Fun

Have you noticed that having fun is getting harder to do?

For one thing, it seems that a simple good time from a few years ago is now dangerous, bad for the planet, selfish, or offensive to some member of an oppressed minority.

Forget the chili cheese fries, the after-dinner cigar, the drive in the country, riding your bicycle without a helmet, "dirty" jokes, or any of a myriad of gentle pleasures. It's your civic duty to keep your cholesterol down, your blood pressure under control, your carbon footprint small, your risk profile to a minimum, and your politics correct.

Who are these nags that know so much better than you and I how we should behave?

In the simplest of terms, they are the control freaks that populate the Democrat Party, the bureaucrats of the European Union (no live bacteria in my cheese, please), the National Education Associate (boys are just girls with extra body parts and an inclination to misbehave), the grievance-monger-in-chief of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and the so-called clergy who wouldn't want to offend homosexuals. These are the well-intentioned idiots who are ruining our lives and destroying the hope of our children.

There are far more evil controllers at work in the world, and their idea the intolerable is really scary.

The followers of Allah - who believe their mission is to return the world to the dark ages, to keep women in chattel and out of eye-shot of other men, and to kill infidels - are hard at work invading the west, including America, and taking advantage of the fools who would tolerate them to make the intolerance of Islam the law of the land.

The followers of Marx and Engels who know that the state is the only proper owner of "productive resources" are hard at work in China, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, and other countries doing their worst to export their sickness - with the connivance of liberals in Congress, the White House, and in other free governments.

The global warming extremists, who are sure that anything humans do is "destroying the planet," and that the freer and richer you are, the greater your sin - are bound to destroy the economies of the civilized world for the promise of some antediluvian nirvana.

Well, I have had it up to here with people who disrespect my orthodox Christianity, my childlike belief in the plain text of the Constitution, and my disdain for their point-of-view. I intend to drive my big V-8 cars, smoke fine cigars, drink old whiskey, laugh at Democrats, try to educate Republicans, enjoy my friends, and tell the anointed One and his minions to go straight to Hell.

God put us here to serve Him, not the IRS, the NEA, the SEIU, or Allah. Remember, America became great because the people who live here kick ass, not because they bend over for every sorry wimp with hurt feelings.

So, folks, let the good times roll, tell the "gay" lobby to get a life, and insult a foreign invader for me.

Love

We are truly charged to do God's work on Earth. How shall we do so?

Some men and women say - and perhaps believe in good faith - that our mission to the poor, to the imprisoned, to widows, and to orphans should be accomplished by government. They tell anyone who opposes government action as the primary source of relief that Jesus would want our country to tax the "rich" to help the poor and middle class.

I know with all my heart that we can only do God's work through charity. Charity is by its nature personal. The giver and the recipient are directly engaged with one another. Now, in this modern age, we may give to organizations to act on our behalf. We give to food banks, to churches, to rescue organizations, to the Salvation Army, the Wheelchair Foundation, and so on. Amazingly, these organizations can reach all over the world with the money we donate. By giving, we act as God intended. And the wonder of it all is that our giving earns us not one second in Heaven. We cannot buy admission in the afterlife in the way we can join a club by paying dues. Our gifts earn us no standing with our Lord and Savior. But if we have accepted the gift of salvation, we cannot help but give.

What about those who receive from charity? First, they have taken some action in order to receive. They must know that what they get is a gift, not an entitlement. They personally interact with someone who is distributing the food, the clothing, shelter, or health care. Second, because they are ministered to in love, they have the chance to get that special love of God that human hands can deliver. When prisoners find peace in Christ, it is a personal event. When sick men, women, and children accept the Lord in their hour of dying, it is a private glory.

When a doctor treats a needy patient for free, the patient knows it is a gift. Gifts are wonderful things. Gratitude may be the shortest lived human emotion, but real gratitude is an amazing feeling. When we are grateful to others, we can learn gratitude to God. And when we are truly grateful to God, it is easy to find reasons to be grateful to men.

Now, consider what happens when the poor and middle class are helped by government. We are told by representatives of government that such help is a right or an entitlement. In other words, the recipients are owed this help by "society." Experience has amply shown that recipients of entitlements are not ennobled by government largess. In fact, they are frequently ruined by it. What can the motives be of those who perpetuate this vile and demeaning system?

The source of this "help" is taxation, overt or covert. Overt taxation is easy to see. It is the tax on your wage and interest income, on the property you own, and on the goods you purchase. When you pay your taxes, do you glory in the help your contribution will make to the welfare of others? I do not. I am highly skeptical that the money taken from my pocket under threat of force will be spent wisely or well.

Covert taxation is insidious, taking from everyone. It is called "inflation." It is what happens when government cheapens our currency. When our currency is cheapened, our savings are looted, our earnings buy less, and those who loaned money will be repaid with money worth less than they deserve. The United States government runs a deficit, which means it is either borrowing or printing the money it spends. This causes inflation. Spending phantom dollars on social welfare steals from every American.

Where is the love in the U. S. Government system? Love has no place at all in it. The funds are extorted or stolen. The administration is specifically irreligious. The recipients are "entitled" to receive what the bureaucrats provide.

Where is the love in private charity? Love is everywhere. The funds are freely given. The administration is voluntary and often religious. The recipients have asked for help, and made the crucial admission that they need help.

Perhaps you think it is demeaning to accept charity. But you don't think it is demeaning to accept goods and services extorted from taxpayers?

Power

These are the powers granted Congress in the Constitution:

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;

To establish Post Offices and Post Roads;

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offenses against the Law of Nations;

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings; And

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

Since these are the only lawful powers of Congress, no one can explain how Congress has the power to regulate private contracts between insurers and citizens, or to decide how and when citizens should obtain medical care, or how Congress can pay for the medical care of any person not employed by the Government of the United States.

Nor can anyone explain how the supreme Court has ruled that Congress has many of the powers not listed in the Constitution but exercised every day.

Let's face it, we need to replace the House, the Senate, the President, and the Vice President. We should also seriously consider whether the actions of the supreme Court constitute a valid basis to impeach its members.

Americans, let's take back our country!

Hate

Well, America, we have seen the hate at work in August.

It seems the elected officials who aim to strip you of your liberties absolutely hate to be confronted. Some of them have enlisted the support of thugs who claim membership in the Service Employees International Union who hate opponents of the Obama administration and Democrats in the congress. The intelligentsia who write for the former mainstream press hate everything that freedom-lovers have to say and impugn their honesty without refuting their arguments.

What's not so easy to find is hate coming from the opponents of Obama's plans to nationalize health care, impose ruinous taxes on business to "save the environment," mad expansion of the money supply, cooking the employment books to hide the total un- and underemployment rate of more than 16%, stealing General Motors and Chrysler from their creditors, and who-knows-what kind of negotiations with North Korea to get the release of Al Gore's reporters.

While we have seen the public roughed up at Town Hall meetings about "health care reform," the victims are all conservatives.

I think it would be a good idea for Americans to take the president up on his request for emails to flag@whitehouse.gov about disinformation on the health care proposal. We can report the White House site, Speaker Pelosi's site, and many others that hide the truth of the actual House bill. We can also report the many YouTube videos of the president claiming that you will be able to keep your plan if you like it. Perhaps if everyone who opposes the House plan sends the White House an email, the inbox will overflow, and the Obama gang will move on to some other scam. Maybe you can get the message through to them that after so many lies, nothing they say rings true.

Maybe we can even shame one or two of them into giving up on this charlatan. How can anyone work for the Federal Government in good conscience, while it is in the hands of these cheats and liars?

Anyway, I hate to think our government is working so hard to surrender our world leadership, ruin our economy, and reward the likes of Kim Il Sung and Hugo Chavez. But, facts are facts. Obama has done as much in six months to ruin the United States as Jimmy Carter did in four years. We have a long way to go with this bum.

Honor

It is truly a struggle to find a positive topic in this hour of distress for our nation and its people.

How in the world can we live the rest of our lives resting in faith that our Lord will accept us in Heaven solely through the grace of His gift of sacrifice for us, yet surrounded by the sin and depredation that our nation has embraced in its public policy and daily life? Do we not owe our Savior and Creator the duty of working to make our land as free and honorable as it once was?

Are we blameless in the debacle that is unfolding around us today?

Earthquakes, pestilence, storms, and untimely death have ever been with mankind. But what about the willful deceit that has overtaken our society? Why do we tolerate teachers who falsely claim that our nation was founded by secular men - when the plain truth is that the signers of the Declaration of Independence were devout, and many of them seminarians? How can we ignore the immorality of sexual perversion and extramarital sex that are celebrated, not just tolerated, in our culture? When business and government ally to strip us of our individual freedoms, why do we accept this sin as inevitable?

Yes, we are to live in the world without being of it. Yes, we are not measured by our works, but by our repentance for our sins and our public acceptance of Christ's sacrifice. Yes, no matter how our elected officials and the bureaucracy pervert our world, nothing can prevent our private conversations with God our our loving work to help His creation.

But are we not given our sense of honor by the very Lord we serve? Are not our actions meant to reflect with integrity our beliefs?

Does faith demand that we take action to stop the theft of our God-given freedoms by the incumbents in Congress and their conspirators in the media and business? If we are honorable, this is precisely the demand faith makes on you and me. But what action is demanded?

Well, the business leaders at West Marine have just learned from their customers when they crossed the line. But the management at Wal-Mart seems oblivious to their craven collaboration with the usurpers. In both cases, informed and concerned customers have written to confront them with their error. Writing a well-reasoned and civil objection can work, and certainly is honorable.

Should we emulate the New Black Panthers and intimidate voters at polling places with weapons? It seems the current Justice Department finds little fault with this behavior. But, somehow, it hardly seems honorable. Does it?

Shall we concoct lies about our opponents and disseminate them widely? Just this week, leftist bloggers continued their assault on former governor Palin and her family to weaken her threat to their cultural hegemony. That hardly seems honorable. But reminding people of the 40-year-old truth that Teddy Kennedy is a craven, self-serving coward is unforgivable to his admirers. Just remember, if he had merely stopped at the first house he came to in Chappaquiddick and called for help, Mary Jo Kopechne might well have survived her ride in his car.

Actually, telling the truth about President Obama, Vice-President Biden, Senator Reid, and Speaker Pelosi should make every American rise up in righteous wrath to expel them from office. And yet few of us have an appetite for that truth, and not enough of us are so outraged by their views and actions that we would take action to recover our country.

Some day, Americans will fall to their knees - not in fear of an all-powerful government - but in gratitude to our all-powerful God to thank Him for sparing us from the shame and depredations the current pack of hyenas are visiting on us. That day, God willing, will come not after armed insurrection, but after a revival of the spiritual and cultural strength that once made our nation worthy of God's love. Let us thank Him that He loves us whether worthy or not. Let us honor Him in word and deed. And let us pray that day comes soon, that we may see it with our eyes.