Dear America,

happy last day of 2010.
Is it possible to speed things up just a bit?  I'm kinda in a hurry.

So people who know me, know I have been met with one catastrophe after the next in this past year; for me, I find the whole thing rather humorous, or else, really, I would probably be in the funny farm -- or at the bottom of some lagoon by now, and around here, we have many, it might take awhile to find me.  If not for playing with my daily psyche, with love, acceptance and a little laugh from time to time --  if not non-stop on some days -- who knows where I would be. 

I do make a conscious effort to surround myself with all kinds of props and pick-me-ups, just for this very reason: you never know when you need an attitude adjustment, and if one bad thing lingers into the next, the more anecdotes, pictures of good times, family, a library of books, Bible phrases, bumper stickers, significant posts of the daily horoscope, and any other kind of trafficking of transcendent powers the better is what I say; these little things we can do are not only welcome, but just may stand as the final thread we cling to when we have two inches of rope left.

Wow G, way to be positive.

Actually, fear not!  It is not all doom and gloom today, for today we get to pass it all on; we get to leave it all behind in a spiritual, physical, emotional, timely rebirthing of a new year.  And oh, not a moment too soon, thank you God!

Some years get thrown back in time, and maybe a shot of whiskey, better than others -- and this is no exception; oh the joy it will be to wake up tomorrow morning, the first day of the rest of our life, or at least another 365.

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.  In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."  John 16:33

Steeped in doubt, a growing, living contagion of sorts (as told earlier in chapter six), an unsettling grumbling amongst the Jews persisted, when Jesus turned to them and said, "I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life.  I am the bread of life...I am the living bread that came down from heaven.  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."

It may be hard, but God wants us to live in relationship with Him, everyday, in sickness or in health; and what God wants to see in us, is that our daily struggles do not adversely affect our living in joy, no matter what the day brings.  While over time, if relying on our faith in God teaches us anything at all, it is the constant lifting up from God's word that keeps us not only in relationship with God, but keeps us safely in alignment with the principles and values we can choose to live by, and ultimately, show to serve us well -- especially when buried in tough times.

I remember a few months back, hearing the words of Joel Osteen, saying something to the affect of "if we're not careful, we will go through life in fear instead of faith."  The thing is, things may get really bad -- but fear will only add to the drama and our delinquency -- only faith can lead us into better days; only a cheerful heart can attract that which we need to overcome troubled waters.

How do we know this to be true?  I liken the experience when lost in the company of those who get stuck in negative chatter, discouraging words, or a poor me why me mentality -- the self talk does not lift the spirit up -- and just being around it can be debilitating and heavy hearted, right?  We see the affects of this everyday.


On a grander scale, we are living under the prevailing consciousness of an administration who believes first and foremost, "let us not let a crisis go to waste," using fear to motivate change!  And catastrophic change, at that.  What used to be a fundamental, enriching principle -- an entire nation's self-reliance -- built up and supported by our inherent connection to Nature's law, endowed by our Creator, maker of all things seen and unseen -- has been replaced by government, by man.  And the kicker, we did this to ourselves.

Isn't that just the way it works in our own life; we do things, sometimes without thinking it all the way through, we react, we over-react, we jump to conclusions, we make rash decisions -- and all the while, we may be making the very thing that started the downward struggle in a trickle come to a torrential flow!  IF perhaps we just stopped.  Took a breath.  Looked at all the options.  Meditated on it, prayed on it for just a day, or five minutes, before acting...how things might have turned out a whole lot different.

Admittedly, I know I'm not smart enough to get around in this world without my faith, in God, and more important,  I am sooooooooo not ashamed to tell you.   But  read Psalm 91, if you will, just a few verses is all you really need to hear. Highlighted by Joel, on the very same day he is reminding us to cling to faith, not fear; the psalm begins with  "he who dwells in the shelter of the Most High..."

In Joel Osteen fashion, he quickly remembers a story of a miracle discovered in Yellowstone Park -- recounting a few years back, when they had the horrific fires rage through, a ranger came upon the wings of  what used to be a beautiful, majestic bird.  He got down closer to it, overcome by the loss of one of the park's finest and lifted up a corner of her burnt wing...when he did so, running out from the cover of a mama's pure love came her babies!  Unharmed! and ready for whatever life was to bring them.

"surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from deadly pestilence.  He will cover you with feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.  You will not fear the terror of the night, not the arrow that flies by day..." Psalm 91:3-5

Living in faith brings new life, everlasting, no matter what we face.  And when you get right down to it, the truth is, entire nations have risen and fallen by the ebb and flow of a simple faith. 

Obama brought his family to church over the Christmas Holiday, something he doesn't normally do when inside the beltway.  Perhaps he is realizing just how important our founding principles might be; perhaps, he, too, will return from vacation enlivened in the new year to see through his duties and responsibilities with the grace and peace and understanding of living in relationship with God, and lead the nation, by example,  into better days to come.  That is, certainly, hope this girl can believe in.

We have much to do in the new year; while in actuality, a closer look would tell us, we have much to take away.  Hard times have probably only just begun for a nation buried in debt, deficit spending, while growing all the more accustomed to false-Gods and a government living large abusing the rule of law by the fumblings of man -- a behemoth of uncertainty and wickedness all the way around.

We are witness to a time when we know deep in our heart more government is not the answer; and as a matter of record over the last hundred years, the un-serving, overbearing, and unfortunately, more prevalent belief system, rotting from the inside out, wreaked in entitlements and regulation, breeding secular, fear based reaction, versus a life of faith, is keeping us from all that is good; but oh the joy to know we are flourishing under the refuge of a Higher Purpose under Heaven, we were just waiting for someone to lift the wing.

One of the many sayings pinned up on the wall next to me came from an ad (god knows what it was for) but it simply reads:

CELEBRATE WHAT'S NEXT

This is good enough for me to end ten, and move onto eleven...how about you?

Make it a Good Day  --
for at the very least it remains good karma for tomorrow, G

Dear America,

happy tuesday

there is always a peculiar sensation that takes over, when in the midst of the week between Christmas and New Year's Day -- or is it just me? 

Granted, this feeling is compounded that much more, given the absence of nearly a week due to the annoyances that come with the common cold;but it's funny how the mind works, it is so easy to get squirrel-ly over the things we wished to have happen in the last year, coupled with the things that actually do, and then combined with that which I have no recollection whatsoever as I was buried in the sheets in a NyQuil slumber.

As the fog lifts, and the business as usual takes hold, all the thoughts of the year almost past, meets up with a glorious southern California day outside, while the future rests in the hands of the destiny yet to be illuminated.

It is exciting, almost invigorating -- yet, the angst and worries of this last year still remain -- so the dichotomy of emotions toy with me; surely pushing and pulling me into crazy town, if I were to let all my inhibitions go at the same time.

The absence of my girl this week is startling and noticeable, as it is just way too quiet; so what does a girl do, when no one to cook for is in the room, let alone in view, a few steps away, or calling out for something to eat in regular intervals -- she watches the Travel Channel, the Food Network -- anything that can take me world's away in a flash.

And may I extend a heartfelt gratitude to you, Anthony Bourdain, who turned out to be everything I ever wanted in a stolen afternoon with no real responsibility to be seen, or heard from, in a day.  As it just so happened, it was a day set aside for a Bourdain marathon! 

One after the other, in some obscure neighborhood across the globe, dining on the sublime to the not so fine, the rock star of being super cool, while eating the innards and out-turds of just about anything that moves, conversing with the locals over shots of whiskey and beer, pontificating about life, liberty and the pursuit of world peace over a plate of good food, made his way into my living room and into my heart.  Totally love struck for the duration, from Vietnam to Columbia, Panama to Tokyo, I couldn't take my eyes off his scene.

Having watched him many times before, something about yesterday was different; I felt a certain self interest as to what he was telling me, personally, and tried to take it all in as if he were speaking just to me, to see where that would lead me...kind of like the old Buddhist saying, "when the student is ready, the teacher appears.."

And there it was, in the middle of an itty bitty Yakitori Bar and Grill, as Bourdain and his Tokyo tour-guide were laughing it up over the nearly raw chicken they were about to put in their mouth, it hit me: the Japanese don't seem to have an FDA, of sorts, they have no regulations on how long a meat must cook, and they pretty much survive, trusting that the restaurateur and the restauran-tee are completely happy and satisfied with one another within the dynamics of a shared experience and commercial transaction.  That's funny, isn't it?

And listening to the Japanese native, describing the daily workings of this one restaurateur was in a word, amazing.  For this little shop in Tokyo, which specializes in simply making yakitori, really, truly, turns the makings of yakitori into an art form (as in most things they do as a culture-- as a people, they inherently lean to finding and creating the natural beauty, no matter what they are doing).

So with great consideration, this yakitori-shogun-chef begins the day, looking over his farm raised chickens, and with his own hands, takes the life from the very chicken he will serve later in the day; with full honor and integrity, following customs passed down for generations, grateful for the bread of life that the bird freely gives, the process comes full circle with life, death, bringing new life, with none of it, as it would appear, being taken for granted.

He carefully trims the meat -- using the bones, the organs, the entire body of the bird for other things -- and makes every meal to order from a place of reverence, for not only the chicken who gave his life, but for the life of the customer who sits at the bar about to partake in it's bounty.  Everything is sacred; nothing is spared attention to detail; while every bite seems protected as if held under some kind of culinary godliness and holiness. 

The yakitori restaurateur serves not only the skewered teriyaki chicken fresh off the grill, but even takes choice pieces to add to a simple bowl of broth and herbs and spices, hardly cooking the chicken at all -- what, as we gasp at the sight of pale pink meat floating at the top of the colorful ceramic vessel -- stop, how can you even think about eating such a thing?!

No worries; as in the natural phenomenon that occurs in the midst of any game of truth and consequences, if the chicken is healthy, if the chef takes good care, if the integrity of the action is safely held from start to finish -- what's to worry about it?  The chef works with honor -- rest assured, if the chef did not, people might die, or at the very least, get really sick, and his business would surely falter.  The consequences of serving up anything less than a delightful meal is far too great, and most of all, beneath the standard set for himself. 

No government regulation is needed, if, in fact, you set out to do the right thing for all concerned (including the big fat chicken).

This land we call America was designed to work like this; funny how far off the mark we have grown.  The A-ratings that our restaurateurs live by don't seem to save us, protect us from harm, or keep us from experiencing the ills of food borne discomfort and complications, sometimes even death.

The only thing that really protects us at this level, is the integrity of every food handler along the way -- and oh the number of hands our food comes in contact...how we would lose count in our complicated world from farm to family.  How we must trust each and every one of us to do the right thing all along the way -- as mind boggling as it may be -- is paramount to the root cause of all that we do, how we do it, and if we will be successful at it from here on out.

Of course, don't even get me started on the lack of regulation against serving an endangered sea turtle at a local cabana bar and grill, on the beaches of Columbia -- hello?  You think Greenpeace, or the like, would venture down in 'dem dare parts to see what's up, just sayin'. 

Or how about the city buses, all individually owned and operated and PAINTED, colorfully and flamboyantly to distinguish one neighborhood bus from the next, who just a few years back were confronted by the Columbian government to ban together, become uniform, streamlined, and "organized" for the betterment of the whole -- and they said NO. no way, Jose, nada, never in my life time. comprende? 

but I digress.

What is spinning in the back of my mind is how so much of the rest of the world has no regulations -- they live and let live, and try as they might to act with honor, respective of their cultural norms and ritual, in keeping with their inherent need to preserve the integrity of their people as a whole all the while! Fantastic. 

America seems to be doing just the opposite these days...

America is the endangered species.

America is the individually owned and operated, multi-colored bus line.

America must return to the A-rating just because...it's the right thing to do; and we don't need government to do it for us, or tell us how, or control who gets what, when and for how much.  The right thing to do never changes; and to that end, having the integrity of finding the natural beauty and honor in all things would serve us well in our days to come.

thank you, Bourdain! 

Hourly packaged in your irreverent, yet compassionate, style, the foreign world you present to us may not be that unfamiliar; for it rekindles the spirit at the heart of things past, present and future, centering from the virtues of family and food and the everlasting faith in who we are, where we came, and where we go from here.

Starting locally, maybe as close as our own cupboards, what we choose to pass on to our children, by design or by consequence, and especially by the love and example we share over a warm meal, is the only thing that matters.  IF we all choose to do it well, with honor -- perhaps even with no reservations -- half the battle would be won already.

make it a good day, G 

and play your song today, click on dear america

Dear America,

"It's an absolute joke. I was looking forward to this. 

It would have been a real experience. 

This is what football is all about. 

We're becoming a nation of wussies."  

Ed Rendell, Governor of Pennsylvania, sometime yesterday...

I guess it takes something really big to happen before a liberal even notices; yes, Govena, we aw a nation of wussies...and we sure didn't get here by way of the foundation laid by our fine forefathers who gave us everything with nothing more than perhaps a pat on the butt, maybe with a resounding 'buck up buttercup' as we set out to become something, be something, as purely evident by our duty and delight of just being a part of the home team, and a winning one, at that.

Okay, so they wouldn't say 'buttercup', but neither would they say "wussies" either, so na na na nana.

But nooooooooooooo, somewhere down the line, we DID become a nation of wussies; and I couldn't have said it better myself --  just the irony, as the shout out is coming from a die hard left wing entitlement monger, bellowing out onto the field from the sidelines!  The very thought of it gives me more chills up and down my leg than quite possibly if I were sitting in those snowdrifts above the 50 yard line -- if in fact, the game went on in spite of a few flurries as planned.

So they canceled the Sunday Night Football game for a little snow, and this is what turns the liberal upside down, to the point of calling us all a bunch of wussies? wow.

Where is Rendell when it comes to showing up for that same fighting spirit when it comes to the daily grind?  Where is Rendell when it comes to shoring up the business leaders and corporate makers of jobs, for the betterment of all, in hopes of creating jobs and responsibilities and duties above and beyond the local unemployment office? Where is Rendell when it comes to speaking directly to the wussies and the weak-kneed who just need someone to give them a little tough love, the kind that causes someone to grab life by the bootstraps, no matter what, and keep at it?  Where is this Rendell?

Wussies, he says.

What is fascinating, seeing into the future no less, is what kind of other suspicious weather might be lurking around the bend to call for another unusually long commercial break?  Will these actions inspire another team, to use creative license to postpone a game until "Joe Blow" is feeling better, to allow for an additional day's rest, or simply, make the other team sweat for 48 hours longer, or more, weather permitting?

And just who, in fact, makes this kind of call anyway?  Was it just Goodell who threw in the wussie pink flag? Or did he get some help with his own audacious line of commissioner's men, sacking the rush to judgment in a last ditch blitz?

Setting precedence, is setting precedence, just sayin'.

and oh the trouble we've seen when we take an inch, right.

But more important, doesn't this just give us one more reason to gang up against the rising tide of regulation in this country?  yeah, you must have known I would go there...

Even though I woke up really fuzzy this morning, I still have my Common Sense wits about me...

this being the fifth day -- or is it the seventh? -- of a horrid regime of hot tea, naps and NyQuil.  Yes, even over the Christmas holiday, this girl was out cold in a lovely, self-medicated, shut down the cough so I can get some sleep medicine. yum.  You will be happy to know the congestion is all but gone, and I have almost forgot I had a nagging cough.

Being one who is not a wuss when it comes to getting sick (and proud of it) -- hardly ever catching the common cold in the first place -- when it finally catches up to me, I simply go down.  out. down. done. turn out the lights, the party's over, don't bother me, I'm sleeping...

ONLY to wake up from the slumber refreshed! yeah me!


As you can imagine, the in-box was over-floweth, like a blizzard, doncha know.  But one of my favorite things to read is the Heritage Foundation's Morning Bell -- it always chimes in with highly topical, straight up talk of the play of the day; it's kinda like gathering in a huddle with a cadre of  colonial doers and thinkers, all round up dispensing a shot in the arm for the die-hard fan of these United States.  So, in an effort to get to my point before a lingering need to close my eyes comes upon me, read this about BIG GOVERNMENT.

This 111th Congress cannot go down and out fast enough, if you get my drift.  Regulations that we don't even know about, hear about, have a chance to read about, continues unbridled and unguarded all around us.

And just like football, the game -- the AFC meets NFC meets USA  -- the really big show, for real -- was never intended to have this much regulation.

This nation was not made for wussies, damn straight, Mr. Rendell; what he lacks in eloquence, he sure makes up in relevance.

Besides hoping we hit replay on his remarks over and over and over again, my second hope is that this may lead us to a new, new start treaty dating back to this very moment in time, and that one day, we may look back at this and get a good laugh -- for it all began with a little thing called over-regulation, in the hands of an over-zealous commissioner, that perhaps changed the course of a nation gone pansy... all because of the potential of a hundred year storm, rising from the groundswell of fear of the ever so humble itzy bitzy snowflake; with any luck at all, it will roll up into a ball and unceremoniously be thrown in the face of all Americans right here, right now...

meaning nothing more and nothing less than:  WAKE UP!  Snap out of it! This progressive march of over-regulation, these continuous threats thwarting the rule of law by lowly man, along with the constant attack upon the Natural Law, endowed by our Creator, enlightened by our founders, and left in the firm grasp of each and everyone of us, is taking the fun out of everything!  let's just play the game, already. enough is enough.

Make it a Good Day, G

And thank you, Mr. Ed

Dear America,

It must be great to be labeled  "the comeback kid" even before the comeback; almost like getting nominated for being the Prince of Peace, before doing anything to deserve it...and then getting it!...the Nobel Peace Prize, pulleeze, go figure, and based solely upon the public perception of a sight unseen... oh my, guessing precedence couldn't get any better than that, now can it?

More fascinating is the MainStreamMedia jumping on a conservative's viewpoint like white on rice, however; wondering, how often that really happens?  Modern day miracles abound.

But oh the titillation, the thrill up the leg, the oooh's and aww's praising such high thoughts of a renowned conservative for none other than their man in power, the media couldn't say enough about Krauthammer's prophetic characterization of the Chosen One; even if it comes long before we see the actual second coming of a president...and even if it's not exactly his point. 

No bother, as each side takes, eats, as this is my body given for you; we take only what we want to hear, what we want to believe, using it to whatever advantage we can find in direct proportion of our faith.  For the mainstream media, the faith, the belief, the fodder for all things seen and unseen is so real they can taste it like water turned into wine, blindly following along as if fishers of men -- albeit twisted, of course, as their faith is firmly laid in just a man. 

But what Krauthammer offers to the rest of us, seems somewhat of an enigma right now; even after November's shallacking, his column was more a precursor of what's to come if we aren't careful; considering it's football season, "the right" must look alive -- as much like those Giants on Sunday morning, loosing in the final seconds of the game, after establishing a gargantuan lead over Michael Vick and the Eagles, leaving the stands stunned, the nonsensical compromising on our game, may ironically justify the means to the end for the other side...

For even with the win at the polls, even with the wind at our back, the game can easily be taken away from us in a New York minute.

This message of "don't be fooled" is haunting me; just when we thought we could stand on the sidelines, and take a breath, Washington continues the march,  true to form, right down the lines, right in front of us, every single minute it's in session -- and just how unbearable it is to watch; operating like business as usual, in the hands of an unchanged quorum, unhinged spending, and crazy last minute shenanigans, once again, we are fooled into trusting these people to get a grip on things, and more important, keep it.

Much like Krauthammer's column the week before in, The Swindle of the Year, "if Obama had asked for a second stimulus directly, he would have been laughed out of town..."  watch the other hand, 'the Hammer' screams to us from high atop in the eagle's nest, coaching us into the next round of plays.

Rest assured our Krauthammer comes back each week.

Fortunately, his weekly column, and frequent live commentary, is in step, in sink, and syndicated (thank God) to the audience on the right side of the stadium on a regular basis -- for we need all the help we can get. 

And just how does he chose to come to a close in his timely ode to "the new comeback kid"...

"The greatest mistake Ronald Reagan's opponents ever made -- and they made it over and over again -- was to underestimate him.  Same with Obama.  The difference is that Reagan was so deeply self-assured that he invited underestimation -- low expectations are a priceless political asset -- whereas Obama's vanity make him always needing to appear the smartest guy in the room.  Hence, that display of prickliness in his disastrous post-deal news conference last week.

But don't be fooled by defensive style or thin-skinned temperament.  The president is a very smart man.  How smart?  His comeback is already a year ahead of Clinton's."

And on that note, I must leave you to begin a serious round of baking -- all this testosterone slinging has me having visions of gingerbread men dancing in my head.  Can't wait to bite a head off.

Make it a Good Day, G

Dear America,

Oh thank you father/mother Christmas!  Thank you!  It's just what I always wanted.


Harry Reid got nothing on his 1.1 Trillion Dollar OMNIBUS spending bill; and not because the momentum of the Democratic Majority Senate was being obstructed by their fellow republicans, oh no, it was his own party keeping him from riding into the homestretch on a big white horse to save the day.  even with the majority, Reid didn't have the votes...because it was @*&(#^(*& ridiculous.

Surely, we should all be kissing the ground right now, as that was a close one.

But look alive, people, he is still not done: believing he can still pummel through DADT, the Dream Act, a Boxer/Reid Land Grab, and finish the New Start Treaty... and here's the real kicker, all before the end of day Saturday, he says (that would be tomorrow).

Yeah yeah, that's the ticket; let's rush controversial, monumental changes at the last minute, without debate, and vote on it starting at about 9am.  are you for real playa?

Just before jumping into my G thing, I did a short search for the following, "what has Obama cut from the budget the last two years."

Top two contenders were from a recent Bloomberg piece, crafting an overview of where the Bush Era Tax Cuts stood, posted this month (not what I was looking for) -- and the second article that popped up was from May 2009, a news feed from the Associated Press and posted on MSNBC.

Oh, if we only knew then what we know now.

In a nutshell, way back when, Obama was proposing a $17 Billion Dollar reduction of federal spending  -- but keep in mind, this is 2009...way before the summer of townhall meetings and the coming arrival of Santa loaded up with the unwanted, unwarranted, overzealous Health Care legislation passing on Christmas Eve (at a cost of 1.3 T's).

Much to my surprise, even the liberal mainstream media could not deny that $17 B's was like a drop in a very deep bucket -- can't help but get a rise out of that, way to make me want to like you.

To pick some what was said apart:

The article explains that "the proposed cuts amount to less than one-half of 1 percent of his $3.6 trillion federal budget outline." 

But the AP quickly came to his aid, adding a heartfelt connection between The Chosen One and the people, quoting our new leader, "[Washington] is prepared to act with the same sense of responsibility" as all the rest of America... especially since it is a time when everyone is "tightening their belts."

"'I believe we can and must do exactly that,' 

Obama said in a statement he delivered before cameras..." 

"But $17 billion a year is not chump change by anyone's accounting," he said.

(not "chump change" he said...it is now, eighteen months later...but I digress)

While the AP ventures on, putting the "17 B" into layman's terms context:

"those savings are far exceeded by a 2 1/2-inch thick volume detailing Obama's generous increases for domestic programs. And instead of devoting the savings to defray record deficits, the White House is funneling them back into other programs...

Despite redoubling its efforts to portray itself as tough on waste and spending, it's undeniable that the administration and the Democratic-controlled Congress has taken the nation on a steady course of higher budgets in appropriated accounts. In rapid succession has come passage of a $787 billion economic recovery bill, a $410 billion omnibus appropriations bill and Congress' $3.4 trillion budget, which calls for increases of almost 10 percent over current funding for non-defense agency budgets...

Obama has said repeatedly his administration will go through the budget "line by line" to eliminate waste. But the resulting savings are relatively minor compared with the government's fiscal woes, especially a deficit that's likely to exceed $1.5 trillion this year, the latest installment in a national debt now at about $10.7 trillion.

Many of the cuts mirror those proposed previously by Bush but largely rejected by Congresses controlled by both Republicans and Democrats. In fact, Democrats already have pared about $10 billion from Obama's appropriations requests in passing the $3.4 trillion congressional budget plan last month...

Can we note the numbers, please: $787 billion economic recovery bill, $410 billion OMNIBUS bill, $3.4 Trillion Dollar budget!, increasing nearly 10 percent...deficits reaching $1.5 T projected for 2009...national debt then, $10.7 Trillion (oh to have this day back again) -- and now, nearly $14.

And yet, Obama was somehow pleased with himself to maybe shave off about $17 billion dollars of savings here and there, give a little, take a little...not so fast... that's right... even the MSM had to admit that the money was just being "funneled," or shall we say redistributed, to somewhere else; it didn't go straight to the bottom line,  mending the deficit, or the national debt.  It was circulated, and thus amounts to the real reason for this season, and last season, and the one before that...Washington is broken.

Oh how this girl loves to tiptoe through the archives.

So all in all, the annihilation of this year's Omnibus spending bill is a good thing. 

Okay now, just before I go, get a load of what an outlet called "POLITIfacts" calls the Lie of the Year...and they had some good one's, for sure, up for nomination...you can see them all for yourself if you jump over to their website; personally, I wouldn't waste your time. 

This is what the lame stream media is circulating -- mostly amongst themselves... here we go now... wait for it...

The biggest lie, according to the self-proclaimed authority on all the media matters at hand, PolitiFacts, is "the claim that ObamaCare is a government takeover of the Health Care System."  BIG FAT LIE they say.

Sorry kids, that isn't exactly true now, is it?  is it?

What the left fails to recognize (again) is the funny thing about the Free Market System -- you start messing with it, manipulating it, massaging it, feeding it uppers and downers, the beast begins to self destruct from the inside out. 

The left, recklessly fails to look beyond the horizon.

The left, is always kicking the can down the road, and sadly, making gains with the help of many on the right.

The left, refuses to see (even after the shellacking on Nov 2) that we can no longer support government by immediate gratification.  

But there they go, the left, choosing to pass a new health care law, on the eve of Christmas, to the utter disgust of nearly every American (pro or con for one reason or another) -- and not without giving us a conciliatory brush off  from Nancy Pelosi, that "we must pass it to know what's in it."

The left, without actually resolving the highest concerns, empties a piece of loaded legislation ringing into the new year a brand new entitlement, further strangling, entangling, and enslaving a system already suffocating under the pressure.

The left,  despite enjoying the best health care system in the world, with 85% of the people happy with it, gives the people a bureaucratic bombshell, only exponentially exasperating the abuses even further; even as issues of government regulation, malpractice, lawsuits, waste, fraud, along with the chokehold of systemic failure due to the inability to carry insurance across state lines, allowing the free market of the sale of health care insurance to actually operate freely, and thus equitably balance costs through fair competition practices ...all of it, continues to grow untethered.

In the end, the bottom line is that the Left is clinging to an unrealistic outcome:  sooner, or later, the market we know and love will implode, all that will be left standing (if we're lucky?), will be the government's public option (no, we're not there yet, but we will be -- simply by the natural "progression," or rather, attrition, of the market itself).  And those of us "not on the left" can see this from miles and miles away; while those on the left, inside the beltway, that is, know this, too... we might as well have had Nancy saying, 'all in due time, my pretty, all in due time.'

So PolitiFacts, you fell for a really, really, big lie, with a lie; oh the irony in becoming the BIGGEST LIE of them all.  Sleep well. 

Thank goodness we have a president who is "prepared to act with the same sense of responsibility."

Make it a Good Day, G

click your heels on Dear America...

Dear America,

Putting the irrational and irreverent abuses of power by the U.S. Congress aside for a day, let's continue with yesterday's ranting, and focus in on the persecution of Christmas.

And let's begin with...get a load of that Pope, shall we...lamenting the growing and "sophisticated forms of hostility to religion," noting the heightened occurrence of attacks upon Christianity, the practice of it's customs, rituals and symbols, while also declaring there is a link between religious freedom and tolerance with that of achieving world peace and security.

thank you.

The thing is, with the ACLU carrying on the way it is, the truth of the matter is, the celebration of "CHRISTMAS" is not necessarily all about Christians anymore; we have moved into a new age, an age that boldly celebrates the commercialism of just about anything.

The "Christmas Holiday" is celebrated culturally across the globe, stemming from traditions rooted by seasonal changes, the winter solstice perhaps, to ordinary folklore passed down for generations, to yes, even that which may be expressly conceived by a religious belief, like the birth of a baby Jesus,  or something.  People, as individuals, have the power to make it whatever they want it to be -- and we do!

I was reminded of the globalization of Christmas by two things happening today. First, an email that really has no relation to Christmas whatsoever, but timely none the less.  It went something like this -- and warning, this is absolutely crass, politically incorrect, and ridiculous all at the same time, so please, I beg of you, may you forgive me now and later --

Picture Lady Di in her wedding gown, first of all.  

Then immediately following the snapshot of the iconic princess for all time, came this:
Question: 
What is the truest definition of Globalization?
Answer:
Princess Diana's death.
Question:
How come?
Answer :

An
English princess
with an
Egyptian boyfriend 
crashes
in a French tunnel,
riding in a 
German
car 
with a
Dutch engine, 
driven
by a Belgian 
who was
drunk 
on
Scottish whisky, 
(check the bottle before you
change the spelling), 
followed
closely by 
Italian
Paparazzi, 
on
Japanese motorcycles, 
treated
by an American doctor,
using 
Brazilian
medicines. 
This is
sent to you by 
a
Canadian, using 
American
Bill Gates' technology, 
and
you're probably reading
this on your computer, 
that
uses Taiwanese chips,
and 
a 
Korean
monitor, 
assembled
by 
Bangladeshi
workers 
in a
Singapore plant, 
transported
by Indian 
truck drivers, 
hijacked
by Indonesians, 
unloaded by
Sicilian longshoremen, 
and
trucked to you by Mexican illegals.

Yep, it was in poor taste, but may it serve a purpose today...this irreverent breakdown of the what defines nearly every event in our life either has been touched, or will be touched, or is touching you right now by the entire globe. How many things around you say MADE in CHINA, huh?  

Christmas is no different....  so hear me out... 

CHRISTMAS IS!  And more important, it is GLOBAL.  

What the ACLU is doing -- poorly orchestrated if you ask me -- is a blatant, ill-conceived, ridiculous attack on Christmas, when if they just take a look around for a moment, the entire world is singing Christmas Carols in some way, shape or form -- for any number of reasons -- for, after all, tis the season, don'cha know.

Yes, for those who are happy to be called Christian, it IS about the baby Jesus.  And can I get a little amen, hallelujah! You got me there, alright.  I confess. I am not ashamed. Shoot me.    

But if you take a look around, ACLU...hello?  watch, look, listen to the world around you.  

Open your eyes to customs far and wide.  

Take in the smell of gingerbread men from as far away as Norway.  Okay.  

That is all I'm getting at.  

And having said that, the truth is, with the growing tide of secularism, the rise in commercialism, and overall lack of reverence for many things considered religious, SADLY, just because we say "Merry Christmas" doesn't necessarily mean we mean it anymore, if you really want to get down to the brass tacks and trappings of the itty bitty christmas committee.  As the story may turn, a "santa lover" isn't always the same person as the "baby Jesus lover;"  so the assumption being made by the ACLU is quite astounding.

The thing is, what we are talking about, in part, is the difference between a Cultural Christmas and an Authentic One; how can you really tell them apart?

And just when we might begin to lose faith, the way of the world brings reinforcement.

CHRISTMAS is a WORLD WIDE  phenomenon, custom, tradition, that touches every corner of the earth -- and you guys believe you are on the right side of the argument telling the teachers, somewhere in Oh Little Town of Tennessee, that they have another thing coming to them, if they wish to continue their jolly chorus of recognizing, by golly, that it's Christmas?!

Well, Merry Humbug to you, ACLU.

Are you for real, sugar? Didn't you get the memo? Or did you toss it, by automatic reflex, due to the poor choice of letterhead, being that it was printed on paper spelling out a hearty HO HO HO across the top? 

GLOBAL is King, oh fine brotherhood of not in my backyard; global is where it's at; global is more than logistics, it's everything; global is the new catch phrase for our entire operation here on Planet Earth; and if that be true, and I believe it is as every leftist in the world will agree with me -- than the thing to do here, clearly, is to back off; embrace Christmas, like the rest of the world.

Right next to the story on the Pope was another gold nugget of current Christmas trivia -- a piece that unveiled the price tag of a Christmas tree being displayed in the glitzy Emirites Palace Hotel, in Abu Dhabi. Did you see it?  Brilliant, I tell you, brilliant...

Apparently, even the Muslims don't mind a wee bit of Christmas cheer -- and not mincing on anything, if you know what I mean -- this Christmas tree, oh yes, and they call it that, is worth 11 Million Dollars!

It's just a display!  But this tree... it's adorned with jewelry...diamonds and emeralds and pearls, oh my.

When the manager of the hotel was asked if he thought anyone would be offended...oh gosh no..."It's a very liberal country."  really? seriously?   

Hmmm I wonder then, will we live to see the day of an UAE-CLU?

But besides Abu Dhabi, the world really loves Christmas time...and now, without further delay, getting to the second thing -- I know, and you thought the second thing was all my favorite things hanging on a Christmas tree in the UAE, not. 

The other breakthrough came via my TV -- and specifically, the MUSIC CHOICE made available through my cable,  when I serendipitously landed upon the Sounds of the Season.  If you get this channel, have some fun today while expanding your horizons, taking yourself on a world tour of Christmas without ever leaving your couch.  (yes, and cheap fun, too.)

By the way, watch it before the ACLU, or the FCC, takes this off the air...

As it plays the Sounds of the Season -- which just so happens to be every loved holiday jingle from the last hundred years -- they feed you  (oooh, do you hear what I hear, I mean, "indoctrination") tidbits of yule time trivia:

• candy canes weren't striped (with red) until the 20th century.
• Christmas Cards were first used to tell the Christmas story to people who could not read.
• evergreen, holly and mistletoe, common in yule tide season and celebration, are symbols for everlasting life.
• the use of tinsel comes from the sightings of spider webs,  naturally found nestled in trees.
• at about the Civil War, Santa's coat was made red -- before that, it was tan.(ew)
• YULE is the celebration of natures return to light and warmth, following winter.
• in Chili, "Old Man Christmas" comes through the window.
• in Sweden, the oldest daughter awakens the parents with a song, "Santa Lucia," on Christmas morning.
• Norway sends a large Christmas tree to England every year.

You get my snow drift.

The attack on Christmas by the ACLU, and anyone else for that matter, is so yesteryear; and the celebration of it most certainly doesn't stop with the school bell.

Go global already...(UPS might be able to help, ooh and lookie there, you're in luck, they are union too)...oh goodness, my mind is spinning...now this is the kind of global warming I can get excited about...oh my...think I've bitten the heads off  too many gingerbread men for one day...just stop G...enough already.

In the meantime, my suggestion is we all sit down with some eggnog,or a hot buttered rum, and get over ourselves -- starting in the company of a few friends of this fine custom -- or will that be next on the holiday hit list?  First schools, then the grocery stores...outdoor lighting...humming jingle bells...looking all cross eyed and jolly at someone from across the room...

Make it a Good Day, G

Dear America,

'Tis the season to bash the rich and trash the Christians...

Where do we begin...

You know the recent dust up from the actions of ACLU don't surprise anyone anymore; once again, the organization rallies around the rights of one group through tactics of total annihilation by proxy -- achieving such only by the utter misrepresentation and discrimination of another; and fancy that, all coming from a position that smacks this nation's constitution right in the kisser, and under the mistletoe no less.


Our FIRST AMENDMENT guarantees to EVERY AMERICAN this:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

It is unlawful to PROHIBIT the FREE exercise thereof!
Those WHO DO NOT BELIEVE do not carry MORE weight than those WHO DO; and those WHO DO are protected through and through.  THE BELIEVERS are the one's protected here, not the other way around!

The right to assemble, the right to say "merry Christmas," the right to sing Christmas Carols, the right to eat a Christmas cookie, the right to give a Christmas card, the right to wear a cross, the right to pray, anywhere and often, whether alone or in a crowded room, say with about 24 desks and a chalkboard...it's all allowed by law!  Safely protected, like a babe in the manger.


Not only is it allowed, it is fully accredited and supported with legal precedence, specific presidential accommodation, according to legislation that not only protects such activity ever since the first amendment was ever written, but throughout history, in a series of proclamations and national statutes that continue to speak of such activity in high esteem, authorizing, for the record and for all time, that all such activity is hailed and conforms with America's Rule of Law, based upon Natural Law, base upon IMMUTABLE, UNWAVERING, UNALIENABLE rights having nothing to do with the power of the local or federal government at all!

OUR RIGHTS are ENDOWED by OUR CREATOR; this is who we are as a nation -- this is how we were made.  There is no separation whatsoever, except that GOVERNMENT steps out of our way and let's us partake in the "free exercise thereof ."

"Those rights, then, which God and nature have established, and are therefore called natural rights, such as are life and liberty, need not the aid of human laws to be more effectually invested in every man than they are; neither do they receive any additional strength when declared by the municipal laws to be inviolable. On the contrary, no human legislature has power to abridge or destroy them [natural rights], unless the owner shall himself commit some act that amounts to a forfeiture." William Blackstone

"In other words, we may do something to ourselves to forfeit the unalienable rights endowed by the Creator, but no one else can TAKE those rights from us without being subject to God's justice." W. Cleon Skousen, The 5000 Year Leap.

So the ACLU is back in the face of the Tennessee Superintendents, addressing in a letter, that they better not say merry christmas in and around the school system, they better not give free rein to those who wish to partake in acknowledging the season, they better not... and they better not cry about it either...or else. 

Not the first time Tennessee has seen the ACLU adorned on the crest of a polo shirt walking over their threshold...going back a few years, I found this.

Interesting.

The good news, there are just as many organizations on the other side of the argument, stepping in with the cavalry.  Get a load of this response...

This ACLU action, is exactly the kind of behavior our founders were protecting us from, being men of extreme allegiance to the blessings of Divine Providence, lock and step with doctrines of Natural IMMUTABLE Law; even those who considered themselves atheists or non believers, or thinkers of a different color, recognized in their heart of hearts that in order to create a more perfect union, it would require all people to grow and practice a faith, a belief in Something greater than themselves, a conscience that would lift the every day to a higher place, anchored in honor and grace and charity and thanksgiving...only to name a few.

But all this faith never coming from government direction, as it was a belief system very much already there, vibrantly living in community with one another.

The people's ability to stick with their convictions, to live in integrity, with each other and their God, was paramount and absolute -- otherwise, the founders believed we would surely falter, and go by way of every other society who fell from grace by greed, materialism, abuse of power, and carelesly leaving all morals and values at the door.

Just because a person walks into a classroom at 7:35 Monday through Friday, their rights and privileges to practice their "free exercise there of" does not burst into thin air until 2:25 each day accordingly -- and that goes for the teachers, too.  The person can never be separated of their rights by simply a change of  time or place.

And then we have the left, continuing their march against the Bush Era Tax Cuts for the wealthy top two percent of this nation-- and in a recession no less.  Everything that is coming out of their mouths, ratchets up the angst and ridicule of the "millionaires and billionaires" who, by the sound of it, by the way they tell it, are getting away with murder, or the heist of the millennium.

And all while trying to pass an "OMNIBUS" spending spree to the tune of 1.1 Trillion dollars, threatening that the government will close down if we don't pass it before Saturday.  Oh, and did we mention the 6,739 earmarks, spending money that does not belong to them, on fluff projects; we can't even afford what we got!

I can't even think about it, it makes me so ill.

But for kicks and giggles today, let's just say the RICH are loathsome and the CHRISTIANS are ignorant fools -- who needs them, what good are they really...let's run with that.

So in this season of giving, let us pretend that the RICH no longer live here -- and let's imagine a world of no religion, too.  Shall we?  Close your eyes and think real hard now. Got the picture?

Let's just see what happens to every shelter, from sea to shining sea, without a little help from those who can -- and with wicked free abandon, too, how fun is that! -- and without those who live to love other people in Christ's image, who try to do exactly what the good book wants them to do...let's imagine our world without these two specific groups: the RICH (all of them, not just the conservatives) gone; the Christians, gone.

Imagine the food banks, the inner-city missions, and all the places in the dead of winter that people turn to for shelter and warmth and a hot meal -- and maybe with kids in tow.

Let's wipe out the generosity of the richy rich's, along with the onward Christian soldiers of simple kindnesses and charity, and see what happens. 

Of course, we would also have to include any faith that acknowledges the same God -- those who worship some of the same "characters," if that makes it any easier to digest; then we're talking about the Mormons, Judaism, any deity of any kind -- because every religion of the world believes in only ONE GOD -- we just have a number of ways we practice what is preached, right; so if we go there, even the Muslims share many of the same stories, representing let's just say, the very same "key people" found in the Bible, sharing some of the same universal beliefs, Godly precepts, and low and behold, even remarkably believing in some of the same angels!  Oh yes.

The Good Book, far and wide, with character building concepts... beatitudes... in lessons and in song and in psalms...individual books written by the saints, supported in fact and world history, whether it be Bible stories, Talmud stories, Koran stories, they all represent who we are as a people, collectively and most often individually, as we turn to the good books for hope and guidance.

Christianity, like most every other religion in the world, seeks to expand and elevate our consciousness, and with great hope, it's sole purpose is to help make a closer connection with God, to have a closer walk with Thee, with the promise of Everlasting Life, aligned with that which is Holy, Omniscient, All-Knowing and Wise.  Christianity is marked by the simple practice of random acts of kindness, learning to love one another better, and live in peace.   Christian charity is a cornerstone.

But for the sake of the argument, let us just wipe the millionaires and billionaires and the freaky God fanatics by way of the Christian label off the face of this earth, or at the very least, this continent -- America, specifically.

Hmmmm what would that look like?

I only need my gut to tell me, it would not be pretty. 

If this congress continues lamenting how this government can possibly continue to run without the "millionaires and billionaires" paying even more than their fair share, just imagine what would happen if the "millionaires and billionaires" no longer lived here at all; wonder what would happen if they simply decided to take their corporations, the jobs, their deep pockets to pay for all kinds of goods and services (from groceries to mansions to yachts and trips and dining out to whatever fits their mood or fancy), the HUGE charitable donations and volunteer hours away, and all those times they simply say, how much do you need, let me get my checkbook -- far far away? what would happen?

If the ACLU continues lambasting a simple holiday tradition of singing Christmas Carols, indulging on little works of art disguised as Christmas cookies, and exchanging niceties like "merry christmas" with one another, imagine if every Christian just took their child out of every school and moved to another school district far far away -- say south of the border even -- not Ciudad Juaraz, thinking more like Cabo... where it is still customary to ring in the season celebrating the baby Jesus and say "Feliz Navidad" to everybody!  And with great happiness and joy! what would happen?

How about we do that, and see where that gets us.

Top two percent no longer carrying for the bottom 50 percent, just like that. Gone.  Not to mention the natural cross over of those who are both "rich" and a "Christian.." But keeping this moving, a great portion of the rest of the federal tax revenue comes actually from Christians...hmmm, the government just might be in a bit of a pickle, if we lose both at the same time...

Sixty percent of this country are CHRISTIANS! And if we let the ripple effect take in the other religions celebrating with us, not against us, at this special time of year (just as Christians joyfully do at Ramadan, and Hanukkah and Kwanzaa...just sayin') ...those who have no problem with exchanging a simple Merry Christmas with one another just because it is customary and part of who we are as a nation, would also be gone. Very quickly, 80% of all AMERICANS would be gone.  bye bye...we'll send you a Christmas card, I mean, postcard.

Who would be left? What would America look like, act like, be like?

Ahhhhhh and we're out of time for today, but tune in next time when we...


Make it a GOOD Day, G

Dear America,

Dizzy is the day today; if our world could spin any faster, we would be confined to rubber rooms before four.

Let me move into the thoughts of a guy who I don't know very much about but, you know that game where you ask someone, if you could invite ten people over for dinner, who would you want at your table?  This would be one of those guys.  He is a renowned libertarian and world philosopher, centralizing on the economic free will of the marketplace, as well as, in person, as it pertains to our own personal activity and overall governance as a whole.

As a frequent editorial writer for The Daily Bell,  Dr. Tibor Machan, regularly stops the world and speaks directly to the heart of the matter, illustrating a view that is wildly libertarian, non-political, and unabashedly to the point, always finding a way to elevate the debate with common sense, practical experience and knowledge, while adding the much needed higher consciousness in the process. (and his bio is pretty incredible too)

The Daily Bell comes out of Liechtenstein, from the Appenzeller Business Press, a "Swiss-based publisher built upon free market ideas and concepts," mainly coming from the position that "the best form of government is one that governs the least."

His article today is entitled, "A Stupid Analogy,"  and is spot on as he answers the connundrum facing America today, is the health insurance individual mandate the same thing as car insurance?  Oh, yes, and you better believe you know where this guy is going with this -- nicht so gut! Nein, nein, nein.

So guten morgen! and read Machan's splendid take, if you will; read the whole thing, it will only take you a couple minutes...  go ahead...do it...  I'll wait.

It is the end that will make your head spin, but in a good way; it will be a moment that will put all the pieces of Humpty Dumpty back together again.

Machan concludes the following:

"...Other people should not be placed into involuntary servitude so as to bail one out of either bad luck or misconduct that creates medical problems for one.

It is always a puzzle to me that so many people who are notoriously righteous about the past enslavement of millions of people around the globe, including in America, have no compunction about partially enslaving others so as to get their own agendas fulfilled.  But if slavery is wrong, then so is imposing on others the negative consequences of one's own life, just as it is wrong to deprive people of the positive consequences of the same.

This is the central issue so many public policy debates not only in our time but from time immemorial.  People are not for other people to be used against their will.  Never, nohow, under no circumstances.  Until this lesson is learned good and hard everywhere, the world will be very far from having become truly civilized."

This health insurance mandate is reminding me of something that was said by our First Lady just yesterday, when she was at the ceremony ringing in another new law controlling the lives of others, so fabuloso (slipped a little Spanish in for you, coming from SoCal it's the way of the new world, you know).  Anyway...Michelle had no problem saying this stunner:

"We can't just leave it up to the parents."

Yeah, yeah, that would be just crazy talk.

The law itself will subsidize and regulate everything from the (presumably nixed) Tuna Casserole Surprise to the next ASB Bake Sale, not to be confused with the Junior Varsity Softball sale of Junior Mints, or the Varsity Football sale of Butterfingers, see Section 10, sub-section B, (IV) spelling out just one of the many requirements, and any special exemptions there of, blah blah blah, as long as the fundraisers are "infrequent within the school."  Hmm can we get a definition of "infrequent" for 4.5 Billion dollars, please... danke.

So if you really want to read something more fun than the Whirly Twirl, go to this little number, expressly made by the fearless actions of your good government, hard at work serving you -- not all of you, but a few of you anyway.

The thing is, we can't afford to add one more thing;

I don't know about you -- Was mochten Sie? -- but I am prepared, and on my knees really, begging that we all go by way of the lessons of the old world, what I like to call the "prairie philosophy", as personified by our heritage through the selfless, mind blowing, rugged, hearty libertarians and pioneers who have come before us; they had no health insurance, stage coach insurance, horse insurance, chuck wagon (aka school lunch) insurance, happiness insurance, or any insurances of any kind; they lived hoping and wishing and praying that they could just live beyond the next bend; it is normally associated with a philosophy otherwise known as the school of hard knocks.

So, Nein Nein Nein.

Not one more thing; "never.  nohow. under no circumstances."
Konnen Sie mir helfen?  Can you help me?
and Vielen Dank! thank you very much to Dr. Tibor Machan, and The Daily Bell, imprinting humanity with a daily account of the free market system, guarding lady liberty with a Swiss knife of sorts, and bravely presenting our duty and  responsibility to protect our freedoms every day via a forum of the most fascinating thinkers of our time.

And by the way, you are truly welcome for dinner anytime.

Guten Tag! Auf Wedersehen!  G
yes, I am aware, that what I just did makes absolutely no sense, saying hello and goodbye at the same time; ah so goes the spinning world we live and the contradictions that surround us... try to keep steady and make it a good day!


U2 is playing VERTIGO with a click on Dear America, it's still a free world today so play it loud while you still can...

Dear America,

My guess is, he never thought it would come to this; he imagined the whole thing going down a wee bit different; he jumped in front of a moving freight train, and thought his cape and crest would save him.

Not so much.

Here we are, a week into the melodrama on Capital Hill, and the political landscape continues to weave and turn.

What a gamble -- I mean compromise; doesn't he know how impossible it is to reap any kind of favorable reward via manipulation, arm twisting, letting the finger do the walkin,' the mouth do the talkin', giving free reign to his rootin' tootin' ego in leading the way?  He thought it was in the bag, so much so, he leaped when he should have taken a step back.  He zigged, when his party zagged. And by the end of the week, he was in such a pickle, he had to call for reinforcements.

The best part, was when he turned to Mr. Bill and said, "I gotta go to a party [as the Mrs. has already been kept waiting for a half hour]..." 

How strange was that -- the president leaving a past-president to clean up the mess he made, to smooth over the rough edges on the track, and to finally make way for the meeting of the minds in Congress to just do it already.

Really?  You called in Mr. 'I did not have sexual relations with that women' Clinton, recalling his fist with thumb protruding from the top, waving at us, as if that would be enough to stop a presidential size train wreck in our midst?  As we all know, it just got worse from there...

...ah yes, but in the liberal mind's eye, he is masterful and wonderful and perfect just the way he is.

I just love, how sometimes, just a girl can get it right; remember back a couple days, when I was wondering why things can't be settled on a handshake, with one thing at a time, only an up or down vote, keeping on the straight and narrow to legislate upon the issue at hand while comforting the community at large with simply a display of one's integrity, political convictions, and personal character? 

I found a little help articulating just that in this morning's "Morning Bell" from The Heritage Foundation...Liberals Leave the Reservation... What does it cry out for, pray tell?  Just a simple vote -- on the bare bones initiative to save the current tax rates for all -- while, if we must, they say, we can do the same in a simple yea or nay for the Unemployment Benefits Extension -- and then call it a day.  That's it. Done.  Then the little engine that could -- I think I can, I think I can -- could probably get over the hump, while more important, keeping the integrity of the engine still very much intact.

Getting back to our Compromiser-In-Chief, he blew it, from day one (that being about a week ago); he came out with both barrels blazing, backing his own party into a corner, and thinking they would just bend rounding the unexpected bend at locomotive speed, naturally and effortlessly, to his new found party line; not so much and not in the least bit.

But there he was, leaving it in the hands of an experienced engineer who has been there before, crafting perhaps his very own saving grace right out of thin air.  Will it be enough? The first round of votes begins about three o'clock, eastern time -- high noon, of course, out here in the wild, wild west.

The thing is, real altruism -- much like a ghost town spiriting a congress long past -- seems only to be found in the annals of history;  as the tumbleweeds come rolling in with the dust up, legislation of the 21st century seems only to come with a pearl of great price; that real price having nearly nothing to do with real money anymore. (ah who are we kidding, real money has a lot to do with it too...)

But these are the people we have elected into office, entrusted to be the caretakers of the public good -- when in fact, few are worth a lick of salt between them.

Somewhere along the line, the attributes we used to elevate in the process of progressing as a society -- our natural ability to persevere, our pioneering spirit to overcome diversity in order to take care of one's own, supporting the generations of both the young and the old in community with one another beginning with our own family -- are elements we no longer value; personally and collectively, society has turned our self-reliance into a thing of the past.

What used to be embedded into our DNA -- endowed by our Creator and reinforced by America's very own heritage over two hundred years -- has grown into waves of entitlement programs, one after the other, bequeathing to the public good a mountain of insurmountable deficits, creating a legacy of debt we can no longer afford, let alone have enough spare change to tinker with these unscrupulous details hidden in the fine print of any new legislation to come our way anymore.

Sure we can move mountains, we can survive the prairie, we can outlive blizzards, droughts, and hurricanes, some of us have been known to even leap tall buildings in a single bound -- but when we do, we expect to keep the money we make (just go with it...).  That's just the way we are made.  In no particular order, the DuPont's, the Vanderbuilt's, the Carnegie's, the Rockefeller's, the Ford's, the Kennedy's, the Gate's, the Buffett's, the Winfrey's, the Johnson & Johnson's, the P Diddy's, the Zuckerberg's... even in make believe, like the 'moving on up' Jefferson's -- this country used to value and applaud and congratulate success; we built this nation wanting the next generation to have more, be more, make more, than the generation who came before.(FYI, just notice when most of the big money's been made...with 375,000 millionaires, some billionaires, America is doing exactly what it is supposed to be doing)

Which is all the more poignant when we realize our self-reliant foundation -- the one we take for granted in this age of having everything and nothing simultaneously -- came from a body of men who never once said what's in it for me.

Achieving great personal wealth was not the goal, as building the framework of the best and the brightest natural laws known to man became paramount; laying the track and extending the tools for the public good, so that the public good as a whole -- individually and collectively -- could expand and prosper under free market principles, so that the people could better equip themselves for success, and in the end, provide for themselves; the key, of course, is found in the freedom in-between the small, limited government with limited power ...and the unlimited power unleashed in those who find ways to capitalize on their own skills, talents, education, hard work, tireless efforts, to the best of their ability, to create wealth.

The problem is not in the creation of wealth, but the overzealous control of it, along with the natural growing inclination to grow the government, to take from the rich to give to the poor, like robber barons on a speeding train over the proverbial cliff... a story line played over and over again since the beginning of time.

The good news, and in the spirit of yesteryear, we shall overcome one way or another.  We always have and we always will.

Make it a Good Day --
and you shall be rewarded for it, G

A box of Cracker Jacks gave me a pleasant surprise over the weekend; my prize was a booklet, inside we had to guess who the cryptic illustration was only by the following description:

"I was born in Boston, the youngest son of my father's 17 children.  As a candlemaker, my father earned enough money to send me to school until I was ten.  Despite my limited education, I loved to read and write.  At 12, I became an apprentice to my brother, James, who was a printer.  After several disagreements with James, I ran away to Philadelphia where I would eventually open my own print shop, publish a newspaper, and become involved in politics, foreign affairs, and science...who am I?"


On the back page, Cracker Jacks adds: 

"Described as the most multi-talented figure in American history, Benjamin Franklin's contributions to American society are as numerous as they are important.  The most famous American of his time, Franklin was also an inventor, (bifocals, swimfins are among his many inventions) a philosopher, politician, firefighter, soldier, cartoonist, ambassador and more.  The common thread among all of his endeavors, however, is his dedication to public service and the betterment of society."

then in bold letters, it reminds us: "FRANKLIN CAN ALSO BE FOUND ON THE $100 BILL."

A common thread today, is that our kids seem to be cheated out of a good education -- we aren't doing enough, they say; the argument seems to be we aren't throwing enough money at it, as we enter an age where we just aren't seeing the results we had hoped.  Maybe, we should just stop teaching kids at the age of ten, require them to use their own initiative to read and write on their own, and let them fall where they may fall -- with any luck, they could be the next Ben.

Now, I am being facetious, but think about it.  A limited early education somehow made many a great men...the Franklin's, the Lincoln's, the Carnegie's... hold up, I just might start sounding like a broken record. 

Last word, even a Harvard Education gives us no guarantees.

Dear America,

hey, remember when I said this is such a mess...speaking of the tax breaks for the rich and famous, the perverse attack by way of rich dad poor dad class warfare tactics, that which goes against our very foundation and this country's number one attribute, the cornerstone of all that is and ever will be, that being none other than our Self-Reliance...Here's a great piece from The Heritage Foundation, mocking the progress of the so called compromise under way... read all about it right here.

Besides Wheaties, a good day starts when real information gets disseminated amongst the masses in an easy to read, short and to the point, breakdown of the bottom line and the behind the scenes negotiations of our money every time.  can I get a thankya, Jesus.  amen.

The thing is, and I'm going to get right to it this morning, I am wondering if congress -- as one body -- has any clue as to how they are being perceived right now.

They are doing it again!

They are trying to justify more of the same all over again...recollecting the  "corn-husker kickback" and "Louisiana purchase" as we draw to a close yet another year with a rampant rush to legislation, having a total flashback on the health care bill fiasco.

I don't know about you, but I see this ending badly.

And to think, this is our money.

The taxation element, in running our government, is not the problem -- it is the spending; while this compromise in question, morphing into a really bad episode of let's make a deal, is hardly what the American people had in mind. We may have everything but the kitchen sink in our handbag, but that doesn't give you political license to empty it, right before our very eyes, and take of it whatever you want...as we don't see any semblance of a prize, windfall, or even so much as a handsome ransom, waiting in the wings.

And besides, there just might be an emergency, a real crisis, down the road; we may need that bobby pin, that roll of floss, that mangled piece of gum attracting whatever extra fuzz it can find at the bottom of the bag -- we might need it.

But nooooooooooo, there they are again today, discussing all the ways and means possible -- and cleverly disguised, too, in quite the compromising but partisan fashion -- of every which way but loose in stuffing this tax bill with anything they can get their hands on; whatever deal needs to be made, whatever devil in the details needs to be done.  This is the way congress operates, day in and day out.

This is Lame Duck at it's worst; and this is about all we can expect from the people who stole our purse, in broad daylight, holding America's future in their hands -- and boy, are they ever running with it, all the way to the Treasury and back, a trillion times over.

If only it were just a movie, a game show, anything but the reality that it is.

Are we now in some kind of twisted plot, following along the lines of a pop culture phenomenon, like The Big Lebowski, failing terribly in making any real money, but in the end, the congressional cult following overrides the dueling realities, leaving us with the stupid scenes of a rolled up rug in mind, sitting on an empty purse, wondering what just happened; it would be real funny if all that mattered was a good laugh; if it were simply entertainment, no harm, no foul, only a belly full of popcorn and junior mints, life goes on.

"we have a system that increasingly taxes work and subsidizes non-work."

Milton Friedman

The way I see it, right now, we are subsidizing something that no longer works.

"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment 

of freedom of the people 

by gradual and silent encroachments 

by those in power 

than by violent and sudden usurpations."

James Madison

Yes, first it's the safety pin, then it's the Tic Tac, and before you know it, they are grabbing for the lipstick -- and you know there will be trouble if you lay a hand on that...

"a wise and frugal government, 

which shall leave men free to regulate 

their own pursuits of industry and improvement, 

and shall not take from the mouth of labor 

the bread it has earned  -- 

this is the sum of good government."

Thomas Jefferson

G's motto for the day: "Good Government. Good People.  Grow the Good and all else shall be added."
thank you, thank you very much.(say it with an Elvis accent, if you will).

The framework of our political house is being held hostage by a bunch of buffoons.

The only thing we can hope for, is a tighter hold on the purse strings, a kicking and screaming if they dare so much as try to take one more thing, and a full on backlash if they continue this sid-vicious assault upon everything this country stands for.

For most of us, we don't play in a band where we do something stupid and the manager bails us out, we don't make loads of dough living large in the little town of Make Believe acting like somebody else, while still, only the lucky make it on a game show or even win the lottery.  And most of all, most of us don't hold positions of power spending other people's money, carelessly, recklessly, thinking the bottom of the purse is just an imaginary subjective line, decided by the guy holding her purse; no no, that good gig if you can get it comes from none other than our U.S. Government.

We are a republic, incorporating the rule of law into the fabric of our lives, encapsulating everything Self-Reliant, with liberty and justice for all; and everything would be just fine if we paid more attention to growing the good -- increasing the honorable, our gratitude, a conviction of faith and service, sheltering the everlasting freedom for all, equally and fairly under the rule of law -- as this nation was intended.

Remember the difference living in a budding republic makes -- and not a phony, made for TV republic, a real one, with real people using real money and everything, oh my gawd.  A mediocre democracy, with so-so principles, a corrupt congressional body, lousy values, and a growing irreverence to anything resembling our foundation, including every bit of their best intentions, is way different. Going to another original script of Jefferson:

"a democracy is nothing more than mob rule, 

where fifty-one percent of the people 

may take away the rights of the other forty-nine."

and then there is this:

"the Constitution only gives people the right 

to pursue happiness.  

You have to catch it yourself."

Benjamin Franklin

Beautiful.
Just beautiful.
Back to an image we can work with,  featuring a long awaited movie trailer of  the American Girl and the Bandit.  Earth to Washington, if 'said happiness' is holding a commoner's handbag, Gucci notwithstanding, you best let go and walk away.  just walk away and nobody will get hurt.

Make it a GOOD Day, G

your youtube feature on Dear America is a Sex Pistol, Sid Vicious, favorite...but it is a horrible version, bad sound, and everything...but the beauty of it, meeting up with the reality in the streets of London over the last 24 hours is brilliant, if I don't say so myself. Anarchy! yeah, yeah yeah!
Screw the queen, just grab her handbag... hey, throw a few eggs at the car... maybe break a few windows... punk the prince...and they say whatever happens in Europe doesn't stay in Europe, it all hops over the pond eventually...all in due time my pretty...might I suggest a few self-defense classes.

Dear America,

Don't you just love a movie montage capturing the umpteen moments when a certain presidential wanna-be said the words 'roll back.' Hannity has been playing it over and over and over...

Makes it all the more clearer just how tight the relationship between the White House and the makers of Walmart; oh the sweet heart deal they got with Humana, now amplified daily in sixty second commercials, appealing to the aged, senior citizens to walk this way; they will wait for you to make it up to the door, take your time.

Once again, I am overwhelmed with the idea that the full orchestration of the wheeling and dealing is sequestered securely under the main stage; what we see going on in Washington is never on the up and up, never what it seems.

How can we really trust anyone?

And these last few days, my goodness, what a joke; how can a president stand before the American people, proclaim a deal is all but done, and then have it morph into days of rhetoric, disgruntled feelings, barbs and jabs from both sides, making his so called "compromise" absolutely, entirely meaningless -- while in the process, diminish his very own credibility?

It was as if Washington, and essentially his own party, abashedly gave him the hook....just  send in the clowns already, don't bother, they're here...loosing my timing this late...in my career...well maybe, next year...

[Great song -- and thank you, Frank, couldn't have sung it better myself.]

Somebody, please, tell me, just why is it we can't agree on one thing at a time anyway?  Why isn't it possible for an easy 'yea' or 'nay' vote on one thing, and one thing only, one thing at a time in Washington?  Why can't we just get exactly where each and every one of you stand -- without collaborating for an inside piece of the action, without gerrymandering the votes on the floor, and keep to a semblance of order entirely based upon one's convictions; and simply make a decision solely based on it being the right thing to do, for the people, by the people, with the people ... of course, doing so in a manner that is totally, utterly grateful and respectable of the office you hold and the larger America of whom you serve, while getting paid handsomely to do it?

I recognize we have a two party system; I understand we very rarely see eye to eye; but what is with these 2000 page bills and the perversions of power doctoring up the details -- to the extent that we don't know what's in it until we pass it?

What's with throwing in as much pork we possibly can, counter-productively risking the passage of the one thing that is sorely requiring immediate attention?

And I hate to keep rolling back to the same old argument, but what's with the manufactured rush now?  How is it possible for all of you to wait all year before tackling these HUGE, catastrophic, controversial, divisive issues and opting to do it under the Lame Duck congress, with those who no longer hold the power by the people?

What kind of management is that?

Let's just say, if my Reebok Easy Tone feet were sitting behind the desk in the Oval Office, you could bet this would be the first thing I would change.

What a mess, these last few days; just imagine what the world leaders are thinking...here's the POTUS appealing to the public, proclaiming victory in reaching a compromise, when not one bit of it was even true -- and when in fact, rolling back on one of his chief, and tirelessly overused, campaign promises to "roll back" those evil Bush tax rates.

O    M    G

And don't  you just love how they define the group of over $250 K always as "millionaires and billionaires," especially coming from the 14 trillionaire sitting on capital hill.  unbelievable.

What is that?  As if there are so many billionaires running around with the rest of us slackers?  Seriously?  Really?  That's what you want to run with? Let's just expand that to make it sound even better, throwing in zillionaires next time and plastering our pinkie to the corner of our lips. Hold up a second while I get a good belly laugh and lose a half inch in my waist...

There are just about 310 million Americans living here -- probably up to 20 zillion of that are illegals, but let's put that in a little perspective, shall we?  Less than one percent of our population are considered to be in the  Richie Rich category, okay?  And dovetailing on yesterdays ideas, just who do you think create the jobs?


Most people are not in a position to create a company that can create a million zillion jobs (okay, really about 2 M) like a Sam Walmart, as in THE Wal-Mart, who low and behold, looky there, are one of the top contributors to democrats, a notable shift from dolling out their thousands of dollars to republicans over the last two years -- and currently, one of the few corporations embracing the employee mandate under the new health care law. hmmmm what is going on behind the scenes there?

Interesting to note, a certain Hillary Clinton sat on the Board of Directors from the mid eighties and into the early nineties; but that little tidbit becomes all the more more fascinating given the company's history of being beholden to the free market system -- being decidedly against unionization -- with it's companies leaders regularly topping the list of the nations "millionaires and billionaires" for decades now. something must have changed...

And boy does this company make bank -- I didn't know how much until today, talk about billions, but equally grabbing my attention was the fact that nearly 100 million Americans shop at Wal-Mart each year, a third of the population; and what may come as no surprise, given their market advertising, might be the reality that the average Wal-Mart customer falls below the national income average -- but did you know that nearly one-fifth of it's base don't even have a personal bank account!

They also say, the people who gain the most from discount super stores, the Wal-Mart, Kmart, Target shoppers of this world -- are those who fall below a middle class income; the filling of this particular economic niche contributes to the harsh reality many Americans live in every day; these super stores make a difference from not only bring a value added benefit to millions of customers, they could very well be the difference of their survival.

So our president is in trouble for rolling back on a promise; he's been here before, I'm sure he will find a way to smooth over the rough spots, maybe throw in an executive order, furnish a pardon, make a special allowance for, exempting his favorite players; or maybe...

he'll simply just look the other way, ignore the controversy, ridicule the opposition, divide and conquer the base, his base, your base, nothing is sacred, we all scream for ice cream, anything can happen in a storm; or maybe...

nothing really matters at this point going forward -- the damage has been done, the trillions in health care legislation, and stimulus, and bailouts, and uncontrollable government spending, and the growth of
government faster than the growth of private industry, and the borrowing from Peter to pay Paul, will all amount to the same predicament for each and every one of us -- that even a Wal-Mart won't be able to help us now, as the inevitable bankruptcy looms larger than life itself.


America's total destruction will put us on the map, equally and fairly, next to the rest of the misfits and failures of a budding republic, that which provides for the safe keeping and healthy practice centering upon the sweet liberties and freedoms of the individual -- as everything this administration ever wanted would be made and procurred whether right under our noses or behind closed doors, stage left  -- creating the brand new, global community at large, yeah cloud, leaving free market capitalism falling to it's knees.  And oh thank God we believe in God.

Make it a Good Day, G

and to the Dems, the party now holding the gun and keeping the tax cuts "hostage" until something better can be worked out in a real compromise...to you I say, since when have you been concerned with deficits, the national debt, and not spending the people's money?  just when did that start?