You asked "Give me a break. If ANY Prez -- Dem or Repub -- asked kids to reflect on goals, their futures, our society... What the heck is wrong with that?"

The simple answer is that Obama is NOT an elementary, secondary, or high school teacher. The White House has no business writing "lesson plans". The Executive Branch is charged with governing this Republic, not teaching its children. History amply testifies that politicians + teaching = propaganda. We have MORE than enough misguided, politically motivated teachers in our public school systems. And if they would teach Civics, our children would know that. Had YOU been taught Civics, you would know it also.

We DON'T have nearly enough elected officials representing The...

... a contradiction for the author to quote someone saying this ... "Barack Obama just ran the most successful moderate Republican presidential campaign since Dwight Eisenhower."

Moderate Republican = RINO = Republican In Name Only. Just like McCain was a Maverick self-named only.

Have you not seen Obama yet to be a Master of Disguise, a Chameleon, an Actor in Costume?

Please. Open your eyes, and focus. Watch - the Chief of "Change" - he does it at will, by necessity, without shame - he was born to it, lives by it, has nearly perfected ... Change.

Your comments continue to be thought provoking (which is welcome to Patriots, but an annoyance to residents).

Reading my way down the comments (the ones worth reading, of course) I noted this in one of your comments: "President Obama ordered federal officials to disclose their contacts with lobbyists trying to influence how the government doles out money to jump-start the economy. Yet few such communications have been reported even though lobbyists say they are busier than ever with the multibillion-dollar stimulus. …"

I take it you are not surprised, either by the facts, nor by the dearth in their reporting. After all, why should anyone concern themselves with mere lobbyists lately? Obama now has more than enough...

I thought this was interesting of you: "St Denis, I would have at least thought you could see the parallels between the Obama administration and Marx/Engels philosophy."

Indeed, I agree, but then I missed your post of the manifesto (deliberate lower-case "m") myself.

How about THIS parallel? Re-read the Declaration of Independence (yes, again ...) and see how frequently the "long train of abuses and usurpations" sound like what Big Government is doing now - our OWN government.

I am convinced that indeed "those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it", and do NOT agree with Mark Levin that "The Founders were very careful to explain that revolution is a LAST RESORT (my emphasis added) compelled only by...

You wrote: This and other TH threads have something in common: they are full of people who think that MIGHT and COULD and POSSIBLY and MAYBE describe realities that are happening right now.

Tell me Lilly, do you look through the windshield when Mommy drives you to school, or do you stare out the back window?

When Mommy tells you she will spank you if you are bad, then does each time you are (and you KNOW you are ...) do you expect she will do it NEXT time you are bad (and you KNOW you will be ...) or do you forget all about the spankings as if they had never happened - as if you were never bad?

Lilly, reasonable people look FORWARD in life and try to anticipate likely occurances to be avoided. Pathetic people...

A "Pardon" implies that something wrong was done. Calling for a pardon implies that the something wrong has been proven. Neither is the case here.

I am getting disgusted with those - including, if not especially John McCain who lament the "damage to the image of America" done by our torture of terrorists.

The image ADVANCED by America's torture of terrorists is simply this: DO NOT F*CK WITH US !!! Attack America, and the nice-guy kid gloves come off, and the kevlar gloves go on.

That image begs no "pardon". Nor does it require apology. Period.

I have become convinced that Obama "sold his soul" to the devils of social revolution in exchange for the Presidency, and he is being controlled by those whose agenda is far greater than his own. Like the author, I am convinced he is in WAY over his head.

America has known something like this before - it was called the New Deal. But the Deal never got done to the extent the revolutionaries wanted, and so now comes "New Deal - the Revenge" - a much more technically saavy re-make - digitized and re-packaged for a brand new audience. This one should definitely be rated for Mature Audiences only, but it is being released un-rated for mass consumption.

And we should be very, very, afraid ...

"It’s becoming increasingly difficult to argue that President Obama is seeking to advance American peace and prosperity – this is so, at least in terms of how “peace” and “prosperity” have customarily been defined. Does President Obama have his own definitions for these terms? And how might his agenda of “transformation” entail something entirely different from anything America has known before?"

Without doubt Obama has his own definition for the terms "peace" and "prosperity", but I think it is beyond time that we recognize that his "agenda" is not entirely HIS agenda, but is most likely the agenda of a political movement of which he is only one component. And like any component in a machine, he is being used for the function...

"The great escape of our times is escape from personal responsibility for the consequences of one's own behavior."

With respect for the author I submit that personal responsibility is not something "escaped from" as if it were somewhere a person should not be due to the liklihood of harm to well-being, but rather, personal responsibility is something abandoned.

A vivid illustration of example is the person who leaves an infant on someone's doorstep. Certainly, in the present circumstance the abandonment may be the "right thing" to do, but had the right thing characteristically been being done, there would be no need for present abandonment. Meaning that the abandonment of personal responsibility had been happening...

"Perhaps the scariest aspect of our times is how many people think in talking points, rather than in terms of real world consequences."

As for myself, the scariest aspect of our times is that the Constitutional rights we have lost were not stolen from us, but surrendered by us.

I am convinced that this Republic's Founders would be ashamed of us, and justly so.