It's a Modern Spin on Commerce, Merchandising, and Write Off's Thing

Dear America,

isn't this rich.

[ooooh wait, but first, let me interrupt myself; you see, G's a bit hung over from the late night last night... so it may begin sounding a wee bit punchy; hopefully, things will mellow like a good whiskey over time; just don't write me off too soon that's all.   So continue, please]

isn't this rich.

Obama getting jiggie with David Letterman on the Late Show, talking smack about Romney:

"if you want to be president, 

you gotta work for everybody--not just for some."

no shit sherlock.

and guess what -- Romney wasn't speaking in the context of leading the nation, separating Americans from one another and delineating who he will represent once in office -- ONLY YOU do that.  He was breaking down the numbers on getting elected, and logically admitting that 47% are locked into the other side.

Besides the fact that he was speaking in front of  his donors, when candidates are simply more candid anyway, ergo a little more loose lipped --  aw, you know what I'm talking about, as you very well do the same thing -- it wasn't about how he would govern.

The truth of the matter is, Romney understands what he is up against.  Any rational mind would agree, 47% of the population IS spoken for and will not budge.  In simple terms, that 47% are those who believe in what Obama is selling: redistribution.  The other half -- believe not in a man -- but in America, and all that she stands for, without shame, regret, apologies, or anything having to do with fundamental transformation.

And what about you -- 

[the one who spoke with such disdain about the Tea Party? ?   

um calling all of us "teabaggers" -- 

a rather derogatory term, 

I might point out, but then, you knew that.
no matter, you wrote us all off anyway.]

But I guess you really don't listen to Romney very closely -- considering his entire message throughout his campaign has been one of lifting ALL of us up [not just Hispanics, not just Blacks, not just women wanting free contraception, not just single mothers, not just illegals, not just green energy environmentalists, not just the uninsured....].

Romney's goal is to get all of us working.   His vision is embarking America upon a new era -- one that encourages business to grow and expand and hire new people, one that sees America back from incredible unemployment, and one that returns America to a path of prosperity and exceptionalism and respect around the world in every way.   Unlike your ideas:

"I think the trick is figuring out how do we structure government systems that pool resources and hence facilitate some redistribution,” he said, “because I actually believe in redistribution, at least at a certain level, to make sure everybody’s got a shot.”   Barack Obama, 1998, just starting out in Chicago

and all just part of your master plan for fundamental transformation in America...

The taped comments made by Romney were from May, for  Pete's sake.  Mother Jones and your campaign must have had a field day figuring out when to drop this little tidbit into the laps of the American people.  Wow.  Would I have loved to have been a fly on that sleeve.  But here's you with the Davester--

[after I got elected, I said to all those who didn't vote for me] 

 "I hear your voices.  

I'm gonna work as hard as I can to be your president."

oh is that what this last four years was all about? that's funny.  cuz I'm not feelin' it.

So is this YOU honestly working for everybody?  Is that what you're calling this?

Cuz, here's YOU during the last campaign:

"And it's not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations," Obama said -- writing off over half the nation!

Sure, so I guess your "fundamental transformation" is coming a little bit slower than you imagined -- we're still clinging to our guns and religion, now aren't we.  But let's let that sleeping dog lie.

Mr. President, in one way or another, you have spent the last four years attacking the business creators -- those who put up the risk and leverage their entire lives until such time they might see a profit.  How many people is that?  Is it greater than or less than 47% of the country?  Whatever the number -- you unapologetically have written them off.

"if you got a business, you didn't get there on your own."

"you didn't build that."

During the health care law arguments in congress, the Chamber of Commerce was one of your largest opponents -- due to the adverse effects of your law becoming yet another bureaucratic entitlement small business owners had yet to deal with.  But let's keep going down that country road:

How did your administration decide to respond to religious liberty being taking away -- in order to fully implement provisions of the Affordable Care Act, specifically with regards to contraception and women's health mandates?  

Oh that's right.  You wrote them off. Religious institutions, colleges, hospitals --- all of a sudden nobody could keep their conscience.

Heck, these comments -- while having a good old time with Dave -- are such a joke.  I'm sure they will get into Dave's top ten shows just because you were there...

But there you are -- yucking it up with Dave -- ridiculing Romney's arrogance -- when in fact, the entire country knows that you turned down a meeting with Bibi Netanyahu, chosing Beyonce, Jay-Z, and Dave over tending to your foreign policy issues.  Israel is like two shades close to toast and you turn down our greatest ally?   Excuse me?

It's like you have already written off the entire nation of Israel, beginning with Bibi,  with, like, no regret.  

Romney's got nothing on you.

You have got some kind of b-balls.

And you're such a kidder...all laughin' and shhh

But let's keep going on this master list of "the top ten things you have written off" of your very own, shall we?

• Congressional Due Process -- as you use Executive Order to fundamentally transform America
• "the Good War" in Afghanistan -- don't hate, it's your words
• Cutting the Deficit by half before the end of your first term -- the deficit when Bush left office was just shy of 500 Billion, you have tripled it instead.
• Conservative Women -- you believe Sandra Fluke speaks for all of us....BIG mistake.
• Following a BUDGET of any kind -- even going against the recommendations of your own Simpson/Bowles Debt Commission.
• and just recently -- Free Speech -- well, some free speech, anyway...only when it hurts the feelings of Muslims; only when it's the Right rubbing you the wrong way.
•  Off-shore Drilling off the United States -- these days, you only approve of drilling off Brazil -- walking back all that rhetoric about "all of the above."
• Coal Mining -- simply too many regulations to make it work.
• the 1% -- to you, those greedy bastards of the one percent should be hung in the town square. 
• I can't even continue; it's making me ill as we speak.  Oh and speaking of as we speak, I am pounding out a few of these ideas while our president is at yet another fundraiser -- it followed Letterman for a little late late show appearance, flashing his smile and collecting donations. 

Don't let Romney's clarity regarding who's in and who's out in his quest to BEAT YOU get in the way of common sense.

When Romney gets elected come November -- he will be a  president that truly believes in America -- uniting all Americans to one cause:  bringing America back to the shining city upon a hill with a job at the foot of it.

After all,

"We are indeed, 

and we are today, 

the last best hope of man on earth." 

Ronald Reagan, 

January 25, 1974, 

The Shining City Upon A Hill

You know, kinda sorta totally unrelated, I have a fascination with the early roman culture.  Thomas Moore, who wrote The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life, takes an entire chapter establishing the relationship we have with our work through the times.  And I'm feeling a sense of deja vu here, so if you have heard it before from me, mea culpa --

Beginning with a quick study on the Medici family of the fifteenth century Florence, Moore reminds us

"This was a brief period when money, work, civic life, the arts, and religion came together to vivify a community, and in spite of political upheaval, widespread disease, and other problems, the culture came close to establishing an enchanted, soul-centered way of life.."

Going on to explain words we use today, like "commerce" and "merchandise," he traces their meaning all the way back to the Latin merx -- which is linked to "the Roman god Mercury, who was widely known as the divine patron of commerce..."

get to the point G -- 

 "It may be difficult for a modern person to imagine a society in which business is considered a sacred endeavor, or that one could pray to a patron saint of commerce.  If it is difficult to do so, then maybe the problem is not with the audacity of some other culture to find business holy but with us, who have secularized most of life, including and especially anything having to do with money and goods."

So without any further adieu, sound the trumpets...

Romney believes in business; Romney believes in America; and if anyone can, he may very well embody this soul-centered connection between these two worlds.  And  -- now going out on a short limb up a tall tree --  perhaps he has prayed about it, too (probably not to Mercury though...that would just make one, or the both of us, sound nuts).

And yet Obama -- Obama seems to write-off big business, profit, Wall Street, Investment, at least every other day -- if not by the boot to the neck, but by nudge by nudge, to force us to replace capitalism and the free market with redistribution and the nanny state.  And while he may speak highly of the small business owner, he still doesn't understand what happens in the day and the life of the typical mom and pop organization (having really never worked a real job in his life) -- especially being on the receiving end of more regulations, tax changes, new health care mandates, overwhelming bureaucracy.   So much for the magic and enchantment of owning one's own business, right?

Money and profit, commerce and merchandise, is not evil; I mean, heaven's to Betsy, its what makes the world go round.  just look around you...

Put to good use, it can change the world, rebuild communities, and create real wealth.  This is nothing new.  But with regards to our country -- America is the first time it has worked for so long, and remains the "oldest continuing republic."

And continuing now with a thought from Reagan's 'Shining City Upon a Hill' speech:

"You can call it mysticism if you want to, but I have always believed that there was some divine plan that placed this great continent between two oceans to be sought out by those who were possessed of an abiding love of freedom and a special kind of courage."

What seems to be missing in America today seems to be the soul itself; living our lives from a place of reverence for whatever it may be -- our work, our family, our talent, our aspirations, our community, our faith.  We have perhaps secularized too much.

Pulling from Reagan's speech once more, it will take a man with true courage to stand up against "the atmosphere, the strain, the debate, and that as men for the first time face the consequences of such an irretrievable act, the walls resounded with the dread word of treason and its price -- the gallows and the headman's axe....sign the parchment..."  and poof...fifty-six men signed it: that would be our Declaration of Independence.  [read Reagan's entire speech today, if you will...it is just so good.  so good]

Reagan was spot on when he said this:  "We have distributed our wealth more widely among our people than any society known to man.  Americans work for less hours for a higher standard of living than any other people."   well, again, that was 1974.  And how about that, some parts of the world have caught up to us.

The thing is -- America has provided an atmosphere of wealth building and 'redistribution' through capitalism since our birth.  Only one man running for the office of the presidency sees this opportunity for what it truly is.  Only one man recognizes the kind of freedom and soul-centered connection and courage the American marketplace needs right now in order to prevail as a nation -- as a republic, no less.

That man is Romney.

Freedom for everybody only comes about under the true economic freedom from capitalism; for when combined with the Rule of Law, and equality under the law, we get to a place everybody can win.

One of the main points in Reagan's "shining city" speech, was to the glory of our Constitution, and what makes America all the wiser.  He notes, most countries have "constitutions" [they sprout up kinda like roads and bridges and Internet...badump ba]  But what sets us apart -- is that written within our Constitution -- our rights do not come down from the government on high, but from our Creator.  Thus considered unalienable; we become proud owners of such an honorable birth right right from the start.

It is up to all of us then to find our one true north, kindle the spirit of commerce and productivity that is within each and every one of us, equally and widely distributed.  Rich or poor, we all got it.  We need to connect to each other and into this pool of creativity and find our place in the world -- to work, to play, to earn a living and enjoy the fruits of OUR labor, much like the era of the Medici, and certainly not from the labor of somebody else.  This is what gives us a pure sense of who we are and what our purpose under heaven may be.

The business of being and living and prospering in America is alive and well as long as we tend to the daily maintenance protecting such freedoms, such opportunity, such abundance and not take it all for granted.

Final thought -- and it's from Reagan once again -- but it might as well be Romney:

"For the second time in this century, capitalism and the free enterprise are under assault.  Privately owned business is blamed for spoiling the environment, exploiting the worker and seducing, if not outright raping, the customer.  Those who make the charge have the solution, of course -- government regulation and control.  We may never get around to explaining how citizens who are so gullible that they can be suckered into buying cereal or soap that they don't need and would not be good for them, can at the same time be astute enough to choose representatives in government to which they would entrust the running of their lives."

At least Romney hasn't written off our founding principles and good judgment; at least Romney respects the mind-body-wealth connection between commerce and community; at least Romney hasn't written off the fact that this nation was founded upon rights endowed by our Creator -- not government.

Romney hasn't 'written off' anyone when it comes to leading this nation back into prosperity, Mr. President.

And for you, of all people, to vilify a simple comment taken out of context -- one that was clearly  and rationally separating the electorate as to 'what's mine, his and ours' -- with your track record?  Your audacity is certainly the eighth wonder of the world.  There is not a late show long enough to get through the list of slam-dunk write-off's coming out of your presidency.

You got on with Dave acting more partisan than ever.  Yeah right, Mr. I'm "going to work as hard as I can to be your president."    well you can stop that now.  take a load off.  after writing me, and many more things, completely 'off' for the last four years  -- let me speak for all of us when I say we have had enough; but tune in next time, when we review your top ten list of things you should NOT have said; you know, the things you have said, or contributed to, in the reckless divide of the people, spinning this country into further chaos and depression.
 
But you wanna know the really good news -- in about  fifty days we get to write you off.  Hope Beyonce and Jay-Z and Letterman were worth it.

Make it a Good Day, G

It's Felonious Against the Free Market Thing

Dear America,

just because the president's speech in Roanoke was so stunning:

"There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me -- because they want to give something back.  They know they didn’t -- look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own.  You didn’t get there on your own.  I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart.  There are a lot of smart people out there.  It must be because I worked harder than everybody else.  Let me tell you something -- there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.  (Applause.)
     If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help.  There was a great teacher somewhere in your life.  Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive.  Somebody invested in roads and bridges.  If you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that.  Somebody else made that happen.  The Internet didn’t get invented on its own.  Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.
     The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together."

Make no mistake; this is not a voice of an American who truly understands America and how she was made  -- let alone a president.

Please read every single word from the official White House transcript on the day, just go here.

repeating his first point:

"There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me -- because they want to give something back.  They know they didn’t -- look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own.  You didn’t get there on your own.  I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart."

read it again and catch yourself up at the point where he stops himself for full effect..."they know they didn't -- look, if you've been successful, you didn't get there on your own."

HE even repeats it:  "you didn't get there on your own." 

and then the digger chimes in:

"I’m always struck by people who think, 

well, it must be because I was just so smart."

are you serious?

"If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help.  There was a great teacher somewhere in your life.  Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive.  Somebody invested in roads and bridges.  If you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that."

HE doubles down on the individual not getting there "on your own" and takes it two steps further, saying "if you've got a business -- you didn't build that."

It's so offensive, it's hard to imagine it came out of the mouth of our president.

"So we say to ourselves, ever since the founding of this country, you know what, there are some things we do better together.  That’s how we funded the GI Bill.  That’s how we created the middle class.  That’s how we built the Golden Gate Bridge or the Hoover Dam.  That’s how we invented the Internet.  That’s how we sent a man to the moon.  We rise or fall together as one nation and as one people, and that’s the reason I’m running for President -- because I still believe in that idea.  You’re not on your own, we’re in this together.  (Applause.)"

The real Barack Obama has been cultivating this moment for four years; the collective mentality, the socialist agenda, the progressive paradigm, has been rooted in his every move; and his followers and believers are eating out of the palm of his hand.  The end justifies the means. [The end being the end of the Republic of the United States of America]

right.   so you, Mr. President, Al Gore, and our incredibly gracious, smart, charitable government created the Internet and Mark Zuckerberg and his facebook owes it all to you.  Every business operating on the Internet owes it all to you -- the face of the USA today.

you know what ---- you should just go ahead and plant someone at the helm of every Board of Directors from coast to coast.  what's stopping you?  But let's continue to digress --

"if you've got a business -- you didn't build that." 

k. so to carry HIS line of thought backwards -- are you taking equal credit for all the failures, too?  Fair is fair, right?


I wonder just how many businesses have not made it over the last 236 years?  How many have gone belly up just in the last four?  so --  perhaps Mr. President, you might also say  -- 'if you've got a business that has gone under -- it's not your fault -- it's ours....no, no, let me be more clear...it's my fault.'

wow. now wouldn't that be some kind of refreshing.


But in all seriousness, this president of ours has absolutely no respect for the American Free Market, the naked, now walking aimlessly in the woods, capitalists that we are and intended to be.


Being not of the business world whatsoever, leaves this president vulnerable in every way [just wish Romney could jump on this aspect a little more often, perhaps even with a little of his own business bravado showing....a girl can dream a little dream....].   did you like that? isn't Zooey just wonderful.  guess she owes her success to Obama too...

But this president seems to be missing a major attribute contributing to one's success, and the ability for a company to even get to the level of turning a profit.  And that being, SOMEBODY took a risk first. And from another angle.... even the greatest of actors can have stage fright.

There are no guarantees in a free market.  None.

All ideas start from the individual, at the widget stage; the hope, the dream, is to multiply and expand that one widget -- whatever it may be -- to make something bigger from something small. 


But this president has the audacity to say to every successful business person/company/corporation -- you didn't do it without the collective making it so.  Did the collective risk anything when mr. mom and pop opened the deli with collateral saved up after ten years, a loan from family, or after mortgaging their home?


Even Ray Kroc opened up with just one store.


It's this kind of disconnect that disturbs me.  But this president actually gets away with feeding his audiences ignorance and false truths on even the most basic of free market principles; and all the while, driving a wedge between the haves and the have nots solely to stir a collective uprising large enough to open the door to a second term.

I heard something surprising this morning on talk radio -- Mike Slater, on KFMB 760 San Diego, asked his audience which chain has the most stores.  Most of us would automatically think Mickey D's, but nope, that wasn't it.

The answer:  Subway.  25,000 stores.

So here they are, holding onto the number one spot in number of locations, and yet they rank 36th on revenue share.  That's why they are constantly wrestling with the task of growing a customer base...offering special deals, bringing in professional athletes to help sell sandwiches, starting a marketing craze with the five dollar foot long, and things like that.   The drive to please it's customers -- provide the service and value at a price the customer is willing to pay -- is a continuous challenge.   

This pressure never sleeps.

This is what the president fails to recognize.

Somebody risked something with an idea, made the investment through begging and borrowing, and then continuously does everything in his power to stay in the game, to stay in business, with absolutely no guarantee to double the number of stores, employees, profits, let alone multiply it by 25,000 or a million.

and it doesn't stop there -- as once somebody turns a profit, they can afford to buy things, even make other investments, create a charitable foundation, maybe even go on a vacation...

America wants to grow millionaires and billionaires.  That is who we are.

Not because we are all greedy bastards -- but because we have something inside us that feeds our ambitions, both charitable and in business; and ultimately, in a perfect world, we want that something to be able to support a lifestyle, our own individual pursuit of happiness -- whether living large or small.  It is entirely up to the individual.

Smart, dumb - rich, poor - honest, corrupt - ambitious, lazy ---- we could go on and on -- it all boils down to the character within and how we invest in ourselves.  

In America, the only thing that prevents the individual from rising out of the shadows remains inside the individual.  Time and time again, the 'poor child' from 'the other side of the tracks' has transcended from their own predicament and stature in society; and time and time again, the rich kid from the upper east side can fall to pieces by simply having too much too soon.  More often than not, however, most of us seem to make it or break it somewhere in the middle.

This speech performed by our president is repulsive in so many ways.

We have much more to say about all this, but this speech, THIS SPEECH -- sounds totally unamerican, really; it -- this speech -- just might be of the felonious nature against this great country and especially our free market. (and no, I'm not apologizing for that).

Make it a Good Day, G

It's a Tale of Two Very Different People Thing

Dear America,

"That’s why I’ve called on Congress 

to take the money we’re no longer spending 

at war, 

use half of it to pay down our debt, 

and use the other half to rebuild America."  

President Obama

weekly address, Saturday

that is fresh, isn't it?

yeah, remember when he said ...before the end of my first term, I will pay down the debt by half?

yeah, and remember when he said, during his first campaign...if I am elected, I will go line by line eliminating wasteful spending?

Now, my last few entries here in G land have been preoccupied on the business of being a mom, the thankless job that it is, you know --  including the unending pressure to raise decent human beings under the umbrella that is simply recognized as "mom" --  having had the conversation kicked off and forced upon us by the ridiculous commentary coming from Hilary Rosen, attacking the 'wealthy mom' as personified by Ann Romney.

Now, eventually we got down to brass tacks, contrasting the family budget with that of the federal government's.

But all in all -- much like today's anti-male "hidden agenda" in advertising -- we left 'the other half' pretty much out of it.

And, as you can well imagine, this little oversight got me thinking...no, stop, go back G, stop thinking....

so Welcome. 

Mi Casa es Su Casa

 ...oooh, wipe your feet now...

oh never mind, 

it doesn't seem to matter

anymore

Let's pick apart the family scrapbook with something I like to call:  Tradition Is as Tradition Does.

Let's begin with a popular belief.  They say that when marriages don't make it -- one of two things is usually at the bottom of it:  Money or Infidelity.

Given the track record, it seems quite plausible America is heading for quite an ugly divorce; and it's gonna get messy.  Not only did the shmuck lie to us about "going line by line" and "cutting the debt by half"  -- we can't trust him farther than we can throw him.

And believe me, we've talked about it -- over and over and over again.  It's all we argue about.

And now listen to him -- "[I asked Congress]  to take the money we are no longer spending on war, use half of it to pay down the debt, and the other half to rebuild America."

That's like saying, "honey, take the money you were gonna spend on the Citibank Card (at 40% interest) and pay down some of the debt we've accrued on the Capital One Card --  and then, let's take the Bank of America card and pay for some repairs around the house."

And just how do you think it goes down?

Picture this:  the little wife turning to him, saying, "I'm done.  I just can't do this anymore."

yeah, Mr. President, that is ripe.  When running, on average, over a TRILLION dollars in debt each year -- you really think the American people are gonna keep buying this garbage? 

Hello.
America is no longer bringing in enough bacon to cover the expenses -- across the board -- whether it is in love or war.  It all works out the same way.   But feel free -- go ahead -- add up all the wealth of the top 1% -- forcing them to turn over even their designer blouses and dresses -- IT STILL WOULDN'T BE ENOUGH!  

Mr. President:  YOU SPEND the people's MONEY as if it grows on trees. [See also, the old bag blog on  The Giving Tree day.]  now talk about rehashing the same old thing, time and time again...

People really don't change.

We elected an American president -- with every page of family history confirming it along the way -- who came from a Socialist mom and a Marxist dad and a Muslim stepfather and Socialist grandparents in Hawaii and mentored by Socialist/Communist community organizers far and wide.  He studied the Law -- specifically Constitutional Law -- in order to change it.

Redistribution is the way his garden grows.  Government corruption and control comes naturally.  Energy production and distribution, managed by the State, seems downright feasible.  Recreating the tax structure to penalize wealth -- discouraging self-reliance and taking away any and all motivation to risk, invest, and higher educate, to create jobs, opportunities, and expansion in every stretch of the imagination -- comes easily and without any regrets.

Spending money he does not have doesn't even remotely sound foreign.  It's as if he says to himself, 'well I said it, so it must be true...'

Just look at us now.

It's as if he doesn't even realize we are saying two different things, speaking two different languages, living in two entirely different homes and dreams.  Just another tale of two people, in two cities, in two widely different America's.  Who knew?  Changing our traditions and holidays was just the beginning...

He's absolutely nothing like I thought he would be. [actually, that's a lie -- ]

Make it a Good Day, G

Thank you, Michelle, you're right.  We ARE "gonna have to make sacrifices, and change the conversation..."

It's Round and Round with Hard Work and Fair Play Thing

Dear America,

"The economy is getting stronger.

 The recovery is speeding up. 

And now is the time to keep our foot on the gas."  

President Obama

speech to the United Auto Workers 

today

 going full throttle, he goes on to say this:

"We will not settle for a country where a few people do really well, and everyone else struggles to get by. We’re fighting for an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same rules. We will not go back to an economy weakened by outsourcing, bad debt, and phony profits. We’re fighting for an economy that’s built to last – one built on things like education, energy, manufacturing things the rest of the world wants to buy, and restoring the values that made this country great: Hard work. Fair play. The opportunity to make it if you try. And the responsibility to reach back and help someone else make it, too."

Is this really a country where only "a few do really well, and everyone else struggles to get by?"

seriously?
cuz, when I think of a country like that, I envision a place more like Africa, India, Russia, Afghanistan.


Our "poor" live with televisions, mobile phones, access to fresh water and toilets and refrigeration -- and food stamps...lots and lots of food stamps.

If you care to read the full transcript of the president's speech, go here.

"Restoring the values that made this country great: Hard work.  Fair play.  The opportunity to make it if you try.  And the responsibility to reach back and help someone else make it, too."

It was worth repeating.

When I think of a country like that, I envision a true story turning into a movie like The Blind Side -- the African-American boy taken in by a warm, loving Christian family who guided him with the endearing values our country was made leading the way: to work hard... play fair... to try... and when you finally make it, to reach back and help someone else...(becoming a star NFL football player with a humble, grateful, HUGE heart)

What is confusing to me is that the president can't have it both ways.  He can't tell people to do their fair share and work hard and play fair, if in fact in the end, he intends to redistribute 'the shares' anyway.  He can't instill free market principles, while holding 'a few' hostage in order to hold up 'a few' who struggle.  He can't tell everyone to do their fair share, except you....and you...and maybe you, too.

It's not like Obama turns to Hollywood and tells them, everyone must be paid the same rate.

It's not like Obama turns to his buddy Jamie Dimon, the CEO of Chase Bank, and tells him he is being paid too much, asking him to share his good fortune evenly among his tellers.

It's not like Obama turns to his community organizer counterparts over the years, like Andy Stern... and when president of SEIU... expected him to be paid a salary in step and "fair and square" with the SEIU union workers who labored underneath him.  Which, by the way, all unions are top heavy within the upper echelon and paid handsomely, flagrantly askew from the average union worker.  What's fair about that?

He is talking to the audience of UAW as if his work is done and it is good.

But here's another angle from The Morning Bell.   Featured this morning from The Heritage Foundation:  How Chrysler Can Actually Help Detroit.

The freedom to live in a country honoring the Right to Work -- a founding principle and value on multiple levels -- is the answer for nearly all of our economic woes.   The freedom to start at the bottom and work up.  The freedom to earn millions of dollars for acting, in banking, in community organizing, in auto making...It is all connected to the inherent ability for all of us to WORK HARD, play fair, and give back.  We all start at entry level jobs and do our best to aspire to bigger, better opportunities.

What troubles me is the handpicking of winners and losers of industry; what concerns me are the exceptions being made for some millionaires and billionaires in a few businesses, while villain-izing some millionaires and billionaires of others -- while also making it sound like the 1% give nothing in return.  WHICH IS A LIE.

But this yahoo! headline says it all about today's mindset:  Are the Rich Unethical?

[G note: given human nature, my belief is that the rich are no more unethical than the poor...for it always falls back to the individual, of which we cannot generalize....for that wouldn't be fair, now would it?] 

But this president seems unable to make the appropriate free market connections to how the whole thing works (the whole thing, as in the WHOLE of America); the free market must be free -- and, like he said, it relies on HARD WORK, playing fair, and a whole lot of trying from everyone.  The equal opportunity does not always equate to equal outcome in a free society.

And the thing is, in order to succeed in manufacturing anything -- there will always be a need for the upper echelon of presidents and vice presidents and chairmen and investors (those who put up the money in the first place and take the initial risk), along with the inherent need for secretaries, janitors, with plenty of worker bees on the line (those who simply show up and work hard and play fair and get a paycheck with benefits).

Is this really a country where only "a few do really well, and everyone else struggles to get by?"

Look around you.  Let's be real. Who is selling who the snake oil this time?

Make it a Good Day, G

Here's going off on a totally whacky tangent -- I'm surprised the president hasn't criminalized racing this week....NASCAR, Formula One, Daytona, Indy, all of it.  I mean, you know, given the gas crunch, given the inequality of distribution of winnings isn't fair, given the abuses to the environment, given his relationship within the race car world is pretty sketchy, at best, all the way around....think about it.  Why hasn't he waved the red flag and brought down the whole sport altogether, considering the averages of 5/mpg and the clear and present danger of wasting away our liquid gold at a rate of 200,000 gallons/year, just to cover NASCAR races alone?  Think about it.  It's a good question.  Did you see what happened yesterday?  Fuel, burned, by the tanker full.  What a waste.

But just to be clear: I'm playing.  I love car racing. Go Danica [oh this is funny -- just looked her up real quick to check the spelling of her name and discovered we share a birthday...the kicker, we are twenty years apart!  I hate her now.   makes my head spin just a wee bit.  need to lay down...]

It's a Demias Jimerson Rule Thing

Dear America,

oh my word, TGIF!


G just heard from someone near and dear to her heart -- after thinking I lost her for good.

Wow.  How things, feelings, moods, can change in just an instant, no?

But THIS isn't about that.

Until this very moment my heart has been heavy.  And not without real reason --

between the ceaseless, reprehensible attacks against those of us akin to the hearts and minds and solutions of the Tea Party Movement...

between the strange surge in attacks against Christianity through sweeping cultural changes by legislation and regulation to the desperate, rogue attempt after a well meaning 'bless you' following a sneeze...

America's loving, compassionate, tolerable pulse --  most often exemplified by our widespread and prolific Judeo-Christian heritage, through the teachings and philosophy built upon universal values and principles passed down to us from the pillars of great civilizations far and wide (Jerusalem, Athens and Rome) -- is gasping for air.

and then along came an eleven year old.

just makes a heart melt, doesn't he?


"God, grades, touchdowns."  In that order, the reporter sums it up.

this is the age of redistribution of the wealth even on the football field.   The establishment must curtail the natural ability to blow the competition away, and restrict the number of touchdowns this pee-wee football star can make.  It is more fair this way, they say... you know, for the other players who are less talented and less able to do what Demias Jimerson can do.

but just get a load of this kid's response....is that not beautiful, or what?

But little did we know (until today) what we thought to be the latest version of a Mao Rule, a Marxist Rule, a Lenin Rule, a Che Rule, and currently morphing into a made for the twenty first century, Buffet Rule -- has yet another household name for easy brand recognition:  The Madre Hill Rule.

We are so obsessed with making things "fair" for everyone (or is it controlling everyone), we are now making overt requests to dumb ourselves down, calling for refrain, based upon a brand new premise for fundamental transformation, that being: everything NOT equal.    Get it? in direct opposition of the foundation laid out in our Declaration of Independence.  But I digress.

How about we get a grassroots action committee together to emphasize "The Demias Jimerson Rule" ?

Go big, little pee wee, go big!  Score -- as many times as you can; for after all,  football is a sport --  and more than that, it is a competition!  why should this little guy hold back?  Somebody find him a sponsor...

Oh. Right.   He's already beholden of the Highest and Best Sponsor known to man:   The Almighty Rule [made little man and personified by name as Demias Jimerson].

AND    I     DARE     one of his teachers to come out and tell him he can't praise his Lord. I would be first in line for that ticket.

Besides this day already showing signs of a revival...with the reuniting with a soul sister -- this Demias Jimerson story just makes my heart sing even more.  It's enough to think it just might carry me into the weekend and back to a maudlin monday morning with a certain lightness of being ... just in case I had any residual doubt still stirring.

Make it a Good Day, G

AND speaking of some  old  commies, I mean, going on the offensive --

read THIS...
oh okay, Van Jones... "you're going to see an American fall, an American autumn, just like we saw the Arab spring. You can see it right now with these young people on Wall Street. Hold onto your hats. We're going to have an October offensive to take back the American dream and to rescue America's middle class."

wow.

It's a Coolest Ride on Earth Thing, man up

Dear America,

happy tuesday.
hang on, everybody. it is gonna be missy g's wild ride again this morning; I can just feel it.  pop a Dramamine if you have to, grab a friend if you are a wee bit scared.  we will get through this. together.

It is all about Nation Building.  And don't blame me, the president started it.  If he truly wants to go there, then let's go.  Invite us all to the show, right.  Or am I the only one left hanging on for dear life on this very phrase?


The way I see it, much of what the president says gets glossed over by the mainstream -- it is as if his rhetoric is strutted around, in front of the paparazzi, sounding good, looking all-American, and all -- and then poof! there is nothing on the inside to back it up, while all in all, nobody really cares.

He might say it, but there is no follow through in the real world; and even the free market reacts -- with goosebumps and shivers -- wondering what in the world the future might bring -- just where are we going with this.  Everything is up in the air; with a stream of unknowns clearly monopolizing on the day, taking over our every move, hindering all constructive thought.

And we are, for maybe the first time, living in a sea of doubt, just riding the waves.  feeling powerless...something has a hold of us, and we aren't even sure what.  we can't even describe it, we just know we don't like it and never want to be in this position again.

But how can I do this, if I don't know that?

Truth is, we hopped on this whirly twirly roller coaster all on our own volition. Sure, I personally didn't.  Maybe you personally didn't.  But as a group, we all decided that this was the ride -- and fair is fair --  the majority wanted this ride, so the majority wins.  and if you don't like it, then that characterization has already been decided for you, too -- you are either a wussy or a racist, take your pick.

The thing is, we shouldn't even be having this conversation on "nation building."   The founders set us up to protect us from ourselves from the start.  They gave us the warning signs, they enumerated our powers, they read us our rights, they presented our inherent duty - to God and to country - of exactly what it would take from each and every one of us to survive.  They handed over absolutely everything we should ever need to take the right course of action -- in order to protect, defend, and illuminate our essential liberties.

How absurd is it, that we find ourselves these days, defending our first document -- our first Emancipation Proclamation, if you will -- from Great Britain.  How is that even possible?  How dare the modern, progressive, uber-liberal, left wing loons tear apart the engine, piece by piece, and replacing it with anything and everything that runs counter-intuitive to the process of the way this nation, and it's construction, intended.

For if they get their way, we will never make it up the next hill.

From The Heritage Foundation, a beautiful explanation of just this one facet of our heritage, comes from Kim R. Holmes, Ph.D., saying:

"This principle of “inherent” or inalienable rights outside of and despite government imbues our Declaration of Independence and invigorates our Constitution. Since our founding, these important documents provided the basis for our social order and American jurisprudence. They have guided our struggles to overcome slavery and discrimination by race, religion, sex, or birth. And they have guided our engagement abroad.

Yet this principle of inalienable natural rights—fundamental rights that government neither creates nor can take away—isn’t the same as the thoroughly modern idea of “human rights.”

Although both are universal, natural rights most emphatically do not come from government. Government only secures these rights, that is, creates the political conditions that allow one to exercise them. Human rights, as popularly understood, are bestowed by the state or governing body."

This girl, considers Kim Holmes - a boy, by the way - to be nothing short of brilliant.  His entire post, How Should Americans Think About Human Rights? captures the intrinsic value of understanding CONTEXT of country --  as we have only just begun to have that conversation here on G thing just yesterday.  To read more from Holmes -- and I totally recommend an afternoon taking it all in, go here.  Your American spirit will reach such splendid heights, you will never want to leave it behind again.

 But just in case a good read is not in your timetable this morning, let me leave you with this, from Holmes:

"...natural rights, being natural, do not change over time. All men, at all times, have had the same right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Human rights, on the other hand, constantly change. A whole cottage industry has sprung up to advance a bevy of new “economic and social rights” conceived of, defined by, and promoted by activists, governments, and international bureaucrats.

Many Americans are unaware that these manufactured rights are not the same as the natural rights endowed by God or nature. What are often called “human rights” today are social constructs. They either sound like high-minded aspirations—equal rights for women and minorities—or like trivial and harmless concepts such as the “right to leisure.”

These concepts are in fact neither high-minded nor harmless: they are fundamentally incompatible with the Founders’ understanding of natural rights."

Good government -- one that stayed out of the people's way -- relied on each on every one of us to be a good citizen, of sound mind and body, engaged, educated, empowered... to do our part.  That triple E section there was an ode to my new best friends @ Smart Girl Politics.  I am three days in and love, love, love this place to let it all hang out, one conservative girl to another, infiltrated with a few best boys, too. Check it out.

But back on the main line, nearly every debate -- from Debt, Deficit, Entitlement, Gay Marriage, Energy, Church & State, Civil Liberties, Human Rights, International Relations, Medicare, Libya....-- can be course corrected and resolved when proper context and direction is applied.  All of it.

What we are experiencing in America can quickly be defined as revolutionary redistribution -- a redistribution of wealth, a redistribution of rights, a redistribution of liberties, a redistribution of duty, a redistribution of shame, guilt, obligation, happiness, anger, apathy, control, power, even the fun factor...You see where this is going?  Once a government begins the path of redistribution, what is to stop it?  It is a moving train, barreling over the freedoms and liberties of someone else.  It is as simple as that.

While the irony is, the more we break from tradition -- in our so-called progression -- the more we get in our own way.  Full stop ahead, folks.

UNLESS...

unless we remind ourselves of that revolutionary experience that happened so long ago.

We can ride that wave again and again; getting more sure of ourselves as we go along.   Think of it like, the Fair's in town, and it never really goes away.   But like all really cool rides -- you, me, everybody -- need to be tall enough to deserve a spin; which, in revolutionary terms means -- we have to know what we are talking about, we have to spend time growing up a little, we have to understand the meaning of real strength, real honor, real integrity in motion.  We have to become part of a group, in unwavering agreement, to get on in the first place -- and to know the ride.  Be the ride; to live the language and demonstrate our ability to keep up -- for the betterment of not only ourselves, but each other. (man up, nobody likes being next to the kid who spills his cookies, right?)

It is not so much about the right to get on, as much as it is the duty to defend each and every seat, as your own, as connected to the whole, in order so that we might not only survive -- but thrive in it, revel in it, in pursuit of happiness in it.  c'mon, take my hand, it will be so much fun.

Make it a Good Day, G

PS and you know...one of the greatest things about riding the Revolution is that, things may twist and turn, we may even get totally upside down and slide backwards...it may even seem like revolution after revolution after revolution... but eventually, we stop, and right side up.  dizzy perhaps.  but boy, do we have a story to tell.

Dear America,

THE PRESIDENCY BY NUMBER

twenty percent of Americans lean far left

oh looky here, twenty-two percent of Americans strongly approve of Obama; while 45% of Democrats strongly approve.

and to the other side...forty percent of Americans strongly DISapprove; while 71% of Republicans strongly disapprove.  For Indy's, sixteen percent strongly approve, with 39% strongly disapproving.  Overall, 46% of Americans "somewhat approve," with 52% "somewhat disapproving."

53% say repeal Obamacare

60% say the economy is getting worse

59% say drill baby drill

61% say any child born to an illegal immigrant should not be an American citizen

and filling in the final number with a glaring sea of seeing red, a whopping 70% say they DO NOT LIKE the direction this country is headed.

Even with a strongly LIKED president, as a person, if the election were held today, the numbers say ANY GOP candidate could take it. Consider Obama up against a man who hasn't even officially thrown his name in the hat; against Trump, the johnny-come-lately with freakozoid 'birther' tendencies, the president garners a mere 49% of the vote, with The Donald taking 34% -- and nobody even thinks he is running!

All the while, the sitting president must be shaking, having entered campaign mode with a vengeance this past week; general civility and statesmanship is already muddying the waters -- as true colors rear their ugly head -- certainly, behavior unbecoming of a commander-in chief, a new world order humanitarian, peacekeeper and diplomat, with a side of international man of mystery, no?

The White House, just yesterday, "rebuked" recent comments from a famous preacher, Franklin Graham. From the briefing room, Carney said,  "I think it's unfortunate that a religious leader would choose Easter Sunday to make preposterous charges."  What were those "preposterous charges" pray tell?


responding to a question citing the Trump connection and the birther fixation, Graham said,

"The president, I know, has some issues to deal with here. He can solve this whole birth certificate issue pretty quickly...[responding to further questions]
...There are many people that do wonder where he really stands on that. Now, he has told me that he is a Christian. But the debate comes, what is a Christian?...
For him, going to church means he's a Christian. For me, the definition of a Christian is whether we have given our life to Christ and are following him in faith and we have trusted him as our lord and savior.
God is the only one who knows his heart."

I'm not seeing any judgment.  I'm not even seeing any mean spirited self righteous boasting.

As Carney decries the claims, like geeze guys, look at him...

"The president took his family to church in a very high-profile way to celebrate Easter"...
"I think it was highly visible to most Americans. And he, as a devoted Christian, he believes it's a very important holiday for him personally, for his family and for Christians around the country."

hasn't anyone tooled him on the art of a making a defense without sounding defensive?  didn't Carney walk right smack into the message Franklin Graham laid down  --

...it's not about the show
...it's not about perception
...it's not about "[taking] his family to church in a very high-profile way," you nimrod!
...it's not about making one's faith so visible it could poke your eye out.

True faith is a silent celebration and reverence to the Most High; the authenticity of one's true faith can only be seen and judged by God, only in relationship with Him, as in "God is the only one who knows his heart." 

What did Graham say so wrong?  Why the rebuke?  Passing no judgment is grounds for a presidential rebuke now?  and even the whole birther thing...all Graham did (just as Trump) was redirect the interest back to Obama to settle the debate once and for all...as far as the mix of faiths in Obama's history -- it's just fact.  He is being led by what Obama has proclaimed to be his own truth, written in his own words, in his own book.  Obama clearly admits that he has commingled his religions too -- his Christianity and his Muslim faiths have each taken sizable turns with the brush of dominance in his life -- and where it stops nobody knows (so under Robert's Rule of Order, I, second the motion: "God is the only one who knows his heart").

But back to the rebuke:  what is the big deal?  why the defensiveness?  IF the goods are there, if there are no issues, the long form birth certificate with the I's dotted and the T's crossed will settle everything.  Get it and be done with it.  UNLESS, you want to continue to riddle the right with ridicule for a reason, as if it serves a purpose; UNLESS, in fact the long form paints a different picture from the defensive declarations coming from the genuine article itself -- giving way to a reality nobody should ever lay eyes on -- there is that.

The only reason the president is not settling the debate is that this display of who's calling who ridiculous still works to his favor -- poll wise -- that is, if there was a poll illustrating such.  Deep down, Obama believes his own invincibility, that he is winning the future every time a birthing question gets thrown out on a whim and a prayer; it perpetuates the injustice against him for no rhyme or reason; it makes the right look foolish; it invigorates his base and reinforces the organization for his re-election.  We walk right smack dab into it. and the cycle goes round and round.

You know what's funny...now that Obama is in full campaign mode a year and half from the voter's box...where is one of his first stops?  Northern California, to entertain a billionaire sixteen times over and still four years away from thirty -- facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg. So the "self-made millionaire" himself, Obama, begins his march against the rich facing one of the richest young bucks in the nation, if not the world.  Interesting.  The web of hypocrisies is astounding...did you catch that, there in the light of day?  the contrast is beautiful, isn't it?

You know, the president has all kinds of wealthy followers -- people who have made bank in the naughty capitalistic free market experiment going on here in America; let's bring out all the colors of the rainbow and draw up a short list:  Zuckerberg.(16 Billion net worth)...George Soros (carrying a net worth only around 14 B's), Warren Buffet (62 B's), Oprah (mere 3 B's) ...Bill Gates (56 B's)...Arianna Huffington (hardly worth counting @ about 100 million)...you get my drift...lots of wealthy wealthy friends (listing the big O was the closest thing we got to Hollywood...)

The greatest number to fear in today's election cycle is the mounting debt; a debt in which the IMF, as of just yesterday, declared, that in less than five years, if we don't make a course correction, we are gone.  gone baby gone.  bye bye miss american pie.  as there would be no point even calling each other names and taking sides, for america would be made in china for the rest of time.  But, knowing this, even if you added up all the numbers, took every last dime from every single heavy hitter, deep pocket, High-Baller from coast to coast, we would still never have enough to pay down this debt (and not even close to counting the 50 Trillion in unfunded liabilities and entitlements, of course).

The thing is, with everything there is a yin and a yang; there is always light and dark at play --  truth and lies in what we say -- good and evil intermingling with the every day.  The only thing we do know for certain, is there is always a proportion of yin and yang within all that we see, everything we do, taking into account all that is seen and unseen, whether we agree with it, approve of it, believe it, or dismiss it altogether.  And for believers, only God knows what is in our heart; only God sees what we cannot see.

which should give us all the more reason to pause and check ourselves in the day to day -- are we being honest?  are we being loving?  are we honoring our mother and our father and the people we love with our whole heart?  not because we have to but because we want to, because deep in our heart we know that this is what God wants..  Are we treating each other fairly, and with respect?  are we leading by example in our best way possible?  are we living in peace, if only with our children and our neighbors and our community in  which we live?  are we trying to communicate openly and without judgment, are we trying to solve the mounting issues coming from a place of virtue, civility and courage?  how do we emulate the character and qualities we want our children to embrace and imitate?

It isn't so much the wealth that is the problem, is it Mr. President?  You can't tell me the generosity of strangers who support the communities and charities that keep children alive, who protect and care for families far and wide, who give of themselves, as well as their hard earned money -- you can't tell me that  this money isn't working on the side for Good. Wealth is not evil, just as a gun is not bad; it is what we do with it -- it always gets back to the character deep inside the individual...something we cannot see for sure...something only God knows...

As you are well aware, Mr. President, as Christians we believe in the Ten Commandments; one of them goes something like this,  "You shall not covet thy neighbor's house....wife...ox...donkey....or anything that belongs to your neighbor."

By all accounts, redistribution of wealth by the numbers does not sit well with the people; but when you get right down to it --

and I could be wrong about this...

being it's not for me to judge and all...

but it would appear, in a very big way...

...this fundamental transformation thing you got going on here by way of social justice by way of redistribution of wealth by way of robbing the rich to give to the poor by way of punishing the rich for taking all the risks by way of stifling the natural urges to reach the depths and breadths of our very own self-reliance and experience a world made with our own two hands and be able to stand back and look upon it and say, wow. that is good and be joyful -- actually goes against the word of God.

but again, God is the only one who knows for sure; and that, along with the poll numbers, we can take all the way to the bank and back.

Make it a Good Day, G

and didja know this?  78% of Americans believe Jesus to be the Son of God (still).  Truth. Light. Love. it's a good day.