Just Let Me -- G -- Indoctrinate You!

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Dear America,

"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom
 by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. 
What one person receives without working for,
another person must work for without receiving. 
The government cannot give to anybody anything
 that the government has not first taken from somebody else. 
When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work
 because the other half is going to take care of them,
 and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work
because somebody else is going to get what they work for,
that my dear friend,
 is about the end of any nation...
YOU CANNOT MULTIPLY WEALTH
 by DIVIDING IT!"  

 Dr. Adrian Rogers, 1931


And this principle pretty much works with anything.

Take for example, we cannot increase our unity by dividing it.

We keep going round and round on this one; while if we continue to fail, all of us will fall down dizzy and go boom.

"You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. 
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. 
You cannot help the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer. 
You cannot further brotherhood of man by encouraging class hatred. 
You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. 
You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn. 
You cannot build character and courage
 by taking away man's initiative and independence. 
You cannot help men permanently by doing for them
what they could and should do for themselves." 

Abraham Lincoln

Once a sound principal -- whether for economics or the brotherhood of man -- is always a sound principal; the only variant is our ability to stay clear and true to it's value, and remain responsible in our ability to understand it, respect it, and most definitely, uphold it, teach it, and of course then, multiply it.

"And so, my fellow Americans,
ask not what your country can do for you;
ask what you can do for your country." 

John F. Kennedy

It doesn't get much easier to understand than this.

"Ask nothing of men, and in the endless mutation, thou only firm column must presently appear the upholder of all that surrounds thee.  He who knows that power is inborn, that he is weak because he has looked for good out of him and elsewhere, and so perceiving, throws himself unhesitatingly on his thought, instantly rights himself, stands in the erect position, commands his limbs, works miracles; just as a man who stands on his feet is stronger than a man who stands on his head...

So use all that is called Fortune.  Most men gamble with her, and gain all, and lose all, as her wheel rolls.  But do thou leave as unlawful these winnings, and deal with Cause and Effect, the chancellors of God.  In the Will work and acquire, and thou hast chained the wheel of Chance, and shalt sit hereafter out of fear from her rotations.  A political victory, a rise of rents, the recovery of your sick, or the return of your absent friend, or some other favorable event, raises your spirits, and you think good days are preparing you.  Do not believe it.  Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.  Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles."  
                                                                Ralph Waldo Emerson

In the good ole days, we taught our children, and welcomed our immigrants to our shores, on the very principle of multiplying our wealth; our country's foundation grew stronger; while even though our prosperity ebbed and flowed, we remained steadfast to the principles in which we were made and it worked, triumphantly. Our own self-reliance was the key from which all American doors entered or closed.

Our abundance never truly faltered, as our true wealth was never really in question, for it rests intangible within the hearts and minds of all of us; sure, we could catch glimpses of it as it materialized on Wall Street, or made manifest in a bevy of things we choose to surround our self with -- but that's really not it, is it? 

Our true wealth has always been found deep within the finer, more ethereal dimension of ourselves, keeping a constant and dynamic companion with us at all times, and recognized as none other that the absolute and indelible individual spirit.  This spirit is pure Americana working at it's best; it is a life force in of itself, in God's image (or not), with all the character and will back behind it to prove it.   It has been this spirit, unwavering and multiplying, in good times and bad, that has made America -- and has made America pretty great.

It saddens me, this unrecognizable spirit of discontent permeating throughout our lives and within the sanctity of our homes and the security of our children, as if something so profound is really lost for good.

It saddens me, in this toxic partisan environment, that the principles we have long welcomed and understood, as a whole are somehow under attack; while the idea of melting into one, firm and unified body of Americans seems so far gone and out of reach.

Creating division on purpose?  Not recognizing what is best for the whole over the demands of a few, ignorant to the principles from which we were made, and jeopardizing any chance of peaceful coexistence in our future?

President Obama boldly drew the line in the sand from which he now stands.  He has called out to his people, "young people, african-americans, latinos, and women" recently, as if the respect for the whole of America is none existent, respect for the foundation unwarranted.  That not only sends us back a hundred years, ceasing to move us forward by reaching for commonalities first, searching for the values that bind second, it is purely un-American.

It saddens me, this government shape-shifting the very foundation from which we stand. I refuse to let the values of America's melting pot molt into vulgar protests, and rampant disrespect of the very thing we all strive to uphold and honor -- ONE NATION UNDER GOD (no, I'm not ashamed,org)-- unified in our differences, compassionately listening to one another and supporting open dialogue, standing together firmly to protect everyone who can proudly call themselves American.



It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; the duality of everything under the sun haunts us and favors us within every moment of the day.

"it [the border] is as secure as it's ever been"
Janet Napolitano, said yesterday
Current Director of Homeland Security
Former Governor of Arizona,
the same governor who asked for national guard troops in 2006,
as times were so good,
right...

Hispanics -- along with everybody else -- have come to this country legally for centuries.

Like everybody else, they have come for the opportunity to make something of themselves and to provide for their family under the rule of law -- a law that protects all citizens, equally and fairly, allowing for each individual to prosper, in direct proportion as to what you do for this country.  We reap what we sow; the principle works every time -- and don't even get me started on the loaves and the fishes...there is more than enough for everybody...but I digress...or is it progress...hmmmm

Some people choose to come here illegally.
The Fed says it is against the law.
Now Arizona, says it is against the law -- conforming to the direct language of the Federal Statute, fair and square, and under the law.

You would think all Americans, and especially those who fought tooth and nail to get here -- applying for citizenship, waiting their turn, taking the test, and holding their right hand over their heart reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to which it stands, would be a bit upset, too. 

For if in fact, there are those not only here illegally, but also unfortunately for them, in the midst of breaking any one of our fine laws -- as only that would predicate ample information for which to stop and ask for I.D. in the first place -- creating an opportunity to arrest them -- what part of that seems unreasonable?

And with all that being understood, since when is that a crime?

The true high crimes and punishment happening here, is the unmistakable lack of reverence to this country's founding principles. 

We've stopped teaching it. 
We've stopped doing it.
We've stopped keeping to our individual responsibility to make it, day in and day out;
for if we did, all that would surround us would be peace -- making it possible for the only thing that really matters to be equally distributed amongst us all.

Make it a Good Day, G

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Dear America,

we thought he would be different.

we thought if anyone could do it, he can.

we thought wow, now there is change we can believe in.

Of course, I didn't; but enough of you did. Hence, the scratching of the heads all over America as we watch this administration tear apart that which used to be our strong suit -- our diversity, the riches of attracting the hearts and minds of immigrants from around the globe in search of a new life from our very conception.

America called out to people everywhere, come, bring your tired and your poor and come to America to build a new life.

America, as the shining light on the hill, beckoned each and every one of us to come -- all that was ever asked of us was to come with an open heart and a willingness to work and create something good and to be kind and tolerant and follow the golden rule.

Yet somewhere along the line, the melting pot philosophy from which we were made is now somehow unrecognizable; we are no longer simmering slowly, allowing the piquant and the savory, the sweet and the salty, meld into a delectable delight fit for kings but made for the common man -- oh no, but don't look now, for we have elevated the simple stir into a raucous boiling point -- bubbling over, toil and trouble.


This is our President speaking to his people, listen closely.

Now, I say his people, for that is the context he was speaking; he wasn't talking to me -- even though, last I checked I was still considered to be an American citizen, and he, being the American President, you would think that would include me. not.

"...It will be up to each of you to make sure that the young people, African Americans, Latinos, and women, who powered our victory in 2008 stand together once again.


It will be up to each of you to keep our nation moving forward; to keep working to fix Washington; to keep growing our economy – and to keep building a fairer, stronger, and more just America.

If you help us do that – if you help us make sure that first-time voters in 2008 make their voices heard again in November – then together we will deliver on the promise of change, and hope, and prosperity for generations to come. Thanks."

Break it down, now; and don't leave anybody out that you care about, Mr. President.

But G I hear you say, he included women.

(Right, like he was referring to this kind of woman)

Make no mistake, he was talking to his people -- he's taking ownership of the minority voters block, playing the race card, seeking to divide and conquer in typical liberal fashion, in order to maintain majority in Washington come November.

Never mind that he promised (to all the rest of us who voted for him, not me, but maybe some of you) that he would be different.

Never mind that what most Americans saw in him was pure hope -- including the majority of whites (otherwise none of this would be happening right now)  -- and most certainly not just his people.  What we saw in him was the ultimate opportunity to once and for all, to live that peace, bringing a sense of calm to a diverse and growing politically partisan nation through the closing of a chapter, by way of ringing in a new era and fundamentally transforming Washington (not America), and proudly electing our first African-American president.  The time was ripe and the willingness made easy, for in him we saw a future that all of us could in one way or another welcome in without regret.

He won us over and got the vote and a new age was dawned.

Never mind that what he said in the video goes against everything we thought he was; somehow, some way, it isn't about uniting Americans at all, while rather perversly he has had the opposite affect in race relations altogether.  And apparently, he is just the kind of president who believes he can pull that kind of stunt off, too...I'm having flashbacks to yesterday's blog, kinda creepy when I realize the simple fact that the W would never be allowed to reach out to just simple minded white folk, blatantly calling them out as his followers, as ignorance is bliss, and marking his territory like a hound dog brazen enough to get off the porch.

Are "young people, African-Americans, latinos and women" really that blinded by his aura, that they can't see when they are being used and spit back out when he is done? When has the left ever really worked out for you? But let's venture down that road another day...

Everything happens for a reason.

It is no accident Obama is in office right now, and no accident he finds it so comfortable to stir the pot with race relations -- for being half white and half black and never forgiving his mother for it, he has issues (his view, not mine, read his own words). 

You would think with his age and abilities he would have figured out how to live in the reality of his duality, and become a poster child to mixed race people everywhere, and finally live in peace -- a peace that all people would witness and grow to respect.  If anyone had this potential to teach the finer principles and values embracing racial atonement and the virtues of living side by side with one another in this peace, you would think it would be him.

But hey, we weren't the only ones duped, how about that Nobel Peace Prize selection?  Two weeks into office, having only signed the closing of Gitmo and perhaps shared a beer or two with the Black Congressional caucus, he gets this award out of the blue -- having masterfully portrayed himself as the peacemaker before he's managed to do a thing.  Well I'll be amazing grace, wonders never cease. 

ahh be still my pretties, trust in the peace that passes all understanding...already a mile down the road ahead of us...

If it weren't for this president continuing to be so bold and so divisive by nature, immune to the cries of the people (all of them), and emboldened by his own audacity time and time again, never would the people rise up out of their slow simmering life to protest vehemently and profoundly for restoration to the foundations from which this country was made.

and it's not like it was any one thing -- it was all of it, some even before he got here -- it was the whole kit and caboodle, the kitchen sink, it was throwing everything into the pot and spilling over: spending money we do not have, obligating our children to things we do not want, and making a mockery of the one thing we always thought we felt pretty good about, the beauty of what you see in the diversity of faces melting into ONE  America -- a place where most of us, except maybe this president, are proud to call home.

If it weren't for this president falling far short of the ideals of the trans-formative figure he led us to believe he was, never would we have moved a muscle.

If not for the acts of this president racially profiling just who he chooses to call his own as President (as current video shamelessly documents), being racially selective as to which situations he chooses to jump in with all conclusions made up already (...acted stupidly come to mind...let us not jump to conclusions (Ft. Hood)  but before I do, let me give a shout out to a fine native American sitting in the audience...giving Miranda rights to underwear bombers...giving the NY stage to terrorists...oh yes, the latest Arizona law -- day before it became law -- it is misguided and I will have my attorney general look into it...we can't call it what it is, radical Islam unite...my apologies to all the world on behalf of America...let me... bow ...down...now shall we move on.org)

...if not for the actions of this president and the weight of his words begging for us to fight back and get up out of our easy chairs and come into the kitchen, we would still be in front of our TV's allowing the world to happen to us.

And boy are we up.

You cooked up quite a storm now didn't ya...
Go sit down now, honey, the kids and I will clean up.

Make it a Good Day, G


"Nostalgia is a haunting call asking us to return to the past and not to get completely caught up in the lure of the future.  There is a spirit in us that wants to make progress and move quickly toward new worlds, but there is another part of the soul that offers a counter-force, an attachment to the past and a longing to return.  Our society is goaded by "futurists", who frequently charm us with images of a carefree time to come, but we also need the nostalgists to keep us mindful of the past -- not its problems, but its values and beauty."
                       Thomas Moore, The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life
G added a new link this morning, seems appropriate for the day:
go to http://www.thekitchencabinetpac.com/ little does our president know, conservative women are the majority -- he may never get our approval, but you would think he would like our attention from time to time.

Monday, April 26, 2010

Dear America,

Happy Monday.

Two words not often coupled with each other; but suitable for the sentiment of the day.

The world is ripe with contradictions, hypocrisy and double standards --  even white washing and fudging the truth should be thrown in while we're at it -- as it just depends on who is speaking, the audience, and the context in which the words are spoken, doesn't it.

For the most part, America is a propaganda machine; we churn it out so fast, not before Gore invented the internet did we ever have the ability to keep up with it -- or attempt to try anyway.

Some of these instances of contradiction to reality come to mind rather easily.

Take for example, all of the angst and hoopla over the airing of the Focus on the Family ad featuring Tim Tebow and his mother, during the Super Bowl.  Understanding it's old news already, I encourage you to stay with me for a bit.

The organizations such as NARAL and NOW just lambasted the audacity to air such a family friendly, prolife ideology during the biggest fantasy football day of the year -- and to actually tackle his mom in it, oh my, that act of violence towards women in general, and his mom in particular, quickly grew to become their second line of attack; and then, make no mistake, it was open season on Focus on the Family.  The weeks leading up to one of the largest television audiences of all time, this family, both literally and figuratively, were demonized and buried into the turf by the opposition, who came at them with the force of a million linebackers again and again and again.

How could such an organization do such a thing, they would remark-- and during the quintessential family day of all things, while everyone would be sitting around eating chips and dip, watching the biggest game of the year like that, as a family -- to have the gall to air such an ad as this -- what in the world is this world turning into, they would say.

They used whatever words they could muster in their feeble attempt to win the argument against the sponsor, Focus on the Family -- and in response, the Focus on the Family repeatedly clung to the same mantra --wait and see, wait and see, wait and see.

As calm as can be this family, along with the entire team and fans behind Focus on the Family, waited -- basking in the knowledge that they knew what the ad would say, and more importantly, what the ad would stand for; and they waited, sitting patiently in the light of principle and values unmatched and clearly unbeknownst by the opposition.

In spite of the continually unfair attacks coming in from the sidelines at all angles and at all costs, we all know how it ended.  After all the hype and character assassinations, after taking things out of context, or adding color and confusion to what is otherwise black and white, after attempting to turn 'little Timmy' and his mom into some kind of Christian coalition of Jesus Freaks or some kind of warped proponents of making violent attacks on women -- the ad aired.

And it was done.

Never did the ad make people, children or small dogs, feel uncomfortable.  Never did it preach.

It was simply a proud  moment of a mother and son -- and almost nothing more than that.  As the real call to action was to go to the Focus on the Family website, or not. The choice was left up to the viewer.

Oh sure, she was tackled -- to the floor!  (And if you believe that, I have swamp land in Florida to show you, oh the beauty of make believe TV at it again.)

But skip back into the real world if you will; what about Betty White?

I'm just not hearing anyone from NOW speaking out about Betty.
I'm just not hearing anyone get after the corporate creators of the likes of Snickers Bars everywhere.
I'm just not hearing anyone speak out on behalf of little old Betty hitting the turf in the Snickers Bar ad, poking fun at the idea that "you're just not you when you're hungry" -- an ad running rampant as we speak.

Oh sure, it's funny when Betty gets flung through the air and buried under a pile of boys, not just one son, landing in a pool of mud up to her eyeballs. Yeah, that's funny; but a Heisman trophy kinda kid who's wearing bible verses in his black under-eye, not so much.

Dennis Blair, an admiral with  personal experience dealing with radical Islam and a history of making it's clear distinctions, can sink to new lows as Director of National Security, by way of whitewashing terrorism the Obama way; telling it like it is, Franklin Graham, not so much -- matter of fact, now, an invitation from the army to speak on National Day of Prayer it is rescinded on just so much.

Newscasters can make general remarks and accusations about the NY Subway bomber as to having "weapons of mass destruction" --

"Mr. Zazi, 25, pleaded guilty in United States District Court in Brooklyn to charges that included conspiracies to use weapons of mass destruction and to commit murder in a foreign country, and to provide material support for a terrorist organization. He faces a possible life term when he is sentenced on June 25."
but the W, in his every intent and aspiration to protect a nation, makes such a claim against an evil dictator, not so much.  Let alone the reality right here and right now, that the entire middle east now has the makings of weapons with mass destruction... perhaps everyone could use a swallow of the get real pill, but let's keep going...

Then we have Wall Street.  The federal government gives a pass to Fannie and Freddie, featuring Frank and Dodd, and makes Goldman Sachs the evil one. The same Wall Street and Goldman who bank rolled the Obama administration getting in are now on the chopping block -- oh paybacks are a bitch, aren't they?  Goldman gave nearly one million dollars to the Obama campaign -- almost 4.5 million dollars to the democrats in 2008 combined (to the other side, a measly 1.5 million in all)  Who is kidding who here? Or is it really just all a part of some hidden agenda, masterminded from a think tank of George Soros and his imperialistic empire leaning to the far left?  Ahh, but now I would be sounding like some kind of conspiracy theorist, and we wouldn't want that now would we?

GM is gloating on ads these days, featuring their own Ed Whitacre, gushing over the fact that they have repaid their government loan -- interesting to note, these ads began on the very day of this announcement on all news wires!  Does the AP have a room in the back of the factory?  Or is it in the White House?  That must have taken some doing, to create and produce the ad and make the market watch announcement by the government all on the same day.  How about that kind of timing for a propaganda masterpiece.  Ahhh stop with the conspiracy theory, enough already...

Oh sure, he says  they have repaid the 8 BILLION dollar government loan -- five years ahead of schedule.  How could it be anything less than joy to the world....it is done...and it was good....happy days are here again.

Oh right.
He made no mention of the 53 BILLION the taxpayers are still on the hook for; because that's not a loan, it is called ownership -- we bought stock in a business that was about to go under.  We bought into a business which was failing in every which way to Sunday against the competition, without blinking an eye.  We are banking on GM rising out of the weeds, making tread on the pavement and leaving Toyota in it's tracks.  And if GM can do that, we, Americans, could still stand to make billions! 

Once upon a time the Department of Education had a budget of 12 Billion dollars.  It was 1965 and much of the school of thought managed to keep most of the responsibility to the states and local jurisdiction.  Times have changed, however, and we now have a budget of over 100 Billion dollars -- in an area that has yet to prove it's ability to manage the education of our children any better.

Look around.  Are kids seeing the benefits of this 100 Billion, or is it merely the bureaucracy that's booming?
Look around.  Are more kids graduating from inner city schools or joining a gang?
Look around.  Understanding sports can maintain keeping the kids off the streets and keeping their focus on the straight and narrow path of higher education, how many kids do you know still write links to bible verses under their eyes and have the conviction to stand up to it in front of the entire world?  One in a million.

Currently, there is a new bill on the agenda to cover 32 BILLION dollars to tend to the GREENING of our schools -- 32 BILLION DOLLARS, one third of the entire DoE budget added in new legislation!  Just to cover the costs related to simply the changing few light bulbs, replacing fixtures with low-flow toilets, and upgrading schools everywhere with enough solar panels and eco-friendly whatnot's to fuel a third world country a million times over.  Making superficial changes to the epidemic disparity happening each and every day may make for a good soundbite, but in the end proves to be money far from being well spent.

If you are gonna throw your money around like that, shouldn't the benefactor be the children? Can you just imagine a troubled school system, take Chicago for example, getting a gift of just one of those billions?  Maybe it's just me, but go ahead and squander, don't let me stop ya.

"The way to have good and safe government is not to trust it all to one, but to divide it among the many, distributing to every one exactly the functions he is competent to [perform best]. Let the national government be entrusted with the defense of the nation, and its foreign and federal relations; the State governments with the civil rights, laws, police, and administration of what concerns the State generally; the counties with the local concerns of the counties, and each ward [township] direct the interests within itself. 

It is by dividing and subdividing these republics, from the great national one down through all its subordinations, until it ends in the administration of every man's farm by himself; by placing under every one what his own eye may superintend, that all will be done for the best. 

What has destroyed liberty and the rights of man in every government which has ever existed under the sun?  The generalizing and concentrating all cares and powers into one body, no matter whether of the autocrats of Russia or France, or of the aristocrats of Venetian senate."

                                                            Thomas Jefferson

Again and again, it's all in how you look at it.
Again and again, it comes down to who is speaking.
Again and again, it gets down to what's in it for them -- coupled with what's in it for me -- if I choose to follow.
And sometimes, if we're lucky, it's nothing more complicated than telling the truth and standing by such truth.

Make it a Good Day, G

Note to self: do your homework -- and remember, not everything that you read, or hear, is true.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Dear America,

"Do not accept anything by mere tradition ...
Do not accept anything just because it accords with your scriptures ...
Do not accept anything merely because
 it agrees with your preconceived notions ...
But when you know for yourselves—
these things are moral,
these things are blameless,
these things are praised by the wise,
these things,
when performed and undertaken,
conduce to well-being and happiness—
then do you live acting accordingly" 
Buddha

I'm just thinking aloud this morning, wondering if the teachings of Buddha would find a more widely acceptable path of higher education within our widely held liberal education system of today?

Would the left brain thinkers allow for that?

Wondering if the airy fairy nature of it, the free spirited transcendence to higher thought, and the universal teachings of karma and suffering and connection to all of life as one everlasting soul which never really dies be found more palatable, by the liberals hellbent on indoctrinating our children their way or the highway?

As I go there, my mind also wanders off another direction, amused by the polarizing efforts of the main stream media, and the like, in an attempt to marginalize the tea party movement with the typical extremism fodder.  Amused completely, as apparently they entirely miss the purity of it's essence -- true Americana at play -- nothing more and everything less, in it's simplest of forms.

For the Tea Party movement is, at it's purest state, the re-birthing of freedom and liberty -- America Reincarnate, if you will.

Last I checked within the scope of my chakras, this isn't extremism whatsoever -- as a matter of fact, it transcends all party lines.  The make up of this brave, effervescent, honorable crowd -- the colors of red white and blue unite into violet -- encompassing all political ideology known to man; while at it's very core, is the opalescence of commonalities in which we all share, as Americans.

Please, someone, point me in the direction where I may find an Independent who shudders at the thought of real independence... living in a land where true liberty reigns in every aspect of their world, where less government regulation and more freedom to work and play and follow whatever religious practice of their choosing (or not) dictates without a tyrannical force telling you do this and not that, let me take this and you get that. 

Show me that American Independent.

Please, someone, point me in the direction where I may find a Democrat who shudders at the thought of living in a real American democracy...where everyone is equal under the law, where we unilaterally unite with one another under this law, and worship the ground we walk on as it is the only place like it in the world!

Show me that American Democrat.


I beg of you, all of you, tell me it is not just white bread, middle-class American, republicans who rally around this level of liberty and free thought.

Taking another twist this morning, I am awe struck with the actions of one person in Hollywood -- who happens to also be one of my favorites to watch, too, come to think of it.  Goldie Hawn.

The Hawn Foundation is responsible for creating a mind over matter program to elevate children across America through bringing attention to a higher school of thought -- the use of meditation in our schools!  She, herself, a self-described Jewish-Buddhist, leads the charity.  Her foundation developed a program called MindUp.

Hawn was in Washington last year promoting her cause and meeting with lawmakers, but more currently has met with Michael Gove, "Britains's shadow secretary of state for children, schools, and families', according to a brief article found in Newsmax magazine, May edition.  The article makes note that "Gove's education reform allows for charities, churches and parents' groups the freedom to set up schools in the state sector" and quotes him saying, "we need more schools outside local-authority control to challenge the bureaucratic monopoly."

Can you just imagine it?  Much of Hawn's program is simply based on teaching children, K-7, the qualities of meditation in order to alleviate stress, learn how to center oneself using breathing techniques, and tapping into this higher realm of being -- essentially increasing a child's ability to concentrate better, focus on learning, and even make them calmer, at peace with the world, with an added benefit of becoming less aggressive overall.

Looking beyond the entire scope of the MindUp program, however, one would have to be further enlightened by the occurrence of any of these children continuing the practice after they graduate.  For with a deeper look into the teachings of Buddha, we could probably stop at the first five precepts to find a path of creating a better life:

1.To refrain from taking life
(non-violence towards sentient life forms), or ahimsā

2.To refrain from taking that which is not given
(not committing theft)

3.To refrain from sensual misconduct
 (including sexual)

4.To refrain from lying
 (speaking truth always)

5.To refrain from intoxicants which lead to loss of mindfulness
(specifically, drugs and alcohol)

"The precepts are not formulated as imperatives, but as training rules that laypeople undertake voluntarily to facilitate practice.[87] In Buddhist thought, the cultivation of dana and ethical conduct will themselves refine consciousness to such a level that rebirth in one of the lower heavens is likely, even if there is no further Buddhist practice. There is nothing improper or un-Buddhist about limiting one's aims to this level of attainment.[88]"   One caveat, this quote, and the five precepts, were discovered from the teachings of wikipedia school of thought.

I'm just wondering if the left wing liberal educators who have done such a bang up job orchestrating a hostile takeover of our schools would have any sincere gripe about this?  Isn't this stuff right up their alley -- the path marching to the belief system that we are one with the world, of redistribution of the earth's resources in every which way and backwards,  the kumbaya lovers, the save the whales -- save the children -- save the planet (taking advantage of plugging Earth Day as we speak) philosophy?
 
I would love to see our education system embrace every possible avenue for raising self actualized, self-reliant, spiritually gifted,Americans -- ultimately raising free enterprising industrialist in every which way, including green, children into responsible adults.  Oh my God, can you just imagine it?! 
 
Pure love... surrounded in the silence of pure love first thing in the morning until we close our eyes at night -- embodying every aspect of the Divine into our daily life, into our work, school and play.  Now, that would be a kind of bi-partisan re-birthing of America that I could sink my thoughts into.
 
We can be so much more than this -- this foreboding and underlying sense that all the world is failing us, the sky is falling, the end is near and to whom can we point fingers to blame line of thinking.  We are so busy pointing outward -- we have dismissed the only thing that will ever save us -- the inward search for meaning, the hidden path to understanding, the center of our own bad self as the cause and creator of our own world -- which collectively appears rather dismal at this point in time.
 
The secret to finding the peace that passes all understanding, through whatever path of your choosing, has been right here and inside of us the whole time.  The keys to a higher level of learning -- and living -- are equally shared amongst us under natural law (as carefully and lovingly prescribed by our founders) and hold all the answers to this nation's suffrage and despair. 
 
Natural Law knows no one in particular and everyone in unison equally and in proportion to each one's belief and ability to connect to the law.
 
"The first principle fundamental to the understanding of the operation of thought is, that we are surrounded by an Infinite Intelligence.  The possibility of healing physical disease, changing environment, attracting friends and demonstrating supply through the power of right thinking, rests entirely on the theory that we are surrounded an Infinite Mind, which reacts to our thought according to Law."
 
"At the level of our self-comprehension, we know and understand the nature of God.  This self-knowing, which is God-knowing, has the possibility of an eternal expansion."
Ernest Holmes, Science of Mind
I would love to know how Goldie can get away with advocating and preaching about a spiritual world which awaits us at the morning bell each day, while any other tradition masked in Christian mad science is continually down graded and dismissed, dissed to the highest extent, and made a mockery of it's teachings.  For in reality, all religions gather at the same communal wellspring of character and values, a moral compass to uphold.
 
Whether the golden child or the golden rules, can't we all be rest assured by that which defines right action, tapping into all that is Golden in and of itself -- isn't that really what it's all about?
 
The tea party movement speaks on behalf of all children everywhere -- red or yellow, black or white -- we are the same in His sight; we are all the same when we allow ourselves to tap into the universal teachings, a higher power, a spirit divinely available to us all, and connect to that one substance in which all children are made.  We are one with that. 
 
The tea party movement is like an angry crowd of parents, facing a Principle without principals, and making their protest heard before God and everyone, especially, the Superintendent, that being America herself.  The movement only wishes to create more peace of mind, as none other than the parents and caretakers of all the children who will be left behind, with the burden heavy on their heart and shoulders to repay for all kinds of transgressions under the sun.
 
G speaking into the tea leaves now, we, the perpetual students and current protesters that we are, have been there and done that;  we have seen the light and are, in a word, not-happy.
 
We are all together a school of patriots -- encompassing not just one party, but the party of ONE.
 
 
The American party --
one that we entrust to like-minded individuals respectful of our duty to one and all -- all are welcome -- no one is dissed into a corner or ridiculed of dress or code, all are invited to the table -- while everyone brings something of value to share -- we know exactly where we are and where we wish to go -- the world is our oyster and awaits our right action, our right thought, our sweet surrender to that which was made manifest by our forefathers  -- firmly grounded in principals, we will not falter this time, nor will we be lulled or teased into intoxication, forgetting of our  new found mindfulness reincarnate -- we will remain cool, calm and stewards of our Constitution and rest peacefully in it's protection -- the only thing we may harm, may be a fly, but that of course, would be purely transcendental accidental... 
 
and there is nothing more I can say about that, except that y'all just better hope we keep our clothes on.
 
Namaste'
 
Make it a Good Day, G

Daily Affirmation from Science of Mind, for today April 22, 2010

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Dear America,

One of the books checked out of the NY library currently staking claim to an apparent oversight of the first President of the United States, and hefty fine if in fact they were seeking such, is titled the "Law of Nations" by Emmerich de Vattel, 1758.

Take a gander through the pages of this remarkable collection of political thought and ideology, and be amazed at the brilliance of understanding human nature, natural law, and the rule of man all wrapped up into one juicy specimen for the encouragement and proliferation of all mankind via good government.

I stumbled upon a literary monument to de Vattel, giving literary license to read the complete set, easily allowing access to whatever topic seeks your fancy -- suffice it to say, it is well worth your time.

I wasn't sure what to view first, but something caught my eye about half way down the first page:

Under Book I Chapter 11 --
The Second Object of a Good Government;
To Procure the True Happiness of the Nation

Section 116:
The Nation may hence discover the intention of it's rulers --
"It is an incontestable truth, that the virtues of the citizens constitute the most happy dispositions that can be desired by a just and wise government...render the great and the common people virtuous, their views pure and upright, and you may rest assured that they solely aim at the great end of good government, the happiness and glory of the nation. 

BUT if they corrupt the morals of the people, spread a taste for luxuries, effeminaces, a rage of licentious pleasures, if they stimulate the higher orders to a ruinous pomp & extravagance -- beware, citizens! beware of those corruptors!  they only aim at purchasing slaves in order to exercise over them an arbitrary sway."
I read the opinion recently that the underlying belief amongst most Americans is a sense of being "unsure" about our government today.  But my sense is that we are quite the contrary --  we are more like quite sure.

We know at the very core of our being, at our most sincerest point of conviction, the bigger the government the harder we fall. We are quite sure that we cannot trust the government, as we are unsure of it's proclivities and intentions to drain the common people of all their wealth and worth.

But the thing is, how soothing to know that the thoughts of de Vattel and the acts of good government, espoused by a myriad of apostles of natural law and passed down through the ages, were at one time in the hands of good old George!

And the second thing of course, is how freaky true!

Lost is our sense of living a virtuous  life, and by good example we need to look no further than our own television, our window to the world and for all the world to see.

Without the George's of the world watching carefully over us, and doing right by their own personal pledge to serve and create good government, we can find solace in realizing that perhaps the value of this nation's second greatest generation is happening right now; that America's future rests firmly and completely in our hands, right here and right now.

And surely as many of us believe Divine Providence lights our way forward, some might say in as little as just a few steps ahead of us, rest assured the life and times of today's challenges in restoring good government to it's rightful place is already done in the eyes of God.  All we must do is take back the helm, resume course, and sail into calmer seas by virtue of the return to good character and a virtuous people.

It must be a conscious decision -- while surely a deliberate act such as this is not for the faint of heart; unfortunately, what it asks of us is an undeniable faith to forgo the "luxuries, effeminaces, a rage of licentious pleasures" for a time, in order to restore what really matters in our pursuit of happiness -- and that surely being the very foundation of our nation's freedom and liberty by living the principles set forth at our birth.

A good government that would naturally recognize the importance of keeping it's people at liberty to have and be and do what it wishes, relies actually on a government willing to step out of the way, to relinquish it's power, and extinguish it's own natural tendencies towards greed and corruption; in other words, the nation relies on this good government to set the example for it's people above all else, or else.

Most of us are quite sure that this government of ours is no longer good.

Most of us are quite sure of the discipline it will require of us, of the citizenry to correct it's course -- yet in this moment, unsure, if in fact, we have what it takes as a whole.

If this is any sign as to what lies ahead in wait, how about that family who is allowing their two children to be unschooled recently seen on ABC News -- just one example of degenerate parents creating degenerate children, advocating the next generation of dysfunction and entitlement on the horizon...

we no longer need to go to school, or even be home schooled -- but actually NO schooled!  The kids sit around and eat donuts (for their diet is a freedom of choice), watch TV (for what they put in is solely up to them) and otherwise attend to nothing unless they want to -- no chores, no field trips of higher learning, no books required or responsibilities of any kind.

We can only hope, that one day, these kids wake up and get an urge to go to the library -- perhaps check out a book entitled "Law of Nations" and actually sit down with the television off and read it -- the entire collection if possible (if they can sit still long enough) -- matter of fact, as long as they give us their word to read it of course, they could even pull a George and keep it!  Keep it in good faith, as the state's gift to you in order to combat future juvenile delinquency; just one way a bad government could keep on giving that may eventually do some good...

Or better yet, how about we take out every history book and social studies course, and immediately redirect the curriculum to one book -- the  "Law of Nations"; it may take twelve years of study, but by my projections (with the CBO yet to report), if we start out sometime around kindergarten, we just might have half a chance to teach something good and meaningful and timeless to our kids (the next leaders of our free world, if we survive that long).

Make it a Good Day, G

In the after- thought, equally interesting is the reporting about George's long overdue book...the focal point on the astronomical late fees captured much of the interest, as much of the media seemed to find the story, the human interest, simply in that. 

What if...
what if...
what if someone took a moment in their newscast and read aloud excerpts of the content of the crime?  what if?  Wouldn't content meet corruption and justly rule the day...pure and upright would the real story enlighten.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Dear America,

"Intoxicated with unbroken success,
we have become too self-sufficient
to feel the necessity
of redeeming and preserving grace,
too proud to pray to the God that made us!" 
Abraham Lincoln
Excerpt from National Day of Fasting Proclamation, 1863

This says it all, doesn't it.  I realize I'm repeating myself; but I can't seem to get over this whole prayer brouhaha -- just can't seem to let it go.  While if Lincoln thought we, the people, were acting too high on the hog back then, I shudder to think about what he's thinking about us now.

The other thing that never ceases to amaze me -- is the command and nature of the chosen words back then, "Intoxicated with unbroken success!"  One cannot help but get an instant visual, an immediate sensation, touching the intrinsic value of his sentiment; we know exactly what he is talking about, sensing the burden of responsibility to act accordingly -- to repent, make right, to atone our humanity with the Spirit back of all living things.

We were a spiritual nation of people.

"Those rights, then, which God and nature have established, and are therefore call natural rights, such as are life and liberty, need not he aid of human laws to be more effectually invested in every man than they are; neither do they receive any additional strength when declared by the municipal laws to be inviolable.  On the contrary, no human legislature has power to abridge or destroy them, unless the owner shall himself commit some act that amounts to forfeiture."  William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, elevated to new heights in the new land by our founders...
God's justice, unalienable rights through the natural laws given to us by our Creator, was the pact we made when forming this more perfect union; "what – therefore – God has joined together – let no man put asunder" as they say, according to traditional vows of marriage.

We are united by faith, with God, as a nation.

The irony really, as the way things were laid out from the very start, there was separation of church and state only in the context of walls; otherwise, God opened our doors in the morning, led every meeting, guided every direction, every cause, every effort, and tucked us each into bed at night.  Never did we live a day without giving thanks and praise, first and last.

Our founders recognized how the Spirit of a Nation could be elevated in times of trial, and grounded in times of good, when the very foundation was made from the principles handed down to us from the last 5000 years.  Some might even say, now that secular laws and beliefs rule the day, that the founders could see this day coming -- for they gave us all the tools and the plan and the direction to continue through the ages for eternity -- or for as long as we continued to recognize the simple Truths laid out and entrusted to us, as long as we continued to be a people of faith.

There is something to be said for allowing God's plan to unfold -- letting go of the attachment to outcome, entrusting ourselves, even in times that make us crazy, to continue the path of right action, making way for right outcome, and trusting in Divine Providence (or maybe Divine Intervention is more like it), allowing the Living Spirit, who moves through us and with us along the way, to do it's thing.

Sunday's message from Joel Osteen, who I try to catch when I can, encompassed this very idea -- reassuring us disciples that God's plan is always at play -- always "three steps ahead of us" (I believe he said three, he could just as easily said infinite for all that really matters) -- but his point was, God runs along before us, closing windows, opening doors, turning on the lights, and otherwise, making way for us to make our way, assuring us at the very least, that there is a reason for everything.

Osteen spoke of a couple of stories to illustrate this --

1)  The plane going down in the Hudson.  Captain "Sully" had years of experience flying in the Armed Forces, followed by flying for years in the private industry along with something else you may not have known before -- but 37 years as a recreational glider pilot under his belt.  He mastered the art of flying without power!  Low and behold, who is at the helm when one of the rarest occurrences in aviation should happen -- the loss of all engines through annihilation by a flock of geese -- Sully. 

Even unbelievers said God must have had a thing to do with that miracle on the Hudson -- there was no other conceivable reason that could have justified such a feat of brilliance and masterful direction.  Sully may very well have been the only one who could have done it...could it have been his purpose all along?

2)  After the Haiti earthquake, Osteen's brother, a doctor, went down to offer his services.  As they were working, some kind of monitor stopped operating properly, with no replacement in sight.  They were unable to do anything without it.  Low and behold, a Haitian man, in the vicinity of all this scrambling around in hopes of finding the resources to get hold of another monitor, remembered a box he had stored away...  He returned with this box and gives it to Osteen's brother, and says maybe this can help -- this unopened box which sat in storage for two years.  What do they find, but the exact same model as the broken monitor.  There it was "unbroken", and ready, to just plug right in.

Later, when asked about it -- turns out this Haitian man had attended a trade show -- again, two years back -- and he won the darn thing in the raffle.  Skeptical of it's value to him, and having no idea what to do with it, he saved it anyway...just in case it would come in handy down the road...

Three steps to infinity and beyond, the path before us is made by faith.

My girl and I attended the Parkinson's 5K Walk and Fun Run this past weekend, an annual event held on old Navy property down in Point Loma.  It was a beautiful southern California morning, with just a touch of morning low clouds still to burn off before the race would be finished, making it stellar conditions from the start off. 

But the weather report isn't the point I want to make here -- the thing is, the air was more having to do with the environment itself;  the cause, the people gathering for such a cause, created an atmosphere of good will and open hearts and love. 

Have you noticed how attending events like these make you feel inside?

Anyone who has shared an experience of doing something for something greater than ourselves knows exactly what I'm talking about -- everybody is happy, pleasant and simply easy to be around. We unite under the cause with a higher purpose than our usual day to day calling -- we almost become intoxicated with the goodwill in which we are surrounded in.  It feeds us; it lifts us up; it stirs something in our soul.  We discover just how good it feels to do something for someone else, and just maybe make the Gods happy with us, too.  We unite with God, and the Spirit within everyone in attendance with a connectedness unmatched and unexplained -- no matter race, age or even human or canine (there were sooooooo many bow wows walking the 5K too...and they all got t-shirts too! -- really cute -- but let's get back on track).

Returning from the walk we had to make a pit stop at a local Staples to pick up a poster board for a school project.  We hopped out of the car still high on life when all of a sudden this little old lady nearly ran me over, on foot no less,  basically walking swiftly through me, cutting directly through my path from out of nowhere, with her husband at least three steps back in tow.  No pardon me, or excuse me.  Nothing.  No nicety whatsoever. 

I looked at my girl and rolled my eyes and without skipping a beat she says to me, "we're back in the real world mama."

Indigenous people of all nations connected to the Spirit world, a higher Benevolence, the all-knowing Omniscience which surrounds us, supports us, feeds our soul -- making our crooked paths straight.

Perhaps it is a "self-sufficiency" which has taken hold of us -- in combination with a sordid "self-deficiency" which plagues us -- but without question, the most forbidden defiance is the loss in our ability to self govern with principle, honor, compassion, truth, and a higher love.  This basic premise, this agreement we made before God and our country, this vow gladly embodied within each and every one of us as it's citizens, is the one that no man should put asunder.

Not until we return to the day of advocating the intrepid return to self-government, and self-government alone, along with our individual duty and responsibility to uphold three steps from now and for evermore, will America be blessed with Divine Providence once more; until we do, walking aimlessly in the desert will be more like it.

This is where things break down for us; we are so advanced, so technological evolved, no longer is there a need to make rocket ships to fly to the moon -- there is no need to look to that part of the night sky in search of God knows what -- for we've been there, done that already.

Advances through Divine Providence are easily dismissed and discounted in times of self-sufficiency; and no longer is it necessary to connect to this Spirit for invention and innovation and in prayer, for guidance and intervention for man knows what man needs to do and has all the power and might to get there on his own.  Matter of fact, we don't even have to make excuses for it or be nice to each other in the process -- for being nice is so Victorian you know (just another piece of liberal logic past down from a relative). 

Governments new found logic rests in the trust of man and man alone -- you know the drill, " trust me, I'm with the government and I'm here to help" mentality, for you know not what you do. Let me throw asunder the old ways and bring you up to speed with what's in store for you under man, under the new laws, under the new principles separating church and state in every which way to Sunday. 

Little does the little world of politics recognize the Light shining bright within the thousands standing side by side in every community, in every way, in 5K's and everyday, marching forward, as if Divine Providence is leading the way -- because It is.  Religious persecution is soooooooooooooo yesterday.

True self-sufficiency is found in honoring self-government, something a simple man does not understand without the grace of God and his self-reliance in tact -- in order to boldly connect to the greatest Source in the Universe, to leap tall buildings in a single bounce, or simply walk a 5K along side a seventy year old women running past you at warp speed, screeching "on your right" as she makes her way all the way to the finished line, all for a good cause.  priceless.

Make it a Good Day, G

Okay, this may be a stretch, but how about the latest Orbitz ad:
The Orbitz rep beams down out of the blue and hands a guy a check...all for not doing anything but using Orbitz services -- where they guarantee the lowest price, or if someone else books for a lower price, the difference gets paid to you...jump ahead to the guy in the pool, "what about me, don't I get a check?  I'm not doing anything."  The rep look at the guy and politely remarks (as if his lazy butt deserved a serious response at all), "no, first you have to book on Orbitz, then not do anything."

Just a funny way of looking at cause and effect -- and more importantly, tapping into the One True Source first, then all else shall be added unto you; all about the action before outcome, or "the action before the inaction" if you will -- while the Magnificence that walks before us never stops.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Dear America,

TGIF

Thank GOD it's Friday x

I guess we can still say this out loud?
Nobody is telling me that I can't... yet.

Such is the case until that one     fine     day...
 when a judge deems it harassment against the atheists...

Here's interesting Jeffersonian commentary to sink your teeth into this morning,

"In our village of Charlottesville, there is a good degree of religion, with a small spice only of fanaticsm [love that].  We have four sects, but without either church or meeting-house.  The court-house is the common temple, one Sunday in the month to each.  Here, Episcopalian and Presbyterian, Methodist and Baptist, meet together, join in hymning their Maker, listen with attention and devotion to each others' preachers, and all mix in society with perfect harmony."                  
Thomas Jefferson, from The 5000 Year Leap, by C.W. Skousen
The Freedom From Religion Foundation out of Wisconsin, founded '76 -- Nineteen 76, is responsible for initiating lawsuits throughout the country on behalf of the separation of church and state; and recently, as in yesterday, has nationalized a real doozy of a decision.

Now we can preserve April 15th, in the year of our Lord Twenty Ten, as a day of infamy in judicial legislation in accordance with the general rule of law, the order of the day, the safe keeping of our nation's glory -- otherwise recognized under the simplicity and sanctity and founders intentions back behind America's Constitution. For on this day, the order of the day has been fully upturned and publicly disgraced in the town square. 

Sweet liberty maiden, Jurisprudence, has sunk to a whole new low.

First of all, let me offer Judge Barbara Crabb my sincere condolences -- I can't help myself, as I sit here caught up in the moment, now glaring at your last name, from not imagining the reflection of an empty vessel, drowned at sea, sitting as a host to various lower lifeforms, dark, alone, and without a remote chance for survival.

And second, just by language alone, the Freedom FROM Religion Followers (some might say Cult) should have made your response an easy one, and that being a simple no.  In this country, we live by Freedom OF Religion; It is there.  It lives with us part and parcel to everything there is and everything that shall be.

It's Essence is within us, It surrounds us, and is collectively within the body Of the Whole -- It already exists and we are well endowed with It -- we already possess the very nature of It's cause, for WE ARE the effect; and by all means, It is OF significance, hardly the reverse.  And certainly, by their own admission, they are seeking to move away FROM something (religion), making clearly evident the belief that It already Is.

The only argument with bountiful Precedence, made Manifest everyday, is the argument for the Of's of this magnificent world, so heaven help the From's.

Her ruling states:

"A determination that the government may not endorse a religious message is not a determination that the message itself is harmful, unimportant, or undeserving of dissemination. Rather it is part of the effort to carry out the Founders' plan of preserving religious liberty to the fullest extent possible in a pluralistic society [virtue giving way to secular pluralism, interesting]..."
Founders plan?  Seriously?  Me thinks you know noTHING about the founders, let alone their "plan" -- and besides, you would be more correct in calling it what it is, a Constitution, but I digress.

But even more than that, perhaps the political activism of the Honorable Crabb is a misguided jurisdiction suspending the free exercise of Christianity in particular?
"...Recognizing the importance of prayer to many people does not mean the government may enact a statute in support of it, any more than the government may encourage citizens to fast during the month of Ramadan, attend a synagogue, purify themselves in a sweat lodge, or practice rune magic."
Can you even believe it, she compromised her own ruling!  There it is...in her own words.

She painstakingly, and most likely begrudgingly, went out of her way to illuminate all the ways Americans pray; she characterized each of the pillars of  theology, lined them up side by side in the light of day, gushing over the very Thing that not only makes America exceptional, but unmistakably mitigates the damages of this complaint right before our very eyes -- purely by outlining the Divine diversity in which we all share!

There are sooooooooo many ways we pray.

The "National Day of Prayer" has no religion in mind, for God's sakes; there is no endorsement of a particular prayer, nor way to pray, nor if you must.  It is a non-threatening, non-binding thought for the day or moment in silence -- that's all it is.

We are a nation of one God, many Gods, or no Gods, depending on whichever way you look at it (if only the porcelain god after a night foolishly sauced by the reckless or recluse); even atheism is a theology -- it is belief system based on discussions of God, or any other religious truths, and deciding you will have none! 

This whole thing is just absurd.

The rituals and practices surrounding their NoGod, the NoOneGod but themselves, somehow gives reason to litigate their way through the courts in order to crucify a harmless day of prayer, and the believers who wish to partake.  While the Honorable Crabb sits upon high ground making herself an accomplice to such fraud -- allowing the non-believers to take precedence, overriding all logic, making the entire process suspect and unbelievable.

But it doesn't really matter anyway.
We've got Obama-Rama to lead us out of the darkness...have you heard about this? 
When in Rome, when President of the Free World...
 f*** the court [oh you naughty girl],
just make a proclamation, write an Executive Order, do whatever it takes and just cancel it altogether.

For whatever reason,
whatever shall Obama make true
 today and forever more,  
let it be.
And it was good.
And so it is,
amen.

So let's talk about these National Days...what about National Day of Service...there's a couple of different versions out there...like the one proclaimed after 9/11 -- on 9/11 each year, and then there is another, named after Martin Luther King on January 18th every year...what about service? 

Not everyone prescribes to that. 

Not everyone believes in that. 

Doesn't a National Day of Service go against the selfish, narcissistic ingrates of this great nation?  And surely there must be some scuttlebutt surrounding the 9/11 proclamation, American Muslims must cringe at the annual reminder of that every year.

And what about Abraham Lincoln's National Day of Fasting...I can only imagine!  That went a bit too far, didn't it, asking of the people to stop eating of all things, crazy nut case of a President he was, throwing his agenda around like he runs the place?  And messing with our food, oi vey! (For cultural and spiritual perspective, fasting was commonplace as a way of purifying our body and soul -- turning our self over to God as an empty vessel, to fill and make whole, with humility, in service, with thanksgiving and praise.)

But what on earth could have been going on --- to have propelled Lincoln into making such a big f**** deal over it? (forgive me Father, for I have sinned, again...I promise to pray about it later)

"And, insomuch as we know that, by His divine law, nations like individuals are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war, which now desolates the land, may be but a punishment, inflicted upon us, for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole People? We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!"


The way it was, on March 30th (aka National Doctor's Day today), in the year of our Lord, Eighteen Sixty Three, as written one month before the National Day of Fasting to take place, April 30th; bare in mind, this was the age of the Civil War, not everybody wanted it, and we lost 600,000 men fighting for the rights of all men, endowed by our Creator -- from which all unalienable rights come.

At times like these, a President prayed for guidance, a nation prayed for consolation, soldiers prayed for their lives -- while those in the bonds of slavery prayed for the freedom to pray, and live,  like everybody else.

"Ineffable is the union of man and God in every act of the soul.  The simplest person who in his integrity worships God, becomes God; yet for ever and ever the influx of this better and universal self is new and unsearchable.  Ever it inspires awe and astonishment.  How dear, how soothing to man, arises the idea of God, peopling the lonely place, effacing the scars of our mistakes and disappointments!  When we have broken our god of tradition and ceased from our god of rhetoric, then may God fire the heart with his presence."       
Found in The Over-Soul, by Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Omniscience flows throughout the world in each and every one of us; and no matter what people say or do or proclaim, Truth lives and reigns. We the People who believe in a Higher Power, a Supreme Being, Allah, Creative Genius, a Spirit Everlasting and Evermore, a loving Almighty God of all faiths and humble students, stand firm in foundation -- built upon rock no less -- undaunted by the show of ignorance or persecution of the Knowledge and Genius back behind all of life. 

"As a being of Power, Intelligence, and Love, and the lord of his own thoughts, man holds the key to every situation, and contains within himself that transforming and regenerative agency by which he may make himself what he wills."  As a Man Thinketh, by James Allen

Going back to the Honorable Crabb on the bench, all she really ever needed to do was make one small change:
 
"National Day of Prayer" has been modified;  the new day, continuing now without prejudice, beginning with the first week, upon the first Thursday in May, from this day forward, is now rightfully designated the: 
 
"National Day of Prayer, or not
 
The freedom to do so with a kind and loving heart, or not, is at your whim... your price or peril.
 
Rest assured, those who do will pray for you.
 
Make it a Good Day, G

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Dear America,

I pulled a Palin this morning as I was driving my girl to school; writing the thoughts screeching through my head on the palm of my hand as fast as I could, only at red lights, of course.  When totally by accident, I realized I was using red ink, as it was the one and only pen pulled out from the bottom of purse -- after having picked through gum wrappers, loose change, and lipstick first (successfully navigated also at a red light). But being April 15th and with the matter of taxation without representation spinning wildly out of control, I just can't help but take a moment to wrap my head around the irony.

Eventually I make my way home to carry out the beginnings of my day -- pour a second cup of coffee and pop a squat next to my new best friend, Vaio -- and commune with the happenings of the world; splashed on the front page of Yahoo we discover various titillating stories, as usual. 

What stands out? The synchronicity of most people paying far less in taxes, along with the market over 11,000 and still looking up -- all good news.

So, to recap, most people are paying less taxes (as promised...isn't that special) and the market is up -- we can all stop our worrying today, for this administration has saved the day! Recovery is finally here! Isn't that just swell, everyone? 

Everyone? 

...hmmm....that doesn't sound like happy to hear me.

I guess that nagging underlying worry that somethings not quite right is persisting -- is there a doctor left anywhere in the house?

...hmmm...it must have something to do with that prophetic one liner:

"we are five days away from fundamentally transforming America!"


Don't misconstrue, we want the market to go up,
we love it when it goes up.
Everyone's like, hey, how 'bout those stocks today.
Yeah, my 401's a jumpin', the big fish are a dumpin',
the dividends are a lumpin' -- this administration really is
a workin'.

They're like, pointing fingers to the Dow, saying, see,
see,
right there,
our stimulus really did do something, see.

Well which is it big guy?  You seem confused.

If we were to take your commentary on the "too big too fail" financial crisis, taking into account the fundamental changing of American philosophy, and station these thoughts like billboards on the side of the road ...taking in the hedge funds, sub-prime mortgages, bailouts and taxpayers, GM and AIG, bonuses and backstabbing, stimulus and unemployment (all converging into one bloody mess, if you ask me) -- but if we listened to your administration all along the way, you would have us believe Wall Street, and everything that goes with it, is evil. 

Yet, in the last few days, it is this very market that you immediately cling to for redemption!   I'm sure, it makes for tingles up the leg well deserved, as justification for taking such extreme measures to save this fine commonwealth.  I'm sure all intentions were pure and all other options were looked at first...and now, after all that's been said and done, you've got to look somewhere to have us all believe that what you're doing is really working.

You're doing it to us again, aren't you?

You are making us think we can all go back to sleep as everything is turning around; beating us to the punch of the accident waiting to happen...again...you know something don't you...walk away now people, there is nothing here to see. 

The thing is, you can't have it both ways -- you either appreciate Wall Street for all of it's highs and lows, understand Wall Street flipping it's bulls and bears, respect Wall Street -- and the cyclical nature that it truly is, including big bonuses -- as that's how the game is played -- or you don't.

It's not personal, it's business, right?  It's Wall Street; certainly no place for sissy's, queasy stomachs, or the weak of heart; and besides, the very people who paid for you to get where you are today, many of whom accompany you in your administration, have all traveled down the very same road.  So let me say it again, it's called Wall Street.  Of all people, with an honest look, you should be bending over backwards to kiss the streets of New York, rather than the sheiks and monarchs from around the globe.

But I'm getting side tracked; back to the headlines:

Most People Pay Less Taxes --
As promised, and right on time, courtesy of this administration, bing!
Just keep walking this way, they say, we have your best interests at heart.

Turn back people!

Something is not quite right...how can it be after legislating a trillion dollar health care package, after dishing out nearly two trillion in bank bail outs, stimulus funds, unemployment reimbursements, and frivolous earmarks, and when we all know of our unfunded liabilities buried deep within our top three entitlement programs -- Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid -- and as if all that were not enough, facing a staggering 12 Trillion Dollars in National Debt on top of it.

Wake up people!  We are in the midst of the changing of the guard -- regime change -- a coup d'etat on America as we eat, sleep, "pay less in taxes and get more benefits", as they hope and pray we fall back into our most natural state of being, lulled into thinking everything is okay now, happy days will come again...

Out with the old, in with the new; this is America, welcoming the new age of the redistribution of wealth.

This is the age for all those people who scream "I want my Obama money" and "I want my Obama-care."

When did we go off course?  (about a hundred years ago)
Where did we take the wrong turn?  (DC)
Why are we letting this administration drive us over the cliff?  (we're not)

The analogy of a car driving over the cliff, like Thelma and Louise, seems to capture this moment in time well; I only bring it up as this has been the go-to visual in political commentary all this week, so let's just run with that some more.

For starters, how about we take a moment to step out of the car and take an honest look at ourselves. Much of this is our fault, too; we let it happen, slowly and over time, we sat there eating drive through burgers and Krispy Kreme's day after day, singing to the radio without a care in the world, and certainly not looking in the rear view mirror.  It was bound to catch up to us -- and it did.

I am reminded of this week's Biggest Loser, Suze Orman being the biggest guest.  She was doing her thing, making her usual observations equating actual weight gain with debt; and with brutal honesty, she told the participants they would never drop their insufferable extra pounds until they paid full attention to their personal debt piled up (having already spied on their finances, ah snap).

She continued to implore upon them to tend to budgetary issues sooner, rather than later -- adding the dimension of right action creates right results.

But foremost, she made it very clear, debt is a burden -- a weight in and of itself that keeps us from achieving our goals and living life to the fullest.  (hmmmm...Suze was an Obama supporter...I wonder about that...)

Hey, I wonder if America's obesity problem is somehow tied to our national debt?  now that just gave me chills.

The real good news is that it has nothing to do with the car; it's about what we put in it. 

Perhaps what we really have to do is get out of that shiny new GM car which we purchased last fall, because it was just too good to pass up, sell it, and learn to walk on our own two feet again. 

Perhaps, we could begin to actually pick up the pace, and start jogging, get far enough along to do a 5K or do the sixty miles in three days, like the Susan G. Komen walk for Breast Cancer Research. 

Perhaps, we would eventually feel so good about ourselves, from the inside out, enriching the relationships we are blessed to have in life, be it in our work or family or special interests and affiliations, that we would... 

naturally,
without government help, 
make smarter money decisions, make healthier food choices, make honorable our word,  take better care of one another, and give more, much more, thanks to a Higher Power -- all jump-started by simply choosing to go with Suze logic and discovering how to live within our means in peace.  All this with the added benevolence of watching our children watch us, learning most importantly how not to make the same mistakes -- reaping the benefits of self-reliance for generations to come. 

Easy street, Wall Street, my street, your street all begin with the steps we take individually and collectively for the common good -- we just seem to be having a few fundamental differences on just how to put our best foot forward.

In the meantime, the most un-American day of the year is here and more people will be paying less in taxes than last year.  Oh and just a few people will be paying a little bit more.  And the Market is up.  No need to concern yourself whatsoever...keep walking...this way now...and we're walking...

It will be years before the other shoe will drop.

Make it a Good Day, G

You want to tip toe through the numbers some more?  Go to one of my new favorites...thank you, Ringo, for the graphs, charts, and watchful eye -- always looking out for lady liberty, making clear the road ahead with the understanding of where we've been. 

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Dear America,

Yeah...It's a party in the USA...
go Miley...go Miley...

you'd get that if you clicked Dear America already, that is if you even know me at all; G's gift that keeps on giving, everyday...

Happy Hump Day.

This morning I am filled with giddy joy.

And all I can say is thank you!

As a fraternity of extremists takes the keg and drinks it too comes out from under the rock they came, attempting to squelch the good times of simple folk all over the country -- official party poopers have donned a brand new robe; but again, all I can say is belch, pardon me...now where was I, oh right, thank you!

Thanks for the alibi http://www.crashtheparty.org/

From here on out, all we have to do now is say "it wasn't me."
Or  "I'm with Stupid." 
Or just simply point our finger, cock our head, roll our eyes and call them cuckoo. 

No matter who goes to the Tea Party Protests, anything so much as a hair out of place or casts the appearance of anything relating to bigotry, racism, sexism -- anything  moronic, stupid or otherwise out of character -- can be just scoffed off as, oh it's one of those people...it's not us...it's the crashers...the party poopers...the people who are UNINVITED, but come anyway...

But since we have, by all admissions, a president who likes to call people out on such occasions, I believe that what would be highly appropriate and quite refreshing would be to see Obama jump into the fray and express his "immediate concern" or his "unprecedented shame" -- perhaps even go so far as ask people who watch the exposure of the Tea Party events to keep a discriminating eye, and not jump to conclusions, as he so often likes to say; that the onus is on each one of us to decipher what is real and what is not, what is truth and what is not, what is stupidity in motion and what is not.

But really, this morning my heart is just so full of gratitude I can hardly believe it; who'd a thunk a group set out to "dismantle and destroy" another's spirit, by tampering with their voice of reasonable protest protected under law in this country, would even go there?  Who would venture to attack their credibility like this, masterminding the violation of such -- the open, peaceful, forthright and well justified protest that it is -- with such unfathomable, unsubstantiated, unconscionable deception?  This is happening in America of all places!

Who would do that and still show their face?

But whatever, all I can say is how splendid. 

Way to make it so easy for us. 

Have I said thanks?

You know, looking back, we should have seen it coming.  It was just last summer when SEIU and ACORN were transplanting their people amongst the Town Hallers, trying to throw a few seeds of discontent, turn up the heat, stir the pot, and otherwise make all those fair minded, red blooded Americans look like...what was it Nancy said...."AstroTurf" ...."Nazis"..."carrying guns and wearing swastikas"...

You attempted these sort of antics before...
How do you do it?
What's your secret?
Who pays for it?
What's in it for America, dare I ask?

Oh Obama, are you listening...your people are getting a little out of hand, can you please control them or something?  Be a man, a president, and come out with both guns a'blazn (just talkn' about your arms) and tell them to stop, will ya?  You know they are just making you look bad....they are all yours, you know.

Denounce and Decree for God's sake; tell them such behavior is wrong -- that such acts of intolerance will not be tolerated! 

Of course, you can go ahead and script your teleprompter with a bit more eloquence maybe, fill it with the masterful Obama-isms you fall back on in times like the Ft. Hood "incident" or the underwear bomber's mishap, when the crime is speculative because the bomb busted and really didn't kill anyone -- and besides, he deserves representation, too...right?

We've broached this subject many times before, but I can't help but question how the "party of tolerance" can actually feel good about themselves with these kinds of antics going on?  If the president really wanted to help bridge racial division, and prove bipartisanship, and actually become the ultimate "uniter" not a divider, wouldn't he speak up? As you know, according to the rules of the left, any such ill action -- done by one or one hundred and one -- speaks for the whole.

But I wish I was at the podium right now, for I would have to say thank you to all of you, every single one of you party crashers amongst us and the money from which you rode in on -- for I am totally overwhelmed here in this moment... getting choked up... hold on...

As the way I see it, from here on out, any attempt to discredit the Tea Party movement by such infiltration by the crashtheparty people will go unnoticed, it will be a blip at an event in which at the first sign of bad behavior we'll always claim, "it wasn't me"; it will be like, don't pay any attention to that idiot, look at me...no...up here, on stage..

We will do what Obama does best and change the subject; we will be using the skills honed by radicals in diverting attention and changing the conversation.  The real message will be up front and personal and on the record -- continuing the good fight, pulling the clean punches, and knocking this administration to it's knees without so much as one act of violence, one racial slur, or anything of the kind.  We will stand up for what all of America is really thinking, for what all of America really, really wants, and for what all of America still rises to the occasion to uphold -- our everyday freedom to speak and congregate and to make our voices heard and above all, no taxation without representation!

The message won't be hidden in the crowd somewhere, it will be in the center of the ring.

With blood, sweat and tears, we will be saying...

Listen to what we really have to say, up here, at the mic.

Listen to how we respond with our votes come November -- and again and again; oh dear ones, for this era will not be in vain nor expressly forgotten.

Listen to everyday Americans who wish to take our country back with pride (not prejudice) and with a whole lot of prosperity and liberty and freedom and justice for all (not just those who think Obamacare rocks, all twelve of you).

Listen to how we will base our protest, and support it's rightful argument, on the merits, and merits alone -- not ridicule or intolerance, for that's just child's play (I mean, we can go there if we have to but that would just make us look like you -- a slurring, babbling bunch of yahoos with nothing better to do but make trouble up in the nosebleeds).

You see, we're adults -- we have our I.D.'s, we don't need our parents permission, we can stay out late and walk into 7/11 to buy a six-pack anytime -- oooh, make that a bottle of red, the best year you've got on hand.

The thing is,

now pay attention for a minute
you crazy kids,
try to stand up...
focus...
up here...
no silly, come on...
up here,
you can do it,
use the wall if you must...
okay now,
to all you crashers out there,
you've got nothing on us
so knock yourself out --
welcome.
And here's a coaster.

Make it a Good Day, G

Oh, and hey, in keeping with the culture warriors of the day, the boxing analogies thrown around towards the end are not insinuating any racial assumptions or depravities -- surely Rocky rings a few bells, no?