Pigs don't fly

So a friend told me she was worried because the President had just declared an emergency around the swine flu. Her worry was that if they want to, they can forego regulations otherwise required to speed treatment and reactions to the flu as it spreads. After all, 1000 people have died. (Of course, 35000 died last year with all of that in place.)

To console her, I said "Hmmm, well, in a national emergency virtually anything is on the table for the sake of averting the emergency. For example, some liberty might have to be suspended in the interest of protecting us from the flu. Like involuntary segregation of the sick and well. At home? Not necessarily, in publicly monitored places. Actually, that didn't console her.

I think that is something to watch. How much freedom is on the table? The party line is that this flu is a threat through the winter. Seems odd, doesn't it? The flu would be a threat from last spring through the winter? Will we forget about the suspension of the rules during that time? Not if we make a point of watching.

What a man!

So the hysteria continues. I hear the 5 year declaring loudly that the 12 year old boy now has hair growing in his armpits. I laugh inside, not saying anything but remembering those days. Then, later on in the day, my 9 year old son announces loudly "Look, I have hair in m armpits just like my brother!". He walks over to show his mother - whaddya know, he does - he scotch-taped pieces of red yarn under his arms. Checking further, he had copied his 12 year old brother. I asked if he had hair on his back yet, he lifted his shirt and lo-and-behold there was a lone red piece of yarn growing out of a piece of tape on his back.

The fun never ends.

Ranting. How many times do I have to say NO?

There is a sneaky phenomenon happening in our American public place that I worry about.

Seems pretty frequent that when something is voted on in our democracy, the result is not the final answer.

An example is a local one. Two years ago our county voted quite strongly against allowing our Charles Town racetrack-slot parlor to add table-game-gambling to the ways to lose your money for entertainment. In the legislation that authorized the games, it was written that there had to be a local referendum to make it legal, and if it were defeated, the issue could not be resurrected for 2 years. Guess what!? It is 2 years. And, guess what?! They are back to try again. Here's the rub. We said NO.

What has changed that we should be asked again? Here's some of what has changed...the out of state company that owns the track is arguing about all we lost by not letting them take home the hundreds of millions of dollars they think will come in exchange for the few millions they will "contribute" to the tax base...the same tax base that will have to fund the increased burden of roads, traffic, security, infrastructure, etc. The other thing that has changed is they figured out there is opposition and they must fight it to win. I have a 5 year old that uses the same tactic - try to wear us down to get what you want.

mom.....mom....mom...mom....MOM....MOM....MOMMMMMM

We have the same thing going on in Washington. We revert to failed security policies (policies from Set 10, 2001 and back) because the policies that worked since Sept 11 2001 make us seem mean to bad people. We resurrect gun legislation that has already been turned away by the courts, as though if we "sell" it differently it will be legal this time. We want to relook at the definition of marriage as encoded by law, as though something has changed over the course of thousands of years of history, the foundation of our nation, and the core of the American people...even thinking maybe it's time to repeal a law passed strongly to protect marriage as it is known in those thousands of years...what changed?

We condemn our former President for being and idealist, and we lionize our departed Senator Kennedy for being (shhhh!) an .....idealist. Huh?

Seems to me we'd have a more peaceful time if we went with the decisions made at the time and quit trying to reinvent for the sake of reinvention Save the transformation for the color of your livingroom, and leave the majority ruling please.

Someone moved my cheese

This new situation has some twists and turns that are interesting to say the least. The new situation is the heavy kid population that has taken over our estate.

Example is this afternoon.

Kate takes the girls and I take the boys. Fair, it seems. The girls go off shopping and the boys go swimming in the backyard. Divide and conquer.

I've been a dad for a very long time, but this deal is new every morning. When I get the boys, that means I have 5 boys from age 5 to 12, all of them rivals...as it should be.

Kate takes the girls - fair again - that is an 11 year old, a 15 year old, and a 16 year old. Whole different dynamic.

"As it should be" with boys is different than "as it should be" with girls. The idea that "boys will be boys" was put forth by someone long ago who simply gave in to the reality.

I had a domain for years I was in total control of...the yard, the fringes of the outside...my domain with no interference from short people with no sense. Now - it's like trying to hold a handful of water - they dig up, take apart, break, climb, or otherwise move everything they encounter. Every living creature is subject to capture, large or small, crawling or flying. There are no borders between garden, lawn, and woods. All trees are climbing devices. All rocks are in the wrong place and must be moved, usually to where I mow. Sand does not belong in the sandbox. Whew.

And I wouldn't trade it for all the nice grass in China.

The 3AM Phone Call

It happened.

Actually, it was a midnight phonecall that demanded action at 3 AM.

It'll never make the news because its not big enough.

Neither Pres Obama or Sec State Clinton answered.

Kate did.

"There was a tragedy, someone has died. Despite the tragedy, they donated their organs for transplant, and a kidney is available that matches your daughter. We need her here between 5 and 6AM".

The call came from 2 hours away.

So they left at 3AM and are waiting for a noon time surgery.

What a miracle.

Thank God it was Kate who answered the call and not either the Pres or SecState.

Hey Mom, guess what!?

So no sooner had I finished the last post and I'm sitting in the livingroom with my wife. My 6 year old liddle darling comes out of the powder room and announces "Hey Mom - I just peed out of my butt!!

We looked at each other, holding onto the thread of seriousness that hung us precariously away from utter hysterical peals of laughter. My wife says "oh, you still have (insert the "d" word)?"

"Yes, but I'm not doing that anymore Mom."

I wonder if I stirred something up.

Hey Poppa, does this hurt?

The "boys will be boys" thing is interesting. Now that I am thrust into the role of father to 5 boys between ages 6 and 12 I have this ever raucous bunch of minor testosterone wielding beings who are something akin to a small herd of puppies. While at age 55, the more you "rough house" the tired-er you get, for this set the more they rough house the more energy they have...kind of like one of those little friction motored cars where you rub it on the floor to wind it up and -zoom...

A piece or reality hit the other day when my 19 year old left for boot camp. We took him to the airport, and the boys, whose interest in his future was limited to how many time he was actually going to get to shoot the gun, bemoaned on the ride home "who are we going to fight with now?"

Turns out its me.

I'm up to it. With some limits. In the spirit of "never let them see you sweat", I roll around and fling, push, twist, knock, and otherwise take it, always appearing to be invincible. At a time of my choosing, I find a reason to depart the area, find the aspirin, and hope the next round waits till I have recovered my fatherly invincibility.

My son returns in February.

Ok. Ok......

I sat on the beach all day knowing that the time had come - I need to get things wrapped up to move our family of 12 back into the van, the jeep, and the trailer we haul everything in. On the packup-to-go-to-the-beach end it's a bit more complicated, lots of decisions being made as to what to bring, etc. Additionally, there's a constant wondering as to whether everything will fit while leaving room for the fam to sit the 6 hours of the trip. Coming home it is somewhat easier...everything that is left needs to come home, and if we got it here we must have room for it.

Nonetheless, I sat there all day waiting for the moment when I would get started. It was easiest to sit there enjoying the yells and screams and shrieks of the kids and the fun, knowing that if I started the process somehow the vacation would end sooner.

As it turned out, around 4 this afternoon a large, black cloud came from nowhere and cleared everyone off the beach. It rained long enough for me to put the top back on the jeep and for the day to be declared over. As soon as we got started moving crates and passing out jobs the cloud moved off with it's payload of rain and the sun shone.

Message delivered - message received.

We're done.

When pigs fly

So our social engineers are planning to "declare" a pandemic because of the swine flu. It's a prerequisite for them to take control when and where they want to in order to avert the disaster about to be unleashed. Of course, one of the smaller issues is that this flu isn't really that different than most. According to the BBC "Although most sufferers experience normal flu symptoms and make a full recovery, the WHO has confirmed 141 deaths from 27,737 cases."

One hundred forty one deaths out of 27,737 cases? We kill more babies each day in America in the name of choice. Are we stupid?

Since the press blamed the flu vaccine shortage a few years ago on Pres Bush (I guess he brews it in the back room of the oval office), our change President wants to make sure no one blames him. He will use this bent statistic to make federal guarantees for drug companies, who we know only work in the interest of the public, so that they produce enough vaccine whether we need it or not, or whether it works of not. The PR will be good for his survival, since we all know him being sustained in elected office is the objective, and the beneficiary will be the manufacturers, who will be stimulated...both economically and in the voting booth.

Chriat?

So since Daimler couldn't make Chrysler work for them, now Fiat is going to take a shot. It'll be just like them to pull it off. The working man's car that has been the mainstay in Europe forever will be able to do what the snob couldn't, just like the same snob can't compete with the working class cars on the continent. When Fiat seemed to be down and out they pulled it out and are now renowned for their R&D, a fitting place to be as they snap up the bargains of the industry. My '85 Alfa Romeo may be able to see it's younger cousins running around West Virginia soon...!

Can I drive?

I painfully agree to go on the "double" go cart with my 10 year old grand daughter, and worse - I agree to let he drive. After getting her assurance that she wouldn't kill me I then recognized the next difficulty - the passenger seat is not intended for adult men - so I squeeze behind the placebo steering wheel and reach to put on the shoulder belt (realizing more than ever how important it is), finding that it won't close around me due to it's years of use for little kids in the salt air.

I sigh as we prepare to take off.

There is some relief (for my safety) as we take off and she has both feet firmly planted on the gas AND the brake. I tell her (yelling in a coach-like manner) "take your foot off that pedal" and she took it off the gas, stopping us as everyone passes us. Again, in a "coachlike" way I grab the wheel, twisting it toward the inside lane, cutting off someone who has lapped us twice already, instructing her in a not-so-gentle-panic to press the gas as hard as she can and not let up we steer on the inside track and finish second.

Second to the last.

She loved it.

lookamyskin!

So the 5 year old walks up to his 16 year old sister with his hand open, showing off a new treasure. "Look at my skin!"

"What?"

"My skin"

"What are you talking about?"

"Look" as he peeled another small piece off his sunburnt side.

The shutter that quaked her body was only comparable to the look of disgust on her face.

Another victory for boyhood.

Just a pinch

So one of my boys - age 6 - comes walking up with a large sand crab in his hand. He's holding it to study and entertain, as the crab reaches desperately backward to try to pinch him with the large front claws. Undeterred, my son walks around very satisfied he has a new friend. We told him he has to put it down and let it go - he complies, and then comes back half an hour later with another. He continued through the day until he came to me looking a little upset - look Poppa, a crab pinched me...

God teaches us daily...

Little boys

We have always been a household predominated by girls. Over the years we have probably had 30 or more daughters in our foster care and adoptive ministry. While we've had numerous boys, the girls have always been in the majority.

Now we have a of majority boys. And these aren't just any boys - they are 5 boys ranging in age from 5 to 11. Whew. They are made to dig, excavate, destroy, fart, gross out, hunt, hurt, wrestle, laugh, and move faster than the sound of your voice.

The girls struggle for supremacy, and at this time the only advantage they have is age. It'll be fun to watch - what'll win - age or speed.

Whitehouse Bees

Fun to see. Look at the government version of a beehive, apparently totally secured against any possible incident. http://www.tonitoni.org/photos26.html

Now look at a typical beehive by us "commoners" who don't have a trillion dollar budget

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nickbusse/2586012050/

I was actually excited to find out that the beekeeper who got his bees in this beeyard has some colonies with queens from the same breeder I am using. Kind of a brotherhood. Fact is, those are sissy beehives. They are bolted to the ground on a concrete pad, strapped in. I guess we wouldn't want the little Obamas to get stung. For my yard, I have the hives on cinder blocks and the kids are told to stay away or they'll get stung. The bees take care of the discipline part.

Crabby

Last night the older ones went on the late night fishing trip. There is a pier down the road they love to fish from. They usually don't catch much, but they get to stay up late and have fun trying. I myself like everything about fishing except dealing with the dead or dying fish. Their haul wasn't much - 2 sting rays. Next stop - crabbing under a bridge this morning.

Is it bees, or Osama, Obama, or being burnt?

I haven't written for a while, so the commentary is very out of date. There is much to say.

For example, very soon Fiat will be bringing in cars to what used to be your Chrysler dealership. Fiat. Does anyone remember what that used to stand for?

Or, does anyone know that Fiat owns Alfa Romeo?!

Or, does anyone join me in wondering why in the world a Chinese machinery company wants to own Hummer. Seems to me that if GM couldn't get people to buy those things, there is little chance Americans are going to buy them from a communist company?! Why do they want it?

Looks like Osama isn't buying into the idea that we can talk to each other nicely and work out our differences like the President believes. His goal to kill Americans and bring down the American nation can't be moved forward by talking. Although that is all he is able to do right now. Maybe he'll stick his head up 'cause he thinks we aren't looking...

I have a decent honey crop going right now on a totally unrelated note. I took off 3 "supers", which total about 120 pounds, or about 10 gallons. I have 10 more supers on the hives right now, but I don't think they'll fill them all. I have some slacker colonies that aren't playing right. Thing is, I have a lot of bees right now, 8 colonies, so I am hoping for a very good crop followed by a very good winter.

Finally, on getting burnt. We are. The sun is good and we are spending our days sitting under it and watching the kids in the surf.

I know I said finally, but there is another thing. Why are we listening to these people as they continue to tell us lies, that they know how to run everything in this country, that until they came to power everyone in history was wrong and they should have been running it all along. The most likely result of this kind of governing is a massive round of inflation coupled with a lot of American's being killed by people who hate us and think we are stupid and weak. We have been here before. Why are we again? As the transparency turns to translucency we sit around debating left versus right and miss the fact that the central government has been taken over by dangerous radicals who are not smart enough to listen. Instead of demanding they get it right we gloat or argue about them not being the last guys. Or the last guys. Or the last guys. Someday maybe we'll get it. Before it's too late.

OK. One more finally. So sad about the Air France crash. So sad.

Sugar candy and Sugar syrup

The bees are out and going. I checked this morning and they are busily taking the medicated syrup I gave them this weekend. That was fun...3 of my kids dressed in spare bee suits and escorted me as we opened each up, removed their winter food and replaced it with feeders and sugar syrup. The bees cooperated nicely, curiously surrounding the kids in their suits. The kids did well too - after I assured them they PROBABLY won't get stung, they allowed the bees to crawl on them, and they calmly watched the flights in and out of the hives with various reward for foragers.

I got assigned a student to mentor from our beekeeper's association starter class. In April these students will start their first real bee hive with a package of bees in new hives. I'll be on standby to encourage my student.

I think this is going to be a sweet honey season!

The widow's mite

So the conversation has changed...maybe that was the change we voted for?

Some of the first was the idea that by "not hiring lobbyists" he meant except for the ones he wanted. Like it was OTHER people who weren't as smart as him in that he can pick out the GOOD GUY lobbyists...probably like republicans would...he meant THEY shouldn't hire lobbyists...

Then, as long as a cabinet appointee makes good on the taxes he didn't pay - that makes him a good guy. Tiny Time pointed out he didn't have to...the statute of limitations had run out...(isn't that for when you break a law and don't get caught..?)

Of course, now the idea is that TRILLIONS are the new BILLIONS. Our outrage over the Bush Administration's $100 Billion a year for the war as unsustainable seems like chump change with the news every day that a check for another $700 billion was written to cover bonehead businesses who are wrecking our economy. Oh, they need the money to send to other business and banks so that THEY don't lose out on the bad investments they made, because, after all, that would be bad? Are you following this? It's all because of the evil people who earn over $250,000 a year. They did it. And they need to give Tiny Tim all their money. Now. I mean it.

Meanwhile the refugees in Darfur are sitting in the middle of the desert without any help, medical or food, because THEIR government through out all foreign aid workers. They needed to do this because these aid workers were likely to be complicit in arrest warrant put out for their president for crimes against humanity. So he showed them, no more aid. Now. I mean it.

Should that president get a bonus? Who is bad and who is good?

Some math

So I've been doing some math to figure out what our new President is really saying.

First, he said that his plan will create or save 3.5 million jobs. Or 4 million. Or 3 million. The number changes, but that isn't so important. Create or save? How do you count how many you saved? Easy, I'm figuring. If you didn't create them you must have saved them. So, if he didn't create a single new job, but there was no net loss, he accomplished his goal. A low standard, since he came to office on the heals of six million losses. So, if no one gets their job back, but none others are lost, he has accomplished the goal. Four million saved. Pretty slick.

Second, the Deficit. This is a really good one. He says he will cut the deficit he inherited in half. That's ripe. He claims what he inherited was $1.3 trillion. Let's pretend that's a real figure. Of that, $.75 trillion was the November stimulus package, and .15 trillion was the spring stimulus package, both one time payments that aren't "budget" items (which is the real issue - we budget more than we make). Take those out ($1.3 minus $.90), and the "real" deficit is $.4 trillion, or, $400 billion. So, by him saying he will cut the deficit in half (one half of $1.3 trillion is $.65 trillion, or, $650 billion)(he actually said it would be $533 billion), he is giving himself some real wiggle room. If the "real" budget deficit were cut in half, the $400 billion deficit would be cut to $200 billion. Instead, the President has proposed that he INCREASE the end-of-the-Bush-era budget deficit from $400 billion to $533 billion by the end of this first 4 years...a number he is touting as the LOWEST number of his administration. Whew.

Here's the thing. If he feels he needs those kind of numbers because the country is in a mess and he has to run up the bills to fix the mess, then why not tell us the truth, not mask it behind number-puzzles?

Did I write about the 60 pages of the 400 page spending part of the stimulus package that is devoted to MANDATORY FEDERAL COMPUTERIZED HEALTH RECORDS? How does that stimulate you? For me, more of the same.

So, it depends on what you mean by the word "transparency".

Charles Town gambling

Our esteemed corporate benefactor in Charles Town who owns our race track claims to be a big contributor to our community's well being. They boast about how much the give, and will be expecting us, the voters, to approve them to add table games to their repertoire of gambling devices to help them help us.

Wow.

We need them to take money away from us to give some back?

What a great deal!

Out of almost $500M in revenue a year, they recently made a big splash (1/2 page) in the local paper for giving $62,000 to the local schools. Yes. Sixty Two Thousand dollars out of their almost Five Hundred Million dollars!

Is this help or political showmanship at virtually no cost to the company?

Are we, the citizens of Jefferson County, so naive that this pathetic "gift" will move us off our position (56% against) that we don't want our community changed from a peaceful, country community to a playground for their gambling clientele?

It's bad enough that the argument is about money instead of values, but with them insulting us with a "gift" that gives back slightly more than one one-hundredth of a percent we should all plant our feet more firmly than ever.

Does anyone else out there feel this way?

Leave her alone...it is none of your business

It's a sickening place we are in.

There is a woman out west who recently gave birth to octuplets. These 8 little ones are added to the 6 she already has.

Wow!

Miracle?

Rejoicing?

Congratulations?

No.

The press has lathered itself up condemning this mother and the medical staff who assisted her because THEY don't approve of the CHOICE she has made. (I am quite sure if she had made the choice to kill them everyone would be happy). She decided quite consciously to have this large number of children and we are left with the questioning of the press as to (1) should anyone have this many children? (2)how can she afford them? (she lives with her parents) and (3) is it right that our society should let anyone have this many kids?

Read it yourself http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601202&sid=au75gZCr7Gd0

WHAT?!

This isn't China I don't think...or maybe since we get so much else made in China we are now importing our population control policy.

Does everyone else see what is happening here?

We are becoming a herd society, slowly but surely, where the good of the whole supersedes the good of the individual. Has anyone ever before tried to contorl the population by saying who can have a baby, how many, and then, what sex, and then, what hair and eye color....?

It really is a product of our society's addiction to blaming the government for everything and to the converse, expecting the government to solve all ills. The number one argument against the mom of 14 is that she is likely to need assistance, and since she is, the government ought to be able to tell her how many children she can have. Who would you pick to make the choices for her?

Congress? (here...take a trillion and see me in the morning)

If we lived in a society where each of us takes it upon ourselves to share our blessings to take care of those who need help rather than ask the President to do it, the argument would be out.

Where are we going when we call it immoral to have children and applaud killing them by sticking a probe in their head as they emerge from their mother or we dissect them in the womb to make sure they aren't born at all?

Equal justice for all.

Bee uuutiful

So today it is the big break from the cold weather. Sunny, warm, and a good day to check in on the bees. I knew from a quick survey a week ago that I still had 7 of my 7 colonies alive. A very happy result...

I prepared last night for this visit by making bee candy to feed them. It is really a formula for rock candy, made with molten sugar, with the addition of a protein product called "MegaBee". This product was invented by a scientist in Tucson, AZ. I think it is illegal for bees involved in professional sports to take MegaBee.

Anyway, you pour the molten mixture into molds (best done on the garage floor in case there is spillage)and let it set overnight. The result is a brownish bar of strange smelling candy. I like to taste it. As a matter of fact we had a visitor who wanted to see it, I let him try it....don't think he was as impressed as me and the bees.

So today I suited up in the hot part of the afternoon and opened the hives up. Very nice - inside each hive was a reasonably large colony of bees who were - well - busy as bees. I took a quick peak to assess their population and put a chunk of candy inside each of them.

Now my the bees are guaranteed not to starve. There is a threat of that as they are beginning to raise a new generation of brood at this time, they've eaten most of their winter food supply, and during the warm days they fly out to poop. While they are flying they forage for food, and, of course, they don't find anything...nothing is flowering yet.. (although I did spot a few coming in with pollen on their legs...probably left over from last year). This is the time for starving colonies. Mine will find the delicious sugar candy and MegaBee...the protein will be good for the brood and in amoth or so I should start to see some realy nice, large colonies...boiling with bees.

Snow and bees

The kids are trying to hold back - this night there is 1-3 inches of snow predicted over the next 24 hours. To them that is a sure thing. Of course, we've heard that before.

Meanwhile I went to check the bees today - there are signs of life in all 7 hives. It is amazing...though it "ain't over yet". They haven't frozen to death yet, now we see if they continue and then survive - the queen should start laying in the next week or so, the spring brood will be hatching in mid to late February.

There are dead bees outside each colony. That only happens when they get dragged out by live bees. It is a bit of a gruesome task, each hive has some bees whose job is undertaking, getting rid of the bodies. Chances are those bodies are ones who froze to death.

I guess they should stink less...

Change has come to America (change back to the way it was)

So in the first few days the new President has the opportunity to let it be known how he will implement the keynotes he campaigned on and presumably was expected to enact because of his victory.

President Obama made an issue of "Change" and that he was going to change the way business is done in Washington, that he was going to rid of us of the divisiveness that impairs our government's problems solving ability.

Great.

So he made sure to take the most emotional issue of his opposition's repertoire, abortion, and stick it to them. In the first three days he lifted the ban on fetal stem cell experiments and the ban on American funding of foreign abortions. He did it "quietly".

Wow. A lot of change. Change back to the Clinton ways. No bipartisan discussion, just a memo and executive order. So, if the issue of infant life can be overlooked, I guess we'll all get along....

Pathetic winter

We had an inch of snow today. My poor, desperate children (it has been a long time since we've had a good snow...global warming and all that) donned their snow gear and prepared to go sledding. They went to their favorite sledding hill (a neighbor's yard) and debated whether or not you could still sled despite the grass showing through.

Sad.

You can't.

Lets remember the truth

As our new President takes the trail to Washington this weekend, he is doing so in a way to reminisce on the first entry to Washington by Abraham Lincoln. He (Mr Obama) is taking a train, the long way, to remember the entry of our great 16th President. It is impressive and exciting.

As Mr Obama travels the road Lincoln did, it makes a great PR event. It invokes thoughts of the past, but, unfortunately, also overlooks some of the differences of today versus the past.

When Lincoln made this trip, he didn’t do it to wave to adoring crowds, he made the trip necessarily “sneaking” into town to avoid what were certain threats to his safety. The train was a secure way to arrive.

Today thousands of people have had to put themselves on the line to make sure Mr Obama can make this journey safely, from the Coast Guard to every law enforcement institution in the path. The train is not so secure...

When Lincoln made this trip, he did so facing a nation that was tearing its fabric apart. He faced the reality that the union was attached by a thread, and he was holding the thread. Mr Lincoln said “Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him who has never yet forsaken this favored land are still competent to adjust in the best way all our present difficulty.

Mr Obama, in an attempt to invoke some memory of this first inaugural speech of Mr Lincoln, said “What is required is the same perseverance and idealism that our founders displayed. What is required is a new declaration of independence, not just in our nation, but in our own lives — from ideology and small thinking, prejudice and bigotry — an appeal not to our easy instincts but to our better angels.”

A new declaration of independence? Independence from ideology? Whose ideology? Our Declaration of Independence itself speaks of an ideology, concluding “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.” Is Mr Obama suggesting we should withdraw from that ideology as well?

The reference to our “better angels” alludes to Mr. Lincoln’s speech, but fails in its context. Mr. Lincoln’s speech was virtually dedicated in its entirety to the issues of the nation’s impending civil war and his duty to preserve the union. He explained his view on slavery “I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.” He explained his view of the job ahead of him after that inauguration day “In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to "preserve, protect, and defend it."

It was only after saying this that he said “The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”

We are most privileged to live in this land of freedom, blessed by the rights given us by the documents which are our foundation. We cannot trample on them, belittle them, or relegate them to the past without condemning our future. We cannot abrogate the ideals that undergird our land and its historic intent by rewriting history to reflect our wrongs as though they outweigh our good. We are still the land of the free, the home of the brave. To say we must dismiss this ideal so that those who reject the freedoms of some idealists for their own, that courage to stand firm is stubborn and unreasonable, that to have an ideology is something needing “our better angels”, or a new declaration of independence is to wish for us as a people to get washed up on the shores with the unfree and unbrave failed states of history.

Faith is unreasonable…for to be faith it must ignore “reason” . Jesus said “I tell you but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish…”

Where are we headed? Should we reconsider the past which has gotten us here for a more “reasonable” present? Why are we looking to the government, the government which is only an agent of “We the People”, who allow the government a place “in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity”. It is "We the People" who must fix the mess we are in, to change our behavior, change our direction, to take on the risks to have the benefits of freedom...risks by which millions have died for in the past.

Should we reconsider? I say no.

We the people must remain firm in love with what Lincoln said on his day “Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him who has never yet forsaken this favored land are still competent to adjust in the best way all our present difficulty.”

God Bless America. Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.

I believe...

Yesterday the cartoon "Doonesbury" took a shot at our outgoing President I need to comment on.

The cartoon commented on the President's "Legacy Tour". A character asked him if he was going to set up a "Think Tank" in retirement. His replay was "Belief-Tank", and then the cartoon commented snidely that "the thinking must be already done".

Sad to be here in a country where we would think you can only do one or the other. I wonder if George Washington at Valley Forge had any beliefs he placed higher than "thinking". I wonder if his logically arrived at the conclusion that being there made sense, or that he believed in what he was doing and chose to be there based on that belief. Certainly everything pointed to the logical, thinking man's conclusion that he should pack it in and go home...but he BELIEVED that he must go on and struggle.

Thinking should lead us to believing, and believing is what drives us. We are not "Mr Spock", where only logic prevails. And, just to make sure we don't flatter ourselves, neither you or I are nearly smart enough for our thinking to supersede believing.

The great movements and the great decisions of our history have been more from those strong enough, bold enough, and, yes, smart enough to put their BELIEVING above their THINKING. It is a smaller, weaker person who has no beliefs, not the other way around. They are those who do what everyone else says, what everyone else does. Those are the ones who, like our 2 or 3 year old child, make no decision based on higher-order thinking, they base their decisions on what tastes the best (candy), what smells the best (baked bread), what feels the best (playing), what looks the best (brightly colored fantasies), what sounds the best (being told "you're OK, do what you want"). These people "(are) lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God - having a form of godliness but denying its power..." (written 1930 years ago describing people of a future time to come....hmmmm.....)

No beliefs? How stupid. Even those that claim to believe in nothing believe THAT...

The argument the devil presented Eve in the Garden of Eden was just this. He said "God knows when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Her choice was, BELIEVE what God said, or THINK as the devil says...thinking that rejects what God said.

A dangerous tactic.

Should we think? Of course. Should we believe? Even more - yes. Which is harder to do?

It is a non-thinking person who would ridicule a man for believing.

The good news is the bad news.

It's been FIVE years for the Mars rovers. Those amazing little machines have been up there doing their thing for 4 years and 9 months longer than expected, beaming back the bad news - there is nothing to indicate there was - is - or ever will be spontaneous life on Mars. There might be life, it'll be life we bring up there.

No workee no playee

My boys were looking for some work. Actually, they were looking for some money. They are new here and didn't thoroughly understand the connection between work and money. At first they balked at the idea that I wold make them work. Then they saw a benefit. At the end of the week they got MONEY. And, they could SPEND it. Ah, a seed for the American Dream.

They asked me if there was a way for them to make some more money. They wanted to buy games for the new game systems they got for Christmas. I said "oooo - my lucky day!". The other kids had smart alek looks on their faces - knowing what was coming.

"How much do you want?

"20 bucks"

"OK, I'll look for a $20 job".

I knew what I wanted. As luck would have it, the trenching that was done for the new geothermal heating system left a lot of rocks around the place. I don't mean a few - I mean a LOT. There are good rocks, like really big ones, and thousands of round-ish river rocks from the size of golf balls to basket balls. I staked off 2 areas, outlined them with string, and called the boys out. I told them "When each of these 2 areas are completely cleaned of rocks, you get $20 dollars."

"How long do we get?"

"All the time you want"

"Really?"

"Yep."

"When do we get the money?"

"When you are done."

"oh"

It took them 2 days. They did a magnificant job. I gave them a 10% bonus for good work. They asked Kate to get on Amazon and find the games they wanted.

Hurray for the 2 young Americans.

Oh. That's 2. I have 3 boys.

The youngest came up to me and told me he wanted some money.

I said "Well, here's what I want you to do", and showed him some rocks to move.

"I don't want to do that."

"OK, then you don't get any money".

"OK"

Two out of three isn't bad, and he's got a little more time to get the connection.