Week of Thanks. Day 4 - Thankful for God, Country and Family

Ok...so a slightly different tone from days 1-3...not that I didn't fully and literally mean every word of the other posts in the week of Thanks. *shifty eyes*

But Thanksgiving is meant to remind us to be thankful to those things near and dear to our hearts, rather than be focused on parades, football, and glutany.

I've been off the beaten path lately when it comes to God as I try to find out what it is that I really believe. But I've never once waivered in my belief in the Almighty. I know He's there, and I know He adores me, just as he does all His children. I'm thankful that He's there, and I'm thankful that He loves me enough to be patient with me as explore the details of my faith.

I've said before that I believe it's His inspiration that launched this nation. I know things didn't just fit together like a puzzle, but I'm often astounded at the great gathering and collaberation of all the great minds that make up our Founding Fathers. While I often rail on how I believe this nation has turned away from what the Founding Fathers intended, and I wonder if, when I'm old, I'll even recognize this as the same nation I grew up in; but I'm so very thankful that I live here and get to make out of this life what I put into it. Freedom is a wonderful gift that I all to often take for granted, but I'm thankful to everyone who made freedom and this great country possible.

And it would be a shame if I didn't get to share our gift of freedom with people I cherish greatly. I'm thankful to my Mom for raising a man whose wife consistently says she's lucky to have for a variety of reasons. Most of those reasons seem quite ordinary to me, but apparently stacked up against her friends, they are more than ordinary...and my mother is to thank. I'm thankful to my wife for being my best friend and for being so patient with me as I become more outspoken in regards to my conservative beliefs. She still hates it when I argue with the television, but it's certainly understandable and can easily be overlooked for all the rest that she does for me. And of course, I'm thankful for my kids. They are my pride and joy, and while I sometimes feel like a failure in life because I'm merely a night auditor at a local hotel, I have but to look at them once and realize how lucky I am to be able to raise them myself rather than being stuck at work while a sitter raises them.

Luckily, I do give thanks for all these things more often than once a year, and while Thanksgiving's prayer may not be any more important than all the others in which I give thanks, it is a great occasion to share with everyone else the blessings that I'm thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone. Enjoy the day, enjoy the family, enjoy the fun...stay safe and take care.

The Mad Hoosier

Week of Thanks. Day 3 - Thankful for Super Majorities

With all the hope and change coming, how could you not be thankful for the trifecta of Democratic leadership that will usher in the next great movement. Now technically the Super Majority refers to there being enough members in one party of government to prevent a filibuster. With two races still to be decided in the Senate, that's still a possibility, given that the two Independents vote with the Democrats. However, today, we're just referring to the watered down version of Super Majority, referring to a Democratic President AND Democratic majority in the House of Representatives AND a Democratic majority in the Senate.

This trifecta has only happened twice in our history, and each time it was with the Democrats being in charge. The first time was when the majority crafted and pushed through The New Deal, and the second time was when the Democratic majority crafted The Great Society. There has already been talks of a New New Deal, and a New Great Society. Hopefully they will come up with a better moniker to describe the blissfulness that will follow the skewed legislation.

Now I know what you're thinking: Each of those brought about change that changed our country, left millions enslaved to the Government, and will eventually cripple our great nation. I say, lighten up Sally Sourpuss...let's not think about the future, let's live in the here and now.

The New Deal gave us the wondrous gift of Social Security. A way to not have to work after the age of 65 and still get paid as though you were working...at a percentage of what your once were...for the next two years of your life because life expectancy when the New Deal was created was 67. That's outstanding. Anyone who can look at that and point out that the mere fact that life expectancy has went up 20 years yet the age at which benefits kick has remained the same is looking at the glass as half-empty. Our government loves us...they aren't trying to buy votes of the aged or anything by keeping things as is. AND, the unemployment benefits that were enacted during the New Deal were such a great idea, that the current congress just extended the coverage of unemployment benefits by nearly 2 months.

So on to the Great Society, as I'm sure there are some naysayers out there that aren't a fan of Medicare and Medicaid. To be honest I'm not sure what's not to love about making the elderly and destitute rely on the government for their basic life needs. The all inclusive brand of healthcare works so well in other countries for those that still maintain their own private health insurance. So there may be an instance or two where a government run healthcare provider has had a decision between two people in the exact same situation and the decision came down to age. I'm sure the elderly person realized that they had lived a full life, it was time to let someone else have a chance at a full life. It's the right perspective to have, when you're sharing the wealth benefits of all inclusive health care. I'm sure they were all thankful to be in the position they were in.

Just like I'm thankful that I'll be able to partake in the next New Deal and/or next Great Society. Thank you Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reed, and Barack Obama...thank you for loving me so much.

Week of Thanks. Day 2 - Thankful for conqurring man made Global Warming

Today I'm thankful that we have finally defeated Global Warming. And not just your run of the mill global warming, this is the global warming that was clearly man made. If you can't accept that fact, you may want to leave now. Holocaust deniers are not welcome here.

And if you're among those that are in the crowd of crazy right wing speculators that believe studies that suggest Global Warming may be due to the temperature of the universe, sun spots, or any other studies that suggest that all planets near the Earth have suspiciously gone through similar warming and cooling periods as this planet, again, call up your friend President Ahmadinejad and have fun.

Less than 10 years ago, there was snow on Halloween in Southern Illinois. If that's not enough proof of man made global warming, maybe you've heard of a little documentary called The Inconvenient Truth. And before you right wing nuts bring up the fact that Al Gore advisor James Hansen fudged historical numbers for temperature, let me just say that there's no proof that he did that.

The fact that when you Google October's temperature and you find hundreds of websites "citing Hansen's data", saying that it was the second warmest October in history, just shows that those websites don't know what they are talking about. I mean, Canada supposedly found the mistake, who's to say that someone in Canada isn't making this all up. Clearly all someone had to do was walk outside in North America during October, and they knew it was colder than normal. A full 3 degrees cooler than last October, in fact.

And there's where part of the victory over Global Warming comes in. All it's taken is our friend Al Gore to win the Nobel Peace Prize, a few green weeks from NBC Universal, who's parent company GE definitely had nothing to gain from those innovative Green Week themes, and that was half the battle. The only other thing to do was drive the price of oil so high that everyone stopped driving, and wallah...cooler temperatures.

In fact, The Inconvenient Truth is the hero of the day. We, meaning the planet of Earth, have lost 1/3 of a degree since the release of The Inconvenient Truth. And thanks to that, we are now cooler than when enemy to the environment, George Bush, took office.

So it is clear that the chapter is closed on Global Warming. All the science is in, and these facts are irrefutable. If you refuse to admit that the war against Global Warming is over, then you're akin to those who refused to believe that Global Warming was man made, which was akin to being a holocaust denier.

So to the end of Global Warming, I am so very thankful.

Week of Thanks. Day 1 - Thankful for reaping what others sow

It's good to pause and give Thanks from time to time. The Bible teaches us to be more enthusiastic with our Thanks than with our desires. There are so many things I'm thankful for; clearly I won't be able to name them all here, but I figured I'd list a few this week, in no particular of importance.

You've heard of reaping what you sow, but that's more of a capitalist way of looking at things. In light of upcoming events, let's go the socialist route and speak about reaping what others sow.

There are things such as reaping the benefits of soldiers hard work to keep our nation free, but that seems like such a downer for a Thankful week such as this. Besides, that's old hat. Sowing the oats of freedom...being thankful for that is so the past 8 years.

So let's look to the future...to hope and change. Boy I'm glad that this change is something worthy of being Thankful for.

So here's to you, sowers of the change I'm about to reap. Thank you lenders, for sowing the labor of faulty home loans. Thank you Congress and Presidents, for pushing home ownership to those that can't afford it. Thank you Treasury Secretary and banks for freezing foreclosures on said owners that couldn't afford the house that you sold them. Thank you all for refusing to let companies fail. Thank you Government for taking ownership in America's banks. Thank you auto unions for your 2200 page union contracts with auto makers and double employee salary compared to foreign competitors. Thank you Congress, again, for bailout after bailout after bailout. Thank you for the wonderous gift of so much tax burden that my grandchildren will be able to hear stories of how candy bars only cost their grandpa ten bucks. I am so thankful for being able to reap the benefits of all these wonderful gifts you all have sown for us lately.

Time = Money...

So if Time = Money...and Money is necessary to "spread the wealth", let's do a little experiment and take out the middle component to determine if "spreading the wealth" is fair, or even a good idea.

Let's say, for this argument's sake, that your job is one that you thoroughly love doing. So in the time component, we've got your time filled passion in the form of a job, sleeping time, and family time, and personal/leisure time, which would also be comprised of doing something you enjoyed.


So, for instance, your typical day is filled with your passion (work) which presumably provides a service or product for people, playing with the kids, spending time with the spouse, reading a good book, and then getting rest to do it all over again the next day.

Now, it's determined that "spreading the wealth" is good and is now government mandated. Since time = money, we're taking money away and using time as our wealth component.

Now a lady down the street, we'll call her Suzie, has applied and been approved for the "spread the wealth" government sharing program. Suzie is a drug addict, she has a life in boyfriend, and other than a part time job at the local fast food joint that Suzie has, her day is spent getting wasted. Still, the government has decided that she needs a fair shot and says that you need to help her out so that she can stay in her home and have the opportunity to get treatment for her addiction.

So at 4:00 every Tuesday, you have been assigned to mow Suzie's lawn and take her trash to the local dump, and any other odds and ends she needs you to do until 5:30. You have no option at this point. It's a government mandated program, and if you don't do your share, you're in violation of the law.

Of course, 4:00 to 5:30 is when you have to take your daughters to piano lessons, but don't worry about that. Someone else has been chosen by the government to "spread the wealth", and they will be taking your kids to piano lessons and then out to eat afterwords. They will have a good time...and who knows, maybe they will teach your daughters something.

After a couple of months, Suzie has relapsed. In all honesty, she never went to the treatment facility...she was out getting high. But she's at home all the time now, wasted, and you're still mandated to mow her lawn and help her out for an hour and a half weekly.

But all is right with the world...it's time for your daughter's recital. You go to your daughter's recital and are blown away by how good she is at playing the piano. Then you realize that you've missed an integral part of your daughter growing up. But at least you were "spreading the wealth", right?

After the recital, you all pile into the car and head to the local fast food joint to celebrate. Upon getting in the car, you learn that your daughter has added a few 4-letter words to her vocabulary, thanks the the other person that's been taking her to piano lessons. Nice. So you decide to get the food to go, because you're going to have to have a talk with your daughter and try to de-program her new vocabulary out of her.

You pull up to the fast food joint, and there's Suzie...ready to take and fill your order. She looks halfway strung out, so you're in that much more of a hurry to get out of there, and when you get home, you realize that Suzie completely jacked up your order. Now you're daughter's bawling because she didn't get her chicken nuggets...and now your de-programming time is put off for another day.

That sounds ludicrous, right? Well, it's no more ludicrous than "spreading the wealth" through the government mandated program of taxes. You're still giving away your heard earned "wealth" (time or money) to someone that is totally unwilling to help themselves. Why is everyone so eager to let our government spit in the face of our Constitution, which never called for any "spreading of the wealth" whatsoever?

A Bold Prediction About Communism??

Nikita Kruschev, a Russian leader in the Communist party back in the 1950's, visited the United States under the Eisenhower administration and spoke with the Secretary of Agriculture at the time, Ezra Benson. Later, Benson recounted the meeting as follows:


"I have personally witnessed the heart-rending results of the loss of freedom. I have talked face to face with the godless communist leaders. It may surprise you to learn that I was host to Mr. Kruschev for a half day when he visited the United States, not that I’m proud of it. I opposed his coming then, and I still feel it was a mistake to welcome this atheistic murderer as a state visitor. But, according to President Eisenhower, Kruschev had expressed a desire to learn something of American Agriculture — and after seeing Russian agriculture I can understand why. As we talked face to face, he indicated that my grandchildren would live under communism. After assuring him that I expected to do all in my power to assure that his and all other grandchildren will live under freedom he arrogantly declaired in substance:

‘You Americans are so gullible. No, you won’t accept communism outright, but we’ll keep feeding you small doses of socialism until you’ll finally wake up and find you already have communism. We won’t have to fight you. We’ll so weaken your economy until you’ll fall like overripe fruit into our hands.’"

I've seen and heard quite a few intelligent people speak about what we can "learn from France" or "Canada" or the like...in other words...what we can learn from socialism. Could Kruschev's prophecy be coming true? There's no doubt that we have little doses of socialism already. Is it enough to say we will live under communism shortly, or are there many more doses of socialism still to come before things get so bad that someone steps out and says, 'I will take care of you. I will lead you and this country into a new direction." and everyone follows?

The 10 Cannots

This is a quote by William J. H. Boetcker. If things go as promised, the truth of this quote will be tested.

You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away man's initiative and independence.
You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.
You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.
You cannot establish security on borrowed money.
You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they will not do for themselves.

This Day...

History was made. America's voice was heard, and our nation forges ahead with renewed passion. Congratulations to Barack Obama. You are the beacon to which countless minorities and all Americans in general will look to in their search for the American Dream. All things are possible. If you can dream it and you work hard enough, you can make it happen.

I Love Fall...

It's easily my favorite time of year. Recently plowed fields...colorful trees distant in the background. It's my idea of heaven.

Sure, many people look at fall as the ending of a life cycle. While factual, I think those may be the glass half empty type of people. I see fall as the beginning. Preparation. It is what is necessary for future growth.

If you're wise enough, you take in the beauty of "fall", and let it fuel you through the hard times until you can sense the rebirth and gain additional inspiration. For we may not know exactly how long the hard times will last, but there will always be growth in the future.