Monday, February 27, 2006

Political Blunder

Greetings

I normally take time and space here talking about how Democrats have opened the door right into their own nose on one issue after another. Today however I am talking about President Bush and his latest blunder over this Port deal.

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/2/26/192738.shtml?s=tn
Check out this link for a good article on said deal.

There are many angles to look at this situation from but let's explore two here. First from the Presidents POV and then the perception of the majority of the American people.

The President says it is all OK, don't worry about it his people have checked out the deal and there are no problems because the UAE is an ally in the War on Terror. Normally I trust this President to do the right thing but in the case of border security he has a very scketchy history and it seems the same here with ports. Why? I just can't explain it but when all else fails follow the money or the votes. I say if what the administration has said about top level cabinet officials not knowing about this deal is true then they are negligent in their duties. Some heads should roll.

Now let's look at it from the peoples POV. We see on the surface of this deal that an Arab company with ties to 9/11 purchasing ports into our country. It's that simple. Why give people (who have the potential to do us harm) access to our Port security? Even if they will not actually run the Ports but only sign the checks as some have said, they still could have access to sensitive security intelligence that could compromise our safety.

So you tell me. Do you want this deal pushed through without a complete and open investigation?

I must break ranks with the Administration here and join with both Democrats and Republicans who are calling for such and investigation.

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Sunday Morning

I have been up since six. It is a beautiful day, Praise God! I am filled with the spirit today no doubt. I did my normal routine this morning and after reading the news and sending out my emails I went for a dip in the Hot-Tub. We have really been using it a lot since we had it repaired this past fall and I am in it nearly every day lately. In fact I have been working on the circuit board trying to determine what makes the pump work intermittently. I think I have it fixed now after disconnecting some contacts that seemed to be causing it to malfunction. It has been working properly for the past few days.

Anyway on to my original point.

As I was in the Hot-Tub this morning, submerged up to my neck and enjoying the sensation of 100 degree water surging all around me I thought about how this invention was just another copy of what God has already created for us in nature. Most everything man does is a copy of something God has already done in nature. His omnipotent intelligence dwarfs anything man has or ever will accomplish.

Since I have been saved and baptized I have been ascending higher and higher into the spiritual realm of God, learning from his scriptures and casting off my own sinful nature. I am at peace in my mind, heart and soul knowing that I truly am a disciple of Christ and that my name is sealed in the book of life for all eternity.

PRAISE GOD for his grace and mercy, his forgiveness of my sin and his sacrifice for all mankind.

I was deep in thought this morning with nothing but the words of God and his goodness cascading through my mind. It was pure and clean and I felt as if I was so close to God that it was like the Holy Spirit was moving through my body and mind just as the water was surging all around me. Once my experience was over I was just left amazed at the power of the words I had thought and felt in my heart and soul and how God has changed me as a person.

Looking back at the man who lived a life of sinful thoughts and deeds for so many years I hardly seem like the same person in my own mind. Even though I was probably considered to be a nice or good person to most who have known me nearly all my life I was not. My mind has been so full of sinful thoughts and my actions were always tainted with the sinful nature I was born and raised with. Until I was sealed by the blood of Christ I was not worthy to carry this new mantle of a true believer, a Christian.

Praise God for his power to transform a sinner and his mercy for my soul. I hope and pray that God will use me as his instrument to help bring others to his fold, forgiving them and opening their hearts to the forgiveness they must afford others. Alleluia!

My journey has been a long one full of struggles to pale to mention here but I have come to a crossroads in my life now. I have begun to shed my shell, the old life, the old skin, no longer can contain the light and grace of God found within me. The new creature to emerge from within me is bigger, stronger and more pleasing to God than ever before. I will fly with the wings of grace and share my story with all who will listen. With Gods mercy all those who seek the truth may come to understand the freedom of Christ in your heart and the goodness that follows with it. With the hope of Jesus those who trust in him will learn to shed their true sinful nature and follow in the footsteps of he who is sinless.

Praise God for his words and his truth opened up before me and all Christians who follow in that truth. My cups surely do overfloweth with his love and the peace of knowing that I will eat from the tree of life in a kingdom eternal.

Praise God for his mercy on us all who have sinned and dropped to our knees begging for his forgiveness. Praise God for his love and his kindness towards the poor unfortunate souls who have been lost but now are found.

It is my hope that all who are lost and blind will be struck down in the middle of the road like Sol (Paul) on the road to Damascus and the lord will tell them to no longer deny him or persecute him so that they too will share in the glory of eternal life and peace.

It is my hope that all my brothers, my family and all Gods children will see his glory and accept his sacrifice as the way.

My hope springs eternal for all of my friends who I want to share these words with and share my eternal life with.

May the peace and love of Christ be with you and I for all time.

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Wealth Envy

I found this while browsing some of my morning news sites today and decided to share it. I would love your feedback on this subject.

From Neil Boortz at Boortz.com

SHOOT THE RICH

Lately I've been collecting examples of wealth envy from various sources; mainly newspapers. The topic interests me for a number of reasons:

Wealth envy is usually an excuse-making or defensive mechanism for those who have failed to become what they would consider to be "rich." These people can't understand why this is so. After all, they're good people aren't they? And they work just as hard as anyone else does! Yet they're not wealthy! It can't be them! It must be the other guy! So, they take comfort in believing that wealthy people must have acquired their wealth through dishonest means. By cheating people, exploiting people, and by using crooked lawyers. The real problem with this, other than the fact that it simply isn't true, is that the person who develops this wealth-hatred is really programming himself or herself to remain in their present economic situation. If you have convinced yourself that to become wealthy is a bad thing, then why in the world would your subconscious mind ever allow you to make the decisions or take the actions that would lead to wealth?

It's no secret that I'm a general aviation nut. I love to fly, and I celebrate the fact that I live in a country where people are free to get into an airplane and fly almost anywhere they want; just so long as they follow the rules set down by the FAA. As an advocate of general aviation I've been following anti-airport and anti-general aviation activities for literally 20 years. Two areas of specific interest to me are the two airports where I base my airplane; Atlanta's Dekalb-Peachtree airport and the Naples (Florida) Municipal Airport. Both airports have active anti-airport groups. In both groups there has been ample evidence of wealth envy. In Atlanta we have complaints from people who don't like "those rich people from Dunwoody flying their airplanes over our houses." In Naples they have a new city councilman who, in a previous campaign, supported closing the Naples airport, saying that moving the airport out of the city would give those people in their limousines a chance to sip more wine on the way to the airport. In the Sunday Naples newspaper another anti-airport resident referred to the people who use the Naples airport as "a few wealthy commuters."

Wealth envy is an emotion that is eagerly exploited by politicians for power. We can thank wealth envy for our present tax code. The 16th Amendment would never have been ratified if it had not been presented to the people of this country as a way to punish the rich. Like it or not, our economy is powered by people who take chances. If they couple their risk-taking with good choices they will likely become wealthy. In the process they create hundreds of thousands of jobs and produce tens of millions of dollars in tax revenue for government. You doubt this? The next time you need a job, ask a poor person; and why don't you tell us of all of the wonderful government programs like roads, libraries, health clinics and public safety departments that have been funded with taxes on the poor.

And then I found this posted on some Internet site yesterday relating to the vice-president's shooting accident:

"This may be an opportunity to open a new Global Free market: Shoot the Rich. They are vermin regardless which country they live in. Of course we should take advantage of the "trickle down economy" by issuing hunting licenses and stamps as we do for ducks. There are enough of them to have a year round open season - no bag limit bur must measure at least $1 million. .... For those of you who object that this suggestion may be illegal, just remember that the Rich do not follow rules or laws, so why should we?"

There we have a posting by someone who just can't understand why they are not wealthy. After all, they've followed the rules, right? So why aren't they rich? The only excuse this person can come up with is that rich people "do not follow rules or laws."

Wealth envy is irrational and damaging, both to the individual and to our society.

Good one Neil!

Back to JD. I read this and thought about it a bit. I must agree with Neil. I think wealth envy is a favorite tool of the politicians to play the haves against the have nots. I have been saying for a long time that in America you can achieve whatever you want to. All you have to do is be willing to work hard, sacrifice, and be semi-smart. Sometimes folks who do not make it have to blame it on someone else. Other times perhaps it is just bad luck but there are so many success stories in America of people who tried and failed then tried again over and over until they got it right then BAM! They struck gold! I would still be working for someone, making 30K or less had I not got off my butt and decided to do better. I have a long way to go but if I had gotten my act together in my 20's instead of waiting so late in life who knows what I might have accomplished by now.

I always go back to the Col. Sanders story from the Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise. He supposedly tried to sell his chicken recipe to 1,000 restaurants before he found a buyer but he never gave up until he struck gold. There are thousands of stories like that one, all true. The kicker is you do not have to be dirty or cheat anyone to make it in America. It can be done honestly and lawfully.

Carpe Diem!

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Email and friends

As I peruse the news each day I find interesting little stories I like to share with my friends. Since we all have busy lives and do not get to spend real face time together very often it gives me great comfort to know that they are checking emails and reading some of my comments on the news of the day. That connection is important to me and I hope that they find it equally important in some small way.

Although many of us do think alike on some issues sometimes we differ on others and that is what makes us all unique. I enjoy the debate when we disagree on a given topic as it stimulates the thought process and opens up other views to be considered. Some folks have a hard time dealing with another point of view on a subject they feel strongly about but I have learned that through taking each view and giving it an honest chance to be considered, it is a good way to expand my own personal horizons in the way I approach each subject.

Believe it or not I know I am not always right about everything. GOSH! I have and will more than likely have my view changed slightly from time to time on a subject after and exhaustive debate in which all the facts are poured over and I have seen other perspectives and given them merit.

Not often, but it does happen. (smile)

The internet, email, blogs, etc., have really opened up a whole new world out there for many folks to express their POV and expand their knowledge about world affairs, politics, and news of all kinds. I am certainly one of those who has benefited from it and I admit it, my name is JD and I am an emailaholic.

I love to correspond this way even though I know folks who have computers and valid email addresses but they just do not check their email but once a month or so if that often. Although this baffles me to some degree I accept the fact that in their lives they have their own set of priorities and computers and email is just not one of them.

In closing today I will say this. The way I see it, if you do not return the email someone sends you in a timely manner it is like not returning a phone call left on an answering machine. If your computer works and you do check your email on a timely basis then it is very rude to not reply to an email if someone is sending an email in which they ask for a reply.

I think that is the key. So many emails go out each day you can’t and even shouldn’t reply to most but if the individual asks for a reply then you should by all means return that correspondence within a reasonable amount of time. That's just one man's opinion, take it for what it is worth.

Have a fabulous day and may God be with you this day and all the days ahead.

Sunday, February 05, 2006

Quote of the Day!

A day without laughter is a day wasted.






Who said it?





Charlie Chaplin

Saturday, February 04, 2006

Suggestions for change

We need to fix the problems in the broken, corrupt political system in Washington.

Here are a few ideas on how to accomplish the needed change.

1. Term Limits

2. Lobbyist reform

3. Internal affairs unit in Washington (watch dogs)

4. More citizen involvement. (citizen leadership lottery) more on this later

5. New campaign finance reform.

6. Federal balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.

7. Strong Third Party (The reform Party)

9. Elimination of Earmarks or pork (this is currently being looked at)

10. Prosecution of lawbreakers in the system!

What are some of your suggestions???

Thursday, February 02, 2006

Time for a change!

We need a third party in American politics.

There is no other way to break the hold that the two party system has over America. We can not expect the current system to reform itself. Yes they may try to make some changes here and there but the system has evolved into something that protects itself over all costs.

I am a firm believer that the Democrats are by far much worse than the Republicans when it comes to this but they both need to be reformed so my call is for the people who indeed want to see a change in politics as usual let's start a movement to reform the system. We can call it the Reform Party for now.

We must recruit from those current politicians who are sick of the way things work in Washington and will join us to make a better America. We will also ask the Libertarian party to join with us as we can use their strength in numbers to help us kick start this new party. I want to draft someone like Newt Gingrich to lead this revolution to change Washington and Change America for the better.

If you are with me then give me some feedback. Who's ready to make America the leading example of clarity and honor in its government. Who wants to work for the better of the people instead of the party. Let's elect a government that is there to represent us and work for us, rather than talk down to us and try and tax us into oblivion.

If you are ready to reform American politics and take America back to the days when morals and ethics were important then start here by sending me your feedback with ideas and suggestions.

God Bless America and may the good Lord bless us all as we try to make a difference!


Here is a link to a really good article that may inspire you like it did me.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060129/news_mz1e29gingri.html