I was happy when I got a weebly email saying that they had an app for using weebly on my iOS. Cool! My main source of Internet use is now with mobile devices. That is at least my excuse for why I haven't update for months. ;)

I should have done it months ago. On January 8th, my mule training stalled. A goofy chain of events sent my normally placid mule into a dead run. That was the first time I had done more than a trot. All would have been well if the saddle hadn't loosened during the run. When the saddle goes sideways, especially at a run, it's impossible for the rider to stay on.

I must have landed with my weight entirely on one shoulder. My right clavicle broke into four pieces. I am still not released to ride four whole months later. I have had a former student riding him for me. She has done a great job. She has ridden him in the rain, through water, through unbroken woods, bare back, and in new territory. I am looking forward to getting full use of my shoulder back so that I will be able to go at it again. The bone is nearly healed, but the rotator is not rotating well after 14 weeks of immobility.

It is coming. God has been good. When I couldn't use my right hand, I was able to use my left for writing, brushing, and other things that I normally do right handed. As my ability to use my right hand came back, my left handedness started fading. God really does equip us. ;)
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Clinton came home from the trainer just as it started getting dark early, fall rains made everything muddy, and hunters began filling the woods.  To maintain my investment in him, it is imperative I ride as much as possible.  These things seem to be making that once or twice a weekend.  Every week I am faced with reminding him the importance of obedience.

He is perfectly obedient out on the trail.  His problem is leaving the front yard where there is grass and a possibility of a meal.  It is real work to get him out of the yard.  He tries everything in the book to do what he wants to do instead.  He will stop in his tracks.  He will go sideways.  He will slide his tongue out of the bit in an effort to not hear my command.  He will rear up a little and throw a little tantrum.  Eventually, he finds that my ways aren't so bad and that obedience has greater rewards.  Once we get past the fence marking our yard, he is well behaved...until we return back to the end of the fence and the choice to turn into our yard or not.  At least, he thinks it is a choice.  He must always be reminded that the best choice is one of obedience.  Choosing disobedience turns out not being a choice at all in the scope of the ride.

I realized tonight that I am a lot like Clinton.  In the long stretches of life, I am faithfully and quietly obedient.  Yet, there are moments that I just want my own way so bad that I stop in my tracks, or go sideways.  I rationalize and justify my wants so that I'm not really hearing God's voice at all.  Sometimes, I might even pitch a little fit.  Then I suck it up, and realize that obeying my Master is really what I want.  Following Him is a good thing.  Pleasing Him brings fulfillment.

Then I get to the end of the lane and seem to face the choice again.  Turn after what seems good, or take direction from Him for what truly brings contentment?  Have you been there?  When Clinton trusts me to always take care of his needs and follows my directions, we can have a good time.  That is what God wants from us as well.  He wants us to trust him and follow His guidance...then we can live life abundant.

That is kind of where the analogy ends though.  I will not give in to Clinton, and he really only has the choice of obeying the first time or facing my stubbornness until he obeys.  God gives us more freedom than that.  We do have a choice, and He will not force His will upon us.  I decided that I am not as stubborn as the old mule Gracie.  So while Clinton and I ride, she stands in the field, free from work and expectation, but alone.  Is that the kind of life you want, or do you want the companionship of your master?
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Not too long ago, I was wondering who I was outside of teacher and mom.  I felt like I was getting a bit lost in the shuffle and was afraid that when the kids were gone, I wouldn't have anything left of me.  Have you ever been there?

God gave me a flash of insight tonight.  As I was singing songs of praise with new friends for a senior citizens party, I realized that just an hour before I was in the woods on an exciting trail ride.  Neither of those things had anything to do with the kids. 

There were 22 people on today's trail ride.  I'd say at least half were riding mules.  I was on my little mule that has had less than three months under saddle.  Many of the animals were youngsters, but not all the riders were.  By my guess, I'd say we ranged in age from about 17 to 60.  The trail was not for the faint of heart either.  There were very steep hillsides covered in mud and fallen leaves; there were camouflaged hunters in the woods and people having target practice nearby; there were muddy crossings and creeks to traverse; and there were embankments that made me pray that I didn't lose my seat or my dignity.

While I was riding, I talked to a gentleman and fellow mule rider.  He said that mules were the best decision he and his wife could have made for themselves after the kids left home.  He mentioned that the guys he works with live like they are old even though they are his age.  They work everyday, then go home and prop their feet up while they watch tv.   He goes to work everyday too.  Then he goes home, saddles up the mules and enjoys the ride.

I think that is what God wants us to do, enjoy the ride.  Jesus said that He came so that we might have life abundant.  Are we living like it?

After the ride, I hurriedly changed clothes, jumped in the car and hightailed it to where Alun and the Sagebrush Gang were waiting.  They had invited me to sing with them.  I made it just on time.  We were the entertainment as people entered the room for the evening's party.  There were several other people who provided entertainment after the meal.  I really thought it was cool that the evening was filled with Christian music.  The Senior Citizens Club had their own bluegrass air band and one of the ladies performed a rousing clog routine with flourish.

Those people could have been at home in their easy chairs or rockers.  But they weren't.  They were out living.  I hope that you get out there and live too.  I don't know exactly what we'll be doing when the kids all fly the nest, but I do know that we have a lot to offer and a lot of living to do.  So do you.  Go live it.
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What beautiful mornings we've had lately.  The trees are becoming showy and the morning sky behind the lifting fog has been magnificent.  Life rolls on.

I've been on both Clinton, the little mule, and Georgie B, the quarter horse this week.  I didn't realize just how bouncy riding George is until loping a bit on Clinton.  Rides should be nice on him.  He is fine with cell phones and cameras, and doesn't seem to startle or spook at anything.  If he sees something new, he is more likely to go check it out than run from it.  (Unless it is a cow on his turf....we may need to put one of those in the field just for the experience of it.)  George, on the other hand (or hoof), is not the same.  He has become afraid of going up a in the pasture when under saddle.

My training methods are a bit circular...when he refuses to do what I ask, we turn circles.  We did LOTS of circles yesterday.  :)  Then we went up the hill, and down the hill, and around and back up the hill.  He will go up it now.  It's kind of funny.  He stops, gets my "you better or else" cue, then trots up the hill as if to just get it over with quicker.  My guess is that he had scary slide on the hill when it was muddy.  My first guess was hornets, but I ruled that out....before making him go up the hill.

If the timing works out with the rest of our crazy schedule, I will be taking Clinton on a four hour trail ride with the Rocking S crew in a few weeks.  Neither of us will be walking right afterward, but I'm looking forward to it.  Anyone want to take George along?  I can't ride them both.

Monday is drop off day for entries in the Foothills Art Festival at Canter's Cave.  The show is October 14-16.  If you are near enough to come out, I'm sure you'll find something there you like.  If you can't decide which piece you like better, the default nomination for People's Choice award is any of the three photographs I am entering.  ;)   I would love to have more of my friends and family enter something next year. I think Isaiah is considering it.  I'm hoping that a few others  (ahemm, Alun) will get something ready too.

School is rolling right along.  I can't speak for the kids, but I'm enjoying my year.  I think Alun is too.  He is ever more involved at church and other ministries during the day and staying busier than ever.  As for the kids, I won't get into, but I will keep praying for them and their choices.  I'd appreciate it if you did too when you think of us.

Drop me a line on here or on Facebook, if you read my blog.  I'd love to hear from you.  Have a great October, and be sure to get out and enjoy the show that is on display around us.  God is an awesome Creator and artist.
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Another Forward 08/12/2011
 
Forwarded from a friend of mine:

Charley Reese's final column for the Orlando Sentinel...
He has been a journalist for 49 years.
He is retiring and this is HIS LAST COLUMN.
Be sure to read the Tax List at the end.
> >
 This is about as clear and easy to understand as it can be. The article
below is completely neutral, neither anti-republican or democrat
Charlie Reese, a retired reporter for the Orlando Sentinel, has hit the nail
directly on the head, defining clearly who it is that in the final analysis
must assume responsibility for the judgments made that impact each one of
us every day. It's a short but good read. Worth the time. Worth remembering!
> >
545 vs. 300,000,000 People
By Charlie Reese

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and
then campaign against them.
> >
Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are
against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?
> >
Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation
and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The President does.
> >
You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on
appropriations. The House of Representatives does.
> >
You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.
> >
You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.
> >
You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.
> >
One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one President, and nine Supreme
Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are
directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic
problems that plague this country.
> >
I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that
problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its
Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered,
but private, central bank.
> >
I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason.
They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a
congressman, or a President to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if
they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the
power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is
the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.
> >
Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that
what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con
regardless of party.
> >
What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive
amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who
stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The President
can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.
> >
The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole
responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and
approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House now? He
is the leader of the majority party. He and fellow Hous e members, not the
President, can approve any budget they want. If the President vetoes it,
they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.
> >
It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot
replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of
incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic
problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully
grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal
government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.
> >
If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.
> >
If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red.
> >
If the Army & Marines are in Iraq and Afghanistan it's because they
want them in Iraq and Afghanistan ...
> >
If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement
plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.
> >
There are no insoluble government problems.
> >
Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they
hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice
they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and
from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into
the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the
economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they
take an oath to do.
> >
Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.
> >
They, and they alone, have the power.
> >
They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are
their bosses.
> >
Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees...
> >
We should vote all of them out of office and c lean up their mess!
> >
Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.
> >
What you do with this article now that you have read it... is up to you.
This might be funny if it weren't so true.
Be sure to read all the way to the end:
> >
> > Tax his land,
> > Tax his bed,
> > Tax the table,
> > At which he's fed.
> >
> > Tax his tractor,
> > Tax his mule,
> > Teach him taxes
> > Are the rule.
> >
> > Tax his work,
> > Tax his pay,
> > He works for
> > peanuts anyway!
> >
> > Tax his cow,
> > Tax his goat,
> > Tax his pants,
> > Tax his coat.
> >
> > Tax his ties,
> > Tax his shirt,
> > Tax his work,
> > Tax his dirt.
> >
> > Tax his tobacco,
> > Tax his drink,
> > Tax him if he
> > Tries to think.
> >
> > Tax his cigars,
> > Tax his beers,
> > If he cries
> > Tax his tears.
> >
> > Tax his car,
> > Tax his gas,
> > Find other ways
> > To tax his ass.
> >
> > Tax all he has
> > Then let him know
> > That you won't be done
> > Till he has no dough.
> >
> > When he screams and hollers;
> > Then tax him some more,
> > Tax him till
> > He's good and sore.
> >
> > Then tax his coffin,
> > Tax his grave,
> > Tax the sod in
> > Which he's laid...
> >
> > Put these words
> > Upon his tomb,
> > 'Taxes drove me
> > to my doom...'
> >
> > When he's gone,
> > Do not relax,
> > Its time to apply
> > The inheritance tax.
> >> > Accounts Receivable Tax
> > Building Permit Tax
> > CDL license Tax
> > Cigarette Tax
> > Corporate Income Tax
> > Dog License Tax
> > Excise Taxes
> > Federal Income Tax
> > Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
> > Fishing License Tax
> > Food License Tax
> > Fuel Permit Tax
> > Gasoline Tax (currently 44.75 cents per gallon)
> > Gross Receipts Tax
> > Hunting License Tax
> > Inheritance Tax
> > Inventory Tax
> > IRS Interest Charges IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
> > Liquor Tax
> > Luxury Taxes
> > Marriage License Tax
> > Medicare Tax
> > Personal Property Tax
> > Property Tax
> > Real Estate Tax
> > Service Charge Tax
> > Social Security Tax
> > Road Usage Tax
> > Recreational Vehicle Tax
> > Sales Tax
> > School Tax
> > State Income Tax
> > State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
> > Telephone Federal Excise Tax
> > Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
> > Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes
> > Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
> > Telephone Recurring and Nonrecurring Charges Tax
> > Telephone State and Local Tax
> > Telephone Usage Charge Tax
> > Utility Taxes
> > Vehicle License Registration Tax
> > Vehicle Sales Tax
> > Watercraft Registration Tax
> > Well Permit Tax
> > Workers Compensation Tax
> >
STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?
Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, & our nation was the most
prosperous in the world.
We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the
world, and Mom, if agreed, stayed home to raise the kids.
> >
What in the heck happ ened? Can you spell 'politicians?'
> >
I hope this goes around THE USA at least 545 times!!! YOU can help it
get there!!!
> >
GO AHEAD. . . BE AN AMERICAN!!!
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I received a few interesting emails this week.  I don't like to send a lot of forwards, but these had some food for thought.  They seem to be written by someone who has done his homework.  Here is the first one:


SCARY

What if he's right?


Take the three minutes to read this. Maybe he is wrong, but
 what if he’s right?

 David Kaiser is a respected historian whose published works have covered a broad range of topics, from European Warfare to American League Baseball. Born in 1947, the son of a diplomat, Kaiser spent his childhood in three capital cities: Washington D.C. , Albany , New York , and Dakar , Senegal .... He attended Harvard University , graduating there in 1969 with a B.A. in history. He then spent several years more at Harvard, gaining a PhD in history, which he obtained in 1976.. He served in the Army Reserve from 1970 to 1976.
He is a professor in the Strategy and Policy Department of the United States Naval War College . He has previously taught at Carnegie Mellon, Williams College and Harvard University . Kaiser's latest book, The Road to Dallas, about the Kennedy assassination, was just published by Harvard University Press.








  [cid:1.332968880@web46004.mail.sp1.yahoo.com]


Dr. David Kaiser




History Unfolding


I am a student of history. Professionally, I have written 15 books on history that have been published in six languages, and I have studied history all my life. I have come to think there is something monumentally large afoot, and I do not believe it is simply a banking crisis, or a mortgage crisis, or a credit crisis. Yes these exist, but they are merely single facets on a very large gemstone that is only now coming into a sharper focus..

Something of historic proportions is happening. I can sense it because I know how it feels, smells, what it looks like, and how people react to it. Yes, a perfect storm may be brewing, but there is something happening within our country that has been evolving for about ten to fifteen years. The pace has dramatically quickened in the past two.

We demand and then codify into law the requirement that our banks make massive loans to people we know they can never pay back? Why?

We learned just days ago that the Federal Reserve, which has little or no real oversight by anyone, has "loaned" two trillion dollars (that is $2,000,000,000,000) over the past few months, but will not tell us to whom or why or disclose the terms. That is our money. Yours and mine. And that is three times the $700 billion we all argued about so strenuously just this past September. Who has this money? Why do they have it? Why are the terms unavailable to us? Who asked for it? Who authorized it? I thought this was a government of "we the people," who loaned our powers to our elected leaders. Apparently not.

We have spent two or more decades intentionally de-industrializing our economy... Why?

We have intentionally dumbed down our schools, ignored our history, and no longer teach our founding documents, why we are exceptional, and why we are worth preserving. Students by and large cannot write, think critically, read, or articulate. Parents are not revolting, teachers are not picketing, school boards continue to back mediocrity. Why?

We have now established the precedent of protesting every close election (violently in California over a proposition that is so controversial that it simply wants marriage to remain defined as between one man and one woman. Did you ever think such a thing possible just a decade ago?) We have corrupted our sacred political process by allowing unelected judges to write laws that radically change our way of life, and then mainstream Marxist groups like ACORN and others to turn our voting system into a banana republic. To what purpose?

Now our mortgage industry is collapsing, housing prices are in free fall, major industries are failing, our banking system is on the verge of collapse, social security is nearly bankrupt, as is Medicare and our entire government. Our education system is worse than a joke (I teach college and I know precisely what I am talking about) - the list is staggering in its length, breadth, and depth.. It is potentially 1929 x  ten...And we are at war with an enemy we cannot even name for fear of offending people of the same religion, who, in turn, cannot wait to slit the throats of your children if they have the opportunity to do so.

And finally, we have elected a man that no one really knows anything about, who has never run so much as a Dairy Queen, let alone a town as big as Wasilla , Alaska .. All of his associations and alliances are with real radicals in their chosen fields of employment, and everything we learn about him, drip by drip, is unsettling if not downright scary (Surely you have heard him speak about his idea to create and fund a mandatory civilian defense force stronger than our military for use inside our borders? No? Oh, of course. The media would never play that for you over and over and then demand he answer it. Sarah Palin's pregnant daughter and $150,000 wardrobe are more important.)

Mr. Obama's winning platform can be boiled down to one word: Change. Why?

I have never been so afraid for my country and for my children as I am now.

This man campaigned on bringing people together, something he has never, ever done in his professional life. In my assessment, Obama will divide us along philosophical lines, push us apart, and then try to realign the pieces into a new and different power structure. Change is indeed coming. And when it comes, you will never see the same nation again.

And that is only the beginning..

As a serious student of history, I thought I would never come to experience what the ordinary, moral German must have felt in the mid-1930s In those times, the "savior" was a former smooth-talking rabble-rouser from the streets, about whom the average German knew next to nothing. What they should have known was that he was associated with groups that shouted, shoved, and pushed around people with whom they disagreed; he edged his way onto the political stage through great oratory. Conservative "losers" read it right now.

And there were the promises. Economic times were tough, people were losing jobs, and he was a great speaker. And he smiled and frowned and waved a lot. And people, even newspapers, were afraid to speak out for fear that his "brown shirts" would bully and beat them into submission. Which they did - regularly. And then, he was duly elected to office, while a full-throttled economic crisis bloomed at hand - the Great Depression. Slowly, but surely he seized the controls of government power, person by person, department by department, bureaucracy by bureaucracy. The children of German citizens were at first, encouraged to join a Youth Movement in his name where they were taught exactly what to think. Later, they were required to do so. No Jews of course,

How did he get people on his side? He did it by promising jobs to the jobless, money to the money-less, and rewards for the military-industrial complex. He did it by indoctrinating the children, advocating gun control, health care for all, better wages, better jobs, and promising to re-instill pride once again in the country, across Europe , and across the world. He did it with a compliant media - did you know that? And he did this all in the name of justice and ... . ... change And the people surely got what they voted for.

If you think I am exaggerating, look it up. It's all there in the history books.

So read your history books. Many people of conscience objected in 1933 and were shouted down, called names, laughed at, and ridiculed. When Winston Churchill pointed out the obvious in the late 1930s while seated in the House of Lords in England (he was not yet Prime Minister), he was booed into his seat and called a crazy troublemaker. He was right, though. And the world came to regret that he was not listened to.

Do not forget that Germany was the most educated, the most cultured country in Europe . It was full of music, art, museums, hospitals, laboratories, and universities. And yet, in less than six years (a shorter time span than just two terms of the U. S. presidency) it was rounding up its own citizens, killing others, abrogating its laws, turning children against parents, and neighbors against neighbors.. All with the best of intentions, of course.. The road to Hell is paved with them.


As a practical thinker, one not overly prone to emotional decisions, I have a choice: I can either believe what the objective pieces of evidence tell me (even if they make me cringe with disgust); I can believe what history is shouting to me from across the chasm of seven decades; or I can hope I am wrong by closing my eyes, having another latte, and ignoring what is transpiring around me..

I choose to believe the evidence. No doubt some people will scoff at me, others laugh, or think I am foolish, naive, or both. To some degree, perhaps I am. But I have never been afraid to look people in the eye and tell them exactly what I believe-and why I believe it.

I pray I am wrong. I do not think I am. Perhaps the only hope is our vote in the next elections.

David Kaiser
Jamestown , Rhode Island


United States

By passing this along, perhaps it will help to begin the awakening of America as to where we are headed.

If you are still reading, here is another email I received:


1ST PUBLIC NEWSPAPER TO CALL FOR IMPEACHMENT!


Well, well looks like there may be a storm cloud on the horizon for Obama... keep your fingers crossed that this all comes true.

THE WASHINGTON TIMES - 1ST PUBLIC NEWSPAPER TO CALL FOR IMPEACHMENT
FINALLY -- SOMEONE IN THE MEDIA HAS STATED THE OBVIOUS.    Please share widely!!!  Perhaps other writers will grow SPINES.   A strong article and hopefully not the last public newspaper to do so.


President's socialist takeover must be stopped

By Jeffrey T. Kuhner <
The Washington Times

President Obama has engaged in numerous high crimes and misdemeanors. The Democratic majority in Congress is in peril as Americans reject his agenda. Yet more must be done: Mr. Obama should be impeached.

He is slowly - piece by painful piece - erecting a socialist dictatorship. We are not there - yet. But he is putting America on that dangerous path. He is undermining our constitutional system of checks and balances; subverting democratic procedures and the rule of law; presiding over a corrupt, gangster regime; and assaulting the very pillars of traditional capitalism. Like Venezuela 's leftist strongman, Hugo Chavez, Mr. Obama is bent on imposing a revolution from above - one that is polarizing America along racial, political and ideological lines. Mr. Obama is the most divisive president since Richard Nixon. His policies are Balkanizing the country. It's time for him to go.

He has abused his office and violated his oath to uphold the Constitution. His health care overhaul was rammed through Congress. It was - and remains - opposed by a majority of the people. It could only be passed through bribery and political intimidation. The Louisiana Purchase, the Cornhusker Kickback, the $5 billion Medicaid set-aside for Florida Sen. Bill Nelson - taxpayer money was used as a virtual slush fund to buy swing votes. Moreover, the law is blatantly unconstitutional: The federal government does not have the right to coerce every citizen to purchase a good or service. This is not in the Constitution, and it represents an unprecedented expansion of power.

Yet Obamacare's most pernicious aspect is its federal funding of abortion. Pro-lifers are now compelled to have their tax dollars used to subsidize insurance plans that allow for the murder of unborn children. This is more than state-sanctioned infanticide. It violates the conscience rights of religious citizens. Traditionalists - evangelicals, Catholics, Baptists, Muslims, Orthodox Jews - have been made complicit in an abomination that goes against their deepest religious values. As the law is implemented (as in Pennsylvania ) the consequences of the abortion provisions will become increasingly apparent. The result will be a cultural civil war. Pro-lifers will become deeply alienated from society; among many, a secession of the heart is taking place.

Mr. Obama is waging a frontal assault on property rights. The BP oil spill is a case in point. BP clearly is responsible for the spill and its massive economic and environmental damage to the Gulf. There is a legal process for claims to be adjudicated, but Mr. Obama has behaved more like Mr. Chavez or Russia 's Vladimir Putin: He has bullied BP into setting up a $20 billion compensation fund administered by an Obama appointee. In other words, the assets of a private company are to be raided to serve a political agenda. Billions will be dispensed arbitrarily in compensation to oil-spill victims - much of it to Democratic constituents. This is cronyism and creeping authoritarianism.

Mr. Obama's multicultural socialism seeks to eradicate traditional America . He has created a command-and-control health care system. He has essentially nationalized the big banks, the financial sector, the automakers and the student loan industry. He next wants to pass "cap-and-trade," which would bring industry and manufacturing under the heel of big government. The state is intervening in every aspect of American life - beyond its constitutionally delegated bounds. Under Mr. Obama, the Constitution has become a meaningless scrap of paper.

To provide the shock troops for his socialist takeover, Mr. Obama calls for "comprehensive immigration reform" - granting amnesty to 12 million to 20 million illegal aliens. This would forge a permanent Democratic electoral majority. It would sound the death knell for our national sovereignty. Amnesty rewards lawlessness and criminal behavior; it signifies the surrender of our porous southern border to a massive illegal invasion. It means the death of American nationhood. We will no longer be a country, but the colony of a global socialist empire.

Rather than defending our homeland, Mr. Obama's Justice Department has sued Arizona for its immigration law. He is siding with criminals against his fellow Americans. His actions desecrate his constitutional oath to protect U.S. citizens from enemies foreign and domestic. He is thus encouraging more illegal immigration as Washington refuses to protect our borders. Mr. Obama's decision on this case is treasonous.

As president, he is supposed to respect the rule of law. Instead, his administration has dropped charges of voter intimidation against members of the New Black Panther Party. This was done even though their menacing behavior was caught on tape: men in military garb brandishing clubs and threatening whites at a polling site. A Justice Department lawyer intimately involved in the case, J. Christian Adams, resigned in protest. Mr. Adams says that under Mr. Obama, there is a new policy: Cases involving black defendants and white victims - no matter how much they cry for justice - are not to be prosecuted. This is more than institutionalized racism. It is an abrogation of civil rights laws. The Justice Department's behavior is illegal. It poses a direct threat to the integrity of our democracy and the sanctity of our electoral process.

Corruption in the administration is rampant. Washington no longer has a government; rather, it has a gangster regime. The Chicago way has become the Washington way. Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is a political hit man.. He is an amoral, ruthless operator. It was Mr. Emanuel who reached out to Rep. Joe Sestak, Pennsylvania Democrat, offering a high-ranking job in the hopes of persuading Mr. Sestak to pull out of the primary against Sen. Arlen Specter. It was Mr. Emanuel who offered another government position to Andrew Romanoff to do the same in the Colorado Democratic Senate primary. And it was Mr. Emanuel - as the trial of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has revealed - who acted as the go-between to try to have Valerie Jarrett parachuted into Mr. Obama's former Senate seat. The only question was: What did Mr. Blagojevich want in exchange?

This is not simply sleazy Chicago machine politics. It is the systematic breaking of the law - bribery, attempt to interfere (and manipulate) elections using taxpayer-funded jobs, influence peddling and abuse of power.

The common misperception on the right is that Mr. Obama is another Jimmy Carter: an incompetent liberal whose presidency is being reduced to rubble under the onslaught of repeated failures. The very opposite, however, is true. He is the most consequential president in our lifetime, transforming America into something our Founding Fathers would find not only unrecognizable, but repugnant. Like all radical revolutionaries, he is consumed by the pursuit of power - attaining it, wielding it and maximizing it. Mr.. Obama's fledgling thug state must be stopped.

If Republicans win back Congress in November, they should - and likely will - launch formal investigations into this criminal, scandal-ridden administration. Rep. Darrell Issa, California Republican and ranking member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has promised as much. Mr. Obama has betrayed the American people. Impeachment is the only answer. This usurper must fall.

Jeffrey T. Kuhner is a columnist at The Washington Times and president of the Edmund Burke Institute, a Washington think tank. He is the host of "The Kuhner Show" on WTNT 570-AM (www.talk570.com <<http://www.talk570.com/> ) from 5 to 7 p.m.

SOURCE: KUHNER: President's socialist takeover must be stopped - Washington Times

Will the people wake up? 

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I wouldn't often use the word "exhausted" to  describe how I feel.  Today, though, I just felt exhausted physically.  I wasn't sick.  I just didn't have any steam left for my engine.  I wasn't exhausted emotionally or spiritually, I was just soooo tired.

Very seldom do I skip church or my obligations there, but this was one of those "you better stop and rest while you have a say in the matter" feelings.  So, I sent Alun and the kids off to church without me.

Shortly after they left, I thought, "Ah, I have the house to myself for two hours.  I think it is long past time for a very hot, very long soak."  After scrubbing the tub (if you know some of recent problems with the kids, you'd understand that), I stepped in and truly relaxed.

As I soaked,  people came to mind, and I prayed.  At first it was silently.  Then I realized, I could lift my voice.  I prayed for my church, my family, my friends, my facebook friends, my students, and all whom God placed on my heart.  I sang praises to my King.

An hour later, I truly felt refreshed.  I missed the scheduled prayer meeting at church, but I truly connected with the One who hears and answers prayer.  I am still sleepy, and will probably not stay up long.  But I will sleep and truly rest.

What a good feeling.  Did you feel like someone prayed for you tonight?  It was probably me.  You are loved.  :)
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Well I went to the ENT yesterday.  This is what he had to tell the musicians of the world.

Imagine owning and being able to play a finely tuned Stradivarius Violin.  You would cherish it and try to keep in top condition.  Your voice is like the Stradivarius.

Every time you yell, whisper, or clear your throat, you are throwing stones at your Stradivarius.  Each incident of hearburn is like resting a lit match on it.  Each incident of sinus drainage is like sitting it in the rain.  The stresses you face are like placing heavy books on top of your instrument.

Each thing seems small or minor, but over the course of time, you are banging up that beautiful instrument.

In my case, he is giving me something to eliminate heart burn and drainage.  After getting those out of the way, he would like to do a scope to make sure there is nothing else.  In most cases, the problem is one of those things mentioned above.
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Happy Holy week 03/30/2010
 
The short version....

Easter is Sunday.
Action Research is due in a few weeks.  One more class to go to finish my masters.
Ray qualified for regional Bible quizzing.
Twins will be sixteen soon.
J.  still has theft issues.  Keep praying.

Check out my lastest pics.  I may enter one or two pictures in a local contest.  If you have a favorite, let me know.

Also, keep my dad in your prayers.
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Praise the Lord for He is good.
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Another Christmas has slipped past.  Another year is behind us.  Paul said, "Let us press on to what is before us."  (Okay, that was a bit paraphrased.)  However, that is what it is time to do.  We can cast off the things that held us captive in 2009.  Some have been captive to cigarettes, alcohol, porn, and drugs.  Others have been captive to more sneaky masters like overeating, laziness, gossip, or wasted time.

Let us look at 2010 as a new beginning.  Ask God for His grace and mercy, then press on to a better year.  A year of freedom.

That was my sermon of the month.  ;)  Now, I can tell you what is going on here at Stronghaven.  We have plenty of snow.  You can see my pictures by the link above.  Speaking of pictures.  one of my pictures was accepted for use by USA Today.  Isn't that cool?

The kids are mostly enjoying our extended break.  They have only had one day of school since Christmas, but we should be back at it on Monday.  The twins miss school.  He has had to work on a project and missing assignments on his days off.  He likes school because he doesn't have to do as much school work!

Joe has been a big helper at the barn when we go do chores.  He still has fear and mistrust of the animals, but he likes to do the barn work.  That helps a lot.  It also helps him to know that he is good at something.

We have no idea what will come in 2010.  It will be our twentieth anniversary, and God has renewed us in an amazing way.  We have much to be thankful for.

Let's all count our blessings.
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