The Power of the State

My last post in here was in 2006. Many things have changed in our world, but one thing remains constant. There will always be people who seek to control others to do their will.

We are currently in the middle of a crisis in which our legislative branch of government seeks to remove the chief executive of our executive branch from office. There have been multiple probes into our President's dealings with foreign powers, all of which have been based on hearsay and conjecture.

I will be the first person to say that I do not agree with the President's style or tactics. He is an in your face style man. He is NOT a politician. He does not mince words. He says what he feels from the heart. Some people take this as a lack of intellectual ability. Other call him a loudmouth. In the world of Washington and foreign affairs, they love to critique every nuance of every word, jot and tittle.

The dangers of what these lifelong politicians are doing is reprehensible. His presence in Washington has exposed many of the perils of letting the executive branch have so much power. His phrase, "Drain the Swamp" let's them know every day that he wants to reduce the power of those in Washington. The behind the scenes machinations of the long term employees within the branch have shown us all how deep these issues are.

Every word of the President's seems to be fair game for these embedded people who seem to care more about their own positions and power than about our country. They would rather see the country flounder than respect the office of the President.

We have had several presidents which have run on the platform of reducing the amount of waste in government, but those who wield the purse strings of our executive branch use it to thwart every effort reign in their power.

As many times as we have heard of people leaving the executive branch "in disgust", it tells me that they also cannot make the changes that are so desperately needed in DC. They may not like his methods, but they would remain if they could actually accomplish what he is seeking to do.

I pray that Congress will do the right thing and refuse to impeach the President over some offhand comments. Does the fact that the President is running against the former Vice President eliminate the possibility that he and his son can be investigated for possible international crimes? Once again, the powers that be are trying to protect their own.

Our country has proven resilient against the machinations of politicians in the past. I hope we can overcome this as well.

9/11 revisited

A friend of mine recently watched a video that showed the horrors of 9/11. It incensed him so much that he sent a rant about President Bush and our government. This was my response...

We all feel passionately about 9/11. I knew folks that were in the buildings and had been up on the 75th floor of One World Trade Center 3 weeks before.

I'm sorry you think that the current administration didn't do everything it could before this event. As often happens in this kind of situation, the data was there, but no one was able to connect all the dots.

On the ground, Mayor Giuliani's people did yeomen's work. the many heroes of 9/11 are too numerous to mention. Everyone is ready to blame our President for something that had been in the works for many years by some very smart people.

We tends to discount the intelligence of al-Queda. They have very good strategists as we continue to see. Let's not think because these people live in Arab lands, they have no intelligence. Many of them were trained in our own universities, including Harvard and Yale.

Looking back, there had been many failures throughout the 90's and 00's that allowed this to happen. Many happened during the previous administration. (see World Trade Center 1993, USS Cole, Kenyan Embassy, et al).

The bigger question is what to do after this happened. As our president rightly said, "We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them."

We went into Afghanistan where men were being trained, We went after their leader, Osama bin Laden and we went after those who harbor them, the Afghan and Iraqi government. Because of this diligence, we have not had another attack on our shores. Because of the additional vigilance, events like today's are stopped, despite people who seek to expose what our government is trying to do (e.g., the New York times). Have they made mistakes? You better believe it. But has there ever in history been a war where both side don't make mistakes? We are fighting the fight that needs to be fought. It has many many fronts, the most obvious in Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon. But the Islamofascists are also in Darfour, Indonesia and many other places. This is a world war of unprecedented diversity. We fight an evil that convinces people that killing innocents is what God wants. Hiding among civilians will hurt their enemy in world opinion, and if you die committing murder, you go to heaven. This will be a very long battle and our president and government need support, not back biting. Anyone can look back and see what we should have done differently, but you can't turn back time. You deal with it in the present. We have the ability, now we need the spirit and prayer to defeat evil.

We have a hard road ahead of us. I worry for my kids, 13 and 19. But I trust that we as a country will fight with all our might to stop these people and these beliefs. No matter who is the President, he will be facing an enemy no President has had to deal with in the past. Let's pray that President Bush and his successors have the strength and moral fortitude to stand up to this evil wherever it resides.

Where are the Heroes?

al-Zarqawi and several other al-Quaida scumbags were killed today. Apparently his safe house was hit by 2 500-pound bombs launched from F-16 fighter/bombers. The men flying those planes are among the many heroes of the Iraqi war that will go unsung by our news media.
Rather than finding out about the men and women that are over there fighting evil, we talk about the unfortunates that have been caught in the crossfire of war. The modern news media seems to have one and only one agenda... to humiliate the US Armed Forces and the US Government.
This is not a new phenomena. We have been seeing this since the Vietnam War. For 40 years, the news media has seen fit to diminish the sacrifice of the American Soldier, Sailor, Marine and Airman. Where are the Audie Murphy's? Is the valor of our soldiers so insignificant as to not deserve mention?
The Mainstream News Media (MSM) is desperately trying to find negatives in today's scenario. Why? Because today's events are in total contradiction to the story they have been foisting on the American public. They ask questions like "Are you sure al-Zarqawi was dead when you got there?" and "Will this cause an increase of attacks?"
The reason we see no heroes, is that heroes "personalize" the war in a positive way. This also goes against their story that we are imperialists and unwanted in Iraq (and Kuwait, et al). they have no problem find "innocent civilians" that were injured. Where are the interviews with the soldiers that successfully stopped the latest IED bombing by attacking the terrorists and risking their lives. We need to hear about and support these brave men and women each day.

Whose Government is it?

Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania was a guest this morning on the Michael Smerconish show, a Philadelphia based talk show. When asked about his pending immigration legislation, the senator made 2 comments that expressed how he and some of his colleagues see illegal aliens. Sen. Specter said that "The people have the right to petition their government." (my emphasis) This is not THEIR government! Aliens, legal or illegal do not have a say in the governance of this country. They are citizens of other countries. If they wish to petition the United States government, they have embassies for that purpose. They don't have the right to vote. They are NOT constituents of the local representatives. Senator Specter is not THEIR representative in Congress, he is MINE!
Does Mr. Specter think these people are already someone's constituents? He exposed his mindset that these people are potential votes to keep him in power.

He also stated that we cannot arrest all these people because it will cost too much money. The amount he gave was about $25,000 per person.
What will it cost to provide training, teaching and to give health care to all these people if they are given citizen or legal alien status? I guarantee it will be far more than $25,000 per person. What will be the cost of all the new people flooding across the border each day?
I pray that this "future constituent" mindset will be overcome by respect for the law of the land. At the rate they are entering, we will be their constituents before long. Welcome to the Socialist State of Nuevo Latino.

An Open Letter to Congress about Immigration

An Open Letter to Congress,

This country has a motto, E Pluribus Unum; From Many, One. This occurs when people accept the complete American Dream with all its responsibilities as well as its privileges.

As the son of LEGAL immigrants, I fully understand the desire of people to come to our great nation. My father and mother worked hard to make a good life for themselves, my sister and me in this great nation of opportunity. The key is that they came in legally and from Day 1 were respectful of American Law. They understood that to reap the rewards of this country, they needed to adapt to the American culture. They knew they needed to learn English from the start, they needed to pay taxes and they needed to educate their children in the greatness of this nation. They needed to respect the American Way of Life. They were not looking to be hyphenated Americans, they wanted to be American.

The time has come for Congress to stop pandering to illegal immigrant pressure groups and stand up for the laws of our nation. Illegal immigration HAS to be stopped and those who are here illegally need to be returned to their homelands. Many of the illegal immigrants (please don't call them undocumented) have no desire to learn English. They have no desire to pay for our schools and roads and military and our many other services through participation in taxation. They want our jobs and our privileges without participating in the cost and responsibilities that come with them. They use the security nets that our society has built to take care of our own people. These people do not seek the American Dream, they seek the American Handout. This is not an issue of "diversity". This is an issue of survival of our country.

There is a cost to this immigration. The Southwest has become overwhelmed with poor immigrants. Gangs have entered and terrorized or citizens. Our border guards are under attack. Our own unemployed lose the opportunity to do the jobs that these illegal immigrants are taking because they will do them without paying taxes. Employers feel that they need to hire these people under the table to compete, eroding the tax bases of these states.

If people do not assimilate into the "American Dream", the dream will be just that, a dream. It is only in accepting our way of life that America's "Grand Experiment" will survive. We already have great strife occurring because of the lack of responsibility to the United States. As more people come, the strains will be even greater. We have seen the issues that occur over language, morals and religion in 20th Century Europe. They same can and will occur here if the American Dream as we know it dies.

As the demonstrations this past weekend showed, some of these people want nothing less than the takeover of the Southwest of our country. Don't tell me that they are a "small minority". This is a movement that has taken hold in the Mexican community. The Aztlan movement states that the Southwest and California was "stolen" from Mexico in the 19th Century, and it should be returned to Mexican rule. There was even a banner at the LA demonstrations that read "THIS IS STOLEN LAND". One of the candidates in the recent California gubernatorial elections, Cruz Bustamante, is a supporter of this movement. When will it stop?

Congressmen are the only ones that have the power to end this destruction of the American Dream. Simply accepting illegals into the country will not address the underlying issue. The illegals have no faith in the American Dream. They have not been told that to remain, they must support and defend the American Way of Life with all their hearts and souls. They have not been taught the responsibilities that create the opportunities. They must spilt from the old country and accept that to make their lives better, they must participate in our land "Of the People". Only if these issues are addressed, can the destruction that is occurring in the Southwest be stopped. Think carefully where you should stand on this issue. Will this Congress be the ones that rule over the collapse of the American Dream?

He that giveth, taketh

How often have you heard someone say, "The Congress wants to give more to the rich and take away money (or some service) from the poor"? Or a business's tax break is the government giving more money to that business (usually for some vague, nefarious reason). The government isn't "giving money" to these people, they are no longer taking it from them to give to somebody else.

Without the rich and the businesses, THE GOVERNMENT HAS NO MONEY!!!! Nada , none, zero, zilch. The government programs don't exist without these people working their tails off to receive gain. All government programs, including the military, don't happen without the people's contributions. We saw what happened in the USSR when the government pretended to have all the money and handed it out to whoever they wanted to. The government collapsed.
Liberals (and some others) seem to think all money belongs to the government and by the government's grace, they let individuals or companies keep some of it. This is how the Communists think. In a capitalistic society like ours, the person or company that earned the money gets to keep it. We as a people have thrived because government was kept out of our pockets.
Stop begging your government for handouts. You do not have a right to health care. You do not have a right to live off welfare because you would rather go to the local bar every night. You do not have a right to get child care from the government because you don't have a husband for your illegitimate child. You do not have a right to stop paying for your kids because you left their mother, thinking that the government will take care of them.

If you continue to take from those who earn capital and give it to others, those who earn it will
a) find a way to hide their gains (black/gray markets)
b) stop trying so hard to create new and more products and services because there is no value in it for them.
... and there won't be any left for you and the government to take!
This means they won't spend that money so others can make their money. It's common sense.
Let's stop portraying those who create new businesses, work their tails off and risk everything to make more money. The government doesn't have a right to our money. It's only by our votes that they can take it.
The rich and the businesses are the ones that let the rest of us work and live comfortably in , as Michael Medved puts it, "this greatest nation on God's green earth".

Dr. King had a dream...

Much is made in this country about the Rev. Dr. Matin Luther King, Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech. Somehow, the meaning of his dream has been usurped by those who want to use it for political gain.
Let's look at the real words of Dr. King's speech...
"...I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. (My italic emphasis)
So where do we stand with these dreams? Back in the 1960's, government tried to placate those of color who were poor with "The Great Society". These programs accomplished just the opposite of what was needed. The poorest among us have been turned into unmarried mothers with fathers who cannot live with them for fear of losing the meager sustanance our country provides these people. Those of color who have made it out of the worst, have some black leaders trying to tell them they have abandoned others of color. Yet they have achieved what Dr. King desired.. a place where they are looked upon for the content of their character, not the color of their skin.
Because of those who demand "Equality", the color of someone's skin rather than the content of their character has become the determining factor in more, not less, decisions. We have a greater divide than ever because of those who did not understand what Dr. King wanted.
He was looking for skin color to be just that, a different pigmentation, not the determining factor of a person's life. The wedges driven between those of color and those of lighter skin tone have created greater, not less resentment on both sides.
We need to look to his statement later in the speech to see what is needed to really make his dream happen. Here is the missing piece...
and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together As we come together with our eyes on the Lord, skin color differences disappear. Men and women of color will stand beside men and women of lighter skin praising God. When this happens, the issues of race will disappear.
As a conservative, I desire nothing more than seeing those of color reach the "American Dream" and Dr. King's dreams. Let's support bringing the poor into the workplace by creating more jobs, not force them to live in fear of the government's largesse being taken from them. Only then can they be free.

The American Serviceman

Who is the American serviceman and why does he join the military? Is he the poor man or woman that sees the Military as a way out? There are some of those to be sure, but the majority of serviceman are the boy next door. He went to an average school, got average grades and lives in an average town. According to the Heritage Foundation, they are more affulent and come from middle and upper middle class families.
In a recent blog posting, Tucker Carlson, the host of MSNBC's "The Situation", tried to give some reasons for why these men join the service. He said, "So if enlistees aren't driven to the military by poverty and hopelessness, why do they join? For the adventure, maybe. Possibly for the experience. Maybe even because they believe in the cause." Mr. Carlson missed the most common and most important reason that these brave men join the Service. They join, not because the believe in "the cause", but because they believe in America and freedom. They are men that understand that our freedom has a price. They are willing to pay that price for the rest of us. Those of the WWII generation understood that price. As John F. Kennedy once said we must "pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty."
The brave men and women in our Military knew this when they joined the Armed Forces. They are not looking for "our pity for their suffering" as Mr. Carlson puts it. They are looking for us to back their fight against injustice, and those who would take freedom from Americans or anyone else in the world. "Supporting the Troops" is a cliche that is being thrown back and forth like a hot potato, but supporting our troops mean to understand the reasons they were willing to go fight and, in some cases, die for our freedom.

Islam, France and Barbra Streisand

Over the past 2 weeks, France has suffered devastating attacks by Muslim youth. France is now learning what happens when Islam is left unchecked in a society. These Muslim families have been in France for 3 generations and have not assimliated into French society. France knew that supporting the U.S. in the War Against Terrorism could incite these groups. The French government thought that they could get by in the old European way of ignoring the situation. This is the same attitude that led to WWI, WWII and most of the earlier conflicts in Europe. Evil must be faced.
As Sir Winston Churchill once said, "One ought never to turn one's back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half." France and the rest of Socialist Europe are learning that lesson now.
Miss Streisand apparently doesn't understand this yet. On her web page she now wishes that our President would be impeached. http://barbrastreisand.com/statements.html
She still believes the lie that our President lied about Iraq. HE DID NOT!!! Terrorism in Iraq had already happened. Saddam had used WMDs in the past. He managed to delay us long enough to get the majority of his WMD weapons making material out of the country. He may not have directly supported Osama Bin Laden, but he supported Hamas and the PLA with weapons and money and allowed al-Queda access to sanctuary in Iraq. He most likely gave monetary support to al-Queda as well. Miss Streisand, these people want you dead!!! Don't you understand that?
Our men and women of the Armed Forces understand this. They know the risks and they are willing to take them to protect our country and our citizens from the Jihadists that believe all non-believers should be cleansed from the earth. Sound like someone Sir Churchill once fought?
We as a country need to stop trying to tear down the success of the coalition forces in the Middle East and give our full and verbal support to our President and our troops. Not everything in Iraq has gone as planned, but it never does in war.
Once again to quote from Sir Churchill... "Here is the answer which I will give to President Roosevelt... We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire. Neither the sudden shock of battle nor the long-drawn trials of vigilance and exertion will wear us down. Give us the tools and we will finish the job."

Liberty and responsibility are inseparable

"Liberty not only means that the individual has both the opportunity and the burden of choice; it also means that he must bear the consequences of his actions... Liberty and responsibility are inseparable." (From "The Constitution of Liberty" (1960))Friedrich von Hayek

von Hayek has expressed in these few sentences the key to democracy. Citizens of a democracy must be willing to face the consquences of their actions if they wish to have liberty. You cannot be free without it. If the government tells you they will provide everything you need, what is your motivation to participate in the provision of your own sustanance? What then occurs to the society? When everyone recieves all they need without responsibility, they will not participate fully in its provision. This is the basic flaw of socialism and communism. If people are free to do as they want, they will not work to the best of their ability. They will need to be forced by government to work, losing the liberties of choice.
When one has responsibility for their survival, they will work to the utmost to provide what they feel they need. (See Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs ).
Only a careful balance between liberty and responsibility can make people truly free.
Several years ago, when my daughter was in middle school, the principal used to tell the kids, "Everything has a consquence". If you study and work hard, you will be better prepared to succeed. If you goof off and spend all your time at the local hangout, you are preparing to fail. If you hit someone, you will be punished. If you speak badly about someone, people will react.
We are often told about supposed 'rights' that people think exist... the 'right' to health care, the 'right' to housing. These are not rights. These are things that people receive when they have been responsible enough to work to the best of their abilities to achieve.
The Founders were very careful in the wording of the Constitution. We are not told that we have the right to life, liberty and happiness, we are told we have the right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Happiness is a result of responsibilty and liberty.

Saddam was the WMD

I was listening to talk radio this morning when a woman named Janet called in to the Michael Smerconish Show. Janet is the mom of a soldier serving our country in Iraq. The discussion was setting a timetable for withdrawl from Iraq. The discussion veered to the original reasons for entering Iraq and the assumption of WMDs.
Janet crystallized the WMD discussion precisely. She said, "Saddam and his sons were WMDs." They killed hundreds of thousands of people using gas and bullets over their years of power. They had threatened to do the same to us. They were the Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Al-Queda is not the only group of terrorists out there. Groups like Hamas also wish to kill us ALL.
As President Bush said, "The search is underway for those who are behind these evil acts. I've directed the full resources of our intelligence and law enforcement communities to find those responsible and to bring them to justice. We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them (my italics)." White House Archives, 9/11 Speech
Right now, thousands of those who would like to kill us are trying to stop us from helping the Iraqis overcome their influence in the region. We abandoned the Kurds once before, after the Gulf War. Thousands of them died. The terrorists are counting on us doing it again.
Our brave men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan and around the world are stopping those who would kill us from doing so. Give them, and our President, the support they need to win the war over these evil people.
Let's hope and pray, in the long run, Iraq can become the shining beacon in the heart of Islam for how people should act.
Thank you, Janet and thanks to your son for helping us to see what it means to protect this country. Let's Roll.

But it's for the kids...

Why is it that every discussion these days seems to be how it will affect "the kids"? It's as if adults are insignificant.
Parents have responsibilities. It's not the responsibility of government to baby-sit our children. There was a time when if a child was punished at school, they were afraid to tell their parents because they knew they would be punished again. Children learned something they rarely learn these days at school, Respect.
This summer, I was with a group of Boy Scouts on a camping trip. Several of the Scouts were chopping wood incorrectly and dangerously. Most of the boys respected me when I told them to stop immediately. One young man, however persisted. I told him several times to stop (fearing he may hurt himself). He finally came over to me and I told him to give me the hachet he was using. He refused saying it was his. He finally put it on the ground rather than hand it to me. I told him he had to go to his tent, which he refused to do. When I put my hand on his shoulder to direct him to his tent, he said, "Don't ever touch me", implying that he would tell his parents I "abused" him. Thank goodness the Boy Scouts have a 2-deep rule for being around children. One of our Junior Assistant Scoutmasters helped to defuse this situation by letting him know his parents would hear what really was happening from someone else.
We have come to a point where we allow children rather than adults to control situations. This has to stop.
As horrible as pedophiles are, the vast majority of adults want to help children to mature and learn personal responibility. Laws that prevent teachers, coaches, scout leaders, and other adults who teach children need to have the support of parents when it comes to the teaching of their children.

An Open Letter to all US Senators

Dear Senator:

I am asking you to actively oppose all "hate crimes" bills, including the "Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act" (S. 1145), and the hate crimes amendment to the Child Safety Act (H.R. 3132), which allow federal prosecution for crimes based on "actual or perceived" sexual orientation.

I am adamantly opposed to so-called "hate crimes" laws for several reasons. Should we punish people for their thoughts rather than their actions? How does an officer of the law determine beyond a reasonable doubt someone's thoughts? Similar laws have been used in this nation and others to silence those opposed to the homosexual and similar lifestyles. The Communists specialized in this type of speech control. Additionally, the First Amendment of the Constitution specifically forbids laws which limit speech of any type, not just political speech. Because someone disapproves of the conduct of a person does not mean that person hates the other. God tells us to hate the sin, but love the sinner. No "hate crime" is committed.

We need to stop slowly eroding our rights of free speech and religion in the name of "protecting the children". Our rights of free speech and religion have been under attack for 40 years, ripping apart our society. These laws stop the protection of freedom.

The future of our great nation is in your hands.

The First Amendment Revisited, Part 2

"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."

In a previous post I talked about the establishment of religion clause. Nowhere in this clause does it comment on the "separation of church and state". That statement was from the writings of Thomas Jefferson, and his personal opinion, not the Constitution signed by and agreed to by the 13 colonies and their representatives. For more information about Jefferson's views, I would recommend the book "Adams vs Jefferson: The Tumultuous Election of 1800 (Pivotal Moments in American History)" by John Ferling.
Let's now look at the next clause, the "freedom of speech" clause. Growing up I was always taught, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me". Now we know that names do hurt emotionally, but the real meaning was if someone has an opinion about you that is wrong or cruel, that is their issue, not yours. Somehow in the past 20-25 years, we have twisted this around. These days if anyone is "offended" by speech or "dissed" by someone, people think a crime has been committed. IT HASN"T!!!
Read the Constitution. It doesn't say anything about political speech only. It doesn't say you can't call me a "Kraut" (which I heard from time to time growing up) or "Whitie" or "Hater" or "@#$@# Christian" or any other name. Other than inciting a riot, we have the RIGHT to say whatever we want. Those who oppose us have the RIGHT to say whatever they want.
Some are complaining about things that are said and written that disagree with current liberal philosophies of race and social standing and religion and homosexuality. We have the RIGHT, given to us by the Constitution of the United States, to say what we want. If someone wants to call me evil because I state that, according to the Bible, God says homosexuality is sin, they also have that right. But I haven't committed a crime and neither have they. By the way, that statement does not come with the caveat "Not that there is anything wrong with it"... There is something wrong with homosexuality and it should once again be illegal.
The concept of "Hate Crimes" seems good on paper, but now it is being used to stop discourse within our society about what is right and wrong. Not everything in this society revolves around race and sex.
Part of living in a free society is to have responsibility for your words and actions. If your words and actions are not acceptable within our society, you should expect to have people call you on the carpet for it. This is how a free society works.

World Events

My next post was going to be about the first amendment to the Constitution, but due to world events, I will finish those comments tomorrow. I ask anyone reading this to pray for those who have been devastated by the events of the past days and the past 2 months. The need is so great Give with all your heart and pray. Be sure to pray that they will hear the true Word of God as well as receive their physical sustanance.
All these events do bring one of Jesus' statements to mind. In Matthew 24, the people around Jesus asked Him about the future. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"
His answer is significant to the modern age.
Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. ⁵For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. ⁶You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. ⁷Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. ⁸All these are the beginning of birth pains... (My italics)
Is this the time of Christ's return? We don't know for sure, but everyone needs to be prepared. Pray that those who don't know the Truth, hear about it and accept it as what it is, the acceptance of God's presence in their life.

The First Amendment Revisted, Part 1

"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."

Let's look at this amazing statement and what it means to the American way of life. The very first statement in the Amendments, that were designed to speak about our rights, was that Congress can't pass a law to establish a religion or, and this is key, prohibit the free exercise of religion.
What does that mean? I know I don't see any statment about a separation of church and state in that statement. It just says Congress can't establish a State religion or stop us from worshiping. It also limits the statement to CONGRESS, not the states! The states are given the ability to speak of God; as the framers understood that there is a place for God in the public arena.
Does it say anything about Ten Commandment displays in State government centers? NO Does it say anything about using the words "Under God" in public statements? NO Do we at any time use the names Jesus or YHWH or Allah or Vishnu or any other establishment? NO.
Use of the word God does NOT establish any religion over another. How about the atheists? Their religion is belief in man as God, which is what they are trying (and in some cases succeeding) in establishing. So for them it would mean "Under man." What's wrong with that? The real reason they fear the word God, is that deep inside, they KNOW He is real, but they want to be Him.
It's time for our society to get back to what it does best. Allow people the freedom to find God, and in our everyday lives, allow God's presence to announced everywhere. We are free to speak about Him in any public setting.

Next time... How the freedom of speech clause is being usurped.