Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation

It's time again to recall these wise words from our greatest President

These days, in post-Christian America, we suffer a chronic (and perhaps terminal) case of historical ignorance.

For example, many are unaware that our tradition of celebrating Thanksgiving on the last Thursday in November was established by Abraham Lincoln at the height of the civil war.

Lincoln's proclamation holds valuable lessons for us today. To gain some perspective on how far we have drifted from our foundations, try to imagine President Barack Obama speaking the following words in a televised presidential address in 2011.

Here is Lincoln's 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation:

It is the duty of nations, as well as of men, to owe their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon. And to recognize the sublime truth announced in the Holy Scriptures--and proven by all history--that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord.

We know that by His divine law, nations like individuals are subject to punishments and chastisements in this world. May we not justify fear that the awful calamity of Civil War, which now desolates the land, may be a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins--to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people?

We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven. We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown.

But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us. And we have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace--too proud to pray to the God that made us.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people.

I do, therefore, invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea, and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our benevolent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.

A. Lincoln

Remembering Grandma

You should read this great story about a life well lived, from an acquaintance of mine named Lizzie Talcott who works as an English teacher in China. She writes a blog called Dear Life. Read Lizzie's tribute to her grandmother HERE.

Cartoon of the Week

Occupy This

"Life is tough...even tougher when you're stupid." - John Wayne

During a recent visit to Wall Street to discuss the status of my vast investment portfolio with E.F. Hutton, I heard a commotion going on some short distance away.

I followed the scent of urine that seemed to float on the breeze, and before I knew it, there I was in Zuccotti Park.

I was surprised to see a familiar face grinning at me from beneath a hoodie. It was my old high school buddy Slug. I hadn’t seen him since I helped him to get on-line a couple of years ago.

“Dude, have you come to join us?” he asked.

I was distracted for a moment by a pirate on a unicycle, and when I turned back around, Slug was standing beside me, holding a crystal pyramid in the palm of his out-stretched hand, waving it in circles over my head.

With his arm raised so close to me, I couldn’t help but notice that Slug had been neglecting his personal hygiene.

“Slug, what are you doing?” I asked as I tried to hold my breath and back away.

“Can’t you feel the aura? I just want you to become part of the vibe we have going here,” he replied earnestly.

Suddenly, Slug grabbed me by the collar and yanked me off the sidewalk just in time to save me from being knocked down by a tattooed kid on a skateboard wearing a Spiderman mask.

“Dude,’ he said, “You gotta watch yourself around here. The 99% are restless and on the move.”

“I see that,” I commented as I looked around at the milling crowd.

“So how long have you been here, Slug?”

“I was here the first week, man! I got to see Roseanne Barr give her speech.”

“That had to be a Kodak moment,” I interjected.

Slug ignored me and continued. “When I saw that first night of protest on TV, I knew I had to come down and join my brothers and sisters. The spirit of the 60’s is back, man! Look around, dude, it’s almost like being back at Woodstock.”

A young woman, with more hair than clothing, walked past us while beating a drum and chanting, “Shame on you! Shame on you!”

“Slug, you weren’t at Woodstock! Your mom wouldn’t let you go, remember?”

“Yeah, dude, but I was there in spirit! I saw the movie AND bought the album.”

I jumped back to avoid being hit be a stray Frisbee and stepped right into a pile of poop.

“Slug, this is disgusting! How can you hang out with these slobs? Can’t you people poop in a bag or something?”

I was starting to get a headache. Between the smell and the noise, I was just not feeling the aura. I said, “Slug, aren’t you getting tired of living out here in this noisy park?”

“It’s not so bad, man. We have people cooking for us, and there are rallies every afternoon when the TV crews arrive. At night we have campfires and some pretty good jam sessions. It sure beats sitting around the house.”

“Speaking of home, how is your mom doing?”

“Mom’s fine, dude. I’m sure she misses me, but she told me to stay here as long as I want. I’ll tell her you asked about her whenever I go back.”

My head was still throbbing. “Okay, Slug, so just what exactly are you protesting?”

“I’m here because of the injustice of the capitalist system. The 99% of us struggle for survival while the elite 1% gets rich off of our labor. I want my share of the wealth. I want to have decent housing, free health care and a guaranteed pension when I retire. The corporate power structure owes us for what it has stolen from us!”

I was reaching the limits of my patience.

“Slug, what are you going to retire from? You’ve been mostly unemployed and living at home with your mom for the last 12 years.”

“Hey dude, the system is rigged so that a guy like me can’t find a decent job. I’m not going to just do manual labor…I’ve got my pride, you know.”

“So you’re too proud to take a job loading trucks, but you’re not too proud to collect food stamps, unemployment and a free unfunded pension?’

“Dude, you just don’t get it. You’ve sold out to the man. You’ll never understand how we’ve been oppressed by the system!”

“Slug, I have to go. Take care of yourself, and try to keep in touch.”

“Dude, just give me your email. As soon as my IPad recharges, I’ll make sure you’re in my address book.”

I watched Slug wander off into the crowd: A crowd of Gen-Xers eating free food, camping illegally in a public park, texting and video-recording and organizing themselves with all the technological wonders produced by the capitalist system that they claim to despise -- the same capitalist system that created the national wealth that makes possible a society rich enough, and free enough, to tolerate the immature and ungrateful behavior of a group of left-wing wackos like Occupy Wall Street.

Slug was right. I don’t get it.

Herman Cain Did It!

This just in!

New allegations have surfaced in the Herman Cain sexual harassment debacle. An unidentified accuser from Alexandria Virginia now reveals that Herman Cain made her feel uneasy at a dinner party in 1998 when he appeared to be winking at her while he was scratching his eyes. More on this story at 10 o'clock!

An alleged victim has contacted the Off The Top of My Head news service to report that Herman Cain might have brushed against her thigh while standing in line at a Taco Bell in Cleveland sometime in 1993. Stay tuned for more as new reports come in.

Also, an anonymous man reports that he might have felt uncomfortable while shoe-shopping at a mall in Boston in 2001 when he thinks he saw Herman Cain looking in his direction while he took off his shoes to try on a new pair of wing-tips. The alleged victim did not report the incident at the time, but now that Herman Cain is a potential nominee, feels compelled to come forward.

Just off the wire!

A waitress at an Olive Garden Restaurant in Sheboygan believes that she was stiffed for a tip by a man who might have been Herman Cain during a busy Friday night in 1977. More details to follow.

On a more personal note, a man who looked suspiciously like Herman Cain cut me off on I-465 last Tuesday as I was trying to exit at Emerson Avenue. I have reported the license plate number to authorities.

Cartoon of the Week

Another Historical First on the Way

I had originally written a blog here singing the praises of Herman Cain. The day after I posted it, the first stories about his problems with the ladies began to surface.

For several weeks I gave Herman the benefit of the doubt, assuming that this was all a political smear campaign. Sadly, I was mistaken.

Herman, you sure dropped the ball. I had hoped you were the real deal: A strong conservative without any ties to the political establishment, someone who could bring some common-sense thinking to Washington.

It's a shame you couldn't behave yourself.

Consensus? What Consensus?

More climate researchers are now coming forward to debunk the political hoax known as man-made climate change. READ MORE

S.O.B.s Have Feelings Too!

I may have to cry myself to sleep tonight.

It's hard not to take it personally when so many angry Democrats start saying such hateful things about us folks in the Tea Party.

In the past few weeks, I've been called an S.O.B. by Teamsters' President James Hoffa, and a terrorist and barbarian by Vice-President Joe Biden.

Democrat Congresswoman Maxine Waters wants me to go to hell, and my own Congressman, the Honorable Andre Carson (grandson and political heir of Julia) called me a racist and accused me of wanting to lynch a few black folks for entertainment.

Is this the new tone of civility that the Democrats keep talking about? Where is the love?

All of this vitriol because we dare to oppose the Obama regime? Apparently the impudence of disagreeing with liberal policies makes all of us conservatives a target for hatred and retribution.

We are accused of being hateful and bitter, but I've never said anything as mean about President Obama as what his cronies have said about me.

I've called him a Socialist. I've complained about and criticized his disastrous left-wing agenda. But I've never called him an S.O.B. or a terrorist or wished that he would go to hell.

I just want him to go home. And get a different job.

Cartoon of the Week

A Tale of Two Cultures

"It's amazing how much you can learn when you shut your mouth and open your eyes." - Wilburt Langhorst

Many Americans are coming to realize that we are in the midst of a culture war. There is Liberal, and there is Conservative, and there doesn't seem to be much middle ground. We are locked in a struggle for the heart and soul of America.

One side thinks more government is the answer. The other side thinks too much government is the problem.

In 2008, America elected Barack Obama as President. He is arguably the most left-wing politician ever to reside in the White House. And since Democrats were also solidly in control of the House and Senate from 2008 to 2010, we finally have witnessed what happens when unrestrained Liberalism rules the country.

Not wanting to "waste a crisis," Mr. Obama quickly set about implementing his liberal agenda by pushing massive government spending bills, taking over huge chunks of the private sector (i.e. GM and Chrysler), creating new entitlements, and ramming nationalized health care through Congress.

This unprecedented national spending spree has inflated our annual budget deficits and our total national debt to catastrophic heights.

In 2009, a grassroots movement of concerned Americans rose up in response to this situation. Almost overnight, "Tea Party" rallies sprang up. Working class Americans, many of whom had never before been politically active, thronged to the hastily-organized protest rallies all across America.

Tea Party activists have been slandered by Democrats and the liberal media since day one. They've been derided and stereotyped as right-wing extremists, racists, and bigoted back-woods fanatics desperately clinging to their guns and Bibles.

But what have the Tea Party folks really done? They have peacefully protested the bankrupting of their country. They took to the streets, lawfully, out of concern for the impact of reckless government debt on the next generation. They exercised their First Amendment rights.

If you go to a Tea Party rally, you will observe young couples with their children. You'll see elderly grandmothers attending the first political rally of their lives. You'll meet college students who understand that their future liberty is threatened by the ever-encroaching power of government.

I met a young Chinese woman at a Tea Party rally who held up a sign that read: "I left Communist China for this?"

At a Tea Party rally, you find peaceful protesters listening to speakers who discuss conservative political ideas. There is no vandalism. There is no trash strewn across the rally site. No one is injured, no one is threatened, no property is damaged. Talk to a cop who has worked security at a Tea Party rally, and he'll tell you it was the easiest money he's ever made.

You will also notice that Tea Party rallies are scheduled for early evenings and weekends. That is because most Tea Party people have jobs. They are too busy working to protest during a weekday.

In the 2010 elections, there was a conservative push-back to the policies of Barack Obama. Democrats lost their majority in the House of Representatives, and also lost their filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.

At the state level, the Democrats' losses were even more pronounced. The most notable example of this was in Wisconsin, a bastion of liberalism for decades. Wisconsin voters were finally so fed up with the fiscal shenanigans of the ruling Democratic elites that they elected a conservative Republican named Scott Walker as their new governor. They also put Republicans in control of both houses of the Wisconsin legislature.

Governor Walker quickly moved to fulfill his campaign promises. He pushed through cost-cutting measures that trimmed back state spending. One of his most controversial measures involved forcing the state's teachers to forgo pay raises and to contribute a percentage of their compensation to their health insurance and pension plans.

For years, Wisconsin's teachers enjoyed some of the most generous insurance and pension benefits in the country, and those benefits were part of what was bankrupting the state. With the election of Scott Walker, Wisconsin voters had sent a clear message that they wanted that to change.

So how did the unionized teachers of Wisconsin decide to express their opposition to the new status quo?

Teachers unlawfully shut down the schools in protest. Massive rallies were staged at the Wisconsin Capital Building. Thousands of "rent-a-mob" union protesters were bussed in from out of state. Angry mobs illegally occupied the state Capital Building for several weeks.

Death threats were made against Governor Walker and some of the Republican legislators who supported him. The state Capital Building was vandalized. (Damage estimates afterwards ran into the millions of dollars.) The scene in downtown Madison after the protests ended resembled a war zone. The city was trashed by the unruly mob.

With this image of liberal mayhem and anarchy fresh in our minds, let's reflect again on the behavior of the Tea Party folks when they were upset and protesting.

On the right hand, you have a group of people who peacefully exercised their rights to protest government policies for the purpose of getting the government to leave them alone and desist from bankrupting their children's futures. No vandalism. No violence. No rent-a-mobs.

On the left hand, you have a group of people who destroyed public property, issued death threats, and bussed in thugs from out of state to help them intimidate elected officials. Their goal was to coerce the taxpayers into maintaining the "Cadillac benefits" package they had become accustomed to, regardless of what it did to the state's budget.

So the question begs to be asked: Which group, and which philosophy, will you support in America's culture war?

Cartoon of the Week

If the Government Ran Auto Insurance

As much as it irritates me the way that insurance companies seem to rule the world, I will grudgingly give them credit -- they operate in the realm of reality, and they respond to real-world market forces.

For example, if you are a careful driver with a long accident-free record, you get discounts and pay some of the lowest insurance rates.

If you are a mad-dog lead-foot with 8 points against your license and a couple of accidents on your record, you are in the high-risk category, and you are going to pay much higher insurance premiums that reflect the consequences of your behavior.

This is as it should be. Good behavior is rewarded. Bad behavior is penalized.

Because each driver pays a rate that reflects an accurate cost of their insurance risk, the auto insurance industry exemplifies a sustainable business model that serves the customers' needs and returns a profit to its shareholders.

This is a perfect example of free-market capitalism. It is a win-win situation that is based upon personal accountability and common sense.

If the government ever got involved in this, it would be a whole different story.

Liberal politicians would cry that it is unfair for the poor driver with the bad record to have to pay such high rates while others, who were fortunate enough to have good driving records, refused to pay their "fair share" so that everyone could have insurance at an equal cost.

So the liberals would implement a program to make all auto insurance premiums the same, regardless of the driving records of anyone in the program. This would make auto insurance "fair." Then everyone would be treated "equally." And once again, our government would have removed personal responsibility from the equation.

The results would be predictable: Insurance rates would rise for all the good drivers, while rates for bad drivers would decline to whatever mandated "average" rate the government established.

Minus the punitive disincentive of higher rates, bad drivers would become worse drivers. Good drivers would worry less about their driving records, since there was no longer any penalty for bad behavior.

Accident rates would increase. More drivers would speed. Insurance rates would have to rise to reflect the growing risk exposure of the insurance companies. Before long, EVERYONE would be paying a rate that was as high as the highest punitive rates that bad drivers used to pay under the original insurance system.

And if the government refused to let insurance companies raise their rates? Companies would begin to go out of business. Auto insurance would become more difficult to obtain.

If the government continued to smother the ability of insurance companies to make a profit, they would cease to operate, and the government would step in and become the auto-insurer for the nation.

Since a government program is NEVER as efficient as a private business, insurance costs would continue to rise. If you thought the private insurance companies (that had to compete with each other) were gouging you, wait until you have to do business with the monopoly of a government bureaucracy.

This is the problem with socialism. It sounds good. It sounds compassionate. But the results are always the same: Socialism eventually ensures that everyone is equally miserable, equally poor, and equally powerless.

Socialism turns responsible free citizens into dependent wards of the state.

That is not the kind of world I want to live in.

Absolutely Not Getting Any Younger

I received a birthday card some years ago with a cartoon of a marching band on the front that said "TIME MARCHES ON..." and then when I opened it the inside page continued "...YOUR FACE."

Tender sentiments like that always choke me up.

You may recall a blog I did some time ago titled The Day I Became Old in which I bemoaned the inevitable toll that the passing years take. Trust me, things aren't getting any better.

I was pointedly reminded of this recently while shopping at the drugstore. Walgreens had a sale on bottled water, so I loaded my cart with seven cases and pushed it into the parking lot. As I started loading the cases into the side door of my van, a thirty-something woman who was walking by stopped and sincerely asked, "Can I help you with that, sir?"

She was so earnest and polite, I didn't hold against her the fact that she had just made me feel about 100 years old. Plus, I reasoned, I might really live long enough that I will appreciate offers like that sometime in the future, so I had better learn to be more gracious.

"Thanks for asking," I said cheerfully, "but I'm fine."

It's just a matter of time before Girl Scouts start helping me across the street.

I've lost count of how many people have asked me if I am retired. In my dreams! Unfortunately, I have worked in the real world, where the majority of Americans work, and we don't have a union pension or the option of retiring after 25 or 30 years. We work, and live economically, and save, and hope we can accumulate enough to "retire" to part-time employment once we are old enough to draw whatever is left of our Social Security.

A while back I was at the grocery store. The cashier couldn't find the code for my Romaine lettuce, and since I buy it all the time, I remembered it and told her what it was. My knowledge of produce impressed the sack-boy, who had to be all of 16 years old.

"Dude," he said, "you should get a job here part-time."

I just laughed. "Man, my life is so busy, the last thing I need is another job!"

The kid looked at me incredulously, and in all innocence said, "You mean you still work?"

Ouch!

Dear Lord, I sincerely hope I wasn't that annoying when I was sixteen...but I probably was.

What if You Lived Like the Government?

Tom McClintock, a Republican Congressman from California, does a great job of boiling the budget debate down to the basic issue - we have to take responsibility for our spending. READ MORE

Cartoon of the Week

The Great Roots of a Great Nation

"If you wuz born in America, you got a 90-yard head start in a 100-yard race." - Earl Pitts (alter-ego of radio-host Gary Burbank)

As we prepare to celebrate another Independence Day, it is fitting that we consider the blessings of living in America.

We live in an exceptional country, though we are not exceptional people. There is nothing extraordinary in our DNA. We are no smarter or nobler than anyone else on the planet.

But we have the good fortune to live within the most dynamic political system ever devised by man. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to that group of statesmen who declared American independence back in 1776, and who stood firm throughout the military and political clashes that followed to successfully establish the world's greatest democratic republic.

Has there ever in history been such a gathering of political, philosophical and spiritual leaders? Could America have been birthed without the contributions of men like Patrick Henry, John Witherspoon, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John Jay, James Madison, John Hancock?

We are free today because we stand on the shoulders of these giants.

Admittedly, in practice, America has not always lived up to the ideals of her founding. The national sin of slavery took generations to resolve, and even today we still deal with some of the consequences of that shame. Our treatment of the native Indian populations was unconscionable. We have had our share of crooked politicians who abused government power. At times greedy industrialists have exploited the working class.

This is not a perfect country. But as Winston Churchill so famously observed, "Democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried."

No other nation on earth offers the opportunities for common people to improve their lot in life like America. Nowhere else are people so free to pursue their dreams and ambitions. No country on earth is more diligent about protecting individual liberty than the United States.

America is a great nation because we are united by great ideas, which are proclaimed in our Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

These are revolutionary notions. They turned the world upside down in 1776.

Take special note of that phrase "endowed by their Creator" because it is fundamental to understanding America.

The men who founded this country shared a faith in God. In their declaration to the world of our independence, they boldly asserted their belief in a Creator who endows us with individual worth, because we are each made in his image.

They shared a biblical worldview, and an understanding of our fallen human nature. That is how they were able to craft a system of government founded on noble and lofty ideals, yet still designed to work practically in the day-to-day tumult of the sinful human condition.

Sadly, America has been drifting away from God for several generations now. We are turning away from our spiritual heritage. If our nation, founded on faith in God, chooses to deny His providence, what hope is there for us?

As John Adams wrote, "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other."

After studying American society for several years, the French historian Alexis de Tocqueville concluded in his classic 1835 book Democracy in America that “America is great because she is good. If America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”

If we hope to pass on the blessings of liberty to our children, we need to turn our hearts back to the Creator who made all of these things possible. Can any reasonable person study the history of America's founding and not perceive the hand of God orchestrating the creation of this great experiment in self-government?

We ignore the Creator who established this country at our own peril.

We are not great people, but we do live in a great nation, bequeathed to us by great statesmen, who understood the power and authority of our great God.

High Tax Rates = Low Tax Revenue

My favorite economist, Thomas Sowell, once again distills a complex controversy down to it's simple essence. This short column is a must-read if you want to understand the economic pitfalls of "soaking the rich." READ MORE

Somebody Stop Me Before I Hoard Again

I knew we were in trouble when I found my deceased father-in-law's leg under the bed in the guest room.

They say that you can't begin to rehabilitate yourself until you admit that you have a problem, so I'll bare my soul to the world and admit it publicly: I am a hoarder. Even worse, I am married to another hoarder. Someday you will see a report about us on the 6 o'clock news after the police find our decayed remains buried beneath a fallen stack of old magazines.

But we're trying to mend our ways. Which brings us to how I found the leg.

This past January, I spent one whole Saturday morning cleaning out the guest room. There were a lot of valuable items that I just had to force myself to pitch because we needed the space. I had a fine set of encyclopedias from 1956 that a neighbor had given me in 1985, but they seemed a bit "past it" in 2011, so they had to go. I also had a complete collection of National Lampoons from 1974 & 1975.

Obviously, I have had this hoarding problem for a long time.

But when I found my father-in-law's leg, I knew we needed serious therapy.

My father-in-law died in 2006. My wife was the executrix of his estate. For a while we had numerous boxes of his personal belongings stored in our guest room while the estate was being settled. That is how we ended up with the prosthetic leg that he wore for the last few years of his life.

I had forgotten all about the thing, until I found it while I was cleaning.

ME: Peggy, I just found your dad's leg under the bed!

HER: I wondered where that had gotten off to.

ME: Why in the world are we saving this?

HER: Somebody else might be able to use it.

ME: If I ever need a prosthetic leg, I prefer to have mine custom made.

HER: Oh, quit whining. I think there's some organization that takes them and re-fits them for people.

ME: This leg has been here for five years! Some poor guy is hobbling around downtown right now on a crutch, waiting for someone to donate a leg for him.

HER: Okay, okay, I'll find the place and get rid of it.

ME: Fine! But let's get it out of the house. I'm putting it in the trunk of the car so you will have it with you whenever you decide to drop it off.

HER: Whatever.

When two hoarders live under the same roof, things can get pretty testy anytime one hoarder wants to get rid of something that the other hoarder is hoarding. I could easily throw away a bunch of her stuff. She could easily throw away a bunch of my stuff. But that could quickly escalate into something unpleasant, so it is easier (and safer) to just let things pile up.

After my most recent heart attack (see Another Routine Day in the ER) I decided I needed to clean out the garage and tool shed so that, in the event of my untimely demise, my children wouldn't have to spend several weekends cursing my memory as they cleaned up my life-long accumulation of junk.

So last month I stifled my inner-hoarder and made myself throw away a dumpster-load of odds and ends that I had saved for years on the off chance that someday one of them might be useful.

It was quite liberating! I felt like I was freeing myself from the shackles of my past. Perhaps there was hope for us. Perhaps Peggy and I could begin a new life; a life free from the compulsion to save so much stuff "just in case" we might need it someday.

I was feeling pretty special as I packed up several paper sacks with old newspapers to take to the recycling bin. That is, until I popped open the trunk and saw my father-in-law's leg, laying right where I had left it 5 months before.

Whatever.

A Love Letter to Toyota

If you have never checked out Stanley Bing's column in Fortune magazine, you have missed a lot of funny reading. READ MORE