‘Oh say can you see, by the dawn’s early light, what so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming, Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro’ the perilous fight, O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air Gave proof thro’ the night that our flag was still there. Oh, say, does that Star spangled Banner yet wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
Oh, thus be it ever when free men shall stand Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation; Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the Heav’n rescued land Praise the Pow’r that hath made and preserved us a nation! Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just; And this be our motto; “In God is our trust!” And the Star spangled Banner in triumph shall wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.’
~The Star Spangled Banner by Francis Scott Key~
Bet most of you (at least those of you that are Americans) know the first paragraph but how many of you knew the second paragraph also goes along with the first? Interesting isn’t it. I didn’t post it to disparage other religions. I didn’t post this to get a rise out of anyone. This is my country’s anthem and I’m PROUD to be able to sing it with vigor, even with my untrained voice.
Our country is in so much uproar right now. We’re being called uncivilized by some. We’re definitely being laughed at and ridiculed by other countries. But do they even know how our country works? Have they studied our laws? Have they studied our history as intently as we have (or as we were supposed to have)? I think not. They should’ve been studying it in an effort to at least know a little about neighboring countries but that would be a peripheral study at best and definitely not an in depth study. Please, if you live in another country, why would you choose to be so uncivilized as to laugh and mock the barbarity of others? Do you think your mocking attitude will help solve our problems? That’s an interesting idea. Perhaps we can return the favor at some point.
I would say this: If you are a country that has a reigning monarch as a leader, you have no idea what true freedom is about. Please do not attempt to tell another country whose laws are based on basic freedoms and rights how to run their system. You don’t have a clue. It might be better to follow this advice: If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all. But I guess, you are probably plagued by your own humanity, just like every other human being on this planet. All humans everywhere have the same capacity for love, hate, good behavior, bad behavior, giving, taking, etc. Don’t condescend to us and patronize us because we have the ability to express our opinions outright without fear of retribution because our opinion might not be the opinion of the people in positions of power. I do not presume to tell other countries how they should do things because I do not know the inner workings of other countries forms of government. We have to solve these problems on our own with people who KNOW how our government works who were BORN citizens or who have become citizens of this country and who have studied very well the inner workings of our country and its system of government. Our problems are our own fault and we must solve them on our own. For people of other countries to try to step in and 'help' is hateful, rude, distracting and debilitating. Please stay out of it. I’m glad that the system of health care in Canada has been working as far as most Canadians are concerned. That it works is not the point here. The point is that this new bill has the word MANDATE in it. A command to the citizens of the United States of America, a command that if not followed will result in outrageous fines and jail time. A command that goes directly against what the original Americans set up as our ruling document. The fact is, most of the citizens of the United States of America didn’t want this plan in the form it takes at this time. The fact is that the people that we elected to REPRESENT us bailed on us and decided money in their pockets and material possessions were worth more than the laws of our country. Have any of you read the entire Constitution of the United States of America? Any of you? If not, then just stay out of it. Expressing your opinion is fine. Everyone has opinions and in America, we’re free to express ours…for right now. With the passing of this particular bill, worded the way it is worded now, that may be different in the near future. I’m sorry but my health is my own business. I do not now, nor do I EVER, want the federal government (who doesn’t know me personally nor do they seem to care about me in any sense) getting involved in how 'best' to take care of me and my family’s health!
I realize that there are many countries which have elected officials to represent their feelings toward choices those governments make. What if your representatives completely ignored you? What if they decided their way was much better than anything you could possibly come up with, simply because they had the power to make that decision? How would you feel then? I bet you might feel a little bit betrayed by that person you thought was going to represent your feelings and ideals in order to help you have a better life.
The way our government, the government of the United States of America, is set up is awesome! The problem that we have right now is that too many people are looking for ways to become and stay rich rather than looking for ways to benefit our nation as a whole. They are more concerned with self rather than with service. Unfortunately, we’ve allowed them to think they have all that power. But our own Constitution says that WE THE PEOPLE also have power.
If we truly are a nation that professes ‘freedom and justice for all’, why is it that this MANDATORY health care plan is only MANDATORY for /most/ of the US citizenry. Why is it that our federal representatives and the Amish aren’t part of that MANDATORY bill? What happens when an Amish person needs surgery or non-herbal medicines? Who are they going to go to? What about our /representatives/? Where do they get to go for medical treatment? Will they go to the same type of facility that the common people have to go to? We are mired in this MESS because of our own selfish behavior. When people refuse to work because the federal government is willing to pay them to do so, that’s selfish and stupid. And when our law-makers are up in DC thinking they know what’s best regardless of how the rest of their countrymen feel, that’s selfish and stupid. And when we the people let them do that, that’s irresponsible and stupid.
So let’s talk for a minute about these people that aren’t working. I’m not referring to people who’ve recently lost jobs because of current legislation that caused the closing of so many businesses (which was another example of more irresponsible behavior by our government leaders). I’m talking about the ‘undeserving poor’, you know, they are all over the place. Those people who think the government ‘owes them something’ for their lazy attitudes. Many of them could work but choose not to for the simple fact that they know the government will give them money for free. The sad thing is, it isn’t even a lot of money. But multiply that by the sheer amount of lazy, non-working citizens and you come up with a staggering amount of money. That money could be used to pay off the ENORMOUSLY OUTRAGEOUS debt our country has incurred. I’m not the best at financial planning. As matter of fact, I’m pretty bad at it. But even I know that if you don’t have money, you don’t spend it. There comes a time when you have to realize “Oh, my gosh! This has to stop!” But apparently, our federal government leaders have never reached that point and who will suffer for that? Not them. It will be my children and your children and the children of every hardworking citizen. ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS NEED TO GO HOME OR TAKE THE RIGHT STEPS TO BECOME CITIZENS! Otherwise they are a drain on our already failing economy. (Hmmm, you think that maybe that happened on purpose? Their being allowed to come over here and draining our economy, I mean.)
Ok, so let’s talk taxes. I pay my taxes. I pay them with minimal complaint. I know that our country is like any other business and it needs money to run. I understand that. But when you charge a family a tax that is more than half of what they make annually, how does that help your country? (sarcasm) Oh! I get it! Let’s just put all those low income but hardworking families in jail and keep rewarding the undeserving poor with ‘free’ money. (end sarcasm) That does seem to be the mentality of our federal government, though. Better yet, lets even help people who aren’t even citizens of our country get benefits that are supposed to be available only for citizens of our country.
We have more people in this country that are here illegally and we have more people coming into this country because we provide them with health care they couldn’t get in their own countries, and you want to deride us? Our criminal detention centers offer our criminals better accommodations than many of our citizenry enjoy and you want to condemn us? If you want to offer an opinion, fine but leave it at that. Don’t even try to solve a problem you can’t even begin to understand. Don’t sit in judgment on a policy or a system of government that you’ve never lived under or even studied.
Anyone who has not read this bill, can’t pass judgment on it either. You are automatically disqualified to judge something you haven’t studied, and that’s across the board on any subject. Everyone who has read this bill understands the implications of it. People who trust blindly, are often the most brutally deceived. I remember my grandparents being very adamant about ‘read everything before you sign your name to it.’ How many of you do that? How many of you don’t? How many of you have never even heard someone say that? We, the countrymen of the United States of America, have become so lazy and so lackadaisical about our happy little bubbles that we have turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to the double dealing and chicanery that has gone on for far too long in DC. It must stop or everything our founding fathers fought for will be lost. I hope that this can be stopped in a peaceful and lawful manner, since there are provisions for that in our Constitution. The last thing I want to see is an uprising in my own country! That would make it way too easy for a tyrant to take control. God forbid!
Now if you want to leave a comment, feel free to do so. But if you just want to accuse and try to change my mind, don’t bother. If I change my mind on anything, it will not be because someone told me to do so. I think for myself and I study what I want to learn about. I’m thankful I live in a country where that is possible, where I’m ALLOWED the freedom to do that. I’m thankful for our forefather’s thinking that provided us with the means to keep tyrants from taking hold of our country. If you want to dis on a country, try one who truly deserves it, or at least pick one thing about that country that truly deserves it, then study that one thing to be sure you have the right idea. All of this is my opinion and I will stand by it. Trying to move me to another position would be like trying to move the Great Wall of China in its entirety.
If you’re interested in what stirred me up to write this, check out this blog. It’s a Canadian perspective and opinion on what’s happening in our country. I took it as an opinion only until people started trashing the one American guy who was trying to explain how our system works and why this particular bill is so disgusting to most of the American citizenry. http://bigearcreations.blogspot.com/2010/03/why-are-americhristians-so-angry-at.html Please know that I give kudos to the writer of the blog for expressing his opinion (albeit biased [as it should be. Citizens of a country should support that country.]) and I also give kudos to Snarky Bill who tried his best to help people who can’t possibly understand (mainly b/c they have no desire to do so) how our system of government works. It’s not complex but you can’t possibly explain it in a blog.

Interesting Thoughts...Well, Some Thoughts, Anyway

As I sat down to devour my 2 hamburgers and gulp my sweet tea, I felt the need to blog. There've been a lot of things going on and I would like to ponder these happenings.

The most publicized story at this point has to the Ft. Hood shooting. My own thoughts on this (gleaned from about 3 different sources and none of them mainstream media) are that this guy was simply trying to keep non-Muslims from going overseas to fight against Muslims. Sure, he may be fighting PTSD, but if you look at what happened,where it happened and the people who were killed or injured, you might come to the same or a similar conclusion. And since I believe that people like those fighting holy wars seek publicity for their acts of violence, I'm saddened by how much we help them. However, if we don't publicize these things, no one will know and no one will even think to be prepared for events such as this happening around them. A necessary evil, I suppose.

Some of the things that you may not know about (b/c of all the hype concerning Ft. Hood) are politcal actions that will affect our taxes, small businesses, insurance for workers at jobs, and I'm sure there are more. Can you believe they are considering a tax on things like hearing aids, pacemakers and other necessary medical items people need. These items already have such a high cost, to add a tax to them is preposterous. Rail against me if you wish (I'll just delete your comments if I find them rude and over the top) but I think we should legalize drugs, tax the hound out of them and require all drug dealers to have a license to distribute. Oh, so you want to import drugs to the USA? Sure, but you have to pay the appropriate exhorbitant fees.

Maine passed a law to forbid same sex marriage. I'm sorry but I believe if you've made a decision to marry someone, you should be allowed to do it, no matter race, color, creed, or lifestyle. I also can't believe some idiot JoP in some southern state (I live in a southern state, btw) refused to perform a marriage for a bi-racial couple! What in the heck is up with that? How stuck in the Civil War Era can you be? I hate to inform people like that but we are such a big country and so varied in ideas and ideals that we have co-mingled.

Speaking of co-mingled... We aren't African, Irish, German, French, Creole, etc anymore. Those terms refer to our ancestors and our heritage. Newsflash people! When you were born into this country, you were born a citizen of the United States of America and you are an American! If you went through the right channels to become an American, guess what! You left your other citizenship behind you! And you are probably happy with that choice b/c you wouldn't have gone through that process if you didn't want it to happen. If you are ashamed to be an American, go live somewhere else. No one's stopping you. It is, after all, the land of the free and the home of the brave. If you don't like the way we do things here, the same applies...just leave. Now if you're some kind of free-loader just trying to get some money you don't have to pay taxes on, recieve healthcare you're not entitled to, and make babies here so you don't have to leave, get with the program and become a citizen legally. I have no problem with my tax dollars helping fellow citizens (that are in need) get the care and help they need but I do have a problem with moochers. If you're just here to mooch and you have no intention of trying to become a citizen, get your lazy butt off our land. You don't belong here. Why don't you belong here? Because you didn't go through the process. You don't know how things work here. You didn't take the time to find out. Our country means nothing to you and therefore you can just trash it as much as you want to. So just leave.

Now if you are an American, please exercise your right to vote. That is so important, not just for electing presidents or governors but especially for the laws they want to pass. These laws affect our way of life, not the people that sit in a certain chair or a certain office. This is supposed to be a government for the people, by the people. If you are a new citizen of our country, read our Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Yeah, it might be like trying to work your way through Leviticus in the Bible but it's worth your time. You signed on to abide by the rules of our country. You ought to know the basis for our system of government. It's important so you can know what your rights are and how you can exercise those rights.

On to a new subject: labels. I absolutely despise labels. But they are, again, a necessary evil. (Seems like there are a lot of those...) If I had to choose a label for myself, it would be "strange new creature". Why? Because I am weird and unique. Ask any of my friends and they will tell you. Also, I wish for God to daily work with me to recreate me (and this is ironic considering my rant above...) to be a better person. So really those above paragraphs should just have said the highlighted bits. OK, so there's no option to highlight. Just mentally edit the "ranting" bits and you'll just about have it. All in all, I'm just really disappointed in our country as a whole. We were not made into a country so we could babysit other countries. We were not made into a country so we could host more visitors than we can afford. Our deficit is too large to be playing around with such large sums of money and the way the officials are throwing more around has me really and truly annoyed. They keep telling us to "do more with less" but honestly! Heaven forbid they do the same thing. Hmmm..there I go again. Well, I guess it's better to rant here than go postal later on in life.
Remember to breathe...