Obama ventured forth to bring light to the world

26 07 2008

Political satire at its finest!  Please enjoy Gerard Baker’s latest commentary on the recent Obama global tour…  original is HERE.

Jae C. Hong / Associated Press

Jae C. Hong / Associated Press

The anointed one’s pilgrimage to the Holy Land is a miracle in action – and a blessing to all his faithful followers

And it came to pass, in the eighth year of the reign of the evil Bush the Younger (The Ignorant), when the whole land from the Arabian desert to the shores of the Great Lakes had been laid barren, that a Child appeared in the wilderness. The Child was blessed in looks and intellect. Scion of a simple family, offspring of a miraculous union, grandson of a typical white person and an African peasant. And yea, as he grew, the Child walked in the path of righteousness, with only the occasional detour into the odd weed and a little blow.

When he was twelve years old, they found him in the temple in the City of Chicago, arguing the finer points of community organisation with the Prophet Jeremiah and the Elders. And the Elders were astonished at what they heard and said among themselves: “Verily, who is this Child that he opens our hearts and minds to the audacity of hope?”

In the great Battles of Caucus and Primary he smote the conniving Hillary, wife of the deposed King Bill the Priapic and their barbarian hordes of Working Class Whites.

And so it was, in the fullness of time, before the harvest month of the appointed year, the Child ventured forth – for the first time – to bring the light unto all the world.

He travelled fleet of foot and light of camel, with a small retinue that consisted only of his loyal disciples from the tribe of the Media. He ventured first to the land of the Hindu Kush, where the

Taleban had harboured the viper of al-Qaeda in their bosom, raining terror on all the world.

And the Child spake and the tribes of Nato immediately loosed the Caveats that had previously bound them. And in the great battle that ensued the forces of the light were triumphant. For as long as the Child stood with his arms raised aloft, the enemy suffered great blows and the threat of terror was no more.

From there he went forth to Mesopotamia where he was received by the great ruler al-Maliki, and al-Maliki spake unto him and blessed his Sixteen Month Troop Withdrawal Plan even as the imperial warrior Petraeus tried to destroy it.

And lo, in Mesopotamia, a miracle occurred. Even though the Great Surge of Armour that the evil Bush had ordered had been a terrible mistake, a waste of vital military resources and doomed to end in disaster, the Child’s very presence suddenly brought forth a great victory for the forces of the light.

And the Persians, who saw all this and were greatly fearful, longed to speak with the Child and saw that the Child was the bringer of peace. At the mention of his name they quickly laid aside their intrigues and beat their uranium swords into civil nuclear energy ploughshares.

From there the Child went up to the city of Jerusalem, and entered through the gate seated on an ass. The crowds of network anchors who had followed him from afar cheered “Hosanna” and waved great palm fronds and strewed them at his feet.

In Jerusalem and in surrounding Palestine, the Child spake to the Hebrews and the Arabs, as the Scripture had foretold. And in an instant, the lion lay down with the lamb, and the Israelites and Ishmaelites ended their long enmity and lived for ever after in peace.

As word spread throughout the land about the Child’s wondrous works, peoples from all over flocked to hear him; Hittites and Abbasids; Obamacons and McCainiacs; Cameroonians and Blairites.

And they told of strange and wondrous things that greeted the news of the Child’s journey. Around the world, global temperatures began to decline, and the ocean levels fell and the great warming was over.

The Great Prophet Algore of Nobel and Oscar, who many had believed was the anointed one, smiled and told his followers that the Child was the one generations had been waiting for.

And there were other wonderful signs. In the city of the Street at the Wall, spreads on interbank interest rates dropped like manna from Heaven and rates on credit default swaps fell to the ground as dead birds from the almond tree, and the people who had lived in foreclosure were able to borrow again.

Black gold gushed from the ground at prices well below $140 per barrel. In hospitals across the land the sick were cured even though they were uninsured. And all because the Child had pronounced it.

And this is the testimony of one who speaks the truth and bears witness to the truth so that you might believe. And he knows it is the truth for he saw it all on CNN and the BBC and in the pages of The New York Times.

Then the Child ventured forth from Israel and Palestine and stepped onto the shores of the Old Continent. In the land of Queen Angela of Merkel, vast multitudes gathered to hear his voice, and he preached to them at length.

But when he had finished speaking his disciples told him the crowd was hungry, for they had had nothing to eat all the hours they had waited for him.

And so the Child told his disciples to fetch some food but all they had was five loaves and a couple of frankfurters. So he took the bread and the frankfurters and blessed them and told his disciples to feed the multitudes. And when all had eaten their fill, the scraps filled twelve baskets.

Thence he travelled west to Mount Sarkozy. Even the beauteous Princess Carla of the tribe of the Bruni was struck by awe and she was great in love with the Child, but he was tempted not.

On the Seventh Day he walked across the Channel of the Angles to the ancient land of the hooligans. There he was welcomed with open arms by the once great prophet Blair and his successor, Gordon the Leper, and his successor, David the Golden One.

And suddenly, with the men appeared the archangel Gabriel and the whole host of the heavenly choir, ranks of cherubim and seraphim, all praising God and singing: “Yes, We Can.





Climb For Captives 2008 Video

21 07 2008





And miles to go before I sleep…

13 07 2008

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there’s some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

– Robert Frost, 1874-1963





To the summit

10 07 2008
The Climb For Captives Team @ Camp Schurman

The Climb For Captives Team @ Camp Schurman

I can’t thank you all enough for your support and contributions that have made the 1st Annual Climb For Captives a complete success.  On Sunday, our team summited Mt. Rainier at around 8:30AM, after climbing for close to nine hours from base camp.  It was a beautiful, sunny morning in the Northwest, and little did we know that, over the weekend, we surpassed our goal of raising $14,410 to fight human trafficking through the Home Foundation.

I want to personally all of you who partnered with us in this initiative– from your words of encouragement to your generosity in giving– in two weeks time, our actions have impacted the lives of dozens of women and children who would have otherwise continued living in the darkest of situations.  For this I send you my deepest gratitude.

At the summit

At the summit

More updates, video footage, and photos will be posted on www.climbforcaptives.com.

Greater things are yet to come–





Climb 4 Captives

1 07 2008

This Fourth of July, a group of friends and I are celebrating Independence Day a little differently.  Early on the morning of July 4th, six of us will set out for the summit of the 14,410 foot (4,392 m) Mount Rainier in an effort to raise both awareness and funds to fight human trafficking worldwide.  We’re calling it the Climb for Captives, and our goal is to raise a dollar for every vertical foot of the mountain we climb… that’s $14,410– and with the support of friends and family partnering with us in this initiative, we believe that it’s an attainable goal.

Although the notion of slavery in the modern world is largely condemned, human trafficking continues to persist both internationally and domestically, and the numbers are alarming. Even in Seattle, in the shadow of Mt. Rainier, children are found every year who are bound in slavery, exploited for labor or sex.  The International Justice Mission recently reported the following:

• The total market value of illicit human trafficking is estimated to be in excess of $32 billion (U.N.)
• Each year, more than 2 million children are exploited in the global commercial sex trade (UNICEF)
• 27 million men, women, and children are held as slaves. (Kevin Bales, Disposable People)

This is where we come in. The $14,410 that we intend to raise can accomplish incredible things. Here are a few examples of how our support can reach the victims of human trafficking:

$14,410 can…
* Rescue 40 children out of overseas brothels during working hours and pay their night care for an entire year.
* Cover all expenses for 20 rescued victims in a Recovery Home for a year.
* Cover all expenses for 13 rescued victims with HIV/AIDS for a year.
* Cover all expenses of nearly two recovery homes for a year.

Here’s how you can help us reach our goal:

1) Flat Donation: make a contribution for a specified amount, no matter how far up the mountain we get. No amount is too small even if all you can give is $5, it will help to make a difference.

2) Sponsor per foot: make a donation based on how high we get on the mountain (ie: a sponsorship of 5 cents per foot with a starting altitude of 5,000 ft would be $470 if we summit, or $340 if we only make it to 12,000 feet)

3) Sponsor per Summit: On a mountain like Rainier there are NO guarantees of summitting. With factors like weather, altitude, and crevasses causing more than 50% of all climbing parties to turn back before the summit, we can’t promise that we will reach the top. With this method of sponsorship you donate a specific amount for every climber that reaches the summit. If that amount is 100 dollars and three of us make it to the top, it’s $300.

4) Corporate Sponsorship
Option A – Mountain Sponsor: For $1,000 we will take a picture on the mountain with a banner that says “(your company name here) is fighting human trafficking. Climb for Captives 2008″.
Option B – Summit Sponsor: For $2,000 we will take a picture on the summit of Mt. Rainier with your banner. If we do not summit, your option B will automatically become an option A.

All donations are tax deductible and 100% of the money received will be donated to the Home Foundation, a non-profit charitable foundation dedicated to the eradication of human trafficking both domestically and abroad. The Home Foundation was created in 2005 by award winning singer/songwriter Natalie Grant, who labors around the world to bring freedom to the captives of human trafficking.  Visit them at www.thehomefoundation.net for more information.

If you would like to contribute online you can do so at www.climbforcaptives.com.  If you would like to send us a check, please make checks payable to The Home Foundation and mail them to:

Climb for Captives
PO BOX 1622
Woodinville, WA 98072

Thank you for joining us on this adventure and feel free to spread the word; what better way to celebrate Independence Day than to bring hope and freedom to those enslaved. If you have any questions please email us at summit@climbforcaptives.com or check us out online at www.climbforcaptives.com.