Grandma's Watching

Most clear-thinking Americans are now beginning to believe that the Obama Administration is inherently corrupt. His Department of State and Department of Justice are in lock-step with him on cover-ups from “Fast and Furious” to Benghazi. These two items are so out there in the open, it is hard to find a “whatever it takes to keep him in office” Liberal who is willing to even discuss those issues.

However, this entire subject is what the phrase “Tip Of The Iceberg” was coined for. You need not look too far beneath the surface to come to the scary conclusion that this is a very massive iceberg.

In the interest of brevity and still make a solid point, I decided to pick just one example of something that will probably remain obscure but  bring out a glowing illustration of the wide swath of dirty politics and downright corruption this man and his henchmen (and woman) have cut through the fabric of America.

The topic is voter fraud. We all know they did it. There are the overt examples from Ohio, Pennsylvania, Colorado and on and on. But here is an example of one of the many hundreds of ways it was pulled off.

From the time Obama took office, an unholy alliance has developed between the Department of Justice and the ACLU. Now, to most Americans, it would seem to go without saying that the role of the DOJ should be to protect voter integrity, not join with radical leftwing groups in trying to undermine it. But remember, this is the Obama Justice Department, with Eric Holder as its chief – a man so disdainful of basic security measures and legal protection to ensure free and fair elections that he has become a regular on Judicial Watch’s “Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians” list.

In Florida, a lawsuit in early 2012 was brought against the State because it was proven that Florida had an amazingly high rate of ineligible voters on the registration roles. Florida immediately went into action to attempt to clean up the problem. Wait just a minute there Mr. Sunshine State! “Not so fast,” said Eric Holder. The DOJ, with the help of the ACLU, then followed with its own lawsuit on June 12, 2012, asking a federal court to enjoin the state from taking steps to inquire about the presence of non-eligible aliens on voting rolls. It all came to a screeching halt and thousands of illegal votes were cast for? Now wait! Think about it . . . Right! Barack Obama.

From the very top of the federal government down to the liberal grassroots, there seems to be a general acceptance that breaking the law to keep Obama in the White House is perfectly OK. A brand new case-in-point just reared its ugly head yesterday when it was revealed that the IRS was targeting Tea Party members for tax audits. The Tea Party??  In every picture I have ever seen of a Tea Party rally I never saw a person that looked like he or she did not pay their due in taxes to the federal government. Most of them look like someone’s grandma or grandpa. What are the Libs so afraid of?

Of course, when we were kids, the last person you wanted mad at you was your grandma or grandpa. Then you knew you did something really wrong.

I rest my case.

You Get What You Vote For

I watched some of Dana Perino's interview with Bush 43 the other night.  It was not long into the dialogue that I heard those four words that Bush espouses nearly every time he gets to a microphone.  "Stand by your principals."  When asked how he would best describe his success in his presidency, he fell back on those words, "I stood by my principals".  OK . . .I get it.  Bush was principled.  It sounds good on the surface.  He has a set of principals that he lives by.  In fact, it seems we should feel good when a presidential candidate assures us that he will stand on his principals.  Usually, we do feel good.  So why does it bother me when I realize that Barack Obama has a set of principals that he also stands for?

Considering the virulent press Bush received and the even more difficult liberal congress, he was able to accomplish quite a number of things that he set out to do  based on his principals.  He stood strong against partial-birth abortions, he signed two income tax cuts, he increased small business incentives creating a hiring frenzy.  He also changed the tone of the White House back to one of honor and dignity and launched an initiative to combat AIDS in Africa that has saved millions of lives.  However, he also stood on principal when he outlawed stem-cell research based on his religious beliefs.  And was he being principled when he signed nearly every spending bill the democrats sent him from Congress?

And so it goes . . . We seem to have yet another principled president in the White House.  Obama sticks to his principals nearly to the letter.  Problem is, from Obamacare to immigration, from his world apologies to redistribution of income, his principals are nearly all wrong for America.  He even voted against the Infanticide Bill.  Really . . .?  What kind of person would do that?  Most of his principals more closely resemble Lenin or Mussolini than any American president.

When I think about it, we never should just vote for principled individuals. We should find out what the candidate's principals are and make decisions as to whether or not those principals spell disaster for our country.

And that's all I'm going to say about that.

I am writing a blog post about Obamacare that should be ready by this Sunday.

I said should be.

Johnny's Dilemma

Johnny was a pretty good kid. He usually did what he was told and his parents knew he could be trusted. They let him carry his own wallet with his allowance and lunch money because they knew he would not spend it on frivolous things. At twelve years old, Johnny was just beginning to reason things out for himself. He began to get resourceful and save just a little bit of his allowance for unforeseen needs and wants. Maybe he would soon be able to buy one of the little model airplanes that his best friend builds and sells to the other neighborhood kids. Although his holdings were meager, it was his money. He would pull weeds in his mom’s garden, vacuum the living room and stairs and gather the trash and take it to the curb each week. Johnny did as much as he had time for to continue to earn, save and spend his money according to his needs.

Then one day, while out on the playground, several boys were comparing their billfolds. Johnny was especially proud of his because he made it himself. It was real leather with tight nylon stitching and an embossed likeness of The Lone Ranger on the side. Just as he was holding it out for all to see, the playground bully snatched at his wallet and it dropped to the ground. Several dollars fell out and began to blow lazily around the children. The bully knocked Johnny out of the way and grabbed all the money he could get his hands on. “What are you doing with all this money?” he blurted. “That’s my money! Johnny shouted, please give it back.” “Why do you have more money than the rest of us?” the bully complained. Johnny said he earned it and saved it in case he needed it later. So the bully went on to explain that it was not fair that Johnny had so much money and that there were other kids that did not have that much money and that he, the bully, was going to take it and redistribute Johnny’s money to the rest of the kids. Of course, bully’s being what they are, he took the money all right, but he kept most of it for himself and played more golf and went on expensive vacations and continued to extort money from . . . .oops. I got carried away with my metaphor.

I realize I’m being obvious in this example but that is my intent. It is SO obvious what the bully, Barack Obama, is doing in his redistribution nonsense. He is in his fifth year of “redistributing” wealth to the poor and less fortunate. So . . .are they better off with rich people’s money? I don’t think so. Well then, where are all those extra dollars confiscated from America’s earners, savers and purchasers of goods and services? The vast majority of those dollars are resting in the coffers of the Federal Government. How else could he afford to amass the largest growth spurt of the U.S. Government in history? When a man’s dog-keeper is making $100,000 a year, paid through confiscated money of hard-working Americans, it just might be time for the country’s collective light bulb to go on and we all say WTF?!

I think this is where I’m supposed to offer an answer to the problem. The answer passed us by last November. There are still far too many people out there that think Obama is being truthful and that Socialism is a much better way to run a country. The fact is, Obama is lying to them and they are lying to themselves and with Obamacare about to slam this already teetering economy in the shins, I’m feeling that the Kool-Aid has already been swallowed. All we can do is wait for the effects of this poisonous scourge to take hold.

A stronger Congress would have helped. But we will never get that again without term limits. A Supreme Court that makes rulings backing up the Constitution, rather than their political leanings, would be a refreshing change of pace. And certainly a President that simply upholds his Oath of Office would suffice, for now. Our system of “Checks and Balances” can never work when all three branches are completely off-balance.

And so it goes . . . Bloggers continue to blog, talking heads continue to talk and Washington continues to take us down a road we have never traveled before.

Maybe we should ask ourselves, “What would Johnny do?” Would he continue to let the bully confiscate his earnings as the school year winds on? Would he just quit helping his mom with the chores? I doubt it. Remember, he’s pretty resourceful. My bet is he’d go directly to the problem; the bully. He would expose him for the fraud that he is. He would help other kids to learn to be resourceful too. Soon everyone would realize that the bully was a fraud. They would ignore his lies and his boasting. The bully would have little effect when he would lie about where the money was going, or take expensive vacations or keep kids from visiting the White House.

Well damn . . . there I go again.

Who's The Boss?

Bet you thought this would be an essay about Barack Obama. Not really. Who is the leader of the free world? Considering that the general consensus is that Valerie Jarrett gives Obama the OK on virtually every movement he makes, I think I am finally reaping the benefits of Logic 101 from my freshman college days. So why waste time writing about number two in command when we can go right to the top?

Iranian born Valerie Jarrett is the Senior Adviser to The President of the United States and Assistant to the President for Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs. Huh? She got into the Chicago political machine in 1987, and never looked back.  Through her major areas of expertise (namely Leftist Theory), she has been able to steer President Obama in her drive towards “fundamentally transforming” the United States into a socialist oligarchy.  Beyond just being unpleasant, she is relentless, merciless and exceedingly demanding. In short, she’s no one to mess with.

So when she makes a statement, everyone listens. And a statement she made! It was just prior to the election. Even her closest staff were saying that they did not know how she could be so confident in the election going to Obama, but she was. She said:

“After we win this election, it’s our turn. Payback time. Everyone not with us is against us and they better be ready because we don’t forget. The ones who helped us will be rewarded, the ones who opposed us will get what they deserve. There is going to be hell to pay. Congress won’t be a problem for us this time. No election to worry about after this is over and we have two judges ready to go.”

Let’s take this apart a little.

“After we win this election, it’s our turn”. Excuse me but haven’t they been in office for 4 years?

“Payback time. Everyone not with us is against us and they better be ready because we don’t forget”. Forget what? You guys have practically skated through the past 4 years without a scratch.

“The ones who helped us will be rewarded, the ones who opposed us will get what they deserve. There is going to be hell to pay”. That’s the spirit! Forget uniting America. It’s divide and conquer at all costs. What a lovely lady.

“Congress won’t be a problem for us this time.” Wait just a damn minute! You sneaked through Congress the largest socialistic and economically crippling bill of all time and you think you had a problem?

“No election to worry about after this is over and we have two judges ready to go.” That you do, Ms. Chairman

If that kind of rhetoric does not make you wonder if the Republic (for which it stands) is now on life support, I don’t know what will convince you.

So, I’ll give it one parting shot. Four years from now is simply too late. Far more Americans will be depending on Government for their entire income. They are talking about the economic cliff today. What about the Freedom Cliff? When over 51% of the people depend on welfare for all their needs, they will never again vote to be free of the ties that bind.

Hope? There isn’t much. But, as I see it, we have one glimmer; the mid-term elections. If Americans who care about freedom fail to take the Senate and the House in 2 years, Valerie Jarrett and all the Socialist/Communists that follow behind her have won.

Damn . . . I need a drink.


 <a href="http://www.hypersmash.com">Hypersmash.com</a>

Knee-Jerking

Most of us have had moments in our lives where we saw a person in a movie or on television or knew someone we admired and said, “I want to be just like that guy”. No doubt that is an inborn response as a result of our learning process from the time we are born. We watch our parents and emulate the movements, verbiage and characteristics used in their everyday lives.

I recently lost my dog to cancer. We had a good life together. I got her as a puppy and, through time, we learned much about each other. Through our love and devotion, it made each of us feel good to interact in a positive way towards one another. I learned from her and she learned from me. The Biography Channel is full of interviews where famous actors begin their talk about how they got into the business with a discussion about his or her idol or mentor. My guess is that our brains have a tendency to wire themselves into a framework of positive feelings when we find opportunities to emulate a person or pet that we admire. It has probably been that way since the first mammals walked on earth.

Like most things where the brain is concerned, the wiring can get flawed. That flaw can range from undetectable to markedly screwed up.  Children of abusive parents often become abusers themselves, mafia bigwigs usually have no problem enlisting their kids into the business and (usually after college) young people tend to follow the political ideals of their parents. The drive for fame can be very strong in some people. So strong in fact, that it can overwhelm their daily thoughts. So where does an introvert who wants to emulate other famous people go to become famous? It would have been pretty difficult just a few decades ago. But things have changed. It’s easy to become famous now. Any miss-wired psychopath can take comfort in the fact that the news media will give him or her instant fame. Fame can come in many different forms. Even celebrities mention that bad news about them is still publicity and publicity is what they are all about.

Last Friday as the first reports began coming in about the terrible tragedy in Connecticut, the primary goal of the media was to get the name of the killer. My bet is that the media felt that whoever got that name first was the winner. It’s likely that unstable psychopaths protected by the ACLU, off their meds and sitting at home watching TV alone, are not considering the children or the teachers that were murdered. They are saying to themselves, “Wow, that Adam Lanza is famous! I wanna be just like him!”

We all tend to knee-jerk during these tragedies to find solutions as to why it happened. “It’s the guns fault." "It’s the parents fault". "It’s Bush’s fault.” These are typical mantras. My knee-jerk reaction is “It’s the media”.  

Here are the headlines this Sunday morning at the top of The Drudge Report blog:

REVENGE OF THE 'GOTH' LONER...

Mother took killer to shooting range...

Pulled him out of school...

Unable 'to feel physical pain'...

Intelligent and shy...

'Evil,' or just mentally ill?

How many mentally unstable people in this country are reading these headlines and plotting their next move? Is this sensationalized information necessary? Do news directors ever consider the possible consequences of their reporting? I doubt it. It’s the ratings stupid.

I think we need a serious discussion concerning the process of reporting these heinous events. Free speech advocates may cry foul, but consider this. Which part of the Constitution do we address; taking away our right to defend ourselves with a gun ban or protecting the innocent through carefully denying the mentally ill the spotlight that they do not deserve?

The Enemy Within

Is there anything that most Americans agree on? Well, yes . . I think there is. It is the very obvious problem that our government is failing us. The how, why and who is where we have a difference of opinion. Liberals still contend that it is all Bush’s fault and that it may take 30 years of Obama’s reign to get us on the right track. Conservatives rarely doubt that Obama has it in for the US and wants to tax and regulate American Commerce out of existence.  Of course, it’s not all that simple. But it shouldn’t be too hard to noodle this out a little. As you might have guessed, I am about to give my own assessment of what I see as the three greatest threats within our own country today. Correct as they are, I invite you to add more or debate my issues if you wish.

1. Government Education and the Teacher’s Union – Radio host and columnist Neal Boortz, not known for pulling punches, states that the single biggest threat to our country at this time is the National Education Association. With high school graduates not knowing the capital of their own state, suffice to say . . . that’s a problem. With unions fighting to protect inept teachers, maybe Boortz has a point. But doesn’t it go a bit further? What’s the big deal about school vouchers? It works. Low income students having the opportunity to attend private schools is a good thing, isn’t it? It would have the other positive effect of lowering overcrowding in government schools. The voucher program in New York has been a resounding success. President Obama signed an executive order promising to "improve outcomes and advance educational opportunities for African Americans." But he opposes school vouchers. Seems kind of contradictory to me.
2. Lifers in Congress – The brilliant framers of our Constitution goofed. They failed to include a provision for term limits for congressmen. This really wasn’t such a problem for the first 100 years or so because truly honorable men and women commonly made up the Congress and usually bowed out after a reasonable time in office to go back to their professions and family. Interestingly, it is usually the most inept of congress people today who continue to run and get reelected, voting themselves pay raises, free healthcare, and demanding hero status from the minions. Presidents can’t destroy America on their own, they need a willing Congress to finish the job. It is the ultimate “Catch 22”. Guess who has to introduce the bill to change the Constitution? Can we expect our failing Congress to vote themselves out of a job? With the approval level for Congress at historic lows, a grassroots movement to enact term limits through a national referendum is gaining a stronghold in several states. Woohoo!
3. The Vote-Buying Welfare Scheme – This is such an insidious act that I have to take a few breaths to calm down as I write about it. It’s nothing new. Obama didn’t start it. He’s just bringing it to a new art form. Welfare in and of itself can be a noble quest for any government to employ. There is a definite breaking point however where it becomes like a powerful drug. After a few injections of cash, the junkie will do anything to get more. Politicians say to themselves, “Vote for me Mr. Junkie-Man and I’ll make sure you stay right there where I want you.” And they do. They stay impoverished, uneducated and needing another fix. I had a conversation with a young man recently who had voted for Barack Obama in 2009. He said he voted for him because he felt he was going to be the great hope for Blacks in helping them to become better educated and acquire more chances at good jobs. According to my new, young friend, he feels Obama has done just the opposite; and on purpose.

So those are my three. There’s more but I’ve probably lost several readers by now anyway and I am always told my blogs are too long.

Please add your thoughts to my comments.

 

A CALL TO ACTION - Not My Usual Blog

It is well known that one of the primary reasons the British lost the Revolutionary War is because they simply stood there like gentlemen and let the uncouth barbarians (our forefathers) shoot at them from behind trees. “That’s not how you fight a war!” was the cry from the Redcoats. You are supposed to line up, take aim, and fire. Those are the rules. They lost the war. Such is the battle for the Presidency 236 years later. Republicans have not considered that fighting for office through playing by the rules will only result in defeat.

Through this past summer, I became less and less confident that Romney could win the election. It was not because he couldn’t bring enough to the table. He is an amazingly accomplished man. What he had to offer to turn our fruitless country around and ease our distress appeared to be the perfect formula. So what went wrong? If I could offer one simple phrase to sum up the Obama campaign’s success that Mitt Romney and his advisors simply were not willing to do, that phrase is - Commit Fraud.  Not just voter fraud but campaign fraud too. Take a look at Webster’s definition of the word Fraud:

Deceit, trickery, sharp practice or breach of confidence, perpetrated for profit or to gain some unfair or dishonest advantage.

Go ahead and look the word up. There are several other definitions. It’s easy to recognize the actions of the Obama Administration and the subsequent campaign in any definition of the word.

My first clue that this was not going to go well was when George Stephanopoulos asked a totally off-the-wall question of Romney at one of the Republican debates. He asked if Romney believes that the courts should overturn a constitutional right to privacy which bars States from banning contraception.  What? No one, not Romney or anyone else for that matter ever suggested such a thing. It’s the old “When did you stop beating your wife?” question. It finally came to light that the question was requested by members of Obama’s reelection team to discredit Romney with women. The acts of fraud escalated exponentially from there. Obama’s thugs would jump out from behind trees, toss lies or false accusations to the media and then hide back in the woods to reload. It didn’t seem to matter how bizarre the attacks were. They always hit their mark with someone. Sandra Fluke convinced woman that they could not afford birth control without government subsidies. They were convincing voters that Romney would kill old people just like he did to a man’s wife that used to work for him. It seemed Obama could say anything and it would stick like glue to at least some voters.

Yet, in the end, Mitt Romney was actually ahead in the polls. One thing all the news outlets could agree on is that it was going to be close. Really? Apparently none of the respected prognosticators added in the one element that had been staring them in the face for about a year prior to the election. Fraud. I hate to say I told you so (not really) but I was warning about election fraud for the last two months prior to November. I knew it would be rampant and I was pretty sure it could swing the election.

Just to address those who love to try the “turn around” argument by saying “The Republican’s do it too”, I say to you. Yes, there no doubt were some cheaters on the Right who tried to add fraudulent votes for Mitt Romney. Just as some Redcoats probably tried to hide behind a tree or two before they were trounced. But this was a highly orchestrated and artful work of fraud. If you need proof, simply Google “Vote Fraud 2012” and read the plethora of articles in every state where thousands of votes were diverted to Obama or where entire precincts had not one vote for Romney or where all White counties had scores of Black voters and on and on. When an election is as close as this one was predicted to be by every pollster in America, how else can you explain Obama’s commanding win when the day was over?

So what’s the answer? Should Republicans learn the tactics of the Left? Is lying and cheating going to dictate elections from now on? Perhaps. But, I’d like to think there may be another way; something that borders on rational behavior. I suggest the Republicans and all freedom-loving individuals in America begin now to take advantage of the coming disasters looming through the next four years and embrace our easily swayed fellow Americans. Continually explain what might have been. Recognize where the Latino and Black communities need help with more outreach programs. Develop private institutions where women who are struggling get a better chance at a fulfilled life. In other words, Conservatives need to build trust within those groups that need help but don’t know where to turn.

Instead of privately giving to charities, openly give time and money to set up organizations that show that Conservatism is a positive, uniting force in America. Instead of Tea Party rally videos of angry Americans shouting their displeasure with the government, how about Tea Party videos of members going into the ghettos and tutoring young people on what it means to be an American. You get the picture.

I truly believe that the Conservative Movement in America can thrive once again in four years if we put those ideals into action now, before it is too late. By instilling trust in our fellow Americans through our actions, acts of fraud would not be able to take such a foothold as it has these past few years.

I love my country as I’m sure you do. I can’t just sit here and write blogs that do not go anywhere anymore. I feel I have to take some action. My first action is to ask for your help. I welcome your thoughts on how we might accomplish this goal. I plan to write to my congressman soon and the Tea Party leaders who might listen. Please help give me suggestions as to the best direction to take. Any progress in our efforts will be updated here.

God Bless America

Chuck Drake

Private emails are welcomed.

Cdrake1@hotmail.com

That’s One Small Step

Two of the most beautiful cities in the world are Athens, Greece and Rome. Italy. Their respective histories reflect some of the greatest triumphs of all mankind. Athens, referred to as The Cradle of Western Civilization and the birthplace of democracy, has evolved into one of the premier, cosmopolitan, economic and cultural cities in the world. Rome’s history is unprecedented. The influences that the people and history of Rome have had on the rest of the world are extraordinary. I mention these two great cities now because they have one thing in common today that is a little out of character from their usual charm. Cars are being burned, stores are being looted and citizens are attacking one another in the streets.

What in the world could cause these two beautiful cities to fall into anarchy? Actually, there were several missteps that started the ball rolling. Staggering debt is the main issue. There is no more money to hand out to the citizens who have been on the government dole for most of their lifetimes. It simply is too late. No more handouts, no more bailouts and no more money to sustain the way of life that their socialist governments have promised to the people. Taxing the rich, minting more money and redistributing incomes by the governments in order to remain in power have crippled both economies to the point of no return.

So, the obvious question is, just how far behind these two ‘great’ cities is the U.S.? Not far I’m afraid. Prior to the election, thousands of Tweets offered up threats of violence in the streets if Barack Obama was not reelected. Why would those threats be voiced? No doubt, those people feared they would lose their government handouts. It simply does not matter to many Americans that we are on a Thelma and Louise track over the cliff with the pedal to the metal.

Like Rome and Athens, our government’s plans for a solution to the crises boarders on the insane. Tax the rich? Ok . . . the current tax increases on the “rich” proposed by the Obama administration will not even pay the interest on the debt for more than 10 days. Reduce spending? . . . They don’t reduce spending. They simply offer reductions on the increases already in place. Nationalize corporations? . . . .Yeah, right.

With the reelection of the Obama administration, there is now little doubt that we are going to go the way of Rome and Athens. Take away the citizen’s welfare and anarchy is soon to follow. Every Socialist regime knows this. But it is a risk worth taking in order to remain in power. And when the walls begin to crumble, the Elitists simply step aside and watch it fall.

I’m really not into pessimism. I think it is unproductive. But when I look at the news videos of the riots in the streets overseas, I can only wonder how close we are to being next.

The answer, I’m afraid is “One Small Step”.

Hey, It’s Only A Game

Cornell/Dartmouth? LSU/Alabama? Democrats/Republicans? I guess it’s all in how badly you want to win. It is abundantly clear that no matter what the result “winning is everything” has become a dangerous ideal in the world today. Take the New Orleans’ Saints for example. Winning became so important to them that the coaches put a cash bounty on the heads of opposing players to increase their chances. Did decency and moral character matter? Apparently not. And so it goes also with the Neo-Democratic party.

I have read countless “tweets” over the past two days, specifically to get a feel for just what policies, principals and other factors might have been the driving force in the minds of Democrats that lead to the stunning defeat of . . .  Freedom. As it turns out, there was virtually no constructive criticism as to the how’s or why’s of the campaign. Two typical tweets were, “We win, you lose” ROFLOL!” or this gem, “Our nigga won, u nigga lost. Now we not have to kill u nigga.”

Those are extreme but my point is, the old saying that “Once a Democrat always a Democrat” is becoming a dangerous dogma for our country. “Once a Republican, always a Republican” could be just as dangerous. However, it is not Republicans leading the charge to take us from a Republic, where the power rests with the citizens, to a Governmental Oligarchy; meaning all power rests with just a few, government rulers. Within the bowels of these tweets were many suggestions that we dump the Constitution and re-elect Obama in four years. These are serious threats not to be taken lightly.

I have a few liberal friends that have communicated their glee at the “win”. That’s fine. I don’t eat sour grapes, or any grapes for that matter. But I’m still troubled. I can’t shake the feeling that these are the same people that would happily follow the party rule in North Korea or be an approving member of the Fifth Republic Movement, the socialist-democratic party under Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. As Obama continues to dictate how it’s going to be rather than work within the boundaries of our Constitution, we continue to sink deeper into the very depths that our founding fathers warned us about just over 200 years ago.

We lost our innocence this week. America appears willing to put a bounty on the heads of anyone who gets in the way of our newly found socialist state. Many feel that there is no turning back. As more and more citizens and illegals learn that they can vote for their income rather than work for it, the ideals that our parents and grandparents taught us are withering. Self-reliance and work ethic is taking a back seat to government reliance and indolence.

But the good news is “We Won”!

Or did we?

Help Wanted

We hear the cry’s of foul from citizens throughout the country. We see timelines and charts of Barack Obama’s rise to the Presidency. Talking heads throw out names of Obama’s past associates and current friends, either with disdain (FOX News) or pride (MSNBC). But let’s play with this a little.

Suppose you and I are on the hiring board of a major business. We are looking for a new, dynamic, star in the business world. We need a fresh approach to our business because what we have been doing lately is getting us into financial trouble. Several names are in the hopper and we are going over each one carefully. The next candidate’s info sheet is passed out and each of us read the background report. After we each look up from the document, the person who suggested this candidate is ready to field questions.

Q Where are his college transcripts?

A: He prefers not to show them to us.

Q: Where are the listings of his experience in the business world?

A: His past business experience is so limited; we decided not to list it.

Q: Then, at least, tell us about his successes. What other businesses has he saved?

A: Well . . .none, yet. But we hope that if he gets another chance, he might be successful.

Q: Well then, how did this person’s application ever get to our desk?

A: Well, we were looking for someone unlike anyone else. He claims he can change things from the way they are now to something he says will transform everything in our business.

Q: Well then, at least let’s check out his references . . . ok?

“Sure, no problem, here is a list of three people that he has known as good friends for many years.”

1. Reverend Jeremiah Wright, his pastor for 20 years who espouses hatred for America in his sermons.
2. Bill Ayers, self-proclaimed Communist who blew up government buildings in the early 70’s
3. Tony Rezko, corrupt financier with ties to terror financing

“Are you crazy?” No one in their right mind would hire someone with no experience, no credentials and such friends as these shady characters!”

And so it goes . . . .

True Friends

I have another birthday quickly approaching. Time to reflect once again. This past year has been a tough one for me. Always the optimist, I am sure this next go around will be a vast improvement. This last birthday-to-birthday cycle has taught me much about how unprepared we can be for what life has planned for us. Friendship, I feel, is one of our most prized possessions, friendship and a sense of humor. I suppose that’s why I still have good friends going all the way back to my childhood. I love my good friends. I mean I really love them. They have provided me with a sense of direction and comfort through my life. I try, whenever possible, to be a good friend too. Sometimes I can’t be there when I feel I should. But it makes me feel special to be able to help out my friends. All that being said, this past year I have lost two of my very closest friends, one to a strange case of pneumonia and the other to suicide.

Bill was always a little odd on the surface. He was born just days before me. His mother told me that we were in the nursery together in the hospital. That’s how long I’ve known him. We were always on separate paths through life. I partied, he studied. I got in trouble, he bailed me out. He was shy with girls, I would hook him up. He was not a very good golfer, I took his money. We went to separate colleges that were only about 70 miles apart. So we often visited each other on weekends. He learned all about frat parties at Ball State and I learned all about architecture at Miami of Ohio. We also enjoyed road trips together. The San Antonio Worlds Fair, surfing in Galveston, and getting to drink at 18 in New Orleans are great memories for me. We both left home on the same day. I settled in Atlanta and Bill went on to Miami as a full-fledged architect. Through the next 30 years or so, we probably kept in touch at least every couple of weeks. Nothing like getting a quick call from a friend who cares enough to make sure I’m OK. He was my best man at my wedding and I took full advantage of his Miami residency by hanging out in South Beach as my vacation spot of choice.

So when I found out he was sick, it was nearly impossible to believe. Bill did not have an ounce of fat on him and he swam in his high-rise condo pool every morning for years. I went to spend New Years with him just after Christmas 2010. He was very sick. He had damaged his lungs beyond repair and I knew after I left that I had said my last goodbye. He lived through last year’s birthdays and died in early November. I had lost my childhood friend, the kid that knew more about me than anyone else in the world. I wasn’t prepared for the loss.

Jerry was a guy that I met in the early 1990’s. We immediately became good friends and even business partners. Unlike Bill and myself, Jerry and I both did a lot of partying. Of course we were older so it’s called socializing. We buddied up with a large singles set in Atlanta and created many other life-long friends through the 90’s. We continued to keep in touch after I moved to a town in Central Georgia and when I made an abrupt decision to move back to Atlanta, Jerry was there to help and advise. We became each other’s go-to person that we both relied on to call and talk, bitch, or laugh with. Then he up and shot himself.

So why did I feel the need to share these stories? Guess one reason is that I didn’t want to spend my “Total Recall” week alone. But, maybe you can take something out of these words that will remind you to call your oldest, best friend just to say hi. Let them know you are just checking up to make sure they are OK. Wish them a happy holiday season and let them know that you love them and appreciate all that they have meant to you through your life. If you do that, then my loss of Bill and Jerry, melancholy as it is, might have helped us all to understand a little better the real meaning of true friends.

A German's View on Islam

Dr. Emanuel Tanay, a well known and well respected psychiatrist wrote this in 2010. It is so well written and so true, I though I should share it here.

A man, whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War II, owned a number of large industries and estates. When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism.

'Very few people were true Nazis,' he said, 'but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything.

I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories. We are told again and again by 'experts' and 'talking heads' that Islam is the religion of peace, and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant.

It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the spectra of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam.

The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history. It is the fanatics who march.. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide. It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder or honor-kill. It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals. It is the fanatics who teach their young to kill and to become suicide bombers. The hard quantifiable fact is that the peaceful majority, the 'silent majority,' is cowed and extraneous.

Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant.

China's huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people.

The average Japanese individual prior to World War II was not a war mongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet.

And who can forget Rwanda which collapsed into butchery. Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were 'peace loving'?

History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points: Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence. Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don't speak up, because like my friend from Germany, they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun.

Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late.

As for us who watch it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only group that counts; the fanatics who threaten our way of life.

Now Islamic prayers have been introduced into New York City public
schools, Toronto and other public schools in Ontario, and, yes, in
Ottawa too while The Lord's Prayer was removed (due to being so
offensive!). The Islamic way may be peaceful for the time being in our
country until the fanatics move in.

They have already started, and we are silent.......

The Big Whopper

Every politician accuses their opponents of lying throughout the campaign. Sometimes they are right and just as often they are simply lying about the opponent lying. We all take it in stride and know that it is just the way it’s done in politics. It has always been that way and in all likelihood it always will be that way. Then along comes Barack Hussein Obama. He has certainly taken lying to a much higher art form. In fact, there is little about him that is not a lie.

I recently saw the documentary, “Dreams From My Real Father”. I will simply state at the outset that I believe that any American who watches this movie and then goes into the voting booth in an attempt to vote Barack Obama back into office is either a full-blown Marxist and thinks that eliminating the middle class and installing the Communist Elite as the party power structure would be a wonderful change of pace for America, or is simply brainless.

I truly began watching the movie looking for any way that I could punch holes in the logic they presented. It never happened. All the pieces of Obama’s life fell neatly into place. Most of us have heard snippets of data about his nefarious associations, his odd college career and his meteoric rise politically. But this movie takes all those pieces plus dozens more and snaps them into place for all to see. The resulting conclusions for me are twofold. 1. He and his people have carried out the most amazing hoax on the American people ever. 2. He’s a Communist. . . .So let me make this statement another way. We really, really do have a Marxist/Leninist, Communist as President of the United States.

So how did they think they could get away with it? I have a theory. Actually, it is based on some personal experience. When I was in college in Indiana, I was a Business Major with a Political Science minor. Poli Sci was a lot more interesting than General Business so I spent much of my time reading books and pamphlets of the day. One of those books was called “Rules For Radicals”, by Saul Alinski. We were all reading it and many were joining the Students For A Democratic Society (SDS) primarily because of our disgust with the Viet Nam War. I attended several rallies and participated in a half-baked attempt to take over the Administration Building at Ball State. But as the rhetoric became more hard core and the SDS clan was inching toward anarchy and burning all American flags on campus, I slowly slinked away and went back to class. Amazingly, I can remember the same words being used back then by angry students of Alinski, Clowerd and Piven as Obama used in his first campaign. “We are going to fundamentally change America”.

Weather Underground Co-Founder, Bill Ayers, a card carrying member of the Communist Party and Alinski follower, found out early that bombs didn’t really help much in changing America into the elitist state he was working towards. So he and his small clan, decided to infiltrate the system from within. And infiltrate he did! When Bill Ayers met Barack Obama, I am sure it felt like fate had just handed him the clincher. Ayers saw the way that he could finally, successfully slither his ideology into the heart of America and turn America into the Socialist/Proletariat State he had dreamed of.

“This man is someone who lives in my neighborhood in Chicago who is a professor of English”, Obama said when asked about Ayers. “He is not someone who I share ideas with”, he added. That is not just a lie, it’s a reprehensibly, simplified whopper! Maybe he decided to lie because Bill Ayers advocates, “killing all the rich people”. Bill Ayers and Bill’s dad, Tom Ayers, were intimate allies in the master plan to put Obama in the White House and turn this country into a Marxist State. . . . And they have nearly succeeded. 

But, As Always, I’m Just Saying.

Note: You can watch a streaming version of “Dreams From My Real Father” on Amazon.com. It costs about $3.00. I didn’t really like the way they used a voice like Obama’s as the narrator, and there is so much information that it runs like a slow documentary. But there are scenes, pictures and documents to see that are truly shocking.

Come back to this post and add your comments and ideas after watching the movie. Should be fun.

Balls - Or The Lack Thereof

A couple of days ago, Rush Limbaugh said that if the Republicans lose this election, it will be the end of The Party as we know it. I can’t say that I disagree. Laura Ingram says that this is a “gimme” election. It should be. We have seen nearly four years of the most inept, amateur, and often corrupt president this country has ever experienced. So how is it that Romney is not 10 points ahead or more now? I’m not saying that it would be easy to overcome the liberal bias in America. But, hey! The Democrats booed God - for God’s sake, right in the middle of their own Democratic Convention! And Obama had a 5 point bounce in the polls!

So is it a slam-dunk to win in November? It probably could be if Conservatives were able to play basketball. Slam dunks are easy if you have the ability (and the balls) to charge through the blockers, throw your body in the air and jump high enough to slam it through the rim. Does that sound like a Republican? Not really. While Democrats are throwing hard balls, Mitt Romney is playing T-Ball. Democrats play rugby, Republicans play flag football and on and on.

I have little doubt that Romney would make a very effective president. If he were to win on November 6th, businesses across America the very next day would likely gather their decision makers in their boardrooms and discuss freeing up their inventories and ramping up production. Faith in our economic future needs little more than the election going to Romney to immediately stem the tide. Yet, at this late date, we face the very real (probability) that Romney will lose!

Plenty of clichés come to mind when speaking about Republicans. Things like, “No Guts, No Glory” or “The Silent Majority” are good examples. Why are we so silent? What are we afraid of? We should be known as “The Loud and The Pissed Off”. The Tea Party was a rather valiant attempt to change Conservative’s image a bit. Democrats called them every name in the book. They used their Rugby-like tactics like giggling through disgusting sexual phrases to describe Tea Party participants, calling them bigots and race haters. The list goes on. Then the media switches to a video of a Tea Party rally. Who’s out there protesting for our Constitutional rights to be upheld? Oh look! It’s Grandma, Grandpa, Blacks, Hispanics, teenagers and the family next door. The vile rhetoric regurgitated each night on news outlets across the nation and by noxious commentators and comedians when referring to Tea Party members has been relentless. Don’t hear so much from The Tea Party anymore do we? Oh they are still there but they are now moving quietly so as to not be called bad names anymore.

I am not saying we need to stoop as far down to depravity as the New Liberal Party. No reason to deny God or the rights of Jews in Israel, but we need to FIRE UP! Scream back Mitt Romney! Instead of being a candy-ass, go out and kick some liberal ass!

But – I’m Just Saying

PROGNOSTICATIONS

If the election were held today, Barack Obama would win. So let’s just take that further and set the stage for the next four years.

Under the next four years of Obama’s “Rule”:

1. America’s government will finalize the process of turning their backs on Israel which will encourage Iran and Hamas to attack, knowing full well that, if we intercede, it will be a half-hearted measure at best.
2. Obamacare will go forward, insuring that (very conservatively) 40% of physicians over the age of 50 will retire or simply quit.
3. The federal government will go into overdrive to take over most major businesses that have been weakened by the economy by buying them out (with our tax money) and nationalize them, putting the unions in charge.
4. Government education will bottom out to the point that our children will be the last consideration when it comes to an actual education. (We are pretty much already there).
5. Any conceivable rights protecting the life of unborn children will be forgotten in the name of federal decisions.
6. Medicare Advantage plans will cease, leaving millions of low income seniors with no protection beyond the paltry benefits of Medicare.
7. Several States in the US will consider the amazing, but potential enactment of seceding from The Union in order to preserve the original Constitution and our capitalistic way of life.
8. It is very likely the federal government will no longer recognize The Constitution as the official creed of the United States, giving Barack Obama the ability to continue his reign as Supreme Commander.
9. Any reference to God or organized, Christian religion outside of the four walls of a church will be met with either a fine or imprisonment. (That has already occurred on high school campuses)
10. An estimated 80% of the real wealth held in US banks will be redistributed to countries that have not yet socialized their government.
11.  As a result of #10, America will go broke and the poor will suffer to the point of actually becoming a liability on the "Supreme" government.
12. Three million more Americans are out of work since Obama took office. So let’s just suppose conservatively that 6 million will be out of work by 2016.
13. Again conservatively, 20% of all medium to large businesses that the government did not nationalize, will leave for greener pastures.
14. Our status in the world has eroded so much in the past four years it’s hard to believe that it could get worse. It will.
15. The Federal Government will be so over-spent that our beloved infrastructure will have been eroding for several years.
16. The rights of illegal aliens will supersede any rights that a constitutionally born citizen of the US was originally guaranteed. (Sound familiar?)

So, many who are reading this may be saying “Oh, that will never happen” on several of my prognostications. I understand your hesitance. But just think back say . . .twenty years ago and consider #16. I think you might have said those same words then and - Low and Behold! We’re already there.

George Could Not Have Imagined

I remember reading George Orwell’s book 1984 in about 1969. He wrote it in 1949. I found it fascinating. It took far more than 35 years for much of the book’s prognostications to come true. But here they come.

When the Clinton years ushered in “Hate Crimes”, I harkened back to the “Thought Police”. It is now considered, depending on what the killer was thinking, a worse crime for a white man to kill a black man than a black man to kill a black man. So the government can now decide which black man’s life is worth more. The worth of a person’s life now depends on their social-political membership. I bet George never saw that coming when he was penning his classic.

Just weeks ago, the City of New York instituted a program where all hidden and outdoor security cameras are now being linked into a sort of “Big Brother” system so that the government can perform continual surveillance on . . . .well, everyone. Yes, literally everyone who steps outside or walks through a building in the city is on camera. One can’t even pick their nose in Central Park anymore without the action being recorded in the main database at headquarters.

And now, the thing Mr. Orwell never saw coming is what has become known as social media; email, Facebook, Linked In, cell phones, Twitter and all the rest. What George Orwell saw as a real threat of our privacy by the government, has become the new threat to our privacy by our fellow man (or woman).

In the headlines today is a story about two teenage boys who, while at a party, found a girl passed out drunk, took off her clothes and took pictures of her and posted them on the internet. This is probably the ultimate invasion of privacy, short of rape. The new technological means at our disposal make privacy invasion amazingly easy. 

I have been learning a lot lately about the subject. Over this summer, I have had someone hacking into my computer and illegally obtaining my phone records in a malicious attempt to obtain information about me. This person even went so far as to delete items in my Facebook and email accounts. In my research, I have learned that this is a clear violation of the law. That makes me feel a little better to know that laws are in place to attempt to deter people from performing these pernicious acts. However, the means to accomplish their goals are so easy to obtain. Thirty years ago, this person would have had to break into my home and rifle through my private papers in my file drawer to dig up the same information that now just sits there in front of them on their computer. Since I know who this person is, I doubt that even they would have resorted to breaking and entering to violate my privacy. But it amounts to the same thing. 

Like so much in our new world, the ability of governments and citizens to illegally victimize others by invading their privacy through social madia technology is not going to go away. In fact, it will probably get worse before it gets better. So, it is up to us to work hard to make known to those that might be predisposed to do this sort of thing that using technology to violate a person’s privacy is a criminal act and, just as if they broke into your house, they can be prosecuted for breaking and entering your private domicile.

In the book, hope for a better future was aroused by a love affair between two people that were doing their best to buck the system. But, in the end, “Big Brother” won out and one of them betrayed the other by joining the "Party". My experience has made me ponder the possibility that we are heading in that direction. Pessimism is not one of my favorite emotions. So I am going to continue to search for hopeful signs that we are heading into a world of cautious optimism that new laws and avenues of information are enacted where the less trustworthy among us will think twice before violating the rights of others. As a matter of fact, I recently found out that most police departments and sheriffs departments have an IT investigation division and are usually very willing to help.

However, for now, a word of caution. Your password is just like your house key. If you get on someone else's computer and enter your password to check your email or Facebook or whatever, you have just left your house key with that person who so graciously let you borrow their computer. Better know and trust them really well. I thought I did. Turns out I was wrong.

What's Good About Us?

I just reread this. I think I wrote this more for me than anyone else. So it is not the riviting commentary that you are used to. Yuk, yuk. I promise to get back to irritating liberals by next weekend.

How does one measure goodness? Many will immediately answer that question by quoting a bible passage. The more metaphysical among us might take us off on a tangent of flowers and clouds. When a friend says “Oh, she’s a really good person.” I often think to myself, “In what way?”. Does she never lie, never make others sad, never cheat or steal? I doubt that. In fact, you would be hard pressed to find any adult in the world that you could say that about. So what makes us decide that a person is good?

I have learned, in my waning years, that I can be rather naive when it comes to making a good assessment of people and whether or not I should feel comfortable enough to trust their friendship. I’m sure everyone has at least one, if not several stories where someone in their lives became a disappointment and even betrayed an unspoken trust. But to give humanity a little slack, I would guess that the vast majority of the time, that person unintentionally slipped up and caused pain to others.

Anyway, since this topic has been sorta rattling around in my brain lately, I decided to check out a few online forums on the subject. The results were quite enlightening to me. So I thought I’d share some here.

Cactus Says:

For me, a good person is someone who stops to question his/her deeds and on occasion is tormented by guilt for minor things such as hurting someone's feelings... you get the jist of it. A good person would have a certain set of principles and morals and strives to live by those principles and morals.

Shalott Says:

People go through stages in their lives and while some person or teenager may seem like a bad apple, that doesn't necessarily mean that person is bad through and through. and of course, there are some things we do that can never be undone or taken back.

Nikoli:

I think it's too easy to call someone "good" or "bad" and it misses the mark. The reasons we do what we do isn't because we are good or bad- it isn't because we have a strong or weak-willed character, it's because of the skills and tools we have learned, been taught, and been indoctrinated with. In this sense I agree that morality is a key factor, but it's not that simple, as there are more things involved: I don't know precisely all the functions which go into having the ability to make a good choice, but it'd be something like reasoning, discernment, knowledge of good and bad, judgment, but even "judgment" includes a lot of other smaller skills.

Petrarch Says:

After thinking about the question on this thread a little, I'm not at all comfortable with judging others as good or bad people. I think I do have my own idea of what an ideal good person would be, which I strive to live up to (and certainly fail at it in many ways), but I don't think I have some sort of ideal standard in my mind that other people have to live up to for me to deem them good (that is if we are mainly considering people who do not maliciously and willfully do harm to others, since that really is a pretty basic standard).

Pretty heady stuff, huh? I think Petrarch said it best. We should be careful about offering judgments of others. We should only strive to be the kind of person that we conceive to be a good person. And then simply stay more alert to those who would willfully do harm to others and ourselves.

But . . .I’m just sayin’

Universal Appreciation.

This was in one of my first blogs but came up missing. Curious. So this is a reprise. Right now I have too many essays started and none finished. I'll try to finish one over the weekend.

I grew up in a perfectly sized, mid-western town. It was called a city but I thought of it as a town. No one was ever certain if there were 40 or 50 thousand people in the town but it never seemed to matter.  It was a good town. I say was because I have not lived there for over 30 years and I know things change. There are two rivers running through the heart of the town. One of them was perfect for swimming and boating. I was fortunate that my family’s home was located on the banks of that river and I took full advantage of it.

Due to the very nature of my surroundings; the beauty of the spring flowers along the river, the amazing array of fish we could catch nearly year ‘round, the adorable teenage girls that would sunbathe on the piers in the summer months, often gave me pause to think. What’s this all about? As a young teen I pretty much understood why I appreciated the sunbathers. But, why do I appreciate tulips? My dog couldn’t care less about the delicate beauty of a tulip. The ability to perceive of and appreciate so much of our world, our universe, is purely human. But why? Why us? Why us God?

My childhood and church going was a constant battle of wills. Go fishing? Go to church. Go fishing? Go to church. Go fishing. My parents were Presbyterians. I was a Communicant’s Class dropout. By the time I hit high school age, the act of attending church was far from my mind. Did I believe in God? Honestly, I don’t remember. When I went on to college though, and realized that I know everything, I began to think back on my early years as a kid asking why. But I added another query into the mix. Where? Where is God?  Not who or what, but where. So I set out in my mind to answer the question. I knew I could find the answer because college-age students are the smartest people in the world. After very little biblical or philosophical research, I had it. God is everywhere! Oh, I know, you hear that all the time. But this was different.

God is everywhere because he is us.  Yup. It was us who wrote the Bible, right? It is the collective minds of mankind that conceive of religions and develop them into something that is supposed to help teach us right from wrong. So instead of saying that God is everywhere in our lives helping us get through the tough times, why can’t we just accept that he is us? You and me and your jerky neighbor who just painted his house mauve; we are God. So when we pray, are we praying to some bearded fellow sitting on a throne beyond the universe? Or are we simply helping to put our hopes and wishes into our minds to direct us to some positive end? It seems okay to presume so, if we know that our own minds are a fractional piece of God’s mind. There, problem solved. I figured it out when I was in college. . . . . . . . Then I graduated.

College smugness seems to quickly disappear when a person goes out into the real world. Like most of my friends, marriage and family happened to me over the next 20 or so years. Before my daughter was born, I really didn’t take much time for spirituality and the old questions that I so easily answered years back. But then something happened to me that changed everything.

On the day of the birth of my daughter, the center of my universe shifted. It shifted from me to her. I realized that day that if someone said that I must die so that this little bundle may live . . . no problem. With the universe no longer about me, I began to ask questions again. But this time I had lots of questions. I read books; Cosmology and Philosophy books. Maybe I should call them “scientific theory” and “thought theory” books. I was impressed that so many of the truly brainy scientists had such strong faiths. God seemed to always be an integral part of their scientific psyche. I have often been disheartened to witness the fact that organized, mostly Christian, religions tend to denounce scientific theory and discovery while scientists seem to embrace religion and God. Can’t we all just get along?

After my divorce and my daughter reaching her late teens, my universe shifted once again. This time it began to center around God. As I read more Big Bang Theory and  Black Hole Theory and as our telescopes reached further back in time to the very  beginning of the universe, I began to realize that I never had the answers. I wasn't even close. But it didn't matter much. Now I wasn't only perceiving of and appreciating that tulip on the riverbank, I was becoming completely rapt in the total package. I remember a line from Thornton Wilder’s play “Our Town” in which a lovesick Emily Webb blurts out “Oh World, You’re too wonderful for anyone to realize you.” Profound? Yes. True? Also yes. I’ll never know all the answers. But, perceiving of and appreciating as much of our universe as possible, is to me, a noble quest. It is my humble opinion that God cracks a little smile as we continue to inch closer to the answers.

Many of the greatest minds today are churning up scientific evidence that lends itself perfectly to the possibility that the gap between science and theology is rapidly closing.  Cosmology is the study of the physical universe from the very big to the very small. String Theory is a result of cosmologists, through mathematical models, coming up with really difficult stuff to understand that tends to reveal the possibility that God is among us. The really brainy people working on this are pretty convinced that there are many more dimensions than just three in our world. The reason we cannot see into these other dimensions is because all matter and light are stuck in only three dimensions. Some cosmologists have concluded that there are as many as 11 dimensions.

OK . . . work with me on this. If we can accept that our universe around us has a lot of stuff going on that we cannot see or perceive of, does it not make sense to presume then that God could have a very comfortable spot to hang out in like maybe the eighth dimension, eating popcorn and watching us create all sorts of entertaining quandaries for his, and our amusement? Then, when we really screw up, he can project through those dimensions and touch our lives in ways that we cannot feel in our limited world but we just know He had something to do with fixing the problem.

No matter how many dimensions there are, the three we've got have lent themselves pretty well to giving me the ability to appreciate the universe. To remember springtime, sitting on that riverbank watching the meandering water flow by while perfectly formed teenage girls seem to tan right before my eyes stretched out on the docks and tulips open themselves to an amazingly blue sky. That was my universe. It still is. Thank you God.

Divide Et Empera

Some say it was Philip II, king of Macedon, others attribute the phrase to

Julius Caesar. But “Divide et empera” is Latin for Divide and Rule, later reworded to “Divide and Conquer”. It is a statement that is ringing more true today than ever in the past 100 + years in America. It's so obvious, that it is glaring at us and we have yet to even put on sunglasses to take a better look.

Valerie Jarrett, self proclaimed socialist and Senior White House Advisor to Barack Obama, told Matt Lauer on the Today Show soon after the election that put this man in as President, that he, Barack Obama, would begin to rule the country in January. Rule? Is the President of the United States now a ruler? In the eyes of this administration he is. And what is the best way to rule the dumb masses? Divide! And do they ever divide! Our new ruler has succeeded in dividing this country socially, economically and by the sexes.

The so-called Fair Pay Act has nothing to do with fairness and everything to do with election-year politics. No one expected that bill to become law. The whole point of this political exercise is to get Republicans on record voting against "fairness" for women, as part of the Democrats' campaign strategy to claim that there is a "war on women."

Obama’s war on success is astounding and insulting at the same time. But divide he must. We now have mainstream media parrots as well as plenty of angry Americans spewing hate-filled rhetoric towards the “richest 1 percent” or even successful Americans in general. “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that”. Obama knows he can throw up these offensive assaults, no matter how outrageous they are, anytime he wants. His faithless followers will take the bait and continue to echo his rancor to open another chasm in our newly fragile country.

Now he has his minions doing the work for him. Last week after Mr. Cathy’s comments about his own beliefs on redefining marriage, we have three mayors of major cities vowing to suppress freedom of trade in their respective domains (which, by the way, cannot be more against the law) by refusing to allow business licenses to Chick-Fil-A. Amazing? Yes. Effective? Absolutely. Do you think Rahm Emanuel did not know that carrying out his threat would be illegal? Of course he did. He knew (and he was taught by the masters) that it would start a firestorm in America and further divide us into social and anti-social groups. All the more easy to rule, you know.

I can recall several instances in my lifetime where our presidents have urged unity, working in America as one, and a general sense of helping our fellow neighbors. JFK once said:

“Geography has made us neighbors. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners, and Necessity has made us allies. Those whom God has so joined together, let no man put asunder.”

You will never hear words like that for our Dear Ruler.

Ironically, from the mouth of a second-rate thief came the words that, I am guessing, has also never been uttered by anyone in the Obama administration. “Can’t we all get along?”