Hey, it's just parinoia, isn't it?

As the election kicks into overdrive in it's final days, we are being treated to attack ads, fiery stump speeches and, depending which network you are watching, an unvarnished politically biased coverage for one candidate or the other. Whether it is Sarah Palin's expensive wardrobe or Obama's "Muslim" heritage or, there is enough political hyperbole on display this election cycle to keep our national blood pressure in the danger zone for the next decade. Political grandstanding aside, there are some issues that need to be brought out into the light, sooner than later. The number one issue is character and the candidates desire to uphold the Constitution. To question Barack Obama's character and his associations with those in our country who apparently do not cherish American way of life has apparently become taboo and earns the curious the label of racist, right wing conspiracy nut job or both.

My parents taught me that you are judged by the company you keep and it appears to me that this may be a good place to start looking at Barrack’s fitness to lead the greatest country in the world. Be it his apparent connections to ACORN, the Reverend Wright or Minister Louis Farrakhan, Obama has left us with a number of reasons to question his character.
In one of my earlier blog posts, Troubled Sleep , I explored the troubling Satanic text of Saul Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals" (the Bible of Community Organizers) and the fact that Obama used the teachings of this deranged man to build his "career of service" upon. Earlier this year we were treated to the video of his Pastor and mentor, Jeremiah Wright, damning America during one of his "sermons". We have heard how he made alliances with the sleazy Chicago political machine which is famous for raising the dead to vote in elections, his connections with ACORN which apparently is attempting to spread the Chicago style of politics across the nation and his personal friendships with the likes of the leader of the Nation of Islam. Is it no wonder that the man has raised the ire of his political adversaries.

All of these points are reason enough, for me, to say that I don't trust the man. He is either lying to the Nation about his true convictions or he has some serious problems when it comes to choosing his friends. But there is one friend that puts the rest of these Yahoos to shame, William Ayers. This is a man who has tried, as founder of the 1970's terrorist orginization the Weather Underground, to overthrow the United States of America and replace it with Anarchy and socialism. This man lives in the same neighborhood as Barrack (and Minister Farrakhan) and was one of the first people in Chicago to befriend Barrack and help him establish his burgeoning political career. As the news of his former alliance with this renowned terrorist began to leak out, we were told that there was no connection between Ayers former terroristic ways and his alliance with Barrack. After all, Barrack was only 8 years old when the Weather Underground was going around blowing up stuff. But if you read the Ruels for Radicals, listen to the sermons of the Reverend Wright and Minister Farrakhan or read the reports of voter fraud being thrust upon our Nation right now by members of ACORN, it is not a far stretch of the imagination to believe that Obama and Ayers relationship may have undertones that run a little deeper than we are being led to believe.

I came across this video clip of the 1982 documentary "No Place To Hide" about the Weather Underground and their plot to overthrow the US Government and replace it with a socialistic, no, a communist regime. This clip is of an interview with Larry Grathwohl, an FBI informant who had infiltrated the movement and was in a unique position to learn of their diabolical plans for our way of life.

Call me a right wing nut job, but I think that befriending a terrorist who had made plans to exterminate 25 million Americans warrants a red flag. I tend to think that displaying treasonous tendencies is a fairly good reason to stay away from a man, not to mention accepting his help establishing my political career as a fund raiser. Now it seems that we are being told not to look at the man behind the curtain. We are told that this is the Messiah and that we should all bow and worship at his benevolent feet as he helps us "share the wealth".

Well, my friends, I smell a rat and I am afraid that we will all come to regret ever letting this man into our House on Pennsylvania Avenue. While I won't even try to hide my disdain for John McCain, I have no doubt that he is a true patriot and would fight to his last drop of blood dripped from his veins to protect the American way of life that our forefathers died for. I wish, with every fiber in my body, that I held the same convictions about Barrack Obama, but my instincts tell me that it is really time to start praying... and that's my 2 pennies.

It's Not Theirs To Give

As I watch in amazement, at the bone headed move that the US Congress and President Bush have made this past week by implementing the largest government bailout in history, and I am reminded of a story that I read several years ago by Colonel David Crockett.

Davey was a true American Hero, whether he was blazing new trails in the settlement of the Western territories of his time, nobly serving as a member of the US House of Representatives or laying down his life for the Texas cause, he has become one of my favorite people in history.

This story is one of the cornerstones of truth that I have built my conservative beliefs upon. I hope that it resonates with your spirit the way it has with mine and it provides a firm foundation block for you to build on.

Warning: This is an extremly long story, but it is well worth the time.

Not Yours to Give

by

Colonel David Crockett;

Compiled by Edward S. Ellis



One day in the House of Representatives, a bill was taken up appropriating money for the benefit of a widow of a distinguished naval officer. Several beautiful speeches had been made in its support. The Speaker was just about to put the question when Crockett arose:

"Mr. Speaker--I have as much respect for the memory of the deceased, and as much sympathy for the sufferings of the living, if suffering there be, as any man in this House, but we must not permit our respect for the dead or our sympathy for a part of the living to lead us into an act of injustice to the balance of the living. I will not go into an argument to prove that Congress has no power to appropriate this money as an act of charity. Every member upon this floor knows it. We have the right, as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right so to appropriate a dollar of the public money. Some eloquent appeals have been made to us upon the ground that it is a debt due the deceased. Mr. Speaker, the deceased lived long after the close of the war; he was in office to the day of his death, and I have never heard that the government was in arrears to him.

Every man in this House knows it is not a debt. We cannot, without the grossest corruption, appropriate this money as the payment of a debt. We have not the semblance of authority to appropriate it as a charity. Mr. Speaker, I have said we have the right to give as much money of our own as we please. I am the poorest man on this floor. I cannot vote for this bill, but I will give one week's pay to the object, and if every member of Congress will do the same, it will amount to more than the bill asks."

He took his seat. Nobody replied. The bill was put upon its passage, and, instead of passing unanimously, as was generally supposed, and as, no doubt, it would, but for that speech, it received but few votes, and, of course, was lost.

Later, when asked by a friend why he had opposed the appropriation, Crockett gave this explanation:

"Several years ago I was one evening standing on the steps of the Capitol with some other members of Congress, when our attention was attracted by a great light over in Georgetown . It was evidently a large fire. We jumped into a hack and drove over as fast as we could. In spite of all that could be done, many houses were burned and many families made homeless, and, besides, some of them had lost all but the clothes they had on. The weather was very cold, and when I saw so many women and children suffering, I felt that something ought to be done for them. The next morning a bill was introduced appropriating $20,000 for their relief. We put aside all other business and rushed it through as soon as it could be done.

"The next summer, when it began to be time to think about the election, I concluded I would take a scout around among the boys of my district. I had no opposition there, but, as the election was some time off, I did not know what might turn up. When riding one day in a part of my district in which I was more of a stranger than any other, I saw a man in a field plowing and coming toward the road. I gauged my gait so that we should meet as he came to the fence. As he came up, I spoke to the man. He replied politely, but, as I thought, rather coldly.

"I began: 'Well, friend, I am one of those unfortunate beings called candidates, and--'

"'Yes, I know you; you are Colonel Crockett, I have seen you once before, and voted for you the last time you were elected. I suppose you are out electioneering now, but you had better not waste your time or mine. I shall not vote for you again.'

"This was a sockdolager . . . I begged him to tell me what was the matter.

"'Well, Colonel, it is hardly worth-while to waste time or words upon it. I do not see how it can be mended, but you gave a vote last winter which shows that either you have not capacity to understand the Constitution, or that you are wanting in the honesty and firmness to be guided by it. In either case you are not the man to represent me. But I beg your pardon for expressing it in that way. I did not intend to avail myself of the privilege of the constituent to speak plainly to a candidate for the purpose of insulting or wounding you. I intend by it only to say that your understanding of the Constitution is very different from mine; and I will say to you what, but for my rudeness, I should not have said, that I believe you to be honest. . . . But an understanding of the Constitution different from mine I cannot overlook, because the Constitution, to be worth anything, must be held sacred, and rigidly observed in all its provisions. The man who wields power and misinterprets it is the more dangerous the more honest he is.'

"'I admit the truth of all you say, but there must be some mistake about it, for I do not remember that I gave any vote last winter upon any constitutional question.'

"'No, Colonel, there's no mistake. Though I live here in the backwoods and seldom go from home, I take the papers from Washington and read very carefully all the proceedings of Congress. My papers say that last winter you voted for a bill to appropriate $20,000 to some sufferers by a fire in Georgetown . Is that true?'

"'Well, my friend; I may as well own up. You have got me there. But certainly nobody will complain that a great and rich country like ours should give the insignificant sum of $20,000 to relieve its suffering women and children, particularly with a full and overflowing Treasury, and I am sure, if you had been there, you would have done just as I did.'

"'It is not the amount, Colonel, that I complain of; it is the principle. In the first place, the government ought to have in the Treasury no more than enough for its legitimate purposes. But that has nothing to do with the question. The power of collecting and disbursing money at pleasure is the most dangerous power that can be intrusted to man, particularly under our system of collecting revenue by a tariff, which reaches every man in the country, no matter how poor he may be, and the poorer he is the more he pays in proportion to his means. What is worse, it presses upon him without his knowledge where the weight centers, for there is not a man in the United States who can ever guess how much he pays to the government. So you see, that while you are contributing to relieve one, you are drawing it from thousands who are even worse off than he. If you had the right to give anything, the amount was simply a matter of discretion with you, and you had as much right to give $20,000,000 as $20,000. If you have the right to give to one, you have the right to give to all; and, as the Constitution neither defines charity nor stipulates the amount, you are at liberty to give to any and everything which you may believe, or profess to believe, is a charity, and to any amount you may think proper. You will very easily perceive what a wide door this would open for fraud and corruption and favoritism, on the one hand, and for robbing the people on the other. No, Colonel, Congress has no right to give charity. Individual members may give as much of their own money as they please, but they have no right to touch a dollar of the public money for that purpose. If twice as many houses had been burned in this county as in Georgetown , neither you nor any other member of Congress would have thought of appropriating a dollar for our relief. There are about two hundred and forty members of Congress. If they had shown their sympathy for the sufferers by contributing each one week's pay, it would have made over $13,000. There are plenty of wealthy men in and around Washington who could have given $20,000 without depriving themselves of even a luxury of life. The congressmen chose to keep their own money, which, if reports be true, some of them spend not very creditably; and the people about Washington , no doubt, applauded you for relieving them from the necessity of giving by giving what was not yours to give. The people have delegated to Congress, by the Constitution, the power to do certain things. To do these, it is authorized to collect and pay moneys, and for nothing else. Everything beyond this is usurpation, and a violation of the Constitution.

"'So you see, Colonel, you have violated the Constitution in what I consider a vital point. It is a precedent fraught with danger to the country, for when Congress once begins to stretch its power beyond the limits of the Constitution, there is no limit to it, and no security for the people. I have no doubt you acted honestly, but that does not make it any better, except as far as you are personally concerned, and you see that I cannot vote for you.'

"I tell you I felt streaked. I saw if I should have opposition, and this man should go to talking, he would set others to talking, and in that district I was a gone fawn-skin. I could not answer him, and the fact is, I was so fully convinced that he was right, I did not want to. But I must satisfy him, and I said to him:

"'Well, my friend, you hit the nail upon the head when you said I had not sense enough to understand the Constitution. I intended to be guided by it, and thought I had studied it fully. I have heard many speeches in Congress about the powers of Congress, but what you have said here at your plow has got more hard, sound sense in it than all the fine speeches I ever heard. If I had ever taken the view of it that you have, I would have put my head into the fire before I would have given that vote; and if you will forgive me and vote for me again, if I ever vote for another unconstitutional law I wish I may be shot.'

"He laughingly replied: 'Yes, Colonel, you have sworn to that once before, but I will trust you again upon one condition. You say that you are convinced that your vote was wrong. Your acknowledgment of it will do more good than beating you for it. If, as you go around the district, you will tell people about this vote, and that you are satisfied it was wrong, I will not only vote for you, but will do what I can to keep down opposition, and, perhaps, I may exert some little influence in that way.'

"'If I don't,' said I, 'I wish I may be shot; and to convince you that I am in earnest in what I say I will come back this way in a week or ten days, and if you will get up a gathering of the people, I will make a speech to them. Get up a barbecue, and I will pay for it.'

"'No, Colonel, we are not rich people in this section, but we have plenty of provisions to contribute for a barbecue, and some to spare for those who have none. The push of crops will be over in a few days, and we can then afford a day for a barbecue. This is Thursday; I will see to getting it up on Saturday week. Come to my house on Friday, and we will go together, and I promise you a very respectable crowd to see and hear you.'

"'Well, I will be here. But one thing more before I say good-by. I must know your name.'

"'My name is Bunce.'

"'Not Horatio Bunce?'

"'Yes.'

"'Well, Mr. Bunce, I never saw you before, though you say you have seen me, but I know you very well. I am glad I have met you, and very proud that I may hope to have you for my friend.'

"It was one of the luckiest hits of my life that I met him. He mingled but little with the public, but was widely known for his remarkable intelligence and incorruptible integrity, and for a heart brimful and running over with kindness and benevolence, which showed themselves not only in words but in acts. He was the oracle of the whole country around him, and his fame had extended far beyond the circle of his immediate acquaintance. Though I had never met him before, I had heard much of him, and but for this meeting it is very likely I should have had opposition, and had been beaten. One thing is very certain, no man could now stand up in that district under such a vote.

"At the appointed time I was at his house, having told our conversation to every crowd I had met, and to every man I stayed all night with, and I found that it gave the people an interest and a confidence in me stronger than I had every seen manifested before.

"Though I was considerably fatigued when I reached his house, and, under ordinary circumstances, should have gone early to bed, I kept him up until midnight, talking about the principles and affairs of government, and got more real, true knowledge of them than I had got all my life before.

"I have known and seen much of him since, for I respect him--no, that is not the word--I reverence and love him more than any living man, and I go to see him two or three times every year; and I will tell you, sir, if every one who professes to be a Christian lived and acted and enjoyed it as he does, the religion of Christ would take the world by storm.

"But to return to my story. The next morning we went to the barbecue, and, to my surprise, found about a thousand men there. I met a good many whom I had not known before, and they and my friend introduced me around until I had got pretty well acquainted--at least, they all knew me.

"In due time notice was given that I would speak to them. They gathered up around a stand that had been erected. I opened my speech by saying:

"'Fellow-citizens--I present myself before you today feeling like a new man. My eyes have lately been opened to truths which ignorance or prejudice, or both, had heretofore hidden from my view. I feel that I can today offer you the ability to render you more valuable service than I have ever been able to render before. I am here today more for the purpose of acknowledging my error than to seek your votes. That I should make this acknowledgment is due to myself as well as to you. Whether you will vote for me is a matter for your consideration only.'

"I went on to tell them about the fire and my vote for the appropriation and then told them why I was satisfied it was wrong. I closed by saying:

"'And now, fellow-citizens, it remains only for me to tell you that the most of the speech you have listened to with so much interest was simply a repetition of the arguments by which your neighbor, Mr. Bunce, convinced me of my error.

"'It is the best speech I ever made in my life, but he is entitled to the credit for it. And now I hope he is satisfied with his convert and that he will get up here and tell you so.'

"He came upon the stand and said:

"'Fellow-citizens--It affords me great pleasure to comply with the request of Colonel Crockett. I have always considered him a thoroughly honest man, and I am satisfied that he will faithfully perform all that he has promised you today.'

"He went down, and there went up from that crowd such a shout for Davy Crockett as his name never called forth before.

"I am not much given to tears, but I was taken with a choking then and felt some big drops rolling down my cheeks. And I tell you now that the remembrance of those few words spoken by such a man, and the honest, hearty shout they produced, is worth more to me than all the honors I have received and all the reputation I have ever made, or ever shall make, as a member of Congress.

"Now, sir," concluded Crockett, "you know why I made that speech yesterday.

"There is one thing now to which I will call your attention. You remember that I proposed to give a week's pay. There are in that House many very wealthy men--men who think nothing of spending a week's pay, or a dozen of them, for a dinner or a wine party when they have something to accomplish by it. Some of those same men made beautiful speeches upon the great debt of gratitude which the country owed the deceased--a debt which could not be paid by money--and the insignificance and worthlessness of money, particularly so insignificant a sum as $10,000, when weighted against the honor of the nation. Yet not one of them responded to my proposition. Money with them is nothing but trash when it is to come out of the people. But it is the one great thing for which most of them are striving, and many of them sacrifice honor, integrity, and justice to obtain it."

Holders of political office are but reflections of the dominant leadership--good or bad--among the electorate.

Horatio Bunce is a striking example of responsible citizenship. Were his kind to multiply, we would see many new faces in public office; or, as in the case of Davy Crockett, a new Crockett.

For either the new faces or the new Crocketts, we must look to the Horatio in ourselves!

-Leonard E. Read

Great Rock N Roll And A Hot Cup Of Joe

Tonight, well, last night as I am writing this, my son’s band, Planning Yesterday, played an exciting concert at Seekers Coffee House in Hurst. These guys are, without a doubt, my favorite new band, even without my obvious bias as the father of the drummer. Over the past 18 months, I have watched these four young men gel together to become a monster Rock N Roll machine. Sure, they are a “Christian Rock” band, but they have not been cast in the mold of the typical grab some no-doze, oh no, it’s another KLTY sleeper band… these boys absolutely KICK TAIL!!! They can give any 70’s or 80’s hard rock band a good run for their money. Their energy level is right up there with the likes of Van Halen or Aerosmith.

Right now they are finishing up their very first 4 song EP, which will hopefully be out before the beginning of the year, and they are ready to start the job of attracting a record label to pick them up and cut their first Album. It is extremely exciting to watch an up and coming band begin their climb and to know that your child has a major part of that process.

My son, Cody, has had the desire to be in a “real” rock band for several years now and has made personal sacrifices to ensure that when lightning strikes that he is positioned to jump on and take the ride. I am so proud of his commitment, not only to his walk as a Christian man, but also to his love of playing music. To watch him on stage, playing his heart out, is one of the most gratifying moments that I get to have as a father.

The thought of them hitting the “Big Time” and being able to go full time is both exciting and a little bit scary. However, I know that they have their priorities straight and their heads on right so I have no doubt at all that they will be able to do what they have been called to do, honor God, while they rock as many peoples faces off as they can.

If you haven’t had the opportunity to listen to their music or catch them in concert, you owe it to yourself to visit their MySpace page at www.myspace.com/planningyesterdaytheband to check them out. They play a lot of free concerts throughout the Metroplex so be sure to catch one, it won’t cost you anything but your time and I can guarantee that you will have a great time in the process, or I will make sure you get your money back… and that’s my two pennies.