for example, was an unabashed admirer of America."

Anti-American Animus: "Other people believe that America is simply a very arrogant country," Walker continues, "a nation inhabited with bumpkins who believe too much in God, and because of its religious faith and confidence, the antithesis of what the world should be. This animus flourishes outside America, but it also has a strong camp following in America."

Where Is Obama? "Barack Obama is decidely in the second camp, Walker asserts. "He is an 'America denier'."

"I received an interesting note from Mary Hutchinson from Inspired Direct, a direct mail and fundraising company for non-profits, churches, and ministries," writes Phil Cook at The Change Revolution. "Her note really shook me, because it indicts so many national media ministries."

Among other things, in her letter, Hutchinson writes, "But here is the truth: I think all of these preachers would be horrified to know this happened. But they are too busy to know about it. They have messages to write, funds to raise, personal and personnel issues and TV programs to produce."

In fact, it is quite possible that some of these "ministries" are set up exactly the way the frontmen preachers/celebrities want them.

As for being "too busy to know about it" because "they have messages to write," and so on, the world might be shocked to know who among various best-selling "authors" and thinkers actually write very little of what goes out under their names, even while they take credit -- and thereby help rake in big donations, sometimes in the millions -- for being great writers, great thinkers, and all the rest.

Some of these dysfunctional organizations and household "names" are very well defended, and if America as a country is really to deal with its spiritual crisis, corruption in the midst of "Big Christianity" (as opposed to true sprituality) may have to undergo the kind of challenge we're beginning to see in the Tea Party resistance to corrupt, un-Constitutional "Big Government."

Don't be surprised come judgment day if more than one or two of today's "heroes of the faith" -- described as such by carefully orchestrated marketing and publicity programs in operation for years and years -- may be revealed as anything but. Scripture is quite open and honest about self-aware phonies in our midst, and we might do well to adopt that realism regarding some of today's big-time, hard-charging "leaders" as well.

As with Big Government, there's big money and big power in "Big Christianity," and that's why you'll find scoundrels finding refuge not just in "love of country" but in "love of God" as well. "Test everything."

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"Republicans' exchange over the prospect of man-made global warming goes another round as Palin responds to the California governor's assertion that her recent statements are an effort to gain publicity," reports a story at Foxnews.com.

"Why is Governor Schwarzenegger pushing for the same sorts of policies in Copenhagen that have helped drive his state into record deficits and unemployment?," Sarah Palin asked at 9:36 pm yesterday on her Facebook page.

"Perhaps he will recall that I live in our nation’s only Arctic state and that I was among the first governors to create a sub-cabinet to deal specifically with climate change," the former governor of Alaska continues.

"While I and all Alaskans witness the impacts of changes in weather patterns firsthand, I have repeatedly said that we can’t primarily blame man’s activities for those changes. And while I did look for practical responses to those changes, what I didn’t do was hamstring Alaska’s job creators with burdensome regulations so that I could act 'greener than thou' when talking to reporters," Palin concludes.

In this clip from Copenhagen, see Academy Award winner "We're not doing interviews right now" Al Gore score a touchdown for ignorance, hubris, and blind faith.

"Climategate just confirms what has long been obvious to those paying attention and living in the real world," writes Peter Ferrara at American Spectator. "Global warming never had anything to do with science. It was all about power and money."

But power for what? "The UN saw it as a grand opportunity to expand its powers into a world government, and, in fact, is still breathlessly pursing this undemocratic, neo-fascist nightmare in Copenhagen. That explains the IPCC's hopelessly bad science. Other world governments saw it as a tremendous opportunity to expand their power and control, and so joined in encouraging the Grand Hoax."

Why did the international Left and media join in the hoax? "The worldwide Left and media fellow travelers (imagining themselves as 'liberals') who philosophically, and quite naively, favor such centralized government control as a means to do 'good,' joined in perpetuating the scientific hoax as well."

What did Green extremists hope to achieve? "Environmentalist extremist groups saw it as the chance for the final victory in gaining control over all private business, and hopefully achieving the ultimate environmentalist dream in repealing the Industrial Revolution. Michael Crichton's State of Fear is now revealed as the ultimate sourcebook for understanding these environmentalist organizations."

Dave Welch writes at WorldNetDaily:

I would like to take a point of personal privilege (to use parliamentary terms) and address the pastors of Houston, of Texas and of the nation on what happened last Saturday in our runoff election for mayor and several city council positions. . . . I will let the victor speak for herself on the nature of the outcome:

"This election has changed the world for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community. . . . just as it is about transforming the lives of all Houstonians for the better."

So stated Annise Parker, lesbian mayor-elect of Houston, Texas, after 54 percent of the 16 percent of voters who cared enough to show up declared that her private moral life and radical agenda to redefine family was irrelevant. Eighty-four percent didn't care enough.

Here's part of the problem, as Welch sees it: "Liberals have mastered the art of building a farm team and winning by starting at the bottom and running to the top. Conservatives notoriously have the 'King Complex' that municipal districts, school boards and city councils are below us, and start at the top without either experience or political capital."

Do we see a "King Complex" among Christians? That this may be the case, to some degree, seems evident if we simply replace the word King with the word Celebrity.

If I were the Devil, I could think of few better strategies than to get Christians to put just about all of their eggs into a few celebrity baskets. A few big names, a few big organizations, with lots of well-meaning people sending in their checks because:

* Big Name so and so has access to the White House -- But maybe that explains why we heard little to nothing about the growth of un-Constitutional government, spending, etc., from the "spiritual" giant of the hour, during that President's administration. You see, that kind of Biblical critique on behalf of limited government might cut down on White House access and hurt a PR fundraising machine that really needs "I was talking with the President the other day . . ." Sometimes, it seems, "speaking truth to power" works best when directed toward targets of great fundraising opportunity.

* Big Name so and so is a great worldview thinker/writer -- But then, it turns out, he, she, or the machine is rather dependent upon ghostwriters, researchers, radio script writers, column writers -- "authoring" work that becomes "his" after the "name" inserts a few well-placed phrases into the text or simply asserts ownership of other people's ideas (You're On Staff!). In such a system it is often imperative to keep staff harried and busy -- and well-paid, if at all possible -- lest they begin to think about the deceptiveness of what they're doing and consider how the Lordship of Christ might apply even to methods of ministry.

* Big Name says, "It's not about me" -- This is the He's-So-Smart-and-Humble Factor, which as Karl Rove and Vince Flynn in one of his Mitch Rapp novels note means it precisely is about the person in question. The energy, the PR, the image, the fundraising, the website, the biography, the praise from others, etc., etc., in some organizations seem absolutely to be "all about" the Big Name. A name sometimes created through ghosted columns and books, etc., creating alliances aka fiefdoms to mutually support and guard eachothers' backs, and so on. But behind the scenes running over people who truly speak against a secularism that all too often has co-opted much of the good that many well-meaning regular people hope to accomplish.

These are just a few observations based on our experience before and during our time here in the Washington, D.C., area.

My hope: Help protect those who follow -- many of whom care deeply about worldview and political engagement -- from being fed into a religious machine. And maybe to save you 10 or 20 years of energy poured into an activism of questionable strategic and spiritual value, if verifiable Scripture is your guide and if you appreciate the centrality of applying the liberating Lordship of Christ across the whole of life, including political life and including one's methods of ministry in the midst of cultural engagement.

This seems key: Just as politics is downstream from culture, culture in general is downstream from Chrisitan culture in particular. And to the degree that Christian culture or ministry might be darkened by "aping the world" (as Francis Schaeffer so emphasized), to that degree we perhaps should not be surprised at the darkness around us. Perhaps we -- you and I and our methods of  ministry -- are part of the darkness.

But if that is true, there is hope. We know where to begin in the humanity of truly loving our neighbor. We begin by looking in the mirror. If we can deal honestly with that, then maybe the culture and the politics will begin to line up as well.

That may seem like a long way to fix Houston, but it's the shortest route I know of.

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Obama gets a "D" for Delusional -- and that's "an understatement," writes David Limbaugh.

Atheistic Ideas, Inhumane Consequences: In "Sarah Palin and Obama Death Panels," author Darrow Miller, writing today in The Pearcey Report, agrees that although the "phrase death panels is not to be found in any of the current healthcare bills before Congress, the reality of death panels is, as the late Francis Schaeffer would argue, the inevitable consequence of an atheistic paradigm." 

"The New York Times recently revealed that, before abandoning the idea, Barack and Michelle Obama had considered eliminating the White House’s traditional nativity scene as part of an effort to celebrate a 'non-religious' Christmas," writes attorney and commentator Carol Platt Liebau.

"In light of that story," she continues, "it wasn’t entirely surprising to learn that this year, for the first time, the President’s Christmas card contains neither any mention of Christmas itself nor a quote from the New Testament. Obviously, the Obamas aren’t fans of overt displays of Christian religiosity."

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Ah, But That's No Big Deal: In response to a question from CNSNews about the constitutionality of forcing Americans to buy health insurance, the Louisiana senator replied, “Well, we’re very lucky as members of the Senate to have constitutional lawyers on our staff, so I’ll let them answer that.”

Apparently, not only are some U.S.-federal senators not reading the massive piles of legislation on which they vote, and by which they bind the American people, but they also have not read, or are not knowledgeable of, the U.S. Constitution. Does that sound like good government?

In what sense can America be said to be a constitutional republic of freedom if elected officials in the House, Senate, and White House are unable or not willing to specify the constitutional authority by which they legislate and otherwise "represent" a people of freedom and dignity?

Clearly, this smacks of "governmentation without representation." There's nothing "lucky" about that, and it hardly sounds like good government.

But in the Spirit of 1776, if history is our guide, it could mean bad government is on the way out and good government is on the way in. Do you hear the drum and fife?

Senators engorging themselves at the taxpayer-supplied federal trough may not hear the march and music of freedom beyond the slurp and swallow of selfishness. But outside the bloated Beltway, in the land of the free, the song of liberty rings louder and louder still. Do you hear the drum and life?

"The black pastor who leads Bond Action Inc. in support of 'family, traditional moral values, and positive, honest race relations' says U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., should be ashamed of comparing opposition to President Obama's plans to socialize medicine in the U.S. to support for slavery," reports WorldNetDaily.

"Reid's comparison of legitimate Republican opposition towards the Democrats $2.5 trillion health care plan to segregationists is deplorable," WND quotes Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson as saying. "This was an attempt to smear Republicans as racists in order to take the focus off the details of this awful socialist health care bill. Reid's remarks are a diversion tactic by a despot leader of a desperate Democrat party."

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While GOP big-wigs prefer another round of golf, the Tea Party people are reading the Constitution. And they are "determined to save America," writes Richard Viguerie at American Thinker.

"Republican Party leaders would be unwise to try to co-opt, sideline or defeat" the Tea Party Movement. "Perhaps they should welcome the new leadership into the Party as their single most important survival tactic."

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Let Freedom Ring -- "I did not become a Christian so I would have to fight for my constitutional freedoms all over again," writes Kenneth Hutcherson, former NFL linebacker and now pastor of Antioch Bible Church.

"Growing up in Alabama being black, knowing how that felt and the way I was treated in an all-white world of power and control, I had to fight for equal rights under the Constitution," says Hutcherson in a column at WorldNetDaily.

"How ironic now as a Christian to have those same thoughts and feelings again and to have to try and wrestle control of my constitutional rights from the secular community."

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CNSNews.com asked the senator: "Is it morally right to take tax money from pro-life Americans and give it to health insurance plans that cover abortion?"

Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) replied: "I think it’s morally wrong to vote against health care, because if you really are pro-life -- or as Richard Rick Warren says, 'whole-life' -- then universal access to health care that would guarantee maternity health, sound wonderful deliveries for children, and so on, I think that’s what we want to do."

If slavery were legal in America again, using logic similar to that employed by Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California in defending abortion funding via Obamacare (that is, "tax dollars to health insurance plans that cover abortion," as reported by CNSNews), let us ask:

Would it be "morally correct" to force taxpayers to fund slavery for the health benefits of persons in circumstances so tragic that -- apart from the assistance afforded by such a lifestyle choice -- one's very survival is at risk, even if individual Americans judge slavery to be morally repugnant, a violation of ethical facts consistent with information we have from "nature and nature's God"?

In short, if Sen. Feinstein approves the forced taxpayer funding of morally repugnant legalized baby killing, should she not, to apply her logic fairly and with equality, also approve as "morally correct" the taxpayer funding of the morally repugnant institution of legalized slavery?

A Call to Resist -- Radio talk show host Laura Ingraham holds forth:

It's time we all stop pretending that what is happening with this Obamacare debate is about "helping the uninsured" or "fixing the healthcare system" or "giving the people what they want."

It's about none of those things.

It's about amassing as much power in a central government as humanly possible. It's about wealth redistribution. It's social engineering at its absolute worst.

The American people must take this political system back from those who have hijacked it in one of the most abhorrent power grabs that we the voters have ever seen.

It's the holiday season so the Democrats are counting on you to be otherwise occupied and too busy to stand against their massive expansion of government.

Let them underestimate us again just as they did last summer.

Let these unrepresentative politicians proceed with their legislative chicanery and self-righteous grandstanding.

We can expose them and confront them in the classic American spirit -- a public gathering on their doorstep.

On December 15th at 1 pm, we will remind Pelosi, Reid, Schumer et al. that they work for us and not the other way around. We will demand that they follow the will of the people, not dismiss and degrade it by putting future generations into a deficit dungeon.

We will put every politician who supports this travesty on notice: enjoy your remaining time in the U.S. Capitol because we're coming for your seat.

My view: Given that the historic Christmas in verifiable space and time is an act of resistance against evil and tyranny in all its forms -- stemming from the central problem of man's ethical alienation, by choice, from a life of community with our true Creator -- the Christmas season seems a fitting occasion to resist the political-cultural spirit of tyranny today, expressed with special force in the rise of a president and a political party that is even now undermining constitutional government in the name of all sorts of gifts from an overweening federal government, among them, socialized healthcare. 

So along with giving our kids their two front teeth for Christmas, maybe it's a good idea to give them their freedom back as well.

Now that would be a big Christmas. Let's talk about it December 15. All of this gift-giving could make for an intriguing New Year. 

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Question Politicized Authority: "Without trustworthy science and with so much at stake, Americans should be wary about what comes out of this politicized conference," writes Sarah Palin in a column at the Washington Post.

"The president should boycott Copenhagen," concludes the author of Going Rogue. 

John R. Coyne, Jr., reviews We Still Hold These Truths: Recovering Our Principles, Reclaiming Our Future, by Matthew Spalding of the Heritage Foundation.

"Obama is playing the Republican establishment like a fiddle," writes Pedro Primavera at American Thinker.

Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) "said Tuesday he is going to attend the Copenhagen conference on climate change to inform world leaders that despite any promises made by President Obama, no new laws will be passed in the United States until the 'scientific fascism' ends," reports Fox News.

Alone in the Middle of the Night: "A 56-year-old woman prayed to God while a 'crazed' man tried to break in to her home, telling a 9-1-1 dispatcher, 'I don't want to have to kill this man, but I'll kill him graveyard dead' -- and within minutes, she blasted the relentless intruder in the chest with her shotgun," reports WorldNetDaily.

"The UN Copenhagen climate talks are in disarray today after developing countries reacted furiously to leaked documents that show world leaders will next week be asked to sign an agreement that hands more power to rich countries and sidelines the UN's role in all future climate change negotiations," reports the UK Guardian.

Of the People: "A survey by Rasmussen Reports finds that in a three-way Generic Ballot test, Democrats attract 36 percent of the vote, the Tea Party candidate picks up 23 percent, and Republicans finish third at 18 percent. Another 22 percent are undecided," reports OneNewsNow.

Baby I'm Amazed: New "approval/dispproval" polling data from CNN and Gallup show Palin and Obama virtually tied.

CNN shows Palin at 46% favorable, 46% unfavorable.

Gallup shows Obama at 47% approve, 46% disapprove.

"Given the Obamamedia's unparalleled trashing of Palin and their sycophantic support of the One," notes William Tate at American Thinker, "these new numbers -- even if temporary -- bespeak two important points": the "waning influence of the legacy media" and the appeal of Palin "to a substantial portion of the public."

Nancy and I are speaking at an annual event called Awakening, held Jan. 8-10, 2010, at The Sanctuary, a beach hotel near Charleston, S.C.

Nancy will speak on "How Women Started the Culture War," and I will speak on "How the New Resistance Can Win the Culture War." Nancy will also give an address during a luncheon.

Here's a line-up of speakers for Awakening 2010:

* Jeane Allen, president of the Center for Education Reform
* Lt. Gen. John R. Allen, deputy commander, U.S. Central Command, U.S. Marines
* Dr. Whit Ayres, founder and president of Ayres, McHenry & Associates, Inc.
* Bo Burlingham, author of Small Giants and editor at large of Inc. Magazine
* David Frum, fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, editor of Frumforum.com
* Dr. Ann G. Kulze, motivational speaker, author of Dr. Ann's 10-Step Diet
* Mike and Harriet McManus, co-chairs of Marriage Savers
* Steven Moore, author of 5 books, senior economics writer at the Wall Street Journal
* Deroy Murdock, nationally syndicated columnist
* Kate O'Beirne, president of the National Review Institute
* Rep. Tom Price, M.D., Republican congressman from Georgia 
* Rebecca Hagelin, senior communications fellow at the Heritage Foundation
* Robert Moffit, director of the Heritage Foundation Center for Health Policy Studies
* Reid Buckley, founder and head of The Buckley School
* Ed Meese, formerly attorney general during the Reagan administration
* Larry Kudlow, nationally syndicated columnist, anchors CNBC's "The Kudlow Report"
* Gen. Charles Krulak, 31st commandant of the Marine Corps, former member of Joint Chiefs of Staff
* Rep. Paul Ryan, Republican congressman from Wisconsin
* Rick Santorum, former senator from Pennsylvania, senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center

Here is more about Awakening, from its page on Facebook:

Awakening is on the of the finest open forum weekends on conservative principles and thought in the United States. Participants discover what the most intuitive and insightful minds in our country believe is on the horizon for the country politically, economically and philosophically through interaction in the group discussions. The format generates lively debate, and we encourage all participants to speak candidly and sincerely as a catalyst for greater understanding of all viewpoints.

Believing that ideas influence and sharing ideas is all important, Awakening was conceived as an annual weekend retreat to exchange ideas, examine trends and learn from leading experts in a variety of fields. Awakening’s first event was held in January, 1996 at The Cloister at Sea Island, Georgia and was held there through January 2008. In January 2009, Awakening was held at The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island, South Carolina and will return there for 2010.

Nancy and I had a terrific time with Awakening leaders Jan and Ernest Taylor when we met over lunch recently at a Silver Diner here in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. These warm people would be delighted to hear from folks who might be interested in receiving an invitation to attend an Awakening in the future. Contact information is here.

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A Review of a Reviewer: One wonders, on the basis of this article, if it's OK with famed film reviewer Roger Ebert to affirm that human beings possess "unalienable rights" because they are endowed as such by the Creator (see the Declaration of Independence).

Especially if such an affirmation is rooted in history, reason, and empirical data and answers the basic philosophic questions of life in ways far superior -- including ways far politically superior for those who think human freedom and dignity are good things -- to materialism, atheism, pantheism, existentialism, Hollywoodism, and various other kinds of secularist mysticisms (such as New Ageism) in vogue now and again.

I am no doubt among the millions of Americans who have enjoyed Ebert's film reviews. But on the question of the relation of Judeo-Christian thoughtforms to politics and government, I as a free-thinking human being suggest Ebert may be sincere but sincerely wrong.

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Hat tip: Big Hollywood

"As delegates from 192 countries kick off the United Nations global climate gathering in Copenhagen on Monday, CNSNews.com offers some angles that are unlikely to make mainstream media headlines."

Clear and Present Danger: "A new report is raising alarms that the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network, a homosexual advocacy organization founded by Kevin Jennings, now head of the U.S. Office of Safe Schools for the Obama administration, is recommending XXX-rated sex writings for children as young as preschoolers," reports WorldNetDaily.

This revealing interview (posted with 5 video clips) at the blog of CBN White House correspondent David Brody indicates that Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota occupies the historic mainstream of the American experiment in liberty.

For Bachmann, as for the Founders, God is a public figure, and as such we have from the Creator verifiable information essential to a political culture that favors freedom and dignity over liberal statism, secular impositions, and ill-grounded faith in socialist "values" (a weak post-modern substitute for ethical facts).

For a discussion of such a reality-oriented approach in relation to Christmas, see "Christmas Spirit in the Dirt."

Oscar Cooked? Hollywood screenwriters Roger Simon and Lionel Chetwynd say Al Gore "should be stripped of his Oscar in light of the global warming questions raised by leaked e-mails out of a British research center," reports Fox News. 

Meanwhile, Gore has "just canceled a lecture he was supposed to deliver" at the big climate conference in Copenhagen next week, says Fox.

Viguerie Names Names: "I am talking about Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Minority Leader John Boehner, and the leading architect of Republican endorsed socialist-statism, former Bush White House political advisor Karl Rove. These 'leaders' have consistently abandoned constitutional principles of limited government in favor of socialist-statist programs, all in the name of 'winning'."

My View: This is a critical moment for the Republican Party. Now is the time to choose.

Will the GOP embrace and advance the Declaration of Independence (as written) and the U.S. Constitution (as written)?

Or will it sell freedom and unalienable rights endowed by our Creator to the highest or slickest bidder in the game of incremental enablement of defeat?

The Founders had to choose and stand by that choice.

The "Re-Founders" of today equally must choose: Do we advance the God-given wonder of form and freedom under limited goverment? Or do we surrender to unfreedom and crushing oppression under an unlimited state?

Hat tip: Stacy McCain

Starring a Mom From Georgia: "Jenny Beth Martin didn't set out to become a movie star," writes Stacy McCain at American Spectator. "Yet Tuesday night at the Ronald Reagan Center amphitheatre, the mom from Georgia was a celebrity at the big-screen premiere of a new film that features a cast of thousands."

On the other hand, "better make that 'hundreds of thousands'," says McCain.  

"Martin is one of several activists featured in Tea Party: The Documentary Film, which tells the story of how a movement that began in February with a few hundred people showing up at scattered protests culminated in September's massive taxpayer march on Washington."

"The newspaper industry is suffering 'market failure' and the government will need to help preserve serious journalism essential to democracy, an influential U.S. congressman said Wednesday," reports AFP.

"The newspapers my generation has taken for granted are facing a structural threat to the business model that has sustained them," said Rep. Henry Waxman (D.-Calif). 

"While this has implications for the media, it also has implications for democracy," he said. "A vigorous free press and vigorous democracy have been inextricably linked."

Two Basic Questions for Mr. Waxman: Where does the U.S Constitution give him or any member of the federal establishment authority to legislate the funding of newspapers?

And what is more dangerous, liberal media outlets that fold because they are unable to compete in a free market, or a "we're here to help" rogue federal state that creates crises to steamroll the Constitution and American people whenever it sees fit?

"Comcast's acquisition today of controlling interest in NBC undoubtedly will impact the network and its employees, but officials are remaining mum for now on what that means," reports WorldNetDaily. 

Care about living free of Islamic oppression? Think it's time to "draw a line in the sand before the scimitars of the crescent moon?"

Then you may agree that the Swiss vote to ban the construction of minarets in their country is "perfectly understandable," writes Phil Elmore at WorldNetDaily.

Abortion Uber Alles: "Rev. Carlton Veazy, president and CEO of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, told a small crowd of pro-abortion protesters that women have a 'God-given right' to abortion and that opposition from pro-life congressmen and religious leaders would never take it away," reports CNSNews.com.

So that's what George Washington & Co. fought for: The "right" of mothers to choose to kill their babies. Replace the tryanny of an English king with the death sentence of a Colonial mom.

This is a reminder that false "Gods" abound, and religion can be evil. "Test everything," says the Book of Resistance.

Against such inhumanity and evil, a people of freedom and dignity, independent in community with our true Creator, revolt.

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"Col. Van T. Barfoot, a local Medal of Honor winner, is under the gun from his Henrico County community's homeowner association," reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

"In a five-paragraph letter to Barfoot that he received yesterday, Barfoot is being ordered to remove a flagpole from his yard. The decorated veteran of three wars, now 90 years old, raises the American flag every morning on the pole, then lowers and folds the flag at dusk each day in a three-corner military fashion," reports Bill McKelway of the Times-Dispatch.

"In a priority mail letter, the Coates & Davenport law firm in Richmond is ordering Barfoot to remove the pole by 5 p.m. Friday or face 'legal action being brought to enforce the Covenants and Restrictions against you.' The letter states that Barfoot will be subject to paying all legal fees and costs in any successful legal proceeding pursued by the homeowner association's board."

Radio talk show host Mark Levin said on today's program that he is not going to stand by while a Medal of Honor winner is being attacked by these "legal vultures." Levin said on air that the show tried to contact the law firm but was unable to reach anyone. Col. Barfoot lives in the "Sussex Square community in far western Henrico," according to the Times-Dispatch.

Hat tip: Mark Levin radio show

"Never before has a speech by President Barack Obama felt as false as his Tuesday address announcing America's new strategy for Afghanistan," writes Gabor Steingart at Der Spiegel.  

"One didn't have to be a cadet on Tuesday to feel a bit of nausea upon hearing Obama's speech," Steingart continues.

"It was the least truthful address that he has ever held. He spoke of responsibility, but almost every sentence smelled of party tactics. He demanded sacrifice, but he was unable to say what it was for exactly."

My View: Obama's heart was not in this speech, just as his heart is not in winning this war. 

A dark cloud now hovers above the head of Obama. I hope I am wrong, but this suggests dark days ahead for the United States and our troops in the field.

The need for the people of America to return home to Declarational and Constitutional foundations is stronger than ever. Those foundations will help us weather the mere "values" of weak presidents who know not what they do.

"Last night President Obama outlined his long-anticipated war plan for Afghanistan before thousands of cadets and families at the United States Military Academy," writes Robert Maginnis at Human Events.

Unfortunately, "Obama’s lofty ideas don’t mesh with the realities on the ground."

Two Questions: Given the Climategate debacle, where else might "trusted scientists" be trying to pull the wool over the eyes of people at home and abroad, at great cost in pocketbooks and human liberty?

And where are the checks and balances on the combined supermonopoly of scientific and governmental power?

Heroes on Trial: "In the latest absurdity in the war on terrorism," editorializes the Washington Times, "Petty Officers Matthew McCabe, Jonathan Keefe and Julio Huertas face charges related to the apprehension of Ahmed Hashim Abed, alleged mastermind of the murder and mutilation of four American security contractors in Fallujah, Iraq, in 2004. The 'war crime' at issue is a punch in the gut."

And after the trial, this may be in order: Let the SEALS run for Congress. They seem to know who the bad guys are.

Video posted at Sydney Morning Herald: "Rachel Uchitel, who has denied having an affair with Tiger Woods, arrives in Los Angeles to meet with her lawyer."

"The American Humanist Association is expanding its 'Godless Holiday' advertising campaign to five major American cities this Christmas -- taking its message of a holiday season without religion nationwide for the first time," reports CNSNews.com.

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Snooty liberals misjudge her, the McCain campaign couldn't handle her, and "we know from Palin's book tour she has a base," writes Christopher Chantrill at American Thinker. "She's a force of nature. But what comes next?"