Tag: America

Trump Preaches to the Populace in Dallas. Professional Politicians and Pundits Perplexed.

On By kingsjesterIn Politics1 Comment

Trump-Punch-600-LAAmerica’s so-called “Political Experts” are beside themselves this morning.

The Political Interloper, whom they predicted would fade fast in the Republican Presidential Primary Race, is still packin’ them in.

The Washington Post reported last night, that

Donald Trump, the front-runner in the Republican presidential sweepstakes, received a standing ovation Monday evening during a campaign rally before thousands in an arena here when he hit on his signature issue: curbing illegal immigration.

“We are a dumping ground for the rest of the world,” said Trump, who emphasized his commitment to deporting all undocumented immigrants and building a wall on the southern border of the United States.

We don’t want them either!” yelled a woman as he spoke.

The subject of illegal immigration, which has made Trump a sharply polarizing figure in the 2016 White House race, brought the Republican his most enthusiastic cheers of the evening.

His remarks were meandering. He criticized Republican and Democratic detractors, promised strong leadership and boasted of how well his campaign has performed so far. As usual, he was short on policy specifics.

The event served as one of Trump’s final warm-ups for the second Republican debate Wednesday night. Trump will be positioned at center stage once again, a reflection of polls that show him holding a clear lead over the rest of the field.

“I hear they are all going after me,” Trump said of his competitors. “Whatever.”

The rally, which was held at the American Airlines Center, where professional basketball and hockey teams play, attracted a large and energized crowd. But many of the upper-level seats were empty, raising questions about exactly how many ticketholders showed up. All of the roughly 20,000 tickets organizers distributed for free were scooped up by the end of last week. Some who landed tickets sought to sell them online for hundreds of dollars.

“Can you people see me up there?” Trump said, highlighting the size of both the crowd and the venue. He appeared to try to explain the empty seats with a joke: “I said to them, don’t fill up the upper rings. It’s not fair.”

Trump, whose immigration plans have drawn intense criticism from Democrats and some Republicans, also attracted protesters who marched toward the arena carrying anti-Trump signs.

“What do we want? Dump Trump!” they chanted.

Trump enthusiasts started lining up at noon outside the arena, some driving considerable distances. Some said they were not at all sure they would vote for him but sure didn’t want to miss a chance to see him in person. 

“He’s entertaining!” said Paul­ine Pitman, 73, a retired county government employee, “I like his business sense.” But she said she would need more convincing to vote him president.

Some Trump supporters decided to make a buck — and thought Trump would approve of it.

Selling “Make American Great Again” hats, visors, T-shirts and buttons, small-time entrepreneurs decided to cash in on the enthusiasm for the unconventional candidate.

“I am sure I will sell out!” said Janet Newlong, 67, an office manager for a Chattanooga HVAC company who drove 11 hours to see Trump. And while there, she had a few dozen $21 Trump hats, and they were going fast.

Trump singled out a long list of foes in his remarks, including Republican strategist Karl Rove, Washington Post columnist George Will, the media in general, former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, former Florida governor Jeb Bush and former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton.

He said that his surprisingly strong showing in the polls will mean nothing if he does not prevail when voters cast their ballots.

“Unless I win, it’s a been a waste of time for me,” he said.

On Tuesday, Trump plans to be in Los Angeles, where he will host a national security event aboard the USS Iowa battleship.

He said he liked many of his Republican opponents including Ted Cruz, whom he called “a good guy.” But he warned against aggressively criticizing him.

“If he comes out and attacks me on Wednesday night, I will take it back immediately,” said Trump.

Why is Donald Trump still the frontrunner among all the Republican Presidential Candidates?

Because he is not a professional Politician, that’s why!

This brash, unabashedly American, business entrepreneur and quintessential showman has dominated the media for the past several years.

The popularity of his reality program on NBC and the catch phrase that came leaping out from it, “You’re fired!”, spread across America like wildfire.

Now, his Presidential Campaign is doing the same.

It is not just his flamboyance that has caught the eye of Americans.

The fact is, after almost two terms of an Administration taking the great country in the world on a scenic tour of the Highway to Hell, Donald Trump is the only Republican Candidate shouting, “Hit the brakes, you idiots!”

Trump’s straightforwardness has struck a chord in the hearts of average Americans, tired of the wussification of America, being so relentlessly pushed by both modern political parties.

This is what I don’t understand about the Republican Establishment.

They run around telling everybody how Conservative they are, when in reality, they actually hold the same beliefs as Liberal Democrats.

On March 1, 1975, the Great Communicator and Future President of the United States, Ronald Wilson Reagan, spoke the following words at the 2nd Annual CPAC Convention. He may as well have been speaking yesterday.

I don ‘t know about you, but I am impatient with those Republicans who after the last election rushed into print saying, “We must broaden the base of our party” — when what they meant was to fuzz up and blur even more the differences between ourselves and our opponents.

It was a feeling that there was not a sufficient difference now between the parties that kept a majority of the voters away from the polls. When have we ever advocated a closed-door policy? Who has ever been barred from participating?

Our people look for a cause to believe in. Is it a third party we need, or is it a new and revitalized second party, raising a banner of no pale pastels, but bold colors which make it unmistakably clear where we stand on all of the issues troubling the people?

From what I’m seeing out of a lot of the Republicans right now, they’re not even presenting Americans with pale pastels.

…Except for Donald Trump.

Back in the day, that political strategy propelled Ronald Reagan to the Presidency of the United States.

Per learnourhistory.com:

Through the 1970s, the United States struggled through a terrible recession and government became much more involved in Americans’ lives. Additionally, America showed significant weakness globally, as the Soviet Union flexed its muscles and smaller nations began to lose both fear and respect for the United States. It was clear the country needed a change.

Ronald Reagan was the right man for the job and was elected in a landslide. He swiftly changed the course of the nation, lowering taxes and reducing regulations to stimulate the economy and standing up for America’s principles and beliefs around the world. In addition to his changes to foreign and domestic policy, Reagan was an “American Exceptionalist”, meaning that he understood that there was something special and different about America that set it apart from all other nations. During his time in office, Reagan reduced the intrusive role of the government and helped the nation re-discover its greatness, power and economic growth.

The Political Strategy of “Bold Colors” is the reason that Trump is still leading all of the Professional Politicians, who are currently seeking the Nomination for the Republican Presidential Candidacy.

The Republican Establishment continues to show their color to be Liberal Blue, while they claim to be Conservative Red.

It is almost as if they believe that the Political Tsunami, which resulted in Republicans holding both Houses of Congress, came about because they made themselves look like Democrats.

They need to come down off of Capitol Hill every now and then.

And, visit Realityville.

It’s a whole different country out here.

Until He Comes,

KJ

The War Against Christianity: From Walmart to the Classroom

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics2 Comments

American Christianity 2For the last couple of weeks, I have been attempting to find a particular Christian Poster, to place in my study/music room/man cave, which my bride has given me in our new house.

In my search, I found out that Walmart no longer carries Christian Posters. So, I had a friend who runs a local sign company to make me one from an image on the Internet.

Between my personal experience and the story recently about a High School Band getting in trouble for playing a Christian Hymn at half-time of a football game, it brought to my attention, once again, that there is a concerted effort to minimize America’s Christian Heritage in our day-to-day lives.

This effort is getting more overt every day…

As a Christian American Grandfather, I worry about what my 7-year old grandson is exposed to, while attending a public school.

Given the nature of Modern American Society, and a Liberal-run Federal Department of Education, with Modern American Liberals interspersed among America’s hard-working, underpaid professional teachers, from time to time, outrageous things can be presented to our young people as “factual information”.

For example…

This past week, The Christian Post reported that

Middle school parents in Tennessee are voicing concern with the Maury County School District after they discovered that their students were instructed to write “Allah is the only god” in order to translate the Islamic pillar of creed for a world history project.

After Brandee Porterfield’s seventh-grade daughter brought home her Five Pillars of Islam project that she completed for her history class, which included the translation of the pillar of “Shahada” as being “There is no god but Allah; Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah,” Porterfield complained to officials at Spring Hill Middle School.

Although Porterfield does not object to her child being taught details on the Islamic religion, she does oppose the fact that her daughter’s history unit has not yet taught her about theological components of Christianity or Judaism. Porterfield believes that the state mandated history curriculum’s overexposure to Islam is tantamount to state sponsorship of Islam.

“It really did bother me that they skipped the whole chapter on the rise of Christianity and they spent three weeks just studying Islam,” Porterfield told Fox News.

“But what really did bother me, because I understand that Islam needs to be discussed in history, was that they did this assignment where they wrote out the Five Pillars of Islam, including having the children learn and write the Shahada, which is the Islamic conversion creed.”

“I don’t know if I would consider it an attack on Christianity, but they don’t study any other religion to this extent,” Porterfield continued. “I spoke with the teacher and the principal. They are not going to learn any other religion, doctrines or creeds and they are not going back over this chapter. Even though they discuss Christianity a little bit during the Middle Ages, they are not ever going to have this basis for Judaism or Christianity later.”

After Porterfield’s daughter told her teacher that she did not want to recite the Shahada or anything resembling “Allah is the only god,” Porterfield told the Spring Hill Home Page that the teacher told her daughter that she would no longer have to recite or write the phrase.

Although Porterfield claims that the history unit spent all of three weeks going over Islam, Jan Hanvey, Maury County Public Schools’ middle school supervisor, told the Columbia Daily Herald that most of the three-week unit discussed things like government, culture, geography and economics, not theology. Hanvey also stated that the chapters on Christianity and Judaism are scheduled to be taught at the end of the year with the “Age of Exploration” unit. They were not “skipped” over like Porterfield claimed.

Porterfield and other concerned Springhill parents will have the opportunity to voice their concerns about the state’s history curriculum as a meeting with teachers and administrators is set for Sept. 17.

Joy Ellis, another parent of a seventh grader at Spring Hill, asserts that Christian children should not be instructed to write the Shahada.

“This is a seventh grade state standard, and will be on the TCAP,” Ellis told the Spring Hill Home Page. “I didn’t have a problem with the history of Islam being taught, but to go so far as to make my child write the Shahada, is unacceptable.”

Maury County Director of Schools, Chris Marczak, defended the curriculum in a statement, saying that the school system is in no way endorsing Islam over other religions or trying to “indoctrinate” students.

“Our teachers work together to make sure that our students are learning what is expected through the Tennessee academic standards. For this last section on the Islamic world this past week, our educators had students complete an assignment that had an emphasis on Islamic faith,” Marczak said.

“The assignment covered some sensitive topics that are of importance to Islamic religion and caused some confusion around whether we are asking students to believe in or simply understand the religion. It is our job as a public school system to educate our students on world history in order to be ready to compete in a global society, not to endorse one religion over another or indoctrinate.”

Despite Marczak’s assertion that the curriculum is not endorsing Islam, Porterfield is still not convinced.

“I do think that because they are not doing any other religion studies. I do think it is the state sponsoring religion in schools. They are not going over anything else. So for the students to have to memorize this prayer, it does seem like it is indoctrination,” Porterfield said. “Later on, I reviewed the state standards and the pacing guide for this class. They do have some studies on Hinduism, Buddhism and things like that, but they are not learning any other doctrines or creeds and that is what my concern was.”

First off…while I have met some very nice American Muslims, I have also been inside a mosque where I was looked at as if they wanted to take a scimitar to my neck.

If Moderate Muslims are not behind their radical brethren’s eternal jihad against us infidels, they need to get their mugs in front of the cable news networks’ TV cameras and say so…because all I see representing them when I turn on the news, are the abrasive members of CAIR, blaming America for all the world’s troubles.

Now, I am not saying that every Muslim is on a jihad against “the infidels”.

However…

When Christians become “radicalized”, we want to share the testimony of what God has done for us through His love, with everyone we meet. We get involved in our local church and we become better fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, and American Citizens.

When Muslims become “radicalized”, they want to “kill the Infidels” in the name of “Allah the Merciful”.

In the case of the Chechen Muslim brothers who bombed the Boston Marathon, their immersion into Radical Islam led them to “kill the infidels” that horrendous day.

In the case of the barbarians of ISIS, it has turned them into doppelgangers of the Nazi Butchers of Dachau.

Islam and Christianity present two very different Deities, who may share some similarities, but who have different identities and ultimately different standards. To pretend they are the same is not only to be clueless of the faith of 76% of the citizens of this nation, but, to be ignorant of an integral part of our American Heritage, the legacy of Christian Faith, which our Founding Fathers bequeathed us.

For Liberals to deny that, is disingenuous at best, and just plain out-and-out lying at worst.

The Father of our Country, our First President, George Washington, once delivered the following mighty words to a fledgling nation:

You do well to wish to learn our arts and ways of life, and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ. These will make you a greater and happier people than you are.

While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion. To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian.

The blessing and protection of Heaven are at all times necessary but especially so in times of public distress and danger. The General hopes and trusts that every officer and man will endeavor to live and act as becomes a Christian soldier, defending the dearest rights and liberties of his country.

I now make it my earnest prayer that God would… most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of the mind which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion.

Please notice that the words, “ACCEPT CHRIST AS YOUR SAVIOR OR DIE” were nowhere in this transcript.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

Huge Anti-Iran Deal Rally Featuring Trump, Cruz, and Palin Scheduled for U.S. Capital Today

On By kingsjesterIn Politics2 Comments

Bright-Future-NRD-600Today, in Washington, D.C., Americans are gathering in a  Political Rally, to make their opposition known to President Barack Hussein Obama, concerning his idiotic, catastrophic deal with the Mad Mullahs of Iran, which he is feverishly trying to jam down Americans’ throats.

Yesterday, the following Op Ed, written by Donald J. Trump, Republican Presidential Hopeful, one of the participating speakers in today’s rally, appeared in USA Today.

It is hard to believe a president of the United States would actually put his name on an agreement with the terrorist state Iran that is so bad, so poorly constructed and so terribly negotiated that it increases uncertainty and reduces security for America and our allies, including Israel.

It was amateur hour for those charged with striking this deal with Iran, demonstrating to the world, yet again, the total incompetence of our president and politicians. It appears we wanted a deal at any cost rather than following the advice of Ronald Reagan and walking away because “no deal is better than a bad deal.”

After the agreement goes into effect: All nuclear-related sanctions will be lifted. Iran receives a windfall of $150 billion, which will no doubt fund terrorism around the world. Iran will receive notice before any inspections take place. Iran can block inspection of certain facilities. Iran will soon be able to continue expanding its conventional arms and guided missile programs without facing snapback sanctions. Iran can keep American prisoners, including one former U.S. Marine and, very sadly, a Christian minister. Iran can continue to operate about 6,000 centrifuges. Other countries will be free to invest in Iran.

Iran can continue to solidify bonds with Russia, China and North Korea. All these other countries will benefit, and the United States loses on all fronts.

In the end, Iran will be a nuclear state. This will lead to an all-out arms race in the region. All the Middle East, southern Europe and American interests will be within the footprint of Iran’s missiles.

Interestingly, Saudi Arabia and others, who were vehemently opposed to the deal on all fronts, are now in favor — Washington has naively provided new weapons deals and security assurances.

The problem is that Iran poses an existential threat to Israel, our Middle Eastern allies and the United States. If we have to wait until the next president is sworn in to revisit this nuclear weapons agreement, then the next president better be someone who knows how to negotiate and who will do what is best for the United States.

When I am elected president, I will renegotiate with Iran — right after I enable the immediate release of our American prisoners and ask Congress to impose new sanctions that stop Iran from having the ability to sponsor terrorism around the world.

In fact, if I am elected, I am sure the prisoners will be released before my taking office.

We will approach other nations and make it clear that we will not allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons.

We will use all the tools of power available, hopefully avoiding direct action. But make no mistake, a Trump presidency will demonstrate the will to do whatever is necessary to protect the interests of the United States, Israel and its allies.

My opposition to the war in Iraq is well documented. I was against the war from the very beginning, all the way back in 2004. I had the vision and foresight to understand that Iraq and Iran were equal powers, and that our takeover of Iraq, when there was no real evidence of weapons of mass destruction, would be catastrophic for the entire region, enabling Iran and other forces to become a more dangerous threat than Saddam Hussein ever thought of being.

We now have the Islamic State and the threat of nuclear weapons from Iran, both a direct result of the shortsighted incompetence of those in Washington during the war in Iraq and long before.

Negotiating from a position of strength is important. Having the will to follow through is fundamental. A Trump presidency will force the Iranians back to the bargaining table to make a much better deal. A Trump presidency will make America great again.

Getting past The Donald’s usual bravado, he says all of the things that the overwhelming majority of us have saying to family and friends about Petulant President Pantywaist’s deal to sacrifice our safety for his legacy.

Concerning the rally itself, according to The Washington Times,

Three presidential candidates, seven lawmakers, one reality TV star and a host of conservative and security-minded activists: This significant, noisy event has grown. Sarah Palin will appear Wednesday afternoon at the U.S. Capitol alongside White House hopefuls Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz and Jim Gilmore plus national broadcasters Glenn Beck and Mark Levin at the Stop the Iran Deal Rally. The plainspoken patriarch of “Duck Dynasty” — Phil Robertson — will also be on hand, as will C-SPAN, which will cover the rally beginning at 1 p.m. ET.

The public, apparently, shares in the dissatisfaction: Just 21 percent of Americans approve of the nuclear accord between the U.S. and Iran according to a new Pew Research Center poll; 6 percent of Republicans, 20 percent of independents and 42 percent of Democrats agree. Overall, half – 49 percent – disapprove of the deal; that includes 78 percent of the GOPers, 47 percent of independents and 29 percent of the Dems.

“Big crowd expected for our protest against the truly stupid nuclear deal we are making with Iran,” Mr. Trump tweeted in anticipation.

Besides Mr. Cruz, the other lawmakers attending include Republican Reps. Trent Franks, Jim Bridenstine, Louie Gohmert, Steve King, Mark Meadows, Mike Pompeo and Ted Yolo.

Also among those appearing: Tea Party Patriots CEO Jenny Beth Martin, American Conservative Union chairman Matt Schlapp, Citizens United founder David Bossie, Zionist Organization of America president Mort Klein, Center for Security Policy founder Frank Gaffney, Congress of Racial Equality spokesman Niger Innis, Heritage Foundation scholar Genevieve Wood, American Values founder Gary Bauer, Concerned Women for America president Penny Nance, ACT for America founder Brigitte Gabriel and former CIA Director Jim Woolsey.

As Trump correctly pointed out, while the President of the United States of America, Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm) and his Secretary of State John (I served in Vietnam) Kerry continue to push  for Congressional approval of their “wonderful, magnificent deal” with the Rogue Radical Islamic Nation of Iran, there a four American citizens, including a Forgotten American Man of Faith, being held in the squalor of Iranian Jails.

An American President who cared about the citizens of his country would not have even contemplated giving up our nation’s safety, in such a lopsided “deal” with a bunch of murderous barbarians.

United States President Barack Hussein Obama has proven himself to be more concerned about America’s Enemies than our Allies…and, more concerned about reaching out to Muslim Radicals than demanding the release of Christian American Pastor Saeed Abedina, who has been held captive by Iran since the summer of 2012, and his fellow prisoners.

Obama, Kerry, and the rest of his Liberal Dhimmi Cabal has shown where their loyalties unequivocally lie, with their braggadocio over this Chamberlain-esque “deal” that is destined to not only blow up in their faces, but also “where alabaster cities gleam, undimmed by human tears” and in the heart of the Holy Land, itself.

Obama’s concern is not with our allies nor the safety of the citizens of the United States.

Iran has always been, since the ouster of the Shah, a rogue nation. They are a threat to every nation who stands in the way of their crazed Political Ideology, disguised as a “religion”.

Obama knows this. That is why he kept Kerry’s secret “nuclear contacts” hidden from the American People.

As is being shown by the nationwide reaction to this idiotic deal, Americans are not buying it.

Obama has screwed both God’s Chosen People and the nation which he is sworn to protect…for the sake of his own ego’s contentment.

And, if Congress does not stand up to him, America will reap the whirlwind.

Hopefully today’s event will gain Congress’ attention…before they commit mass political suicide by following the Head Lemming, Obama, over the cliff by granting nuclear capability to Radical Islamists, who would just as soon behead us as look at us.

Make no mistake about it, Obama, as he always has been, is concerned with himself and leaving a marvelous legacy as president.

Giving Iran the means to “kill the infidels” will definitely cement Obama’s Legacy…if there is anyone left to remember it.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

 

Jerry Lewis and the MDA Telethon: A Metaphor for Modern American Society 2015

On By kingsjesterIn Entertainment, PoliticsLeave a comment

jerry-lewisSo, here we are, September 7th, Labor Day, 2015…and there is a huge gap in today’s television programming.

In what has become a metaphor for Modern American Society, a Labor Day Tradition of almost 50 years, has been tossed aside, having been deemed to have “outlived its usefulness”, shortly following the disrespectful and dishonorable discarding of its creator.

For 45 years, American families would, while spending time together, watch the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Association Telethon. The telethon would begin on Sunday Evening and continue for 21 1/2 hours, ending on Monday evening at 5:00 p.m. Central. Co-hosted in later years by Ed McMahon and Norm Crosby, stars of stage, screen, and television would appear, alongside corporate executives, all there to raise money for “Jerry’s Kids”.

And, when I say “stars”, I mean STARS.

Jerry’s good friend, Sammy Davis, Jr. would come on every year, on Monday afternoon, and do a solid 30 minutes of entertaining., usually badgering Jerry, until he would come out and do a couple of songs with him, usually ending in a tap dance “challenge”.

Mr. Las Vegas himself, Wayne Newton, would come on after that and bring down the house, with several high energy numbers, wearing his huge American Eagle Belt Buckle, and “TCB” Necklace, which Elvis Presley gave him as a sign of friendship and respect.

Speaking of the King, while Elvis did not appear live every year, usually, also sometime Monday Afternoon, Ed McMahon would say,

Jerry, we just received a call from Graceland.

Which meant that Elvis. known throughout my hometown of Memphis for his great generosity, had just phoned in a huge donation.

Perhaps, one of the most poignant moments in the history of the telethon came when  the Chairman of the Board, Francis Albert Sinatra, showed up. Frank told Jerry that he had brought a friend with him and asked him to come out. That friend was Jerry’s ex-partner, Dean Martin. The two had been estranged for years. Jerry became emotional. He hugged Dino, and, when everyone became silent, he asked,

So, you been working?

4 years ago, after 45 years of magnanimous service, raising untold millions for the MDA, the 85 year old Lewis was cruelly and unceremoniously dumped. In fact, the MDA did not even have the guts to tell Jerry Lewis that they dumped him!

In 2013, before the 2012 MDA Program, showbiz411.com posted this report about the results of the 201 trimmed-down “telethon”,

The 2011 telethon, shrunk to six hours from 21, was ghastly. When it was over MDA trumpeted that they’d made $61 million– up 4 percent from the prior year when Lewis was at the helm. MDA boasted it did better without Jerry.

Alas, it wasn’t true. MDA has just posted its 2011 federal tax form 990 on its website and this tells a much different story. MDA was only able to collect $31 million of that much publicized amount. Without Jerry Lewis to cajole or persuade or inveigle, exactly half the amount came in that was promised by the public. Whether people simply reneged, or never actually pledged that amount at all, remains to be seen.

MDA will argue this happens every year: the tote board total is never what actually comes in. But in 2010, MDA crowed about $58 million at the end of the telethon with Jerry; $48 million came in. In 2009, the first telethon after the recession, the shortfall was about $15 million–$60 million announced, $45 million arrived.

For last year, MDA lists gross receipts from the first non Jerry Lewis telethon at $30,683,816. The charitable contribution portion was 18,059,876 . This left a gross income of $12,623,940.

A 50% shortfall is unprecedented. Because of it, the Form 990 shows a running $30 million loss or more in all categories stated on the MDA return from the beginning of 2011 to the end. Net assets and fund balances seem severely depleted.

And public support dropped overall, not just with the Telethon. In 2010, MDA claimed it received over $174 million in gifts and grants (including the telethon). In 2011, there was a big drop: the number was only $157 million.

Even more disturbing: revenue less expenses left MDA in the red for 2011 at $19 million.

MDA’s now deposed CEO, the man who got rid of Lewis, Gerald C. Weinberg, still pulled down his nearly $400K a year salary in 2011, which he’d been making fo years. The top staff at MDA all make decent six figure salaries as well. Weinberg and most of that staff are no longer working at MDA.

To be fair: MDA divides up the millions that do come in to dozens of worthy hospitals, universities, research programs, and facilities. The halved $61 million is still a sizeable chunk for these donation-starved groups. However: without the bad publicity and the controversy around Jerry Lewis, MDA might have been able to collect a higher percentage of pledges which would have benefited these groups even more.

Something happened at MDA in 2011 that’s never quite been explained. They committed a kind of hari-kari, taking an established brand and flushing it down the toilet. On Sunday night, the so-called remnants of the annual telethon are down to three hours. Almost everything is pre-taped except for local cut ins. The acts have no relationship to the history of the MDA.

Because it’s taped, there will be no drama to see if they can top last year. Of course, last year doesn’t really exist since the actually collected $31 million is far below the amounts from preceding years.

In 2012, the MDA Program was renamed the “MDA Show of Strength”. It was scaled down to a 3 hour program, featuring mostly pre-taped segments.

This past May, the Muscular Dystrophy Association sent out the following Press Release:

MDA, the Muscular Dystrophy Association, today announced that the new realities of television viewing and philanthropic giving have made this the right time for the organization to move beyond its historic Labor Day telethon. It will discontinue production of a broadcast telethon effective this year.

Julie Rhoad, mom of two boys with muscular dystrophy, speaks from her heart to the 2008 Telethon audience about the tough challenges faced by MDA families. Host Jerry Lewis offers emotional support.

MDA plans to invest more in digital and mobile channels for consumer engagement and activation. The organization will continue to share the inspirational stories of MDA families on Labor Day and throughout the year via digital channels as part of an emerging year-round plan to revitalize its brand, connect with donors more frequently, strengthen family support, and attract and recognize sponsors in new ways.

“The decision to end our beloved telethon was not made lightly,” said MDA President and CEO Steven M. Derks. “In the last few years, the show was adjusted to reflect changes in viewership and donor patterns, and last summer’s Ice Bucket Challenge once again affirmed for us that today’s families, donors and sponsors are looking to us for new, creative and organic ways to support our mission.”

The first telethon aired in 1956 and has attracted America’s most famous celebrities over the years, none more prominent than the legendary Jerry Lewis, who emceed the event through 2010. For decades, the telethon was instrumental in raising awareness and donations to save and improve the lives of kids and adults fighting muscular dystrophy, ALS and other life-threatening diseases that severely limit muscle strength and mobility.

Frank Sinatra orchestrated one of the most surprising and touching moments in television history when he reunited estranged partners Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis on the 1976 Telethon.

MDA will transition from the television-based telethon, most recently named the “MDA Show of Strength Telethon,” to personal shows of strength, building on its rich tradition around consumer activation and compelling stories that inspire, entertain, and most importantly, incite urgent action.

“We have ambitious plans to leverage our history, the compelling stories of our families and our record of innovation — just like we did decades ago when we introduced the telethon and cause-marketing for nonprofit organizations — as we continue to use creative ways to connect with supporters and deliver more value for our sponsors, never forgetting the families who are at the very heart of our mission,” Derks said.

After MDA gave Lewis the Fickle Finger of Fate, they continued to insist

We honor Jerry Lewis, we admire the work he’s done for us, and we respect his decision to retire.

That particular quote came from Valerie Cwik, the MDA’s interim president, at the time. She replaced Gerald Weinberg, who was reportedly behind Lewis’s ouster and who stepped down as president, after 54 years with the organization.

She made the lame argument that the changes in the telethon were part of a necessary evolution in fundraising strategy, to put less emphasis on the once-a-year event.

It has to change because the American audience has changed. A 21.5-hour show doesn’t fit in a 140-character world.

I swear, “The Smartest People in the Room”. a.k.a., Modern American Liberals, screw up everything.

Okay. I know that Lewis had a reputation as an ego-maniacal pain-in-the-rear to work with, but, these were people’s lives that the MDA was messing with. It could have, and should have, been handled differently.

However, Jerry Lewis also devoted over half his life for “his kids”, visiting them in hospitals around the nation, with no cameras around, and calling and visiting Corporate CEOs and A-List Celebrities, getting them to help him raise money for those kids and adults struck down by these debilitating Muscular Disorders.

It showed no respect whatsoever.

What happened to Jerry Lewis, seems to be happening to American Society in general.

This lack of respect seems to be an epidemic in this country. In the workplace, I have noticed that there sure does seem to be a lot of  “millennials” who have no respect whatsoever for decorum, their co-workers, or authority.

Now, I may just be a 56 year old fuddy-duddy Cracka, but I have no desire to see your brand new shoulder tattoo in the business office, ladies…nor your neck tattoo with Pookie’s name on it, young Skillet.

And, when older folks in your place of business try to tell you how the world works, kiddies, you had better listen to us. We’re trying to help.

This is real life. You’re not playing “World of Warcraft” or “Final Fantasy”. People’s families depend on their paycheck. And, when you do not “pull your weight” at your job, you affect everyone’s incomes.

As the MDA learned the hard way, the “young and culturally hip” are usually not as reliable as the “experienced and professional”.

Of course, as it always has been…some folks have to learn things the hard way.

And, that’s when they find out that they are not as smart as they think they are.

Until He Comes,

KJ

America in Crisis: A Battle of “Princes and Principalities” (A KJ Op Ed)

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics2 Comments

American Christianity 2Last night, my bride and I attended a once-a month get-together with Christian Friends , with whom we used to meet weekly in a church-sponsored small group, in someone’s home on a weeknight.

Being Southern Baptists, rest assured that there was plenty of food and fellowship.

After the meal, we began to talk about what it going on around us, in this nation, once referred to as “The Shining City Upon the Hill”.

The topics of Racial Division and the murders of 9 American Law Enforcement Offices in 9 days, the rapidly deteriorating American Work Force, The potentially-catastrophic Iran Deal, the arrest of American Christian, Kim Davis, while others in power, such as Hillary Clinton and Barack Hussein Obama, laugh in the face of our laws, and the vulgarity, and oblivious self-centered nature of Americans Pop Culture.

The conclusion that that the 11 of us came to, was the fact that America is in the midst of SPIRITUAL WARFARE.

Make no mistake about it, boys and girls, EVIL EXISTS.

Yes, my friends. We are still fighting a war against “princes and principalities”. Evil is still alive and well and flourishing in a world in which relative morality and situational ethics.

We see it everyday around us.

It inundates the cable news channels, 24 hours a day. Heck, you can even see it on Facebook.

Since Cain slew Able with a rock, mankind, because we are all fallen creatures, has had to deal with the presence of evil in our lives.

From the legendary massacres, perpetrated by Vlad the Impaler, to the horrific scenes of Hitler’s Concentration Camps, to the killing fields of Pol Pot, to the massacre of innocent Middle Eastern Christians by Islamic State, to the murders by Chicago Street Gangs every night, the Forces of Evil continue to flourish across the globe.

What we seem to be heading for is not simply an immoral society, but, an amoral one, whose concept of right and wrong is “Whatever Gets You Through the Night (It’s Alright. It’s Alright.)”, and whose ultimate authority is not the God of Abraham, but a Godless Central Government, whose credo is

From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs. (Karl Marx)

Just as Marxism has failed wherever it has been tried before, so will it fail here.

Just as amorality and licentiousness led to the destruction of the Roman Empire, so, if unchecked, will it lead to America’s.

The galling thing is the fact that, even though American Christians remain 76% of the population, we are propagandized and suppressed in both the Old and New Media, to make it seem as if WE are the Minority, when, in fact, WE are the overwhelming Majority.

It is this New Generation of Amoral Socialists, who are in fact, just a tiny, albeit vocal, Minority of America’s population.

So, what can an average Christian American, like you and me, do about this “Tyranny of the Minority”?

As the Apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians, we can STAND.

However, you cannot stand without “the full armor of God”. I have found, as have my family and friends, that the better that you are doing, in terms of your Christian Walk, the harder that you will be attacked.

10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.…- Ephesians 6:10-12

Our Christianity as Americans does not and can not end at Noon on Sunday, as we shake the Preacher’s hand and walk out of the sanctuary.

As every Christian knows, the Triune God dwells within each of us, in the form of that “still, small voice”, the Holy Spirit.

Christians have to make a choice in these tough times.

The choice we each have to make is whether to “give to Caesar” that which is not his, our Christian Faith, or to listen to that “still, small voice” and love the homosexual enough to lead them to forgiveness of their sins and salvation through the Grace of Jesus Christ.

This is not a “Political Crisis” which we as Christian Americas are facing right now.

As I wrote earlier, America is in the midst of a battle of “Princes and Principalities”.

By now. you’re probably asking, “So what’s the point of all this, KJ?”

We are given free will by our Creator…will to make choices and decisions on the direction of our lives. Being human, we often don’t make the right decisions and being human, those decisions have the potential to lead us down a dark path.

Whether is in reality or strictly in the close quarters of our own consciousness, the path we choose to follow is up to us. However, our parents, family, and friends can make a difference in our journey and I thank God that through His Grace I was given a Father who made sure that I received loving instruction in The Way in which I should go.

We still live in the greatest country on the face of the earth and we still have a responsibility to one another.

The Light or the Darkness. The choice is up to each and every one of us.

Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 1 John 4:14 (ESV)

And, I stand with the King of Kings.

Y’see, I have read the back of The Book.

The Good Guys win.

So, as you go about your day today, remember, that we have an Advocate, in Jesus Christ the Righteous, and, He is in our corner.

So, take that “little light” of yours, and let it shine.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

 

The August Jobs Report: More Americans on Unwanted “Fun-cation”

On By kingsjesterIn Politics2 Comments

marie-antoinette-obamaAs August’s Job Report was delivered, yesterday, I was struck by how, under the Presidency of Barack Hussein Obama, our American Capitalist System, which after World War II, produced a health and vibrant Middle Class, has been compromised to the point of now beginning to resemble a faltering economic system, not unlike a European Democratic Socialist country like, say, Greece.

According to cnsnews.com,

A record 94,031,000 Americans were not in the American labor force last month — 261,000 more than July — and the labor force participation rate stayed stuck at 62.6 percent, a 38-year low, for a third straight month in August, the Labor Department reported on Friday, as the nation heads into the Labor Day weekend.

The number of Americans not in the labor force has continued to rise, partly because of retiring baby-boomers and fewer workers entering the workforce.

In August, according to BLS, the nation’s civilian noninstitutional population, consisting of all people 16 or older who were not in the military or an institution, reached 251,096,000. Of those, 157,065,000 participated in the labor force by either holding a job or actively seeking one.

The 157,065,000 who participated in the labor force equaled only 62.6 percent of the 251,096,000 civilian noninstitutional population — the same as it was in July and June. Not since October 1977, when the participation rate dropped to 62.4, has the percentage been this low.Historical perspective

In January 1948 — the first year the data was recorded — 88.7 percent of men, aged 20 and older, were participating in the U.S. labor force. The rate first dipped below 80 percent in November 1975 (79.9%), spiraling steadily downward through August 2015, when 71.5 percent of men 20 and older were participating in the labor force.

It’s the opposite story for women 20 and older: In 1948, a time when one-earner incomes were generally sufficient to support the family, only 31 percent of  women participated in the workforce. In May 1966, the rate climbed above 40 percent for the first time; it broke 50 percent in October 1978; and 60 percent in July 1996.

When Barack Obama took office in January 2009, 60.9 percent of women were particiating in the labor force, but after rising somewhat in that economically turbulent year, the particpation rate for women started heading down. Last month, it stood at 58.2 percent.

Change. Little hope.

Norman Matoon Thomas (1884-1968) was a six-time Presidential Candidate  representing the Socialist Party of America.  In a campaign interview in 1948, he said the following:

The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism. But under the name of ‘liberalism’ they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist program, until one day America will be a Socialist nation, without knowing how it happened.

Are you catching my drift? Mr. Thomas was right.  I think that he and the president would have been fast friends.

When Barack Hussein Obama first ran for the Presidency of the United States in 2008, he claimed that his economic policies would “foster economic growth from the bottom up and not just from the top down.” Obama promised to put in place “an immediate rescue plan for the middle class” and would end the “tired, worn-out, trickle-down ideologies we’ve been seeing for so many years.”

Obama got everything that he wanted in his first two years in the White House, when Democrats had solid control of Congress — a massive stimulus, auto industry bailouts, temporary middle class tax cuts, vast new regulations on businesses and ObamaCare.

But,  all of his brilliant Socialist Economic Policies  produced the exact opposite of what he’d promised.

So, he pounded his them of “Class Warfare” even harder.

So much so that, during his Re-election Campaign in 2012, President Barack Hussein Obama said,

This country doesn’t just succeed when just a few are doing well at the top. It succeeds when the middle class gets bigger. Our economy doesn’t grow from the top down — it grows from the middle out. We don’t believe that anybody is entitled to success in this country,” said Obama. “But we do believe in opportunity. We believe in a country where hard work pays off and responsibility is rewarded, and everybody is getting a fair shot and everybody is doing their fair share and everybody is playing by the same rules.

On July 24, 2013, Newly-Re-elected President Obama began a series of Stump Speeches titled, “Growing the Economy From the Middle Class Out”.  Here’s an excerpt of the first speech:

…With an endless parade of distractions, political posturing and phony scandals, Washington has taken its eye off the ball. And I am here to say this needs to stop. Short-term thinking and stale debates are not what this moment requires. Our focus must be on the basic economic issues that the matter most to you – the people we represent. And as Washington prepares to enter another budget debate, the stakes for our middle class could not be higher. The countries that are passive in the face of a global economy will lose the competition for good jobs and high living standards. That’s why America has to make the investments necessary to promote long-term growth and shared prosperity. Rebuilding our manufacturing base. Educating our workforce. Upgrading our transportation and information networks. That’s what we need to be talking about. That’s what Washington needs to be focused on.

And that’s why, over the next several weeks, in towns across this country, I will engage the American people in this debate. I will lay out my ideas for how we build on the cornerstones of what it means to be middle class in America, and what it takes to work your way into the middle class in America. Job security, with good wages and durable industries. A good education. A home to call your own. Affordable health care when you get sick. A secure retirement even if you’re not rich. Reducing poverty and inequality. Growing prosperity and opportunity.

So, who is it that is keeping America’s Middle Class from prospering?

I’ll give you a clue: His initials are B.H.O.

The prosperous years during the Reagan Presidency marked a period of economic progress for Middle Class Americans. Middle Class Income increased 11 percent after adjustment for inflation, while nearly 20 million new jobs were created.

Those Liberal critics of the 1980s, who argue that the Middle Class shrank in number during those years, are half -right for the wrong reasons. The proportion of Middle Class Americans did indeed decline, but this reflected an upward movement of households into the high income category. Meanwhile, the proportion of Low Income Households declined, as more became middle class. The income growth during the Reagan Presidency increased the size of the pocketbooks of Americans at all income levels.

During Obama’s time in office, America’s major corporations have been hit with punitive measures, including high corporate tax rates and Obamacare, which has caused them to “down-size” their employee rolls and to relocate their call centers to companies like India, which has effected the rest of our economy.

Trickle-Down Economics was simply common sense. Capitalism is the engine that drives America’s economy.

When those who actually hire Americans are attacked by an Administration, naturally, those consequences are felt by those in lower economic strati (that’s you and me, boys and girls).

Obama’s “Trickle-Up” Economic Policy has been a miserable failure.

Because, as Lady Margaret Thatcher once said,

The problem with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Congress to Vote For Disastrous Iran Deal. Chinese Air Force Buzzes Obama in Alaska. This is “Smart Power”?

On By kingsjesterIn Politics3 Comments

Obama-Shrinks-2In the 1980s, the popularity of the President of the United States of America was not just limited to the boundaries of our nation. Ronald Wilson Reagan was admired the world over. The things that he accomplished, along with his friends, Prime Minister of Britain Margaret Thatcher, Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev, and Pope John Paul II, have caused Ronald Reagan’s two terms as President to be recorded as a seminal moment in world history.

I remember watching President Reagan speak at the Berlin Wall. When he said, “Mr Gorbachev tear down this wall!”, I was never prouder to be an American and of an American president, than at that moment.

The Liberal Democrats lost their collective minds.

For you see, Liberal Democrats, just as they do now, hate it when Marxism gives way to Freedom.

Nothing bothers them more than when a strong American President is at the forefront of a conquering moment, when a strong foreign policy, based on the reality that negotiating from a position of strength is always more effective than negotiating from a position of weakness.

Fast forward to the present, where an ineffective President Barack Hussein Obama is looking like a narcissistic fool to a world who used to look to America as a bastion of strength and freedom, not weakness and political expediencies.

President Barack Hussein Obama has placed us in untenable position with his clueless, dangerous, weak, and vacillating Smart Power Foreign Policy.

Foxnews.com reports that

Five Chinese navy ships have been spotted in the Bering Sea, off the Alaska coast, coinciding with President Obama’s visit to the state, a senior defense official confirmed to Fox News.

Navy Commander Bill Urban, a Pentagon spokesman, said Wednesday the sighting marked the first time ships from the People’s Liberation Army Navy were seen in the Bering Sea.

“We respect the freedom of all nations to operate military vessels in international waters in accordance with international law,” Urban said.

There are three surface warfare ships, one amphibious assault ship and one supply vessel. The Wall Street Journal was first to report the sighting.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters on Wednesday that the Defense Department “positively identified a number of Chinese naval vessels in that region, but based on their analysis, they have not detected any sort of threat or threatening activities.”

The U.S. military reportedly has been aware of the ships and tracking their movements for days as they moved through international waters. Earnest said the intent of the ships’ presence “is still unclear” while speaking aboard Air Force One as Obama flew near the Bering Sea.

Obama was in Alaska to speak about climate change.

A massive military parade will begin in Beijing Wednesday night, including some 10,000 soldiers, hundreds of aircraft and weaponry not previously shown in public, according to Chinese state media. The parade is to mark Japan’s surrender in World War II. An estimated 14 million Chinese were killed by the Japanese during the war.  

Among the invited guests are Russian President Vladimir Putin, Sudan President Omar al-Bashir, and Mexican government officials, according to the Associated Press.

The massive parade and show of force comes just weeks before Chinese President Xi Jinping visits Washington.

Samantha Power, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, told reporters Tuesday at the State Dept briefing that China’s human rights were “going to be a key, core issue when President Xi visits Washington.”

In a related story, also found on foxnews.com,

The Obama administration now appears to have enough support in Congress to stave off Republican efforts to reject the president’s controversial Iran nuclear deal, after a retiring Maryland Democratic senator came out Wednesday morning in favor of the pact. 

Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., announced her support for the deal as Secretary of State John Kerry delivered a lengthy and detailed address in Philadelphia defending the accord. 

In his speech, Kerry disputed what he called “false information” circulating on the deal. He said, contrary to the views of many critics, that the deal provides “access” to keep Iran in check, preserves “every option” to respond if Iran balks, and has elements that will last “for the lifetime of Iran’s nuclear program.” 

“President Obama and I are convinced beyond any reasonable doubt that the framework that we have put forward will get the job done,” Kerry said. 

But, with Mikulski’s endorsement locked down, the speech served more as a public reminder of the administration’s stance than a last-minute appeal for support. 

Mikulski becomes the 34th senator to support the deal — giving President Obama enough backing to sustain a veto of a Republican bill opposing it, should that bill pass in a vote later this month. Unless an announced supporter flips his or her vote, Obama would appear to have the crucial coalition in place to preserve the agreement on Capitol Hill. 

“No deal is perfect, especially one negotiated with the Iranian regime,” Mikulski said in a statement. “I have concluded that this Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action is the best option available to block Iran from having a nuclear bomb. For these reasons, I will vote in favor of this deal.” 

Her support, though, doesn’t end what has been a raging debate. Opposition to the agreement among Republicans, among ex-military leaders and in Israel remains widespread. 

“Forcing a bad deal, over the objections of the American people and a majority in Congress, is no win for President Obama,” said Cory Fritz, spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner. “The White House may have convinced just enough Democrats to back an agreement that legitimizes Iran’s nuclear program, trusts the regime to self-inspect and offers amnesty to terrorists, but this deal is far from being implemented.” 

The latest report warning of dire consequences from the agreement came Wednesday morning, from the Iran Strategy Council, a group of ex-senior military officials and defense analysts examining the deal for the The Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs. The group is co-chaired by retired Gen. James Conway, who served as Marines commandant in the beginning of the Obama administration, and retired Gen. Charles Wald. 

“The [nuclear deal] will not prevent a nuclear Iran,” the report said, warning of “potentially grave strategic implications” that threaten national security. “No later than 15 years, the deal’s major nuclear restrictions will lapse, Iran will stand on the brink of nuclear weapons capability, and once again the United States will likely have to devote significant resources and attention to keeping Tehran from attaining nuclear weapons.” 

The group was referring to the sunset of major provisions after 15 years. But Kerry and others in the administration argue that even after that period, Iran will remain subject to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and have to abide by inspection requirements. Kerry also argued Wednesday that Iran’s “covert pathway” to a bomb would be blocked, and that the intelligence community agrees Iran “could never get away” with establishing a “completely secret nuclear supply chain.” He said rejecting a deal would hurt the U.S. and endanger the region. 

Kerry also sent a letter Wednesday to all members of Congress outlining U.S. security commitments to Israel and the Gulf Arab states in light of the nuclear deal. 

Republicans in Congress and running for president unanimously oppose the deal, which aims to curb Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions. 

The Israeli government is vehemently against it, contending that concessions made to Iran could empower that country, which has sworn to destroy Israel. But critics struggled to use Congress’ summer recess to turn the tide against the agreement, despite a multimillion-dollar lobbying campaign funded by the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC.

It is no wonder that after Obama was first elected, the British tabloids nicknamed him “President Pantywaist”, after watching the wussy way he bowed to world leaders…something American Presidents have never done before.

And, of course, through the Obama Administration’s embrace of this emasculating philosophy, this philosophy has extended into our military, with Obama’s “Military Experts” being more concerned about performing Social Engineering Experiments on our troops, such as ending “Don’t Ask. Don’t Tell”, changing the hats they wear, and relaxing female hairstyles, than they are about protecting our country and defeating our enemies.

Somewhere in the bowels of the Kremlin, Putin is laughing his hindquarters off at us.

During the reign of the Obama Administration, a concentrated and deliberate effort has been made to change America from the land of Sgt. Alvin York to the land of RuPaul.

The reason that presidents like Ronald Reagan were so successful was that they were American men first and United States Presidents second. They were raised with Traditional American Values. They were raised by loving parents who disciplined them when they needed it, along the way, teaching them the difference between right and wrong, the love of God and Country, and the fact that the world did not revolve around them.

We can get back on the right track as a nation, however, it will take a man of Courage, Conviction,  and Traditional Christian American Faith & Values to lead our country back from the abyss we find ourselves in.

I pray that that man steps forward… while we still have a country.

Until He Comes,

KJ

My 2,000th Blog: Speak or Go Mad

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics5 Comments

American Christianity 2A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away,…

Well, actually, it just seems that way…

It was April of 2010. I had been writing Guest Commentaries on the blog of an Internet Friend of mine, named Gene Hoyas, otherwise known as Colonel Manly Rash (I’m not kiddin’).

I decided, at that time, to go ahead and start my own blog, as a way to vent my frustrations regarding the direction that those who are supposed to be serving US, were taking the Greatest Country on the Face of the Earth. Little did I know, that, under the “leadership” of President Barack Hussein Obama, I ain’t seen nothing, yet.

The Internet is a fascinating, powerful tool.

Through it, one is connected with the world, being able to research any subject which one might call to mind, in the wink of an eye, or the upload of a byte of information.

It can be used to illumine or to obfuscate, to clarify or to confuse, to enlighten or to subjugate, or to build up or to tear down.

It can span the globe, bringing you beautiful images of God’s Creation or images of man’s inhumanity to man.

It connects people to one another, in a way never before seen in the history of mankind.

As demonstrated by the current political scandals, involving the Internet and the use of e-mails, this connectivity can be used for nefarious purposes.

I have never taken the use of this tool lightly.

In posting these 2,000 blogs, I have tried my hardest to stay true to what I believe, and in doing so, to inform and to entertain those of you who take some of your precious time during the day, to read the musings of this old Son of Dixie.

To those who worship at the Altar of Political Correctness:

Yes, I said “DIXIE”.  Get over it.

So, what do I believe?

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, and in Jesus Christ, His Only Son, Our Lord. (The Apostles Creed)

I believe that America is still the GREATEST COUNTRY ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH…in spite of the efforts of our present Political Leadership to turn us into “just another country”.

I believe that America was founded by Christian men and women, who came here to worship their Creator, as they saw fit, eventually breaking away from an oppressive government, and writing documents to provide guidance for a new government, born out of, and heavily influenced by, their Judeo-Christian Beliefs.

I believe that, to this day, American is still the Land of Opportunity, where, if you are willing to work hard enough, you can succeed…through the Grace of God.

I also believe that this is a country in the midst of a Cultural/Political Crisis, purposefully brought about by those, who like Machiavellian Politicians, in previous generations, wish to divide America’s Citizenry, for the purpose of Political Expediency.

The popularity of non-politicians among the Republican Party Presidential Candidates, is a direct reaction from Americans to the self-serving nature of those whom they sent to Washington, DC, to represent THEIR wishes for the future of America, not the politicians’ own greed and avarice.

I believe in the Silent Majority, average Americans, like myself, living in America’s Heartland, who simply want to be left alone by Government, so that we may raise our children and grandchildren to love God and Country, as we were raised, in accordance with our Constitutional Rights, as detailed through the writings of our Founding Fathers, not as interpreted by a politically-active Judiciary.

I believe that the majority of young white Americans, do not act like Miley Cyrus, and the majority of black Americans, do not act like the human refuse whom we saw burn down Baltimore.

I believe that, while Man is a fallen creature, we are capable of acts of extraordinary kindness and heroism.

I also believe that, the only limits we have as human beings, are those which we place upon ourselves.

God gave us this life. He guides us through it. He presents with opportunities and gives us free will to make choices, right or wrong.

There are so many times I’ve seen Him move in my life … so many times that he has made a way for me… so many times that He has shown His Gracious Love for me.

I know that I’m not the only person that feels this way. If you look back now and you’re around my age, you realize what I am trying to say this morning.

God wants us to be happy. God wants us to live and enjoy the life which is given to us

He wants the best for us. He also wants us to take advantage of the opportunities which He presents to us throughout our life, so that when we stand before Him, we can hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

But what does that mean? Does it mean we have to live a life locked away in a monastery somewhere away from the temptations of the modern culture around us? Of course not.

However, we have to keep the main thing the main thing. We cannot sacrifice our Christianity, as Americans, for the sake of political expediency. Heaven is a far bigger tent than any political party could ever be.

I would rather find favor with God than favor with man.

Am I an extremist? You betcha.

God said it. I believe it. That settles it.

So, where do I go from here? Do I run away, with my tail between my legs, and live out the rest of my days in quiet desperation?

To any of you who repled, “yes”…you don’t know me very well.

Greater is He who is in me, than he who is in the world.

My Creator, while endowing me with certain inalienable rights, also endowed me with an indomitable will. Then, somewhere along my journey, He gave me the gift of being able to express my thoughts and feelings on this computer keyboard.

I will not give up. I will not surrender my Christianity, my love of the greatest nation on God’s green Earth, or my Conservatism, to appease those who wish everybody would just get in line and acquiesce to the prevailing “societal norms”.  I follow another set of guidelines, written a long time ago, but which remain as relevant as the moment in which the Hand of God guided those who wrote them down.

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, – Colossians 3:23 (ESV)

In conclusion, there are people I wish to thank, who have invested a lot of time in me and my blogging.

First, I wish to thank my dear friend, Gene Hoyas, aka Col. Manly Rash/The Bulldog Pundit, who allowed me to be a regular contributor to any Blog in which he was involved, and whose guidance and writing tips were such a help.

I thank my lovely bride (I married up), who, since we got married in July of 2011, has put up with losing me to this endeavor every evening at 9:00 p.m.

I thank the rest of my family, my extended family of friends and faithful readers, and those of you who just drop in from time to time to check out what my latest rant is.

I thank my Earthly Father, who made me all that I am, and led me, in The Way in which I should go.

Finally, but most importantly, I thank my Heavenly Father, from Whom all blessings flow. Without Him, I would be nothing at all.

May God Bless you all.

Until He Comes,

KJ

The War Against Christianity: The FFRF Vs. Football Team Prayer

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics5 Comments

highschoolfootball1As I sit here, sniffling and coughing from Sinus Problems, I realize that the weather is changing. It is about to be fall and means one thing: It’s Football Time!!!

I like to watch College Football.

Especially, now that my Alma Mater, the University of Memphis, has a great couch, in Justin Fuente, and a solid team, which won the American Athletic Conference, last year.

But, I digress…

Part of American Football, on all levels, has always been the Team Prayer.

It has never, in American Culture, been though of as offensive, but rather, a sign of character and camaraderie.

However, there is an organization of bitter individuals, who are somehow offended by Football Players praying as a team to The One Who Made Them.

According to the Christian Post,

Earlier in August, the FFRF condemned more than 25 public universities for allowing football colleges to impose personal religion on players.

“Only 54 percent of college-aged Americans are Christian and many of the teams investigated have non-Christian players, but 100 percent of the chaplains investigated are promoting Christianity, usually with an Evangelical bent. These chaplains preach religious doctrine, including apparently Creationism, to the athletes,” FFRF said in its statement.

“Chaplains regularly lead the teams in prayer, conduct chapel services, and more. These religious activities are not voluntary, as the universities claim, because, as the report notes, ‘student athletes are uniquely susceptible to coercion from coaches,'” the atheist group adds, noting that its 25-page report took over a year of investigation to put together.

The FFRF has further accused Christian coaches and chaplains of “converting football fields into mission fields,” and said that public universities must adopt policies that protect athletes from “unlawful religious coercion.”

The ACLJ argued, however, that the “radical atheists” of the FFRF are “anything but freethinkers.”

“They do not support freethinking. Instead, they attack things they don’t like, such as chaplains for football teams where adults voluntarily agree to participate in faith-based events and meetings,” the conservative law group continued.

“What does FFRF’s so-called ‘model policy’ recommend? Hiring a counselor who can provide secular advice and life guidance. Just as they’ve done before, the FFRF attacks traditional faiths and wants to replace them with their radical, leftist, secular orthodoxy,” it added.

The FFRF has been active in sending letters to public educational institutions across the country, urging them to respect the church and state separation.

Earlier this summer, the atheist organization forced two different middle schools, one in Kansas and one in Ohio, to take down a painting of Jesus Christ displayed publicly before students.

Kansas’ Royster Middle School Superintendent Richard Proffitt said that he had no choice but to take down the painting after receiving the FFRF complaint.

“I conferred with legal counsel and both of them told me to be in compliance with state and federal law that we had to have it removed,” Proffitt said.

Who is the Freedom of Religious Foundation (FFRF) and why should they be concerned about Collegiate Football Teams participating in prayer?

According to their website:

The purposes of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc., as stated in its bylaws, are to promote the constitutional principle of separation of state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.

Incorporated in 1978 in Wisconsin, the Foundation is a national membership association of more than 17,000 freethinkers: atheists, agnostics and skeptics of any pedigree. The Foundation is a non-profit, tax-exempt, educational organization under Internal Revenue Code 501(c)(3). All dues and contributions are deductible for income tax purpose.

What Does the Foundation Do?

• Publishes the only freethought newspaper in the United States, Freethought Today

• Sponsors annual high school, college and grad student essay competitions with cash awards

• Conducts lively, annual national conventions, honoring state/church, student, and freethought activism

• Sponsors an online forum for members

• Bestows “The Emperor Has No Clothes” Award to public figures for “plain-speaking on religion”

• Promotes freedom from religion with educational books, literature, music CDs

• Provides speakers for events and debates

• Maintains a Web site at http://www.ffrf.org

• Broadcasts Freethought Radio

• Places freethought billboards and bus signs

…First Amendment violations are accelerating. The religious right is campaigning to raid the public till and advance religion at taxpayer expense, attacking our secular public schools, the rights of nonbelievers, and the Establishment Clause.

The Foundation recognizes that the United States was first among nations to adopt a secular Constitution. The founders who wrote the U.S. Constitution wanted citizens to be free to support the church of their choice, or no religion at all. Our Constitution was very purposefully written as a godless document, whose only references to religion are exclusionary.

It is vital to buttress the Jeffersonian “wall of separation between church and state” which has served our nation so well.

Funny.  Jefferson was a faithful attendant of Sunday Church that was held at the Capitol Building.  He once explained to a friend while they were walking to church together:

No nation has ever existed or been governed without religion. Nor can be. The Christian religion is the best religion that has been given to man and I, as Chief Magistrate of this nation, am bound to give it the sanction of my example.

He also proclaimed

I have always said and always will say that the studious perusal of the Sacred Volume will make us better citizens.

But, I digress…

Back in August of 2011, this same bitter bunch of Atheists sent a letter to the Schools Superintendent of Desoto County, Mississippi, insisting that the pre-game prayer, spoken over the stadiums’ loudspeakers, a tradition held in DeSoto County as long as anyone can remember,  be silenced.

DeSoto County Schools went along with the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s request, despite the disappointment of many students and parents.

And that’s when Americans started organizing.

Y’see, teammates traditionally would take a knee after the game to thank the Lord for a good game and His blessings and to pray for those injured during the game.  And their parents were bound and determined that their young men were not going to have that freedom taken away from them.

So, the next Friday night, instead of the coach telling the team to take a knee, the quarterback did.

Earlier, on Friday morning, students and parents held a prayer walk outside DeSoto County Schools.

As the bright, blessed day gave way to the dark, sacred night in DeSoto County, parents and students began to pray.

According to student Paige Lewis:

If they’re saying that we can’t pray over a loudspeaker, then we’re going to pray alone.

Earlier in the week, The Freedom From Religion Foundation had sent a second letter to School Superintendent Milton Kuykendall.  They not only asked the district to stop praying before school events, but also demanded an apology for the comments the superintendent made in a letter sent out earlier this week.

Cheeky, huh?

These bitter whiners were upset that Kuykendall wrote:

In my opinion, most people do not realize that this organization out of Wisconsin doesn’t really care if we have prayer in our schools. They see an opportunity to try and accuse us of breaking the law and therefore give them a chance to sue our district and win a lawsuit and take millions of our funds. This is money that is needed to pay teachers and educate our students.

In March of 2013, the Governor of Mississippi signed into law, State House Bill 683

What this law does is to allow students to initiate prayers in school and at student activities, to reference their religious beliefs in their schoolwork, both their assignments completed at school and their homework, as well. The bill also allows Mississippi’s students to speak to their classmates about their faith, to “give their witness” as we believers refer to our own personal testimony as to what God has done in our lives.

I make no bones about it. I am a Christian American Conservative. I pray daily. As I write this, I have just returned from a Church-Sponsored “Small Group Meeting” in someone’s home on a Tuesday night.

If it were up to Barack Hussein Obama and the rest of Modern “Liberals”, I would be forced to leave my faith every Sunday morning at the church door. What they don’t understand, is, the Author and Finisher of my faith is not Obama or anyone else up there on Capitol Hill, the Main Stream Media, or any self-proclaimed Liberal Political Pundit and newly-minted “Biblical Expert”.

I answer to Someone waaay about their pay grade.

Liberals, or “Progressives”, do not understand Christians at all. They believe that our faith is something that can be taken off and put back on again, as one would a shirt.

Groups like the FFDF believe that using the Obama Administration’s IRS and friling frivolous lawsuits against Christian Americans is somehow going to impede the sharing of the Gospel of Jesus Christ by American Believers.

They don’t have a clue.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

Christian Americans Protest Outside Planned Parenthood Clinics Across the Nation

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics1 Comment

th85XTKBQMThis is a debate about our understanding of human dignity, what it means to be a member of the human family, even though tiny, powerless and unwanted. – Henry Hyde

[Where am I? This is July…not January.  What are all these bright lights? What’s that smell? I don’t understand. I was inside my mother, sucking my thumb, all nice and safe and warm. The next thing I know, I feel this pressure on either side of my head, and I was ripped out of my mother.

Why is this happening to me? I have a whole life ahead of me.

I deserve a Mother and a Father. I will never have those. Grandparents, either. Heck, I won’t even get to know my cousins.

I want to know what milk tastes like. I want to hold a Cheerio in my hand and put it in my mouth.  I want to know what it’s like to get my first tooth…to take my first step….to hear music for the first time. I want to hold a puppy. I want to have a first day in school. I want to have a best friend.  I want to ride a bike. I want to have a best friend and go out to play with them. I want to know what Christmas is all about. I want to eat a turkey leg at Thanksgiving…and to see a fireworks display on the 4th of July.  I want to wear costumes on Halloween. I want to go to ballgames with my Father. 

I want to watch cartoons. I want to love and be loved.

I want to fall in love. I want to experience my first kiss. I want to have my parents drop me and my date off at the movie and then pick us up. I want to play sports in school…or be an artist…or be a musician…or, just be a kid. 

I want to go to a pep rally. I want to dance at a prom. I want to get a report card. Heck, I want to taste a school lunch.

I want to graduate and go to college. I want to start work…and have a family. 

I want to live!

Wait! What are you doing with those scissors! Don’t…]

I was born three days before my mother’s 40th birthday.  To say I was a surprise is an understatement.  As I recently wrote, I truly believe that they were going to name me “Oops”.   That being said, I am grateful that God convicted them, regarding the sanctity of the life that my mother was carrying within her.

Now, 42 years after the passing of Roe Vs. Wade, Planned Parenthood is not just content with ending unborn lives, they are selling their body parts to the highest bidder.

THIS IS A FIGHT FOR THE SOUL OF OUR NATION.

Here is some news that will probably not be featured in the Main Stream Media, today.

The Christian Post reports that

Thousands of Americans protested outside Planned Parenthood clinics throughout the United States Saturday morning to speak out against the abortion giant that receives more than $500 million in taxpayer funding every year for its 700 clinics across the nation.

Organized by several pro-life organizations, the nationwide protest, known as the “National Day of Protest Against Planned Parenthood,” was held outside over 300 clinics in all 50 states and Washington D.C.

The protests follow the release of seven undercover Planned Parenthood videos by the pro-life Center for Medical Progress, which show Planned Parenthood employees discussing the sell of aborted babies’ body parts. The eighth video, set to release next week, reportedly shows the abortion provider selling babies born alive in their abortion clinics.

Leslie Blackwell, regional co-coordinator with the Silent No More Awareness Campaign who emceed the Richmond protest, told The Christian Post: “We had over 500 people here and that’s great. Usually you’re lucky to get 10. At Forty Days for Life sometimes you might get 20, but never the crowds like this. Its been exciting, just nonstop response.”

Blackwell was compairing Saturday’s protest to past vigils at the clinic long before the release of CMP’s investigation of Planned Parenthood that reveals how it profits off the selling of babies aborted during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy.

Since July, the California-based pro-life group has released seven of 12 videos that purportedly show Planned Parenthood officials engaging in the illegal sell of aborted babies’ body parts — and maybe even born alive infants — for profit.

“Our primary message is the shocking revelation that Planned Parenthood sells baby parts. While this story has dominated the pro-life and Christian press over the past month, many regular Americans have still never heard about it,” explained Scheidler.

“They deserve to know the truth about Planned Parenthood, an organization that receives over half a billion dollars every year from taxpayers. It is time for this corrupt organization to be deprived of all taxpayer funding and investigated by the U.S. Justice Department.”

At the abortion clinic off North Hamilton Street, protesters gradually trickled in, some carrying signs that read: “Defund Planned Parenthood,” “Abortion Kills Children,” “2,290 Babies Died Here in 2014,” and “The Smallest Lives Matter Defund PP.”

Eventually, the number of demonstrators grew to the point that scores of them ended up going across the two-lane street and standing on the sidewalk in front of the clinic.

As local pro-life activists delivered remarks, the occasional passing vehicle honked, usually though not always in support of the protest.

The protest carefully followed regulations for their demonstration, including not standing on Planned Parenthood’s property and staying clear of their parking lot entrance.

A pair of individuals wearing vests that read “Pro-Choice Clinic Escort” helped guide cars in and out of the clinic as the demonstration continued.

When asked by CP what message she and her allies wanted to send with the demonstration, Blackwell replied that “there’s hope.”

“This is a pivotal moment for all of us in the fight against abortion. Because I think these videos really touched a nerve,” said Blackwell.

“People are so devastated at these barbaric videos and they know the truth. So, I mean, that’s why you’ve seen this incredible outpouring of people to support these protests nationwide.”

From the scientific perspective, Dr. Carlo Bellieni, in his book “Dawn of the I: Pain, Memory, Desire, Dream of the Fetus,” writes:

As soon as it is born, the child shows in a scientifically demonstrable way that it recognizes its mother’s voice and distinguishes it from that of a stranger. Where has he learned that voice other than in the maternal womb?

There are also direct proofs. For example, we register how the movements and cardiac frequency of the fetus vary if we transmit unexpected sounds through the uterine wall. And we see that at first the fetus is startled, then it gets used to it, just like we do when we hear something that does not interest us.

In fact, the scientific evidence is immense. We cannot understand how it can be thought that it becomes a person at a certain point, perhaps when coming out of the uterus.

From the physical point of view, at the birth very little really changes: Air enters the lungs, the arrival of blood from the placenta is interrupted, the type of circulation of blood in the heart changes, and not much more.

As I often say, only blind faith in magic arts or some strange divinity can lead one to think that there is a “human” quality leap at a given moment — certainly not science.

I know that there are some of you that read my blog that are non-believers.  For you and for my Christian brothers and sisters, I offer the following closing thoughts:

There is a curious unique enzyme found in the human body.   Laminin is defined by the Webster Medical Dictionary as a “glycoprotein that is a component of connective tissue basement membrane and that promotes cell adhesion.”  In other words, a glue within the body.

Colossians 1:15-17 tells us:

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

I believe that our nation and our leaders should realize that you cannot mock God. With actions come consequences. You know, that “cause and effect” thingy that “the Smartest people in the Room” are so found of bringing up.

Each and every life is precious to The Creator. That baby growing in her womb, is not the property of the mother. Each and every one of us belong to the One who made us. He is our Sovereign Lord.

All those who believe that “it is a woman’s right to choose”…think too highly of themselves.

For every life is a Gift from The Creator to be loved and cherished, as He first loved us.

Until He Comes,

KJ