Tag: New York City

The Death of Country Music

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Entertainment, Politics2 Comments

Hee HawNobody saw him running from sixteenth avenue
They never found the fingerprint or the weapon that was used
But someone killed country music, cut out its heart and soul
They got away with murder down on music row

The almighty dollar and the lust for worldwide fame
Slowly killed tradition and for that someone should hang
They all say not guilty, but the evidence will show
That murder was committed down on music row

For the steel guitars no longer cry and fiddles barely play
But drums and rock ‘n’ roll guitars are mixed up in your face
Old Hank wouldn’t have a chance on today’s radio
Since they committed murder, down on music row

They thought no one would miss it, once it was dead and gone
They said no one would buy them old drinking and cheating songs
Well I’ll still buy ’em
Well there ain’t no justice in it and the hard facts are cold
Murder’s been committed, down on music row

Oh, the steel guitars no longer cry and you can’t hear fiddles play
With drums and rock ‘n roll guitars mixed right up in your face
Why, the hag, he wouldn’t have a chance on today’s radio
Since they committed murder down on music row
Why, they even tell the posse to pack up and go back home
There’s been an awful murder down on music row

“Murder on Music Row”. George Strait/Alan Jackson, 2000

On this Saturday Morning, right across  Stateline Road, from the home of Elvis Presley,Memphis, Tennessee in Northwest Mississippi, I sit here reflecting on Saturday nights, growing up with my Mother and Daddy.

Every family, to this day, have rituals that they observe like clockwork.

Our Saturday Night Ritual was to eat homemade hamburgers, spaghetti, or crockpot beans off of TV trays and watch Hee Haw, the syndicated country music variety show, out of Nashville, which starred Buck Owens, Roy Clark, and a “cast of thousands”.

The snotty folks up in the Northeast Corridor never could figure out what made that “hick show”, that lasted 25 years,  so popular.

After all, it was about traditional American Values, love of God and Country, respecting our American Musical Heritage, and featuring talented performers who wrote songs, sang, played their own instruments, loved and appreciated their fans, and actually behaved like average Americans.

Plus, they had the good grace and common sense to keep their private lives, private.

This week foxnews.com reported that…

The country star opens up about his past, present and future in an interview with Entertainment Tonight’s Nischelle Turner that rivals ABC’s country soap “Nashville” with its real-life drama. Herndon discussed everything from his former drug use, his failed marriages and his current relationship.

“I have an awesome relationship that I’ve been in for a good number of years,” Herndon tells ET in a new sit-down airing Thursday. “[I] love him very much and he loves me.”

Married twice before, Herndon reveals that both of his ex-wives were “absolutely” aware of his sexuality.

“I had a lot of people around me that I trusted at a time and I was like,’Hey, you know this about me but the world doesn’t. So I’m gonna need to call on your services for a little while,'” he confessed. “It was unfortunate that I had to do that, but I felt that’s what I had to do to have my career. Standing on some pretty solid legs today, so I get to tell my truth today.”

The news brings new meaning to the singer’s latest album, “Lies I Told Myself,” which was released in 2013. Today, Herndon reveals that the biggest lie he told himself is “that I couldn’t be gay in country music.”

“I’ve dreamed about being in country music since I was 6 years old,” he said. “It’s my life, it’s what I do, it’s who I am, and I went to great lengths to cover up that fact to be to be a country star.”

Rumors surrounding Herndon’s sexuality first surfaced back in 1995, when an undercover male police officer alleged that the star exposed himself in a park.

“I wish I had really great recall or memory about that,” Herndon said of the allegation. “I think I had been up for like 6 days doing drugs the night and the day was really a huge blur for me.”

Now fully clean and sober, Herndon is looking forward to a future with his partner of five years, joking with ET that he hoped a proposal might follow his big reveal. “God, I’m hoping he asks me right after this interview!” he said.

“I do want children one day, you know,” he added. “I do want to be married one day.”

But for now, Herndon says he’s thrilled to be seeing increasing levels of acceptance in Nashville.

“Traditionally in country music, we don’t see a lot of support for the LGBT community, but that’s changing so much,” he said. “Nashville is changing so much. I mean my goodness… Kacey Musgraves won Song of the Year for [the lyrics] ‘follow your arrow, wherever it points’ and two amazing songwriters that happened to be gay wrote that song.”

Herndon continued, “It gives me a lot of hope that that Nashville is ready for this. I get to be free today. I’m born again today, and I feel like I’m not gonna have any trouble sleeping tonight.”

Herndon’s story inspired fellow country singer Billy Gilman to come out as well.

“It was in that moment that I knew that I’d rather it be from me, than you reading it from somewhere else,” Gilman said in a YouTube video Thursday.

Actually, boys, y’all could have kept your lust for hairy-legged gents to yourselves. America ain’t New York City.

What is happening to country music reflects a lot about the culture we live in.   Artists who actually lived what they sung about like Loretta Lynn, George Jones, Merle Haggard, Tammy Wynette, The Statlers, Jim Ed Brown, Porter Waggoner, Bocephus, Randy Travis, Jeannie C. Riley, and Elvis Presley have been replaced by fashion model wannabes and burned-out rock stars.

Please don’t get me wrong.  There is still a lot of great talent in country music.  Brad Paisley, Alan Jackson, the Zac Brown Band, Toby Keith, Reba McEntire, Martina McBride, Clint Black, Carrie Underwood, and Rascal Flatts, among others, are very talented performers.

However, in our culture of fast lives, fast food, and instant gratification, superficiality sells.  That’s how we got stuck with Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm).

It is easier and more profitable for a record company to sell someone who looks good and can sing a little, or release a country music album made by a fading rock star, than it is for them to market someone who is unbelievably talented and writes their own songs, but resembles your next door neighbor.

Remember the Kid Rock, Bruce Springsteen, and Van Morrison country music CD fiascos?  No?  I don’t blame you.  I wouldn’t admit it, either.

Can you imagine Hank Williams, Sr., Patsy Cline, or Buck Owens trying to get a record deal today?

I’m sorry Mr. Williams.  Your vocalization is way too twangy and you drink way too much.  “I Saw The Light”?  What kind of song is that?  A song about redemption?  Get real.  “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”?  Who Cares?  You’re just not marketable.

Miss Cline, we can’t use you.  You look like somebody’s next door neighbor.

Mr. Owens, what is the “Bakersfield Sound” that you’re talking about?  That won’t get any airtime in New York City.   “Act Naturally”?  That’s a song?  Next thing you know, you’ll tell me that the Beatles will want to record it.

Now you know why Toby Keith formed his own record label. 

The big recording companies like RCA Nashville and Arista are run like any other business.  Executives are transferred from other cities and other divisions within the company and are judged to be successful by the amount of revenue they generate.  The decision was made several years ago to turn country music into pop music.  Country music started the transition from Kitty Wells to Miranda Lambert and from George Jones to Kid Rock in an effort to claim a bigger share of the CD-buying public.  The disconnect arises when you take a genre that has traditionally sung  about God, America, family, and heartache and try to make it about fashionistas, MTV, and shallow people with situational morality and ethics. 

That dog don’t hunt.

Allow me to close with this video from Alan Jackson and George Strait, of the song featured at the beginning of today’s blog.  As you read earlier, they expressed the situation much more eloquently than I can.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgiILl_F7O8]

Until He Comes,

KJ

Ebola Bites The Big Apple

On By kingsjesterIn Politics2 Comments

EbolAFBrancoEbolaCzarSnail102314Remember when the President of these United States, Barack Hussein Obama, spoke the following words?

First and foremost, I want the American people to know that our experts, here at the CDC and across our government, agree that the chances of an Ebola outbreak here in the United States are extremely low. We’ve been taking the necessary precautions, including working with countries in West Africa to increase screening at airports so that someone with the virus doesn’t get on a plane for the United States. In the unlikely event that someone with Ebola does reach our shores, we’ve taken new measures so that we’re prepared here at home. We’re working to help flight crews identify people who are sick, and more labs across our country now have the capacity to quickly test for the virus. We’re working with hospitals to make sure that they are prepared, and to ensure that our doctors, our nurses and our medical staff are trained, are ready, and are able to deal with a possible case safely. – President Barack Hussein Obama, “Remarks by the President on the Ebola Outbreak,  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, 9/16/2014

Well, Scooter…here’s another “unlikely event”.

The New York Times reports that

A doctor in New York City who recently returned from treating Ebola patients in Guinea tested positive for the Ebola virus Thursday, becoming the city’s first diagnosed case.

The doctor, Craig Spencer, was rushed to Bellevue Hospital on Thursday and placed in isolation while health care workers spread out across the city to trace anyone he might have come into contact with in recent days. A further test will be conducted by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to confirm the initial test.

While officials have said they expected isolated cases of the disease to arrive in New York eventually, and had been preparing for this moment for months, the first case highlighted the challenges surrounding containment of the virus, especially in a crowded metropolis.

Even as the authorities worked to confirm that Mr. Spencer was infected with Ebola, it emerged that he traveled from Manhattan to Brooklyn on the subway on Wednesday night, when he went to a bowling alley and then took a taxi home.
The next morning, he reported having a temperature of 103 degrees, raising questions about his health while he was out in public.

A person infected with Ebola cannot spread the disease until they begin to display symptoms, and it cannot be spread through the air. As the person becomes sicker, the viral load in the body builds, and they become more and more contagious.

Dr. Spencer’s travel history and the timing of the onset of his symptoms led health officials to dispatch “disease detectives immediately began to actively trace all of the patient’s contacts to identify anyone who may be at potential risk,” according toa statement released by the department.

It was unclear if the city was trying to find people who might have come into contact with Dr. Spencer on the subway. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority directed all questions to the health department, which did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the issue.

I thought that we were supposed to have Ebola under control in America?

I mean, Obama appointed an Ebola Czar, and everything.

I know that this new “Czar” is just a political hack and not a physician or any sort of health expert, but, gosh dawg, doesn’t it make you feel warm and fuzzy all over to know that President Barack Hussein Obama feels so deeply about each and every one of us?

I know that it is a big comfort to Dr. Spencer in his present condition.

But, I digress…

I’m certain that Dr. Spencer must have been following the proper CDC Protocol, in order to avoid possible exposure to Ebola.

I wonder what that protocol is?

According to the Centers for Disease Control,

If you must travel to an area affected by the 2014 Ebola outbreak, protect yourself by doing the following:

  • Wash hands frequently or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
  • Avoid contact with blood and body fluids of any person, particularly someone who is sick.
  • Do not handle items that may have come in contact with an infected person’s blood or body fluids.
  • Do not touch the body of someone who has died from Ebola.
  • Do not touch bats and nonhuman primates or their blood and fluids and do not touch or eat raw meat prepared from these animals.
  • Avoid hospitals in West Africa where Ebola patients are being treated. The U.S. Embassy or consulate is often able to provide advice on medical facilities.
  • Seek medical care immediately if you develop elevated body temperature or subjective fever and any of the other following symptoms: headache, muscle pain, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain, or unexplained bruising or bleeding.
  • Limit your contact with other people until and when you go to the doctor. Do not travel anywhere else besides a healthcare facility.

So, to summarize, the deadly disease, Ebola, which has been contained in Africa for quite some time now, is now not only here in America, it is now in our largest city. Meanwhile, 3,000 American Sons and Daughters, our Brightest and Best, have been sent by Obama to “Ground Zero”, Africa, to “combat it” and possibly become exposed to it.

What happens when they bring it back home with them?

At the same time, those tens of thousands of “unaccompanied minors” who invaded our Southern Border recently, have been spread all over America by Barack Hussein Obama.

And, as I have reported before, they have brought tuberculosis and other diseases with them.

But, don’t worry, I’m sure that they all washed their hands.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Last Night, Obama “Talked the Talk”. Today, He Must “Walk the Walk”. Never Forget 9/11/01.

On By kingsjesterIn PoliticsLeave a comment

911firefightersThe President of the United States of America appeared before the citizens he is supposed to be protecting, promising action against the Muslim Terrorist Organization, known as ISIS.

The New York Times reports that

The president took pains to distinguish between the military action he was putting in motion and the two wars begun by his predecessor, President George W. Bush. He likened this campaign to the highly targeted airstrikes that the United States has carried out for several years against terrorism suspects in Yemen and Somalia, few of which have been made public.

After enduring harsh criticism for saying in a news conference two weeks ago that he did not have a strategy for dealing with ISIS in Syria, Mr. Obama sketched out a plan that will involve heightened American training and arming of moderate Syrian rebels to fight the militants. Saudi Arabia has agreed to provide bases for the training of those forces.

The White House has asked Congress to authorize the plan to train and equip rebels — something the Central Intelligence Agency has been doing covertly and on a much smaller scale — but Mr. Obama said he had the authority necessary to expand the broader campaign.

“These American forces will not have a combat mission — we will not get dragged into another ground war in Iraq,” Mr. Obama pledged, adding that the broader mission he was outlining for American military forces “will be different from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; it will not involve American combat troops fighting on foreign soil.”

For all of Mr. Obama’s efforts to reassure the public, his remarks were a stark admission of the threat posed by the militants, whose lightning rampage through Iraq and Syria and videotaped beheading of two American journalists have reignited fears of radical terrorism.

The president’s remarks, on the eve of the 13th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, will thrust the United States into a civil war in Syria that he had long sought to avoid, and will return the country to a significant military presence in Iraq, from which Mr. Obama withdrew the last American combat soldiers at the end of 2011.

It is ironic that Obama chose to make a speech in which he finally, forced by a growing public backlash, addressed the reality of the Muslim Terrorist Group, ISIS. For today, our nation remembers the 13th anniversary of the worst Terrorist attack ever perpetrated on American Soil. Over 3,000 Americans lost their lives that day, including the heroic First Responders of New York City, who ran into Hell, while others were running away from it.

Here is the tragic toll  of 9/11/01, broken down by the numbers.  Courtesy of nymag.com:

The initial numbers are indelible: 8:46 a.m. and 9:02 a.m. Time the burning towers stood: 56 minutes and 102 minutes. Time they took to fall: 12 seconds. From there, they ripple out.

  • Total number killed in attacks (official figure as of 9/5/02): 2,819
  • Number of firefighters and paramedics killed: 343
  • Number of NYPD officers: 23
  • Number of Port Authority police officers: 37
  • Number of WTC companies that lost people: 60
  • Number of employees who died in Tower One: 1,402
  • Number of employees who died in Tower Two: 614
  • Number of employees lost at Cantor Fitzgerald: 658
  • Number of U.S. troops killed in Operation Enduring Freedom: 22
  • Number of nations whose citizens were killed in attacks: 115
  • Ratio of men to women who died: 3:1
  • Age of the greatest number who died: between 35 and 39
  • Bodies found “intact”: 289
  • Body parts found: 19,858
  • Number of families who got no remains: 1,717
  • Estimated units of blood donated to the New York Blood Center: 36,000
  • Total units of donated blood actually used: 258
  • Number of people who lost a spouse or partner in the attacks: 1,609
  • Estimated number of children who lost a parent: 3,051
  • Percentage of Americans who knew someone hurt or killed in the attacks: 20
  • FDNY retirements, January–July 2001: 274
  • FDNY retirements, January–July 2002: 661
  • Number of firefighters on leave for respiratory problems by January 2002: 300
  • Number of funerals attended by Rudy Giuliani in 2001: 200
  • Number of FDNY vehicles destroyed: 98
  • Tons of debris removed from site: 1,506,124
  • Days fires continued to burn after the attack: 99
  • Jobs lost in New York owing to the attacks: 146,100
  • Days the New York Stock Exchange was closed: 6
  • Point drop in the Dow Jones industrial average when the NYSE reopened: 684.81
  • Days after 9/11 that the U.S. began bombing Afghanistan: 26
  • Total number of hate crimes reported to the Council on American-Islamic Relations nationwide since 9/11: 1,714
  • Economic loss to New York in month following the attacks: $105 billion
  • Estimated cost of cleanup: $600 million
  • Total FEMA money spent on the emergency: $970 million
  • Estimated amount donated to 9/11 charities: $1.4 billion
  • Estimated amount of insurance paid worldwide related to 9/11: $40.2 billion
  • Estimated amount of money needed to overhaul lower-Manhattan subways: $7.5 billion
  • Amount of money recently granted by U.S. government to overhaul lower-Manhattan subways: $4.55 billion
  • Estimated amount of money raised for funds dedicated to NYPD and FDNY families: $500 million
  • Percentage of total charity money raised going to FDNY and NYPD families: 25
  • Average benefit already received by each FDNY and NYPD widow: $1 million
  • Percentage increase in law-school applications from 2001 to 2002: 17.9
  • Percentage increase in Peace Corps applications from 2001 to 2002: 40
  • Percentage increase in CIA applications from 2001 to 2002: 50
  • Number of songs Clear Channel Radio considered “inappropriate” to play after 9/11: 150
  • Number of mentions of 9/11 at the Oscars: 26
  • Apartments in lower Manhattan eligible for asbestos cleanup: 30,000
  • Number of apartments whose residents have requested cleanup and testing: 4,110
  • Number of Americans who changed their 2001 holiday-travel plans from plane to train or car: 1.4 million
  • Estimated number of New Yorkers suffering from post-traumatic-stress disorder as a result of 9/11: 422,000

9/11/2001 was indelibly seared into the memories of Americans on that fateful day, regardless of the present-day wishes of a minority percentage of our population.

It was a another day, “which shall live in Infamy”.

It must not happen again…ever.

I hope and pray that Obama was not just blowing smoke last night, as he is wont to do. If decisive action is not taken against ISIS over there in the Middle East, they will be knocking on our door, very soon.

Last night, President Barack Hussein Obama talked the talk.

Today, he must walk the walk.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Is America Trapped in a Battle Between the Darkness and the Light? You Betcha.

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics4 Comments
American Christianity 2If you, like myself , are a Political Junkie, and spend any time at all on Internet Political Website comments sections and political chat boards, you might think that American Christians are an endangered species.
Far from it.
According to a Gallup Poll taken in 2013, 76% of Americans still identify themselves as Christians.
In other words, over 3/4ths of our country still believe that Jesus Christ is their Personal Savior.
So, if Americans believe in the Son of God, do that mean that they believe in the Fallen Angel, formerly known as Lucifer?
You betcha.
 September of 2013, YouGov.com conducted a poll which showed that almost six in ten Americans believe that Satan is real, and more than half of Americans believe that people can be possessed by demons.
Demonic Possession? Really? In America?
Yes, really. And, according to a Former New York City Cop turned demonologist, demonic possession is on the rise.
TheBlaze.com has the story…
Despite always believing in the existence of good, evil and God, ex-New York Police Department sergeant Ralph Sarchie didn’t consider himself a particularly religious guy — that is, until he began battling what he says are dangerous, supernatural forces.Sarchie, a self-described demonologist who was once a cop for the 46th police precinct in New York City — and the inspiration for the new Hollywood film “Deliver Us From Evil” — told TheBlaze that he believes possessions and infestations are on the rise.

“It’s definitely on the rise. I hate to say it,” Sarchie said in an interview. “As society pushes God out, no one can deny that that’s happening. There’s a good portion of society that just cannot stomach Jesus Christ and when I see that, I have to wonder where that hatred comes from.”

Of the many exorcisms he has participated in and assisted with, Sarchie — who became an independent part-time paranormal investigator while working with the NYPD — said the most terrifying thing he has seen occurred when he placed a crucifix next to a supposedly possessed individual’s head.

“We had a couple of relics in the church that day and mine was on the right side of this person’s head near the ear area … I usually stand in front,” he said. “I could see the eyes — that one eye looking over at the crucifix, but not turning the head. The head was like a statue … the eyes were going back and forth and that was a frightening thing to see.”

Sarchie described the person as looking like a trapped animal who was scared but still very much a volatile predator attempting an escape.

“I’ve been a cop for a long time. I dealt with a lot of emotionally disturbed persons [and] I’ve arrested some pretty bad people and I have never, never in my life in the street seen anything like that,” he said. “A murderer’s look from a person is nothing like a person who is under possession.”

As for his work — a career that is certainly unconventional — the former cop broke his professional life down in simple terms.“Demonology is the study of demons. It’s like all your all other ‘ologies,’” Sarchie said. “I approach it from a religious point of view.”

While he wasn’t always the strong Roman Catholic he is today, Sarchie said that he realized that battling the forces of evil meant securing a good relationship with God.

“If I was going to get involved in battling the devil, I needed to get a strong religion,” he said. “I pray every day — I pray my rosary every day and I pray to God every day that what I’m doing in this life is pleasing to him. I can only do what I know he wants me to do.”

Sarchie recalled how he became involved in demonology: After getting married and having his first daughter, he connected with Ed and Lorraine Warren, real-life paranormal investigators who were depicted in last year’s horror flick “The Conjuring.”

“I became one of their students and I started to go out on cases with [the Warrens],” Sarchie told TheBlaze.

He described the signs of possession, including unnatural strength, speaking in different languages, having knowledge of events that one would have no way of knowing, a woman speaking in a man’s voice and a person making animal sounds.

Additionally, Sarchie, who said only ordained clergy should perform exorcisms, explained that possessed individuals oftentimes know information about the past sins of exorcists and assistants.

Despite making a name for himself as a prominent demonologist, Sarchie said he has never accepted a penny for his assistance, always offering his services free of charge. In fact, he said, cases often cost him money, as he must fund his own travel expenses to various localities.

The former cop says he knows there are many who doubt his claims, but he told TheBlaze he doesn’t pay them any mind.

“I get word of all these skeptics out there and some of them are getting real nasty,” he said. “I’m not interested in what they say, I’m not interested in what they think about me. I don’t care.”

Almost 70 years ago, a great American saw a moral and cultural decline beginning in our “Shining City on a Hill…and he knew exactly who was behind it.

This speech was broadcast by legendary ABC Radio commentator Paul Harvey on April 3, 1965:

If I were the Devil . . . I mean, if I were the Prince of Darkness, I would of course, want to engulf the whole earth in darkness. I would have a third of its real estate and four-fifths of its population, but I would not be happy until I had seized the ripest apple on the tree, so I should set about however necessary to take over the United States. I would begin with a campaign of whispers. With the wisdom of a serpent, I would whisper to you as I whispered to Eve: “Do as you please.” “Do as you please.” To the young, I would whisper, “The Bible is a myth.” I would convince them that man created God instead of the other way around. I would confide that what is bad is good, and what is good is “square”. In the ears of the young marrieds, I would whisper that work is debasing, that cocktail parties are good for you. I would caution them not to be extreme in religion, in patriotism, in moral conduct. And the old, I would teach to pray. I would teach them to say after me: “Our Father, which art in Washington” . . .

If I were the devil, I’d educate authors in how to make lurid literature exciting so that anything else would appear dull an uninteresting. I’d threaten T.V. with dirtier movies and vice versa. And then, if I were the devil, I’d get organized. I’d infiltrate unions and urge more loafing and less work, because idle hands usually work for me. I’d peddle narcotics to whom I could. I’d sell alcohol to ladies and gentlemen of distinction. And I’d tranquilize the rest with pills. If I were the devil, I would encourage schools to refine young intellects but neglect to discipline emotions . . . let those run wild. I would designate an atheist to front for me before the highest courts in the land and I would get preachers to say “she’s right.” With flattery and promises of power, I could get the courts to rule what I construe as against God and in favor of pornography, and thus, I would evict God from the courthouse, and then from the school house, and then from the houses of Congress and then, in His own churches I would substitute psychology for religion, and I would deify science because that way men would become smart enough to create super weapons but not wise enough to control them.

If I were Satan, I’d make the symbol of Easter an egg, and the symbol of Christmas, a bottle. If I were the devil, I would take from those who have and I would give to those who wanted, until I had killed the incentive of the ambitious. And then, my police state would force everybody back to work. Then, I could separate families, putting children in uniform, women in coal mines, and objectors in slave camps. In other words, if I were Satan, I’d just keep on doing what he’s doing.

Paul Harvey, Good Day.

One of our Founding Fathers predicted the potential chaos which our Sovereign Nation would find ourselves in, if we ignored the laws and precepts of the One who gifted us with this Sacred Land.

John Adams, the second President of these United States, delivered the following message to the Officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Militia of Massachusetts on October 11, 1798:

Gentleman,

While our country remains untainted with the principles and manners which are now producing desolation in so many parts of the world; while she continues sincere, and incapable of insidious and impious policy, we shall have the strongest reason to rejoice in the local destination assigned us by Providence. But should the people of America once become capable of that deep simulation towards one another, and towards foreign nations, which assumes the language of justice and moderation while it is practising iniquity and extravagance, and displays I have received from Major-General Hull and Brigadier, General Walker your unanimous address from Lexington, animated with a martial spirit, and expressed with a military dignity becoming your character and the memorable plains on which it was adopted. In the most captivating manner the charming pictures of candor, frankness, and sincerity, while it is rioting in rapine and insolence, this country will be the most miserable habitation in the World; because we have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

Were these two great Americans speaking about the situation we find our country in on July 6, 2014?

Are the Forces of Darkness at work in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave?

Do you see it? Or, is it just me?

Until He Comes,

KJ

Political Correctness: The Liberal Sword of Intolerance

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics2 Comments

Liberalism

Our society strives to avoid any possibility of offending anyone — except God. – Reverend Billy Graham

Yesterday was St Patrick’s Day.

The big story that was over all the news was the fact that the organizers of the St Patrick’s Day Parade in New York City refused to allow activists to turn the parade into a gay pride parade.

It’s not that they would not let them march in the parade. It is the fact that they told them that they had to leave the rainbow flags and their notorious public sexual behavior at home.

And, there’s a reason for that. The St Patrick’s Day Parade in New York City is attended by folks of all ages, from the young to the very old. And, Irish New Yorkers for the most part are Catholic, and like the rest of us Christians they believe that homosexuality is a sin. Therefore, as followers of Christ, just like Protestants, they love the sinner but hate the sin. And,outrageously sinful behavior would be inappropriate in a parade celebrating the life of a Saint.

So, why did the gay activists expect them to change the NYC St. Patrick’s Day Parade into a flamboyant Gay Pride Parade, featuring sexual acts and attire, which would be inappropriate for family viewing, such as one would see in San Francisco, changing a Gaelic Parade into a Gay-lic parade?

Perhaps it is because, due to bullying and activist judges, Gay Activists are starting to get used to getting their way, So much so in fact, that this new group of politically-correct bullies has become known from coast to coast as the “Gay Mafia”.

The organizers’ actions in banning the Gay Activists from the parade yesterday, resulted in New York City’s Communist Mayor, Bill de Blasio, and other Liberal government officials staying away from the parade to show their support for the new bullies.

So, when did standing up for your beliefs and principles and speaking the truth become “politically incorrect”?

I am aware that political correctness has been around for a good while now.

However, when Barack Hussein Obama became President of the United States, political correctness seemed to become magnified by 100 fold.

For example, you cannot criticize Obama without being called a Bigot or a Raaaciiist.

This seems awfully hypocritical to me, because all of the self-proclaimed experts on political correctness called President George W Bush everything but a child of God.

Remember when Obama first got in the office? His Foreign Policy Team told Americans that we could no longer call acts of Muslim Terrorism, acts of Muslim Terrorism. They were to be known from then on as man-caused disasters.

The longer that the Liberals or “Progressives” remain in power, the dumber their attempts to enforce political correctness over Americans seem to be.

Have you heard about their latest mission?

Now liberals want to ban the word “bossy” because they claim that it demeans strong, aggressive women.

Are you kidding me?

What do these liberals want us to call strong, aggressive, overbearing women?

We Southern Gentlemen do not use the other “B” word in public…or private, for that matter.

It would seem to me that the Liberal Democrats have more important fish to fry than trying to police the vocabulary of average Americans.

The fact that their President has a popularity rating that’s in the 30’s should give them a clue that his and their attempts at radically changing America are being met with about as much enthusiasm as a singing concert featuring the dulcet tones of Roseanne Barr.

I believe that the American people are starting to figure out that those among us who claim to be the most tolerant, are actually the most judgmental and intolerant of all of us.

For example, have you heard about what is happening to Christians in the United States Air Force?

You may recall that a while back I wrote about the removal of God from the Air Force Oath. I also wrote about the fact that Christians, serving in our Air Force, are longer allowed to share their faith with their fellow service members.

The latest wrinkle in this politically-correct War Against Christianity by Obama’s Pentagon involves an Air Force Academy cadet.

The controversy began when a cadet leader posted a passage of scripture on his whiteboard with a quote from the New Testament book of Galatians.

I have been crucified with Christ therefore I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.

His superiors had him erase it, because, according to them, it offended non-Christians and could “cause subordinates to doubt the leader’s religious impartiality.”

According to friends of the cadet, the young man had posted the verse several months ago and considered the New Testament passage as a source of inspiration.

So, why was it acceptable several months ago, but, not now?

Political Correctness.

Do you remember when New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said that Conservative Republicans,

Right-to-life, pro-assault weapons, anti-gay — if that’s who they are, they have no place in the state of New York because that’s not who New Yorkers are.

and the before-mentioned New York City Communist Mayor, Bill DeBlasio, publicly agreed with his remarks?

Imagine if the Governor of the state of Mississippi proclaimed that all Democrats, Liberals, and libertarians, gay or strait “had no place in the state of Mississippi because that’s not who Mississippians are”.

Oh, Lawdy.

Democrat Pundits, and Liberal and small “l” libertarian Politicians, on both sides of the aisle, would have a bigger conniption than that of Michelle Obama, if she were told that she had to pay for her own vacations.

Funny. If “political correctness” does not emanate from the mouths of “the enlighted”, it sounds just like hateful bigotry…doesn’t it?

Until He Comes,

KJ

The “Big Apple” is Now the “Red Apple”

On By kingsjesterIn Politics9 Comments

de blasioThere is a new Politboro in New York City.

Politicker.com reports that

During the election season, Bill de Blasio was often painted by conservatives as a leftist radical. But at his inauguration today, it was not Mr. de Blasio who dropped the most aggressive lines, but the first two speakers at the event.

In particular, Rev. Fred Lucas Jr., who was among several chaplains representing the city’s uniformed workers, surprised many observers by comparing the five boroughs to a “plantation.”

“Let the plantation called New York City be the city of God, a city set upon the hill, a light shining in darkness,” he declared. “Elevate our valleys. Make low our mountains. Make our crooked places straight and our rough places smooth. Oh God, oh God, oh God, break every chain, break every chain, break every chain.”

Mr. Lucas had several additional references to slavery in his short address, citing shackles, bondage, auction blocks, the Emancipation Proclamation, Civil War and Reconstruction Era.

“Oh God, on this first day of January–the anniversary of the first Emancipation Proclamation–sound forth the trumpets of heaven proclaiming a new Emancipation Proclamation in New York City,” he invoked. “From your divine leadership, emancipate every New Yorker from the shackles of fear, futility and frustration …. Oh God, end the civil wars and usher in a new Reconstruction Era that builds upon the many successes and achievements of yesterday while proclaiming the beginning of a new beginning.”

The speaker before Mr. Lucas, civil rights activist Harry Belafonte, was also blunt as he discussed racial tensions and injustices cemented by government policies. (Mr. Belafonte, of course, is not known to be a bashful speaker; during the campaign, he caused controversy after comparing the billionaire Koch brothers to the KKK.)

“New York, alarmingly, plays a tragic role in the fact that our nation has the largest prison population in the world. Much of that problem stems from issues of race perpetuated by the depth of human indifference to poverty. Changing the stop-and-frisk law is … only the tip of the iceberg in fixing our deeply Dickensian justice system,” he argued, referencing the controversial police tactic Mr. de Blasio has vowed to overhaul.

But Mr. Belafonte, one of Mr. de Blasio’s endorsers in the campaign, said the new mayor was the right man to help undo these systemic injustices.

“We have seen America wrestle with her conscience. We have seen her struggle to become her better self. I think the solution to what most people want America to become resides here in New York. We can become America’s DNA for the future,” he said. ”Bill de Blasio gives New York another opportunity to open the door of possibilities.”

Mr. Belafonte concluded, “We New Yorkers must not let him fail.”

At the same time, the new “Hizzoner” was being portrayed as a “Populist” and “Man of the People”…

Mr. de Blasio, looking confident between indecipherable small talk and endless photos–chugging a can of Limoncello to keep fresh in his dark suit and red tie–was feted as the sudden hero of progressives and good-government advocates across the city.

But the inauguration, which was touted before-hand as “one of the most open and accessible swearing-in events in New York City history,” also provided a window into how the new administration will handle the new crush of attention, with Mr. de Blasio–a former political operative known to be image-conscious–keping certain aspects of the event tightly controlled.

Along with Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Michael Bloomberg, Andrew Cuomo and the other stars who graced the inauguration stage, various non-political New Yorkers were asked to join them, lending the event an even more populist tinge. Hours before the speeches began, those New Yorkers sat quietly on folding chairs in the City Hall rotunda. But when Politicker approached a man to ask him about how it felt to take part in the inauguration, security quickly circled and demanded the interview end.

Later, when reporters tried to approach volunteers at the event, staffers quickly swooped in, saying the volunteers were barred from talking to the press.

And after Mr. de Blasio’s speech, reporters gathered inside on a carpet awaiting the Clintons were ordered by security guards off the carpet and behind columns where several refused to go. When asked who was inside, a de Blasio aide guarding the entrance was terse.

“Keep wondering,” he offered.

Okay, so we have a leader who is building his power through preaching class and race war, while restricting press coverage of his opulent lifestyle and the inner workings of his Political Machine. Sound familiar?

To say that de Blasio is a Radical Leftist, is an understatement.

Rush Limbaugh explains…

…in 1983, when he was still at NYU, De Blasio “toured parts of the communist Soviet Union and at one time served as an organizer with the anti-nuclear, anti-American organization called physicians for social responsibility, was hired to work as a political organizer bay Maryland-based Catholic social justice organization.” That was Marxist. “In ’88 he was an ardent supporter of the Marxist Sandinistas in Nicaragua, and he joined a number of his Maryland-based Catholic social justice organization colleagues on a 10-day trip to Nicaragua to help distribute food and medicine.”

No wonder Obama called him up! Obama’s saying, “I had to support this chump McAuliffe, but this de Blasio? Now, there’s my guy! There’s my guy.” When de Blasio got home from Nicaragua, he joined the Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York, which was an organization that held meetings and fundraisers on behalf of the Sandinista communists. He subscribed to the Sandinista party newspaper, Barricada, and he speaks admirably of the Sandinistas to this day.

He’s a communist.

Additionally, he and his wife honeymooned in Cuba in 1991.

De Blasio has big plans for the Big Apple. 

He has already said that he is going to do away with horse-drawn carriages, calling them “inhumane”.

He is against “income inequality”.

In other words,

From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.

Wherever Marxism has been tried, it has failed. New York City will be no different.

Until He Comes,

KJ

The Syria Situation: Dishonoring the Memory of 9/11

On By kingsjesterIn Politics6 Comments

twintowers911

As I sit down to vent my anger, images of past events flood my memory…

I remember seeing that first plane crash into the World Trade Center.

I remember the look of incredulity and panic on the faces of Steve Doocy, Brian Kilmeade, and E.D. Hill. I remember the second plane on its approach, and the horrifying realization that this was no accident… that America was under attack. An attack, which turned out to have been planned and executed by Osama bin Laden, and a group of Saudi Arabians, members of the Muslim Terrorist Group, known as al-Qaeda.

I remember the images of Americans jumping out of windows to their certain death, rather than be consumed by the fires, raging around them. I remember the sickening thud as they hit the pavement.

I remember the images of the brave NYC Policemen and Firemen as they rushed into the World Trade Center…never to return.

I remember watcing the First Tower collapse…then, the second one. I remember a heroic Mayor Rudy Guilani, out in the middle of the devastation, doing whatever he could to get New Yorkers to safety.

I remember President George W. Bush coming on television, with a look of steely determination, as he announced that we would be avenged.

I remember him standing on that heap of rubble that used to be a part of the World Trade Center, side by side with that fireman, telling the assembled crowd, through his bullhorn, that “the world will hear from us”.

And, it did.

I remember Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Hussein Obama, telling a bunch of donors at a private meeting, that Americans were “bitterly clinging to their guns and (Christian) religion.”

I remember the new president, Barack Hussein Obama, saying that America was “no longer (just) a Christian Nation.”

I remember, on the 10th Anniversary of the worst Terrorist Attack ever perpetrated on American soil. as our flag passed in review, in front of President Barack Hussein Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, her turning to him and saying in his ear,

All this for a flag.

I remember last year, on the 11th anniversary of 9/11, the massacre of Ambassador Chris Stevens and 3 other brave Americans, at the U.S. Embassy Compound in Benghazi, Libya by, what turned out to be Muslim Terrorists.

I also remember the Obama Administration telling the world, over and over again, that it was the fault of an anti-Islamic youtube.com video, which no one had ever watched, rather than offend his new “allies”, the authors of “Arab Spring,” the Radical Islamists of the Muslim Brotherhood.

And now, 5 days away from the thirteenth Anniversary of 9/11, Obama and his lackey, Secretary of State John (I served in Vietnam, even though I’m a wuss) Kerry, want us to intervene in a Civil War, in the Middle Eastern country of Syria, because, allegedly, President Assad killed a bunch of his own citizens with a Weapon of Mass Destruction, a chemical weapon.

Obama’s original justification was the fact that in August of 2012, in a remark made off-teleprompter, he warned that the use of chemical weapons, would “cross a red line”, a recorded statement, which he now denies making.

So, like the petulant president that he is, Obama is insisting that we participate “in a limited engagement” to “punish Assad for using chemical weapons”.

However, as I have been theorizing in previous posts, I believe that there is more to this whole bloody mess…a lot more. I believe that some sort of deal was struck with the Muslim Brotherhood, and through them, their “brothers” in al Qaeda to get rid of Assad, and allow them to move into the seat of power in Syria, as they did in Libya and Egypt, with Obama and his Administration’s Approval.

What Obama did not count on, was the blow-back he would encounter from Americans of all political affiliations, race, and social status. So, in order to cover his rear, he asked Congress to vote on it, knowing, in his own deviant mid, that regardless of the outcome of the vote, he, being the President of the United States, would still have the power to go ahead with the intervention on behalf of his Muslim Brothers.

What he may not have counted on, was the camouflage, which he has worked so hard on constructing, concerning this “humanitarian intervention”, has begun to slip away.

It was revealed yesterday, that, the Syrian Rebels, which Obama and Kerry had been portraying as “Moderates,” are actually full-blown al Qaeda members, who have been executing government solders, killing Syrian Christians, and issuing promises to kill more Christians, if Obama puts them in power.

During this whole thing, Obama has been refusing to directly address the Nation. Instead, having his horse-faced lackey, Sec. of State John Kerry do it. Unfortunately for Obama, that didn’t work.

So, here were are.

Next Wednesday, the United States Congress will be voting on whether or not to assist the same Muslim Terrorist Group which produced the cold-blooded, barbaric murderers of 3,000 American Citizens, in their attempt to take over the government of Syria.

On the 13th Anniversary of 9/11, our nation’s elected leaders are going to be voting whether or not to support the Syrian takeover by al Qaeda.

If they pass the measure, they will dishonor the memory of all those Americans killed that horrible day.

And…in the midterm elections of 2014, they themselves will be the victims of the worst Political Massacre in American History.

As the late, great Bobby Darin wrote and sang,

Come and sing a simple song of freedom

Sing it like you’ve never sung before

Let it fill the air

Tell the people everywhere

We, the people here, don’t want a war

Call your Congressmen, Americans, and, tell them that their jobs depends on them voting not to intervene in Syria’s Civil War.

Let’s Roll!

Until He Comes,

KJ

Free Speech: The Right of All Americans

On By kingsjesterIn Politics5 Comments

Recently, we have all been witness to a disturbing trend going on in the Greatest Country on God’s Green Earth: a not-so subtle war on Free Speech.

The scary thing is, it is not some foreign power going to war with us. It is our OWN GOVERNMENT!

We’ve seen two examples of this, this past week:

First, the producer of a youtube.com video, which no one has seen, and yet, was used by the Obama Administration as a scapegoat to excuse Muslim Extremist violence in the Middle East, was brought in for questioning by the Los Angeles police, and now faces charges for a “violation of parole” for posting the video.

Then, a Liberal Pundit from the seldom-watched cable news channel, MSNBC, took it upon herself to rip up a New York Subway Advertisement, which was anti-Muslim. Evidently, the MTA endorses her actions, because, next thing you know, they banned the advertisments under one of their rules, which states:

The advertisement, or any information contained in it, is directly adverse to the commercial or administrative interests of the MTA or is harmful to the morale of MTA employees or contains material the display of which the MTA reasonably foresees would incite or provoke violence or other immediate breach of the peace, and so harm, disrupt, or interfere with safe, efficient, and orderly transit operations.

Let’s review the First Amendment, shall we?

The First Amendment (1791)

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for redress of grievances.

The following are quotes by famous Americans about this American Right:

If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.

George Washington

It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them.

Mark Twain

I live in America. I have the right to write whatever I want. And it’s equaled by another right just as powerful: the right not to read it. Freedom of speech includes the freedom to offend people.

Brad Thor

I begin to feel like most Americans don’t understand the First Amendment, don’t understand the idea of freedom of speech, and don’t understand that it’s the responsibility of the citizen to speak out.

Roger Ebert

We don’t have an Official Secrets Act in the United States, as other countries do. Under the First Amendment, freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and freedom of association are more important than protecting secrets.

Alan Dershowitz

Freedom of speech is always under attack by Fascist mentality, which exists in all parts of the world, unfortunately.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Hans Bader at OpenMarket.org, wrote the following, concerning this situation:

This idea that you can ban speech because people react violently to it is at odds with Supreme Court rulings and basic First Amendment axioms. The Supreme Court has rejected this so-called “heckler’s veto” in cases like Terminiello v. Chicago (1949). In that decision, the Supreme Curt ruled that the First Amendment protected unsavory, anti-semitic speech that enraged an “angry and turbulent” crowd. The Supreme Court rejected the idea that speech can be banned to prevent unrest, declaring that “a function of free speech under our system of government is to invite dispute. It may indeed best serve its high purpose when it induces a condition of unrest, creates dissatisfaction with conditions as they are, or even stirs people to anger. Speech is often provocative and challenging. It may strike at prejudices and preconceptions and have profound unsettling effects as it presses for acceptance of an idea.”

Banning speech because someone reacts violently to it sets a terrible precedent. It gives the most violent or angry members of society a veto over free speech and what issues are discussed. It is always possible to blame the victim of violence for inciting aggression by an angry person through expression of views that offended that person. (For example, when a security guard working for a conservative group was shot by a critic of the group, some people blamed the group’s rhetoric for supposedly creating a “climate of hate” that led the outraged shooter to react by attacking it, and said it must “share” the “blame” for the “growth of” such “violent acts.”)

…Banning speech because it offends violent people will backfire and lead to more violence in the future by emboldening, rewarding, and conditioning them.

As I’ve written before, my father was a Master Sergeant with an Army Engineering Unit in World War II.  He was one of our Brightest and Best, who waded onto Normandy Beach on D-Day, in a hail of gunfire.

He also led me to Christ, through his leading of the singing of hymns in his 150 person Sunday School Class, his powerful, loving witness in his daily life, and “instructing me in the way I should go”.

Regardless of the wishes of forces, both seen and unseen, who would restrict our rights as Americans to state our opinion, and to stand for Traditional American Values at this important moment in our country’s history, I will be here, doing just that, as is my God-given right as an American.

And, I will exercise my right to vote on November 6th, 2012.

God Bless America.

Happy May…errr…Labor Day

On By kingsjesterIn Politics2 Comments

Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.

Saul Alinsky, Rules for Radicals

The 44th President of the United States appears to have that rule down pat.

In advance of a major Occupy rally planned for Tuesday, President Obama delivered a speech this [yesterday] morning filled with class warfare rhetoric.

The president warned union members that Republicans would rather give “rich folks” more tax breaks, than invest in the American worker.

“Republicans in Congress would rather put fewer of you to work rebuilding America than ask millionaires and billionaires to live without massive new tax cuts on top of the ones they’ve already gotten,” Obama declared in a speech to to construction union members at the Hilton hotel in Washington.

Obama added that Republicans’ economic plan depended on tax cuts for the rich and “dismantling your unions.”

“I mean, if you ask them, what’s their big economic plan in addition to tax cuts for rich folks, it’s dismantling your unions. After all you’ve done to build and protect the middle class, they make the argument you’re responsible for the problems facing the middle class,” Obama added.

The president praised the unionized middle class as the for contributing to an economy based on the middle class.

“You believed prosperity shouldn’t be reserved just for a privileged few; it should extend all the way from the boardroom all the way down to the factory floor.”

According to marxists.org:

Out of its traditions the American labor movement has given the international working class two fighting days which the revolutionary workers consider as mile posts and which they must pass each year on their way to ultimate victory. Those who were midwives at the birth of these “days” have renounced them as soon as they have acquired revolutionary meaning. The A. F. of L. helped with the inauguration of May Day. It has long expiated that sin against American capital and it is never held against it.

The Socialist Party, a close, even if poor, relation of the A. F. of L., must be considered as having contributed to the origin of International Women’s Day, celebrated each year on March 8. About twenty years ago the Socialist women of New York organized, in contradistinction to the bourgeois suffrage movement, a mass participation of proletarian women in the movement for woman suffrage. This particular action took place on March 8. The success of the New York demonstration led to the establishment of March 8 as Women’s Day on a national scale. The International Socialist Congress in 1910 made March 8 international.

With the granting of woman suffrage in the United States, March 8 was abandoned by the S. P., since the ballot and election to office has always been the alpha and omega of that party. The Russian working women did not forget March 8 and, following the October Revolution, rejuvenated this important fighting labor day. The Communist International made International Women’s Day again a living reality. As in the case of May 1, only the Communist parties are carrying on the traditions of March 8, with men and women workers jointly utilizing this day to call upon the proletarian women to take their place in the struggles beside the men workers.

For the May Day, 1923, edition of the Weekly Worker, C. E. Ruthenberg wrote: “May Day – the day which inspires fear in the hearts of the capitalists and hope in the workers – the workers the world over – will find the Communist movement this year stronger in the U. S. than at any time in its history…. The road is clear for greater achievements, and in the United States as elsewhere in the world the future belongs to Communism.” In a Weekly Worker of a generation before, Eugene V. Debs wrote in a May Day edition of the paper, published on April 27, 1907: “This is the first and only International Labor Day. It belongs to the working class and is dedicated to the Revolution.”

Bloomberg.com reports that the Occupy Wall Street movement is ready to celebrate today, in their own inimitable classless style.

Occupy Wall Street demonstrators, whose anti-greed message spread worldwide during an eight-week encampment in Lower Manhattan last year, plan marches across the globe today calling attention to what they say are abuses of power and wealth.

Organizers say they hope the coordinated events will mark a spring resurgence of the movement after a quiet winter. Calls for a general strike with no work, no school, no banking and no shopping have sprung up on websites in Toronto, Barcelona, London, Kuala Lumpur and Sydney, among hundreds of cities in North America, Europe and Asia.

In New York, Occupy Wall Street will join scores of labor organizations observing May 1, traditionally recognized as International Workers’ Day. They plan marches from Union Square to Lower Manhattan and a “pop-up occupation” of Bryant Park on Sixth Avenue, across the street from Bank of America’s Corp.’s 55-story tower.

“We call upon people to refrain from shopping, walk out of class, take the day off of work and other creative forms of resistance disrupting the status quo,” organizers said in an April 26 e-mail.

Occupy groups across the U.S. have protested economic disparity, decrying high foreclosure and unemployment rates that hurt average Americans while bankers and financial executives received bonuses and taxpayer-funded bailouts. In the past six months, similar groups, using social media and other tools, have sprung up in Europe, Asia and Latin America.

Alinsky and Marx would be very proud of these “useful idiots”.