Mine Rescue: Crisis Shows Chile’s President To Be the Kind of Leader That America Desperately Needs
Chilean President Sebastián Piñera is known as the most democratically liberal and capitalistic of all leaders in South America. Flanked by a continent with more than its fair share of despots and tyrants, the contrast to Piñera could not be more evident. Juxtaposed to the abject poverty, misery, and prison-states that despots and tyrants create, the contrast to Chile’s vibrant free market economy could not be greater.
Beyond this, Piñera and our own President Barack Obama could not be more polar opposite. Obama is a man motivated by something mostly unfamiliar to Americans — redistributive anger and envy. Watching the Chilean president these last few days brought me to this.
In President Sebastián Piñera’s shoes, Barack Obama would have undeniably acted much differently. He would have turned to his “community organizing” background and been hamstrung by his naive and far-left, us-versus-them philosophical roots. He would have been paralyzed by a toxic combination of arrogant professorial theory and lack of real-world executive experience. He would have attacked the mining company for the entire 69-day affair. He would have done so right off the bat. He would have copped out and stuck to a rigid, defeatist, backwards ideology. And in his failing, he would have put responsibility on everyone around him, except himself.
Look to Obama’s attack on BP as his administration, amidst crisis, floundered and flopped like an oil-soaked pelican. Or look to the ludicrous banana republic-esque saber rattling against the Chamber of Commerce as November 2 approaches. Or even the “public enemy number one” fixation on Fox News. Or worse and most damaging to us all, the slavish hostility directed at income earners and entrepreneurs across this nation.
In crisis and challenge, Piñera lifted up his entire nation as an example.
Obama has petulantly, willingly, and unflinchingly brought his down.
Character counts and so do ideas.
What a world we live in to have to look to a Chilean president amidst a human emergency as an example of what America can, and will once again, stand for.
As long as we continue to be the kind of country that thinks “someone” else should pay for our education, our retirement, and our healthcare, we will continue to elect presidents who vow to take money away from people who have “at some point made enough money”.
And with the attitude that someone else should pay, goes the attitude that it is all someone else’s fault.
“As long as we continue to be the kind of country that thinks “someone” else should pay for our education, our retirement, and our healthcare”
Interesting you should mention that with regards to Chile, whose entire retirement system is basically a 401k type system where each person has their OWN retirement account, rather than having it go into a massive pension bureaucracy like Social Security.
That is true, Lily. We have to change one heart and mind at a time to right this ship.
…..”Luis Urzúa, the last of the 33 miners trapped over 2,000 feet below the Chilean earth’s surface, was lifted to his freedom earlier this week. Luis Urzúa, the last of the 33 miners trapped over 2,000 feet below the Chilean earth’s surface, was lifted to his freedom earlier this week. He was the last to join a reluctantly merry band of 33, meeting a new-found lease on life and potential untold wealth, fame, fortune, and adulation.and potential untold wealth, fame, fortune, and adulation.”
Could someone explain what, …”…last to join a reluctantly merry band…”, means?
it means that although they where happy that they were rescued –they most likely would have chosen that this never happened in the first place.
…..Thank you, Gary, that’s very perceptive, I didn’t think it through. I pray for their long term mental stability; that terrible claustrophobic endurance feat, in darkness, could be one of those awful background-lurking things to become a future “post traumatic stress” problem. Let’s all pray for each of them.
“Could someone explain what, …”…last to join a reluctantly merry band…”, means?” – Charlie Griffin
Si Senor, significa, dura ensamblar una venda renuente feliz.
Strongly suggest you trade Obama and three draft choices for Pinera. If that deal falls through we’ll offer three Opposition Leaders and the entire Canadian Senate for the Chilean president.
“The miners acted stupidly.”
“At some point, you’ve mined enough copper.”
“You know, a mine collapses, and everybody gets wee-wee’d up.”
LOL. Couldn’t have said it better myself!
Let’s start a “Pinera for President(of the USA)2012″ movement! I know, I know, but still…
Les Hardie: we import all kinds of things. Why not a prez? Actually we could lease him for two years. I bet he can run both countries at the same time.
Yes, if Obama can be a “natural born citizen”, then so can Pinera!
Piñera couldn’t pass the natural born requirement but,if we really want a good president why not ask the Lord to pick him out the way he Picked David to be king over Israel? True, David was sent through school and passed with flying colors. No good reason for the Lord to pick Obama except we had turned our back on the Lord. Chile had their Obama in Salvadore Allende and we have our Salvadore Allende in Obama. We probably have a Pinochet, too, who was able to set Chile back on the path of sound doctrine. Piñera will stay on course, too, but Pinochet was hated by the left and any really good candidate will also be hated. Hate is not a Christian characteristic.
~Da 4:17 This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.~
If we want a David we are going to have to look for those characteristics in our candidate. When we begin to seek such a person the Lord will bring to our attention.
10-13-10 was not 9-11-01. There were people celebrating in the streets but their joy had nothing to do with death and a warped idea of martyrdom. If the god of the moon crescent proved anything on 9-11 is a capacity for hating and killing. Christ instead, proved in Chile that He can save, here and now.
The miners prayed incessantly during their 69 day captivity. They were all Christian, none of them gave up hope of getting out to see their loved ones again. The scenes of tender compassion and care multiplied on the television screens of the world over and over. I was personally moved by the obvious sincerity of the President of Chile. He did not need a teleprompter to communicate with his people. He waited until the last miner was out to make his solemn promise that those who failed to provide for the safety of the miners were going to face the full force of the law.
In the first days after August 5 President Piñera (the “ñ” is pronounced like the “ny” in the English word “canyon”) took swift action to discipline those responsible for the enforcement of safety laws. He did not have to go around playing “bad Leroy Brown” and talking about kicking someone’s derriere. He took care of that business honorably and forcefully as soon as a true assessment of the situation reached him he fired every failing member of the bureaucracy from top to bottom and promised to pursue the strongest legal action against them after the rescue was completed. I heard nothing more about punishment of those responsible until the night when the miners starting coming out. Mr. Piñera took care of the urgent business at hand first with competence, transparency and kindness.
He was on TV almost an entire day without a teleprompter and we witness his sincerity and true emotional response as his compatriot miners began emerging from the mine. His triumph is also a triumph of free enterprise and faith. Chile got help from American private companies like Center Rock Inc., Schramm Inc., and our own Cupron Inc. from Richmond, Virginia. Japanese, South Korean, and German companies provided other critical products that made the rescue and care of the miners possible. The capitalist Christians shined. Planned Parenthood, Castro, Chavez, Kim, the Iranian shortie, and Al Qaida were obviously absent in this life-saving enterprise. Their business is to kill, impoverish and destroy. None of that was happening in Chile.
Watching the whole operation I remembered the kind of country that America used to be before we were drowned in a sea of paperwork and bureaucratic red tape. In those long gone days we were able to attack any problem with ingenuity, common sense, confidence, and faith in God. What a formidable country we were then, when we were all Americans of the non-hyphenated kind. Remember? Those were the days when the tyrants of the world bowed to our President and every kid in the world wanted to be an American cowboy.
Chile had to go through the same experience we went. They had liberal governments of the left and right. Recently they got smart and put a team of capable people in charge. They had to surmount a terrible natural disaster and now this. They have done a tremendous reconstruction job and now they have rescued the miners in a display of clockwork coordination and technical prowess that is already the envy of the whole continent.
As usual there were Americans entrepreneurs involved in the solution. I did not see any community activists working along with them but I saw the future of the entire American Continent. Hopefully the example to those humble Chileans will get the whole world thinking in the right direction.
The god of hate, death, and destruction was not there but Jesus was very present. The miners wore a shirt with Bible quotes written on their backs: “To Him be the Glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
I was impressed by the devotion of the Bolivian miner, Carlos Mamani, who kneeled and praised Jesus as soon as he was released form the rescue capsule. He kept praising and thanking God even in the presence of the Communist president of Bolivia, Evo Morales well known for his animosity towards Christians and a revert pagan himself. What a witness he got from that young man the most humble of his citizens!
Faith, patriotism, family values, hard work and common sense. From the high plateau of Atacama one can see that the future for Chile looks bright.
May God bless them as they grow in Him.
Thank you for your thoughts, Catino. I envision the America of which you speak. We will find her again. Even in our darkest hour, we will find her.
Thank you Mr. Daniel for your inspiring article.
Catino I can really support your post yet these miners have one bad hurdle ahead and it comes from Satan himself.
Joshua went against Jerico according to directions given to him but then he relied on his own thinking when he went against Ai. He did not know about Achan but the Lord knew and Ai prevailed against Israel. When that sin was dealt with then Israel took Ai. It was just one man transgressed in Israel but it sapped the strength of all Israel.
Again Joshua was met with a group that were their neighbors but lied and said they were sojourners from far off and desired peace with Joshua and again they relied on their own understanding instead of inquiring of the Lord for instruction. We can see love and compassion working in both these instances but they had unintended outcomes. As a result Israel, to put it in my own words, contracted a chronic disease that sapped their strength and well being. May these miner not forget the source of their strength and begin to put their trust in the material riches being offered. They can overcome but not without some personal effort.
This is what I am referring to:
>Beyond the now ubiquitous protective sunglasses
>donned by each man, the group received Apple iPod >Touches, Playstation 3s, Greek vacations, Elvis >products, and $10,000 from a Chilean mining >executive named Leonardo Farkas. Westernized >lifestyles await the bunch as rumors of big-dollar >book and movie deal arrangements hang in the >balance.
I am not saying they shouldn’t receive these things but it will be a greater test on their experience. There were days in the mine that they did not know if they could be reached and then a small hole and drill broke through and they were able to be supplied and had communication but were told they would be there for four months while a shaft was drilled. American ingenuity shortened that time considerable. That ingenuity is a product of the American way and none on the left could have rescued those miners.
Now these miners were probably living pretty much hand to mouth and now they have money with little, if any experience about how to use it.
Reference the lottery winners and the recipients of large cash settlements and you will see what I am talking about. Most of these recipients would have been in the same category of financial experiences as these miners and I know big money can mean big trouble. These miners need our prayers that they can keep their material blessing where they belong and not forget that the Lord took care of them in time of need and will continue to do so. I do not begrudge them the first nickel. I just know it is not an unmixed blessing and do not want to see that which is given in good faith used destructively, which is the way Satan has in mind. Let this blessing be a blessing, in deed.
I believe it was Satan, through his guise as Mudhammod who caused the mine collapse, but it was Jesus who got them out.
El Diablo has limited power. I know he cannot devine the thoughts of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is well able to lead us around Satan’s traps … when we are obedient. It does not follow that Satan had anything to do with the collapse in the mine. He did not harm the first miner but, as I posted above, his hand may be involved in a material stumbling block. Even if it is the miners can use that stumbling block for a stepping stone.
~ Lu 13:1 ¶ There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.
2 And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things?
3 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
4 Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?
5 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.~
There can be natural causes. These verses do not indicate Satan had a hand in what happened.
As I read comments, I realize how many brilliant and thinking people exist. It’s too bad those who only write hatred and profanity do not realize the power of thoughtful dialog. Thank you Catino.
i got to give it to the President of Chilean,and his wife GOD BLESS him, he was with his men to the end.. didn’t go golfing, vacation, flying here and there. THIS IS WHAT YOU CALL A PRESIDENT.
It’s a shame that we still have about 45% of the country that cannot see the we got the dirty end of the stick with Obama. From community organizer to president with no experence in anything to be able to do the job, except blame everybody and everything for his failures. We need a strong man at the helm not the wimp we got. Strenght and pride gets the job done, while hope sits in the wings.
OBAMA DID PICK UP A ”LITTLE SAND” WITH A TAR BALL! THEN WENT GOLFING.
The Israelites wanted a king and the Lord gave them Saul. The sons or Eli were not what they should have been and the Israelites thought a king (strong man) was the answer but the Israelites had God, whom the rejected. We, ourselves must be strong and then any one of our number can serve.
Wonderful analysis and post Tim Daniel. Beautiful comment Catino.
Thank you for reading!
Thank you Jetstream. The drum and drill bits used to dig the escape tunnel came from Pennsylvania. You know… that place where people “cling to guns and religion” as our ‘fearless leader and savior of the people’ said.
Obama would have waited until the miners came to the White House so
he could have his photo op and his teleprompter speech.
From the translation of Pinera’s speech he named many Prime Ministers and
Presidents who called him to help. Obama’s name was not mentioned. He did
thank the Americans for their help.
What a wonderful example Chile has set before the world.
Chi! Chi! Chi! Le! Le! Le!
I was over at my mother’s house watching the rescue with her. We come from a long line of patriotic veterans. After watching President Pinara and his speech, my 67 year old mother said out of nowhere “I wish he was our president instead of Obama.” I thought about it, and agreed!
I commend Mr. Pinera as an exemplary leader in this mining incident. We are to judge a man by his fruit. The fruit that I see from Chile is a multinational coalition working together on a very short timeframe to develop innovative systems to extract people from deep in the earth. I see hope and courage and hard work. I see determination and a focused national will unlike we have seen since WWII. I see the application and sincere motivation to accomplish a mission and the compelling “whatever it takes” attitude to move the efforts of all people involved in that rescue. I see 33 miners emerge alive from 70 days in the bowels of the earth–such a metaphor for being “dead in sin” has never before been accomplished EXCEPT of Jesus Christ’s own death. Even Jesus was only in the earth for three days and he was behind a big rock. These guys were half a mile down. The faith in God that was present with them in that cave is an example for all of us to see.
Congratulations, Mr. Pinera. You are truly a great example of leadership in crisis. Dios te bendiga.
In 1976 I signed on the Diamond M. General, at Sabine Pass, Texas, as oiler through the Straights of Magellan to return from Punta Arenas, Chile while the Diamond M. continued to California. A semi-submersible drilling platform with about an acre of deck floating on a catamaran having some 5,000 horsepower on its two thrusters. We also had the Wotan, a big German tug assisting and still only made sligltly more than six knots It took us 70 days, the same time the miners were in the mine. I was pretty influential on that trip. I disembarked the Saturday before our election when we elected Jimmy Carter.
Talking with a shop keeper in Punta Areanas I was told that Allende made many wonderful promises but when elected and he began to implement those programs business came to a screehing halt, everything flew off the shelves and now, since Pinochet took over, the gaps are filling back up. Have you been noticing the gaps in our own shelves? That is where the jobs have gone, not overseas. We cannot ship jobs overseas. In order for overseas jobs to be paid the money must originate at home and thus come back to us in trade. Without this circuit no value can change hands. In other words the value of their hire must be purchased in and from the United States. So any overseas job must generate an equivalent American job or there is no exchange of value. Money whether gold or counterfeit can only complete this circuit. It is like all your electrical appliances. There must be two wires, one coming from the power source and the other returning to that power source and only that power source. Nothing else works in the electrical world. Neither can it work in the financial world. We can write a check on a worthless piece of paper and, if we have the goods, that check is good to that amount but no more than that amount. That is the lesson in Socialism which believes we can run motors and air conditioners with just one wire. One half the circuit. Magic might make that possible but there is nothing to make magic possible.
What I noted in Punta Arenas and on my flight home was the enthusiam among the people. They saw hope of making progress. Sometime later I visited a family in Santiago and again was very impressed with the hope of personal progress on every hand except for the subversives who were still licking their wounds and spewing out hatred.
We saw the unity of this pulling together in the mine rescue. No one shrugged their shoulders and said, “that’s not my job.” We all took some form of responsibility and that was the reason America grew into greatness and Chile is showing us again that it is the system that work.
After Pinochet the Socialist tried to recoup but it didn’t go down that well and they found Piñera. He was already there among the people and our next leader is here among us. All we need to do is find who it is. What we are seeing here is not an accident but an attitude. If we cannot discern the marks of leadership we will succumb to the ravages of corruption.
October 18, 2010 – 3:54 pm
If This had happened in America,Barack Obama would have said the miners,acted stupidly.Ordered a shut down,and Immediate moratorium,on all energy development,in america.Declared an Executive Order,to bury the miners alive,In the name of “MOTHER EARTH”For the good of the Environment,and Population Explosion.He would have declared it was caused by racism,Sexism,and Homophobic biggotry.Demanded the D.o.j.do an internal investigation,and File lawsuits,against all states,That is involved in energy development.THEN the Obama media will,do their normal decieve,and distort reports,and groups like,The N.O.W.,Gay,and Lesbian Lobby,and Teachers Unions,will file lawsuits,and conduct angry protest,While Hillary Clinton,and the State Department,would have filed Civil,and Human rights violations,against America,To the United Nations for obstructing,access,to The Department of Education,Teachers Unions,The N.O.W.and other Pedophile,and Marxist Communist,Socialist.Their right to continue indoctrinating,brainwashing,and Sexually stimulating,(MINORS;)Oh; I almost forgot.New Yorks Mayor Michael Bloomberg,Would Demand the rights of these same angry, but Mis-understood(MIS-INFORMED) groups to build a Shrine,to their hero’s,that represent their religious beliefs,and their love of Minors.Inductee’s;Mao se tung,Margaret Sanger,Charles Manson,Jeffery Dahmer,and the newest inductee;”Michael Jackson”Maybe call the Shrine Progressive Liberalisms Shrine to those who loved (MINORS;)Jimmy Joe “The Liarfryer”
Your sarcasm is duly noted. What is important though is that behind sarcasm, sadly, there is always truth.
Leave it to right wingers to try to spoil even the most good feeling of events with their eye-rollingly stupid politicizations. No, Obama nor any other even semi-responsible leader would have acted differently. (Of course a Republican President like Bush may have used that as an excuse to invade Venezuela.) Also that type of unsafe mining would never have been allowed in this country, and that Chile’s economy isn’t all so hot either.
It was good, inspiring endeavor with a happy ending — don’t try to ruin it with political rubbish.
Nice try, BC. Let’s have a debate on the basics of my argument here. Do you deny that Obama would have performed precisely as I stipulate? Let’s hear your arguments instead of useless ad hominems.
Wait, no, you are here saying this, which proves my point in spades. Thank you!
To Tim Daniel: Do I think Obama is a man motivated by something mostly unfamiliar to Americans — redistributive anger and envy? No.
Do I think you and the right wing numbnuts casually spouting such idiotic, spiteful rubbish make the world a worse place? Yes.
And do I think you and others trying to twist the Chilean rescue into some bizarre political metaphor is no more than an effort to spoil a nice thing? Yes.
Also, I hate to beat a dead horse but the link you provided highlighting Chile’s economy isn’t ‘so hot’ either when juxtaposed against the same site’s analysis of the Venezuelan economy.
Take time to turn off the Michael Moore movie in the background and ponder a Venezuelan poverty rate of 40% (less than half that in Chile), inflation clocking in at 30% (less than 2% in Chile) and, unlike Chile’s diverse economy, an economy tied heavily to the fluctuations of the oil market.
That is your socialist
utopiadystopia on display.I believe this media event is going to cause more damage to Obama’s reputation than all the GOP ads put together. The comparison between the two presidents (Chile and US) came to mind without much effort. The situations are so similar (Katrina & Gulf spill) that no one could avoid to compare.
The incompetence of our enormous bureaucracies was exposed by the very media that tries to convince us that our “articulate leader” is nothing short than the savior of mankind. The Chileans put on a show of efficiency that Washington and Brussels can only dream of.
Like Chernobyl was to the Kremlin, so this event will be to the bloated bureaucracies of the West. Soon they will utter the words of a Polish communist bureaucrat contemplating the huge crowds drawn by Pope John Paul II: “Jesus and Mary! This is the end!” Or the very words that started the perestroika in the USSR: “We can’t continue living like this.”
Watch for BIG changes all over the world in the next 33 months. This event is Chile may very well have been a prophetic warning.
Tim have you read my posts? Also one on The Foreclosure Document Mess: Cloward, Piven, and Their President Are Surely Pleased http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/the-foreclosure-document-mess-cloward-piven-and-their-president-are-surely-pleased/#comment-664897
My last post here got posted on this site and then I added an explanation plus some more Comments. The Communist spirit is global like a giant fungus connected by invisible mycelium. What we see are toadstool popping up here and there and we think they are neither related nor connected but it is but one entity. Whether Kim in North Korea, Castro in Cuba, FARC IN Columbia or the Muslim menace, they all have Communist fingerprints on them. Most have local problems the Communist exploit to promote stife and we go along with it. We do not connect the dots and discover that there has been one agenda since about the mid 1800s. BC is willfully stubborn so there is no point trying to convince him any diffeent. But there are many others that are simply ignorant. Them we need to teach.
Whit – I did read your post and totally agree with your thesis. Have you written more here at PJM?
Also, you are totally correct re: leftist characters like BC. As you will note, he did not address my central point and just threw nasty names around. That is what most leftists do. You are indeed correct that arguing with such trolls is like wrestling with a pig – you get dirty, waste your time and the pig likes it.
Janeane Garofalo? Is that you?
I wasn’t following this story as closely as most people were. But I did see the rescue and heard Pinera’s speech. I don’t know the first thing about him, but I too was impressed with his sincerity, genuine thanks to God and leadership.
Seeing the comparison laid out in this way was really thought provoking. I tried to picture how Obama would handle a situation like this. Judging from the way he handled the BP incident and the rest of the things he’s done so far, I think you are on target.
Thank you for this article. I cannot wait for Obama and his cronies to be gone from office so that America can get back on track and be that shining light she has always been and was meant to be.
I have a picture of a past president on the wall here in my office with this quote written on it. “I have always believed in you and what you could accomplish. Whatever else history says about me when I am gone, I hope that it will record that I appealed to your best hopes and not your worst fears and to your confidence”. President Pinera appealed to his peoples best hopes and guided them past their worst fears and think of the confidence and price that the people of Chile feel today. Oh, who was our past president? Ronald Regan. Thanks Tim for highlighting that there are still such leaders in the world. It renews our hope that our next president will be such a man or woman.
Sorry, typo. I meant confidence and pride (not price).
Obama was photographed bending over the shores of Louisiana like the moron he is.
I was speaking about the miners’ story and heard myself say, “I wish we had a president like Chile’s.” It almost made me cry to hear my own words.
It is always amazing to me that when thoughts that do not agree with some liberal’s ideology that what comes forth is vitriol. There are usually a few facts included in the diatribe but rarely do those hold up to scrutiny. I loved your article. I respected your labor in research and appreciated most of all your restraint in your comment answers. I’ll be watching!
JDS – The vitriol from the far-left is amazing yet not surprising for those who know what leftism really stands for. Note that even his response/non response contains ad hominems against me – “numbnut” for daring to point out the incredible flaws behind his ‘dear leader’ Obama. Thanks for reading!
Nice smack down Tim. I was half expecting BC to jump all over Cantino, but he chose you instead. Maybe he didn’t realize that Mr. Jones response was sarcasm so he left that alone too. Thanks for a thoughtful article.
Thanks, Walt. You will note that he didn’t respond to the concrete evidence that I posted – the irrefutable difference between the command/control economy of communist Venezuela and that of Chile. Instead he goes for the personal attack route.
Thanks for reading my piece.
An absolutely fantastic president. Chile is to be envied for having such a president! Too bad, he wasn’t our president during the gulf oil disaster. And too bad he is not our president during the financial destruction America is experiencing. This caring man would make all the right decisions and save our country!
Linda, we have such leaders but they are neither politicdians nor lawyers. We do not see them because our itching ears have dulled our visual pereption. A very radical web site, La Voz de Aztlan has the motto:
“Vale mas una gota de verdad que un mar de mentiras”
One drop of truth has more value than a sea of lies. If you want to know the truth you will find much more on the pages of Pajamas than on La Voz de Aztlan which is publishing more in English now than Spanish but this saying is a good saying. It does prove that this spirit has no truth in it.
The Liberal, subversive Left does recognize these leaders and proceed to smear them or try to intimidate them so they will not run for office. I can give you several names that, in my opinion, are capable but we need someone both competent to run the job and having an attitude that lets him stand under heavy attack. Most of the names I hear under current discussion lack this attitude. But it is available but most likely dormant at the moment. The Lord knows who it is and if we let him will give directions.
“With God, all things are possible.”
THIS is the difference between the Presidents. In Chile, people were on their knees praying. The glory was all to God.
During the Gulf oil mess, there was no celebration of God and life, only crass, political opportunism. No appeals to God were forthcoming. No credit to God was given. It was ugly. Souless. Sterile.
In the days after 9/11, President Bush appealed many times to God, and thereby rallied the nation. Many people stated they were glad at that moment it was Bush, and not the wooden Gore, who was President. Bush is undeniably a man of faith.
The release of the miners brought joy to the world. It was a celebration of life! It was a miracle right before their eyes! Impossible! “But with God, all things are possible.”
Faith brought those men out. Without faith, there would have been only despair, and surrender to the inevitable. Faith in God gave these people the strength to do what was impossible. Faith made it possible.
Right there was proof of God, right before our eyes! Here is the proof you seek.
But there are none so blind as those who will not see….