Environmental Checkmate

As children we all laughed and giggled when we heard the story of Chicken Little warning everyone, “The sky is falling”.  We should have pretended to agree and made a fortune in the field of Junk Science warning everyone about CO2 levels causing the world to end.  Man made global warming alarmists are working hard to scare and misinform everyone about catastrophic doom caused by rising Sea Levels, “We’re all going to drown”.

“Researchers estimate Greenland has lost more than 200 million tons of ice and snow each year since 2003. The ice sheet will completely disappear when the planet’s average temperature rises by 2 to 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit above preindustrial temperatures, as predicted by the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, released in September.”

Contrast that last LIE from the United Nations IPCC (Translated: IPCC to Agenda 21, the Political Action Committee intent on World Wide Wealth Redistribution and destruction of individual property rights) with what Cliff Harris a real climatologists had to say.

“…the Antarctic Ice Sheet is growing faster than we’re ever been led to believe. In fact, the Old Byrd Weather Station has been crushed in recent years by more than 50 feet of ice.”

“While some of the ice has been melting in recent years around the edges of southwestern Greenland, similar to another warm period in the 1930s when the center of the North American Continent was experiencing ‘Dust Bowl’ conditions, most of the interior has seen snow and ice levels increase for decades on end.”

Of course you have to dig around to find articles which run contrary to the “consensus”, or as Al Gore and everyone profiting from the Kyoto Protocol would have us believe, “the science is settled”. 

There is no such thing as science by consensus; but never let the facts get in the way of a great story. 

Joseph D’Aleo, CCM, AMS Fellow, wrote, The Ice in Greenland is Growing.   Instead of listing only the data which supports man made global warming and the end of the world alarmist movement, data which confirms ice melting along the coast of Greenland, D’Aleo imparts the whole story.

“Though the ice may be melting around the edges of the Greenland Icecap in recent years during the warm mode of the AMO much as it did during the last warm phase in the 1930s to 1950s, snow and ice levels continue to rise in most of the interior. Johannessen in 2005 estimated an annual net increase of ice by 2 inches a year.”(emphasis added)

(Above: Recent Ice-Sheet Growth in the Interior of Greenland, Ola M. Johannessen, Kirill Khvorostovsky, Martin W. Miles, Leonid P. Bobylev, Science Express on 20 October 2005 Science 11 November 2005: Vol. 310. no. 5750, pp. 1013 � 1016, DOI: 10.1126/science.1115356)

The Obama administration is hell bent on destroying our ability to compete with the rest of the industrialized world.  The EPA continues to engage in a well orchestrated destruction of the coal and oil industries with ever increasing costly mandates to reduce emissions beyond any reasonable measures. 

Representatives of so called environmental groups like the Sierra Club, IPCC, ICLEI, WNO put in place to advance a totalitarian Utopian Earth via Agenda 21’s disingenuous concern over the quality of air or water file law suit after lawsuit against anyone who dares to increase energy production.  The end result being added expense to the point of shutting down our economy.  This is about power and control and has nothing to do with the environment.

If you believe this is all just a coincidence then I’ll invite you over to play a game of chess.  You can watch my random moves right up to the point where I declare, “Checkmate”.

I’ll leave you with a line found at the end of an article posted this past July by Jeremy A. Kaplan, Skeptics put the freeze on NASA ‘hot air’ about Greenland ice, which exposes the ridiculous and yet sinister game being played by professional scammers like Al Gore.

“The belief that almost any aberration in weather and climate today can be attributed to global warming is pure folly…”

Those who seek to impose environmental mandates (Agenda 21) will stop at nothing to accomplish domination and control.  Their lies and deceptions regarding global warming, or ‘climate change’ as they’ve altered their strategy have proven they will stop at nothing. 

If you still believe their actions are random and have no end game then it shouldn’t surprise you a bit later on down the road when you hear the fatal words, “Checkmate”.

This article has been cross posted to The Moral Liberal, a publication whose banner reads, “Defending The Judeo-Christian Ethic, Limited Government, & The American Constitution”.

Lawless Law Enforcement

Reading some of the headlines makes this old retired cop cringe on a regular basis.  Take for instance the following, “Texas judge: Search warrants can be obtained based on predictions of future crimes.”

If that’s the only part of the article you read then it’s entirely possible you also saw images of Tom Cruise waiting for the little ball to roll down after the Pre-Cogs envision a future crime, organize the ‘evidence’ on that neat wall sized viewing screen and then drop out of the sky with his team of Future Crime Officers in those futuristic pods to sweep up some poor schnook moments before he murdered his wife (or is that murders, so hard to figure out since it has yet to happen) murders his wife who has been cheating on him moments after he leaves for work in the morning.

Here’s what readers were presented:

“The incident began during the summer of 2010, when police in Parker County, Texas, staked out Michael Fred Wehrenberg’s home for a month. According to the Dallas Observer, authorities allegedly received a tip from a confidential informant stating Wehrenberg and his associates were “fixing” to cook meth in the home. Without obtaining a search warrant, they walked into the home and arrested the people inside. 

It was only after arrests were made that police sought out the warrant necessary to confiscate the meth-making material in the home, including boxes of pseudoephedrine, stripped lithium batteries, and other items. On the warrant application, however, police declined to mention that they had actually been in the house prior to obtaining authorization for the search, mentioning only the informant who tipped them off.” 

My question; not that a retired cop would ever question the actions of fellow law enforcement officers, if they had all the information from a month long investigation why didn’t they obtain a warrant PRIOR to engaging the suspects in their home?

Obtaining a valid search warrant is done PRIOR to entering a house and looking for evidence or don’t they teach that at the police academy anymore?  The same holds true for going through someone’s vehicle; a warrant must be obtained PRIOR to looking for incriminating evidence.  If the law isn’t followed then anything found can’t be used in a court of law as evidence, it’s that simple; …or is it?  

The Texas Appeals Court found in favor of the police citing a Federal ruling which permits infringements on the 4^th Amendment.  I’m not making this up; apparently the Federal government threw away the 4^th Amendment some time back and has gotten away with it ever since.

“In the dissent, Judge Lawrence Meyers wrote that the only reason police decided to apply for the warrant is because they had previously entered the house illegally.”  (…and he got it right; shame on the other judges)

Judge Meyers’ dissenting remark was followed by a sarcastic explanation of the slippery slope we are now rapidly falling down as the courts now permit lawless law enforcement practices to prevail. 

“Search warrants may now be based on predictions of the commission of future crimes,” the judge wrote.”

We now have lawless law enforcement with the blessing of the courts.  Next thing you know Homeland Security will think they can set up check points on our nation’s highways in order to search, without warrant, random motorists.

News Flash… Homeland Security already does this.

It’s time to turn the computer off and watch an old Ronald Reagan or Jimmy Stewart movie; yea, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.  With any luck I’ll fall asleep recalling a time when government respected limitations placed on it by our Constitution and Bill of Rights.

This article has been cross posted to The Moral Liberal, a publication whose banner reads, “Defending The Judeo-Christian Ethic, Limited Government, & The American Constitution”.

Outer Limits Locksmith Job

This morning I got a call from one of my regular customers, a ‘note lot’ where I fit keys for vehicles purchased at auction or make duplicates so they can have a ‘repo key’.  I’d been there the day before and, according to what I was hearing over the phone, a key which had started a Ford Taurus yesterday seemed to have ‘lost’ its programming.

Rather than ask a bunch of questions I told them I’d be right down; warranty work with a smile makes for long term customers.

Their porter greeted me when I pulled my service truck behind the building where the 2001 Taurus was parked.  He’d gone into the file folder to retrieve the ‘repo key’ which he knew worked; but it no longer started the car.  It turned in the ignition; but the ‘theft’ light was blinking to indicate it wasn’t programmed. 

I looked at the key and remembered that the day before the manager handed me an ignition key and asked for a duplicate; but that the vehicle needed a door and trunk key since the ignition switch had been changed out at one time.  The key ring he handed me only had one key on it; where was the door key I’d cut the day before.

In the ignition switch was another key with a second key hanging from the ring.  It didn’t turn in the ignition switch but the door key, the key I’d cut the day before, that key matched the cuts of the file folder key.  I began to suspect something odd was going on.

I checked the cuts against the notes I’d taken and that’s when the first major clue sprang up; yesterday’s Taurus had been a 2003, this vehicle was a spot on look a-like, same color and body style but made in 2001.  The cuts on the door key were identical except the other vehicle had a different ignition switch key.

Somebody had moved the 2003 Taurus to the other side of the car lot and then the second Taurus, the 2001 Taurus got driven in for final detailing so the customer would have it all cleaned and polished.  The porter hadn’t noticed and assumed it was the same car.  That’s when the comedy of errors began to play out.   

They’d handed the customer the keys I’d made for the 2003 Taurus and for some odd reason they wouldn’t work in the 2001 Taurus ignition switch, worked in the door just fine, just not in the ignition.  Nobody bothered to check the VIN; hey, it’s the same color and shape so it must be the right car.

My job was pretty clear; program the customer’s key and be on my way, laugh and be glad for keeping good notes.  

This will also appear as a feature article on Fiercely Independent Locksmiths of America’s. 

You might not believe you’re still in America if…

I enjoy Jeff Foxworthy jokes, “You might be a Redneck if…”, explanations about the way some folks go through life.  The fact that I laugh at his brand of humor qualifies me as a Redneck.

“You might be a Redneck if you and your dog use the same tree.”   

You might be a Redneck if the first words out of your grandbaby’s mouth are, “Hey, Bubba”, instead of, “Momma”.  I added this one, a spur of the moment thing since my grandchild just blurted out what sounded like, “Hey, Bubba”.

Foxworthy can go on and on; but that’s not why I’m writing today, something else came to mind.

You might not believe you’re still in America…When you hear Hillary Clinton say, “What difference does it make?”  (bolded to emphasis her disdain)

Doesn’t that just burn all the way down each time you see Ramirez’ one panel comic strip, Hillary in her green frock sitting on the grave marker of a brave American who died waiting for support?  

Actually, there were several one panel cartoons of Hillary screaming at anyone who dared ask about her involvement in the Benghazi cover-up; but this one covered a lot of ground, kind of like the shadow that follows Hillary.  

“What difference does it make?”  Imagine the gall of anyone questioning Her Excellency and expecting a reasoned response from the next anointed president of the Socialist States of America.

You might not believe you’re still in America if illegal aliens are being promised billions of dollars while at the same time Veterans’ benefits were being cut.

“Today, (Harry) Reid filled the amendment tree on the Ryan-Murray budget to foreclose further amendments. Sessions wanted to propose an amendment to the spending bill that would delete the veterans’ benefit cuts and replace them by closing a loophole that allows illegal immigrants to suck billions of dollars out of the treasury.”

You might not believe you’re still in America if a six year old boy gets suspended for kissing the hand of a fellow classmate and is accused of sexual harassment.  I’m not making it up, this actually happened last week in Colorado.

“This is taking it to an extreme that doesn’t need to be met with a 6-year-old,” Saunders told KRDO. Now my son’s asking questions, ‘What is sex, mommy?’”

You might not believe you’re still in America if police force drivers off the road so Federal agents can ask them to ‘voluntarily’ submit to having bodily fluids swabbed from inside their mouths.  

Some might say this is a violation of the 4^th Amendment, but Reading Police Chief William Heim told the Reading Eagle his police officers were there for, “site security only and did not pull drivers over or ask questions”.  But he didn’t stop tripping over his tongue there…

“In the grand scheme of things, I think it’s a pretty innocuous and minor issue,” Heim said.”

He might as well have said, “The 4^th Amendment, who gives a rat’s patootie?”

You might not believe you’re still in America if a 9 year old student can be suspended for wishing his teacher, “Merry Christmas”.

“Dawson’s teacher, 35-year-old Paul Horner who is an outspoken Atheist, was offended at the student’s display of Christmas spirit and had staff suspend the young boy for the rest of the week.”

Here’s a big “Bah-Humbug” for Paul Horner with additional instructions to read Charles Dickens’, A Christmas Carol; but that book has probably been removed from the school library. 

Last; but certainly not the least, you might not believe you’re in America when Barrack Hussein Obama can lie through his teeth and tell the public, over and over again, “If you like your Plan You can keep your Plan”; all the while knowing millions of Americans would lose coverage as Obamacare took effect.

“They had the studies that showed that up to 80 million people would lose their health insurance,” Beck said Monday on his radio show, which is syndicated on more than 400 stations. “Now we find out this week that number is actually 125 million. Half of the population in the United States, they knew half of the population of the United States would lose their doctor and their health insurance?”

Would someone turn out the lights on your way out; the America I knew and loved no longer exists.

This article has been cross posted to The Moral Liberal, a publication whose banner reads, “Defending The Judeo-Christian Ethic, Limited Government, & The American Constitution”.

Mandela was an honorable man…

The news media has reported the death of Nelson Mandela, (1918 - 2013) .  According to representatives of the ANC, Mandela’s passing caused the sun to pause in its trek across the skies of Africa for fifteen minutes and a new star has been seen in the East; well, perhaps that’s a bit of an exaggeration.  What they actually published: 

“The large baobab tree has fallen, but its roots will nourish the soil forever,”

Mandela pushed long and hard for a communist take over of the white minority controlled apartheid government in South Africa using brutal tactics, tactics which have been glossed over as necessary for the good of his fellow man.  FoxNews reported, and it comes as no surprise, that fellow tyrants from around the world joined in praises to one of their heroes.  Barrack Obama included his two cents worth, or if your from Zimbabwe, his twenty five million dollars worth.

“In Washington, President Obama called him one of the “most influential, courageous and profoundly good” people to ever have lived. 

“He achieved more than could be expected of any man,” an emotional Obama said, in remarks from the White House, adding: “He belongs to the ages.”’ 

Most high school students had Shakespeare’s, Julius Caesar, as required reading.  I wasn’t what you’d call a ‘good student’; but found this particular assignment rather enjoyable.  Marc Anthony’s pointed reminders to those responsible for Caesar’s murder made for some serious book time.

“For Brutus is an honorable man;
So are they all, all honorable men” 

I won’t fill the page with the rest; but go read this masterpiece of finger pointing.  It can be used to identify today’s heroes, today’s villains and ‘Marc” them for what they truly are.

You won’t find too many people talking about Nelson Mandela’s past “indiscretions”.  What you’ll find are plenty of folks telling us that the end justifies the means; and after all, it’s not what he did when he was a young murdering thug that we should remember, it’s all the good he achieved once he came to power.

You could bet the farm most publicly schooled individuals are not familiar with the term “necklacing” or the recorded fact that the ANC, to include Nelson Mandela, used this form of terrorism and torture to bring about their communist takeover of the white minority controlled South African government. 

While making South Africa a better place for Black people, Mandela and the ANC would take a young black person who wouldn’t “toe the line” or support their radical agenda, tie his hands and feet with wire, place a tire filled with gasoline around his neck and set him ablaze as a warning to others.  And you thought the SEIU could intimidate folks; but they are just now getting started.

This is the legacy of Nelson Mandela you won’t hear about today.  It’s water under the bridge that won’t be printed in any Common Core textbooks, you can be sure of that.  Mandela supported everything our current crop of communists support.  So when you hear politicians from around the world and their lap dog media lauding Mandela as a hero, a hero worthy of eternal praise, consider Marc Anthony’s remarks as a footnote.

“For Mandela was an honorable man;
So are they all, all honorable men” 

This article has been cross posted to The Moral Liberal, a publication whose banner reads, “Defending The Judeo-Christian Ethic, Limited Government, & The American Constitution”.

Citizenship and Church Membership

This past week’s Sunday School lesson had to do with being a good citizen, regardless of what country you happen to reside.  A friend of mine was teaching and directed his first question towards me because, as he put it, I was into blogging and would have something to say.  He asked, “What does your membership in the church have to do with being a good citizen?”  

My answer may have surprised him as he expected a politically charged response; instead I said the two worked hand in hand.  The rest of the lesson was spent explaining the Church’s admonition to follow the laws of the land.

There was a brief commentary offered regarding constitutionality of laws followed by a statement which floated without discussion; that the final arbiter of constitutionality rested with the Supreme Court and we were to follow all the laws of the land which had been deemed constitutionally sound. 

The rest of the lesson I spent holding my tongue, more accurately, biting my tongue as we were presented a Utopian pipe dream of how things ought to be.  I saw no purpose in turning the short lesson time into a confrontation, something which drives the Spirit away; hardly the way the Lord would have differences of opinion expressed so I looked at the floor until the time was spent.

When I said being a good citizen and member of the Church were one and the same it was a true statement; but it requires a considerable understanding of both the Gospel and government, specifically this place we call the United States of America.

I first acknowledge that I am a child of God and all other humans on this planet have the same divine lineage; but here in America our founders recorded this thought process, setting our nation apart from all the monarchies in recorded history.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

We have a constitutional republic, a marked difference from democracies wherein a majority of citizens can trample over the rights of an individual or group which finds itself in the minority.  This idea doesn’t sit well with those in power; but the law of the land holds that inalienable rights, rights which sprang from God, cannot be infringed upon. 

The principle of inalienable rights was expressed by Thomas Jefferson as part of our Declaration of Independence; however, others before him forged the pathway.

Frederick Bastiat, in The Law, “explains that, if the privileged classes or socialists use the government for “legalized plunder,” this will encourage the other socio-economic class to also use “legal plunder,” and that the correct response to both the socialists and the corporatists is to cease all “legal plunder.”  Bastiat also explains in The Law why his position is that the law cannot defend life, liberty, and property if it promotes socialist policies. When used to obtain “legalized plunder” for any group, he says, the law is perverted and turned against the only things (life, liberty, and property) it is supposed to defend.” (as summarized in Wikipedia)

It isn’t my imagination or even a stretch for the shallowest of observations; Bastiat regarded laws passed which violated inalienable rights as null and void.  Since the only real purpose of government is to insure and protect individual inalienable rights from being trampled upon; hence his use of the term “legal plunder” for wealth redistribution programs which should more appropriately be called “theft” or “robbery” by government.  Such “laws” are in fact violations of law, a mockery of the constitutional contract.

Violations of the social contract between citizens by those placed in positions of authority cannot be acknowledged as “constitutionally sound”, not even by the Supreme Court which discounts the notion, as set forth by many, that the Supreme Court is the final arbiter in defining constitutionality.

Jefferson recorded, “governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed”.  Not even members of the Supreme Court can validate laws which are contrary to eternal laws as set down by our Creator. 

Getting back to the Sunday School lesson…

One of the reading assignments started in Doctrine and Covenants 58: 21, reads:

“Let no man break the laws of the land, for he that keepeth the laws of God hath no need to break the laws of the land.”

The Utopian pipe dream presumes that all the laws of the land conform to eternal laws approved by God and are interchangeable.  I’m guessing Joseph Smith never in his wildest imaginings would predict that one day the United States of America would see marriage as anything other than a husband and wife become the law of the land or foresee the Supreme Court putting their stamp of approval on abortion. 

The next reading was Doctrine and Covenants 98: 4-10:

“And now, verily I say unto you concerning the laws of the land, it is my will that my people should observe to do all things whatsoever I command them.

 And that law of the land which is constitutional, supporting that principle of freedom in maintaining rights and privileges, belongs to all mankind, and is justifiable before me.” 

Whoa!  Stop right there; in verse five the Lord, by way of his holy prophet clearly indicated we should follow those laws which are “constitutional”, laws which conform with protecting all individual inalienable rights, and finishes off with, “supporting that principle of freedom in maintaining rights and privileges, belongs to all mankind, and is justifiable before me”. 

It seems to me, a simple student of human experience rather than a man of ‘letters’, we are not required to support or obey laws which run contrary to God’s eternal laws; but the discussion in Sunday School came to a different conclusion.

Our 12^th Article of Faith explains:

“We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.”

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is a world wide church and so the broadest of interpretations must be applied so as to make it possible for individuals to be ‘good citizens’ and ‘good members of the Church’ while living in countries which have fewer individual freedoms than here in the United States of America. 

Pardon me while I spit…

The people of Germany must be proud to have followed the laws of the Fatherland, the laws of the Fuehrer; all legal and approved by their final arbiters as their authorized government “legally plundered” any and all property from Jews, to include the taking of millions of lives, life being a form of property.

Thomas Jefferson asked:

“Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath?” (Works 8:404; P.P.N.S., p.141)

Our founders understood God’s eternal laws and promoted a form of government which would act in unison, man’s laws acting as a mirror to reflect our desire to be obedient as a nation to our Creator. 

It has taken over two hundred years for those in positions of leadership to pervert the path upon which America drifts away from God’s laws, to a point where certain portions of government are in outright contempt of God.

Section 134 of the Doctrine and Covenants is a ‘declaration of beliefs’ which starts off:

“We believe that governments were instituted of God for the benefit of man; and that he holds men accountable for their acts in relation to them, both in making laws and administering them, for the good and safety of society.”

Drop down to verse five which I’d label as an ‘escape clause’:

“We believe that all men are bound to sustain and uphold the respective governments in which they reside, while protected in their inherent and inalienable rights by the laws of such governments; and that sedition and rebellion are unbecoming every citizen thus protected, and should be punished accordingly; and that all governments have a right to enact such laws as in their own judgments are best calculated to secure the public interest; at the same time, however, holding sacred the freedom of conscience.” (emphasis added)

I wrote about the use of ‘inherent and inalienable rights’ as placed next to each other in the same sentence as an aside some time back.

“In a footnote in “The Declaration of Independence: A Study in the History of Political Ideas” by Carl Lotus Becker, published 1922, we learn:

“The Rough Draft reads “[inherent &] inalienable.” There is no indication that Congress changed “inalienable” to “unalienable”; but the latter form appears in the text in the rough Journal, in the corrected Journal, and in the parchment copy. John Adams, in making his copy of the Rough Draft, wrote “unalienable.” Adams was one of the committee which supervised the printing of the text adopted by Congress, and it may have been at his suggestion that the change was made in printing. “Unalienable” may have been the more customary form in the eighteenth century.”

If…, my goodness that’s a huge word for only having two letters; If… governments protected the rights of all individual’s inherent and inalienable rights (with equity) was followed by, “and that sedition and rebellion are unbecoming every citizen thus protected”. 

That last part of the sentence was ignored during this past Sunday School lesson.  Our being good citizens hinged on the presumption that government actually protected all individual’s inalienable rights with equity and so, “…thus protected” overshadowed the last two words of the sentence. 

If your government is not upholding their end of the constitutional contract then it would appear individual citizens are not bound to uphold and support their government.  Going a step further, citizens would not be seen as seditious, rebellious or unbecoming (in the eyes of the Lord or Church leaders) when their government no longer provides a proper environment which supports inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 

I like to think our founders understood that our constitution works much the same as any other contract. 

Benjamin Franklin, had he been alive and present, probably would have stood up in Sunday School and said a few things worth hearing; and he’d have commanded the attention of everyone as he reminded them:

“Rebellion against tyrants is obedience to God.”   

I could go on and on; but to what purpose?  The leaders of our Church, while acting in the capacity of diplomats of the Church, have given general recommendations pertaining to members conduct within the societies which they find themselves. 

It is my opinion as an individual rather than a statement from one in authority, that each of us are individually accountable to the Lord for our actions as well as our inactions while here in mortality.  If that means standing against our government, a government which has long abandoned any attempt to work in concert with the Lord’s eternal laws, then count me in with Ben Franklin, “Rebellion against tyrants is obedience to God.” 

This article has been cross posted to The Moral Liberal, a publication whose banner reads, “Defending The Judeo-Christian Ethic, Limited Government, & The American Constitution”.

The Magic of Christmas Starts on Thanksgiving

I hope children today have at least half as much fun as we did in our day anticipating the arrival of Santa Claus, Christmas and all the traditions that go with this time of year.  For me it all started on Thanksgiving Day when Santa arrived at the end of the parade to officially start things off.

 

 (For some reason my memories of the parade are in black and white; must have to do with the fact that we didn’t own a color television when I was a kid)

We’d watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on television, the floats, marching bands, helium filled balloons gliding between tall buildings held in place by armies of men struggling against the wind and all manner of entertainment; but the best part was always Santa in his sleigh as he stopped in front of Macy’s proclaiming the season officially had begun. 

I don’t know what other families did after enjoying the entire day together, a fabulous meal and watching football until everyone was dizzy.  Each family has its own traditions; ours was no different.

When it was time to retire for the evening our parents would hand us pencil and paper with instructions to make a list of items we’d like Santa to consider if we were on the Good List. 

We used our best penmanship to articulate the dreams and desires of our hearts and minds while mom was in the kitchen whipping up a batch of cookies.  “These are for Santa when he comes by later tonight.  If you’ve been good he’ll read your lists.  You’ll know he read them if his magic mittens turn them into soot”, as she placed our pieces of paper in the center of the dining room table on a plate with the cookies. 
. 

Sometimes we’d put a glass of milk or a cold bottle of Coca Cola for Santa to wash down the cookies; but the important part was that he got a chance to read our lists a month prior to the big day.

The next morning we all raced to the kitchen table where, sure enough, the cookies had been eaten; but more importantly there was a pile of incinerated paper on the plate along with a small scorch mark indicating a successful Santa encounter.

Thanksgiving Day is upon us already; how time flies.  Let gratitude to the Lord for all we’ve been given and all that we have yet to be given top our lists.  May the magic of the season dwell in our hearts and minds regardless of how old we might be or whatever our circumstances. 

This article has been cross posted to The Moral Liberal, a publication whose banner reads, “Defending The Judeo-Christian Ethic, Limited Government, & The American Constitution”.

Authentic or Modified

In our world of synthesized music, housing, and even printer generated weaponry there comes a point where it becomes difficult to tell the fabricated from the ‘real McCoy’.   There was an article published explaining how somebody figured out a way to print out an entire automobile, something they called 3-D printing. 

What’s next…3-D printed humans?

Digital music hangs in the air and comes to us via the internet; we take it for granted, just another App on our computer, Android phone or Kindle.  Instead of going to the Record Store to purchase the latest album we download all or part of an album and have it charged to our account.  Heck, it’s hard to find music on a CD or phonograph record unless you happen to be at some place like Half Price Books where they specialize in selling used material.

I grew up in the age when tape recorded music was taking the place of vinyl phonograph recordings; reel to reel, 8 tracks and cassettes. Most folks from my generation will recall a marketing ploy to sell recording cassette tape,  “Is it live or is it Memorex?”  We all rushed out to get the latest innovation; their marketing strategy worked.

The generation before mine had Player Piano Roll music, a chance to own and play your favorites there in the comfort of your living room; provided you had a Player Piano on which to play them.  These offered a fair representation of the artist’s work while at the same time falling a bit short on Ella Fitzgerald’s challenge, “Is it live or is it Memorex?”

Some enterprising individual came up with a modern day solution, a means whereby piano roll music could be fed through a computer attached to a grand piano and render a performance which closely matched that of the original performance.  There might be other versions of the contraption; but the one I’m familiar with is a 9-foot Yamaha Disklavier grand piano.  It magically transforms piano roll music which has been recorded to a CD and then spits out a “note-for-note” performance as if played by the original performer. 

While listening to Pandora Radio via my laptop this afternoon a favorite Gershwin tune landed on my ear, An American in Paris.  This version was entirely a piano piece; four handed and clear as a bell.  I could hear the genius of Gershwin floating within and throughout; but knew it wasn’t Gershwin playing because I had this recording on CD.

I went to my library and found the copy of this recording, Gershwin Plays Gershwin / The Piano Rolls.  Inside the jacket of the CD was a small booklet explaining how the recordings were made, each a piano roll converted to digital on a CD and played on the Disklavier grand piano.

The last tune, An American in Paris, was an arrangement by Frank Milne and “played”, if that term applies to putting holes in a roll of paper fed into a piano, “played” by Milne and Leith; but if you read further, Leith was a pseudonym for Milne.  Milne figured out a way to “play” all four hands of an original Gershwin piano roll so that when fed into the Disklavier it came out as a seamless performance which captures the mindset and magic as if George Gershwin had given a command performance. 

“We have no evidence that Gershwin supervised Milne’s arrangement of An American in Paris but the arranger had previously worked with Gershwin on his late Duo-Art song rolls.  Milne’s version of An American in Paris ingeniously evokes not only the full sonority of an orchestra but also the vitality of a live performance.”

Some might say this was a forgery based on the printed claim on the CD jacket, Gershwin Plays Gershwin; but as far as I know Gershwin never recorded onto CD, it was before his time.  Whether it’s authentic or modified, real or Memorex; sit back and let your spirit enjoy the music of a bygone era.

This article has been cross posted to The Moral Liberal, a publication whose banner reads, “Defending The Judeo-Christian Ethic, Limited Government, & The American Constitution”.

Legal doesn’t always make it right

While interacting with total strangers via social forums such as Facebook I’ll run across folks who throw down a gauntlet, challenge my better judgment to avoid confrontations which only serve to inflame all parties involved.  This happened earlier this evening and it’s been brewing in the back of my mind ever since, enough to where a short comment, retaliation if you will, wouldn’t be sufficient.

Today is the 5^th of November, Guy Fawkes Day if you’ve studied history.  I watched the movie, V for Vendetta, in keeping with the spirit of Guy Fawkes Day.  There’s a plea for sanity, a plea for restoration of lost liberty which strikes a chord within me when V interrupts the national propaganda program with his unauthorized broadcast.

“I thought we could mark this November the 5th, a day that is sadly no longer remembered, by taking some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat. There are, of course, those who do not want us to speak…Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn’t there?”

There is something terribly wrong with America, isn’t there?  Those who’ve been sent to represent ‘We The People’ have distanced themselves from the standards which at one time made America great.  They’ve twisted our laws to make what is right appear to be wrong and what is wrong appear to be right; prophetic some might say.

John Adams wrote in a letter to the Militia of Massachusetts:

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

Follow that with a line from William Penn:

“Those who will not be Governed by God will be Ruled by Tyrants”  

Sadly, history has proven this to be true; just look around.  Our republic has been under attack for quite some time.  The foundations of morality in America have taken a back seat to an agenda which rolls forward on the wings of mandated tolerance to deviance and forced acceptance of depravity hiding under the cloak of diversity.  There is no sin if everything is legal; at least that’s what is being foisted upon us.

Aye, that’s the ticket, Laddie, if we declare everything legal there is no such thing as sin, no right or wrong.  Isn’t that the rationalization regarding abominations which are now called the law of the land?

“And if ye shall say there is no law, ye shall also say there is no sin. If ye shall say there is no sin, ye shall also say there is no righteousness. And if there be no righteousness there be no happiness. And if there be no righteousness nor happiness there be no punishment nor misery. And if these things are not there is no God. And if there is no God we are not, neither the earth; for there could have been no creation of things, neither to act nor to be acted upon; wherefore, all things must have vanished away.”   2 Nephi 2:13  

Tolerance and diversity, we’ve been instructed, include a wide range of activities; every thing from sexual deviations, now considered life style choices, all the way to murdering innocents while they’re still in the womb; but it’s all legal so don’t concern yourself.

Alexis de Tocqueville once wrote:

“America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”

Election cycles provide opportunities for us, individually and collectively, to either follow the commandments as set forth by our Creator or to pursue another path, one which runs contrary to God’s laws. 

I remember reading a line written by Martin Luther King Jr. while he was being held in a Birmingham jail.  His purpose was to point out that “a group of white Alabama clergymen that legalizing an act does not ipso facto make it moral or just.”

“Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal”.   

It’s also the 1^st Tuesday of November, Election Day on an off year.  Not much going on in Texas at this time that would interest folks, at least not at the national level; but that hasn’t kept political discussions from getting heated with a variety of topics.  

Wendy Davis, State Senator who wants to be governor of Texas when that comes up before the voters next year made national headlines when she delayed a ‘slam dunk’ vote regarding how abortions would be performed here in Texas.  The news media lapped it up, providing plenty of extra coverage of Davis’ fist pump for down trodden women shackled by mean spirited old white Republicans.

Never mind that the restrictions which she and many progressives opposed were written in such a way as to provide additional protection for women seeking abortions.  The left wants abortions to continue regardless of risk, citing a woman’s right rather than considering any plan which calls for caution. 

The rights of the child are never considered by the left in their rush to slaughter babies; but they don’t consider these life forms as individuals with the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; these are lumps of unwanted cells, nothing more.  Never mind that these ‘unwanted cells’ could survive outside the womb upon reaching the third trimester; the image of a small human dependent on being properly nurtured is not permitted in this conversation.

“Wendy Davis, the Texas state senator who staged a filibuster against abortion restrictions, has begun telling supporters she will run for governor against a well-financed Republican in what could be one of the top matchups in the 2014 U.S. elections.”  

That brings me to this evenings comment thread wherein someone took exception to my observation.

“I don’t believe Wendy Davis ever thought she could ‘win’ the governor’s race here in Texas; however, and this is my own belief, she is trying to garner enough national recognition to perhaps advance to a national appointment under a Hillary Clinton presidency or even perhaps the lame duck Obama administration since she waves her radical leftist flag where ever she goes.”

I’ll ascribe the response to an ‘anonymous’ person with a penchant for ignoring morality in favor of a democratically derived version of tolerance through law. 

“…a woman’s right to a constitutionally guaranteed medical procedure (constitutional through Roe V. Wade) and your only comment is that she is waving her radical leftist flag.”  

The comment doesn’t try to justify murdering an innocent child in the womb during the third trimester or an attempt to provide proper medical facilities for those seeking this procedure; but rather stands on the presumption that simply because abortion laws were deemed constitutional by the Supreme Court… the law makes it right, morally sound, and let’s not forget, acceptable in the eyes of the Lord.  My guess, this person would be offended by such an expectation of laws here in America in this day and age.

There was no point in continuing the dead end conversation, no common ground, no chance to work out our differences through consideration of each others thoughts.  Sometimes it’s better to walk away; arguing with the godless is a waste of time.

Legal doesn’t always make it right; consider that as we watch America’s future leaders, those who write the laws we will be judged by in the eternal scheme of things.

This article has been cross posted to The Moral Liberal, a publication whose banner reads, “Defending The Judeo-Christian Ethic, Limited Government, & The American Constitution”.