It's a Pledge of Allegiance Thing

Dear America,

"Society in every state is a blessing, but government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one; when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer...For were the impulses of conscience clear, uniform, and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver; but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a part of his property to furnish the means for the protection of the rest; and this he is induced to do by the same prudence which in every other case advises him out of two evils to choose the least."

Thomas Paine, Common Sense

published in January of 1776, Common Sense is credited for instilling the spirit of independence into the hearts and minds of an oppressed community -- the American colonists.

I just love the line, "[F]or were the impulses of conscience clear, uniform, and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver; but that not being the case...."

We have NFL players taking a knee during the national anthem precisely for such cause.

Humanity -- in every gender, race, creed, and astrological sign -- is human.  We err.

We err as a community; we err as individuals; we err as a nation; we err as a school board; we err as a football player; we err as a spectator; we err as a journalist; we err as a blogger and just a girl; we err as a president; we err as a church and as a state.  We err as a police officer in the line of duty and we err as members of a community whenever a crime is committed and/or a threat to life and limb is made.

Do we really need a rule to tell us what is the right thing to do?

Isn't there something inside us all that allows us to stop and listen to our heart -- be it an intuition, a feeling, a heeding of conscience, that ultimately steers us in making each and every choice we make all the live long day?

This kneeling thing -- the impulse to disrespect the spirit of unity and show of patriotism -- is seen as being either a revolting gesture against country, or a political stance with the strength and the will to tackle its leftist agenda, leaving no opposition standing.  Either way, it is an obscene crime against the solidarity and security of a nation.

And to think, the NFL Rule Book has rules on the improper use of language and gesture and behavior unfitting of a football player all through the game...a lot of them, too.

And to consider, according to the rules, both teams must be on the field ten minutes before the start of every game, quickly running up to the coin toss....which should come right about three minutes before the start of every game -- while the presenting of the colors to the national anthem is done during the official start.  The anthem is officially part of the official game.  Taking the proper gesture should be self-explanatory to every American citizen, and especially to the players taking the field under such pomp and circumstance and pageantry and production.

Common sense, alone, is sufficient to argue that upon this turf is of no time or place for divisive politics to usurp the moment for which she stands; for the purpose of the moment is to bring good sportsmanship, good character, and good gestures all together with certain, common intentions:  offering a peaceful salute to who we are as a nation.

How often did President Obama opine the words -- 'that is not who we are' -- and making a cut up the middle, immediately return the phrase to who we are, as a country, as Americans?   Let me tell you, it was often (as this girl continues the struggle to get him out of her head).

But why did he do that?  Because as humans, as Americans, sometimes a reminder as to who we are is needed; and not only needed -- it needs to be heeded, after certain postures seeded and individual ownership deeded, and with great courage greeted, genuinely and dutifully with each new day.

It takes work.  It takes reminders.  It takes second chances, and patience.  It takes forgiveness of the wrongful choices which have come before us -- choices made by other humans, of which we have no part, nor ever wish to have a part, if only by being a student of history and of life itself,  as we accept the past for what it is and what it teaches us, as we venture forward with great hope and every effort to make and meet the future a better place for us all.

Arms linked and all.

The thing is AMERICA is bigger than our differences of opinion, our divisive politics, and even the mainstream media (teehee).    America is bigger than Colin Kaepernick (no shock jock there); it is bigger than the owners and the coaches and the players and the stadiums full of spectators and Fox Sports and ESPN and NBC all together; roll them all up into a ball and let America have a go -- and just watch her kick that thing from here to kingdom come without so much as drop of sweat.

Hilarious, isn't it?  That the weekend game in London met with our players taking a knee during America's anthem, and yet they stood for God Save the Queen!   They take a stand for  England?  They stood for the commonwealth credited for the creation and operation of pure oppression in the masterminding of the slave trade -- and not for the country that spent a hundred years and a war trying to abolish it?  Know your history, boys; know your history.

Is America without fault?  No, she isn't.

But what is America, generation after generation?  How many people have come through her halls of justice and injustice, large and small?   Isn't she more than the choices people have made; isn't she bigger than that?  Or perhaps, better still --  is she, in fact, the culmination of the choices made -- year over year -- whether good, bad or indifferent?

America is a spirit -- an idea birthed 241 years ago -- coming from an age that defied oppression in every way, and in turn, becoming an exception to all other nations of the world, to date, in that time and place.  With firm reliance on Divine Providence, our humble founders fought for the creation of America, as they mutually pledged to each other: "our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor" when signing the Declaration of Independence.

Sigh.
Indeed.

Common Sense was written to stir up the impulses to revolutionize the colonies, becoming more oppressed under the rule of England with each new day.  Something had to be done.

Indeed.

America is a spirit expressing in each moment of the day.  Day after day.

In no small way, Thomas Paine was instrumental in creating change; and our founders took the ball and ran with it.

And while we have talked often about this subject many a day,  suffice it to say, that without rules in society, chaos would surely ensue.  Why?  Because we are human...from the imperfect and the grotesque to the bold  and the beautiful.

We have rules -- some even unspoken.

We have rules -- whether it be on the road, in church, in the classroom, in congress, while playing a game of football or Monopoly.  Rules assist in the keeping of order.  Otherwise, there would be disorder.

At the end of the day --  and at the beginning of every football game -- there is an unspoken rule to heed to the order of reverence to country.   And football players know exactly what they do when they kneel; it is pure disruption of the rules in play, whether it is written in the rule book or not.  It's as if these players are choosing to take a knee that they know equates to an act as obscene as calling America a foul name, as repulsive as making an offensive gesture in crude revelry.

 [Kind a like this.  Of course, Beckham is a big boy and makes his own choices, but is that Beckham really being his very best on display?]

But make no mistake.  The kneel:  IT IS a political stance they take.  IT IS a political, ideological, and fundamental transformation of AMERICA that they seek, taking as many casualties as needed -- even if its the entire NFL and every Sunday from the Harvest Moon through the dark of winter.  And for better or worse, the outcome could prove revolutionary; only time will tell. 

Welcome to the new world; an age when common non-sense reigns.

As we sit and make history, all choices we make now are relevant and in play.

“The man who refuses to judge, who neither agrees nor disagrees, who declares that there are no absolutes and believes that he escapes responsibility, is the man responsible for all the blood that is now spilled in the world. Reality is an absolute, existence is an absolute, a speck of dust is an absolute and so is a human life. Whether you live or die is an absolute. Whether you have a piece of bread or not, is an absolute. Whether you eat your bread or see it vanish into a looter's stomach, is an absolute.

There are two sides to every issue: one side is right and the other is wrong, but the middle is always evil. The man who is wrong still retains some respect for truth, if only by accepting the responsibility of choice. But the man in the middle is the knave who blanks out the truth in order to pretend that no choice or values exist, who is willing to sit out the course of any battle, willing to cash in on the blood of the innocent or to crawl on his belly to the guilty, who dispenses justice by condemning both the robber and the robbed to jail, who solves conflicts by ordering the thinker and the fool to meet each other halfway. In any compromise between food and poison, it is only death that can win. In any compromise between good and evil, it is only evil that can profit. In that transfusion of blood which drains the good to feed the evil, the compromise is the transmitting rubber tube.”
― Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

absolutely.

My loyalties are to America -- what is best for the whole.

I pledge allegiance 

to the flag,

of the United States of America,

and to the Republic for which it stands,

one Nation, under God,

indivisible,

with liberty and justice for all.

INDIVISIBLE is absolute.

Perhaps, if we were all angels, rules would prove unnecessary; laws would not be needed, let alone cry out to be heeded, that which precepts are regularly seeded, and individually deeded, into the hearts and minds of decent and good countrymen.  But that not being the case...We must remind each other how a nation of good character prevails; how a nation proves strong when indivisible, in person and in spirit, with both sides locked and aligned.

Make it a GOOD DAY, G!

It's Can We All Behave Thing

Dear America,

so Colin (and a teammate Eric Reid) kneeled during the national anthem last night, here in San Diego; which is far better than sitting on the bench, right?  Either somebody got to him to straighten out a wee bit -- or -- something deep down inside him made him tweek his stance in order to meet America half way.  And this girl considers that, a good start. 

Not only did he kneel, but he also said this after the game:

 "I'm not anti-American. I love America," said Kaepernick, who stayed on the field long after the game to sign autographs for enthusiastic fans. "I love people. That's why I'm doing this. I want to help make America better, and I think having these conversations helps everybody have a better understanding of where everybody is coming from."

Speaking of the American Huddle of yesterday's blog, we can all appreciate that, right; for surely we didn't get this love of country message upon his first anthem protest.

So let's then continue the conversation.  It's what Colin is asking for and that's easy enough...to talk about it, right?

If we look to having "a better understanding of where everybody is coming from," then everybody is everybody.  So props to Colin for giving us all permission to discuss it.

And considering Colin voluntarily became a catalyst of this new found freedom of expression against oppression of our time  -- a time when  grassroots activism called "Black Lives Matter" has become all the rage, raising awareness of police brutality against people of color, highlighting how many in the black community consider this an illustration of the continued oppression against blacks in America -- leading many, like Colin, to outright disrespect the flag for which she stands until
such change comes.

And it makes me wonder -- what does that change really look like, how do we get there from here, given the facts surrounding the whole truth about this alleged oppression by police within the black community?  At what point will Colin believe we have reached resolution?

As Heather Mac Donald pointed out -- in the Hillsdale publication, Imprimis, April 2016  (See  my early summer blogs on this in particular....here and here; might I add, this issue of Imprimis is gaining alot of mileage on the old gthing...we can't seem to stop bringing it up....funny how a little truth goes far, but I digress.) --

"We have been here before.  In the 1960's and early 1970's, black and white radicals directed hatred and occasional violence against the police.  The difference today is that anti-cop ideology is embraced at the highest reaches of the establishment:  by the President, by his Attorney General, by college presidents, by foundation heads, and by the press."

As Heather illuminated with statistic after statistic, we have reached a new age for modern America, and it just so happens to take us backwards --  having reached a time where violence against the police has doubled during the first three months of 2016, and in it's more minute expression, an age of sitting during the national anthem on the sidelines of America's favorite past time.

More Heather:

"Given the history of racism in this country and the complicity of the police in that history, police shootings of black men are particularly and understandably fraught. That history informs how many people view the police. But however intolerable and inexcusable every act of police brutality is, and while we need to make sure that the police are properly trained in the Constitution and in courtesy, there is a larger reality behind the issue of policing, crime, and race that remains a taboo topic. The problem of black-on-black crime is an uncomfortable truth, but unless we acknowledge it, we won’t get very far in understanding patterns of policing."

You know, Colin -- if you care about understanding the larger reality of black on black crime -- you should consider reading what Heather Mac Donald has to say; matter of fact, I wish you had, back in April, perhaps then this whole phase might look a whole lot different by now, right?

And shocking! --  and surely, Colin,  you will concur -- is the truth of violent crime committed in America's 75 largest counties...From data compiled in 2009, Heather notes:  "blacks constituted 62 percent of all robbery defendants, 57 percent of all murder defendants, 45 percent of all assault defendants—but only 15 percent of the population."

and while this isn't a statistic anyone in the black community wants to talk about, the ugly truth of what's happening within the black community must also understand what the black community does to itself:

"Every year, approximately 6,000 blacks are murdered. This is a number greater than white and Hispanic homicide victims combined, even though blacks are only 13 percent of the national population. Blacks are killed at six times the rate of whites and Hispanics combined. 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 Hispanic male teens combined. Blacks of all ages commit homicide at eight times the rate of whites and Hispanics combined, and at eleven times the rate of whites alone."

So when Colin wants to have this conversation, can we include this reality hiding in the shadows on the field?

It is interesting that Colin -- with tats of Bible verses up and down his hot bod -- wasn't so vocal until he met his new girl.  A year of indoctrination by dating later,  the influence of a beautiful Muslim activist upon this all American football heavyweight  heart is showing. Ahhh yes, love, that explains it -- for the love of pete; Colin's love of country is all asunder, dying a slow death under the fog of real love, impressing upon him a certain and rampant oppression undermining the general welfare of blacks in America...all for no reason at all and totally unwarranted, it would seem.

And let's veer another direction, shall we?  It's just popular to hate the flag altogether.  When did that start?   hummm

indeed

circa 2008.  What I see is the president (then, merely a senator) being the only one not crossing his heart.  Can we talk about that?

With regard to the popular email chain that depicts the President speaking to the press without a flag anywhere close by, let alone right behind him, as customary (circa 2010)-- Snopes gives cover like so:

"Although it is typical practice that U.S. flags are present as a backdrop whenever the President of the United States speaks to the press or engages in other types of public appearances, such displays are not always present. Due to other factors (e.g., an event's nature, or its being impromptu, its being held at an unusual location) an opportunity to set up U.S. flag backdrops may be missed or skipped, or flags may be present but simply not visible in the camera angles used by photographers, so it's not hard to turn up photographs of the other recent Presidents referenced above addressing the press with no U.S. flags visible anywhere..."

and then proceeds to show some pictures to back them up.

Only problem is, in this scenario -- and any other press conference inside the White House -- there really is no excuse not to have a flag stationed behind the President.  I mean, how hard is that?  Why would the flag ever have to move from behind such a podium?

And then we have, from more recent days, what happened in New York, in the small town of Poughkeepsie -- fire department told to take the flags down, until the public outcry!  How is this even possible in America today?

And here's a fascinating change of allegiance....see infowars on PS75.  OR how about this new Florida law...here.

Something is afoot, America.

And looking high and low, it seems to be the American flag.

If working from the premise that dissing/removing all flags, from all countries guilty of oppression and wrong doing against its people, and perhaps casting a wider net to include all countries fraught with government abuses, deception, corruption against the general welfare -- starting with America --  is not only appropriate, but a mandate for political and cultural retribution  especially on behalf have racial injustices and inequalities -- then what flag in all the world would be left flying?  What flag would be left worthy of any salute?

In light of what is actually happening on the streets in America, where is the logic behind allowing the current strife within desecrate the flag as if it stands for nothing good at all?  Isn't that extreme?

When it gets down to it, isn't Colin capable of having this conversation, while he says he "loves America" and still salute the flag?  Why does he opt to go all in with showing his disgust, his disrespect, rather than his love?   Especially now -- now that's it's done, now that he's made his point, now that the conversations are happening all over the world -- why does he continue to hold out until he sees the change?

And NOW, folks,  we are back to where we began.

The thing is, just how do we get to resolution when we begin with the actual truth, the facts and stats, clearly conflicting with personal bias?

What does the change that Colin so badly wants to see look like, act like, if it's not the outright demand that all Americans behave themselves, no matter the color of their skin or station in life, whether wearing a badge or not?  Behave!

Wouldn't that be the answer?

Forget about the meme contemplating can we all just get along -- how about we all behave ourselves and go about our days simply doing the right thing for the right reasons with the right attitude.

Is that asking too much?

....that all of us in America just follow the fricken law and stay out of trouble from the start....to go to school and get an education...to stay out of gang life....to honor our mother and our father...to honor our children and be good parents...to only use our guns for self-defense, and only at the last resort, and keep our guns under lock and key and away from our babies...
don't drink and drive...don't steal...don't kill...don't lie -- and that goes especially to yourself...

yeah, let's begin by looking at the whole truth --  for the fact remains, the whole duty and responsibility to behave lies upon each and every one of us, to God and to country, every single day.

When we tackle that, we all win.

And then there is this parting thought....
This girl would have to believe that if Colin had trouble at his million dollar home, he would call the police, right?  But would they hurry or take their time now that he wears pigs wearing police hats on his socks?  hummmm


Well well well we have talked and talked today.  And what a conversation, right?
Thank you, Colin -- for if not for your actions, this little snap chat would have been about something else this week.  spring up, oh well!

happy friday, everybody

Make it a Good Day, G