It's About Godliness and Tidiness Things, and maybe a couple of other things ungodly and untidy

Dear America,

"It's a very strange phenomenon, 

but when we reduce what we own 

and essentially 'detox' our house, 

it has a detox effect 

on our bodies as well." 

 from the life-changing magic of tidying up, 

by marie kondo; yes, all in lower case.

so true

so true

and this is precisely what America needs right about now -- a good detox. In a less, is more, kinda way.

Maybe starting in St. Louis.

ugh, do not, i say, do not,  meet me in St. Louis....at least not for today.

  

About last night... 

Consider also, if you will, that a look back to Labor Day weekend violence (just two weeks ago)  is deemed, by the general population and duly noted within, just like every other weekend --  St. Louis style.

Just where is the genuine community outrage... outside of the domain of cops and robbers?  To date -- 142 have been killed in St. Louis; last year, this total was nearly the same, at 135.

So just to be clear -- so far, this year, One Hundred and Forty Two people have died by homicide! in St. Louis.   Just who is robbing St. Louis of its peace?

Well, we can't just pick on the picket fences of St. Louis, now can we?   Besides, who doesn't love their ribs?  Let's move on dot org to Chi town, shall we? 

 Here are those stats.

Stunning -- from Chicago Sun-Times News:

"The seven deaths this weekend, including the killing of a 15-year-old boy Monday evening, were the latest casualties of Chicago’s gun violence that has taken the lives of at least 438 people since the start of 2017, according to data maintained by the Sun-Times."

FOUR HUNDRED AND THIRTY EIGHT people!  438 people have died!  Died.  Dead and buried.  Died.

Just who is robbing Chicago of its peace?

Just love how they refer to it as "gun violence."  As if the gun just did it; one day, the gun woke up and just snapped.  Guns don't kill a soul; people kill... using whatever means necessary and available -- knives, buses, trucks, cars, trains, planes, rope, neckties, hands, poison, water, and yes, sometimes guns.

The toxicity of these urban cities is through the roof -- gun violence, drugs, gangs, assaults, robberies, rape, sexual assaults.

Our living spaces affect our body 

-- marie kondo knows.

To have a conversation about police officers and African-American men meeting up in the neighborhoods of the real world, we must look at the whole picture.  America -- the one big happy family that it is -- must learn to create relationships built upon mutual respect, a healthy amount of space, and pillars of good character, that are conceivably as neat and tidy as the environments we keep, dream, or intend, whether on the micro or macro level.

Though, even if we managed to get everyone into the picture, just when does a family portrait ever tell the whole story, right?

Lighting the town on fire, or pelting a mayor's home windows with rocks, is no way to begin a sit down and find resolution; a meeting of the minds has hardly a chance to come together when the room is chock full of animosity, hate, and prevailing mistrust, with the ill begotten bad sense to start with violence.  Who does that and truly believes its a good idea?   The violent riots begun by Anarchists, Black Lives Matter, Antifa....have no place in a civil society.  None.  [Would just love to see how they all live, just sayin.']

"Cleaning involves energetic movement, 

which would naturally contribute

 to losing weight and staying fit.  

And when our space is completely clean, 

we don't have to worry about tidying, 

so we are free to focus 

on the next issue that is important 

in our lives." 

marie kondo strikes again

And while this girl has blogged extensively about the facts on police shootings, courtesy of such notable and learned people as Heather Mac Donald of the Manhattan Institute....I'm not feeling the need to go there now.  Again.  ugh.   [But feel free to read that one about the facts, on big data, from a year ago. It's really good :)]

Now, getting closer to home -- according to Mac Donald's studies, the reality is this in one of California's largest cities:

"In Los Angeles, blacks between the ages of 20 and 24 die at a rate 20 to 30 times the national mean.  Who is killing them?  Not the police, and not white civilians, but other blacks.  The astronomical black death-by-homicide rate is a function of the black crime rate.  Black males between the ages of 14 and 17 commit homicide at ten times the rate of white and Hispanics male teens combined.  Blacks of all ages commit homicide eight times the rates of whites and Hispanics combined, and at eleven times the rate of whites alone." 

"When we put our house in order, 

the air inside becomes fresh and clean."  

just more marie

indeed.

After my girl returns to school in the fall, I play this game with myself, living off of the fridge and pantry for as long as I can without grocery shopping.  It becomes highly obsessive, as all the while it makes cleaning out the pantry in order to start anew all the more challenging as the days and weeks go by; it uses every creative gene in my body to come up with things to make, taking the Food Network's Chopped challenge, complete with its cult following, to a whole 'nother level.  This girl can follow herself like nobody's business...teehee.

It's all about the process of not wasting a single, many-a-splendored thing.  And honestly, I haven't skipped a beat -- now going on six weeks!  Sometimes, I even amaze myself.  [Point of advice:  check expiration dates on canned items....and eat them up in a timely fashion before wasting food and hard spent dollars.]

So in light of this day and where we began -- my heart is crying out across the land, from my home to yours.   What a waste of human life, in all of it's potential and full expression unseen, in the every day -- year over year -- when one human being takes the life of another, and throws it away -- whether in St. Louis, or Chicago, or Los Angeles, or Baltimore, or Charlottesville, or New York City, or Boston, or San Francisco, or Seattle, or Nashville, or Miami....we could go on and on and on.  It's not just one life wasted -- for its ripple effects fan out to the one who committed the crime, the families, the entire community which continues to grieve and take the hits.

Where is the community outrage, outside of the domain of cops and robbers?  That 15 year old, above, was somebody's baby boy -- could have been mine, or yours, or the neighbors, or the kid that lives down the street in the house with the neat lawn and a rainbow of flowers.

Just who is robbing who of the peace and quiet and contentment of a life fully lived?

America's proverbial HOUSE is clearly NOT in order.  Moreover, how can there be any 'restoring of order' when the House of Chaos not only exists, it usurps all justice and power and rule of law in it's path, leaving not a single foundation -- no matter if that path is tree-lined or not?

Wonder what would happen if we just cleaned ourselves all up?

Did you happen to catch the mug shots of the Antifa protesters at Berkeley -- rioting against free speech and Ben Shapiro -- just this last week?  It's like, c'mon dudes, cut your hair already -- maybe get a hot shave once in awhile; did you leave your house with clothes on the floor, too?  Or does your mom still pick up after you?  What's in the fridge,  is it even clean?   Have you ever in your life cleaned a toilet?  On the scale of 1 to 10, how would you characterize the clutter from room to room? [Don't hate; just a bunch of good questions.]

Tidiness breeds more tidy, while untidiness breeds more untidiness --  there's just no other way to say it.  It's the same law that applies to everything in nature; apple trees bear only apples, lemon trees bear only lemons.  We are what we eat, what we think, and go in the direction our hearts and minds take us.  Why would the alt-left, black lives matter folks, of St. Louis commit harm against each other and its city?  What are they thinking?

Part of the process of tidying up by marie kondo, delves into choices we make and how to identify what is truly precious -- and become the things we keep.

The more we tidy, the more we realize that the material world is a lot less complicated once we peel away all the stuff that really doesn't matter to us; that ultimately, we can find contentment in having even fewer things around us, which in turn, becomes our saving grace, a by-product of the process that comes almost out of nowhere, perhaps out of thin air.  Poof!  All of a sudden, we find ourselves complete; suddenly we become just a girl who has everything she needs and nearly nothing show for it....go figure.... and make that with a thinner figure, to boot.  Things that once were deemed toxic -- the broken, the unworn, the unloved, the bad ju-ju of lives and loves past, are all gone.

What would happen if America cleaned herself up?  One room at a time....

Trimmed here.
Cut back there.
Lived within OUR-All American means.
Extinguished entire departments altogether -- commerce, education, energy...
Didn't "buy" anything new, especially on credit
Reduced crony capitalism with term limits!
Made it unlawful to profit off of legislation!
yadi yadi yada...you know where I'm going with this.

Perhaps holding onto the things that truly set us free, the things we love with our whole heart --

 here's some House Rules for you --

A truly Limited Government...being content with growing smaller and smaller.
Be true to the totality of Life Itself, and all that God wants us to be,  being fully aligned with the pure, limitless aspects of the "Free Exercise thereof" of our religion! (what a beautiful thing!)
Right to keep and bear arms -- lawfully and respectfully...

Ah hell, might as well just call it what it is:
to hold tight to OUR CONSTITUTION
and the Rule of Law...our sovereign borders and all.
Respect the flag
Love our neighbor as ourselves
Respect each others persons, places and things
Follow the law
Raise our children well
Conserve energy
Recycle
Say our please's and thank you's
Open the door for each other
Take turns
Give back
Say our prayers

Oh and Stop violent protests of all kinds, and use our words -- calmly, collectively, no matter the conflict!  What a concept.

It would seem, the more we answer in the affirmative to the things that truly matter, the better all the world would be -- starting at home.

Ah from the fire to the frying pan -- America is the best place to live on the planet, as long as we prioritize taking meticulously good care of her.  Generation after generation, it is all about replicating Strong Americans from Strong Americans, in the safe guarding and keeping of America.  And this will take great courage, and time.   Renovations always take longer than we think...

If we take care of her -- she will take care of us; as right conduct multiplies, our duty to God and to country go hand in hand with the privileges and equal rights under the law.  And nevermind that my self-cleaning oven -- working as we speak-- makes even the practical joys of life all the more delightful.

May God bless St. Louis -- just the place where this day had her start; and may God Bless the United States of America.  Come to think of it, Godliness and tidiness may just about be the only two things we will ever need to know and love, inside and out.

Make it a Good Day, G

It's a Friendly Redress of Thy Grievances Thing

Dear America,

first, some quick housekeeping:

Even though my  upon my last post, I blurted out the old Gthing was back... 
It's also summer.

I will be keeping different hours on the day job, on different days, and with my girl out of school and places to go and things to do....the foggy bottom line is, plan on me being a wee bit intermittent; or maybe we should just call it unpredictable...a lady of mystery, perhaps.  Whatever gets you through my lamebrain rationale, I promise to give you my very best no matter how haphazard this thing appears to be by the naked eye. 

And have no fear, it will be good, too.

And now,
to two things revolving around one subject.  And trust me,  this will be short and sweet.

Did you hear?

The atheists unveiled a monument (and versatile bench!) to protest the religious statement insinuated by the marble slab that reveals the Ten Commandments, in front of the Bradford County Courthouse (Florida). 

See it for yourself - - checking any religious baggage at home -- right here.

I marvel at this, really.  What a splendid idea!

Now, instead of tormenting those of us who believe, we can just give them space for a bench -- be it in cement, marble, or pine -- and give them their own reason to coexist with the rest of us, peacefully. 

The thing is -- I've been screaming for an Atheist monument for years!

This is a perfect resolution for everyone; instead of being allowed to protest our God, and demand our monuments come down for the sake of "church and state", give the Atheists room to sit in peace alongside us and shut up.  marvelous.  absolutely marvelous.

[I would re-think the whole going nuclear, atom bombing of the letter A, but whatever...]

Needless to say, all legal suits on the docket across America should be handled accordingly.

Next.

Moving on to another part of the country and something from The Daily Caller... 

"Parents angry

because religion

may get mentioned

in optional

summer Constitution

  class [VIDEO]"

seriously?

So on first blush, the class is optional, folks.  If you don't likey God, or want to talk about religion and the truth surrounding how conscientious our founding fathers were back in the day about God, Divine Providence, and the people's unalienable rights divined by our Creator, Nature's God -- then perhaps this class is not for you.

The Constitution outlines everyone's rights and duties accordingly --  in a spirit of understanding commiserating with the outcome of the Constitutional Conventions, respective of the immense duty of arriving at a form of government of the people, for the people.

These people  -- these people -- came to America to celebrate their religious freedom and ultimately, their freedom from "taxation without representation" from Great Britain (ruled by the Church of England).    The people were faithful, religious, and loved their God; these people worshiped God in every way.  

How can you not teach about the Constitution and this nation's founding without mentioning the Divine Influence upon which it stands?  

Are you kidding me?

And who says we must believe in something wholeheartedly in order to be taught about that certain something?   Do I need to be a believer in global warming to read about what some scientists believe to be their truth about something I find totally absurd?   Does a student need to be a communist to read about the horrific hand and psychopathic head of Hitler?

But I digress; these parents have an option not to let their student go. 

And understand this -- just about everything David Barton has produced is touched by and for the hand of God, deeply believing in the teachings of Christianity, and recognizing every virtue and value this nation finds essential is directly linked to the Almighty;  every inch of his website exudes this compassion and confidence; this class should NOT come as a surprise to anyone.

Clearly, for some parents and their children, this class is not for you (or just maybe, it was MADE for you...aw, whatever...their is a double entendre there somewhere, but no time to explain.)

Amendment I:

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 ASSEMBLE,

and to petition  the government

for a redress of grievances.

so there.

God is working from within, on the side of God, every single day in America.

It's a spirit of understanding unimaginable and brilliant and bold and beautiful...and unwavering (and comes in all kinds of colors, and packaging, and flavors, too).

Make it a Good Day, G


 

Dear America,

happy wednesday
it's just so happens to be my mama's birthday today...and that got me thinking.

dynamic
fluid
evolving...
a transformation based on new information all the time.

A life based on truth has no need to be concerned with what it looks like, sounds like, it simply IS; the integrity of living in truth speaks for itself.

How can the raid pose a "narrative challenge," do we dare ask this morning?  I caught a snippet of the great GB yesterday, at the black board, throwing out questions left and right; he was asking us to do "critical thinking" -- as if we were president for the day.  really good stuff.

And this morning, one of the first reads on the day was this:

"The White House deliberations and disclosures illustrated the public relations challenge for President Barack Obama, eager on the one hand to quickly capitalize on a remarkable military achievement while at the same time seeking a tone that did not gloat or incite the Muslim world."

Even the narrative from within seems incongruous to the whole, with Leon Panetta charging forward saying,

"There's no question that there were concerns and there were questions that had to be debated ...but the bottom line is that, you know, we got bin Laden and I think we have to reveal to the rest of the world the fact that we were able to get him and kill him."

But you know, this doesn't make sense -- like GB duly noted -- if in fact the entire mission's been reviewed and analyzed since August of 2010... if in fact critical thinking, from every intelligent resource within the White House, Pentagon and CIA, has been painstakingly generated and applied accordingly... this seemingly petty detail of showing the photo or not to show the photo has to have been properly argued. (and once again, allowing for GB to surge ahead of the pack)

This growing dilemma [along with the budding controversy over finding out bin Laden's code name was "Geronimo"] is quickly becoming a thorn in the side of what should be a rather stunning turn of events all the way around; and to think, it didn't have to go down like this...

If Obama is so smart, how come he didn't figure this one out already?

Now, 86% love love love Obama for going in and taking this guy down.  86%!

Certainly, a modern day Troy for the history books --  the entire operation running stealth, sophisticated, and superior, with an added element of total surprise; without a doubt, our special forces have highlighted a new age in military might and power.  God knows why 14% remain disenchanted...silly fools.  And so far, the president's approval rating is experiencing nearly ten percent jump in the polls.

If we glean anything else from recent days, gone are the days with 300 men with sword and shield; no longer do we announce our presence by a firefight on the front line -- under the duck and cover of tanks, bombers and an infantry of thousands.  We are Rangers, SEALs and Special Forces operating in covert shelters, underground, and off the radar.  And likewise, gone are the days when 46,000 men were either killed, wounded, missing or taken prisoner over the course of one battle (Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863).

WW II total death toll, from 1941-1945, around 400,000; Vietnam, from 1955 -1975, around 60,000; Iraq, from 2003 -2010, at 4,430 --with Afghanistan, to date, at 1,413; during the mission to take down the highest ranking terrorist in the world, ZERO.

Our president better get a bump in the polls. hoo-rah

granted, if you follow me, this girl loves a good stat and revels in the numbers on most anything...

Until just yesterday, I had no idea how prevalent the use of water boarding actually was -- or perhaps, better to say, how "anti-prevalent" as the case may be...

According to Donald Rumsfeld, only THREE people under our care and captivity have been introduced to this method of enhanced interrogation.  THREE.   AND, according to the donald, each instance was under the supervision of the CIA -- no one from the military, GITMO, or anyone with a rank and file did it!  I had no idea.  The impression via our lamestream media, coupled with an ample flow of demagoguery from the mouths of our left wing counterparts, told us a very different story.

But back to the bump.  It is right and good that the president should gain some on this one. What's not to be happy about?

Relish this moment, Mr. President, for it will be fleeting -- 'cuz reality has a funny way of setting in on us over time.


I liken this surge to the glow of a budding pregnancy -- enjoy these early days...make hay with the strangers and neighbors fondling the curvature of new life growing from within...if there is any a time to frolic in the joy and thanksgiving of God's good grace, this is it.

For this we do know, reality remains alive and well under the shadows of an administration run amuck.  Whether you refer to it as some kind of immaculate conception, whether you blame Bush for the inherent forces of economic disaster upon which your presidency has suffered, your "fundamental transformation" -- turning our Constitution upside down and breech -- will rear it's ugly head before too long; let's give it about nine more months.

Bear with me for a moment... 

It's kind of like this:  it's-a-'we know what you did last summer' kind of thing; secrets out.  We know who you are and what you're all about. Not to take away from how happy we are for you -- you know, in this moment -- but we have no intention of shouldering the behemoth, stark, unbridled illegitimacy of American history in the making.  We want none of it.

Sure, we will stand by our country, and never falter; we will hold our head high, as we go about our days to remedy and rectify the horrendous injustices to a nation's character, freedoms and simple liberties -- you know, those things that, apparently, many of us have clearly taken for granted, until now.  We will support America to our fullest and our brightest, to the best of our abilities, for all the days of our life -- as always.

I mean, come on, this isn't the time to run away now, is it?  America needs us now.

But even with the murder of somebody totally vile in our midst, commanding attention to where attention is do, lest you misconstrue, Mr. President -- we will never forget who did this -- and THIS having nothing to do with bin Laden bin dying.

THIS --  being TODAY, meeting up with the trajectory of our very near future --  has everything to do with who we are as a people.  Those who remain alive and well on the face of this earth, and specifically within the longitude and latitude of the United States of America, have a whole lot more to say than just YAY and making hay in the moment.  Our life and times just so happens to run a wee bit deeper than that -- or so many of us would like to think, anyway.

The thing is, we're kind of smarter than that; some might even go so far to say, we're stealth.  We're special forces...very special forces.

And the real narrative, the one that counts, the one underlying the very foundation of our existence -- the one clinging to Constitution, in a land seemingly barren of substance and principles against all odds -- will prevail.  It is just a matter of time.

...oh my. but enjoy the bump, sir. you deserve every minute of it, consider it a pregnant pause, if you will -- as anything goes after the first trimester.

Make it a Good Day, G

happy birthday butterfly princess xx you are the very best and your girls adore you.

and for more afterbirth, go here.


Update:  The PHOTOS will NOT be released because they are "too gruesome" and may stir a rash of unintended consequences...OMG.  just who is being stupid now?
IF this was the way he was gonna go, then OBAMA SHOULD HAVE SAID THIS right FROM THE START.
This is what happens "when the stork flies south"...a tie to a little something something only an insider would truly know.xx

Dear America,

"I believe there are more instances 

of the abridgment of the freedom 

of the people by gradual

and silent encroachments of those in power,

than by violent and sudden usurpations."  

James Madison

From The 5000 Year Leap, written by W. Cleon Skousen, we are given a reminder as to how America is supposed to work: "Anyone who says the American Constitution is obsolete just because social and economic conditions have changed does not understand the real genius of the Constitution.  It was designed to control something which HAS NOT CHANGED AND WILL NOT CHANGE -- NAMELY, HUMAN NATURE."

Again, from Madison:

"It is proper to take alarm at the FIRST EXPERIMENT ON OUR LIBERTIES.  We hold this prudent jealousy to be the first duty of citizens and one of the noblest characteristics of the late Revolution.  The FREEMEN OF AMERICA did not wait till usurped power had strengthened itself by exercise and entangled the question in precedents.  They saw all the consequences [of governmental abuses] in the principle, and they avoided the consequences by denying the principle [on which the abuses were based]. "

The ever so slight usurpation...some hidden from view...some thought proper and good for all the wrong reasons, yet now well enshrined into the public works years in the making...now coming back to haunt us, like a vicious regret gurgling up to bite back just when we thought we were through the worst part; unfair and cruel, really, for the assault happened a long time ago --  the fundamental principles upon which this country was made have been beaten down for so long now, we can hardly recognize ourselves anymore.

Maybe we are just ashamed; perhaps it's just  all the years of denial and neglect, that are now adding up to a mountain we fear to tread, let alone, really want to climb -- just leave me here in the valley, I'll be fine, go on, save yourselves...

and yet, here in the valley of darkness, what should our wandering eyes should appear, a strange occurrence, an offering of reinforcement, of sorts, and it's happening all around -- so called "rights" are being co-mingled with privileges -- while one person's rights are deemed an outright assault on another -- while a machine feeding propaganda and falsehoods comes to us disguised as mainstream media, spoon-fed from an administration dishing out a peculiar ideology, a rather foreign combination,  far reaching into the annals of social justice reform, along side a fair portion of an overzealous progressive agenda, taking away our simple liberties and freedoms, and filling us up with everything but what we truly need.

And this is going to help?

And so here we are... a day after another President's Day...  cautiously optimistic about our future. oh joy.

So,

we have made some mistakes; we have experienced, personally and intimately, the repercussions of our own making -- respective of a lapse of good character, for one; we have let ourselves be controlled, manipulated, and even scorned, for abuses seen and unseen, for things we did not do, or for nothing more than our own ignorance, apathy and ability to just put up or shut up.

...a little ridicule here... a little usurpation there...nudging people towards catastrophic change...emasculating crazy things, like a people's Constitution, creating an atmosphere of fear, worry, need, and utter desperation -- unable to stay where we are, and yet, unable to move forward just the same.  stuck.  imprisoned in our own home.

"The corruption of power is not in power, but in ourselves.  And yet, what is this power which men live by and to a significant degree live for?  Power is the very essence, the dynamo of life...Power is an essential life force always in operation, either changing the world or opposing change.  Power, or organized energy, may be a man-killing explosive or a life-saving drug.  The power of a gun may be used to enforce slavery, or to achieve freedom...


It is impossible to conceive a world devoid of power; the only choice of concepts is between organized and unorganized power...Every organization known to man, from government down, has had only one reason for being -- that is, organization for power in order to put into practice or promote its common purpose." from Rules For Radicals, Saul Alinsky

Exactly -- as our founders might say to that -- except for one caveat, that this is precisely what our founders were guarding against...fearing that one day when a new America emerges where the power elite have their way with us (as all great societies come and go).

And don't you just love that part about "from government down..." -- Alinsky's imagery, not mine; but honestly, failing to recognize, and respect, a founding principle should be forbidden, no?

America was designed from the power of the people UP -- you would think, from the sixties standpoint alone, radicals would have shaped the last forty years clinging to this very ideology, birthed by our founders and our inherent power to the people mentality, differently -- if not absolutely -- and with a resounding arm pump in the air, if not looking very much like a faction growing far and wide and simply called the Tea Party.

I love how the sales pitch on the back cover of Alinsky's "Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals" includes a quote from the Chicago Sun-Times:

"Alinsky's techniques and teachings influenced generations of community and labor organizers, including the church-based group hiring a young [Barack] Obama to work on Chicago's South Side in the 1980's...Alinsky impressed a young [Hillary] Clinton, who was growing up in Park Ridge at the time Alinsky was the director of the Industrial Areas Foundation in Chicago."

No kidding.
But no, pay no attention to the radical roots in office; never mind that the administration is back peddling as we speak, as to the federal government's own involvement in sending in the troops, through outfits such as Organizing for America, along with various Union members and leaders, from out of state even, to the Wisconsin state capital...in hopes for bringing the process to it's knees.

"The real action is in the enemy's reaction; the enemy properly goaded and guided in his reaction will be your major strength; Tactics, like organization, like life, require that you move with the action..."  An Alinsky-ism strikes again.

And let us not forget Alinsky's famous "Thirteenth Rule: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it."

What has been the target of the last forty years, or so?   The pursuit of making our first principles obsolete -- beginning with our Constitution -- turning it's very intentions into a mockery, re-litigating the message, and convincing the American people that it is alive -- living actually -- and thus, must evolve to shape our brand new world.

That, along with attacking the fundamental ebb and flow of our free market principles, free enterprise, capitalism, and the founding  American belief that goes a little something like this:

"It was realized, of course, that some would prosper more than others.  That is inevitable as long as there is liberty.  Some would prosper because of talent, some because of good fortune, some because of inheritance, but most would prosper because of hard work
...[the] concept of 'freedom to prosper' was based on the belief that man's instinctive will to succeed in a climate of liberty would result in the whole people prospering together.
...The idea was to maximize prosperity, minimize poverty, and make the whole nation rich...Hard work, frugality, thrift, and compassion became the key words in the American ethic."

The 5000 Year Leap

About a week ago, our local paper came out with a study titled, "'13th Check' Pension Payouts: $73 Million" (this article just so happens to be coupled with, at a rate of nearly every day, of hundreds of other "watchdog" narration, highlighting one travesty after another of our country/state/city/pension/retirement/benefits/entitlements boondoggle...as in, someday how about telling us something  we don't know...whatever, better late than never) -- but basically, the gist of it gets down to how in the world could we have done this to ourselves!

The thought of distributing the modest return of investment -- when most of us would think twice before paying ourselves a bonus, even if fortunate enough to be experiencing a healthy market swing --  instead of being thrifty, and pouring profits back into the investment -- you know, for a rainy day, to build on our reserves, to roll it into something that might actually begin to pay for itself over the years...

but noooooooo, let's just cut a check. let's just call it the thirteenth check... even when unfunded liabilities are running amuck and at a time when San Diego is experiencing budget shortfalls and losses for a far as the eye can see.

typical.

oh sure, this benefit, the Thirteenth Check, was taking away in 2005, but we've got a long road ahead just to cover for the sheer lack of oversight and irresponsibility already knee deep -- while being unable to predict the next possible drought, blizzard, or gully washer on the horizon, our ability to navigate the days ahead fall directly on the good lord willin' and if the creek don't rise at this point.

I sincerely hope what is playing out in Wisconsin is duplicated across the land, from sea to shining sea; call it what you will, union-busting...and proud of it -- these "collective bargaining rights" under dispute in middle America, when push comes to shove, actually goes against the grander collective already a strong foothold and mainstay on these here parts... I reckon... and steady as a force to be reckoned with...

Collective bargaining for the rights of the rest of Wisconsin's taxpayers began to take hold at the mid-term elections; Governor Scott Walker campaigned and promised reform of union benefits and retirement packages; the mandate was spoken by ballot box -- and no matter how long you boycott, protest, march or yell and scream -- our republic is designed such that, if you have a grievance -- you act intelligently, with civility, and with proper decorum and due process.

Sorry...Wisconsin's leader is not Trumka of the AFL-CIO; it's leadership, and the powers that be, do not take heed to ridicule, stand firm, undaunted by the fearless vigilante assault by free radicals on the capital front lawn and veranda; but more important, the lives of our children -- and our children's children -- now burdened with unsustainable debt, is what's at stake.

After years of waging a committed assault against our free markets principles, after decades of negotiating reprehensible deals masked by the union label, we seem to be passing on to our children a system that goes against every principle of value, as the collective mission of our nation takes an unforeseen turn marked by fundamental transformation.

Let us not forget, our one true source for all that we ever need is within -- real empowerment is always within reach; organizing for America, the whole body of America, is much bigger, grander, than what merely scratches the surface by a few loose cannons in motion.

A war hero and purple heart recipient, Anthony Maschek, was heckled by an audience of his "peers" when he made comments that scared people ....even if his point of view came from a place of compassion, calling attention to a deeper, sinister plot in the real world-- certainly a reality hard to swallow for the ignorant and unaware, just show me to the next keg'r and I'm good;  of course, he was speaking on behalf of the mindful attacks, at the hands of radical Islamic extremists, who simply want to kill Americans and everything for which America stands; but make no mistake, America is also under attack of the worst kind -- from the inside out, and it has the power to turn us upside down if we let it...


As one thing's for sure, HUMAN NATURE never changes...our founders were kinda hoping we would never forget.

Make it a Good Day, G

Dear America,

"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."

James Madison

Gosh,

"I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there," he said. "I was commenting very specifically on the right people have that dates back to our founders."

"In this country we treat everybody equally and in accordance with the law, regardless of race, regardless of religion."

So to separate grey area from grey area, he believes that Muslims have the right to build -- for it's a free country -- but that doesn't mean that he means what he said, in that it may not be the right thing to do, now that he's had a chance to think about it.


Who's "he"?  Why our president, of course.

You know, for the longest time, the White House position was simply this... it's not my problem - - it's a local issue, and it should be resolved, of course, locally.


Well, it takes some kind of audacity to go against the 70% of the people who are against the locale of this mosque, some kind of audacity, indeed.


And what a contrast to Germany, no? For in this moment, Germany up and closed a mosque for ties to Radical Islam. The timing of Obama's bah Hamburg is astounding, don't you think? I mean, it was within days of one mosque door closing and another mosque door opening...just a coincidence I'm sure.


And speaking of revolving doors, how about the timing of this little tidbit coming out of Washington:

"The point of all of that is I think that by next year I'll be in a position where, you know, we're going to know whether the strategy is working in Afghanistan. We'll have completed the surge. We'll have done the assessment in December. And it seems like somewhere there in 2011 is a logical opportunity to hand off.

I think that it would be a mistake to wait until January 2012. First of all, I think we might have trouble getting the kind of person they want if there's a possibility that they might only be in the job for a year. You know, who knows what the election situation will look like. But also I just think this is not the kind of job you want to fill in the spring of a presidential election. So I think sometime in 2011 sounds pretty good."

Said Robert Gates, U.S. Secretary of Defense, to Fred Kaplan, of Foreign Policy Press.

So what he means to say to Mr.Kaplan, Gates would rather have it's not my problem be his own personal -- abridged version, that it is  -- foreign policy strategy of 2011...for the benefit of the country, so as not to create more harm than good, if he should wait until 2012 to bail, because he's thought about it and he wants out.

And yet, hasn't it become increasingly clear lately, we have a long way to go?

I just have to wonder, a girl just wants to know, just why would he say this right now?  We have everything in Afghanistan hanging on by it's last surge of ammo, and Gates goes out on drone and drops this?  And coming from a reputable source, unlike the Rolling Stone (only speaking on foreign policy, everything else is golden). 

At a time when Afghanistan is searching the mountain tops high and low for a little bit of lasting security, you, Mr. Gates, makes this crowing revelation that it is time FOR YOU to think about getting out -- aside from the already weary circumstances that lead us to July 2011, when we all pull out; what were you thinkin?

And Mr. President, how in the world could you pick the side of those who wish to build a celebratory mosque over and above those who put you in office?  With all due respect, in the minds of most Americans, you have committed a war crime, treason, call it what you will. 

Absolutely stunning.

A quick glance at either polls or opinion tells you, if nothing else, the issue of the mosque is divisive in and of itself -- not for virtue of the religion, egads no! -- but for the utter, pure destruction of the spirit of America that is of the essence part and parcel of the exact location Imam Rauf intends to build it.

Countless opinions have chimed in to say, the Japanese could not build a monument on Pearl Harbor (not that they would try (lingering on in my head...as an interesting point); and as much as there remains a right for all people to speak their mind, if a person -- of any color -- would be found in the town square preaching racial obscenities or casting declarations to harm another in any way, on the basis of color or religion -- they would be hauled off in handcuffs for reason none other than the blatant and barbarous abuse of their own God-given free speech, end of story. 

"America is a free country where you can build whatever you want -- but not anywhere. That's why we have zoning laws. No liquor store near a school, no strip malls where they offend local sensibilities, and, if your house doesn't meet community architectural codes, you cannot build at all. These restrictions are for reasons of aesthetics. Others are for more profound reasons of common decency and respect for the sacred. No commercial tower over Gettysburg, no convent at Auschwitz -- and no mosque at Ground Zero. Build it anywhere but there." --columnist Charles Krauthammer

The unconscionable acts of 9/11 rests heavy in the heart of every American -- still, and for our very own president to be so off base on this one (again), to be so laissez faire in a new world, warped sort of way -- to be so it's not my problem, but at the same time, I will intercede and not only form an opinion but voice it, too, and may even go so far as to further rub it in your face after months of community organized debate -- that is a stroke of audacity that is unprecedented (and we all know how much He loves to be unprecedented).

It's like our own president gave the imam his blessing, or something; like a father over a marriage, like a God over a land, but only in the most perverse sense.  Most Americans see it as such.

I can't wait to see how this administration argues on behalf of the Muslim woman wanting a divorce.  In this country, women are granted a divorce for simply irreconcilable differences, and can be granted rather quickly; I wonder, which law will have "precedence" -- America's rule of law as designed by the founders (Obama's go-to answer of his answer) and embedded deeply and faithfully within our Nation's Constitution and every way of life since 1776 (or thereabouts) -- or the Muslim sharia law, embedded by the rule of man over every woman and child within their nation of Islam since nearly the beginning of time?  Which law has precedence there, or is that a rhetorical question?  (Oh, we are young, but are we that stupid too?  -- oh what?  you don't think it could happen?  here in America?  bit by bit, the people will never know what hit them until it's too late)

Our house is no longer being built on rock, but upon sand.

The Taliban of Afghanistan stoned a couple over the weekend for adultery; is that what we have to look forward to in the town square?  The article linked includes this:

"could mean a step backward for human rights in the country. When the Islamist extremists ruled Afghanistan, women were not allowed to leave their houses without a male guardian, and public killings for violations of their harsh interpretation of the Quran were common."

Could mean?

I mean, really?  Seriously?

I mean, Muslims have that right, but that doesn't mean it is the right thing for them to do.

I mean, I think it would be a mistake to wait until 2012 (for me, anyway, need to time my withdrawal just right, for this ship is going down).

The funny thing about It's not my problem is that it's never usually the right answer -- and surely, you better KNOW it's not your problem, or at the very least wait until the coast is clear, before you speak the words out loud -- any commander in chief or defense secretary should know that much.

Make it a Good Day, G

Dear America,

and we're back to health care.

He told Katie on Sunday, "[republicans] want to ask them to put their ideas on the table, and then after the recess, which will be a few weeks away, I want to come back and have a large meeting, the Republicans and Democrats, to go through systematically all the best ideas that are out there and move it forward."

So now he wants a "large meeting"; not to be confused with the umpteen mini meetings behind closed doors where the republicans were all but shut out openly and transparently in front of all 300 million Americans.

Now, he wants to hear republican ideas (even though they had them all along).  Now, he wants to include republicans.  Now, he wants to have a "large meeting" where both sides are brought to the table.  Didn't we elect him to begin that last year?

And, make no mistake there miss katie, my focus on health care (again) is not going against my commitment to jobs; "in retrospect, jobs were my number one priority last year [don't you remember], that's why we did the stimulus package...maintaining the jobs we had...growing infrastructure...if we hadn't..."

SO, with regards to the stimulus package: "Do I wish we could have done it faster? That it hadn't been so painfully slow through the legislative process? Absolutely. But it was the right thing to do then, it continues to be the right thing," he said.

Painfully slow?  You became President on January 20, 2009 and within thirty days, on February 17th to be exact, the stimulus bill was signed into law with your left paw; if that is painfully slow, then by all accounts and according to how you roll, Mr. President, this health care legislation must be going backwards at warp speed.

SO, which is it really, jobs or health care?
SO, did you talk to Reid and Pelosi about including republicans last year in the conversation, or do you take the fifth on that?
SO, the stimulus worked so well the first time, you feel the need to ramp up and do it again, is that it?
SO, when your administration sent SEIU members to disrupt town hall meetings last summer, that was just our imagination?  After dismissing the hearts and minds of the people, you still want to push a legislation that costs too much and doesn't fix the real issues at hand and goes against the will of the people and the law of the land (as you well know, being an "expert" in Constitutional Law)?

You and your democratic super majority had the capability to ram whatever you wanted through congress -- you just knew, all of you, that the people wouldn't tolerate such nonsense. 

I got news for you, it was painfully slow for us Americans to watch the antics back and forth for the last year and 21 days and five hours, not that I'm counting...

What is painfully slow is waiting for the November elections -- just to catch a glimmer of hope -- that one day soon all of this will go away.
What seems to be running painfully slow is your entire term; at this point, I don't think we can get you out of there fast enough.

And what is certainly painfully slow is listening to the empty rhetoric dripping out of the mouths of the people's house, the people's seat, the people's representatives like a broken sewer, slowly trickling into the crevasses below our foundation, unseen and mischievously going about it's business, until one day the ground will just open up and swallow us whole.
Day after day, watching the closed door sessions.
Day after day, listening to the flip and the flop of partisan politics gone awry.
Day after day, being called names like "nazi's" and "astro-turf" and "extremists garnering guns and swastikas".

All this, from a government who belongs to us, the people!

What seems to be, by all appearances, a painfully slow death of our constitution and this country calls for action -- action that may require a little overdrive  -- in order to right the wrong, make the crooked road straight, once more.


But the thing is, we are so far off course, the painfully slow reality is settling in -- it may be that no amount of speed will be enough to catch up with the recklessness of Washington.

All the while, as we hear our President say things like 'it takes time', 'a little longer than we expected', 'it's not going as fast as we would have liked', it's 'painfully slow' -- what we feel inside is quite the contrary. 

Here's an idea for Katie, what is going on in Washington is too much!  too soon!  too fast!   not what we want! and never will be painfully slow enough!  for our liking. 
 
We see the curves up ahead, and we want to slow down.
We see the broken bridge and realize there is no other way around.
We see the finish line on the horizon -- and all we want to do is stop, dead in our tracks, before it's too late.
 
The irony really. 
 
IF only our President realized that an environment that supports real job growth -- not government growth (currently at it's all-time high @ 14%) --one that lowers business and capital gains taxes, supports thriving and active competition in the marketplace, promotes ALL businesses, large and small -- only then will we have the makings to create the jobs necessary for the 10-20% of Americans currently unemployed and who want to be fully, and gainfully, an active participant in society. 
 
Subsequently, when people are employed, they will have health insurance offered to them or are able to afford it on their own; by opening commerce over state lines, insurance companies will be able to finally compete for true market share, naturally providing better service and opportunities to increase sales and their customer base, otherwise they will fail; with simple reforms added in to remedy fraud, malpractice or wrongful litigation, ultimately the cost of providing care to all of us will correct itself, becoming more manageable and fair.
 
The irony really; if our president just stopped overcompensating in the turns, flip flopping from jobs to health care and back again, and simply concentrated on creating the best and the brightest free market on earth, the relationship between our health meeting job opportunity would surely go hand in hand, making all of our little engines begin to purr.
 
A sweet hum on down the road, that's my kind of painfully slow, what's yours?

"A wise and frugal government,

which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement,

and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned --

 this is the sum of good government."

 Thomas Jefferson

 

"The circulation of confidence is better than the circulation of money."

James Madison

 

"Democracy...while it lasts is more bloody than either aristocracy or monarchy. 

Remember, democracy never lasts long. 

It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. 

There is never a democracy that did not commit suicide." 

John Adams

 

"The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. 

You have to catch it yourself." 

Benjamin Franklin

 

It's not up for discussion; it is not the duty of this President to decide if it's a conversation about jobs OR health care, we must make the decision for him. He can talk up his plan all he wants, on a daily basis if that's what he thinks it will take; we all know it doesn't come cheap and we can't afford it -- while it goes against every free market principle in the book.

 

What seems to be painfully clear now, is how long it may take for him to get that --

or get off the road, honk! honk!

 

 

Make it a Good Day, G

Dear America,

DECLARATION of INDEPENDENCE; means something different to everyone...

What is coming to light over the course of the last year -- marked by the day we elected Barack Hussein Obama to the highest privilege of our land -- is not only cause for great celebration that we have finally reached the day entrusting our dear America in the hands of the very first African-American, but a chance for pause.

Asking, what in the world have we done?

For THIS is what's called the morning after regret; this is the product of nine months later, and taking on the liberal mindset, along side the realization of this woman's right to choose -- along with everyone else -- that that opportunity has long passed and quite certainly can't help us now. The damage has been done.  The bun's been baked and burned.

All I can say is I didn't vote for the guy.  Now don't all of you "moderates" and "independents" and "libertarians" feel pretty scorched now.  Oh, it's such a sick feeling that buyer's remorse, that 'wudda shudda cudda' gut reaction -- the sinking feeling that oh, I've really done it now.

What we've got here is a failure to communicate; or is it just we can't handle the truth?

We didn't want to see the truth; we didn't want to hear the issues; we ignored the signs; we dismissed the associations and never stopped to connect the dots.

Why oh why didn't we pay attention?  How in the world could we not see it?  Did he have us that starstruck and googly-eyed?

How ironic, a warning from the first lady herself to think before we punch -- making sure we don't vote for the one with charisma just because "she's cute"; and what did we do, we voted for the handsome man who's showing enough chutzpah now to blow our America up to smithereens.

And then I got to thinking about this magic democrats hold over people -- as if they are the party to bring the masses everything it needs -- and looking around at all the people who just want that now. 

That is part of the problem.  We've raised generations of people who expect it, want it, and feel entitled to it for far more reasons than I can count -- and for what?  Where has it really taken the poor, the minority, the addicted, or the lost soul?  Where?

What I also find disingenuous, is how can the Democratic Party continue to point fingers to the religious conservatives as evil and radical -- and continually use these extremes as a platform against the GOP -- and get away with it?  There is such a huge disconnect; somehow even though the majority of Americans truly believe that the truth shall set you free, that we live a life in faith, and deep down stand unafraid because of our religions, too  -- we have somehow created a divide between Americans.  And for what? 

Don't Democrats go to church too?  Don't moderates and liberals and independents and libertarians all go to church?  YES, they do (well, not all of them but you know what I mean).  Why do the Republicans get smacked in the face with this massive label that is perceived as weird, radical, God-fearing Americans -- when the truth is, we are pretty much all the same?

The Democratic Party wants to hypocritically cast our faith as illegitimate in an effort to benchmark their holier than thou people's liberation to choose -- to abort -- to live a life wayward and lost as if unbeliever's themselves -- in order for the party to win over the masses as the party who saves.  Really? 

A divided people are quite certainly broken -- as surely we lack the cohesiveness and inner strength. We need the government to save us and bring us health care and welfare -- and the more fanfare about it the better.  It just convinces us that much more, see, that the government really does care, and they really can come in a take over our lives and take care of us...as look, over there:

• they bring us medicare and medicaid -- Established in 1965...44 years later, and how are they doing...broke.   Truth is, it is actually below broke, for how else do you describe running deficits every year and getting away with it?
• they bring us homes to live in, thank you Fannie Mae (1938) and since it worked so well the first time, added Freddie Mac (1970)...that's right, albeit home's we couldn't afford in the first place, and leveraging bad loans on the resale market to the point of no return; insuring that the entire banking and credit market go boom.
• they even bring us retirement in social security, for all those hard earned dollars we've put into the system from our jobs over the decades.  Established in 1935... after 74 years, and for the record, broke...I'm not sure what you call it, robbing Peter right now to pay Paul?  Give it up Uncle Sam.  I've already worked it out, my retirement will be renting the back room of an am/pm and working the night shift, what's yours?

While here's a different angle:

Louisiana Senator,
Mary Landrieu (D)

Is presently asking Congress for 250 BILLION DOLLARS to rebuild New Orleans .

Interesting number...What does it mean?

A.  Well ... If you are one of the 484,674 residents of New  Orleans (every man, woman, and child)

You each get $516,528.

B.  Or... If you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans , your home gets $1,329,787.

C.  Or... If you are a family of four...Your family gets $2,066,012.

Both sets of examples I was gifted yesterday in my Gmail box; a very big shout out to my Auntie Emm and her son-in-law, Jake -- who both have it going on and seem to be doing a bang up job spreading the wealth of perception interruption.  G THANKS YOU for being my muse today xxxxxx

But whattup?  Communication and perception is everything; and it is really important right now to stay on top of the message.  Find out who says it, why they say it -- ask what's in it for them -- or what they want from me or from our dear girl, America, to make it happen?  What does the message take our attention away from  -- truth or lies?  What does the message actually create -- division or unity? 

Where has this welfare state, this sense of entitlement, this expectation of our government to take care of those who are better off taking care of ourselves taken us after all these years, and more importantly, along with our hard earned money?  Absolutely no where, and then again...

My view is that everyone is better than we were in the sixties-- since the civil rights movement that is.  It's not rhetoric, it's the truth -- just look around.  You see anyone confined to the back of the bus?  Do you see anyone not being served or having to use a separate bathroom?  Do we separate school children anymore?

All people who want jobs, who want an education, who want to be a productive part of society -- not a product of society -- can make it.  There is no doubt in my mind that this comes forty years later -- after a huge breakdown in communication and loss of trust and life -- the reality that we are better today than we were yesterday. 

Obama proves it.  Condoleezza Rice proves it.  Colin Powell proves it.  Thomas Sowell proves it.  Juan Williams proves it.  Star Parker proves it.  O.J. Simpson proves it (in a very backwards way) Rodney King proves it (easy there, do your background check).  Alveda King (niece to MLK, might surprise you) proves it.  Shall I could go on...Oprah!

As a party with major momentum on it's side, the GOP needs to think and rethink how it communicates the message.

We should be the party of true American liberation, and freedom for all -- as that was just what our dear Lincoln did in the sixties of the eighteen hundreds.  It would be a hundred years later before it was tested again -- but from the sixties, no matter what century you look at, we arose as a better people for it.  We were the party then -- and should be the party now.

The problem now resides in the fall from favor in the eyes of people of color, and perhaps poor people of any color -- as they have been used by the unions and politicians, their bosses and their brothers, drug lords and absentee fathers.  They have been used up and sit disillusioned, while believing with their whole heart that this young, hip, really cool President has all the answers to their prayers.

Whether we are born a poor black child or a descendant of white and wealth, all of us share the same country -- with the same hopes and dreams.

So if the GOP is the party of religious fanatics, isn't this where we use it to our benefit?  Why not team up and partner with each other from one church to another?  Why can't we pair up, in the secrecy of the dark of night if we have to, and link white folk to black folk via the word of God and faith? 

Why can't we pull a g thang -- and go a little gangsta  -- and connect people who have the commonality of belief in times where it tests our faith?  One church at a time...one congregation to another...uniting people in love and kindness, stretching out to real needs of a community or neighborhood, lifting people up as one follower at at time to another.

Community organizers anyone?

If anyone asks, deny it -- just as our current administration gets away with everything.  What, what Czar?  Who, what organization?  Where, what about New Jersey?  You get my drift.

We have seen what grassroots does; we just need it to be of favor to the side of a limited government, not an unlimited bureaucracy and catastrophe waiting to happen.

We can teach our children well -- whether red or yellow, black or white -- Jesus loves the children in his sight.  Perhaps starting at a place which launches our weeks ahead, on Sundays, is where we need to be.

The Democrats have not brought salvation to the poor and downtrodden -- and have no intention of ever doing so -- otherwise they lose control, and without control, they don't have the power to control our lives. 

Now just what will it take to get us from here and into the hearts of those who really belong to us in the first place  -- as truth is, they've just been taken for a ride.

I say the story of creation wins over Darwin every time; it's just a matter of perception and how it equates to creating a new reality and quite certainly a new dialogue between us. The paradigm needs to be tweaked and shifted to the side where it belongs -- the right -- the true believers who have the ability to lift ourselves up without government assistance; for anything other than that is purely misguided allegiances.

From the words of our President:

"I stand here today humbled by the task before us,

grateful for the trust you have bestowed, 

mindful of sacrifices borne of our ancestors...

At these moments

America has carried on not simply because of the skill

or vision of those in high office, but

because We the People have remained faithful

to the ideals of our forefathers,

and true to our founding documents...

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation,

we understand that greatness is never a given.

It must be earned...

This is the price and the promise

of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence --

the knowledge that God calls on us

to shape an uncertain destiny...

Let it be said by our children's children

that when we were tested,

we refused to let the journey end,

that we did not turn back, nor did we falter;

and with eyes fixed on the horizon

and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift

of freedom

and delivered it safely

to future generations."

Interesting -- but okay, whatever you say, you're the boss, you're the big guy, if you say so...Actually, if it weren't for the last nine months, I'd be all over it.  Beautiful words.  Simply couldn't have said it better myself.  And yet,

I'm confused, is he not walking his talk, or is it just me -- where did this President wander off to? 

Those words were spoken this day, January 20, 2009, within his Inaugural Address to the nation.  Of course, same day he also swore upon Lincoln's bible to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States" --
and look at us now.

We are the creators of our future -- with a little help from the big guy (not him, the other One).

May God bless you today,
May His light shine upon you and give you peace,

Make it a good day, G 

Dear America,

The thing is we wouldn't need all this tweaking to a Constitution, designed by brilliant minds, with continuous shout outs to the Almighty God, if it weren't for the fact that we are so stupid.  Hence, the video this morning attached to Dear America, by Garbage, Stupid Girl.

If we weren't so stupid, we wouldn't need to keep working it over now would we?  The temptation to keep messing with it overcomes us; oh we think out of necessity, but it is really out of ignorance and a loss of the good society.  What happens when an artist overworks a spot, it becomes mud on the canvas -- and you lose the innocent quality from that which you started from.  What happens when you overwork a dough; it becomes paste, with the inability to rise and fall and rise up again in magnificence, emanating throughout the house with the smell of warm bread.

Sure, we started out with good intentions-- to make something beautiful, yummy or an intellectually and spiritually and politically brilliant piece of legislation or Constitution -- and now look. 

The thing is, our founding father's left IT in the hands of a society built entirely around a moral character; a community knowing the intrinsic value of what is right from wrong, a community understanding the costs and benefits of creating a civil society, and more importantly, how to keep it; a community recognizing that as a sound body of  faith -- all faiths -- it would keep us protected unto ourselves, in and of itself.

And why would our founding father's think any different?  We fought long and hard for our right to live free in the new world; what in the world would make them think we would throw it all away haphazardly over the next two hundred years, God no.

Who'd a thunk we would ever have to review something so simple as "all men are created equal" in so many ways over the years?  Who'd a thunk we would have to define what is deemed appropriate free speech?  Who'd a thunk we would be heart wrenched with a mother's right to choose over a child's right to live (happening the last thirty years)?  Who'd a thunk we would have to explain a movie depicting dogs at each other's throats and in turn sold to thousands is a bad idea (happening today)?  Who'd a thunk we would have to fight local gun laws over the Constitutional law of the land, (happening today in Chicago)?  Who'd a thunk we would have to interfere at all?

Certainly, our founding father's didn't see it coming; for they thought right and good -- it was just in there.  Their moral character permeated throughout all aspects of daily life, while it was made concrete within the framework of our Constitution, leaving no doubt of it's ability for a long and steadfast life carrying America forward as if held under the strength of a hundred onward Christian soldiers.

No, stupid girl, we can't rely on our good looks anymore; for there is nothing inside us of character, of grace, of value to shine through.

That is the problem with today, and why we are watching our beloved Constitution just getting wrecked, ruined and prostituted for all the world to see.  How embarrassing. How humiliating.  How sad.

How wrong.

Even though it is written, loud and clear, we all -- each and every one of us -- has equal protection under the law, under our Constitution...why the no holds barred defence coming from within and all over the place?  Don't I have just as much of a right as the atheist to dictate the kind of education I want my child to have? Don't I have just as much of a right to dictate the teachings of tolerance toward lifestyles, other than my own, to my own child?  Don't I  have a right, in and of itself, to teach my children what I want and the way that I want and in the spirit of all in good time, period?

A monumental case before the Supreme Court occurred in 1948, in McCollum v. Board of Education.  It  lost at the local level only to be appealed by the atheist, McCollum. Vashti McCollum cried foul when her son, raised an atheist, had to tolerate other kids of protestant faith taking time out of their school day to be taught by local clergy "the word of God"; that her son was treated differently, was disenfranchised of his belief of no higher power, and moreover, her utter disgust in the teachings happening on public property. The Supreme Court overturned the decision on the basis of the First Amendment, but notably had this to say:

"Traditionally, organized education in the Western world was Church education.  It could hardly be otherwise when the education of children was primarily study of the Word and the ways of God.  Even in the Protestant countries, where there was a less close identification of Church and State, the basis of education was largely the Bible, and its chief purpose inculcation of piety."

And then in 1952, Zorach V. Clausopn,  the Supreme Court went further to define the "separation of Church and State"; only it was merely prohibiting an established National Religion, not admonishing religion altogether:

"The First Amendment, however, does not say that in every respect there shall be a separation of Church and State.  Rather, it studiously defines the manner, the specific ways, in which there shall be no concert or union or dependency one on the other.  That is the common sense of the matter. Otherwise the state and religion would be aliens to each other -- hostile, suspicious and even unfriendly."

It does not say, well those who consider themselves non-believers have a right to dictate the law over the believers; as if their rights supersede mine.  Hell no, it does not.  So why are we seeing this happen?

The Constitution -- and this country, America -- was not designed for all this abuse; it was designed under the belief that deep inside each and every one of us we were all "good" -- "upright" -- and of sound mind and body, as one nation under God, or not, the choice is ours to make and ours alone -- a mechanism falling under a little something of what we like to call FREEDOM. 

It is all about convictions and perceptions, people; I see God and maybe you don't.  Simple.  Whatever.  Leave it alone. Don't bother me, I'm eating.

It's not the fault of the Constitution.


Nor even the fault of God.

It's the fault of man; stupid, stupid man.

Our weakness and vulnerability today -- showing in signs of reaching new platitudes of corruption in government, a dollar of little value, and liabilities greater than our assets --  is a symptom of a nation acting out of character, and actually deteriorating from the inside out.

Today is my daughter's thirteenth birthday; marking the anniversary of my commitment to raising her right.  I sure don't want to be a stupid girl, raising a stupid girl, for where would that get us, right; the responsibility of teaching an American girl takes everything we got to do it right, only because there is so much to lose if we get it all wrong.

Make it a Good Day, G

Dear America,

The thing is, its not about theology, or religion, too.

It's just history.

There is no question in my mind, the creators of our nation were connected to the very core with a Supreme Being and Higher Power and faith.  They worshiped God.  They gave thanks to God.  They prayed to God when designing our government and demonstrated a love of God in every thought, word and deed, whether at war with England or gathered together to write our Constitution.

There was absolutely no separation.
No doubt.
No wondering if he's really out there.
Just faith.  And lots of it.

If it weren't so real, this faith, we would never have done it; you know, risk everything for a new world in America.

The Revolutionary War was a powerful demonstration of this remarkable faith and it did not stop upon the last shot out of the canon, as if the work was all done and we didn't need God anymore; oh no, our work was just beginning.

Which leads me to why our government was designed in the way that she was; she, like she's just a girl, as if!  But that's not important, America was born, praise be to God; let us give Him thanks.

Oh my, we are sadly so far away from the days resounding in an unwavering faith; not that we really are, of course.  It is just what you would have to believe if the truth were told upon the pages of yahoo, or cnn, or in our schools, or within the framework of our working government today. In spite of it all, the overwhelming majority of this nation still believes (85%).  Can I hear an Amen...

Oh sure, occasionally you will hear a politician say, 'God bless America;' problem is, it just sounds so empty at times -- like you wonder if they are just saying it for poll numbers or if they really believe the magnificence in their own choice of words.

God Bless America... and the rest of this beautiful world too...is that so awful? Are these words destined to drown in the archives, become obsolete, or worse, grow into indifference or sound cliche?  Do we really have to falter in our faith to get by in this world? 

Oh I get it, it's about being cool,isn't it.
Right...
We're sixteen, I don't wanna have my friends see me in church, or even know! that my parents make me still go.

We have tested our faith, tested our God, and have acted as if we don't need One anymore; it can just be part of our past, we say.  It can just be part of the days of yore, before we knew we could make it on our own; a part of another generation that was entirely too old fashioned about everything having to do with life and liberty -- let alone the pursuit of happiness.  Geez, you old geeezers; wake up and taste the Starbucks for it's Friday, so let's party... and Saturday night, I've got big plans...and can't wait to sleep in on Sunday morning.

Matter of fact, let's just sleep right on through as much of life as possible, pretending as if we don't need Him. anymore.

That's the thing about these days; we seem to have fallen asleep.  We've lost touch with the age of enlightenment and awe, something most definitely characterized by our founding fathers -- all of them (even the one's who had no religion, too).

From our very own Benjamin Franklin, on June 28, 1787 while deadlocked in controversy at the Constitutional Convention said this:

"In the beginning of the Contest with Great Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had a daily prayer in this room for the Divine protection.  Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered...to that kind providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And we have forgotten that powerful Friend?  Or do we imagine we no longer need His assurance? [really...didn't I just say that?] 

I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth  - - that God governs in the affairs of men.  And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?   We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that 'except the Lord build the House, they labor in vain that build it.'  I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without His concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better that the builders of Babel:  We shall be divided by our partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word down to future ages...I therefore beg leave to move -- that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessing on our deliberations, be held in this assembly every morning before we proceed to business..."

Thoughts from James Madison:

"Religion flourishes in greater purity, without than with the aid of Government."

"And I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in showing that religion and Government will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together."

From John Adams:

"I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene and design in providence, for the illumination of the ignorant and the emancipation of the slavish part of mankind all over the earth."

"Here is everything which can lay hold the eye, ear and imagination --everything which can charm and bewitch the simple and ignorant.  I wonder how Luther ever broke the spell."

From Joseph Story, appointed to the Supreme Court in 1811 by James Madison, served on the court for 34 years and is said to have been instrumental in establishing the illegality of the slave trade, said this:

"There never has been a period in history, in which the Common Law did not recognize Christianity as lying at its foundation."

"We are not to attribute this prohibition of a national religious establishment [in the First Amendment] to an indifference to religion in general, and especially to Christianity (which none could hold in more reverence than the framers of the Constitution)...that Christianity ought to receive encouragement from the State so far as was not incompatible with the private rights of conscience and the freedom of religious worship. Any attempt to level all religions, and to make it a matter of state policy to hold all in utter indifference, would have created universal disapprobation, if not universal indignation."

"The real object of the First Amendment was not to countenance much less to advance Mohammedanism, or Judaism, or infidelity, by prostrating Christianity, but to exclude all rivalry among Christian sects [denominations] and to prevent any national ecclesiastical patronage of the national government."

You see, we can't really speak about the Constitution, or our Declaration of Independence, or any of the events marking America's humble beginnings of the 18th and 19th centuries without invoking Spirit, God, an Almighty power to which we owe everything -- our life, liberty and the pursuit of Happiness and anything else that makes our very existence tick.  We owe everything to the Most High.

But what has happened to our people's constitution, in our country's Constitution, can be defined as a separation of church and state from which our birth was conceived, denying what came naturally and without pretense during an age we seemed to know better.  We simply knew, deep down in our soul, who to thank, and who to look up to in need, in solace, in joy, in gratitude, for strength and comfort and guidance in framing our government in perfect harmony and peace, a little controversy notwithstanding.

"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.  It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."  John Adams 

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Make it a Good Day, G 

 Finally this, from Frank, as in Sinatra:

"When lip service to some mysterious deity permits bestiality on Wednesday and absolution on Sunday, cash me out."

Dear America,

Happy Birthday my dear Constitution!

How old are you now? 222 years.

How have you been able to keep it together all this time?
Reality is,
not well.

Although on life support, the Constitution of the United States is the shortest and oldest written constitution in the world; and even though it proceeded to take a while longer to become fully ratified, it was on this day, September 17, 1787, in Philadelphia, where 39 of the 55 delegates gave birth to the Law of the Land, safely securing America's future, so we thought.

I say 'gave birth' but heavens to Jefferson don't misrepresent the true meaning of my words; don't align me with all that's going on with the modern day molestation of the Word; don't confuse me with the Hillary's, Roosevelt's or Woody Wilson's; don't think for a minute I want a part of the new age progressives movement hailing the deconstruction of our "living constitution" in order to mold her, influence her and shape into who we want her to be, at the whim of who's in charge.


On this day 222 years ago we gave birth to the very foundation of one nation under God and firmly under Law; as defined in being a REPUBLIC, not a Democracy where majority rules. A new nation embodying a foundation steadfast on principle and firm in faith; grounded in the same soil of those who died fighting for the personal freedoms we cherish today; grounded in the same soil that allowed for all citizens to worship however they wanted, or not; while in the very same breath gave the rights of the individual man to create and hold accountable a duty to himself and country over and above the rights of an overzealous government.


All was well and good for a very long time; for nearly 150 years it was unchanged, unprovoked, unscathed and understood -- understood at the very core of its construction. It was to limit government, protect citizens, and allow for the country to grow from individual responsibility, faith and self reliance in order to create a more perfect union from one generation to the next.


It was simple.

It didn't take 1000 pages -- HR3200, or even 230 pages -- as in the Baucus Health Care Bill, it was FOUR.

James Madison is noted liberally as being "the father" of our Constitution; with influences from Jefferson, Adams, the thinkers of our life and times, he carried the duty of expanding the integrity of the Articles of Confederation into what became our national law of governing under the Constitution; a daunting task, how did he do it?


And if we had to do it today, what are our chances under the mismanagement of blowhards and ego-centric idiots?

Clearly Madison was a man of deep conviction and purpose....along with such a command of the English language, be it found within the body of the Constitution itself or in conversation, the man articulated greatness in every word he chose:

"It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood."

"In Republics, the great danger is, that the majority may not sufficiently respect the rights of the minority."

"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."

"Commercial shackles are generally unjust, oppressive, and impolitic."

"By rendering the labor of one, the property of the other, they cherish pride, luxury, and vanity on one side; on the other, vice and servility, or hatred and revolt."

"...objects of benevolence...If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the General Welfare, the Government is no longer a limited one, possessing enumerated powers, but an infinite one, subject to particular exceptions."

Yes, all out of the mouth of Madison.

It makes me giddy reading this sort of stuff, as this is the stuff I was made (and you were too).

Allow me to add commentary as it pertains to my last quote from Madison, as found in the Patriot Post 9/3/09:

"Today more than two-thirds of the Federal Budget is spent
on 'objects of benevolence,' for which there is no constitutional
authority. Put another way, much of your income is being confiscated and
redistributed unconstitutionally."

We have to get over ourselves people and realize what is at stake hear-ye-here in the 21st century. Our society will become all undone if we allow the very basis of our freedoms and personal liberties to dissipate under the guise of protection by a government who doesn't know better, or worse, who does.Taxation. Entitlements. Take Over of Free Enterprise and Free People. Regulation and Mandates. Modern day Slavery. Is this the way of the future? Is this what our founding fathers had in mind?

I think not.

Mark Levin writes in his book Liberty and Tyranny:

"The Conservative urges an economic environment stripped of debilitating
regulations and taxes that hinder the performance and competition of
American industry. However...the Statist's heavy hand rather than the free market's invisible hand, they are obstructed and burdened in ways that are
counter intuitive and self-defeating. Ultimately, it is an unworkable
formula, as the rest of the world is not obliged to adhere to it but rather
will look for ways to exploit it."

So here we are 222 years later with the founding fathers worse fears coming true.

So much to do, so little time.

Make it a Good Day, G

Nothing is impossible with God. Luke 1:37