Is it worth it?

The words stick in my craw: 3 yr and 4 yr olds from both city and county, a grant a process, latch key too, consider the advantages, accreditation from NAEYC, academic program, 5 years renewed, a 10- point check list - positive relationships, development of physical, mental and emotional faculties, efficient approach, assessment, fully funded, evaluations and testing along the way, compliance, nutrition and health between children and staff, qualified, certified teachers and staff, a safe, healthy physical environment and high quality service - a $35.00 fee on a sliding income scale, each year a study and surveyed of #’s and %’s for ... 116 kids?

Is this worth it? Millions of taxpayer dollars down a boondoggle? A community with a population base of approximately 30,000 with a government-funded grant to ‘run’ a pre-school program for 116 kids? I should ask why the $35.00 fee? But instead I dare to ask a sensible question - when will insanity inspired by liberals stop running this country?

Since an enraged, angry woman can never hope to achieve the White House, I must present my other face to the average American as I say "ME TOO. I too could lead this nation. I’m not an elitist, a politician a rich, power-hungry ego maniacal, out-of-touch bureaucrat. What will it take to get rid off all such waste and nonsense as the above pre-school program? My other face hopes and believes America can do better. We Americans can defend ourselves, pay our own way, raise our own children, educate ourselves as we advance in age and grace, take responsibility for our actions, put decency and kindness back on the front page of the book on daily living authored by God (of whom we are not ashamed) and put government intervention on the last page of the index when it belongs.

Have we advanced

Sanctimonious, liberal do-gooders choose to stone smokers to death who offend them. Their feelings guide them as they choose to deny individuals - 400,000 of them each year - their free choice to take their chances of dying from tobacco-related diseases. Smokers will, of course, eventually die from ‘something,’ immortality not being a fact of life even though pursuit of happiness is a priority of living.

Sanctimonious Louis Farrakhan and Reverand Wright claim to speak for all blacks robbing them of free choice by intimidating them to non-allegiance to personal responsibility and by encouraging racism. Rev. Wright says that Farrakhan’s voice is the most important of the 20th and 21st centuries. Why Louis beat out Marx, Lenin, Hitler or Stalin, each an influential spokesman for the Devil himself? Each, unfortunately, forswears the need for a higher power of reasoning and common sense. Rather, feelings are promoted as rulers.

The same holds true on college campuses today. Sex might be a yearning of the soul, but emotional not reason sells out to peer pressure and the temporal gain of casual hookups that destroy the purity and integrity of the soul. The yearning for sex can only be fulfilled by an accompanying romance with a man, woman or God; holding back requires reasoned behavior. The greatest loss - it seems to me - results from young people thinking casual sex is ‘no big deal.’ The real deal has always been the miraculous messages capable of being produced by the human brain, literally devoid of feeling.

Thought, immaterial in its essence, only rational investigation has advanced civilization. Yet, has civilization advanced? Do feelings still rule? How high has the higher power of man risen? Socrates, Aristotle, Augustine and Aquinas insisted that our rational faculty determine decisions, but today we have atheists and fundamentalists avoiding reason, championing emotional nonsense. Thought like character is laid down brick by brick over the course of a life. The character of civilization is laid down too like striations in rock built up over time. How far have we come? Farrakhan and Wright, liberal do-gooders and the sexual revolution - impede progress.

wright-hand man

Damned Reverend Wright How can Wright be so wrong? He’s probably damned for his evasions, politically motivated pandering and racist remarks defended in earnestness, the Devil’s favorite camouflage. He deliberately leads his flock astray through lies, misrepresentations and clever sleight-of- word propagandizing. Two unintended consequences flow from the promulgation of his hatred of America from the pulpit: patriotism clags in my arteries and pity finds its source in a worthy recipient. Rev. Wright is damned I fear, even though he was born equal to the task of righteousness in men from God. Who are "gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear..."? According to Henry Beston, wild animals. Rev.Wright’s gift screeches a different extra-sensory tune. His falsehoods and hate-mongering against white American history damn him to that one, true pit of Hell where Satan awaits his right-hand man.

Rogation days

One man believed that Germany’s crime of the Holocaust in World War II was the greatest in the world not on a scale of history but on a scale of evolution. The Nazis hoped to turn back the clock to a pure Aryan world. Their envisioned eugenics was planned out on both a human and an animal scale. To borrow some appropriate phrases from writer, Diane Ackerman, Nazis envisioned a "transmigration of sensibility" of which their advanced civilization could be proud. Their Holocaust required "slippages of self" of thousands of German soldiers, politicians and citizens from Hitler on down. It’s still appropriate then, April, 2008, to employ prayers on the three upcoming Rogation days - Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday - before Ascension Thursday. Traditionally, rogation is a solemn entreaty and rogation days are a time of supplication by litanies and processions preceding Christ’s Ascension, the fortieth day after the Resurrection, the end of the Christian Easter Season. Petitions for God’s mercy are still needed today to counter- punch atheistic evils of the past. Belief in God’s love like a frail thing with feathers was the only sustenance available to victims of Germany’s racist genocide; hope is the sole survivor of that temporary Hell visited upon earth.

Operation character

Rush, it’s time for operation character to replace operation chaos. McCain, Clinton and Obama present a Sisyphean challenge. Where’s the character? The integrity to refuse to consent to pandering, hypocrisy and the power of populism apparently overwhelms each candidate. Each humiliating verbal faux pas and all unrealistic proposals from the dynamic trio just make the success of operation character difficult and problematic. But what else is to be done? Primo Levi summarized this demand for integrity and character in the face of impossible odds at the Auschwitz concentration camp, when he wrote: "We still possess one power, and we must defend it with all our strength for it is the last - the power to refuse our consent." Conservative Republicans have no other choice other than to dissent to liberal socialism, to fascist proposals of Presidential hopefuls, to demeaning insults to our dignity as individuals, as patriotic tax-paying voters and as the few, the proud, the forever free.

combined advanced application

Pray tell, what is a "combined advanced application"? This phrase I recently heard uttered, seems compelling in its meaninglessness. The three Hindu deities Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva explain creation, preservation and destruction but do they have a combined advanced application? The tripartite candidates for Presidency, McCain, Obama and Clinton also explain some perverted sort of political creation, party preservation and destruction of democracy we know it. But combined advanced application? For whatever program, agenda, business or philosophy references combined advanced application - a prayer for sanity begs to be tolled.

SUNSET

Can anything surpass the setting sun?
The glowing scarlet ball when day is done?
Fixed beyond the despoiling, barking dog
And waste of 660 million fed to a lottery hog.
Sinking slow, a 15 minute Western show,
Whatever hush and peace I know,
Comes from staring into suspended fire
Temporarily bereft of any mean desire.

Safe proms

May maybe the month of safe proms, but safety isn’t good enough. No drugs or alcohol constitutes a safe occasion, but what about no sex? Rather than a safe prom, why not a moral prom? Haven’t you noticed that morality as a concept today only applies to smoking or global warming as moral issues? Say no to drugs, say no to drinking, say no to smoking, say no to fossil fuels, forestry and chemicals in foods, but say nothing about decency, modesty and chastity as virtues. The core problem is caused by the vestigial blots of 1920's and 1960's liberal feminism. Freedom to say yes to sex without the stigma of wrong, pervades our culture. Modern living puts the auras of respectability, acquiescence and non-judgmentalism upon bad behavior rather than simply calling immorality a sin. Elitism, political correctness and amorality are personified in Hellary Clinton whose followers and fellow travelers in the mind set and spirit of the 1960's, rationalize away immoral acts. At a recent rally in Ohio for Clinton, attended by TV star Eva Longoria, ‘old fashioned’ eats were not served. Yuppie comestibles - baby quiche, chocolate mousse and freshly squeezed lemonade - were the decor. They symbolize the surreal in liberal thinking. Give me an ‘old fashioned’ soup and sandwich lunch with a milkshake on the side. Give me an ‘old fashioned’ good girl.

Operation character

It’s time for ‘operation character’ not operation chaos instituted by Rush Limbaugh. Today’s primary pits two characters without character against each other for the Democrat nomination for President. Too bad it’s not too good. Chaos traditionally unfolded in the 1300's (14th century) in Europe when pillage, plague and oppressive taxation destroyed about 1/3 of the population at a level of civilization much depressed from our own today. Then in the 1900's (20th century) about 170 million died as a result of war, disease and persecution. What will the 21st century hold? Judging by the lack of content of character of Hellary and Obama, we are in for a rocky, wretched and oppressed ride (or should I say slide?) Pillage, plague and oppression from taxation and regulation would return. War, disease and persecution from politically-correct socialism would be revived. Moving from a cast of characters to characters who cast a long, enlightened and moral shadow presents the greatest challenge to our advanced civilization.

Our money's worth II

Thomas Jefferson said, "A wise and frugal Government which shall restrain men from injuring each other, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned." I have news for you liberal Democrats, Hillary and Obama, you are not Jeffersonian. Furthermore, the two candidates for President are not J.F.Kennedy Democrats either. The choices they offer to Americans represent extreme, elitist socialism from their perspective as arrogant plutocrats. What Jefferson hoped would be a middle-class Republic will be replaced by the rule of the wealthy, detached class. Don’t be fooled. Liberal Democrats love to tinker with the machinery of governing, always trying to improve the running gear to speed up the forward motion of the machine. Candidates like Hillary and Obama, as plutocrats, propose further burdens on taxpayers with higher taxes and additional mandates that repress our rights to drink, drive, drug, smoke, feast, gamble, borrow, spend, party, think or work. Etc. Etc. Etc. Use your imagination.

Eustache Deschamps, a French poet of the 14th century, was not wrong when he said that human beings are endowed with reason but they prefer folly. An ancient sage defined all fools as occupying but two distinct divisions, namely; the ‘fool’ and the ‘d----- fool’. But between the two extremes of fools there is another brood. It is the sensible man or woman who is "fooled" by politicians into believing that the liberal Democrat party cares to save the tax-payers money. These citizens prefer to let "big brother" take care of them even though they do not understand the ramifications of their preference. These people shun private investment in favor of governmental control. Can you believe that the savings rate in 1988 was 7% and today is only .4%? These citizens use the excuse that they cannot get ahead in these perilous economic times even though ‘hard times’ always seem to move forward relentlessly with each calendar year. The Democrat donkey not only aids and abets these citizens but also twists and turns his tail to swat every conservative or sensible gadfly that dares to irritate his grazing on American pastures. These citizens are fooled into believing government is the solution. Barack Obama’s gaff about bitterness and small town America merely reflects his true, elitism, his dream cycle of government dependence. He claims citizens become bitter about government’s failure to deliver happiness, turn to religion until times improve, return to the ‘dole’ for solace until government fails again, at which time religion beckons. Luckily, reality doesn’t operate this way.

When the liberal Democrats are in control, flubs are normal and progress is impeded. Here’s an example of Democrat mismanagement relevant today even though it comes from our past. In 1934, in the midst of the New Deal, the Postmaster-General Farley requested Congress to grant him $525,000 with which to construct a government plant for manufacturing Post Office furniture in West Virginia. A responsible and reputable Winton-Salem businessman wrote Mr. Farley a letter offering to turn over his already well-equipped factory in North Carolina to the government for only $52,500 and to pay out of his own purse the transportation expenses of 124 West Virginia miners who could be turned into furniture makers. Also, he offered to give his expert services in training these miners for a whopping charge of $1.00 per year. Practically forgetting the materials, he offered free of charge, 400,000 feet of excellent lumber. This private citizen’s primary purpose was not only to help the Federal Government save $472,500 but also to bring an enterprise to his home city in North Carolina. Well, what did Postmaster-General Farley do to prove his appreciation of this gentleman’s patriotic proffer? He simply filed the man’s letter. Why? He thought like a liberal Democrat convinced that only government could do the job. It should not be new to you that F.D.R. governed as a liberal, Democrat and plutocrat.
One must also be alert to the piffle and coded words that you hear from liberal Democrats. The word "gobbledygook" was coined by a Democrat Congressman in the Roosevelt administration in the 1930's to describe the convoluted verbiage used to confuse people and facilitate their assent to numerous, helpful governmental solutions to their problems. Invest is a code word for spend. Change means more taxes. Hope means give up the tough struggle in Iraq. Equality means that seat belts, helmets, condoms, food stamps, stupid, lead-laden light bulbs and compact cars are for everyone; guns, trans fats, numerous children, a smoke-filled room, sugary donuts and carbonated beverages are for no one. Sharing the wealth decodes as socialism. Diversity and multi-culturalism means enforced, politically-correct quotas. A vote for liberal Democrats won’t get you your money’s worth or your freedom to choose. Rather it will get you to gladly volunteer to donate more of your income to equalize opportunity (another coded phrase). I’m not hoping for this kind of change in America.

Our moneys worth

Eustache Deschamps, a French poet of the 14th century, was not wrong when he said that human beings are endowed with reason but they prefer folly. An ancient sage wasn’t either when he defined all fools as occupying but two distinct division, namely; the fool and the d----- fool. But between the two extremes of fools there is another brood. It is the otherwise sensible man or woman who can no longer believe that the Democrat party even cares to save the tax-payers money. Rather these citizens prefer to let "big brother" take care of them even though they do not understand the ramifications of their position. These people, at every turn, shun private investment in favor of governmental control. Can you believe that the savings rate in 1988 was 7% and today is .4%? They use the excuse that they cannot get ahead in these perilous economic times, times, by the way, that move forward relentlessly with the calendar and successive years. The political Democratic donkey twists and turns his tail to swat every conservative or sensible gadfly that dares to irritate his grazing on America’s pastures owned and operated by the government. Barak Obama’s gaff about bitterness and small town America merely points out the elitist dream cycle of clinging to government, become bitter about its failure to deliver, turning to religion until times improve, then returning to the ‘dole’ for solace until it fails again when religion beckons again...

When the Democrats are in control flubs are normal. Recently conservative leader Newt Gingrich brought to the public awareness the disaster in Detroit. Under Democratic control, with the help of the sympathetic teachers’ union machinery, the educational system remains fundamentally and hopelessly flawed. Decades of government oversight have left the system in shambles and thousands of children haplessly un-educated. What is most distressing is that local government continue to thwart attempts of good-intentioned citizens and a few visionary leaders to solve the crisis Vouchers for school choice are verboten. Waste is disgraceful. Newt singles out Detroit as an example of deep national problems of dependency and mismanagement needing bold solutions. Yet little is being done in other large, inner cities such as Philadelphia, Chicago, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, New Orleans and Chicago that play cards in the same suit as Detroit.

The problem is just not Detroit’s. Every American city and town faces the same challenge of resistance at some lever or another. Even though problems pop up like heads on the Hydra, we are still free to pick and choose our battles. We cannot and should not let history repeat itself to the point where great, inner cities or our wonderful smaller communities fail to serve our best interests. Here’s another relevancy from the past. The year was 1934 in the midst of the New Deal, and the Postmaster-General Farley requested Congress to grant him $525,000 with which to construct a government plant for manufacturing Post Office furniture in West Virginia. A responsible and reputable Winton-Salem businessman wrote to Mr.Farley a letter offering to turn over his already well-equipped factors in North Carolina to the government for only $52,500 and to pay out of his own purse the transportation expense of the 124 West Virginia miners to be turned into furniture makers. Even more, he offered to give his expert services in training these miner for a whopping charge of$1.00 per year. Nor forgetting the materials, free of charge, 400,000 feet of excellent lumber. This private citizen’s primary purpose was to induce the Federal Government to save $472,500 and at the same time bring another enterprise to his home city of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Well, what did Postmaster -General Farley do to prove his appreciation of this gentleman’s patriotic proffer? He simply filed the man’s letter - it just might still be filed away today. Why did Postmaster-General Farley file the letter? He was a progressive thinker, not a member of the working man’s proletariat. As a liberal Democrat he believed that government, not private individuals should make policy and solve problems. What if American leaders had "filed" away Thomas Paine’s writings believing that government could do the job better than the people?

Consider Michigan millionaire and philanthropist Robert Thompson, who in 2003 offered the city $200 million to build 15 Detroit charter high schools. He was rudely dismissed. The long list of private citizens attempting to reform outside of the Democrat political machine goes on but action has been taken on nary a proposal. Those who believe government itself can bring about proper change are fooling themselves. Former Republican Governor John Engler, who made Detroit school reform a priority, tried a 1998 school-board takeover and passage of legislation approving charter schools. At every turn, these reforms were met by intense resistance from intrenched unions and their Democratic puppets.

One must be alert to the piffle that you hear from Democrats. The world "gobbledygook" was coined by a Democrat Congressman in the Roosevelt administration in the 1930's to describe the convoluted verbiage used to confuse people and facilitate their assent to numerous and ongoing helpful government programs and solutions to their problems. Code words such invest mean spend. Change means more taxes. Hope means give up the touch struggle in Iraq. Equality means seat belts, helmets, condoms, food stamps, stupid lead-laden lightbulbs, no guns or Egg McMuffins or carbonated beverages for anyone. A vote for Democrats, won’t get you your money’s worth. Rather it will get you to gladly volunteer to donate more of it to equalize opportunity (another coded phrase).

Democrats love to tinker with the machinery of governing, trying to improve the running gear and speed up the forward motion of the machine. My bugbear regarding automotive freedom is the example of sobriety check points held occasionally around the nation. A recent, local effort netted one arrest for drugs out of 473 stops and 3 for alcohol. Ratios of 473/1 and 473/3. This initiative (another code word) obviously is a bad idea whose time has come that costs the taxpayers thousands of dollars paid out to law enforcement officers. Perhaps the city officials ought not to tell the drivers when and where the checkpoints are being held; of course, that would be counterintuitive to mandated political correctness from liberal Democrat principles of fairness. Isn’t this the epitome of tinkering with individual freedom by simply throwing a monkey-wrench into the cog-wheels of the machinery of living -to continue the automotive analogy?

Three faces of America

We became beasts lusting for blood and flesh. We were no longer normal, but abnormal. Indeed the abnormal and the normal. It was a hard life. We lived hard. We fought hard. We dealt in hard terms. Men called one another names that in civilian life, would have been insults. Soldiers swore going over the top, though they had New Testaments in their pockets and read them. Many died with curses on their lips...Mens wore who never swore before, men who taught Sunday School classes back home. There was much to make them swear. The atmosphere was surcharged with profanity. So spoke a Revered pastor of the fighting men in the fall of 1918.

Those who came had the will-power and the spirit to seek opportunity in a new world rather than put up with unbearable conditions in the old...those who came for that reason were superior in initiative to those, their relatives, who remained and submitted to the conditions...in addition to this initial superiority in initiative they had developed, and their children had developed, under a form of government and in a land of great opportunity where individual initiative was protected and regarded. (In consequence) we had developed a type of manhood superior in initiative to that existing abroad, which given approximately equal training and discipline, developed a superior soldier to that existing abroad. So said the U.S. commanding General in France, 1918, about pioneer and settlers who came to America.

Our nerves were mighty strained. We were crabbing about everything in general - hunger, cold and fatigue. Still, the last puff of a cigarette would be split up; the last bit of chewing tobacco was passed around; the last can of corned willie shared. You see, we were ll buddies. The canteen of water was passed around. The one who had water would be the last to drink and he sure would cuss at the fellows if they would insist on his drinking first. It was the same with the smokes or eats or what have you. God never could create human beings so unselfish, so devoted and so tender as my buddies. The beautiful memories of loyalty and comradeship still linger, memories deeply implanted in our souls. So wrote a Private Doughboy in the U.S. Army in toward the end of World War I, in 1918.

Three faces of America in a time of war - from a realistic pastor, from an idealistic general, from a dedicated soldier. Three faces for America to ponder in a time - 2008 - of peace.

Our ship of state

Here’s the question. Should we sink the ship to see the bubbles? The liberals have been weighing down our ship of state with ballast of over-spending on special programs, numerous grants, subsidies and pounds of pork favors. No wonder she founders. Some cargo is necessary, of course, for our ship of state to pay its way such as defense and infrastructure. But we cannot just sit idly by, cruising, watching porpoises play and whales spout and do nothing about the present state of maritime affairs. Our freedoms are being tossed overboard. Liberals like Obama and Hellary would be despotic captains. They propose further burdens on taxpayers with higher taxes and additional mandates that repress our rights to drink, drive, drug, smoke, feast, gamble, borrow, spend, party, think or work. Another freedom deprived rides on next wave when it comes to liberals doing their ‘heavy- handed work of navigating our ocean liner through turbulent seas. Most turbulence, unfortunately, has been manufactured by sympathetic sailors from the media, public education, journalism and elite universities.

Our ship need not be another Titanic. Conservative leaders, thinkers, writers, politicians, voters and citizens must become a Life Guard Squad to prevent our nation from dashing itself upon the rocks of liberal socialism. Liberalism’s goal is socialism’s goal - to equalize ability and ownership. Each passenger on the high seas must be equal to another passenger, both in seasickness and in health. We conservatives with common sense cannot rest in our deck chairs enjoying the view. We cannot allow our ship to sink. The cauldron wake of bubbles might be fun to behold, but it would give only an instant of gratification. So too would knowing that an Obama, delusional like a Captain Ahab or Hillary, authoritarian like a Bligh might accompany the ship to the bottom. Sinking the liberal ship to see the bubbles would cause more than an environmental disaster.

A labor of love

Briefly, liberalism is a religion, abortion is its sacrament and anti-Americanism its creed. Enthusiastic and committed to her God, an abortion doctor spoke about how her 20 year devotion to the cause "warmed her heart out," because hers was a "labor of love." A more obscene, violate and immoral lifestyle choice can not be imagined from a devil worshiper singing a paean to murder, blood and death, followed by a chorus to women’s rights and the quality of life. Amen.

Mad, bad or dangerous to know?

Obama and Hellary lie about their humble roots to garner votes. No rational cost /benefit analysis applies to $6000 for 5 intravenous injections for infants with RSV ( respiratory syncytial virus). Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, wants billions more dollars for food aid to the poor - wherever they may not be in America. Former President Jimmy Carter laid a wreath on the grave of the Muslim terrorist leader, Yasser Arafat. Food and energy costs are soaring due to the race to ethanol and subsidies to develop it. Pope Benedict XVI arrived on our shores to widespread acclaim and applause even though most Christians (and Catholics ) do not seriously practice their faith. $65.00 to mow a lawn under union rules is ridiculous no matter what liberal, political correctness dictates. Mad - America’s gone mad. Bad - some politicians and their agendas are bad. But mad, bad and dangerous to know? Like poet, George Gordon, Lord Byron, hands down, hands up, save us from Jimmy Carter.

80/20

Sometimes the 80%, other times the 20% are right. It’s tough for a rational thinker demanding data supplemented by moral principles to reach certainty of truth. 1. America only executes 43 criminals as opposed to over 400 in China and near 400 in Iran. (Of course, the Chinese number is higher). 2. Approximately 20% of Americans feel the gun laws should be less strict and THAT abortion is always illegal. 3. And then the statement: "Take every single dollar of subsidy out of the federal tax code. Get rid of it all... Let’s have a real level playing field where nobody gets a penny in subsidy." Where do Americans come down on this issues?

What percentage of Americans understands truth under the law that all men are created equal with inalienable rights to life, liberty and happiness? 1. America’s low execution rate results from 80% of the people wrongly believing that the death penalty- justly applied - is an unnecessary, cruel and unusual punishment. 2. 20% of Americans are morally correct about abortion and the right to bear arms but they have been overruled by the liberal, secular political correctness of this country’s politicians and judges. 3. Hillary Clinton joked about the feasibility of a fair tax system, but I’ll wager that 80% of Americans would disagree with her and favor a common sense rationale and just, unsubsidized tax code. Where do I stand? 1. 20% 2. 20% 3. 80%

Belial and Hellary

Hellary and Belial, Hillary and Barack whatever... The devil has come into his own. The devil has his two. When Barack addressed the Democratic convention in 2004, Belial tempted Christians in the desert we call America. He presented a false image of a divided America without direction. Belial (Barack) offered a whole, new, socialistic world on an appealing platter and deluded fools hopeful for change flocked to the tempter’s feast. I myself immediately recognized the appeal. But now that we are seeing Barack, naked and revealing his true, elitist and hypocritical nature - we should not be surprised. Hillary, on the contrary, has flown her true, progressive colors from the start. Is her devotion to Belial, which means "without worth", any more worthy of consideration? This week, a descendant of the original soldier crusading against the anti-Christ, Pope Benedict XVI, arrives on our shores. I am confident the Pope is aware of the Devil in our midst as the anti-Christ assuming many forms.

I am confident the Pope knows that when millions of people who are going hungry, it’s a crime against humanity food should be diverted into biofuels. I am confident he understands that the Islamic jihadists torture and kill infidels in their efforts to rid the world of infidels and replace the one, true God with their version of Allah. I am confident that Hellary and Belial, Belial and Hellary, Hillary and Barack, whatever... will eventually hear the words, "Begone Satan," from the Pope and from us Americans. For it is written God alone should you worship and love, not the false promises, hopes and policies of Lucifer’s minions in America.

Advise from Poor me

In the spirit of Poor Richard’s Almanac, I present foods for thought.

"When the gap between the ideal and the real becomes too wide, the system breaks down." Hint: The hope for change presented by Barack Obama and Hellary’s village to take care of the children and adults, represent gaps between their fantasy worlds and the practical.

"If you don’t change the cultural base, then if one form of despotism dies, another will emerge." Hint: Local and federal governmental control of our lives in the name of political correctness and multiculturalism could be pragmatically replaced by socialism just as a mafia often replaces a failed state.

"Profit measures success because it reflect peoples’ preferences. Hint: The greater the financial reward for a business, the more likely the common good is served. Oil companies that provide gasoline for cars, pizza parlors that provide convenience meals, NASCAR and the NFL (and pornography) that outsource recreational athleticism, will never be out of fashion.

"Penalizing the wealthy while giving the poor an excuse to be poor supports injustice for all. Hint: A 5% penalty for filing income tax returns late; a .05% penalty for not paying at all.

"Sharks only move in for the kill when they can taste the fear of their victims." Hint: Why did the Islamic terrorists feel emboldened to take down the twin towers, the Pentagon and a third target on September 11, 2001? Answer: years of appeasement and weakness in the face of a crusading enemy.

Charity and mental health might begin at home, but how long do they last? Hint: A nonprofit company pays up to $50 of adoption costs when people 60 or older adopt a cat or dog from specially selected animal shelters. Yet, no concern is given to what happens if the senior dies, tires of or can’t continue to care for Fluffy or Fido.

Millenial voters

Many Millennial voters, those born after 1980 neither know nor care about the past history of America. Gullible in the least, they believe Government will take care of them, global climate change is really caused by human activity and we can’t rid ourselves of dependence upon foreign oil without alternative energy sources. Many act as if unaware of the ancient values of self-reliance and personal improvement, knowledge of our planet’s history and sensible utilization of this country’s natural coal and oil resources. All would probably dismiss the fact that during the World War II in France, 1944, one million gallons of fuel a day were required to keep the army rolling. "My men can eat their belts," ‘blood and guts’ General George Patton said, "but my tanks have got to have gas."

TOO sad it is that the present generation of youth not only want to remain uninformed about reality but also want to turn the clock backwards to the days of the plantation overseers. Massa Jones’ power and privilege of dictatorship over the lives of his subjects can’t be dissimilar to the power and privilege Millennials are willing to concede to government. Happy days will not be coming again if the socialist agenda of liberals like Hellary and Barack heralds in a new era of slavery. Racism this time, of course, will have nothing to do with it.

Paradise on a platter

Politicians promise each American his dream. We have three colorful candidates still in the race for President who offer an extravagant dinner platter of benefits and aid. Candidates have and will continue to offer and promise more and more goodies beyond the current power and purse of government. Hillary and Barack claim higher taxes will pay for the feast. Once upon a time, when politicians made promises, a few men, of little faith, used to inquired timidly where the money was coming from. Such questions are now laughingly waived aside with the simple answer that we just put more taxes on the greedy corporations and the rich. It’s vital to our country’s health to remember that liberalism is based upon the unending expanse of government.

What about the wonderful dessert of the tax incentives that are in the mail in May? They will be distributed by a complicated rate payment scale that doles out greater portions to the poor and citizens who do not pay taxes. Wealthy individuals do not benefit. Thank goodness you say, I’m poor. But rebate checks are not the whole story. The promise of better things to come with a change of administration in Washington is deceptive because new programs will supposedly equalize opportunity and income but at the expense of taxpayers. If the Bush tax cuts expire in 2010, the personal income tax burden will be driven up by 25% - the highest point relative to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in history. Marginal tax rates will rise across the board, ranging from a 13% increase for the highest income households to a 50% increase in tax rates of the lower-income ones. The long-term capital gains tax rate will rise by 1/3, the marriage penalty will be re-imposed, the estate tax will roar back with a top rate of 55%, the child credit will be cut and the alternative minimum tax will affect 25 million more tax filers. Whew! Don’t think you’ll be excused from the smorgasbord table.

Promises from candidates keep being made. Mortgage rescues are already promised even though the housing crisis has evolved from bad credit loans and risky borrowing procedures. Our present mortgage crisis is both real and imagined. Education is covered because anyone can obtain a student loan with deferred payments. Utilities are assisted by HEAP for heating and cooling bills, and food stamps are available to households even with two working parents. Why don’t politicians also offer furniture, clothing, stoves and refrigerators, books and musical instruments along with their present presents to millions of people? Oh wait, we also have Community Action Commissions to assist with cooking and food preservation via appliance vouchers. Who will need churches and Goodwill Industries for clothing or furniture emergencies if the government provides backup? A congressional pork subsidy just passed now provides for free golf lessons ... you get the picture.

Be aware that politicians practice mushy thinking. The newly minted Ohio Easy Play lottery games perfectly illustrate this. Citizens are encouraged to have fun with Easy Play Lottery Games to "benefit schools" that have already been proven to be bureaucratic failures and financial money pits. And any linguist can translate the final words of Easy Play ads, "Play responsibly," into "gamble responsibly." The state legally encourages individuals to impoverish themselves while having fun as they finance government programs that alleviate the problems of impoverished citizens. Not to be undone in irony, radio ads also push a new program from Governor Strickland that encourages more people to save. Why save when the government gives?

Mushy- brained policies from politicians with the mixed-up magic of a Mephistopheles and the physical repulsion of a Medusa, show no understanding of laissez faire economics ( from the French let do) meaning let each person make his own way and do his own thing. Private enterprise produces, not government or bureaucracy. A liberal company like Starbucks won’t even allow the words ‘laissez faire’ on one of their gift cards. A liberal government under a Hillary or a Barack or even under McCain’s because of some of his economic positions, will stifle traditional American self-sufficiency.

The government cannot give anything to A without first or ultimately taking it from B. When a candidates say she will give federal aid to states or "not forget Southern Ohio," she knows that the federal government has nothing to give that doesn’t first come from the people. Yet the illusion of an urgency for government intervention is being marketed and sold to the public. Ask yourself how often your plate has been literally empty so that you must beg government for a chicken leg. Nanny Government is only going to reply, "Sorry my dear voting child, you must kill the chicken and bring it to me first." Now, we know the chicken is not really a chicken leg; all is not as it seems in politics, love and war. The chicken leg represents your laissez faire rewards in the form of money, self-sufficiency and ambition. Paradise is not served up on a government platter. There is no free lunch.

Yahoo or Houyhnhnm?

On April 9th, 2003, I saw American soldiers bring down the 20 foot statue of Saddam Hussein in Kirdos Square, Baghdad, in real time. Why did my heart leap up and my eyes well with tears? Why did my head not bob up and down with inner musings about "Can’t we all just get along?" Why did I feel more in sympathy with the "kick- ass," Marine or "good riddance to the butcher" Iraqis than the intellectually dishonest Yahoos otherwise known as American left-learning bobble-headed liberals?

Something’s wrong on one side as opposed to the other. As Bernard Goldberg puts it, "They’re not only arrogant, they’re also two-faced and delusional." GOOD THING I SELF-IDENTIFY. I self-identify with average Americans with a median income of $31,500. Liberals self-identify with the elites whose expense accounts are $31,500. Even if I possessed a $31,500 in potency, the act of dispensing it would test my integrity as a self-identified Houyhnhnm.

Bobble Heads

"It’s Bush’s war." Heads bob. "What has Bush done to end poverty?" Heads bob. " Man is polluting the environment and causing global warming." Heads bob. "We need wind and solar power to save us." Heads bob. "We need to tax the rich." Heads bob. "We need to take the profits from greedy corporations." Heads bob. "Racism still exists in America." Liberal heads bob in sync like a phalanx of bobble-head dolls. A conservative could get whiplash jerking his head from left to right signifying disbelief about the gullibility or denial of the liberal-left. Facts and reality don’t intrude for liberals; symbolic rhetoric always suffices to camouflage a socialist, big government agenda. And not just heads bob. Bodies jump on any bandwagon, the cause celebre of today being to protest China’s abuse of human rights in Tibet. Liberal bobble- heads are not like Rush Limbaugh’s ditto-heads who actually think. The liberal party line wags the dog. Liberal heads wag to any lie. TV, movies, music, comedians, magazines, newspapers, journalists and reporters share the nodding. Elitist liberals always know what’s good for the proles. "Government will do it for you." Heads bob. Heads bob, tails wag, bodies march in lockstep. Andrew Sullivan presents another perspective on liberal nods. "Only those (naked) elite armies of condescension keep marching on, their privates swinging in the breeze."

Thrice-golden gifts

"So let us melt, and make no noise,
No tear - floods, nor sigh - tempests move,
‘Twere profanation of our joys
To tell the laity our love." John Donne

"But none can approach the incomparable variety of wild beauty that is the heritage of this land - with its Yosemite, its Niagara, its Grand Canyon, its Old Faithful, its Carlsbad Cavern, its timberline gardens and deserts bursting into bloom, its Olympic forests and its ancient sequoias, its snow-clad peaks and all the teeming bird life of its coastal swamps. This gift of natural beauty is a rare and precious possession." Edwin Way Teale

"For the Communist there is no divine government, no absolute moral order, there are no fixed, immutable principles; consequently almost any thing - force, violence, murder, lying - is a justifiable means to the ‘millennial’ end ... I am convinced now, as I was then, that man is an end because he is a child of God." Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Paradise on a platter

Politicians promise each American his dream. The rich will pay for it so what’s the point of trying to be rich. What irony! We have three colorful candidates still in the race who offer an extravagant dinner platter of benefits and aid. Candidates have and will continue to offer more of everything beyond the current power and purse of government. What is astonishing given their premises, is that they stop where they do. Why not offer furniture, clothing, stoves and refrigerators, books and musical instruments along with their present presents to millions of people? Housing is already covered even though the housing crisis has evolved from bad credit loans and risky borrowers. Our present mortgage crisis - real or imagined - will not absent itself from the media airways. Education is covered because anyone can obtain a student loan with deferred payments. Utilities are assisted by HEAP for heating and cooling bills, and food stamps are available to households even with two working parents. How can life ever go wrong? Oh wait, we also have Community Action Commissions to assist with cooking and food preservation via appliance vouchers. Who will need Churches and Goodwill Industries for clothing or furniture emergencies when the government provides backup? If a government pork subsidy now provides for free golf lessons - you get the picture.

Once upon a time, when politicians made promises, a few men of little faith used to inquire timidly where the money was coming from. Such questions are now laughingly waived aside with the simple answer that we just put more taxes on the big corporations and the rich. This is how our ‘mush-for-brains’ government leaders think. The tax incentives that are in the mail for May only benefit the poor and many citizens who did not pay taxes. Wealthy individuals do not benefit. Thank goodness you say, I’m poor.

The newly minted Easy Play lottery games perfectly illustrate thinking from mushy- brained politicians that mixup the mental magic of a Mephistopheles with the physical repulsion of a Medusa. Citizens are encouraged to have fun with Easy Play to "benefit schools" that have already been proven to be bureaucratic failures and financial money pits. No linguist is needed to unravel the deception in the words "fun" or "benefit schools." Gambling is approved so the state can legally impoverish ignorant individuals (having fun) who they then can assist with government programs designed to alleviate poverty.

The reality is that we cannot distribute more than we produce. Total production - even American production - is limited only by the imagination. Laissez faire economics ( from the French let do) meaning let each person make his own way and do his own thing, produces results. Private enterprise produces, not government or bureaucracy. A liberal company like Starbucks won’t even allow ‘laissez faire’ on one of their gift cards. A liberal government under a Hillary or a Barak or in some cases, under a McCain, will stifle traditional American self-sufficiency.

The government cannot give anything to A without first or ultimately taking it from B. When the candidates say they will give federal aid to states or they will "not forget Southern Ohio," they imply that the federal government has nothing to give that doesn’t first come from the people (those who pay taxes). This is not the most important election in history unless Americans realize that their futures are at stake. The illusion of an urgency for government intervention is being marketed and sold to the public. If government promises, why shouldn’t we beg? Yet how often are our plates really empty that we must beg government for a chicken leg? Daddy Government is only going to reply, "Sorry my dear voting child, you must kill the chicken and bring it to me first." Now we know the chicken is not really a chicken; all is not as it seems in politics, love and war. The chicken represents your laissez faire rewards in the form of money, self-sufficiency and ambition. Paradise is not served up on a government platter.

A naturalis's proof of God

First, consider man’s cruelty to the animal. The horse–and-buggy era reveals too much cruelty. Also, the wholesale destruction of the wolf and prairie dog. Forty years of unparalled slaughter rid the plains of the great bison. But according to the naturalist, Edwin Way Teale, "In the whole revolting story of man’s inhumanity to feeling creatures of the earth, the record of the passenger pigeon forms one of the darkest pages."

Next, contrast nature’s beauty. Consider what Teale calls, "Nature’s eternal employment of what appeals to us as beauty for the attainment of her ends." He writes that "a week-old fawn may be the most beautiful of all the world’s beautiful and appealing wild creatures." Who can not agree encountering new innocence in spotted form viewing the world from behind liquid, brown eyes? W.H. Hudson contributes his opinion of the upland plover - "the mystery of that delicate, frail, beautiful being, traveling in the sky, alone, day and night, crying aloud at intervals as if moved by some powerful emotion, beating the air with its wings..."

How do we explain the chasm between nature’s beauty and what’s possible and probable in cruelty from men? Human beings are at a distinct disadvantage unless we utilize our higher power to ‘see’ beauty around us and act accordingly. Another naturalist, Richard Jefferies concludes that "the hours when the mind is absorbed by beauty are the only hours when we really live." When we ‘really live,’ we recognize the presence of God.

Affected brains

"It was really touching to see how hungry they were for tobacco. I never realized how much it could mean. I lit a cigarette myself, and remember it was more like eating something than smoking. The effect was so distinct as to be felt in the pit of the stomach. After a few puffs one felt the cold and damp less. Tobacco in times of great fatigue, annoyance, and nervous stress brings a slightly sleepy feeling of contentment and does not seem to lower the faculties much. It enables one to endure more." A peacetime comment, 2008 or a wartime observation, 1918? Words or sentiment compliments of Hervey Allen or my neighbor across the road?

"There is no man who is so totally absorbed by the present of another as the soldier. It claims all his attention and he lives from moment to moment in times of danger with an animal keenness that absorbs him utterly. This is a happy and saving thing. With time to brood, conditions would often seem intolerable. To the soldier, now is everything. It is in the piping times of peace and leisure that man has had the time to afford himself the luxury of an immortal soul.. When the present world is not engrossing enough, we begin to ponder on another." Words applicable in wartime France, 1918 or Iraq and Afghanistan, 2008, each conflict intended to preserve civilized men’s immortal souls.

How are we doing? 2008? Laws to ban smoking? Anti-war politicization? Wealth, narcissism and stupidity overflowing at Christie’s auction house when the gavel falls for the $14,000,000 sale of painting of A BALL OF TWINE, by Roy Lichtenstein? 2008? The Ohio Easy Play Ohio Lottery advertised without shame on the airways? It is a tax on the stupid, wasting money that supposedly benefits ‘failing’ schools but which in reality adds up to self-imposed financial waste along with an ancillary self-imposed credit card crisis. Both are caused by unpaid debt and perpetual spending. If tobacco hasn’t affected some brains and war has preserved some of our freedom, where have we gone wrong?

Match up what or who -

1. What hospitals lead in profitability in the U.S. because income has increased 8-fold to 4 billion dollars? What hospitals have struck it rich with a 77% rate of black ink on their balance sheets? As an example, what hospital has been able to install 1000's of art pieces, birthing rooms with flat screens and 10,000 feet of rooftop garden space?

2. Who is the leader in taxpayer funded subsidies?

3. Who is the 6th largest charitable giver on the planet and if one adds the family connection, the 2nd largest charitable donor on the planet?

4. Who said, "A leader is best when people barely know that he exists."

5. Who said, "The efficiency of a truly national leader consists primarily in preventing the division of the attention of a people, and always in concentrating it on a single enemy."

6. Who said, ."There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in the success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things."

A. Laotzu in THE WAY OF LIFE.
B. Adolph Hitler
C. Niccolo Machiavelli in THE PRINCE
D. Wal-Mart
E. Non-profit hospitals subsidized by with tax breaks by the U.S. Government
F. U.S. Government

1. E. 2. F. 3. D 4.A 5. B. 6. C.

After the answers have been matched up, you’ve guessed it - the U.S. government has perfected the art of a new order of things ( from Machiavelli) that theft from deception of the taxpayers succeeds because it focuses on the rich as the enemy of the poor (from Hitler). And Wal-mart, remains the unknown, unsung leader of charitable donations, the champion of the poor, the leader in the new order of capitalistic, entrepreneurial freedom whose enemy is inefficiency. Who would have guessed?

Welcome to the real world

A trip to the DMV reveals 2 cadaverously thin males (obviously smokers), 2 OBESE women (usually non-smokers) and a customer turning down status of "organ donor" on his renewed license (unfortunately due to ignorance ).

A trip to the local newspaper reveals the name of a newlywed Ri-Anna (yes, a female) and a newborn male baby, Hedieyah (obviously doomed ). Both names tell the life tales of parents ( in baby H’s case unmarried) and well as foretell their futures.

Then the front page news reports a 115 mile-an-hour car chase and a picture of a Sheriff’s deputy examining a facial laceration on the young, male criminal with dyed, braided blond hair, in custody after endangering a multitude of lives in 4 counties before being heroically stopped by smart police work. Death - not attention - should have been his only option.

But there’s more. A state-wide news story reveals that our Governor has unveiled an initiative to provide "free legal services" for homeowners facing foreclosure. Remember, nothing from the government is free because a ‘program’ first steals money from the taxpayers, i.e., citizens who actually pay taxes. But poster woman in the story (J.W.) did not pay. She ruptured two disks in her back ( don’t we all suffer accidents of fate? but then, when out of work, her mortgage rate was raised to $900. Eventually she was notified of foreclosure on her home. Why bother to mention that the devil is always in the details left out of every ‘tragic story.’ How long unemployed? Why no savings or rainy day fund? Why a mortgage unaffordable if out of work or at $900.? Why was the rate raised? How long did she live rent-free before foreclosure? Etc.
An editorial column decries the graduation rate for high school students across the country - 70% representing the average for those who ‘accomplish’ the feat in 4 years (some apparently take longer). Urban areas underperform the average. So do public schools in general in spite of the money pit of educational dollars.

A syndicated columnist exposes the destruction of a city, Detroit, by liberal governance. Case closed.

April 2nd, 2008 also is the day to commemorate the death of Pope John Paul II, 3 years ago. No, dear John, nothing’s changed down here. Yes John, even if you are robbed of sainthood, we still need your prayers.

Goood idea vs. baaad idea

A bad idea whose time has come always comes from the government. Every bad idea from the government for a program funded by a grant funded by taxpayers should be abolished. For example, after-school babysitting. The program’s goal is to "accelerate math and reading" for "certain students." What pray tell, does "accelerate" mean if decoded? I suspect the answer to be "teach the state-mandated tests to failing students." I know I’m right with the answer when I hear a teacher from the program admit the program teaches to the tests. What cost to taxpayers is reflected in a two and a half hour, after-school babysitting program for a mere 60 of 600 students employing a number of teachers and a tutor? The only thing parents (and we know there are rarely two of 2 of them) need to do is to pick up the kids at 5:30 before dinnertime. Dinnertime, of course, substitutes as a fast food on the go, a take-out or ordered- in meal, TV snacks or anything not home-made served at the proverbial supper table. After they have been provided homework time, recreation and healthy snacks, the children in grades 3 to 5, supposedly are free to spend more valuable, evening, family time at home. Want to bet? Give me a reality break. Is an expensive, tax-payer funded, supplemental school schedule for a few "special students" to "accelerate their math and reading", to provide opportunities for children to socialize and to eliminate the need to study at home a good thing? Nothing stops a bad idea whose time as come. Any idea of a program from the government is a bad idea, from free breakfasts to encouraging youngsters to get a "good sleep’ before national test days.

A good idea whose time has not come- comes from me. Eliminate all government "programs." Make the word "program" anathema. I’m thinking: food stamps, HUD, welfare, HEAP, Medicaid, WIC, after- school program, etc. Why not add any subsidy, political "ear mark", tax break, pork subsidy, employment counseling program or employment compensation program? Why not go whole hog and cancel ethanol production and the pursuit of alternative fuels, turning research and development of any "program" over to the private sector or a charitable organization? Gone would be $300,000 taxpayer dollars for a program to teach students golf. Gone would be the government soliciting food stamp recipients in a time of plenty. I know why when these recipients are solicited in New York, Denver, Los Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego, Chicago, Philadelphia, Raleigh-Dunham, Albuquerque and Miami where a majority of Mexican immigrants have settled. I’m sure these immigrants came to America with the good idea that they will work to earn a path to success.

What they see is a government that has nothing but bad ideas which they implement. Hard-working, responsible taxpayers are s.....d.

What is to be done? About Grace’s future religion (should she have any? ) and future education? Having just celebrated your 2nd wedding anniversary is it now time to decide to prioritize issues in your family’s future? Congratulations for the not letting your brain die by asking important questions. Is Sam #1? Does he make the final decision if the two of you cannot agree? Is Grace #2 and her future important? How important? If you love both Sam and Grace what is the best course to follow? So far, taking care of your child as a mom has been the right thing. Right? Think Kevin who pleases himself 1st each day, each year ( today’s crisis still being the vibrating furnace and a 15 min. conversation with Tom).

Should you find God or an organized religion? Do you have the GUTS to ask the question? Do you have the courage to try to answer the question as if it were important? Have you concluded that the question is stupid? Perhaps like Lauren. Lauren has just disappointed herself and us with her recently revealed operation. Are there truths you have the guts to seek?

Ambrose Bierce, a cynical, iconoclastic writer of the DEVIL’S DICTIONARY, defines organized religion as "A daughter of hope and fear explaining to ignorance the nature of the unknown." Is this a positive or a negative statement? Bierce raises the issues of the hope of Heaven, fear of Hell, the choice to willfully remain ignorant or the search for the truth for a God who is knowable or forever a mystery. Who has the courage to try? What is to be done?

The Anglican church is no longer a religion. The public schools deliberately indoctrinate secularism. The Catholic Church is an organized religion. RCIA classes introduce and inform parties interested in Catholicism. Islam is taking over the world. It exceeds Catholics in members now. Contrary to what Lauren believes, Tom and I do not preach, do not say do only what we say and believe. Tom and I ask you and every human being to seek the truth of what is the right thing to do. Do not do as we do or have done or say, but seek what is the good. Tom and I as realists do not ‘dream’ that one child be our ‘only hope’ of being Catholic.

Judgments can only be formed from experience - as in politics. What experiences do you choose? For Sam for Grace? Experience is the best teacher because it revolts against indoctrination. So .. What do you want for yourself, Sam and Grace to experience as you proceed through life? What does Sam want? Shouldn’t the course be a joint one? Should Grace have ‘every opportunity’ in life? What does every opportunity mean? Go for the best, God’s church and education therein, is my advice. But it takes guts.