SPIELBERGS LINCOLN, movie or commentary (part one)

I recently went to the Spielberg movie about the last few days of Lincoln’s life.  It turned out, at least for me, to be a story about one man’s fight to remove the practice of slavery from the relatively new republic of the United States of America. 

In today’s world it’s difficult to know the difference between fact and fiction when watching that type of presentation because of the propagandic state of our society.  We seem to be pummeled by point of view rather than the facts and we tend to react like a herd of mental sponges soaking up whatever is spilled in front of us.  Real or fiction this movie did make my mind whir with a multitude of questions and observations, so many in fact that it is hard to settle down and approach my thoughts with any real sense of order. 

(part one) POLITICAL PASSION

I was struck by the passion that Spielberg’s depiction attached to the congressional members involved in the conflict, and the effort put forward by the Executive as well, and the depth of purpose behind that effort.  The passion depicted was not that of party politics but of morality, a passion of the right thing to do versus a status quo.  In this portrayal I saw distinct differences between imagination of what may have been at that critical juncture and the faux political discourse our government bodies indulge themselves with today.

The struggle to achieve true emancipation has been an ongoing problem in our country.  That enactment shows the torment involved not only during the Civil War itself but that of our President to achieve a purpose worthy of that war.  Politicians in today’s government do not exhibit (as a whole) the resolve of purpose in addressing the needs of our country.  Rather it is the political stage play that will coerce the public into choosing their party over the other in the next election cycle.  Unlike the times in which the Lincoln era politicians seemed to be aided by strong public sentiments forcing them to act, our politicians are acting and reacting to sentiments of our society that are persuaded and provoked.  Their goal seems to be re-elected rather than the success of our great nation.

The United States of America, a republic formed under the banner of the Declaration of Independence, had existed in the presence of hypocrisy.  Economics had created the need for rationalizing among the slave owners and in order to fill their needs the slaves needed to be dehumanized.  Support for that rationale is and was impossible to find.  Slavery has been a part of humanity as long as man has been a territorial being, but in most instances the slaves were regarded to be human beings. 

Our country has always been filled with beliefs flowing from fear and fiction but in the end our collective conscience brings us to differentiating between right and wrong and a confrontation of fact.  Lincoln was the figure put in place to help power that confrontation.  The struggle of conscience for a society holds a definite similarity with our own individual conflicts of right, wrong, good or bad.  If there is something we want we will rationalize enough good to counteract any wrong involved grabbing our goal.  Conscience will eventually be impacted by our choices and to lose that part of our being, as a person or as a society, is a loss humanity cannot survive.  The Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the 13^th Amendment to the Constitution were not just about right and wrong they were needed for the survival of our conscience, the victory of fact over rationalization.

(Part two) NATIONAL RATIONALIZTION AND PERSUASION

I look at some of the similarities and divergence of our moral pendulum today versus that time (the Lincoln era) in our history.  Perhaps a different conundrum, different rationalization, but still about right and wrong and the rationalizations required to deny the existence of humanity.  That instance would be regarding the fetus as no more than, as one proponent of abortion stated, road kill.  The abortion question allows for rationalizations on a major scale and the enormity of it will certainly cause a fracture of conscience within our society.  Part of our society has decided to enforce and strengthen the argument in favor of all forms of abortion with the rationalization of women’s rights, the dehumanization of the unborn, the inability to afford, and a mother’s health (there is an unending list of why’s). 

The supporters of abortion use those rationalizations as speaking points accusing opponents as being against women in general and specifically against a woman’s right to control and care for her own body.  The two aspects, a woman’s rights and the rights of the unborn, are never really viewed as equal points of morality by those in favor of abortion.  Disregarding the presence of human DNA at conception as the beginning of a human life makes it acceptable to take away the life of the unborn child.  Rationalization and denial of fact makes it easier to hide the conflict of conscience involved in the act of abortion.  Rationalization circumvents logic when one tries to use the argument that women have the right to choose.  The choice is no less than condoning the right to murder any other human being in similar circumstance. 

Logic dictates continuity and the logical argument might go as follows:

 It is illegal to take the life of another human being except in the protection of another life.

A fetus is a human being with all the potential and rights of humanity because of the existence of human DNA.

Therefore it is illegal to take the life of a human fetus except in the case of saving the life of another human.

It seems so simple excepting when the insertion of partial truth mixed with rationalization components are put into the mix. 

Human beings are able to think and to act on those thoughts

Fetuses are unable to think  (supposition?)

Therefore fetuses are not human

Therefore it is legal to terminate their existence

We are all too often forced back by arguments filled with innuendo, political correctness and name calling when we should be demanding the argument be conducted with fact and logic.  The removal of those two components allow for propagandizing and fabrications that support the factually unsupportable.  The facts may not be readily available and in the case of deciding at what point in time human life exists, that is certainly true.  Belief structure calls the shots in those cases and they are swayable in all directions in favor of what one wants to believe.

The one similarity that I am able to put together in the depiction of the time of Lincoln and today is that passion is weighed in favor of morality questions and has little to do with the facts.  Morality is something that can be directed in societies through the beliefs put forward through the education of the children.  Conscience can be dampened by indoctrination and propaganda.  To quote, "as a man thinketh, so he is."

To expand the thought, "as men thinketh so goes their society".  It is truly each man's responsibility not to accept the thoughts of others but to seek truth.

looky here

This is really neat.  Shows how we landed a camera on Mars. HOW WE GOT TO MARS

THANKSGIVING 2012

Thanksgiving has had a lot of different meanings for me.  I’m not sure of the exact timing of when I started to understand the meaning of sincere thanks and its’ relationship to the holiday.  I am sure today that understanding of things comes in two general ways, an “ah-ha” moment or a metamorphosis from child to adult.  Mine was apparently the latter.  It seems to me that thanksgiving requires the loss of narcissistic tendencies and the emergence of compassion and awareness of conditions.  This year, the year 2012, has seen a lot of things occur both personally, for family and friends, and for our country. Not everything has been gentle and sweet, but all are cause for Thanksgiving and this is my thanksgiving statement and prayer for this year.

I am thankful for: For a wife who loves me and shows it daily through kindness, caring, friendship and laughter; Family and friends that have held me in their minds and hearts regardless of my warts and differences of opinion; My (our) God who has faithfully covered me, through all the trials and tribulations, in ways not even known; The growing understanding that good is hiding in everything that happens in life if we are patient and prayerful;  The roof over my head, the clothes on my back, the food that feeds my body, the forces of the Holy Spirit that feeds my soul.  Thank you Lord.

a DONKEY'S TALE

This is a re do of a posting on facebook.  It made me think and this is my take on it. Arbee

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well.  The animal cried piteously for hours until he alerted the farmer to his plight.  The farmer studied the situation and decided that it would be pretty expensive to excavate the well and get the animal out of the deep hole it was captured in.  The farmer called together a committee of the neighboring cities smartest politicians.  Together they decided the donkey was just too old to spend money on, and  the best solution was to bury the problem and the donkey together so that no one else would know a problem ever existed.

Because the wise people of the committee had suggested this action, the farmer agreed to give up his mule, even though it had been faithful and productive.  He hired a bunch of laborers who were hanging around the feed store to help him bury the donkey and fill in the well.  As the laborers continued to shovel dirt, the donkey quit crying for help.  Eventually curiosity got the best of the farmer and he looked into the well and was amazed at what he saw.

There was the donkey as calm as he could be, shaking off the dirt that was being thrown in an effort to bury him.  The faster they tried to bury him the quicker he would shake the dirt off.   The farmer noticed the faster they shoveled the faster the donkey seemed to be getting closer to getting out of the fix he was in.  Pretty soon the donkey was able to step out of the well on his own.

Now there are a couple of different morals to this story with more than a few thoughts to ponder.  Here are a few to think about:

1.     Every once in a while we will find ourselves in a hole and usually we get there because we didn’t pay attention to where we were going.

2.     If we are in a bad situation it doesn’t hurt to let those who care know that we could use some help

3.     Everyone gets dirt piled on them in life and it can be used as something that will bury us or as something that will put us in a better position. 

4.     If politicians decide how to solve a problem, the odds are they never realize the hidden effects of that decision.  Sometimes they get lucky sometimes they don’t.

5.     Don’t give up on yourself.

6.    Don’t trust the government to solve your problems

Vice Presidential Debate featuring 'THE JOKER"

Wow!  This would have been just as funny as Mr. Biden seemed to find everything during the debate if the topics had not been so serious. Throughout the debate I felt as though I were watching some political form of a Batman movie starring a real white haired “Joker”.  This was a fitting follow-up to the President's lackluster performance in the first debate,  with Biden taking up the slack and filling it with truckloads of manic behavior.  With approximately 60 million people watching the debates, I wondered how many viewers were spread across the rest of the globe.  The two debates, taken as a referendum on the state of our Executive branch of government, must have the rest of the world scratching their heads in dismay or licking their chops with the hope of our demise.  This seemed to be another example of the administration putting political gamesmanship in front of their abdicated responsibility to the American people and our proud heritage of leadership in the world.  Sad and dangerous!

A PRAYER FOR FAMILY SALVATION

 Lord today I pray for my family

Past Present and Future

This is a prayer I have said nightly for the Salvation of our family

THE PRAYER FOR FAMILY SALVATION

That your gentle call will be heard

And your Path will be followed

I pray that our names will be known

And will be written in your book of life

That we all will be blessed

To spend our eternity in Heaven

With You, The Father, The Son

And The Holy Spirit.

I pray for my Grandparents (by name)

My Parents  (by name)

My Children  (by name)

May Grandchildren (by name)

Those who have gone before

And those yet to come.

(2) Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father

Charlie Reese's Last Column

CHARLIE REESE ' S FINAL COLUMN A GREAT READ!!!!!

  

545 vs. 300,000,000 People -By Charlie Reese Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them. Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits? Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes? You and I don't propose a federal budget. The President does. You and I don' t have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does. You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does. You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does. You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does. One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one President, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country. I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank. I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a President to do one cotton-picking thing. I don ' t care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator ' s responsibility to determine how he votes. Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party. What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The President can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it. The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House now? He is the leader of the majority party. He and fellow House members, not the President, can approve any budget they want. If the President vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to. It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can ' t think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist. If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair. If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red. If the Army & Marines are in Iraq and Afghanistan it's because they want them in Iraq and Afghanistan ... If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way. There are no insoluble government problems. Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do. Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible. They, and they alone, have the power. They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses. Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees... We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess! What you do with this article now that you have read it... is up to you. This might be funny if it weren't so true. Be sure to read all the way to the end: Tax his land, tax his bed, Tax the table, at which he ' s fed. Tax his tractor, Tax his mule, Teach him taxes are the rule. Tax his work, tax his pay, He works for peanuts anyway! Tax his cow, tax his goat, Tax his pants, tax his coat. Tax his ties, tax his shirt, Tax his work, tax his dirt. Tax his tobacco, tax his drink, Tax him if he tries to think. Tax his cigars, tax his beers, If he cries tax his tears. Tax his car, tax his gas, Find other ways to tax his ass. Tax all he has then let him know That you won't be done 'til he has no dough. When he screams and hollers; then tax him some more, Tax him till he's good and sore. Then tax his coffin, tax his grave, Tax the sod in which he ' s laid... Put these words upon his tomb, ' Taxes drove me to my doom... ' When he's gone, do not relax, Its time to apply the inheritance tax. Accounts Receivable Tax Building Permit Tax CDL license Tax Cigarette Tax Corporate Income Tax Dog License Tax Excise Taxes Federal Income Tax Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA) Fishing License Tax Food License Tax Fuel Permit Tax Gasoline Tax (currently 44.75 cents per gallon) Gross Receipts Tax Hunting License Tax Inheritance Tax Inventory Tax IRS Interest Charges  and IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax) Liquor Tax Luxury Taxes Marriage License Tax Medicare Tax Personal Property Tax Property Tax Real Estate Tax Service Charge Tax Social Security Tax Road Usage Tax Recreational Vehicle Tax Sales Tax School Tax State Income Tax State Unemployment Tax (SUTA) Telephone Federal Excise Tax Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax Telephone Recurring and Nonrecurring Charges Tax Telephone State and Local Tax Telephone Usage Charge Tax Utility Taxes Vehicle License Registration Tax Vehicle Sales Tax Watercraft Registration Tax Well Permit Tax Workers Compensation Tax Not ONE of these taxes existed 100 years ago, & our nation was the most prosperous in the world. We had absolutely NO national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom, if agreed, stayed home to raise the kids. What in the heck happened? Can you spell ' politicians? '