Dear America,

Oh my goodness, oh my goodness.

there is way too much going on in this world -- unprecedented turmoil all around; while I haven't even had my coffee for three days... talk about don't talk to me...talk about sinking into despair and Lifetime TV movies and letting it all out sequestered under my blankie with my BooBoo by my side...

the world is just not that funny.


But then, no stopping our dear President making a a few jokes at the Correspondents Association Dinner, huh.  And good for him; that's the way to let out a little steam. 

Seriously, it is.

It's just funny listening to what he thinks is funny.

And he was funny, have to give him that.

He is so comfortable in the accompaniment of his people -- even though, he tries to pull off the idea that the mainstream media have been all over him, saying "even though the mainstream press gives me a  pretty hard time (really?)...I hear that I'm still pretty big on Twitter, and Facebook, or as Sarah Palin likes to call it 'the socialized media." hardy har har

All too funny, given he then turned around to diss the prevalence of ipods, ipads, and xboxes, oh my, all in one fell swoop during a commencement speech just a few days later at Hampton U...and he was being totally serious to boot.  go figure.. coming from the prince of peace wagering on every techno widget and gadget known to man when campaigning to get out the vote. 

"...coming of age in a 24/7 media environment, some of which don't rank high in the truth meter...ipods and ipads and xboxes and playstations, none of which I know how to work... Information becomes a distraction, a diversion; a form of entertainment rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than a means of emancipation..."

Say what?

For it was in the days of his campaign, he used McCain's lack of techno wizardry as a talking point...poking fun at his all but non-existent experience with the keyboard and his inability to evolve beyond snail mail (oh the irony, now that he's in charge of the post office, bet he's wishing we all showed more love to that crumbling monument of government's failure to understand business).

Oh he loves to make fun of McCain, and by all means his home state -- while yucking it up at the dinner, he started out riding McCain just a bit, noting he never gave personal claim to his  nickname "Maverick",  brilliantly spinning it into a serendipitous dig on Arizona's new immigration law, saying "we all know what happens in Arizona when you don't have I.D...adios amigos..."

Well, it's just another perfect example of how things can spin around the world at lightening speed these days, even a President can be misguided by the rhetoric and political correctness of a moment in history.  Good thing we have a place to go to...places like the world wide web await us.. to lift us up and bring us back from the brink...that is what he meant when he said this at Hampton U, no?

"so many voices clamoring for attention on blogs, and on cable, and talk radio.  It can be difficult at times to sift through -- to know what to believe -- who's telling the truth and who is not."

Are you talkin' to me? Say it like Joey, on the streets of Chicago.

Ah yes, to be perfectly clear, true emancipation doesn't come from the hand of government, nor out of the hearts and minds and mouths of Presidents.

To be fair and balanced, America has equally shared the spotlight with both political parties; none of which may take credit for carrying the common man out of poverty and suffering.

Why? because as our founders cautiously but emphatically outlined for us, the politics of party line cannot accomplish what must inherently come from the INDIVIDUAL.  This country was designed in all seriousness to let the common man be, do and have whatever the common man can.  It was not predicated on a government, everywhere and larger than life itself, to do for man what man must do for himself.

With all things being equal, this is what makes all men equal -- this is what made an Oprah, a Bill Gates, a Hollywood, a Silicone Valley -- this is what takes us from the first automobile to an industry in under sixty seconds in relation to the rest of the  world -- this is what makes a Wall Street and a Main Street, both the highs and the lows -- this is what makes an "L.T.", only sharply contrasted by the differences between a Tomlinson and a Taylor -- this is what makes a President of mixed race deliver a few funnies, whether it be a correspondents dinner or college commencement, with such ease and eloquence, you would be led to believe he was the perfect candidate for the task at hand, being the American President who came from nothing to become a very big something that he is.

What's funny is how this government wishes to solve the world's inequities by taking away from those who simply HAVE -- those who have "made it" by figuring things out on their own -- including those who may have needed some help, perhaps relied on the wisdom of those who have came before us -- like our founders; or perhaps, more closer to home, find themselves indebted to the undying love and support of a parent or grandparent, and maybe a guardian angel or two.

There is only one thing that keeps us from reaching our highest and our very best every day -- and it is the value we place on ourselves to becoming everything we ever dreamed. This begins with the first family we ever come to know; the environment in which we are raised and the mentoring from none other than our mamas and our papas, and perhaps a few teachers down the road, shape us into who we ultimately become.

For richer or poorer, all families come from this place we call home; and all families have the ability to transcend circumstances and make something of themselves, whether you accept it as truth, or not -- it was laid out before us a very long time ago, five thousand years ago to be exact.

Whether we come from a good family or not, our inherent rights, passed on from generation to generation, come from a higher place; nothing but our individual connection to this Life Force, along with our recognition of our ability to rise above challenges and hindrances we think are beyond repair -- can keep us apart from receiving the Kingdom, for nothing is impossible in the eyes of God.  America begins and ends at the kitchen table and good night kisses; let us return to making good families, as if our future depends upon it, because it does -- and that's the truth.

For even with all the modern conveniences like ipods and xboxes, Obama is right to some degree; for we have seen time and time again, money and things can ruin a child just as easily as the lack thereof.  (Did you happen to catch that story on Warren Buffet's son?) 

It always seems to get down to the values we teach our children from the moment they are born, how we foster them into becoming the young adults on the precipice of entering the new world, so that they may become the journalists or the bloggers or the cable news dudes or the talk radio renegades or like anyone else from the mainstream media who simply fall to their knees in the presence of the great articulator-in-chief...mindlessly enthralled by everything he says or does.

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails...and now these three remain: faith, hope and love.  But the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians, Chapter 13

It is a wacky world out there, no kidding; some things we read are true, some things are not, while some things totally contradict what was previously widely accepted... but the greatest of these is love; we must embrace it all -- for whatever it's worth, for whatever value we gain -- for censoring any of it would be un-American, and may very well take away the amusement, the empowerment, the distractions, the education, and the opportunity to grow tolerance, have faith in our fellow man, and hope for a better future -- and in so doing be able to reach our highest pinnacle,  true emancipation for us all.  What a wonderful world that would be.

Then we have this,

"is not general incivility the essence of love?" 

Jane Austen

Keeping it real -- even if that means we endure snippets in time when we laugh at ourselves and each other -- is one of the greatest man-made distractions we've got left.   And if anyone is keeping score, who really has the last laugh anyway?

But there is a funny thing about truth; the truth shall set us free...

in joy, or in sorrow, right on cue and according to our belief, every time.

I never proclaim all the answers, amused mostly by lots of questions.  But maybe if we get back to teaching our children a little self-reliance, empowering them with words of common sense respective of liberty and freedom to build from all schools of thought, our kids might be better prepared for the whole world; instead we have a president going around saying read this and not that; this is funny, but not that; this is news, but not that -- selectively censoring all the world has to offer, woefully ignorant of supporting the open and lively debate from which a young mind truly grows; as civilized as it may appear, a world like this would look a lot like tyranny.

Make it a Good Day, G