I remember a television ad that became a political slogan: "Where's the beef?"

We need more than attractive packaging. And we need more than what looks good, but whose consumption not only does not satisfy, but brings us harm.

This article is right on.

*Photo:  Table setting by tracyhunter
http://flickr.com/photos/tracyhunter/169740178/
Terms of Use:  Attribution 2.0 Generic
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=74636

They put a new title on it.

..Congratulations on publication!..

The question isn't whats on the menu...

It is "who's on the menu,....?"

I'm waiting ....   

That picture is worth a thousand words.  Here's some of what I see in it:

A seat at an empty table.
Silent witness.
I'm not going away until I get what I want.
Patient tenacity.  
Accountability.
Power voluntarily restrained.

I'm a little confused.  I thought the bear at the table was supposed to represent the dangerous table McCain is luring social conservatives to join ... after which, they will be eaten alive.

But elsewhere posters have mused about choosing a bear for the mascott of AIPNC, which makes sense in terms of the previous post that emphasizes the persistance and ultimate power of this movement.

So, is that an unfriendly McCain bear or a friendly AIPNC bear?

Now this is interesting.  There's also this version, where he looks a little tired and discouraged:

And this blog has another take on the bear:

The Bear at the Picnic Table
Jlue's Weblog

I think the bear is not us.  And here's the reason why:  Bears and picnic tables have a connotation of aggression because the bear, overtime will become aggressive.  Even if you interpret that aggression as defeating the enemy ... we must remember, that is not our charge.  

We're not charged with defeating the enemy.  Our charge is to put on the whole armour of God and to STAND, ... and having done all, to STAND.

Here is how I view this:

The table is government, at every level.

As American patriots who stand on the exact principles promulgated by the founders of this republic,  WE OWN THE TABLE. Others have coopted seats at that table that don't rightfully belong to them.

Because the current crop of "leaders" are willing to compromise anything and everything to gain seats at a table that is controlled, unfortunately, by those who have no interest in enforcing America's founding principles, they are not only weak, they are directly doing harm.

We need to stop groveling and simply take back what is ours by right. Kick 'em out of our chairs and take our table back.

It is a very great pleasure to come in when you are greeted so warmly as that, especially since I was flying in from the storms now on the East Coast. You have beautiful weather here, which I was glad to see, and the plane wasn't bouncing around nearly as much as the one that landed me in North Carolina before I spoke to the state convention there.

I must say that as I go around the country these days, I am very encouraged--that's the first thing I want to report. And I don't mean about my little efforts; what I mean is that I am very encouraged about the prospects for this country. And I know there are a lot of reasons (and I'll probably be getting into some of them in the next few minutes) why that encouragement might seem sometimes a little out of place, especially if you were to take your cue from the kinds of things that we're seeing all the time in the news media, and on television and the talk shows. You'd almost start to believe that America was already hurtling down the abyss.

But you know, I think that's because very often the folks in the media don't have much time to take a look at what ordinary Americans are doing. And what I have found is that, by and large, in spite of what everybody says, first of all, they are always telling us that the Ozzie and Harriet family is dead; that the marriage-based, two parent family is a thing of the past, and we've just got to brace ourselves for its demise. And what I have noticed is that there are still an awful lot of Americans in this country who are basically marrying, and having kids, and doing their best to raise the next generation the best way they know how. [applause] And who are still determined, by and large, to have a country in which they can raise their decent children to a decent life. And that is very encouraging!

It's very encouraging because, as well, I think a lot of those folks--some of whom, I have to acknowledge, have been at it for a long time; others of whom I think were basically minding their own affairs. Nice thing about America is you can do that, you know, you can kind of mind your own business! Take care of your family, raise your kids, go to your job, work on the business and the farm, whatever it might be. And just kind of chug along, assuming that everything's OK. And I think that, by and large, a lot of Americans were doing that for a good long time.

And they woke up one morning, and they found that Bill Clinton was President. [laughter] And that Joycelyn Elders was Surgeon General, (more laughter) and that she was suggesting that kids should be doing in the back seat things that a lot of people didn't think kids should be doing in the front seat, the back seat, at home or at work or at play, or in any way whatsoever. And they woke up, and they saw this going on in the country and I think it was like a shock went through the system.

Because the country that they'd been carrying around in their hearts all this time and kind of assumed was still doing all right, the America that they had been raised to believe in, a country that left a pretty free scope for people to make their choices (but by and large, also based things on the assumption that when they made those choices, there were some decent standards that they were going to respect)--that America somehow seemed to have been eclipsed by the America of Bill Clinton's values, and socialized medicine, and all kinds of things that they didn't understand, including gays in the military, and sex education courses that denied the capacity for moral and sexual responsibility.

And I think a lot of folks knew that these things were around, but they kind of assumed that they were out there on the fringes somewhere. To wake up and find them in the seats of power, speaking on behalf of the American people, wandering around the world twisting arms to get other countries to support their moral points of view . . . I think this was too much for a lot of people!

And that's why, I honestly believe, in 1994 they went to the polls, and for the first time in a long while, they decided to vote their values instead of their pocketbooks. And they sent a good clear message to Bill Clinton, that the values that he was promoting in this country are not the values that built it, are not the values that keep it strong, and are not the values that the great majority of Americans accept for the future of America! [applause]

Now, I know, and I don't mean to detract from anything or anyone, because I'm a strong believer that the Contract With America is a good thing, and I'm glad to see many parts of it going through the House of Representatives. I kind of wish, to tell you the truth, that we had a different make-up in the Senate, so we could be sure it was going to go through the rest of the way. [applause] I was especially glad to see the provisions in there which had a Balanced Budget Amendment that was going to protect the taxpayers of the country, the provisions that had tax cuts, included so that whatever we were doing to streamline the government would represent a return of power, pocketbook power, to the families of America. And I was especially glad to see as well that folks were committed finally not just to talking about beating back the expansion of the federal government, but actually bringing out the meat-ax and doing something to cut it back I was glad to see that. [applause]

So what I'm about to say in no way detracts from the Contract, but there is something that I think we need to remember. Much as some would like us to believe it, in 1994, the American people did not vote on the economic status of America. I believe that they voted instead on that whole set of issues that for one reason or another got left out of the Contract With America. They voted on the cultural issues, the social issues, the moral issues, because the culture and the society and the morality represented by Bill Clinton and his Democratic buddies simply turned their stomachs. [applause] And they decided they were going to send some voices to Washington that represented a different way of thinking--and that's why, I believe, over two-thirds of the folks who went to the Congress on behalf of the Republicans, the folks who represented the winning majority in the Congress of the United States, were strongly pro-life, strongly moral conservative Republicans who spoke from their hearts about the moral crisis of this country! (applause and cheers) That, in my opinion, was the real lesson, the real message, of the 1994 election. And I was glad to see it!

It's been a long time, I think for some of us, dating all the way back to the '60s, early '70s, as we watched the surrender of a lot of America's traditional values and ideas--and I've got to tell you, coming along as I did in those days I was in college in the late '60s, early '70s and I did not understand it. I did not understand why it was, when I was at Cornell, for instance, that professors there were kind of surrendering to their students who were yelling and screaming about how everything had to be relevant, and therefore you got rid of all the courses on Western history and philosophy, and just taught trendy Marxist stuff, I don't know. [laughter] I didn't understand even then why they didn't just stand up and say, "Look, we're the teachers, you are the students. Sit down and learn!" (applause and cheers) We would have been a lot better off!

And I didn't understand why it was, when people were clamoring for all kinds of sexual liberation now, I don't know that there's ever been a generation in the history of mankind that reached puberty and adolescence in the general flow and ebb of human passions, that didn't clamor for the breakdown of traditional values and authority! [laughter] I have a feeling that this is one of those proclivities of youth that they always talk about. But you know, what was different back in the '60s was that the passions welled up as they always do, and yet there seems to have been a generation of folks in the leadership who just looked at that, and said, "OK, we give up. We surrender!" Why?! To this day, I look back on that period, and I still can't quite figure out why you had a generation of people who, when the traditional values and mores and structures were challenged, didn't just look the kids in the eye and say, "Look, you're the kids, we're the grownups. Now, you do what we tell you." [applause]

I think we have, however, recaptured a little sense of that these days, because we're able to see the consequences of all the so-called revolutions that occurred starting in the '60s, and that most especially, we can see the consequences of things like the sexual revolution. And whether or not you were one of those people who bad-mouthed it, or whether you are one of those people who participated in it, you don't have to tell me which. [laughter] I won't tell you either. But I can tell you this, I think that regardless of what side you may have been on under the influence of youthful passions, if you have kids today, I know what side you're on! (laughter and applause) If you have young men and women being brought up right this minute, I know how you want them to turn out!

And I know, that looking at what is happening to our family structure, and what is happening to our educational system, and what is happening to our economy, and what is happening to our urban neighborhoods as a result of the disintegration of that family system, I think all of us who care about America's future know where we stand today, and it's very easy. There is one top priority that we have to face as a people! And we've got to get it right in the next generation, or nothing else is going to go right! We have got to restore the priority and support and privileged position of the marriage-based, two-parent family! (standing ovation) We have got to restore the foundations of this country's moral life. (extended applause)

And I have to say, that I don't think, by the way, that that is just one issue among many. I was reading and watching, when they came out recently with the Christian Coalition's "Contract With the American Family." And, I've got to tell you, that there are particular items in there that, like a lot of people, I've been pushing for a long time. And then there are several items in there where I sat back and I said, "Why would I retreat this way?" You know, on the abortion issue, for instance, which I'll talk about in a minute, I sure would like to see an end to third trimester abortions and D & C abortions and federal funding for abortions. But I still believe and I will still continue to assert and fight for what is in the platform of the Republican Party, that makes it very clear that abortion is not an issue of numbers, and it's not an issue of circumstances. It's an issue of principle! And we have got to stand on our principles and fight it that way! [applause] And that is what I am going to do!

But it wasn't, though, the details of the Contract that left me scratching my head for a minute. I was listening to the press conference, and I saw Ralph Reed, and he's a friend of mine, and he was kind of celebrating, I guess. And he said that, at last, Christian and moral conservatives had achieved what they had been seeking to achieve. And that was, a place at the table, a part in the political discussion in America. And, I heard that and I said, that's interesting. Because I've got to confess to you. That's not what I am fighting to achieve. See, I find it kind of pointless to squabble over a place at the table, when the ground on which the table is standing is falling into the earth! I find it kind of silly to squabble over a place at the table, when the legs on which the table stands are disintegrating!

And I, at least, have raised the banner of concern about the moral condition of this country, not because I want some place at the table, but because I would like to save the table, and the foundation, and the building from destruction! [applause] And I think it's about time everybody realized that the people who are concerned about those moral priorities, we aren't just some "gimme" constituency coming up looking for something for ourselves! Because, by and large, this is the kind of battle that leads to more sacrifices than gains. And if we do succeed, it's not going to be with fruits that we'll be able to enjoy, it'll be the fruits that our children and our grandchildren may seek, through the preservation of our values. But no matter what we do or don't get out of it, no matter what place we do occupy or don't occupy at the table, or in the government, or anywhere else, this is the important priority of our times, and we can't escape it!

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And I, at least, have raised the banner of concern about the moral condition of this country, not because I want some place at the table, but because I would like to save the table, and the foundation, and the building from destruction! [applause] And I think it's about time everybody realized that the people who are concerned about those moral priorities, we aren't just some "gimme" constituency coming up looking for something for ourselves! Because, by and large, this is the kind of battle that leads to more sacrifices than gains. And if we do succeed, it's not going to be with fruits that we'll be able to enjoy, it'll be the fruits that our children and our grandchildren may seek, through the preservation of our values. But no matter what we do or don't get out of it, no matter what place we do occupy or don't occupy at the table, or in the government, or anywhere else, this is the important priority of our times, and we can't escape it!

A BUMP for the timeless truth-telling of Alan Keyes.

Barack will NEVER ALLOW YOU to go back to your lives as usual – uninvolved, uninformed – you have to stay at the seat at the table of democracy with a man like Barack Obama not just on Tuesday but in a year from now, in four years from now, in eights years from now, YOU WILL HAVE TO BE ENGAGED. 

Michelle Obama, campaign speech at UCLA (links to video, audio @ Protein Wisdom)

But now I have written unto you not to keep company,
if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or
covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an
extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.

I Cor. 5:11 (NKJV)

Seems like grounds not to sit down at the table with some politicians ...