The Lone Star State...blue? May it never be!

Well, whether you vote or not, the Republican Party is the ONLY party that protects the unborn (even after they are born). This is just ONE issue God cares about and so should we.  I personally am a conservative but I ALWAYS vote. I have read both parties platforms with my Bible in mind and I find more in the Republican stance that reflects my Christian values than I do with the Democratic platform. See my Bible says, "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God" and all these "things" will be added unto you. God cares about the Kingdom (Biblical teachings) not the stuff (economy).  I am NOT saying ALL Republicans are Christians or that all Dem's are not. I am saying that when you compare the PLATFORM in which the members embrace, the Bible and it's teachings seem to be more important to the Republicans than to the Democrats. With this, let us pray! We need GOD'S love to be seen in our hearts, in our homes, in our churches (yes - many churches don't even treat their members as they would themselves), in our cities, in our states and in our nation. Father God, we are SO far from you! Forgive our sins and please heal our land. BRING revival to wake people up to YOUR ways, YOUR truth, YOUR Word. As believers we need to always walk with HUMILITY! HUMILITY....wow, that seems to be a dying word in our culture. Even people in the church, well, sometimes we are the "chief priest" of this error. With this, I share a post I have put on several walls:

Here is a troubling thought...the Lone Star State being blue? What? Unheard of you say? Take a minute to read the article below and then realize that WE as a party really do need to wake-up to the changing times before they change OUR state. We (the Republican Party) have to be better listeners, kinder people and basically work on our presentation and perceived image.

I have watched the second election of a president that I was shocked to see win even once and I have had to ask myself how? Why? What happened? I have talked to many who have voted for him - twice! I have noticed some similar things and this article expresses many of the same issues I have experienced.

One common lure is that people like something for free! All of us do. This isn't just the dirty Dem's who are like this. You know, like when you are at Sam's Club and they are handing out samples for FREE and people swarm the table for a morsel. The Dems are making their "tables" look inviting, hip, cool and trendy while the Republicans come across as arrogant, aloof, and bickering old relics. In the last week I have heard the adjective "pompass" before the name of a Republican several times yet the Dems are wearing the matching "shoe on the other foot" and getting by with it. It's a perception and in this culture of "image" being everything, I think the republican party could stand to find a good "personal trainer" so we can get back in the game.

I can hear it now, it's the liberal media's fault. Well, that IS true to some degree but with facebook, twitter, blogs, you-tube and a host of other social media devices I think we have to stop blaming and start doing! Again, this is a perception that Republicans complain and whine but offer no solutions. All of you reading this have a facebook account yet how often do YOU let YOUR voice be heard on the "issues"? Many of us are silent in our realm of influence (our personal facebook wall) and we wonder why things are changing. It's time we ALL engage our friends. WE have to talk to people around us about sometimes very personal and quite possibly politically incorrect views. Surely you have noticed that the left has NO issue sharing their opinions, anywhere, anytime. I am not advocating rude but we do need to speak up and many of you need to let people around you know your thoughts.

The Republican Party's platform have many of the solutions our nation needs but we have been failing to engage the changing national landscape, one person-at-a-time and therefore, adjusting our delivery of our message to the people. This is NOT about compromise, it's about presentation. A little love goes a long way and being a bit more swavey won't hurt.

Saying "I'm Sorry"

I have had this same discussion many times recently and so it was good to see Bill O'Reilly address this topic on his "Tip of the Day" segment this week.

There is a difference between saying you are sorry and making amends or restitution.  Seems many in our culture today don't understand the "rules" of an apology.  Saying you are sorry is a good place to start, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't DO anything to fix the relationship or the matter.

When we break something, we should FIX it.   Didn't you hear that as a kid growing up?  Well, maybe not as many today have not been taught manners but that is a topic for another day. The right thing to do, even though many in this culture have lost this art of civility, is to go to a person, say you were wrong and then ask what you can do to repair the damage you have caused.  It's what makes the world go round in a peaceful way...love!  If you love someone, you would do to them as you would want them to do to you.   Wouldn't you want someone to treat you with this kind of love?  Then you must DO this kind of love too! If you offend someone, you should make it right, not just say, "I'm sorry" but find out what they need from you to repair the damage you have caused.

This is seen everyday in our world we live in when we file an insurance claim for an "accident'.  When someone hits your car, there is a process that unfolds to repair the damage.  We have insurance to cover our mistakes when driving.  Well, the same thing should be true for our actions in life.  When we cause a "foul" there should be an exchange, a payment, a repair to make it right.

Actions ALWAYS speak louder than words and in this case, if you apologize to someone, you also must be willing to MAKE it right by doing something. Words are cheap!  What a wonderful world this would be if people would just OWN UP on what they have done.  We ALL fail.  We ALL need to be able to own it, address it, confess it and repair it.

2nd Amendment and Newtown

Bill Stevens a Newtown resident has this testimony right!  Rather than re-writing his entire testimony before congress here, you need to listen to this.  He is absolutely right, there is a CONSTITUTION still in America and DUE PROCESS.  Legislation is NOT due process.  Wake up AMERICA!

"911 will be called AFTER the security of my home is established." - Bill Stevens.  He went on to say, "Charlton Heston made the phrase, 'from my cold dead hands' famous.  And I will tell you here today you will take my ability to protect my Victory 'from my cold dead hands'."

'Nuf said.

Benghazi and Accountability

So tell me again why so many defended Hilary and the president when they stood in the rose garden and blamed a video?  Used to be that when leadership were caught in their lies, they resigned before bringing disgrace on our nation.  Remember Watergate?  How many people were fired, removed and/or resigned?  Today we have four people dead in Benghazi and one is an Ambassador not to mention the two former Navy seals and yet it seems some just want to "sweep this under the rug and move forward" like nothing terrible has really happened.

"Sweeping things under the rug and moving forward" seems to be a "spell" over many these days, not only in politics but I have seen this personally in my family and even in the church.  What happened to accountability?  How about responsibility?  Integrity?  Repentance?  Restitution?  When we allow people/leadership to do this, we are basically saying that this "injustice" (whatever it may be) is no big deal and we hear them saying "get over it".

Really?  I have seen this same demon manifesting in pastors taking this same stance over issues in their church when it comes to family disputes.  They want to "sweep things under the rug".  No one wants to get their "hands dirty" and so they "wash their hands" of involvement in anything "messy" so they don't loose tithes or members because too many people today are not about truth; they are about easy.

It reminds me of Meg Ryan's line in "You've Got Mail".  Kathleen Kelly is dealing with the loss of her business and she keeps hearing this line as if it is truth.  She is told that it is nothing personal; it's business.  She finally responds with this dialog, "What is that supposed to mean? I am so sick of that. All that means is that it wasn't personal to *you*. But it was personal to me. It's *personal* to a lot of people. And what's so wrong with being personal, anyway?"

I have seen SO many things in the past few years (even aside from politics) where people act like personal attacks are nothing personal.  Really?  Or where accountability and leadership don't want to get involved with "this or that" because that is a "family issue" or they use the line of it's "personal".

"And what's so wrong with being personal, anyway?" - Kathleen Kelly

We seem to live in a day where accountability and restitution seem to be a thing of the past.  Tragic!

Drugs and YOUR Performance

Saw this on a social web-site and thought the information was worth sharing.  Don't think drugs affect you?  Think again.

"In 1995, a group of NASA scientists experimented with drugs, literally. They studied the effects that various legal and illegal drugs have on house spiders, and specifically on the way they weave their webs. The results are both surprising and... not.

The spider that was high on marijuana did a fair job weaving, but then got bored or distracted and didn't finish. The one on speed went really fast, of course, but without much awareness of the overall picture: it left large gaps. The acid-trippy spider wove a psychedelic, symmetrical web which was very pretty but not great at catching bugs.

And that brings us to caffeine. Wow. As I sit here typing, a large cup of coffee beside my laptop, I, well, I don't really want it anymore.

The NASA scientists suggested the possibility of analyzing the periodic structure of the spiderwebs (or lack thereof) as a means of determining the relative toxicity levels of drugs. They do not seem to have continued down that road, however; one obstacle may have been the difficulty of extrapolating a given drug's toxicity to humans from its toxicity to spiders. Though similarities between effects on the two species do seem to exist, I'm not sure caffeine makes me feel quite like THAT. In fact, if I wove spiderwebs, that one would probably be pre-morning-cup-of-coffee.

Such questions as what the research had to do with space shuttles or Mars rovers, where the scientists got the drugs, and what happened to the spiders later unfortunately cannot be answered here. The relevant NASA briefs are cited by other academic papers and New Scientist Magazine (www.newscientist.com/article/mg14619750.500), but aren't themselves published on the web. The world wide one, that is.

Source: www.factodiem.com/2010/08/this-is-your-web-on-drugs.html"

Interesting article, don't you think?  Makes me glad the cup in front of me is decaf, thank you!