My Year in Review for 2012

This past year has been a good one in a material sense for me, intellectually and spiritually quiet if not diminished; actually static. Instead of resolutions, that I gave up years ago, I select the most influential moments of the past year, then reflect on what was experienced or done, and see what can be built on or needs to be taken away. Then at the macro level, there's the reflection of what's happened socio-economically and politically.

Materially I have new computer\monitor\printer, home theater system, iPhone player\speaker unit, fancy Cusinart coffee maker, Kindle Fire HD, and new luxury car. Things that make my life more enjoyable and comfortable, and for which I'm so grateful. These came about because of a combination of a good job and gifts. A nice combination to be sure.

Spiritually I've not challenged myself. Part of that is my reduced religious prayer and study time. Part of it is I've been on sabbatical from the Elders in my church. What has kept me connected is the Bible study group I attend and choir. I'm back from sabbatical and am ready to re-engage in church. Being an introvert and not so much a social person it's always a bit of a challenge, and I recognize the benefits and growth that come about because of it. I have, over this past year, bought a few religious books, read three or four of them, and recognize it's time to immerse myself in the rest. It's also time to get back to increasing prayer and devotions.

Intellectually I've been pretty lazy. I've read only sixteen books this year, mostly fiction, and much of my free time has been watching vids or TV. Having streaming movies and missed TV shows constantly available can be a great time waster (as enjoyable as it is) and mind numbing. It's time to exercise some self discipline and increase my reading and study time. Best non-fiction book of the year was Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics by Ross Gregory Douthat. Best fiction The Road Home by Jim Harrison.

While we're on best of...best movie, well, I can't make up my mind. Looking at my little blurbs I put here in my blog it must have been a pretty good movie year. I saw 26 movies. Six I gave four out of five stars in my little rating system. One I gave five stars, and that was "For Greater Glory" about the Cristero War of 1926 to 1929 in Mexico. The Mexican government declared war on Catholic Church, murdering them wholesale. A history not known by most, and I think a must see movie for all Christians. The movies I gave four stars - "Act of Valor", "Cloud Atlas", "Lincoln", "Skyfall", "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" 3D, "The Hunger Games", “2016: Obama’s America”. 

My blog posts too have fallen off, and writing so much clarifies thinking, organizes it, and puts things in perspective. It also lends itself to learning and expanding how we view things. So more writing.

Out of my sphere of influence,  other than my vote, was the election,. I viewed it as a tipping point; the solidification of a majority of citizens rejecting God, religion, Church, the traditional family, traditional values; the belief system that was the foundation of America. This election was more about how a majority of citizens "felt" than the hard cold reality of a fiscally irresponsible government, that has lead us to a point where our debt and deficient can't be paid off and will negatively impact our children's children's children. I was stunned a majority of citizens think this is a good thing. I read a couple days ago that eleven states have more people on government assistance that there are people working. A portent of things to come.

All I can do is continue with my religious and intellectual life, influence and be influenced by my sphere of family, friends, associates. A line from Gandalf in the latest Hobbit movie, he said the powerful are not so much the difference, but how ordinary people act, especially in difficult or dangerous times. Said many times before, and I pray in these troubled times enough individuals take that idea to heart.

What I take to heart is my love for, and being loved by so many. What I pray for are those that have never heard of Jesus hear of Him and that those that have put Christ out of their lives let Him back in. What I take to heart is love of my church. What I take to heart is love of our military. What I take to heart is love of my country and liberty.

    

Ted Nugent vs Leftist Anti 2nd Amendment Foreigner Piers Morgan

Ted Nugent rocks in more ways than one!



Sometimes shouting down Leftist ideologues is the only way to get a word in edgewise. They are, after all, about control; of everything, even talking.

Christmas and Criticism

One of the things about criticism is one should be or do better, or have something better to offer than what one is criticizing. Every year at this time intolerant, narrow and closed minded anti Christian bigots mouth off. The way they mouth off is rude and aggressive. One would think if attacking Christianity, which strives for love, hope, charity, peace, caring and compassion, the criticizer would show the same and then some.

Unless, I guess, these people are advocating for hate, selfishness, war, personal conflict, and not giving a damn about anyone else.

If these secularists, humanists, atheists and the like think they are superior human beings because the reject God, that they can live better lives, how does the disrespect and rudeness they attack Christians and Christmas every year a reflection of that? How does mockery show superior knowledge and behavior?

There are, and have been through time, billions of us who have felt in our lives the presence of God. The personal influence, the miraculous transformations in our lives, the linkage of everything in the design of the universe, are all so apparent to those billions of people through time. In the lives of those, incredible philosophy, writing, thought, architecture, music, charities, hospitals have been created.  

What have the insulting and mocking secularists, humanists and atheists contributed but more hate, narrow mindedness, intolerance and bigotry? What personage among them has changed thinking and history, even a little bit, as Jesus and the Apostle Paul?

Because they have nothing to offer, they demand crosses be taken down all across the land, Christmas and Easter be taken off the calendar, nativity scenes be removed from the public square (that term implies it belongs to all citizens, not just atheists), no mention of Christ in public, no prayer in public. All as if removing and denying the existence of something that brings love and goodness to billions of people is a good thing, then offering intolerance and hate as a replacement benefits culture and relationships improves people and civilization.

I'm going to be rude in turn here. The people that think that are stupid.

The Searchers: A Quest for Faith in the Valley of Doubt by Joe Loconte

This is long to be sure, but worth the time. Profound, moving inspirational. Healing, Christianity lived, joy, love, courage, rescue, moral beauty. Christ as the transformation. Serve God, or seek Him. If you seek you do not know God. If you're not serving Him, who are you serving? Facing grief and loss and the development of faith. Thoughts on Christianity, religion, history and civilization. The need for religious liberty to pursue the truth of reality.

http://vimeo.com/53542230 

 After watching this, the book is definitely on my to read list. From Amazon book description:

Never before had they known such hope. 

 In a world drenched in violence and oppression, here was a man armed with a message of peace and freedom. Into lives nearly overwhelmed by grief and sorrow, he brought compassion and healing and the deepest joy. To people who felt like outcasts and aliens, he showed the way home. And then, in one devastating night, all their hopes collapsed. 

This is where our story begins—in the valley of despair. It is a tale of two friends, a stranger, and a search for truth in a world gone mad with doubt. 

Historian Joseph Loconte unlocks the meaning of their exchange, set in the chaotic days following the execution of Jesus of Nazareth. Drawing from literature, film, philosophy, history, and politics, Loconte shows how this biblical drama is an integral part of our own story. Sooner or later, we will find ourselves among the searchers.

Christmas Flash Mob by Journey of Faith at South Bay Galleria

It's about the birth of Jesus, the birth of the new Man, salvation, love, hope, charity. May God bless all in this season with peace and goodwill to all.

Tribute to Robert Bork RIP

A legal icon for those that believe the Constitution is our legal foundation, and in the rule of law. Highly recommend Slouching Toward Gomorrah and The Tempting of America.

It don't mean nothin'

We are facing a crisis of monument proportions. In positions of influence and power, politically, fiscally and culturally, we have people that are stupid (Pelosi, Reid, Biden), corrupt (Obama), to name a few. The people that actually come up with solutions to problems are maligned and scoffed at. Moral people are laughed at (Tim Tebow), while the profane is praised. In Viet Nam we had a phrase, existential, to cope with the monster bad shit we were in, "It don't mean nothin'". We have a national debt over $16 Trillion, unfunded liabilities of about $80 Trillion which is coming close to the total value of this nation, we have moral and social decay, and the ones in position to make some changes, show some leadership, show some courage, are chanting "It don't mean nothin'. What we have are cowards that don't take things seriously. 

Bill Whittle on Unserious People:

"The Only Hope" by Sarah Palin

Grief in Newtown

This was a Facebook post and a must read. The most truthful address and observation to where we are as a nation; that we ignore the source of our problems. The Newtown shooting of innocent children is a symptom. Palin knows the answer, the solution.

My view, as stated in serveral previous posts since the election, is we have turned our back on God, driven Him out of our culture. For that primary reason we are in this big trouble. People look to politicians to legislate us to Utopia, and Hollywood/Media to inform us of the way. That has always failed and always will. Wisdom is in people/citizens acknowledging God in their lives , not in secular "leaders".

Written by Palin, Sunday Dec 16:

Unspeakable evil slammed America in the beautiful little town of Newtown, Connecticut, just days ago. No words can express the collective shock and sorrow shared by Americans who know the murder of innocent children is the most horrendous crime imaginable. The Connecticut state motto, “Qui transtulit sustinet,” promises that only God can sustain us. Though still insufficient and unfulfilling for the grieving families of these beautiful babies in the Lord's arms now, perhaps those words are all the inconsolable loved ones can hold on to at this time. May God show His sustaining love to them right now. Please Lord.

It may seem, especially after Friday, the world is spinning fast and furious and out of control. Many political, economic, and societal problems attempt to weigh down our spirit so heavily that some despondently give up after being deceptively led to believe there is no real hope for anything getting better. And despite 24-hour news cycles with constant information flooding our eyes and ears with much white noise, TV's talking heads really have nothing meaningful to offer.

So the world spins furiously, but there is a reason its literal and figurative centrifugal force tightly holds us here together for such a time as this. Until God loosens the tie that binds us to this temporal earth, we are in it together, and we are expected to do our part to make it better. So, now is the time to speak truth, however politically incorrect some may deem it, and focus on what really matters so our nation's spirit can be lifted as we unite in the cause for a better world built on real hope. First, all truly is hopeless if your faith and hope are put in any politician or media elite. That is because the average person is more truthful and responsible than the average politician or media elite.

Those who let themselves be terribly disappointed in political leaders as they ignore real problems, aided along with a complicit media bombarding us with irrelevant distractions in order to avoid facing the reality of a fallen culture, should know those distractions are to hide from a finger pointing to the main contributors to much of our problem. To stop distracting would result in acknowledging the political and media machine's starring roles in our failing society. So, as they too often tear down those who try to do good, while elevating and celebrating corrupt selfishness, they dumbly assume we don't know it is they who significantly contribute to our upside down world today. We've learned our lesson. Don't put your hope in Hollywood or Washington. Instead, build resolve and seek truth more aggressively than ever at such a time as this.

I only know one source of truth and real hope. I call out to this hope with only childlike faith because I am so overwhelmed by the miraculous answers to my prayers that the comforting, secure hope I cling to is too inexplicable for a simpleminded person like me. Plus, because I am not a perfect Christian – and have never met one – I dare not judge others’ “Christian quotient,” and inarticulately explaining my faith is too often interpreted wrongly, hence, my thankfulness in being allowed via the Good Book to have a childlike faith that's good enough for God. Further, I do not wish to force my beliefs down anyone's throat – and simple faith does not do that. Though I'll share my faith unapologetically, I beg fellow faith-filled fallible human beings to quit pretending anyone's effective in forcing others to see the light; please also quit pretending you are holier than thou. You are not. I am not. We're merely fortunate enough to have been knocked to our knees at some point in life and grabbed hold of the opportunity to accept undeserved grace and forgiveness that allows a rebirth and its accompanying peace that passeth all understanding. I cling to it not because I am bitter, but because there is nothing better.

May this Christmas season give you a glimpse of the faith to which millions cling to, and are willing to live and die to self for. As you watch this video, even if you've never prayed before, you can ask God for revelation to what occurred 2000 years ago, what it means for today, and why we celebrate the babe born in that Bethlehem manger over 2000 years ago. And I offer this not because I have all the answers, but because many ask me from where does my hope come? How do I hang on? What do I cling to? Here is a glimpse of the foundation of my faith. May you be shown through this short clip and song that the unanswered questions, the horrible suffering, and the sacrifice of One birthed opportunity for new life and real HOPE for all of us today.

Friends, please watch this, and please don't lose hope. We mustn't lose hope! Look up! And put your time and effort in working so hard for your family and loved ones around you. Don't wait for a fallen world's politicians and pundits to do it for you. You can have within yourself the ability and opportunity to help make America strong again, and her people joyful again.

- Sarah Palin

O Come, Emmanuel - The Piano Guys

Thanksgiving Day RIP

1909 painting The Worship of Mammon by Evelyn De Morgan.

Except for a minority of people that are practicing Christians, Christmas has effectively been killed off. Nativity scenes and even Christmas trees (which have nothing to do with Christianity) are all but abolished in the public square. Now we can officially pronounce Thanksgiving Day dead, dead, dead.

Here is George Washington's original proclamation establishing the holiday and the reasons:

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to "recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:" 

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us. 

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789.

The death knell of this holy holiday was the recognition of "Black Friday", named because it was usually the first day retailers books went from red to black; they finally were showing in their profit column for the year. That in turn became a huge sales day, and this year the celebration of profits and discounts bled into the holy day of Thanksgiving itself. Many now leave their family and friends gathered to share love and show gratitude for what they have, to get more stuff. To trample each other, fight, endanger themselves by being part of mobs, to get things. The material has replaced the sacred, and Thanksgiving Day was at one time sacred.

Now it's become a day to worship mammon. Mammon isn't a deity as many think, but it's idea, that of riches to the point of gluttony, and it has been personified. It's greed and avarice. A lot of writers of fiction and theology have created beings to represent the idea.

We've been warned against putting things before God:

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

There were some employees, most notably of Walmart, that refused to work that day. Not so much for the reason that it's a Holy Day, but for want of more money, more pay, and more benefits. (It also turned out a huge number of the protesters were not employees, but hired union thugs bussed in.)

The government has also officially weighed in to take the sacred out, and have renamed the day Family Health History Day, which was introduced nine years ago. Their proclamation:

"An important step in prevention and wellness is learning about health conditions in our families that may put us at increased risk for diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, some cancers, Alzheimer’s disease, mental illness and many others.” 

Surgeon-General Regina Benjamin wants us to track illnesses from one generation to the next so health care providers can predict what may befall each of us. She wants us to "prepare for a Thanksgiving Day family conversation" by making a list of relatives, including parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, and cousins.

“On this Thanksgiving holiday, I hope you and your family will take a few minutes to create a family health portrait.” ... “Learning your family’s health history can be an enjoyable way to invest in the future of your health and your family’s health.”

Juxtapose that against Washington's proclamation we acknowledge God, and be grateful for God's grace, blessings and favors.

You won't ever see this again on TV, but this was part of our culture, and we were better off for it. 

http://youtu.be/MgMI-4Mqj2g

We've gone from that, to this.

Religious Free Speech, and the Johnson Amendment

There is the notion that Pastors can't speak of political issues from the pulpit. Up until the mid twentieth century, no such idea existed. Pastors endorsed politicians and legislation all the time. What happened was that in 1954 then senator Lyndon Johnson put into a tax overhaul bill an amendment that would silence his political opposition, which was not from any religious institutions.

It said entities who are exempt from federal income tax cannot:

"Participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of – or in opposition to – any candidate for public office."

It was meant to quash political free speech of 501c non profit organizations, specifically those that were opposing him in his run for Senate. As it turns out, churches are 501's. Secularists and Atheists, Leftists and the Democrat Party have used it since then to shut down free speech from religious speakers. It's applied to the incorrect notion of separation of church and state, of which, no such thing exists in the Constitution.

Here's a short vid of the history of the Johnson Amendment.

http://youtu.be/P1PVMuxUgDg

Earlier this year, Houston Pastor of Grace Community Church, Steve Riggle, spoke from the pulpit about Houston Mayor Parker, a lesbian with a partner that advocates for gay marriage. Riggle pointed out Texas and the county which Houston is in overwhelmingly (over 70%) voted for the amendment stating marriage is between one man and one woman. What the mayor had done was, as a representative of the city, gone to Washington DC and as mayor advocated for gay marriage. Riggle stated this was not representing the will of the people.

He wrote a private email letter to her, which of course she released to the press, and the attack was on. Riggle remained quiet throughout the week, did no interviews and did not respond. He said on the Thursday following his letter to her, he would address the issue in his upcoming Sunday message.

Link to the letter and message:

http://www.grace.tv/pastoral-response-2 

(Just a note, I've seen Pastor Riggle speak, and he's way more dynamic than this. He wanted to make sure his statements were measured and precise. He said it took about 50 hours to prepare this, and ensure it was exactly what he wanted to say.)

It must be understood the State has no authority to silence Pastors or anyone representing a religious institution to speak on political issues and candidates. The State, through the IRS, has tried many times to force pastors to comply, and when a church had to resources to fight back, the State\IRS has lost every time. The reason being they have no authority to do so.

It must be made clear that issues such as marriage and abortion are not political issues, they're moral issues. Atheists, Leftists, Democrat Party, have kept stating these are political issues, the result being, it has become the meme, it's assumed to be true. This lie is the foundation of their attacks to silence free speech from the pulpit. That the Democrat Party is anti religious and anti God was born out during their convention earlier this year when they removed the word "God" from their Party Platform, and that they're anti Israel by refusing to name Jerusalem as Israel's capital.  When these were added back into the platform because of national blowback, it was to a chorus of boos from the convention floor.

The totalitarians of this president's political party and his oligarchy understand, like all totalitarians before them in the past 2000 years, Christianity must be silenced for State rule to be complete and unchallenged.  Applying this unconstitutional amendment, that was part of a power play by one of the most corrupt politicians in US history, is their primary vehicle.

We must encourage our pastors to speak out on moral issues like Pastor Riggle has, and continues to.

As Israel Goes, So Goes America - A Prophecy From Isaiah

I attended and heard Johnathan Cahn talk for over an hour on this a few days ago, and have since read his book The Harbinger. Coming from Isaiah 9:10, Rabbi Cahn talks of nine things that happened to ancient Israel, and their responses, before they lost their nation. Those same things happened to the US, starting with 9/11, and we've responded the exactly same way, to the year and day on the Jewish calendar, and with the same words spoken. I was stunned by this. I'm convinced, and am one that usually skips prophecies. I relate more to Matthew (and Luke): “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

There's a few YouTube formats for Rabbi Cahn's presentation; a long lecture from a podium, and several interview shows. This is the best in my view; short, clear, and you can fast forward through the promo's.

Jonathan Cahn and the Nine Harbingers: Jewish Voice with Jonathan Bernis, January 8, 2012

http://youtu.be/H13DPkb6kjQ

Part 2

http://youtu.be/nJABqq6luYo

The book is formed as a novel, and is a readable quick read. Some passages to get the flavor of it.

Purpose for Israel:

No other nation had been called into being for the will of God… No other people had been given a covenant… If (Israel) followed the ways of God, they would become the most blessed of nations. But if they fell away and turned against His ways, then their blessings would be removed and replaced by calamity, as they did and as it was. (pg. 16)

Original purpose of America:

To be…an instrument of God’s purposes, a light to the world. It would give refuge to the world’s poor and needy, and hope to its oppressed.  It would stand against tyranny….As much as it fulfilled its calling or aspired to, it would become the most blessed, the most prosperous, the most powerful and the most revered nation on the earth-just as its founders had prophesied…but, like Israel, if the people fell away from God and turned against his ways, its blessings would be removed and replaced with curses.(pg19)

 America’s idol worship:

"As God was expunged from American life, idols came in to fill the void-idols of sensuality, idols of greed, of money, success, comfort, materialism, pleasure, sexual immorality, self-worship, self-obsession. The sacred increasingly disappeared, and the profane took its place….the nation forgot its foundations"

“Some would call it ‘tolerance.’”

“Yes. The same tolerance that overtook ancient Israel.. a tolerance for everything opposed to God….a tolerance that mocked, marginalized, and condemned those who remained faithful to the values now being discarded…. A tolerance that put the profane on public display and removed nativity scenes from public sight..contraband, as if somehow they had become a threat- a strangely intolerant tolerance.” (pg. 21)

My view for some time, is our nation, by turning away from God, like ancient Israel had, is leading us to our end as the most free, most materially and religiously successful nation in history. This bears it out.

Two Political and Social Trends That May Work in Favor of Conservatives, Republicans and Christians

Democrats, a couple weeks after The Election, are still gloating, often doing it with an over abundance of mockery. Poor form, but to be expected from such an uncivil and morally bankrupt group. I've written my view of what happened that day was a tipping point past which the majority of Americans have decided to reject traditional political\economic values that built the most free nation in history, opt for Statism, and reject traditional social and religious values that provided the foundation of healthy and stable relationships.

I can't give up to the notion all is lost. There are political and social realties in play that may move things back in balance; balanced budgets and balanced social relationships.

A political reality is though Democrats, Leftists, Statists, Socialists, Communists, Fascists have won the Executive and Senate, the failed status quo remains at the Federal level. In 2010, not only was a large Republican and Conservative majority of the House elected by historic margins, but there was a huge increase of governorships and legislatures gained by them. That build up continued in the last election, and won't be reported in the sycophantic Obama Press.

In 2010 Republicans and Conservatives gained about 700 state legislative seats, the result being 61 legislative chambers are controlled by them. Twenty five states (after swearing in next year) are controlled by Republicans, thirteen by Democrats, the rest a mix, leaning mostly Republican. Voters kept to that trend of Democrats control federally, with local control to Republicans. The Democrats, while desiring and working on it, have yet to overturn the Constitution and deny State's rights, so their Federally mandated, debt ridden, unfunded programs can still be blocked. There are governors and legislators that have the political courage lacking in many of the federal level RINO's to do so.  

In the next two elections there will be more noticeable evidence of success or failure, so the choice will be crystal clear. The late great state of California is a one Party state, controlled wholly by Democrats with no Republicans to be found, is $billions in debt and borrowing more, businesses and people are fleeing the state, decreasing the tax base. California is now the poorest state in the Union, traditionally a spot held by a Southern state. Less than a third of the legislature is Republican, two thirds are needed to raise taxes without a vote of the citizens, so from now on they can increase taxes whenever they want. States like Texas have exercised low tax rates, are pro business, so people and businesses are moving there. I've noticed though, that people moving from failed Democrat states like California and Michigan, vote in, once they've moved, for Democrats and the policies that caused their states of origin to fail. An amazing thing. That trend may be changing, looking at the increase of states being moved into the Republican column. (In my state of Nevada, the influx of Californians has changed the state from Republican to Democrat. We have the worst unemployment and foreclosure rate in the nation. Mostly Republicans won state and local offices.)

Regarding social traditions and values, the Democrats advocacy of State funded abortion and infanticide on demand, their attack on the traditional family, an education system with an increasing dropout rate and stupid students, the increase of out of wedlock babies being born, the growth of unmarried women left to raise children (a result of anti family attitudes), the rejection of the Church where family values are taught and practiced across race and generational lines, is increasingly showing the results of social decay that can't be missed. What Democrats leave are people disconnected from each other and their communities. Empty hearts and empty communities; just people with the mindset the State will take care of it, whatever "it" is.  

When this country most thrived, church attendance was high, community and neighborliness was high, taxes were low, marriage was high, abortion was low, birthrate was high within marriage, out of wedlock birthrates were low, school dropout rates were low.

Republicans and Conservatives at the State level must keep doing, like Scott Walker in Wisconsin and John  Kasich in Ohio, lowering tax rates, balancing budgets and increasing employment. Citizens are beginning to notice.

What Pastors must do, is preach the need for and the sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman, against abortion, and the need for the nuclear family to raise well adjusted, well educated children. These are not political issues as Secularists would have everyone believe, but moral issues. Secularists push the idea these are political issues to keep Pastors talking about them out of fear of losing their tax exempt status. That's a ploy to circumvent freedom of religion. The State has no power to do so.

These are two things Conservatives, Republicans and Christians must recognize and support. Elect locally and advance the causes of religion and social traditions. 

Spielberg's "Lincoln" Good Movie Followed by Big Lie

Yesterday I saw Spielberg's "Lincoln" which made the passage of the 13th Amendment about as interesting as possible. The acting was brilliant.  Reviewers and responders on blogs got all caught up in the portrayal of Lincoln and the tenor voice, and with historical minutiae. It's not a documentary; good grief. Of course there are going to be artistic liberties taken. Surprisingly, Spielberg, screenwriter Tony Kushner, and Daniel Day Lewis, all Statist, Leftist Radicals, didn't rewrite history and avoided the standard attacks on Republicans. Actually it was a pretty good sketch of the events getting the anti-slavery amendment passed, and correctly portrayed the Democrats as the pro-slavery Party.

The meme is that it's the Republican Party that's racist and segregationist. The opposite has always been the case. Spielberg has been saying in interviews that Dems and Republicans "have traded political places over the last 150 years".  A blatant lie.  

The Dems were the ones that fought against civil rights legislation in the mid twentieth century, were the supporters and members of the KKK and all the rest of the horrible treatment of Blacks in this country. It's the Democrats that have impoverished and enslaved Blacks in the Urban Plantation in the twentieth century, and continue to do so. Black unemployment is in the high teens, and going up under a Black Democrat president.

Here is the history of the Racist Democrat Party vs the Republican Party. By the way, most Blacks were members of the Republican Party from the end of the Civil War into the early 20th century. Then the Dems did then, what they do now, offered a lot of free stuff. No such thing as free stuff, but people vote for their own oppression on the promise of free stuff.    

The Democrats:
Democrats fought to expand slavery while Republicans fought to end it.
Democrats passed those discriminatory Black Codes and Jim Crow laws.
Democrats supported and passed the Missouri Compromise to protect slavery and the Kansas Nebraska Act to expand slavery.

Democrats supported and backed the Dred Scott Decision.

Democrats opposed educating blacks and murdered our teachers.

Democrats fought against anti-lynching laws.

Democrat Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, is well known for having been a “Kleagle” in the Ku Klux Klan. Byrd filibustered the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for 14 straight hours to keep it from passage.

Democrats passed the Repeal Act of 1894 that overturned civil right laws enacted by Republicans.

Democrats declared that they would rather vote for a “yellow dog” than vote for a Republican, because the Republican Party was known as the party for blacks.

Democrat President Woodrow Wilson, reintroduced segregation throughout the federal government immediately upon taking office in 1913.

Democrat President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first appointment to the Supreme Court was a life member of the Ku Klux Klan, Sen. Hugo Black, Democrat of Alabama.

Democrat President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s choice for vice president in 1944 was Harry Truman, who had joined the Ku Klux Klan in Kansas City in 1922.

Democrat President Franklin D. Roosevelt resisted Republican efforts to pass a federal law against lynching.

Democrat President Franklin D. Roosevelt opposed integration of the armed forces.

Democrat Senators Sam Ervin, Albert Gore, Sr. and Robert Byrd were the chief opponents of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Democrats supported and backed Judge John Ferguson in the case of Plessy v Ferguson.

Democrats supported the School Board of Topeka Kansas in the case of Brown v The Board of Education of Topeka Kansas.

Democrat public safety commissioner Eugene “Bull” Connor, in Birmingham, Ala., unleashed vicious dogs and turned fire hoses on black civil rights demonstrators.

Democrats were who Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the other protesters were fighting.

Democrat Georgia Governor Lester Maddox “brandished an ax hammer to prevent blacks from patronizing his restaurant.

Democrat Governor George Wallace stood in front of the Alabama schoolhouse in 1963, declaring there would be segregation forever.

Democrat Arkansas Governor Faubus tried to prevent desegregation of Little Rock public schools.

Democrat Senator John F. Kennedy voted against the 1957 Civil rights Act.

Democrat President John F. Kennedy opposed the 1963 March on Washington by Dr. King.

Democrat President John F. Kennedy, had Dr. King wiretapped and investigated by the FBI.

Democrat President Bill Clinton’s mentor was U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright, an Arkansas Democrat and a supporter of racial segregation.

Democrat President Bill Clinton interned for J. William Fulbright in 1966-67.

Democrat Senator J. William Fulbright signed the Southern Manifesto opposing the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education decision.

Democrat Senator J. William Fulbright joined with the Dixiecrats in filibustering the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1964.

Democrat Senator J. William Fulbright voted against the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Southern Democrats opposed desegregation and integration.

Democrats opposed:

1.The Emancipation Proclamation
2.The 13th Amendment
3.The 14th Amendment
4.The 15th Amendment
5.The Reconstruction Act of 1867
6.The Civil Rights of 1866
7.The Enforcement Act of 1870
8.The Forced Act of 1871
9.The Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871
10.The Civil Rights Act of 1875
11.The Freeman Bureau
12.The Civil Rights Act of 1957
13.The Civil Rights Act of 1960
14.The United State Civil Rights Commission


Republicans gave strong bi-partisan support and sponsorship for the following
legislation:

1.The Civil Rights Act of 1964
2.The Voting Rights Act of 1965
3.The 1968 Civil Rights Acts
4.The Equal Opportunity Act of 1972
5.Goals and Timetables for Affirmative Action Programs
6.Comprehensive Employment Training Act of 1973
7.Voting Rights Act of Amendment of 1982
8.Civil Rights Act of 1983
9.Federal Contract Compliance and Workforce Development Act of 1988

The Republicans:
Republicans enacted civil rights laws in the 1950’s and 1960’s, over the objection of Democrats.
Republicans founded the HBCU’s (Historical Black College’s and Universities) and started the NAACP to counter the racist practices of the Democrats.
Republicans pushed through much of the ground-breaking civil rights legislation in Congress.
Republicans fought slavery and amended the Constitution to grant blacks freedom, citizenship and the right to vote.

Republicans pushed through much of the groundbreaking civil rights legislation from the 1860s through the 1960s.

Republican President Dwight Eisenhower sent troops into the South to desegregate the schools.

Republican President Eisenhower appointed Chief Justice Earl Warren to the Supreme Court, which resulted in the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education decision.

Republican Senator Everett Dirksen from Illinois, not Democrat President Lyndon Johnson, was the one who pushed through the civil rights laws of the 1960’s.

Republican Senator Everett Dirksen from Illinois wrote the language for the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Republican Senator Everett Dirksen from Illinois also crafted the language for the Civil Rights Act of 1968 which prohibited discrimination in housing.

Republican and black American, A. Phillip Randolph, organized the 1963 March by Dr. King on Washington.

The 1964 Civil Rights Act Roll Call Vote: In the House, only 64 percent of the Democrats (153 yes, 91 no), but 80 percent of the Republicans (136 yes, 35 no), voted for it. In the Senate, while only 68 percent of the Democrats endorsed the bill (46 yes, 21 no), 82 percent of the Republicans voted to enact it (27 yes, 6 no).

Thaddeus Stevens, a Radical Republican that introduced legislation to give African Americans the so-called 40 acres and a mule and Democrats overwhelmingly voted against the bill.

During the Senate debates on the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, it was revealed that members of the Democratic Party formed many terrorist organizations like the Ku Klux Klan to murder and intimidate African Americans voters. The Ku Klux Klan Act was a bill introduced by a Republican Congress to stop Klan Activities.

History reveals that Democrats lynched, burned, mutilated and murdered thousands of blacks and completely destroyed entire towns and communities occupied by middle class Blacks, including Rosewood, Florida, the Greenwood District in Tulsa Oklahoma, and Wilmington, North Carolina to name a few.

History reveals that it was Abolitionists and Radical Republicans such as Henry L. Morehouse and General Oliver Howard that started many of the traditional Black colleges, while Democrats fought to keep them closed. Many of our traditional Black colleges are named after white Republicans.

After exclusively giving the Democrats their votes for the past 25 years, the average African American cannot point to one piece of civil rights legislation sponsored solely by the Democratic Party that was specifically designed to eradicate the unique problems that African Americans face today.

As of 2004, the Democrat Party (the oldest political party in America) had never elected a black man to the United States Senate, while the Republicans had elected three.

Christians, Supporting Those That Hate You

Religious persecution, specifically persecution of Christians in this country is moving apace, and the results of the 2012 elections will strengthen it. My view is this was a tipping point election, where government greed, government enabled sloth of the people, culturally approved lust, government wrath directed to those that do not adhere to the secularist\atheist faith in the State over God, barely literate uneducated students thinking they know everything out of pride, envy of those that have more of anything, and gluttony (we have become an overweight nation desiring things more than God). In short, we have embraced the seven deadly sins. The Judeo-Christian values that form the foundation of this nation's success have been rejected. This Christian Conservative is not going to stop the fight for free minds, free markets, and religious liberty. 

It's been said, and I've said many times, that totalitarians must oppress Christians to be successful in their rule. Their success may be eased now because even though this administration and Democrat Party openly attacked and tried to take control of doctrine and force them obey the State, most Catholics still voted Democrat and for Obama. It's clear Obama is an anti-Semite, and his political party is anti-Semitic, yet Jews voted for Obama and his Party. Stunning because governments have a long history of pogroms to eradicate Jews from the planet, and the Democrat Party is the party of the government, the State.. I had written earlier of Christians getting upset when elected officials pass regulations and laws limiting religious free speech, deny the posting of the Ten Commandments, abolishing Nativity Scenes from public view, and the rest we're all aware of. Then Christians turn around the next election and vote again for anti-Christian secularists, atheists and bigots.  

It's all part of persecuting Christians in this country, and I'm ever so grateful I'm not faced with martyrdom, torture or imprisonment, as in China and Islamic countries. Soft persecution is persecution none the less. Christmas can't be celebrated at schools, Christian clubs and groups can't be recognized on school campuses from K through college. Some colleges allow Christian groups if they are "diverse" and let atheists attend and even run for office in the group. Of course LBGT groups and Islamists can meet without any restraints because they're "diverse". Huh? The point of this is it marginalizes Christians.

Marginalizing is one aspect of persecution. Another is that constant refrain Christians have an intolerant criminal history. You remember the Crusades (a thousand years ago) and the Inquisitions (500 years ago). Of course this history proves how oppressive and violent Christians are. That's the "knowledge" secularists and atheists have in the present day.

Stereotyping, which we all do to some extent is particularly effective. You find a Christian or two that falls short on Christian behavior, and keep repeating that's what all Christians are like; intolerant, bigots, closed minded, stupid. We know all the names. Of course very few Christians are these things, but enough non-Christians "know" this, so it must be true.

This may be the first time in history Christians are contributing to their own persecution. Vote for the persecutors. Not standing up for your faith. Being afraid to speak of Christ in public, allowing secularists to prevent public prayer. Not witnessing. Confining your religious practices and beliefs to Sunday. Of course then you become the hypocrite they claim you are because you are only Christians on Sunday, and forget about it the rest of the week. Catch 22.

The time has come for Christians to take a stand. Better now than when we reach the point when Jesus says in Matthew 24:9: "Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake".

In Matthew 10:22 He says "And you will be hated by all for My name's sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved".

I appreciate the sentiment, but right now in this country we can avoid being delivered up for tribulation and death. The path we're on though, it will lead to that.

The Sermon on the Mount he said, "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake."

Evil is being said about us, and it is false. I'd rather be blessed for some of the other reasons in that Sermon.

How long before being against homosexual marriage becomes a hate crime? If you're a Catholic and stand against the State mandate that contraception and abortion must be paid for by Catholic institutions, and it becomes a crime, you will be imprisoned and\or fined, where is your religious freedom? When you are against abortion for religious reasons, what will you do when it becomes a hate crime? What will you do when wearing a cross or crucifix becomes a hate crime?    

This is rather long, but is what Jesus said would happen, and it is happening, from John 15:18-27 and 16:1-4.

The World's Hatred

“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father. But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’ 

The Coming Rejection

“But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning. “These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them. And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.

Jesus has told us what would happen. Our culture has passed the tipping point. Ignored is the true history of Christianity, that it saved civilization when the Roman Empire collapsed. That in the pagan world the concepts of hope, charity and love were nonexistent. There were no charitable institutions. No hospitals. Altruistic love was a non-starter. It was Christians that ended slavery. Ask just about anybody, and all they know about Christianity is bad stuff. None of the good stuff, that far outweighs the negatives. 

Now we have churches and charitable institutions that provide millions upon millions of dollars of food and money to help, but it's ignored by the secularist press, and the government. The secularist government is forcing Christian adoption agencies to shut down because they think a male and a female together are best to raise a child. Hospitals and Christian social services are being shut down because the they won't obey the atheist/secularist anti-Christian government. It's more important to the government to shut down Christianity and its institutions than it is to serve people. The money taken in by government to help the poor goes to middle class bureaucrats, that let a pittance dribble down to those in need, with the purpose of keeping them in need. They're not there to serve anyone but themselves.  

And who will the Helper recognize when Christians that supported and voted for those against Christianity, that have not been with Him. We are stumbling, because we're supporting those that hate us, and Christ, without cause. We are being put out of our churches. Jesus told us of these things, and not only are we ignoring these prophecies, but we are contributing to our own oppression and enslavement to the State. 

Many, even Christians will mock this prophecy of Christ. Naw, not here in America. Well, it is happening, here, in America. 

Tipping Point and the Seven Deadly Sins

Originally posted at the Wind Rose Hotel

This week America passed the tipping point. We found out America has moved from a constitutional republic based on moral scriptural values and beliefs, to an America that embraces and promotes the seven deadly sins. We have in Barack Obama and the Democrat Party, their supporters in the Jurassic Press and the trendy popular entertainment media, advocates for  wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony.

In Obama's closing speeches running up to the election, he exhorted his supporters to vote for revenge, wrath. That he would say such a thing is puzzling since he has been in power for four years, so who is revenge directed toward? Statistism, Marxism, the Left, have been the Establishment since the 1930's, in both politics and culture, yet they still play the oppressed minority. That Obama made the statement indicates he and his Party believe in and practice wrath, even against those they triumph over. There's been a lot of gloating and insulting of Republicans, Conservatives and Christians since election day.

Obama and the Democrat Party advocate greed with their notion of confiscating the wealth from those that are the most productive. An interviewer a few years ago asked Obama, noting that every time tax rates were reduced, revenues to the government went up, why did he still advocate for a higher tax rate for the wealthy? His answer was his standard 'they have to pay their fair share', regardless of the results. They use the concept of fairness, deciding what that is, to line their own pockets, increase their own wealth, at the expense of others.

They promote sloth by their notion of redistributing the wealth, telling people even if they don't work hard enough to get the things they want on their own, the government will make up the difference. The more slothful one is, the increased difference will still be made up, necessitating going back to confiscating yet more from the producers to compensate.

Obama and his fellow Statists promote pride with the notion of self esteem, that one doesn't have to accomplish anything to be proud of oneself. We have students coming out of school barely able to read and write, no knowledge of art, history, literature, mathematics, civics. Students think they know these things, and tests show the opposite. Yet they are still proud of their nonexistent accomplishments.

They promote envy with their constant attack on the successful. Hey, look at that guy, he has more money than me, what an evil and despicable person! Why should he have more than me?

Statists, Leftists, promote lust. Look at all the movies, books, TV shows, and magazines that sex is central. The entertainment "reporters" on the show "TMZ" openly and happily talk about the porn they watch when at one time such things were secretive and hidden, viewing was an embarrassment. Adultery is becoming more acceptable; there's even a social media that helps adulterers hook up.

Lastly, gluttony. The Obama's have spent over a billion dollars on vacations and parties since they've been in office. They eat and feed their supporters large quantities of the finest cuisine, while exhorting others to eat moderately and plainly. They constantly exhort others to do with less, while they ever increase their own consumption.

What was rejected a few days ago by Americans, is the notion we do the best we can for ourselves, for our families and friends, without government intervention, and that there is a tried and true moral and behavioral code over a couple thousand years that lends itself to successful happy people, in turn happy successful communities, in turn nations that receive the blessings of God.

Scripture makes it quite clear with the examples of the Israelites; every time they denied God, turned their back on Him, serious, bad things happened to them.

A few days ago we decided to make it official, and turned our backs to God. We have made the State our religion.

Ted Nugent - Stranglehold

Serious rock at its best. Amazing guitar work. Slip into it and ride the wave of sound.

http://youtu.be/0c3d7QgZr7g

"The Last Cowboy Song" The Highwaymen

http://youtu.be/GKeDcF1v_Y4

Thoughts on Halloween, All Saints Day and Passing From This Life

All Souls Day Vestment

Halloween has passed, and today we celebrate "All Saints Day". Halloween Day many at work had come in costume. I was asked why I didn't participate. My reply was I have issues with it. (My other reply is that my dress shirt and slacks is my costume of a Conservative and Christian zealot.) At one time it was a costume party for kids, and we went to the streets in safe neighborhoods where neighbors were known and had the same values as us. It was an innocent celebration of the scary and spooky, an indirect recognition of the dead. Now it's a celebration of ghastly bloody deaths, murder and torture. Saw enough of that in my early life for real; have no desire to celebrate it. The second thing that bothers me about this holiday is its reflection of our being juvenile into adulthood, not growing up. So many of my fellow baby boomers still act and think like they're teenagers or in their twenties.

I told my questioner that I celebrated All Saints Day, or All Souls Day, a day of recognition for those in our lives that have passed on. It's a day of remembering and honoring our dead. Certainly a more mature and thoughtful approach to our connection to the dead than having a costume party with the kids. I'm grateful that, with the exception of my Dad, all those extremely close and meaningful to me are still alive.

Still, moving from summer to winter, I'm mindful of this connection to dying and death. I know I'm nearing my end, and in a way embrace it. I've mentioned this to people, and they thought it macabre or a kind of death wish that I'm well aware I'm probably within the last decade of my life, and speak of it. I'm in my early 60's, and life expectancy now for men in the US is seventy-five. My priorities are God (worship, prayer, church), family and friends, then work. I've been through that period when work was the priority. That's not a healthy thing.  

There's the whole thing about "life is short", though a sage has said, it's plenty long enough, it's just that most of  us waste what time we have. Knowing my sojourn is closing wonderfully focuses my mind, on God.

On the shortness of life the Psalms says:

Our span is seventy years,
or eighty for those who are strong.
And most of these are emptiness and pain.
They pass swiftly and we are gone.
Who understands the power of your anger
and fears the strength of your fury?
Make us know the shortness of our life
that we may gain wisdom of heart.

I pray I've gained some of that wisdom of heart. The pain I've experienced is so small though compared to what others have lived. I think of those who lived as slaves, or in totalitarian States with their gulags for those that think differently than they were told to, or people so poor they live in dumps to survive. We live in a prosperous and free nation, and even our poor have it better that most alive now in other countries, and certainly better than our ancestors. I've been homeless a couple times, unemployed, drifting, and yet was always able to find food and shelter, and never a slave.

Given all that, I look forward to heaven the way the Apostle Paul did:

Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me life is Christ, and death is gain. If I go on living in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. And I do not know which I shall choose. I am caught between the two. I long to depart this life and be with Christ, for that is far better. Yet that I remain in the flesh is more necessary for your benefit. (Phil 1:20-23)

I'm grateful I've lived this long, really happy most people judge me to be at least ten years younger than I am, that I'm healthy, productive, and still can fulfill God's plans for me. At the same time, being with God, in His presence, what could be better?

Psalm 27:

One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD….My heart says of you, “Seek his face!” Your face, LORD, I will seek. Do not hide your face from me.

"Autumn Leaves" Eva Cassidy

http://youtu.be/3wSht__dvz8

The falling leaves drift by my window
The falling leaves of red and gold
I see your lips the summer kisses
The sunburned hands I used to hold

Since you went away the days grow long
And soon I'll hear old winter's song
But I miss you most of all my darling
When autumn leaves start to fall

Since you went away the days grow long
And soon I'll hear old winter's song
But I miss you most of all my darling
When autumn leaves start to fall

I miss you most of all my darling
When autumn leaves start to fall

The Political Emerson

~ “LETTERS FROM EUROPE” - by Rob (Wind Rose Hotel) ~

With presidential elections ahead, perhaps it is not useless to talk about political philosophy, specifically about Emerson, one of my all time favorite thinkers.

In spite of the fact that relatively few of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essays, speeches and lectures—nor even the most important—are expressly concerned with politics, the Sage of Concord had a major influence on the American political culture. How come? The point is that Transcendentalism—Emerson, as it is well known, was the most important theoretician of that movement—showed a “practical” character, the central point of which was that a man, if renewed in soul, would be able to change, in the truest sense of the term, the world. Meanwhile Emerson had resolutely moved the traditional borders of philosophy, he namely had “evaded” the inclination to center on epistemology. There follows an idea of philosophy as a form of criticism of culture, centered on Emerson’s idea of America—”America,” he said, “is the idea of Emancipation.”  Which doesn’t prevent him from seeing the ills of his country. He wrote in his Journal:

American idea, Emancipation, appears in our freedom of intellection, in our reforms, & in our bad politics; has, of course, its sinister side, which is most felt by the drilled & scholastic. But, if followed, leads to heavenly places. 

This is the “political Emerson,” a censor of concrete America of his days in the name of an ideal America he would propose to his fellow countrymen with his volcanic power, emotional depth and searing intellectual intensity—”We live in Lilliput,”  he complained—, between an indignant protest and the blazing faith in one democracy to come, founded on the soul, and not on governments and banks.

In dealing with the State, we ought to remember that its institutions are not aboriginal, though they existed before we were born: that they are not superior to the citizen: that every one of them was once the act of a single man: every law and usage was a man’s expedient to meet a particular case: that they all are imitable, all alterable; we may make as good; we may make better. 

What is most important, for Emerson, is that no state, institution and economic system can assume the right to constitute a higher principle than the Individual. He is on the same wavelength as his friends Henry David Thoreau and Thomas Carlyle by dissociating from both the alienation of the individual under the conditions of modern production and the way many contemporary Americans were, “with their vast material interest, materialized intellect, & low morals,”  he wrote in his Journal in 1851.

As a result, one can, must, distrust state and government.

Hence, the less government we have the better, - the fewer laws, and the less confided power. The antidote to this abuse of formal government, is, the influence of private character, the growth of the Individual; the appearance of the principal to supersede the proxy; the appearance of the wise man, of whom the existing government is, it must be owned, but a shabby imitation. That which all things tend to educe, which freedom, cultivation, intercourse, revolutions, go to form and deliver, is character; that is the end of nature, to reach unto this coronation of her king. To educate the wise man, the State exists; and which the appearance of the wise man, the State expires. The appearance of character makes the State unnecessary. The wise man is the State. [Politics]

Is this utopia? It may be so, at least as long as we declare even the idea of emancipation, in the most comprehensive sense of the word, to be utopistic. Certainly Emerson shows a way, an attitude of mind. Nevertheless, this apotheosis of individualism, pragmatically suggests to him anything but extremist behaviors. He gets angry with bankers and politicians, but by advancing solid arguments.

As an old fan of Emerson, I think that as a political thinker he was actually worthy of the Man of God, the Poet, the Enchanter. Above all, it is amazing to see the symbiosis of two faiths almost always antithetical—that in the aristocracy of the spirit, and that in the liberté-egalité-fraternité principles.

Which perhaps is quite comforting if you think about the depressing political landscape of today.

Democrat Consultant Pat Caddell on the Benghazi Cover Up

When the press becomes an advocate and refuses to report events then democracy is in grave peril.

http://youtu.be/IBR4g6cBYeA

Benghazi Cover Up by President and Press: View by Democrat Consultant Pat Caddell

This so expresses the outrage all of us Americans should be screaming about for the death of Americans because our President didn't send help to the embassy when it was being attacked. Then he lied and covered it up. It's not being reported by any of the Re-elect Obama Press. There ARE DEAD AMERICANS! Killed as a result of this Commander in Chief's negligence! This battle went on for seven hours, and Obama told the forces in place to help them to stand down! Then he went to two fund raisers, when there were MURDERED AMERICANS!

http://youtu.be/Bsz5iZX9Db4

To Democrats, Women are Vagina's

To the Democrats, women are just vagina's. A few weeks ago they had an ad, since taken down, telling women to vote with their lady parts. In their view women are only interested in abortion and contraception. Nearly all their Convention dealt with abortion and contraception, and most of the campaign ads I've seen are. Don't bother their pretty little heads with things like economics and foreign policy. The feminist movement was arguably the most effective social movement in US history. It devolved into a Leftist ideological advocacy movement, and that has turn out to women being, by Leftists, disregarded as sex parts. Back to square one for women in America? Or will they smarten up and vote for the things that work, that provide economic growth and national security?

This is a tasteless ad comparing voting for the first time with losing one's virginity, which, I'm told, is often painful.

http://youtu.be/o6G3nwhPuR4

Great parody of the ad.

http://youtu.be/sSxDE1QCHA4

"The Well" Casting Crowns

Politicians and Their Faith. Practice or Political Practicality?

During the Vice Presidential debates, moderator  Martha Raddatz asked the two contenders about abortion and how their faith informs their lives. VP Joe Biden said,  “My religion defines who I am...”  He is, like Paul Ryan, a Catholic. Unlike Ryan, it appears he decides which doctrines and dogma he decides to accept.

The longer quote:

"I accept my church’s position on abortion as a — what we call a de fide doctrine. Life begins at conception in the church’s judgment. I accept it in my personal life. But I refuse to impose it on equally devout Christians and Muslims and Jews, and I just refuse to impose that on others…"

Not being Catholic I had to look up "de fide": De fide (of the faith) is a "theological note" or "theological qualification" that indicates that some religious doctrine is an essential part of Catholic faith and that denial of it is heresy.[1] (Wikipedia Dictionary)

This also, to my understanding, something revealed by God. Apparently the issue of abortion doesn't qualify. 

To my greater point, politicians often separate their faith from their politics. This causes me severe cognitive dissonance. If your faith informs and defines you, how can you in practice ignore the values, beliefs or teachings of your Faith or Church?

Biden's answer is typical; he refuses to impose them on others. The Kennedy's are all pro abortion and nearly all have gotten divorces against the doctrine of the Church they claim to belong to. Nancy Pelosi, another Catholic has even said abortion is an unsettled matter in the Church, and doctrine has developed only in the last fifty years.

"I would say that as an ardent, practicing Catholic, this is an issue that I have studied for a long time.  And what I know is, over the centuries, the doctors of the church have not been able to make that definition.  And Senator–St. Augustine said at three months.  We don’t know. The point is, is that it shouldn’t have an impact on the woman’s right to choose.  Roe v. Wade talks about very clear definitions of when the child–first trimester, certain considerations; second trimester; not so third trimester.  There’s very clear distinctions.  This isn’t about abortion on demand, it’s about a careful, careful consideration of all factors and–to–that a woman has to make with her doctor and her god.  And so I don’t think anybody can tell you when life begins, human life begins.  As I say, the Catholic Church for centuries has been discussing this, and there are those who’ve decided…"

 The Catholic Church teaches life begins at conception. It has been since at least 70 CE.  

“The second commandment of the teaching: You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not seduce boys. You shall not commit fornication. You shall not steal. You shall not practice magic. You shall not use potions. You shall not procure [an] abortion, nor destroy a newborn child” (Didache 2:1–2 [A.D. 70]).

The Catechism in paragraphs 2271, 2272, and 2274, and explicit in 2322:

 "From its conception, the child has the right to life. Direct abortion, that is, abortion willed as an end or as a means, is a “criminal” practice (GS 27 § 3), gravely contrary to the moral law. The Church imposes the canonical penalty of excommunication for this crime against human life."

If a politician claims to belong to a religious institution, or claims belief in the teachings and values of their stated Faith, when they say, like Biden, their Faith defines them, they should walk the talk. It's not a matter of forcing beliefs on others. Such people deciding to be politicians, regardless of political affiliation, should vote issues according to their Faith if they state it's what defines them. They should run for office stating they cannot vote for pro abortion laws or State funded abortion because of religious beliefs. The same with any issue. They should tell the public their affiliation and beliefs when they run for office, and that they obey and practice them. Biden saying his Religion informs his life, then not acting on that, makes him both a hypocrite and a liar. These people's politics and lust for power inform their lives, not their Church or their Faith.

What church or what religion one practices is a matter of choice. Belonging to a Church is voluntary.

If one disagrees with those teachings, dogma, doctrine, another Church should be found. To do anything other than that is hypocritical and cowardly.

 From the debate:

http://youtu.be/KOpb9irG3Cw