Author: kingsjester

64 year old Christian Conservative husband, father, and grandfather who has been writing since April 2010.

The Shutdown: Still…”A Time for Choosing”

On By kingsjesterIn Politics3 Comments

reaganI really did not know what to write about today. Like the rest of you, I am getting sick and tired of the self-serving politicians, up in the Halls of Power, acting like a bunch of spoiled children choosing sides for a kickball team.

Our petulant President, while remaining in the middle of a now 13-day-long Temper Tantrum, wants everything his way, refusing to negotiate, because those eeeevil Republicans won’t bow down and kiss his Imperial Hindquarters, as the Vichy “Moderates” among them usually do.

Give them a couple of days. Paul Ryan is working on it, even now.

Anyway, my mind traveled back, as it often does, to a seminal moment in our nation’s history, which might give us guidance in a situation like this.

I found an appropriate message in the words of the greatest President in our Generation, Ronald Wilson Reagan.,delivered on a legendary night in 1964, as he was out delivering stump speeches for the Republican Presidential Campaign of Barry Goldwater. The title of the speech is “A Time For Choosing”, and The Gipper’s words ring as true today, as they ever have…

It’s time we asked ourselves if we still know the freedoms intended for us by the Founding Fathers. James Madison said, “We base all our experiments on the capacity of mankind for self government.”

This idea — that government was beholden to the people, that it had no other source of power — is still the newest, most unique idea in all the long history of man’s relation to man. This is the issue of this election: Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American Revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves.

You and I are told we must choose between a left or right, but I suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down. Up to man’s age-old dream–the maximum of individual freedom consistent with order — or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. Regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would sacrifice freedom for security have embarked on this downward path. Plutarch warned, “The real destroyer of the liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations and benefits.”

The Founding Fathers knew a government can’t control the economy without controlling people. And they knew when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose. So we have come to a time for choosing.

Public servants say, always with the best of intentions, “What greater service we could render if only we had a little more money and a little more power.” But the truth is that outside of its legitimate function, government does nothing as well or as economically as the private sector.

Yet any time you and I question the schemes of the do-gooders, we’re denounced as being opposed to their humanitarian goals. It seems impossible to legitimately debate their solutions with the assumption that all of us share the desire to help the less fortunate. They tell us we’re always “against,” never “for” anything.

…Are you willing to spend time studying the issues, making yourself aware, and then conveying that information to family and friends? Will you resist the temptation to get a government handout for your community? Realize that the doctor’s fight against socialized medicine is your fight. We can’t socialize the doctors without socializing the patients. Recognize that government invasion of public power is eventually an assault upon your own business. If some among you fear taking a stand because you are afraid of reprisals from customers, clients, or even government, recognize that you are just feeding the crocodile hoping he’ll eat you last.

If all of this seems like a great deal of trouble, think what’s at stake. We are faced with the most evil enemy mankind has known in his long climb from the swamp to the stars. There can be no security anywhere in the free world if there is no fiscal and economic stability within the United States. Those who ask us to trade our freedom for the soup kitchen of the welfare state are architects of a policy of accommodation.

They say the world has become too complex for simple answers. They are wrong. There are no easy answers, but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right. Winston Churchill said that “the destiny of man is not measured by material computation. When great forces are on the move in the world, we learn we are spirits–not animals.” And he said, “There is something going on in time and space, and beyond time and space, which, whether we like it or not, spells duty.”

You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children’s children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done.

Today, as we watch our nation’s Veterans, who sacrificed for this great nation, visit the memorials built in their honor, closed right now by the order of a Petulant  President, in the middle of a Temper Tantrum, think about the words of The Great Communicator, who also said, 

Man is not free unless government is limited.

Call your Republican Representatives and tell them, in the words Scotsman William Wallace, to “Hold that Line!” against this present-day tyranny which America is suffering under.

Remind them that our Freedom and their jobs depend on it.

Until He Comes,

KJ

The Shutdown: Obama Stonewalls. Vichy Republicans Plot Their Surrender. Who Speaks for Average Americans?

On By kingsjesterIn Politics8 Comments

Cartoon-Cruz-Vs-Establishment-600I’m sitting here, facing the reality of an imminent GOP”strategic surrender” to President Barack Hussein Obama’s demands, regarding ending the 17% Shutdown of the Federal Government.

Evidently, House Speaker John Boehner and the rest of the Vichy Republicans actually believed the obviously rigged NBC/Washington Post poll showing that more of the country sided with the Democrats on the issue of the Shutdown.

It turns out that the poll included not only the usual oversampling of Democrats, it also included a 20% sample of Government Employees.

Heck yeah, they’re going to support the Democrats’ side. They, like the rest of us in the Obama Economy, need their jobs.

The Republicans, themselves, are another issue.

There is a schism in the Grand Old Party, which is about to blow wide open.

Ever since 2010, when a groundswell of average Americans, like you and me, bonded together in our disgust over our out-of-control Federal Government, and the Progressive Politicians on both sides of the aisle, responsible for the situation, and voted a lot of the bums out of office, replacing them with Conservative Public Servants, the Old Guard Establishment Republicans has been solidifying their power. At the same time, in conjunction with Obama and the Democrats, and their lap-dogs in the MSM, they have publicly ridiculed and isolated the Tea Party and the Conservative Representatives and Senators whom we elected.

The difference between these ‘Vichy Republicans” and “Tea Party” or Reagan Republicans, can be clarified if we focus on two Senators,:  John McCain of Arizona and Ted Cruz of Texas.

Politico.com reports that

Sen. John McCain said Wednesday that there was never a chance of defunding Obamacare, blaming politicians who said it was possible for the current government shutdown.

“We started this on a fool’s errand, convincing so many millions of Americans and our supporters that we could defund Obamacare,” McCain (R-Ariz.) told Wolf Blitzer on CNN. “[That] obviously wouldn’t happen until we had 67 Republican senators to override a presidential veto.”

McCain stopped short of naming any of his colleagues specifically when asked who was to blame for the shutdown, but he did say that he believes those who initially advocated for tying the president’s signature health care law to budget negotiations were responsible.

“[It was] the people that convinced so many millions of Americans, tea partiers specifically we’re talking about, that there was some way to defund Obamacare. We can’t,” McCain said.

Negotiations to end the government shutdown have become entangled with discussions over the debt ceiling in recent days. According to the Treasury, the debt ceiling must be lifted by Oct. 17 to avoid a default on the government’s debt.

That deadline has been questioned by conservatives who insist incoming daily revenues will allow the government to continue paying interest on its debt, thereby avoiding a default altogether.

McCain stressed that such an option could still be disastrous.

“Technically they may be correct, because there are tax revenues coming in,” McCain said. “But I know some people on Wall Street that are telling me that the markets would react in a very, very negative fashion.

Concerning Cruz, the Boston Globe reported that

Hours before he and other Senate Republicans were scheduled to meet with President Obama at the White House on Friday, Senator Ted Cruz, the Tea Party firebrand from Texas, called upon Republican House members to stand strong in their fight against “Obamacare.”

Federal power has exploded under the Obama administration, Cruz declared at the Value Voters Summit at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, a gathering of social conservatives.

“None of us knows what is going to happen on this Obamacare fight right now. In my view the House of Representatives needs to keep doing what it’s doing, which is standing strong!” Cruz exhorted to wild applause.

“That is the model for every other fight,” Cruz said. “We need no more Washington solutions. We need to go back to the American people.”

Cruz pumped up the crowd from the stage, telling them that they – not him or any other elected official – have the power to stop the health law. “It is because of you that the House of Representatives has been standing strong, because the House has been listening to the people,” he said.

“The nice thing is the left will always, always, always tell you who they fear, and they fear you,” Cruz said. “They fear the American people. The fundamental problem in Washington is Washington is not listening to America.”

Cruz blamed the White House for the impasse as the shutdown entered its 11th day and the government is less than a week from the Oct 17 deadline to raise its borrowing limit or face a government default and resulting economic calamity .

“The Democrats are feeling the heat,” Cruz said. Noting that he planned to head to the White House Friday with other Senate Republicans to meet with the president, he joked: “If I am never seen again, please send a search and rescue team.”

Others scheduled to speak to the faith-based activists include Senators Paul Ryan, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio, as well as Representative Michele Bachmann. The summit is often seen as a platform for potential Republican presidential contenders.

Someone once wrote that power is an aphrodisiac…and total power corrupts totally.

I find the words and actions of McCain, Boehner, McConnell, Ryan, Graham, and the rest of the Vichy Republicans quite revealing. They are blindly determined to sell out their constituency, in order to preserve the status quo in Washington, and therefore, hang on to their Seats of Power.

They believe that by selling out, they will keep their “seats at the table”.

That is why Senator Ted Cruz and the rest of the Tea Party Conservatives scare the Hell out of Progressives on both sides of the aisle, and in the Main Stream Media, as well.

True Public Servants like Cruz, Mike Lee, and Rand Paul, are a threat to those who roam the Beltway Halls of Power with impunity. Their servants’ hearts and their forthrightness, are anathema to the Good Ol’ Boys and Girls. who have made a lucrative, self-serving career off of the American Citizenry whom they are supposed to be serving and protecting.

Just as turning on the light in the kitchen makes the cockroaches scatter for cover, the speaking of the truth by Tea Party Conservatives, makes the Old Guard Republicans close ranks, and then lash out, in a desperate attempt at self-preservation. While at the same time, continuing to “reach across the aisle”, in continuation of the Washingtonian Status Quo.

Leaving American Citizens to pick up the tab.

Until He Comes,

KJ

The Shutdown: Does Obama View Himself as the “Real Victim”?

On By kingsjesterIn Politics7 Comments

Obama-Shrinks-2Boys and girls, as the Government Shutdown wanes on, the inner workings of the Obama Administration more clearly resemble a Mack Sennett Comedy Pie Fight Scene, with every new crisis they have to deal with.

First, “Jaybird” Carney said that there was no reason for the President to sign the bill passed by the House and Senate which would restore Military Death Benefits.

Then, Obama signed it, as Fox News reports…

President Obama signed a bill late Thursday to pay death benefits to families of fallen soldiers during the partial government shutdown.

The move came after the White House drew heavy criticism from Republicans over White House press secretary Jay Carney’s comment earlier in the day that it was “not necessary” to sign the bill since a charity already had stepped in to foot the expenses.

The Senate approved the bill Thursday afternoon, after it cleared the House a day earlier. The bill reinstated the $100,000 “death gratuity” payments to military families and resumed funeral and burial expenses.

The funding had been suspended as a consequence of the partial government shutdown.

Carney claimed the bill was “not necessary,” noting that charity group The Fisher House Foundation had just entered into an agreement with the Pentagon a day earlier to provide the benefits in the short-term.

“The legislation is not necessary,” Carney said, adding that the Defense Department had already agreed to reimburse the Fisher House.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who pushed the bill in the Senate, blasted the White House over Carney’s remark.

“Now, we’re learning the president has taken his political obstinacy to a new low and believes the legislation Congress has passed to right this wrong is ‘not necessary,'” he said in a written statement. “Not only is this legislation necessary it’s the moral obligation of this nation and it’s the spoken will of Congress that we deliver immediate assistance to the families of fallen service members.

“I call on the president to sign this necessary legislation without delay. Anything less would represent dereliction of duty by our commander in chief,” he said.

By voice vote Thursday, the Senate approved the measure that would reinstate benefits for surviving family members, including funeral and burial expenses, and death gratuity payments. The Pentagon typically pays out $100,000 within three days of a service member’s death.

Twenty-nine members of the military have died on active duty since the government shutdown began last Tuesday.

The Pentagon infuriated congressional Republicans and Democrats and touched off a national firestorm when it claimed earlier that a law allowing the military to be paid during the partial government shutdown did not cover the death benefit payments. Congress passed and Obama signed that measure into law before the partial government shutdown last Tuesday, and lawmakers insist that the benefits shouldn’t have been affected.

Despite the Senate vote, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., sided with the White House. He said the voice vote was “for show” and the Pentagon had essentially resolved the problem. He said the issue was moot, but he didn’t object to passage of the bill.

Uh huh. Tell us another one, Dinghy.

As I have observed in previous blogs this week, Obama has not acted like an American President at all, in dealing with this Government Shutdown. His behavior has more closely resembled a petulant child.

Dr. Keith Ablow, seen on Fox News, has a theory about Obama’s “issues”…

President Obama’s rhetoric is finally coming closer to what appears to be his psychological truth: Because America victimized him and countless millions of others, any person or party or movement that opposes his views and does not yield to him is not just his adversary, but abusive, predatory and even threatening.

…It is exceedingly difficult to come to terms with a person who sees you as his oppressor, his kidnapper, and someone terrorizing him who might well destroy him. You aren’t likely to consider whether your assailant and jailer and would-be killer has a few good ideas, after all.

A victim mentality would explain why the president immediately allies with anyone else he thinks might be a victim, too.

Seeing Barack Obama as someone who has a victim mentality would explain a lot. That mentality relies on believing one has been harmed, that one was not responsible for the injuries that occurred, that one could not have prevented what happened and that the person’s suffering makes that person morally right and deserving of sympathy.

As a young boy, Obama was, indeed, helpless.

He was helpless to stop his father from abandoning him.

He was helpless to stop his mother from leaving him with his grandparents.

He was helpless to stop his white grandmother and caretaker from communicating to him her fears of black people.

I’m not sure the president ever got over it.

Dr. Ablow’s theory definitely seems to have a basis in fact.

That chip that Obama continuously carries on his shoulder would certainly go along with the diagnosis of “victim Mentality”.

If Obama views the world as being “out to get him”, the defensive, non-negotiable stance he has taken since the Shutdown started, would definitely make sense, psychologically.

The problem is, American does not need a thumb-sucking , Little Lord Fauntleroy, siting at the President’s Desk in the Oval Office. We need a leader of men. One who is willing to protect the citizenry from “enemies foreign and domestic”.

And, in the situation we’re in right now, we do not need a President who views the citizens he is supposed to be serving, as brutish, victimizing louts, who deserved to be punished, because it makes him feel better about himself and his lack of leadership skills.

We need a President who is not only a people person, but also a shrewd negotiator, with Real World experience in business negotiations.

Unfortunately, we have Obama, instead.

Until He Comes,

KJ

The Shutdown: Will the Republicans Snatch Defeat Out of the Jaws of Victory?

On By kingsjesterIn Politics11 Comments

boehnercrying

There is an old political adage which states,

If your opponent is digging a hole for himself, get out of the way. If you can, lend a hand.

Republicans do not seem to realize that they’ve got a good thing going. The American public has had it up to here with the antics of their Petulant President, and the political pendulum is beginning to swing to the right again. The problem is, the Republican Establishment’s Vichy inclinations are handicapping them from taking advantage of the egregious behavior of the Manchurian President.

According to the great American Economist, Dr. Thomas Sowell,

If the continued existence of mathematics depended on the ability of the Republicans to defend the proposition that two plus two equals four, that would probably mean the end of mathematics and of all the things that require mathematics.

Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, John Boehner, epitomized what has been wrong with the Republicans for decades when he emerged from a White House meeting last Wednesday, went over to the assembled microphones, briefly expressed his disgust with the Democrats’ intransigence and walked on away.

We are in the midst of a national crisis, immediately affecting millions of Americans and potentially affecting the kind of country this will become if ObamaCare goes into effect — and yet, with multiple television network cameras focused on Speaker Boehner as he emerged from the White House, he couldn’t be bothered to prepare a statement that would help clarify a confused situation, full of fallacies and lies.

Boehner was not unique in having a blind spot when it comes to recognizing the importance of articulation and the need to put some serious time and effort into presenting your case in a way that people outside the Beltway would understand. On the contrary, he has been all too typical of Republican leaders in recent decades.

When the government was shut down during the Clinton administration, Republican leaders who went on television to tell their side of the story talked about “OMB numbers” versus “CBO numbers” — as if most people beyond the Beltway knew what these abbreviations meant or why the statistics in question were relevant to the shutdown. Why talk to them in Beltway-speak?

When Speaker Boehner today goes around talking about the “CR,” that is just more of the same thinking — or lack of thinking. Policy wonks inside the Beltway know that he is talking about the “continuing resolution” that authorizes the existing level of government spending to continue, pending a new budget agreement.

But, believe it or not, there are lots of citizens and voters outside the Beltway. And what is believed by those people whom too many Republicans are talking past can decide not only the outcome of this crisis but the fate of the nation for generations to come.

You might think that the stakes are high enough for Republicans to put in some serious time trying to clarify their message.

As the great economist Alfred Marshall once said, facts do not speak for themselves. If we are waiting for the Republicans to do the speaking, the country is in big trouble.

What the heck does Boehner want? He’s got an out-of-control narcissist, punitively picking and choose which National Parks and Monuments to close down, while rolling out the Red Carpet for protesters, who are here illegally, to demonstrate, in front of God and everybody, on the National Mall.

On top of that, he’s got a Speaker of the Senate, from the Opposition Party, asking why Congress should be worried about saving a Pediatric Cancer Patient’s life!

Obama’s and the Democrats’ bungling of the whole Government Shutdown, has left a gaping maw of a Public Relations Hole big enough for The Speaker of the House to drive a semi-truck through.

However, Cryin’ John and his Republican Elite cronies, for all of their public protestations, seem to be stuck in their typical “reach across the aisle” mode.

Boehner needs to hold a scorcher of a press conference every day, hammering Obama and his minions on their refusal to negotiate. He needs to point out how many “mini-funding” bills they’ve passed in the House to attempt to keep parts of the government funded during the President’s Temper Tantrum.

In fact, today, he needs to hold a press conference about passing a bill yesterday to fund survivors’ benefits for the families of our Best and Brightest who gave the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country.

Right now, the Republicans actually seem to be united in their opposition to the Petulant President and his punitive punishment of American Citizens.

It would be an absolutely politically ignorant move to fall back on their Vichy Republican ways and capitulate to the Presidents’ wishes to spend our nation into oblivion.

Put a muzzle on John McCain and a leash on his pet dog, Lindsey Graham, and tell that out-of touch Mitch McConnell to sit down, Boehner, you’ve got this.

Now is not the time for surrender.

Now is the opportunity to stand up on your hind legs, Republicans, and actually do what you were sent to Capitol Hill to do: represent your constituency.

Now is not the time to be timid and inarticulate, Republicans.

 It is time to fight for the American people, like your jobs depended on it

Because, they do.

Until He comes,

KJ

The Shutdown: Of Parks, Presidents, Prayers, and a Puny Presser By a Petulant President

On By kingsjesterIn Politics25 Comments

government shutdown rushmore cartoonSince the Government Shutdown started, a week ago last Monday, I’ve been sitting here thinking that the actions of The Manchurian President can not get any worse.

However, each day we go further into the shutdown, brings new revelations of this Administration’s mistreatment of American Citizens.

By now, I am sure you’ve heard about the group of Senior Citizens who were basically held captive by Park Rangers at the Yellowstone Park Hotel. The brown shirt-wearing Rangers would not let the Seasoned Citizens out of the Hotel to view the park, because of the Government Shutdown.

That’s right. It is now illegal to look at National Parks. The Head of the Regime has decreed it so.

And, while we are on the subject of our National Parks…

Nearly two dozen people have been issued citations for entering Grand Canyon National Park after a partial government shutdown forced its closure.

Grand Canyon Chief Ranger Bill Wright says some people have been caught at the South Rim, on trails, attempting rim-to-rim hikes or trying to sneak in through dirt roads.

All of the citations will be handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Wright says each of the 21 citations issued as of Monday has a mandatory order to appear in federal court.

A state highway that runs through the national park was closed after Grand Canyon officials found tourists removing barricades at overlooks along the road.

Wright says law enforcement will be patrolling the park around the clock. Most other park employees have been furloughed.

Evidently, this Land ain’t our land anymore. It’s Obama’s land.

President Teddy Roosevelt said in 1903,

There can be nothing in the world more beautiful than the Yosemite, the groves of the giant sequoias and redwoods, the Canyon of the Colorado, the Canyon of the Yellowstone, the Three Tetons; and our people should see to it that they are preserved for their children and their children’s children forever, with their majestic beauty all unmarred.

And, what’s equally as galling as Americans being arrested for wanting to see the Grand Canyon, is that fact that Obama opened our National Mall for a rally for people who are in our country illegally, saying that it was an exercise in “First Amendment Rights”.

Correct me if I’m wrong, boys and girls, but don’t OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS specifically apply to UNITED STATES CITIZENS?

And, isn’t one of the rights outlined in that Amendment, something about” limiting the free exercise” of religion?

Why, yes, I believe it is.

Then, considering the argument used for that rally on the National Mall yesterday, please…one of y’all explain this to me…

David Brody of CBN reports…

Apparently, a priest was denied access to a military chapel this weekend. Father Ray Leonard serves at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay in Georgia but because of the government shutdown, he wasn’t allowed to go to celebrate Mass this past weekend.

He is contracted by the Defense Department to meet the spiritual needs of Catholics, but not now. The chapel doors were locked and the sign said, “Shutdown: No Catholic service till further notice.”

Father Leonard said the following:

“This is our church, Catholics have an expectation and obligation to attend Mass and we were told, ‘No you can’t go to church this week…“ My parishioners were upset. They were angry and dismayed. They couldn’t believe that in America they’d be denied access to Mass by the government.”

Rep. Tim Huelskamp had this reaction:

“Time and time again this Administration demonstrates it is waging a war against the very religious freedoms upon which America was founded. This is exactly why we worked to pass legislation (House Concurrent Resolution 58) this past weekend – to protect the religious liberties of all those who bravely serve in our Armed Forces.”

You know what gives me gas about this whole idiotic situation?

It’s the fact that the 44th President of the United States actually thought that Americans would cower in the face of his egregious mistreatment of us.

I mean, I’ve known all along that Obama has as much in common with average Americans like you and me, as Meghan McCain does with MENSA, however, the shear brazen despotism which he has shown to the very country he is supposed to be serving and protecting, is so unabashedly tyrannical, it makes Caligula look like St. Augustine.

The weapon Obama has chosen to attempt to reinforce this Government Shutdown is an old one: fear.

During his, at times, incoherent Presser, yesterday,Obama warned of “Economic Chaos” if his and Congress’ impasse does not allow our country to pay its bills. He proceeded to whine and say that he would settle for a short-term Debt Ceiling increase (instead of the unlimited ability to borrow and spend our nation into oblivion, as seems to be his wont).

On the Internet yesterday, Obama’s minions were spreading that same concern, stating that Boehner and the Republicans should accept whatever Obama offers them, and just go ahead and capitulate., because…get this…”we’re (Conservatives) losing”.

To which I reply,

“NUTS!”

One of the Liberals’ heroes, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, once told the nation,

The only thing we have to fear…is fear itself.

Truer words were never spoken. Those words are the perfect answer to Obama and his minions’ fear-mongering strategy.

Obama’s strategy is one born out of desperation. Americans are proving to be stronger than he had planned on.

We don’t tolerate tyranny very well. Never have.

While it was actually nothing but third-rate bloviating by a Petulant President, it was also very appropriate that Obama called out the Tea Party during his Press Conference, yesterday.

King George did not like the Tea Party, either.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Liberalism: The Political Ideology of Stupid Choices

On By kingsjesterIn Politics8 Comments

WWIIMemorial10213illegalsmarchApproximately 21% of our American population believe that they are smarter than you. It’s true! These Soooper Geniuses call themselves “Progressives”, because the term “Liberal” has a bad connotation…and, rightfully so.

Liberals believe that, since they are “the smartest people in the room”, they know what’s best, not only for us, but for our children, as well…even if it turns them into a bunch of sniveling wimps.

The CBS New York Affiliate posted this report about a Middle School on Long Island…

…officials at Weber Middle School in Port Washington are worried that students are getting hurt during recess. Thus, they have instituted a ban on footballs, baseballs, lacrosse balls, or anything that might hurt someone on school grounds.

Tossing a football during recess has long seemed to be a rite of passage for kids in the school community.

“I think we need the soccer balls, the footballs and everything, so we can have some fun,” one student said.

But the students will have no such option anymore. They were just informed that during recess, football is out and Nerf ball is in. Hard soccer balls have been banned, along with baseballs and lacrosse balls, rough games of tag, or cartwheels unless supervised by a coach.

Students were not thrilled about the news.

“Cartwheels and tag — I think it’s ridiculous they are banning that,” one said.

“You go for recess — that’s your free time to go let loose and recharge,” another said.

“That’s all we want to do,” a third student said. “We’re in school all day sitting behind the desk learning.”

But Port Washington schools Supt. Kathleen Maloney said the change in policy is warranted due to a rash of playground injuries.

“Some of these injuries can unintentionally become very serious, so we want to make sure our children have fun, but are also protected,” Maloney said.

Without helmets and pads, children are much more susceptible to getting hurt, experts said.

Long Island Jewish Medical Center emergency room director Dr. Salvatore Pardo said he has been seeing “head injuries, bumps, scrapes; worried about concussions.”

But some parents said it is really about liability and lawsuits.

“Children’s safety is paramount, but at the same time, you have to let them live life,” said Port Washington parent Ellen Cohen.

Several districts from outside Long Island are already contacting Nassau County educators. Soon, additional schools may be jumping on the banning balls bandwagon.

The Port Washington district said the softer foam balls put students in the best situation to cut down the chance of getting injured.

It is this same kind of “we know what’s best for you” attitude that is behind the selective shutdowns of National Parks, Monuments. roadways, and even the ocean, by President Barack Hussein Obama, in a futile attempt to prove that less government is somehow painful.

As part of Obama’s selective enforcement of the Government Shutdown, it was announced yesterday that a Pro-Illegal Immigrant (Pro-Amnesty) Rally is scheduled to take place today on the National Mall, which is evidently not closed if Obama does not want it to be, Government Shutdown or not.

Organizers for the “Camino Americano: March for Immigration Reform” were spotted Monday setting up a stage and equipment on the National Mall for the rally which will take place on Tuesday.

A few scattered barriers around the park have signs informing visitors that the area is closed as a result of the government shutdown.

Susana Flores, a spokesperson for the rally, confirmed for the Washington Examiner that the Park Service will allow the event to take place under the group’s rights granted by the First Amendment.

About 30 members of Congress are expected to attend the rally, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J.

The event is hosted by several immigration activist groups, together with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the AFL-CIO.

Okay, boys and girls…try to wrap your minds around this: The President of the United States will not allow American Veterans to visit the Memorials paid for with the blood of American Heroes, but, he will allow people who are in our sovereign nation illegally, to protest against our system of laws on our National Mall.

Welcome to Venezuela.

The brilliant Conservative Economist, Dr. Thomas Sowell wrote,

…Perhaps the most remarkable feature of the world envisioned by today’s liberals is that it is a world where other people just passively accept whatever “change” liberals impose. In the world of Liberal Land, you can just take for granted all the benefits of the existing society, and then simply tack on your new, wonderful ideas that will make things better.

The problem is the fact that Liberal Ideas always cost taxpayer money…and they never make things better for the average American.

As President Ronald Reagan so famously said, 

It isn’t so much that liberals are ignorant. It’s just that they know so many things that aren’t so.

Which explains their gross overestimation of their own intelligence.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

The Shutdown: The Tyranny of a Presidential Temper Tantrum

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics5 Comments

obamabillofrightsNarcissism – A psychological condition characterized by self-preoccupation, lack of empathy, and unconscious deficits in self-esteem.

This past week, Americans have witnessed something that we never thought that we would see: The President of the United States, who swore an oath to protect us, punishing us, because he is not getting his way is a battle with Congress.

His punitive measures against us have bordered on the insane, as this past week he not only threw barricades and barbed wire in front of our national parks and monuments, Obama even put safety cones out on the highway below Mount Rushmore, forbidding Americans from pulling their cars to the side of the road, to view this wonderful monument which honors past American Presidents.

Heck, this weekend he even tried to close the ocean down at Florida Bay.

These measures were bad enough. However, now the President of the United States is, literally, attacking our children.

President Pantywaist has shut down America’s Amber Alert System.

WashingtonExaminer.com has the story…

The Amber alert system, the national missing-child warning program, has been shut off due to the government shutdown, according to the Department of Justice.

“Due to the lapse in federal funding, this Office of Justice Programs website is unavailable,” it says on amberalert.gov.

Just 17 percent of the government is shut down, and Friday the Obama administration allowed union representatives to return to work.

So, union members could return to work, but the website to alert Americans to missing children had to be taken down?

The AMBER Alert Program is a voluntary partnership between law-enforcement agencies, broadcasters, transportation agencies, and the wireless industry, to activate an urgent bulletin in the most serious child-abduction cases. The goal of an AMBER Alert is to instantly galvanize the entire community to assist in the search for and the safe recovery of the child.

AMBER Alerts are broadcast through radio, television, road signs and all available technology referred to as the AMBER Alert Secondary Distribution Program. These broadcasts let law enforcement use the eyes and ears of the public to help quickly locate an abducted child. The U.S. Department of Justice coordinates the AMBER Alert program on a national basis.

The AMBER Alert Program was named in honor of 9-year-old Amber Hagerman who was abducted while riding her bicycle in Arlington, Texas, and was later found murdered. The program is used in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

As of January 1, 2013, the Amber alert system had saved over 600 children.

What is Obama’s purpose in shutting this program down?

What sort of man, much less an American President, would do something this petty and callous?

Fighting with Congress is one thing, but, don’t take your vindictiveness out on America’s children, Obama.

And, while I’m at it, are you aware that Obama and his Administration threatened furloughed Catholic Priests, telling them that if they performed their duties, i.e., Sunday Mass and Baptisms, that they would be fired?

What sort of American President interferes with our Military personnel’s Freedom of Religion?

Answer to both of the above questions: a tyrannical one.

Jonathan Mayhew (October 8, 1720 – July 9, 1766) was a noted American minister at Old West Church, Boston, Massachusetts.

Mayhew graduated from Harvard College in 1744 and in 1749 received the degree of D.D. from the University of Aberdeen. The following is an excerpt from “A Discourse Concerning Unlimited Submission and Non-Resistance to Higher Powers”.

. . . Those nations who are now groaning under the iron scepter of tyranny were once free. So they might probably have remained by a seasonable caution against despotic measures. Civil tyranny is usually small in its beginning, like “the drop of a bucket” till at length, like a mighty torrent or the raging waves of the sea, it bears down all before it and deluges whole countries and empires. . . .

. . . Tyranny brings ignorance and brutality along with it. It degrades men from their just rank into the class of brutes. It damps their spirits. It suppresses arts. It extinguishes every spark of noble ardor and

generosity in the breasts of those who are enslaved by it. It makes naturally-strong and great minds, feeble and little; and triumphs over the ruins of virtue and humanity. This is true of tyranny in every shape.

There can be nothing great and good where its influence reaches. For which reason it becomes every friend to truth and human kind, every lover of God and the christian religion, to bear a part in opposing

this hateful monster. It was desire to contribute a mite towards carrying on a war against this common enemy, that produced the following discourse. And if it serve in any measure to keep up a spirit of civil

and religious liberty amongst us, my end is answered. There are virtuous and candid men in all sects; all such are to be esteemed. There are also vicious men and bigots in all sects, and all such ought to be

despised.

I realize what I am saying. by using the word “tyranny” and I stand by its use. Obama has exceeded his Constitutional Authority and completely forsworn his Presidential duties as protector of America’s Citizenry, tossing both aside to embrace an ego-driven role of didactic dictator, determined to teach his “subjects” a lesson for trifling with him.

The fact that Obama even thought that Americans would side with him in his battle with Congress, knowing that it would mean the full implementation of Obamacare, the socialist healthcare System, which no one wants in the first place, was a prime example of narcissistic behavior. And, as his Gallup Poll Approval Rating of 41% shows us,

Pride goeth before the fall.

Until He Comes,

KJ

KJ UPDATE: The Amber alert system has been restored. It appears that President Pantywaist, AG Holder, and the rest of the Administration caught some heat for taking it down…and, rightfully so.

Catch a Falling Star: It’s Not the Years…It’s the Miley-age.

On By kingsjesterIn Politics3 Comments

Miley CyrusWhat is it about a train wreck that captures our attention? It is the sight of something that was once sleek and beautiful, now a twisted pile of debris, that holds our gaze? Or, perhaps it’s the memory itself, that we see among the carnage.

Ever since the days of Fatty Arbuckle, our nation has held a fascination with the spectacle of a rising star being brought back down to Earth by their own reckless behavior.

Another example, before some of you were born, is the late, great Judy Garland. This wonderful entertainer could sing, dance, and act. She was remarkable, and an American Favorite from the moment she put on those ruby red slippers and followed the yellow brick road, until she left us much too soon, passing away in 1969, of a drug overdose, a victim of her own demons.

It is rather ironic, the Ms. Garland starred as the young ingenue, Esther Blodgett, in the 1954 classic movie, “A Star is Born”, with the great James Mason.

The movie is about a movie star who helps a young singer/actress find fame, even as age and alcoholism send his own career into a downward spiral.

Judy Garland was an amazing performer.

I can see and hear her now, in a black dress, on a nightclub stage, with her short black hair, and those huge, expressive eyes, singing

Forget your troubles, c’mon get happy. Get ready for the Judgement day.

Sadly, there have been too many talented women, who have fallen victim to their demons.

I’m afraid, dear friends, that we are watching another talented young woman begin her own downward spiral right before our eyes: Miley Cyrus.

America first became aware of Ms. Cyrus, as a fresh-face teeny-bopper in the Disney Channel program, Hannah Montana.

Boys and girls all over the world tuned in to watch the adventures of a normal American Girl, who led a double-life as the teenage singing sensation, Hannah Montana.

Her real-life Dad, Billy Ray Cyrus, of “Achy Breaky Heart” fame, played her Dad in the series, and also wrote the songs she sang.

Her fresh-faced innocence  shown through the glitz and glamour of her weekly TV series, to the extent that the entire country fell in love with her. Soon, Walmarts from coast to coast were carrying Hannah Montana lunch boxes, t-shirts,  school supplies, and everything else you could think of.

Once  the series was over, as she tried to grow into young adulthood, things looked strained, at best.

Even though she was growing into a beautiful young woman, Miley was still, in the eyes of America, Hannah Montana.

In the meantime, Miley Cyrus was **ahem** exploring her own sexuality **ahem**…and decided that the public needed to explore it, too.

Beginning with a pole dance at the Nickelodeon Awards, Miley let the whole world know that she did not embarrass easily, even if we were all embarrassed for her.

During this past year,Miley, with her barely-dressed appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards with Robin Thicke, during which she “twerked”, (which is a pleasant way of saying that she had “clothed sex” on stage) and then, in a music video, where she appeared, riding naked on top of a wrecking ball, and licking a sledge hammer, continued her descent into the all – consuming darkness.

Annie Lennox, of the 1980s MTV Sensation, the Eurythmics, recently wrote the following on her Facebook page;

I have to say that I’m disturbed and dismayed by the recent spate of overtly sexualised performances and videos. You know the ones I’m talking about. It seems obvious that certain record companies are peddling highly styled pornography with musical accompaniment. As if the tidal wave of sexualised imagery wasn’t already bombarding impressionable young girls enough..I believe in freedom of speech and expression, but the market forces don’t give a toss about the notion of boundaries. As long as there’s booty to make money out of, it will be bought and sold. It’s depressing to see how these performers are so eager to push this new level of low.Their assumption seems to be that misogyny- utilised and displayed through oneself is totally fine, as long as you are the one creating it. As if it’s all justified by how many millions of dollars and U tube hits you get from behaving like pimp and prostitute at the same time. It’s a glorified and monetized form of self harm.

Ms. Lennox is right. However, she did not take it far enough.

The young American girls, who idolized Hanna Montana, are now young adults,  watching Miley Cyrus’ musical hootchie-coochie show, believing that it is perfectly acceptable to act like a dog in heat in public.

One of my favorite Bible verses is Ephesians 6:12. which warns us

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Young folks have a lot to deal with, growing up nowadays. I realize that. And, Ms. Cyrus has had more pressure on her than most.

However, as the Bible also tells us 

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6 ESV)

 By his own admission, Billy Ray Cyrus, as Miley was growing up, and even now, as a young adult, pictures himself as a “bud”, instead of a father.

Perhaps, her hedonistic behavior is simply a cry for attention, combined with an attempt to be “MTV-Cool” and relevant, in a desperate attempt to re-live the celebrity status she held as Hannah Montana.

Hopefully, the same forces who, in the past, have caused the lives of other talented entertainers, like Ms. Cyrus, to end in a “train wreck”, will not succeed in hers.

She has the Power, living within her, to avoid this. All she has to do…is ask.

Until He Comes,

KJ

The Shutdown : “A Republic, If You Can Keep it.”

On By kingsjesterIn Politics21 Comments

obamaiwojimaAs I, and other Conservative Bloggers, have been reporting all week, there is a struggle going on in the Halls of Power in Washington, DC. It is a struggle for the future of the greatest country on the face of God’s green Earth.

It is a struggle which began the moment that a group of brave Christians, pariahs in their own country, persecuted because of their desire to worship their God, in the manner in which they wanted to, landed on the shores of a vast wilderness, determined to secure their God-Given Freedom, for themselves and their progeny.

Their quest for freedom from a tyrannical Despot led to civil disobedience…and then, war.

Once they had won their Freedom, and formed their new nation, our Founding Fathers set upon the task of putting quill to paper, creating a Constitution, stating for all the world to know, the rights, given to them by their Creator, which they would put in place as the guidelines upon which they would carry this new nation to its destiny.

Outside Independence Hall, when the Constitutional Convention of 1787 ended, Mrs. Powel of Philadelphia asked Benjamin Franklin, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” With no hesitation whatsoever, Franklin responded, “A republic, if you can keep it.”

What did he mean by that? Was he merely speaking of the inner workings of the Federal Government, which he and the Founding Fathers so masterfully designed?

Or, was he talking about this complex matter known as American Freedom?

Ronald Reagan said,

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.

Was Ronaldus Magnus speaking about our Freedom as a nation? Or, the freedom of the individual?

The answer is yes. Both.

President Reagan knew how fragile this precious thing called freedom is. So did Dr. Franklin.

Dr. Franklin, along with our other Founding Fathers, pledged his life, his fortune, and his sacred honor in pursuit of it.

When he made that now-famous quote to Mrs. Powel, he was expressing his worry that seceding generations, having attained their freedom so easily, might grow lackadaisical and so spoiled by it, that they would squander it through self-indulgence. Franklin was, in fact, so leery of losing this new republic that he said,

Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

He was afraid that Americans would rely and trust those in power over them to the extent that they would surrender their freedom to them.

What we have been witnessing this past week, Americans, is, another attempt to take away the Freedom, which our Founding Fathers, and each succeeding generation, have fought so hard to protect, to the point of sacrificing their lives for it.

That’s why Americans are now focused on the Government Shutdown. For the majority of Americans, living in the Heartland of America, it is not about the present-day “benevolence” of the Federal Government being in danger, by the Government’s doors being closed.

It’s much more important than that.

It is an attempt, by a self-serving, out-of-control President and his Administration, to impose restrictions on our American Freedom.

The flash-point, which caught average Americans’ attention, was the shutting down of our National Monuments, including those who are privately funded. An act which has never been perpetrated before, during previous Government Shutdowns.

Make no mistake. These closings are designed to bring inconvenience and emotional pain to Americans, in order to gain sympathy for the present Presidential Administration’s Political Position.

As an angry Park Service Ranger explained,

We’ve been told to make life as difficult for people as we can. It’s disgusting.

Indeed.

This is not the first time that Government Services have been shutdown during budget battles. That is simply a by-product of holding the feet of the “Public Servants”, who are supposed to represent us, and not themselves, to the fire of fiscal responsibility.

However, this time is different.

This is nothing less than a struggle to retain our Constitutional Republic, or, replace with a Central Government-run, Democrat Socialist, European-style nation, where fiscal responsibility is thrown out the window (think Greece) and the Christian Faith of Our Founders, upon which this blessed country was formed, is regulated in practice to Sunday Mornings from 10:00 a.m. to Noon.

This struggle came into focus for even Low Information Voters, the moment that a group of octogenarian American heroes, members of the Greatest Generation, with the help of their elected Representatives, busted down the barriers to THEIR Memorial, reminding all of us that our American Freedom is still worth fighting for.

Our Legacy of Freedom, bequeathed to us as American citizens, is not  just the blessing of being a free people, but, the responsibility that goes with it, as my late Father, and those American Heroes we witnessed make their final charge against tyranny earlier this week, knew all too well…

It is a responsibility to our family, our friends, our fellow citizens, and the Author of Our Freedom as Americans, Our Creator.

A responsibility that is our charge to keep.

Until He Comes, 

KJ

Obamacare Phone Number Flips Off Entire Nation

On By kingsjesterIn Politics3 Comments

obamababyAs the Government Shutdown continues, so do the revelations concerning the out-of-control, rampaging monster known as Obamacare, and the mad scientist who created it, Barack Hussein Obama, and his minions, the Democrats and Vichy Republicans in Congress and his Administration.

Bizpacreview.com reported yesterday that

The Obama administration seemingly remained consistent with its brand when one considers the phone number for the Obamacare hotline.

A reporter for the Washington Free Beacon, Lachlan Markay, tweeted the following (cleaned up, for language):

“@lachlan Fun fact: if you exclude the 1 (no associated letters), the federal Obamacare hotline is 1-800-F***-YO.”

Taking into account that the number 1 on most keypads doesn’t have any letters associated with it, one seeking answers to their Obamacare questions would dial 24 hours a day, 7 days a week: 1-800-F1*-**YO.

Though the phone number is missing the important “U” at the end, which would have simply required taking out the unassigned number 1 and adding an 8 at the end, it’s still pretty much the message Obama has had for the American people since day one.

No one should be surprised by this. Ever since the Manchurian President first sat on his throne, his petulant, imperious nature, has literally screamed these two words at the American people.

Then, on that fateful night in March of 2010, when, in the middle of night, the Affordable Care Act was passed, Obama might as well have stood on the top of the Capitol Building, shouting these two words , with both his middle fingers extended.

As his reaction this week to the Government Shutdown has shown, he is a vulgar, petulant , shallow individual, who cares more about his personal accomplishments, than the welfare of the American Citizens, whom he is supposed to lead.

For example…

First, he refuses to negotiate with Congress, in order to end the Shutdown, he has created.

At the White House, Obama joined the Republican and Democratic leaders of Congress in a one-and-a-half-hour meeting that Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the Senate minority leader, called “cordial but unproductive.”

Leaders of both parties said afterwards that Republican demands to defund or delay Obama’s signature health law, which helped lead to this week’s shutdown, remain a critical obstacle to any agreement.

House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) said the president “reiterated tonight he will not negotiate.”

“We’ve got divided government. Democrats control the Senate, Republicans control the House,” he said. “All we’re asking for here is a discussion and fairness for the American people under Obamacare.”

But Senate Majority Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said the president was unbending, calling him “strong, strong, strong.”

He added, “One thing we made very clear in that meeting: We are locked in tight on Obamacare.”

The back-and-forth Wednesday came on the second day of a partial government shutdown that has furloughed 800,000 federal workers and appears likely to remain for an extended period of time.

The next crucial deadline comes on Oct. 17, the last day that the Treasury Department estimates that the federal government is certain to have enough money to pay all its bills. Investors have been demanding higher interest rates for U.S. Treasury bills in recent days, a sign of concern that the federal government could have trouble servicing its debt.

Second, Obama has been “barry-cading” National Monuments, such as the World War II Memorial, which I wrote about earlier this week. Now, Obama has shut down access to Normandy Beach.

Yes. That Normandy Beach, where my Daddy and thousands of our Brightest and Best, landed on D-Day.

Heck, Obama even attempted to block the road leading to Mt. Vernon. The problem is, the government does not own Mt. Vernon, nor does it fund the WWII Memorial.

So, why is The Lightbringer doing this?

Is it…

A.  He does not like our Military

B. He is making the American People share HIS pain.

C. He is a petty, petulant little man.

D. All of the above.

If you picked “D”, you were absolutely right.

In April of 2008, at a San Francisco Fund Raiser, Presidential Candidate, Barack Hussein Obama, infamously said,

You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not.

And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

The Petulant President has never had any respect whatsoever for America, her traditions, or her people. We are simply, as in the old Soviet Union, the Proletariat. lab rats to serve, and be experimented on,by a less-than-benevolent Marxist Regime….and, that includes our Brightest and Best.

The “Barry-cading” of the WWII Memorial, showed everybody how Obama feels about the sacrifices made by our Greatest Generation. When these brave American heroes defied him the first day, Obama sent Mounted Police to attempt to enforce the “Barry-cades” the next day. 

On top of that. what’s the logical purpose of closing Normandy Beach, far away in France, except as a punitive measure?

This week has been nothing but a full-blown Presidential Temper Tantrum. There is nothing noble about it. 

The President of the United States has. once again, said “F*** You!” to all of us. And, I am tired of it.

How about you?

KJ