This is important. The Obamacare individual mandate is falling apart. If you want to apply for exemption fill out this form. Hardships have been broadened to include most anything, including not being able to afford the premium if you’re prior policy was cancelled. If you’re interested, here is the link to the HHS application. Pass it on.
Mark Caserta: Dictators like Vladimir Putin only respect strength
27 MarPresident Obama once asked Vladimir Putin for “space” to focus on winning his 2012 re-election bid so he would be better “positioned” to “deal” on controversial issues.
While chatting with outgoing Russian president Dmitry Medvedev during the Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul, Korea, Obama said he would have “more flexibility” on issues such as missile defense after he secured the presidency.
Rolling cameras and hot microphones picked up the following “private” exchange as Obama leaned forward toward Medvedev:
President Obama: “On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this, this can be solved but it’s important for him to give me space.”
President Medvedev: “Yeah, I understand. I understand your message about space. Space for you…”
President Obama: “This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility.”
President Medvedev: “I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir.”
This exchange between presidential “comrades” captured by the White House press pool and Russian reporters characterizes the foreign policy appeasement strategy employed by Barack Obama.
Unfortunately, I believe we’re witnessing this president mirror mistakes eerily similar to the appeasement strategies offered by Western democracies in the 1930s that eventually put Adolf Hitler in a position to start World War II.
In what some have termed “moral cowardice,” Britain and France attempted to mitigate Germany’s demands through negotiation and compromise. But Hitler perceived this as weakness and was emboldened to heighten his aggression.
After seizing power in Germany, Hitler pursued a foreign policy thirsty for undoing the effects of the Treaty of Versailles, which banned him from re-arming his military and regaining territories lost at Versailles.
Hitler was desperate for more land, especially land rich in fossil fuels. And he was prepared to gamble that other European powers would be reluctant to go to war to stop him. He knew Europe’s economy was still recovering from World War I and military prowess had become secondary to bolstering social welfare programs.
As Hitler’s forces penetrated deeper into Poland, Great Britain and France were eventually forced to declare war on Germany, hence World War II.
Is Vladimir Putin, a man who once called the collapse of the Soviet Empire “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century,” once again testing the backbone of Western democracy?
While Putin isn’t Hitler, he’s certainly ambitious enough and his potential for devastation is greater than anything the world has ever known.
Our nation was reminded of the dangers of liberal appeasement in Ronald Reagan’s “A Time for Choosing” speech in 1964.
“…Every lesson in history tells us that the greater risk lies in appeasement, as this is the specter our well-meaning liberal friends refuse to face — that their policy of accommodation is appeasement and it gives no choice between peace and war, only between fight and surrender. If we continue to accommodate, continue to back and retreat, eventually we have to face the final demand — the ultimatum. And what then?”
Appeasement has a bad track record. And untenable tyrants only view it as a sign of weakness.
Dictators like Vladimir Putin only respect strength.
Mark Caserta is a conservative blogger, a Cabell County resident and a regular contributor to The Herald-Dispatch editorial page.
Mark Caserta: We must choose the right path for our future
25 MarThe Herald-Dispatch / 2014
Our nation is at a crossroads where the choices for our future could not be more distinctly different in nature.
One path, conservatism, represents traditional, time-honored values with God’s Word and our nation’s founding documents serving as the principle, unshakable foundation on which our lifestyle and our ideology must align. Conservatives believe God is in control.
The path of progressivism represents an “innovational” system of values for “thinkers” who leverage the Constitution or the Bible only when convenient. Morality rests on a sliding scale and shifts with time in order to better align with an individual’s ideology. Progressives believe man is in control.
At this point in history, progressives are emboldened by their success and indeed flourishing in their movement. Unfortunately, while liberals have been tenacious in their attack on America, too many conservatives and Christians have watched from the sidelines.
After all, Jesus is coming soon, so why bother?
But what if our Lord doesn’t come for another generation? Considering the liberal resolve to fundamentally change America, what could our nation look like in 25 years if progressives continue to be successful?
Abortion might have no limitation in our society. Getting rid of an unwanted child could be as simple as getting rid of a headache. Despite the fact the Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade gave some consideration to the viability of the baby, progressives have gradually “shifted” the mindset removing that consideration in many instances.
Our nation could see legislation re-introduced allowing partial birth abortion (PBA) and live birth abortion (LBA).
In a PBA, the doctor delivers a substantial portion of the living child outside the mother’s body while leaving the head just inside the womb. The baby is then killed by removing the brain by suction. The LBA is not really an abortion at all, but intentionally denying the baby care after a “botched” abortion.
The family unit may not look anything like it looks today. Progressives incessantly pursue universal same-sex marriage recognition for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender partners.
But understand liberal ideology demands removing all limitations, so where will it end?
Liberal “theologians” suggest amending the Bible to accommodate what it clearly calls “sexual immorality” and “unnatural desires.” But once God’s Word is negated as the benchmark, what will be acceptable? The available data on the unlikely marital “unions” already taking place is mind-numbing!
Organizations such as the North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) will begin to flourish in the wake of liberal advancements. NAMBLA, according to its website is, “the love of a man for a boy, and of a boy for a man.” Is this acceptable to liberals? What networking of immorality will follow?
Understand, we not only choose our own paths, but we help to keep them open or closed for future generations. Today, both paths remain open. But what choices will our children have?
Liberalism exists to “open” a wide, inclusive path to destruction and to “close” the path paved with God’s Word and our Constitution.
Choose the right path now while we still can.
Mark Caserta is a Cabell County resident and a regular contributor to The Herald-Dispatch editorial page.
Mark Caserta: Character exposed by fruit of the individual
20 FebThe Herald-Dispatch / 2014
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said this of a man’s character:
“Nature magically suits a man to his fortunes, by making them the fruit of his character.”
Character is indeed a trait exposed by the fruit one bears in life, its value weighed by the sustenance it offers others. Character can’t be bought or even influenced. It must be built.
The Apostle Paul knew something of character.
In Paul’s letter to the Colossian church, he provides clear perspective on how our life’s works and deeds help build character.
“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Understand these words of faith and thanksgiving were written during Paul’s imprisonment in Rome and unequivocally define a man’s success in life through the eyes of God.
Once known as Saul of Tarsus, Paul was previously a Pharisee in Jerusalem after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Fearing the Christian movement, he swore to wipe out the Christian church and those who would follow the teachings of “The Way.”
After obtaining letters from the high priest authorizing him to arrest any followers of Jesus in the city of Damascus, Saul set out to fulfill his vow.
But on the road to Damascus, Saul and his companions were struck down by a blinding light, brighter than the noonday sun. Saul heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
When Saul asked who was speaking to him, the voice replied, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
Meanwhile, Jesus appeared in a vision to a disciple in Damascus named Ananias and told him to go to Saul. Ananias was afraid because he knew Saul’s reputation as a merciless persecutor of the church yet he followed the Lord’s command and found Saul praying for help. Ananias laid his hands on Saul, telling him Jesus had sent him to restore his sight and that Saul might be filled with the Holy Spirit.
The Bible says something like “scales” fell from Saul’s eyes and he could see again. He arose and was baptized in the Christian faith. After his conversion, Saul took on the name Paul, meaning small or humble.
The present day attack by progressives on the Christian faith and Jesus’ teachings is different than Saul’s attack on the early church only in methodology.
Liberals seek to destroy the church through a progressive desensitization of the world to the ilk of immorality and lawlessness. They predictably attack that which they fear the most. And as Saul of Tarsus, progressives fear the church and the Christian faith.
And just as Saul, liberals propagating this agenda lack Godly character. The fruit they bear in life is bitter and putrescent and offers little or no sustenance to those around them.
May the Church unite in Godly character, abundant with fruit.
And may the scales fall from the eyes of modern-day Sauls.
Mark Caserta is a Cabell County resident and a regular contributor to The Herald-Dispatch editorial page.









