Dear Erick

Today I am ticked off at one of my favorite pundits, Erick Erickson said something uncaring today: that people who declare bankruptcy over medical bills are just doing it to remove their responsibility to pay it. I'd like to box his ears.

Let's cut to the chase: Conservatives are mad as hell because the current administration is constantly giving away things to people who don't work, who refuse to take responsibility for their own lives. They want government handouts. And we're sick of it. I frankly don't like Obamacare any more than any other Conservative. It forces me to buy something. I don't believe the government has a right to do that. But I also think Mr. Erickson needs a heart re-direct.

Sometimes life deals us some whammies that take away all of our ability to handle them. I am a Christian- my Father in Heaven always takes good care of me. I trust Him with my heart, my life, my future. I worked hard in law enforcement most of my adult life . But let me ask you, Mr. Erickson- what will you do the day you get very sick and are faced with a stack of medical bills that reaches the ceiling? You're probably very wealthy. You're very young. You probably have a "cadillac" insurance plan. Some of the rest of us unfortunately are not in that class. We're on fixed incomes. We get sick and we get stuck. We can't afford what you can afford.

You came off very uncaring today. I think you should repent, back the truck up, and really start caring about the people around you. Take your head out of the political rhetoric and remember that real people have real problems and sometimes they are out of our control. Not everyone is irresponsible leaky trailer trash. Stop generalizing. Get it right.

Wisdom or Panic?

Ok, I'm wading in on that Defense Bill with the detention provision tucked inside. Erick Erickson mentions that it's section 1021 in an 1800 page document.Gotta love these short bills, huh? Anyone wanting to read throught it would go to sleep before they got to the end.

The provision supposedly gives the President broad power to detain anyone involved in any kind of "Terrorist group" indefinitely without legal foundation. So, what's a terrorist group, we ask?

Now first, I remember certain members of the administration back in 2009 warning the country that conservatives or as she put it "the right wing" were dangerous and she nearly placed us in the terrorist category in a memo she wrote. Soooo...it has given many of my conservative friends pause as to what is the real agenda behind the "Fema Camps." Not to worry, I'm sure that we can prove that we are far more dangerous than they think we are.

Then there are my Christian friends who are freaked out thinking their homeschooling or evangelical activities are going to get them classified as "terrorists." Again we can prove we are far more dangerous than the government thinks we are: we PRAY. Now THAT's dangerous!

Point is, while this legislation passed with narry a nay, it passed because our own leadership is scared. OUR response should not be panic, or anger, but should contain true wisdom. There are inherent problems with the law -- let's work to get those parts removed. We still have a legal system, as wacky as it may be. Let's not give the liberals cause to call us deranged, let's show them who's really boss!

Who are We Standing For?

Ok, I have a bone to pick with Christians, and a complaint about the government. Nice combo, don't you think?

1. The government is hell-bent toward dropping America into Communism/Socialism in the name of "fairness." Most of the folks who subscribe to that philosophy don't know jack about what it means to follow that path. "Spreading the wealth" --money to everyone means that no one gets any except the top level- I can prove that by what happens when you get millions of people involved in a class action lawsuit. My hubby got a whopping $.21 from a class action lawsuit against EBAY. Whee, I feel rich already! Point is, when everyone is "entitled" to money, nobody gets much.

These people simply have an opinion and that opinion tries to paint the rest of us as imbeciles. And frankly, sometimes we are. We have knee-jerk reactions to things that we should be wisely countering. We go off and say ridiculous things that make the media circle us like sharks smelling blood in the water. It's embarrassing.

And just for drill, not one candidate for President is free of sin- everybody's got it. And I frankly don't give a darn about what kind or ilk it is. We just need strong leadership- which seems to be lacking in many areas. Sometimes the worst sinners make great leaders (evidenced by King David- murderer, adulterer, great king).


2. Christians are supposed to hold themselves to a higher standard than those reactions. "Bless those who curse you" is a case in point. Do we ever bless the President, or are we cursing him daily? I mean spiritually too- we are constantly griping, complaining, whining, and cursing in the name of "standing for the truth." Well, gang the truth is in the New Testament, and He commands us to bless and not curse. If we want a new President, if we want God's best for us, WILL WE OBEY HIM? WILL WE GET THE MESSAGE?

I sincerely doubt that Christianity will get it. We're on an I-hate-Obama roll. Whether we like him or not is irrelevant- we are supposed to obey the Lord's Word and bless him. Until we do so, we are in for a ride. Defeating Obama can only happen when the Body of Christ unites to obey the Word of God.

So we're Lazy now?

The President thinks America is "lazy" because we "haven't been attracting foreign businesses." Ouch. Let me dig a little deeper into that statement.

First off, the President has planned more initiatives to set up foreign investment in this nation. You might be thinking, "great! More money for us!" But think about it -- we have opened our doors to foreign investors to the point where a lot of American businesses are actually owned by other nations. China, for example, owns 70% or thereabouts of American communication companies. (You can look that up)Do we really want MORE of that? Ask the Chinese corporation in southern Idaho why their little enclave is literally considered foreign soil. Hmmmm?

Arab interests, too, have skyrocketed over the last decade. Can our own businesses keep up with the money that has been pouring into this country? Not really. Many of them have gone under, and been taken over by international concerns. But lazy? Mr. President, that's not correct.

The President wants American businesses to go overseas and attract more foreign investment. I am not certain that's a good idea. I don't think American businesses are "lazy." Many have established themselves overseas and prospered at it. But bringing overseas back to us? I'm not sure that's the best plan.

Iran and the Headaches They give Us

Today I see that our former Secretary of State Condolezza Rice made the statement that we should take out the Iranian government any way we can. While I often didn't agree with her while in office, she just might be right.

The main problem to military action in Iran is their resources- not a push over as was Saddam's untrained army. Iran has spent millions training terrorists, armies, and moving in to places they should never be. They support some of the world's nastiest terror groups- and they are a terror group in and of themselves. Not to mention their leader is a nutcase, and a dangerous one at that.

Candidates have said that "we should remove the sanctions to get Iran to act differently." Which is a lot of hog pucky. People who are deranged are not swayed by magnanimous gestures or wheedling. They look for ways to exploit their foes and use every method to do it. Ms. Rice nailed it when she said we should never take the military option off the table.

Ahmadinejad is no fool- crazy, but not stupid. He will delay, manipulate, threaten, even tell lies in order to get his way. Anyone who thinks he's a normal guy that will respond to "nice" gestures is as smart as the two guys in "Dumb and Dumber." Time to get our tongues off the frozen light pole and get some guts.

Fleshly Attributes

Today there is a headline that reveals the IRS and FBI are investigating Bishop Eddie Long's church in Atlanta for holding investment seminars which have caused several people to lose their savings.

First off, to give Bishop Long the benefit of the doubt, the economy is not in a good investment cycle- so duh, somebody is losing their money. But aside from the obvious, there is a deeper problem with "investment seminars" held by a church.

It's called greed. It's called the "love of money" being a root of "all kinds of evil." For the life of me I can't figure out why Christians are so hell bent to seek after the almighty dollar. Don't they READ their Bibles?

Jesus told His followers that if they loved money they would end up hating God. "No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money." Matthew 6:24

And yet, all over the Body of Christ there are get-rich-quick-schemes, followed by the statement "you need the money for ministry." Bull pucky.
Many a scheme has snared Christians, and has caused them to lose things.
I met with a couple one day who were convinced that if I would just buy a website from them I would make lots of money for my "ministry." As I sat across from them - in my police uniform by the way- I tried to explain that what they were proposing was a "pyramid scheme" and not legal in our state. They refused to believe it and walked away in a fog of deception.
No, they didn't make lots of money, and neither did anyone else involved in the scheme.

From "health products" to websites, "investments", to "give to get offerings," to every other trap, Christians are guilty of worldy thoughts. It's all based in greed and the love of money. They need to repent and wake up to the truth. God's economy works differently than the world. Will we EVER learn?

Polls and Politics

According to varying polls, people don't think they want Mr. O as President anymore. Well, duh. Mr. Spend, Spend, and Spend-Some-More simply doesn't need to continue. All that tax and spend policy places huge hardships on all of us. Undoing it is going to be a nightmare and a half.

The thing about polls is that they are often flawed and give a false sense of complacency. So my advice is to watch over the course of time and not give in to their alluring results.

Example: Ron Paul won a "straw poll" from Value Voters. He won because his wealthy supporters were on site at the convention. He didn't win it outright, nor did he win it because he was "favored." That kind of twisting goes on ALL THE TIME with politicians on both sides of the road.

Let's think for a minute about the "Occupy Wall Street" crowds and their buddies in Portland, etc. They have sucked in numerous people from all over the political spectrum, but they are socialist to the max. They are "share the wealth" people. Their agenda is simply wrong for America, no matter how many people are hanging out in the streets. It's like a twisted poll- don't believe everything you think you see.

So what's the answer? Honesty. Integrity. Truth. Love of Country. Love of people. Across the aisles of politics there can be a working together, but it takes some unvarnished truth and a large dose of compassion to do so: 1)the kind of compassion that refuses to hand everyone a credit card and tell them to go spend themselves into debt; 2) the kind of compassion that tries to give wisdom as a handout instead of free money; 3) the kind of compassion that causes our citizens to be responsible, hard-working, and truly free.

So, what do you think?