Editorial:  With budget shortfalls an estimated $140 billion collectively, many U.S. states are facing Greece-like crises. While many states are considering cuts, tax increases or both, a detailed pat down into state and local employee pay and benefits should be their top priority.
•   Half of all state and local government money was spent on wages and benefits in 2008 to the tune of $1.1 trillion, according to Sunshine Review.
•   States have fallen $1 trillion short on what they are required to pay retired workers, according to the Pew Center on the States. Some estimates are even higher.

American taxpayers who are struggling to make ends meet are being forced to fund bloated systems rampant with abuse.
•   According to the Chicago Tribune, “In Glencoe [Illinois], a free Jeep, bonuses and other perks to an outgoing parks director cost local taxpayers an extra $350,000. Joliet [IL] officials literally wrote pension spiking into the employee handbook, costing taxpayers there nearly $500,000 extra on the outgoing city manager alone.”
•   A former city manager in California receives an annual $500,000 retirement check.
•   “Public safety workers in CalPERS can retire at age 50 after 30 years of work with benefits equal to 90 percent of their final salary,” according to the Cato Institute.
 
Many state employees have figured out how to game the system.
•   After earning less than $10,000 a year for 24 years a New Jersey public employee spent one year as a prosecutor with a salary of $141,000, raising his yearly pension from $3,600 to $70,000.
•   An employee of the Department of Corrections in Massachusetts spent almost 30 years as an administrative assistant before becoming a prison guard. After working only one year as a corrections officer, her retirement will be that of a career prison guard.

Others have figured out that they can retire early, collect their generous pensions and then simply be rehired by the state, collecting both a pension and a paycheck, which is legal in several states.
•   Judicial Watch uncovered a Phoenix Police Chief who was collecting a pension after he retired, while receiving a full salary for the identical job under a different title.
•   According to Ohio News Organization (OHNO) 27 percent of Ohio’s school superintendents are rehired retirees, who began collecting their pensions in their early 50s while still receiving regular paychecks.
•   According to the Plain Dealer, “More than 150 of the state’s [Ohio’s] 613 superintendents collect paychecks and pensions at the same time. Over the past decade, a growing number of school chiefs have cut deals to retire, collect public pensions and return to work, often in the same jobs. In a single weekend, these superintendents increase their earnings by as much as 80 percent.”

While many states are attempting to address pension abuse, American taxpayers are still on the hook funding pensions of which they could only dream.  It is no wonder two-thirds of the respondents of a recent Pew Center for the States poll said they “either never trust the state government to do what is right or trust it only some of the time.” When the year of austerity hits the states, elected officials may find their constituents marching on their state capitol steps rather than in Washington DC.

 

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About the author:
Founder and President of Regan Designs, an entrepreneur and design engineer, inventor (11 patents) and problem solver, specializing in designing electromechanical products for clients in the medical, aerospace, defense, marine and automotive industries. Bent co-developed the Liquid Robotics "Wave Glider", which won the 2010 Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation AWARD. He was the Co-Founder and President of Regan Stent (Coronary Vascular stents) and inventor of the Electronic Flight Bag (a self contained tablet computer for commercial aviation navigation). Brent was the builder of the Regan Lancair IV-P High performance (300 MPH) experimental aircraft. He is an instrument rated private pilot and winner of the 1996 Great Cross Country Air Race. Brent was also the Co-Founder and Director of Engineering of Schilling Robotics Servohydraulic Telemanipulators (Robotic Arms) for hazardous and remote applications, used to seal the recent Gulf Oil Leak. He also was the Founder and President of Genesis Engineering (1982-1986) high performance engine development for motorsports, and founder of Porschetech Inc., Porsche automobile service and racing preparation. Brent won the RDC 4 hour Endurance Road Race twice (1982 & 1983) and the USARM Award for Competitive Achievement (1983). Brent was also the Designer and Builder of the “Plug-In” street licensed electric car (1977).  Brent has been a member of American Mensa High IQ society since 1993 and in the 99.9 percentile ranking, the Society of Automotive Engineers since 1983, and the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association since 1992.  He enjoys life in North Idaho with his wife of 24 years and three children.
 

Editor’s Note: As early voting gets underway now through November 1, Crain explores growing voter significance of the Southern Midwest that consists of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, and Louisiana.

Teaching children to be polite is viewed as critical, but they must be able to defend themselves as well.  As elementary as it may seem, it is a lot like the resounding messages in the 2010 campaign:  Speak up.  Vote.  Defend.

The cold realization in politics is that no candidate gets it done alone. Dr. Michael Logan, Professor of History at Oklahoma State University, says special interests messages take a long time to reach the general population.  Once they do, they are hard to combat.  

Attack ads are on the rise and many politicians and voters are not equipped to process or repeal them.  One just recently attacked Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln for voting 83% of the time with the President.

There is an idea that once we elect a representative, we can trust them to make decisions.  That is not a universally held notion, Dr. Logan said.  A secondary view is that a candidate represents the voter’s interest exclusively.

The problem with the second notion is that it does not allow a candidate independent thoughts. Instead, they must be a microphone for a particular district.  What is missing are the moderates.

Logan continued, “I would only challenge a candidate’s voting record on specific votes, absences or missed votes.  That’s the kind of thing you want to criticize.  Were they there to do the job and did they get results?”
 
Interestingly enough, a study of personality types found that as a group both politicians and serial killers scored the highest in areas such as superficial charm, exaggerated sense of self worth, glibness, lying, lack of remorse, and manipulation of others.

It takes a certain personality type to survive in some of these campaigns and against some of these candidates.  According to Dr. Logan, even those who have the best of intentions, often cannot fulfill their promises once elected.

2010 election results will have significant influence over who holds power in Washington next year and who will sit in the Oval office after 2012.  The Washington Post reports a total of 37 senate seats, 435 house of representative seats, and 37 governor seats open in this election.

Senate races in the lower Midwest, an area consisting of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana have historically received less attention than the I-70 corridor.

Of 16 elections in the lower region, only five were won by Democrats in the last election cycle. (Comparing Presidential, Gubernatorial and Senate races)  Of the four states, Republicans won all of the Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma elections, with the exception that Democrats won one race in both Oklahoma and Louisiana.

Election Highlights In Arkansas
Of the four state region, Arkansas is the most Democratic. (comparing presidential, gubernatorial, and senate races). As a result, there’s potential for substantial pressure from political groups who are not part of that Democratic minority. 

During the 2010 election debates last week at the University of Central Arkansas, Pat O’Brien, the Pulaski County Circuit Clerk and Democratic nominee for Secretary of State, said that he felt he had been queried more than any other candidate who has run for that office. He is currently running against Republican Mark Martin.

While Democrats in the state have come under intense scrutiny by the Republican Party for alleged misuse of state vehicles and funds, O’Brien has been one of the few to avoid formal charges. He plans to restrict state vehicle usage in the Secretary of State’s office if elected. “This plan is consistent with my previous record on open and accountable government,” he said. “We want to save taxpayer dollars by ensuring there is no abuse of vehicles.”

Although he continues to provide impressive service to tax payers, he remains vulnerable as a result of his party affiliations.

“There are rules about state and elected employees. The idea of doing political work on the job is not acceptable if you are a state or elected official. Outside of the regular 8-5, however, you can be who you want to be,” Dr. Logan said. “There are two notions that politicians play with. One is that I am not paid to represent the Department’s views on my private time and a second is that I don’t have to leave my identity behind at the office.”

He continued, “Politicians frequently display an official title to the benefit of their party leaders. As long as they are not on the job, there is nothing wrong with it. People may try to imply something is wrong, but it is not against the law to support another politician on your own time.”

That position is always going to be somewhat subjective, Dr. Logan said. It’s like being a judge. They should never be elected. As soon as you insert a judge into a campaign, you open the door to all kinds of shenanigans. In Oklahoma, it is unseemly in many cases because you have what should be nonpartisan representatives engaged in partisan activity.

When it comes to the Senate races, Arkansas has four candidates: Blanche Lincoln, (D), John Boozman (R), John Gray (G), and Trevor Drown (I).  All support transparency in political ads and cutting the budget. Only one in the four support Obamacare. The rest are for individual plans, such as getting rid of insurance companies or implementing a state mandated program.

“In 2010, will the five of the 16 elections drop to three or two Democrats and would that then be the bottom for Democrats and will they then start to come back to power? That is what we can’t say.  When you have a 16-5 divide between Republican and Democrat elections, well that looks like we are close to the bottom, if we are not there right now,” Dr. Logan said.  “Historians are terrible at looking at the future. I would just say that is part of the long standing development that is coming to a peek.”

Highlights of the Oklahoma Senate Race
In Oklahoma, if past numbers are any indication of future progress, Dr. Tom Coburn, a 62 year old physician and Republican, is certainly the favorite for the Oklahoma senate seat. His fundraising is also much more substantial than Democratic and Independent opponents.

“Coburn is a great example of how difficult it is to be a politician,” Dr. Logan said. “It’s an intellectual exercise for me to watch him try to accomplish something.  He’s beating his head against the wall, but he speaks effectively to his constituents.”

Coburn is a social and fiscal conservative.  He opposes deficit spending, gay marriage, and “pork barrel projects.”  He is pro-life, supports term limits, gun rights, and the death penalty.

Jim Rogers, a retired teacher, from Mid-West City is the Democratic nominee, who won with 66 percent of the vote.  Ronald Dwyer, an activist and Stephen Wallace, a businessman, both of Tulsa, are running as independent candidates and will be on the general election ballot.  This will be Coburn’s second and, by his choice, final term if elected.

Highlights of the Louisiana Senate Race
The race between David Vitter (R ) and Charles Melancon (D) for the Louisiana senate seat is going to be one of the most closely watched in the country according to sources in Louisiana.

Vitter, with a little more than $5 million, has more than double the amount of campaign funding than Melancon, with just over $2 million.
 
Vitter’s campaign is one that opposes wasteful government spending, implements a jobs plan, provides no pay raises for Congress, supports the right to bear arms and the Tea Party.

Melancon, a three time blue dog Democrat, was elected in 2004 and then re-elected two more times.  One of his leading platform initiatives is that he would like to bring honor back to Louisiana – whatever that means. 

Although he describes himself as a conservative, Vitter, a Harvard and Oxford-educated Rhodes Scholar, is said to be more reserved than Melancon, who has a wife named Peachy.  William Mcshan is the Reform Party candidate out of Louisiana, promising honest and accountable alternatives to establishment politicians such as Vitter.  Randall Todd Hayes, a libertarian, is working to make sure debates are open to more than just two candidates.

Hayes says half the states in which U.S. Senate or Gubernatorial debates are being held this year, at least one minor party or independent candidate has been included in at least one such debate.  He is running to make sure public forums are expanded to include more candidates so that voters can make better choices.

Highlights of Texas 2010 Elections
Although Rick Perry and Bill White are squaring off in the Governor’s race, there are no senate seats up for election in Texas.

Overall, of the 37 Senate races across the United States, 28 were previously won by Republicans and 9 by Democrats.  Of the four states reviewed, Arkansas and Oklahoma are the most similar to each other, with a Republican majority in the Presidential and a Democratic majority in the Gubernatorial race. Louisiana and Texas are similar in that they both share a Republican majority in previous Presidential and Gubernatorial elections.

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About the Writer:

Tracy Crain is a print reporter and regular contributor to Tulsa Today. Throughout her career, she has served as a features writer, a web producer and a creative copywriter. An award winning journalist, her work has appeared in publications nationally, has aired on television stations across the country, and has been regularly featured on Sirius Satellite Radio. She has a Master‘s Degree in Journalism and advanced training in Psychology and Research from Memphis State.

The debate continues to rage over State Question 744, a proposal which aims to improve Oklahoma’s public schools by giving them a lot more money.  More money is not likely to help.  School budgets have been ballooning for decades with no improvement, and empirical research confirms that more spending doesn’t produce results.  But researchers have found something that works.  In fact, it’s the one solution that has consistently proven to get results in improving public schools. 

It’s called school choice, and the empirical evidence for it has been piling up for years.

The impact of school choice programs on public schools has been studied 19 times, by researchers at top institutions (Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Cornell, the Federal Reserve, etc.) using high-quality empirical methods.
 
Let’s stop right there. Even before we look at the results, that is a far more impressive body of research than any other education reform (accountability testing, merit pay, tenure reform, et al.) can boast.
 
And would you believe that 18 of the 19 studies found that school choice improves public schools, and the one remaining study found no difference?
 
Every study in Milwaukee has found that the city’s voucher program improved public schools.  Every study in Florida has found that its two voucher programs and one tax-credit scholarship program have improved public schools.  Every study in Ohio, Texas, Maine, and Vermont has found that school choice programs there improved public schools.
 
And that one study that found no effect?  That was in Washington D.C. And the really interesting thing is that the D.C. voucher program is the only school choice program in the country that deliberately insulates public schools from choice competition.  The program pours extra money into public schools when students leave.  Thus, students are denied the benefits of healthy competitive incentives that are improving public schools everywhere else school choice has been studied.

So even that outlying study is the exception that proves the rule. We have one school choice program that doesn’t allow competition to affect public schools. And that’s the one program where school choice doesn’t improve public schools.

It’s true that the benefits of school choice so far are not revolutionary. That’s because we haven’t been allowed to have a true, unfettered program that could deliver such results. If the tiny, overregulated programs we’ve tried so far have worked well, how much more would we get from universal school choice?
 
School choice is now a permanent part of the education reform landscape, and the political conditions for taking it to the next level are only going to get better as other reforms continue to fail.
 
Even now, the dinosaur media don’t shill for the unions anymore. And the social-justice crowd and others on the political left are repudiating the unions and embracing charter schools—a watered down, halfway house version of school choice. How do you think it’s going to go when they realize that even charter schools aren’t enough?
 
School choice works. The evidence shows it consistently.

Updated: President Obama campaigned on glittering generalities and won as sobering sophomoric sycophant media refused to delve into the foundations of his beliefs.  The resulting public confusion ended recently in a stunning analysis by Dinesh D’Souza published by Forbes titled, “How Obama Thinks” that, when combined with statements by Obama and administration officials, proves that they are totally anti-American.

Referencing The Weekly Standard summary of Obama’s approach as “omnipotence at home, impotence abroad,” D’Souza begins with observations of behavior that have befuddled both critics and supporters.  Why is Barack Obama the most antibusiness president in history?  Why does he feel a compelling need for government to take over home mortgages, investment banking, student loan programs, health care, autos and energy?

Why did Obama support taxpayer funding of $2 billion in offshore drilling in Brazil?  Why is the drilling moratorium against American offshore drilling still in effect?  Why does Obama continue to push for stimulus even though hundreds of billions of dollars have done nothing to boost employment?  Why would he support a mosque at Ground Zero?

According to D’Souza, we have all been blinded by trying to fit Obama into some version of American history.  Obama’s history is that of a man who spent the first 17 years of his life off the American mainland.  “What is his dream?  Is it the American dream? Is it Martin Luther King’s dream? Or something else,” he asks.

“We don’t have to speculate because the President tells us himself in his autobiography, Dreams from My Father.  According to Obama, his dream is his father’s dream.  Notice that his title is not Dreams of My Father, but rather Dreams from My Father.  Obama isn’t writing about his father’s dreams; he is writing about the dreams he received from his father,” D’Souza writes.

“So who was Barack Obama Sr.?  He was a Luo tribesman who grew up in Kenya and studied at Harvard.  He was a polygamist who had, over the course of his lifetime, four wives and eight children.  One of his sons, Mark Obama, has accused him of abuse and wife-beating. 

"He was also a regular drunk driver who got into numerous accidents, killing a man in one and causing his own legs to be amputated due to injury in another.  In 1982 he got drunk at a bar in Nairobi and drove into a tree, killing himself.  An odd choice, certainly, as an inspirational hero, but to his son, the elder Obama represented a great and noble cause, the cause of anticolonialism.

“It may seem incredible to suggest that the anticolonial ideology of Barack Obama Sr. is espoused by his son, the President of the United States,” D’Souza writes.  “That is what I am saying.  From a very young age and through his formative years, Obama learned to see America as a force for global domination and destruction.  He came to view America’s military as an instrument of neocolonial occupation.  He adopted his father’s position that capitalism and free markets are code words for economic plunder.  Obama grew to perceive the rich as an oppressive class, a kind of neocolonial power within America.  In his worldview, profits are a measure of how effectively you have ripped off the rest of society, and America’s power in the world is a measure of how selfishly it consumes the globe’s resources and how ruthlessly it bullies and dominates the rest of the planet.  For Obama, the solutions are simple.  He must work to wring the neocolonialism out of America and the West.”

As a native of Mumbai, India, D’sSouza is intimately knowledgeable of anitcolonial doctrine.  He defines it, “Anticolonialism is the doctrine that rich countries of the West got rich by invading, occupying and looting poor countries of Asia, Africa and South America.  As one of Obama’s acknowledged intellectual influences, Frantz Fanon, wrote in The Wretched of the Earth, ‘The well-being and progress of Europe have been built up with the sweat and the dead bodies of Negroes, Arabs, Indians and the yellow races.’"  

The entire article is well worth your serious consideration and reflects views more fully covered in his forthcoming book, “The Roots of Obama’s Rage” (Regnery Publishing).  Dinesh D’Souza is the president of the King’s College in New York City.  You may reach the Forbes article by clicking here.

Also powerfully revealing is a recently posted collage of video clips of President Obama’s key advisors, appointees, and policy czars.  Many of these clips have been seen on various Fox News Network programs – especially Glenn Beck.  However, Beck did not make the clips, only report on and broadcast them.

In fact, candidate Barack Hussein Obama said we could judge him by the
people who surround him.  From this video clip, Americans should be very
concerned that Constitutional guarantees of individual liberty are very
much at risk from the current administration.  Click here to reach the video collage. 

On September 17, President Obama spoke to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute 33rd Annual Award Gala. During his speech – reading from a teleprompter – he quoted from the Declaration of Independence. Here is what he said: "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, endowed with certain unalienable rights, life and liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

Obama omitted the words "by their Creator" from his speech.  Why?  Given the fact that he was using a teleprompter, We can only conclude that this was intentional. Either he, or his speechwriter, did not want to give credit to Almighty God. This kind of action would be in step with modern secular liberalism that is hostile to the Christian faith. To see a video clip of this event, click here.  For a more detailed analysis of why Obama invites questions on his faith by Dr. Paul Kengor, click here.

Funny thing, this writer on this domain warned you about Obama in a May 2008 piece titled, “Obama fails the first questions.”  Not wanting to brag or anything, I upped the ante in October 2008 with an article “Obama’s most significant statement.” Click here to read that story.

In summary, President Obama doesn’t believe the things most Americans understand as common to our culture.  American Exceptionalism is not about bureaucracy, but free individuals in a free market creating products and services that generate consumer demand thus profiting society and the purse – the creator’s own and others.  The Left doesn’t understand God’s creation or the creation of creativity.  Neither is safe or productive in any kind of government directed "top down" organization which, by nature, only sees the limit of existing circumstance.

It is a historically unproven myth that utopia can be achieved by a "ruling elite" with control and command of resources, production, and capital.  History calls that Communism, but it is so very attractive to those who believe they are or can become our rulers.

As the ruling elite show themselves nationally, understand that local conservative journalism organizations like Tulsa Today are also under attack from the same types of elite in government and media.  When not ignoring us, they marginalize then demonize, but we continue as the oldest independent online news service in America – utilizing worldwide communications to connect neighbors and expatriates since 1996.  Media and politicians may hate us, but read here and listen to the David Arnett Show on AM 740 and FM 102.3 news talk KRMG because we are not even moderately restrained by the tyranny of political correctness.

We will continue to fight for what we believe is true, just and right according to the Constitution of the United States of America.  We stand for God and Country and believe from the heart “that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”  

It is sad that the current President of the United States does not believe the same, but he is only a temporary manager after all.  Now that we know him, maybe more temporary than anyone first thought. 

 

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About the author:
An individualist, David Arnett began a traditional journalism career untraditionally in an Aha Moment you can review  thirty years ago. Arnett has long argued that government is incompetent if not corrupt at the Federal level, put his life on the line to fight corruption on the state level and questioned almost every “authority” in Tulsa at some point.  Passionately belligerent in the demand for equal treatment under the law, Arnett fought for racial integration of Tulsa Public Schools and equal rights as youth liaison to the Community Relations Commission before he graduated from high school.  Arnett is an equal opportunity aggravator.

You are encouraged listen and welcome to call-in between 4 and 6 pm each Saturday on The David Arnett Show on AM 740 and FM 102.3 news talk KRMG to discuss this story and others.  You may also register free on Tulsa Today and comment below.  E-mail of news tips are welcome to editor@tulsatoday.com.  (This e-mail address is being protected from spambots.  You need JavaScript enabled to view it or use our contact form at the top of the page.)  Arnett writes here as often as opportunity allows.   Other recent editorials you may enjoy include “Top Down or Free Up?” and "Obama’s Christian Experience" and "We Can Shrink Government."

Updated:  According to a White House pool report, the first family left the White House on foot this morning for a Holy Eucharist service at St Johns Episcopal Church on Lafayette Square.  This is a rare family experience.

President Barack Hussein Obama claims to have accepted Christianity many years ago under the tutelage of Jeremiah Wright of the Trinity United Church of Christ (TUCC) in Chicago.  However, numerous works prove that Trinity is a fellowship of heretics teaching the apostasy of “social justice” and “liberation theology.”  It is not a Christian church.

Tulsa Today published an article by Marie Jon titled “Social Justice Chickens Will Come Home to Roost” in June of this year that clearly dispels the assertion that the social justice movement is Christian.  She liberally quoted Erik Rush’s article “The apostasy of social justice Christians.”  In short, “social justice” is little more than incremental Marxism – the greatest mass killer of human life in the history of the planet.

As “liberation theology” founder James Cone preaches, salvation is a battle between the oppressor and the oppressed.  Salvation, he asserts, is a collective action and Obama has stated that apostasy in several public speeches.  For example, in 1995, Obama said, “my individual salvation is not going to come about without a collective salvation for the country …” and again in May of 2008, “our individual salvation depends of collective salvation.”

In the Christian faith, there is no such thing as collective salvation.  Salvation is an individual choice.  It is personal acceptance of Jesus as savior, Son of the living God.

To show the difference, consider the writing of Cone in “Black Theology and Black Power.”  Cone writes, “Black Theology refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the goals of the black community.  If God is not for us and against white people, then he is a murderer and we had better kill him.  The task of black theology is to kill Gods who do not belong to the black community.”

Further on page 150, Cone writes, “The coming of Christ means the denial of what we thought we were.  It means destroying the white devil in us.  Reconciliation to God means that white people are prepared to deny themselves (whiteness) take up the cross (blackness) and follow Christ (black ghetto).”

The Catholic Church as had great experience with “liberation theology” and Pope Benedict XVII in “Truth and Tolerance” on page 116 writes, “Wherever politics tries to be redemptive, it is promising too much.  Where it wishes to do the work of God, it becomes, not divine, but demonic.  

Anthony Bradley in “Liberating Black Theology” writes in agreement that “liberation theology reduces Christianity to a political theology.”  Bradley has said in recent interviews that liberation theology demands that oppressors [whites and Hebrews] give up position, money and goods to victims in order to be saved, thus dealing with external problems rather than the internal spiritual relationship of the individual.

July 1, 2010 the Pope said liberation theology is “a fundamental threat to the church.”

A Tulsa World editorial positioning statement August 23, asserts, “Barack Obama’s job performance as president is legitimate grounds for debate.  His faith isn’t.”

Tulsa Today strongly disagrees as every president in the history of the country has sat for lengthy interviews on their faith – at least until this current administration.  What are the founding principles of faith of Barack Hussein Obama?  What principles of faith does this administration carry to public policy?

President Barack Hussein Obama has avoided the subject except when talking off the cuff or out of the country.  Once with “Joe the Plumber” asserting that “spreading the wealth around is good for everyone” and when addressing the Muslim world in Turkey he asserted that the United States of America was “no longer a Christian nation.”

Obama on April 16, 2008 said, “It’s no wonder they cling to guns or religion or antipathy towards people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiments as a way to explain their frustrations.”

Further back in his personal political history, Obama said on Chicago Public Radio in 2001, “The Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth … the tragedies of the civil right movement was, um, because the civil rights movement became so court focused I think there was a tendency to lose track of the political and community organizing and activities on the ground that are able to put together the actual coalition of powers through which you bring about redistributive change.”

Redistributive change is Marxism or Communism and it is anti-faith unless you accept the greatest mythical faith of all – that government can create utopia. 

Christians and Jews believe in private property rights.  American history proves individual liberty, creativity, innovation and freedom in free markets creates utopia or as close as humans have come to date.

Islam is a unified life system of government and religion.  It is the exact opposite of modern civilization.  It is a direct contradiction to the principles of self-governance guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States of America.

The Associated Press reports "Obama has attended the Episcopal church three times previously, as well as other churches in the nation’s capital. The Obama family hasn’t settled on a new permanent congregation since coming to Washington."

As his family worships today in a Christian Church, this writer as a Christian, will pray for his individual salvation and that of each member of his family.  I pray God will speak to them and that His grace and mercy will grow within their lives.  

I pray President Obama will speak more of faith – not in a calculated politically important response to a recent Pew Research Center report that notes 18 percent of Americans believe Obama is Muslim or the 43 percent that don’t know his religion.  It must be more than political expediency in a religion of him by him and for him.  What does President Barack Hussein Obama believe?  Maybe today begins his journey to discover personal salvation.  We can all pray for our President.