Blackberry post-
Ever have one of those moments that aren't especially bad, yet not especially good? They leave you thinking "what was that all about?"
Today has been such a moment and I thought I'd share. I got a text last night from an ex of mine. "Can I see you tomorrow morning? There's something we need to talk about."
"Sure," I said hesitantly. This particular ex has been something of a psycho, but I was curious. I had another appointment that fell through, so she came and picked me up. Since I hadn't seen her in some time, there was the usual chit chat. Finally I just bored ahead and asked what was up? She admitted that she is getting married sometime this month. I wasn't surprised, but gave her my sincerest congrats. I noticed that she watched me closely.
She was waiting for a reaction and I really didn't have one. I was glad for her, if this is what she wants, but I wasn't upset, either. It was some kind of strange neutrality.
I think its possible she expected me to suddenly step up and claim her! Not going to happen. Eventually, we talked about other things, she brought me home, I gave her a hug and congrats again.
I am still puzzled about my own total lack of emotional response. I will have to think about it.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Thursday, October 8, 2009
A letter to Barbaro's Angel
Hi Angel
I follow Pandora's blog and discovered your questions. Unfortunately, I don't know if some of those questions will ever really be answered to America's satisfaction. All I can do is give you some of my own thoughts.
Why did it happen? There are probably countless reasons. Political: the planners wanted to show the world that the US is basically weak and morally corrupt. They struck at, what was perhaps, the very symbol of what the US stands for. Wealth and power. They struck for religious reasons. Islam teaches that it is acceptable to attack and kill anyone that refuses to acknowledge that the way of Allah is the only true way. They call it Jihad, or Holy War. You may even be thinking that "We didn't do anything to them!" I read somewhere that the Muslim mind is one that looks back: is more concerned with their history and real or imagined slights and insults. Here in the West, events like the Crusades is little more than ancient history. Something to be studied or read about. For them, it represents the basest of insults handed to them by Christians, and they will not forget that. And some people are just filled with rage, pain, a need to kill and destroy, and are determined to share it with the world. I would encourage you to read through some of the history leading up to the Crusades. I think you will see what I mean.
Did 9/11 unify America? For a time, absolutely, it did. Ask your mom, your dad. On 9/10, you saw American flags in all the places you would expect them. At schools, government buildings, etc. But after the attack, on 9/12 and the weeks following, you saw flags everywhere! Guys with pickup trucks mounted several flags in the bed. You saw them on cars, people wearing flag pins or shirts, businesses hanging huge flags off of their buildings. They were everywhere. People all over the country lined up to donate blood and plasma for shipment to New York, when the supplies they had on hand were more than enough. People wanted to help. They wanted to feel that they were contributing, helping put people's lives back together. The Air Force claimed the last words heard from Flight 93 as the motto of their fighter wings: "Let's roll!" In the months and years to follow, the Navy used salvaged steel from the World Trade Center to build American warships (Look up the USS New York). As has happened so many times in American history, we discovered that we were strong! And in that strength, we stood up, with one voice and told the world "We will not fall. We will not falter. This will never happen again!" There were no republicans, no democrats, no rich, no poor. Just Americans united in grief and anger. For maybe the first time in US history, we were truly one people.
Unfortunately, while we have never forgotten the events of 9/11, or the horror of watching American passenger jets crashing into American buildings (which now you can only find in youtube, because it was decided by the media that the images of that day were too disturbing), I believe that we have forgotten how it felt. We ask ourselves, "why don't they like us?" "Bring our troops home, they shouldn't fight and die on foreign sands. It isn't our war."
You impress me for even asking the questions you did. I would encourage you to seek out those answers for yourself. Go to youtube and watch the videos of that terrible day, with your mom. Look at how it makes you feel. I think you will find some of your answers in your own heart.
Let me share a couple of my favorite quotes with you, to think about. "Peace isn't the absence of war. It is the presence of justice." "There is a peace that can only be found on the other side of war."
Finally, I read about your being selected as Cadet of the month. Awesome job! I'm sure you've picked up that I am all about the history. There is a brother and sisterhood of veterans that have fought, bled and died for the United States of America. It's membership stretches back into the nation's earliest days. You have taken your first steps as a new member of that club. You might roll your eyes and think that it isn't THAT big of a deal. Yes it is. It is a beginning. And even if you never serve in the military, you will carry a little bit of it inside you. Be proud of that. Wear your uniform with pride. Never let anyone tell you it doesn't matter, because it does. And as one vet to another... I'm proud of you.
I didn't mean to write yo a book, but I hope I gave you some things to think about and more importantly, to talk about!
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Happy 4th of July
I wish you, gentle reader, a safe and happy holiday.
Have you noticed that this holiday is almost exclusively referred to by it's date? The 4th of July. I think that it is entirely appropriate to take a moment and reflect upon this holiday's official name: Independence Day.
WHEN, in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands, which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's GOD entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the Causes which impel them to the Separation.
We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their CREATOR, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate, that Governments long established, should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shown, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security. Such has been the patient Sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the Necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The History of the present King of Great-Britain is a History of repeated Injuries and Usurpations, all having in direct Object the Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid World.
HE has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public Good.
HE has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing Importance, unless suspended in their Operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
HE has refused to pass other Laws for the Accommodations of large Districts of People, unless those People would relinquish the Right of Representation in the Legislature, a Right inestimable to them, and formidable to Tyranny only.
HE has called together Legislative Bodies at Places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the Depository of their public Records, for the sole Purpose of fatiguing them into Compliance with his Measures.
HE has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly Firmness his Invasions on the Rights of the People.
HE has refused for a long Time, after such Dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining, in the mean Time, exposed to all the Dangers of Invasion from without, and Convulsions within.
HE has endeavored to prevent the Population of these States; for that Purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their Migrations hither, and raising the Conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
HE has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
HE has made Judges dependent on his Will alone; for the Tenure of their Offices, and the Amount and Payment of their Salaries.
HE has erected a Multitude of new Offices, and sent hither Swarms of Officers to harass our People, and eat out their Substance.
HE has kept among us, in Times of Peace, Standing Armies, without the Consent of our Legislatures.
HE has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
HE has combined with others to subject us to a Jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution, and unacknowledged by our Laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
FOR quartering large Bodies of Armed Troops among us:
FOR protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
FOR cutting off our Trade with all Parts of the World:
FOR imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
FOR depriving us, in many Cases, of the Benefits of Trial by Jury:
FOR transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended Offences:
FOR abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighboring Province, establishing therein an arbitrary Government, and enlarging its Boundaries, so as to render it at once an Example and fit Instrument for introducing the same absolute Rule into these Colonies:
FOR taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
FOR suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with Power to legislate for us in all Cases whatsoever.
HE has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection, and waging War against us.
HE has plundered our Seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our Towns, and destroyed the Lives of our People.
HE is, at this Time, transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to complete the Works of Death, Desolation, and Tyranny, already begun with Circumstances of Cruelty and Perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous Ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized Nation.
HE has constrained our Fellow-Citizens, taken Captive on the high Seas, to bear Arms against their Country, to become the Executioners of their Friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
HE has excited domestic Insurrection amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the Inhabitants of our Frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known Rule of Warfare, is an undistinguished Destruction, of all Ages, Sexes, and Conditions.
IN every Stage of these Oppressions we have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble Terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated Injury. A Prince, whose Character is thus marked by every Act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the Ruler of a free People.
NOR have we been wanting in Attentions to our British Brethren. We have warned them, from Time to Time, of Attempts by their Legislature to extend an unwarrantable Jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the Circumstances of our Emigration and Settlement here. We have appealed to their native Justice and Magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the Ties of our common Kindred to disavow these Usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our Connections and Correspondence. They too have been deaf to the Voice of Justice and of Consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the Necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the Rest of Mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
WE, therefore, the Representatives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in GENERAL CONGRESS Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the Rectitude of our Intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly Publish and Declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political Connection between them and the State of Great-Britain, is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; and that as FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which INDEPENDENT STATES may of Right do. And for the Support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of DIVINE PROVIDENCE, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
TBC
Monday, June 1, 2009
Something lost, something gained
Dogma is the established belief or doctrine held by a religion, ideology or any kind of organization: it is authoritative and not to be disputed, doubted or diverged from.
I have not tried to hide the fact that I am a firm believer in the idea and ideal of chivalry. Looking at what our society is becoming, I think that a modernized form of chivalry could well be the salvation of the world.
Chivalry is comprised of morality, honesty, integrity, compassion, respect, personal courage, responsibility, accountability and equality.
The Midddle Ages, when chivalry was born, were a much different place than the world we live in today. Its people were different. Women had almost no rights and really needed the protection chivalry provided. Today, not so much.
In today's world, with the right amount of drive, everyone can be what it is in them to be. Regardless of race, gender, religion or sexual orientation. You just have to want it badly enough to go chasing it.
It saddens me that not all seem to see chivalry in that light. I was forced by my own beliefs and convictions to leave the chivalric organization I would have happily spent the rest of my life championing. The verbiage is subtle. At least to a tree stump like me, it is. But the respect being accorded to women is a gilded cage. That respect denies them personal responsibility or accountability. It presumes that they are born with an innate understanding of what it is and means to be a woman, yet men are not. It places women upon a pedestal that is so high as to make every woman a faded copy of the Virgin Mary. How does this thinking give them access to the same virtues and ideals that chivalric men claim for themselves? How does it give them the right to live to their maximum potential? I don't believe it does. And that belief has set me apart from my brothers.
It has been my experience that some women can be just a vile and corrupted as any man. I don't see them as needing any special dispensation because they wear bras and panties. They, the same as everyone else, have to make that personal choice to be better people. To want to help others become better people. Considering the fact that they are still, for the most part, the primary caregivers of our children, shouldn't they perhaps be help more accountable? At the very least, be given the same opportunities for virtue as any man.
Is chivalry sexist? When viewed through the lens of the modern world, maybe so. Once, it was needed to be so. It served a purpose. Now, that purpose has changed and chivalry must change with it to be pertinent in the world today. It is also very important to remember, when studying history, chivalric codes were rarely followed strictly. Only a handful of knights and nobles were truly chivalric. Today's world needs chivalry to be more. To stand for more. For it's followers to give of themselves more. Will the world get what it needs from modern chivalry?
Probably not.
Saddened, Lancelot, his armor more dented and battered, sheaths his sword. Eyes cast down, he rides into an uncertain sunset, hoping Guenevere can climb off her pedestal.
He could use the company.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
A story from Pravda
It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American decent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheep, excuse me dear reader, I meant people.
True, the situation has been well prepared on and off for the past century, especially the past twenty years. The initial testing grounds was conducted upon our Holy Russia and a bloody test it was. But we Russians would not just roll over and give up our freedoms and our souls, no matter how much money Wall Street poured into the fists of the Marxists.
Those lessons were taken and used to properly prepare the American populace for the surrender of their freedoms and souls, to the whims of their elites and betters.
First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas then the drama in DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their "right" to choke down a McDonalds burger or a BurgerKing burger than for their constitutional rights. Then they turn around and lecture us about our rights and about our "democracy". Pride blind the foolish.
Then their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches, all tens of thousands of different "branches and denominations" were for the most part little more then Sunday circuses and their televangelists and top protestant mega preachers were more then happy to sell out their souls and flocks to be on the "winning" side of one pseudo Marxist politician or another. Their flocks may complain, but when explained that they would be on the "winning" side, their flocks were ever so quick to reject Christ in hopes for earthly power. Even our Holy Orthodox churches are scandalously liberalized in America.
The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America's short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more then another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe.
These past two weeks have been the most breath taking of all. First came the announcement of a planned redesign of the American Byzantine tax system, by the very thieves who used it to bankroll their thefts, loses and swindles of hundreds of billions of dollars. These make our Russian oligarchs look little more then ordinary street thugs, in comparison. Yes, the Americans have beat our own thieves in the shear volumes. Should we congratulate them?
These men, of course, are not an elected panel but made up of appointees picked from the very financial oligarchs and their henchmen who are now gorging themselves on trillions of American dollars, in one bailout after another. They are also usurping the rights, duties and powers of the American congress (parliament). Again, congress has put up little more then a whimper to their masters.
Then came Barack Obama's command that GM's (General Motor) president step down from leadership of his company. That is correct, dear reader, in the land of "pure" free markets, the American president now has the power, the self given power, to fire CEOs and we can assume other employees of private companies, at will. Come hither, go dither, the centurion commands his minions.
So it should be no surprise, that the American president has followed this up with a "bold" move of declaring that he and another group of unelected, chosen stooges will now redesign the entire automotive industry and will even be the guarantee of automobile policies. I am sure that if given the chance, they would happily try and redesign it for the whole of the world, too. Prime Minister Putin, less then two months ago, warned Obama and UK's Blair, not to follow the path to Marxism, it only leads to disaster. Apparently, even though we suffered 70 years of this Western sponsored horror show, we know nothing, as foolish, drunken Russians, so let our "wise" Anglo-Saxon fools find out the folly of their own pride.
Again, the American public has taken this with barely a whimper...but a "freeman" whimper.
So, should it be any surprise to discover that the Democratically controlled Congress of America is working on passing a new regulation that would give the American Treasury department the power to set "fair" maximum salaries, evaluate performance and control how private companies give out pay raises and bonuses? Senator Barney Franks, a social pervert basking in his homosexuality (of course, amongst the modern, enlightened American societal norm, as well as that of the general West, homosexuality is not only not a looked down upon life choice, but is often praised as a virtue) and his Marxist enlightenment, has led this effort. He stresses that this only affects companies that receive government monies, but it is retroactive and taken to a logical extreme, this would include any company or industry that has ever received a tax break or incentive.
The Russian owners of American companies and industries should look thoughtfully at this and the option of closing their facilities down and fleeing the land of the Red as fast as possible. In other words, divest while there is still value left.
The proud American will go down into his slavery with out a fight, beating his chest and proclaiming to the world, how free he really is. The world will only snicker.
Stanislav Mishin
*UPDATE*
After reading the above article, I further searched the Pravda site and discovered that it is full of tabloid stories of the worst kind. THe above story, while alarming, must be viewed through that lense. Should we believe a story posted on the same site that talks about man eating catfish in the Volga, that a UFO hurled itself into the path of the meteorite that exploded over Tunguska and claims that Russian scientists have found a way to communicate with the afterlife?
You decide.
True, the situation has been well prepared on and off for the past century, especially the past twenty years. The initial testing grounds was conducted upon our Holy Russia and a bloody test it was. But we Russians would not just roll over and give up our freedoms and our souls, no matter how much money Wall Street poured into the fists of the Marxists.
Those lessons were taken and used to properly prepare the American populace for the surrender of their freedoms and souls, to the whims of their elites and betters.
First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas then the drama in DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their "right" to choke down a McDonalds burger or a BurgerKing burger than for their constitutional rights. Then they turn around and lecture us about our rights and about our "democracy". Pride blind the foolish.
Then their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches, all tens of thousands of different "branches and denominations" were for the most part little more then Sunday circuses and their televangelists and top protestant mega preachers were more then happy to sell out their souls and flocks to be on the "winning" side of one pseudo Marxist politician or another. Their flocks may complain, but when explained that they would be on the "winning" side, their flocks were ever so quick to reject Christ in hopes for earthly power. Even our Holy Orthodox churches are scandalously liberalized in America.
The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America's short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more then another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe.
These past two weeks have been the most breath taking of all. First came the announcement of a planned redesign of the American Byzantine tax system, by the very thieves who used it to bankroll their thefts, loses and swindles of hundreds of billions of dollars. These make our Russian oligarchs look little more then ordinary street thugs, in comparison. Yes, the Americans have beat our own thieves in the shear volumes. Should we congratulate them?
These men, of course, are not an elected panel but made up of appointees picked from the very financial oligarchs and their henchmen who are now gorging themselves on trillions of American dollars, in one bailout after another. They are also usurping the rights, duties and powers of the American congress (parliament). Again, congress has put up little more then a whimper to their masters.
Then came Barack Obama's command that GM's (General Motor) president step down from leadership of his company. That is correct, dear reader, in the land of "pure" free markets, the American president now has the power, the self given power, to fire CEOs and we can assume other employees of private companies, at will. Come hither, go dither, the centurion commands his minions.
So it should be no surprise, that the American president has followed this up with a "bold" move of declaring that he and another group of unelected, chosen stooges will now redesign the entire automotive industry and will even be the guarantee of automobile policies. I am sure that if given the chance, they would happily try and redesign it for the whole of the world, too. Prime Minister Putin, less then two months ago, warned Obama and UK's Blair, not to follow the path to Marxism, it only leads to disaster. Apparently, even though we suffered 70 years of this Western sponsored horror show, we know nothing, as foolish, drunken Russians, so let our "wise" Anglo-Saxon fools find out the folly of their own pride.
Again, the American public has taken this with barely a whimper...but a "freeman" whimper.
So, should it be any surprise to discover that the Democratically controlled Congress of America is working on passing a new regulation that would give the American Treasury department the power to set "fair" maximum salaries, evaluate performance and control how private companies give out pay raises and bonuses? Senator Barney Franks, a social pervert basking in his homosexuality (of course, amongst the modern, enlightened American societal norm, as well as that of the general West, homosexuality is not only not a looked down upon life choice, but is often praised as a virtue) and his Marxist enlightenment, has led this effort. He stresses that this only affects companies that receive government monies, but it is retroactive and taken to a logical extreme, this would include any company or industry that has ever received a tax break or incentive.
The Russian owners of American companies and industries should look thoughtfully at this and the option of closing their facilities down and fleeing the land of the Red as fast as possible. In other words, divest while there is still value left.
The proud American will go down into his slavery with out a fight, beating his chest and proclaiming to the world, how free he really is. The world will only snicker.
Stanislav Mishin
*UPDATE*
After reading the above article, I further searched the Pravda site and discovered that it is full of tabloid stories of the worst kind. THe above story, while alarming, must be viewed through that lense. Should we believe a story posted on the same site that talks about man eating catfish in the Volga, that a UFO hurled itself into the path of the meteorite that exploded over Tunguska and claims that Russian scientists have found a way to communicate with the afterlife?
You decide.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Natural law
The Founding Fathers very much had Natural Law in the front of their minds as they were framing the American Constitution. The Constitution being, perhaps, the greatest document ever produced, second only to the Magna Carta, in providing the blueprint for a free society. Many of the Founders were great followers of John Locke, who in turn, was much inspired by Marcus Tullius Cicero. Cicero defined and explained Natural Law and it's use in governing nations. The following is from the book The 5,000 Year Leap:
It strikes me that here is the exact explination for why so many things in our world have become the way they have. Cicero says that Natural Law is for all nations and all times. The United States was founded on these principles. We recognize their validity. The founders held these truths to be selfevident. We have allowed, for convenience sake, our appointed representatives to do their best to make JusticeInjustice. We are paying the price for it.
"First of all, Cicero defines Natural Law as 'true law.' Then he says:
Quote:
True Law is right reason in agreement with nature; it is of universal application, unchanging and everlasting; it summons to duty by its commands, and averts from wrongdoing by its prohibitions....It is a sin to try and alter this law, nor is it allowable to repeal any part of it, and it is impossible to abolish it entirely. We cannot be freed from its obligations by senate or people, and we need not look outside ourselves foe an expounder or interpreter of it. And there will not be different laws at Rome and at Athens, or different laws now and in the future, but one eternal and unchangeable law will be valid for all nations and all times, and there will be one master and ruler, that is God, over us all, for he is the author of this law, its promulgator, and its enforcing judge. Whoever is disobedient is fleeing from himself and denying his human nature, and by reason of this very fact he will suffer the worst punishment.
In these few lines the student encounters concepts which wererepeated by the Founders a thousand times. The Law of Nature or Nature's God is eternal in its basic goodness; it is universal in its application. It is a code of 'right reason' from the Creator himself. It cannot be abandoned by legislators or the people themselves, even though they may pretend to do so. In Natural Law we are dealing with factors of absolute reality. It is basic in its principles, comprehensible to the human mind, and totally correct and morally right in its general operation.
To the Founding Fathers as well as to Blackstone, John Locke, Montesquieu, and Cicero, this was a montimental discovery.
Cicero then set forth the means by which people may judge between good and evil laws. All laws must be measured by God's Law, which is described by Cicero as follows:
Quote:
Therefore Law [of the Creator] is the distinction between things just and unjust, made in agreement with that primal and most ancient of all things, Nature; and in conformity to Nature's standard are framed those human laws which inflict punishment upon the wicked and protect the good.
Cicero also emphasizes that the essence of an evil law cannot be mended through ratification by the legislature or by popular acclaim. Justice can never be expected from laws arbitrarily passed in violation of standards set up under the laws of Nature or the laws of the Creator. Here is his argument:
Quote:
But if the principles of Justice were founded on the decrees of peoples, the edicts of princes, or the decisions of judges, then Justice would sanction robbery and adultery and forgery of wills, in case these acts were apprived by the votes or decrees of the populace. But if so great a power belongs to the decisions and decrees of fools that the laws of Nature can be changed by their votes, then why do they not ordain that what is bad and baneful shall be considered good and salutary? Or, if a law can make Justice Injustice, can it not also make good out of bad?
"
It strikes me that here is the exact explination for why so many things in our world have become the way they have. Cicero says that Natural Law is for all nations and all times. The United States was founded on these principles. We recognize their validity. The founders held these truths to be selfevident. We have allowed, for convenience sake, our appointed representatives to do their best to make JusticeInjustice. We are paying the price for it.
The Grand Old Party?
Not so much anymore.
Since the election of President Obama, the GOP has done an amazing job towards ensuring that he will be a two term president. I guess I see this as the application of the old saw "Do SOMETHING, even if it's wrong."
The party has some serious problems that it needs to address before it can again become a viable national party again. And no, as I see it, the GOP is in no way a viable option right now.
Problems:
1. The party no longer seems to know who it is and what it stands for. Supposedly standing up for 'Rugged Individualism,' it seems that now it's rugged individualism as long as you are in lockstep with the ultra right wing of the party. The Powell/Limbaugh war is a great example of this.
To which, Limbaugh said:
Is this not simply pure idiocy? Powell says something, then Limbaugh immediately paints him with the liberal paintbrush. The truth of the matter is that both are kinda right, but both are also very wrong. But the point is, the GOP is shredding itself.
Nominating John McCain, a well known moderate, then trying to force him to be a conservative was a major step in the wrong direction. Bush starting the Bailout Gravytrain was an even bigger one. It confused the party base and opened the door for the monstrocity that Obama trundled out. The GOP wails about what Obama is doing, but they are the ones that provided opportunity.
Limbaugh is right about one thing. The GOP seems to have lost total touch with how America is really living and what Americans are really concerned about. In 2012, how are people going to believe they have any alternative but for 4 more years of Democratic rule?
Even a Rubuplican candidate that wants nothing more than but to reunite the GOP, is going to come off as just being one more yammering voice. Sarah Palin will not be a viable candidate, despite the early work she is doing. I very much doubt Mitt Romney will want to try it again. Newt Gingrich has said he is not adverse to consideration as a possible candidate, but I think his personal background will do him in.
A final quote.
This, more than anything, proves what's happening in the GOP. The head of the RNC, bowing to a radio talk show host. Limbaugh, on multiple occations, has stated, himself, that he is simply an entertainer. I don't think he believes that anymore. I think he really believes he is part of the GOP leadership. How is this different from the scores of Hollywood stars that toute their beliefs whenever given media time? It really isn't, and evidently America doesn't know any better.
I will agree with Rush on one point. He flailed at the Democrats for saying that trying to block the Obama agenda is unamerican. Of course the Republicans are going to try and be obstructionist. No different than the Democrats were during the Bush years, yet somehow, this is different.
The ultimate loser here, gentle reader, is you and I. It has been proven time and time again, that our elected leadership is more interested in their own power than in doing the job we elected them to do. They seem to have little to no interest in what our real needs are. They would rather tell us our needs and then sell us some bullshit solution that we will be required to pay for.
We need to find a better way.
Since the election of President Obama, the GOP has done an amazing job towards ensuring that he will be a two term president. I guess I see this as the application of the old saw "Do SOMETHING, even if it's wrong."
The party has some serious problems that it needs to address before it can again become a viable national party again. And no, as I see it, the GOP is in no way a viable option right now.
Problems:
1. The party no longer seems to know who it is and what it stands for. Supposedly standing up for 'Rugged Individualism,' it seems that now it's rugged individualism as long as you are in lockstep with the ultra right wing of the party. The Powell/Limbaugh war is a great example of this.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009 10:25 PM
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell blasted Rush Limbaugh Monday during a speech in which he said the Republican Party is in a state of collapse.
The GOP is "getting smaller and smaller" and "that's not good for the nation," Powell said, according to the National Journal. He also said he hopes that emerging GOP leaders, such as House Minority Whip Cantor, will not keep repeating mantras of the far right.
Powell lashed out at Limbaugh and conservative icon Ann Coulter. Neither serves the party well, Powell said during a speech to corporate security executives at a conference in Washington sponsored by Fortify Software Inc.
"I think what Rush does as an entertainer diminishes the party and intrudes or inserts into our public life a kind of nastiness that we would be better to do without," Powell said.
And Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, McCain's running mate last year, is "a very accomplished person" but became "a very polarizing figure," he said, adding that Palin's advisers created the polarization.
“The Republican Party is in deep trouble," he said, according to the Journal. “The party must realize that the country has changed. Americans do want to pay taxes for services. Americans are looking for more government in their life, not less."
Powell stirred controversy last year when he came out for the Democratic presidential candidate, then-Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois. Powell said he told the GOP candidate, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, that the party had developed a reputation for being mean-spirited and driven more by social conservatism than the economic problems that Americans faced, the Journal reported.
© 2009 Newsmax. All rights reserved.
To which, Limbaugh said:
Why Colin Powell is Mad at Me
May 6, 2009
BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: I'm getting e-mail, people here at the studio, "When are you going to talk about Colin Powell?" Folks, I don't care, I don't care what Colin Powell says. This kind of stuff is said about me three times a day by all liberals under the sun, and Colin Powell is just another liberal. He did this back in December, and I responded to it then. Look, if you want to know what this is all about, Colin Powell is out there saying the American people want more taxes, they want bigger government. He's out there saying I am killing the Republican Party while he endorsed and voted for Obama. The Republican Party nominated the exact kind of candidate Colin Powell thinks the Republican Party should have and he still endorsed Obama. He's just mad at me because I'm the one person in the country that had the guts to explain his endorsement of Obama. It was purely and solely based on race. There can be no other explanation for it.
What Colin Powell needs to do is close the loop and become a Democrat, instead of claiming to be a Republican interested in reforming the Republican Party. He's not. He's a full-fledged Democrat. The only reason to endorse Obama is race. I don't think Powell thinks he could get away with not endorsing Obama because the Republicans nominated the exact candidate that had the exact campaign, other than Sarah Palin, that Colin Powell advocated. So I don't care. This kind of stuff is said about me ten times a day by liberals. He's just one of them doing it.
END TRANSCRIPT
Is this not simply pure idiocy? Powell says something, then Limbaugh immediately paints him with the liberal paintbrush. The truth of the matter is that both are kinda right, but both are also very wrong. But the point is, the GOP is shredding itself.
Nominating John McCain, a well known moderate, then trying to force him to be a conservative was a major step in the wrong direction. Bush starting the Bailout Gravytrain was an even bigger one. It confused the party base and opened the door for the monstrocity that Obama trundled out. The GOP wails about what Obama is doing, but they are the ones that provided opportunity.
Limbaugh is right about one thing. The GOP seems to have lost total touch with how America is really living and what Americans are really concerned about. In 2012, how are people going to believe they have any alternative but for 4 more years of Democratic rule?
Even a Rubuplican candidate that wants nothing more than but to reunite the GOP, is going to come off as just being one more yammering voice. Sarah Palin will not be a viable candidate, despite the early work she is doing. I very much doubt Mitt Romney will want to try it again. Newt Gingrich has said he is not adverse to consideration as a possible candidate, but I think his personal background will do him in.
A final quote.
R.N.C. Chairman Apologizes to Limbaugh in Flap Over His Role
By Adam Nagourney
The new chairman of the Republican National Committee, Michael Steele, apologized to Rush Limbaugh on Monday after describing him in a television interview over the weekend as an “entertainer” who made incendiary and sometimes ugly remarks, party officials said.
Mr. Steele called Mr. Limbaugh after the radio host belittled Mr. Steele on his show, questioning his authority and saying the new Republican leader was off “to a shaky start.”
“It’s time, Mr. Steele, for you to go behind the scenes and start doing the work that you were elected to do instead of trying to be some talking head media star, which you’re having a tough time pulling off,” Mr. Limbaugh said, in a transcript of his remarks he posted on his Web site.
“Mr. Steele: You are head of the R.N.C.,” Mr. Limbaugh said. “You are not head of the Republican Party. Tens of millions of conservatives and Republicans have nothing to do with the R.N.C. and right now they want nothing to do with it.”
The fight broke out at a time when Democrats have sought to portray Mr. Limbaugh as the new face of the Republican Party, a line that has been pushed in television advertisements financed by labor, as well as by the White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel. Mr. Steele bristled after a questioner on CNN referred to Mr. Limbaugh as the de facto leader of the Republican Party on Saturday.
“No he’s not – I’m the de facto leader of the Republican Party,” Mr. Steele responded.
“Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer,” he said. “Rush Limbaugh, the whole thing is entertainment. Yes, it’s incendiary, yes, it’s ugly.”
Mr. Steele told Politico on Monday that he had called Mr. Limbaugh to apologize.
“My intent was not to go after Rush – I have enormous respect for Rush Limbaugh,” Mr. Steele told The Politico. “I was maybe a little bit inarticulate. There was no attempt on my part to diminish his voice or his leadership.”
Democrats reacted with glee to the exchange. “Michael Steele has denounced himself for renouncing Rush,” said Paul Begala, an ally of Mr. Emanuel and one of the Democrats presenting Mr. Limbaugh as the face of the G.O.P. “Can anyone seriously argue now that Rush is not the unchallenged leader of the Republican Party?”
Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia, Mr. Steele’s counterpart at the Democratic National Committee, said: “Chairman Steele’s reversal this evening and his apology to Limbaugh proves the unfortunate point that Limbaugh is the leading force behind the Republican Party, its politics and its obstruction of President Obama’s agenda in Washington.”
This, more than anything, proves what's happening in the GOP. The head of the RNC, bowing to a radio talk show host. Limbaugh, on multiple occations, has stated, himself, that he is simply an entertainer. I don't think he believes that anymore. I think he really believes he is part of the GOP leadership. How is this different from the scores of Hollywood stars that toute their beliefs whenever given media time? It really isn't, and evidently America doesn't know any better.
I will agree with Rush on one point. He flailed at the Democrats for saying that trying to block the Obama agenda is unamerican. Of course the Republicans are going to try and be obstructionist. No different than the Democrats were during the Bush years, yet somehow, this is different.
The ultimate loser here, gentle reader, is you and I. It has been proven time and time again, that our elected leadership is more interested in their own power than in doing the job we elected them to do. They seem to have little to no interest in what our real needs are. They would rather tell us our needs and then sell us some bullshit solution that we will be required to pay for.
We need to find a better way.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
The 9/12 Project
I'm going to make my response to Pandora's comments on the 9/12 Project a post of it's own.
While I do agree with a great deal of what you said in that comment, especially regarding the habit of voting bad politicians back in, I also thing change has to start somewhere. Peaceful protest is a viable method. Especially in light of actions taken by our leadership. I'm thinking specifically about Sen. Arlen Specter's sudden switch from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party. What are the people of Pennsylvania, that voted for him, supposed to think? It just seems to me that he sniffed the political wind and made a choice based on his chances for re-election, not ideology. Wouldn't be the first time he made such a switch. He changed from Democrat to Republican in 1965, when he ran successfully on the Republican ticket for district attorney in Philadelphia. It will be interesting to see what his constituents do to him.
What attracted me to the 9/12 Project was the emphasis on returning to a clear set of values and principles. Things most of us believe anyway, but simply don't express. This is the list from the 9/12 site:
“The 9 Principles
1. America Is Good.
2. I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life.
God “The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained.” from George Washington’s first Inaugural address.
3. I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.
Honesty “I hope that I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider to be the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.” George Washington
4. The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.
Marriage/Family “It is in the love of one’s family only that heartfelt happiness is known. By a law of our nature, we cannot be happy without the endearing connections of a family.” Thomas Jefferson
5. If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.
Justice “I deem one of the essential principles of our government… equal and exact justice to all men of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political.” Thomas Jefferson
6. I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.
Life, Liberty, & The Pursuit of Happiness “Everyone has a natural right to choose that vocation in life which he thinks most likely to give him comfortable subsistence.” Thomas Jefferson
7. I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable.
Charity “It is not everyone who asketh that deserveth charity; all however, are worth of the inquiry or the deserving may suffer.” George Washington
8. It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion.
On your right to disagree “In a free and republican government, you cannot restrain the voice of the multitude; every man will speak as he thinks, or more properly without thinking.” George Washington
9. The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me.
Who works for whom? “I consider the people who constitute a society or a nation as the source of all authority in that nation.” Thomas Jefferson
The 12 Values
* Honesty
* Reverence
* Hope
* Thrift
* Humility
* Charity
* Sincerity
* Moderation
* Hard Work
* Courage
* Personal Responsibility
* Gratitude”
If you can agree with at least 7 of the 9 principles, then you have cause to raise your voice. Yes, absolutely, express yourself at the ballot box. Personally, I think that it is every American's DUTY to vote, not just a right. I've always believed that if you don't vote, shut up. You can't really complain. You wasted your voice. And if you are going to vote, look at the candidates and go with the one that has beliefs that come closest to your own. Politicians will not willingly kill their Golden Calf. That's just the reality of it. An example is that Congress is demanding that senior corporate officers take a voluntary pay cut in the name of financial responsibility. Oddly, it's never been suggested that maybe elected governmental officials take a voluntary pay cut for the same reasons. Just that one act would demonstrate to the American people that our leaders were just as willing to share the sacrifice they were ordering others to make. But it won't happen.
Express with your vote. And if you feel passionately enough, gather, discuss, stage peaceful rallies. It is our country. If we won't fight for it, who will? The 9/12 Project calls us to fight for what we belive in. No more, no less.
While I do agree with a great deal of what you said in that comment, especially regarding the habit of voting bad politicians back in, I also thing change has to start somewhere. Peaceful protest is a viable method. Especially in light of actions taken by our leadership. I'm thinking specifically about Sen. Arlen Specter's sudden switch from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party. What are the people of Pennsylvania, that voted for him, supposed to think? It just seems to me that he sniffed the political wind and made a choice based on his chances for re-election, not ideology. Wouldn't be the first time he made such a switch. He changed from Democrat to Republican in 1965, when he ran successfully on the Republican ticket for district attorney in Philadelphia. It will be interesting to see what his constituents do to him.
What attracted me to the 9/12 Project was the emphasis on returning to a clear set of values and principles. Things most of us believe anyway, but simply don't express. This is the list from the 9/12 site:
“The 9 Principles
1. America Is Good.
2. I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life.
God “The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained.” from George Washington’s first Inaugural address.
3. I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.
Honesty “I hope that I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider to be the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.” George Washington
4. The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.
Marriage/Family “It is in the love of one’s family only that heartfelt happiness is known. By a law of our nature, we cannot be happy without the endearing connections of a family.” Thomas Jefferson
5. If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.
Justice “I deem one of the essential principles of our government… equal and exact justice to all men of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political.” Thomas Jefferson
6. I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.
Life, Liberty, & The Pursuit of Happiness “Everyone has a natural right to choose that vocation in life which he thinks most likely to give him comfortable subsistence.” Thomas Jefferson
7. I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable.
Charity “It is not everyone who asketh that deserveth charity; all however, are worth of the inquiry or the deserving may suffer.” George Washington
8. It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion.
On your right to disagree “In a free and republican government, you cannot restrain the voice of the multitude; every man will speak as he thinks, or more properly without thinking.” George Washington
9. The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me.
Who works for whom? “I consider the people who constitute a society or a nation as the source of all authority in that nation.” Thomas Jefferson
The 12 Values
* Honesty
* Reverence
* Hope
* Thrift
* Humility
* Charity
* Sincerity
* Moderation
* Hard Work
* Courage
* Personal Responsibility
* Gratitude”
If you can agree with at least 7 of the 9 principles, then you have cause to raise your voice. Yes, absolutely, express yourself at the ballot box. Personally, I think that it is every American's DUTY to vote, not just a right. I've always believed that if you don't vote, shut up. You can't really complain. You wasted your voice. And if you are going to vote, look at the candidates and go with the one that has beliefs that come closest to your own. Politicians will not willingly kill their Golden Calf. That's just the reality of it. An example is that Congress is demanding that senior corporate officers take a voluntary pay cut in the name of financial responsibility. Oddly, it's never been suggested that maybe elected governmental officials take a voluntary pay cut for the same reasons. Just that one act would demonstrate to the American people that our leaders were just as willing to share the sacrifice they were ordering others to make. But it won't happen.
Express with your vote. And if you feel passionately enough, gather, discuss, stage peaceful rallies. It is our country. If we won't fight for it, who will? The 9/12 Project calls us to fight for what we belive in. No more, no less.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
The new look
Gentle readers,
For those of you that may be regular visitors, all 1 of you, will notice that there has been some upgrading and revising of the way the Root Cellar looks.
I did this for a couple of reasons:
1) I was never really happy with the way the original root cellar looked. It was ok, but somehow, just not really 'me.' So I went looking at the tools.
2) After finishing the task and standing back to admire and congratulate myself on the spiffy, new look, I realized something. Especially with the new header picture, I had really captured the original idea the root cellar represented to me. Don't even really thing I was aware of what I was trying to say.
What is a root cellar? obviously someplace you store your taters and onions. But it's where you go to be safe from wild, untamed occurances like tornados. If you watch a lot of slasher movies, the root cellar is where you run and hide from the bad guys.
The doorway into the cellar looks out into one direction. A good metaphor for my perspective.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the new look. I sure do.
For those of you that may be regular visitors, all 1 of you, will notice that there has been some upgrading and revising of the way the Root Cellar looks.
I did this for a couple of reasons:
1) I was never really happy with the way the original root cellar looked. It was ok, but somehow, just not really 'me.' So I went looking at the tools.
2) After finishing the task and standing back to admire and congratulate myself on the spiffy, new look, I realized something. Especially with the new header picture, I had really captured the original idea the root cellar represented to me. Don't even really thing I was aware of what I was trying to say.
What is a root cellar? obviously someplace you store your taters and onions. But it's where you go to be safe from wild, untamed occurances like tornados. If you watch a lot of slasher movies, the root cellar is where you run and hide from the bad guys.
The doorway into the cellar looks out into one direction. A good metaphor for my perspective.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the new look. I sure do.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Something worth a minute of your time to look into
Hello ya sick, twisted freaks... Ok, I swiped the pick from Glenn Beck's site. I admit it. He's the last conservative talk show I'll listen to. The reason I bring Mr Beck up, is that he started a project called the 9/12 Project (). As it says in the site introduction:
The 9/12 Project is designed to bring us all back to where we were on September 12, 2001. The day after America was attacked, we were not obsessed with Red states, Blue states or political parties. We were united as Americans, standing together to protect the values and principles of the greatest nation ever created.
Somewhere, we've lost something valuable and precious. In her own way, my good friend Pandora has complained about this many times. And she's right. We stand up for what is quick. What is expedient. What is in our personal best interests. No more. The line in the sand must be drawn somewhere.
Newly elected officials tout their victories as mandates from the people. I put to you that 99.99% of elected officials, top to bottom, wouldn't know a true mandate from the people, if it swam up and bit them on the ass. My elected representatives need to be exactly that. Representative. I didn't vote for them to go to Washington DC or to Des Moines and vote THEIR conscience. I want them voting MY conscience. That's what a representative does.
So what does this have to do with the 9/12 Project? America was born of a Revolution. We fought for our freedoms and for what we believe in. Those freedoms are being whittled away. It's been happening for years and we did nothing but stand around the watercooler and bitch about it. Our basic beliefs are becaoming buried in bullshit. Twisted to serve the ends of others.
It is time for another Revolution. Not one involving armies and guns and bloodshed, but a revolution where the American people discover, again, that they are strong. That they have a voice. That the government cannot simply ignore us. Should not the various bailout bills have gone for a vote by we, the people? A shit ton of our money is being spent. My good friend Betony, who is a mathmatician, says that the average human mind cannot comprehend much more than a thousand of anything. And we are talking about spending trillions of dollars. Do you even know what a trillion looks like? it's a million million. $1,000,000,000,000. Pocket calculators don't even go up that high, and we're letting Washington spend a bunch of those trillions of dollars. At my current wage, it would take me, personally, almost 1,000,000 years to pay off one trillion. That scare you? It did me.
The 9/12 Project calls us back to the values of our forefathers. It calls us back to a tiime of personal responsibility, thinking for yourself, and making yourself heard. The tea parties springing up around the country sprang from this site. They represent the opening shots of a new, peaceful revolution. And I hope the powers that be are listening. (Cause I don't wanna work for a million years...)
So check it out. It's worth the look
Pleased with my state
Gay marriage.
We've talked about this before, but it comes back to us with the consideration that gay marriage is now legal in Iowa. Well, I'm not going to give my usual rant about this being the most important thing we have to talk about. It isn't. The economy, the war(s), out of control spending by the government, those are important things to talk about. Gay marriage isn't. Now by that, I don't mean to imply that it isn't a significant issue, but social behavior isn't something you can legislate. It just isn't.
At any rate, the Iowa Supreme Court decided that a ban on same sex marriage was unconstitutional. Therefore, if the ban is illegal, then gay marriage is allowable under Iowa state law. That's an important point to remember. The Supreme Court didn't make a law, as that is out of it's purview. Instead, it found that an existing law went against the Constitution, which is what the Supreme Court does. Mr Limbaugh would have you believe that this is the judiciary making law. Nope, it ain't so. No amount of ditto heading will make it otherwise.
I see the whole question in both a moral and a legal perspective. After the Iowa Court make it's ruling, effectively tossing the ban, there was much wailing, lamentation and gnashing of teeth by right wing conservatives and the bible thumping community. It was announced that if any of the county recorders in Iowa's 99 counties, felt they just couldn't issue a marriage license to a same sex couple, they would be covered by the same basic ruling that doctors have the right to refuse abortions if it goes against their consscience. An Iowa state senator is being investigated, because calls to county recorders were traced back to his office, saying that they didn't have to issue the licenses if they didn't want to, that the Supreme Court ruling was an opinion and not real law. Dirty republican pool. Isn't how you win friends and influence people, guys.
My question is this: why are people so afraid of same sex couples? Most people will answer "We're not afraid of them. After all, we agreed to civil unions." Which brings up three of the vilest words in the english language: "Seperate but equal." It really isn't. Think about this: for all you hetero couples out there, what if a governmental agent came to your door and told you "Opposite sex marriage has been declared unconstitutional and your marriage is now null and void. So sorry for the inconvenience, but we will let you stay together in a civil union. It's kinda like marriage, but without the legal protection." The cries of outrage would be so loud, God himself would be able to hear them.
Watch the news. Read the papers. Listen to the radio. This world seems like it's going to hell in a handbasket. And picking up speed. If two people, be they man and man, man and woman, or woman and woman, find some measure of happiness together, who are we to deny them that? In these days of insta-marriage and even faster insta-divorce, committment is hard to find. So when two people want to commit to each other...LET THEM! It will make the world a better place. (Unless you're a thumper or right wing extremist. And if they are so against gays, why do so many republicans get busted for soliciting for gay sex in some bus station rest room? I'm just sayin'...)
We've talked about this before, but it comes back to us with the consideration that gay marriage is now legal in Iowa. Well, I'm not going to give my usual rant about this being the most important thing we have to talk about. It isn't. The economy, the war(s), out of control spending by the government, those are important things to talk about. Gay marriage isn't. Now by that, I don't mean to imply that it isn't a significant issue, but social behavior isn't something you can legislate. It just isn't.
At any rate, the Iowa Supreme Court decided that a ban on same sex marriage was unconstitutional. Therefore, if the ban is illegal, then gay marriage is allowable under Iowa state law. That's an important point to remember. The Supreme Court didn't make a law, as that is out of it's purview. Instead, it found that an existing law went against the Constitution, which is what the Supreme Court does. Mr Limbaugh would have you believe that this is the judiciary making law. Nope, it ain't so. No amount of ditto heading will make it otherwise.
I see the whole question in both a moral and a legal perspective. After the Iowa Court make it's ruling, effectively tossing the ban, there was much wailing, lamentation and gnashing of teeth by right wing conservatives and the bible thumping community. It was announced that if any of the county recorders in Iowa's 99 counties, felt they just couldn't issue a marriage license to a same sex couple, they would be covered by the same basic ruling that doctors have the right to refuse abortions if it goes against their consscience. An Iowa state senator is being investigated, because calls to county recorders were traced back to his office, saying that they didn't have to issue the licenses if they didn't want to, that the Supreme Court ruling was an opinion and not real law. Dirty republican pool. Isn't how you win friends and influence people, guys.
My question is this: why are people so afraid of same sex couples? Most people will answer "We're not afraid of them. After all, we agreed to civil unions." Which brings up three of the vilest words in the english language: "Seperate but equal." It really isn't. Think about this: for all you hetero couples out there, what if a governmental agent came to your door and told you "Opposite sex marriage has been declared unconstitutional and your marriage is now null and void. So sorry for the inconvenience, but we will let you stay together in a civil union. It's kinda like marriage, but without the legal protection." The cries of outrage would be so loud, God himself would be able to hear them.
Watch the news. Read the papers. Listen to the radio. This world seems like it's going to hell in a handbasket. And picking up speed. If two people, be they man and man, man and woman, or woman and woman, find some measure of happiness together, who are we to deny them that? In these days of insta-marriage and even faster insta-divorce, committment is hard to find. So when two people want to commit to each other...LET THEM! It will make the world a better place. (Unless you're a thumper or right wing extremist. And if they are so against gays, why do so many republicans get busted for soliciting for gay sex in some bus station rest room? I'm just sayin'...)
Saturday, January 24, 2009
An Iowa boy
.. John works at the Cargill plant in Eddyville Iowa
Wouldn't it be fitting if this went completely around the world!......
This needs to make headline news...not some of the other junk that makes the news these days!!! Like the Rosie O'Donell war of words...celeb weddings...who's not wearing undies...etc.
It's a tough, but heartwarming story...with a picture of John Gebhardt in Iraq.
John Gebhardt's wife, Mindy, said that this little girl's entire family was executed. The insurgents intended to execute the little girl also, and shot her in the head...but they failed to kill her. She was cared for in John's hospital and is healing up, but continues to cry and moan. The nurses said John is the only one who seems to calm her down, so John has spent the last four nights holding her while they both slept in that chair. The girl is coming along with her healing.
He is a real Star of the war, and represents what America is trying to do.
This, my friends, is worth sharing. Go for it!! You'll never see things like this in the news. Please keep this going. Nothing will happen if you don't, but the American public needs to see pictures like this and needs to realize that what we're doing over there is making a difference. Even if it is just one little girl at a time.
Wouldn't it be fitting if this went completely around the world!......
This needs to make headline news...not some of the other junk that makes the news these days!!! Like the Rosie O'Donell war of words...celeb weddings...who's not wearing undies...etc.
It's a tough, but heartwarming story...with a picture of John Gebhardt in Iraq.
John Gebhardt's wife, Mindy, said that this little girl's entire family was executed. The insurgents intended to execute the little girl also, and shot her in the head...but they failed to kill her. She was cared for in John's hospital and is healing up, but continues to cry and moan. The nurses said John is the only one who seems to calm her down, so John has spent the last four nights holding her while they both slept in that chair. The girl is coming along with her healing.
He is a real Star of the war, and represents what America is trying to do.
This, my friends, is worth sharing. Go for it!! You'll never see things like this in the news. Please keep this going. Nothing will happen if you don't, but the American public needs to see pictures like this and needs to realize that what we're doing over there is making a difference. Even if it is just one little girl at a time.
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