Glenn Beck’s 912 special aired today on Fox News. I missed it because I’m not a particular fan of Glenn Beck, plus it’s Saturday and I’m watching college football. However, I have my twitter open and a message from MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough caught my eye:

“Beck just quoted the Bible about ‘fighting against darkness and spiritual wickedness in high places.’” (link)

“God help us all from someone using the Bible to attack political opponents.” (link)

“I’m curious. What “spiritual wickedness” is Obama guilty of according to Beck??” (link)

Something about this really bothered me. And it’s not because I care all that much about Beck. Because as I said, I really don’t. I don’t have anything against him, he’s just a little too emotional for me.

However, Glenn Beck is a conservative who has been driving those on the Left nuts the past few weeks. Beck is primarily responsible for getting the Left Wing Truther Van Jones removed from the White House. He also had a hand in getting Acorn fired from working with the US Census. He inspires millions and millions of Americans who watch him every day (His show on Fox News, just hit 3.3 million viewers) to fight back against the radical agenda of the Obama administration. His book “Common Sense” was #1 for weeks and weeks and weeks. It’s still ranked #10 over all on amazon.com and is #1 in a handful of categories.

So when I saw Joe Scarborough, the only conservative voice on MSNBC go after fellow conservative, I had to say something:

“Could @JoeNBC be a little more self righteous? RT @JoeNBC: God help us all from someone using the Bible to attack political opponents.” (link)

Admittedly, self righteous is probably the wrong way to describe what Scarborough did. He did get a little holier then thou from his, “God help us all from…” But I probably should have said something else considering I missed when he was referring to. I assume he was watching Beck’s 912 special, while I was enjoying the Michigan State Spartans game.

Joe Scarborough responded to me saying:

“@ElectJeff I’m being the one being self-righteous? I’m not the tool using sacred scriptures to attack political opponents. Judge not…” (link)

To which I said:

“@JoeNBC Pope JP2 said Matthew 7:1 is most misunderstood verse in Bible, Jesus was specifically taking about hypocrites not all judgements.” (link)

“@JoeNBC .. How else would Paul say later in Galatians 4:16, “Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?” (link)

“@JoeNBC – And as nutty as @GlennBeck is, he’s getting attacked enough by the Left, do you really need to pile on and call him a ‘tool’?” (link)

Scarborough made a good response with:

“@ElectJeff Read Jesus’ words in the Gospels. Almost all judgments are aimed at religious leaders. He tells us to forgive each other 70×7.” (link)

And while I agree that Jesus did aim most of his ‘judgments” against religious leaders of His time. However, today when we have Liberals, and Democrats who support abortion on demand (for example), should we really just hold our tongues and not say anything to them regarding what scripture says about the sacredness of life?  And while you should never attack anyone with the Bible, it is appropriate to use scripture when it’s on topic and to the point.

I wrote back to Scarborough saying:

“Let’s agree to disagree @JoeNBC I’m sorry for calling you self righteous. I’m just frustrated w/ fellow conservatives jumping on Beck.” (link)

Joe said:

“@ElectJeff We’re all frustrated. I just want us to lead with intellectual arguments instead of personal attacks. The facts are on our side!” (link)

I didn’t bother pointing out how he had just personally attacked Beck by calling him a “tool” a few minutes ago. I agreed:

“Couldn’t agree more. RT @JoeNBC: @ElectJeff We’re all frustrated. I just want us to lead with intellectual arguments instead of pers. attks” (link)

Joe Scarborough, a former congressman is a good guy. I watch his show when I get a chance and listen to his radio show almost every day. He has the approach that conservatives can make their case by playing more to the center. But sometimes it seems like he tries to pat the Democrats on the back just for the sake of doing so.That’s dangerous because the democrats will punch you in the face while you do it.

I’m in the Rush Limbaugh camp that believes there is virtually zero reasons to try and reach out to the democrats… because they never ever return the favor.  For eight years, all President Bush did was try to reach out to the democrats and it got him no where!  President Obama has hinted here and there that he wants to reach out to Republicans in his last address to congress. I hope he is telling the truth, time will be his judge.

You can watch Joe every morning on MSNBC from 6am to 9am. And on the radio on WABC from 9am to 11am. Follow him on twitter also.

Great article from the Wall Street Journal:

“In his column for the Washington Post on Tuesday, the influential conservative George Will provided intellectual fodder for the campaign among some Republicans to hang the Afghanistan war around the Obama administration’s neck. Washington, he wrote, should “keep faith” with our fighting men and women by “rapidly reversing the trajectory of America’s involvement in Afghanistan.” “Obama’s war,” a locution one is now beginning to hear from other conservatives, is an expression of discontent that has been smoldering beneath the surface for several months.

The weakening public support for continuing the counterinsurgency campaign is not surprising. In the midst of an economic crisis people are tempted to draw inward. Add to that a general war weariness in the U.S. and the fact that the Afghanistan war is not going well right now—violence in Afghanistan is already far worse this year than last—and you have the makings of an unpopular conflict.

But the case of conservative opposition to the war in Afghanistan—as well as increasingly in Iraq—is symptomatic of something larger: the long history of political parties out of power advancing a neo-isolationist outlook. For example, Democrats were vocal opponents of President Reagan’s support for the Nicaraguan contras and the democratic government in El Salvador, the U.S. invasion of Grenada, the deployment of cruise and Pershing missiles in Europe, and the forceful stand against the Soviet Union generally.”

Full article

For the entire eight years of President George W. Bush’s administration, the left in this country did nothing but compare the President to Hitler. Whatever President Bush did, the Democrats made signs, pictures, and websites making the ludicrous comparisons.

Now, with the election of President Barack Obama, we have some one the right doing the same thing. It was stupid when the people compared Bush to Hitler, and it is stupid to compare to Obama to Hitler.

But it wasn’t until now, when the left’s messiah of a President in charge for them to reach the same conclusion. This image has been the most popular image on the lefty website Reddit for the past couple days.

http://i29.tinypic.com/2pyqidk.jpg

Wonderfully entertaining.

Obama caves to Republican pressure all while controlling the White House, the Senate (with a super majority) and the House of Representatives.

The crazies on the Left are going insane over it! Read them freak out here, here and here! Some of the best comments are:

“There goes any shred of support his administration will ever receive from me.”

“If this bill dies, I agree with you completely. He’s caving, and I won’t support anyone that caves like this.”

“So what were we fighting for? If this is going to be thrown under the bus… WTF?”

“Democrats don’t need to compromise here. They hold everything. Anyone who thought the Democratic party was fighting for a higher standard of living for them may now admit that most of it isn’t.”

“Honestly if he does do this,then I won’t feel bad if some nazi kills Obama,because of all the people that will die from health insurance from lack of coverage will be his fault.”

“With no public option, it will be worse than the status quo.”

“I can understand a president giving up a chance at a second term… in order to give the American people what he promised them and what they so desperately need. But it seems as if Obama is going to give up his second term in order to make the republican party look like the winners and betray the people that voted for him. It’s really weird.”

Obama’s $17 Billion Budget Cuts In Context

While the president’s $100 million dollar cuts weren’t even a drop in a bucket, the $17 billion in cuts at least means something. But it’s a far cry from the “net spending cuts” we were promised.

Obama Budget Cuts Visualization

How much is the $100 million dollars in budget cuts compared to the federal budget as a whole? This video imagines the budget as $100 in pennies to provide the answer.

The National Debt Road Trip

How do the Obama deficits compare with past presidents? And how did the national debt get so big anyway. This video tries to answer those questions by looking at the debt as a road trip and seeing how fast different administrations have been traveling.

The Obama Stimulus: Predictions vs. Reality

When pushing the stimulus package, President Obama claimed that the stimulus would save 3 million jobs. How have his predictions turned out so far? This video compares those predictions with how the jobs numbers have actually turned out

If you want to read more on the budget, mathematics and political visualizations, follow 10,000 pennies on Twitter: @PoliticalMath and WordPress at politicalmath.wordpress

Here is the rough cut, original version of “TelePrompTer vs. No TelePrompTer” that David Letterman refused to air. Never before seen, until now.

Original Via Hot Air

The Politico is reporting:

“President Obama’s administration is moving aggressively to protect what the government insists are “state secrets” from a Bush-era wiretapping program.

Justice Department lawyers filed an emergency motion Friday with a federal appeals court in an effort to block a lower court’s order that the government must show lawyers for the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation a copy of a document indicating that the group’s communications were being intercepted. The document has been the subject of a running legal battle since the papers were accidentally sent to attorneys for the group in 2004 and subsequently retrieved. [Full Story]

Hope and Change?