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Spurgeon's Morning & Evening - July 6 -------------------------------- Morning Devotional "Whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil." - Proverbs 1:33 Divine love is rendered conspicuous when it shines in the midst of judgments. Fair is that lone star which smiles through the rifts of the thunder clouds; bright is the oasis which blooms in the wilderness of sand; so fair and so bright is love in the midst of wrath. When the Israelites provoked the Most High by their continued idolatry, he punished them by withholding both dew and rain, so that...

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has beamed back its first snaps of the Moon - images from the Mare Nubium region captured by the spacecraft's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera, aka LROC: LROC Principal Investigator Mark Robinson of Arizona State University explained: "Our first images were taken along the moon's terminator - the dividing line between day and night - making us initially unsure of how they would turn out. Because of the deep shadowing, subtle topography is exaggerated, suggesting a craggy and inhospitable surface. ... The LROC is in fact three cameras: Two narrow-angle instruments, designed to capture "high-resolution, black-and-white...

One faux-conservative I know is lauding Barack Obama as the second coming of Ronald Reagan. He’s comprehensively wrong because Obama is Reagan’s polar opposite in all but political talent. Nevertheless, our 44th president is clearly a student of the 40th. Reagan said, “The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program.” Like a dead Caesar deified by the Roman Senate, a government program achieves a sort of political immortality as soon as its beneficiaries are established and begin to reward their congressional protectors. Since his inauguration, Obama’s spending spree has taken us...

In case you haven't been reading the conservative blogs over the weekend (and judging by our numbers here, you haven't) I've provided links to some of the best and/or most entertaining posts I've read from the past few days.

The extreme volatility that has gripped oil markets for the last 18 months has shown no signs of slowing down, with oil prices more than doubling since the beginning of the year despite an exceptionally weak economy. The instability of oil and gas prices is puzzling government officials and policy analysts, who fear it could jeopardize a global recovery. It is also hobbling businesses and consumers, who are already facing the effects of a stinging recession, as they try in vain to guess where prices will be a year from now — or even next month. A wild run on...

BEIJING — The Chinese state news agency reported Monday that at least 140 people were killed and 816 injured when rioters clashed with the police in a regional capital in western China after days of rising tensions between Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese. Related Times Topics: Uighurs The casualty toll, if confirmed, would make this the deadliest outbreak of violence in China in many years. The rioting broke out Sunday afternoon in a large market area of Urumqi, the capital of the vast, restive desert region of Xinjiang, and lasted for several hours before riot police officers and paramilitary or...

With the GOP still making noises about pushing for the nomination of yet another RINO, despite the disaster of 2008, conservatives often feel as if we are in political no-man's land--homeless pilgrims in a strange and barren land. What's a conservative to do in these unfortunate times when conservatism seems to be abandoned, even by the Party of Reagan?

Paul Krugman gets his wish. So did Joe Biden just pull another "Biden" with his line this morning about "misreading" how bad the economy was? Some folks in the White House may chalk it up to "Joe being Joe," but make no mistake, the administration is laying the groundwork for the second stimulus. We predicted on Thursday, after the weak jobs report, that the second stimulus was no definitely on its way. The very next day, Paul Krugman, a reliable thermometer for establishment thinking, chimed in and said we must do a second, bigger stimulus. So when you have Joe...

As I sit down on the 4th of July to write this week’s column, I am deeply humbled by what the founding fathers of this country have created for us. Yet every day we are giving away our freedoms by electing people who willingly usurp our rights for what they say is “the common good.” The latest instance is the taking of unused gift cards by state legislatures. Some of you may be aware that states have previously established the right to confiscate unclaimed bank accounts. There was a rationalization that if the account was unclaimed, somehow it should become...

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In various ways, America is on a fast-track towards its own demise as a freedom-loving beacon for us and the world. The problem is that now that the American people have by their own free will, placed the Democrats in power, the Democrats want to hold on to it, even if their future of being in power is against your will, so they are mobilizing and working feverishly, doing everything they possibly can to keep that power secure. That is only possible by creating an oligarchic type system.

Mullen Advises 'Measured' Approach to Gay Policy The nation's top military officer said Sunday he has advised President Barack Obama to move "in a measured way" in changing the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that bans gays from serving openly in the military. Obama as a candidate pledged to end the ban. As president, he has not said when or how he will take steps to do so, drawing criticism from gay rights activists and others. The president has pointed out that Congress in 1993 made into law a policy begun by President Bill Clinton. "It's very clear what President...

President Obama hosted a reception at the White House celebrating LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) Pride month. Black Christians should take note and learn a few things about our black President. As they say, we are what we do. It tells us something that Mr. Obama had no time to host an event for the National Day of Prayer. Nor did he have time to accept the invitation to convey greetings and a few remarks to the couple hundred thousand who came to Washington, as they do every January, for the March for Life. However, the LGBT Pride event did...

Audra Shay of Louisiana has been touring the country for seven months, drumming up support for her campaign to become chairwoman of the Young Republican National Federation, an organization that consists of 10,000 members nationwide. “The country wasn’t going where I think it should be going,” she said, so she entered the race to try and get YRNF, which limits its membership to Republicans aged 18-40, “back to its original platform.” For her, that means a renewed adherence to the principles of national defense, school choice, limited government, lower taxes, and conservative social values. Shay differs little in principle with...

Being a conservative, I naturally spend an inordinate amount of time attempting to psychoanalyze left-wingers, trying to figure out what makes them tick. God knows I’m not bragging. It is, after all, time I could otherwise devote to alphabetizing my canned goods or trying to make contact with Harry Houdini, but I know from the large number of emails I receive that I’m not alone. The lunacy on the left is enough to turn a lot of us into little Sigmund Freuds. For instance, why is it that lefties are so puzzled or pretend to be so puzzled that conservatives...

A Goldman trading scandal? Posted by: Matthew Goldstein Did someone try to steal Goldman Sachs’ secret sauce? While most in the US were celebrating the 4th of July, a Russian immigrant living in New Jersey was being held on federal charges of stealing top-secret computer trading codes from a major New York-based financial institution—that sources say is none other than Goldman Sachs. The allegations, if true, are big news because the codes the accused man, Sergey Aleynikov, tried to steal is the secret code to unlocking Goldman’s automated stocks and commodities trading businesses. Federal authorities allege the computer codes and...

Well now. Our economy is really lunging forward, isn’t it? What a ride! Are you holding on? We’re billions of dollars further in debt (trillions?) and the economy is still stagnant. TARP, the stimulus bill, massive debts our children and grandchildren will have to pay .. and what has this all brought us? Banks aren’t lending, businesses aren’t hiring – let along expanding – and consumers aren’t buying. Oh, to be sure, the malls are crowded. Turn up the thermostats and see how long that lasts. Those aren’t shoppers, they’re just your neighbors trying to stay cool while watching the...

Sen. John McCain touched on a variety of topics with The Daily Courier while visiting Prescott July 4, from single-payer health care to a revived push for a national scenic area designation in the Sedona area. . . . . . Other topics with McCain included: . . . . . * Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. McCain said he hasn't decided how he will vote on Sotomayor, especially since he still needs to talk to fellow Sen. Jon Kyl about her. Kyl serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Suspicious N. Korean freighter yet to reach home: official By Sam Kim SEOUL, July 6 (Yonhap) -- A North Korean freighter suspected of carrying weapons banned under a U.N. resolution has yet to enter North Korean waters, a South Korean official said Monday. "It has not yet entered North Korea. (The journey) will likely end within the day," South Korean defense ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae said in a briefing.

Sarah Palin's decision to resign as governor of Alaska was greeted with doubts, criticism and downright derision -- not just from Democrats or the media or bloggers, but from Republicans. Critical responses to her decision came from many Republican insiders -- not just people who have an axe to grind such as Mike Huckabee and Lisa Murkowski, but others such as Karl Rove. That followed criticism of Palin just before her announcement from Charles Krauthammer and Jonah Goldberg. When talking off the record, Republican insiders are even harsher toward Palin, as Marc Ambinder notes: With a few exceptions, almost every...

140 slain as Chinese riot police, Muslims clash in northwestern city Eight hundred people are injured and hundreds are reported arrested in Urumqi. The Uighur demonstrators were protesting against racial discrimination. By Barbara Demick July 6, 2009 Firefighters are seen dousing a bus in Urumqi, the main city in Xinjiang, where China's ethnic Uighur minority is concentrated. Eight hundred people were injured and hundreds held as demonstrations against racial discrimination erupted into street violence. (Shen Qiao / New China News Agency / July 5, 2009) Reporting from Beijing - China's worst ethnic violence in years broke out Sunday in the...

Oh, Myth Romney, how do I loathe you! Let me count the ways. (in no particular order) 10. TAXES: As the Governor of Massachusetts, you raised "fees" (taxes) by nearly $730 million. In fact, at a 2008 presidential debate, you said that it's appropriate for governments to charge fees and provide services. And, in 2007, at a campaign event in Iowa, you called flat taxes "unfair." (OnTheIssues.org/NewsMax) 9. HOMOSEXUAL AGENDA: In 1994, you favored allowing unabashed homosexuals to openly serve in the U.S. armed forces. You also favored allowing homosexuals to participate in the Boy Scouts, and you were endorsed...

Bashing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is sport for many journalists, particularly those who are perhaps bored by the summer doldrums. "She is by far the best-looking woman ever to rise to such heights in national politics, the first indisputably fertile female to dare to dance with the big dogs," writes Todd Purdum in the August issue of Vanity Fair. He coins the term "polar disorder," concluding that Mrs. Palin is surrounded by "clouds of tabloid conflict and controversy" and "has disappointed many of those who once had the highest hopes for her." Yeah, yeah. Enough already. Mrs. Palin is not...

After a low-profile Fourth of July, Sarah Palin took to Twitter this morning to decry her critics and urge supporters to weather the media criticism over her decision to resign as governor of Alaska. "Critics are spinning, so hang in there as they feed false info on the right decision made as I enter last yr in office to not run again," she wrote through TwitterBerry, a mobile device application for the popular 140-character-per-"tweet" social-networking site. The brief message, consistent with the tone of her Friday news conference, during which she condemned as "blood sport" the national political process, came...

WASHINGTON -- Vice President Joe Biden said the Obama administration "misread how bad the economy was" and didn't foresee unemployment levels nearing double digits, in comments likely to intensify calls for the administration to do more to counter job losses. Some economists are pressing the White House to enact a second round of stimulus spending or find some other way to avert a prolonged job and wage slump. But the White House is in a tough spot. Officials want to give the $787 billion stimulus package passed in February time to work -- only 10% of the spending is out...

The response to Sarah Palin's surprise resignation last Friday clearly reveals the limitations of the American political class, right, left, or what have you. There's an old academic joke, probably apocryphal, about Count Metternich, Austria's foreign minister during the Napoleonic era. While attending the Congress of Vienna, Metternich is sleeping off a banquet when one of his aides bursts in at three in the morning. "Your excellency! Count Nesselrode, the Russian ambassador, just died." Metternich jerks awake. "Died, you say? What a terrible thing! I was speaking to him only tonight... Uhh... send a message to the Tsar -- Austria...

More than 100 people have been killed and 800 injured in a riot which broke out in the ethnically sensitive far-Western Chinese province of Xinjiang. The death-toll, which stands at 129, marks a major escalation in the casualty figures from the disturbance which broke out on Sunday night after police tried to disperse a demonstration by members of the Uighur Muslim minority in the provincial capital, Urumqi. Initial reports said that just three people had been killed in running battles with police that left burned-out cars and buses and several smashed shop-fronts. Xinhua, the state-operated news service, did not provide...

What a shock that Maureen Dowd devoted her New York Times column Sunday to attack Sarah Palin. It did not so much criticize Alaska's governor for prematurely stepping down from her official duties as to finish off what sister snipers Katie Couric and Tina Fey began last fall. The assassination of Sarah Palin - by media. For those who didn't pay attention, Mrs. Palin's unexpected stratospheric rise as a national political figure threatened the media's preordained presidency of Barack Obama. In light of how the Obama machine took down Hillary Clinton, which unsettled many feminists who believed 2008 was their...

Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell had an unremarkable first year in office, loyally supporting Gov. Sarah Palin. But in the past year and half, a crescendo of unexpected announcements and dramatic developments have thrust him into a more prominent role, culminating with his unanticipated move into the No. 1 seat announced Friday. One day later a spokesman for the governor's office said Parnell would seek a full term in 2010. But for the next year and a half the job is all his. Parnell made headlines in March 2008 with his surprise decision to run against 18-term incumbent Don Young in...

No Matter What, He Always "Acts Like a Priest" University President Speaks on Divine Providence By Father David M. O'Connell, CM WASHINGTON, D.C., JULY 3, 2009 (Zenit.org).- I wanted to be a priest for as long as I can remember. I think it was my pastor's visits to my dying grandmother, in particular, that first attracted me. He was so kind to her and so gentle. He brought her holy Communion and what we called then the sacrament of "extreme unction" during her final illness. The whole aura surrounding his visits, the mysterious sound of the Latin prayers, and the...

A leftist candidate backed by an array of political parties successfully staved off his far-right opponent in a mayoral race Sunday that the National Front had hope would start its comeback. Other parties, from communists to President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservatives, rallied behind Daniel Duquenne whom voters designated the new mayor of Henin-Beaumont, a former mining town in northern France, in a runoff race. The victor was sprayed with tear gas minutes after the results were announced, a police officer said by telephone, confirming reports on France-Info radio and the French TV station iTele. Duquenne was not injured and the aggressor...

July 6, 2009                                     Monday of the Fourteenth Week                                 in Ordinary Time     Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Gn 28:10-22a Jacob departed from Beer-sheba and proceeded toward Haran.When he came upon a certain shrine, as the sun had already set,he stopped there for the night.Taking one of the stones at the shrine, he put it under his headand lay down to sleep at that spot.Then he had a dream: a stairway rested on the ground,with its top reaching to the heavens;and God's messengers were...

July 06, 2009 Let's cap and trade oxygen! By James Lewis Enough already with carbon cap and trade. I say let's cap oxygen, and then tax any family that can't achieve the Average Family Oxygen Target of 80% BOOTS (Before Obama Oxygen Trading Scheme). Remember, if you weren't inhaling all that O2 you wouldn't be belching out clouds of noxious CO2. Yuck. Yes, I know oil refineries smell bad and coal looks dirty. But none of that carbon would ever see the light of day if it weren't for all the oxygen you suck in, you greed bucket. So let's...

I think it's safe to say that NY Congressman Pete King did not sign up for tickets to the memorial....wait 'til the justice brothers see this video....

Soon the Republican party will have no choice but to make Mitt Romney its leader. We've seen a suspiciously steady trickle of losers quietly exiting the ranks of 2012 hopefuls -- Bobby Jindal with his disastrous State of the Union rebuttal; John Ensign and Mark Sanford with their affairs; and most recently, Sarah Palin's bizarre resignation from the Alaska governorship. The only candidates left are Mike Huckabee, Tim Pawlenty and Romney. If history is any guide, we should expect some foul disclosure out of the Huckabee camp any day now. You just can't get away with saying something like this...

Video of Southfork Ranch (Dallas) TEA Party. Although the media attempted to downplay the attendance, there was between 45 to 50,000 in attendance through the Fireworks show. Pretty good turn out for "Astroturf" . http://www.livestream.com/wiretesterWhen it starts playing, just click the “on demand” button below the screen. To see Michelle Malkin's Speech In the right panel showing “on demand” videos click on the one that says:Live Show (Procaster) Set July 4th 2009 09:23:34 PM 50 min 59 secIf you move the slider ahead to about 22 minutes into the video Michelle stets the ranch on fire!

California's utilities are barreling ahead to try to meet a state mandate to garner 33% of their power from renewable sources by 2020, and some officials are concerned the effort might push up electricity prices and crimp supplies. The state auditor warned this week that the electricity sector poses a "high risk" to the state economy. A staff report from the state energy commission also warns that California could find itself uncomfortably tight on power by 2011 if problems continue to pile up. Utilities complain that the ambitious renewable-energy mandates, combined with tougher environmental regulations on conventional plants, are compromising...

Then there’s the Waxman-Markey cap and trade bill, which started out in life at a thousand pages, and then had a 300-page amendment tacked on to it in the dead of night. It was as if Dr. Frankenstein, after carefully inspecting his nightmarish creation, decided that what the monster really needed was a second head and a hunchback. Again, nobody had time to read the bill, but that didn’t prevent 219 congressmen, including eight Republicans who scurried out from under a rock just long enough to make certain that Christmas, or perhaps I mean Ramadan, would come early for the...

Here is the latest update on the "Muslims Rioting in China" article. China state media says 129 killed in riots in west BEIJING – Chinese state media says that 129 people have been killed and more than 800 hurt in violence in the country's western Xinjiang region.

Everyone's favorite Congressman, Barney Frank, made an appearance at the 2009 World Series of Poker Sunday, perhaps even upstaging bracelet record holder, Phil Hellmuth, who arrived dressed as a Roman emperor, complete with 100 models, 11 muses and a trumpeter.

The wife of the new head of Britain's spy agency has posted pictures of her husband, family and friends on internet networking site Facebook, details which could compromise security, a newspaper said on Sunday. In what the Mail on Sunday called an "extraordinary lapse," the new spy chief's wife, Lady Shelley Sawers, posted family pictures and exposed details of where the couple live and take their holidays and who their friends and relatives are. Publishing the story on its front page and the pictures on a double-page spread, the Mail on Sunday said the information "could potentially be useful to...

In a move set to infuriate and send many Zero Hedge readers over the top, the NYSE has taken action to make sure that nobody will henceforth be able to keep track of the complete dominance that Goldman Sachs exerts over the New York Stock Exchange. This basically ends our weekly Program Trading updates disclosed every Thursday indicating that Goldman has singlehandedly captured all of NYSE's program trading.

Here is the You Tube address: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TStcIyQY-8s&feature=channel_page

Sarah Palin lacks what the GOP needs most The Republicans need a White House candidate with ideas, steadiness and the ability to unify. That's not Alaska's departing governor. Doyle McManus July 5, 2009 Is Sarah Palin the answer the Republican Party is looking for? Not likely. Palin's abrupt announcement that she's quitting as governor of Alaska may be part of a long-term strategy that leads to the Oval Office. But at the moment, it looks more like the impulsive act of a hot-headed politician who can't abide criticism -- poor attributes for anyone who hopes to run for president. Take...

Beckman radio - Michael Steele about manufacturing and health care Audio (June 23) - Frank speaks with Michael Steele, RNC Chairman, about manufacturing and health care.

I’m confused by all the confusion among the chattering classes about Palin. I thought her press conference explained it very clearly – though she couldn’t put it precisely this way without sounding vain, but it’s obvious. Even though she’s just a state governor, she’s a HUGE national star who is both sought after and attacked as if she is already a president (a Bush, not an Obama). But she basically can’t participate because she’s tethered to the governor’s office up in Alaska. Consequently, she has to fight with one hand tied behind her back and she also can’t go around...

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Our president offended Brits by giving ridiculous gifts to the Prime Minister and Queen of England. He apologized for American policy in Europe and the Middle East. He described us as a Muslim nation and gave a conciliatory speech to Arab Muslims in Cairo. He shyed away from “meddling” in Iranian affairs as protesters were shot and beaten by the government, but quickly jumped into action in an attempt to save a fellow Marxist would-be dictator in Honduras. In Obama’s next stop on the Magical Mollification Tour is Moscow, where...

The top Russian military commander, the Chief of the General Staff and First Deputy Defense Minister Army-General Nikolai Makarov during the Paris air show this week said: "Georgia is saber-rattling and preparing weapons to resolve its territorial problems by any means." Makarov accused NATO of supporting Georgian aggressive intentions and E.U. observers of ignoring Georgian rearmament and war preparations. Makarov stated that the Russian army and the FSB Border Guards in Abkhazia and South Ossetia are preparing together with local forces and forming new military infrastructure. He confirmed that the defense ministry will permanently station "somewhat less combat troops in...

Back-up: This week's NYSE Program Trading report was very odd: not only because program trading hit 48.6% of all NYSE trading, a record high at least since the NYSE keep tabs of this data, and a data point which in itself was startling enough to cause some serious red flags as I jaunt from village to village in what little is left of Europe's bison country, but what was shocking was the disappearance of the #1 mainstay of complete trading domination (i.e., Goldman Sachs) from not just the aforementioned #1 spot, but the entire complete list. In other words: Goldman...

MOBILE, Ala. — A woman who suffered third-degree burns after stepping into a shower of 136-degree water has been awarded $750,000 in a settlement of a lawsuit against the apartment manager. The Mobile County court award to 25-year-old Treon Moorer, in late June, followed mediation with JRS Management Inc. of Florida. The company's lawyer, Larry Matthews of Pensacola, declined comment. . . . He said Moorer was "horribly scarred" from the neck down. Taylor says the water heater industry and burn doctors recommend a setting of 120 degrees.