GOOD FRIDAY!

"We are not free, separate, and independent entities, but like links in a chain, and we could not by any means be what we are without those who went before us and showed us the way." ~ Thomas Mann

Ironic. That I would be cooking a pork shoulder and ribs today, huh? Well not really if you dig deep into New Testament scripture, the Law being fulfilled, replaces all of those dietary codes. Good for us. Because Southerners could not live with out our Barbeque.

I was also, pondering this thought, most of my evangelical compadres would really have a hard time with the Biblical Jesus, since he was Jewish. And Liberal. Would he be a "New York Jew" or an "Elistist California Jew" or a "Zionist Jew"?

You know the Bible/Torah mentions being liberal many times and conservative only in a negative sense. Which is totally opposite the meaning today's conservatives apply to it.

Sorry! the word conserve doesn't occur in the KJV. Sorry! the word conservative doesn't occur in the KJV. Liberal occurs 6 times in 4 verses. (search courtesy of www.BlueLetterBible.org/)

Isa 32:5 The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said [to be] bountiful. KJV or in plain English:
( The foolish person will no longer be called generous, Nor the miser said to be bountiful; New King James Version © 1982 Thomas Nelson )

"Little things affect little minds." ~ Benjamin Disraeli

Tomorrow is Good Friday

"Food for the body is not enough. There must be food for the soul." ~ Dorothy Day
If the weather continues to be nice, tomorrow will be a meat smoking day. Early the fire will start, heating the smoker to a nice temperature, before the meat goes on the fire. Depending on the prices at the stores I will be smoking a shoulder, ribs and chicken for the kids. We will be going to a Redbirds game on Saturday night, so they better get their act together before then. What can be better than Barbeque and baseball in the South?

So tomorrow as the smoke rises and the smell of hickory drifts around the house I'll just imagine the taste of the things to come.

"Every man has a right to be conceited until he is successful." ~ Benjamin Disraeli

"Toil, says the proverb, is the sire of fame." ~ Euripides, Greek tragedian

NOTICE: Due to Presidential Executive Orders, the National Security Agency may have read this email without warning, warrant, or notice. They may do this without any judicial or legislative oversight. You have no recourse or protection save to call for the impeachment of the current President.

The breeze is out of the South...

The weather is getting a little warmer and the senses are starting to draw me to the outdoors. I can almost smell the meat smoking on the grill and the hickory burning slowly. Spring and Summer yield an air temperature that allows us to cook out doors with much greater ease.

The fires do not have to be kept as hot to maintain internal temperature. Thank goodness.

We will soon be smoking meat....

"Welcome to Dixie. Please leave everything as you found it." ~ from a note left to the defense attorney in John Grisham’s The Chamber

"One of the sublimest things in the world is plain truth." ~ Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Why did the weather do what it did?

"The stench of corruption [from the White House] has grown so foul, that even the talking heads at Fox are finding it hard to fumigate their evening broadcast." ~ Jean Carnahan

"Fight for your opinions, but do not believe that they contain the whole truth, or the only truth." ~ Charles A. Dana

Sometimes we are so caught up in our own struggles we tend to forget the misfortunes of others. These past few weeks, the states of TN, AR, MO and parts of numerous other sections of other states have been struck with the force of violent storms dropping out of the sky.

Where are the talking heads now, speaking about the wrath of an omnipotent God and his disgust with the people that inhabit the vile areas around Marmaduke, AR and Gallatin, TN. It is because the self righteous find it much easier to raise alarm at big city problems, than the meth labs in trailers in rural southern communities and the abuse families suffer at the hands of overwork and alcohol. Racing on Sunday keeps as many people away from church as does ineffectual witnessing.

Nothing against the most popular sport in modern America, but beer, tight t-shirts, speed, loud engines and even louder mouth fans are not the evangelical's best friend. So why did all the open land in TX and OK burn, also? Same reasons that the hurricanes hit the gulf coast, maybe.

But more likely it is because they have had fewer years of constant rainfall in the last several than you could count and the policies of most conservatives don't plan for water conservation, only money conservation for the wealthy. Again the moral and ethics of Christians are in conflict with the policies of the politically conservative agenda and they stick with "Johnny two note" on only anti-abortion and the marriage amendment; when there are so many other issues that need their attention.

"Republicans were indifferent to the poor". ~ David Kuo, White House deputy director for faith-based initiatives for the George W. Bush administration

"Logic is the art of going wrong with confidence." ~ Morris Kline

Who would have thought it...Bush told Libby Leak it!

"We have met the enemy, and he is us." ~ Pogo Possum

Word is the Preznit told "Scooter" to leak facts about V. Plame being a CIA covert agent to certain MSM columnists to "out" her since her hubby was an outspoken critic of the administration and its War at any cost policies. Go figure! Some how most of the progressive Americans could have predicted this months ago, yet we would have been called anti-American, anti-war on terror (and just what is that now?), anti-business (which means pro-people), but definitely not a "ditto-head", thank God.

America is so much more than Delays and Rushes and Bushes and Cheneys, but obviously we have lost our moral compass, since the ones telling us that we have lost it are the ones with all of the ethical problems. They must know how to spot moral and ethical degradation, huh?

"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"Most leaders work in the superficial 20 percent of organizational dynamics and think it's 100 percent." ~ Brent Filson

Chris Matthews...True Colors

During his interview with disgraced Tom Delay, during which he probably didn't know the camera was still rolling, Chris Matthews gave us special insight into his true nature and frame of mind. He is definitely in the wrong position at this time in his career, especially since his brother is running for office under the GOP banner.

The comments he made about Ms. Clinton were scandalous.

"When people have no other tyrant, their own public opinion becomes one." ~ Edward Bulwer-Lytton

I never have understood Republicans.

"Republicans were indifferent to the poor". ~ David Kuo, White House deputy director for faith-based initiatives

For many years, growing up it puzzled me why my mother's brothers and my father's brothers always voted republican, it took an epiphany and George W. Bush to clear it up. They love liars and love to believe them. They emulate them and support them and believe every word that spews from their mouths.

While complaining about taxes, they were always the first to sign up for government benefits. All veterans, they utilized the benefits that democrats fought for to gain them, while complaining about paying for them. None of them could afford private schooling, yet would vociferously complain about public schooling, while never participating in helping their childrens school. One uncle damned federal assistance projects while taking thousands from Uncle Sam for crop rotation and fallow ground projects, also for crop insurance provided by the federal government.

His son still does not discern where the programs come from and the fact that most of the votes against it are from the people he votes for when he votes. They want good schools and roads, but do not understand it takes taxes to build schools and roads among other things.

The only thing this current generation understands in monetary gain. The mega business trends, mega churches, mega bytes; all for what? Growth is not the end. The process is only a part of the path, we must remain humble and revere the person.

"Man's obsession to add to his wealth and honor is the chief source of his misery." ~ Moses Maimonides (born Moses Ben Maimon)

I hear a lot of buzz about moral compass.....

"The greatest minds are capable of the greatest vices as well as of the greatest virtues." ~ Rene Descartes

Especially loudest from the people who have no idea what either a compass or morality is, the buzz is almost intolerable. The US of A is trying to base its moral compass on a bunch of self-righteous, clueless politicians and evangelical ministers. Neither of which know what to base true morality on. They speak a slightly good game, but totally miss the whole point when it comes to serving the needy and meeting the scriptural basis of their claims.

As Jim Wallis so eloquently points out, since when did Christianity become a belief of the "rich, greedy, war hungry, people hating"?

"Ideologies separate us. Dreams and anguish bring us together." ~ Eugene Ionesco

"The visionary lies to himself, the liar only to others." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Unfortunately for the neo-cons and most of the current pro-business, pro-libertarian evangelicals they have torn several pages out of the only instruction book, that requires NO ALTERATION.

GODSPEED for now!!

Card out, Bolten In...SO?

Bush made a big deal today, finally accepting the three week old resignation of COS Card, just as the news hit about collusion between the stooges in office and Britian's government were hiting the media.

It is increasingly disturbing that the media is owned by fewer and fewer companies. That is really a liberal happening, yeah. Consolidation, elimination, fewer jobs, controlled output, boy that sounds really democratic doesn't it?

We must remain vigilant in the struggle to retain our freedoms.

"With foxes we must play the fox." ~ Dr. Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, 1732

"The healthy man does not torture others - generally it is the tortured who turn into torturers." ~ Carl Jung

Job was a very strong man.....

While in Florida, Friday March 24, 2006, in a speech Cheney said. "And with that sorry record, the leaders of the Democratic Party have decided to run on the theme of competence. If they're competent to fight this war, then I ought to be singing on 'American Idol.' "

You know with his experience in warfare why doesn't he get his but over to Iraq and prove what a really effective shot he is with a weapon. Instead of turning his attention on earning several million more bucks for his cronies and his interest held in "trust"?

Not only is our supreme court appointed president inept, we have to deal with a man of these comprimsed values to make statements like this in defense of an unjust war that he lured us into. When he hasn't the intestinal fortitude to fight in one himself.

How can our military leaders believe this man? I guess they like the perks too much?

"Fanaticism consists in redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim." ~ George Santayana, Spanish philosopher and writer

When do we know when to change directions?

"’Push’ will get a person almost everywhere - except through the door marked ‘pull.’" ~ Author unknown

Why is it we are in a cesspool and do not know how to get out? We as humans should know that we are certain to encounter discouragement from time to time, yet we are in a quagmire of indecision in these days. Our country's leader has taken us down a road we certainly should not have taken. Our military wants to remain loyal, without losing face, their patriotism is commendable, but blind. While they eat their Haliburton supplied meals, from Haliburton supplied tents, out of Haliburton supplied trucks provided from a no-bid contract (because no one else was capable). No ONE Capable! Does this sound like a patriotic American statement from the decision makers of our great nation? They chose Haliburton/KBR because of who they were, not because of the low bid. Wake UP!

"God gives us the ingredients for our daily bread, but he expects us to do the baking." ~ Author unknown

What ever happened to Logic?

My sisters and I have in the past gathered around many a holiday table, be it Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, Mother's Day or the most sacred of all an Auburn Football Game, discussing the role of humans in today's world. The question that always comes up is: What happen to LOGIC?

In years gone by people prided themselves in making "Logical" decisions. People revered others that were "Logical". Spending millions of dollars testing students to see if they have increased their abilities, without increasing the pay of the teachers to do so, is not "Logical". Spending tax dollars to hire a media mouthpiece to prance around the country touting the benefits of this unproven program, all while receiving under the table payments from the department of education is not "Logical", it is unethical.

Logic and Ethics are very closely related, yet the extreme right has lost its moral compass and figures that we no longer can see it "Logically". When a government is guided by a group of thugs and nonsensical bullies as it is today, "Logic" is thrown out the window, just as the baby is with the bath water.

A war fought on false reasons, more for money than for real safety, achieving less, is still under way as I write this. And it is not "Logical".

"The best way to escape from a problem is to solve it." ~ Brendan Behan

"The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do." ~ Walter Bagehot

NOTICE:
Due to Presidential Executive Orders, the National Security Agency may have read this blog without warning, warrant, or notice. They may do this without any judicial or legislative oversight. You have no recourse or protection save to call for the impeachment of the current President.

Will we ever learn?

"The belief that youth is the happiest time of life is founded on a fallacy. The happiest people are those who think the most interesting thoughts. Those who decide to use leisure as a means of mental development, who love good music, good books, good pictures, good company, good conversation, are the happiest people in the world. And they are not only happy in themselves; they are the cause of happiness in others." ~ William Lyon Phelps

I surrender to the idea that Americans are truly as lazy as once thought by most of the world. We continue to rest on our collective laurels, while the powers that are take away our freedoms in the name of freedom. Awkward as it sounds, the liberation of our Nation is not up to republicanist, nor democracist, but the true freedom loving Americans among us that refuse to take it any more.

We must demand ethics in governance and the operation of government, no matter who is in power. The troughs must be emptied and the feeding frenzy stopped before WE starve. The special interest groups, disguised as business development, need to be disemboweled from the feeding tubes of the taxpayers. We can no longer support KBR's and Haliburton's and Enron's of this country while letting the ports be sold to foreign interests.

WAKE UP!

Complacent-do we even know what it means?

"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist." ~ Dom Helder Camara

I have noticed that so many of my acquaintances don't care about anything outside their immediate sphere of touch. Notice I did not use the word influence. Why, because as citizens we use less and less influence in our sphere, because we are selfish. That is why the conservatives think they won the culture war on the mind of America, because the spiritual mind of America does care about others. However, true conservatives are selfish, self-serving, hoarding, my-way or the highway kind of people. Unfortunately evangelicals have fallen in with this belief in a prosperous type of America, following the teachings of latter-day Reverend Ike's like Joel Osteen, Benny Hinn, Crefol Dollar, Joyce Meyer and Jan and Paul Crouch of TBN. They all sell the give to me and God will bless you theme. Neglecting the time worn camel through the eye of the needle comparison to a rich man getting into heaven is beyond them. They both privately and publicly rundown mainstream Christians that follow a more traditional, less affluent path to salvation. God never promised riches on earth, only rewards in heaven.

I chuckled to myself last evening at our interim pastor as he mentioned an experience with a woman that felt that she had always been called to be a missionary in Africa. But once she was there she asked, do I have to work with black people? This is so typical of this type of christian, they do not understand realistic sacrifice, especially their place in the real world.

"Do Justice, Love Kindness, Walk humbly with your God." ~ Micah 6:8

Christians BEWARE!!

And you think they have the same values that evangelical Christians do? Think! Use the brain God gave you; really understand what is going on.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11548419/?GT1=7756
Polygamist judge forced off bench in Utah
Man flouting state polygamy law has three wives, 32 children

Associated Press Updated: 4:47 p.m. ET Feb. 24, 2006

SALT LAKE CITY - A small-town judge with three wives was ordered removed from the bench by the Utah Supreme Court on Friday.

The court unanimously agreed with the findings of the state’s Judicial Conduct Commission, which recommended the removal of Judge Walter Steed for violating the state’s bigamy law.

Steed has served for 25 years on the Justice Court in the polygamist community of Hildale in southern Utah, where he ruled on such matters as drunken driving and domestic violence cases.

A year ago, the commission issued an order seeking Steed’s removal from the bench, after a 14-month investigation determined Steed was a polygamist and had violated Utah’s bigamy law.

Bigamy is a third-degree felony in Utah punishable by up to five years in prison and up to $5,000 in fines.

“Judge Steed’s relationship with his three plural wives for more than 20 years clearly runs afoul of the prohibition,” the ruling said. “When the law is violated or ignored by those charged by society with the fair and impartial enforcement of the law, the stability of our society is placed at undue risk.”

The initial complaint against Steed was filed with the commission in November 2003 by Tapestry Against Polygamy, a group founded by former polygamous women who help others leave the secretive religious colonies.

Three wives, 32 kids
Steed legally married his first wife in 1965, according to court documents. The second and third wives were married — or “sealed” as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints refers to it — to him in religious ceremonies in 1975 and 1985. The three women are sisters.

Steed has 32 children by the three women, according to court documents.

A receptionist at the Judicial Conduct Commission said neither the commission nor its attorney on the case, Colin Winchester, would comment.

Attorneys for Steed scheduled a news conference for later Friday.

In the court’s November hearing, justices focused their questions on two issues: whether Steed’s conduct impugns the judicial office and whether he should be removed from the bench if he has not been criminally tried and convicted of bigamy.

Friday’s decision did not address the trial-and-conviction issue. It only said that the illegal behavior is something Steed acknowledged and that he “has given every indication that he intends to continue his ‘plural marriage’ arrangement.”

Plural marriage holdouts
Plural marriage was an original tenet of the mainline Mormon church, but the faith abandoned the practice in 1890. About 30,000 polygamists, who split from the main church into various fundamentalist sects, are believed to be living in Utah, the Southwest, Mexico and Canada.

Justice Court judges are appointed to four-year terms by city councils or county commissions to handle class B and C misdemeanor infractions, charges with penalties that don’t exceed up to six months in jail or $1,000 in fines.

Judges are not required to have any legal education or training prior to appointment. A truck driver by trade, Steed was paid a few hundred dollars monthly for serving in the part-time position.

What do we understand?

"My problem is I say what I'm thinking before I think what I'm saying." ~ Dr. Laurence J. Peter

We understand little these days, other than what is near to us. Worldly distractions continue to pile up at our doors and windows trying to get inside to influence our minds. Constant onslaught cannot be avoided, it may however be evaded. Not by ducking and running, not by scrambling to hide, but boldly standing by our principles.
Situations that normally cause distress are handled with grace and compassion for all involved. Morality is not just rhetoric and words spoken to incite or illicit a response; it is how we daily live our lives. How people really perceive us. Actions do really speak louder than words. If we live this way daily it is done without thinking it becomes our nature.

"Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task." ~ William James

"A man does not have to be an angel in order to be saint." ~ Albert Schweitzer

"Never trust a person who’s always critical, and always distrust a person who’s never critical." ~ Dr. Mardy Grothe

Time to Think?

These past few months, I have been able to watch the unfolding and dis-assembly of the Bush administration before my eyes on national television and in the media. Whether it be electronic media or written in the pages of our newspapers, blogs, or online news control has slipped into cronyism.

Richard Reeves said on Charlie Rose the other night that his respect for Reagan had changed since he died. Mainly because he did a few things well, but only those things. He did not know people's names, he did not have a wide scope, he had a very narrow focus. He was easily distracted. Not because of his age, he did not care to be concerned for anything that did not interest him.

That is probably why the majority of Americans now like him so; he was simple minded. Easy to distract, he would have loved Fox News and its tabloid style. Compare the irony of Fox News and its perceived morals to Fox Network Televison's purely trash television offerings, he would have loved that also.

I have noticed the Reaganites are the best examples of polar opposites in one individual that you can find. One of my best friends is one of them: He boasts of his morals and stiffs his ex-wife on child support. He condemns abortion as illegal acts, yet uses many truly illegal drugs and alcohol. He lambastes liberals for supporting socialized medicine, then leaves the country to receive social medicine in Germany as an ex-pat. He spends all day listening to Neil Boortz for social commentary and Bill O'Reilly for sexual advice.

But it is easy to see why he and the masses were attracted to Reagan and now to Bush, simpletons are like magnets, they attract each other. They actually believe some day that they will earn enough in their job to become one of the upper 5%. They just don't get it that the harder they work the more they have to earn to become a 5%'er. They are under some kind of assumption that 5% starts at $40,000 per year. Boy are they in for a surprise.

"The problem with being sure that God is on your side is that you can't change your mind, because God sure isn't going to change His." ~ Roger Ebert, film-critic (1942- )

"Let people think they govern, and they will be governed." ~ William Penn

"I'm not smart. I try to observe. Millions saw the apple fall but Newton was the one who asked why." ~ Bernard Mannes Baruch

So you wonder why W can't save your money?

I love the folks at truthout.org. They don't care who they piss off. Word is now that another reason we are in such debt is that the sadministration is spending so much telling us why we have it so good! Go figure.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022206D.shtml

And just when things in the domain of W the little start to slow down, he screws up and peeves both sides of the aisle by saying that the Dubai based company will control up to six (6) US ports. Which strangely enough he has connections to through his staff. Even boasting about no VETOES!!!.

TAKE AMERICA BACK!

Mary Matalin should have done her research.

This morning Mary Matalin was on the Today Show defending her "vice" president to some semi-tough questions from the ever perky Katie Couric. Katie was probing and Mary Matalin had a difficult time answering the questions posed in the short interview. Ms. Matalin should have read some of the news reports from this past weekend to get her story straight. She did not have her facts congruent with the facts poised by the White House, the VEEP's office and the neo-con talking heads. She kept referring to the "fact" that Ms. Armstrong was an "eye witness" to the accident, when she herself, said on Sunday that when she saw the security detail running toward the area where the "VEEP" and Mr. Whittington were hunting, she knew something was wrong.
Mary, Mary, you are so contrary. It is a good thing James is so forgiving. He must have a great sense of humor. Well he is Southern and a Cajun.

"Half the truth is often a great lie." ~ Benjamin Franklin, statesman, author, and inventor (1706-1790)

Cheney is Responsible...well damn.

As my friend William would say. Even though he has been decidedly silent on this issue. No surprose there. He seems to listen to Neil Boortz, Rush Limbaugh and Faux News 24/7. And what's more he believes it all. He thinks Thomas Sowell is a God and "W" was the original cherry tree chopping president.

He is one of those "silent majority types" that thinks eventually he will own everything he touches. He has a very negative attitude about everything except wealth. What is so ironic about William is that he lectures me about my morals, yet he uses drugs, has been divorced, skipped the country to avoid paying child support, moved to Germany to get free health care and votes republican; because he doesn't want anyone to have those kind of benefits here.

He just doesn't want to pay for any one else to have the same benefits he wants. He doesn't believe in abortion, yet has paid for more than one for girlfriends in trouble. He lectures me about how I have let down society because I don't have the moral convictions he has.

He probably hasn't been into a church, except for a funeral, since I was in his wedding back in 1981. I am not only a regular attender, but involved in many aspects on my local church. No, I am not guilty, I am just fed up with his repugnant attitude. The holier than thou thing has gotten old. We must take back the faith.

"Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right." ~ Isaac Asimov

"If you are sure you understand everything that is going on, you are hopelessly confused." ~ Walter Mondale