Daggum!

I can't believe it has been so hard to keep up my posting here lately. There are a couple of contributing factors though. My poor computer is in dire need of some attention - not nearly enough memory for what I am trying to do with it. This sad fact makes everything that I try to do with the computer take much longer than it should. The other major factor that has been playing in is the size of my garden. It has been much more demanding this year. Add to that a project that I have been working on at my parents' house to reclaim the basement from its oblivion as the world's largest junk repository and my participation in a new band, I guess it isn't too surprising that something had to give.

Speaking of the band...

If any of you are in close proximity to Rowan County today you should come out to Godstock. It is an annual festival that is held at the South Rowan YMCA on Kimball Road to raise money to help NC families with critically ill children. The money that is raised from Godstock doesn't go to pay medical bills, but is used to pay other expenses like car payments, rent, electricity, etc. for these families who have had to take a parent out of the work force to care for their sick child. It's a really good cause.

Today my band, which is for the moment called Crosswire, will be playing at Godstock from 12:00 noon to about 1:30. Our style is rock. Our music is mostly worship. I wish I had been able to give you a little more notice. I will, however post some pictures in the next several days and let you know how things went.

And with that I need to sign off and finish getting ready to go. I need to leave in about an hour and a half to get set up. In the meantime, I'll leave you with what I am listening to to get me psyched about today!

Interesting Point About President Obama's Legitimacy

This is a little dry, but it raises some issues that I hadn't heard about. I need to do some more research into her claims, but if what she is saying is true we have a real problem.

Part 1



Part 2

Let Them Eat Cake Instead

I just finished reading a very well-reasoned and argued article written by Steven Vasquez, the Interim New York State Coordinator for Campaign for Liberty, about why we should oppose any form of nationalized health care program. It is a long read but the arguments are brilliant.

Here are a couple of my favorite parts:

"When a government fails to obey its laws granted to it by the people, it loses its authority to exist."

"The idea that health care is a right is incorrect and immoral. Is housing a right? Is driving a right? Is fresh water a right? Are video games and toys a right? They are privileges earned through productivity, not consumption. The rights we are given are inalienable, and our government can not grant those rights and is prohibited from taking them away through the Constitution's Bill of Rights. We would no longer be a Constitutional Republic, but a Collectivist state, should this occur."

My biggest problem with this health care reform bill is that I see it as an overreaching by the US government in a massive power grab. The government can't run Medicare. It can't manage its own spending. It can't even run a ship disposal program. It has spent Social Security into oblivion and now they want to run health care? I don't think so.

People are very angry about this and the other things that are happening in our government with good reason. No one is listening to them. Is there any better example of gross negligence than the fact that our "representatives" are not even reading the bills that they are voting for? How can you adequately represent your constituents' best interests when you haven't even read the freaking bill? How well would that play in a malpractice lawsuit? "Well the patient looked pretty sick so the doctor just dove in and started operating without reading his charts or talking to anyone about the patient's history first."

And why is it necessary to have a 1,000 page bill ever? Who can possibly digest everything that is in it? And why the rush? If there is nothing to hide, then there should be no rush - especially on a bill that is thicker than an unabridged dictionary. Are people angry? Absolutely!

And instead of listening and slowing down, the administration and many senators and congressmen are ridiculing this anger. I fear that it will be to their own pain. I have never seen the people of this country as angry as they are now, and that is not likely to end well. The problem is the arrogance of the ruling elite right now. They are going to do what they have deemed the "right thing" to do come hell or high water, and anyone who refutes them is labeled "a mob" or "un-American" or "a Brown Shirt."

I managed to earn that scorn from a friend of a friend on Facebook this past weekend for venting a little bit about how utterly ticked I am. I find it funny that Brown Shirts seem to often characterize anyone who disagrees with them as a Brown Shirt. In truth it is the proponents of this bill that are acting the most like fascists.

Is it un-American to protest the loss of liberty that we are threatened with by this administration's policies? The left didn't think so when they were protesting President Bush's policies. I doubt that John Adams or Patrick Henry would have thought so. They both openly pushed for outright war with England! Talk about a rabble rouser! The founders would be appalled that the nation that they sacrificed so much to birth has come to this.

Most Americans have come to understand that the government doesn't listen to polite. It only understands passion - because passion is the only power that the people really have. When people get passionate enough they start acting, and that gets really unpredictable for politicians. Except the current group of Do-dahs that is up there now thinks that they'll be able to pull a Goebbels and repeat the lie long enough for the simple to believe it. And yet, even the President, master of rhetoric that he is, cannot avoid the truth that under his plan there will be certain points where treatment will be withheld.



I really wish I had time tonight to get into more detail about the problems that are coming out about this bill and about some of the alternatives that I have pondered, but it just isn't going to happen. Perhaps I can return to it soon and go into greater depth. Apparently Senator Burr from North Carolina has made a proposal of his own that I would like to read.

The bottom line is that the powers that be need to get a grip on reality, start listening to the people, pay attention to their anger, take them seriously, and readjust their thinking lest they, acting like Marie Antoinette, push the people too far and meet her same end.

Evolution

The makers of Dove soap have begun a self esteem campaign for girls/women that is pretty cool. Their website contains some pretty amazing commercials that really show how Madison Avenue has negatively impacted the self esteem of millions of people the world over. One that really decloaks the beast is one called Evolution. It is definitely worth a watch. In fact, all the videos on the site are good.

The Latest

It has been a while since I have published, and that is almost entirely the garden's fault - that and the fact that I have hardly been home in the past month. Tomorrow I am finishing up a house-sitting commitment that I made, and then I'll be back to my own bed. YES! You know, it is hard to beat sleeping in your own bed.

I overdid it with the garden this year for sure. Some things have been sadly neglected - like my purplehull peas. I'll be surprised if I get much from them at all this year. You do what you can do, and decide what to get done with the time that you have. Sadly, the purplehulls have taken a back seat to the limas, green beans and butter beans.

The green beans and butter beans have done better this year than I ever imagined that they would though. I have only picked the limas once and have already gotten more than twice what I got all season last year. The butter beans have produced well too, but I have discovered that they are the devil to pick. They are about 10x harder to pick than the limas - and I used to think that limas were hard to pick. I doubt that I'll be planting butter beans next year. I don't like them well enough to justify the work involved in picking them.

The broccoli has stopped and I need to pull it up, and my corn is coming along nicely. It is a little over knee high. I am still getting tomatoes too, but some of them have quit and others are starting to slow down some. My okra is doing nicely too. The green beans seem to be hitting their second wind, but I am leaving a couple rows for seed. The squash and zucchini are done, but my peppers are still producing very well.

Well, that is all I have time for right now. You can expect to hear more from me next week!