A great picture just for the heck of it -- eerie Edinburgh! 

Our wonderful daughter-in-law Louise hails from Glasgow, Scotland. 

She and our youngest son Britt are now living in Banbury, England.

Britt is an English professor, on a mission to teach the English how to speak their own native tongue.

Verne Strickland

God is sovereign. And whether you are for Barack Obama or Mitt Romney, set your sights on God, not November 6th, and be happy.

Verne Strickland Blogmaster / November 3, 2012

By: Erick Erickson 

Editor of REDSTATE|  November 2nd, 2012 

 

I believe Mitt Romney will win on election day. I’m somewhat stunned to be writing that as I never really thought he could win until about the moment Clint Eastwood trotted out on stage at the Republican National Convention with that empty chair. Even now I waver by the hour, but if forced to predict, I think Romney wins Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Colorado, Wisconsin, and even Ohio. I put the Electoral College at 285 to 253. Ask me tomorrow, though, and I could decide otherwise. I cast my absentee ballot last week and voted for Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.

I write the rest of this now because if Romney loses, it will be viewed as “Erickson is trying to talk them off the ledge” and if Romney wins it will be viewed as “Erickson is rubbing salt in wounds.” Neither is true, which is why this must come before the election and not after.

I get the enormity of what is at stake in the election. I get it. I really do. I get the passion. I get the excitement. But, and maybe I’m just too worn out, I don’t get the anger, worry, and dread on either side. I have friends upset with me for not getting it and for not sharing it. “Don’t you know what is at stake?” they demand. Don’t you know what is not at stake?

People on the left are convinced if Mitt Romney wins blacks will be put in chains out in cotton fields and uteruses will be locked up.

People on the right are convinced if Barack Obama wins the stars and stripes will come down, the red banner of communism will go up, and this American experiment will be promptly concluded.

My world view is pretty simple. I think this world is destined to go to hell in a hand basket by design. I think things are supposed to go to pot. So if Barack Obama wins, I won’t be upset.

 If Mitt Romney wins, I won’t be running through the streets cheering. I think, either way, it is all part of the design. The world is going down hill. Barack Obama re-elected just gets us down the slippery slope faster in my view. For others, it is Mitt Romney who does.

God is sovereign and He is in charge and He will return. That is my hope and my ever present expectation.

We often get so wrapped up in the view of things at ground level, we forget to look at the world from 50,000 feet. In the historic, grand scheme of things, this too will end.

Don’t confuse me with a fatalist and don’t confuse me with someone who does not really care about the future of our nation. I think we are the last best hope of mankind on this planet. But my destiny is not tied to this planet.

While I am here, however, I have convictions that are greater than either candidate and either party and I fight more for a cause than a candidate. I expect, regardless of who is in the White House, I’ll find myself at odds with them, though more so with Obama than Romney.

When I wake up on Wednesday morning, I’m still going to have my wife. I’m still going to have my kids. I’m still going to have my family. And I’m still going to have my God. So will you.

Some of you, on both sides, are convinced that the end of the world is nigh. It is. But not quite yet and no one really knows when.

What I do know for sure is that I’m headed home to eternity and this world is temporary. So while I like politics and have my side and want it to win, I’m not going to be partying in the street if my side does win and I’m not going to think the end of the world is upon us if my side loses.

You should not either.

Too many of my friends have gotten so focused on the outcome and are so convinced the country as they know it is over if the other side wins that they are joyless to be around right now. They are full of dread and worry and fear. They’ve lost their sense of humor. They cannot laugh at themselves, their side, or much of anything. They are mad at others, myself included, for not being as worked up as they are. The frenzy has become a purity test, not the conviction.

God is sovereign. And whether you are for Barack Obama or Mitt Romney, set your sights on God, not November 6th, and be happy. In four years, we really will do this all over again whether right now you think so or not. There is no permanence except in Heaven.

These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

— Hebrews 11:13-16 (ESV)

Now go vote! The future of the nation is at stake!!!!

Tags: Barack Obama, Mitt Romney

The Bottom Line in NC/7: Mike McIntyre Is No Conservative Democrat.

 Verne Strickland Blogmaster / November 2, 2012

by Warner Todd Huston  

Breitbart.com 2 Nov 2012
 

Mike McIntyre is the 8-term, incumbent Democrat Congressman from North Carolina's 7th Congressional District. He sells himself to the folks back home as a true "Blue Dog Democrat," a conservative who doesn't fall for the far left's nonsense. But a look at his voting record does not substantiate this conclusion, as he's voted the left's party line far more than he lets on.

A look at his voting record between 2007 and 2010, for instance, shows that McIntyre sided with ultra left-wing Nancy Pelosi 90 percent of the time. That isn't such an independent record, is it?

One of McIntyre's favorite anti-lefty votes is his vote against Obamacare. Again and again McIntyre points to this vote to prove his independent streak. Of course, the truth is then Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi did not need the votes of the few Blue Dogs that opted out of a yea vote to protect their status back home. It was even reported at the time that Speaker Pelosi gave these Blue Dogs dispensation to make their anti-Obamacare vote.

Is a vote that was "allowed" by the boss a real vote of conscience? We don't know McIntyre's heart, of course, but getting permission to cast such a vote ahead of time casts suspicion on that vote.

McIntyre is also wildly out of step with his own voters. During his 16 years in Congress McIntyre voted to pass the failed stimulus bill, voted to make Nancy Pelosi Speaker of the House not once but on four different occasions, and has voted with Barack Obama as much as 82% of the time.

However, his District is not nearly so left-wing. The National Republican Congressional Committee reports that a recent poll shows that Obama has a 60 percent disapproval rating in McIntyre's district. Fifty-six percent say that they want Obama's job killing policies stopped.

McIntyre supported billions in bailouts, voted to spend $800 billion in stimulus funds that ended up creating jobs in China instead of North Carolina, yet has said that North Carolina is now "better off" now than it was when Obama was elected in 2008. McIntyre said this even though at press time North Carolina was suffering an unemployment rate of 9.6 percent. Incidentally, that is higher than the national average of 7.8 percent unemployment.

So, while he campaigns back home like a conservative Democrat when in Washington he acts more like a normal, liberal Democrat often voting in lock-step with his very liberal Party leadership.

You can see some of the NRCC's ads against McIntyre HERE.

Facing long-time incumbent McIntyre is Republican David Rouzer. Mr. Rouzer's bio is impressive. He's a successful businessman, has extensive experience in legislative strategy and public policy development, and is a former staffer to Senators Jesse Helms and Elizabeth Dole.

Rouzer is no newcomer to elected office, either. He is currently serving his second term in the North Carolina Senate, representing Johnston County and Wayne Counties. He has a proven track record of garnering votes.

Before becoming a state legislator Rouzer was a senior level appointee of the President at USDA Rural Development. In that capacity, Rouzer helped manage the administration of a program level budget of more than $1.2 billion along with a loan portfolio of $5 billion in investments in rural America – including numerous investments in Johnston and Wayne Counties. He also worked with the White House, Congress, and various agencies on a variety of initiatives that involved rural development programs so he is intimately familiar with the needs of his rural districts.

One of McIntyre's pointed attacks against Rouzer really misses its mark by a wide margin. McIntyre claims that Rouzer is wrong for having done work with Japan Tobacco. This proves, McIntyre claims, that Rouzer is not interested in North Carolina's economy.

But, Rouzer properly notes that Japan Tobacco is the biggest customer for America's tobacco!
This seat should be ripe for a GOP pick-up.

N.J. turns away non-union relief crews while region wallows in muck, darkness and despair

Verne Strickland Blogmaster / November 2, 2012

 

THIS IS ABOUT AS CLEAR A PICTURE AS I'VE EVER SEEN OF WHAT ROGUE UNIONS ARE REALLY ABOUT. LET'S DIG UP JIMMY HOFFA AND PUT HIM BACK IN CHARGE. PEOPLE SUFFER, STRUGGLE AND DIE IN ONE OF THE WORST CATASTROPHES EVER TO STRIKE THE NORTHEAST, AND UNION MONOPOLIES TURN THEIR BACKS ON EMERGENCY HELP OFFERED BY RIGHT-TO-WORK STATES. TO HELL WITH THE UNIONS. OBAMA TOO.

by Joel B. Pollak 1 Nov 2012  Breitbart.com

How desperate is hurricane-ravaged New Jersey? Not desperate enough to suspend a union monopoly that keeps the state in the bottom ten states for economic competitiveness (and #48 for business friendliness). 

Relief crews from Alabama who were specifically called to New Jersey found themselves diverted to Long Island, NY after they arrived because they use non-union labor. Alabama is a right-to-work state. 

WAFF-TV of Hunstville, AL reports:

Crews from Huntsville, as well as Decatur Utilities and Joe Wheeler out of Trinity headed up there this week, but Derrick Moore, one of the Decatur workers, said they were told by crews in New Jersey that they can't do any work there since they're not union employees....
Understandably, Moore said they're frustrated being told "thanks, but no thanks."

With so much at stake--and lives still in danger--it would seem logical to tell special interests to step aside.
On Wednesday, while visiting cleanup efforts in New Jersey in the company of Gov. Chris Christie,

President Barack Obama vowed: "We are not going to tolerate red tape, we are not going to tolerate bureaucracy." Unless, of course, that red tape is enforced by Obama's union cronies. Then stranded residents have to wait.


Here are photos of the devastation of the town the crews were to have assisted--Seaside Heights, NJ:

And another:

YOUNG REPUBLICANS (NCFYPR, NCFCR) TO MEET NOV. 3-4.

North Carolina Federation of Young Professional Republicans

Due to this past weekend's weather, this deployment has been moved to November 3-4. This will be an in-state Young Professional Republican and College Republican deployment. Invite your friends to come to the Port City and help us Get Out the Vote for Romney/Ryan/McCrory/Rouzer/Goolsby! Sign up today! http://bit.ly/ncdeploy

David Rouzer will do what Mike McIntyre has not!

LETTER TO EDITOR / STARNEWS / OCTOBER 15, 2012 Francis Jones / Wilmington NC

We have had a representative in the 7th District for the last 15 years but we have not been represented. 

Mike McIntyre has played the blue dog Democrat for years as a way of seeming conservative to the Republicans and still being liberal to the Democrats. He is a master of playing both sides and North Carolina can't survive his lack of representation anymore. 

David Rouzer as a State Senator has cut government spending and has cut government regulation that under McIntyre has crippled business in the 7th District. 

Rouzer won't bring us checks from Washington with his name on it. Instead he will work so we can keep more of our own money and reinvest it in our industries and community. 

McIntyre will not fight to cut taxes because this is where he has power with the entitlements and what it comes down to is that Mcintyre wants to stay a Congressman at any price even if it means selling out his own District. 

Rouzer has no problem taking power away from wasteful government agencies and this has not been done under the McIntyre watch. 

Things are not getting better in the 7th and McIntyre has been here for a very long time so if he is not part of the solution he is the problem. He is the problem. 

He hasn't created jobs but has gotten us deeper in debt by supporting the policies of the Obama Administration. 

Rouzer will take on these tough problems and not run from them as McIntyre always has. If McIntyre was going to make things better he would have done it by now. He must go!

Beckel: If Gallup's numbers are right, "It is over"

Verne Strickland Blogmaster / November 1, 2012

FOX News' Bob Beckel says if Gallup's daily tracking poll of likely voters is correct then the election is over and Mitt Romney has won.

 
"But if those numbers are correct, it is over. It is over. So I mean, you're not going to bring Romney back under 50% from 52%, not a challenging candidate," Beckel said on FNC's "The Five" Thursday evening.

BOB BECKEL: It's over. I don't have anything else to say, it's over. It's over.

DANA PERINO: Do you think it's real?

BECKEL: Do I think it's real?

ANDREA TANTAROS: You have to admit Bob, there is panic. I talked to a senior Democrat in the greenroom just a couple hours ago and I said, 'Shoot straight with me, how much panic is there?' And he said, 'A lot.'

BECKEL: I would assume, If I were looking at those numbers and I was managing a presidential campaign, I would be upset on that you're panicked. But if those numbers are correct, it is over. It is over. So I mean, you're not going to bring Romney back under 50% from 52%, not a challenging candidate. So if that's correct, I don't necessarily buy that it is correct.

TANTAROS: Now you don't buy the polls.

BECKEL: No, no, no, no, no. Look, I have a great deal of admiration for Gallup. But you got to remember, it is outside the margin of error. He's outside the margin of error, but still it's plus or minus 4%. So it may be 48, I don't know the answer to that.

Posted By Ian Schwartz