Conservative Papa

From Human Events:

Newt: A GOP Dark Horse?

by Michael Reagan

Posted: 01/25/2008

Why Newt? Ask yourself why Ronald Reagan won. He won because he was able to excite a group of people in America that the liberal wing of the Republican party has never excited — the grass roots.

Newt Gingrich is the last Republican to have done that — to reach out to the grass roots, to all those conservative Republicans and Reagan Democrats. Remember, it was Newt who engineered the miraculous Republican take-over of Congress in 1994 — something that was deemed impossible two years after Bill Clinton won the White House.

I wouldn’t be surprised if he was out there quietly working the phones and hoping for a wide-open convention where the delegates — not the primaries that selected many of them — decide for themselves who they want to carry the GOP banner in the presidential election in November.

If Newt throws his hat in the ring he knows that in the blink of an eye he will have the grass roots behind him.

Look at what happened Saturday in South Carolina. McCain won with 33 percent of the vote, which means 67 percent of the voters said we don’t want McCain; only 30 percent said yes to Huckabee, which means that 70 percent said no to him. About 15 percent went for Thompson, a mere 14 percent went for Romney and 2 percent went for Giuliani.

So basically the voters said a resounding “No” to all of the above.

So who can electrify the base and get them to come out from their bunkers and ignite a groundswell? On the record, the only person capable of doing that is Newt Gingrich.

Boycotts aren’t my thing — Christians have to be in the world, but not of it, I usually say. However, Christians need to do something to stem the cultural tide of depravity. Perhaps the folks who support the AFA boycott are at least making an impact.
You might say I’m participating in a passive way. If Ford sold something that would meet my needs like Toyota or Honda do, I would probably buy from them regardless. However, I was going to compare the Volkswagen Passat to the Toyota, Honda, and GM models on my list — that is, until I discovered that Volkswagen is a Ford brand. Given that bit of information, I decided not to bother looking at it further.

Pajamas Media: Driven a Ford Lately? Not if You’re Boycotting
For those who doubt the AFA boycott’s relevance, consider this — Assuming there are 17 million boycott participants, and that only 1/2 of 1% of them 85,000 had bought a Ford vehicle during the fourth quarter, the margin earned on those additional sales assuming a product mix and incremental profit margins before fixed costs consistent with those identified at this July 2007 Forbes article on the auto industry would have turned that $620 million fourth-quarter loss from continuing operations into a $63 million gain: [see article for chart.]

That’s an awfully high price to pay for political correctness.

Now consider this: Last September, Ford had $27.4 billion in cash. The Truth About Cars blog, bringing back a nearly forgotten term from the late-1990s bubble, estimates that the company’s cash “burn rate” is $12-$14 billion per year. At that rate excluding possible sales of assets, etc., the company, which has already utterly mortgaged itself, could run out of money by the end of 2009.

Mullings: Thompson Campaign Ends
It is strange that the qualities we are looking for in a sitting President - thoughtful, calm, and serious - are exactly the qualities which we penalize in those running for President.

Fred File – The Friends of Fred Thompson Blog » Blog Archive » A Statement from Fred Thompson
A Statement from Fred Thompson
Posted on January 22nd, 2008
By Fred in Statements

Thank you

Today I have withdrawn my candidacy for President of the United States. I hope that my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort. Jeri and I will always be grateful for the encouragement and friendship of so many wonderful people.

The true conservative is out of the race. Now I’ll have to choose between a slick Mormon and a flip-flopping Baptist. Good thing I didn’t participate in early voting!

The last paragraph of an interesting article:

SharperIron » The KJVO Debate in Light of “The Translators to the Reader,” Part 2
The KJV translators may not have the final word on the KJVO debate, but their voices should not be ignored when thinking through these issues. They may not have written their preface by divine inspiration, but their helpful thoughts are worthy of consideration. They certainly reveal how unlikely the translators would be to embrace a KJVO position if they could speak to us in person today. Rather, they would desire to see an English Bible that faithfully conveyed the words of God in today’s vernacular.

My preference is to use the KJV because it is, to my knowledge, the best available English version. While I am comfortable with the King James language by long association, many — probably most — Christians today would find it difficult. Certainly, the KJV does not use today’s vernacular! I would love to see a modern version of the Bible translated word-for-word in the spirit of the KJV using the Received Text, not the thought-for-thought method and Critical Text source of today’s popular versions. Does such a version exist? Not of which I am aware.

Launch of Israeli spy sattelite on the missile Shavit (not the launch reported below.) Source: Israel Aerospace Industries’ (IAI) via Wikipedia.

AFP: Israel test-fires ballistic missile after Iran warning
Israel test-fires ballistic missile after Iran warning

6 hours ago

JERUSALEM AFP — Israel successfully test-fired a long-range ballistic missile on Thursday, a senior official told AFP, days after warning “all options” were open to prevent archfoe Iran from obtaining atomic weapons.

“We successfully test-fired a two-staged ballistic missile system today,” a senior defence ministry official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“This was a very important achievement for Israels ballistic capabilities,” he added, declining to provide further details on the test.

Witnesses reported seeing a trail of smoke rising from the reported launch site at the Palmachin air base south of Tel Aviv.

The official said that contrary to some media reports, the test-firing was not linked to Israels development of a multi-layered defence system, dubbed the “Iron Dome” and aimed at intercepting rockets and missiles.

Israel has in recent years concentrated efforts on countering the threat of missile attacks from neighbouring Arab states and Iran, which has itself conducted several long-range missile tests.

Israel is currently thought to be developing the Jericho-3 ground-to-ground missile that can be equipped with a nuclear, chemical or biological warhead and could have a range of up to 4,500 kilometres 2,800 miles.

Kathryn Jean Lopez on Time Magazine & War on National Review Online
Men of the Year
Changing the course of the war.
By Kathryn Jean Lopez

If I were the editor of Time magazine, instead of Vladmir Putin, I’d have three men on the famous year-ending issue. My men of the year would be Gen. David Petraeus, with Sen. John McCain and Joe Lieberman as his Beltway wingmen.

Not to crowd the cover too much, but the mission takes a few good men: I’d make sure that George W. Bush (the commander in chief who put Petraeus where he is) and the American soldier (who does the work every day) got in the picture as well.

Keep reading.

Yes, I know Christmas is over; but in catching up on email, I noticed this satire. It gets a few facts wrong (Marry was a virgin, but not sinless; and the wise men visited a house, not the stable); but what else would we expect from the Drive-bys?

Opinion - StatesmanJournal.com
Cable news covers the birth of Christ

By Tom Purcell

December 25, 2007

Cable News Anchor: We now bring you the latest cable news update on the birth of Jesus Christ. Joining us is our regular panel of experts. Correspondent Peter Jones is standing by in Bethlehem. Peter?

Peter: What we know is that a carpenter named Joseph and his virgin wife, Mary, left Nazareth to travel to Bethlehem. They went to pay a tax decreed by Caesar Augustus. When they arrived in Bethlehem, there was no room at the inn, even though Mary was with child.

Anchor: With child? But you said Mary was a virgin?

Peter: That is one of the more puzzling aspects of this case. Mary claims she is without original sin. She said God chose her to give birth to Jesus, Gods son.

Anchor: That sounds kind of far-fetched. With us today is Dr. Angie Smith of Planned Parenthood. Angie?

Angie: It is biologically impossible for a woman to become pregnant without having relations with a man. In an oppressive society, Mary has been forced to concoct this absurd story to hide the truth about her relations with Joseph.

Read the entire short, but poignant, satire.