It's a Prohibition Prohibited Thing

Dear America,

not sure why we have to re-litigate what the Constitution actually says, or means...

does a cross, atop a hill, translate into a national religion --  a belief system held by all -- without uttering a single word?  But while we're at it --  just how offensive can a cross possibly be really?

and tell me, someone, anyone, atheists and all, where does "the free exercise thereof" start and stop?

Amendment I, of the Constitution of these fine United States, states:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or of the right of the people peacefully to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

oh, so, all of a sudden we can no longer display in memoriam of service to country, in honor of the selfless giving of life and limb, a universal symbol of faith that transcends our very humanity, monopolized and immortalized by Christianity  (a faith including an overwhelming majority of Americans in it's ranks and recognized the world over) -- BUT we are to have no problem with the state mandating every single one of us to pay for contraception, even if said mandate goes against our religious beliefs with every fiber of our being, as per a new LAW, Obamacare -- usurping company policy, church policy, Catholic hospital policy, far and wide.    Obamacare comingles church and state in ways we never thought possible...[And another hot topic not to be overlooked: the state becoming intimately involved with the definition of marriage and going against religious beliefs...]

If anything, the resolution following individual(s) grievances should come by way of adding something to the memorial --  say the Jewish star,  or some kind of Atheist bench supported with a balanced set of capital A's as it's legs --  but not in the taking of something down!   IF the final answer from 'judge and jury' is to actually REMOVE the cross from atop this fine hill of Mt. Soledad, then it would be in THAT moment that the church and state have tragically, and recklessly, and improperly, comingled relations.  In that moment, the state would be taking sides and prohibiting the free exercise of one religion at the behest of another.

A memorial is a place where people have peacefully assembled by name etched into marble; and in turn, other people assemble throughout the years to honor them.

And just think about it, at some point, people assembled and decided to erect a cross atop a hill in memory of the souls lost in the service to country, on behalf of freedom and liberty everywhere.

In the spirit of the times, way back nearly sixty years ago -- the decision was made to build a cross atop a hill -- an idea fully supported by the neighboring community and the consensus, at large.

And a cross was built. 

And it was good. 

And it was beautiful. 

IT IS BEAUTIFUL.  It takes in the surrounding 360 degree view of San Diego -- from the mountains, to the mesa, to the waves of ocean blue.

The thing is, there is ZERO Constitutional argument or support against the action of placing a cross atop a hill, whether mountain or mole hill, be it federal or state land; with certain, the only argument -- as insecure as it is -- is generated from a despicable place deep down inside, churning, fuming, as a civil co-existence seems to escapes us.  What rises up from the bottom of the earth and allowed to settle into the courts goes against the very intentions of our first amendment, let alone the exceptional nature of this fine nation.

And it's ironic, really.
Just last night our president attended "Christmas in Washington."

Words of wisdom from our dear president -- while citing the need for charity and compassion this holiday season and making the teachings of Jesus instrumental in his appeal -- give rise to a pause:

"Through his example, he taught us that we should love the Lord, love our neighbors, as we love ourselves. It's a teaching that has endured for generations. And today, it lies at the heart of my faith and that of millions of Americans, and billions around the globe," Obama said.

"No matter who we are, or where we come from, or how we worship, it's a message of hope and devotion that can unite all of us this holiday season,"

One would hope, anyway, as the courtroom rises to welcome the judge to the bench in the morning.  And way to go, Mr. President, exhibiting your free exercise thereof.  Amen.

But think about it...

Our faith, from our founders and beyond, IS our state.   It's our state of mind; it's divine providence leading the way; it's in God we trust; it's within us as we live our daily life, surrounding us with love; it's at the core of who we are as a people, as a nation.

The INDIVIDUAL was given free reign in the free exercise of one's religion -- meaning prohibition, prohibited.

No, we do not have a national religion; It has us.  And, like the president said, "no matter who we are, or where we come from, or how we worship, [or not], it's a message of hope and devotion that can unite all of us this holiday season."  

It lies in our heart and soul, and "has endured for generations," whether the cross stays or goes.

Make it a Good Day, G
 

It's a Nation Building Thing

Dear America,

and now, the end is near, and so I face the final curtain... and more, much more than this, I did it my way...

happy friday everybody...and where would the world be without music...I don't even want to know...and on that note, my digression is way too early in the day.


The week began with another assault on 'Under God'.  By Wednesday, we were mildly intercepted with a presidential address, reminding us of many things, but the greatest of these being:  “America, it is time to focus on nation building here at home."  And now, as the end is near, my inclination is to tie the two together.

In the last few weeks we have discussed all kinds of ideas surrounding the making of a nation, the building of good character, casting the foundation upon a virtuous lot to keep things steady, comfortable, peaceful, responsible and always, fully engaged -- and thereby, fully committing ourselves, from beginning to end, to the creation of... how did our president say... that "One American Body."

It is a monumental task, this continuous re-building, especially considering it is a construction project that never really ends.  There is always something that needs mending, perhaps a fresh coat of paint, maybe a new room with a view -- from five minute maintenance jobs to years consumed by a labor of love -- restoration hardware requires each and every one of us to do our part.

The president is so right; it is time to focus this nation on building a better nation here at home; because in this present moment, in this new age of liberty freely expressing, we are coming up in short supply of our most precious resources.  For that one American body and it's shelter is falling apart.


Yes, indeed, "infrastructure"..."innovation"... make for good company, after decades of bad science and evolution and false Gods.

Yes, indeed, "nation building"..."here at home"... just makes good sense, after years of utter recklessness in every way, shape, and form, with infidels running the show.

Oh, I'm sorry.  Did I offend anyone?
What, am I not entitled to share my views of the world and society anymore because what, I come from a place so out of this world -- somewhere, out there,  in awe of God?

Here's a real shocker worthy of a headline: this whole 'Under God' brouhaha is a terrible travesty against not only our nation's first shining, founding principle -- but runs, in actuality, in real life, right smack up against GOD Itself. That is cold, bold, and totally absurd...if not also incredibly stupid.

Enough already.  I have had enough.

And in this moment, I deeply regret the ignorance built into my very next question:  HOW DID WE GET HERE?

Oh, don't bother -- I know.

It is a rhetorical question -- falling in line with everything else... rhetorical speeches, rhetorical inauthentic Christianity, rhetorical political correctness, rhetorical intellectual attacks against our Constitution.  There is an explanation for it all.

The only reason we are here -- as a nation -- is that for two hundred years we gave God our all, and everything more, to make this nation hum.  Our founders may not have each and every one believed in the same God; and by that, let's clarify, a God suspiciously deigned by the mad dog collective as "a Christian God."   Au contraire;  this was exactly the reason why we ran, as fast as we possibly could, from the Church of England, for Pete's sakes.  Their view was far more transcendental, more appropriately and globally framed, if you will.  One might even say, fit for a new age, no matter when it should happen to come along.

We made a nation UNDER God, our Creator, of which ALL of our rights and duties come -- as defined in our Declaration of Independence and clearly spelled out in Amendment I of our Constitution:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peacefully to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

so attencione', oh hallowed halls of government, I HAVE A GRIEVANCE.

My free expression of living life as an American, faithfully under God, is being harassed, ridiculed, slandered and denied.

You want to rebuild a nation, Mr. President?  Start here.

How about we try this -- next time you get up on your high horse at the podium, tell the people to straighten up and fly right; tell the people to stop attacking our first principle; tell the left wing media to stop giving the free expression of  living under No God more credibility than living Under God; stop dismissing the clear and present danger of "nation building" under a system which, under no uncertain terms, wants to erase God from the town square, and if all goes right, totally extinguish God from our heart and soul.

I dare you, Mr. President, tell us, tell us that this is the time to return to our FAITH in God; that in order to rebuild, we must start with basic principles and truths and start all over.  You are a man of faith.  And, after all, you are supposedly an authority on Constitutional Law, you should know all the in's and out's of this like the back of your hand; I have no doubt you have read and thoroughly reviewed the words and intentions of our quintessential documents of our fine nation, and from out of the mouths of our founders themselves.  How could you not and still get your degree?

Let me ask you, how can it be okay for one religious group -- who just so happens to be a group who claims to have no religion, except that, of course, of their own god created from their own belief system, which is, what, I don't know,  a belief in nothing? How can they be the ones to continually  hog the microphone?  They are their own God, are they not?  Their God is the UnGod, who by admission believe it is there dogma that rules over mine?  How is that okay?

We have talked about this so much on G, it is beginning to make my head spin.

They have every right not to believe, think or do in NO-thing, if they so choose -- absolutely every right; but they have no right to squelch my belief, or the FREE EXPRESSION thereof.

Just because we name a street, "Seven in Heaven," it does not establish a national religion; and, to prove it, there are virgins up in heaven waiting for Muslims to return home as we speak.  In the afterlife of world religions large and small, a heaven is made somewhere (that is, if you so believe) or maybe it is not, it does not really matter.

Saying Heaven, is like saying Chocolate -- is it always the same?  I think not.  Are we particular to certain brands?  you bet.  Is the idea of what makes the perfect chocolate each and of our own to decide?  absolutely.  Which, of course, brings us to another shocking truth... for you may be one of those odd sort who don't like chocolate at all.  For me, chocolate is just a sliver of heaven I can put in my mouth...can G get an amen?

Sure, it is silly.  But just think about how over sensitive we have become as a society?   And more than that, just think of all the ways this outright perversion of this primary and sacred principle, the one that this nation was indeed founded, is being shamefully swallowed as the new gospel.

If I were a judge -- I would be laughing at every case that comes my way bearing false allegiances to a nation under no god.

The thing is, when we stopped talking about being a Nation Under God in school (from kindergarten through PhD) it became the very day we stopped building a nation.  case closed.

No.  we are not required to think the same way when it comes to God.  IT is wide open spaces, as they say, when it comes to the intellectual spin revolving the question of what is God, is there God, what is It all about?  what is my purpose? where do I belong?

These are questions that seem to be a threat to the Left (as a whole and generally speaking, and in reality, is more like chopped up bits and pieces run amok) -- and all I have to say to that is, gee, golly gosh, so sorry.

This nation, believe it or not, was created to believe in God our own way -- could this not be any more refreshing and free spirited?  Well, at least it was... up until some people began to go on the attack on other people's beliefs.  Now we have mayhem.


Look, if it is any consolation to the non-believers (which, in reality, are so few, it makes me wonder how your voice, out of all the voices here,  gets the total and free run of the stage in which we are all supposed to share)  --  but if we could just settle down and rethink this.  Surely, there must be a way to come together and figure this out.

What if, every time you see the word God, LOVE pops into your head?  Of course, with full disclosure, my beliefs teach me that my God is Love, but that should be neither here nor there, let's not let something like that get in the way, shall we?   But really, honestly, how innocent and un-alarming is such an idea, the concept of love?  surely, you  love,  right?   

We all love...if only our self and a favorite ice cream... can we not then come to a realization we can build a foundation on that, that God is the same as Love?

From here on out, as you go your way and I go mine, can we just agree that when you see "God" that all we are talking about here is Love.  Just Love.  Literally, figuratively, collectively...it's just a whole lot of love.  Some might even call it Big Love.  Very Very Big Love -- and there is plenty to go around.

It's not like everybody has to believe in Jesus, you know what I am sayin'; and by that, I also mean, some of us believe in all the little children -- red, yellow, black or white, each are precious in His sight -- but nobody has to, you know.   Even though, I believe, that we are here on earth as Spirit expressing, my natural inclination is to say, even atheists are children of God -- but now, I guess that is just fighting words, now isn't it?

But I, as a believer, have the Constitution and our Declaration of Independence at my back and in my heart.  I am free to express God, as long as nobody gets hurt.


Nobody in their right mind would say we have established a National Religion here in America.  For our Constitution was written with a purpose, a purpose UNDER HEAVEN by the way (but God only knows).

Our founders truly believed they were divined by our Creator, by the Maker of All Things seen and unseen, to lay down this nation's Rule of Natural Law.  Our rights, appreciated or not, understood or not, came right out of the Ten Commandments, and then some.  Our rights, as they were written, came from God -- and, against all popular belief,  still do.  Nothing has changed.

This was to protect the people from having a country like England, back hundreds of years ago -- where the Church controlled every function of government and prospered off the backs of it's people.  This was to protect the citizens from it's government -- giving all power to decide such freedom of expression to the people, on their own, in their own time, any way they so wished.  This was to protect this nation from being a society wrecked with internal civilian warfare, pinning one order against another, creating chaos, as it occurs every day in places like Syria, Iran, Egypt, and the like, using tenets of one Religion, one belief, to control people in every way --  in total denial of certain rights taken for granted here -- as in the divining of a real separation of mosque (church) and state.

It was to protect US, the citizens, from an overzealous government using a religion to control the masses.

America was set apart from the rest of the world solely on the basis of our religious freedom.  It is the cornerstone.  It is the foundation.  It is the way we have always been -- and the way we can only continue.  It is the way, the truth, and the light, that created a nation that prospered; and prospered very well  BECAUSE of our faith, not in spite of it.

So this week, under God, we have experienced another test of the human spirit.  And in the end, I agree with a president wholeheartedly when he says it is time --  it is time for America to focus on nation building here at home.

And it begins with returning to the Free Expression of our Faiths -- in God, in Love, in Life that surrounds us.

It begins with reminding the citizenry of the great responsibility we have in front of us -- for we are at a crossroads.

But the truth is, nation building does not require stimulus, infrastructure, green energy, or spending not even one dime; matter of fact, it is the most cost effective way  to not only rebuild our nation as we sit in the throws of economic disaster, but the wisest thing we could do, on the cheap, in order to recreate a nation revolutionized by our first principles, for the next generation.

These last few days, questioning the spirit of a nation under God -- this week, with a nation's focus brought back to the home front -- is an opportunity.  We are not in the midst of chaos.  There is order here in America.  We know that It lives here and is Something we honor.  Deep down, restoring our faith is the only thing that will take us from here to there with any given sense of calm.

we just need to walk our talk (again).

what are we good for?

what reality do we wish to live in -- order or chaos?

isn't it better to ask what is God, what is Love, what is Life all about ?  than not at all.

do we not owe that to our children, who are just beginning to grasp this thing called life --  only now, as the careless chaperones we have been, turn over to them a broken world?

just how do we expect them to make a life and sense out of it all -- what will ground them, console them, give them faith to push through it all?  Chocolate? maybe.  and maybe not.  but what does it hurt to talk about it? absolutely nothing.

Establishment of Religion -- I wish!  We couldn't be further from the truth.  We are living in an age where "religion" is vilified, shunned, ignored, deemed irrelevant and ridiculous.  Unless, you are Muslim, then it is all good.  Unless, you are an Atheists, then all the power to you.  Unless, you are just a hater of Christians or Jews, then that secular theater gets played all day long. Tolerance, pulleeze, I laugh in the face of danger.

It is a big world out there; there is room for all of us; but the last place on earth I would ever think I would have to defend my freedom of expression, of my religion or yours, from road signs to crosses to curriculum to a nation's Pledge of Allegiance -- is here. 

To the atheists, if you are telling me that you cannot respect another person's religion, just who is the one being closed minded and bigoted and rude?   To the intellectual elite within the media, feeding this narrative, is this really how you want to play it -- copy-writing a nation characterized by living without a soul, without the courage to stand up for our nation's first principle?

'Under God' is what we make it -- nothing more nothing less.  

If a street sign saying 'Seven in Heaven' is religious establishment -- it is the most generic ever made.

It is time to focus on nation building here at home.  

The good news is that it will not cost a thing; and the bad news, restoring our courage, integrity, and honor, requires us to hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil,  in return.

Make it a Good Day, G 

It's an Americanization Thing

Dear America, 

"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."

how many of us, living in America, would stand with our hand over our heart and say this very same pledge without prejudice... without a doubt... without an ACLU attorney present and by our side?


From The Patriot Post this morning, nearing the end of his column, Mark Alexander's weekly essay told of a story about one of his colleagues, adding a personal dimension while striking hard upon the ramifications if America cannot find the delicate balance of immigration and citizenship.  

As told by Alexander, this fellow patriot, now working alongside him, was born in Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, in the area of Bratislava. By the way he tells it, this colleague grew up with one lifelong dream:  making America his home.  And so it begins, trailblazing his own path to citizenship -- in a country across an ocean and miles further in ideology -- that ultimately took him years... unimaginable initiative... and tireless effort.

Alexander just had to know, just what are his thoughts about America's current immigration reform agenda, and he replied with this:

"Sometimes I wonder why we came here and I struggled so hard to become a U.S. citizen, when the U.S. is moving toward the tyranny I worked so hard to escape.
...The out-of-control government spending and regulations, more government programs and employees, just lead to more corruption and constriction of Liberty. This is a cancer that will kill free enterprise. In Czechoslovakia, the socialist's control and regulation led to political corruption, and no reason to work harder because if you earned more, the government took more to give to others. America is sick with this cancer and it should be removed..."

spoken like a guy who knows from experience. and not finished, he added:

"America needs very strict controls, and those who do become citizens should be 'Americanized' or else America will be no more."

It was Joe Walsh (R), the gentleman from Illinois, who said -- immediately following the sideshow meeting President Obama held with the GOP leaders over the Debt Ceiling Dilemma --  "he has no idea how the free market works" when pressed for some clues about how things went, with Neil Cavuto yesterday; Walsh went a step further, posing the concern that the topic of debt and deficits is just not registering with the leader of the free world. [sure...let's....piggy backing on yesterday's G, picture football flying over head]

Now over two years in, we have proven, for the umpteenth time, stimulus spending, government intervention, and more entitlement just does not work to lift a country out of economic doldrums.  And to that end, the GOP are seeking strong measures to get America back on track.  And while Obama claims he wants to hear what republicans have to say, he has no intention of caving in on his America dream  -- to fundamentally transform her from the inside out. 

What to do, what to do, when a president needs Americanization.

so yes, maybe I am weaving in a wee bit too much for one day.  but the thing is, if you allow me to expand,  there really is a common thread between our debt, our running up of trillion dollar deficits, beside the dangers and  remarkable contrast of the American way of life running in short supply.

The absence of an Americanized citizenry is all around us; we are no longer recreating the americanized role model according to plan; we are no longer living within our means, according to plan; we are no longer speaking one language, according to plan; we are no longer melting into one, unified body of people, under God, according to plan; we are no longer living in community with self-reliant, independent citizenry, according to plan; we are no longer willing and able, if not fully emblazoned, to give respectfully of ourselves to God and country, no matter what comes, according to plan [see pledge at the start]; we are no longer elevating the principles of a true free market society, according to plan...and on and on.

According to a new New Deal, we have entered a new age and by the looks of things, could not care less -- for this is an age where no initiative, no extra effort, no allegiance, no pledge, no prayerful thought is required; and, as a matter of fact,  is frowned upon even.  just follow the bouncing ball...where are we at...

Obama's budget was voted down in the Senate 97 to zero; not one democrat was willing to stick out his allegiance to the president's plan, not one!  Obama is willing to add 2.4 Trillion dollars to our, already, gargantuan national debt of 14.4 Trillion, with no strings attached.  Obama is willing to overlook the illegalities of 12 to 18 million illegal immigrants  votes, disrespectful of the hundreds of thousands of people like this Slovakian colleague of Mark Alexander's, in a Statue of Liberty minute. Obama is willing to jeopardize the nation's solvency by adding another entitlement we cannot afford -- while ignoring the immediate reform needed of the programs we already have.

Obama thinks stimulating a "free market" is accomplished best by adding government jobs, government grants, government bureaucrats, government intervention/regulation/control, all adding 20% to the government bottom line.  As unamerican as an American president can get,  I am willing to bet that Obama is willing to sell America's soul if we let him (and no, I didn't just call him the devil.  I am merely responding to a repeated offense -- with emphasis on a simple question --  just how far is this president willing to go? because I'm not sensing any self-control here.  This man has an agenda that counters every American ideal through and through).

Continuing with the theme of the week,  a jaded G stands with Walsh, President Obama does not understand a true free market -- the very market this country was made, flourished even, rising out of the tireless efforts of immigrants past, those who paved the way and made possible a nation's future... creating... prospering... in the free-est society that ever lived.

But that takes work, a conscience, integrity, even the ability to see far down the road, into the lives of future generations, doesn't it?

A system built upon robbing Peter to pay Paul -- whether it is in the capacity of hardworking Americans feeding the mouths of families here illegally, or whether it is one hand of government feeding the empty coffers of another, it is all the same -- and in no way does it have the capacity to sustain us.   Bernie Madoff economics lasts only as long as the people remain blind, oblivious, and disengaged. And yet, the "progressives of today" and the "socialists of tomorrow" continually challenge this debate -- remaining clearly willing to let the "americanization" part of the equation go.

Perhaps it takes hearing the words of new Americans -- those effervescing the American spirit in every way, those who have had to work awfully hard to get here, who get this from the gut -- to remind us of just what is at stake.

We are in a world of hurt.  A hurt so huge, anyone with half a brain must realize the injustice is not from one party, one cause, building upon one issue larger than next -- it is all of it.  It is a vicious combination, and going viral as we speak, stemming from americans no longer acting and behaving and leading as AMERICANS -- as one voice shining above all the rest, reciting in unison a pledge that binds our hearts and minds forever.  A voice that stands together, willing to do whatever it takes, in order to establish a new life, in a new country, feeding a new dream that can only come living in community within the borders of a truly free society.

As a people, we no longer reflect the American way, the truth, and the Light.

In the meeting with the president, Paul Ryan said it best, “Leadership should come from the top.”

Demonstrating just how far he is willing to go to make things right -- and for me, calling for backup from an article published on The Hill, Ryan capitalizes on his meeting with the president saying to the press, “As far as Medicare is concerned, we wanted to make sure the president understood the facts about our proposal so he doesn’t continue to mischaracterize it. We just needed to clear the air."

Can you just imagine what it is like for a Slovakian waking up as an American citizen for the very first time?  I can only assume every day would be brand new.  No matter the weather, the air would be clearer, fresher, an invigorating burst of new life for a wayward, tiresome soul who spent years making it his reality.

It would behoove each and every one of us to walk out our door right now and take in a good, long breath -- maybe even fall down on bended knee and kiss the ground good.

Americanization is the only way America works.
and with that, my three day jaded spree is sensing a lift...

Make it a Good Day, G

speaking of which, happy Ascension Day to my fellow believers xx

Dear America,

"It's an absolute joke. I was looking forward to this. 

It would have been a real experience. 

This is what football is all about. 

We're becoming a nation of wussies."  

Ed Rendell, Governor of Pennsylvania, sometime yesterday...

I guess it takes something really big to happen before a liberal even notices; yes, Govena, we aw a nation of wussies...and we sure didn't get here by way of the foundation laid by our fine forefathers who gave us everything with nothing more than perhaps a pat on the butt, maybe with a resounding 'buck up buttercup' as we set out to become something, be something, as purely evident by our duty and delight of just being a part of the home team, and a winning one, at that.

Okay, so they wouldn't say 'buttercup', but neither would they say "wussies" either, so na na na nana.

But nooooooooooooo, somewhere down the line, we DID become a nation of wussies; and I couldn't have said it better myself --  just the irony, as the shout out is coming from a die hard left wing entitlement monger, bellowing out onto the field from the sidelines!  The very thought of it gives me more chills up and down my leg than quite possibly if I were sitting in those snowdrifts above the 50 yard line -- if in fact, the game went on in spite of a few flurries as planned.

So they canceled the Sunday Night Football game for a little snow, and this is what turns the liberal upside down, to the point of calling us all a bunch of wussies? wow.

Where is Rendell when it comes to showing up for that same fighting spirit when it comes to the daily grind?  Where is Rendell when it comes to shoring up the business leaders and corporate makers of jobs, for the betterment of all, in hopes of creating jobs and responsibilities and duties above and beyond the local unemployment office? Where is Rendell when it comes to speaking directly to the wussies and the weak-kneed who just need someone to give them a little tough love, the kind that causes someone to grab life by the bootstraps, no matter what, and keep at it?  Where is this Rendell?

Wussies, he says.

What is fascinating, seeing into the future no less, is what kind of other suspicious weather might be lurking around the bend to call for another unusually long commercial break?  Will these actions inspire another team, to use creative license to postpone a game until "Joe Blow" is feeling better, to allow for an additional day's rest, or simply, make the other team sweat for 48 hours longer, or more, weather permitting?

And just who, in fact, makes this kind of call anyway?  Was it just Goodell who threw in the wussie pink flag? Or did he get some help with his own audacious line of commissioner's men, sacking the rush to judgment in a last ditch blitz?

Setting precedence, is setting precedence, just sayin'.

and oh the trouble we've seen when we take an inch, right.

But more important, doesn't this just give us one more reason to gang up against the rising tide of regulation in this country?  yeah, you must have known I would go there...

Even though I woke up really fuzzy this morning, I still have my Common Sense wits about me...

this being the fifth day -- or is it the seventh? -- of a horrid regime of hot tea, naps and NyQuil.  Yes, even over the Christmas holiday, this girl was out cold in a lovely, self-medicated, shut down the cough so I can get some sleep medicine. yum.  You will be happy to know the congestion is all but gone, and I have almost forgot I had a nagging cough.

Being one who is not a wuss when it comes to getting sick (and proud of it) -- hardly ever catching the common cold in the first place -- when it finally catches up to me, I simply go down.  out. down. done. turn out the lights, the party's over, don't bother me, I'm sleeping...

ONLY to wake up from the slumber refreshed! yeah me!


As you can imagine, the in-box was over-floweth, like a blizzard, doncha know.  But one of my favorite things to read is the Heritage Foundation's Morning Bell -- it always chimes in with highly topical, straight up talk of the play of the day; it's kinda like gathering in a huddle with a cadre of  colonial doers and thinkers, all round up dispensing a shot in the arm for the die-hard fan of these United States.  So, in an effort to get to my point before a lingering need to close my eyes comes upon me, read this about BIG GOVERNMENT.

This 111th Congress cannot go down and out fast enough, if you get my drift.  Regulations that we don't even know about, hear about, have a chance to read about, continues unbridled and unguarded all around us.

And just like football, the game -- the AFC meets NFC meets USA  -- the really big show, for real -- was never intended to have this much regulation.

This nation was not made for wussies, damn straight, Mr. Rendell; what he lacks in eloquence, he sure makes up in relevance.

Besides hoping we hit replay on his remarks over and over and over again, my second hope is that this may lead us to a new, new start treaty dating back to this very moment in time, and that one day, we may look back at this and get a good laugh -- for it all began with a little thing called over-regulation, in the hands of an over-zealous commissioner, that perhaps changed the course of a nation gone pansy... all because of the potential of a hundred year storm, rising from the groundswell of fear of the ever so humble itzy bitzy snowflake; with any luck at all, it will roll up into a ball and unceremoniously be thrown in the face of all Americans right here, right now...

meaning nothing more and nothing less than:  WAKE UP!  Snap out of it! This progressive march of over-regulation, these continuous threats thwarting the rule of law by lowly man, along with the constant attack upon the Natural Law, endowed by our Creator, enlightened by our founders, and left in the firm grasp of each and everyone of us, is taking the fun out of everything!  let's just play the game, already. enough is enough.

Make it a Good Day, G

And thank you, Mr. Ed

Dear America,

The downside with building an economy around spending --

 is building an economy around spending.

Any woman could probably rattle off a list of ten cosmetic companies in a blink of an eyelash; men, could name a wish-list of trucks or sports cars at a rate of 0 to sixty in 3.7 seconds -- introducing the new Mercedes-Benz 2011 SLS AMG -- in chrome with red interior preferred grrh ra wowwwww (true stats too).

That slamming brand new baby is ready to rock n'roll while getting up to 200 mph -- where you can drive it at that speed, besides through the Mojave Desert, I do not know.

Have you seen the mascara aisle lately?  There must be 100 different mascaras just at the local five and dime -- not counting the Mac counters and ritzy glitzy stuff at the department stores.  I mean, really, remember when our eyes immediately locked onto the pink and green packaging brought to you by Maybelline -- with perhaps the option of a waterproof version of the same?

Now we have every leader and wannabe in the field of beauty jumping in with each their own version of the extra lengthening, blacker than black, falsies and fabulous, smudge proof, waterproof, crying proof, perfectly separating, flake free, lash fortifying, Hollywood approved mascara known to (wo)man.

It is mind-boggling to say the least.

The downside with building an economy around spending --

 is building an economy around spending.

But just look at the upside...with spending, people are employed!  With spending, people make the things that other people want to buy.  With spending, the law of circulation is alive and well, and it continues to merrily merrily go round and round as long as the getting is good.

If the circulation gets thrown out of whack for reasons of either improper use of the law itself -- borrowing too much in order to buy, falsifying documents or fraudulently biting off more than one can chew or fudging just a wee bit on how much money we make or the liabilities already at play -- then oopsy daisy, we all come down.

The downside with building an economy around spending --

 is building an economy around spending.

America has built the most prosperous, the most innovative, the most charitable, the most faithful nation of movers and shakers and buyers there ever lived.

Everybody, in one form or another, has contributed to keeping up -- or at least even steven -- with the Jones' for years...and for even those who could not get theirs fair and square, regulation or the lack thereof, assisted in the making of going from wimpy, droopy lashes to fast, full and fabulous in one stroke of the magic wand (and when I say lashes, I mean to say, "lashes" can be substituted on a whim with anything else that meets your fancy for immediate gratification...).

The downside with building an economy around spending --

 is building an economy around spending

Oh, and there is this, perhaps if for the last forty or fifty years, the demand for cars and trucks and SUVs and Minivans did not grow to keep up with the pace car, miles ahead and just making us grumble the American rally cry of "I want that" --  of course, only with the confidence and security of having waterproof lash protection on first.

It is soooooooooo easy to blame the thirst for oil and gasoline on the irresponsible and reckless car makers --- according to the green machine building up momentum over the last several decades.  It is soooo easy to blame it on the friends of oil, the lobbyists of oil, the presidents of oil and even a war or two; the happy and hypocritical left would like nothing better than to have us think it is all for the love of speed combined with the greedy capitalists in charge, who have created the winding roadway to the overwhelming addiction to anything that moves and the harsh realities of where we are today.

On a wink and a prayer with those fabulous eyes of ours, we let the future ride for another day...and another day....and another day...

not by the hands of simply the makers of these fine things, but by our own bloody demand -- oh, and by the way, there's a really good spot cleaner for that...aisle eighty six this.

The downside with building an economy around spending --

is building an economy around spending.

Time to look in the mirror, ladies and gentlemen; this is every bit as much our fault as it is theirs.  Take away those with the dough who don't want what you sell, and what have you got?  You force change to happen in the market all by itself.

The law of circulation begins with the law of supply and demand.

How does Mercedes-Benz spin it. "The best or nothing.  That is what drives us."

You got that right.  It is a vicious cycle, indeed; but we, the buyers of what sells, made this mess every bit as much as the the makers of Mercedes-Benz and such.

Richard Reich has a piece in this month's Newsmax (don't even get me started on magazines...not since Thomas Paine has the selling of commentary and other people's fluff been so flooded into the marketplace...we can sell anything, can't we?!).

SO, how does the former secretary of labor (under Billy) size it up:

"In the short term, [we need] more stimulus:  Extend unemployment benefits and aid to state and local governments that are whacking schools and social services because they can't run deficits [because cutting spending is so not attractive]...In the long term, we need a new New Deal that will bolster America's floundering middle class [the new New Deal, he actually said that...as if the new and improved will be any better]."

The downside with building an economy around spending --

is building an economy around spending.

What we refuse to talk about or give proper credence to, it would seem, is not the law of circulation, or the law of supply and demand that brought us here, but another tiny little matter worthy of our full attention -- the basic law of self-reliance and individual duty, inherent to all Americans, that is slowly being drowned out by all the other options that have presented themselves over the years.

The root problem is not solved by simply monitoring the supply or tweaking the demand; it cannot be resolved by speeding up the spending process or controlling who gets what, when or how -- no matter what the cost or so called value that it MIGHT potentially bring.

More importantly, it would be a lie if I told you flat out that this is what drives us as Americans, for real.

Sure, by all appearances, we have thrown on the painted faces and hopped into the latest animal on wheels, but that is not what drives us really (ignoring Hollywood and Cosmo of course).

What has made America great was our attention to detail, while motoring along our highways and byways.  Yes, we like making ourselves look pretty darn good -- but, in the past, we were always able to handle it by the level of substance and humility and common sense hidden deep within our make up; built with a fighting individual spirit to succeed, on our own, and make something of ourselves, was what we were made of through and through. 

So what if we got a little cocky, right; we could handle it -- because the substance back behind the false eyelashes and fast cars carried us further than our hearts desired.

It was this mentality, this freedom to live, this liberty that carried us fast and furious through the wealthiest years this world has ever known, with our real prosperity leading the way -- that being our sound work ethic, our charitable spirit and our fullness of faith in God, any God, even if that is purely a reverence to our inherent ability to make it merely on our own. We overflowed in the magnificence of making everything and nothing, and giving thanks for all of it on Sunday.

But pullleeze...don't get me wrong...there is nothing wrong with spending -- or building an economy around spending; for in that spending, we can take care of our families, our communities, and the desperation's of our surrounding world without blinking an eye; it is really good to be that nation, to be that kind of people.

But without substance, we not only miss out on being our best, and buying the best of the best, we run the risk of losing it all.

Our founders set us in the right direction -- of course, the intention of making it on our own two feet was to be our first and primary option...a slick advertising piece to sell it, no need to apply. 

Since then, the supply of Americans with even a fair amount of understanding of this principle is dwindling -- and why the demand is so incredibly high.

The real fair market price, my friends, is going up.
Here we are, as the years have come and go, we find ourselves at the crossroads -- or where the miraculous miles of aisles meets the new frugality (and old humility) at warped speed. If we crash and burn, my hope is that I am wearing the right mascara for the moment.
 
Make it a Good Day, G

 Rhapsody in (red, white) and Blue is featured on Dear America...Gershwin is a pretty great G.

Dear America,

HEBRIDES CANADIAN

"The converse was true as well. Stuck to North America, fragments of Europe stayed behind. Baltimore, for example. Nova Scotia. A piece of Staten Island. The part of Massachusetts that includes Plymouth and Boston is now understood to derive from overseas. If from Europe, part of New England could be part of Old England, a New Old England in an Old New England or an Old Old England in a New New England. The Mayflower people landed where they left." From the Princeton University Press."Travels of the Rock" by John McPhee

From Charles Galloway, in Christianity and The American Commonwealth:

"persecution led the Puritan colonists to examine the great subject of human rights, the nature and just extent of civil government, and the boundaries at which obedience ceases to be a duty"

(quoting Rev. Dr. Baird)

...The religion that holds the conscience of a nation will determine its civilization.

"The American democracy is the result of all
that was great in bygone times.

All led up to it.  It embodies all. 

Mount Sinai is in it; Greece is in it; Egypt is in it; Rome is in it; England is in it;

all the arts are in it, and all the reformations and all the discoveries."

(quoting John Lothrop Motley)

...the Christianity of the colonists taught the
supremacy of conscience,

the sovereignty of the individual,

the inviolability of private rights,

 the sacredness of human life,

and the brotherhood of man

...and came the fundamental principles of our republican government.

Did you know the date we found Plymouth Rock was December 25, 1620?
 
Divine Providence never sleeps.
 
Now that so many of us Americans are awakening to the very possibility we are on the precipice of losing everything, the irony is only by going backwards in time will we be able to look forward to the days ahead.
 
We have grown an ignorant, selfish, arrogant, empty, faithless, stupid society.  Now I get why Glenn Beck speaks loudly and often of the powers of redemption and the gifts of grace -- as it may be the only sanity we have left.
 
G's been buried in books; from elementary lessons of exemplary high moral character, all the while teaching our youngins how to read and write via an early American Reading Series -- simply called the McGuffey Readers after the man who created it (William H., Professor) -- to W. Cleon Skousen's work, The 5000 Year Leap; The 28 Great Ideas That Changed the World -- to Galloway's review of the life and the times and the why as to how our republic was born, all I can do in this moment is sit in awe.
 
Having only touched the surface at this point, G is faced with utter embarrassment of just how delinquent we've all become.  Words by George Washington, excavated in The 5000 Year Leap,

"Of all dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports...And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion...Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail  to the exclusion of religious principle.  IT is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government."

Virtue and morality were believed to be best taught in the home first, to the schools by day and to the Church on Sunday, but without question, to be of the utmost and highest importance. Our forefathers knew of man's natural conflict of good and evil; and so understood  this inherent belief to be so ingrained, so lauded and magnified by man, that they entrusted our commonwealth to be left to our own allegiance and sovereign responsibility to uphold it -- for the sanctity and security of a nation.
 
They didn't want to dictate to the people; they entrusted America to her will, to the people's good nature, to the land of the free and for the free to create (or decimate) her good fortune and future generations.
 
Oh we hung tried and true for a very long time -- we began in times where the McGuffey Readers taught a simple lesson like "The Thick Shade":
"Come, let us go into thick shade.  It is noonday, and the summer sun beats hot upon our heads. 
The shade is pleasant and cool. The branches meet above our heads and shut out the sun like a green curtain. 
The grass is soft to our feet, and the clear brook washed the roots of the trees.  The cattle can lie down to sleep in the cool shade, but we can do better. 
We can raise our voices to heaven.  We can praise the great God who made us.  He made the warm sun and the cool shade, the trees that grow upwards, and the brooks that run along.  The plants and trees are made to give fruit to man. 
All that live get life from God. He made the poor man, as well as the rich man.  He made the dark man, as well as the fair man.  He made the fool, as well as the wise man. 
All that move on the land are His, and so all that swim in the sea.  The ox and worm are both the work of His hand. In Him, they live and move. He it is that doth give food to all of them, and when He says the word, they all must die."
(Lesson XVIII, The Eclectic First Reader)
 
It is followed up with the teacher's guide, leading the conversation to ask the student, do you have a favorite shady place?  And describing "the fool" as the "unbeliever" and referencing the Bible's Psalm 53:1. The guide even goes so far as to have the teacher ask the student to draw a picture of their favorite shady place and ask of them to praise God for something in it...and not done yet, and to read aloud "the twenty third Psalm":
 

"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.  He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me to quiet waters, he restores my soul.  He guides me in paths of righteousness, for his name's sake...surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

We were taught to honor ourselves and each other through Christian principles from the start and throughout our lives.  Our whole world was created from principles like loving your neighbor as yourself, and upon unalienable rights and duties as believed wholeheartedly in most every citizen -- while our future remained reliant on keeping to such NATURAL LAWS, agreed universally among men, to uphold and honor.
 
Yes, our Christianity was everywhere and often, but it was not IT; you would have to be a fool to believe our forefathers were invoking only the hard-line Anglo-Saxon belief system -- quite the contrary.  But according to society in the day, EVERYONE believed in God; and even the atheists believed in It's non-existence, but understood and shared in the fundamental TRUTHS from which all religion came.
 
Truths like that of being of free conscience, free speech, freedom of assembly, to earn a living, of self-government, and privacy, to freedom to believe in God, or not; but overall and throughout the very essence of our land and it's people was a moral character -- virtuous minds that combined the brilliance of man, of reason, of Franklin, of Washington, of Madison, of Adams, of Paine, of Jefferson -- and created documents and declarations that have withstood all time -- until now.
 
Oh they were scared, alright, leaving the nation's freedom loving principles in the hands of man -- a man that would become more advanced, modern, and accomplished as the years went on -- and knowing the natural propensity of human folly could hinder and harm along the way; but they let her go anyway. 
 
They let America stand on her own two feet, with all hopes the foundation laid would be enough to hold her, carry her when times were tough, console her in times of trial, and honor her with lasting prosperity for all who came to know her. 
 
All of us were left on our own two feet so to speak; self government was the key, and keeping it would ask of all of us to honor our mothers and our fathers, to love our neighbors as ourselves, to not commit adultery, or kill, or steal...to name a few.  Our founding fathers knew that we would have to find value in our virtues and morals in order to maintain a society worthy of keeping and recreating -- otherwise, we would go down in our own transgressions.
 
The point is, they knew it!  They knew that man might be drawn to the duty of public service for unscrupulous means and selfish corruptions.  They knew it!  They knew that ultimately the call to service for the "good of the people" may find it's way to people in power who know not what they do and are paid too much to do it.  They knew it! 
 
No, perhaps they couldn't foresee the salacious nature of Hollywood; or the greed and arrogance of Wall Street; or the streets paved in gold and corruption in Washington -- giving over the power of the people to a bureaucratic mess of entitlements and regulations.  
 
But they knew we had it in us; hence the need for all the early teachings in how to grow up good.  The education of it's people was not only essential to the makings of a secure government and a prosperous people --  the ignorance of the lack thereof was the perfect environment for corruption and control to "help" the people find their way through. 
 
Without preaching to us and without telling us which church to follow -- they just asked of us to be of good nature, to follow universal truths, to hold true to a higher way of living, even if it meant going without.  Through the daily sacrifice of being in good character, society as a whole would blossom and enjoy a day made in the shade.
 
They knew this in their hearts, and left us to follow -- entrusting us with the ideals of the best and the brightest of civility and community the world has ever known.   They entrusted us with words unspoken, with self government ranking higher than any federal government should ever be; they left her to us on our own accord and in good conscience that we would continue to do the right thing.
 
They left us in the hands of our forefathers, who raised our great grandparents, who raised our parents, to raise ourselves, to raise our own to be of good character.
 
They left us as parents to teach our children to love each other as ourselves, to find their own place in the shade and give them pause -- asking only what is that something? What  is this God and how does He live through us?  How do we praise God and be of good nature, and grow up to be like a George -- someone who fought a war without a penny, lead our nation without taking a dime, only to return home to Mount Vernon broke and indebted in gratitude to a nation for which he served?  How do we do THAT, again?
 
When my girl comes home after school today (if you call it that), we will both find a place in the shade, have a talk about God, and read some more.
 
Make it a Good Day, G
 
And like the Mayflower (where we started today) we may have come full circle in more ways than one...we are back to where it all began -- and this requires not only new reading -- but asks of us to do the new math, as the pieces of the whole don't add up anymore, making it that much harder to solve the problems.
 
yes, the three R's -- Reading - Writing - Arithmetic -- is cool
but Reform is Divine.