Author: kingsjester

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

Gun Control: Heading Toward a National Gun Registry

On By kingsjesterIn Politics2 Comments

guncontrolThe nation is buzzing with anticipatory dread, as the Senate gets ready to vote on new Gun Control Laws, which would require mandatory registration of law-abiding citizen’s firearms.

Yesterday, Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) took to the Senate Floor to issue a dire warning:

Some of the proposals, like for example- universal background checks- would allow the federal government to surveil law-abiding citizens who exercise their Constitutional rights. One of the provisions we expect to see in the bill based on what we saw in the Judiciary Committee- on which I sit- would allow the Attorney General of the United States (Eric Holder) to promulgate regulations that could lead to a national registry system for guns. Something my constituents in Utah are very concerned about, and understandably so.

…You see, the federal government has no business monitoring when or how often you go to church; what books and newspapers you read; who you vote for; your health conditions; what you eat for breakfast; and the details of your private life– including your lawful exercise of your rights protected by the Second Amendment and other provisions of the Bill of Rights.

Despite what the politicians are saying, these “harmless” Gun Control Laws could, in fact, lead to a National Gun Registry, which in turn, will eventually lead to Gun Confiscation.

And, Americans are getting ready for that eventuality.

Did you know that…

During Barack Obama’s presidency there have been 32 background checks for gun purchases every minute.

Since February of 2009, the first full month of Obama’s presidency, there have been 70,291,049 background checks for gun purchases, according to data released by the FBI.

Using February 1, 2009 as our starting date, and March 31, 2013 as our end date, (the latest data from the FBI) Obama has been president for 1,520 days.

That equates to 36,480 hours, or 2,188,800 minutes.

Divide the 70,291,049 background checks by 2,188,800 minutes and you get approximately 32 checks for gun purchases every minute!

American Liberals are fond of citing the UK’s Gun Control Laws as a model for America to follow after.

Here is a brief history:

In 1946 “self defense” was no longer considered a good reason for requiring a police issued firearms certificate. The slippery slope got even steeper.

In 1953 carrying any type of weapon for self defense was made illegal, making the streets even safer for the criminal element and giving great “crime control” soundbites to the police and press.

In 1967 a chap by the name of Harry Roberts blasted three policemen to death in a London street using a 9mm Luger pistol and the British government restricted shotguns for the very first time. Try to figure out the logic… handgun used… shotguns licensed for the first time in British history. Opportunistic, or am I just being a cynical bastard?

In 1982 black powder muzzle loader shooters and handloaders were required to allow police inspection of their security arrangements to ensure “safe storage” of the powder they possessed, meaning that agents of the state could demand entry into an Englishman’s home at any time of day or night without a warrant.

In 1988 all semi-automatic rifles were banned, including pump action rifles. The personal property of law abiding people was once again outlawed and seized. All the guns were registered and easy to find, that is to say, all the legally held ones.

In 1996 all handguns were banned and they too were all registered with the agents of the state. Well, need I say more? You get the picture. Also in 1996 carrying any knife with a blade longer than 3 inches was made illegal. Presumably one cannot stab someone to death with a three inch knife. You now had to show “good reason” for carrying a knife, the presumption of innocence, until proven guilty of a crime, was gone.

In England today you cannot carry any type of weapon for self defense and you cannot use a firearm to defend your home, family, or property. The gun and weapon laws have made crime safe for criminals and the other violent thugs and miscreants who infest our country today.

In 2006 the government passed the Violent Crime Reduction Act. The VCRA restricted all “realistic” toy/replica guns. Now Britons were not to be trusted with even imitation non-firing replicas. “Violent crime reduction” was once again used as the smokescreen to enact oppressive laws and deprive the law abiding of their property. As part of the VCRA an airgun can no longer be purchased by mail order and the name and address of the purchaser must be registered with the seller.

The following report was published by Townhall in December of 2012:

New data out from the UK, where guns are banned, shows gun crime has soared by 35 percent.

The Government’s latest crime figures were condemned as “truly terrible” by the Tories today as it emerged that gun crime in England and Wales soared by 35% last year.

Criminals used handguns in 46% more offenses, Home Office statistics revealed.

Firearms were used in 9,974 recorded crimes in the 12 months to last April, up from 7,362.

It was the fourth consecutive year to see a rise and there were more than 2,200 more gun crimes last year than the previous peak in 1993.

Figures showed the number of crimes involving handguns had more than doubled since the post-Dunblane massacre ban on the weapons, from 2,636 in 1997-1998 to 5,871.

Unadjusted figures showed overall recorded crime in the 12 months to last September rose 9.3%, but the Home Office stressed that new procedures had skewed the figures.

Okay. So, Gun Control has not stopped the criminals from getting Guns in the UK. What makes Obama and his minions think that more regulations are going to accomplish what the UK has not?

Are they that full of themselves that they think that, since they are the “smartest people in the room”, that failed methods will actually work this time?

Are they just doing something to be doing something, in order to save face with their Far Left supporters?

Or, is it something more malevolent than just everyday politics?

Here’s a quote from an organization that backs Obama all the way with his Gun Confiscation efforts…

…the right-wing extremists opposing all efforts to curb gun violence are the same forces that rallied behind Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, hoping to undermine every other democratic right as well as the living standards of workers and ordinary Americans. It is for that reason, as well as the need to protect public safety, that the same coalition of labor and its allies that worked so hard and effectively to re-elect President Barack Obama must now go all-out to back his common sense proposals for gun law reform.

As Obama has charged, the extremists recklessly “gin up fear” that the government is coming to take away hunting rifles and personal weapons owned for legitimate self-defense. Led by the hate-mongering leadership of the National Rifle Association, they use a totally fraudulent and only very recent interpretation of the Second Amendment which they falsely claim as necessary for protecting every other freedom contained in the Bill of Rights.

One of their unhinged spokesmen, Texas talk show host Alex Jones, launched a national petition drive to deport CNN commentator Piers Morgan for questioning the Second Amendment. Jones said the amendment “isn’t there for duck hunting. It’s there to protect us from tyrannical government and street thugs,” and then went on to threaten insurrection “if you try to take our firearms.”

Actually, the Second Amendment wasn’t enacted with any of these things in mind. The amendment was adopted as a means to enable the new American republic, lacking a standing army or state national guards, to muster militia to put down domestic uprisings, including slave revolts, to repulse any attempted return by the British and to deal with clashes with Native Americans on the expanding frontier.

These issues vanished long ago. The Second Amendment is obsolete and now has been twisted to threaten the basic safety and security of all Americans. There is no basis for claiming this amendment was intended to permit unregulated personal acquisition of firearms, including amassing military weapons and private arsenals for “protection” from the government. No government, especially one that is new and fragile, has ever authorized citizens to arm themselves against it.

The preceding quote actually comes from peoplesworld.org, the website of Communist Party USA.

As I have chronicled, in the last several months, this Gun Confiscation Movement comes right out of the playbook of Marx and Lenin.

There is one thing that Obama did not take into account, however…

Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today’s world do not have. – Ronald Reagan

And, that is why he will fail.

Until He Comes,

KJ

“Smart Power” + North Korea = Kaboom!?

On By kingsjesterIn Politics2 Comments

obamaunRonald Reagan once famously asked, while running for President,

Are you better off than you were 4 years ago?

After 5 years of “Smart Power”, is America better off in the field of Foreign Policy?

No.

Let’s examine the wherefores and the whys, shall we?

I first knew that “Smart Power” was going to be neither smart, nor powerful, shortly after Obama was inaugurated.

On June 4, 2009, Obama spoke to the Muslim World at the University of Cairo, where he said,

I’ve come here to Cairo to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world, one based on mutual interest and mutual respect, and one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles — principles of justice and progress; tolerance and the dignity of all human beings.

I do so recognizing that change cannot happen overnight. I know there’s been a lot of publicity about this speech, but no single speech can eradicate years of mistrust, nor can I answer in the time that I have this afternoon all the complex questions that brought us to this point. But I am convinced that in order to move forward, we must say openly to each other the things we hold in our hearts and that too often are said only behind closed doors. There must be a sustained effort to listen to each other; to learn from each other; to respect one another; and to seek common ground. As the Holy Koran tells us, “Be conscious of God and speak always the truth.” (Applause.) That is what I will try to do today — to speak the truth as best I can, humbled by the task before us, and firm in my belief that the interests we share as human beings are far more powerful than the forces that drive us apart.

Now part of this conviction is rooted in my own experience. I’m a Christian, but my father came from a Kenyan family that includes generations of Muslims. As a boy, I spent several years in Indonesia and heard the call of the azaan at the break of dawn and at the fall of dusk. As a young man, I worked in Chicago communities where many found dignity and peace in their Muslim faith.

That speech, and the resulting perception that Obama was an appeaser, set the stage for “Arab Spring”.

“Arab Spring” busted out all over the Middle East in late 2010. Arab nations throughout North Africa and the Middle East saw Muslim Fundamentalist-led “grass-roots movements” “spring” up in an effort to replace their Moderate Muslim dictatorial governments with Muslim Fundamentalist-led groups, promising to install democratic systems within their countries. Some of these movements have been more successful than others, and overs are still blossoming, but, there is no doubt that the so-called “Arab Spring” has fundamentally transformed the Middle East.

Several factors led up to the Arab Spring. These factors include economic conditions, demographic trends, and the more obvious social and political influences.

These factors brought a newfound opportunity for the Muslim Brotherhood, giving them political leverage which they never had before.

The “Arab Spring” movement was sparked by a young Tunisian street vendor named Muhammad Bouazizi on 17 December 2010. Bouazizi, out of desperation over his harassment by local police, set himself on fire in front of the municipal building of Sidi Bouzid, the town where he lived.

From there, the revolution traveled to Egypt. And, the rest, as they say, is history…

Had the Arab Spring moved in the right direction, Obama would have been hailed as a strategic genius for his smart, low-cost management from the sidelines. The brutal reality, is, that it has moved toward instability, violence, dashed hopes, and the strengthening of the Muslim Brotherhood. As a result, people saw Barack Hussein Obama react as a president who became strangely disconnected and who at best just seemed to have other things to do. At worst, he seemed to have simply stopped caring about the volatile situation in the Middle East, almost as if the takeover of the Muslim Brotherhood was what he wanted to happen in the first place.

So, now that Obama has succeeded in getting our Middle Eastern Ally, Israel, surrounded by Muslim Extremists, what will he do for an encore?

Well, it appears that he is going to reunite North and south Korea…under the flag of Communism.

Kim Jong-il’s successor in December 2011, his third son Kim Jong-un,has turned to out to be just as big an unstable goofball, as his old man was.

He agreed to suspend long-range missile tests in order to receive US food aid in February 2012, only to turn right around and challenge the US by announcing that they were going to fire a “rocket-launched satellite” for April, to celebrate Kim Il-Sung’s birthday.

The launch failed, but in October 2012, the “Norks” responded to the unveiling of a new missile deal between Seoul and Washington by claiming to have missiles capable of hitting our shores. A December satellite launch served as a forewarning that North Korea is developing such rocket technology, and brought immediate condemnation from the UN, US, Japan and China.

In January 2013, right after the UN Security Council condemned the launch, North Korea announced that it planned to conduct a third “high-level nuclear test” and rehearse more long-range rocket launches aimed at the US “arch-enemy”. It proceeded to perform a third nuclear test in February 2013, followed swiftly by another set of UN Security Council sanctions on cash transfers and travel for its diplomats.

Undeterred, North Korea threatened South Korea and the USA with war and announced that it would restart all facilities at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex, including a reactor mothballed in 2007.

According to an Obama Administration official, the Norks may test fire mobile ballistic missiles at any time, based on the most recent intelligence showing Pyongyang probably has completed launch preparations.

According to a CNN Poll, 4 in 10 Americans view North Korea as an imminent threat to the United States.

However, just as he proved during “Arab Spring”, Obama does not “walk softly and carry a big stick”.

This wuss of a president speaks loudly and carries autograph DVDs of his speeches as peace offerings.

God protect us.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Melissa Harris-Perry: We Want to Add Your “Chirren” to the Collective.

On By kingsjesterIn Politics2 Comments

melissaharrisperryWe’ve all seen MSNBC’s “Lean Forward” Ads. Of course, we all seen them on other channels, but that’s neither here nor there.

Melissa Harris-Perry, who hosts a program on the weekends for the seldom-watched cable news network, appears in one of those ads, where she says the following:

We have never invested as much in public education as we should have, because we’ve always had kind of a private notion of children. So part of it is, we have to break through our kind of private idea that kids belong to their parents, or kids belong to their families, and recognize that kids belong to whole communities. Once it’s everybody’s responsibility, and not just the household’s, then we start making better investments.

To quote the Arctic Fox, Sarah Palin,

Unfreakingbelievable!

According to the biography section of her website, melissaharrisperry.com…

Harris-Perry is also professor of political science at Tulane University, where she is founding director of the Anna Julia Cooper Project on Gender, Race, and Politics in the South. She previously served on the faculties of the University of Chicago and Princeton University.

Harris-Perry is author of the well received book, Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America (Yale 2011) which argues that persistent harmful stereotypes-invisible to many but painfully familiar to black women-profoundly shape black women’s politics, contribute to policies that treat them unfairly, and make it difficult for black women to assert their rights in the political arena.

Her first book, Barbershops, Bibles, and BET: Everyday Talk and Black Political Thought, won the 2005 W. E. B. Du Bois Book Award from the National Conference of Black Political Scientists and 2005 Best Book Award from the Race and Ethnic Politics Section of the American Political Science Association.

Professor Harris-Perry is a columnist for The Nation magazine, where she writes a monthly column also titled Sister Citizen. In addition to hosting her own show on MSNBC she provides expert commentary on U.S. elections, racial issues, religious questions and gender concerns for a variety of other media outlets.

Her academic research is inspired by a desire to investigate the challenges facing contemporary black Americans and to better understand the multiple, creative ways that African Americans respond to these challenges. Her work is published in scholarly journals and edited volumes and her interests include the study of African American political thought, black religious ideas and practice, and social and clinical psychology.

Professor Harris-Perry’s creative and dynamic teaching is also motivated by the practical political and racial issues of our time. Professor Harris-Perry has taught students from grade school to graduate school and has been recognized for her commitment to the classroom as a site of democratic deliberation on race.

Wonderful. She also molds young minds full of mush, filling them with Marxist Ideology.

Wait! Did KJ just say “Marxist”? You betcha.

The word collective, in Marxism, refers to, or has to do with, the Proletariat, the common worker, who owes everything to the State:  their life, their home, and, yes, even their family.

In fact…

Marx and Engels provided some hints in The Communist Manifesto concerning the social relations that would supersede the family. First,they discussed the status of children, whose exploitation they wanted to end.

They proposed the replacement of home education by social education Erziehung), which included, but encompassed far more than, sending children to public schools. The German term Erziehung entails not only formal education, but any training of children, including that normally given by parents. Marx and Engels reinforced their point further by assaulting the ‘bourgeois claptrap about the family and education, about the hallowed co-relation of parent and child’.

Furthermore, Engels in his draft for The Communist Manifesto articulated more clearly his vision for children in communist society: ‘The raising (Erziehung) of children together in national institutions and at national expense, from that moment on, in which they can dispense with the first motherly care’.

The child-rearing principles that Marx and Engels espoused were not original.

Fourier and especially Owen had already vigorously touted the superiority of the communal education of children and the removal of children from parental control and influence.

In other words, children would be raised by the government.

Just like Obama’s proposal for a Nationwide Government-funded Pre-school System, as explained on whitehouse.gov:

Expanding access to high quality early childhood education is among the smartest investments that we can make. Research has shown that the early years in a child’s life—when the human brain is forming—represent a critically important window of opportunity to develop a child’s full potential and shape key academic, social, and cognitive skills that determine a child’s success in school and in life.

Participation in high-quality early learning programs—like Head Start, public and private pre-K, and childcare—will provide children from disadvantaged backgrounds with a strong start and a foundation for school success. These programs also generate a significant return on investment for society; numerous economic studies have documented a rate of return as high as 18 percent on the program investment each year because of a reduced need for spending on other services, such as remedial education, grade repetition, and special education, as well as increased productivity and earnings for these children as adults.

President Obama’s comprehensive agenda invests in and strengthens early childhood education for our nation’s youngest children. It helps to prevent achievement gaps before they start, and invests from an early age in children as our most critical national resource.

 There’s that word “investment”, again. Are you beginning to see a pattern?

Are you scared, yet?

Vladimir Lenin said…

Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted.

Give us the child for 8 years and it will be a Bolshevik forever.

Gentle readers, Progressive Socialists like this Administration, the Democratic Party, and their minions in the Main Stream Media, want your children…in order to brainwash them into Godless, amoral, good little Subjects of the State, who would not hesitate to turn you in to Big Brother, for all sorts of reasons: phony abuse charges, speaking against the government, or, having a gun in your house.

If you think I’ve lost my mind, fine. Go ahead and think that. Then, read Melissa Harris-Perry’s ad, again.

And, get mad.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Biden and the New World Order

On By kingsjesterIn Politics4 Comments

bidensmirkIn a speech, given last week, before the Import-Export Bank ,which has now gone viral, United States Vice-President “Crazy Uncle Joe” Biden said,

The task we have now is to actually create a new world order. Because the global order is changing again, and the institutions that have worked so well in the post-World War II era for decades, they need to be strengthened, and some have to be changed. So we have to do what we do best, we have to lead. We have to lead. We have to update the global rules of the road. We have to do it in a way that maximize benefits for everyone, because obviously, it’s overwhelmingly in our interest, this is not a zero sum game, it’s overwhelmingly in our interest that China prosper, that Mongolia prosper, that nations big and large, east and west, in Latin America and in Africa, prosper, because you know that old expression, they asked Willie Sutton why he robbed banks, he said ‘that’s where the money is.’ We want everybody to have a little money to make sure they can buy American products. So the paradox — so we don’t view, the President and I and Fred [Hochberg, President of the Export-Import Bank], we don’t view economic growth as a zero sum game here, that somehow we grow and it’s not in our interests if other powers grow as well. That’s the paradox of this new global order. So much of our success depends on the success of those with whom we compete.

Many political pundits have been  quick to respond with the explanation that he was talking about a competitive Global Economy, and how that competition is good for everybody involved.

Because they know that the “tin-foil hat crowd” will be quick to jump on that phrase with all kinds of conspiracy theories.

The question to be asked is: Can there ever be a “New World Order”?

I mean, the UN is already looking to stick its nose into the state of our firearms. What’s next?

The term “Globalization” describes the reality of increased technological, economic, and cultural inter-connectedness between nations. In a globalized economy, economic activity is unrestricted by time zones or national boundaries. Labor forces, ideas, knowledge, products, and services are shared between nations. This trend has been growing exponentially since the 1980s, as technological advances (most importantly involving the growth of the internet and advances in telecommunications) have made it very simple for people to travel, communicate, and do business internationally.

Proponents of globalization make the case that, since the 1980s, every nation that has grown in manufacturing output has also seen its per capita income increase. Nations open to trade tend to be much more prosperous than nations with closed economies and the increased wages created by globalization lead to reduced poverty and improved living conditions for all. (supposedly)

The most impressive example of this can be found in East Asia.

With this brave, new, inter-connected world, theoretically, it would only take one mega-maniacal billionaire to totally screw up the Global Economy.

For example…

George Soros set up the now famous Quantum Fund as one of the world’s first Hedge Funds. It took money from the wealthy and invested in risky but potentially highly profitable international deals.

It did very well out of the collapse of fixed exchange rates in the 1970s and the deregulation of global capital markets. By 1980, George Soros was worth more than £16.5 million and his fund £67 million. The stage was set for his intervention in the Exchange Rate Mechanism, a system established in 1979 for controlling exchange rates within the European Monetary System of the European Union(EU) that was intended to prepare the way for a single currency.

Around spring 1992, Soros had decided that the pound would have to be devalued because it had been pushed into the Exchange Rate Mechanism at too high a rate.

He knew that the Bundesbank was in favor of a devaluation of both sterling and the Italian lira and believed it would have to happen because of the disastrous impact that high British interest rates were having on asset prices.

Soros spent the next few months in preparation to profit from that devaluation. He borrowed sterling heavily, reportedly to the tune of £6.5 billion, and converted that into a mixture of Deutschmarks and French francs.

On Black Wednesday, September 16, 1992, Soros won his bet.  The UK Conservative government was forced to withdraw the Pound from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) due to pressure by currency speculators, most notably Soros, himself.

In the following days, he took care of business, paying back what he borrowed and ending with a profit of around £1 billion.  At the same time, Soros bought as much as £350 million of British shares, gambling that equities often rise after a currency devalues.

He later admitted that his actions had benefited no one but himself.

With America’s economy struggling to recover, and American industry being taxed into oblivion, our American Corporations (you remember them, the ones who actually hire people?) have been hightailing it out of the country, to friendlier foreign locations. Even so, several European nations are worse off economically, than we are, and on the verse of anarchy.

With all of the instability in the world’s economic picture, it is not quite the rosy picture that Biden and his boss, The Lightbringer, want to paint it as.

The Book of Revelation warns us what is coming. How many will listen?

Until He Comes,

KJ

Patrick Warren and My Friend Mike

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity5 Comments

rickwarrenAs I sit down to write this, I have just learned that Pastor Rick Warren’s youngest son, Patrick. committed suicide on Friday night. Warren is Pastor of Saddleback Valley Community Church, a mega-church, located out in California.

From all accounts, Patrick was a very nice 27 year old, who had suffered from mental illness for a long time, resulting in depession and suicidal thoughts.

According to a press release, issued by Saddleback Church,

Despite the best healthcare available, this was an illness that was never fully controlled and the emotional pain resulted in his decision to take his life,” the statement said. “We ask everyone to join us in praying for the entire Warren family and that God’s comfort and peace will be with them as they deal with this difficult situation.

As I mentioned above, Rick Warren is one of the best known Pastors in America. He has had two Best Sellers in The Purpose Driven Life and The Purpose Driven Church, which has been used by many pastors and church leaders as a blueprint on building a successful church.

Every seventeen minutes, someone in the United States commits suicide. Each day approximately 86 Americans commit suicide, and 1,500 people attempt suicide. Suicide is the nation’s eighth leading cause of death. For those 15-24 years of age, suicide is the third leading cause of death. More Americans, an estimated 31,000, kill themselves than are killed by homicide.

For every completed suicide, there are twenty-five attempted suicides. An estimated 750,000 suicide attempts annually affect the lives of millions of family members. The number of survivors grows 186,000 each year. For every suicide, at least six other people’s lives are affected.

I could not believe it, the other day, when I got in a discussion with a Libertarian on an Facebook Page. This young man insisted that

a) The pain that the individual is going through supercedes the selfishness of the act itself and all those family and friends who are left behind to suffer and grieve.

b) Suicide is merely an expression of individual freedom, and it is the business of the individual who is contemplating it, only.

When I could compose myself, I told the young man the story of my good friend Mike.

Mike dropped out of high school, got his GED, and enlisted in the Coast Guard, where he honorably served. He married a wonderful Christian girl, and became the father of two sons. Mike eventually landed a wonderful job, working nights as an air traffic controller, making well over 6 figures. is wife and sons, teenagers at the time, worshiped the ground he walked on. They were part of my extended family at the time. We celebrated the holidays together, and they considered my in-laws their surrogate parents. Mike and his wife had matching Harleys, which the drove over to my in-laws to show them off.

The world was Mike’s oyster, or so it seemed.

You see, Mike was battled an internal war with “princes and principalities”. He was what is called nowadays, bi-polar, or manic/depressive, as I’ve always called it.

Beneath the veneer of this easy-going family man, was a hedonist who immersed himself in pornography and gambling, unbeknownst to his wife.

Mike actually had been prescribed medicine for his illness, but, he stopped taking it, because as an air traffic controller, he was subject to random drug tests. He was afraid of his illness being found out about and, subsequently, losing his job as a result.

One day, Mike brought home some plastic pipes. When his wife as him what they were for, he told her that they were for fixing a drainage problem in their yard.

Shortly after that, his wife had to go out of town to care for her father, who had open heart surgery. On a cold December morning, Mike hugged the boys goodbye and put them on the school bus. He then loaded the pipes into the back of his white Chevy s10 pickup truck, along with some air conditioning insulation.

He drove down and parked beside a favor fishing spot, where he ran the pies from his exhaust, through the truck window. After putting insulation aroung the pip, he started the truck, popped in a cassette tape of his favorite tunes, and checked out. He was in his mid-30s.

It was three days before his wife and her twin sister’s birthday.

It is one of the most sad and selfish things I have ever witnessed in my 54 years.

It was soon discovered that Mike owed one of the casinos $180,000 in gambling debt, which they could not collect for his widow. It was also discovered that Mike had taken out 5 life insurance policies on himself. Only one of them would not pay his widow any money, due to his suicide.

His wife and sons wound up moving in with her parents, using some of the money Mike left to expand their house, to make room for them.

Mike left more collateral damage than that behind.

Before I started dating his mother, my stepson, who was 5, hung out over at Mike’s house all the time, and viewed Mike as a second father. When Mike killed himself, my steps-on was around 16. He was so devastated that he had to have counseling in order to deal with Mike’s death.

Is suicide the ultimate act of selfishness?

I think it is. As Christians, we are taught that it leads to estrangement from God.

Meanwhile, here in the material world, for those left behind, at least for a while, it leads to undeserved grieve and suffering.

Which only God can comfort. 

Matthew 6:34 ESV –

“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Ephesians 1:4-5 ESV –

Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,

Matthew 10:39 ESV –

Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

1 Peter 5:6-7 ESV –

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

2 Corinthians 4:8-9 ESV –

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;

May God comfort the Warrens and their family during this horrible time.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Living in This Age of Selfishness

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics1 Comment

selfishnessYesterday morning, I fixed my bride and myself some leftover spiral-sliced honey ham sandwiches for lunch. As I was spreading mayonnaise on the last four pieces of bread in the loaf, I took the ends for my sandwich. It was then that I realized that something has been sticking in my craw lately. Maybe ,I’m just getting old.

HEY YOU KIDS…GET OFF OF MY LAWN!

Anyway, one of the things that is currently troubling me, is this unpleasant fact:

Americans are becoming more selfish.

It’s not just the J.R. Ewing kind of selfishness, otherwise known as a thirst for money and power. It’s different than that. It’s more along the lines of adults, who have never grown up.

For example, let’s look at the family living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC.

In the first three months of the year, members of the first family have been on three vacations, averaging a vacation a month. And now it’s being reported that the first daughters are on a spring break vacation in the Bahamas.

The Obamas began the new year in Hawaii. “President Obama departed Hawaii this morning for Washington, after spending NINE days vacationing with family and friends in his native state. Here’s a quick look at how he spent his vacation,” ABC reported on January 6, 2013.

“Obama played FIVE rounds of golf with SEVEN different partners, spending roughly THIRTY hours on TWO different courses on Oahu. The president made FIVE early morning trips to the gym at the nearby Marine Base at Kaneohe Bay. The First Family spent TWO afternoons enjoying the beach on the base and went for ONE hike to a local waterfall. The president spent ONE father-daughter afternoon with Malia and Sasha, bowling and going out for shave ice, an annual tradition.”

Then the first lady and their daughters vacationed in Aspen over President’s Day weekend. “First Lady Michelle Obama arrived in Aspen on Friday afternoon and is here with her daughters for a ski vacation,” Aspendailynews.com reported in February. “Few details about her trip were available. Sources said she is staying at the home of Jim and Paula Crown, owners of the Aspen Skiing Co. She is reportedly skiing at Buttermilk today, where the Crowns, of Chicago, own a home on the Tiehack side.”

We have all seen Obama be a smart aleck  with everyone who dares question his brilliance, to the point of petulance. Obama’s behavior reminds me of the way Paul Reubens as Pee Wee Herman behaves when he’s upset,

I know you are. But, what am I?

And, of course, his lovely wife Mooch, err, I mean, Michelle, fancies herself a Professional Nutritionist…even though it takes her two trips to haul…err…butt.

But, this new selfishness doesn’t just stop with the First Family. It is pervasive throughout American Society. It is taught in our homes, by parents who, wanting the best for their children, teach them, from the time that they are old enough to understand, to look out for number one. Then, these little darlings go to school, where they’re taught that morals, values, and ethics are situational things, and that they owe allegiance to no one, neither God nor Country.

This didn’t happen when I was school age. In Elementary school, we prayed every morning, sang “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning”, and said the Pledge of Allegiance, with our hands solemnly over our hearts.

In fact, by the time we were school age, our parents had already taught us to say “Yes, ma’am” and “No, ma’am” and “Yes, sir” and “No, sir”. If we didn’t, we were disciplined. To this day, the back of my legs faintly read “4…5…6” from my Mother’s yardstick.

Nowadays, in the school my bride works at, the young boys and girls (third and fourth graders) disrespect the teachers, rolling their eyes at them, and back-talking them.  When the staff tries to discipline them, the parents come up to the school and chew them out for treating their little darlings so badly.

The young adults in this country, who were raised in such an ego-swelling, egocentric, lax environment, seem to be having trouble comprehending why they should give a..err..hoot ‘n holler about how their behavior effects those around them.

I, being the old fa…fogey that I am, am always attempting to explain to them that no man is a island. There are consequences for your actions, and, those consequences affect more than just you.

On May 18, 1800, Reverend Joseph McKeen, Pastor of the First Church of Beverly, gave a timeless warning, in a sermon given to the House of Representatives and the Senate of the State of Massachusetts…

Good example acts with the greater effect, because it reproves without upbraiding, and teaches us to correct our faults without giving us the mortification of knowing that any but ourselves, have ever observed them. We feel the force of counsel or persuasion much more sensibly, when we see that one does what he advises or requires us to do. But the best counsel from one, who obeys not his own precepts, nor practices upon the principles of his own advice, will generally be little regarded. We do not believe a man to be in earnest, who advises one thing, and does the contrary.

To resist the progress of irreligion, injustice, luxury, selfishness, and an impatience of legal restraint, is a duty imposed by patriotism.

…The love of liberty we inherit from our fathers; it is so “interwoven with the ligaments of our hearts,î that there can be little doubt of our enjoying it, and little danger of its being wrested from us so long as we are capable and worthy of it. But a capacity for enjoying it depends on a sound and healthful state of the body politic.

The more freedom we have, the more necessary is the aid of religious and moral principles to the maintenance of order and tranquility. When these are lost, or very much relaxed, severe restraints, which cannot always admit of those legal forms, that are essential to the security of liberty, become necessary; yet the people may retain a love of liberty, or rather an impatience of restraint, as the sensualist retains a passion for pleasure, after his constitution is so much impaired by excess, that indulgence would be fatal to him. Liberty, like the pleasures of sense, must be enjoyed with temperance and moderation, lest degenerating into licentiousness it prove destructive. There are none, it may be presumed, who will openly avow that political liberty is, or ought to be, a license for every one to do what is right in his own eyes; yet where the love of liberty is strong, and its nature not distinctly understood, there is too often a disposition to look with an indulgent eye on licentiousness, as only the extreme of a good thing, and therefore pardonable. But the difference between them is greater than some imagine: They are indeed so different, as to be incompatible in society. When one has an excess of liberty, he invades the rights of his neighbor, who is thereby deprived of a portion of the liberty which a free constitution promises him. Liberty in that case becomes exclusively the possession of the strong, the unprincipled, the artful, who makes a prey of the innocent, weak and unsuspicious. A state of things like this is a real despotism, and of the worst kind. It is a poor consolation to the plundered, abused sufferer to be told, that he must not complain; for his oppressor is not an hereditary monarch, acting by a pretended divine right, but only a fellow citizen, acting in the name of “liberty and equality.î

I believe that a lot of this selfishness we see around us, in Today’s America, comes from a generation not “being trained in the way that they should go”. Without strong role models, Christian, Jewish, or otherwise, children have no one to model themselves after. If the parents are selfish themselves, or, enablers, guess what their precious little darling is going to turn out to be?

The precious little darlings of the last few decades, who were raised to be selfish, are now selfish adults.

Unfortunately, selfish children tend to grow up to embrace a like-minded political ideology. And, then, they vote.

God Save the Union.

Until He Comes,

KJ

The Effort to Redefine “Conservatism”

On By kingsjesterIn Politics5 Comments

reaganAs we enter the fourth month of Barack Hussein Obama’s (mm mmm mmmm) Second Term as President of the United States, I have noticed something that is both puzzling and troubling to me.

Actually, it is something that I noticed starting to gain steam as the Presidential Primaries started kicking into gear: a serious effort to redefine Conservatism to mean “wanting a government which doesn’t blow all my money and leaves me alone, so that I can do what I want do, regardless of how it effects others around me”.

On the internet, these believers express themselves in various terms, which all translate to the same thing: Fiscally Conservative, Socially Liberal.

Their common goal is a desire to redefine the definition of Conservatism in order to make them feel better about their non-Conservative, and oft times, downright hedonistic,  social ideology.

You’ll find these same individuals on Internet Chat Boards, complaining about how narrow-minded and statist Reagan Conservatives, like myself, are.

And, God help you if you tell them that there is such a thing as morality and ethics. They will tell you that you”re nothing but a busybody who wants to meddle in people’s private lives  and take away their “freedom”.

They insist that the only way for the Republicans to win anything at all in 2014 and 2016, is to forget the antiquated ideology of Reagan (Social) Conservatism.

You know, that whole God and Country Bit that I always talk about.

Evidently,to these folks, good, old-fashioned American Faith, Values, and Ethics are just that…old-fashioned.

That’s funny. Down here in Mississippi, that is how we live our lives. We love God. We love our country. We love our family and friends…and, we look out for one another.

Mississippi is not the only state like that. All the states in the Heartland of America, share the same Classic American Values and Beliefs

That’s why the President is still out campaigning. He can’t overcome them.

Look at how all of the National Issues which he and all of his ideological forces have been so feverishly trying to ram down our throats, homosexual marriage, amnesty for illegal immigrants, the legalization of marijuana, and gun confiscation, have stalled.

No matter how much Progressive Propaganda is unleashed upon the American Citizenry, Conservatives in America’s Heartland are standing firm, solid in their beliefs, still “bitterly clinging to their Bibles and guns”.

No matter how many rigged polls  and slanted news stories are thrown at us, we will not be moved.

Concerning those who believe that being a Conservative only hinges on your Fiscal Ideology…

J. Matt Barber wrote in the Washington Times that

Ronald Reagan often spoke of a “three-legged stool” that undergirds true conservatism. The legs are represented by a strong defense, strong free-market economic policies and strong social values. For the stool to remain upright, it must be supported by all three legs. If you snap off even one leg, the stool collapses under its own weight.

A Republican, for instance, who is conservative on social and national defense issues but liberal on fiscal issues is not a Reagan conservative. He is a quasi-conservative socialist.

A Republican who is conservative on fiscal and social issues, but liberal on national defense issues is not a Reagan conservative. He is a quasi-conservative dove.

By the same token, a Republican who is conservative on fiscal and national defense issues but liberal on social issues – such as abortion, so-called gay rights or the Second Amendment – is not a Reagan conservative. He is a socio-liberal libertarian.

Put another way: A Republican who is one part William F. Buckley Jr., one part Oliver North and one part Rachel Maddow is no true conservative. He is – well, I’m not exactly sure what he is, but it ain’t pretty.

At the Forth Annual Conservative Political Action Committee Convention in 1977, Ronald Reagan said,

The principles of conservatism are sound because they are based on what men and women have discovered through experience in not just one generation or a dozen, but in all the combined experience of mankind. When we conservatives say that we know something about political affairs, and that we know can be stated as principles, we are saying that the principles we hold dear are those that have been found, through experience, to be ultimately beneficial for individuals, for families, for communities and for nations — found through the often bitter testing of pain, or sacrifice and sorrow.

One thing that must be made clear in post-Watergate is this: The American new conservative majority we represent is not based on abstract theorizing of the kind that turns off the American people, but on common sense, intelligence, reason, hard work, faith in God, and the guts to say: “Yes, there are things we do strongly believe in, that we are willing to live for, and yes, if necessary, to die for.” That is not “ideological purity.” It is simply what built this country and kept it great.

So, if your stated political ideology is one of those listed above, by not differing from them in your Social Ideology, and fighting against Reagan Conservatives, in your own Party, like me, which you have so derisively named “True Conservatives”, aren’t you being unwitting dupes for the Progressives?

Even the Progressives claim to be “Fiscally Responsible”.

Not to be rude, but, a one-legged stool is awfully hard to stand on.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Has America Gone From Sheriff Taylor to Deputy Fife?

On By kingsjesterIn Politics4 Comments

sheriffandytaylorobamabarneyfyfeAs I sit down to write this, an enemy of America stands poised  (supposedly) to launch a merciless attack against us.

According to a spokesperson for the North Korean military, war could break out “today or tomorrow”.

Meanwhile, Obama and his Administration started scrambling like a high school student who waited until 10 the night before to study for a test, as they made plans to send ground-based interceptors to Guam and dispatching two Aegis class destroyers to the region.

Things had also gotten tense at the North’s heavily-armed border with South Korea, after Kim Jong-Un’s wackadoodle regime barred South Koreans from entering a Seoul-funded joint industrial park on its side of the frontier.

The Korean People’s Army general staff warned through Korea’s news agency that US threats would be “smashed by… cutting-edge smaller, lighter and diversified nuclear strike means”.

The merciless operation of our revolutionary armed forces in this regard has been finally examined and ratified.

Just last month, North Korea threatened a “pre-emptive” nuclear strike against the United States, and last week its supreme army command ordered strategic rocket units to combat status.

Even though Korea has successfully carried out test nuclear detonations, most experts think it is not yet capable of mounting a device on a ballistic missile capable of striking US bases or territory.

There still could be trouble on the North/South Border, though.

The White House was swift to react to Pyongyang’s latest “unhelpful and unconstructive threats”…by issuing veiled threats of their own.

According to National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden,

It is yet another offering in a long line of provocative statements that only serve to further isolate North Korea from the rest of the international community and undermine its goal of economic development. North Korea should stop its provocative threats and instead concentrate on abiding by its international obligations.

US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel remarked after a strategy speech at the National Defense Agency,

They have nuclear capacity now, they have missile delivery capacity now. We take those threats seriously, we have to take those threats seriously. We are doing everything we can, working with the Chinese and others, to defuse that situation on the peninsula.

As America gears up for a possible war, I’m reminded of another stand-off between a previous President (one who actually loved this country) and another bunch of communists.

Per Heritage.org,

Soviet Communism, the dark tyranny that controlled nearly 40 nations and was responsible for the deaths of an estimated 100 million victims during the 20th century, suddenly collapsed 20 years ago without a shot being fired.

In just two years–from 1989 to 1901–the Berlin Wall fell, the Soviet Union disintegrated, and Marxism- Leninism was dumped unceremoniously on the ash heap of history. There was dancing in the street and champagne toasts on top of the Brandenburg Gate. And then most of the world got on with living without asking:

The crucial role of leadership in any war, including a cold one, is demonstrated by the example of Ronald Reagan.

The Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky was in an eight-by-ten foot cell in a Siberian prison in early 1983 when his Soviet jailers permitted him to read the latest issue of Pravda, the official Communist Party newspaper.

Splashed across the front page, Sharansky recalled, was a condemnation of Reagan for calling the Soviet Union an “evil empire.” Tapping on the walls and talking through toilets, political prisoners spread the word of Reagan’s “provocation.” The dissidents were ecstatic. Finally, Sharansky wrote, the leader of the free world had spoken the truth–a truth that burned inside the heart of each and every one of us.

Lech Walesa, the founder of the Solidarity movement that brought down Communism in Poland and prepared the way for the end of Communism throughout Eastern and Central Europe, put his feelings about Reagan simply: “We in Poland…owe him our liberty.”

So too do the many millions who lived behind the Iron Curtain and were caught up in one of the longest conflicts in history–the Cold War–which, because of leaders like Ronald Reagan, ended in victory for the forces of freedom.

Back then, we knew, just as sure as Sheriff Andy Taylor always looked out for and protected the interests of the citizens of Mayberry, President Ronald Reagan would look out for and protect us.

The problem we face, now, is that an appeaser, Barack Hussein Obama, is responsible for our protection and well-being. Obama is our own version of  Deputy Barney Fife…without Barney’s redeeming qualities.

Just like Iran baited President Jimmy Carter, and continuously called his bluff, so have our present enemies rattled their sabers at “The Great Satan”/”The Agressor”.

Remember when President Reagan sent a guided missle into Moammar Gadhafi’s bedroom? We didn’t hear a peep out of that despot for 25 years, after that.

Perhaps, President Obama should do the same in this circumstance.

That is, if he is not too busy “reaching out” to him, like he has to the murderous Muslim Brotherhood.

God protect us.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Gun Control: Hey, UN…Molon Labe

On By kingsjesterIn Politics1 Comment

guncontrolThere are several times, during my musings, that I have described our blessed country as a sovereign nation. What does that mean?

It means that we are an “independent state”, completely independent and self-governing. We bow to no other country on God’s green Earth. We are beholden to no other nation. America stands on its own, with our own set of laws , The Constitution of the United States.

And, that is what makes the following news, disturbing.

Yesterday, in the modern-day Tower of Babylon, known as the United Nations, a sweeping, first-of-its-kind treaty to regulate the international arms trade was passed by the delegates. oblivious to worries from U.S. gun rights advocates that this agreement could be the precursor to a national firearms registry.

The U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) requires countries to regulate and control the export of weaponry such as battle tanks, combat vehicles and aircraft and attack helicopters, as well as parts and ammunition for such weapons. It also provides that participating countries will not violate arms embargoes, international treaties regarding illicit trafficking, or sell weaponry to countries for genocide, crimes against humanity or other war crimes.

With the unwavering support of Obama and his Administration, the General Assembly vote totaled 155 to 3, with 22 abstentions. Iran, Syria and North Korea voted against it.

The problem with the treaty is that is positively porous, due to all of the loopholes contained in it. The list of controlled weaponry in it includes “small arms and light weapons”. Of course, the U.N. claims that the pact is meant to regulate only cross-border trade and would have no impact on domestic U.S. laws and markets.

This reassurancecomes from the same bunch who equates Zionism to Racism.

On the bright side, in its budget debate late last month, the Senate approved a non-binding amendment opposing the treaty offered by Sen. James M. Inhofe, Oklahoma Republican, with eight Democrats joining all 45 Republicans backing the amendment.

Per Sen. Inhofe,

It’s time the Obama Administration recognizes [the treaty] is already a non-starter, and Americans will not stand for internationalists limiting and infringing upon their Constitutional rights. Furthermore, this treaty could also disrupt diplomatic and national security efforts by preventing our government from assisting allies like Taiwan, South Korea or Israel when they require assistance.

Amnesty International was doing back-flips of joy over the signing of the treaty…

The voices of reason triumphed over skeptics, treaty opponents and dealers in death to establish a revolutionary treaty that constitutes a major step toward keeping assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons out of the hands of despots and warlords who use them to kill and maim civilians, recruit child soldiers and commit other serious abuses,” said Frank Jannuzi, deputy executive director of Amnesty International USA.

AI is an International Human Rights Group which presents itself as an ideologically disinterested and apolitical organization. According to Amnesty International, it

does not support or oppose any government or political system, nor does it support or oppose the views of the victims whose rights it seeks to protect. It is concerned solely with the impartial protection of human rights.

The lion’s share of Amnesty International’s criticism is usually directed at the United States. In the 1980s AI joined leftist non-governmental organizations like the Church World Service and Americas Watch in loud opposition to the Reagan administration’s support for the Contra resistance movement against Nicaragua’s Communist dictatorship.

In more recent years, AI has emerged as a vocal critic of the U.S.-led War on Terror, opposing especially the American-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.

My question is, what legitimate right does the United Nations and any of the countries therein, have to “make rulings” affecting the Second Amendment of the United States Contitution and us American citizens who are protected under it?

Answer:  none

Steven Groves, writing for Heritage.org, said it very well,

The proper exercise of diplomacy by the United States does not threaten our sovereignty. The Founding Fathers understood the value of diplomacy. They drafted the Constitution, in part, because they wanted the United States to be able to negotiate treaties with other nations. But they also understood that American foreign policy must ultimately be controlled by the American people.

That is why, for instance, the United States Senate must approve treaties that are negotiated by the President. That is how our diplomatic process works. But today, American sovereignty is threatened by the many treaties that seek to take power away from the nations that negotiate them. The solution is not to reject treaties or diplomacy: it is to return to the vision of the Founders, and to their belief that the American people have an inherent right of self-government, through their elected representatives, that cannot be extinguished by any treaty.

The drafters of the Declaration would be surprised to find Americans submitting themselves to these international organizations, and the constraints on independence that they have spawned. The United States may, of course, work with other nations in a principled way that advances its national interests. But the Founders would be amazed by the extent and depth of the threats to American sovereignty posed by this new transnationalist vision.

The Founders did not risk their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor casting off the rule of King George III so that, two hundred years later, the United States could subject itself to the whims of unelected foreign bureaucrats and international lawyers. Sovereignty was essential to the founding of America in 1776, and it is essential to America today.

By declaring its independence from King George III and the British Parliament, America declared its sovereignty. By dedicating itself to the principles of liberty, equality, and popular consent, it set the standard by which all sovereign nations are to be judged.

This Administration seems bound and determined to make America into just another nation, assigning American Exceptionalism to the trash heap of  history.

Their pure ignorance to America’s place in the world is overwhelming. Only by standing up to the thug nations represented at the UN, will America be respected, and left alone, as the sovereign nation that we are.

Obama’s bowing and scraping, like a leader of a country who occupied a subservient position to nations filled with barbarians, who would slit every American’s throat, if given the chance, is an stunning example of this naivete and downright ignorance.

Here is today’s Big Idea (thank you, Preacher):

As regards the present situation, concerning American citizens and the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States: Average Americans do not trust the United Nations, or the present occupier of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington DC.

Molon Labe.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Obama Lays an Egg

On By kingsjesterIn Politics2 Comments

obamabasketballYesterday, the White House held its annual Easter Egg Roll.

Among the “attractions” at this year’s photo op were the Easter Bunny, the First Dog Bo, (Which is what the other set of grandparents call my 5 year old grandson, Robert. Hey, it’s a Mississippi thang.) there were also characters by the name of Colby Carrot and Erica Eggplant.

What do vegetables have to do Easter? Were they there for the Easter Bunny’s lunch?

No. Actually they were there for Mooch’s (First Lady Michelle Obama) benefit. This woman (who takes 2 trips to haul you-know-what) urged the kiddies to have fun and “run around,” and “to learn something about nutrition and exercise”.

In fact, the theme of this year’s Egg Roll had nothing to do at all with Easter. It was

Be Healthy, Be Active, Be You!

Mooch told the children,

We want you guys to have a good time and keep moving and be healthy. And, kids, eat your vegetables, okay?

Over 30,000 attended the choreographed event. Among those attending, were relatives of some of the children who were murdered by a psychopath during the Dec. 14 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. The White House did not provide names, citing privacy concerns.

Chicagoyouthriot4113How…noble? Hardly.

Obama continues to use the Newtown Tragedy as a Political Opportunity to take away the guns from average-American citizens. Of course, no mention has been made by Obama and his minions concerning the hundred of youths who rioted in the streets of Chicago on Saturday.

“This was a planned attack,” community activist Andrew Holmes told ABC Chicago. “You had these many people down here and that many people just running from one side of the street, jumping on people on the east side, then they come back on the west side and jump on the people.”

More than two dozen teens were arrested during the chaotic melee.

“You have over 300 to 400 teenagers with mob action, jumping on individuals that are downtown,” community activist Andrew Holmes told NBC Chicago.

Police booked 25 juveniles and three adults on misdemeanor reckless conduct and battery charges for purposefully knocking into and jumping on pedestrians during the “mob action.”

At around 6 p.m., hundreds of misbehaved teenagers swarmed in on the Windy City’s Magnificent Mile shopping district that runs along Michigan Avenue, near Chicago Avenue.

“You have over 300 to 400 teenagers with mob action, jumping on individuals that are downtown,” Holmes, who was in the area shopping with family, told NBC Chicago. He said he also witnessed a mounted police officer being assaulted by the teens.

Obama would tell you,

It’s not the yutes’ fault. It’s those darn guns, I tell you.

That is, if he had the guts to bring it up in the first place. But, I digress…

A featured attraction at the Easter Egg Roll, was supposed to be the thrill of watching The Lightbringer display his basketball prowess, by shooting hoops at a basketball goal which his minions had set up on the White House Lawn.

Unfortunately, for the Manchurian President…hilarity ensued.

POTUS stepped to free throw line and kids were asked to stand on opposite sides, depending on whether they think he would sink it. Most kids moved in one direction, but one boy went to the “miss” side.”Oh, man,” a stunned POTUS said, hands on hips. The boy didn’t budge. And three others joined.In sharp form, POTUS released the ball. It bounced off the rim and circled it — miss.”Come on. Come on. Did you see that?” Obama said.It got worse.A little while later, after playing tennis, Obama started to take shots amid the kids and pros. Miss. Miss. Off the rim. Miss. Miss. Off the rim. Airball. He moved closer to the net.But time and again, he missed. Of 22 shots POTUS took, he made two. (22 was general consensus of poolers)At one point, POTUS handed a ball to a boy and asked for help. The boy made the layup.”He couldn’t make one. I had to help him out,” said Kahron Campbell, 10, of Landover, MD.

Being a product of a Memphis upbringing, basketball runs through my veins. It all started in elementary, when I played on a team, then in ninth grade, when the legendary University of Memphis player, Larry Finch, became my student coach the year they lost the National Championship to Bill Walton and UCLA (’72-’73). I later went on to coach my own forth grade squad, while in college at the U of M, and , later, at 36, I coached and played for my church team. My record as a coach is 25-4, with 2 league championships.

Basketball is a metaphor for any tasks you might attempt in life. 

One of the things you learn in basketball, is that…

If the plays aren’t working, you must re-adjust the game plan. 

Every great basketball player knows that when your plays aren’t working you have to adjust, and then adjust some more. The varying strengths and styles of different opponents require different tactics. You have to be able to withstand and adjust to whichever attacks an opponent uses on you.

Just like the game of basketball, life presents us with many challenges for which we must adjust our game plan.

And, just as Obama failed miserably, in his attempt to show off his skills as a basketball player, so has he failed miserably during his tenure as the President of the United States.

He has gained a reputation as being the most -out-of-touch, narcissistic, socialist, prevaricating, petulant President this nation has yet to endure.

Perhaps it is time to Obama to change his game plan.

Until He Comes,

KJ