Despite real problems, Obama's priority is unisex hats for military

The Obama administration has issued a directive to create a more unisex uniform for members of the Armed Forces, specifically asking for a more gender-neutral hat for the Marine Corps.  Currently, men and women wear gender specific uniforms and hats.

This may be a crazy and wild thought, but don’t we have bigger fish to fry in our country than bringing in the fashion state-police for a military makeover?  What’s worse is that to replace the hats would cost taxpayers $8 million. After Obama has already financially gutted the military to the point of threatening our very national security, how can he possibly justify spending one dime on something this ridiculous?

It's simple. Unfortunately, this is just one more example of how Obama sees our military not as a mode of national defense and security, but as a social experiment. It’s an experiment he’s conducting to see how he can use the military to prove petty political points and even inflict damage on military members themselves and US citizens at large. It started with the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” -- which some military experts warn will undermine unit cohesion and effectiveness -- and quickly escalated to such things as allowing the Army to categorize citizen groups like the American Family Association as terrorist threats.

And as we all know, Obama actually spent money during the government shutdown to bar US war veterans from open memorials and used the shutdown to deny timely military death benefits to military members (even though Republicans offered funding to provide these benefits, which the Democrats rejected). And, of course, he also suspended religious services for Catholics during the shutdown (Protestant services were allowed to continue).

Most chilling, Obama has been methodically purging our military of generals and other leaders throughout our military since taking office - on no grounds of wrongdoing - just as Hitler, Pol Pot, Mao and other dictators did in preparation for overthrowing their political foes. But it begs the questions, why is Obama doing this and with whom is he replacing these open positions? 

It’s disconcerting, to say the least, that Obama doesn’t seem to have much interest in resolving real issues, like the 43 million people on food stamps, or the covered-up murders of US citizens in Benghazi, the murder of thousands of people daily through abortion, or the monstrous ObamaCare debacle which is clearly more about control than healthcare, but he has all the time in the world deconstruct our national defense while orchestrating military fashion shows designed to emasculate our soldiers.

Most unfortunately, Obama's loyal supporters continue to swallow the progressive propaganda being spoon fed to them daily, and, therefore, continue to praise him despite these numerous signs of his blatant disdain for America. The truth is though, they need to wake up, and we all need to be vigilant, because this president is clearly up to no good.

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Obama orders shutdown of Catholic Mass; threatens arrest of priests

As the government "shutdown" enters its third week (during all this time, only about 23% of the government has been shut down, by the way) the Obama Administration continues to play politics....and worse.

We heard last week how the official presidential golf course remained open, while US veterans were denied access to the WWII and Vietnam Memorials because of the "shutdown". We heard how Michelle Obama's fitness website was kept functional while the national Amber Alert system was shut down (until protests intimidated Obama into finally turning the system back on).

But perhaps most ominous is that active US military Catholics are being denied Holy Mass. Using the government shutdown as his excuse, Obama saw - and took - the opportunity to aim his arrow at his most coveted target: Christians.

Catholic military chaplains are being denied access to military bases to say Mass supposedly because of the shutdown. Because the chaplains are paid contractors to perform Masses, Obama felt it was not a justifiable expense. The kicker though is that some priests are offering to say the Masses free of charge. Obama's response to their offer has been a resounding no. 

This happened recently to Father Ray Leonard, who serves at Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base in Georgia, but was not allowed to celebrate Mass this past weekend. Father Ray is contracted by the Defense Department to meet the spiritual needs of Catholics, but the chapel doors were locked with a sign affixed that said, “Shutdown: No Catholic service till further notice.” Protestant services on the naval base were allowed to continue, by the way - only Catholics were denied services, including marriage preparation, baptisms, confirmation and the like.

Father Leonard had this to say about it: “This is our church. Catholics have an expectation and obligation to attend Mass and we were told, ‘No you can’t go to church this week…“ My parishioners were upset. They were angry and dismayed. They couldn’t believe that in America they’d be denied access to Mass by the government.”

As a result of this astonishing attack on religious freedom, the Thomas More Law Center (TMLC), a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, MI, has filed a federal lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

Fr. Leonard, who served Tibetan populations in China for 10 years, informed the court in an affidavit; “In China, I was disallowed from performing public religious services due to the lack of religious freedom in China. I never imagined that when I returned home to the United States, that I would be forbidden from practicing my religious beliefs as I am called to do, and would be forbidden from helping and serving my faith community.”

On October 4, 2013, Fr. Leonard was ordered to stop performing all of his duties as the base’s Catholic Chaplain, even on a voluntary basis. He was also told that he could be arrested if he violated that order. The approximately 300 Catholic families served by Fr. Leonard at Kings Bay have been unable to attend Mass on base since the beginning of the shutdown. The nearest other church is about 16 miles away - not a feasible option for those on base without cars or whose extremely busy schedules do not permit the time it would take to walk 16 miles to Mass, attend it, and walk back.

Additionally, Fr. Leonard was locked out of his on-base office and the chapel. Fr. Leonard was also denied access to the Holy Eucharist and other articles of his Catholic faith. The order has caused the cancellation of daily and weekend mass, confession, marriage preparation classes and baptisms as well as prevented Fr. Leonard from providing the spiritual guidance he was called by his faith to provide

US Congressman Tim Huelskamp said, “Time and time again this Administration demonstrates it is waging a war against the very religious freedoms upon which America was founded. This is exactly why we worked to pass legislation (House Concurrent Resolution 58) this past weekend – to protect the religious liberties of all those who bravely serve in our Armed Forces."

What's particularly bad is that we would have to pass resolutions in America to restore the very rights upon which our country was founded - rights that President Obama does not believe we should have. The worst thing we could do is dismiss this action as an isolated incident that means nothing. On the contrary, this is an unmistakable move by Obama to advance his war on our religious liberties. And being that Obama has repeatedly shown hostility to Christians, this action against military Catholics -- much like the HHS mandate -- is direct government interference with our right to religious freedom. It's critical that we not lose sight of the fact that a country without that profound and fundamental right is not a free country at all.

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UPDATE: Late yesterday afternoon, in response to the lawsuit, three attorneys from the Department of Justice contacted TMLC attorney Erin Mersino by phone and indicated that Father Leonard could resume all of his religious duties beginning this morning, and that the Chapel would be open for all Catholic activities.  These representations made by the Department of Justice attorneys were confirmed by orders to Father Leonard delivered through the Navy chain of command.

Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, said, “The actions of the Federal Government were a blatant attack on religious liberty. I would never have imagined that our Government would ever bar Catholic Priest from saying Mass under threat of arrest and prevent Catholics from participating in their religious exercises.  Allowing the Chapel doors to open and Father Leonard to fulfill his priestly responsibilities does not erase the Constitutional violations that occurred.  We don’t want this to occur again the next time there is a government shutdown. Our lawsuit will continue.”

Democrats forced government shutdown - not Republicans

The Republicans have passed and submitted a budget bill that would have kept the government funded and running. They only asked in return that Democrats be willing to let go of their Obamacare subsidies and exemptions. The Democrats refused to do so. Every single Democrat voted last night to shut down the government. In fact, Democrats in the Senate have rejected every single offer Republicans presented to them (just like their leader, President Obama, who himself said he would not negotiate with Republicans on anything. He is, however, completely willing to negotiate with the leaders of Iran and Russia - just not fellow Americans - but I digress). The bottom line is that it's the Democrats' refusal to compromise with Republicans and to give up their precious subsidies and Obamacare exemptions that has forced the shutdown (subsidies that you and I don't get, by the way - only Congress and their staff are entitled to those, and they're happy to let us pay for them). Do not forget that.

Of course Democrats and President Obama are blaming the shutdown on Republicans. And of course, there will be plenty of uninformed Americans who will fall for the lies.

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What's good about Obamacare?

Here are just a few reasons why Senator Ted Cruz and some others are valiantly fighting to protect us from the disastrous Obamacare: 

• It is so bad that congressional staff are trying to exempt themselves from it (and lawmakers were just warned yesterday not to sign up for Obamacare yet until guidance is made available on how they can best pay for it. One suggestion is to have taxpayers pay it for them.).
• It violates freedom of religion and conscience by requiring Christian businesses to pay for abortifacients.
• It will send your tax dollars to healthcare providers who perform abortions.
• It is the leading job-killer in America, as companies lay off workers because of its mandates and its costs. (Of course those who are desperate to defend Obamacare at any cost will blame this on "greedy" owners -- who are just trying to keep their businesses - and their employees' jobs - afloat.)
• It is forcing companies to shift workers from full-time to part-time positions. (Ditto from above.)
• It drives up the cost of healthcare premiums and deductibles, while limiting coverage.
• Many doctors are already reporting limitations placed on them as to what they can do for their patients. For instance, a neurosurgeon recently made public the fact that under Obamacare, he is now being told by insurance companies who he can and cannot operate on. Before that decision was between him and his patients. Now it's being made by third-parties more interested in saving dollars than lives.
• It violates your privacy by requiring that doctors ask - and report in the database - things like how often you have sex and how many people you are having sex with.
• Insurance companies have already begun contacting their individual plan customers to let them know they are not allowed to keep their current plan (as President Obama promised would not happen). It happened to me, in fact. I was told I could not keep the plan I've had for years and that, if I wanted to stay with my current insurance provider, I had only one plan to choose from because, in the agent's own words, "It's the one that most closely matches up with the government health plan." Yet defenders continue to spread the lie that this is not a government takeover of our health system.
• Under Obamacare, millions will still be without coverage, which was the whole point of forcing it on us in the first place
• Obamacare's supposed greatest achievement is that it covers people with pre-existing conditions. That is like buying car insurance after you've had a major accident - which will only serve to send premiums skyrocketing as a result (and this will ultimately put insurance companies out of business altogether, which is Obamacare's main goal - so that we can then be forced into a single payer system like the UK -  a system the UK itself is desperately trying to move away from because of how bad it is). By the way, pre-existing coverage under Obamacare is not even necessarily true. Parents of children with special needs like autism, for example, are facing major restrictions on benefits.
• Senior citizens' access to healthcare will be drastically cut as Medicare will be slashed to help pay for Obamacare. Many doctors are currently no longer accepting Medicare patients as a result. What are the elderly dependent on Medicare supposed to do? 
• Doctors are increasingly voicing their concerns about their ability to treat patients under the confining strictures of Obamacare, and more and more are expressing plans to drop out of medicine altogether, which will only exacerbate physician shortages in America and increase wait times for getting an appointment to even see a doctor.
• Approximately 20,000 new taxpayer-funded IRS agents are being hired to enforce Obamacare. Enough said.
• Many unvetted, unscreened "navigators" have been hired by the Obama Administration to help manage the sign-up for Obamacare and its subsequent medical databases - which include not only highly sensitive information like medical history (and, of course, sexual activity), but risky information like social security numbers, home addresses, etc. In this age of identity theft, do you feel safe knowing your personal informaiton will be accessible to people who were hired without so much as a criminal background check? 

These are just some of the things that are wrong with Obamacare. The question is, is there anything good enough about it to trump what's bad about it? This is not a rhetorical question. If you're a fan of Obamacare, please let me know what you feel will be so good about it that it would justify everything that's wrong with it. I'd like to hear your thoughts. 

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Democrats walk out on grieving families before Benghazi testimony. And Dems say they're the ones who care?

In a move that illustrates why the overwhelming majority of Americans have grown to despise partisan politics – and come to be understandably offended by the actions of the Left, Progressives and Democrats on the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee executed – under the guise of protest – one of the most insensitive and disrespectful actions in the history of the United States House of Representatives. They staged a pre-planned and organized "walkout" before the testimonies of the families of those slaughtered in Benghazi on September 11, 2012.
Those elected to office are sent to Washington to represent the whole of their constituencies, not just those with whom they agree. By staging this inarguably childish – and ultimately selfish – political theater, they have abdicated their responsibility to represent those with whom they disagree ideologically. This is an abdication of their obligation to the office; to their constituents. It is an action that even their supporters should abhor and, in fact, penalize them for.

Read more at http://freedomoutpost.com/2013/09/heartless-democrats-walk-testimony-families-fallen-benghazi/#gPKuAXwxeQcakMlu.99

Is it any wonder why more and more Americans are coming to despise the actions of the Left? In a move that shows just how heartless, cruel and dirty these liberals are, a large group of them committed one of the most disrespectful and despicable actions I have ever seen. They executed an organized "walkout" just as the families of those who were killed in Benghazi on September 11, 2012, were about to speak on behalf of their loved ones.

Aren't those elected to office supposed to represent all of their constituents, not just those with whom they agree? What these Democrats and Progressives did to these grieving families is nothing less than reprehensible, and all of us - including those who voted for them - should condemn them for it (especially since we all know President Obama certainly will not condemn them for it).

Here's the list of the heartless, cruel Democrats and Progressives who walked out on the families who were about to speak of their loved ones who gave their lives for our country in this covered-up attack (the same families, by the way, who have yet to receive any answers, let alone any response from Congress -- or from president-wannabe Hilary Clinton who famously and arrogantly said about the Benghazi murders, "What difference does it make?"):

• Carolyn Maloney (P [Progressive]-NY)
• Danny Davis (P-IL)
• Eleanor Holmes Norton (P-DC)
• Gerald E. Connolly (D-VA)
• Jim Cooper (D-TN)
• John Tierney (P-MA)
• Mark Pocan (P-WI)
• Matt Cartwright (P-PA)
• Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM)
• Peter Welch (P-VT)
• Stephen Lynch (D-MA)
• Steven Horsford (P-NV)
• Tammy Duckworth (P-IL)
• Tony Cardenas (D-CA)
• William Lacy Clay (D-MO)

As an aside, but certainly just as relevant, other would-be testifiers on Benghazi have been silenced and/or had their jobs stripped away for trying to tell the truth of what happened the night our US Consulate was attacked, while Obama simply went to bed upon hearing the news, rather than ordering help to the victims. And don’t forget, just last week our own Secretary of State John Kerry deliberately stopped the Benghazi families from even being questioned by Congress. 

It's amazing how excoriated President Nixon was for the Watergate scandal - which involved a break-in. Nobody died. Still, Nixon respected the office of the presidency enough to resign rather than subject the office to further degradation.

Not Obama though. This Administration -- which tries to admonish Republicans for not caring about people - is its own version of the Mafia and the actions of these Democrats is not only disgusting, but wholly un-American. The most sickening part is the Dems try to portray themselves as the ones "who care" about people, while the rest of us on the other side of the political aisle are accused of being heartless, uncaring oafs. Funny, I didn't see one Republican show the same disrespect to the Benghazi families by walking out on them as the Democrats blatantly demonstrated. Shame on every one of them.

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Bitter obituary flies in the face of 'honor thy father and mother'

Making the rounds this past weekend was the scathing obituary that was published recently about a mother of eight. The obituary was written by her own adult children.

According to the kids, the mother was extremely abusive, to say the least. The woman's son said the obituary was written "without doubt to shame her" and in the obituary itself, the kids said they hope their mother will relive every detail of her cruelty in the afterlife.

While I'm very sad for any abuse the kids may have suffered, after hearing the obituary read out loud over the weekend, I commented that it seems to me that unfortunately it's the kids who will be the ones to relive every cruel detail as long as they hold onto their bitterness. I also expressed that we shouldn't speak ill of the dead, especially in such a public forum.

While my comments were basically interpreted as being judgmental, they were more a simple reference to God's directive to us to forgive one another if we want Him to forgive us for our own wrongdoings. God also gave us the Commandment to "honor thy father and thy mother." Of course that doesn't mean we need or should give false praise to anyone, even our own parents. But being that our parents are the vessels God chose to bring us into the world, it seems that publicly shaming and excoriating your own deceased mother - who is unable to defend herself - fails to keep that particular Commandment. The kids didn't need to shower her with praise in the obituary to keep this Commandment. In this case, not saying anything at all would have sufficed.

If anything, I would hope these children would pray that God will have mercy on their mother's soul -- not only because we should ask God to have mercy on everyone, including our enemies -- but also so that these kids may hope to receive His forgiveness for their own transgressions in life. At the very least, working on forgiveness in their own hearts may bring them the peace they so obviously need, a peace they won't obtain through vengeful, public shaming.

I pray God will bless and have mercy on that woman's soul, and I pray her children will seek God for the forgiveness and healing peace that only He can give.

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Did the White House Help Plan the Syrian Chemical Attack?*

Just about every action President Barack Obama has taken in the Middle East has somehow supported Muslim extremists and undermined Christians. He has spoken barely a word about the Christian persecution going on in Egypt and he didn't even express outrage at the murder of one of our ambassadors in Benghazi. Instead, he caught a flight to Vegas for a fundraiser right afterward, and has been covering up the murder ever since. It seems pointless to ask what his intentions are. My gut instinct is simply that the president's intentions for our nation's well being are not above board. Sorry, but I just haven't seen anything to change my mind.

And now he is virtually itching to attack Syria, embroiling us in yet another Middle East skirmish. I have been suspicious of Obama's motives on this from the start. Take this how you will, but I wanted to share an article written about the chemical attacks in Syria that sheds light on some odd and disturbing bits of evidence that are coming to the surface. I simply don't trust this administration and information such as is offered in the following article does nothing to mitigate the doubts I have. Maybe I'm hoping someone can offer evidence that would make me change my mind. I'd love to be able to believe in my president.

Read:
*Did the White House Help Plan the Syrian Chemical Attack?

Mounting evidence raises questions about Syrian chemical weapon attack