We need to read up on our Old Testaments, folks.

Israel was given land by God. It didn't matter that other people were living there at the time. Israel, led by God, conquered and purged the land of anyone who was not of the covenant people. The success or failure in doing so was directly proportional to their obedience. If they failed to wipe out everything, they were punished. They were plagued with wars for most of the time they occupied the land. Only for a short period of time relative to their history did they possess all of the land they had been given without the concern of invading armies or their own internal conflicts.

A lot of that continues today. Palestinians can lay claim to it all they want. They can point to their ancient ancestors as possessing the land long before Joshua marched Israel across the River Jordan into the promise land. They can even say they were allowed to be there after the kingdoms of Israel and Judah were divided, then conquered, and the people carried away into Assyria and Babylon.

That doesn't mean that God wants them to possess a land He personally gave to another: Israel.

The modern State of Israel has existed since 1948. That means the current conflict has been going on for nearly 60 years, but the war is milennia old.

The fight has largely been Israel's alone. Depending on their righteousness, God either prospered them with wealth and peace, or left them to battle against their enemies, with varying degrees of success, based on their level of wickedness. However, even then, He did not forget them, and he did use others, in the case of Cyrus of Persia, to preserve them and eventually return them to their homeland. Israel, however, would remain under the rule of others for centuries.

Now, however, another promise land exists. Ours. A Christian nation. As such, we owe our origins ultimately to the Holy Land, where Christ walked, taught and atoned. We should be well aware of the promises given to Abraham, Isaac and Israel, for after Christ, they are our own. We should be mindful of Israel and we should seek to protect her.

No people should be eradicated from the Earth. Yet, that is what a lot of the Muslim world would have, or stand by and watch happen, if the United States and other allies were to suddenly turn away. Israel's survival is dependent on her own obedience and keeping the law, but we are bound by faith and love of liberty to watch over them. If anyone doubts they would be swallowed up by the other nations in the region in a blink of an eye should we withdraw our help should refer back to that time 60 years ago when British claims to the Holy Land ended and the land of Israel, particularly Jerusalem, was marched upon by Muslim forces.

Israel has a right to arm and protect herself. As a Christian nation, we have a responsibility to watch over her, as part of God's overall strategy of preserving one of His covenant people.

As more and more of a deal is made about Barack Obama's middle name (it's Hussein, by the way), it just serves as a distraction from the real issues of the day.

The name Hussein does not gender much love in this country, and with good reason. To say everyone who carries the name is the same as Saddam Hussein is not fair, but Obama's middle name is the least of my worries about him.

His response to it all, however, does make me wonder what he feels about it. My middle name is Anthony. It happens to be my father's first name. If I were to distance myself from it, or demand no one call me by it, in my mind, it would be an affront to my father. If you don't like a name in this country, you can have it legally changed.

All that aside, however, I don't think Obama has the experience, or the right policies, to lead this country. I think he is mostly style and little substance when it comes to politics and policy. I think setting up one government program after another, and pouring more money into existing, failing programs, will only cause more of what he believes needs to change. More poverty, more companies going overseas, more inequality.

There's only so much regulating and freedom you can give up before you are no longer a democracy. We pushed that envelope for most of the 20th century, and are continuing to do it now. Even our Republican presidents have been doing it since Reagan, and even Reagan had his compromises. Perhaps compromises are necessary, but in many ways a compromise only forestalls the inevitable rather than fixing the problem.

And the problem is there's already more government than we have any real need or desire for. There is no reason to continue to grow and feed the beast. It needs to shrink and attend to just the duties afforded it in the US Constitution.

We would become more of a Nanny state under Obama than we already are. There's plenty of wealth still floating around, and there is plenty of poverty--but the involuntary redistribution of wealth is not the answer.

Obama's foreign policy is naive, to say the least. I don't think we need to go to war with everyone, and that included Iraq and it includes Iran, but to say everything can be resolved diplomatically is so far unrealistic that it begs the question: just what kind of a fantasy world is Obama and those who truly believe him living him. In order to have diplomacy, you have to have an opposing party who is interested in earnestly and honestly entering into an agreement. If they are constantly trying to kill you, or destroy life as you know it, there's not much room for negotiation. So far, over the course of hundreds of years, if not thousands, there has been little movement towards modernization, outside the places of Arabian princes, or democracy, other than platitudes with price tags--like oil and arms.

Post 9/11, we can no longer be naive. We cannot let Jihad win the physical war, or the psychological war. Christianity in America can tolerate other religions, even those which are not Christian based, even if they believe they are the only true religion. People can be respected for their difference of opinion, because we recognize we all are sons and daughters of the same God. Radical Islam does not recognize that. Radical Islam is absolutist and does not hesitate to execute the heathen or the infidel.

I don't agree with warmongering, being the mercenaries or the police to the world, but I do believe we should defend ourselves. I do believe we should help others who want our help. We should promote democracy, liberty and freedom. We don't do that by surrendering, or believing we are evil because we don't subscribe to a philosophy which oppresses everyone, particularly women, and shows as about as much regard for human life as they do animals.

No, we shouldn't hate all Muslims. We should oppose that would kill us without a second thought. We should defend ourselves against all forms of tyranny. We should deny anything resembling it to permeate our government, our society, or our common creed.

Having Hussein as a middle name shouldn't disqualify you. There shouldn't be prejudice. Looking at the policies beyond the charm, though, Obama shouldn't be president based on any of it.