Today is Memorial Day, the day we honor our heroes, the ones who have given "the last full measure of devotion." It is a day we take off to relax with family and friends and celebrate the good things those heroes have preserved for us. In all our barbecues, ball games, and fun, let's not forget that it is all possible because somebody spilled his blood to ensure our freedom to take the day off.
Today is also the birthday of two great Americans. One everybody knows, even world wide. He was Mr. America. Born in Winterset, Iowa in 1907, he rose from obscurity to be one of Hollywood's greatest stars, but more importantly, the greatest cheerleader of true American values in the last hundred years. Even though he passed away thirty-five years ago, his popularity and influence has not subsided. When other superstars pass from the scene they are relatively forgotten in a short time. The legacy of John "Duke" Wayne, however, has never declined, and today he is as popular as he ever was. Good, honest patriotism, shoot straight, tell it like it is, stand up for the little guy. John Wayne - American.
The other is also well known on a world wide scale, although not by as many perhaps as Duke Wayne. He is also a patriot, having served in Patton's Third Army in World War 2, landing at Utah Beach in the D-Day invasion. Also born in Iowa, in the little town of Ringsted in 1925, he grew up through the depression in the most difficult of times and situations. He often had to be out in the fields working the farm when he should have been in school, because his father was sick with a bad heart, asthma and rheumatism. And somehow the family survived. After the War he enrolled in Bible college, served under Harvey Springer at the First Baptist Church of Englewood, Colorado, and then founded the East Side Baptist Church in 1956. In 1972 he became the Missions Director of the Baptist Bible Fellowship, International and began a ministry of overseeing and encouraging missionaries, raising funds for their work, and preaching at mission conferences in all fifty States and in dozens of countries around the world.
His legacy is not on celluloid; it is in souls. Tens of thousands have been won to Christ because of the burden and passion of my uncle, Dr. Carl Boonstra. He turns 89 today, and even thought his eyesight is going bad and he can hardly drive anymore, he still preaches dozens of times every year. He is my spiritual father, mentor, and hero and I love him with all my heart.
Happy Birthday Uncle.
Monday, May 26, 2014
Thursday, May 22, 2014
Tea Party Agenda
In 2009 my wife and I attended a Tea Party event in Springfield, Missouri. We liked and supported the Tea Party's efforts and as you remember, the 2010 midterm elections were a conservative landslide. The Tea Party fired up a successful grassroots movement that caught the attention of America and drove a conservative agenda that took control of the House of Representatives, but even with their successes, they put their support behind some candidates that were less than optimum, and lost races that may have been won with other candidates.
Three candidates, two women and one man as I remember, vied for the nod to run against Harry Reid. The Tea Party came out heavy in support of Sharon Angle, over the man (whose name I don't remember) who was a much better qualified candidate. Angle was a good woman, but she was outclassed by Reid in debate and the opportunity to win the seat was thrown away. The same thing happened with a Senate seat in New Jersey.
I support the Tea Party and its positions on limited government, closing the IRS and secure borders. I think, however, that the most important thing for conservatives in the coming 2014 elections is to gain control of the Senate and to increase the Republican majority in the House. To that end Tea Party conservatives and establishment Republicans need to begin to work together to ensure a united front and victories in the coming elections.
The Tea Party Agenda includes removing those they consider to be RINO Republicans, and they are supporting candidates across the country against the minority leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, against the Speaker of the House, John Boehner, and others such as South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham. In time perhaps these men should be replaced with more conservative candidates, but for the coming elections it is more important that Democrat candidates be defeated first. Once the Republicans have control of Congress then they can work at making the party more conservative.
The Tea Party has had victories in Nebraska and West Virginia and they are supporting conservative candidates around the country, but supporting candidates against entrenched incumbents who are not likely to lose is a waste of money that would be better spent in the general election against the Democrats. In North Carolina the Tea Party gave its support to two candidates who split the vote against the establishment choice. Their support was wasted. With that in mind, however, the same applies to the establishment Republicans. The Tea Party engineered the House majority in 2010 and they are gaining momentum for the coming elections. The establishment cannot just ignore them. There needs to be a consensus and a working together to ensure victory this November.
Ann Coulter recently wrote a column about stupid Republicans who throw away elections by fighting each other rather than concentrating on their Democrat opponents. She showed how at least five Senate seats could have been won in 2012 by Republicans if they had stopped attacking themselves and united for the better good.
In the coming elections she should take her own advice. There is not a better example of Republican cannibalism than that of Todd Aiken in Missouri in 2012. Aiken, a strong conservative, was leading in the polls against ultra liberal Claire McCaskill. Then he made an off-the-cuff comment about rape that was nothing short of ignorant. He immediately apologized and tried to explain himself, but the damage was done. His destruction, however, was done by Coulter, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and the establishment Republicans who excoriated Aiken, were relentless in their criticism of him, and made every effort they could to make sure he did not win the Senate seat in Missouri. The Republican Party as well as the Tea Party abandoned Aiken and the seat went to McCaskill. The Republicans did all the campaigning for the Democrats and gave the seat to McCaskill. And Ann Coulter still calls Aiken an idiot. You have to wonder who the real idiot is.
I'd like to ask Coulter and all the rest of them, how big of an idiot is Claire McCaskill, and how many stupid things has she said in being the most liberal Obama supporter in the Senate? So Aiken made one stupid comment. Has Ann, Rush or Sean never made a comment that they later regretted making? Wouldn't it have been much better to have Aiken with his one dumb comment than McCaskill and her 100% support of all of Obama's dumb comments?
Wake up Republicans. Wake up Tea Party. We may have some differences of opinions, but we're on the same side. The only way we're going to win in November is to stop fighting ourselves and concentrate on the Democrats who are rubber stamping Obama's train wreck to destruction.
Three candidates, two women and one man as I remember, vied for the nod to run against Harry Reid. The Tea Party came out heavy in support of Sharon Angle, over the man (whose name I don't remember) who was a much better qualified candidate. Angle was a good woman, but she was outclassed by Reid in debate and the opportunity to win the seat was thrown away. The same thing happened with a Senate seat in New Jersey.
I support the Tea Party and its positions on limited government, closing the IRS and secure borders. I think, however, that the most important thing for conservatives in the coming 2014 elections is to gain control of the Senate and to increase the Republican majority in the House. To that end Tea Party conservatives and establishment Republicans need to begin to work together to ensure a united front and victories in the coming elections.
The Tea Party Agenda includes removing those they consider to be RINO Republicans, and they are supporting candidates across the country against the minority leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, against the Speaker of the House, John Boehner, and others such as South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham. In time perhaps these men should be replaced with more conservative candidates, but for the coming elections it is more important that Democrat candidates be defeated first. Once the Republicans have control of Congress then they can work at making the party more conservative.
The Tea Party has had victories in Nebraska and West Virginia and they are supporting conservative candidates around the country, but supporting candidates against entrenched incumbents who are not likely to lose is a waste of money that would be better spent in the general election against the Democrats. In North Carolina the Tea Party gave its support to two candidates who split the vote against the establishment choice. Their support was wasted. With that in mind, however, the same applies to the establishment Republicans. The Tea Party engineered the House majority in 2010 and they are gaining momentum for the coming elections. The establishment cannot just ignore them. There needs to be a consensus and a working together to ensure victory this November.
Ann Coulter recently wrote a column about stupid Republicans who throw away elections by fighting each other rather than concentrating on their Democrat opponents. She showed how at least five Senate seats could have been won in 2012 by Republicans if they had stopped attacking themselves and united for the better good.
In the coming elections she should take her own advice. There is not a better example of Republican cannibalism than that of Todd Aiken in Missouri in 2012. Aiken, a strong conservative, was leading in the polls against ultra liberal Claire McCaskill. Then he made an off-the-cuff comment about rape that was nothing short of ignorant. He immediately apologized and tried to explain himself, but the damage was done. His destruction, however, was done by Coulter, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and the establishment Republicans who excoriated Aiken, were relentless in their criticism of him, and made every effort they could to make sure he did not win the Senate seat in Missouri. The Republican Party as well as the Tea Party abandoned Aiken and the seat went to McCaskill. The Republicans did all the campaigning for the Democrats and gave the seat to McCaskill. And Ann Coulter still calls Aiken an idiot. You have to wonder who the real idiot is.
I'd like to ask Coulter and all the rest of them, how big of an idiot is Claire McCaskill, and how many stupid things has she said in being the most liberal Obama supporter in the Senate? So Aiken made one stupid comment. Has Ann, Rush or Sean never made a comment that they later regretted making? Wouldn't it have been much better to have Aiken with his one dumb comment than McCaskill and her 100% support of all of Obama's dumb comments?
Wake up Republicans. Wake up Tea Party. We may have some differences of opinions, but we're on the same side. The only way we're going to win in November is to stop fighting ourselves and concentrate on the Democrats who are rubber stamping Obama's train wreck to destruction.
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