Quote of the Day

You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot help the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by encouraging class hatred. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn. You cannot build character and courage by taking away man's initiative and independence. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.
-Abraham Lincoln

pearls before swine

Oblivion must be an incredibly
comfortable place to be.

I say "no comment".
And my heart pounds.

What about the obvious?
Are you so blinded?

You're the one who said 100%.
Not me.

You're all a bunch of whores.
Guys and girls alike.
Young and old.

Ive never heard the voices reach such a volume level.
Everyone thinks they know.

But they don't care.
About responsibility.
Much less morality.

And when I speak up,
you ridicule.

You fling back
with nothing but your commie preconceptions.

You react
with pagan mumbo jumbo.

You simply regurgitate
that humanistic bullshit.

Becuase you, my friends,
are closed minded.
And hopeless.

You have my pity.

Red Envelope Fools?

::OPEN LETTER::Re: Red Envelope Day

I'm really not sure what to make of the Red Envelope Day phenomenon.

I agree with it in principle. It sounds like a great way to emphasize a great cause.

But I have one question, why on March 31st? The way I see things playing out is for everyone to mail their thousands of red envelopes on Tuesday, March the 31st. They then hit the USPS system that night, concentrating towards Washington DC the next morning, and hitting the White House that same day, April 1st, a.k.a. April Fools Day.

Granted, I will admit that not all of them will get there in one day. The material point, however, is that the massive influx will begin that next day.

I'm really curious, does anyone know the significance of why the founder of the Red Envelope Day movement picked March 31st? Did he ever state his reasoning for that day?

Also, why are any discussion boards or forums disabled on the facebook group/page/event? (which is the place I would have rathered to publish this open letter)

It seems to me that this is one massive April Fools prank on President Obama, the Capitol, the USPS, the gullible American populace, and, ultimately, on the very group seeking to make their point. Won't the pro-lifers be the fool when the news broadcast throughout the country on the evening news on April 1st, 2009 is all about a massive prank pulled over on the ignorant conservatives of the United States; and if anything is said about the supposed intended purpose, I see it as a footnote to the stupidity of those who participated.

Please anyone, chime in! I'm curious to see this thought has occurred to anyone else? I'm also curious to see if I can actually get in touch with the administrators of the movement.

My New Hero

The Internal Revenue Service has lost a lawyer's challenge in front of a jury to prove a constitutional foundation for the nation's income tax, and the victorious attorney now is setting his sights higher.

He said the free exchange of labor for compensation has been upheld as a right by the Supreme Court, but that doesn't necessarily make the compensation income.

If ever such an argument were to be presented widely, Cryer said, the income to the federal government would plummet. But not to worry, he said, the expenses could be reduced equally by eliminating programs, departments and agencies that also have no foundation in the Constitution.

"The Founding Fathers intentionally restricted the taxing powers of the new federal government as a measure of restraint on its size. By exceeding that limited taxing authority the federal government has been able to obtain resources beyond its intended reach, and that money has enabled the federal government to exceed its authority," he said.

Dear God...

The decisions you make today,

create the reality you live in tomorrow.

Don't blame God for your mistakes.

I Am John Doe

::mood::heading out
::music::boston, from the album all the stars and boulevards by augustana

The John Doe Manifesto
By Michelle Malkin, CNSNews.com Commentary -
www.cnsnews.com/ViewCommentary.asp?Page=/Commentary/archive/200703/COM20070328a.html
March 28, 2007

Note: Earlier this month, six publicity-seeking imams filed a federal lawsuit against US Airways and the Metropolitan Airports Commission in Minneapolis/St. Paul. The Muslim clerics were removed from their flight last November and questioned for several hours after their suspicious behavior alarmed both passengers and crew members.

Minneapolis Star Tribune columnist Katherine Kersten reported last week that the imams, advised by the grievance-mongers at the Council on American-Islamic Relations, also plan to sue "John Does" -- innocent bystanders who alerted the authorities about their security concerns.

Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., has introduced legislation to protect John Does who report suspicious behavior from legal liability. The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty; talk show host Michael Reagan; Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, who heads the American Islamic Forum for Democracy; and Minnesota lawyer Gerry Nolting have all stepped forward to offer free representation to the imams' targets

Dear Muslim Terrorist Plotter/Planner/Funder/Enabler/Apologist,

You do not know me. But I am on the lookout for you. You are my enemy. And I am yours.

I am John Doe.

I am traveling on your plane. I am riding on your train. I am at your bus stop. I am on your street. I am in your subway car. I am on your lift.

I am your neighbor. I am your customer. I am your classmate. I am your boss.

I am John Doe.

I will never forget the example of the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93 who refused to sit back on 9/11 and let themselves be murdered in the name of Islam without a fight.

I will never forget the passengers and crew members who tackled al Qaeda shoe-bomber Richard Reid on American Airlines Flight 63 before he had a chance to blow up the plane over the Atlantic Ocean.

I will never forget the alertness of actor James Woods, who notified a stewardess that several Arab men sitting in his first-class cabin on an August 2001 flight were behaving strangely. The men turned out to be 9/11 hijackers on a test run.

I will act when homeland security officials ask me to "report suspicious activity."

I will embrace my local police department's admonition: "If you see something, say something."

I am John Doe.

I will protest your Jew-hating, America-bashing "scholars."

I will petition against your hate-mongering mosque leaders.

I will raise my voice against your subjugation of women and religious minorities.

I will challenge your attempts to indoctrinate my children in our schools.

I will combat your violent propaganda on the Internet.

I am John Doe.

I will support law enforcement initiatives to spy on your operatives, cut off your funding and disrupt your murderous conspiracies.

I will oppose all attempts to undermine our borders and immigration laws.

I will resist the imposition of sharia principles and sharia law in my taxi cab, my restaurant, my community pool, the halls of Congress, our national monuments, the radio and television airwaves, and all public spaces.

I will not be censored in the name of tolerance.

I will not be cowed by your Beltway lobbying groups in moderates' clothing. I will not cringe when you shriek about "profiling" or "Islamophobia."

I will put my family's safety above sensitivity. I will put my country above multiculturalism.

I will not submit to your will. I will not be intimidated.

I am John Doe.

Thirty Pints of Blood: A contrast in worldviews

::mood::just chillin
::podcast::Thirty Pints of Blood, from Breakpoint Podcast by Chuck Colson

What difference does a worldview make? Around the world, we are seeing the clash of civilizations in action. In recent days, that clash has given us a story of life, and stories of death.

In Baghdad yesterday, a terrorist blew himself up with a car bomb, killing at least twenty-eight people and wounding dozens more. One witness told the Associated Press that pieces of human flesh were scattered all around the marketplace.

In Afghanistan last month, another terrorist blew himself up near a crowd gathered for a ceremony to open a hospital emergency ward. A few days later, a Sunni Muslim blew herself up and forty others at a college in Baghdad.

In all three cases, Muslims blew up Muslims. The response of Europe and the Muslim world to the stories of death? Outrage? No. Silence. Did the Western press condemn them? No.

Last week, another story was told on NBC News—this time, a riveting story of life.

NBC has been running a gripping series on the emergency military triage facilities in Iraq. Last Thursday, NBC showed wounded Iraqi insurgents being brought to Camp Speicher near Tikrit. Two of them had been caught placing an explosive device on a nearby road, intending to kill Americans, when a U.S. helicopter opened fire on them.

The U.S. medical team moved heaven and earth to save their lives. One insurgent, however, was not going to survive unless he got thirty pints of blood.

But the base was low on blood. The call went out for volunteer donors; minutes later, dozens of G.I.s had lined up.

At the head of the line was a battle-hardened soldier named Brian Suam. Asked if it mattered that his blood was going to an insurgent, he smiled and said, no—“A human life is a human life.”

I have never seen a more dramatic example of worldviews in contrast, nor have I been prouder of an American G.I. On one hand, we have the horrors of a civilization that values death—even the death of its own children—if by killing them they can hurt the infidels. On the other side, we have a story that makes us realize just how deeply embedded within American life is our Judeo-Christian heritage. This heritage teaches that human life is sacred—even the life of an enemy who falls into our hands.

These stories make nonsense of the claim that there is no real difference between Christianity and Islam. The clash of civilizations is not only about a fundamental difference between ways of viewing God, reality, life, and life’s meaning; it’s also about good versus evil, life versus death.

...continued.
[Note: I cut the rest of the article out because I do not agree with the author's view of 'peace-loving muslims', which he supports to be possible, while I call the very term an oxy-moron. Pleas feel free to read the rest for yourself, though.]

Quote of the Day

::mood::all over the map
::music::Señorita from the self titled album by the Los Lonely Boys

"If you remove all sense of sin
You make man no longer a sinner
Who then is no longer in need of a Saviour
And that is the Devil's deception."

- Steve Johnson

Thinking...

::mood::wishing it were easier to do the right thing
::listening::Lost? Our National Treasure, by Pastor Todd Dubord of Lake Almanor Community Church

Today, my dad reminded me of a great quote:

"The measure of a man is not in what he can do, but rather in what he chooses not to do."

Which got us to talking about how, with the current culture, we are raising a bunch of social miscreants and moral retards. I know I must sound like an old man. But it really hit me this past week. I don't even remember what exactly it was that triggered the train of thought. But if you take a moment to think about it, teachers are not allowed to exercise discipline in the classrooms of our public schools, parents anymore are afraid to lay a hand on their kids, 'tolerance' is now 'politically correct', which happens to be a joke in itself, and every trace of religion of moral standard has been systematically wiped from the fabric of our chrysalisistic society.

And in it's place a massive moral void resides. In the minds of youth, there is absolutely no standard of right and wrong. I told you I was going to sound like an old man. But seriously, my mind cannot even fathom the squalid darkness that exists in the place of what is such an essential, integral, inseparable part of ME.

I have been raised to see that in every decision, there is a right choice and there is a wrong choice. Granted, you may have two things to choose from, and they both may be good options, both beneficial. But there will always exist a moral standard, established from the beginning of time, to determine what is the correct choice to make. I recognize that life is a series of forks in the road. One must begin with the end in mind, and make sacrifices along the way, choosing the right over the temptation of temporary pleasures in order to prosper, in order to get where he wants to go. And that more importantly, the Moral Code of Conduct (the Law of God written on our hearts) needs to determine where I want to go, who I want to be, what I want to do.

I can only agree with Thomas Jefferson when he said that

"The God who gave us life, gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis: a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are a gift from God? that they are not to be violated but with His wrath?
"Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just and that His justice cannot sleep forever."

It's not a big deal. Oh, no. Nothing to it. I mean, it's been happening for years now, and nothing bad has happened yet!

Or so they would say.

It appears that everything is fine on the surface. But the only thing keeping our society afloat is the fact that we have the privilege of riding on the spiritual heritage of our forefathers, who themselves were steeped in a judeo-christian values system.

"Yes, we did produce a near perfect republic. But will they keep it? Will they, in the enjoyment of plenty, lose the memory of freedom? Material abundance without character is the path of destruction." - Thomas Jefferson

And so, it appears then, that our society is on the "path of destruction". And it saddens me. Who will I have to live with as fellow members of society in twenty or thirty years? I am by nature an optimist. I tend to look forward to the future with a bright perspective. Hoping for the best.

And I won't cease to hope for the best. I cannot.

But then again, I refuse to blindly proceed without carefully recognizing what is going on around me.

In the center of my planner, I have a card that reminds me daily of some goals I have for my life. Two statements bracket this set of objectives: "Live life to it's fullest....Being aware of my surroundings."

So I live in this culture. And I watch. Observing what goes on around me. Not to get discouraged from living the way I must, the way I must choose. But to carry on and pray that President Reagan was right when he said,

"I know here that you will agree with me that standing up for America also means standing up for the God Who has so blessed our land. I believe this country hungers for a spiritual revival. I believe it longs to see traditional values reflected in public policy again. To those who cite the first amendment as a reason for excluding God from more and more of our institutions in everyday life, may I just say this: the first amendment of the constitution was not written to protect the people of this country from religious values. It was written to protect religious values from government tyranny." - President Ronald Reagan

Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,
The people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance.
- Ps. 33:12