Your say illegal and I say invaders

In my local paper there was a response to an opinion piece concerning the use of the term illegal alien to describe someone who has been in this country for 10 to 20 years. The writer of the piece seems to feel that if they haven't been caught by now they should be allowed to stay in country. A reader than answered the opinion piece by saying that the author was right, they shouldn't be called illegal aliens, the should be called alien invaders.
As I began to ponder this idea a thought struck me. Imagine with me (if you need to close your eyes that't OK with me, but it's kind of hard to read with your eyes closed), anyway you're walking down the street, minding your own business when you see someone rush out of their house, get in their car a drive away. You notice that said person forgot to shut their front door. It's the early afternoon and you have left home without lunch or something to drink, and it hot and getting hotter. What do you do?
Well, some people would keep on walking, after all it's not their fault the person forgot about the door and they don't want to get involved. Others would go up to the door and close it, hoping that the person gets back soon so nothing is stolen. A small percentage would call a friend and clean the house out. Luckily this is a very small group and they're not very smart anyway and will probably get caugt at the local 7 11 stealing gas.
Then there is a whole other group of people who would do what the first three groups would never have thought of. This group would go on into the house and make themselves at home. They'd fix themselves a sandwich, after all the people in the house have more money than you do and they have more than enough food and they won't miss just a little and it's not like you broke into the house after all the door was open. You watch some TV, use the telephone, go upstairs into the bedroom and take a nap, then you take a shower, try on some clothes (after all they have more than enough clothes) and finally go on your way. Before you do though you call all of your friends and tell them all about this wonderful house and all of the benifits you've found there.
A guest is someone you invite into your home or country. Someone who just walks in uninvited is a bore, a rube, and a invaider. Ask the Romans, Greeks, Celts, ect. and they will tell you that an invaider comes uninvited and leaves as soon as he has destroyed everything he can't steal. It doesn't matter if it's a sterio or health care benifits. A thief is a thief. I want the uninvited to go home, and I want our borders closed so that only those obey our laws can benifit from citizenship, and I truly don't care where they come from. This analogy should sound frightenly familiar. Illegals enter this country everyday just by driving or walking across the border. They use our resources and send money back to their families in other countries. One of Mexico most important imports is cash from the US going to family members of illegals. If they have been here for 20 years and haven't applied for citizenship my guess is they are not that interested in being citizens
That is one of the things that has set the US apart for centuries, most of the people who've come here have wanted to become Americans, and felt little remorse letting go of their former homeland. Such is not the case today. There are those who want to change America. They seek to make it more like (whatever country they came from) only with money. If that country was so great, why are they here. They need to go and they need to go NOW.

Truth vs Faith

What is Truth?
(this is not a religious rant or conversion effort, only ruminations)
There are those who will maintain that truth is highly subjective. One man's truth is another man's lie, as it were. To Conservatives Bill Clinton was a thief, liar, cheat, and traitor. To those on the far left he was the smartest man in the world, a good father, a good husband, tolerant, supportive and patriotic. To those who fall in the mid stream of American politics Mr. Clinton is a combination of both Conservative and Liberial views. What we see as truth usually falls somewhere in the middle of opposing viewpoints, ......usually.

I realize that it is unpopular and politically incorrect to say that there are actual, real truths in the world today. These truths have always been in existence and will always exist, whether or not people ascribe to them. It is not the belief that creates the truth, it is the truth that creates the belief.

Many people are confronting the uncomfortable fact that maybe their belief in certain "truths" is not all they thought it was. They are confused and angry at what they see as attacks against their personal religious beliefs and feel that their "truths" should be involitile.

I read the Da Vinci Code and will probably see the movie. (I have a firm grasp of the difference between fact and fiction and I also have a background in both history and research) The book and now the movie have given me an opportunity to look deep in my soul, to discover what it is I do believe about God, the eternities and how I fit into the scheme of things. Some things like for example whether Jesus Christ and Mary M. were married is academic to me, it does not affect how I live my life and has absolutely no impact on my faith in either the Savior or my Heavenly Father. I believe what I believe because of the study, prayer and testing if have put forth, that I may know what it is I believe.

People today want faith to be something they can buy or get without doing anything for it. Just say you believe in Jesus and you're saved. I believe there is more to conversion and faith than just words. Faith without works is dead, and an even truer adage is Talk is Cheap. This does not mean I believe one can work their way into eternity, it just means that works must balance with the gift given to all men in the Garden of Gethsemane. This is my "truth." I know that it is true because I have lived both with this truth and without it. Without it life is dull, has no spark or flavor. It is bland and nothing seems to mean anything -it is akin to just going through the motions. With it life has meaning, spice, flavor and a reason to get up everyday.

That explains, at least to me why many people today both religious and irreligious are so unhappy and unfulfilled. They have nothing on which to build their house. No rock on which to base their foundation and since their house is built on the shifting sands of public opinion and desires it will never be stable and most likely will fall. And great will be the fall thereof.

I'm grateful I've had the opportunity to test the "truths." My life is better for it, and so are the lives of the people I touch.

Baltimore Bah Humbug

Unfortunately I grew up just outside of Baltimore City. Ten miles separated the area that I grew up in from the city, but it may as well have been hundreds of miles. I grew up in an area where the police were the good guys, where your neighbor, brother, uncle or father was a member of the local volunteer fire department. Many of my fathers friends and my relatives in general were veterans of not only WW2 but WW1, Korea, Vietnam et al. People were not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, they drank too much, they smoked and they changed spouses at the drop of a hat in some cases but the Police were people you could count on to help you in an emergency.

Baltimore City well that is whole different planet. I can remember as a teenager when it dawned on me that homicides were no longer being reported because there were just too many to deal with at a time. There were places that a light skinned person just didn't travel in even during the day. I can see that very little has changed, except that now one can't even expect support from those who promise to protect and serve. One wonders exactly what this couple interrupted when they waylaid the supposed police officer. The only thing this couple is guilty of is deciding to go to Baltimore to see a Birds game in the first place. (I bet the O's lost more than one fan because of this piece of Banth Poo Doo.)

I'm sick and tired of the same old PC claptrap. Baltimore you're a city in crisis. Your people are rude, crude and disrespectful of themselves and others. You allow drug users and dealers, traffickers in porn and filth and the violent and dangerous to run rampant in your streets because "they've had a hard life." Well guess what, a lot of people have it hard, a lot of people don't have things given to them for nothing. But that is the real point, too many who live in the city of Baltimore (and most other big cities as well) do have things given to them for doing absolutely nothing. They don't work, they don't go to school, they don't move ahead because they (white or black) would rather stay ignorant than expend a little energy and take some kind of responsibility for themselves and their actions

Baltimore made me the Conservative I am today. Many years ago I passed a house in the city, while going to the dentist. The house had no windowpanes left, the door was gone but there was a pink Cadillac our front and a group of ADULTS sitting around a large screen color TV. It was then I decided that liberal give away programs would NEVER work and I have made my mantra to vote against any and all candidates who prescribe these programs as a way to deal with social issues. These programs haven't worked in the last 60+ years and it won't even if given 600000000000000 more.

Da Vinci Hysteria

I'm sorry. I just can't comprehend the hysteria accompanying the release of Brown's Da Vinci Code-The Movie. It has been 2 years since I read the book, but although I remember him claiming some of the ceremonies and some of the organizations, like Opus Dei,were real, I have not researched this because as a student of history (I do have a BA in that subject) I looked on the work of Mr. Brown as FICTION.

There is a very large difference between the publication of a Non fiction book, like for example Holy Blood, Holy Grail and the new book The Jesus Papers by the same author. Apparently the author of these books, Michael Baigent, thought Mr. Brown had stolen whole parts of the Holy Blood, Holy Grail from him. I don't see people lining up to protest this author's books, or calling for people to burn or not buy them, which by the way are classified as NON-FICTION (supposedly this means there is a basis of FACT or TRUTH somewhere contained in the book- at least that is what the author claims).

Here is a little known or understood fact. He who wins the war writes the history. It is a fact irrevocably decreed in the annals of human history. What do we know of the Celts? Not a lot, they left no writings and even if they had the Romans and other groups would have destroyed what they left. We know about the Celts because of what someone else, enemies mostly, wrote about them.

History was written in many cases by those who were in power at the time. While it is true that some information was squirreled away most of what we know about the past comes from those who controlled what was written down. In the case of the Da Vinci time frame, the Catholic Church was in control. The adherents of this church have never been able to admit the faults and problems that eventually caused the schism that created the Protestant Reformation. I therefore put nothing past people who created and participated in the decimation of the groups like the Cathars and Huguenots. These same people participated in the Inquisition. Monty Python pithily said "No one expects the Spanish Inquision," but I see no difference in the behavior of the zealots who are now going door to door trying to intimidate people into not seeing this movie.
I enjoyed the Da Vinci Code but then again I am a member of a church that many Catholics consider a cult and about whom, other religions spread specious and vicious lies.

Personally I'm glad to see someone else get similar treatment. I would hope that the next time the Catholic Church decides to make false claims about other people and churches they would remember how it felt.
I hope that they will but I have no faith that they can! Those who refuse to learn from history are DOOMED to repeat it.

Flipping hysterical phone ranters

Some of you people are sincerely hysterical.
1. If you're not planning the downfall of civilization why do you care who's listening.?
2. Wake up and smell the coffee burning. The other side (terrorist's in this case) won't stop at bugging your phone. They'll just chop your head off , as they did in a video released last week purporting to be the execution of a Arab journalist. Before they killed her, they cut her open and stomped on her for good measure.
3. It's a good thing Bush is president at this time because NO one in the democratic party has the equipment necessary to face this problem. I have never seen a greater collection of liars, thieves, cutthroats, wimps and whiners. Image Algore or Dean the Scream huddling under the desk in the oval office as Washington burns down around their heads. A real life "Independence Day(the Movie)" moment. We all know what Slick Willie would be doing, so let's not go there.
4. The people we are fighting never negotiate. Oh they'll talk to you as long as you're holding the whip. Once they sense weakness they are like any other predators. They will strike. They are not interested in peace or progress, they are interested in power. They are not civilized, they are barbarians. They understand nothing except force.
5. Let us not forget here that things in the 14th century were a little different than they are today. The enemy wants to take us all back to a simpler time where people never questioned those in charge. To a time when slavery was bravely practiced against those weaker than oneself, a time where women were considered lower even than the family dog. Is this the brave new world you had in mind. I don't know about anyone else but my daughters are not going to be burkaed. No one is going to be able to beat them up, rape or sell them, burn them or stone them to death. That's not what I want for them or for anyone else's daughter.
6. To those who's mantra is that anyone that supports the war or President just picks and chooses the most positive news that fits into our already made up minds, the same could be said for you. You pick up only the bad things, which is worse. Have there been mistakes, of course, no one is perfect. Will there be more, probably? The fact is that there are positive things happening in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Is this war our fault, not! It is theirs. They brought the fight to us, and now we've brought it to them.
There is of course more, but there's always more. But I'm sick with an Upper respiratory thing so I don't have the energy to deal with the terminally angry.
** Quick tip, keep up the vitriol and either your stomach will develop an unsightly hole in it of your heart, such as it is will simply give up on you.

Deja vu

Yesterday was one of the most surreal days of my life. My daughter Meg gave birth to her first son and our first grandchild. This whole pregnancy thing was mostly academic for me. After 6 children there isn't too much I don't know or haven't heard about the process. The grandchild thing however is totally new.

It's different than I thought it would be. As a child I thought that Grandmothers were wise, kind, tolerant and old. I know that this is not necessarily true anymore. Many grandparents are quite young, some are not very kind and or tolerant, but I was really holding out for wise.

From the time I turned 13 years old I have been waiting for wisdom to descend upon me. Surely, I thought, at 13 I will feel different now, know more, understand more, be more confident. I'm still waiting. What I've really learned over the years is that most people are just faking it. They don't know much more than you do (for sure, anyway) they just pretend well. I think to become really educated, and this goes for book learning as well as life learning, one must acknowledge just how much one doesn't know. It is impossible to truly learn if you're sure you already know it all.

This baby will be different than mine, because first off, his not really mine. I have a peripheral role in his life at best. He does however have two of the finest people I know as parents. They are kind and tolerant, young and faithful, fun and loving. I am glad they will be on the front lines in his journey through life. I'm not sure what this baby did before hand to get such wonderful parents but as of yesterday at approximately 8:00pm CDT they became a forever family.
I am truly blessed to be a part of it

Welcome Home Aaron David.
(to view pictures jump to scribbling monk)

The Day After

Well it's the day after May Day. Cities are still standing, businesses are still running and time is grinding gradually onward. Surprisingly turnout was lower than expected. There was violence but if you read the LA Times you'd never know that. Still the violence wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

For the most part it was a holiday for illegals and their supporters. It's a shame they won't be made to attend school, and work on the national holiday of legal Americans, July 4th. No most of them will be off that day too. They will take advantage of the blood and guts it took to make and keep this country standing, at the same time many of them are working to destroy it. If they had paid this much attention and took this much interest in their own countries they wouldn't have had to leave and the countries would not be in the shape they are in.

Still as the Dems would tell you "Don't confuse the issue with facts" after all where would we be without illegal aliens. California would be at least 2 billion dollars richer, Texas 1 billion, and that's just the cost of education. That doesn't begin to cover the cost of Medicare and other social services that are used. Then there is the cost to communities through policing and incarceration. But the illegals and their supporters will tell you that they pay taxes. If they are illegal how is that possible? Yes they pay sales taxes, but how to you pay federal and state taxes without a social security account. If you are illegal why and how does this work?

The simple fact is that if you came into the country illegally, every thing you do is illegal. You are a criminal. It's a fact and no amount of wishing is going to change this. Just as if you'd robbed a bank. Once you have committed the crime, it becomes a fact. Can you move beyond it? Of course, but not by denying it happened. And not by refusing to pay your dues.
Unfortunately for Legal Americans we are the ones who are paying the dues and until the borders are closed and illegals are sent back where they came from we will continue to pay, not just in dollars but in a loss of culture and unity.

These people differ from most of those who have come to these shores throughout the history of America. They don't want to be Americans they just want to take what they desire and to hell with the rest of us. They want to be Mexicans or Hispanics or whatever. The strength of America in the past was the willingness of her immigrants to become a part of the country. Most illegals have shown that they want to be separate going so far as to suggest having their own country. I'm personally OK with that, I just think that as messed up as Mexico is, they could probably take over there with very little problems.

The added plus should be that there at least, they speak the same language there.