Being Paul Revere: Defeat ObamaCare II

Remember what I said in the Defeat ObamaCare piece?

We can still win this fight!
Friends, we are part of the American internet/information Revolution!Use your voice to “reduce public support for the bill” by outing the Devil in the details. It’s a Trojan Horse they don’t want us to see. The good news is that we do. There's still time to sound the alarm!
Been to a Tea Party this year?

Okay. Now: Be Paul Revere.

Look what I found in my email just now...

A message to all members of Team Sarah

Our Team Sarah Health Care Review Board is busy reading Reid's 2074 pg bill. We need all hands on deck to help tweet findings. Please go to 'Twitter Fans For Sarah' for list of findings to tweet.

Come on Twitter Storm Group, Let's Storm Twitter With Findings!!

http://www.teamsarah.org/group/twitterfansforsarah/forum

Visit Twitter Fans For Sarah at:

http://www.teamsarah.org/groups/group/show?id=2330231%3AGroup%3A1277019&xg_source=msg_mes_group

Visit Team Sarah at: http://www.teamsarah.org

Cool, Huh?

Looks like others are moving from Teaparty to Paul Revere too...

If you use Twitter, join us. Be sure to tweet to hashtag groups (#gop #tcot #tlot #politics #liberals #hannity #maddow #rnc #dnc, etc., etc. ) to be sure your tweets are reaching the most people.

Go get em!

~~~

Of Bailouts, HealthCare & Prostitution

BAIL'EM OUT!!! ????

Hell, back in 1990, the Government seized the Mustang Ranch brothel in Nevada for tax evasion and, as required by law, tried to run it.

They failed and it closed.

Now, we are trusting the economy of our country, our banking system, our auto industry and possibly our health plans to the same nit-wits who couldn't make money running a whore house and selling whiskey?!

What are we thinking?

~~~

Sticky web: Copenhagen, Cap&Trade & Globalization

" 'Now is the time to confront this challenge once and for all,' President-elect Obama said of global warming last November. 'Delay is no longer an option.' It turns out that delay really is an option—the only one that has world-wide support."

Or so says the Wall Street Journal -- Copenhagen’s Collapse: the climate change sequel is a bust . This is welcome news to those of us who wish to remain a sovereign, self-directed nation.

(Pause for editorial gasp: I cannot believe I just typed those words… )

A few weeks ago, I anxiously posted a piece about the dangers of that Copenhagen summit, & followed it with a Part II . Apparently, you & I were not the only ones anxious about the potential for extortion that Copenhagen threatens. The WSJ says, "Mr. Obama bowed to reality and admitted that little of substance will come of the climate-change summit in Copenhagen next month."

That's good news! But don’t close your eyes just yet. One battle down, a philosophical war yet to wage.

Read on: "The environmental lobby is blaming Copenhagen's pre-emptive collapse on the Senate's failure to ram through a cap-and-trade scheme like the House did in June, arguing that 'the world' won't make commitments until the U.S. does... [though] China and India will never be masochistic enough to subject their economies to the West's climate neuroses…The pointlessness of Copenhagen will now become part of Mr. Obama's argument that the Senate must inflict cap and tax on the U.S., as well as a justification for the EPA's nondemocratic carbon crackdown via clean-air regulation. If he and we are lucky, however, the Senate will fail to act too...and the economy will recover faster without the looming burden of higher energy taxes."

Bear with me: Cap & Trade hasn’t gotten much press lately, for all the HealthCare talk. But just wait, friends, it’s coming. One only has to read pieces like Black Star News’ to realize that all these issues are woven together: national sovereignty, climate change, carbon emissions, 'going green,' to effect one overarching outcome: Globalization.

Sound benign enough?

Please. Read the Black Star article. The disdain, envy & utter disgust that the author holds for developed countries is striking. Friends, ‘Globalization’ means binding the West's hands (esp. the U.S.) & siphoning wealth to the Third World. All done through an entity out of our sight & beyond our control -- New World Order orWorld Government. 'Globalization' is code for massive Wealth Redistribution.

Sound familiar?

Climate change, 'going green,' & wealth redistribution are woven together, alright. It’s no accident our political culture has been softening our ear to these phrases for some time. (Makes me think there’s a larger spider weaving the web than we realize…)

No matter. We’re waking up, & I think, hope, pray it’s just in the nick of time. As I said in the close of Part II:

"We have not been 'standing watch.'

And now we know better. It's time to live better.

For it's not only our own pulse at risk,

but the heartbeat of our very Nation that depends on it."

~~~

Defeat ObamaCare: Devil's in the Details

Do you wonder how ObamaCare can be defeated before it kills our country? Me too.

Do you feel powerless to stop it, save badgering your Congressional leaders? Me too.



An excellent article by Fox News analyst Dick Morris gives us hope, friends, AND INSTRUCTIONS!

If you’re reading this, you’re part of the blogging world. If you’re a blogger, you have a certain amount of power in this fight, believe it or not. We each have a sphere of influence to affect the outcome of this process, & insure the defeat of the monstrosity that is Government overhaul & Socializing our Healthcare system.

Dick Morris tells us the Devil’s in the details, & tells us how to use them:

Our task is to reduce public support for the bill by publicizing its provisions, notably:

1. The $400 billion cut in Medicare.

2. The inevitable scarcity that will result from the addition of 35 million new patients with no new doctors or nurses.

3. The fine on the uninsured of 2.5 percent of their income if they don't buy insurance.

4. The high cost of these mandatory insurance policies ($15,000 per family).

5. The low level of subsidy available for the uninsured (only after they pay 8-12% of their incomes).

6. The likelihood of a $1,700 increase in the average family's premiums.

7. The possibility of up to five years in prison for failing to buy insurance or pay the fine.

8. The taxation of medical devices like pacemakers, wheelchairs, prosthetic limbs, hearing aids, etc.

9. The tax on sick people (increasing the threshold for deducting medical expenses from 7.5 percent to 10 percent of income.

10. The additional fiscal burden on the states of the increase in Medicaid eligibility.

11. The 40 percent tax on health insurance premiums that will effect households earning more than $75,000 by the fifth year of the plan.

We can still win this fight!

Friends, we are part of the American internet/information Revolution!

Use your voice to “reduce public support for the bill” by outing the Devil in the details. It’s a Trojan Horse they don’t want us to see. The good news is that we do. There's still time to sound the alarm!

Been to a Tea Party this year? Okay. Now: Be Paul Revere.

~~~

Of Fort Hood Speeches & Gestalt Moments

My friend James, @ Musical Musings posted Mr. Obama's speech from the Fort Hood Memorial Service.

Lovely speech. Nice touches referencing each person individually. Well done, Mr. President. You've proven to be an impressive speaker - again...

The speech was well deserved by those in attendance & those who, sadly, are no longer with us. But I submit the following: anybody w/ charisma & camera-friendly face can schmooze out somebody else's words. Anybody can be coached on how to feign 'appropriate' affect & somber tenor when delivering a rehearsed eulogy. My concern is not what this man did on a stage at a solemn event, where every move was prescribed. My concern is what he did/didn't do in response to a live-action terrorist attack.

A commenter to James tried to make this point, albeit with great gusto, & was dismissed as immature & a disgrace. The following was, & still is, my contention with that dismissal:

In the moment of discovery of the Fort Hood massacre (it was NOT a "tragedy," it was a TERRORIST act perpetrated by a self-proclaimed SOA - soldier of Allah), Mr. Obama took the stage at a Native American Conference. It took him 60 full seconds to even mention the massacre.

A full 60 seconds: wherein he casually thanked his staff, conference organizers, gave congratulations to attendees for their 'extremely productive conference' and also gave a "shout out" to a medal winner!! ---- NONE as critical as 12 DEAD soldiers, massacred in cold blood, perp'd by one of our own personnel, who, btw just happened to be muslim & happened to have SCREAMED 'Allahu Akbar' seconds before he blew his fellow soldiers away. (But never mind that.)

And though my friends @ the other blog were involved in congratulating BHO (& each other) on his eloquent speech, I emphasized that I frankly don't give a flip what Mr. O said at the Memorial Service. He could have sung "The Rainbow Connection" while doin' the Charleston, for all I care about his performance.

See, what the Left misses is that leadership, strength & compassion are defined by what a person does/says when they're operating out of their own spontaneous, raw character. That's what matters, not some eloquence dribbled into a microphone, read off a teleprompter.

Last Thursday we were scared, & were all replaying tapes of 9-11. We needed immediate, heartfelt Leadership. We needed what Martin Buber calls "the I/Thou" relationship moment; the basis for Fritz Perls' Gestalt Therapy . "The experience involves an appreciation of & a respect for the reality of the Other." It's based on being 'in the moment,' where one intimately identifies with another's circumstances to effect a reciprocal bond of trust, & to foster transformative healing.

And this guy, this guy showed himself in that moment to be a detached, cool, emotionless (even cavalier), unsympathetic (except to muslims), calculating Disconnect. Who but the same can trust or bond with THAT?

Mr. O gave a lovely speech 5 days later. All the families deserved it - as did the departed. But in his Gestalt, in his defining moment, Mr. O showed he cannot produce I/Thou. And when you're incapable of that, all you've got left is I/Me.

Who, again, is the disgrace?

~~~

Fear, Freedom & the 'Wonderful Listener'

Before the Presidential election, the pro-Obama Left lauded him as the ‘wonderful listener!’ (Correction: he touted himself as the wonderful listener, & they fell in line like the brace of waddling ducks that they remain...)

Back then, I suffered through a conversation with one who lapped up his autobiographies (who but a narcissist writes more than one??) like a hungry kitten, & dewy-eyed & earnest said, “He’s someone who will really listen!” Not wanting to spew my coffee across Panera’s finely appointed decor, I breathed deeply, closed my eyes, & rolled them fiercely under my lids.

How excruciatingly naïve, I thought. When the campaign was over, & owning that perhaps my cynicism had over-reached, I haltingly decided to sweat through the next 4 years, wishing my country well. And sweat, I have. Not only is this President’s agenda as damaging as I feared, it’s worse; and gets more treacherous by the day.

We told him we didn’t want a ‘stimulus’ bill, & he didn’t listen. We told him we didn’t want Government taking over private industry, banks, unions, health care & he didn’t listen. Not only did he not listen, but told us that we aren’t angry about it, that actually only a small faction was 'faking it' (astro-turf, anyone?). Further, those who are ‘faking it’ should be ashamed of themselves for obscuring the true progress (government ownership of all things) that real (obedient, submissive) patriots want.

Call me a partisan if you like. But know that even those with hard-line Washingtonian sensibilities have called him out:

Here’s what Peggy Noonan says about the recent elections:

“There's a new detachment between the president and the electorate he won a year ago by 9.5 million votes…The White House and Congress chose to go down one path at the exact moment voters went down a different one…Mr. Obama carried Democratic Jersey by more than 15 points exactly one year ago. The Democratic governor lost by nearly five points this week. That is a 20-point swing. Mr. Obama won Virginia a year ago by six points. The Democratic candidate for governor lost by more than 18 points. That is a 24-point plummet.

“Mr. Obama…should start paying attention to what the people are saying…Something's wrong, fix it, change course. Show humility. Bow to the public. ‘Public opinion is everything,’ Lincoln is said to have said. It is. It can be changed and it can be shaped, but it always has to be listened to. This White House has gotten bad at listening. It paid the price for that on Tuesday.”

So much for the ‘Wonderful Listener’…

Rush Limbaugh caught a lot of flack for speaking without fear, hoping Barack Obama fails. He was referencing BHO’s radical agenda which had been clear to those of us who WERE LISTENING to the erstwhile candidate!

So, am I gratified by the voices from New Jersey & Virginia?

Yes, the way one is who has every right to say, “I told you so!” And no, because ‘gratified’ means it really is worse than I feared. I realize that fear is a distraction to be faced & defeated in order to reclaim our nation, but that’s no small task.

Those like my coffee shop friend must grow up & learn how to fight their way out of a wet paper bag. The ‘Wonderful Listener’ has proven himself a fraud, & the fight ahead will be much more difficult. I’m willing to share ‘gratified,’ as a bolster to our courage, because we'll need ample supply, & we need to draw others to our flank.

As I type, I’m hearing a phrase once spoken to a courageous & determined people who, after being beaten down by uncertainty & immobilized by fear, reclaimed themselves & snatched long victory from the jaws of despair. It was spoken at a time of desperation, & those who were listening, heard & were gratified. We are now the ‘wonderful listeners,’ friends. We are also those same courageous & determined people.

Listen, and join me in the hearing, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”

~~~

Which One? (reprise)

I've only done a do-over one time @ Get the Big Idea. It's not something I do routinely, as I figure my friends are savvy enough to find 'like' posts using the handy labels list. Right? But sometimes, the mood strikes, & I want a do-over (don't we all?).

Lucky for me, this is my blog, & I get to choose. And no arguments from the rif-raf, either!

At any rate, I was walking the pooch today, with M.W.Smith on my IPOD. The sky was pristinely blue, as only a Carolina sky can be. Autumn leaves were warming themselves in the golden rays of sweet sunshine (after weeks of rain), & I was of-a-mind to count favorites. This original piece from 9-08 came to mind, & it just makes me feel good. Maybe you'll enjoy it too:

Books are essential. Reading is one of the best expanders of the mind, of the soul.

But what if some catastrophe occurs, and only one book could be saved? Faced with that notion, which book would you be sure to rescue? Which one would you save?

It's legal and it's literary. It’s historical and poetic. It's sophisticated

narrative and children’s delight. It's sexy and smoldering; compellingly real

and enigmatic. Come to it as a scholar, or scientist, an objective observer

or a hostile assailant. It's confounding, perplexing, nearly implausible. It

yields to antagonism, ignites debate and inspires awe. By it, through it,

one can be moved to a depth of intimacy that defies understanding. When

a catastrophe strikes, when all books will vanish and I can save just one,

this one will be clutched under my arm, shielded from the mayhem of

falling, crashing, burning. When I rush out of the flaming building and my

family is safe, I’ll have pressed against me this one, my Bible.
I’ll save it, because it first saved me.

~~~

Health Care Reform: Pelosi Style?

My friend Joe has posted an excellent, succinct article on the newly revealed House Health Care Reform bill. He has boiled it down to the most salient points of concern; and believe me, we ALL should be concerned.

Now, Joe is a smart fella. He does his research & doesn't post based on knee-jerk emotion, but on cool, level-headed reason. Any time you visit his blog, you can depend on quality, thoughtful writing, even if you're on the 'other side' of an issue. This time is no exception.

PLEASE go visit this post. You won't be disappointed.

~~~

Help Is On the Way: Michael W. Smith

Okay, so today has been a great day.

This weekend has been great. My husband surprised me with - get this - children staying with his dear parents, and tickets to a Michael W. Smith concert last night: 7th row!

It. Was. Fabulous!

The concert included Phil Stacey (American Idol), Matt Maher & Meredith Andrews.

I wish that I could convey the bigness of the sound, the energy of the music, the intimacy of the lyrics & the palpable movement of the Holy Spirit. Be assured, dear friends, that it was BIG!

These two videos (2 of my favorites from last night) can't convey all that, but they can sure give a peek.
Enjoy!





I am so thankful to have been a part of that experience, & I thank my dear, generous, thoughtful husband for giving it to us.

I believe people's hearts were moved in that room last night.
I believe healings of all kinds took place, & people left different than they came.
I believe people tasted the sweet pelting of Healing Rain & know, truly, that Help is On The Way.

I believe this happened;
I know it's true, because I'm one of them.
Glory Hallelujah!

~~~

Logistical Troubles II: Call to Action

Okay so this week, I got a little revved (okay, a lot revved) about this UN Climate Change Treaty thing, & what BHO's signing it would do to our nation's sovereignty. My heart was racing & I had to go into my yoga breathing. One of my sweet friends, who is on my blog-send email list, apparently got revved too & shared it w/ her husband. He's a student (& teacher) of history, & the closest thing to a Constitutional Scholar that I rub elbows with!

While I still don't trust BHO (or his administration) to not send me into cardiac arrest, I'm somewhat more secure that our Nation is not on 'the brink.' The following is my friend's husband's response to 10-20-09's post:

Su-girl:
Don't worry too greatly about the treaty - other than its implications for those who have never read closely our beloved Constitution. Yes, our bundle of sticks - which I commonly refer to as liberty - is made smaller by any small foray into international meddling.

In two different places in the Constitution, there is outright argument for there being NO LAW higher than the Constitution. The first and most obvious is the SENTENCE of the Article that begins with something to the effect, "This Constitution...shall be the supreme Law of the Land." The other occurs in an earlier Article and lists, in order, that the Supreme Court and its lower Courts behave "under the Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made under them."

So, the Brit [Lord Monckton] first of all, doesn't seem to understand OUR Constitution. He further assumes that the President's signature is the end of the game. Two-thirds of the Senate - after its "advice and consent" on any treaty negotiated by a president - must vote in favor of Ratification of said Treaty. Let's recall that it was a Republican president - the younger Bush - who wanted to be able to fast track trade negotiations like the FTAA. Has the FTAA landed yet? No, thanks to John Birch Society grass roots efforts. Bush did get through CAFTA to extend NAFTA, so shame on the Senate for not speaking up! Shame on us for not standing watch!

So, screw Obama, let's re-take Congress, one house at a time.

Write BURR and HAGAN [NC Senators] to get their input on how they will vote, write letters to newspapers exposing their view, then start the letter writing campaign to both...
emphasis mine

Godspeed,
[Your sweet friend's Husband]*

So, for now my pulse can slow; I can breathe easier. But our friend admonishes us with good reason. We have not been "standing watch." And now we know better. It's time to live better. For it's not only our own pulse at risk, but the heartbeat of our very Nation that depends on it.

~~~

*Many thanks to 'my sweet friend's husband' for the response, & for the necessary permission to post it here.

Logistical troubles...individual & international

Hi friends.

Last night, Annie sent me a video that I want EVERY AMERICAN to see: conservative, liberal, apolitical; religious, atheist, apathetic; black, white, pink, green; canine, feline, bovine - I don't really care - just LISTEN TO THIS!!



On October 14, Lord Christopher Monckton (policy advisor to Margaret Thatcher) gave a presentation in St. Paul, MN on the subject of global warming. In this 4-minute excerpt from his speech, he issues a dire warning to all Americans regarding the United Nations Climate Change Treaty that is scheduled to be signed in Copenhagen in December 2009.
**Debate has been raised about Monckton's conclusion that the Copenhagen Treaty would cede US sovereignty. His comments are based upon The Supremacy Clause in the US Constitution (Article VI, paragraph 2). This clause establishes the Constitution, Federal Statutes, and U.S. TREATIES as the supreme law of the land. Concerns have been raised in the past that a particularly ambitious treaty may supersede the US Constitution. In the 1950s, a constitutional amendment, known as the Bricker Amendment, was proposed in response to such fears, but it failed to pass.

PLEASE watch this video! It is crucially important to international relations (logistics, as it were).

*Many, many thanks to my friend, BetteJo for emailing me the embed code for the video - which wasn't included in the earlier draft of this post, but appears in this edition!

And to the others who emailed, the tips are MOST appreciated! (Just goes to show what my Mama always says, "It ain't what you know, it's WHO you know!")

She also said, "It's great to have all kinds of friends."

Thanks all.

~~~

Krauthammer: Foreign policy a la Obama

Conservatives take note: "while many of us learn liberalism from liberals, I fear that far too many of us have learned what conservatism is from liberals as well." So says our friend at A Voice in the Wilderness.

In the coming weeks/months, A Voice in TW will offer an "explanation and defense of the [conservative] things I believe in and what led me to believe in them...my intent is to clarify the positions and underlying assumptions of conservatism that bind us, however loosely." This ought to be interesting reading & discussion for us all, & thought I'd put in a plug for it!

Meanwhile, one of the keenest conservative minds of our time has a few words about Obama foreign policy, moral leadership & American Exceptionalism:



Please listen carefully to Dr. Krauthammer's clear & measured treatment of Obama's systematic dismantling or of the "moral foundation of American dominance."

Key phrases:
American Exceptionalism: refers to the theory that the United States occupies a special niche among the nations of the world[1] in terms of its national credo, historical evolution, political and religious institutions and unique origins. The roots of the term are attributed to Alexis de Tocqueville,[2] who claimed that the then-50-year-old United States held a special place among nations, because it was a country of immigrants and the first modern democracy.

hajj: the fifth pillar of Islam is a pilgrimage to Mecca during the month of Dhu al-Hijja; at least once in a lifetime a Muslim is expected to make...

undermine: to cause weakness in a foundation, to weaken gradually

moral claim to world leadership

moral confidence any nation needs to have to justify to itself (& to others) its position of leadership.

mandate of Heaven: a philosophy, rooted in Imperial Chinese history, assumed by the evolution of American democracy, which presented itself to the world as something like a heaven-sent template for the democratic future of humankind.

So, now that the new non-exceptional, "humbled America" has abdicated world leadership, how does this 'new world' govern itself?

Odd, now that he has stripped the world of its 'governor,' we don't hear Mr. Obama posing structure & means for such governing, do we?

~~~

BREAKING NEWS!

BREAKING NEWS:
This just in!!!

Obama wins the Heisman Trophy after

watching a college football game!

All the WORLD Celebrates

HOPE for the future!!

~~~

The Ant & the Grasshopper: revisionist fable-telling

THE ANT & THE GRASSHOPPER

Here's an old allegory told in a fresh way, updated for the times we're in...

OLD VERSION:
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!

MODERN VERSION:
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.

CBS, NBC , PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody cries when they sing, 'It's Not Easy Being Green.'

ACORN stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, 'We shall overcome.'

Rev. Jeremiah Wright then has the group kneel down to pray for the grasshopper's sake.

Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.

Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government Green Czar.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing the last bits of ant's food while the government house he's in (the ant's old house), crumbles around him for lack of care.

The ant has disappeared in the snow.

The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident.

The house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be careful how you vote in 2010.

~~~

Curtsy to my Lisa, who emailed this earlier in the week.

Me, Invisible?

A word of encouragement for any 'Cathedral builders' out there - especially mothers. Remember this when you feel somewhat 'invisible' or insignificant:




Whatever Cathedral you happen to be building in this season of your life, "let's pray that our work will stand as a monument" to our great God.

Be encouraged, friends, because nothing is invisible.

Amen & amen.

~~~

In which the Obamistake becomes fun...

Sometimes, I have a hard time separating myself from the enormity of the mistake that my countrymen/women made in November, 2008.

I want to stand on the roof of the tallest building I can find & scream at the top of my lungs,

"I TOLD YOU SO!!"

But that might not go over so well.

It tends to make people (who know they've been made a fool), well - defensive. Best to try & get those people back on your team. Best to give them a way to save face while admitting the error of their ways...

While pointing the harsh finger of incrimination, it's best to

try a little humor:

From tedious adulthood to the faith of a child...

Lately, a blogger that I've just discovered & I have been having a discussion (he's young & fancies himself athiest, but even he says he's not quite sure). In a recent post he asks,

"Who is God, who made God? Can such a complex and all powerful being just come into creation? How was God made? Who decided God should be the Alpha and the Omega? Why not me? Please don't say God just is...Because I can easily say the universe just is & then we're back to square one..."

I like this new blog friend. He has an openness to conversation & a gentleness to his young spirit. But one can see the tedium with which he approaches the Almighty.

Then just today I was hearing all about my first grader's day at school. She is quite a talker, & one might think she's rambling-on until you stop to listen to what she's "rambling"...which is almost always something that makes good sense. (It's mentally exhausting sometimes, let me tell ya!)

So it went like this,

her: "...learned about the solar system...the line that goes around the earth...God gave us all the languages so we can talk to each other...we live above the equator...God gave us all the names so we can name our children something different...days to get around the sun..." and then...

her: "I've always wondered why God doesn't have a wife."

(Do you see why I always have to be listening?)

me: "Baby, God doesn't have a wife, because God isn't human. God is God."

her: "God has to be part boy & part girl, because boys talk to God about boy stuff & girls talk to God about girl stuff."

me: "Very wise & observant thing to say. A lot of adults don't even understand that about God, baby. Good thinking..."

It was so simple to her. No worry about the origin of God, the gender of God, sexism superimposed on images of God, etc., etc. To my precious 6 year old daughter, God just is. And you know what? She's right.

And this new blog friend? He would be right too...so is the universe.

~~~

"I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." Mark 10:15

~~~

Remember?

The fervor over Pam’s recent post (about 9-11 & Remembrance thereof) started me thinking…Dear one that she is, Pam & I exchanged some email, sharing bits about our own 9-11-01 experiences. Yesterday, as I typed my last few lines to her, a nagging sense of familiarity tugged the back of my mind…Then like the pop of a broken light bulb, my memory jolted alert: I’ve written a piece about this!

At the end of this month, "Get the Big Idea" will turn 1 year old. In my first post, Primary Perspectives , I told the blog world that I’d been “writing for some time with a sense of discovery & anticipation, & with a notion that perhaps I have something to say.” Back in early 2007, (pre-blogging) I wrote a piece for a little 'contest' that was supposed to be a 'personal memoir.' Today, the irony of that "memoir's" timely subject is not lost on me, & I’d like to share it with you, very close to its original form, edited only for length/clarity:

Remember Who You Are

Here and now, this may seem a tired incident about which to speak. It may even seem cliché. Some may believe it’s not ‘fresh and new,’ that it’s been overdone, that it’s now passé. My perspective is different. As I examine the brand it has left on me, I hope that God and reason forbids we ever become the hardened, soulless people who could forget the world-shattering shock of it, the cold, calculated, slithering evil of it. God forbid that we dismiss the lasting impressions of what that day did to us, in favor of the next new thing. Surely we won’t. Please tell me, someone, that we’re a people who can cull and sift wisdom from the wreckage and allow it to sear our souls. Tell me that we can become a more convicted nation, looking deeper into ourselves and each other than surface reflection permits.

It all seems, in a way, like a gathering thunderstorm. There was, or must have been, the low rumbling growl. I didn’t hear it, but someone must have. I never saw the approaching thunderhead. I never heard the snarling undertone. But when the onslaught came, there seemed no shelter left to seek.

It could not have been a more splendid day. In my home two little boys dressed for swimming, and I was busy with the machinations of early morning. Daddy had been gone for hours.

Our trip to the Y was commonplace. We were late, at 9:05 am. Another mother slid in beside me on the bench, “Did you hear anything about a plane crashing into the World Trade Center?” she asked.

“What…? Um, no. I didn’t hear,” was my response.
“My husband called me in the car,” she said. “He says a plane crashed into the towers…pilot had a heart attack or something…”
“Hmm. Strange,” was all I offered.

Swim lesson over, & on our way to the library, we stopped for gas. The attendant gave a warning, “Ma’am, you’d better fill up. We may not get any more for days.”

“What…?” I heard echoes of my own voice, an eerie déjà vu snaking up through my awareness.

The radio, ever tuned to news-talk, was crackling with bits and snatches of a story too confusing and unbelievable to be real. The whole dial was swarming with reporters reading fluttering press releases. Descriptions of scenes came from stammering, bewildered voices sketching out the implausible, unimaginable carnage.

“My God...” My gasp was not an expletive; it was a guttural plea. “Oh, my God…”

I drove home through the debris-field of talk radio, trying to make sense of it, with two very normal, oblivious boys in the back seat. Our library, a government building, had closed. Our airport, where my in-laws were to have flown out just that morning, was closed; air traffic locked down. Our own small city --our life-- had suddenly shrunk in around us.

In my own home, unfathomable images violated my TV screen, piercing the heart of our quiet, safe life. Images of destruction, annihilation, and death billowed into our home. My husband & I sat watching in silent awe. Nothing we had ever known had prepared us for this.

The following days and weeks revealed desperation, searing grief, and truly valiant heroism. Officials from all political angles displayed a unity never seen in my lifetime. With remarkable determination, they laid aside agendas to collaborate with angry solidarity for the greater good. For the first time in my thirty-three years, I got it. Along with the tragedy & bitter-sweet heroism, these days revealed the hidden portrait of our American Republic in its purest form. We were, in September 2001, through terrible tragedy, remembering who we are.

I watched my America & our people in action: political enemies embracing; politically correct labels falling away; men, women, & children on their knees seeking God. These things filled me with a love for my country and her people that I had never before experienced. I was never more proud to be American.

Here and now, in the time since 9-11, do we still remember how incredibly exceptional our America is? From that horrible wreckage, what wisdom have we culled & sifted for her? Our Founding Fathers could never have envisioned her modern predicament, but their inspired wisdom laid the foundation for who she is. Have we remembered? Will we allow the lasting impression of that day to instill in us a remembrance of who we’re supposed to be? Oh, I hope so. Someone, please tell me so.

As for me? I am insignificant in a sea of harsh realities. But I am one, & have been branded nonetheless. The imprint of 9-11-01 drives me to live the change that I want to see. I will hold up hope toward each day humbly, & with deep, soul-aching gratitude. I will fiercely cherish those whom I love, knowing that today’s breath could be tomorrow’s memory. I will be gracious to strangers who cross my path, mindful that I, too, am a stranger. And I will add my voice to the conversation of our time, because its dialogue invokes the gravity of our very survival.

On 9-11-01 all pretense was stripped away, and what remained was naked principle. Thus, as a child of the exceptional Republic, an American woman, I will no longer remain silent in my convictions. I will be thankful; and I will remember who I am.

~~~

Thank you friends, that so many of you have listened as I’ve told some of my story. Thank you that we’ve wrestled together through our principles, & with any luck we've emboldened our convictions. I am in your debt for your wisdom & your encouragement, & I am grateful. And I will keep remembering.

~~~

Joe Wilson, SC: Hero of the week.

Some say his sense of decorum was blurred, but he spoke – er shouted – the truth. Last night in his ‘health care’ speech, Mr. Obama said that the health care reform package would not cover illegal aliens. From the side of the room, Representative Joe Wilson, SC shouted, “YOU LIE!”

I. LOVED. THAT.

President Obama had been prattling on about the “misinformation” that Americans “have grown nervous about,” & was addressing “some of the key controversies that are still out there.” (Listen, good American children. He really is the caring father, & health care reform is for our own good…We shouldn’t be ‘nervous’ about gifts from the father’s hand…that we didn’t ask for…that we don’t want…that we know are poison to our gut.) So, Mr. O began w/ the “bogus claims” (yes, he said ‘bogus’ – were Bill & Ted in the house?), “bogus claims spread by those whose only agenda is to kill reform at any cost.”

'Quick study: that ‘agenda’ sounds like we-the-people putting pressure on our government KILL this bill. But this entire speech was designed to KILL the opposition, & put PRESSURE on the PEOPLE. Mr. President, a lesson: in the United States of America, We-the-people put pressure on the Government to makes changes…NOT the other way around. That’s the way it works in a free Republic. You’re not listening. We know you’re still flying high from your watershed win last year, but we DON’T WANT the CHANGE you’re pushing.

We don’t trust you; we don’t believe you, & Mr. Wilson called you out for what you are. Congressional Chambers or not, decorum becomes a luxury when you’re trying to save the Republic. It’s a luxury we cannot afford. Mr. Wilson knows that, & threw caution to the wind. He shouted the truth, & he is my HERO for it!



God bless Joe Wilson. We need more of him.

~~~
addendum: send Rep. Wilson an email telling him Thank You.

Obama Youth??

Friends, by now you've probably heard about the "address" that the President will deliver to the nation's public school children - simultaneously - while they're in school - on Tuesday. For some children, it will be the start of their year. For others, it's the first day back after a Labor Day break. Either way, parents will be caught unawares, uninformed & unable to give/deny permission for their children's participation in this unprecedented 'Presidential address' to the captive audience of our nation's school children.

A few days ago, I went to a luncheon sponsored by Freedomworks where author Mason Weaver & Fmr. Hs. Majority Leader Dick Armey were speaking. They said a lot of things about the state of our government, but the main point that each man stressed? Decide today, Act tomorrow! I had arrived decided (that we must act), but was still perplexed as to what I could actually do...

Next day, I answered my phone to a voice speaking with agonizing urgency, "Have you heard?...This is how these things get started...look at history...Hitler Youth..." It was time to act...

What follows is the exchange I had w/ my school Superintendent. I share it in hopes that, in the slender window between now & 9-8, anyone who can use it & ACT on it, will:


Sent: Wednesday, September 02, 2009 1:59 PM
Subject: President Obama to address school children
Dear Dr. M & Board Members,

Just today, I learned of an address that President Obama is scheduled to make to the nation's public school children on Tuesday, September 8th.

President Obama’s Address to Students Across America September 8, 2009

I would like to know if our School System in taking part by having children K-6 (or older) watch/listen to this address. Please let me know.

From Dr. M: We are working on that using an internet link. I haven't heard whether all the logistics have been worked out. We will be posting something about this on our website home page.

From Dr. M.: It is my understanding that the student message (duration is supposed to be in the 5-7 minute range) will be broadcast at noon next Tuesday. Obviously many of our students will be at lunch and will have to miss it. I am certain that this speech will not be partisan in any way - it will encourage students to do well in school so that our country can remain competitive. I think that you would approve of his message and I would encourage you to watch it on C-Span or come to school. If your children are eating lunch at noon, they won't be watching it.

From me- final response:
Dr. M,

Thank you for your prompt response to my email, and I appreciate your anticipation of my concerns. Whether the President’s “address” is partisan or not is not at issue. (I assume it will not be, having read the curriculum that accompanies it.)

Our country’s current political climate has produced unparalleled Government control in our society, and has raised to high alert suspicions of socialist motivations (& worse). In such a climate, for the President to deliver an unprecedented “address” to every child in the nation’s public schools (w/o parental informed consent, on the day after a holiday break) is inappropriate. It further ignites fears of an intrusive Government “Nanny State”. It also demonstrates abuse of the station of his office against parental authority. Our public school children are a captive audience whose parents have not chosen, nor been informed, nor given permission for their children to participate in this event.

Our family respects the Office of the President, but we demand that the man who holds this office respect the reach of his authority and influence in our daily lives. Further, we find offensive the school system’s lack of the due diligence of informed parental consent in this matter, regardless of the content or duration of the address. Therefore (because we happened to stumble across this knowledge), our children will not be in their school buildings during the President’s “address” on Tuesday.

Thank you again for your timely response to my inquiry...

I'm thankful that my friend came upon her information. I'm thankful that my mind & posture had been prepared by those two fine speakers toward doing something. Mr. Mason had asked of our lunch group, "Are you frightened, or are you motivated? Decide now what your country is going to be, then act to make it happen.

This is our country, friends. It's time to take it back.

~~~