The Subject of Home Birth

Serena brought up the option of home birth. I think that under normal circumstances this is a great and wonderful experience. I do want Serena to know that this is not a sore spot with Birdie and I. We do have some concerns considering she has had three c-sections and some bad scarring due to the last one. (This is part of the reason we thought Birdie could not have any more children) We are praying that this one is a smaller child so that we would not have to go through the c-section route. If this one is a girl we think we have a chance that way. Her symptoms all say girl, but we won’t know until the fourth month. Birdie has had a testosterone wash through her body with each of the boys. When she was pregnant with Pookie it was totally different. Birdie has looked into this herself as a lot of her friends have done this and due to her high blood pressure and numerous c-sections she is not a good candidate for it. Most midwives will not even take her as a client. I can definitely say I am not capable of handling things if they went bad.

Joining the TTLB ecosystem

Ok people I just joined the TTLB ecosystem. I need more people to add me to their blogrolls so I can move up in the ranks. If any one wants to be on my blogroll let me know as I will be updating that soon.

I am very aware that this is shameless self promotion.

The Blessing of Children

I have alluded to things going on in my life on a couple of posts and thought I would share it with you, and go on a small rant. Birdie and I just recently found out we are expecting our fifth child. This is somewhat of a surprise for us as the last one was born 4 ½ years ago. We thought we were basically infertile until now, but one can never know what the Lord has in mind. We do have some prayer requests though. First and foremost pray for the health of mama and the baby. When we moved back to Dallas we did not bring any baby stuff (as we thought the Lord had said we were through having children) so we are starting over as if this were a first child please pray that the lord will provide what we need. Also with our financial needs, I work as a contractor and have no benefits; we are praying that He will provide for all of the medical expenses that will be incurred. Birdie and I thank you in advance for your prayers.

And now for the rant, as most of you know Birdie and I have already been blessed with 4 children, and number five is on the way. We have a view that children are one of the blessings from G_d, and a blessing that carries heavy responsibility. We also believe that if children are truly a blessing then who are we to limit those blessings. Now we are constantly amazed at how we are treated when people find out how many children we have.(BTW we have raised them with no help from the government or family) It ranges from shock, to amazement, to down right scorn. Very rarely do we encounter someone who thinks this is wonderful. Sadly, we have even encountered this in our family. Most notably from Birdie’s stepmother who practically begged her to have her tubes tied after Puddleglum was born. This has caused a strain on the family that I do not know how to repair. We also dread informing Birdie’s parents because of this. So at a time when we should be celebrating life there is a sense of sadness as well due to the perception of more family strife. I just do not understand how anyone could think that having a child is a bad thing. Children are a blessing.

I Just Needed to Post Something Positive

These are the lyrics to one of my favorite songs. It is by a group called Casting Crowns.


"Who Am I"

Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth
Would care to know my name
Would care to feel my hurt
Who am I, that the Bright and Morning Star
Would choose to light the way
For my ever wandering heart

Not because of who I am
But because of what You've done
Not because of what I've done
But because of who You are

I am a flower quickly fading
Here today and gone tomorrow
A wave tossed in the ocean
A vapor in the wind
Still You hear me when I'm calling
Lord, You catch me when I'm falling
And You've told me who I am
I am Yours, I am Yours

Who Am I, that the eyes that see my sin
Would look on me with love and watch me rise again
Who Am I, that the voice that calmed the sea
Would call out through the rain
And calm the storm in me

Not because of who I am
But because of what You've done
Not because of what I've done
But because of who You are

I am a flower quickly fading
Here today and gone tomorrow
A wave tossed in the ocean
A vapor in the wind
Still You hear me when I'm calling
Lord, You catch me when I'm falling
And You've told me who I am
I am Yours, I am Yours

I am Yours
Whom shall I fear
Whom shall I fear
'Cause I am Yours
I am Yours

Why I am not a Republican

I woke up in a good mood today. All was right with the world; I checked my blog for comments then as has become my habit I went and checked out what Billy D wrote today. Bad move, it ruined my day. It is over the kind of garbage that Billy wrote about that turned me from a diehard republican to simply a conservative with no real party.

We had 194 republican congressmen vote (unsuccessfully) against an amendment to HR 3132. This amendment turned a good bill protecting children from predators into a politically correct pile of garbage. When the vote for the bill came up only 29 republicans voted against it. I do not get it. If you can stand up and vote against the amendment why not vote against the bill that has been ruined by that amendment. If the 194 that voted against the amendment had stood up and had some backbone told the country that this was a bad bill that they could not in good conscience vote for and offer up a good alternative people would have listened. Republicans have lived to long as cowards. It is time for action. It is time to take back the country our forefathers envisioned.

I should have known better after 1995 when they did not fulfill the contract. I never again will fall for the promise of smaller government, as I do not believe it will come without violent revolution.

Family

Due to some recent events going on in my life and what Billy D wrote on his blog today, I have been feeling a little morose over what I did not have while growing up. I did not have the luxury of a loving home. Both my father and stepmother are alcoholics. My Dad could drink beer all day without seeming drunk but could become mean when he hit the hard stuff. My stepmother was hardly ever without a drink in hand, either wine or the vodka gimlet. She also was a bad drunk. To top that off I was the least of three sons. At least that was until my twin brother started dating his future wife. I still had to contend with the little brother who was named after my dad. How is that for a kicker my father's youngest son was named after him. Like he never thought that would cause some problems. Do not get me wrong I love my little brother, I never held our fathers treatment of us against him. It was not his fault. Besides he was a great kid. I was just the sickly one who was left alone for the most part. I never was abused or anything, I was just left to my own devices most of the time.

Most children left like that would have turned out to be hellions. My twin did to some point rebel against my parents. Not me, I was the quiet one who would as soon make peace than start a fight. The advent of my little brother just made me more invisible. It seemed the only time I got noticed was when I went along with another one of my brother's schemes. Also my parent's alcoholism made me swear to never touch a drop of alcohol in my life. That and the hangover form the margaritas from the margarita machine my father had set up on the back of the truck during a block party one labor day.

The turning point in my life came when my atheist / agnostic parents put my brother and I in private school at the age of 14. You see this was a Christian school. I did not accept the Messiah right away, as a mater of fact that took a total of 8 years. (That is another story for another time)

Now I will have to tell you I am feeling better now as I write this out because my life has changed. Am I perfect? Far from it, but I do know who my Lord is, and I know that I have a wife and 4 children who love me. That is ultimately all that matters.

Commenting on Rita

My SIL who strangely started a blog after I did had some interesting comments concerning the coverage of hurricane Rita. My favorite being this one:

“Many times throughout the reporting people would punctuate a list of damages with some kind of a positive statement that started out with the phrase, "but I do have some good news..." at which point I kept expecting to hear about how much they saved on their car insurance by switching to Geico.”

Keep in mind she does not comment on a lot of political stuff and it looks to be more of a blog for her scrapbooking work but if you want to take a look here is the link:

Scrapbook Designer's Help Desk

NFL Picks for Week 3

I am going to wade into the fray here and make my picks. I probably will do no better than most but here it goes.


W Dallas at San Francisco: Dallas
L N.Y. Giants at San Diego: N.Y. Giants
W Cincinnati at Chicago: Cincinnati
W Cleveland at Indianapolis: Indianapolis
L Tennessee at St. Louis: Tennessee
W Jacksonville at N.Y. Jets: Jacksonville
W Tampa Bay at Green Bay: Tampa Bay
W Oakland at Philadelphia: Philadelphia
L New Orleans at Minnesota: New Orleans
W Arizona at Seattle: Seattle
W Atlanta at Buffalo: Atlanta
L New England at Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh
L Kansas City at Denver: Kansas City
L Carolina at Miami: Carolina


The only one I am not to sure on the the New England / Pittsburgh game. that one could go either way. After last weeks disaster it is up for grabs.

Update:
8 wins 6 losses
Not bad for a start but I would have thought I had picked better than that.

The Cowboys are going to give me a heart attack before the season is over if they keep this up.

Billy D Has a Good Idea

"I myself have been thinking of becoming a professional blogger.All I need is for you good folks to send me $10 apiece every day (except Sunday) and we'll be golden.I'd prefer cash, and of course I'll keep good track of it for IRS purposes."
Billy D

The only problem here is that Billy is asking for too much. The way I see it is that if I could convince 300 people to give me $10 a month I would be set. In turn I could regale people with stories from around the world. I could quit my job and start working from home. What am I thinking? I have not even had that many hits on my blog.

See what you did now Billy, you got me thinking. That is a very scary thought.

A Dream

My friends I am going to share something personal. Ever since I was a boy (11-12) I have had one dream. It has evolved some over the years but the basic dream stays the same. You see I have wanted to either own a ranch or run one. My most selfish reason would simply to be around horses. This is how I felt when I was younger. My parents had land and we kept some horses until I was 17. I took care of them, rode them and felt most at peace with the world when I was working with them. Ever since we lost the ability to keep horses I have felt a small part of me is missing.

Now G_d has changed that desire somewhat. You see He has given me another desire in my heart. I have a desire to help children that have been hurt, abused, are alone, basically the ones left behind in life, especially boys. Well the two have merged into one; I have a dream to start a horse ranch where young children can learn about G_d’s love, and about growing up loved, all in learning to care for a horse.

I recently read a book about a family that is doing something similar up in Oregon. It is the only ministry like it in the world. They take in abused horses and have disadvantaged, sick, or even children whose family is just down on their luck and have them help rehabilitate these horses. The stories are heart wrenching. Check them out and if you can please support them. Who knows someday I may be in their shoes.

Crystal Peaks Youth Ranch

The Word

An incident happened over at Crystal Lake’s blog recently, and has had me thinking. At first I was quite mad at the person involved. After some time to distance myself from the event and time to reflect, I am more concerned for this person’s spiritual well being.

You see there is a group of people out there that I like to say is too “educated” for their own good. Now having an education is not a bad thing, but when that education replaces faith that is when it becomes a problem. You see I have a basic understanding of the Word. It is inspired, infallible, and complete. In my opinion you cannot claim to be a Christian and claim otherwise. My claim is backed up by these verses in the scriptures:

15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
2 Timothy 3:15-17 KJV


Even without the scripture to back it up logic would dictate that the scripture would have to be the true Word of G_d. If it is not then everything that we believe is in vain. This is one of the tactics that the enemy has used for thousands of years. If one point could be proven wrong then all of it could be said to be wrong. The Word is His Word period. AMEN

NASCAR

I know I am going to take some hits on this. I have been a NASCAR fan for about 10 years. I came to like a certain young driver who was professing to be Christian, was winning A LOT of races and winning championships. If you have not guessed who that is by now his name is Jeff Gordon. Now since that time things have happened to tarnish his reputation. Namely his very public divorce. He, as a lot of famous people do, cheated on his wife. For that I have had problems with my support of his carrier. There are a lot of good drivers out there now, but not one that has struck me as someone I could support. I know some of you people are going give me some of their picks and here are my takes on a couple:

JR.: VERY overrated would only be a mediocre driver if his daddy were still here. Fan base only there because of his daddy. (Currently dodging beer cans from die-hard fans)

Smoke(Stewart): Very good driver, but I can’t get past the arrogant in your face attitude if he is not winning.

Most other drivers seem to have moments of greatness only to fall back into the pack. The only driver that I even like a little bit is rookie Kyle Bush. He still has a lot to prove but has the skills to go far if he can hone them. He drives for a good owner so he will not have to worry about not getting good cars, so we will see. Make your case and I will weigh each one on their own merit.

The Great Debate Over Owls

I know that I said that I would have something up in the morning, but at this point in time morning is relative.

Do you remember the great debate that the timber industry lost over the northern spotted owl? I do. The industry I worked for was closely linked with the pulp & paper industry. It hurt us as a great number of pulp & paper mills in the northwest were shut down during that time. Well anyway it turns out that the timber industry was right all along. It was not the logging that was reducing the spotted owl population; it was another owl in the region that was causing the problem, the barred owl.

"The Barred Owl is larger, stronger and eats more types of prey than the Spotted Owl, and some scientists believe that they are wiping out the weaker Spotted Owl."

Writers Block

I am sorry that I have not posted anything in a few days. I feel I have about a million things to say with no way to get it past the disgraphic filter in my mind. (One of the reasons I am keeping a blog is to help me past this little problem.) For one I need to vent about something that happened over at Crystal Lake’s blog (it just seems that every time I try to write about it I spew too much venom), some interesting news on the home front that needs some prayer, and other assorted things I read in the news. I will try to have something at least interesting posted in the morning.

Like I said, be praying for Birdie and I.

Thanks.

Blessings

Birdie wrote this to me in an e-mail the other day and I just can not help but share it with all of you.

"My thoughts have been wandering around today (no surprise there), and keep circling back to the same subject. I've been pondering God's blessings and how the very greatest blessings he gives us often come wrapped in challenges disguised as problems and just dare us not to accept them. I have been thinking about how pregnancy and childbirth are such a good example of this. Even a planned pregnancy brings with it many a challenge. An unplanned one tempts us to reject it, to throw it back in the face of the One who gave it. What a shame. God's gifts are always good. They are always perfect. They are always just what we need to bless our hearts, and to smooth out some of our rough edges. However, no matter how wonderful God's other gifts like health and prosperity may be, they do not carry the eternal consequences of the gift of a new life, a new person. Children are the only gifts that bear the mark of the Creator. No wonder the same world that rejected Him tries to reject these little ones who are made in His image! Everyone will die someday. No wealthy person has yet figured out a way to carry their riches into eternity. Health and prosperity will fade away, but an immortal soul will pass on into eternity whether into the presence of God or into everlasting torment. I guess that I'm preaching to the choir here, but it has been cycling through my mind today. The challenge is always upon us. What will we do with this one life we are given? How will we stand for God, for the Truth in this age of darkness? Will we take a stand for Christ, or will we cave in to the pressures of the world?

I have also been thinking that, so often, the world rejects a child, God's blessing because the parents are too poor to afford another... because the timing just isn't right... because of social reasons and the embarrassment or hardship it would cause... What a shame. I'm thinking that I'm glad that Mary didn't bow to the social pressure for her baby was surely ill-timed, not planned, and of great social embarrassment by the world's standards. Surely, she couldn't afford a pregnancy then either. She was poor, she was single, and she was facing tremendous embarrassment."

The Martyr’s Song

I have been of late reading a series of books that are quite frankly setting me on my posterior and making me say "WOW". You see I did not grow up in a loving home as a child, so the concept of a G_d that not only wants to love you, but is so desperate for your love that He is willing to go through extreme measures to get it floors me. It also makes me wonder what extreme measures He has used in the pursuit of me. I do not know if the following counts, but it is the only thing I could think of right now.

By all rights I should not be writing this right now. I should have been dead back in 1992. Just so you know I am a severe asthmatic, and back in 1992 my medication stopped working. I was having a minor attack, and I have weathered those so many times without medication that I did not think anything about it. I went to bed that night and things progressively got worse so my wife got me an appointment with my doctor for that afternoon. (That was the earliest we could get in.) By the time we got to the doctor I was struggling to breathe. While in the waiting room I started to turn blue and could get almost no air. My wife, G_d bless her, went and got help, they wheeled me over to the hospital next door and started working on me. I do not remember allot from the emergency room but the one thing that has always stuck in my mind was the nurse saying that I should be dead because my blood oxygen count was zero. It turned out that the reason my medication stopped working was because I had pneumonia. One third of my left lung was full of fluid. I have since had pneumonia two more times. One it was caught early and treated with antibiotics and the other nearly killed me as well because I thought I had the flu and was too stubborn to go see a doctor until I was coughing up blood.


If you have not read this series I highly recommend it. The Series is called The Martyr's Song series the author is Ted Dekker.

CORRECTION:

Birdie has informed me that I have my facts wrong. The first case of pneumonia was only spots on my lung that caused a unstoppable asthma attack and the third case was when my lung was a third full fluid hence the coughing up blood.

Never Forget

While thinking of something to say about today, Birdie showed me this from her e-mail devotional. I do not think I could have said it better.

No Other God
September 11, 2005

"And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me"
(Exodus 20:1-3).

This commandment is probably the most basically important of all, because it was the first of God's Ten Commandments given long ago on Mount Sinai. Jesus also said that total love for God was "the first and great commandment" (Matthew 22:38).

This date, now known popularly simply as "9/11" has been called Patriot Day, and there should be no doubt that the most patriotic thing we can do is to believe whole-heartedly in the one true God of creation and redemption, for our nation was founded on belief in the God of the Bible.

But our nation today is rapidly becoming a secularized society, with this true God being systematically removed from all governmental recognition. The Bible warns that there be many "that are called gods" but "there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things" (I Corinthians 8:5-6).

The most dangerous of these false gods is one called Allah. His followers many centuries ago, conquered much of the known world, largely by the sword, following the teachings of their "false prophet" (note Matthew 24:11). One group of his followers murdered thousands of Americans on 9/11/01, and we are now in a "war against terrorism."

This war may well be lost, however, if it is waged only on secularistic terms. There is a very real spiritual motivation for the "terrorists," based on many commands and promises in their own Allah-inspired "bible." But Allah is a deceiver who claims to be God but who denies that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. The name of the true God was stressed in His first commandment when He said, "I am the Lord [that is Jehovah, or Yahweh] thy God," not Allah!
HMM

Property Rights Disaster In The Making

Ok I will admit I was not exactly against John Roberts as a Supreme Court Justice, but this one article that came in my wife's e-mail (she belongs to a group that keeps track of current political news) I am now firmly in the camp that says he is no good. Although I placed a link, here is the article in it's entirety.

A Supreme Property Rights Disaster In The Making
By James S. Burling
September 1, 2005

After a term marked by the Supreme Court's utter contempt for property rights, those of us who happen to think there is something special about allowing old widows to keep their homes, were not prepared for an even more bitter defeat. Yet, that is what President Bush handed us, with the nomination of John Roberts.

The battle over property rights is not a conservative versus liberal thing. It's more a struggle between those who believe in the power of the state to dictate how we get to use our land and homes, versus those of us who believe that the state has no business destroying our right to make reasonable use of our property.

That is because when government can go about destroying, with impunity, our ability to use property, none of our liberties can be safe.

As James Madison put it:
"Where an excess of power prevails, property of no sort is duly respected. No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties, or his possessions."

This spring, the Court handed down a series of cases that stand for the proposition that today in America, no man (or widow) is safe. In a case out of Hawaii, the Court held that courts had to defer to a Legislative scheme to reduce gas prices, by controlling the rents paid by gas stations – even though it was proven in federal court that the scheme would have no such economic effect.

In a case out of San Francisco, the Court held that landowners may no longer have their day in federal court, when a local government has violated their rights guaranteed by the "Takings Clause" of the Fifth Amendment. San Francisco regularly tells hotel owners that they must pay a "fee" of hundreds of thousands of dollars, for permission to rent existing rooms to tourists.

Now, landowners can no longer go to federal court to argue that bizarre and extortionate policy violates the federal Constitution's proscription against "taking without just compensation."
But the most notorious decision of this term was the 5 to 4 Kelo decision that upheld the raw power of the City of New London, Connecticut, to destroy a neighborhood of homes, including that of an 87-year-old widow, who had lived in her home since 1918.

So long as a "public purpose" is met, in this case, by providing some aesthetic value to a large corporate headquarters project, the Court will not interfere. The language in the Constitution that property can be taken only for "public use" were just words to the Courts – words that can be shaped and reshaped, to meet the needs of the state.

But, if an 87-year-old Connecticut widow can have her property rights destroyed, how about dozens of elderly landowners, many of them widows and widowers, near Lake Tahoe?
That is where Judge Roberts comes in.

In a notorious case in 2002, John Roberts, then a private attorney, argued that several dozen mostly elderly and middle class, landowners should not receive a penny in compensation, even after a local land use agency had prohibited all use of their property near Lake Tahoe, for nearly 30 years. In a nutshell, Roberts argued that impacts to property owners must be balanced against the utility of the regulation – in a way that tilts, almost every time, in the government's favor.

Unfortunately for the landowners, the Court agreed with him. Of course, one might argue, Roberts was only doing what he was being paid to do, as a high-priced lawyer to represent his client. But, then why did he take the case for a "substantially reduced" fee, as the chief of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency admits?

More disturbingly, Robert's representation of the agency is entirely consistent with the statist philosophy he expressed in a 1978 Harvard Law Review article on land use law. He argued against clear rules that would put boundaries on government power over property, in favor of essentially the same government-friendly "balancing test" that he advocated for in the Lake Tahoe case.
Even more troubling, he proposed a scheme that would deny money to landowners whose property is taken, using the sort of rhetoric that reminds us of Bill Clinton's prevarications over the meaning of the word "is." Roberts wrote:
"The very terms of the Fifth Amendment, furthermore, are sufficiently flexible to accommodate changing notions of what compensation is just."

Put another way, what we have here, is not the "living Constitution" so derided by strict constructionists, but a "mutating virus," infinitely malleable in the service of the state, and undeniably threatening to the rights of property owners. Justice O'Connor was a swing vote on property; with Roberts it will be the property owners who will be twisting in the wind.

James S. Burling is a principal attorney with Pacific Legal Foundation, the nation's oldest and largest public interest legal organization dedicated to defending private property rights. This commentary appeared in the August 15 issues of Enter Stage Right and The One Republic Journal. Pacific Legal is a national firm with offices in several parts of the country.

P.S. I know that I do not get a lot of hits on my blog yet so please spread the word.

Need a Little Help Here

A little background before I ask my question. You see up until this past year I have never had to look for employment. The work was either so low level that almost any one could do it, or I knew someone, or someone I knew was a friend with someone on the inside. The latter is how I got to work for the company I was laid off from a year ago. I worked for them for 13 years. I started as a production tech building pc boards and wiring systems, worked my way to a field service representative, and was promoted to the coordinator of their nationwide service group in my last year.

To be fair the company was not the same when I left, as it was when I was first hired. For the first ten years of my employment the company was dedicated to building world-class emission monitoring equipment for industries such as pulp & paper, and utilities. The crown jewel of this company was the field service group. We had a dedication to our customers that was unmatched by any of our competitors.

It was the last three years that it all fell apart. Through a series of buyouts our company ended up being owned by one of our vendors. At first this seemed like a good thing. I think only my wife knew that it was a bad thing. They were one of the leaders in building gas analyzers and we thought that this would put us at an advantage against our competitors. First sign of bad times was when they fired our sales force that had spent 20 years building relationships and made us use their sales force who did not care if a single system got sold or who sold the system as long as a “blue box” was in it. Then the company started centralizing all of its operations. This is when we knew the handwriting was on the wall for good. Then came the attempted move of our division to MA and the uproar of our customers over that. Then they got sneaky and started selectively moving positions up to MA. That is how I lost my job.

Anyway that is a long tirade just to say that it used to be that if a man told you what he could or could not do you took him at his word and hired him. Now it seems you have to have all kinds of papers saying you know what you know. It has been quite frustrating on my part be cause I never got any kind of documentation on my training.

I am currently working as a test technician on a contractual basis for a medical instrument company, but it is contract work and could be terminated at any time as was evidenced by 6 of my coworkers at the beginning of this month.

So my question is does anyone out there in the Dallas area know someone who needs a qualified electrical technician but is not to concerned with degrees or certifications?

People's True Needs

I read articles like this one and it breaks my heart. When a disaster strikes the needs of people are not just material, they are also spiritual. When people are down they need to know that there is a loving G_d that cares for them personally and individually. People who use a disaster to promote their political agenda are plain wrong. If you want to urge people who think like you do to provide help then do so, just don’t bring politics into the game during the disaster. The president and other government officials know that the majority of people are religious to some extent, so simple admonitions from them that we should pray for the victims are normal and expected. This is not promoting one religion over another, just people being human in the face of disaster.

The Welfare State

The real disaster down in New Orleans was not a natural one it was a man made one. The more I look, and the more I see of the events transpiring there the more I am convinced that this is all due to the welfare state entitlement mentality. No one prepared due to the fact that they have been living off of other people’s money for all of their lives. Sometimes the welfare money has flowed for generations. These people do not even know how to take care of themselves. So when it all broke down they went to steeling, murdering, rapping, and just giving up. The average person when faced with this kind of disaster picks themselves up by the bootstraps, thanks G_d that they are alive and then goes to see who he can help. That is if he has not already fled the area with his family in order to make sure they are safe.

I have stated my point but I think that this guy said it better.

Hurricane Katrina

Up until now I have been pretty quiet about the events in the area that was hit by Katrina. Partially out of shock and partially out of concern for the family members we have in the area. They all lived in the Washington county area of LA. Which is located in the northern part of the toe of the boot. My wife is of Acadian in decent and still has family down there. We have not heard if they are ok as of yet.

What bothers me is that for all of the complaining that has been going on over the lack of response from the government in N.O. it seems that all of the other people have been forgotten. We hear very little news from those areas. I think it is mostly because these people have been the epitome of what to do in a disaster. They have helped each other, not waited for a government handout, and not started killing each other.

This is one of the stories that helps me believe what I think.

Fixing America

A short time ago Difster asked what we would do to fix our great nation. This is one of the things that got me to thinking I really need my own blog, so here it is. I probably will get pasted to the wall here, but this is what I think.

First, for obvious reasons, we need to basically “reset” our government back to the constitution and the bill of rights. This gives us a very good starting point. Our forefathers were quite intelligent and knew a good system when they worked it out. There are a few things I would change or clarify in order to limit the government more.

1. Clarify the freedom of religion clause so that the government cannot take away our freedom to practice our religion publicly.

2. Clarify the right to bear arms to mean if we wish to own military hardware we can.

3. Change the presidential term to five years and a two term limit, representatives will stay at the two year term but have a three term limit, and senators will have one ten year term. You will see where these time limits fit in soon.

4. Voting will be limited to one vote per household; if you live together only one person gets to vote. If you are receiving or have received in the past year any kind of public assistance (state or federal) you cannot vote.

5. This is the big change here. So far I have not said any thing I have not heard before. Every ten years each state has to vote to STAY IN the union. If a state does not hold a vote to stay in it is out of the union and becomes it own country. If a state holds a vote and decides to leave then it also becomes a new country. The only way a state stays in the union is by positive vote to stay in. The electors of each state that decides to stay in the union then choose the president. This will help maintain the autonomy of each state and limit the federal government, as it would not want to see a mass exodus. Each individual will be first a citizen of their state and then a citizen of the U.S. If a state leaves the union and an individual wishes to retain citizenship in the U.S. then he has one year to move to a state that has chosen to remain in the union. If a state that has chosen to leave the union decides that it wants back in the union then each state has to vote and if a majority of the states approve and the citizens of the state wishing to return have approved they shall be allowed back in at the time that each state votes to stay in the union. This will make the states more autonomous and the federal government won’t be willing to overstep it’s bounds for fear that there would be a mass exodus of states.


Update

Billy D had a point about the military. I thought everyone should see what I think.

I had a point six about the military but I was not quite happy with it. Mostly problems with wartime logistics if a state secedes during wartime. Hopefully something that would not happen.

Basically each state would have their own military that would coordinate with a national military in defense of the country, similar to the National Guard but full time. If someone chose to be part of the national military then he would give up state citzenship durring his term in the military.