The Art of Negotiating

Thank you dad for teaching me such an important part of the political perspective long before it came into fashion.

The Art of Negotiating

A rather wealthy man and a beautiful woman were sitting on a couch during a party and the man asked the woman, "Would you go to bed with me for $100?"

The woman looked at him with scorn and replied, "No!"

The man asked her, "Would you go to bed with me for a million dollars?"

She looked at him for a moment and nodded her head that she would.

He looked at her again and asked, "Would you go to bed with me for a $100?"

She looked at him and yelled, "I already told you no that I wouldn't go to bed with you for a $100!"

He smiled and said, "Maam, we have already established what you are now all I am doing is negotiating the price."

I think this might be how some of the backroom healthcare issues with Landreau and Nelson might have been settled with Harry Reid.

Demagogues and Democrats-Same thing

"The demagogue is usually sly, a detractor of others, a professor of humility and disinterestedness, a great stickler for equality as respects all above him, a man who acts in corners, and avoids open and manly expositions of his course, calls blackguards gentlemen, and gentlemen folks, appeals to passions and prejudices rather than to reason, and is in all respects, a man of intrigue and deception, of sly cunning and management. "
"James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851)

Sounds like the present congress and the Health Care bill. Democrats are voting for a bill that they haven't even read and hasn't been given to Republicans also. Harry Reid will go down as the godfather of saddling Americans with a trillion dollars of additional debt. Obama's toady.

Oh by the way, The Chinese will soon stop buying our debt (they already owned $2.3 TRILLION of our debt). The Democrats are just like their logo, stubborn jackasses.

"There You Go Again"

I loved that phrase when I first heard it issued in a presidential debate by Ronald Reagan against Jimmy Carter. Reagan crystallized the entire debate and eventually run for the presidency on that one statement, “There you go again”. It is a simple statement but it drew Carter out as a one minded, single issue president (which he was) and showed his thinking to be flawed.

Harry Reid reading from a prepared text yesterday on the floor of the Senate stated that the Republicans that were blocking the healthcare bill were like the supporters of slavery during the civil war. These are heavy word for such a lightweight politician.

First off, Abraham Lincoln was a Republican that put his entire presidency on the continuation of the union. It eventually cost him his life. There is no way that the Democratic Party can ever annex this great man as their own.

Secondly, the supporters of slavery prior to the civil war that were in congress were DEMOCRATS not REPUBLICANS. Southern democrats were staunch supporters of state’s rights and the ability and sovereignty of each state to decide the issue. Republicans on a large basis condemned it and sought legislative ways to unbind the south from such an enterprise, as we know, that failed and war ensued.

Harry Reid is a poor leader and a worse purveyor of the facts as was demonstrated yesterday in his speech. Revisionist history has always bothered me but to besmirch the honor of the Republicans today by lying about the Republicans in that era is a sad epitaph for such a small man.

Oh by the way, Harry Reid is trailing in his bid for reelection to his seat in his own state. This might be his last hurrah but at least he could leave with honor and not the pitiful bleating of a lost sheep which really caricaturizes him at this time.

There’s Something Wrong Here!

I know I have been silent over the past month(s) about political things but something struck me rather strange yesterday with Obama’s jobs program and the TARP funds.

As many of you know, the President has developed a jobs bill to stimulate the economy and that is a good thing BUT he is funding it with the unused TARP funds. The TARP funds were borrowed to bail out banks and now that they no longer need the funds and, in fact, are beginning a pay back to the government then the funds appear to be no longer necessary.

My problem with this is that the TARP funds are borrowed money that increased the debt level and if they are not going to be used for that particular thing then pay it back and reduce our debt but don’t run a shill game on the American public.

Stealing from Peter to pay Paul is a long hallowed way of doing business in Washington but this one stinks. Fund the jobs bill from its own capital base and don’t borrow from one fund to make your program go. The pea and shell game of this transparent administration shows them to be amateurs and hacks.

Sure we need jobs; there are 15 million people out of work and many are taking part time jobs to make ends meet so create jobs, if you will, but raising the national debt is an irresponsible way to do it. The only way to pay such a bill back is higher taxes for those who are working now and those who will get jobs from this bill.

America needs to wake up and smell the coffee on these rubes that are running the store.

Perspective

Time is an interesting partner in life. It can go too quick, to slow or stand still, it seems.

They say that time heals all wounds but I think it allows for scars to grow over them but whatever it does; it allows those lucky enough to live in it the opportunity to go on in their life.

Now what I am going to write here might sound disrespectful and I do not intend it to be that way but I have not had a single lonely thought about my mom since she has been gone. She has been dead over a year now and in that time I have been released from all of the hurt and pain that I was in during her last years of life.

Thank you God!

All of the thinking about what happened in our dynamic is all gone and if it is thought about it is summarily cast into a fire called, “No thanks”. I am no longer under the weight of having to call her and listen to her complaints or to just know that she wasn’t happy in her life.

I revel everyday in being an orphan, I do. I revel in knowing that part of my life is over and I never have to relive it again. But not lost in all the euphoria is the life lessons learned during that painful time and I have charged myself with the following:

I will strive to take care of myself physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally on a daily basis.

I will strive to remember that I have raised my children and that they are good capable people, just like I wanted them to be. I will be their peer not their father.

I will remember that my children have my best interests at heart even when I do not want to hear what they have to say.

I will humble myself to all of the possibilities of life and be open as much as I can be to the changes that will be coming in future years.

I will treasure my grandchildren on a daily basis even if I do not see them. I will keep them close to me and will endeavor to impart some good from me to them, if possible.

I will try to look at my feet instead of the sky so that I might see my path more clearly.

I will try to never invoke my will through coercion or emotional blackmail but rather be accepting of all parties to what is best in their life.

I will thank God for all blessings given in the past and in hope for the future.

I do not want to give to my children in my older years what was given to me by my mother. They deserve so much more than that and I will do everything to make sure that I deliver on this promise.

Finally I Feel Hope

After almost 10 months of no hope tonight I feel a gentle breeze called hope and I am once again feeling that the last 10 months was nothing but a bad dream.

Unfortunately, the dream is still alive and well and living in Washington D.C. but the dream lost a lot of luster today. What am I talking about? Today’s elections in Virginia, New Jersey, New York and a few other places.

The independents that threw their collective hats at Barak Obama last November picked them up today and took them home. Do you know what our President was doing as the returns came in…playing basketball. Yes, not watching and seeing if he might detect a trend among voters in this off year election cycle but rather he spent time perfecting his jump shot.

Pundits have said in the last week that this is a one term president and I think I can believe them a bit now and I can’t wait until November 2010 at the mid term elections when many of his democratic supporters will be shown the door back to their previous lives.

I am even heartened in the 12 point lead that the Republican senatorial candidate has over Barbara Boxer at this time in California. Hell, I am damn near giddy over all the good news coming over the horizon.

We still have a ways to go but if today’s results don’t get Pelosi and Reid’s attention (yeah, he’s 14 points behind the Republican challenger in Nevada) and if they try to ram health care down our throats while expanding the debt to record ceilings then November 2010 I can predict one thing…Christmas will be about a month early next year.

I suspect as of right now many of the first term Democrats in the house are shaking a bit and I want to see where the moderate Democratic senators are going to fall on the health care issue now.

Obama’s coat tails are as short as an Eisenhower coat and nothing could make me happier. The Democrats saw this coming and did nothing to tone down the rhetoric prior to elections. I know they will blame their losses today on Bush, don’t they always, but they own this one.

I suggest that they sit down and quit calling voters that disagree with them Nazis and other unfathomable names and pay attention because the tsunami is coming next November.

I can’t wait.

I Did It

I had an epiphany this morning in church during pastor’s sermon. It was All Saint Day which is a day commemorating all those that have gone before us to their heavenly reward.

The history of All Saints Day is well reported with All Hallows Eve being right before it and all of the evil spirits have their way the night before and all of the dead in Christ are honored the next day. It is a nice service to be involved in, I think.

Anyway, pastor was preaching about saints and white robes and I started to think about my mother. Now in the true representation of Christian deportment and overall goodwill; my mother fell far short of the benchmark. She was a good person, don’t get me wrong, but she was not a Christian that you could tell in any facet of her life. She swore, cussed, and had other personality traits that did not put a big “Jesus sign on her.

She was a Christian as I was to find out hours before her death when Pastor Willie came and visited with her that one last time. Even in her last hours she listened to him as he read scripture and prayed. So I have no doubt that she is in heaven at this very moment and that I will see her once again.

A lot of my problems with her in her latter days were with decisions that she made that kept me from taking care of her in her last months and years. She did some financial things that made it very difficult for me and I might say I struggled internally since her death with these decisions but today I had an epiphany.

I was focused on the wrong thing. It wasn’t about her care during that time but it was about her care at “that” time, when she died. It wasn’t about her investments or paying her bills but being there holding her hand at that moment of time when all of the other things no longer held any importance in either of our lives. Would I have liked it to be different, sure but that was not what God wanted; He wanted me there in that room holding her hand when she took her last breath and left me for Him. And I did that so I can now know and say with confidence that I took care of her until her death.

With that, I fulfilled a promise I made to my dad and I can rest easier that I did, in fact, do what was required of me and I am better for knowing it now.

Now she can rest in peace not only in Colorado but in my mind as well. Thank you Lord for allowing me to see this finally in my life and knowing that I did do what was asked of me not only for her but to your glory also.

Interesting

Have you noticed that the political rhetoric coming from Washington these days has calmed down? In fact, it has calmed down a lot from the past months that saw so much mud being flung around it was hard to understand the issues.

I am glad that we have made it through this period because we are now entering a period of reflection on what has just passed while still looking at the issues that loom ahead of us, health care, the deficit, Afghanistan and so many more.

I am glad to see that the press is starting to open up a little on the foibles of President Obama and Saturday Night Live ever the beacon of satire has finally decided to take him on once in awhile. It does my heart good to see that he is not above the rest of us although the NEA (National Endowments of the Arts) just proclaimed him to be the greatest writer since Julius Caesar (I guess I would say the same thing if I was getting millions of dollars to promote my agenda too but better than Shakespeare, come on now).

The people of the world, save a few, have always looked for a Messiah and our times are no different. The Christians have theirs but the other groups are still looking and trying to find that one person that “fulfills” them and this man fills the bill right now. Can he sustain it, no for he is just a man. And as they look to him for the things they desire they will become frustrated and then the feeding frenzy will begin. It already has.

While this president has enjoyed the highest popularity of any modern president he is now in a free fall that was brought on by promises he cannot keep. I think he wants to but I don’t think he is going to be able to do it, for he is just a man, not a Messiah. His polling numbers continue to drop as he loses his credibility and fan base. Independents are abandoning him and the next political races in Virginia and New Jersey will be a litmus test for the 2010 mid term elections.

Thank you President Obama for single handedly resurrecting the Republican Party in less than one year. As you see Virginia and New Jersey governorships go to the Republicans know that November 2010 will be the day that you and the missus can start packing your bags and preparing to leave Washington D.C.

The American people can be fooled once but twice…not so much. Bye!

Time Heals?

A famous adage is that “time heals all wounds” and for the most part I did believe that until this past week. I now have a different take in that time does not heal wounds as much as it puts a scar over them and hides them deep beneath that protective barrier.

It would seem logical since a scar is a harder surface to pierce than just your skin. A scar has diminished nerve ending available to feel pain so if a memory is buried beneath a scar it is harder to get at and be affected by it than one that is nearer the skin.

I had the occasion this past week to revisit a painful time in my life; a time of great confusion and consternation. It was during this time that I began the process of understanding a little more what life was about and how cruel it and the people in it could be at times.

Over the years since that time I have had a great life and have been blessed in so many ways and I had ‘gunny sacked” those experiences as being a learning curve to my current life and I think to a certain extent that is true. Most of us take our past experiences and apply them to our daily lives when necessary to garner greater knowledge on how something should be handled. It is a good way to look at life, I think.

My conundrum came from the fact that I had thought that I was in a certain place with certain past issues and I guess I really had never concluded them but allowed them to just be gunny sacked. When I took them out and looked at them again with a rather dispassionate eye; I found that I was actually looking at them with greater emotion than I thought I would and that surprised me.

What I came away with was that I still cared very deeply about what happened then; much more deeply than I ever thought I would have at this period of time in my life and that surprised me. Actually, I was emotionally spent after writing about this period in my life and my mind was adrift in thought.

I have recovered, yet there is still a small part of me searching for information and answers to questions long since asked and still not answered after all these years. They never will be and that is the way life handles these issues. It is a good way because total accountability in all facets of our lives could be a painful process for all of us.

Will I go back there and revisit this time again, I think not unless there is a need. I owe it to myself and my family to be in the moment for them and not lost in the history of my life. It is a good plan, I think.

Pensive Moments

I know a family in my church that suffered the agony of losing a child a while back and although I knew of the people and this young man also; as a non family member there was no way to really feel the sense of impending loss that they were suffering.

I cried several times during the time that Brian fought so valiantly to live and I wept at his death but only for the earthly loss that I and others sustained. He was valiant in his fight and humble in his demeanor and it was known to all that saw him that his faith was a large part of who he was and it grounded him even in his darkest moments.

As a parent I have had pensive moments when I struggled with myself and my God in trying to grasp a certain situation especially the death of a baby, like my niece Jennifer. I saw all of the gifts that God has given to me and when I see others that should have the same gifts and life and do not; then my faith falters a bit if just for awhile.

Currently, I have been communicating with my daughter Carrie and I enjoy our night time chat sessions. She is a bright, intelligent person that has a lot of knowledge and has probably the best vocabulary of any person I know. Her writing is exceptional and she can keep a reader locked into the thoughts she is expressing. I write well; Carrie writes extremely well.

In our discussions we have talked about politics; I am a staunch Republican and she is a liberal Democrat, she loves the liberal bent and I do not, she is into Buddhism and I am a Lutheran so there are not a lot of contact points that we agree on at this time and probably never will. I am accepting of it as best I can be and I feel that communication is a key ingredient even if agreement is not.

One area of disagreement is religion. Carrie was raised Catholic and has “fallen away” as they say in the religious vernacular; her prior religious upbringing is no longer a factor in her life.

We have discussed religion and I am sure that I have been on the pointed barb of many of her comments about the hard hearted Christians and how non Christians are more compassionate than we are and I accept her view even though I disagree.

But her hellish rants against religion give me pause. Many times she seems to be the poster child for all that is human and godless and that scares me. It is one thing to not believe in God, if that is what you choose to believe but a non believer should be aware of their words.

I am reminded of Pascal’s Wager “An argument according to which belief in God is rational whether or not God exists, since falsely believing that God exists leads to no harm whereas falsely believing that God does not exist may lead to eternal damnation.”

There is a lot of bravery in non-believers today because society has emboldened them but let it be known that if believers are right then Pascal’s Wager will be a harbinger of eternal pain and remorse.

Since we are judged by every word uttered from our mouths (and yes, I believe the written word also falls under this context) we should all, including me, be more aware of what we say. Our words need to be sweet because we might just be chewing on them for eternity.

A Divergence of Views

I saw a post the other day on my Face Book that made me pause for a second as I read it to try and understand it and as I did; one thought came into my mind, non believers have no frame of reference with the future they only live in the here and now.

Now, I can hear the Hindus and reincarnationist saying, “Hey we believe that you go on as something we just aren’t sure what it is yet.” And they haven’t been able to tell us for thousands of years.

The gist of the article had to do with cycles and how history is nothing more than a series of cycles and we are in a constant changing from liberal to conservative to whatever but that it will continue forever, I guess. Here again there is no finality to their though process but rather we are here living now, doing the best we can for our kids and grandkids and wait until the next cycle and shouldn’t that be good enough.

I say, “No” and I say it emphatically.

Christians have a different view in that we know and believe that Christ will come again, all of the earth will be made new again under Christ’s reign and we have an eternity to live in it. Sounds to simple for the complicated mind and I think that God did in fact, make it simple just to confuse those that rely on their mind instead of their hearts.

Now some of the brightest minds we know and read about can’t balance their checkbook, can’t pay their taxes, can’t drive a car across a bridge without killing someone, yeah he probably shouldn’t be lumped into this group; but they all have problems, we all have problems and we can’t solve what the earth is throwing at us right now.

Look, we have over 6 billion people on the earth right now and we have diminishing resources many that are non-regenerating so the earth is getting smaller both in living space and resources. We have the most populated country on earth spewing carcinogens into the atmosphere and waterways on a daily basis; home of the swine flu also. This is not a cycle this is living fact and this cycle, if that is what you want to call it will possibly have devastating consequences on all of us or on our children.

While the unbeliever will see that the Christian has a defeatist attitude towards now and our future; I plead otherwise. The believer’s future is bright, shekinah (the light that illuminated the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle in the Holy of Holies in Old Testament times) glory bright and we look forward to Christ’s return because, to put it in the earthly vernacular, “we will be able to sleep with our doors unlocked once again.” All of the filth of this earth will be gone and the evilness of the people will cease.

The sadness is that many know of the path that I speak but many will go down the wide path to destruction. It is a shame but it will happen and there will be “wailing and gnashing of teeth” when this happens.

So non believer live for today because your own beliefs tell you that this is all that there is unless you believe that you might come back as a cockroach and that is a depressing thought, even for a non believer, I think.

I'm Baaaack!

I have been away fulfilling a personal dream of writing a book. It has been on my mind for years and I just never had the time to sit down and write anything so involved. I kicked it to the back of my proverbial list of things to do.

What I really found out in the process was that I cheated myself by not doing it sooner. I may have forgotten things that could have been added to the story line because I waited too long but I am accepting of that fact and will try to do better in the future.

So the status of the book is this…it is with an editor that is reading every line, every jot and tittle (I never really knew what that meant until I got 19 pages of edits the other night) and she is reading for content and believability. So far, she likes the book very much and most of her editing is punctuation (I thought I was in school for those days that we studied that but obviously not). After edits are done and any additional corrections and rewrites are completed then she will submit to publishers, hopefully, for acceptance and publication.

I hope that will eventually culminate in a book that can be purchased but I will have to wait on that at this time.

I also wrote about my Marine Corps experiences and I will be self publishing this book through Lulu.com. It is a novella and is more of a personal memoir of that time then a dynamic war story, which it wasn’t. I am in the process of getting a proof book for final review and then I will get it published and ready for sale. I will let you know when that happens.

So it has been an interesting few weeks and I look forward to the next few weeks and seeing more of my book edited and closer to submission to publishers.

A hiatus of sorts

I will be taking a little time off to work on a project that I have been thinking about for quite sometime. So all of my writing time will be spent on this project but I will let you know when I start posting again on this site.

It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood.
James Madison (1751-1836)


In regards to the 1,000 page healthcare bill currently in Congress that some members have said that they have not and will not read it prior to voting on it (and this goes for both sides of the aisle); James Madison said it much better than I could ever hope to convey my thoughts.

Oh, Mama!

I am an only child and like many us who bear the title we have no understanding of sibling rivalry and the other dynamics that go into multiple children families.

I remember when Paula and I were raising our children when they would get into arguments and say, “I hate you” and other hateful things; I would think that there was some lasting bond to the words and that our future family would be shattered into little pieces. Paula would just tell me to relax because this was the way that siblings acted and reacted to each other in different situations. I eventually came to see and believe that the utterances of youth did not carry a long shelf life to those uttering the words.

One of the other dynamics that I was unaware of but saw growing up was the way that younger siblings had in bringing their older siblings down in size and it was never more apparent that last week at Disneyland.

My family enjoyed a week at Disneyland last week and on one of the mornings we were in an elevator because we needed to transport my granddaughter, Peyton, to the trams from an upper floor parking area. In the elevator also were a mother and her young teenage daughter and a smaller brother.

The teenage girl had a t-shirt on that said, “I Look Awesome” and just to make idle talk I told her that I thought she looked awesome also. Her brother standing next to her was fidgeting a little bit and as the girl thanked me she kind of shoved him a little bit. I am not sure if he instigated the encounter but there was a little contact being made.

I was finished with the short conversation but I heard the girl utter something about her brother being a pain or something like that and the mother was just watching.

Just then…wait for it, wait for it…The brother says in the calmest voice I have heard in awhile,” At least I wasn’t caught in bed with my boyfriend by mom”.

Oh, Mama!

Mom went off like a roman candle on how that was not the proper thing to say in public and as I watched the boy I saw in him a sense of pride in holding his own. To hell with the tongue lashing he was getting, he carried the day and the punishment was minuscule to the smack down he gave his sister in front of total strangers.

I have to say that as embarrassing as it was for the sister; I admired that little guy for taking the chance and accepting the punishment to get his point across. Don’t mess with the little people; they will take you down.

One Year

My mom passed away on her 85th birthday on August 22, 2008. Unfortunately, I was on vacation on that day and was only able to post this now.

One Year

This blog is a little bittersweet because I am overwhelmed with many different emotions that conflict with each other in regards to how I felt about my mom.

First off, I should say that I loved my mom but not as much as I should have but I do think as much as she would let me love her. We were like a dysfunctional teenage couple that date and fight and break up and make up and fight and it just goes on and on until it ends.

When its over and the dust settles you take a look at what just happened in your life and make life assessments regarding the plusses and minuses of the relationship and eventually grade the event and move on with your life. That might sound clinical but think about it because most of us do it that way. If we didn’t then we wouldn’t be able to move on to other relationships.

So my mom has been gone a year today and the time went fast. I remember being there holding her hand as she faded from life and the other subsequent activities of her funeral and burial. It really seems dreamlike now when I look back on it.

So what have I learned or felt in the past year? Actually nothing more or less than I felt at the time of the actual event except maybe that the hurts are a little less traumatic as I remember them now. They still sting but in a different way.

While mom was alive I was able to relive past moments of my youth and the anger would still be there but now I no longer visit those places nor do I allow myself to over think the dynamic between us. With her gone she is in a place that anger no longer touches unless I want it to touch me and I don’t.

So, in effect, her dying set me free to be free from those thoughts and memories that made me upset and angry and that is a good thing. You would have to ask my family if I am different; I don’t feel different but I think I am less stressed and hopefully more at peace with myself.

There will be many more anniversaries of mom’s passing and I hope that I will be able to stop and reflect for a moment on her and what she meant to my life, both good and bad. I still do the same for my dad on June 30th of each year.

The most poignant thing that comes out of this is the thought that life is for the living and I think my mom’s passing probably has driven that home to me more than any other thing. She is now with the ages and I am here and what I do here is the important aspect of my life at this time. What I do with this time will be the legacy I leave to my children and grandchildren and that is an important thing to me.

I can only hope that I can take the life lessons of my mom and make positive memories of myself to my family and also share in such a manner that they will know how much they mean to me. To do anything less would be a terrible waste of this time that I have been given and would show that I learned nothing from my experiences with my mom. That would truly be a shame.

Where Do We Go From Here?

A news tidbit caught my eye or should I say tugged at the wallet I was sitting on at the time.

The federal deficit is now at 1.2 TRILLION dollars and EACH American, man, woman, child, baby, physically challenged, mentally impaired…every one of us would have to pay $4,100 to pay it back. I don’t know about you but I don’t have that kind of cash lying around for the 4 people in my house.

I am an avid L.A. Angels fan and I watch their games as often as I can. The stadium that they play at holds about 40,000 fans. If that stadium was filled to capacity and had to pay their share they would pay $164,000,000 (one hundred and sixty-four million dollars) just that one stadium for that one game and that is nowhere near what it will take to pay this back.

President Ronald Reagan stated one time in a speech that a trillion dollars (that’s with a CAPITAL “T”) in one hundred dollar bills stacked on top of each other would reach from the earth to the moon. The moon is 240,000 miles from the earth and we all know approximately how thick any currency bill is that we have in our wallet.

Please remember that this deficit is PRIOR to National Healthcare which will only add to the deficit as it currently stands.

My mind is absolutely amazed on how we got here. Little to nothing has been done to repair the infrastructure (roads, bridges, airports (unless you are Congressman John Murtha)) and only 10% of the stimulus has been allocated out for projects that will truly put people to work. Most of the allocation to date has been on pork barrel projects for law makers to spend in their districts but the country as a whole is still standing and waiting for Washington to act.

When this all started I actually cheered the stimulus because I knew that it was going to fund projects to fix our bridges (remember Minneapolis a few years ago?) and I thought man, this is a good idea. People will be hired to go to work to make this happen and the economy will heal faster with this type of plan. Well, Washington and President Obama have let us down again and that is a sad fact.

But don’t forget that Congress agreed to fund new airplanes for them at a cost of $500,000,000 (five hundred million dollars) and we all know how much the Speaker Nancy Pelosi has wanted a bigger plane to ferry her family to California.

Congress, both Republicans and Democrats just don’t get it anymore. There is too much money and too much influence and when they spend the money it is our money, not theirs, there is no emotional attachment to what they are doing to their constituents at home. Our system is broke.

So where do we go from here? Simple, we start replacing all congressional elected personnel with fiscally responsible candidates.

Require that ALL lobbyist to move out of Washington D.C. no closer that 300 miles.
Create a lobbyist arm of the government that they will have to register with and account for all contact of any congressional personnel and limit contact both in Washington and outside the district.
Reduce all congressional salaries 10% immediately and all years that have a deficit no salary increases will be given.

That’s a start. Let me think about it and I probably will come back with more ideas.

A Memory of Times Past

When I was a boy, and that was many years ago, our family had a tradition of going fishing off the Seal Beach pier the Sunday of every Memorial Day weekend, never fail. My dad would pack up all the fishing gear and a radio to listen to the Indianapolis 500 while we fished.

I remember as a small lad being in the back seat of the family sedan as we stopped for bait in the early morning hours on our way to the pier. Remember, there were no 605 or 405 freeways but you took Highway 39 (Azusa Avenue) through all of the cities and stop lights until you reached Pacific Coast Highway. I have no idea how long it took because I was asleep in the back of the car.

I remember the pier so well even today as a long, long, long wooden structure that was very high over the ocean, a little scary and exciting at the same time. But the excitement of the day was being with my parents, my dad mostly, and fishing.

Now, my dad had a long pole with a huge reel and it looked like the thing a fisherman would use to catch some big fish and my mom used a drop line. A drop line is just like it sounds, you drop it over the side of the pier into the water, plop, plop.

I was always amazed that my mom caught more fish with the drop line then my dad did with his large casts into open water. He would cast out and after awhile would reel in the line usually with no bait on it. I often wondered if his huge casts flung the bait off the hook as it went into the water since he got very few bites. Oh well, he had fun regardless.

I usually hung out watching this and messed with the bait to the irritation of my dad. As I got older I fished also but never became an avid member of the club. I did have some very memorable fishing times on half-day boats from the pier though in my high school years.

Yesterday, I returned to that pier for the first time in 40 years; man, that sounds weird being able to say that and have it be actually true. My granddaughter Jordan and I had a day at the beach and I took her to that pier so I could experience it one more time with her.

When your parents are gone then you have to go places that they went in order to be close to them and this is one of those places. Sure there are other places also but this place is special to me.

With my mom alive I guess I saw no reason to have to visit but now that she has been gone almost a year now, I went back again maybe to grasp a little bit of my youth again or maybe just to remember a time when my life was less complicated. Either way, I enjoyed the walk on that pier even if I had to carry Jordan most of the way because now I have a new memory to add to the collection…Jordan and me walking the pier just like I did with my parents.

Hey, getting old isn’t all that bad after all.

Just a Great Day...

Have you ever had a day that just went well from start to finish? Everything was in sync and it just felt really good to be alive.

Started out the day attending church and I have to say that having my entire family in church (except Jordan who was at her dad’s house) was really an great thing. Paula and I ushered today and we communed with our family and that just really makes me feel so at peace when that happens.

Jen wore the new top Paula bought her today at church and it has a fetus drawn on the front and she looked beautiful in it. For those that haven’t heard we are expecting a girl, Lilly Marie, in January 2010 and the girls have already started to buy stuff for the baby shower. One thing I can say about our family is that a baby just knocks our socks off.

Noah was an absolute joy and he is so friendly and talks to everyone and smiles so easily. I took a picture of him by the Vacation Bible School robot and he just smiles. He is so easy to be around.

So Brandon and Jen and Noah had to leave after church for an engagement and Holly, Steven, and Peyton came over to the house for lunch and just hanging out with the family.

Peyton in still combat crawling but can go from her stomach to sitting up on her own. She is also interested in pulling up on things and has also become a great shoelace fan and loves to untie the laces, much to my chagrin. She also just loves cords and plugs and anything electrical.

So we hung out and ate lunch and the girls went to the trailer and cleaned it for our 8 day trip starting next Friday and Steven and I watched TV until he took a nap and Peyton lay on top of him and it was just a great thing to see.

So how was your day?

Free Speech

So after a good night’s sleep and a little time to contemplate the cosmos; I woke up this morning still thinking about what I perceive as an uneven application by both sides to the free speech matter.

Then I remembered what an old cohort said to me many years ago…”That the rights of my fist end where the tip of your nose begins”. Say what? How does that apply here?

Well, if I can expand on this, basically that the words I express even though they might be offensive have a right to be said even to the dissatisfaction of the other party as long as they cause no physical harm. Now that sounds bad but really when you think about it “reptile and repulsive” and “racist” are only hurtful if they are true. They don’t “really” hurt anyone, do they?

So as a listener I need to be more mindful of the truthfulness of the word or words and whether they truly apply or not, if they do not then so what and if they do then I can be offended.

So regarding Ms. Garafalo’s “racist” comment; “So What”, it’s not true and she is just blowing a lot of hot air. So Julia has a right to call Republicans anything she wants and I have a right to react accordingly, which I did and Barbra can still be Barbra and so what. It doesn’t matter unless I care and I don’t.

I guess the old adage of “Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me” is still true after all these years. Thanks mom for teaching me that one.

So talk on both sides and let the insults and hurtful divisive words continue to pound the airwaves and continue to build on the history of debate in this great country of ours. Although it has gotten more heated over the past eight years it is still an ingrained part of Americana that most other countries can only dream about.

Oh yeah, and I still think liberals are a bunch of lunk heads…man that felt good.

I'm Confused Again...

Well, it’s happened again, I am confused over the First Amendment and how it is applied across our society.

Yep, I have been listening and reading and the pundits have me confused because there seems to be a clear delineation of free speech being applied in current news events.

Now, as a Republican I can honestly tell you that there are certain celebrities that I no longer go to their movies or buy their music, Julia Roberts, “Republicans can be found somewhere between reptile and repulsive” and Barbra Steisand just because she’s Barbra. I really did enjoy these two performers but their political speech offended me and I am sure they do not miss my attention or money. There are more, Sean Penn, etc..

But it brings up a point…Democrats, mainly liberal ones are free to speak their minds in whatever fashion generally in the press or some media outlet and Republicans just have to take it but when the tables are turned then name calling is in order. Such is the order of the day with the current brouhaha on town hall meetings.

When did old folks speaking their mind become labels for neo-Nazis and other rude names? Now, I will admit that they left their manners at the door but so has the other side on occasion.

So Obama who was supposed to bring us together (remember that just back in November 2008, although I never believed it) has polarized us even more because of ill advised programs and rampant government spending that will saddled our kids and grandkids.

But I digress… what bothers me is the Ms. Garafalo can get on TV and call anyone who disagrees with Obama’s policies “racists” but an elected official cannot “take the heat” from the people that put him in office.

I love living in a Republican district because there is no town hall meeting because it isn’t necessary because my congressman has his marching orders and he will do his job.

Unfortunately, the Democrats are having a hard time listening as they are being rushed out out of local town hall meetings to their waiting limousines for their ride back to their gated communities.

So can someone fill me in on just how free speech is applied fairly to all citizens again?

As the World Turns

Well, it’s been another interesting week on the political scene and town hall meetings are currently the rage of the media circuit. Seems that they are getting a little unruly as citizens (you fill in what type you think they are, Republican operatives, neo-Nazis, or just plain old folks) speak their minds in not especially respectful manner to their elected officials.

As I watched these reports it became apparent to me that the speakers were older folks and I had to laugh at the Democrats saying that they were operatives or revolutionary types because anyone who knows an old person knows that they hate their medical provider but they probably hate the government more.

I listened for years to my democratic mother bash Bush and the poor medical treatment that she was receiving and all of the other injustices that the world had put on her in her rest home and I tried to smile through the pain. Why, because I knew in any other country she would have been dead 5 years earlier from lack of medical attention.

One thing I can say for America is there is one thing the medical community fears more than old folks and that is their lawyers if you mistreat them in any manner. If the old person doesn’t get you then the family lawyer will lay you out in court after the fact.

And so I watched and what I saw were people…people afraid that they were going to lose something that they might not like but they felt was better than what they were going to get.

Remember the old neighborhood game where two siblings were carping at each other all day but if you said on bad word to either one of them then you had a fight on your hands from both of them. Well, there is a lesson here…leave the old folks medical coverage alone because they think of it as a sibling and they don’t like anyone messing with it.

I am fascinated that the best minds we elect to run this country have such a poor read on the American population that they call them names and insult their integrity and then ask for their votes in the next election. Listen up…2010 could be a referendum not seen in awhile.

There are two elections coming up soon that will be an indicator, one for Virginia governor and the other in New Jersey. Keep an eye on these races because they just might show a major shift in the independent voters as they finally wake up from the Obama stupor and put their thinking caps back on and vote with their heads and not their hearts.

America…you just gotta love it.

Cooler Head Prevails

I was watching Glenn Beck yesterday and he scared the hell out of me not just in what he was saying but how he was saying it.

He was reporting on the current heavy handed DNC video and the apparent quashing of first amendment rights of the right in town hall meetings. Shown were clips of Nancy Pelosi and other Dems that really put the smack down on the protestors in these meetings.

There were some disturbing comments regarding members wearing swastikas and other signs of terrible behavior. It really disturbed me until I watched Bill O’Reilly.

He seems so calm and detached almost from the fray that I was wondering what little genie in a bottle he had that made the rest of us look stressed and tired. Well, he summed it up in one phrase (and I paraphrase)…”Democracy is an ongoing living breathing thing and this is just a stage of it and it will move back to some central theme in the future.

Man, hearing that was like taking a 15mg Valium on an empty stomach. I instantly relaxed because I know now that “this too shall pass” just like Jimmy Carter and other presidential tenures (and yes, my liberal friends feel free to add your choices also) democracy is growing and it will be changed somewhat but not so dramatically that it will be unrecognizable when this administration is done.

So I watched the news and applauded that the Independents that voted for this president are turning against him in the polls and listened somewhat to the liberal rhetoric and actually had a small smile on my face because I began to understand that this is a process; a painful process for conservatives right now but we will pass through it.

Thank you, Bill O’Reilly for clearing this up for me. I appreciate your effort in this area.

At What Cost Freedom?

The liberal element of the political cycle is beating the hell out of the conservatives right now and it is frightening to me.

The current Republican minority in the congress is so outflanked that there is no possible way they can move to establish a front on any issue. In clear language…there is no more dialogue on any issue.

The current administration has gone right for the jugular of the conservative voter and has quashed any clear dissent. This was done when the media lost its impartiality to issues and threw their hat clearly in the ring of the current President. So now, when we need debate on costly bills there is none and all dissent is seen as mob behavior.

The Democratic National Committee has released a video saying that the current dissent is from well funded Republicans that are basically a “mob”. Jeanine Garafalo has gone on record as stating that the “tea party” gatherings are all because we hate the black man in the White House. She calls us racist and still no angry protest from the press only the casual shoulder shrug.

I am a Christian conservative Republican that believes in the rule of law, on the founding principals of our founding fathers, in fact even though they were flawed in many ways they were pretty good guys and came up with one hell of a government for their constituents. But with the current strong arm tactics exhibited by the “ruling class” in Washington; little can be seen of any type of public discourse on domestic issues.

I do not hate Barack Obama nor do I care if he is President or not, his skin color is of no consequence to me but his stand on issues is of great importance to me as it has been with ever other President. I am greatly concerned with the thug like tactics that is currently being demonstrated by the administration and its affiliates today.

Let us be cognizant of the power of dissent in all matters and how it works to find a path towards the common good. No power devoid of dissent can of itself be grounded in true fact but rather it is based in uncertain terrain that is subjected to the elements of man’s intemperate behavior.

"Difference of opinion leads to enquiry, and enquiry to truth; and that, I am sure, is the ultimate and sincere object of us both. We both value too much the freedom of opinion sanctioned by our Constitution, not to cherish its exercise even where in opposition to ourselves." --Thomas Jefferson to P. H. Wendover, 1815. ME 14:283

I Have a Question...

I woke up this morning to a somewhat beautiful sunrise with a light wisping of clouds in the sky.

I turned on the local news to see the jet landing at Burbank Airport (Bob Hope Airport, really) with the two reporters that were recently jailed in North Korea. On board also was President Bill Clinton who negotiated the release of these two reporters.

The plane is taken into the hangar and the crowd of family and some press are located inside to record the moment with family and friends. Former Vice President Al Gore is also there as a co-owner of the news service that these two reporters worked for when they were captured. It was a real Capraesque moment as the two reporters alighted from the plane into the loving arms of their family and friends. It really was a wonderful moment even for a hardened conservative Republican like me; I misted up a bit especially when the one reporter hugged her child. I wondered how often she wondered if she would ever see her family again and especially that little gift of life that she had waiting at home.

It really was a grand scene and Al Gore was ever present on the camera and hugging the reporters and it really was a good time.

So what is my question? Who are the numbskulls that sent two female reporters to China to report on the North Korean psyche when it is already well know that it is in the dumper under the current regime? Who perpetrated this fiasco not only on these reporters but their families and the American people at large?

Now, being a little older guy; I can honestly say that I remember reporters in Vietnam, and have seen them on TV in Iraq and other war zones, embedded into the fighting units. I understand the importance of that duty and I honor the likes of David Bloom, Bob Woodward, Clete Roberts and the others that have put their lives in harms way to report the battle to the people at home.

But come on now…two women sent to China who eventually end up in North Korea tried for spying and sentenced to 14 years at hard labor seems like a circus stunt for publicity and a dangerous one at that.

Any half-read bumpkin knows that all Americans should stay away from North Korea. All this did was provide them with a publicity forum for the next 6 months and almost got these reporters killed. If you think they would have survived 14 years at hard labor in North Korea then you are a bigger rube than most. Their prison sentence was a death sentence without having to use the term “Capital Punishiment”.

There should be some hard questioning of Al Gore and his cohorts for creating a potentially sad event in these reporter’s lives and for their families as well.

But the current mood of the media today and the love fest of the liberal element in all facets of our lives shows me that only the celebration will be shown and no “hard” questions asked.

In closing, I do thank the administration and especially President Bill Clinton for the work he did in securing the release of these two reporters.

I can only hope that we have learned a lesson here…stay away from the Big Bad Wolf.

No Guarantee of Time

There is nothing more painful then the death of a young person; a person who has their whole life ahead of them with all of its challenges and rewards and yet they will see none of it.

My niece is currently going through a time with a high school friend that has a rare form of bone cancer that has spread throughout his body and his time is drawing near. There is great sadness over this as well there should be for the family and friends have been vigilant and yet all of the time, prayers and good intentions have fallen on barren soil, or have they?

The immanency of death is a harsh reality to all of us and its sting is well documented yet it is what we learn from death that really is the key to any death that we are involved with. Death leaves a trail…a trail of tears and sadness for sure but also a trail of endurance and longevity for the person who has passed through death’s portal.

What we need to look at is the trail of continuance that stays with us long after the grief is gone and the mourning is over; the trail that leads us back to that person in the future years of our life and makes us pause and remember an earlier time and place when they were still with us.

Death is not finality as much as it is transference from physical to spiritual presence and no person that has ever died is truly dead until no one thinks of them again.

I think that it is interesting and very important to remember that we are all physical beings but also spiritual and that is an important part of our mastering of death in our lives. It is in the spiritual that we are allowed to still fellowship with our family and friends and that part of us transcends time and space.

The Native Americans have a saying, ‘Today would be a good day to die” and when you think about that you might be cynical about its intent. But plainly said it shows a far greater understanding of death for in it is the feeling that “I have lived a full life regardless of the time given to me” and that shows a depth of understanding far past most of us.

Time will grow short in all of our lives; some of us will be blessed with longevity and others will not but regardless of the time given; it is the quality not the quantity of time that blesses our lives and blesses those that remember us.

It’s a Question of Priorities…

Ok, so I’m going to rile a few feathers here and not make many friends but there is something stuck in my craw that needs to be spit out…the feeling of many people in America that America owes them something, anything just because ____________.
(you can fill in the blank here)

Anyone growing up and studying American history in school heard stories of the immigrants that came to America and immersed themselves into the process of being American. They sweated and toiled and yes, most of it was at the behest of an industrial machine that treated them like dirt.

But through it all, the immigrant continued forward for himself and his family looking ahead for a better day and life for all of them. This was their dream and it made America what it is today.

Today, we are immersed in a lifestyle of gadgetry and so much junk that we spend a considerable amount of our hard earned dollars on luxuries and not staples. Our heads turn like Linda Blair (the Exorcist) whenever we go into a store full of electronic gear and other toys. We spend and we obtain our goods and we go home to our own enjoyment. We work hard; we deserve these things, right?

I, personally, do not have any problem with anyone spending their money on whatever they want to as long as they have sufficient funds to pay for the staples in life. It is the staples that sustain us and not the luxuries. If we can have both then we are lucky indeed but we need to be cognizant of the balance of life in our financial matters.

Paula and I early on in the relationship set up an agreement that we had a limit that we could spend without asking for approval from the other half and that has worked well for us for 33 years. It also set a boundary that we were well aware of and needed to pay attention to it. We have had our tough times but we have made it through because we both realize that luxuries come after staples and not the other way around.

Also, we understood that you have to save for a rainy day and you can not live at the edge and expect someone else to pick up your slack when things pop up.

As our children grew, both Paula and I kept our focus on what were the future needs of the family and how were they going to be paid. Because we did this our kids were able to go to the places that they wanted to go and were able to participate in what suited them. It wasn’t always easy but having a plan and setting money aside well before it is needed helped greatly in getting things paid for in a timely manner.

I am not saying this works for everyone but I think the base element here is this…you have to decide what is important or not for you and your family. You have to make a plan on how it will be funded and then do it. And most importantly, if you fail to plan and do not have the funds then you need to look at yourself and not someone else to bail you out. That doesn’t mean that you beat yourself up over it but you need to own it so you can understand how you can successfully accomplish your next goal.

So look around and see all that you have and think about what is needed in the future for you or your family and how are you going to accomplish it. Once you get the plan down you will see that you might just fund your luxuries a little less and that you will have more money for the “staples” of life.

It’s a question of priorities and deciding what is important in your life. If you decide that luxuries are more important than staples then be happy with the decision and adjust your life and attitude accordingly but stop the complaining, it won’t help until you decide to change.

I’m Confused…

To anyone that knows me this is not a startling statement for me to make since most conversations that become multi-subject tend to warp my brain cells and I generally get a glazed look and my brain just freezes up on me.

It’s no biggee and I usually can ask a few questions and I can get myself back on track and even sound somewhat intelligent given enough time.

So what is the issue now?

National Healthcare and what I am hearing that is a perception of some people that support this type of coverage. What I am hearing and what I have researched confuses me only in that I am not sure that those supporting this type of coverage really have a grasp on what is entailed in working through the system.

Let’s face it, the current healthcare system has flaws and some major areas of inefficiencies that when looked at screams for attention from someone (and if the federal government is that someone, then so be it). I’m a big boy and although I hate “Big Brother” looking over my shoulder on almost any issue I will give the other side the benefit of the doubt that they might be able to assist some in this area.

But let’s get back to the matter. There appears to be a misconception on the part of some supporters of National Healthcare that just about anything that needs to be done for them medically will be done for them. From the research on England and Canada I am not sure that is a realistic outlook. Now, I am not saying that the U.S. version will be the same as their systems but I would have to believe that there will be some similarities.

Ok, so what?

What I have seen with the two models mentioned above is that both models have a national review board, if you will, that analyzes medical procedures, medications, tests, etc., and makes decisions as to their incorporation into the health plan system or not. I reserve judgment on whether this is a good system or not but from what I have read it can make life miserable for patients sometimes.

A case in point, England recently changes its approach to pain medication for chronic back pain patients by suggesting that they go through a holistic health regimen instead of pharmaceutical route. Now, this seems to me to be really a bad idea.

Chronic pain patients need certain medications to function and to take them off for some other type of therapy does not seem fair or compassionate. Having worked with a doctor who treated chronic pain patients and seeing them first hand in great pain; I side with making sure they receive the necessary medication to allow them some quality of life.

But the main thrust of my argument here is that these systems have a board, if you will, that looks at and makes decisions on what is paid for and what is not and what patient gets the procedure or medication and which patient does not. This is a scary proposition for me because if I have a loved one that needs something and cannot get it through the “board” then I either pay for it or my loved one suffers the consequences.

To be honest, I have not researched the appellate part of the two systems mentioned above but if a single payer insurance company makes you jump through hoops what will on national board do to us.

In closing what I have found in the two plans I have referenced is this; that patients many times are denied medical procedures even life threatening ones because of age or physical condition. Some might call this social euthanasia and although not proven there have been many news articles of people chaining themselves to a gurney until they are seen and other desperate acts.

I guess it will be easier to hate one “BIG” healthcare provider than our own individual carriers, if we have one. At least then we won’t have any other companies to compare our medical care against and that is a frightening thought indeed.

Am I confused again or would this not be a good thing for us?

Where are the Media Values?

Am I the only one that is getting uncomfortable with the media these days? I don’t think so but political reporting has become such a bland diet of no “hard” questioned asked that I am beginning to wonder if the White House hasn’t already nationalized the press and it just hasn’t been reported yet.

Now, I will state here that Bushie was one of the first to cull questions prior to press conferences and I didn’t like it then and I don’t like it now. Press conferences used to be a high wire act for the President but no longer. Now the questions are seen in advance and a teleprompter is in place with scripted answers…no wonder Hollywood is in love with this guy, he is nothing more than an actor reading his lines. I am sorry but that is an affront to actors since they have to actually memorize their lines before going on to perform.

What would have happened to George W if he had emitted the “stupidly” remark as did our current President? I think it would be safe to say that the press would have laid him wide open and field dressed him right on TV. What did our current President get, basically nothing except more questions on the issue.

So Dan Rather wants Washington to look at the media and actually start a commission to look at media issues and I am asking why. Why should the media want to get in bed with the very people they are charged with reporting on everyday? Why? And where do the American people fit in here with their expectation of “impartial” news reporting?

The press needs to get their heads out of their proverbial you know whats and start addressing the issues in a more “attack” mode or they will continue to see dwindling subscribers as they flow to the Internet to get the news they need to read from the source(s) that give it to them.

Fox News…Fight on!

“Cash for Clunkers” is a Real Clunker

Most experiments require blind tests and double blind tests to ensure that the hypothesis and theorem is valid and I think this is a good idea from a consumer standpoint.

So the federal government develops a program, “Cash for Clunkers” to spur car sales and to begin fixing an ailing economy. I think, personally, it is a great idea as it will rid the road of old vehicles that emit too many pollutants and use too much gas. Really, it was a well devised program except…

Once again, the people who are in charge of our tax dollars can’t see one inch beyond the end of their nose. Why? They so totally underestimated the consumer’s acceptance of this program that it ran out of money in basically two weeks Now, the program has a moratorium as Washington tries to fund more cash to it so it can continue.

I think a billion dollars (that’s with a “B”) is a lot of money but at $3,500-$4,500 per vehicle and given the number of old cars that are still out there it wasn’t nearly enough to fund the program on an ongoing basis.

Couple with the amount of money spent by the car manufacturers (oh yeah, aren’t they bankrupt and trying to watch their dollars?) advertising this program and now it is “on hold”, I think that Washington has shown one thing in this experiment…they are ill equipped or under funded intellectually to take on nationalize medicine.

If there is a failure in that program people just might die.

The Art of No Offense

It really is getting harder and harder to do anything and not offend someone in the process.

Take the “Gates” affair…

What a weird set of circumstances that took place there..

What I can surmise from what little I have read is the Mr. Gates came home from a trip from China and his front door to HIS house was stuck so he called his driver to help him open it and then a neighbor, being ever vigilant, calls the police because she thinks there is a break-in in a house down the street and the cops come and by that time Mr. Gates is in the house. Understand that the caller did not identify the men on the porch as being from any race, just that it appeared men were breaking into a house.

The police come onto the porch and maybe into the house and ask Mr. Gates for his identification and he promptly tells them, “No!” and so an argument ensues.

To make a long story short he gets arrested for being disorderly.

Only one problem…Mr. Gates is a well known professor and academic and he is black and the officer was white. Oops, there is a real politically correct incorrect thing to do.
Now at first blush and with little inside information I am asking myself why Mr. Gates knowing full well that it was his house didn’t just show his ID to the police officer and tell him the door was stuck and what happened?

Why the anger and why the play the race card right out of the box. Easy, it was to disarm the white police officer and to try and gain, what Mr. Gates perceived to be a level playing field. I am not saying he was wrong in being upset but a little discipline on his part could have gone a long ways to not having an incident at all.

I wonder how he would have felt coming home from China and seeing his house totally ransacked with all valuables missing. I wonder if he would have settled for an excuse from the police that, “we thought it was just you coming home and your door was stuck and we thought you would eventually get it worked out so we just stayed away”.

Then the plot thickens as the “Chief Law Enforcement Officer” in America weighs in and basically proves his ineptness in the matter by saying the police acted “stupidly”. What a nice word from a man who acknowledged that he didn’t have all the facts.

So how does it all turn out, with Joe Biden, Barak and the guys enjoying a beer at the White House. Hopefully Joe didn’t open the meeting with his comments on Ukrainian women (although I do agree with him on that one).

Now I have read that one of the early Presidents had a wheel of cheese in the entry way to the White House so that when visitors came there they could have something to eat and it is nice to see that our President is making the “Happy Hour” a possible staple of America’s first house. I can hardly wait to go there and have a wine and cheese hour with the first family.

One of the things that seems to be coming back to me over and over with President Obama is that he lacks “class”. He doesn’t have it, never learned it and quite frankly must have laid off the Protocol person that should be assisting him in such manners.

One of the sad things is that I am afraid that he will never get it and from his disappointing responses from other world leaders I am sure that they also see this deficiency.

Well, he is not the first one that was seen as a social buffoon and he probably won’t be the last but with the economy in the dumper, increased death toll in Afghanistan I really think he has more to do then have a beer with a few of the guys in the backyard.

Did you see the guy delivering the beers? Now that was class…

Losing Weight is HARD Work!

I have been going to Weight Watchers since the end of January of this year and it has been one long battle but it is worth it, I think.

A lot has been written about diets and I applaud anyone who goes on one and stays on it and reaches their goal but Weight Watchers is really not a diet it is a “way of life” in eating. What does that mean?

Well, we mostly view food for satisfaction in our lives and not for the nutritional value it brings to us; that’s why there is an ice cream store and other pleasure food venues in our local shopping areas. These vendors have found that we are all suckers for the quick sugar fix and less interested on what sticks to our bodies after the fact. I mean, how many vegetables stores and stands can you find in your local town? I am sure there are a few but not like Starbuck’s, 31 Flavors and the other taste teasers.

So what to do…
Eat more in the morning and early afternoon. Minimize calories after 2:00pm.
If you want sweets eat them early in the day but be sensible about it.
Start the day with a big breakfast to kick-start your metabolism. Cereal, small bagels with Weight Watcher’s cream cheese, banana for potassium, fruit, even an omelet with bacon is ok.
Eat a snack at least every 3 hours, one fruit, one veggie, one sweet treat. Don’t let yourself get hungry and you will eat less during the day.
Eat a small dinner, salad, veggies, fruit. Portion size is important.
Nothing to eat after 8:00pm every night.
Exercise each day if only for a few minutes even if it is a stroll around the neighborhood. Exercise raises your metabolism and aids in burning calories.

The one true adage of all weight loss is…you have to burn more calories than you take in on a daily basis to lose weight…it is that simple but the hard part is doing it.
So I will continue to push myself daily and will continue to try and lose weight not so much for myself as for what I am giving myself, more days to spend with my family and friends.

It is HARD work but I am glad that I am able to do it.

Not Surprising

So I was reading the newspaper this morning (on-line because it is the new green way) and it was being reported was that President Obama has gone back to bashing Bush again.
Not surprising when you see his polls numbers are beginning to show the direction of the voter’s discontent with his policies. It was obvious that the fickleness of the Democratic voter has been well documented as the easiest to sway but the hardest to please.
One report on the stimulus is that it created jobs in Oregon, yes it did, and the jobs only lasted ONE WEEK. Now, that’s what I call stimulating.
Listen, I want America to succeed through the financial mess we are in but we need thinkers that are outside the box and not trying the same old same old way to solve problems.
I do feel sorry for the President because I think anything John McCain would have done would have garnered the same results, the economy is sick with a bad cold and the flu (who knows, it could be swine flu) and it will take time to recover but only if the home market recovers without continuing foreclosures. Another onset of foreclosures is scheduled later this year.
President Obama’s problem is that he raised expectations just like John Kennedy and now he cannot meet them and the people are discouraged.
So what to do…
Simple, treat the disease and wait it out but do not spend us into bankruptcy with extravagant medicines that we cannot afford and will be paying for years to come.
In the old days the flu and colds were treated with home remedies and maybe that is what is needed here. Let’s acknowledge the problem and treat it by pulling back some and stop acting like we can will it away. It is a disease we created and we need to live with it for a sufficient amount of time to really feel it. That is the only way we can learn from it and possibly not recreate it again in the future.
And President Obama, stop bashing Bush; this is your problem and your deficit so live with it because we are and it is an uncomfortable fit, believe me.

A Scary Proposition

Man, am I scared! I admit it; I am scared to my very core; probably more scared in a controlled manner than I ever have been in my life. I tremble inside even as I write this because I think that I have let the proverbial genie out of the bottle and now what will be the results of such an action on my part?
What I am really feeling is a lack of confidence in my faith, not in God because I know His power but in my power in assisting God in making something of a calling that He gave me a few days ago in a blog that I wrote.
What scares me is that in that time there has been a mobilization of other Christians that have stepped forward and started the “grassroots” projects of making this calling a real breathing thing. I won’t bore you with the details but there has been a minor groundswell of fellow Christians that is amazing to see and we have just begun.
It is hard for me to picture one million Christians marching in our nation’s capital, peacefully demonstrating to our government the peaceful intents of our hearts to be heard and to be understood.
I cannot even fathom this yet but God has shown me in the early hours of this event’s life that there is a hunger for this not only in my neighborhood but as this is reaching out across America. We are getting responses from different areas of the nation but it is still early and there is still yet much to be done.
Pray for this effort to continue as God blesses us as we move forward to proclaim His message.

2 Chronicles 7:14 (New International Version)

14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Reverse Compassion

I was thinking the other night about a comment that I had read regarding Christians and their lack of compassion for the poor and downtrodden and it made me think.
It made me think about love and the different aspects of it and can love be used in a reverse manner that appears to be love but really isn’t love at all?
When I look at the poor and downtrodden I can see two specific large groups that should be identified. One being the physically disadvantages either through illness or injury and the other is the socially disadvantaged that through actions on their own part, whether conscious or not, have put them in a disadvantaged position. Plainly said, the poorly educated population that decided early on that education was not a goal in their life.
Ok, so what am I getting at?
The comment made painted Christians as people that profess their faith but do not show it through their actions to the poor and downtrodden and I think the statement at first blush might look correct but is flawed when you look at it. I will not take the time here to list the many religious organizations that serve the poor daily.
I think it is safe to say that the mainstream Christian and also mankind in general makes a valiant attempt to assist those in need especially those that cannot take care of themselves because of some unfortunate circumstance in their life.
I also think that there is an attempt to assist even the socially disadvantaged in some manner but I do agree that it is not as pronounced as services to the physically disadvantaged group.
But I see the two groups as being significantly different in manner and temperament and therein lies the rub.
The Bible has several passages about work being a staple in a person’s life and that we are not to be slothful. Now work comes in many different forms and the stay-at-home mom works plenty hard to maintain the family unit but there can be a vast difference to the working poor that refuse to work or refuse to be trained to go to work.
There is a large segment of our population that has lived in the entitlement framework of our society and they like it. They feel, I am sure for whatever reason, that they are to be taken care of and maintained in some manner that suits them. I will fully admit that the entitled poor don’t seem to be demanding a mansion to live in so they seem content in their current living conditions.
So get to the point already…
Love of the poor and downtrodden is not giving them anything they want any more than you would do for your own child. As parents haven’t we taught our children to expect reward from work? If we expect it from them then how can we expect less from the ones that can work but refuse to work because welfare is easier?
Coupled now with a national health plan that will also entitle them at taxpayer expense; aren’t we loving them in the wrong direction. Shouldn’t we be coaxing them to work and earn the benefits that are there for all of us?
I understand the liberal bent on social caring for all poor but isn’t this being painted with a broad brush when a smaller one might make us look at the details a little more closely?
Maybe then even the non-believer might see that Christians, although not perfect by any means, are not heartless because they do not agree to reward laziness.
Could there be a meeting of the minds?

We Need to Stand; We Need to March

One of the basic tenants to fundamental Christianity is that Christ is coming again to the earth at an unknown time. Another is that God will allow His people to suffer when they fail to demonstrate His will by doing what is required of them. I believe this without a doubt.
The world is in disarray and I believe that one of God’s earthly emissaries, our country, has become paralyzed by the current rush to humanistic beliefs and goals. I believe that this is foolishness and needs to be countered by the “religious” citizens of our land. While I am hopeful, l am also pessimistic about the Christians of this great land doing anything but sitting on their hands and waiting for judgment to fall.
What little I do know of the Bible one thing stands out perfectly clear to me and that is that God does not do the work but rather his people do it for Him so this is what I am proposing…a 1,000,000 Christian march in Washington D.C. as soon as it can possibly be done.
Now that looks like a monumental task and it is but it starts with the first step of saying it and then beginning to implement it. With God all things are possible and so is this plan.
America needs 1,000,000 people of all Christian faiths to march on Washington D.C. and tell our politicians and our courts that we want a “Christ” centered government and if they do not wish to be a part of it then we will all go home and begin the process of electing people that will find a way to do this for us.
While I am not sure how any march of this magnitude has been accomplished I do know that God willing it can be done, it WILL be done.
So I am asking all of the readers of this blog to copy it and send it via email to all of your contacts and ask them to forward it to their contacts and allow God to work in a manner so enormous that when this march is done we will all know the power of His love not only for us but for this country.
I believe that God will make a way for churches to begin the process of making plans to coordinate this great goal of 1,000,000 Christians marching peacefully in our nation’s capitol showing that we are not going to be lost in the current ‘godless” administration.
Amen…yea, yea let it be so.

Nature Can Teach

Nature is like an old school teacher, you remember the ones with the gray hair, half glasses that they peered over when they called on you? The ones that were so old that you wondered how they were still standing much less teaching.
Well, nature is the same.
Nature has so many different subjects that it can teach us if we are willing to learn.
I am most intrigued by snow because it is a natural substance that is manufactured in a manner that no one has really been able to explain. Its shape looks like something that could only be drawn on a draftsman’s table, it is light yet solid and supposedly no two exact flakes have ever been replicated.
I am most attracted to the color…white. Why white? Why not blue or some other color?
I recently drove through the Sierras in California and there is still some snow at the higher elevations and it was interesting to see the contrast of the white snow on the brown earth with green trees. It was beautiful and the snow which appeared to be the most fragile element present was the most dynamic in my memory.
The snow that I saw had never been walked on, that I could see, was brilliantly white in the midday sun and had such a pure elegance about it and there it was fighting off the ravages of the noonday sun in its intensity and it was winning.
There’s a lesson here, I think…that strength is not made in mass but rather cohesion. If the snow flakes decided to separate they would be gone in no time at all but they bonded and in the bonding do not allow the other elements to gain a foothold in their dominion.
Then there were the mountains and the cliffs and crags and the outcroppings and so many different contours and textures. Rocks hanging out into the open air with little holding them from crashing down into the valley and yet they remained. The different color formations and strata and each tells a tale of when they were made and the external pressures that were brought to bear to impact them in such a manner that we can study them years later. But it was the “holding on” that made the biggest impact on me because it was like a band of brothers holding on to the one going over the edge, willing them to remain and expending the energy necessary for it to happen.
There is a lesson here also, I think…that we are nothing without those around us constantly pushing and pulling, holding on, refusing to let go, willing us on, valuing us as a member of the team.
And then there were the trees with little that I can say that will add one scintilla to them that is not already theirs. The beautiful stand of trees for miles and miles were carpeting the earth with their majestic height and even more important the shade and protection that they provided for the creatures below. Out of all of the things I looked at the trees were the most fragile; the most endangered of being destroyed and with them the most important gift that they give to us…clean air.
There is a lesson here, that the strongest are not always that way and that we tend to take them for granted and cater less to their needs. We need to understand how each person strengthens us but at the same time we need to be aware of their needs and be willing to tend to them also.
So the great earth spoke to me that day about my relationships and how I need to respond to those around me but most of all the teacher asked me to ask myself one question…are you here to learn or are you just goofing off again?

Are We Paying Attention Yet?

It is interesting that the news media is beginning to report in very minor detail the economic indicators and the news is not good.
There used to be a political saying that, “How California goes so goes the rest of the nation” and if that is so then we are in for some dire days.
California is bankrupt from a failed policy of entitlements to unions and other social programs that have so impacted its ability to gain clear air that the 7th largest economy in the world may be forced into bankruptcy. No kidding…bankruptcy is the only hope that I see to allow California to peel itself away from the past indebtedness and forge a path to financial solvency.
California for to long has been held in check by unions and the welfare state and that needs to change. That is a harsh statement because it is devoid of all of the compassion that liberals are looking for but you have to be able to pay for what you have and when you no longer have it then you need to make adjustments.
It is less compassionate to build a welfare state so large and complex that is makes the rest of the state’s economy sag and that is where we are at this moment. It is also wrong to give to the entitled masses the hope that they are taken care of for as long as they wish.
One area of attention is the development, once again, of a clear delineation of state’s rights versus federal rights. We have lost one of the basic anchors of our political process…that a state has a right to mandate its laws to its citizens. By not doing this it creates a void that the federal government is more than happy to fill.
A case in point, I think that all states have the right to choose whether marriage is between a man and a woman or allow gay couples to wed and have those marriages recognized as law. If the states were allowed to decide then the federal government does not need to meddle in this discussion. States would set their boundaries and the citizens of those states would hash it out until it was decided. The same is true of the death penalty.
Those unhappy with the decision have two choices, continue to live in the state or move to a state that supports their position.
I can hear the cries of “but I have a job here and I would have to move” and I say that every decision in our life has a price to be paid, some big, some small. If marriage is that important to a gay couple then I would think that they would jump at the chance to move to a state that fully supports their views.
The same applies to the death penalty, environmental issues and any other societal issue of public import.
I, for one, am looking at moving to a state when I am retired that more closely aligns to my political views and why not? By doing so, I have an opportunity to surround myself with people I agree with on issues I agree on and paying my taxes will support the things I support. That sounds like a win-win to me and hopefully to the community that I join.
So “state shopping” should become the new buzz term for Americans and let’s start researching to find the right area to live because the alternative is a continuation of the insanity that is now called our nation.
While public debate continues to be a good thing it has moved from the “let’s solve our problems arena” to the “you are dead to me arena” because of the polarization on most public issues.
So happy shopping and I hope you find that piece of paradise, I sure hope I do.