In addition to freedom, compassion and generosity define America. We are the most generous people on earth.

Today I ask for your help in the life of a boy named Tony. Tony (I have changed his name) lives at the Murphy Harpst home in Georgia where he arrived carrying only a paper sack of clothes. All his possessions in a single grocery sack. Tony has been sexually abused by a number of men in his life; he has been beaten, burned, and forced to live in a box. As a result, Tony is withdrawn and angry. He has failed in 12 foster placement homes, and Murphy Harpst is his last hope. Like most of the kids who live at Murphy Harpst, Tony has tried to end his life. Death seems more hopeful to him than what he has experienced from life so far.

The therapists, counselors, and teachers at Murphy Harpst will love Tony abundantly. They will do the hard work of trying to bring healing and repair to his broken soul. For the first time, Tony will have a chance at understanding the word "home." He will attend a special school designed for kids who have been as badly abused as he has. Because of their work and the faith they share, Tony has an 82% chance of functioning and interacting normally in society, a remarkable rate of recovery.

No one else does the work Murphy Harpst does. And they need help. Given the economy and cuts in government funding, Murphy Harpst is presently unable to fund $500,000 in therapy for abused children. If you and I do not help make up that difference, many children like Tony will not receive help.

Please help. Anita and I give generously to help Murphy Harpst, and I invite you to make a gift also in this crucial time. To help, email my friend, Emily Saltino, who leads their funding efforts. You can reach her at esaltino@murphyharpst.net.

Happy 4th of July! You and I are blessed in ways we do not even know.

Surely there must be at least five optimists left in America, but so help me, I can only find Rich Karlgaard of Forbes and myself. In spite of all the bad news around us, and the pessimism that accompanies it, there has never been a better time to be an American or to survey our future as a people.

Pessimism is the order of the day. And, I suppose, for good reason. With an economy in tatters, an Afghan war in doubt, and an ever-flowing oil spill in the Gulf, there are many reasons for concern. Our own Treasury secretary, Tim Geithner, said this week that America can no longer be counted on to serve as the world's economic engine. So much for positive leadership and inspiration. With a growing internal cancer of homegrown Islamic terrorists and a government without an immigration policy, our security and stability is less than sure. With a president (and Congress) whose obsessions are none of the issues above, but rather ensuring that gays can serve openly in the military and that health care is run by the government, a reasonable person can easily fall into the temptation of pessimism. Understandably, President Obama's approval ratings have reached a new low (41%) after just eighteen months in office.

However, I am optimistic for two key reasons, so I tried diligently on a recent edition of my nightly talk radio show to find another American with a sense of hope and optimism for our future. Sadly, I came up empty. Not a single caller, emailer, or Facebooker acknowledged being optimistic about the future of America. And my listeners are not alone. A new poll from Wall Street Journal/NBC reveals Americans in remarkable numbers seeing our nation on the wrong track, and a Pew/Smithsonian poll shows similar pessimism about our nation's future. The latter poll revealed significantly fewer Americans optimistic about the coming decades as we move toward 2050 than were so in 1999. In fact, about 25% fewer Americans expressed hope for a better personal life or a better America in 2010 than did so in just 1999.

So why my optimism for America's future?

First, capitalism and freedom are too strong to kill. Human nature is not made for fetters, and the American spirit has been built on that very principle. We have tasted freedom, and it has been embedded into our national DNA. While we may tolerate a few restrictions and restraints here and there, we will not throw the baby out with the bath water. Americans are a resilient people, and a strong people. Add in the power of talk radio, global and twenty-four hour satellite and cable television, as well as the Internet, and you get a powerful mechanism to advance freedom and thought. While we should be concerned about the capabilities of the government, we should never forget where the greatness of the American experiment lies: in the people and our innovativeness. We figure out ways around encumbrances and impediments, we bend but do not break, and we persist. We see possibilities and make them realities.

Many observers fret about the growing economic prowess of China and India. While they may grow, neither will soon replace us as the economic (not to mention moral) leader of the world. China's oppressive birth policies are creating an impending national demographic slowdown as the younger generation does not have the numbers to support a robust, growing economy or to meet the demands of a growing aging population. India is poised to be a greater economic power than China, but its widespread acute poverty in a population of over one billion will prove a considerable drag coefficient on its global significance.

Rich Karlgaard has rightly noted that the global argument for America's remaining strong is a powerful one. America is 4% of the world's population, 24% of its GDP, and a full 40% of its net worth. America can try to go to the left economically, but it will not travel too far because the rest of the world will not go with it. The American people will not let it. The bond markets will not let it. America's major industries and companies will not allow it. Do not overestimate the power and capacities of our economically-miseducated politicians to derail the entire American economic locomotive. Yes, we are in a trough right now, but we have encountered those throughout history. The key is not to overreact but to trust the fundamentals underlying our nation and be patient.

Second, we have reason for optimism due to the large numbers of people coming to America or desiring to do so. Flip the illegal immigration issue on its head for a moment. Why do so many people sign up for lotteries, swim across rivers, endanger their own lives, or offer to leave everything and everyone behind in their home country? They know something that we native-borns often forget or ignore. America is special. Opportunity and ingenuity live here. We would not need to have a debate around immigration if we did not have a great country. Immigrants see clearly that we are a people of possibility not constraint.

Immigrants are 30% more likely to launch new businesses than non-immigrants. Immigrants often are willing to take risks; after all, they did not come here without risk. They are looking for the possibility of reward. Their energy infuses and re-infuses our country with a vitality that no other country can match. Are millions lining up to get INTO China? I think not.

So, while our present economic travails are certainly not fun, neither are they the end of the world. Among the many quotes attributed to the recently deceased coach, John Wooden, rests this gem: “All of life is peaks and valleys. Don’t let the peaks get too high and the valleys too low.” We would do well to apply that lesson right now and not let the challenges overwhelm our nation's natural optimism..


America may be puttering at present, but we will be back soon. Our DNA and our people simply will not allow it to be otherwise.

After a number of shows this week around Arizona, anchor babies, illegal immigration, the Snyder sisters from Serbia, and the vote on renting to illegals in Fremont, Nebraska, my inbox floweth over.

Here are two of my favorites - one who agrees with me that open immigration is a path we need to explore and one of the many who think I am an idiot.

Allen,

I agree with regarding immigration --- Last night I was listening to you last night and I was thinking about my own parents. My Dad and Grandmother left germany in 1939, running away from Hitler. I don't know how they got into this country back in 1939- and no one asked how they did it . My Dad and his generation the greatest generation joined up 1943 and came back the Pacific in 1945. He had a family and brought a house, went to work everyday his kids went to college had families and careers and not one person asked for our papers.

I started working at 14, my oldest son started working as a LAPD patrol person at 20, My daughter started working at 17. All together in our family we have 15 BA's and 25 Masters. We have members of our family fight in every war since 1943. We voted in every election since 1940 and we paid our taxes since 1940. and never did anyone ask about our papers. I don't know if my parents were legal or not. I just know it would have been rude to ask.

Bruce


Allen,

I heard you for the first and last time last weekend talking about amnesty for illegal Mexicans. You haven't a clue! I live here in Arizona, 4th generation. My family came from Mexico, and did so simply by filling out papers. Why is that so hard? They certainly are able to fill out the papers to get free medical, and food stamps as well as cash assistance and housing. They don't pay taxes, and work for money under the table. Everyday you see the same thing, yesterday at Wal Mart the family ahead of me, husband, wife and child buy a basket full of new bedding items, sheets, pillows etc., total $149.00, and 2 boxes of cereal, they pay cash for everything pulling out quite a wad of money, then pay for the cereal with food stamps, then in the parking lot they get in their brand new truck. Everyday this is the story here and those illegal's I work with do the same and laugh about it. Two of them can't get their papers cause they committed crimes in Mexico, one guy I worked with was sent to prison her for dressing up as a cop to steal drugs from some other illegal aliens here, and yes we are paying for his lawyers to fight this. They cost Arizona billions, they slow up our education in our schools as we have the wonderful "no child left behind", so all the other children must pay the price. Plus we have special education classes just for them, which we tax payers pay for. Our sp1070 bill does not single out Mexicans , it's not Arizona's fault if 90% plus illegal aliens are Mexican's here, we didn't bring them here! Below are some facts you should educate yourself on. These people are rude, pushy and dirty. I am sick of seeing them just throw out diapers in our parking lots, they let their children rampage our stores, opening packages, taking things of the shelves and leaving them everywhere, stealing, gangs, drugs, kidnapping etc. Until you live here, you have no right to talk.

Buffalo in Tucson

I had the best Father's Day ever. No question about it. My two daughters put a great deal of time and thought into celebrating what I affectionately call "the most important day of the year." We had a marvelous time - the gift of an Iphone (cool!), a strawberry cake, Ferris Bueller, and a full day together.

But one thought struck me at the end of the day as I got in bed for the night. My older daughter came in and gave me my Father's Day card. They had forgotten it earlier in the day. On one portion, she listed 9 of her favorite memories with me. Without exception, there were no "big moments," like paying for college or taking a big European vacation. Instead, her most powerful memories were smaller moments at times that were significant to her. When she was home sick for the day. When she lost an election. When we had a father-daughter date night. Little things accumulated day by day over time. Not big planned events or trips.

In reading her card, I got it. The most important gift a father can give his children is just showing up. Being there, day in and day out. In a crazy, frantic world, the consistent presence of a father in a child's life makes all the difference between stability/love and chaos/fear. It really is much simpler than we often make it.

Despite an ever-spewing undersea oil well, another increase in weekly jobless claims, and a nation ablaze with immigration concerns, President Obama has finally received good news. His approval ratings are declining dramatically in the Muslim world. He should trumpet that plummet from sea to shining sea. The last thing America needs is a president that the Muslim world “approves.” Likability and niceness are overrated; a healthy fear and respect are much to be preferred.

Notwithstanding the rhetoric about President Obama's re-booting our image in the Muslim world, and all the fanfare that accompanied his much bally-hooed Cairo speech, Obama's biggest decline in popularity over the last year has come in Muslim countries. In the recent Pew Global Attitudes Project, a majority of the population in five out of the six Muslim nations surveyed lack confidence in the president. The exception is Indonesia, where Obama lived as a child. Even there Obama’s popularity has slipped in the past year.

This is great news. Perhaps President Obama, albeit unwittingly, has established respect rather than approval as his dominant image in the Muslim world. This would be a remarkable, unintentional achievement for a man whose own team refuses to use the terms “radical Islam,” “jihad,” and “terror.” How the Muslim world come come to approve less of Obama, who prefers playing a game of semantics to having a real national security policy, is beyond me, but it is news worth celebrating nonetheless.

The reasons for Obama's decline in popularity in the Muslim world could find their origins in any number of perceptions.

First, given Obama's orders for the Afghanistan surge, he likely won few friends in the Muslim world for an ongoing American military presence in the land of the Taliban.

Second, President Obama has failed to close Guantanamo Bay as he so vociferously promised time and again. Such a public failing could well lead many in the Muslim world to perceive Obama as weak, ineffective, even untrustworthy.

Third, in dealing with Israel and with Iran, nothing substantive has changed. Obama again looks ineffective, an attribute not respected in the Muslim world.

However, two recent news stories have given Americans reason to hope that the Muslim world may well have reason not to like President Obama. As a regular sentinel regarding the threat Islamic values provide to the core Western values of freedom of religion and freedom of speech, I am grateful.

First came the story of Yahya Wehelie. Wehelie was born and raised in northern Virginia, failed to find a meaningful life path, and then “studied” in Yemen for the past eighteen months. He claims to be “non-religious” and to “hate Al-Qaeda.” Following a drug conviction in America, he claims to have been sent by his mother to Yemen to study Arabic with other dope-smoking, non-religious American boys. While in Yemen, Wehelie married a Somali woman and consorted with Sharif Mobley, a New Jersey man accused of joining Al-Qaeda. When Wehelie sought to return to America, he discovered that he had been placed on the American “No-Fly list” and was ineligible to board a plane. He is welcome to come home, just not on an airplane. Moreover, federal authorities changed his passport to allow only travel to America and to no other lands. Thus, Wehelie finds himself stranded mid-journey in Egypt, unable to fly and unable to go elsewhere.

Whether President Obama had any role in this is immaterial. But, think about it for a moment. Just months after Umar the Underwear Bomber's failed Christmas Day terror attack, maybe, just maybe, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) finally has begun paying attention. In sum, Wehelie consorted with a terrorist (who of course is likely non-religious as well), he comes from the key demographic profile of Muslim males age 20 to 40, and he has just spent a year and a half in one of the key terrorist-training countries on the planet. Score one for President Obama whether he knew it or not. May many more victories follow.

Of course, the young man has responded with cries of oppression and violation of civil rights. The ACLU and CAIR have joined the fray in calling for action to free the man from exile. Fortunately, neither Obama nor anyone in his administration has done anything to change the order. That surely causes some decline in popularity in portions of the Muslim world. Good.

Second comes the case of Tarek Hamdi, who seeks naturalization as an American citizen after having lived here for several decades. He has raised his children and family here. He has served as an attorney. And he has also donated money to Benevolence International Foundation (BIF), a group designated as a financier of terrorism by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2002. Hamdi's application has been denied. Again, the ACLU has piled on to demand citizenship for Hamdi. Too bad. Citizenship is a gift not a right. A privilege not a demand.

The time has long since come for America to take control of its naturalization process, given the recent terror arrests of naturalized citizens, like Faisal Shahzad and Mohammed Wali Zazi, who hail from Muslim lands. Whether Obama is aware or not, he can continue his descent in Muslim approval ratings with a few more of these stories. And America will be better off. The president might even inch up a point or two in his American approval ratings as word becomes known that federal bureaucrats are beginning to take seriously whether it is appropriate to add to the Muslim presence in America.

So, for today, I salute President Obama for a job well done, whether he knows it or not. When the Muslim world ceases to love our president, that news is worth celebrating.

This week Anita and I have had the privilege to attend our first military honors funeral at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. The experience overwhelmed my senses. The smell of the freshly cut grass in the morning. The visual of a flag-draped casket in a cemetery lined as far as the eye can see with soldiers who have preserved freedom for America. And the sound of "Taps" emerging from a bugle. Haunting. Honorable. And moving.

With Anita and her family, we gave thanks for the life and service of Uncle Len, a fine gentleman. Len served America well through his service in World War II and through his business and family in the years that followed.

Then good night, peaceful night,
Til the light of the dawn shineth bright,
God is near, do not fear - Friend, good night.

In response to my show defending the Sunderland family regarding their decision to allow Abby, 16, to try to sail around the world by herself, I got a flurry of emails.

Here is my favorite - while reading it, please pray for her safe rescue.

Allen,

I've been doing solo expeditions since I was 14 years old. I've spent over 2 years on Isle Royale National Park, a month and a half in the Teton Backcountry, over 7 months in the bottom of the Grand Canyon and other trips. It has been the best thing I could ever do with my life. It has made me independent and self sufficient. I have found that if you can deal with what nature deals you, with only your own resources, you can handle anything that happens in the "civilized" world.

Abby was very lucky to have parents that would teach her and support her dream. She actually developed and realized a passion to follow that dream. Most kids today can't get off the couch. The subject of her age is a controversy, but people are not popped out of a cookie cutter. Some people are born for adventure and most will never see it or yearn for it. Almost everybody wants to be safe and in familiar territory. A few people want to reach out there into the unknown and learn for themselves.

If I had not started solo expeditions at 14 years, I never would have developed the skills to move on to bigger and more astounding experiences. I support her parents decision. Only they, in conjunction with Abby herself, know if she was ready to take on this adventure. I'm sure that she had many frightening experiences before she reached this stage and learned from them.

Anyway, I feel strongly about Abby. I pray for her and wish her good luck and fortune.
Thanks for bringing this up, Allen,
Bob

I spent yesterday in a metro Atlanta traffic court. When I say yesterday, I mean the whole day. Hundreds of people. Courtrooms were too small to hold the offenders so people were lined up around the outside of the building for hours in the hot sun just to get in - to face justice. I try to make it a habit not to visit traffic court very often, and now I remember why!

Two important lessons emerged for me in this experience:

1) Wearing a coat and tie makes a difference. In the crowd, I counted three men (myself included thanks to my dad's lessons installed early in my life) wearing a coat and tie. It never ceases to amaze me how differently you are treated when you are dressed nicely. Multiple people asked me throughout the day if I was an attorney (answer = NO!). But the sheriff's deputies looked far more kindly on those of us in suits than on those who needed to be asked to take their ball caps off. Same trick works at the bank and at the airport too. Wear a tie. Try it.

2) Patience and humility do not come easily. These two virtues are not my strengths. But a few hours in line, in the sun, and in a courtroom can be your friend. Our judicial system is a great leveler - traffic court reminds you that we are all created equal (and miserable) in the eyes of lady justice and her authorities. I do not particularly like to be taught patience and humility. But I have to admit, they are good for the soul.

President Obama's need for continued leadership coaching astonishes me. His inexperience rears its ugly head almost daily. Leadership lessons have had to become a regular feature on my nationally syndicated nightly radio show, and this particular lesson may be coming too late for our president. His inability to master this crucial lesson may already have cost him his ability to muster any effectiveness in his remaining time as president..

Lesson: You cannot afford to major in the minors.

When you major in the minors, you squander your opportunity at accomplishing anything meaningful. Little things unnecessarily become big things, and the important issues languish and wither from neglect. Ask Jimmy Carter. More significantly, when you major in the minors as Commander-in-Chief, you may recklessly endanger the lives of American soldiers and weaken America's security at the same time.

Case in point. Obama's fiendish obsession with the “Don't Ask Don't Tell” policy has now borne strife and dissension in our own Joint Chiefs of Staff. Believe it or not, our own president has driven a very public wedge between the nation's highest-ranking military officer and the four service chiefs who collectively make up the Joint Chiefs.


Witness the missives fired off last week by Generals Norton Schwartz (Air Force chief), and George Casey, Jr. (Army chief), as well as Admiral Gary Roughead (Navy chief). These three members of the Joint Chiefs reacted strongly and vocally when they discovered that the White House had reached a back-room compromise deal with Congressional leaders to pass immediately the repeal of the “Don't Ask Don't Tell” policy without waiting for the Pentagon's previously-authorized review to be completed by December 1. Joint Chiefs Chair, Admiral Mike Mullen, knew of the compromise deal, but no other chiefs did. They never even saw the language of the compromise before the Congressional votes.

Admiral Mullen cooperated with the president, but lost the support of his own team in doing so. They were rightly incensed at having been excluded from the conversation as well as the lack of Obama's vaunted “transparency.” Worst of all, the chiefs each noted in their letters to members of Congress that passing the repeal will send the message to the present troops that their voice is not only not going to be considered, it is not going to be heard at all.

What is to be gained by such a hasty push-through? There is no other explanation for the accelerated ram-rodding of this repeal by the Obama administration than its mere political expediency. A decision that has significant ramifications on military readiness (which is why the Pentagon was asked to do the review in the first place) has now been made in order to satisfy the president's gay supporters so that a political base can be secured before the November elections. Political motives in a matter of national security and military readiness is bad enough, but creating division within the Joint Chiefs over such a minute matter is unconscionable.

President Obama has created a gaping breach in our key military leaders at a most inopportune time. In an unprecedented move, three members of the joint chiefs of staff broke ranks publicly with their chairman (Mullen). And the fourth member of the team, Marine Gen. James Conway, has already gone on record as opposing the repeal. Dissension now reigns within the ranks of our core military leadership team. Focusing on a minor has created a major problem.

However, it is not merely the breach in our military leaders that should cause concern. It is the distraction that Obama's obsession has created. While waging two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, while preparing to attack the Taliban in Pakistan, and while monitoring the situations in Iran, Israel, and Turkey, our military leaders are investing enormous quantities of energy and attention on whether gay persons can serve openly in the military. Think about that for a moment. Multiple theaters of imminent national security threats, and our leaders are debating and squabbling about gays in the military. What is wrong with this picture?

By the most reasonable scientific estimates, homosexuals comprise about 2% of America's population. They likely comprise an even lesser percentage of the military. In other words, our Joint Chiefs have been forced by Obama's maniacal obsession to focus their attention and energy on a tiny portion of the armed forces at a time when those same forces are being stretched more than ever before. Distraction. Division. Obsession. Hello, Captain Queeg.

Sadly, this dissension and distraction is entirely at Obama's initiative. He alone created this conflict. Our president is majoring in the minors. His own security team cannot bring themselves to use the terms “radical Islam,” “terrorism,” or “jihad,” even though those are the categories of the very enemy we are fighting. Instead, our Commander-in-Chief is worrying about something that is minuscule in significance at the expense of matters that carry the weight of life and death.

Unfortunately, we have seen this minor majoring weakness in Obama before. His obsession with health care reform while most Americans clamored for economic leadership. His vacationing in Chicago and hosting Paul McCartney at the White House while the Gulf of Mexico fills with close to 40,000,000 gallons of oil. Distraction from the key issues at hand appears to be his leadership style.

When it comes to military readiness, such a leadership failure can not only be divisive and distracting, it can also be deadly

For friends in the Southeast, I invite you to a special day at the Georgia International Convention Center.

This Saturday - June 5
A regional gathering of Catholics (and anyone else who is interested) at the Georgia Eucharistic Congress.
I will be speaking at 2:30 pm.
Details here.

Hope to see you there! It will be an inspiring and moving day.