This is an Impressive Ad!

This is an Impressive ad, I think it is safe to say that this is going to be a a hotly contested election!

I think there may be a few Catholics that are more aware of the stakes due to ObamaCare

The Aurora Massacre and the Gun Control Battle

Earlier this month I attended an evening showing of Brave, a delightful family friendly Pixar movie, here in Alaska.  As we entered the theater, I noticed a young military MP, for so his uniform declare him to be.  He wore on his hip not his service weapon, but clearly his personal weapon.  I smiled inside when I saw him.  I almost pointed him out to my children as an example of a man doing his part to uphold the Constitution of the United States.  Instead, I simply nodded and told him thank you for his service to the country when I held the door as we exited the restroom after the movie. 

As I have thought about the massacre in Aurora, Colorado over the past few days I keep seeing this brave soldier who in spite of the odd looks that several patrons gave him for wearing his gun open in public.  I can't help but wonder what would have happened had this fine soldier and second amendment loving patriot been sitting in that audience.  I am certain there would very well have been many injured and possibly other yet still some dead.  However, I seriously doubt that it would have been the gruesome butcher's bill as this crazed psychopath has wrought upon all those suffering families and the community and indeed the nation as a whole. 

The leftist will always claim it is the gun that killed people, but in reality it was this crazed individual who devised a way to injure so many.  Yet these very same leftists will be crying for mercy for this murderer in a matter of day,s if not weeks after the initial rawness of the event has left our collective consciousness.  These are the people who are the true root of this tragedy in my mind.  It is their fear of an armed and polite society that has allowed the criminals to prey upon the unarmed populace at will.  There is no substitute for an armed citizenry!  The police cannot be there to protect us all at every moment of our lives.  They can only respond to the call, which sadly is all too often far too late to do any preventative good for the true victims of most gun crimes.

There was a time when children carried rifles to school and there were no school shootings.  There was a time when men and women openly carried guns and there was far less gun violence in the streets of the nation.  Sadly, as we have allowed the Leftists to slowly steal our sacred Constitution. This is why we are now witnessing these ever increasing tragedies! 

This nation needs far more trained and openly carrying Second Amendment supporters.  I for one thank everyone who carries a gun either concealed or openly!  They are the sole line of defense for many of us against these sorts of psychopaths. 

Texting is Contributing to the Declining Political Discourse

I just watched a video on YouTube about texting.  It seems to me that it has pertinence in the political arena and most definitely where the first amendment is concerned, as texting is now a dominant form of communication.

The "personal touch" as Patricia put is the key to great communication. When we use technology as a substitute for it our communications often times devolve into contextual chatter that loses it’s meaning outside of the moment and ultimately can contribute to a deeper feeling of isolation.


Where ever possible I maintain a clean well written text message, because it enables my meaning to be more easily transferred. If possible even in twitter postings I avoid using U in place of you, for clarity. I may not be as “hip” or whatever the cool lingo is nowadays however, I am less likely to be misunderstood; which is after all the point of communication to transfer knowledge intelligently.

I believe this is the primary challenge that stands before us as a society struggling to find its equilibrium in the digital age. The answer to how we facilitate the art of communication in the next generation isn’t set in stone; and as the father of six children, I can tell you that that I believe it starts at home. Yet as a public speaker, I have observed just how rare it is that this art is taught and I marvel at how scarcely it is applied.

The next time you are dining in a crowded restaurant, look around the room. I am certain you find more than one table at which all conversation is directed into the digital device rather than toward the live person who is sitting across from them.

I believe we are indeed rapidly losing our ability to interact with people at a personal level. The digital world allows us to substitute a faceless avatar for the living breathing intelligent and emotional being. This enables us to more easily ignore the content of our communications with an individual who can all too easily be spammed, blocked, or otherwise disregarded. Is it really so hard to understand why our nation’s political discourse has also become more and more shrill to the left and to the right over this same time period?

The answer is in Patricia’s “personal touch”, it is the key to great communication, in every aspect of our lives.

TEDxAmsterdam 2011 - Peter van Uhm

This one of the more succinct explanations of the importance of a well trained and armed military forces. The General also shares the story of his father's experience trying to shoot Nazis as they invaded The Netherlands. This story illustrates the need for the "keep and bear arms" and have "well regulated Militia".

I love the reaction of the audience when he is standing there with an unloaded rifle!



I echo his plea that we support the men and women who serve in our place on the front line of liberty; for without their sacrifice and dedication the freedoms that enable all that we hold dear would crumble.

What Kind of a Captain are You?

I found this video and the article that accompanied it to be a reminder that we rarely recognize the greatness that may be right in front of us.

Just as the Constitution is a plain and precious document that is seldom read by the average American, is the value of John Bell's playing of the violin any different? How often do we really stop and smell the roses, or in this case hear the violin? Too often we find ourselves lost in thought and oblivious to the world in which we are walking. We ignore the needs of a fallen brother or sister and let the Samaritan that follows us take care of the tasks that we, as the hands of Christ could have tended.

In the seminars and workshops I give I often tell people to “100% BE PRESENT” in each moment of their day. When we so live our lives we find the hidden treasures of knowledge and experiences that are to be found on the path less traveled. This life style however takes commitment to a changed view of our role in the world.

If we simply wander as a rudderless ship through life, then we take little responsibility for our actions. If, however, we take the view that we are “The Captain of Our Own Ship,” then we find that each and every decision and action we take has a consequence. We quickly discover that we are wholly responsible for the course we chart.

This changed view of life helps us to find the value in the moment, rather than the moments passing away worthless and wasted. When we are constantly living in the present and aware of our surroundings, we will easily avoid the uncharted rocks and reefs; while still being available to capitalize on and profit from those small windows of opportunity, be they intellectual, financial or spiritual.

Which brings me to one of the final question I ask folks, “What kind of a captain are you”?

"...Prohibiting the Free Exercise thereof..." of the Freedom of Religion

When did the "respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" vanish in America? The answer to this isn't quite clear but what is clear is that in Dearborn Michigan there is a tacit support for a city religion.

What religion is that you may wonder and what evidence do I have to make this statement? It is a more radical branch of Islam that seeks to impose the dark aged tenants of Sharia. Sharia is extremely radical and unconstitutional. How is that possible you ask for a religious movement to be unconstitutional you may ask. There are two easy questions we can ask to determine its fitness under the constitution: Does it allow others to have the "establishment of religion"? Does this religion in anyway act or create a prohibition on the "free exercise thereof"? If the religion does then that religion is violating the constitution.

So now we must ask; Does Sharia Law violate this standard? Yes! How? Sharia does not permit an individual to proselytize to Muslims, which is at least a marginal issue of free speech. Sharia does not permit a Muslim to leave the faith, on pain of DEATH. Does that sound like it violates the "Free Exercise" Clause of the First Amendment? It does to me!

This is not only unconstitutional it is unconscionable! As all who know me can attest, I am very much a man after Thomas Jefferson’s point of view, where the "free exercise thereof" of another's religion is concerned.

"It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg."

Yet when it comes to Sharia even I have to draw the line. It not only is picking the publics pocket in this case it literally seeks to enforce its religion at the point of a gun!

This is utterly unconstitutional. There are many on the left who will quote another Jefferson thought,

"There is no freedom of religion without freedom from religion."

Yet these very same people are the ones who are allowing this principled position to be overrun at the point of a gun. If the police are enforcing something IT IS INDEED at the point of a gun.

One more Jefferson quote for you to round out this post.

"Man once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the sport of every wind."

Have we surrendered our reason if we allow the gun barrel enforcement of Sharia in the United States?

Is it really jobs creation if it cost the market jobs?

Here is a classic old article that handily explains why the "new" jobs creation bill will not create the jobs it is touted to be creating. Yet there are few politicians left or right that have the economic background to be able to understand this policy mistake and fewer still those who do and are willing to stand up and fight this destructive insanity. Here is an excerpt from the still relevant article written in 1987; by Dr. DiLorenzo who is Associate Professor of Economics at George Mason University and an Adjunct Fellow at the Center for the Study of American Business, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri.

The reason why government jobs programs cannot create jobs is straightforward: Even though the programs may “create” jobs for some workers, the resources to pay for the programs must be extracted from the private sector. Taxing the private sector reduces its ability to create jobs, so, at best, government jobs programs can only alter the composition of employment, not the total volume. More government jobs are created, but at the expense of fewer private-sector jobs.

The good Dr DiLorenzo used a fine quote from one of my favorite economic commentator Fredrick Bastiat. He stated of government job creations “is nothing but a ruinous hoax, an impossibility, a contradiction, which makes a great show of the little work that it has stimulated, which is what is seen, and conceals the much larger amount of work that it has precluded, which is what is not seen.”

Life is hard enough when you are in the process of raising kids and living life. The government should NEVER ride in claiming to be making life better while in reality destroying the very fabric of our economy and the job creating engine of the entrepreneurial spirit. Sadly, it is all too often a demand of those most affected by the difficulties of an economic down turn! So the next time you hear one of your Senators or State Legislators or even the President of the United States say that a job creation bill is needed realize that they are seeking to buy you vote and to destroy the very economy they claim to be seeking to bolster!