Dear America,

Robert Downey Jr. did it.

Bill Clinton did it.

New York City did it. (more than once)

Michael Vick did it.

Britney Spears did it. (sort of)

Kate did it. (minus one, plus eight)

That's probably enough for now; I think you get my point.

There are numerous, countless ways we find examples of picking ourselves up from defeat happening all around us.  At almost any given time, someone, somewhere, some way, finds a way to overcome adversity, bad judgement, poor timing, irresponsible behavior, or otherwise failing in some way, shape, or form.

Picking ourselves up from defeat, coming back from behind, rising out of the ashes, making lemons out of lemonade is the American spirit built into each and every one of us -- even if we our totally unaware.

We keep trying.

We keep at it until the job is done.

We live with purpose and determination, not to let the going get the best of us, even if the going gets rough.

It comes, believe it or not, from our Judeo-Christian roots:

"Nothing is impossible with God."  Luke 1:37

"It is more blessed to give than to receive." Acts 20:35

"Therefore we do not lose heart. 

Though outwardly we are wasting away,

yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day...

so we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but unseen. 

For what is seen is temporary, what is unseen is eternal." 

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

This faith, this hope, was built into our American mainframe over generations, over centuries.

We have this inherent ability to overcome anything; and it is manifested, in ways large and small, day after day.  For the reality is, and always is, accidents happen; mistakes happen; sh** happens; bad things happen to good people and good people can do bad things, and in the mean time, we fall in categories of being bystanders, activists, and story tellers -- or maybe victims, warriors, ministers and saints. We get involved or we don't; we speak up or we crumble; we move forward or fail miserably. 

Grey area has never been a strong suit...

We have fairly good news coming out of the Gulf this morning, it is being reported that the pipe has successfully been cut, and now BP can follow up with placing a cap on the gushing well.  It is a moment when we can all take a collective deep breath and give thanks -- to whomever you please.

My mind has been stumbling lately over an idea that may seem catastrophically strange -- I've been wondering what would happen if, all upon the same day, everything that could go wrong actually did?  What would happen?

If this question doesn't ironically answer the age old question of how much is too much government, then I don't know what will.  There is a reason for limited governance -- for the government is not God; it is inconceivable and incalculable for the government to be everywhere and fix everything for us -- for it is impossible.

For one, we would run out of money, pretty darn quick.

For another, we would run out of able bodies to come to every one's aid, pretty darn quick.

Our ability to rise above adversity, no matter how great or how small, comes from within us -- and really only us...and that, I believe, centers on our relationship with God, with a spiritual world who goes before us and with us as we face our good days and bad.

I caught up with Jillian Michaels' new show, aptly titled for the purpose of this blog, "Losing It with Jillian"  -- which aired last night.  In this moment we have neither time or place to discuss every issue, but the one that is still ringing in my ear is pertaining to the daughter -- who was about to get married.

She followed the footsteps of her family, gaining alot of weight throughout her teens -- and ultimately found reasonable success in weight loss due to having gastric bypass surgery (along with her father, which didn't work at all).  But months later,  she still battled with a core belief system which no longer served her well; she lacked a key element in her own worthiness to receive something good, on the inside she was still wasting away.

Not until she was able to overcome the mental hurdle of getting over her own self-loathing, her own inner struggles, her own lack of love for herself, was she ever able to allow herself to feel worthy --

The thing is, even with a solution -- a quick fix -- a surgery to physically correct the dynamics of eating too much (ergo like the government rushing in to save the day...) nothing will push us to make the changes we need to make within our own mind; albeit the damage imprinted on our brain is based on a false belief system in the first place -- but in the second, it cannot change until we make it so -- until we truly believe.

Back to the show six weeks later, we come to her wedding day in full view of a family renewed, enlivened, and glowing from ear to ear -- who collectively lost over a hundred pounds, having shed years of Twinkies hiding from facing multiple realities.

Sometimes, just the weight of the world is what keeps us down and we don't even realize it. 

Sometimes, something catastrophic happens, and rips our world apart; sometimes, it's a long, slow deterioration of our spirit; sometimes it appears as someone else doing it to us -- and other times, we get there all by ourselves.  It really doesn't matter.

But what would happen if everyone had a really bad day all on the same day?

What would happen if the BP oil spill was on the same day as the recent coal mine disaster, and the Three Mile Island explosion?  What if on this same day, we has hundred year floods on every river in America -- hurricanes over the Gulf,  and the entire East Coast, all at the same time?  What would happen if the market fell, and the housing market fell, and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were found to be totally insolvent, and criminal charges were about to be filed?  What if on this same day, Iran dropped bombs on Israel, and the entire Middle East was at war -- and there is no way to get oil to America at all, with trucking and commuting to work halted indefinitely?  What if on this same day, Toyota, Ford, GM, VW, Subaru, Honda, Hyundai...recall all models of cars from the last ten years? ...wouldn't matter, no gas anyway...but I digress.  What if on this same day, McDonald's, Wendy's, Taco Bell, Sonic all had to recall their beef from each of it's restaurants, while their was also an e-coli scare for every lettuce and tomato in the country --millions of stomachs were adversely affected at a time when hospitals were already overloaded with patients from other catastrophic events?   What if on this same day, Johnson & Johnson realized a batch of Tylenol for kids was harmed, their cleaning products were each found to cause cancer in rats, and Pledge was discovered to do more damage to wood than good?  What if on this same day, a gunmen held hostage a subway in New York, terrorists bombed every city hall, while every local bank encountered a need for law enforcement for robberies performed with guys wearing the same Richard Nixon mask all, at the same time?  oh yeah, and the last pound of bacon ever to be made was sold (as the government outlawed it's production, along with salt.)

You get my drift.

As unrealistic as it sounds, catastrophe can meet up with us without warning, and it is only by dumb luck that everything doesn't hit us all at the same time.


But if we can dwell in reality for just a moment, the truth is, the omniscience of our government is simply not there; and by design, by the genius of our founders, it was never intended to be. 

Sure, regulations are good; rules are good; laws are good -- but there comes a time when we realize we are living in a false set of security; and that there is such a thing as too much of a good thing, for it lulls into believing all sorts of things (besides producing a nation of followers and not doers).

But what truly ensures our security in our world comes from our roots.  It comes from entrusting our very living and breathing to the civility and morality and responsibility of always doing the right thing for one another at all times, not just some of the time -- or at the very least make every effort to do so.  Without such an unspoken agreement with one another, we would be living (or dying) in chaos.

BP wants to fix the oil spill just as much -- if not more -- than the rest of us; for BP is on the hook to pay for it, and in more ways than one (and a gander at their stock may give us a clue as to why).  They want to do the right thing, as the more they appear not to be doing the right thing, the more their reputation and future success is damaged.

You would think, with the government relying on BP for clean up, for money -- for the business of BP to stay in business in order to facilitate both -- you would think that the government would be doing everything in it's power to support the means to the reasonably happy ending for everyone. 

Instead, they demonize BP; instead they "put the boot to the throat"; instead, they separate from BP with horror and condemnation as an act of strength, when in fact, it couldn't make them appear any more weak -- for they have no idea the damage being done to a company already vulnerable.  Acting tough does not make one strong; making BP look bad doesn't make government look better -- for they authorized the activity in the first place; and neither makes the problem go away any faster.

Does this sort of "I'm with the government, I'm here to help" really have to look like a stranglehold on BP, with threats and actions of filing criminal charges before all attention is turned in the direction that it should be -- finding a solution, unceasing, until we meet with success?  Not to mention, BO said HE WAS in charge -- and from DAY ONE...what part of being in charge do you not understand?

Needless to say, the criminality factor is the least of our worries right now. 

Right now, we need to overcome a catastrophic event by stopping the leak, protecting our wetlands and our beaches, going to the aid of millions of animals, and preserving whatever fishing industry and livelihoods that remain in wait.

(of course, if the government didn't push oil companies into deep water rigging in the first place...due to the environmental lobbyists demanding the riskier retrieval practices over the far more  manageable land and shallow waters approach....this first catastrophic oil rig disaster in 30 years may not have been so out of control, just sayin') 

But even still,
Even if today finds the surgery on the pipe completed,
the cap plugged high and tight --
what lies beneath the surface is how we each overcome the damage already done. 

How do we start over?

Where do we find sustenance?  Where do we fill our souls back up to live to see a better day tomorrow?  Who do we turn to and how does our faith save us?  How do we respond, personally and collectively, to get over it and on with it --  and just what might possibly lay in wait, having the strength to hold us back?

The beautiful thing about a catastrophe -- if there is such a thing -- is that we find out rather quickly who we are and what we are made of.

Make it a Good Day, G

Our laws were created out of our duty and protection of Life;  Frederic Bastiat, a Frenchman, said this (with thanks to The 5000 Year Leap by W. Cleon Skousen):

"We hold from God the gift which includes all others.  This gift is life -- physical, intellectual, and moral life.

But  life cannot maintain itself alone.  The Creator of life has entrusted us with the responsibility of preserving, developing, and perfecting it.  In order that we may accomplish this, He has provided us with a collection of marvelous faculties.  And He has put us in the midst of a variety of natural resources.  By the application of our faculties to these natural resources we convert them into products, and use them.  The process is necessary in order that life may run its appointed course.

Life , faculties, production -- in other words, individuality, liberty, property -- this is man.  And in spite of the cunning of artful political leaders, these three gifts from God precede all human legislation, and are superior to it.

Life, liberty, and property [pursuit of happiness] do not exist because men have made laws.  On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws [for the protection of them] in the first place."

Dear America,

It was a big night for TV; the finale for LOST and Celebrity Apprentice were both in wild competition for our attention - while the History Channel included an entire evening almost exclusively for AMERICA: The Story of US.

Wondering where the American Girl settled in? 

Aside from the fact that I clicked into Celebrity Apprentice just in time to watch the underdog of the entire season, Rocker Bret Michaels, hear the infamous words from the Donald, "you're hired"...my eyes were glued on America.  And I trust I wasn't alone.

Wow.  Can I just say, thank you, to all of you who have come before me.  Each and every one of you, I owe you my life -- for shelter, for food, for the shirt on my back, for the power at my fingertips, for the fresh morning cup of joe I sipped from my favorite cup with such ease, for the ability to advance and grow this nation into what it is today.

Of course, dumb luck and perseverance ventured into every endeavor time and time again.  The will to see something through to completion, the spirit to win, the mindset of never taking no for an answer, and the unwavering character deeply embedded into the American way that carried US to greatness over, what hindsight tells us, a very short period of time, was remarkable to watch.

And the statistics thrown about oh my goodness! And the change of perspective of things, nearly overnight!

For example, oil was first considered "a nuisance" when farmers and land owners were digging their wells in search of water; we had to wait until the mid 1850's before we were able to understand how to purposefully use the gook.  And how within the first year, as the drill baby drill mentality sank in, over 500 oil companies jumped into the new market; subsequently, how the price of oil went from $200/barrel to THREE CENTS; ultimately, how refineries made it possible to develop the automobile for the common man, not just as play toys for the wealthy.

Certainly, stunning commentary was floated in and around the stories, like from Bill Maher (eew -- but I digress) who said something like this during the Prohibition segment: "ya just can't legislate morality."

Exactly.
For the first time, I think we can agree on something.

The government intervened with the sale and commerce of alcohol, and what happened?  All hell broke loose; self-discipline was the nation's saving grace, at the root of our success or our own personal failure.

From William Blackstone, one of America's free thinkers of yesteryear:

"Let a man therefore be ever so abandoned in his principles, or vicious in his practice, provided he keeps his wickedness to himself, and does not offend against the rules of public decency, he is out of the reach of human laws.  But if he makes his vices public, though they be such as seem principally to affect himself (as drunkenness, or the like), they then become by the bad example they set, of pernicious effects to society; and therefore it is then the business of human laws to correct them...Public sobriety is a relative duty [relative to other people], and therefore enjoined by our laws; private sobriety is an absolute duty, which, whether it be performed or not, human tribunals can never know; and therefore they can never enforce it by any civil sanction."

The only guarantee of a good and civil society comes in the nurturing and substance back behind good and civil individuals.

Going another direction, the history of our wartime is mind-boggling; from the over 600,000 killed in the civil war, to the 126,000 killed in one battle alone, at Normandy during WWII -- combined with the 64,000 civilians who died just making ammunition and military supplies -- lives sacrificed for the good of the whole is at times in our history unfathomable.

While the context of the fight between Joe Lewis and Max Schmelling I never fully understood, given the distance of my generation.  I had no idea of the power-keg surrounding the representation of ideologies -- of the son of a slave standing for America, up against the master race, and Nazi Germany.  It may have taken a rematch, but we, or should I say, Lewis, defeated pure evil.  America was the hero, as exemplified by an African-American man, and the year was 1938.  Now look at US, flash forward to 2008, and the first African-American President is the leader of the free world.  Only in America.

Yet, what seems to have struck me the hardest, and left such an imprint in my memory, was the level of lawlessness (along with how incredibly dirty everything was); besides the brutal hardship of homesteading across the open plains, the invention of mass produced steel created a little something we like to call, the city.  The truth is, movies like Gangs of New York, frightfully nail it; for crime and punishment was simply the way it was, way back when; a civil survival of the fittest.  The thought of being able to rent a gun by the hour, traveling murderers and thievery reigned as a method of survival, and haunted the streets of every city brave enough to pop up, seemingly getting worse the more advanced we had become.

The early nineteen hundreds are credited for the invention of mug shots, as well as the explanation behind the Third Degree: 1) persuasion 2) intimidation and if that doesn't work, 3) inflicting pain!

Think about it, there were no drivers licenses, or I.D.'s of any kind -- thugs were able to wreck havoc on a city and move on to the the next without so much as a way to find them again, criminals ran around anonymously with the rest of us every day.  Now look at US, we not only have databases of head shots and pages of psychiatric profiles to go with, but we have amassed a way to save the DNA from every crime.

And of course, speaking of the filth found in the streets, up until the day indoor plumbing was required in every tenement, 40,000 people died a year in New York alone, from the incredible amount of human waste and dead animals found under our feet.   Flash photography, also invented in the early 1900's, managed to shock Americans into reform and shortly thereafter, saved hundreds of thousands of lives. Now look at US, Yahoo! and YouTube and NY Times and newspapers around the globe, bring us face to face with every atrocity known to man within probably 10 minutes.

Now look at US! 

The age of enlightenment was followed by an industrial age like no other.  America grew from guts and glory, in feast and famine, through dust bowls and floods; whether it was the eighth grade education or the ivy league schooled, the drunk and disorderly or the civil and constraint,  we made US; whether war time or peace time, we always advanced.

The method of looking ahead, not back, has always served US well -- whether it be technology, energy, ecology, humanity, or our simple liberties.  But lest we forget, America awas built upon the foundation laid by our founders to forge ahead in every which way conceivably possible -- for if we could think it, dream it, build it, they will come.  The Constitutuion -- with it's limitations and duties, individually and collectively, gave US the very framework for all we have before us.

Now look at US; spoiled beyond recognition.

One of the most heartwarming things I heard last night was that the History Channel was making available the entire series to every school in America: The Story of US.

It's like a grandparent sitting all the kids down to hear a story, one that reminds the youngins' how hard it was to work, for pennies an hour, barely twelve years old, in order for the family to have bread for their evening meal; or one that refreshes the spirit of a romance, how grand daddy met grand mammy, and the rest was history; or one that reminds us why we fought so hard for the rights of all people, even people we don't even know, whether here or across an ocean and around the world; or one that reinforces the strength of growing a nation of good character, freely honoring a religion of one's choosing and wanting, truly, to become something wonderful for the world -- but most of all for our country for which we stand.

The day we stop telling the story of US -- in ways that bring about the exceptional and remarkable, along with realities of the reprehensible and ill repute --  will be the day we stop being America.

Sometimes growing a nation takes persuasion, intimidation and pain -- three degrees of separation from being truly free on our own merits, or behind bars.

And the real beauty is, the story is ours to make every day as we speak.

Make it a Good Day, G

I had my doubts about Bret Michaels...a fine example of never throwing in the bandanna too soon.  Way to go, Mr. Michaels -- and rock on, American boy.  Today's music is dedicated to you, just a click away on Dear America.

For another interesting take on the making of history today, go to http://ring4liberty.blogspot.com/
Good stuff on the big H, Ringo!

Dear America,

"...[Republic] a government derives all its powers

directly or indirectly from the great body of the people,

and is administered by persons holding their offices

during [the people's] pleasure for a limited period,

or during good behavior."

James Madison, (Federalist Papers, No.39)

Okay.  We could go round all day on the many ways size does matter; but today, we will narrow it down to a funny little thing I found on Yahoo. this morning, something that ventured to explain why we exist.

Many of us could actually answer that without thinking twice about it, and It begins with the letter G -- but heck, let's just roll with this anyway.

Apparently, for years, scientists have wondered how matter and the antimatter do not entirely cancel each other out; how is it we can walk around, when all things point to the opposite affect, and to that end, non-existence for everyone, and every thing? 
Well, low and behold, according to a band of 500 rocket scientists, there is a one point advantage to the side of matter -- 1% separates us from being a thing or a no-thing.

Matter over the Anti-matter; conviction over apathy; honor over corruption; truth over ignorance; everlasting over the moment; we the people over congress -- good always comes out on top -- oh, thank God.

It may not appear so, it may take time, it may even take a generation to return; but the means to the end, holding dear to principles and values, wins every time.  It's just the way of natural law, of cause and effect, of how matter truly does matter; while without a doubt, the one-point edge is good to know now for certain.

I was enlightened by another ongoing experiment in the pursuit of understanding We the People yesterday -- Glenn Beck pointed out the realization that 17 out of the top 25 books being sought after for enlivening and enrichment (on http://www.amazon.com/), for answers and not rhetoric, encapsulate either our Founders, early Americana, or our Constitution --  we all seem to be looking at the one thing that continues to capture our imagination and answer the question, just how did we get here? Just how did America get here?  After all that's been said and done, how can this be?

And with that goes along something I find humorous within the media -- seems the journalists and commentators can't seem to explain the Tea Party phenomenon as easily as they would like it to be; it's a matter that for all intents and purposes, reckons to be something undefinable; even though the typical tea party group is never one in the same with another -- homegrown and vibrant, they are an enigma of political sway and circumstance. 

Neither party is safe, or considered absolute, under the looking glass of a truth-er -- a political scientist hell bent on finding the candidate that best subscribes and holds to the founding principles of this country -- those who best exemplify the men (or women) of honor like days of yore.

Yet the commonality of what matters to everyone acquainted with, or intimately tied to, a tea party is the same -- no matter where you go, there you are.  It is absolutely brilliant, really.

The matter, and what truly matters, is all the same -- restoring America's limited government, in keeping with the principles beholdened to our personal liberties and freedom for all, equally, under the rule of law -- not man.

Some try very hard to define, control, round up the data into one word, like calling it a "movement"  -- nix ay on the oovement-stay;  as if it is fleeting somehow, a fad, something that will go away -- here today, gone to Maui... 

When in fact it is way deeper than that; for it is simply the way -- the American Way! 

And every one born on these shores is made of this!  What's more, we embody this kind of matter, this American way of life, this conviction to our founders, and the intentions brought forth within our sacred documents -- like the Federalist Papers, our Declaration of Independence, our Federal Constitution, our State Constitutions -- we cling to these because it is our Truth.  It is what matters to ALL of US in the end.  And without it, we got nothin'.

Discovering that science supports matter above all else is cool; finding out that only one-percent separates us from what truly matters, and what does not, is even better; KNOWING what matters has the edge, priceless.

The T's have it today, and hopefully until the end of time.  For the tea party people have recognized, for quite some time now, the edge of our existence; and with any luck, it may be the one factor that pushes the doubters over to the believers in this instant.

Make it a Good Day, G

Someone who has clearly lost his edge is our President; but come to think of it, upon further examination, it appears to be more a case of being consumed by the anti-matter right from the start.  That is unfortunate; we had such high hopes., nobody questioned a thing.

Remember: 

Click on Dear America above, 

every day, don't forget, let the music muse you.

Dear America,

"The Morphine Within"

G has been all tied up in knots lately; my world is a tad out of whack these days -- that really being just way more than usual. So what did I do about it?

I started running again.

Oh, I know.  It's not like I'm on a streak yet; nor have I gone two days in a row.  But the most important factor is I feel good.

We have all witnessed desperate measures when the pressures of life and liberty seemingly become too great -- with an airplane flying into a building, a man in Ohio bulldozing his house before he would succumb to foreclosure, and a professor shooting up a biology department meeting.

While with the Health Care legislation still looming over our heads and heating things up again -- can't wait for Thursday -- it would appear America has reached a point of no return on this one; what to do about nothing and everything?

Somewhere along the line we have lost our ability to take care of ourselves, while I may not be the best one to talk about such matters for very long before my own creaky joints get the best of me and kick me in my own behind -- I'm going to meander down this road anyway, if only to walk off the shin splints.

But how is it we have come to this place where we expect the government to fix everything?  Just who is responsible for teaching this behavior to us? Inquiring minds wanna know -- as it is soooo wrong in soooo many ways to Sunday.

The GOVERNMENT:

They can't eat (right) for us.

They can't strap on the old running shoes and take in a mile or two, all the while fighting off the evil green giant within who just wants to go home, sit on the couch and eat potato chips.

They can't see into our lives and know what each and every one of us wants for ourselves, if not also for our children, our neighborhood, or the aging parents who need us -- who may live all the way across town or perhaps over a couple state lines.

They can't show up at the office and do the work for us, including the over time while being under paid.

They can't go to the lender and plead our case to buy more time or cut a new deal -- or for that matter, make the commitment for the three bedroom, two bath town home as if times are so good and we got nothing to lose anyway.

They can't even tell us to turn off the lights, not to buy that television at Best Buy, or know when to say when.

Our habits -- Our choices -- the things we put our money where our mouth is --  whether good or bad or indifferent, originate from the one source within us and that which we can call all our own. On a micro scale, it's one thing; but upon the macro --
oh      my     God.

There is just no conceivable way the government can be all things for every body, but it very well seems to be that this is what we are expecting out of them and in the end, this mentality will surely bring us all down.  The Government is not God, people.

And really, what God actually gives us to use at our own discretion is far more valuable.  Up until now, most of us just didn't see it.

For people who run (religiously that is -- not people like me, ha ha ha), they refer to the "runner's high" after they have been running so long they reach a peak, pushing their own endurance beyond it's capabilities, to a point where the body releases endorphins into the system.  God created our bodies with it's own natural mechanism to fight the sensation of feeling pain in order to relieve that which might seem unbearable. Ingenious, no?

It wasn't until the 1970's, when a University of California at Berkeley chemist, by the name of Choh Li, actually discovered "the morphine within" and aptly named it ENDORPHINES:

"any of a group of endogenous peptides (as in enkephalin and dynorphin, of the Nervous System) found especially in the brain, that bind chiefly to opiate receptors and produce some of the same pharmacological effects (as pain relief) as those of opiates; specifically Beta-Endorphin, of the Pituitary Gland."

Natural Heroin; and we wonder why so many people get hooked, on running that is.

Who doesn't want the feeling of euphoria, coupled with appetite modulation or control, along with the release of sex hormones and all things good and fabulous?  Who doesn't want a piece of that action?

 Twenty more minutes of this and I am out the door...

But no matter how hard we try, the turn we are collectively making towards the county line of nanny state meets pimp daddy will never give us what we really need; it will never give us the high as compared to doing the work ourselves; it will never give us a sense of satisfaction, having labored the road ourselves; it will never be enough, as we will continuously look ahead down the road to see what else can you do for me...yeah baby...this feels good...hit me up with some more of that...
as the more we get...the more we want...and pretty soon, it's all we want.

When it comes to euphoria, just how high can we go?

Apparently there was a meeting of the minds here in my neck of the woods this past weekend; scientists, psychologists, coming together to evaluate things pertaining to the natural, the supernatural, and more specifically including our inherent ability to create happiness.  Certain attributes, other than what we were born with and genetically bound by lineage, were highlighted -- in accordance with all things happy people share:

 Gratitude, for what we have

Optimism, for what will be

Counting our Blessings

Using Our God Given Talents/Strengths

Promoting Random Acts of Kindness

I have to wonder, if only people would stop for five minutes every day to focus on the things that truly matter -- as within this simple list of five -- how our world would look a whole lot healthier, wiser, perhaps even bring a certain glow to our cheeks and a little bounce to our step.

We wouldn't be watching the partisan bickering in Washington over a subject matter that was never intended to be theirs to discuss in the first place; we would be taking care of our own, within the boundaries and civil liberties of a country suspended and highly held above all that. 

• 
  
  Our fellow countrymen would be allowed to sell insurance over state lines, and travel miles across the purple mountains majesty to find the right fit, the right price, and the right services.
• 
  
  Frivolous lawsuits for burning our mouths -- and our laps -- on a cup of hot coffee from the drive thru simply wouldn't exist -- we would know better and take responsibility for our own stupidity. 
• 
  
  Doctors and hospitals would charge whatever the market would bare for their expertise and years of experience and schooling -- some would be rewarded generously -- and likewise, if they made a big mistake, it would cost them and their shingles would come crashing down. 
• 
  
  It wouldn't take a discussion with Congress, a Board of Directors, or a panel of seven or even a hundred, to decide what is best for me and my health -- all it would take is a sit down with a doctor and the family. 
• 
  
  While we all recognize the real cost of healing the uninsured (including illegals) is insurmountable and will be the root cause of our final demise (through legislation enacting overhead of nearly twenty percent of our economy, added to the already overwhelming bureaucratic heart attack waiting to happen)...

The real ailment -- not producing enough American-made Endorphins to override the full operating system breakdown -- will escape us.

That secret, which four out of five doctors agree, is safely held deep within; get plenty of rest, eat right, do something nice for someone else, and take a walk, run, bike ride, or swim -- move the body and move the mountains seemingly too hard to climb.

And then,

just before we close our eyes at the end of a day,

give a moment of yourself to the world within and feed the soul -- that which truly sustains us to make it through another day when perhaps not every thing is going our way.  In place of sheep jumping over a cloud, imagine counting blessings; give thanks for what is good, even if it was only a smile from a stranger or an "A" on your child's math quiz; look forward to tomorrow, even if it means rising at dawn to look for a new job, a new home, a new lease on life; share your strengths with the world, if only a sense of humor or your rose colored sunglasses.

America needs you -- she needs all of us to do our share and to do our part.

We all start at a crawls pace and work up to the coffee table and eventually the sprint across the living room floor.  This is what we do; we start small and go big, and with each step, a greater responsibility of our movements come along -- yet in time, our endurance will outlast even the most aggressive paths.  We will be rewarded with endorphins kicking in and feeding our ultimate destiny.  We will create a society so healthy and vibrant, the world will want a piece of us once more -- and in a good way.

Our health and happiness was never intended to be in the government's hands; no matter how many ways to make believe, it never has been and it never will.

MOVE today and make it a Good Day, G

nothing stays the same,

but if you're willing to play the game...

it's coming around again...

....I believe in love...

...coming around again...coming around again...

oh I believe in love...I believe in...

Dear America,

We can take the kid out of the socialism but we can't take the socialism out of the kid.

We are the product of our parents -- mostly the biological ones -- up until we reach such an age of independence that is...guessing around thirteen...when we slowly meld into the wide, wide world of all others that grow on us, influence us, shift us and mold us into an adult and ultimately carry with us to the end of our days.

Sure, the daughter of a conservative -- who responsibly cared for her every need all the days of her life -- could ultimately blow out of the house and freely leap into some kind of liberal paradigm -- perhaps even go so far as to raise her own children in a commune, live off the land, sing songs, and pretend the rest of the world does not exist -- at least figure they got it all wrong -- holding tight to her new found enlightenment that the rest of us are simply out of touch with the real thing, man -- that peace, love and Woodstock is where it's at -- leaving every shred of evidence of the contrary behind.  It can happen.


ah the rise of the Utopian generation (again... every century has one or two), if everyone could just share everything -- not even to have one more thing more than another -- than the whole world would get along just fine...

Even if this conservative gave the opportunity for his so-called conservative girl to be able to live on a hill overlooking the valley with a pool in the backyard and horses she could ride.  Perhaps, this little girl went through some emotional valleys, feeling a distance from a father who was seriously working all the time -- he may have been reserved when it came to expressing his love for his family -- or it may be that he was just too busy, traveling the globe for reasons of purpose and pleasure, whisking even her mother away at times, leaving her to a babysitter with the rest of her three siblings in the big house on a golden hill in the best neighborhood money could buy. 

Oh, the cruelty, of having pretty much everything you ever needed from a provider who in his day knew no better...  He was just working; doing what he felt he needed to do to earn a living and provide for his family -- and a very good living indeed.  He was just acting as a father to the best of his abilities;  and for the way it was back then, that was defined as how well you kept a job -- usually the same job for thirty or forty years -- and the ability to pay for the needs of your family and accumulate wealth from it.

Yes, admittedly, she was of an age where most women were told to 'just find a nice boy and get married.'  And when she found such a man, everyone was happy in the big house on the golden hill -- that is everyone except her, the end.

America has seen a lot of that in her day -- this girl wasn't the only woman in the world held to the standard that the best place for the woman is in the home, taking care of the children, leaving the bringing home of the bacon to the man of the house. 

But that was then.  This is now, man.

Here we are; America 2010; having a generation or two since the days where women were expected to grow up to be teachers, nurses or better yet, just find a doctor, honey, and get married and make me some grandchildren.

Oh yes, but that poor girl -- that one who was raised right and to the best of her father's abilities -- that poor dear...

Even if this conservative, who she grew to loathe and resent, provided the ability for her to get a college education and even, dare we say, go abroad for schooling at the age of sixteen, allowing her to get a feel for just how wonderful and perfect the Europeans do it...yes, their natural openness and freedom of expression, their beautiful landmarks and countryside, revealing in every nook and cranny a society of culture... refinement yet so chic; dated, yet so cutting edge; heavy heart and history, yet modern and forward thinking and always and often ahead of their time.  Now THEY are people who know where it's at, man.

The thing is, raising children, it's complicated -- and yet again

Raising children to become active, responsible, accountable, charitable, successful, solvent, kind, compassionate, enlightened, learned, appreciative, grounded, honest, good, productive, motivated, ambitious, hard working, happy people just takes work. 

It does not happen naturally or without effort or without our absolute attention -- it takes work.  And by example, even a girl with everything can grow up and take a look back and come away with nothing, even if only in her own mind.

In the macro sense, America has had plenty of time now to grow up -- to expand our horizons, spread our wings, get a taste for the good life and the not so much.  WE have liberated ourselves from a past that only kept us back!  We have seen the light and see that those founding fathers of ours man  -- boy do they have it all wrong...what were they thinkin? 

"A government of laws and not of men"

John Adams

(why, John, do you know something we don't know pray tell?)

"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. 

It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
John again.

(got that right, man)

"If men were angels, no government would be necessary"
James Madison

(his version of utopia, I'm sure,
but knowing full and well it can't be done
-- man is human and to err not so divine)

"Dependence begets subservience and venality,
suffocates the germ of virtue,
and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition" 

Thomas Jefferson

(now that is heavy, man)

"Do not separate text from historical background. 

If you do, you will have perverted and subverted the Constitution,

which can only end in a distorted,

bastardized form of illegitimate government."

back to James

"It is much easier to suppress the first desire
than to satisfy those that follow."

Benjamin Franklin

(bend over once...bend over a thousand times)

"It is the working man who is happy,
it is the idle man who is the miserable man" 

Ben again.

"Tell me and I forget.  Teach me and I remember. 
Involve me and I learn."

yet another Ben

"The U.S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness,
only the pursuit of it.

YOU have to catch up with it yourself."

 oh Ben, talk to me...

It is ONLY in America where we have created a system where everyone is raised under the same principles and values set forth by our founding fathers based simply on a limited government and with respect to all that is required to be in community with one another and instill order and freedom for all . 

The age of learned men and reason came to conclusions about how best to raise it's citizens upon thousands of years of teachings, natural laws already divined by the grace of God that were UNIVERSALLY accepted and believed by every citizen, but holding to ONE key ingredient -- the ability for INDIVIDUAL MAN to continue to be of good nature -- virtuous and kind, simple and hardworking, and promote the wherewithal to keep it going one generation after the next.

In this age where "a learned blockhead is a greater blockhead than an ignorant one" (Ben again, and speaking frank), even a PhD does not give someone enough common sense to live by and grow the next generation -- as evident by all the talking heads today.

Hypothetically if we threw out all books and taught our children just one, let it be The 5000 Year Leap by W. Cleon Skousen.

Back to the opening line and considering that our own American President was raised by self proclaimed socialists... continued to broaden his family's liberal belief system with a Harvard education (studying Constitutional Law, go figure) ...ultimately teaching others what he learned based on his allegiance to both his parental influences, Utopian ideals, communing with anti-American radicals along the way, and attaching himself more firmly to all paths of social engineering and regulation than to the paths furthering greater independence and principles of freedom...now sits in the highest office of the land --  just how far back is he willing to take us?

The irony really!  You know, being that the very idea of the redistribution of wealth was considered ARCHAIC! in the hearts and minds of Franklin, Madison, Jefferson, Adams, Washington... you know, based on civilizations past -- based on human nature and the laws that bind, naturally.

Isn't it fair then to question our dear young President of his intentions?  A president who by all appearances and actions thus far, clings to an age old wisdom now clearly obsolete --  an unobtainable ideal that isn't even fiscally possible let alone socially acceptable -- by American standards that is. Just how can a society based on unlimited freedom and prosperity for all NOT make any sense to a learned man of such high education and well rounded background?

Unless, he's not exactly well rounded.
Unless, you are missing something. 
Unless, you look upon the work and the efforts of our forefathers with doubt -- ignorant to the deeper message that they teach us -- or that which they stood for, fought for, gave over ever ounce of their being to create the American dream for, that extra-ordinary something that only comes along once in every five thousand years or so.

It was all for you -- you silly girl --

so that you
could sit here today
forgetting any and all value
to that which came before you
before you got here. 

and now that you're here -- you know, that place where you have everything -- you can look out from your ivory tower with every freedom in the world, man, and every need taken care of, effortlessly and without strain... it's so cool... and resent him -- a father who just did the best he could in the day in the life of your childhood

-- leaving you
with the very foundation, with all capabilities and opportunities, for you to go out and make a life for yourself, any way you like it.

It was all for you.
No need to say thank you; but, counting your blessings wouldn't hurt... gotta start somewhere.

Make it a Good Day, G

Dear America,

Most of you know G's been following Flash Forward on ABC Thursday evenings.  Of course, it's just a TV show; how earth shattering can it really be.  It's entertainment.  It's only an hour once a week -- how much could it possibly do to change a pattern of thought or even sink deep enough into the soul to welcome in a new paradigm or affect real change?

It comes usually in little tidbits, one liners that all of a sudden make you go hmmm; last night's was this:
"...one's destiny is not written in stone." and a bit later kicks it up with "It's not fate vs free will -- It is fate AND free will."

and I reached a moment of oh thank God.

We so have the power to change even the life altering, mind dumbing policy decisions that keep being generated out of this administration -- it's not too late.  We have the opportunity to change our course of actions and conceivably our very future. 

Realizing the government is supposed to be working for us, part of the mood in America is so distraught with simply the inability to be able to do anything about what is happening these days in Washington.  In a recent Rasmussen poll, 71% of likely voters say they are somewhat angry over current policy.  71%! Of that, 46% are VERY ANGRY.  Only 27% are not very angry about the new policies, including 10% who are not angry at all -- must be those who have jobs located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Overall Obama's approval rating has slipped from the generous 65% in January a whole TWENTY POINTS -- and has settled into 46% -- but with that, what may be more telling, only 28% have garnered Obama with a strong approval rating, while 40% strongly disapprove.  At election night, Obama led with 53% of the vote with McCain-Palin at 46% -- it makes me wonder how it would turn out if we all got a do-over today?

I don't think this facade of a president is what we had in mind.

I don't believe the Great American Apology tour was put on our Blackberry calendars.

Matter of fact, I don't think the exponential growth of our National Debt or the current 1.4 Trillion dollar deficit could even be foreseen, let alone imagined -- at least not in the first 10 months.

You know what's funny about numbers, you start to see a few a them thrown around and all of a sudden we not only become expert at finding waste and fraud within our own federal government, we really begin to recognize so much of it is in the packaging.  Whether left or right, we have done some kind of damage to the American Way. 

Now, upon the light of a new day -- which happens to be metaphorically speaking the Day After electing the President who declared

"we are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America"

 -- we get it now. 

It was upon that day, with free will in tow and a ballot in hand, we very well will look back and claim with great regret we were all equally responsible for altering America's fate.

Thank God there are now 71%  of us not only mildly upset about it, but we have grown 40% downright ANGRY.  Perhaps now, we can get somewhere with all of this pent up anger and realize just how much we have at stake if we don't.

I learned a new word today.  I was looking up flagging, trying to get a better understanding as to how we use it and look at it's origins (kind of a game I play); it was used in an article describing the economy and the job market.  So while I was looking at flagging, it immediately sent my eyes to flagitious: "shockingly evil, infamous, scandalous, heinous" and adds "that remorseless government persisted in its flagitious project" as an example. 

I kid you not.  I'm looking at it right now...out of The American Heritage Dictionary, New College Edition -- I'm also realizing just now that apparently I was the first kid to run off with it, when I left home I guess.  The inscription on the inside shows it was given to the family with love from "husband/father" on March 3, 1980.  No telling what was going on in March of 1980; I had just graduated a semester early from high school, it falls in between birthdays, there is no real family significance I can think of...papa must have just come home one day and plopped it on the kitchen counter.  Moving on...

I guess you could say a flagitious government and it's agenda for policy change is widely known and almost anticipated or predicted.  It's the governments fate to act scandalously; whereby it also makes it up to the people to use our God given and Constitutional right of free will to change it.

It's like that couple in the press these days -- playing this victim card of "who would have the audacity" to crash a White House State Dinner.  The travesty is really giving them any attention at all.  But what do they do, they cry out that their lives have been "destroyed"?  Are you kidding me?  They are the one's who acted; they ARE the kind of people who would have the audacity to not follow proper protocol, knowing full well of their wrong doings in every snapshot and paparazzi walk down the white carpet, while pulling the proverbial snow job of deception not only blatantly over the eyes of our President, but now upon every news channel in the world.  No, that's not the television's bad reception, that's the makings of the fluffy white stuff rolling into one big slap on the face of our Secret Service and upon the fundamental face of America -- it happened at the White House.  Unbelievable really.

I was going to talk about jobs today -- as what is happening with small businesses and the American Way and the ever-flagging ability for this government to recognize it must get out of it's own way; for then, and only then, will the American people do just fine.  My flagging motivation to go there tells me to leave it for another day, whether 10.2%, or the latest improvement to a firm 10%, it doesn't amount to a change we can believe in and calls for a clear head. Right now, besides being under the influence of prescribed medicine, I now feel dirty.

I feel buried in scandal -- between the overall government intrusions, stimulus misappropriations, a hefty health care price tag masked as reform, the climate-gate, Tiger-gate, Washington socialite wannabes, and the first American President who has no idea who he is or what he is supposed to stand for -- which in a word -- is UNPRECEDENTED; I am wishing I was living in an igloo, perhaps somewhere along Bristol Bay, fishing salmon for my dinner, and could ignore the flagitious actions of the lower 48. Yes, I love the word now.

While I'm known for painting just about anything, from chairs and tables, to fireplace mantels and walls; my latest thing is painting words in Italian; something tells me, too, I may have already talked about this, but I just can't remember in my condition so I'm gonna risk repeating myself, the sentiment is worthy to use again... 

Over my bed and painted around the ceiling fan are some wispy clouds with little rhinestones catching the light, I scribbled over them with words written in gold metallic paint,

"Dobbiamo essare disposti ad eliminare la vita che abbiamo progetto

per avere la vita che sta-aspenttanddi" 

Translated, let go of the life you planned and live the life that is waiting for you.  Which I take as take action, don't just sit there and expect someone else to make the change you are looking for; don't expect fate to come to you.  And by all means, don't play the victim and allow a government or policy take away the very right and free will to affect change and create a life; and especially don't wallow in defeat as if this is being done unto you and there is nothing you can do about  it.  And absolutely, when you do take action, own it, stand by it -- like as if your life depends upon it.

Fate meets up with free will everyday.

Make it a Good Day, G

One more thing I might do today is paint a new saying above my door to remind me of my responsibility to affect change and act judiciously and mindfully of every choice I make as an American girl...
Just below flagitious I found "flagrante delicto" --
Latin for "red handed, in the very act, while the crime is blazing."

Beautiful.