Is Compromise the REAL Name of the Game?

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American Moral Character

Every few years, seemingly corresponding to the election of a Democratic President – but not ALL Democrats – the question arises about the integrity or character of elected leadership. When the news of President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky broke, I recall the scandal nearly became the determining factor in his re-election in 1996. Nearly! I remember the debate over the importance or relevance of the “character” of the sitting President. There were actually those among us who believed the false notion that one’s personal character had nothing to do with his ability to perform his duty. REALLY??? If the President takes his oath seriously, We-the-People have nothing to worry about. However, if, as now, we have a President who must have had his fingers crossed behind his back when he took his oath, well, just look around. The evidence of questionable character is more than evident.

Another issue that floats to the surface is the class separation as referenced by party. R stands for Rich Republican … really? Who had a fundraiser event in Hollywood for $35,800 per plate? Nope! Not the Republicans … but the pseudo royalty of the entertainment industry. To be nice, I won’t name names! Funny how that never gets mentioned, eh? Hollywood celebrities supporters Obama for President

What makes a good leader? Ha! Just for the sake of argument, I googled that question. In most of the top websites listed, there was little or no requirement for any kind of moral integrity. I like the first listing on the site referenced here: Accountability! Our elected officials are accountable to US – to WE THE PEOPLE! WE must hold them to the promises they make or FIRE THEM! For must too long, WE THE PEOPLE have watched as these power-driven men and women say anything to obtain our vote, then do as they please to line their own pockets.

GOP congresswoman photographed in compromising situation with wealthy donor

Mike Bennett, Florida State Senator, Caught Looking At Risque Images During Floor Debate On Abortion Bill

Anthony Weiner Photos: Congressman Sent X-Rated Pictures Of Himself

Then, of course, there is Arnold Schwarzenegger and his mistress etc. Schwarzenegger’s love child: How did he keep the secret so long?

It saddens me to say that WE THE PEOPLE elected these officials, and many more like them – on BOTH sides of the aisle. Corruption and compromise are accepted as rules of the game. Sexual misbehavior (i.e. infidelity, impropriety, and illegal use of gov’t funds and equipment for sexual reasons) is rampant in Washington, but also in state capitols. OR maybe their poor behavior makes us feel better about our own? WE THE PEOPLE bought the lies that morality is relative and the ends justify the means, and now we are paying the price. Morality is who we are! Do you really believe that someone who is able to lie and cheat those closest to him/her will not do the same to his or her constituency?

WRONG!

It is long past time WE THE PEOPLE demand more! That we expect Better! Higher quality both from our elected officials AND from ourselves! Morality does NOT have to rely on religious background. I don’t know about you, but I’m damn tired of being “less than the best” … of being way down on the list in education (compared to other industrialized nations), of being way down on the list of exporters of QUALITY goods at a reasonable price, of being way up on crime, violence, and suicide. BUT … yes, there’s a BUT … and I’ll close with this:

What are you personally willing to sacrifice to help get America to a healthy, productive, compassionate place? Your moral choices? Your vote? Your Time to volunteer somewhere? Your Money where our mouth is? Your belief in Higher taxes? Your neighbors’ joblessness? Your downsizing to a smaller home? Your purchase of fewer ‘luxury’ items? Fewer benefits at work? Americans, at least this generation, have never felt the pinch of genuine sacrifice. Oh sure we may throw a couple dollars into an offering plate, or donate a few charitable dollars now and then, but that isn’t real sacrifice. Can we go without that McDonald’s meal? or the latest plasma TV? or the newest model mobile device? Even if it means a responsible balanced national budget? Time will tell. Time and some better choices and increased involvement will tell.

All tyranny needs to gain a foothold

is for people of good conscience to remain silent.
Thomas Jefferson

REALLY?

READ MORE:

HOT! The President’s lies about why employment growth is so anemic

The Disgraceful History of the Democrat Party

POLITICO ISSUES CORRECTION AFTER PALIN CAMP BASHES AUTHORS FOR ‘MAKING UP’ QUOTE

Obama’s quick trip from tyrant to weakling

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A Sweet Way to Make Everyone Smile

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The Halloween Candy Buy-Back Program!

Every kid loves Halloween! So do adults.
As responsible dentists, community members, and US citizens, Halloween Candy Buy Back dentists have found a way to keep the fun, while helping kids and our troops deployed overseas.

How does the program work?

Participating dentists “buy” back kids’ Halloween candy at a scheduled event

“Buy” with cash, coupons, toothbrushes, creative exchanges – They can partner with local businesses to give away coupons for food, services, goods, etc. They can give away the Hygiene Kits, they can set up an Opportunity Prize–each kid gets a ticket per pound of candy for an opportunity drawing to win special prizes, etc.

Dentists send the candy to Operation Gratitude or other Military support groups

Operation Gratitude sends the candy to U.S. Military deployed in harm’s way

MORE INFO HERE

Get into the spirit of giving a little early this year
and help our TROOPS, too!!!

Finding Maturity

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"life lessons", American Interests, American Moral Character, American Morality, Building Character, Conservative opinion, Human nature, spiritual, Women's Issues

A sad little girl sat pondering her life, though only 12 years old was she. She pouted and stormed around her house. She was never seen to smile.

She cried and cried alone was she, for no one could stand her mourning. She paced back and forth, tears streaking her face, and wondered why no one embraced her.

She grew and grew and little by little, she started to see outside. She saw other kids laugh, and she saw others kids play, still no one approached her at all.

This puzzled this dear one, and caused her to think, think hard about what others knew. They knew how to laugh, and they knew how to play, but they didn’t know how to break through.

This sad little girl, became a melancholy young lady, and still her depression grew. Alone in the dark, she pondered her fate, and waited for her knight in white armor.

Alas, sighed she, wherever can he be, this courageous, magnificent Savior … When lo and behold, as she called out his name, He claimed her and set her aflame.

Nay, not just an ordinary candlelight flame, but a richer, much brighter zeal. She turned her eyes outward and opened them wide, and soon purposeful joy overwhelmed her.

“When you look away from the weight you bear,” she said as she turned again and looked outward, “Then suddenly all that appears unfair, seems only a trap to impair.”

This week’s Inspiration Monday entry. Prompt used: When you look away You’re wonderful, BEKINDREWRITE

Learn it! Understand it! Apprehend it! Memorize it! – The REAL Preamble!

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"life lessons", American Conservative, American Heroes, American history, American Interests, American Moral Character, American Morality, Conservative opinion, Military appreciation, spiritual, US Military Veterans

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” Hosea 4:6

“Our peculiar security is in the possession
of a written Constitution.
Let us not make it a blank paper by construction.”

Thomas Jefferson, letter to Wilson Nicholas, 1803

The Preamble to the US Constitution:

WHO? – We the People of the United States,

• in Order to form a more perfect Union, (establish a uniquely American culture, made up of a shared heritage and vision)
• establish Justice,(legal system)
• insure domestic Tranquility (peace within our borders),
• provide for the common defence(provide an adequate military force to defend our borders against ALL enemies, both foreign and domestic,)
• promote the general Welfare (enable commerce, build infrastructure – roads and bridges, provide general rules of safety, not give 50+% of the population Welfare!),
• and secure the Blessings of Liberty (What are these “Blessings of Liberty?”) to ourselves and our Posterity,

(This list defines the proposed function of our Federal Government as our Founding Fathers saw it!)

do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Learn it!

Understand it!

Apprehend it!

Memorize it!

And share it with your children,
your parents, your siblings,
your neighbors until once again,
every American
has at least some idea
of what America is!

Freedom and Virtue are Inextricably Entwined

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"life lessons", American, American Conservative, American Heroes, American history, American Interests, American Moral Character, American Morality, character training, Committment, Conservative opinion, Human nature, spiritual

"Ah forget it! If it feels good, do it!"

Today in America, about 75% of adults identify themselves as Christian. In comparison, the next largest religions in America are Islam and Judaism. Combined they represent only about one to two percent of the United States population. ReligiousTolerance.org

That says that nearly 225,000,000 Americans believe they are Believers in the One True God. And, after all, virtue does not require belief in God (or does it?) Still, immorality floods our streets, our homes, our schools, and our churches, cathedrals and synagogues. That is a problem! From suicide to abortion, from euthanasia to childhood abuse, what happened to all the “good” neighbors? How can we expect our children to learn virtue, if we, as adults, are not moral (including humility!)?

This graph was posted originally March 9, 2004 HERE. I’m sure the results would be even more exaggerated now. All one need do is watch 5 minutes of local news or pick up the front page of any newspaper to see that self-control is out the window, and self-indulgence is the rage! (pun intended!) Immorality is easy! Virtue is work!

Freedom and Virtue are Inextricably Entwined

Think about it! They go together like bees and honey! How can one exist without the other? It can’t! Freedom requires that each individual “respect” the rights of his neighbor. Virtue thrives amid personal freedom where it can be freely expressed. Without one or the other, they BOTH wane. This is the fundamental reason America is where she is today! We live under “relative” or “situational” ethics/morals/virtue! We look at how our neighbors live and use that as a reference point. Or we use our boss, or some political or entertainment or athletic figure as a sort of guideline.

Morality … Virtue cannot be relative (or situaltional.) It cannot depend on each situation. Murder is either right or wrong. Drug dependence is either right or wrong. Rape is either right or wrong. Gossip is … yea, that is harder. Or is it? Anger … Right of wrong? Beating up another person … right or wrong? Even if they cut you off in traffic?Drinking and driving … right or wrong? Lying … ooooh another hard one. Is lying right or wrong?

You see … We KNOW what is right and what is wrong. It’s almost instinctive. That is not to say we don’t ever tell lies or allow others to make us angry, but we know it is not right … it is not a good thing! We know it is not virtuous to engage in over-indulgence of any kind. What do we do about it? Do we push it aside and say (like we did when we were 10) “Everyone else is doing it!” or “Johney’s mom let’s him do it!” Yea, I know!

So the next time someone cuts in front of you in traffic, smile and say, “Thanks! I needed that reminder! I’m not perfect either!”

The grace we show will come back to us when we need it most!

What Would the Founders Do or Think?

“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.” Benjamin Franklin

“When public virtue is gone, when the national spirit is fled […] the republic is lost in essence, though it may still exist in form.” John Adams

“Without Freedom of Thought, there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such Thing as publick Liberty, without Freedom of Speech.” Benjamin Franklin

“Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition.” Thomas Jefferson

“The truth is, all might be free if they valued freedom, and defended it as they ought.” Samuel Adams

“Political freedom includes in it every other blessing. All the pleasures of riches, science, virtue, and even religion itself derive their value from liberty alone. No wonder therefore wise and prudent legislators have in all ages been held in such great veneration; and no wonder too those illustrious souls who have employed their pens and sacrificed their lives in defense of liberty have met with such universal applause. Their reputations, like some majestic river which enlarges and widens as it approaches its parent ocean, shall become greater and greater through every age and outlive the ruins of the world itself.” Benjamin Rush

You’re Right to Stand

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"life lessons", American, American Conservative, American Heroes, American history, American Interests, American Moral Character, American Morality, Building Character, Committment, Conservative opinion, Military appreciation, US Military Veterans

ALL SERVICE MEMBERS & VETS – Check this out!

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American, American Conservative, American Heroes, American history, American Interests, American Moral Character, American Morality, Building Character, Committment, Conservative opinion, Democrat, GET INVOLVED, Military appreciation, political tirade, Service to Others, spiritual, The BEST of America, US Military Veterans

Good God! ALL SERVICE MEMBERS & VETS – Check this out! I have to say … this is without a doubt, a radical, new low for our sitting President! I am OUTRAGED!!!! Are YOU???

Snopes investigation underway

Boudica BPI Weblog

Via Gene’s Political Musings

Not America’s friend either. Friend of Muslims, Communists and destroyer of a great nation.

More Proof He Is An Asshole!

Sent to me by a friend.

More proof he is an Ass Hole
PLEASE EVERYONE, READ THIS and then broadcast it to all your friends and relatives. This is a letter that my good friend’s husband wrote today after his uncle’s funeral yesterday.

If Obama does not want his name associated with our military, too bad he wanted his name associated with “The President of the United States.” Read more…

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One More Chance to Recant or Die!

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"life lessons", American Conservative, American Heroes, American history, American Interests, American Moral Character, American Morality, Building Character, Committment, Conservative opinion, Democrat, GET INVOLVED, Helping others, Human Rights, Jesus, spiritual

We-the-People Hold the Power! So what?

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"life lessons", American Conservative, American Heroes, American history, American Interests, American Moral Character, American Morality, balanced budget, Building Character, Committment, Conservative opinion, limited government, The BEST of America, Women's Issues

Be Ye Educated!

KNOW THE TRUTH …

Gotta start somewhere …

The Original Tea Party

Where are … We-the-People?

Just sayin …

How Much American History do You Remember?

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"life lessons", American Conservative, American Heroes, American history, American Interests, American Moral Character, American Morality, Building Character, Committment, Helping others, Limited Government, Service to Others, The BEST of America

Gratitude to God expressed by those ... Of Plymouth Plantation

I often hear in the media today that America has never been an truly Christian nation, and that those who presume so are deceived. Well … the evidence indicates to the contrary.

OUR AMERICAN ROOTS: Many have recently argued that our beginnings were not essentially Christian. I suppose that depends on your definition of Christian, but the central focus, and the source of strength, wisdom, and consolation in the early American settlements was the God of the Bible. Yes, there were different ‘denominations,’ different perspectives of how this God worked, and if he did or didn’t interfere in the everyday lives of individuals, but nevertheless, God was central to the early literature, the poetry, and architecture i.e. the location of the church was central even as God was central to their lives. “No group has played a more pivotal role in shaping American values than the New England Puritans. The seventeenth-century Puritans contributed to our country’s sense of mission, its work ethic, and its moral sensibility.”

To understand the Puritans (of the Massachusetts Bay Colony) or the Pilgrims (of Plymouth), it is necessary to have a bit of an understanding of English history. In the 1450’s, the first printing press was built, the first published work from that press was the Gutenberg Bible Until this time, the only people who had access to the Holy Scriptures were the priests. With the invention of the printing press, it became conceivable that even the common man could obtain a copy of the Bible if translated into common English. William Tyndale saw to that and was beheaded for his efforts. As more and more individuals gained access to a Bible, these same individuals developed their own understanding of the words, the message contained therein.

The Puritans were people who walked through life with a very personal faith. Engendering this faith to their children was a very serious matter to them. Because of their Biblical Christianity they had suffered greatly. They and their Pilgrim friends had been grievously treated by the established Church and the English Crown the hiearchical dignitaries were beholden to. Matters of conscience were very important to them. Nevertheless the Puritans, for the most part, were a bright and cheerful company. They were a people who enjoyed life and took on its challenges with gusto. To the Puritans life was a grand adventure with the lives of a whole company of people at stake. If they were not diligent before God and before their fellow man then there would be dire consequences. It could be a case of “Paradise Lost”. The Puritan Milton was active in the English Civil War as was John Bunyan writer of the classic Biblical Christian allegory, “Pilgrim’s Progress”. Indeed “Paradise Lost” was the title of the Milton’s epic poem.

The history and literature of that period reflects the beliefs and daily lifestyle that centered on a relationship with our benevolent Almighty God. We don’t hear much about this today, even in historical or literary studies because it just isn’t politically correct – no room for secular humanism! But the truth is written in the lines of Anne Bradstreet (1612 – 1672), Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 – 1882), Louisa May Alcott (1832 – 1888), Washington Irving (1783 – 1859), Nathanial Hawthorne (1804 – 1864), Emily Dickenson (1830 – 1886), James Fenimore Cooper (1789 – 1851), and so many more who captured the time, the life, the struggles, and the victories of these early Americans.

Aboard the Mayflower, the leaders drafted the Mayflower Compact

Governor William Bradford (1590 – 1621) Bradford was selected as Governor by the survivors of the Mayflower crossing, the first settlers to endure both the crossing and the settling of the New England coast of Plymouth. Some were Pilgrims (or Separatists) wanted to break away from the Chruch of England. The others were called Puritans because they wanted to establish a “pure church that would offer a model for the churches in England.” They both wanted to be FREE to worship as they saw fit. They wanted Freedom of religion!
William Bradford was one of the first Americans to be published in the New land. His Of Plymouth Plantation was an impressive journal he kept detailing the crossing itself and the initial workings of the new colony, the new village of Plymouth and the government they established. Here is a brief excerpt:

Being thus arrived in a good harbor, and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of Heaven who had brought them over the fast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof, again to set their feet on the firm and stable earth, their proper element. And no marvel if they were thus joyful, seeing wise Seneca was so affected with sailing a few miles on the coast of his own Italy, as he affirmed, that he had rather remain twenty years on his way by land than pass by sea to any place in a short time, so tedious and dreadful was the same unto him.

The brave and devout Puritans of the Mayflower crossing drew up a compact that became the foreshadow of our unique government. “The Mayflower Compact was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. It was written by the colonists, later together known to history as the Pilgrims, who crossed the Atlantic aboard the Mayflower. Almost half of the colonists were part of a separatist group seeking the freedom to practice Christianity according to their own determination and not the will of the English Church. It was signed on November 11, 1620 by 41 of the ship’s one hundred and two passengers, in what is now Provincetown Harbor near Cape Cod.

Modern version
In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, defender of the Faith, etc.
Having undertaken, for the Glory of God, and advancements of the Christian faith and honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the Northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic; for our better ordering, and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.

The Bill of Rights ~ First 10 Amendments of the US Constitution

In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, 1620.

The primary import of this document was the establishment of self-rule in the colony. In that way, the Mayflower Compact is a foreshadowing of what was to come, of the cry for individual freedom in the New Land – America. The subsequent documents of Independence and self-rule assumed the morality and spirituality of the people. While degrees of devotion differ, and methods of “worhip” differ, still they agreed in the inherent sovereignty of Almighty God. This is our history. These are our roots. They distinguished between Church rule and civil rule – not separating one FROM the other but distinguishing their separate roles in the lives of the people. This is America! A land, under God, sought and found for a unique and special purpose – where individuals could worship God as they saw fit. In today’s language, that means the elimination of Christianity while other religions are welcomed and extolled! Yet morality in the USA has never been at a lower standard. Five minutes of TV news will confirm that!

Can we re-discover our ROOTS???

Check out this video of

Plymouth Plantation