Category: Christianity

America: No God = No Peace

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics3 Comments

American ChristianityHave you noticed a general unhappiness in our country? People don’t seem to smiling as easily any more. They don’t seem to be as outgoing and friendly. They tend to pass each other on the street, and, even if they know one another, they just keep on walking.  Let’s explore some possible reasons…

Breitbart.com reports that…

Only a third of U.S. adults say they are very happy — minorities show particularly pronounced declines in the past two years, a U.S. survey indicates.

A Harris Poll of 2,345 U.S. adults surveyed online April 10-15 by Harris Interactive found certain groups, such as minorities, recent graduates and the disabled, trended downward in the last couple of years.

“Our happiness index offers insight into what’s on the minds of Americans today and is a reflection of the state of affairs in our country,” Regina Corso, senior vice president of the Harris Poll, said in a statement. “While the attitudes on the economy may be improving, we’re seeing that this is not translating into an improvement in overall happiness.”

Since last measured two years ago, the Happiness Index was especially low among the Hispanic-American population. It is important to note that a causal link cannot be established, it might not be a coincidence that this drop coincides with a political landscape that has seen frequent, sometimes contentious, discussion of immigration policy in recent months, Corso said.

Americans earning under $50,000 per year were less likely to qualify as very happy than in 2011 — down from 33 percent to 29 percent among those earning less than $35,000, and from 35 percent to 32 percent among those earning between $35,000-$49,999.

Those 50 and older were more likely to be very happy than younger people.

If money CAN buy happiness, we’re in a heap o’ trouble…because none of us have any.

According to an article posted on Friday by CBSMoneywatch.com…

Increasing housing prices and the stock market”s posting all-time highs haven’t helped the plight most Americans. The average U.S. household has recovered only 45 percent of the wealth they lost during the recession, according to a report released yesterday from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

This finding is a very different picture than one painted in a report earlier this year by the Fed that calculated Americans as a whole had regained 91 percent of their losses. The writers of the report released yesterday point out that the earlier number is based on aggregate household-net-worth data. However, this isn’t adjusted for inflation, population growth or the nature of the wealth. Further, they say much of recovery in net worth is because of the stock market, which means most of the improvement has been a boon only to wealthy families.

“Clearly, the 91 percent recovery of wealth losses portrayed by the aggregate nominal measure paints a different picture than the 45 percent recovery of wealth losses indicated by the average inflation-adjusted household measure,” the report said. “Considering the uneven recovery of wealth across households, a conclusion that the financial damage of the crisis and recession largely has been repaired is not justified,” the researchers said.

Household wealth plunged $16 trillion from the top of the real estate bubble in the third quarter of 2007 to the bottom of the bust in the first quarter of 2009. By the last three months of 2012, American households as a group had regained $14.7 trillion.

The report says almost two-thirds of the increase in aggregate household wealth is due to rising stock prices. This has disproportionately benefited the richest households: About 80 percent of stocks are held by the wealthiest 10 percent of the population.

Much of the total wealth of middle- and lower-income households is based on home values, not stocks. Even though home prices have increased nearly 11 percent in the past year, they remain about 30 percent below their peak.

While Americans continue to pay down their debt, the report says debt levels and problems with rebuilding net worth are the main reasons the recovery has been so slow. Also, the people who bore the brunt of the recession through job losses and reduced income were the ones who had borrowed the most.

The report found that members of the households that suffered the most financially were less educated, relatively young or black or Hispanic, or some combination of these factors. Those families tended to have low savings and high debt, with much of their wealth based on housing.

The poorest households have felt the sharpest losses as a consequence of the recession: “While many Americans lost wealth during the Great Recession, younger, less-educated and nonwhite families lost the greatest percentage of their wealth,” James Bullard, president of the St. Louis Fed, said in a statement. “Household deleveraging, or paying down debt, has played a key role in the recent recession and the slow recovery.”

Americans are being besieged from all sides. Not only is the government taking our money, but, this new Progressive Culture around us, is succeeding in eliminating Godly Influences from our everyday life.

Gallup.com tells us that…

Over three-quarters of Americans (77%) say religion is losing its influence on American life, while 20% say religion’s influence is increasing. These represent Americans’ most negative evaluations of the impact of religion since 1970, although similar to the views measured in recent years.

Americans over the years have generally been more likely to say religion is losing rather than increasing its influence in American life. In addition to the previous peak in views that religion was losing its influence measured in 1969 and 1970, at least 60% of Americans thought religion was losing its influence in 1991-1994, in 1997 and 1999, in 2003, and from 2007 to the present.

Americans were more likely to say religion was increasing rather than decreasing its influence when the question was first asked in 1957, in 1962, at a few points in the 1980s during the Reagan administration, after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in late 2001 and early 2002, and in 2005. The high point for Americans’ belief that religion is increasing its influence, 71%, came in December 2001.

These perceptions of religion’s influence in American society are not related to Americans’ personal religiosity, as measured by church attendance or the self-reported importance of religion in one’s life. In general, highly religious Americans are neither more nor less likely to say religion is losing its influence than those who are not religious. There is, however, a modest relationship between Americans’ ideology as well as partisanship and their views of the influence of religion, with liberals and Democrats more likely than conservatives and Republicans to say religion’s influence is increasing in American society.

And, of course Progressives would be saying that, because the religion they are referring to is a modified “Christianity”, which preaches the salvation of the “Collective” and “Social Justice” for all.

Working hand-in-hand with “The State”, i.e. the Obama Administration, Liberal/Progressive Churches preach this watered-down version of the Gospel to their unwitting congregations, “tickling their ears” and telling them that whatever gets them through the night, is alright.

In these Progressive Churches, the glorification of social programs and modern culture has taken the place of the Glorification of God and the hunger for His Word.

I mean, Gay Marriages are being performed in America’s National Cathedral in Washington, DC!

And, in churches around the country, Bible Studies, Youth Meetings, and Choir Practices, have been replaced with Studies on Philosophy, Voter Registration, sponsored by Organizing For America (Obama), and Yoga Classes.

The very Progressives in Power who have been whining for years about the Separation of Church and State, are the ones responsible for the removal of religion from American’s Everyday Life.

And, the worst part about it…Americans let them.

As I have gotten older (54), I have noticed that, concerning the two generations that have come after me, have consciously moved away from organized religion. Their movement is a result of Christ not being taught in their homes, and parents and other adult role models not providing a Godly example in their young lives, as they were growing up.  Without someone providing that example in their young lives, as my Daddy did for me, they have no Anchor to hold them steady through the Storms of Life and no Solid Rock upon which to stand.

And, unfortunately, that lack of Moral Compass, not only affects these two newest generations of adults, but all of those in their lives, and, eventually, society, as well.

Which is why we are now living in an America, which is well on its way to embracing a nanny-State Mentality, complete with its Situational Ethics and “50 Shades of Gray” Morality.

Gallup.com tells us that 78% of Americans proclaim Christ as their Personal Savior. 

Well, Americans, its time to return to Him.

For our sake, our children’s sake, our grandchildren’s sake, and our country’s sake.

If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under.- Ronald Reagan

Until He Comes,

KJ

Assad Vows to Attack Israel. He Doesn’t Know Who He’s Messing With.

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics2 Comments

americanisraelilapelpinSyrian President Bashar Assad announced in an interview yesterday,  that he is “confident in victory” in his country’s civil war, and he warned that his country would retaliate for any future Israeli airstrike on his territory.

Assad also told the Lebanese TV station Al-Manar that Russia has fulfilled some of its weapons contracts recently, but he was vague on whether this included advanced S-300 air defense systems.

The comments were in line with a forceful and confident message the regime has been sending in recent days, even as the international community attempts to launch a peace conference in Geneva, possibly next month. The strong tone coincided with recent military victories in battles with armed rebels trying to topple him.

The interview was broadcast as Syria’s main political opposition group appeared to fall into growing disarray.

The international community had hoped the two sides would start talks on a political transition. However, the opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition, said earlier Thursday that it would not attend a conference, linking the decision to a regime offensive on the western Syrian town of Qusair and claiming that hundreds of wounded people were trapped there.

Assad, who appeared animated and gestured frequently in the TV interview, said he has been confident from the start of the conflict more than two years ago that he would be able to defeat his opponents.

“Regarding my confidence about victory, had we not had this confidence, we wouldn’t have been able to fight in this battle for two years, facing an international attack,” he said. Assad portrayed the battle to unseat him as a “world war against Syria and the resistance” — a reference to the Lebanese Hezbollah, a close ally.

“We are confident and sure about victory, and I confirm that Syria will stay as it was,” he said, “but even more than before, in supporting resistance fighters in all the Arab world.”

Assad has said he would stay in power at least until elections scheduled in 2014, but he went further in the interview, saying he “will not hesitate to run again” if the Syrian people want him to do so.

Assad, evidently has never read the accounts of the Six- Day War.

The Six-Day War took place in June 1967. The Six-Day War was fought between June 5th and June 10th. The Israelis defended the war as a preventative military effort to counter what the Israelis saw as an impending attack by Arab nations that surrounded Israel. The Six-Day War was initiated by General Moshe Dayan, the Israeli’s Defence Minister.

The war was against Syria, Jordan and Egypt. Israel believed that it was only a matter of time before the three Arab states co-ordinated a massive attack on Israel. After the 1956 Suez Crisis, the United Nations had established a presence in the Middle East, especially at sensitive border areas. The United Nations was only there with the agreement of the nations that acted as a host to it. By May 1967, the Egyptians had made it clear that the United Nations was no longer wanted in the Suez region. Gamal Nasser, leader of Egypt, ordered a concentration of Egyptian military forces in the sensitive Suez zone. This was a highly provocative act and the Israelis only viewed it one way – that Egypt was preparing to attack. The Egyptians had also enforced a naval blockade which closed off the Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli shipping.

Due to the superior size of the Invasion Force, the world’s  news media reported the imminent defeat of Israel as a fait accompli.

The Invaders were attacking God’s Chosen People from all sides.

Egyptian forces invaded Palestine from the South-west, captured Gaza and were thrusting along the coast to link up with –

Arab legion troops driving from the west towards Tel Aviv, the capital of the new State of Israel.

Another Egyptian column thrust 30 miles across the southern desert and entered Beersheba.

Lebanese and Syrian forces were about to attack from the north.

Iraqi and Trans-Jordan forces were moving in from the North-east.

An Arab legion column striking west from Jericho were only ten miles from Tel Aviv.

Israel’s chances of defeating the Invaders appeared hopeless. As an insurance policy, some of the invading nations had actually forbidden any armaments or weapons to be sold to Israel.

Additionally, the crack Arab Legion forces were trained and led by British Army officers.

Inexplicably, within days, all the invading forces were retreating as fast as their camels could carry them!

The Egyptians were forced back to the Nile. Jordan’s legions had to give up all their area on the west side of the Jordan River. Israel occupied Lebanon and the Golan Heights.

Secular History tells us that it was a combination of Israel taking out the planes of the Egyptian Air Force, while they were still on the ground, and the Commander of their Tank Brigade surrendering, because the reflection off of the desert floor multiplied the size of the Israeli Force, making it seem like the Invaders were surrounded by superior numbers.

However, at the time of Israel’s victory, strange rumors started making the rounds.

Invaders from the south reported that they were confronted by legions of unknown troops clothed in white!

And, the thing was…the Israeli troops reported similar stories!

The outcome of Six Day War of 1967 was very important, because, for the first time for 2,520 years, Israel captured and governed Jerusalem.

For all those years before, Jerusalem was under the thumb of  non-Jewish powers, but their control was prophesied only to continue ‘until the times allotted to the Gentiles are completed,’ Jesus said (Luke 21:24).

Naturally, Christians everywhere got very excited at the significance of this event.

The attack on Israel come out of nowhere. So…how was it that Israel gained such a rapid victory?

God’s Cavalry was there for God’s Chosen People in the Six Day War in 1967.

Arab generals said, ‘they did not know that Israel had large cavalry units.’

Why was Israel favored by God with such an intervention? Was it because they deserved it? The answer is ‘No’.

God kept his promise, found in Leviticus 26: 42-44…

42 I will remember my promise to Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham. I will also remember the land. 43 The land, abandoned by them, will enjoy its time to honor the Lord while it lies deserted without them. They must accept their guilt because they rejected my rules and looked at my laws with disgust. 44 Even when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or look at them with disgust. I will not reject or cancel my promise to them, because I am the Lord their God.

Assad needs to remember that. President Barack Hussein Obama does, too.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Memorial Day 2013: Honoring Our Brightest and Best

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics4 Comments

Today is a day of solemn remembrance, during which we honor our fallen heroes.

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service. There are many stories as to its actual beginnings, with over two dozen cities and towns laying claim to being the birthplace of Memorial Day. There is also evidence that organized women’s groups in the South were decorating graves before the end of the Civil War: a hymn published in 1867, “Kneel Where Our Loves are Sleeping” by Nella L. Sweet carried the dedication “To The Ladies of the South who are Decorating the Graves of the Confederate Dead” (Source: Duke University’s Historic American Sheet Music, 1850-1920). While Waterloo N.Y. was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in May 1966, it’s difficult to prove conclusively the origins of the day. It is more likely that it had many separate beginnings; each of those towns and every planned or spontaneous gathering of people to honor the war dead in the 1860’s tapped into the general human need to honor our dead, each contributed honorably to the growing movement that culminated in Gen Logan giving his official proclamation in 1868. It is not important who was the very first, what is important is that Memorial Day was established. Memorial Day is not about division. It is about reconciliation; it is about coming together to honor those who gave their all.

Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11, and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war). It is now celebrated in almost every State on the last Monday in May (passed by Congress with the National Holiday Act of 1971 (P.L. 90 – 363) to ensure a three day weekend for Federal holidays), though several southern states have an additional separate day for honoring the Confederate war dead: January 19 in Texas, April 26 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; May 10 in South Carolina; and June 3 (Jefferson Davis’ birthday) in Louisiana and Tennessee.

Traditional observance of Memorial day has diminished over the years. Many Americans nowadays have forgotten the meaning and traditions of Memorial Day. At many cemeteries, the graves of the fallen are increasingly ignored, neglected. Most people no longer remember the proper flag etiquette for the day. While there are towns and cities that still hold Memorial Day parades, many have not held a parade in decades. Some people think the day is for honoring any and all dead, and not just those fallen in service to our country.

There are a few notable exceptions. Since the late 50’s on the Thursday before Memorial Day, the 1,200 soldiers of the 3d U.S. Infantry place small American flags at each of the more than 260,000 gravestones at Arlington National Cemetery. They then patrol 24 hours a day during the weekend to ensure that each flag remains standing. In 1951, the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts of St. Louis began placing flags on the 150,000 graves at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery as an annual Good Turn, a practice that continues to this day. More recently, beginning in 1998, on the Saturday before the observed day for Memorial Day, the Boys Scouts and Girl Scouts place a candle at each of approximately 15,300 grave sites of soldiers buried at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park on Marye’s Heights (the Luminaria Program). And in 2004, Washington D.C. held its first Memorial Day parade in over 60 years.

To help re-educate and remind Americans of the true meaning of Memorial Day, the “National Moment of Remembrance” resolution was passed on Dec 2000 which asks that at 3 p.m. local time, for all Americans “To voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a Moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to ‘Taps.”

On a night in 1966, a 7 year old was laying on his family’s den couch in Memphis, TN, watching his favorite TV Series “Batman” with a fever of 105, brought about by a severe bronchial infection. Tending to that sick child were 3 veterans of Word War II: his Daddy, a Master Sergeant with the Army Engineers, his Uncle “R” (Robert), US Air Force, and his Uncle Perriman, a full-blooded Indian from Albuquerque, who was an Army Corpsman.

Those three veterans, now all gone, took turns putting cold washcloths under the child’s arms and on his forehead, until his fever finally broke, sometime during the night.

That child was me.

I was privileged to be raised by members of the Greatest Generation. The legacy that they gave to me of love of God, Family, and Country is a heritage that I hold very dear.

It is today that we pause to remember their sacrifices at home and abroad.  Not only theirs, but the sacrifices made by our Brightest and Best, and their families, yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

May God bless them all and may He hold them in the hollow of His hand.

America: Into Darkness

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics3 Comments

American ChristianityLater this afternoon, my Bride and I are going to see Star Trek: Into Darkness. As you can see by the title of this post, the title of the movie got me to thinking about our nation.

Our nation’s trek into darkness has been going on for quite some time now, starting with Woodrow Wilson’s Progressive Policies, on through the LBJ’s Great Society and the removal of God from our nation’s classrooms.

Once the concepts of consistent morality and unchangeable ethics were removed from the classroom, you had generations of American kids growing up thinking that, to quote John Lennon…

Whatever gets you through the night…it’s alright…it’s alright.

What they did not take into account was the consequences of their actions.  For the past several decades, America has been reaping those consequences…

Courtesy of lifenews.com…

From the SBA List breakdown of the numbers from the PPFA annual report:

During fiscal year 2011-2012, Planned Parenthood reported receiving a record $542 million in taxpayer funding in the form of government grants, contracts, and Medicaid reimbursements. Taxpayer funding consists of 45%3 of Planned Parenthood’s annual revenue.

In 2011, Planned Parenthood performed a record high 333,964 abortions.

Over the past three reported years (2009-2011), Planned Parenthood has performed nearly one million abortions (995,687).

Planned Parenthood reported a total of three million clients in 2011, meaning that 11% of all Planned Parenthood clients received an abortion.

In 2011, abortions made up 92% of Planned Parenthood’s pregnancy services, while prenatal care and adoption referrals accounted for only 7% (28,674) and 0.6% (2,300), respectively. For every adoption referral, Planned Parenthood performed 145 abortions.

Cancer screening & prevention services and contraceptive services provided by Planned Parenthood continue to drop. Contraceptive services have dropped by 12% since 2009, and cancer screening & prevention services have dropped by 29%.

Planned Parenthood reported $87.4 million in excess revenue, and more than $1.2 billion in net assets.

“Planned Parenthood has spent much of the last few years demanding that taxpayers add millions more to their coffers, citing their non-profit status and so-called focus on women’s health,” said SBA List president Marjorie Dannenfelser. “What have we received for our money? While government subsidies to Planned Parenthood have reached an all time high, so too has the number of lives ended by this profit-driven abortion business. Destroying nearly one million children in three years is not health care and does not reflect a concern for vulnerable women and girls. As Planned Parenthood’s funding goes up, abortions increase and real health services for women go down.”

“As if these numbers weren’t already horrifying, Planned Parenthood has upped the ante even further by mandating that all affiliates provide abortions beginning this year. Americans are sick and tired of underwriting the nation’s largest abortion business. We call on Congress to immediately investigate and defund Planned Parenthood,” she added.

Our Tax Money goes to fund Planned Parenthood, and butchers like the Philadelphia Mass Murder, Dr. Kermit Gosnell, whose trial was largely ignored by the Main Stream Media, until Conservative Americas forced them to cover it.

However, the worshipers of Baal and Molech were not just content to kill American babies, now they want to introduce pederasty to our nation’s youth.

In yesterday’s Blog, The BSA…To GOD and My Country…No Longer, I wrote about the vote by the Boy Scouts of America to allow “openly gay” young males to join the Scouts. 60% of the nation’s Scout Leaders voted in favor of it.

The blowback has been deafening. Unfortunately, though, it will do no good.

This effort, as with the three scandals our President and his Administration are facing, comes from our Halls of Power. Just as our Brightest and Best, America’s Armed Forces, were turning into Lab Rats, in a Social Engineering Experiment by our government, designed to mainstream the sexually deviant behavior of homosexuality, so have the Boy Scouts been chosen for that “honor”, because, just as it was proven when prayer was removed from schools, our youth are the most impressionable among us.

The Boy Scout Council thought that by voting against allow Homosexual Adults to serve as Troop Leaders, that they were keeping our children safe. All their vote did was forestall the inevitable. 

That will be the next shoe to drop.

America’s Progressives, who are in power are relentless in their mission to remove the God of Our Fathers from “the Shining City on a Hill”.

Just as the Ancient Greeks and the Roman Empire, through their acceptance and acquiescence to the trappings of a morally bankrupt society, allowed their enemies, foreign and domestic to overrun them and destroy their civilizations, so is our nation, carved out of the blood and sacrifice of those who have gone before, in danger of allowing the Tyranny of the Minority to subjugate the 785 of us who claim Jesus Christ as our Personal Savior.

The thing about a slippery slope is: once you start down it, its hard to climb back up.

The Good News? 

I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. – John 12:46 (ESV)

Jesus Christ is over all…and, He loves us.

Stay strong, Americans…and PRAY FOR OUR NATION.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

The BSA…To GOD and My Country…No Longer

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics4 Comments

BoyscoutinchurchThursday, the Boy Scouts of America bowed to the Pagan Deities of Progressivism and Political Correctness, forswearing the Christian Heritage upon with they were founded, by voting to allow openly gay adolescents into the Boys Scouts. At the same time, they attempted to cover their tracks by not allowing gays to be Pack Leaders.

That’s just a matter of time.

On Friday, the Main Street Media lavishly applauded the decision as if it was the greatest thing since their messiah, Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm), ascended to the Throne of the Regime.

If those hedonistic buffoons had been around during the Roman Empire, they would have rooted for the Lions.

Conservative Christian  Churches do not feel the same way:

The decision has been met with disappointment among American faith groups.

The Assemblies of God said in a statement that it “regrets” the outcome of Thursday’s vote.

It added that it could no longer endorse its young members joining the BSA and would instead be encouraging them to become part of its own similar programme, the Royal Rangers.

“We believe – as do a majority of Boy Scout volunteer leaders and parents – that this is not the best policy for BSA, nor for the young men it serves,” the Church said.

“We believe that the BSA policy change will lead to a mass exodus from the Boy Scout programme, as Assemblies of God and many other churches can no longer support groups that are part of an organisation allowing members who are openly homosexual.”

The president of the executive committee of the Southern Baptist Convention, Frank Page, told the Baptist Press he was “deeply saddened” by the change.

“We know that the pressures exerted against the voting members of the 1,400 chartered organisations by homosexual activist groups have been unrelenting,” he said.

“We are grateful for each voting member who voted in the minority; but our sadness for the Scouting organisation as a whole cannot be overstated.”

He went on to say that the vote “ushers in a sea-change in the credibility of the Boy Scouts of America as a viable boys’ organisation for millions of Americans who believe strongly in the principles of biblical morality”.

“We continue to pray for our country. We believe we are in desperate need of a genuine spiritual awakening that will transform lives through the power of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ,” he said.

The Boy Scouts are over one hundred years old. On January 24, 1908, the Boy Scouts movement began in England with the publication of the first installment of Robert Baden-Powell’s Scouting for Boys. Baden-Powell was already well known by English boys, and thousands of them quickly bought up the handbook. By the end of April, the serialization of Scouting for Boys was completed, and a lot of impromptu Boy Scout troops had sprung up across Britain.

Baden-Powell became a national hero in Britain in 1910, for his 217-day defense of Mafeking in the South African War. Soon after, Aids to Scouting, a military field manual he had written for British soldiers in 1899, caught on with a younger audience. English boys really took to the lessons on tracking and observation and organized elaborate games using the book. Upon hearing about this, Baden-Powell decided to write a nonmilitary field manual for British youth that would also emphasize the importance of morality and good deeds.

First, though, he decided to try out some of his ideas on an actual group of boys. On July 25, 1907, he took a diverse group of 21 adolescents to Brownsea Island in Dorsetshire where they set up camp. With the aid of other instructors, he taught the boys about camping, observation, deduction, woodcraft, boating, lifesaving, patriotism, and chivalry. Many of these lessons were learned through inventive games that were very popular with the boys. The first Boy Scouts meeting was a huge success.

American Scouting began with an event that happened in London in 1909. Chicago publisher William Boyce become lost in the fog and a Boy Scout came to his aid. After guiding Boyce to his destination, the boy refused a tip, and explained to Boyce that, as a Boy Scout, he would not accept payment for doing a good deed. The gesture inspired Boyce to start several regional U.S. youth organizations, specifically the Woodcraft Indians and the Sons of Daniel Boone, into the Boy Scouts of America. Incorporated on February 8, 1910, the movement soon spread throughout the country.

In 1916, Baden-Powell began the Wolf Cubs, which caught on as the Cub Scouts in the United States, for boys under the age of 11. Four years later, the first international Boy Scout Jamboree was held in London, and Baden-Powell was acclaimed Chief Scout of the world. He died in 1941.

Since then, scouting has produced a lot of good men, rooted in faith and trained to be leaders.

I remember it like yesterday, I was in Seventh Grade, and we were living in an area of Memphis, behind the Veterans’ Cemetery, affectionately known as “Nutbush”. I was a sickly undersized asthmatic kid, who was always getting picked on in the neighborhood. Anyway, my buddy Bobby and his older brother Ronny were Boy Scouts in a troop which their Dad, a mechanic, was the Scout Leader of. They asked me to join up, so I did. It was a lot of fun, and I “set the record” for making Tenderfoot, by learning all the knots and stuff in two days.

Unfortunately though, my severe asthma kept me from going out on the camping trips, so I had to drop out of the Boy Scouts.

That being said, I believe what irritates me the most about this whole situation, is them turning an organization with Christian roots, into a Liberal Social Engineering Experiment, just as they have our Armed Forces.

Being a Boy Scout shouldn’t be about discovering your sexual preference, it should be about learning self-reliance, love of God and Country, and how to be a leader of men.

On my honor I will do my best 
To do my duty to God and my country 
and to obey the Scout Law; 
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong, 
mentally awake, and morally straight.

The BSA’s vote blows their oath all to Hades, doesn’t it?

Texas Governor Rick Perry issued a statement expressing his feelings on the matter, yesterday:

The Boys Scouts of America has been built upon the values of faith and family for more than 100 years and today’s decision contradicts generations of tradition in the name of political correctness. While I will always cherish my time as a scout and the life lessons I learned, I am greatly disappointed with this decision.

From scouting.org:

The 12th point of the Scout Law, Reverent, represents a Scout’s obligation to personal reflection and spirituality. Religion is an important component of Scouting, and it can bring both you and your boys closer to a higher power.

But discussing this sensitive subject with your unit’s youth members isn’t always easy, especially in such a diverse society. Knowing what to say without offending anyone can be tricky.

Don’t worry, though, because with the help of some user-friendly materials and a little planning, your Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Venturers can earn religious emblems that represent their devotion to faith.

Religious awards are available for adults, too, but only through nomination after years of service.

Adults who earn these awards have given dutiful service to the Scouting program and to their religious institution.

To better understand these awards, you should know that the Boy Scouts of America espouses no official religion. Instead, each religious institution has developed its own emblem program to serve its followers, beginning in 1939 with the Ad Altare Dei emblem for Roman Catholics.

With the help of an approved religious counselor and completion of an emblems program, Scouts can earn a medal and its accompanying square knot that are both approved for wear on the BSA uniform.

But they don’t have to stop there. Scouts can earn additional age-appropriate religious emblems as they advance through the Scouting program.

So…what “spirituality” is the Boy Scouts of America going to explore, now? Buddhism? Hinduism? EST? 

Because it sure won’t be Christianity anymore.

Until He Comes, 

KJ

The War Against Christianity: Obama’s IRS

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics2 Comments

nationaldayofprayerI have always been told that prayer is a private thing.  Evidently, that’s no longer the case in Obama’s America.

The Thomas More Society is a national not-for-profit law firm that provides pro-bono representation with a focus on life, marriage, and religious liberty. Headquartered in Chicago, the firm provides these services from local trial courts all the way to the United States Supreme Court.

Yesterday, the firm presented over 150 pages of analysis and evidence to the House Ways and Means Committee concerning repeated IRS harassment of pro-life organizations. Congressman Aaron Schock (R-IL) requested the memorandum, which was prepared by Thomas More Society President Thomas Brejcha, Executive Director Peter Breen, and Special Counsel Sally Wagenmaker.

The material they prepared presents solid evidence of IRS harassment of pro-life organizations dating back to 2009.

According to the Press Release, prepared by Tom Ciesielka of the Thomas More Society,

The memo details the history of IRS misconduct in the cases of three organizations represented by the Thomas More Society. The abuse dates back further than the now publicized 2010 complaints and extends beyond the IRS’s recently exposed Cincinnati office to also include the tax agency’s California operations in the charges of blatant bias. 

The IRS office in El Monte, California, began harassing Christian Voices for Life of Fort Bend County, Texas in 2011. In a series of questions penned by Exempt Organization Specialist Tyrone Thomas from the California office, the IRS asked a series of unwarranted questions ordering Christian Voices for Life without any foundation, to explain its content, message, and prayers as if they were engaging in highly offensive or criminal behavior. 

Coalition for Life of Iowa found itself in the IRS’s crosshairs when the group applied for tax exempt status in October 2008. Nearly ten months of interrogation about the group’s opposition to Planned Parenthood included a demand by a Ms. Richards from the IRS’ Cincinnati office unlawfully insisted that all board members sign a sworn declaration promising not to picket/protest Planned Parenthood. Further questioning by the IRS requested detailed information about the content of the group’s prayer meetings, educational seminars, and signs their members hold outside Planned Parenthood. 

In yet a third matter, an IRS agent in their Chicago office repeatedly harassed Daniel and Angela Michael of Small Victories, a pro-life organization, with an intrusive investigation, calling the leaders every 2-3 weeks over the course of 2011, beginning in January of that year. The IRS officially closed its investigation in January 2012, having found no illegal activities.

Are we still in America?

After Lenin and the Bolsheviks took over Mother Russia, Russian Orthodoxy, the predominant faith in Russia, was persecuted almost to extinction within 20 years. The Communists slaughtered hundreds of thousands of priests, sisters, and brothers.

Between 1917 and 1937, more than 50 million people were murdered by KGB extermination squads or in death camps, and 8 million people died of starvation in man-made famines designed to consolidate Communist power. All land was confiscated by the state.

Those who were left alive were allowed to live under Communist totalitarian control to help rally the people to fight the Nazi German invasion in 1939.

The Commies let some churches stay open if they were licensed by the Communist government. Of course,they were very limited in what they could do: they could celebrate liturgies and the sacraments, but they could not teach Russian Orthodoxy to children or to adults.

The Orthodox Church became just another a highly regulated arm of the Soviet government, and all newly ordained priests and bishops became agents or cooperators of the Secret Police (KGB). The sacraments of baptism and marriage, as well as funerals, were usually performed only after substantial fees were paid.

In all levels of the Soviet School System, Students were forced to learn and believe atheism as scientific truth. This belief system was reinforced in all youth organizations, as well.

There were no private Christian schools or clubs.

The fear of persecution and government reprisal during the period in which Joe Stalin ruled Russia (1927-52) made parents afraid to tell their children about the Triune God.

It only took two generations for Russia to become an atheistic society.

Freedom of religion finally came back to Russia in 1991. However, by then, less than 25% of the population were Christians.

As it stands today in the former Soviet Union, less than 0.50% (one-half of one percent) practice any faith at all.

Are we headed in that direction?

I mean, look at the brazenness of  The Obama Administration. Never in my wildest dreams, could I imagine an agency of OUR government, asking a Christian what they prayed about!

My Lord.

Did any of us ever think that this would happen in a land founded by Christian men and women?

The U. S. House Judiciary Committee wrote the following in 1854,

Had the people, during the Revolution, had a suspicion of any attempt to war against Christianity, that Revolution would have been strangled in its cradle… In this age, there can be no substitute for Christianity… That was the religion of the founders of the republic and they expected it to remain the religion of their descendants.

When you tell a Liberal that the Founders of our country were Christians, they always bring up Thomas Jefferson, claiming he was a Deist…or something.

Here is what Jefferson had to say about it:

The doctrines of Jesus are simple, and tend all to the happiness of man.

The practice of morality being necessary for the well being of society, He [God] has taken care to impress its precepts so indelibly on our hearts that they shall not be effaced by the subtleties of our brain. We all agree in the obligation of the moral principles of Jesus and nowhere will they be found delivered in greater purity than in His discourses.65

I am a Christian in the only sense in which He wished anyone to be: sincerely attached to His doctrines in preference to all others.

I am a real Christian – that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus Christ.

Jefferson, while President, allowed church services to be held on Sunday mornings in the Capitol Building, which he attended. The practice continued until 1848.

So, what can we do about this encroaching darkness, brokered by an administration who is seeking to turn us into a Marxist nation, with limited personal freedoms, dictated by the State?

President Ronald Reagan said,

I believe with all my heart that standing up for America means standing up for the God who has so blessed our land. We need God’s help to guide our nation through stormy seas. But we can’t expect Him to protect America in a crisis if we just leave Him over on the shelf in our day-to-day living.

One of those whom Obama’s IRS attacked, Rev. Billy Graham, once remarked,

Prayer is simply a two-way conversation between you and God.

My fellow Americans, it is high time we started a National Conversation with Our Creator.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Obama’s IRS: Punishing Perceived Enemies…Secular and Evangelistic

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics3 Comments

taxesThe 2012 Presidential Election was, as are all National Elections, one of great importance. The election would decide rather former Community Organizer and one-term Illinois Senator Barack Hussein Obama, would get to continue radically changing the greatest country on the face of the Earth, into a socialist nation.

Buoyed by a wonderful showing in the 2010 Mid-term Elections, American Conservatives actually thought that we could defeat Obama, and stop the radical change, if the Republicans chose the right candidate.

The Republican Elite, instead of choosing a Conservative, chose one of their own, the Moderate Former Governor of Massachusetts, and Godfather of Obamacare, Mitt Romney, to face Obama in the General Election.

Begrudgingly, the majority of the Conservative Base, having gotten the shaft once again from the Republican Elite, dutifully went to the polls, and voted for Romney.

Romney lost, and Obama ascended to the Throne of the Regime, once again.

Since then, it has been quite apparent that there was a lot of political chicanery at work behind the scene, during the 2012 Presidential Elections. However, noting could have prepared us for the scandals which have descended upon the Obama Administration in the last several days.

The massive scope of the actions of the Internal Revenue Service and their harassment of Conservative Groups seeking tax-exempt status, just keeps growing and growing.

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said Tuesday that the Justice Department and the FBI began the probe after the IRS acknowledged that it selected conservative groups with the words “tea party” and “patriot” in their names for special reviews.

“We are examining the facts to see if there were criminal violations,” Holder said at a news conference.

Also Tuesday, a widely anticipated report by the IRS’s watchdog described the agency’s tax-exempt unit — where the screening of conservative groups occurred — as a bureaucratic mess, with some employees ignorant about tax laws, defiant of their supervisors and blind to the appearance of impropriety.

The report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration described in detail the use of “inappropriate criteria” to screen political advocacy groups. An IRS unit created a “lookout” list for organizations with keywords such as “tea party” or “patriot” in their names. Organizations faced months of delays in getting their applications approved.

President Obama on Tuesday called the report’s findings “intolerable and inexcusable,” adding that he has directed Treasury Secretary Jack Lew “to hold those responsible for these failures accountable, and to make sure that each of the Inspector General’s recommendations are implemented quickly, so that such conduct never happens again.”

IRS officials told the inspector general that they had used the keywords as shorthand to efficiently manage a deluge of new political advocacy groups, but that explanation was rejected by the inspector general’s office.

“Developing and using criteria that focuses on organization names and policy positions instead of the activities . . . does not promote public confidence that tax-exempt laws are being adhered to impartially,” said the report, which Inspector General J. Russell George issued.

The report did not find evidence that the actions were motivated by partisan interests. IRS officials told investigators that they did not consult anyone outside the agency about the screening.

Think about this for a moment. The Internal Revenue Service, an agency of our nation’s Executive Branch, under the Department of the Treasury, acting as political watchdogs for a sitting administration, literally clearing a path to Barack Hussein Obama’s re-election in 2012.

Now…hold on to something. The IRS didn’t go after just secular perceived enemies of Obama. They went after the most famous Christian Evangelist on the face of God’s Green Earth:  Rev. Billy Graham.

Franklin Graham, the president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and the family’s international humanitarian organization Samaritan’s Purse, said that the IRS notified the organizations in September that it was conducting a “review” of their activities for tax year 2010.

With the IRS admitting it gave extra scrutiny to conservative political organizations, Graham says he now believes that the review was part of an Obama administration effort of “targeting and attempting to intimidate us.”

The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association urging of voters to back “candidates who base their decisions on biblical principles and support the nation of Israel” during last year’s presidential race was the reason why IRS agents visited the North Carolina offices of both Graham groups, the letter accuses.

“While these audits not only wasted taxpayer money, they wasted money contributed by donors for ministry purposes as we had to spend precious resources servicing the IRS agents in our offices,” Graham wrote in the letter, which was shared with POLITICO. “I believe that someone in the administration was targeting and attempting to intimidate us. This is morally wrong and unethical – indeed some would call it ‘un-American.”

Graham said that “in light” of the IRS admission that it targeted tea party groups for added scrutiny, “I do not believe that the IRS audit of our two organizations last year is a coincidence – or justifiable.”

…The Graham organizations kept their federal income tax exemptions after the audit — but were not told they’d be able to until after the November election, he wrote.

Graham, who last week attended a White House meeting for religious leaders to discuss gun control, said the IRS story threatens to engulf all manner of non-profit organizations.

“Mr. President, the IRS has already publicly acknowledged it operated in a less than neutral and non-partisan way,” Graham wrote. “We also now know that the target of their improper actions was much wider than political or Tea Party organizations. Will you take some immediate action to reassure Americans we are not in a new chapter of American history – repressive government rule?”

Reverend Graham, sir, I would not hold my breath, waiting for Obama to respond. If he does, he will tell you that it is not his fault.

None of these scandals are his fault, if you ask the president. Benghazi, the IRS, the DOJ…if you ask him, he will either tell you that this is the first he is hearing of the matter, or, in the case of Benghazi, “There is no there, there.”

The problem with his reaction to these scandals is…He’s the President of the greatest nation on the face of the Earth. He is responsible for the safety of and security for millions of lives.

And, now, he is going to tell us that he does not know what is going on in the very United States Government he is supposed to be the President of?

He is either extremely incompetent, extremely stupid, or extremely lazy (Yeah, I said it.).

Or, he knew exactly what was going on…in all three scandals.

I believe that in all instances, the buck stops with the President of the United States.

Even if he does not want it to.

Until He Comes,

KJ

National Biometric Database Hidden in Immigration Bill

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics1 Comment

biometric databaseHave you ever wondered just exactly how much the U.S. Government knows about you? As I have written before, part of Obamacare involves the sharing of your medical information online, with doctors’ offices and other medical professionals. Right now, the implementation of that process is not going too well. Mainly, because the Obama Administration did not put any clear-cut procedures in place to facilitate the transferal of medical records into a digital format, and just how those records will be shared.

Comforting, huh?

Well, grab hold of your socks and pull, because, it’s not just your medical records that will be shared with the world on the Digital Highway.

On December 21, 2007, the following story was published in The Washington Post.

The FBI is embarking on a $1 billion effort to build the world’s largest computer database of peoples’ physical characteristics, a project that would give the government unprecedented abilities to identify individuals in the United States and abroad.

Digital images of faces, fingerprints and palm patterns are already flowing into FBI systems in a climate-controlled, secure basement here. Next month, the FBI intends to award a 10-year contract that would significantly expand the amount and kinds of biometric information it receives. And in the coming years, law enforcement authorities around the world will be able to rely on iris patterns, face-shape data, scars and perhaps even the unique ways people walk and talk, to solve crimes and identify criminals and terrorists. The FBI will also retain, upon request by employers, the fingerprints of employees who have undergone criminal background checks so the employers can be notified if employees have brushes with the law.

“Bigger. Faster. Better. That’s the bottom line,” said Thomas E. Bush III, assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division, which operates the database from its headquarters in the Appalachian foothills.

The increasing use of biometrics for identification is raising questions about the ability of Americans to avoid unwanted scrutiny. It is drawing criticism from those who worry that people’s bodies will become de facto national identification cards. Critics say that such government initiatives should not proceed without proof that the technology really can pick a criminal out of a crowd.

The use of biometric data is increasing throughout the government. For the past two years, the Defense Department has been storing in a database images of fingerprints, irises and faces of more than 1.5 million Iraqi and Afghan detainees, Iraqi citizens and foreigners who need access to U.S. military bases. The Pentagon also collects DNA samples from some Iraqi detainees, which are stored separately.

The Department of Homeland Security has been using iris scans at some airports to verify the identity of travelers who have passed background checks and who want to move through lines quickly. The department is also looking to apply iris- and face-recognition techniques to other programs. The DHS already has a database of millions of sets of fingerprints, which includes records collected from U.S. and foreign travelers stopped at borders for criminal violations, from U.S. citizens adopting children overseas, and from visa applicants abroad. There could be multiple records of one person’s prints.

“It’s going to be an essential component of tracking,” said Barry Steinhardt, director of the Technology and Liberty Project of the American Civil Liberties Union. “It’s enabling the Always On Surveillance Society.”

Today, in 2013, The Senatorial “Gang of Eight” who have been putting together the Immigration Bill, have decided that all of us need to be tracked.

Per wired.com:

The immigration reform measure the Senate began debating yesterday would create a national biometric database of virtually every adult in the U.S., in what privacy groups fear could be the first step to a ubiquitous national identification system.

Buried in the more than 800 pages of the bipartisan legislation (.pdf) is language mandating the creation of the innocuously-named “photo tool,” a massive federal database administered by the Department of Homeland Security and containing names, ages, Social Security numbers and photographs of everyone in the country with a driver’s license or other state-issued photo ID.

Employers would be obliged to look up every new hire in the database to verify that they match their photo.

This piece of the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act is aimed at curbing employment of undocumented immigrants. But privacy advocates fear the inevitable mission creep, ending with the proof of self being required at polling places, to rent a house, buy a gun, open a bank account, acquire credit, board a plane or even attend a sporting event or log on the internet. Think of it as a government version of Foursquare, with Big Brother cataloging every check-in.

“It starts to change the relationship between the citizen and state, you do have to get permission to do things,” said Chris Calabrese, a congressional lobbyist with the American Civil Liberties Union. “More fundamentally, it could be the start of keeping a record of all things.”

For now, the legislation allows the database to be used solely for employment purposes. But historically such limitations don’t last. The Social Security card, for example, was created to track your government retirement benefits. Now you need it to purchase health insurance.

“The Social Security number itself, it’s pretty ubiquitous in your life,” Calabrese said.

David Bier, an analyst with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, agrees with the ACLU’s fears.

“The most worrying aspect is that this creates a principle of permission basically to do certain activities and it can be used to restrict activities,” he said. “It’s like a national ID system without the card.”

Can you say, “Politboro”? I knew that you could.

Basically, Americans would not be able to live their lives without being tracked through the Biometric Database . Every move you make will be digitally monitored by our government.

Hey! All you Liberals out there! You thought the Patriot Art was intrusive? You ain’t seen nothing, yet.

With Conservative Bloggers already banned on Government Computers, and the Administration attacking those members of the Military who wish to share their Christian Faith,the National Biometric Database makes the whole effort by the Obama Administration seem positively Orwellian…or, perhaps a scenario straight out of the Book of Revelation.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Obamacare: The GOP Vs. the Death Panels

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics6 Comments

obamadoctorDo you remember when Former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin warned us about the upcoming Death Panels in Obamacare?

She wrote the following on her Facebook Page on August 7, 2009,

As more Americans delve into the disturbing details of the nationalized health care plan that the current administration is rushing through Congress, our collective jaw is dropping, and we’re saying not just no, but hell no!

The Democrats promise that a government health care system will reduce the cost of health care, but as the economist Thomas Sowell has pointed out, government health care will not reduce the cost; it will simply refuse to pay the cost. And who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course. The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s “death panel” so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their “level of productivity in society,” whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.

Health care by definition involves life and death decisions. Human rights and human dignity must be at the center of any health care discussion.

All of “the smartest people in the room” laughed themselves silly, all the while assuring us that Gov. Palin was terribly wrong.

They lied.

The Independent Patient Advisory Board, a part of Obamacare, is set up to be a 15-member panel. Three members are to be chosen by the Republican leaders of the House and Senate, with the remaining three chosen by Obama and the executive branch. All of the members then have to be confirmed by the Senate.

The IPAB comes into play if Medicare costs are projected to go beyond economic growth plus an additional percentage point in any given year.

Evidently, San Fran Nan was right. Those idiots had to pass Obamacare so that they could see what was in it.

And now that they’ve seen it, Death Panels are perfectly acceptable, at least according to Anthony Mirhaydari, in an article he wrote for MSMMoney.com, posted on March 20th of this year:

If we’re going to end this slide into the fiscal abyss and stop the intergenerational heist, we need to address both the cost of care and the fact that so much goes to giving a few more days of low-quality life to the terminally ill. These resources could be better spent preparing the way for those just starting in life, while still providing our seniors with a more dignified end.

Bipartisan support does seem to be coalescing around means-testing for Medicare benefits, so that those who can afford it pay more. That’s great, but we also we need to encourage increased use of hospice care while discouraging repeated and outrageously expensive hospitalizations.

Think that’s inhumane? This heartbreaking New Yorker story by surgeon Atul Gawande about the current state of end-of-life care will change your mind.

And consider what you’d do if you had to pay those expenses out of pocket, as so many young families have to. Death is inevitable. Would you impoverish your family in an ultimately unsuccessful fight against it?

We need to celebrate our mortality, appreciate how delicate the balance between life and death is, and understand that a better life and a longer life aren’t necessarily the same thing — especially if it consumes resources desperately needed by the generations to come.

Didn’t I see that scenario in the classic movie “Lifeboat” (1944), directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring Talullah Bankhead and William Bendix?

In the movie, a chic writer, a stoker and others drift with the U-boat captain who has sunk their ship. Through cruelty and debasement, a deadly survival of the fittest scenario unfolds, until only a few are left to be rescued as the movie ends.

Is this what America is headed for? “A survival of the fittest”?

The Republican Leaders of the Senate and the House of Representatives do not want to play that game.

Yesterday, Sen. McConnell and Speaker Boehner sent a letter to President Obama to inform him that they would not be participating in the nominations for the IPAB.

The following is an excerpt from the letter they sent:

In order to allow supporters to claim that the law’s Medicare cuts would be realized in the future, it tasked IPAB with reducing payments to providers or eliminating payments for certain treatments and procedures altogether. These reduced payments will force providers to stop seeing Medicare patients, the same way an increased number of doctors have stopped taking Medicaid patients. This will lead to access problems, waiting lists and denied care for seniors.

The unfortunate result is that decisions which impact America’s seniors will be made in the absence of the democratic process, without the system of checks and balances that would normally apply to important matters of public policy. Yet your recent budget called for expanding IPAB by tasking it with making even larger cuts to Medicare than those called for in the health law, even though the trustees of the Medicare program have told us that IPAB’s provider cuts would be “difficult to achieve in practice,” because of the denied care that seniors would experience.

You know, I had heard the Democratic Party called “The Party of Death” before, due to their heinous adoration of the murder of babies, still in their mothers’ wombs. However, it really hit home for me when they passed the monstrous legislation known as Obamacare.

Now, I am not saying that every single Democrat is a heathen, but why did the majority of them oppose putting references to God in their Party Platform at their 2012 Convention?

And, the cold, calculating rationale of those Liberals like Mirhaydari, just boggles the mind.

I know that it will never happen, but all those whose laughed when Gov. Palin warned us about the Obama Death Panels, owe that lady an apology.

And, Obamacare needs to be repealed…STAT.

Until He Comes,

KJ

It’s That “Content of Their Character” Thingy…Again

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics4 Comments

iron man 3Yesterday Afternoon, my bride and I decided to go see Iron Man 3 at our local multiple-screen movie house. The movie itself was great. Robert Downey, Jr. IS Tony Stark and the digital effects were outstanding.

As is our custom, we took our seats at the end of the row. In the seat beside me was a young high school aged, or a little bit older, young woman, who happened to be black. Her boyfriend and one of their mothers were sitting beside her.

As we went to sit down, my wife noticed the young woman frowning and glaring at us, as if we were wearing white sheets and pillow cases, or something. She continued to talk during the previews , both on her  Android cell phone, and to her boyfriend. I didn’t think much of it, since it was only the previews that were playing.

However, when the movie started, she didn’t shut up, as any polite person would do. Oh, no. She kept on yapping during the movie. And, when this heifer wasn’t running her mouth, she was sighing or yawning loudly. Heck, she even started talking on her phone during the movie.

It was quite evident that this youngster was intentionally trying to run us out of our seats. Just when I was about to give her the use of our popcorn bucket as a hat, it struck me: she wasn’t worth it.

Pookie and her family left right at the end of the movie. Too bad. If they had seen the first two Iron Man Movies they would have known that there was an additional scene of the movie at the end of the credits. And, this time, the scene was quite hilarious.

In a related story, earlier this week, I had stopped at the Dodge Store (a gas station/fried chicken, etc. place), on the way to work, to pick up a Diet Coke. As I stood in line, another register opened up. There was already a big fella over there, who appeared to be in line, but, surprisingly, he motioned me to come over there, saying that I had been in line, first.

As I made the move to go over to the other register, a young fellow, again, who happened to be black, and in a Coca-Cola uniform, by the way, just sauntered on up to the register, while the other fellow, who was  trying to be mannerly, and I, looked on in disbelief. Deciding not to make a scene, we just watched him pay the cashier and traipse on out the door.

Now, I’m 54 years old, and a mannerly person, raised by a gentle, loving Christian man. My mother, however, had a temper, being Irish-American. Friends and family have described me as having a long fuse which leads to a keg of gun powder.

That’s one reason I have written almost 1,200 Blogs. It gives me the opportunity to vent.

Anyway, back to my train of thought. As I have related before, I’m a Memphian by birth, resident of DeSoto County, Mississippi, by choice.

Former Memphis Mayor W.W. Herenton told all of us …ummm…”taxpayers”…that he neither wanted nor needed us in his city, several years ago. So, I snuck under the barbed wire, and escaped to the Magnolia State.

I wasn’t alone.

During Herenton’s reign as Mayor (1991-2009), Memphis went from being “The City of Good Abode” to Detroit South.

Since 1997, when I moved out of Memphis, the city has rapidly gone downhill, and along with it, the city school system. So much so, in fact, that recently,  in a power-grabbing effort to get away from the blame for their horrible stewardship of the school system, the City School Board surrendered their charter to the state, held an election among city voters only, seeking to merge with the better-run, financially stable County School System.

Of course, the city voters backed the board up, and an interim school board was formed, which is presently heavily stacked with the politicians from the soon-to-be-defunct City Schools.

The merger is set to be final in 2014. However, the towns in Shelby County have been given the right by a ruling from the Tennessee Court System, and the signing of a bill into law by Gov. Haslam, to form their own individual school systems in any town which can afford to do so.

Needless, to say, that isn’t sitting too well with the self-promoting former City School Board members. Oh, what a tangled web we weave…

Also, during this time, the Memphis City Council, out of the blue, in the dead of night, decided to take away the names of three historic parks. These parks were named Confederate Park, Forrest Park, and Jefferson Davis Park.

The council claimed that Memphians were offended by the names of the historic parks. Funny, though. Memphis’ CBS Affiliate, WREG, ran a poll whose results showed that the majority of citizens wanted the names to remain the same.

By now, you’ve probably said to yourself, “KJ’s gone off on a tangent…again”.

Actually, I haven’t.

Did you know, that in the Mid-South area of Arkansas, Tennessee, and Mississippi, the illegitimate birth rate of Black Americans is right at 75%? I heard that stat on the Ben Ferguson Show the other afternoon as I was driving home from work. Think about that: 3 out of every 4 black children, will start out at a disadvantage in this life.

Studies have shown that children are more well-adjusted when they are raised in traditional two-parent families, with two strong role models to teach them right from wrong, good manners from bad, and respect for others.

Now, I realize that I’m just an ol’ cracka, but, it seems to me that, at least in the Memphis area, it’s not some sort of government slight of the city schools, nor parks, which were named decades ago after a moment in history that cannot be erased, nor should it be, that is keeping Black Americans in Memphis and surrounding areas from prospering.

The Black community, as does our nation in general, needs to return to our Christian heritage, which made us a strong and united people, who together, are capable of defeating any foe,removing any obstacle, and trimphing over any adversity.

I believe, if Black Leaders would start devoting their attention to the problems of their community: illegitimate births, abortions, single parent homes, unemployment, and out-of-control crime, including gang violence, instead of throwing out excuses, things would begin to turn around.

Alveda King, the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, a woman of Faith and a tireless Pro-life Advocate, working within the Black Community (who happens to be a Facebook friend), is a great example of someone who is making a difference.

And others, like Dr. Thomas Sowell, Dr. Ben Carson, Lt. Col. Allen West, and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas are outstanding role models for all of America’s youth.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said,

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.

Our nation needs a “Come to Jesus” meeting. And, we need it right now, before Dr. King’s prophecy comes to fruition.

Until He Comes,

KJ