Tag: Benjamin Franklin

Independence Day 2025: “A Republic, If You Can Keep It”

On By kingsjesterIn PoliticsLeave a comment

On September 17th, 1787 on the last day of the Constitutional Convention being held in Philadelphia, 81-year-old Benjamin Franklin, in excruciating pain from kidney stones and gout, participated in a moment like no other in American history as he and our other Founding Fathers affixed their names to our Constitution, written as a guide for the form of government which they had fought so hard to give birth to through revolution and hard work, a cause which they had pledged their fortunes and sacred honor to.

On this American holiday upon which we celebrate our independence as a Sovereign Nation, born and maintained by the sweat and blood of courageous Americans, men and women who loved this country, it’s time to reflect on where we are, how we got here, and where we’re headed.

On November 19th, 1863, on the site of the bloody Battle of Gettysburg, a tired and worn out President Abraham Lincoln gave a monumental address in which he stated that

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.“

That word “Liberty” is an often misunderstood and complex word.

Yes, it means that as Americans, you have the individual freedom to make decisions for you and your family.

However, Liberty comes with responsibility. It comes with a responsibility to provide for your family, to love and cherish not only your family and your friends and Neighbors, but also to love and cherish America, a sacred land provided for us by Our Creator.

Americans love their individual freedom. However, a lot of American citizens tend to forget the responsibilities that come with it.

After the actions Americans have witnessed by those who wish to change America into something that those who sacrificed their lives, fortune, and sacred honor to bequeath to us, it is time to reclaim the “The Shining City Upon the Hill” that they gave us.

I am not advocating reclaiming our American Heritage through violence, anarchy, and mob rule “democracy” as we’ve been witnessing the past several years by those who wish to radically change America.

I am talking about using the tools found in the wondrous document that our Founders signed that day in Philadelphia at the Constitutional Convention.

What we have witnessed the last several days as those who we elected to serve us have bickered back and forth over President Donald J Trump’s Big Beautiful bill, finally voting it into law for the president’s signature, is how our government was created to work.

Those who have been paying for and participating in these AstroTurf protests proclaiming “No More Kings!”, have no clue as to what living under an actual totalitarian government would be like.

Our Founders did.

“As the last names were being signed, Franklin, in a personal aside to some other members, made an observation about the chair that Washington had been sitting in as he presided over the Convention. The chair had an emblem of half of a sun. Franklin noted that artists often have a hard time distinguishing between a rising and a setting sun in their artwork. “I have often and often, in the course of the session, and the vicissitudes of my hopes and fears as to its issue, looked at that behind the President, without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting: but now at length, I have the happiness to know, that it is a rising and not a setting sun.” (Courtesy nps.gov)

As Dr. Franklin was leaving the signing of our Constitution, a woman named Elizabeth Willing Powell asked him,

“Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?”

Franklin replied,

“A republic, if you can keep it.”

In order for the sun to continue shining upon our Constitutional Republic, we have to embrace the responsibilities of Liberty in order to hold on to this Sacred Land given to us by our Creator.

A Charge to Keep We Have.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Obama’s TSA’s Intrusive Incompetency Causing Americans to Miss Their Flights

On By kingsjesterIn Politics1 Comment

th (69)On November 19, 2001, The Transportation Security Administration was created as a part of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act. Originally a part of the Department of Transportation, it was moved over to the Department of Homeland Security on March 25, 2003.

As the TSA settled into their role and American airports, travelers began complaining about the hassle of heightened Airport Security measures that were in place after the Islamic Terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. Americans were being made to pass through metal detectors, passed over with detecting wands, and had their luggage sent through an x-ray machine.

Well, after the embarrassment that President Barack Hussein Obama’s Administration experienced over the failed “Underwear Bomber”, Scooter and Janet Big Sis Napalitano took it upon themselves, without running it by Congress or anyone else, to install an extremely invasive system of physical pat downs of passengers, ranging from 3 year olds to seasoned citizens.

As time marched on under the Obama Administration, the TSA became infamous for their intrusive pat-downs and revealing x-rays in airports across the nation.

Now, well into the fifth month of the last year of the Presidency of Barack Hussein Obama (Thank God), the incompetency of the TSA is more egregious than ever.

The New York Post reports that

The TSA’s notorious checkpoint delays were so bad at Chicago’s O’Hare airport over the weekend that an airline had to set up cots for its fliers.

“We held 30 flights [on Sunday], and 450 passengers missed their flights because of TSA delays,” American Airlines spokesman Ross Feinstein told The Post.

“This weekend was probably the worst since spring break,’’ said the rep, whose airline was forced to put out about 100 cots for stranded customers. “Our concern is the summer, which is spring
break every day from June till September.’’

A federal source blamed the nightmare weekend on the Transportation Security Administration’s long-standing issues of too little manpower combined with a seasonal surge in air traffic.

“All major hubs are sitting ducks for outrageous lines at any given moment in time,’’ the source warned.

Travelers were advised to arrive at least two hours early for domestic flights and three hours ahead for international take-offs — but fliers griped that even that wasn’t enough for them to
get through security in time.

The lines were so long at one terminal that American Airlines workers had to remove some kiosks just to make room for the throngs.

“People were breathing heavy and freaking out,’’ said Chicago resident Christina Jack, 54, who arrived from O’Hare into LaGuardia Airport in Queens on Monday.

“There was a gentleman near me who started panicking and yelling, ‘I’m going to miss my flight! I’m going to miss my flight!’ They pulled him out and put him right up at the front of the short line.”

“I was lucky, I missed the early-morning rush,’’ she said, noting that it took her “just’’ a little more than two hours to wade through security.
American and other airlines say they are hiring extra workers to do whatever they can to move things along themselves, such as using employees to run empty metal-detector bins back up to the
front of the line.

The federal source said airports’ wait time “depends on the changing demand of flights on any given day in these hubs.

They include LaGuardia, JFK and Newark airports, which the TSA admitted last week all had increased wait times since last year.

Passengers at O’Hare International Airport wait in line to be screened at a TSA checkpoint.Photo: Getty Images
A total of around 4,000 American passengers have already missed their flights because of TSA delays since February, including 800 in the past week alone, the airline said.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on Sunday urged the TSA to beef up its airport canine patrols, which could help process twice as many passengers an hour, proponents say.

The move is one of several that the beleaguered agency hopes to use to ease the situation.

Outcry over the delays prompted Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson to beg fliers last week to “be patient’’ as the government tries to speed up the screening by also paying overtime and hiring more workers.

In the past three years, the feds cut the number of screeners by 4,622, or about 10 percent, in the hopes that passengers would use an expedited screening program called PreCheck.

But as of this spring, only a little more a third of the anticipated 25 million fliers actually enrolled in the program — and Johnson said it would likely take four more years to reach the TSA’s goal.

Congress did just allocate an additional $34 million for extra TSA staffing, which includes the hiring of 768 more screeners, bringing the total to 42,525. But the president of the union
representing TSA officers has said an additional 6,000 are needed.

Meanwhile, airlines say they are expecting a record number of fliers this summer.

So, how did we get to the point where a Government Agency is preventing average American Travelers from catching their flights comma due to the incompetence of that agency’s representatives?

The Obama Administration, time and time again, has shown that they perceive the American Public as a bunch of ignorant “sheeple”, to be cared for from cradle to grave and led around by their shepherd’s crook.

Over the past several years, they would put in place new TSA Procedures, in an arbitrary manner, without a thought as to the cor effectiveness of them.

Obama did not publicly announce these new security measures, because he thought that Americans would just passively go along with them.

Remember the story about putting a frog in a pan of water and placing it on a stove?

The story explains that if you turn the heat up gradually, the frog adjusts to the conditions and stays in the pan, until it is eventually par-boiled.

That’s what has happened to us during the reign of King Barack The First, America.

Obama and his bunch expected us to simply adjust to the intrusive incompetency of the “security measures” of the TSA without saying a word.

Between the unwanted usurpation of America’s wishes that is Obamacare, to Obama’s touchy-feely Draconian Security measures, he and his administration have led the country around like a bunch of ignorant sheep.

What they did not count on and still do not understand, is the American spirit. We are a stubborn lot, or in Biblical terms, a stiff-necked people, as Obama is finding out, with his present attempt to force American schools to let Dress-wearing Johnny into the girls restrooms and locker rooms.

The spirit that flowed through our pioneer ancestors, still resides in the people of this nation. That’s what sets us apart for other nations. That spirit of freedom that caused America to be carved from a hostile wilderness, the faith that Americans can overcome any obstacle that is thrown against us, thanks to the inalienable rights bestowed upon us by Our Creator.

Our rights do not come from some totalitarian idiot who insists that we share our wealth and give up our freedom for the greater good of the state.

That very fact is what is shaking the rafters of the Halls of Power in Washington, DC and it’s the reason that American Businessman and Entrepreneur, Donald J. Trump, it’s going to be the Next president of the United States of America.

The symbol of America is not a sheep, it is an eagle. Since ancient times, the eagle has been considered a sign of strength; Roman legions used the animal as their standard, or symbol.

Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin chose the symbol for our country to inspire us to be a strong and independent people.

This coming November let us soar like eagles, not acquiesce like sheep.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Obama to Surrender US Climate Sovereignty to United Nations

On By kingsjesterIn Politics1 Comment

 

obamaburningconstitutionSince He is already in the process of surrendering our safety to Iran, Obama has decided to surrender our sovereignty to the United Nations.

The Washington Post reports that

The White House on Tuesday introduced President Obama’s blueprint for cutting greenhouse gas emissions in the United States by nearly a third over the next decade.

Mr. Obama’s plan, part of a formal written submission to the United Nations ahead of efforts to forge a global climate change accord in Paris in December, detailed the United States’ part of an ambitious jointpledge made by Mr. Obama and President Xi Jinping of China in November.

The United States and China are the world’s two largest greenhouse gas polluters. Mr. Obama said the United States would cut its emissions by 26 to 28 percent by 2025, while Mr. Xi said that China’s emissions would drop after 2030.

Mr. Obama’s new blueprint brings together several domestic initiatives that were already in the works, including freezing construction of new coal-fired power plants, increasing the fuel economy of vehicles and plugging methane leaks from oil and gas production. It is meant to describe how the United States will lead by example and meet its pledge for cutting emissions.

But the plan’s reliance on executive authority is an acknowledgment that any proposal to pass climate change legislation would be blocked by the Republican-controlled Congress.

At the heart of the plan are ambitious but politically contentious Environmental Protection Agency regulations meant to drastically cut planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions from the nation’s cars and coal-fired power plants. The plan also relies on a speedy timetable, which assumes that Mr. Obama’s administration will issue and begin enacting all such regulations before he leaves office.

Let me tell any idiotic individuals who might support this insane plan by Petulant President Pantywaist, the way I feel about “answering” to the United Nations.

The United States of America is a Sovereign Nation, created by the blood, sweat, and tears of men and women, who rise above you in stature, honor, integrity, and courage to the point where you are not even fit enough to tie their boots.

All those things that you got away with in college, including burning our flag, protesting, being ungrateful, obnoxious, and unpatriotic, does not fly with the overwhelming majority of Americans.

What Americans have witnessed during this pitiful excuse for a President’s Administration, have disgusted Patriotic Americans to the point of rage.

On his nationally syndicated radio program, back in January of this year, the Godfather of Conservative Talk Radio, Maha Rushie, himself, spoke about Obama’s “Independence Proclamation” in which he proclaimed that what Congress would not do, he would accomplish by Executive Orders:

Executive orders to make things fair. He can do executive orders and executive actions to get rid of the unfairness. He’s gonna make this lousy country finally fair! … He’s got these Republicans standing in his way. “Okay, I’m gonna just start writing executive orders. “To hell with it! I’m gonna finally make everything fair.” Now, he might have a pen, and he might have a phone, but what he does not have is the constitutional power to run this country like a dictator…

…He’s a constitutional lawyer, and he should know better. But he doesn’t care. He doesn’t care about the Constitution. The Constitution is an impediment to Obama. The Constitution is not something to be respected — and it’s not just Obama, by the way. It’s to the vast majority of the intellectual, leftist elite. They really detest the Constitution, because it thwarts them. Some of you may not know this, but the United States Constitution was written to limit government power.

The US Constitution’s first 10 amendments specifically limit government’s power. Well, that’s not cool if you’re Obama or any of today’s liberal Democrats. That, to you, is shackles. They call that “a charter of negative liberties.” Stop and think of that. A document founded in the belief, the proclamation, the declaration, the primacy of individual liberty and freedom is considered “a charter of negative liberties.”

It’s something that gives the people individual primacy and freedom — and, to the left, that’s negative — and the reason they call it “a charter of negative liberties” is because it limits government. They don’t like that, and that’s what Obama was talking about, “You know, the heck with it!”

…Violating the Constitution — there’s no question about this, folks. It’s just a matter of whether people in power and who have the authority to do so want to stop it. Because if nobody’s gonna stop Obama, he’s gonna be able to keep doing it.

President Obama has been on a mission during his presidency to circumvent the system of checks and balances which Our Founding Fathers have so wisely put in place, in order to prevent exactly what our Imperial President is attempting to do.

Therefore, one can say that the president’s actions, concerning the issuance of “Memoranda”, are no less than tyrannical.

What did our Founding Fathers have to say about Tyranny?

The liberties of our country, the freedoms of our civil Constitution are worth defending at all hazards; it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors. They purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood. It will bring a mark of everlasting infamy on the present generation – enlightened as it is – if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of designing men. -Samuel Adams

Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God.- Thomas Jefferson

And, this final quote, which is amazingly prophetic:

Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of a day; but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period and pursued unalterably through every change of ministers, too plainly prove a deliberate, systematic plan of reducing [a people] to slavery.- Thomas Jefferson

If you haven’t noticed, there has been an explosion of Conservative Bloggers during the Obama Administration. There is a reason for this.

Just as Benjamin Franklin (Poor Richard’s Almanac) and Thomas Paine (Common Sense) used their biting wit, as communicated by the Written Word, to fight tyranny in their time, so are “Citizen Bloggers” using the power of the Written Word once again, this time magnified in scope a thousand-fold by the power of the Internet, to fight an Imperious President.

Because…

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. – Edmund Burke

Speak your mind. It is your right and legacy as an American Citizen.

Do not allow yourself and the country which has been bequeathed to us by the blood, sweat, and tears of those who have gone before us, to “go gently into that good night”.

Rage, rage against the dying of The Light.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Troubling Week/Troubled Country – Reflections From a Christian American Conservative

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics2 Comments

GodRonald ReaganFlag9122014As I sit here, reviewing the events of the past week, I have come to the conclusion that this noble experiment, which our Forefathers pledged their “lives, fortunes, and sacred honor” to birth, is in serious trouble.

Being a Christian American Conservative, as the subtitle of my blog states, I invariably turn to the Living Word of the One Who Made Me, for answers.

This American Saturday Morning, I am going to relate the scriptures which have helped me to reflect upon the problems besetting this Shining City Upon a Hill and the conclusions I’ve reached after reading them.

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.- 2 Timothy 3:1-5 (ESV)

This past week, America witnessed a speech by an American President in which he promised to defeat evil by remote control, the National Football League covering up for a player who knocked his fiancé (now wife) out in an elevator, and 100 black youths attacking one shopper and two Kroger employees at a store which sits on Poplar Avenue, the most-traveled street in my hometown.

1. In Obama’s speech, he stated that ISIL was not a part of Islam. I guess them shouting “Allahu Akbar!” as they behead the infidels, means they’re Jehovah’s Witnesses?

2. Baltimore Ravens Player Ray Rice, has been fired for knocking out his fiancé (now wife) while they were arguing in an elevator, which just happened to have a camera in it. As the story continued to roll out this past week, it was learned that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell had a hand in covering up the brutality. Thursday night, Ravens Fans showed up at this week’s game dressed in Ray Rice Jerseys in jaw-dropping support of the low-life.

3.  Last Saturday night, in my hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, one shopper and two Kroger Employees were attacked by a mob of over 100 black youths. The incident happened around 9:15 p.m. in the parking lot of the Kroger at Highland and Poplar. A store employee caught video of the attack. A 25-year-old man said he was attacked by the group as he walked to his car. Two Kroger employees, 17 and 18, ran to help the man. Both were repeatedly hit in the head and face. The teens told police pumpkins “in excess of 20 pounds” were thrown on their heads while they were on the ground. Police say both teens lost consciousness.  Eventually, a security guard stopped the attack.  The Kroger Employees were taken to the hospital and released to their parents. The video has spread via Facebook and other social media sites. So far, police have arrested 11 out of the 100 youths.

There seems to be an air of selfishness, immorality, and lawlessness, which has settled, like a dark cloud, over our country. Instead of caring for others and trying to accomplish something with their lives, we seem to be bearing witness to a generation which was perfectlydescribed in 2 Timothy.

But, what is the answer? Is there a chance to restore America?

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. – Galations 5:1 (ESV)

First off, in order for America to remain free, our military must be strong.

On the 8th of March, 1983, President Ronald Reagan spoke to the National Association of Evangelicals. This speech became widely known as “the Evil Empire Speech”, because, within the context of the speech, he detailed the evils of Marxism. Within that speech, President Reagan spoke of our duty to God and to our Country…and to PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH…

It was C.S. Lewis who, in his unforgettable “Screwtape Letters,” wrote: “The greatest evil is not done now…in those sordid ‘dens of crime’ that Dickens loved to paint. It is…not even done in concentration camps and labor camps. In those we see its final result, but it is conceived and ordered; moved, seconded, carried and minuted in clear, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voice.”

Well, because these “quiet men” do not “raise their voices,” because they sometimes speak in soothing tones of brotherhood and peace, because, like other dictators before them, they’re always making “their final territorial demand,” some would have us accept them at their word and accommodate ourselves to their aggressive impulses. But if history teaches anything, it teaches that simpleminded appeasement or wishful thinking about our adversaries is folly. It means the betrayal of our past, the squandering of our freedom.

So, I urge you to speak out against those who would place the United States in a position of military and moral inferiority. You know, I’ve always believed that old Screwtape reserved his best efforts for those of you in the Church. So, in your discussions of the nuclear freeze proposals, I urge you to beware the temptation of pride–the temptation of blithely..uh..declaring yourselves above it all and label both sides equally at fault, to ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of an evil empire, to simply call the arms race a giant misunderstanding and thereby remove yourself from the struggle between right and wrong and good and evil.

 I ask you to resist the attempts of those who would have you withhold your support for our efforts, this administration’s efforts, to keep America strong and free, while we negotiate–real and verifiable reductions in the world’s nuclear arsenals and one day, with God’s help, their total elimination.

While America’s military strength is important, let me add here that I’ve always maintained that the struggle now going on for the world will never be decided by bombs or rockets, by armies or military might. The real crisis we face today is a spiritual one; at root, it is a test of moral will and faith.

Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. – 1 Peter 2:16 ( ESV)

A strong military will ensure our external defense against our enemies. How do we ensure the internal defense of our country?

Benjamin Franklin said,

Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.

What Dr. Franklin was talking about is the fact, as you’ve seen me state time and time again, that with Freedom comes Responsibility. Our actions have a direct effect on those around us.

Furthermore, man is a corrupt animal. Every child learns how to lie, at an early age. That is why we are told as parents to “raise a child in the way in which they should go”.

And, as those of us my age have observed, in the last couple of generations, there are less parents heeding that admonition from God’s Word.

Walk into any Walmart across America, and observe the behavior of children and their parents. It have become almost impossible to walk though a Walmart without almost running over a kid. And, please don’t stand there and wait for an apology from the mother of the “precious darling”, those come few and far between.

To be bold, a lot of these undisciplined children, grow up to be young adults, who seem to be allergic to responsibility. These are the ones, who, after college, refuse to leave home. Like the movie title, they experience a “Failure to Launch”.

Their every breathing moment is a quest for self-fulfillment, and an all-consuming involvement in a love affair…with themselves.

This selfishness guides their political ideology, as well. Usually these individuals become, either Liberals, or, they identify themselves as (l)ibertarians. Those who identify themselves as Liberals, believe that their intellect is innately higher than the rest of us, and, therefore, they should be able to be the Elite Class, political party in charge of our nation. Those who choose to identify themselves as (l)ibertarians, claim to believe in Fiscal Conservatism, and  Social Liberalism.

There is also a different sort of Libertarian in America….those who believe in the Constitution and the liberty of the individual. Those “Constitutionalists” are not the ones to whom I am referring.

Where the problem arises is the fact that Liberalism, (l)ibertarian, and Libertine all share the same root word “lib”, which means “free”. The word “Liberty” contains that word, also.

The problem is, “Freedom” or “Liberty” without conscience, is licentiousness. And, unrestricted  licentiousness will destroy an empire.

If man is left to his own devices, he usually builds his own Golden Calf.

And, I am afraid that is what has happened in this sacred land.

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.- 2 Corinthians 3:17 (ESV)

America’s Progressives, who are presently 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 78% 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 Mississippi Malfeasance and The Battle For the Soul of America

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, PoliticsLeave a comment

American FreedomThey promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. – 2 Peter 2:19

Last night, as I was watching a PBS “Beg-a-thon”, featuring a “My Music” Rewind of the hits of the 50s and early 60s, hosted by Jon “Bowzer” Bauman, of the legendary Oldies Cover Group, Sha Na Na, I was multi-tasking and carrying on a “discussion” , concerning the Chris McDaniel/Thad Cochran Kerfuffle, which I have dubbed the “Mississippi Malfeasance”, on one of my favorite Facebook Political Pages, on my phone.

The fellow that I was “conversing” with, flat-out told me that I should shut up and support feeble old Thad Cochran and the rest of the Establishment Republicans, even though they just screwed us Conservatives in Mississippi, because it is an important Senate Seat, and it is essential to hold onto it, in order for Republicans to gain control of the Senate this November in the Mid-Term Elections.

I told the gentleman that it was easy for him to write that advice, as he did not have to live down here in the Magnolia State.

As a Mississippian, I have lost all faith in my state’s Republican Party. As regular readers know, I have gone after the out-of-touch National GOP Establishment incessantly, bestowing upon them the title of “Vichy Republicans”. However, in my naiveté, it never occurred to me that a politician from the Magnolia State, where we pride ourselves on our gentlemanly manners and Christian upbringing, could be just a big a cold-hearted snake as the spineless Speaker of the House and that product of Chicago Backroom Politics, the fallen messiah in the White House.

Brother,was I wrong.

Political Corruption and moral ambivalence have become a national disease.

It troubles me to no end that, even though I know, in my heart of hearts, that there are plenty of average Americans who are just as upset over the dilapidated moral and fiscal condition of “the Shining City Upon a Hill” as I am, there are times when I feel like the little Dutch boy, with his finger in the dike, desperately trying to hold back the flood waters, which are about to destroy everything in its path.

I know that civilizations come and go. I am a student of history, and I have read about the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Their incredibly advanced governmental, military, and architectural legacy was eclipsed by situational ethics, immorality. and governmental corruption, caused by enemies foreign and domestic.

Sound familiar?

The United States of America has been one of the most noble undertakings in the history of mankind.

Our Founding Fathers came here to escape religious persecution. Not to get away from religion , as both Liberals, and their unwitting dupes, attempt to claim as truth.

John Adams, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and Second President of the United States said..

It is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free constitution is pure virtue.

…We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. . . . Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

Benjamin Franklin, signer of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, said…

Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.

I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that “except the Lord build the House, they labor in vain that build it.” I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without His concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better, than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing governments by human wisdom and leave it to chance, war and conquest.

I therefore beg leave to move that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service.

Thomas Jefferson, signer of the Declaration of Independence and Third President of the United States, said…

Give up money, give up fame, give up science, give the earth itself and all it contains rather than do an immoral act. And never suppose that in any possible situation, or under any circumstances, it is best for you to do a dishonorable thing, however slightly so it may appear to you. Whenever you are to do a thing, though it can never be known but to yourself, ask yourself how you would act were all the world looking at you, and act accordingly. Encourage all your virtuous dispositions, and exercise them whenever an opportunity arises, being assured that they will gain strength by exercise, as a limb of the body does, and that exercise will make them habitual. From the practice of the purest virtue, you may be assured you will derive the most sublime comforts in every moment of life, and in the moment of death.

So, how did we get to where we are?

Today 76% of Americans still believe that Jesus Christ is their personal Savior. You wouldn’t know that fact from exposure to our American Media, nor from following the anti-Christian actions of our present Administration.

I suppose that’s why the relative morality and the situational ethics displays by today’s “public servants” (and, some of their constituents) troubles me so greatly.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I want the Republicans to win back the Senate. However, with the Republican Establishment embracing the heathen philosophy of today’s Far Left-controlled Democrat Party, to quote that party’s probable next Presidential Candidate, Hillary Rodham Clinton,

At this point, what difference does it make?

The desire to win an election should not cause a sitting Republican Senator to go out and screw his own constituency, the Conservative Base, like Thad Cochran, Haley Barbour, and the Establishment Republicans did in Mississippi.

Until the good ol’ boys in the Northeast Republicans’ Club, or Vichy Republicans, as I like to call them, realize that the majority of Americans out here in the Heartland are still Conservative “bitter clingers” who love God and country, they will be victims of their own hubris, and continue to lose elections.

And, it will be nobody’s fault but their own.

What causes the politicians, whom we elect as fresh-faced public servants, to become corrupted by power?

The problem is….man is a fallen creature. There was only one Perfect Man. We all fall short of the Glory of God.

Politicians, for all of their hubris, are simply men…and women.

And, we are all fallen creatures who fall short of the Glory of God.

There will be no escape for America from this downward spiral we find ourselves in, without Revival in the Land.

Just as addicts, going through the 12-step program, are told to reach out for spiritual help, so should we, as a sovereign nation, bought with the sweat and blood of our fallen, who fought for an ideal much greater than themselves, so that this Blessed Land, UNDER GOD, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all, should not perish from the face of God’s green Earth, seek the help of the God of our Fathers, to reclaim The Promise that is America.

Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.- Ronald Reagan

So, here’s some advice for my fellow “Political Junkies”: When you ask this Christian American Conservative to sit down and shut up about political corruption, consisting of relative morality and situational ethics, just remember: I don’t answer to you. I answer to Someone with a higher paygrade.

Here, watch this, and you will know exactly what I’m saying:

But test everything; hold fast what is good. – 1 Thessalonians 5:21

God Bless America.

Until He Comes,

KJ

The War Against Christianity: Is American Beyond Redemption?

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics4 Comments

American FreedomHas the moral and ethical fiber of the greatest country on the face of God’s Green Earth, been irrevocably ripped apart? Should we all start preparing for another Biblical Flood, as in the days of Noah (the real one…not the politically-correct, ecological one)?

TheBlaze.com has the story…

Is mankind evolving into a more peaceful and prosperous people – or are we on a path toward ever-increasing moral depravity, social chaos and destruction?

Answering that dichotomy depends on one’s worldview, but Christian author Jeff Kinley is in the latter camp, telling TheBlaze that he sees human beings continuously and perilously cutting God out of society.

“I look around my world and I think, ‘Wow, we’ve written God out of our own story here,’” Kinley recently said in an interview. “We’re content in living in our own lives.”

The author, who believes Noah, the flood and the ark unfolded as the Bible recounts, draws parallels between contemporary culture and the “pandemic godlessness of the earth” during Noah’s in his new book “As It Was in the Days of Noah.”

Human behavior then and now, he posits, isn’t all that different.

“Humanity had forgotten God so literally every man just did what they thought was right in their own eyes,” Kinley said of the days of Noah.

As for the current conditions, the author described what he sees as “pandemic unrestrained immorality” and “a falling away of the purity of faith.”

Kinley proceeded to describe how society’s current treatment of God mirrors the Bible’s depiction of the “end times” – a time-frame in Christian theology that precedes the Earth’s end.

While he said it’s impossible to judge when the end times might unfold, Kinley described the current conditions as matching those presented in the Bible, citing Matthew 24, among other references.

“As we ramp up to the end times, there’s going to be, as Romans 1 describes, a simmering hostility against God, against biblical morality,” Kinley told TheBlaze.

Kinley repeatedly spoke against the removal of God from society, saying that it leaves mankind to his own devices, creating a horizontal rather than vertical morality – one in which there is a “sliding scale of morality.”

Citing gay marriage, which is now legal for the first time “perhaps since the days of Noah itself,” Kinley said that human beings are creating new ways of doing things based on shifting standards.

The author also mentioned Israel’s reemergence as a prophetic sign as well.

So, is America beyond Redemption?

It troubles me to no end that, even though I know, in my heart of hearts, that there are plenty of average Americans who are just as upset over the dilapidated moral and fiscal condition of “the shining city on a hill” as I am, there are times when I feel like the little Dutch boy, with his finger in the dike, desperately trying to hold back the flood waters, which are about to destroy everything in its path.

I know that civilizations come and go. I am a student of history, and I have read about the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Their incredibly advanced governmental, military, and architectural legacy was eclipsed by situational ethics, immorality. and governmental corruption, caused by enemies foreign and domestic.

Sound familiar?

The United States of America has been one of the most noble undertakings in the history of mankind.

Our Founding Fathers came here to escape religious persecution. Not to get away from religion , as both Liberals, and their unwitting dupes, attempt to claim as truth.

John Adams, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and Second President of the United States said..

It is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free constitution is pure virtue.

…We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. . . . Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

Benjamin Franklin, signer of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, said…

Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.

I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that “except the Lord build the House, they labor in vain that build it.” I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without His concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better, than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing governments by human wisdom and leave it to chance, war and conquest.

I therefore beg leave to move that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service.

Thomas Jefferson, signer of the Declaration of Independence and Third President of the United States, said…

Give up money, give up fame, give up science, give the earth itself and all it contains rather than do an immoral act. And never suppose that in any possible situation, or under any circumstances, it is best for you to do a dishonorable thing, however slightly so it may appear to you. Whenever you are to do a thing, though it can never be known but to yourself, ask yourself how you would act were all the world looking at you, and act accordingly. Encourage all your virtuous dispositions, and exercise them whenever an opportunity arises, being assured that they will gain strength by exercise, as a limb of the body does, and that exercise will make them habitual. From the practice of the purest virtue, you may be assured you will derive the most sublime comforts in every moment of life, and in the moment of death.

So, how did we get to where we are?

Today 78% of Americans still believe that Jesus Christ is their personal Savior. You wouldn’t know that fact from exposure to our American Media, nor from following the anti-Christian actions of our present Administration.

The problem though, is the fact that man is a fallen creature. There was only one Perfect Man. We all fall short of the Glory of God.

There will be no escape for America from this downward spiral we find ourselves in, without Revival in the Land.

Just as addicts, going through the 12-step program, are told to reach out for spiritual help, so should we, as a sovereign nation, bought with the sweat and blood of our fallen, who fought for an ideal much greater than themselves, so that this Blessed Land, UNDER GOD, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all, should not perish from the face of God’s green Earth, seek the help of the God of our Fathers, to reclaim The Promise that is America.

Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.- Ronald Reagan

Until He Comes,

KJ

My 1,500th Blog: To God Be the Glory. To Liberals, the Shame

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics1 Comment

Christian America Fish LogoI began writing my own Blog in April of 2010, after being a contributor on other Conservative Blogs and Facebook Pages.

I started writing as a way to share my Faith, my love for my country, and to vent ( because after all, punching holes in the wall is expensive…and painful).

Every now and then, I am asked what I believe.  So, on the occasion of this milestone, I’m asking you to gather ’round ol’ Uncle KJ, boys and girls, as I lay it on the line, and write from my heart…as usual.

FIRST THINGS FIRST…

I believe in God the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth;
And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord:
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried;*
the third day he rose from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead… – The Apostles Creed

I believe that there is no way to the Father, except through His Son, and the most important possession you can have in this life, is a Personal Relationship with Jesus Christ, Our Savior and Our Redeemer.

Grace, Forgiveness, and Redemption are available to everyone. However, it is up to you to ask for them.

I BELIEVE THAT AMERICA IS  STILL THAT “SHINING CITY ON A HILL”.

When our Founding Fathers made their treacherous journey to an unknown land full of danger, they sacrificed their homes, their wealth, and their prestige, in order to be able to worship God in the way they chose.

And, when the King of England decided to tax these brave men and women, who had sacrificed all to build a better life for themselves, in a punitive and unbearable manner, to the point of poverty, they decided that it was time to fight this tyranny, no matter what the cost.

So, to each other, they pledged “their lives, their fortunes, and their Sacred Honor”.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness…

And, thus began the Greatest Country on the Face of the Earth.

Yes, there have been mistakes made. Yes, there have been “growing pains”.  However, what makes the difference between us and other countries, is the fact that we remain a nation of exceptional people.

What is it that makes Americans exceptional? Is it simply a matter of the blessing of an American Birth?

No, if that were the case, you could consider the Communist Slackers of the OWS movement or other self-centered Mom’s Basement Dwellers, “exceptional”.  No, it’s way more than the privilege of being born a nephew of our Uncle Sam.

What has separated our nation from all others is THE AMERICAN SPIRIT…a spirit comprised of FAITH, COURAGE, SACRIFICE, CHARITY, AND INGENUITY.

While others have RUN AWAY, Americans have always RUN TO.

Why is that?

As my Brother-in-Christ Johnny McDonald once wrote, “Liberty is Freedom…with Responsibility”.

Ronald Reagan said,

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

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

The answer is “Yes. Both.”

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

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

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

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

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

And, that brings me to my third belief:

I BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF THE INDIVIDUAL.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. – Phillippians 14:3 – NKJV

Our American Freedom allows us to be whatever we want to be, in this life. All it takes it perspiration, strength of will, and God’s Blessings.

And, that is why Liberalism/Progressiveness/Marxism fails.

Like any tyranny, they sublimate the power of the individual for the good (i.e., avarice and political ambitions) of the Collective (mindless sheep, kept in economic and ideological slavery, by an all-powerful Central Government).

The strength and vitality of America does not come from the benevolence of a Nanny-state Federal Government.

As the greatest American President of our lifetime, Ronald Reagan said:

The nine words you never want to hear are:  I’m from the Government and I’m here to help.

Being enslaved to the Government Dole steals one’s ambition.  It takes away any impetus or desire to create a better life for yourself and your family, to challenge yourself to pick yourself up by your bootstraps and pursue the American Dream.  It makes you reliant on a politically-motivated spider’s web full of government bureaucrats who view you and your family as job security.

While working at the County Jobs Center, I watched American citizens trapped in this web of government bureaucracy,  so numbed of any initiative that they once had, that they seemed offended that they actually had to prove that they inquired about three jobs that week in order to keep their “benefits”.  Others seemed puzzled that they had to search through the state data base and pick out a job that they wanted to talk to an interviewer about receiving a referral to, and weren’t just simply handed a job when they walked through the door.

Reliance on an out-of-control, ever-expanding Central Government, who controls every moment of a citizen’s everyday life, limits the potential of the individual.

And, for that reason, especially, Liberals should be ashamed.

I look at my own life, and I thank God that I was blessed by Him to be born an American.

If you would have told me as a child/teenager, during one of the many times that I was laying under an Oxygen Tent in St. Joseph Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, that God would give me the opportunity to sing to His Glory for 30 years, from Centenary United Methodist Church on McLemore Avenue in Downtown Memphis to a Baptist Church in Stratford-on-Avon, England, in between wheezing, I would have told you that you were a couple of fries short of a Happy Meal.

If you would have told me that, in my professional life, I would have had the to work with Americans from all walks of life, from the Surgeon General of the United States, to world-renowned physicians, to cotton farmers on the Mississippi Delta, I would have said, “Who…me?”

And, if you would have told me that I would write 1,500 Blogs, which have been read by people in countries all over the world, and that something I wrote would be read daily via e-mail by approximately 300 Americans , including United States Senators and Congresspeople, I would have told you, “NO WAY!”.

However, Gentle Readers,

WITH GOD, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE.

May God Bless each and every one of you.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

Welcome to the Sochi Olympics. My Name is “Peggy”.

On By kingsjesterIn Politics16 Comments

Peggy“How was your flight over? I hope that little scare concerning “Toothpaste Bombs” did not spoil your flight. ”

TRANSLATION: 

The Department of Homeland Security has issued a warning to U.S. and some foreign airlines traveling to Russia for the Olympic Games to be on the lookout for toothpaste containers, which some intelligence indicates may actually hold ingredients that could be used to construct a bomb aboard a plane, a senior U.S. official told ABC News.

The official did not provide further details about the warning or the intelligence that prompted it, but an official with the Department of Homeland Security, while declining to discuss the specific warning, said the department “regularly shares relevant information with domestic and international partners, including those associated with international events such as the Sochi Olympics.”

“While we are not aware of a specific threat to the homeland at this time, this routine communication is an important part of our commitment to making sure we meet that priority,” the official said. “As always, our security apparatus includes a number of measures, both seen and unseen, and DHS will continue to adjust security measures to fit an ever evolving threat environment.”

A federal law enforcement source said the information is largely intended for foreign carriers and the generic threat is not directed at the U.S. homeland. The Russian government has been informed, the source said.

“And, do not worry about that strange symbol on the bottom of your I-Phone, that is just one of our hackers. IN fact, even now our citizens are all working together to make sure you stay is a comfortable one.””

 TRANSLATION:

It appears there aren’t enough pillows for the athletes in the Olympic Village. This news comes via the Instagram posts of Luiza Baybakova, a member of the catering staff for the games.

Baybakova posted a picture of a notice to volunteers, which translates as follows:

“ATTENTION, DEAR COLLEAGUES!

Due to an extreme shortage of pillows for athletes who unexpectedly arrived to Olympic Village in the mountains, there will be a transfer of pillows from all apartments to the storehouse on 2 February 2014. Please be understanding. We have to help the athletes out of this bind.”

We monitored both Russian-language social networks and Instagram for posts related to the Olympic Village, and ran across this controversial gem.

Either the athletes arrived early, or event planners somehow didn’t know when they were arriving. Regardless, it seems like volunteers and staffers might now be asked to give up their own pillows to accommodate the athletes. It’s in line with what other citizen bloggers are posting ahead of the Olympics, like this guy, who claims residents near the stadiums are forbidden from using wood-burning fireplaces to avoid unsightly smoke coming out of chimneys. Even though it’s the Winter Games.

“Your room is waiting at our finest hotel., where great care has been taken to ensure your comfort.”

TRANSLATION:

Sportswriters from around the world have begun cataloguing a litany of accommodation-related woes in Sochi, Russia as organizers scramble to finish the construction of some hotels three days before the Opening Ceremony of the Winter Olympics, and two days before some competitions get underway.

Journalists have been trickling into the Black Sea resort town all week ahead of the most expensive Winter Olympics in history. Russia has spent $51 billion making all ready for the 17 days of competition, but organizers admitted earlier last week that three of the nine media hotels were not completed.

The Guardian’s Moscow bureau chief Shaun Walker reported that when he tried to check into his room at midday Tuesday, he was told by a receptionist, “Your room is still under construction. They are literally finishing, the keys are literally coming now.” Three hours later, Walker reported the same receptionist offered him a different room “with no heating, a single bed, and permeated with the [odor] of industrial glue.”

Even those who have managed to get rooms have found the amenities less than ideal…

Canadian sports columnist Bruce Arthur wrote, “Almost every room is missing something: lightbulbs, TVs, lamps, chairs, curtains, wifi, heat, hot water. Shower curtains are a valuable piece of the future black market here. (One American photographer was simply told, ‘You will not get a shower curtain.’)”

Early Wednesday morning, around 4 a.m. local time, Wall Street Journal reporter Brian Costa said a stranger opened his hotel room door to peek inside, but quickly vanished without saying a word.

And Kevin Bishop, BBC’s Moscow bureau chief, tweeted that the reception area of his hotel didn’t have its floor done, but it did have a picture of Russian President Vladimir Putin

“So, do not worry, my American Friends. our own President Putin has guaranteed your safety.”

TRANSLATION:

President Vladimir Putin pointed Wednesday to the Boston Marathon bombings as a big reason for the intense security around the Winter Olympics that Russia is kicking off this week.

The Chechen brothers accused of the 2013 Boston attacks hailed from just a few hundred miles (kilometers) away from the Olympic sites at Sochi. This Black Sea town and neighboring Caucasus Mountains are readying to host world leaders, thousands of athletes and many more spectators at the Feb. 7-23 games.

Twin bombings in another southern Russian city in December have heightened terrorism fears around the Sochi events.

Intelligence agencies from multiple countries will be working together around the clock at a special headquarters in Sochi, Putin said while visiting Olympic sites Wednesday.

“In the U.S., people died at a marathon, during the G-8 there were terrorist acts in the London subway,” he said, according to Russian news agencies.

Putin rose to power and popularity 15 years ago on law-and-order, hard-on-terrorism policies that critics say go too far and suppress human rights. He had long warned the West about the dangers posed by Chechen rebels, and urged closer security cooperation with Washington after the Boston Marathon attacks.

Putin has made security central to the Olympic project, in which he has taken an unusual personal interest.

Despite hang-ups and criticism and higher costs than any Olympics in history, Putin told athletes and staff Wednesday that “Russia is ready to host the games.”

“Have a pleasant stay in Sochi…and never mind all the barbed wire, bomb-sniffing dogs, and machine guns.”

By now, some of you may be thinking that my Blog today is entirely inappropriate.

You are wrong. Ever since Benjamin Franklin wrote “Poor Richard’s Almanac”, political satire has been a potent weapon by which writers and cartoonists have protested the political lunacy of the day.

The Sochi Olympics debacle is no different.

From the idiocy of the International Olympics Committee choosing a Communist Country, where Chechen Muslim Terrorists make life perilous every day, to United States President Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm) parading our gay athletes in from of Russian President Putin’s face in a Far Left Political Statement, which made about as much difference as Jamaica in the Bobsled Race, this Olympiad has the makings of the worst disaster since the horrible Munich Olympics in 1972. 

As I wrote on 12/13/2013, 

For those of us who are old enough to remember the Munich Massacre, the horrible description of it, as given by the late, great ABC Sports Announcer and former newspaper reporter, Jim McKay, haunts us to this day:

They’re all gone.

I pray that we do not hear similar words at Sochi.

Because, as Iran is proving, by continuing their Uranium Enrichment, after playing Secretary of State John Kerry and President Barack Hussein Obama for suckers, the sponsors of Islamic Terrorism have no respect for the United States of America. We remain, despite the Administration’s flagrant courtship of these barbarians, “The Great Satan”.

And, Muslim Terrorists, such as the ones who killed Israel’s Olympic Team in 1972, whether they are Chechen or Palestinian, if given the opportunity, will not hesitate to kill Russia’s, Israel’s, or America’s Olympians, gay or straight, in 2014.

Please pray for not only our athletes and citizens, while they are in Sochi, but for the rest of the world’s representatives, as well.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Supreme Court to Rule on Obama’s Abuse of Executive Powers

On By kingsjesterIn Politics5 Comments

obamaburningconstitution…He [the President] shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.

The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session. – Article II, Section 2 of the United States Constitution

TheHill.com reports that

Nothing less than the boundaries of executive power are at stake Monday as the Supreme Court considers whether President Obama violated the Constitution during his first term.

Oral arguments slated for Monday will center on a trio of recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that were deemed unconstitutional by lower courts.

If they uphold the decision, experts say the justices could endanger hundreds of NLRB decisions.

Even more significant are the ramifications for future presidents, with the court poised either to bolster or blunt the chief executive’s appointment powers.

“Rulings like this have implications that last for centuries,” said Michael Lotito, an employment and labor attorney and co-chairman of Littler Mendelson’s Workplace Policy Institute.

Presidents have for decades used recess appointment powers when the Senate is away to install judges and fill top federal vacancies that ordinarily would be subject to confirmation proceedings.

But with the disputed NLRB appointments, Obama became the first president to appoint nominees when the Senate was in a “pro-forma” session, when the upper chamber is briefly called to order and adjourned every few days.

The sessions are intended to prevent recess appointments, and usually only a handful of senators are present for them. In filling the NLRB posts, the Obama administration claims that the Senate is generally not available to conduct business during the sessions, so the president’s recess appointment power is in effect.

“The sham pro-forma sessions are nothing more than that,” said Catholic University law professor Victor Williams, who filed a brief backing the government’s position.

The impetus for recess appointments has faded now that Senate Democrats have changed their chamber’s rules to allow for a simple majority vote on presidential nominees. Nevertheless, the case could stunt Obama’s and future presidents’ authority when it comes to staffing administrations.

The case was brought by Noel Canning, an Oregon-based soft drink bottling and distribution company that challenged the appointments as unconstitutional.

In January of last year, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed.

The appellate court ruling under now review at the Supreme Court found a narrow window for the president to make recess appointments. Under its decision, the president can only make such appointments when the Senate is in recess between sessions of Congress, and only if a vacancy occurred in that same time period.

That goes well against protocol adopted by past Democratic and Republican presidents. A Congressional Service Research report found 329 such appointments since 1981 that would not meet that criteria and would be ruled void if the appeals court decision was law.

Some see the fight against the labor board as a broader effort in which opponents have sought to stymie the Obama administration’s rules and regulations.

“I think the battle against the NLRB over the last few years has been a proxy war about the proper role and scope of government,” said Wilma Liebman, who served as chairwoman of the NLRB from January 2009 to August 2011.

Yesterday, on Fox News, Senator Ted Cruz said,

The pattern we’ve seen under President Obama, disregarding the law, is really one of the most troubling aspects of this presidency,” he said. “When he disagrees with the law…he simply refuses to comply with it.

He is exactly right. For instance, he had his Attorney General, Eric Holder, announce the other day that the Administration would not recognize the will of voters in Utah concerning their banning of Gay Marriage in that state. An activist judge had previously struck down the vote, only for the judge’s decision to be “stayed” by the Supreme Court.

An out-of-control Executive Branch is the antithesis of what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they created our Constitutional Republic. Those wise men created a government unlike any other on God’s green Earth, devising a government whose system of checks and balances would provide a natural defense against a megalomaniac assuming dictatorial powers and bypassing the Constritution, in the manner in which the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue most certainly has.

Just as we are facing today, our founders knew that we would face challenges as a nation.

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

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

A ruling today against Obama’s usurpation of Executive Powers will be a great step in ensuring that we keep our Constitutional Republic.

The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny. – James Madison

Until He Comes,

KJ

Freedom…What a Concept.

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics2 Comments

American FreedomIn yesterday’s post, I touched on how the word “Freedom” is misunderstood.

The words “Freedom” and “Liberty” are intertwined…similar offspring from one Father…the Father of Man.

As as 54 year old, I was privileged to cast my first-ever vote for Ronald Wilson Reagan, the greatest President of the United States of my generation. He once said, 

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

One reason that President Reagan was so beloved by my generation was the fact that he dared to espouse the same beliefs, secular and sacred, which our Founding Fathers held so dear.

Especially, their beliefs concerning this unique gift of God, known as American Freedom.

Benjamin Franklin said,

Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.

What Dr. Franklin was talking about is the fact, as you’ve seen me state time and time again, that with Freedom comes Responsibility. Our actions have a direct effect on those around us.

Furthermore, man is a corrupt animal. Every child learns how to lie, at an early age. That is why we are told as parents to “raise a child in the way in which they should go”.

And, as those of us my age have observed, in the last couple of generations, there are less parents heeding that admonition from God’s Word.

Walk into any Walmart across America, and observe the behavior of children and their parents. It have become almost impossible to walk though a Walmart without almost running over a kid. And, please don’t stand there and wait for an apology from the mother of the “precious darling”, those come few and far between.

To be bold, a lot of these undisciplined children, grow up to be young adults, who seem to be allergic to responsibility. These are the ones, who, after college, refuse to leave home. Like the movie title, they experience a “Failure to Launch”.

Their every breathing moment is a quest for self-fulfillment, and an all-consuming involvement in a love affair…with themselves.

This selfishness guides their political ideology, as well. Usually these individuals become, either Liberals, or, they identify themselves as Libertarians. Those who identify themselves as Liberals, believe that their intellect is innately higher than the rest of us, and, therefore, they should be able to be the Elite Class, political party in charge of our nation. Those who choose to identify themselves as Libertarians, claim to believe in Fiscal Conservatism, and  Social Liberalism.

There is also a different sort of Libertarian in America….those who believe in the Constitution and the liberty of the individual. Those “Constitutionalists” are not the ones to whom I am referring.

Where the problem arises is the fact that Liberalism, Libertarian. and Libertine all share the same root word “lib”, which means “free”. The word “Liberty” contains that word, also.

The problem is, “Freedom” or “Liberty” without conscience, is licentiousness. And, unrestricted  licentiousness will destroy an empire.

If man is left to his own devices, he usually builds his own Golden Calf.

And, I am afraid that is what has happened in this sacred land.

Dr. Franklin once wrote,

I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that “except the Lord build the House, they labor in vain that build it.” I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without His concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better, than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing governments by human wisdom and leave it to chance, war and conquest.

Just the other day, in Texas, a group of Pro-life Protesters, standing outside the Capitol, where a bill calling for restrictions on third trimester abortions was being discussed, suddenly started singing the great American Hymn, “Amazing Grace”. Once they began, Pro-Abortion counter-protesters started chanted “Hail Satan! and “Jesus should have been aborted!”.

Now, I have seen Liberals on Conservative websites claim those horrible chants were just a feeble attempt to drown out the Pro-Lifers.  I asked a Liberal, who wrote such an excuse, if he would be able to chant those words in a public square.

I never got an answer.

Would you, as an average American, be able to say something that blasphemous in public? Probably not.

My love for the Savior prevents me from even thinking them.

The point of my post is, while my generation and the majority of Americans, I believe, still recognize that Divine Spark that led to the birth of our American Freedom, we have those among us, who would rather fulfill their own selfish desires than be held accountable for their actions by their fellow man or a Divine Power. They proclaim American Exceptionalism, however, they do not seem to wish to participate in it. In fact, they seem to be quite content to watch the “shining city on a hill” be “radically changed” into North Korea or Venezuela, while, socially, coming down on the very same side of important national issues, as the Liberals they claim to oppose.

President Reagan once said,

Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.

Perhaps, that is the reason we find ourselves as a nation, struggling so mightily to stay free.

Until He Comes,

KJ