Letters of Hypocrisy

 FoxNews.com. is reporting that Afghan President Hamid Karzai released a statement that he received a letter of apology from President Obama.  In the letter, President Obama is "formally apologizing for the burning of Korans at a U.S. military base in Afghanistan".  It goes on to say that he expresses his "deep regret for the reported incident" and offers his "sincere apologies".  Seriously?  President Obama is writing a letter on behalf of our nation apologizing for our military?

Don't get me wrong, I am not a big fan of book burning of any kind, but we are talking about military men and women burning a book that teaches its followers to kill them.  These are the same military people that have faced the barrels of guns pointed at them by people that follow the Koran's teachings. Let's not mince words here, the people fighting against our military would like to see them eliminated from the face of the earth for belonging to this nation and for the fact that many of them are Christians themselves.  This is the same military personal that has witnessed the horrific treatment of women, children, and Afghanistan Christians because of the teachings of the Koran.  And our President writes a letter of apology stating that he assures Afghan that this won't happen again and we will be " holding accountable those responsible".  This is the same President whose administration would not allow our own military that are followers of the Catholic faith to listen to their church's teachings regarding birth control and abortion just two weeks ago?  Does this make any sense? Does anyone else see the hypocracy in all of this?

President Obama has canceled the National Day of Prayer traditionally held in our country. He has stated that we are not a Chrisian nation. He has trampled on religious traditions and principles longheld in our country.  And most recently, he has pushed through his socialist healthcare agenda that will now--in addition to many other troublesome acts--force religious institutions to provide healthcare that includes free birth control even if it violates the institutions religious beliefs.  But he has the audacity to be concerned about another country's feelings about a religious book being burned?  Who exactly is he representing? 

 We are told that the upcoming elections should be about the economy, that we should focus on jobs and stay away from the social issues.  There is a plethora of discussion on which Republican candidate is the best and what strategy should be taken to win the election in November.  These are all important, but fellow Americans, we do not have to wait until late summer to find out who the Republican candidate is going to be to run against Obama.  It doesn't matter who it is when it comes to this point:  we have to be making our case NOW for getting President Obama out of the White House!  We have to present the case to our fellow citizens that we cannot afford to have this President win a second term--not just on financial grounds, but on moral, righteous, patriotic grounds!  We cannot have a President that goes around apologizing for our nation for offending countries that are trying to kill us while at the same time inhibiting our own religious freedoms and putting our liberty in peril!  We don't even need to mention the word "taxes", we have an argument in the preservation of our freedom!  This has to be proclaimed.  The actions of our President that fly under the radar, such as this, need to come to light.  We cannot afford to be silent on these issues.  We have to present our case and we have to start doing so now.  We do not need anyone to apologize for our military.  Because of them, we are here and safe and still enjoying being free.  Impart those you come into contact with to consider the ramifications of a President limiting our religious freedoms while standing up for a book of evil in another country.  This isn't about being a Democrat or Republican.  It's about America being able to hold its head high.  I pray to God we still have that chance after Novemb

My Family is a Mess

Well, after reading the news this morning, I have decided that my family is pretty much a mess.  It is also time for "Confessions of a Terrible Mother".  You see, I don't know what my kids eat for lunch most days.  Yes, you  read that correctly.  My almost 14 year old daughter attends a private school and she packs her own lunch each morning (pang of guilt just shot through me as I eked those words out).  As for the boys that are home schooled, well they are simply on their own.  I have this unrealistic expectation that my 15 year old son can manage to fix lunch for himself and his 7 year old brother while I attend to other duties around the house.  OK, now I've said it.

Well, I guess I could lesson my guilt by saying I know what they are not eating.  I generally don't buy chips, ho-ho's, oreos,  pop, fruit roll ups, and the like.  So unless they have a source of income that I don't know about or a strong desire to contribute from their limited financial resources to the family food pantry, they can't be putting these foods in their mouths in a daily basis.  Still, my stocking the pantry probably isn't enough to allay my concerns and get me off "the bad mother" list.  It appears that an incident just occurred in my state of North Carolina that has upped the anty on what a good lunch is.  The Carolina Journal is reporting a story from an elementary school in North Carolina where a preschool girl had her lunch inspected by a state employee.  Yes, you should read that again.  Her lunch was inspected by a state employee.  Upon inspection, it was discovered that she had a turkey and cheese sandwich, a banana, some chips (gulp), and apple juice.  The lunch was confiscated, she was given a government issue, nutritious, 3 chicken nugget replacement, and her mom was billed for the replacement lunch.  Wow, am I in trouble when the state inspectors visit my daughter's school and I can't even tell them if I knew what she had packed that day!  (minus of course the things that I knew I hadn't purchased based on my, albeit probably flawed, parental judgement)  Even worse will be when the inspectors come to the house because on rare occasions I do purchase a bag of chips and my oldest son might have chosen that day to give them to his younger brother!  And, oh my gosh, sometimes they eat canned fruit instead of fresh!

Then I read the article about mental health and I can feel myself slipping even deeper into the "my family is a disaster" abyss!  In a Feb. 9, 2012 Reuters report, there are new definitions of what counts as mental illness coming out.  The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is used internationally as the mental health medicine "diagnostic bible".  Apparently, revisions of the DSM are in the works.  In it, definitions of various mental disorders will be updated and new ones will be added.  For example, the definition of "Oppositional Defiant Disorder" is being broadened to include those that "perform deliberate actions to annoy others".   Just yesterday I caught my daughter telling her brother he couldn't use her hand held game even though she wasn't using it.  When I asked why, she said because she wanted to annoy her brother!  She purposely tried to annoy him!  That classifies her as having Oppositional Defiant Disorder now!

But it gets worse!  They are also including "shyness" as a mental disorder in the new DSM.  My fifteen year old is very shy!  He hates going into new group settings, he is the one that waits for people to approach him, and he would rather be with one friend than in a group of 20.  He suffers from shyness, so he also fits into the DSM classification of having mental illness!

So there you have it.  Thanks to government and bureaucratic intervention at various levels, I have come to the conclusion that my family is in serious need of help here.  At least when my kids are all in the mental hospital for their various disorders they will probably be given a proper lunch.  Heaven knows I couldn't figure out what would constitute a good one.

These are not my words, but they are powerful.  They provide a good lesson that is so true--and sobering.  This piece is rather long, but very worth the time it takes to read.

February 12, 2010 by Sharon Sebastion, Bear Essentials contributor.

Though Marxism seeks to rid society of God, Hitler allowed religions.  Early in his political career, he praised Catholicism.  Initially, he also was favorably inclined towards Christianity.  In time as he garnered power, Hitler came to find Christianity particularly troublesome when Christian pastors spoke out against his systematic annihilation of Germany's Jews.  Hitler set out to wash the veneer of Christian beliefs from German society.

Mid-1800, the false scientific justification to deny God as Creator started with a man named Charles Darwin.  Darwin's theory of evolution divided humans into superior and inferior status.  Darwin, in his own writings, labeled people of color, in particular black people, as sub-par and sub-human.  The appeal of such a theory held great appeal to men who both denied the existence of God and sought superiority over fellow humans.  Among them was Karl Marx, the father of Communism...Equally grateful to Darwin were mass murderers Lenin, Stalin, Mao and Hitler.  All wrote of Darwin's influence on them and their policies to oppress masses of people.

In time... [Hitler] sought a new religion that would spring from the Nazi party and pagan Swastika as its symbol to replace the Cross in Germany's New World Order.  In time, Hitler allowed comment that:  "You can be German or you can be a Christian, but you can't be both".  Hitler declared, "Evolution was the natural order of things," allowing him to debase Jewish people, homosexuals and the disabled to a lower evolutionary scale.  He allowed that "National Socialism and Christianity cannot co-exist together".  Historians record that Hitler's religious views vacillated as his power grew until it became difficult to discern if the god Hitler actually worshipped was himself.

Hitler created the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazis) and surrounded himself with men who were atheists or occultists who shared the desire to replace Christianity with a religion that did not require conscience...Himmler stated a preference for the faith of anti-Semitic Muslims who were willing to die for the German cause to attain a reward in their heaven...Hitler made his memoir, Mein Kampf, the official bible of Nazism.

Historians reveal that, in time, power turned [Hitler] inward to self-worship that perpetuated a growing alienation resulting in the imprisonment and death of Christians.  Nazi Germany stands as a warning to all societies that look the other way or tolerate a denunciation or assault on Christianity and Judaism by their political leaders.

Karl Marx described Socialism and Marxisn as interchangeable.  Socialism merely greases the skids from Capitalism into Marxism.  Marxism and Fascism need to eliminate God so that conscience is muted and the government can become god in people's lives.  Socialism strips people of initiative, innovation and self-reliance and encourages a dependence on government, "the new god", from cradle to grave.  Americans are highly resistant to becoming wards of the state.  The danger lies with a plethora of laws being passed that are currently legislating values and principles of faith out of American life.  Laws in process in Congress carry fines and penalties to force all people to fore go personal and religious liberties.  Marxism, Socialism, and Fascism, counter America's founding faith.  History begs that Americans take heed if America is to remain one nation under God with liberty and justice for all."

This last paragraph is particularily chilling in terms of what has been happening over the past two weeks with the Obama administration mandating that religious organizations provide contraception and abortion coverage in their health care insurance policies. The issue is really about much more than whether or not a birth control pill is provided. Those very words about eliminating conscience have been spoken by those close to President Obama.  He--and other elected officials--ARE trying to legislate faith and conscience out of American life.  We need to learn from history, take action, and not allow history to repeat itself lest we someday wake up and find ourselves in a society reminiscent of World War II Germany.  If we don't open our eyes for ourselves, lets at least do it for our children.

Good News/ Bad News

My youngest son, Bram, age 7, loves to be outdoors.  This is great and fits well with my philosophy of parenting that kids need to play outside.  However, I have to admit that I am getting really sick of the daily pile of very dirty, muddy clothes from him running around like a typical little boy climbing trees, sliding down (muddy) hills, and all of the rest.  So the other day as he was heading outside, I said, "don't get all dirty today!"  (what was I thinking?)  A little while later, he comes to the door and says, "Mom, the good news is that I am not ALL dirty, just my butt".

So do you want the good news first or last?  We'll go with first. In three GOP primary/caucus races yesterday, Rick Santorum had an awesome finish.  He sailed to victory in all three states, and not only claimed first place, but did so with amazing leads.  While I happen to be a Rick Santorum supporter and  am happy for that reason, there is more to the story.  Even if I were not, I would still find the results exciting.  For one thing, it is one of those "Rocky" moments where the underdog comes from behind.  I have always been a stickler for that.  But more than that, it upsets the establishment script.  That is reason to cheer in and of itself.  I hate it when the Party heads (whether Democrat or Republican)  and the media try to determine these races ahead of the time.  How long have we heard that it would be Romney that gets the GOP nomination?  Then the narrative turned into "it is a two man race"--meaning between Romney and Gingrich.  Before yesterday, less than 10% of the states had held any form of election, yet the race had been determined as far as the talking heads were concerned.  That annoys me.  I love it when the whole story gets turned upside down and they are left scratching their heads!  Instead, the American people spoke.  We are reminded again that our votes count!  We can take solace in the fact that fellow Americans do not just blindly go along with what "the script" says, but they voice their own opinions and choices.  Whether you are a Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, or Newt Gingrich supporter (or none of the above), that is good news for all of us.  Whoever the eventual nominee is, we need it to be someone elected by the people, not the media and Party leaders.  Way to go, Rick Santorum!

Now for the bad news.  In recent days, the White House and it's administration have released the details of their latest vice grip on Americans through the guise of "health care".  It has to do with religious organizations providing for birth control and abortion coverage under their health insurance for employees.  The government is now requiring that organizations like Christian backed colleges or hospitals have to provide this coverage even if it goes against the church's teachings.  Churches themselves will be exempt from providing this coverage, but an institution like Catholic Social Services or a Christian private school would not.  No matter what the organization feels about this.  Why should that possibly be a consideration?  After all, we would not really want to practice religious freedom, would we?  Now don't be fooled, you might have heard yesterday that the administration has backtracked on this.  What they have decided is that these institutions have one year to comply.  Or in the words of Lanny Davis, commentator and former Clinton White House administration member, put it this way:  these organizations have a year to come to terms with these matters of conscience.  Oh great.  You oppose abortion, so we will give you a year to get used to the idea before we make you support it in one way or another.  That sounds like liberty.

No matter where you fall on this issue, it should concern you for the simple fact that the White House is trampling on our country's heritage of religious freedom.  When our religious institutions loose the freedom to implement policies based on their faith, we are in a very dangerous place as a country.  As usual, those touting "freedom of choice" only champion it when it goes in one direction----the path to more contraception and abortion.

In other news, now coming to college campuses near you...the ability to purchase The Morning After Pill in vending machines.  Right next to the machines are the advisories to see the school nurse if you need a Tylenol.  They might be a bit too dangerous without some supervision.

I think I would have rather heard about my son's muddy pants.

Fearful Voting

One of my children had a very difficult time potty training due to some GI issues.  Feeling quite frustrated and like we would never get this task completed, I sought out a doctor's help.  I remember her looking at me and saying, "They will not graduate from high school in diapers.  I promise".  I think it was her kind way of telling me to get a grip, stop operating out of fear, and leave the unrealistic scenarios behind.

I feel like we should apply that same type of practical sentiment to the current Republican Presidential primary race.  We WILL have a Republican candidate in the end.  It may not be our first choice, but let's face it, any of the four candidates left in the race would do a better job at running the country than President Obama.  For that matter, my cat would do a better job at being President than Obama.  She likes to sleep a lot, but he likes to be out playing golf all the time, so it would even out.  Besides, she wouldn't create anymore debt for our country.  That alone would help us and keep us from accruing untold more trillions in debt.  But I digress...Polling in Florida last Tuesday indicated that the number one reason people had for choosing who they voted for was the need to beat Obama.  While that is important, I think people are almost in panic mode.  They are so fearful that Obama will win in November, that they are letting that fear drive who they are voting for instead of choosing the candidate that they think would do the best job.  If everyone would vote for who they really like, maybe the Republican Party would actually end up with a candidate that people like and are excited about getting behind.

Once the candidate is chosen will be the time to put both feet in even if we don't like the candidate.  That is the time to unite and make our first goal beating Obama.  But the primaries should be the time for rooting for your guy, for taking the opportunity to cast a vote for the person that most closely matches your ideals, principles, and values.  If your state hasn't held its primary yet, vote for your first choice.  Don't let fear dictate your vote.  There will be a candidate.  If it isn't your first choice, that will be the time to acquiesce if you must. 

One final note, don't let the media decide for you either.  I am sick of hearing that the race is between two candidates only.  Last I checked, there were still four guys running.  And just because history has shown something in the past, like no one has gone on to win the candidacy without winning Florida, doesn't mean things can't change.  This is OUR election.  Make your vote count.  Vote for who you think is best.   Don't let fear cast your ballot.