Liberty for all

The son of his Private Secretary of the Admiralty, summed up Churchill’s political philosophy. "The key word.... is liberty. ... He demanded for himself freedom to follow his own star and he stood out for alike liberty for all men."

Another of Private Secretary, ‘Jock’ Colville, in 1969, called Churchill the "greatest man alive."

Another admirer, Captain Scott, gave Churchill credit for the two necessary qualities of greatness, "genius and plod."

But a baroness contemporary off Churchill said: "Winston was wrong about everything."

Winston himself through both pen and performance proved that he was mainly in the right. Those who felt the same as he did about the enemies of Communism, Fascism and socialism he faced were also correct. Churchill told a friend, Leo Amery, that evidence of God exists because of Lenin and Trotsky "for whom a hell was needed."

Liberty to express one’s beliefs, liberty to live them out, liberty engendered in the garden of Eden - liberty today in America has brought us two dynamically opposed candidates for President. The fact that Churchill inspired enemies does not negate the fact that he was usually right. Yet 25% of voters choose to exercise their liberty by not seeing the Lenin and Trotsky in the room. "Give me liberty or give me death," might the death knell of America as we know it if Barack Obama takes charge.

Today's lesson

The lesson of the day: Virtually all politicians are corrupt. Greed drives too many political beasts especially at the national and state levels. Nevertheless, a choice must be made for President. Character, vision and competence ought to be brought to the office of President of the United States, according to an analyst of past Presidents. When this analyst assessed Heads of State over our history by a 30 point scale based upon how he conducts foreign affairs, pursues an economic policy and preserves the liberty of all citizens - Abraham Lincoln comes out on top. Many long revered leaders fall down a few notches from grace. What do we know about the two Oval Office aspirants today, Barack Obama and John McCain? Character, vision and competence? The former has none; the latter much. But when his policies are implemented, will Obama or McCain stand for proper pursuits in foreign affairs, in an economic policy of free markets and in the just preservation of free choice for citizens? Again, Obama no; McCain yes. McCain’s flawed thinking on some issues like global warming will, unfortunately, out of necessity, need to be overlooked when it comes to November. Presented with the choice of an empty suit topped by a head that speaks for a purely socialistic, liberal party or a well-traveled politician, Americans will need to trust that McCain can remain uncorrupted.

Obama's no Churchill

Reflecting on the celebration in Trafalgar Square on Armistice Day, 1918 at the end of World War I, Winston Churchill wrote:

"Too much blood had been spilt. Too much life-essence had been consumed. The gaps in every home were too wide and empty. The shock of an awakening and the sense of disillusion followed swiftly upon the poor rejoicings with which hundreds of millions salute the achievement of hearts’ desire. There still remained the satisfaction of safety assured, of peace restored, of honour preserved, of the comforts of fruitful industry, of the home-coming of the soldier; but these were in the background; and with them all there mingled the ache for those who would never come home."

Churchill’s suggestion for words on a French war memorial after World War I were :
In War Resolution
In Defeat: Defiance
In Victory: Magnanimity
In Peace: Goodwill

Churchill also wrote, "Short of being actually conquered, there is no evil worse than submitting to wrong and violence for fear of war. Once you take the position of not being in any circumstance to defend your rights against aggression of some particular set of people, there is no end to the demands that will be made or to the humiliations that must be accepted."

Does America today stand behind a great leader with character, compassion and foresight? Or will she after this November’s election? We are on the threshold of actually being conquered by liberal, leftist, politically correct, pacifist, obeisance. The reign of Obama would do nothing to reflect Winston Churchill’s eloquence and leadership, but everything to contradict his philosophy of national exceptionalism.

Too many fish

Shooting down Obama’s gaffs and flip-flops is as easy as shooting fish in a barrel. Shooting down his unrealistic and irrational statements is as easy as aiming at him from six foot high twin towers appropriately symbolizing his hypocrisy. His profound ignorance and megalomaniacal greed for political power are being dismissed by his liberal, socialist and media supporters becaue he is Messiah of change (change meaning liberal politics as usual but more extreme). He has stated that school choice "benefits some kids at the top while leaving a lot of kids at the bottom." Vouchers serve to help not the top students, Barack, but those disadvantaged by public education at the bottom. The first rule of survival when a liberal speaks is to assume that the opposite is true. Saying that McCain just uses "tired rhetoric about vouchers and school choice," plays into the hands of teachers’ unions and liberals who want big-government to control school curricula as they waste incremental amounts of taxpayers’ monies. Obama has chosen to send his two daughters to private school which costs $15,000 to 20,000 a year ( for grammar school and high respectively). They will be raised as the next generation of liberal elitists who will know nothing about the real world and choose not to live in it.

ABCD

Firefighters and police should receive an ABCD award, perhaps a badge or a certificate or something appropriate for men and women who put their lives on the line for what mostly are unworthy recipients. California firefighters might better serve the state of ‘fruits and nuts’ by letting it burn to the ground (or better yet, slide into the ocean via an earthquake). Police might better serve big cities with their criminal elements by letting gang members and druggies exterminate each other. But no, both serve "Above and Beyond the Call of Duty." They risk their lives to save - I prefer to think - trees and creatures of the wild, and streets, yards and alleys, for the enjoyment of law-abiding citizens. The first letters of the alphabet, not the last four fit the award because firefighters and police are our first line of defense against natural and unnatural killers. My kudos to firefighters and police who should have no problems with self esteem.

Starry, starry night

After he heard the learn’d astronomer explain the mechanics and meaning of the universe, Walt Whitman penned these perspicacious words: I..."looked up in perfect silence at the stars." Biking for exercise while dying (Randy Pausch) or biking as the ultimate challenge while living ( Kathy Roche-Wallace) reflects a choice that, co-author of Pausch’s book, The Last Lecture, Jeff Zaslow, believes was made by an "optimist, realist, scientist." Both cyclists could have used a dose of Walt Whitman’s awe. The final cause for living would then be revealed. Life is worth living only for God, not for self. "There are virtues which become crimes by exaggeration," Dumas warns in The Count of Monte Cristo." Optimists, realists or scientists testing the limits of endurance would be better served - ultimately - by testing their limits with a leap of Faith. Somehow when I read about some earthly heroes, I get no sense of the divine.

The black Snowball

Obama’s performance before the crowd in Berlin resembled a replay of Snowball’s speech in Animal Farm by George Orwell. Check it out. A few brave souls are speaking out against the black, socialist Messiah, like radio talk show host, Rush Limbaugh, and myself ( unheard, unhonored and unsung). Mystery writer Andrew Klavan, analyzing the popularity of the new movie "Dark Knight," points out that "All Americans know that freedom is better than slavery, love better than hate, kindness better than cruelty, tolerance better than bigotry." Sometimes one must kill to preserve life and violate values to maintain them, but so be it for the good. Yet liberal and socialist politicians, like aspiring Presidential candidate, Barack Obama, are intolerant of differing opinions when they pass cruelly repressive in laws restricting individual freedoms. They practice hate-mongering against conservatives and religion. They maintain double standards of morality and wealth - their life styles being O.K., the public’s being a source of ridicule or income. Klavan points out that movies with conservative principles that show the triumph of good over evil and perseverance and self-sacrifice over convenience, make money. Liberal Hollywood creates propaganda films which the devoted Media tout, but which lose money to the films with moral values. Nobility, found in the fight for the right, is relegated to comic-inspired or fantasy heroes. Films like 300, Narnia, Spiderman 3, Lord of the Rings, and now Dark Knight are examples. True heroes in America today, like President Bush, must "slink in the shadows, slump-shouldered and despised" according to Klavan. Snowball in Animal Farm and now the black Snowball, Obama, are not noble characters. Snowball and now the Black Snowball, Obama, wax eloquent before an adoring throng, but the devil is in the details of what comes unhappily ever after.

Obama - ugh!

The theme song for Obamaistas might be a 70's song repeating: "I’m so excited, "I might loose it, I might like it." Just as these utterances contain no intellectual content, ditto for Obama fans. Trying to break through to them with reason is like shouting at the deaf and pointing things out to the blind. Obama’s socialistic agenda encourages our culture of accusal that allows for government welfare programs to help people with incomes 125% over poverty (the poverty line itself being artificial and over-stated) and for programs to help people fight back against predatory lending( the practice itself hinging upon a false premise and irresponsibility). Also, tax shortfalls occur in mostly liberal states (Democratic) that practice over-spending (with the confidence that when in need of a bailout they will get one). Spending is always on the "up and up," but not always their business practices. As a candidate, the Messiah delivered a 1st Presidential Campaign speech today to non-voters in a foreign country. Speaking as a "citizen of the world," (note not a proud American), his words don’t matter because media and followers only hear and see what they choose. It was not a gaff in his speech, but political calculation when Obama pimped a ride from Ronald Reagan with allusions to tearing down walls. Obama’s gaffs have been dismissed. His mis-speaks, however, cannot be excused by exhaustion; his gaffs can be only be charged to ignorance and pandering and his repeated use of "UH."

Obama’s uncle did not liberate Auschwitz - uh - the Russians did. And did his uncle hide in his attic (if he had one) for 6 months?

Obama was never on the Senate Banking Committee - uh -as he claims

Obama offered to negotiate with anyone, anywhere including Iran - uh - but reversed his position when speaking in Israel to Jews.

Obama visited 57 states - uh - Hawaii’s (where he grew up)and Alaska’s admissions = 50 states.

Obama expects to deal with world leaders for 8 to 10 years - uh - a President can only serve 8.

Obama supposedly is a constitutional law professor - uh - he has never referred to the document.

Obama said that in July 2008 over 10,000 people were killed in a Kansas tornado which "wiped out an entire town.,"and the Governor was unable to cope with it because Bush sent National Guard troops and equipment to Iraq - uh - only 12 died and help for the state wasn’t needed.

Obama referred to an ‘undivided " Jerusalem and - uh - to a separate Palestinian and Jewish state.

Obama says "we are the people we have been waiting for" - uh?

Obama will call in the Joint Chiefs of Staff and give them a new mission, to bring the war in Iraq to a close - uh - the JCS are not part of command structure; they merely advise the President

Obama’s wife Michelle was never proud to be an American until her husband got the nomination for President - uh - Do we want this downer as our First Lady?

Obama says Clinton knows about Kentucky because it’s adjacent to Arkansas - uh - it’s Illinois.

Obama said his values came "straight from Kansas heartland,"- uh - he first learned elitism in private schools in Hawaii, later at an ivy league university and finally in Chicago politics.

Obama wants to increase taxes on the wealthy who make over $200,000 a year when experts say a retiree needs $200,000 for medical purposes - uh - how will or why should anyone save?

Obama says Iran not a threat - uh - within a day Iran is a threat.

Obama says women have abortions because they are "feeling blue." - duh!

Obama says Israel is best friend of Israel - uh - fatigue or what?

Obama says America survived "the bomb" on Pearl Harbour - uh - just one?

On that note, keep in mind that "uhs" substitute for "oohs" and "ahs" when Obama the politician’s brain never engages before his mouth shifts into gear. And away he goes!

"gO DO THE RIGHT THING"

Whenever I can borrow a brilliant phrase, I’m proud to do so. "Capitalism without failure is like religion without sin." This quote is from the Cato Institute’s Gerry O’Driscoll. Unfortunately, both capitalism in a free market economy and religion in America have been watered down to the lowest common denominator. This along with the fact that recognition of free explains virtually all flaws in judgment and freedom of choice accounts for gains and losses in both the accumulation of wealth and the spiritual pursuit of Heaven. I must be a simpleton to wish that capitalism and religion were pursued as they were originally intended. America needs to practice "voluntary simplicity,"a borrowed BIZZ term. It’s too bad Americans don’t abandon some chosen, unnecessary, material possessions and sacrifice some present pleasures for the sake of higher values. It’s too sad that data proves consumer spending is bolstered by false standards of self-esteem. Laziness and lack of discipline are excused and compromised when it comes to religious dogma and fervor. The move is on in this country but we do not need to allow the trend to become our manifest destiny. Homo sapiens will always be destined to intermittent failures in order to achieve successes. Descendants of Adam and Eve must not forget their roots. Our original sin of disobedience due to weakness and pride affords us the opportunity to choose wisely again and again, day by day. As Dr. Laura Schlessinger repeated advises, "Go do the right thing."

Ishtar

Too bad Obama and his patronizing media procession could not visit the Ishtar Gate. Iraq’s antiquities department reconstructed it at one of its higher levels. I don’t know if it was lost in the capture of Baghdad, but the ironies of a stop-over would be chilling. Ishtar was Mesopotamia’s goddess of war and sexual love. The Ishtar Gate 12 feet high in the ancient city of Babylon, now Iraq, was built in 575 B.C. Through its gatehouse ran an avenue called the Processional Way. It has been estimated there were 120 lions along the street and 575 dragons and bulls in 13 rows on the gate. What a photo op - the object of the liberal media’s desire walking a path dedicated to the patron of war. I envision lions, dragons and bulls looking down upon the pacifist stranger with haughty disdain. Obama’s low, controlled roars into a mike would frighten no one; his ignorance of history would be out of place. A politician like Obama is known by his lies, his non sequiturs, his inability to command language without a teleprompter and thus his banal, extemporaneous speaking. He reminds me of a local mayor whose pronouncements and analyses usually typify mushy logic and confused expressions. Habitually his comments resemble this one: "We meet the circumstances of staying in budget." His lies are typified by his saying the "speculators continue to drive up the price of oil." His fellow liberal Democrat, the socialist Messiah, Obama, offers no hope for change.

Burnish what credentials?

To burnish credentials he never possessed, B.O., Barack Obama tours the Middle East and Europe. Whoopee-io and the little doggies from the liberal media tagged along. Back here on the working range, Americans managed in this poor economy to spend 155 million dollars in one weekend, setting a box office record for tickets to the latest Batman movie. Take that Bruski Obama. As president, Obama promises to further tax the wealthy, those with incomes over $200,000. Holy data, Batman! 50% of Americans make 88% of the income and pay 97% of taxes. The rest - 50% - pay no taxes and account for little, if any income. But B.O. wants to raise taxes on those who already bear the burden - like Atlas - of supporting this great country. While the burden is no doubt heavy; the candidate is no doubt light. And these the times are no doubt troubling. Less than 50% of Americans could elect Obama. It merely takes a numeral or two above his opponent when the electoral votes are counted. The popular vote is dismissive. Only half of citizens care to choose between the Democrat socialist and the liberal Republican and approximately 25% of Americans would be necessary to elect B.O. in spite of the odour wafting from his policies. In this fragile economy, citizens who cannot afford gas, food or utilities keep spending beyond their means, keeping up the tradition of ‘working class’ vs. ‘elites’ something that a power-driven, utilitarian, populist socialist named Obama understands well. Would that there were another ‘dark knight’ like Joker in the 2008 election rather than the villain being the candidate himself burnishing his image.

Message to Obama

Message to Obama - read "The Message to Garcia" written by Elbert Hubbard about a West Point graduate of 1881 named Andrew Summers Rowan who delivered a message to a Cuban revolutionary and American ally, Garcia, during the Spanish-American War. In spite of numerous and difficult setbacks, Rowan got the job done. This moral lesson of perseverence against any odds hit home with Americans because the story became one of the highest selling books and was given out to all members of the Navy and Marines in World War II. I know, you are saying that you practice perseverance, Barack, in your quest for the White House. The message, however, is not about you. Its about the souls of Americans which you do not understand. Americans’ traditional perseverence and America’s indomitable spirit will be compromised - even lost - if you persist in inflicting your agenda upon this nation. Yours is an agenda driven by a wrong-minded adherence to a liberal, socialist ideology which assumes that citizens are helpless and only government can lend a hand as it levels the playing fields of freedom and hope. Though he tragically went down with the Lusitania on May 7, 1915, Elbert left posterity a wonderful testament to the meaning of character. The soldier Rowan, followed the dictum, "don’t ask; get the job done." Rather than impose your moral, social, economic and politically correct, elitist dictatorship upon my fellow Americans, Obama, you should serve your country by simply believing in its entrepreneurial tradition and its culture of perseverance summarized by "don’t ask; get the job done."

"Gone native"

In military lingo, "gone native" means to convert to a strange culture after studying it through immersion. I have "gone native" into the culture of the soldier patriot. My understanding and appreciation delves into sacrifice, duty and honor in service to country, but it also evokes emotion and its accompaniment, tears, whenever I encounter rank heroism or patriotic music. I have "gone native"because over the last decade, I have stomped through history and its bedfellow war. By the pain and suffering in which I have wallowed, I shall now be known. "Bud" Day and John McCain, not Barack Obama and Hellary Clinton, define heroism and hope. "Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are." Does anyone care who first observed this truism, even though it was over 200 years ago? It could have been 2000 or 200,000 because as a biological entity, we reflect caloric intake. A corollary to this observation could be: "Tell me what you read (and absorb) and I will tell you what you are. It exasperates me to reflect upon America’s mass mediocrity.

"The High Soul climbs the High Way,
The Low Soul gropes he Low,
And in between, on the misty flats,
The rest drift to and fro."

From a writer of the 20th century, we are reminded that those who have "gone native" never choose to travel an alternative path paved with low standards or a shrouded path with no standards at all. On my property, over 50 trees have "gone native." It’s just natural that I have read in solidarity with them and "gone native."

More grants....

The words "more grants" rank as my #1 push button for rage. I am enraged when the words "more grants" spew from administrators of social welfare or community service organizations. Grants translates as more money from taxpayers funding useless "programs," but the boondogglers who administer them talk as if the ‘giveaways’ are morally and financially defensible. "Program" is on my #2 button for rage. #3 reads "obesity." Reading that obesity is more prevalent in the states with higher poverty rates breaks me up because the balance of nature has been upended. Thin people choose not to eat; the obese enjoy overfeeding. Go figure! Data shows that 1/4 of Americans are obese but statistics don’t explain why, just how, overweight affects longevity or intelligence. (Yet Americans are living longer). But doesn’t abundance make us the richest, most prosperous and most highly civilized nation on earth? Each of my push buttons represents an irrational liberal agenda. The war in Afghanistan might be called "An armed popularity contest," but politics played by the left amounts to "political correctness armed against personal freedom." Modern Afghanistan might carry with it 2000 years of negative baggage, but America, only 400 years young, has been packing patriotic negativity and anti-conservative values into the liberal suitcase for far too long. When did this begin? You tell me. We have ended up being subjected to health experts advising fellow citizens to eat healthier. "Have a salad, but not too much dressing," a food policewoman says. The word "argula" is printed on my rage button #4.

Athens and Jerusalem

To those who bash religion as the source of all evil - please think again. Literally. Faith and reason serve to complements each other. The rise of science ( meaning knowledge) would not have been possible without belief in one God. Monotheism was based upon a rational assumption that one God in charge of the universe would administer his creations rationally. Therefore, man could attempt to unravel the workings of the natural world. Medieval education included the trivium of verbal arts, grammar, logic and rhetoric and the quadrivium of the sciences including, geometry, astronomy, arithmetic and music. The decline of Western Greece and Rome allowed for the rise of Muslim learning in the East from about 750 A.D. to 1250 A.D. The key component in all of this widespread learning was monotheism, which, because it was based upon the major premise of One God who created and controls the natural world - as well as the supernatural, the realm of faith - scholars and thinkers could think about and posit rules of natural philosophy, of the wonders of the external world, of the causes and consequences of phenomena. Without either Christianity or Islam, civilization could not have advanced. No conflict, no problem existed between the tradition of pagan Athens and Christian Jerusalem. All of Western progress has been a marriage between rationalism and religious faith. So to you atheists and agnostics who take pride in your so-called rational approach to reality - consider these words: "If at some period in the course of civilization we seriously find that our science and our religion are antagonistic, then there must be something wrong either with our science or with our religion." Havelock Ellis (1839-1939) in "The Dance if Life," merely points out the historical error in your way of thinking.

no Arpege

Remember the catchy slogan for a perfume? "Say anything but give her Arpege? The last scent we need to wear to make us Americans feel ‘pretty’ is Barack Obama, acronym, B.O. Ronald Reagan in 1980 referred to his opponents, the nay-sayers: "They expect you to tell your children that the American people no longer have the will to cope with their problems, that the future will be one of sacrifice and few opportunities. My fellow citizens, I utterly reject that view." Ditto for me and fellow optimists. A blogger with prescience writes: "A society of sheep will in time beget a government of wolves." The sheep are Obama’s liberal, socialists followers who excuse or blind themselves to the dangerousness of their leader’s ideas and ideals. Citizens who choose to exclude themselves from the ebb and flow of American politics aren’t responsible or thoughtful. Reagan was called the great communicator. Obama impresses his listeners with his oratorical skills, but the contrast between the two men in content and character is stark. Reagan again: "I wasn’t a great communicator, but I communicated great things, and they didn’t spring full bloom from my brow, they came from the heart of a great nation - our experience, our wisdom, and our belief in the principles that have guided us for two centuries." A decade ago when the ex-president said these words, B.O. was busy in Chicago internalizing little things, dangerous things with which to tear apart the fabric of a nation that he and his wife instinctively denegrate and criticize. Obama hopes to change America by leveling our nation’s playing field - economically, socially and globally. He will say anything ( contradictory and expedient ) to gain power. Please, no Arpege.

I can't; I won't

The recently deceased Tony Snow said it best: "Worse than illness is soullessness." The sickness of liberalism has been sweeping across America but the soullessness of leftist Democrat candidate for President, Barrack Obama might kill her great spirit of freedom. B.O. stands for unpleasant whiffs of hope and change. When young, I made it a habit to carry a book as my secret weapon against not only ignorance, boredom and displeasure, but also against attracting undesirable and unworthy suitors. I was known to always have "an armload of books." Growing up to be a nerdy wallflower, I am admirably equipped to observe the foibles of human nature. Evaluating Obama is a cinch. He sets war strategy before examining conditions on the ground or consulting officers in the field. He not only approves of excusals for defaulted loans but also would allow consumers with as much as $30,000 or $300,000 of debt to somehow ‘pay it off’ or have it forgiven. He would ban incense, helium balloons, candles, perfume and eventually fire itself as pollutants and causes of global warming if political power could be achieved by the bans. Winning power at any cost underpins the type of Chicago politics that Obama has long understudied and now practices. Coming from Chicago, I know Chicago politics. As both master and Messiah he will take America down the path of decline through socialism with universal health care, child care, abortion rights and college educations, mandates against pollution and disdain for the military, the entrepreneur, the saver, the responsible citizen and finally, for America herself. His continuous negativity and disapproval of common citizens counterbalance his envy of politically correct, socialistic leaning European countries. A master and Messiah of misdirections and policy reversals, B.O., smells foul. You who hang upon his words about hope for change will suffer a rude awakening unless you choose to accept Obama’s liberalism as your future. Without a soul, Obama can’t help you. He won’t allow Heaven to help you either. I can’t, I won’t cease to try to convince anyone who will listen, that hope is meaningless without positive change. Barack Obama is a negative charge.

The painted desert

The dictionary defines a desert as any region which is uncultivated and desolate because of deficient moisture, barren soil or permanent frost. This ‘waste’ land of wind, sand and stars has spoken eloquently to writers over thousands of years. Words, conjuring up images and sounds, have pleased readers over thousands of years. In the Sinai desert Bruce Feiler recalls: "I steeled myself for the silence. But once I stepped into the open terrain, I was amazed by the din - the wind whining through the mountains, the sand tinkling against your face, the rocks crunching beneath your feet." Another writer Jim Crace, also evokes sensory images about the desert, the wild land that is never truly silent. "Earth collapses with the engineering of the ants; lizards smack the pebbles with their tails; the sun fires seeds in salvos from their pods; pigeons misconnect with dry branches; and stones, left loosely to their own devices, can find the muscle to descend the hill." Since I am incapable of such wonderful writing, I read it instead, a pleasurable substitution. But sadly, today, the desert’s sounds too often remain unheard because youth choose to be bombarded by the noises of video games, internet chat and live gossip - each as dry as the intellectual and sensory desert of their minds. Reading is no longer a welcoming oasis.

Thorn-apple visitor

Fast-growing,
Leafy weed,
Jamestown heir.
Juicy poison,
Spiny fruit.
Twilight hour,
White trumpets,
Faint perfume.
Gift acknowledged,
Service ended,
Guillotined.

Poisoned water

A conservative writes,"You can lead a liberal to knowledge, but you can’t make one think." This clever turn of the motto, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink," reminds us that liberals never ‘see’ the truth. Their world view, being inverted, sees only the negative, the dismal, the doom and gloom which can only be solved by more government intervention. The German economist, Friedrich Hayek writes that government intervention in citizens’ lives, never forestalls inflation, unemployment, a recession or a depression. Only freedom, economic and personal responsibility, provides the long term solution. Socialistic solutions from liberals depend upon governmental intrusion and regulations, subsidies, higher taxes, bail-outs, and penalties. Perceive (think) these negatives act as positives. Why would anyone want to be ‘left’ with a foul taste in his or her mouth after sucking up the poisoned (pessimistic) water from the liberal trough? Apparently millions of voters do because Barack Obama has avid supporters in his bid for the Presidency 2008.

Obama

Not for me, but you.
Do what I say, not do. His
A liberal coup.

Ground Squirrel

Whites: breast vertical,
Eyes keen, stripe in rust scurries
Horizontally.

More than steam

Barack Obama doesn’t accept an America "that makes women choose between kids and their careers." As a contrarian with common sense, I do. I don’t accept, however, being subjected to an analysis of tea kettles by a newspaper appealing to rich, elitists. Evaluated are: electric tea kettles selling for $349.99 ( stainless steel, holding 32 oz.), $179.95 (stainless, 51 oz.), $60.00 (glass, 48 oz.), or $40.00 ( plastic, 50 oz. )shipping excluded. My recently demised $1.00 ceramic teapot holding 24 oz. gracefully received boiling water and steeped tea for 3 minutes without my complaint. Many celebrities and retail products should not be accepted by Americans, but they are not only accepted but also embraced and excused for their disregard of extravagant cost and genuine value. Obama is an example. He accepts little about America but his nomination for President has occurred because citizens are willing to overlook his socialism, his liberal bias and his blindness to anything bright or right about America. He has sold at least 25% of the public, that is, 50% of voters, the Democrats, a stainless steel, 4-cup, $349,99 electric tea kettle, appealing solely in its uselessness. If a responsible, reasonable adult truly hopes to change his life in daily increments by rational, behavioral choices, Obama will quash his or her dream. 50% of Americans who do not pay taxes, already let the other ½ contribute 97%. The wealthy 1% who pay 40% of the taxes are the targets of Obama’s hope to change the number, by raising taxes, and thus allowing more than 50% to not contribute their fair share to their government. How is it that Obama, the equalizer, intends to further stratify the payers and the non-payers? Why is it that Obama’s fans whistle and scream their support like steam from the elitist tea kettle oblivious to the fact that Obama spouts ideas that represent more than just hot air?

Haiku to Helianthus

Seed to sunflower,
Marvelous in sunny cheer.
Both gift and bonus.

Count me out...

50% of the items on each plate served must be fruits and vegetables. Count me out, This is the mandate from the food police at the Democrat Presidential convention in Denver this August. Nothing approaching august represents their party planned to celebrate Barack Obama’s nomination. No, liberals and conservatives cannot get long. Yes, we conservatives ( Republicans) are judgmental and uncompromising on issues important to America’s future survival as a nation . Government expenditures have risen 60% in the last 8 years, the fault, shameful, a bi-partisan one. A citizen fed up with ever-increasing taxes and restrictions upon her innate freedoms, recently voiced her dissatisfaction with great emotion to John McCain. She speaks for me and millions of my fellow Americans. Millions of Americans, however, also dissatisfied, think dissimilarly from us. They think that Barack Obama can better address the election issues of energy, the economy, health care and social issues. How upsetting that socialism, an expanded welfare state and governmental intervention as solutions to problems lead with a margin of 15 - 20% for Obama over McCain. Half of this country perceives McCain better on the issues of Iraq, taxes and immigration than Obama, but what does this portend for the November election? Those Americans wrong in their understanding of leadership on the 4 issues of energy, the economy, health care and social issues remain uneducated. Those Americans right in their understanding of leadership on the war issue, taxes and immigration remain uneducated on the other 4 issues.

Robert Louis Stevenson made a wise but vague statement that each person should "be what we are, and ... become what we are capable of becoming. " This is "the only end in life." Sadly, many Americans don’t realize what they are and what they are capable of becoming if liberals rule.

Better than....

To commiserate with one’s self beats listening to Senator John Kerry whose utterances haughtily travel 360 degrees in repeated convolutions. He exhibits liberalism at its rapier best. After 400 years of continuous advancement, how have we managed to arrive in an America that propels a John Kerry and now a Barack Obama to the Democrat candidacy for President? He who has served less than 200 days in the Senate purports to tell us ‘real’ Americans he’s our Messiah who will change our country. As a counterbalance, a Senator who has served 26 years in the Senate, John McCain, falls for the phoney religious belief in global warming and purports to take my country down a dead end lane trying to save the environment. Earth can take care of herself, just ask Gaea, her oldest mother. Democrats continue to escalate the war of hypocrisy as they re-fit a building for their convention in Denver in August. I should change my cheap 60 watt light bulbs to save energy when they plan to install 300,000 pounds of lights in the ceiling of the convention center (which must be reinforced to accommodate them). More money than brains; brains without common sense. Common sense has been jettisoned over the side of our Ship of State. Taxpayers fund programs for "drug abuse resistance education" in our public schools. Has any pig sucking at the government’s oversized teat ever reasoned that D.A.R.E. and "Just Say No" programs do not - cannot - penetrate adolescent hormones? Youthful exuberance, daring and perseverance helped to create this great United States of America. Today, unfortunately, youth and the delusional aged are being exploited by Obama to vote for meaningless hope and change.

Indepencence day

90% of funding for a public busing program in a nearby city, comes from ODOT a taxpayer funded government agency. A manager of this program says it gives "people a quality of life they didn’t have before." As a citizen who unwillingly helps pay for this social welfare nonsense, I protest. Quality of life depends upon the state of the mind, not taxpayer funded giveaways. Reading is indispensable to the intellectual life which takes precedence over the physical pursuit of pleasures. Unfortunately, busyness today continues to contribute to mental decay. America continues to rot from the inside out. 4/10th of Americans read no books at all. Half read no fiction. I watch my neighbors bear out these facts as they scurry here and there so as to be engaged in perpetual activity. Liberal intellectuals like to decry the state of readership and rational thought as they brag about their higher powers, but their readings do not lead to truth or to their practice of common sense. They still invert the reality to fit their world view. They preach liberty but aim to deny citizens the right to personal choices. They do not set a good example for commoners to follow. This independence day I know it’s foolish to hope that the trend against reading and rational thought will be slowed down. 1/3 of Americans take the Bible’s history and pronouncements literally. 1/3 claim to embrace spirituality rather than a religion. 2/3 of Americans feel that religion plays an important role in their lives. Rational thought in spite of reading, escapes the fundamentalists and those who seek satisfaction from the vagaries of spirituality. Less and less, religion represents intellectual involvement.

From what I witnessed of the enthusiasm and appreciation of a large, choreographed - to -music fireworks display, a secular spectacle substitutes for a religious experience. Americans still thwart common sense and intellectual pursuits in favor of instant, visual and sensual gratifications. A Soviet novelist in 1932 was ‘dead on’ with his contention that "writers are the engineers of human souls." Since Americans patronize writers with less frequency now than ever before, their souls migrate into places they have never gone before. That’s scarey. Independence Day does not symbolize independent thought.

The 4th

Ayn Rand said it best. "Hands off! ( to government). I say second best is to believe that ‘God helps those who help themselves.’ Ranking third this Independence Day should be the goal to let the laissez- faire capitalism of a free market economy work. In these media-manipulated times, facts rarely compete with the fictions of political propagandizing. In 2008, survival does belong to the fittest person, group (or race), but even a fitter person, group or race will do well if he or she can penetrate the veil of liberal lies hiding beneficial truths. One truth, for example, is that Rush Limbaugh would not be paid $400 million dollars over an 8 year contract ($40 million a year), if his employer did not think him worth the investment. Their goal being profit, Clear Channel Communications must know that if the government’s hands remain off the radio airways and the pubic remains free to choose, the people will vote to listen to and patronize a "loveable little fuzzball," alias a conservative leader, who preaches self-reliance, freedom, optimism, American exceptionalism and goodness, entrepreneurial thinking and perseverence. His success validates a free market at work. A fourth piece of advice to remember on the 4th of July, is that the American system of rugged individualism still lives. Today it’s too often more ragged than rugged, but it still lives. Long may its banner wave over the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Age of unreason

Susan Jacoby contends America is in the age of unreason. Examples, of course, surround us.

A commercial from The Dept. of Energy and the ad council utilizes an Energy Hog to drive home the message of energy conservation to save the planet and money even though neither is accomplished by their suggestions.

A journalist in Philadelphia, ironically the cradle of our independence, says we can’t celebrate the 4th of July because America has committed too many atrocities. Californians advise against fireworks because the noise shocks the birds.

We hear on the news that unfortunately the only thing special about a female army specialist is that she’s 7 months pregnant and found dead in a motel room under suspicious circumstances.

Gas prices have dramatically risen over the last decade, yet liberals prevent us from further development of our coal and oil reserves and resources.

Economists know assets feed you, liabilities eat you; yet our savings rate still stagnates at zero as
Americans continue to spend beyond their means making no plans for their financial futures.

Liberals blame Republicans esp. George W. Bush for every evil here and abroad, yet continue to live here because in many other countries, devoid of our blessing of freedom, they would be imprisoned or killed.

With the 4th of July again on the horizon, and the big ‘O’ (Obama) flip flopping for political, Presidential gain, let’s practice some traditional American common sense.

Immigrant and Russian Jew, Irving Berlin wrote the song, "God Bless America" after WWI, the war to end all wars. It was resurrected and sung in 1938, before WWII, by Kate Smith. It became an immediate hit.

Yes, "God Bless America," is a song to unreason. Would Susan Jacoby disapprove? The feelings of patriotism, gratitude and blessedness pervade its lyrics. Unreason might be well and good. 4/5th of Americans believe in miracles. Perhaps hope in America is not lost.

Celebrate Independence Day 2008, by thrilling ( with chilling goose bumps) to the 1st, best and lasting rendition - Kate Smith’s rendition - of "God Bless America." ... And don’t think about it.

Coincident indicator

The personal savings rate as a percentage of disposable personal income in the United States is 0%. An ad for Bayer birth control pills boasts it is "enabling women to help fulfill their lives." The ad also claims their pills are "science for a better life," that aid in "planning families" and "empowering women." Obviously, hedonism working hard in America (and in developed countries around the world) has become the coincident indicator of modern living. Spend it all, plan it all, control it all, have it all, all the while playing at God or Goddess who never needs to worry about the future while indulging in the present. Hedonism, the new wave religion, is not a healthy, life-affirming religion that philosopher William James recommended, rather it is, in James’s analysis, the religion of the sick-souled.