No Prayer Service at the White House?

It is to our displeasure that President Obama has decided to not continue in the most recent of traditions by hosting an event in the East Room of the White House on what has been designated as the National Day of Prayer.

"Prayer is something that the president does everyday," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday, noting that Obama will sign a proclamation to recognize the day, as many administrations in the past have done.

Asked if Obama thought his predecessor's ceremonies were politicized, Gibbs said, "No, I'm not going to get into that again.

"I think the president understands, in his own life and in his family's life, the role that prayer plays." The National Day of Prayer is an annual observance for people of all faiths.

Under the Bush administration, the White House hosted an interfaith service each year, inviting protestant, Catholic and Jewish leaders for an event at the East Room.

President Ronald Reagan and President George H.W. Bush also marked the day with a White House observance. President Harry Truman first established the day as a national event in 1952. Reagan signed a resolution in 1988 to observe the National Day of Prayer each year on the first Thursday in May, and each president since has recognized this day with a proclamation.

The National Day of Prayer Task Force, a privately funded organization that focuses on mobilizing the Christian community, says it's disappointed in this year's toned down observance, but other groups say the president needs to go a step farther -- and ignore the day altogether.
"It's not his job to tell people to pray," said David Silverman, national spokesperson for the organization American Atheists.

"We are very happy he did away with the George W. Bush-era celebrations and party, but we wish he wouldn't do it at all. ... When church and state are separate, separate is separate," he said.

Although there are no public events scheduled at the White House, representatives from the legislative and judicial branches are expected to attend an event the National Day of Prayer Task Force is holding on Capitol Hill.

But, despite numerous attempts to get a representative from the executive office to attend, "it doesn't appear they are going to fulfill our request," said Becky Armstrong, marketing and media manager of the National Day of Prayer Task Force.

"The White House is a small part of what the national day of prayer is all about. Tomorrow there will be dozens of events held in our nation's capitol and governors from all 50 states have already issued proclamations recognizing the National Day of Prayer," Armstrong said.

Although we respect the wishes of President Obama, we remain however concerned that this will facilitate a pulling away of the day of prayer in the years to come altogether. We will remain in prayer.

The photos are on the way!

I think its safe to say that The White House has had to reverse its initial decision of not releasing the now classified photos of the aircraft used as Air Force One as it flew over NYC for a photo op several weeks ago. They have now indicated that a report and a photo from the controversial low-altitude New York flyover by a 747 plane used as Air Force One could be released soon.

"The report, I believe, will be concluded at some point this week. We'll release its findings and release a photo," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said during his daily press briefing.
The review, led by Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina, will focus on "why that decision was made and to ensure that it never happens again," Gibbs said.

The flyover, officials said, was a training mission — it was also a classified government-sanctioned photo shoot. Military officials also estimate that the mission and the photo shoot, aimed updating file photos of Air Force One — cost around $328,835 in taxpayer money. We often pray for the wisdom of those in position to make decisions that often affect us as well as our daily lives, however, this decision, was a bone head idea over the city where the World Trade Center was demolished.

We are anticipating the released photos from the White House and will make them available for viewing right here.

Is Limbaugh too much for the republican recovery?

We wanted to pull this report together and check your thoughts on this issue. An issue raised last week by former Secretary of State and republican, Colin Powell when made some comments about Rush Limbaugh's present role as quasi "republican spokesperson".

Rush Limbaugh fired back at Colin Powell for his critical comments earlier this week, saying Wednesday that the former secretary of state should join the Democratic Party.

"What Colin Powell needs to do is close the loop and become a Democrat instead of claiming to be a Republican interested in reforming the Republican Party," Limbaugh said on his radio show Wednesday.

Limbaugh also took aim at Powell's decision to endorse President Obama over John McCain during the presidential election, repeating his earlier sentiment that Powell's move was "solely based on race."

"He's just mad at me because I'm the one person in the country who had the guts to explain his endorsement of Obama," Limbaugh said. "It was purely and solely based on race."

During a speech on Monday, Powell said the "the Republican Party is in deep trouble" and said the GOP would be better off without Limbaugh, according to a report by the National Journal.
"I think what Rush does as an entertainer diminishes the party and intrudes or inserts into our public life a kind of nastiness that we would be better to do without," Powell said.

Surely we all understand that what is going on with the republican party has occurred before in past times, but has also been the fate of the democratic party in modern history as well. Evidently, this is one of those slumps whereby the party out of power has to redefine itself to become more relevant to the electorate. However, what do you think the republican's need to do to become more of a suitable political organization for those it currently seems impossible to lure?

Rumors Harry Reid knew of Souter's Resignation for weeks?

Rumors are being placed around Washington, D.C. that Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid had been told by Justice Souter "several weeks ago" that the Justice would be stepping down from the highest court in the nation.

At age 69, the Justice had his fair share of the rumor creation when he failed to appoint Law Clerks to his office for the court's next session which will begin in the fall.

With that said, any other ideas who might have known about the Justices' resignation "several weeks ago"? One guess? Do you honestly believe that Harry Reid, the Senior Senator from Nevada, the Senate Majority Leader in this historic senate would have this piece of information and hold it close to his vest? Do you actually think, he would not tip off this historic presidency under the leadership of the congressional master, Rahm Emanuel, the White House Chief of Staff?

I want to just keep open and real with you...the White House had a head start before the leak and had already began to vett their likely candidates for Souter's replacement. Now of course, this is just the way politics work, but more than that, Senator Reid fully understands that this is the benefit of having your party leader working from the Oval Office.

An the occupant of the Oval Office is fully aware of the benefits of having the benefit the majority of congress behind him with a 60% job approval rating. Its fair to say that former President Bush would not have received that same gracious tid-bit of knowledge had he still occupied the Oval with a Democratic majority, yet, all of this is mere hypothetical anyway now isn't it? (wink...wink..)

Visit us on Twitter: "whitehousepray" and follow along throughout the day as we gather our resources. We want the electorate to stay informed, sure, yet we also want to ensure you know exactly what you ought to pray for when we call upon you each day. Our nation needs us to stand in the gap and be informed. The Lord wants us to come before him boldly, expecting for our nation those things we desire with fully with our hearts.