July 4th, 2013 – Cantigny Park
July 4, 2013 Leave a comment
Photos taken today (comments later), Cantigny Park:
I’m Home Now. Let’s Get It On.
June 20, 2013 Leave a comment
Chase – Get It On 1971
During the preceding weeks my father has died and I have been through a major surgery.
I am a trumpet player so to feel better I listen to loud raucous trumpets soaring away.
Vox Populi, Vox Dei Silenced Under Jack Boots
June 4, 2013 Leave a comment
Your Obamacare will be under the control of the IRS. You voted for Obama and the Democrats. Now be prepared to live under the jack boots of tyranny. And tyranny doesn’t care if you are a Tea Party member or a card-carrying union member. The IRS has got your number.
One glaring example of the IRS’ power to coerce an individual or group:
Karen Kenney of the San Fernando Valley Patriots testifies before Congress on the mistreatment of Tea Party affiliated groups by the IRS.
“To Be or Not To Be” Has Always Been the Question
May 28, 2013 Leave a comment
It’s been a while since my last post. I have been away visiting my mom & dad. My dad is close to death.
I drove out to see my folks when I heard that my dad was failing fast. We expect him to leave us soon.
I spent several days with mom and dad. I was able to speak and pray with dad. He is ready to die.
My father believes that God is faithful to His Word and that he will be in the Lord’s presence soon.
My father is coherent but feeble. An oxygen tank and a pump supply air thru his nose into his lungs and into his blood stream. There will be no more doctor visits for him.
My dad is a Godly man. He has done the work of the Kingdom of God here on earth: reconciliation, redemption, giving, witnessing, intercession and many other good works. And he has been married to my mom for almost 64 years!
Each of us siblings is praying that dad will quietly pass over into the presence of the Lord while he is in his chair or in his bed. I will miss dad. (I am the oldest child.)
While there I met with my siblings to talk about future things regarding mom.
“The LORD cares deeply when his loved ones die.” Psalm 116:15
A photo of mom & dad & me:
While visiting mom and dad I was able to catch up with my siblings and their kids. Wow! The kids have grown!
I am not a ‘Facebook’ kind of person so I haven’t seen the latest goings-on with each relative. How much I have missed!
My sister-in-law is also not a ‘Facebook’ kind of person. But she and I are into drama. She invited me to go over to nearby Liberty U to see my nephew in Hamlet. Her son had two roles: Rosencrantz and Laertes.
The play began outside and then each scene was set in a different location around the Hancock Welcome Center ~ inside and out.
As we moved outside to the balcony a glorious panoramic view opened to us: the sun was behind and below the Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance, the horizon gilt with gold and rose.
The gravedigger scene ~ “Alas, poor Yorick …”~ was hilarious.
At the play’s end there was a clash of swords. Laertes and the rest didn’t survive the sword fight or the poison. Death was strewn everywhere.
And then I was reminded of what G. k. Chesterton once said:
“We are to regard existence as a raid or great adventure; it is to be judged, therefore, not by what calamities it encounters, but by what flag it follows and what high town it assaults. The most dangerous thing in the world is to be alive; one is always in danger of one’s life. But anyone who shrinks from that is a traitor to the great scheme and experiment of being.”
Love – Backlit, Natural and Nearly Impossible- To The Wonder
May 12, 2013 Leave a comment
Terrence Malick’s To The Wonder
Using Scripture references, natural backlighting and encompassing music, (and yes there are characters) Terrence Malick once again, as in The Tree of Life, helps us to reflect on life and especially now on love:
Bitter Clingers Have More Fun!
May 12, 2013 Leave a comment
Today I attended a local Illinois gun show. It was my first gun show.
I found out about the show when I went over to Gander to buy some ammo. The Gander guy said they didn’t have 9mm ammo: “It came in last Thursday and it was gone as soon as it came in.” He said that I had to be at the store at 8:30 am on Thursday mornings to even have a chance at purchasing some 9mm ammo.
The guy the store clerk was helping said that here was a gun show down the road. So, I took off like a flash and ended up there for the afternoon.
I didn’t take any photos inside. You already know what guns ~ rifles, handguns ~ look like. I did see a lot of fathers with daughters and mothers with daughters at the show.
It was a Sportsmans’ Show so there was a lot of hunting rifles besides all varieties of pistols and knives. I was able to purchase a large quantity of 9mm ammo after showing my FOID card. I also bought a 9mm bullet magnet for my refrigerator door and a sign that says “Gun Control Means Using Both Hands.” Hah! Bitter Clingers have more fun!
Protect the 2nd Amendment. It protects you.
“Diversity” IS Suppression!
May 10, 2013 Leave a comment
This is messed up!
From LegalInsurrection: The FIRE: “The government has mandated speech codes on all campuses”
Closing the American Mind: Censorship
Do You Know a Government That Could Use a Rescue?
May 5, 2013 Leave a comment
Have you seen the TV program Bar Rescue? The show is in the same genre as the Restaurant Impossible and Hotel Impossible. Customer service based businesses are failing and someone from the outside comes into to save them.
Bar Rescue is a favorite show of mine and not because I’m a bar fly but rather because at one time I was one of three partners in a manufacturing business. I know what Jon is dealing with.
In my role as Vice President of Engineering I had to make business decisions on a 24/7 basis. I had to hire and sometimes fire engineers and designers. As VP I had to make sure that the equipment we designed and sold worked. I interfaced with customers, employees and technical issues on a constant basis.
As partners we dealt with cash-flow issues on a weekly or even daily basis. We would meet in our board room and hammer out the details. The three of us each had our specific roles to carry out. Each role carried responsibilities that supported the entire framework of the business.
I regularly made business trips across the U.S. and outside of the country to start-up the equipment. I was (and had to be) a major force behind our businesses’ multi-million dollar sales revenues. That was the only way to keep the business afloat and more than just a blip on the market place map we covered. So, I understand where Jon is coming from.
Jon Taffer is the force behind a Bar Rescue. You can tell that he knows his stuff. He knows what it takes to make a bar successful. He knows when to finesse and when to pound his fist to get a response. He will raise his voice to grab people’s attention away from their egos. As you watch the show you will see bar owners and their business partners who have no clue as to what to do. And because of their in-the-way egos they are deeply in debt when they call Jon in.
From appearances these bar owners seem to think that the bar will run itself, that people will naturally just come in off the street for a drink. But the numbers, the businesses’ accounting books Taffer shows them does not project wishful thinking. The numbers show reality. And that is why I like this program and why I like business – numbers don’t lie. Reality is the key ingredient to any success.
Now, our government is like a huge bar that needs rescuing from its managers. We the People, sadly, are like its troubled and overworked employees who do not have the say or the power to make the changes needed. We see the mess and try to do everything we can to make it better. But we reach a point where we see that management does not have a clue. Management wants the perks but not the responsibilities. If we speak up we are patted on the head and then kicked in the butt by our representatives.
Yes, there are voices of reality in government just as there are on the Bar rescue program. But those few voices are drowned out by huge political egos.
Now, I wish that we had a Government Rescue program. Washington’s decisions degrade our lives, our liberty daily. Those decisions wear us out. The U.S. government is out of control and rapidly growing deep into debt. Help!
To fix the debt issue Obama, like a poor business manager, wants to publicly litigate for more tax revenue from Americans by using words and phrases like “fair share,” and “social justice.” Just work harder he tells us.
Obama is not a hands-on guy ~ he is an attorney ~ a one-time professor of Constitutional law ~ with no clue as to how to run a business let alone a national economy. Elizabeth Warren is of the same cloth ~ all hyperbole and ego but no substance ~ both are true politicians.
As a nation we have more attorneys than business people in lead positions in our government. Is it any wonder that these attorneys are more concerned about “rights” and about jabbering on about what they can do for us if we hand over our liberty and our money?
What about the liberation of our human flourishing by embracing economic reality and making wise business decisions? Instead of new laws which constrain each of us and kick us in the butt we should be set free to do what we do best thereby generating increased revenues through successful and time-tested business practices.
The Free Market ~ people like you and me ~ already know how to deal with reality. What we need now is for someone to come in and toss the current “Progressive” management and to help us turn this nation around.
Clinging to my Guns and My Religion…
April 28, 2013 Leave a comment
…But Never to Obama
Yesterday I had the opportunity to shoot my new handgun at a gun range.
Wearing “ears” and safety glasses I shot my Sig Sauer P250 at a paper target. From the photos you can tell that I need the practice. I had two “hits” out of twenty shots taken. I wanted to shoot off more rounds but there is a shortage of 9mm ammo ~ at least until this summer.
As a kid I had fired .22 gauge rifles so I was somewhat ready for this experience. Being as this is the first time I shot a handgun I did OK. The owner of the range asked me how I did when walked out to the front counter. I showed him the target (see below). He smiled. He said that I tended to pull the gun because I anticipated the explosive force ~ the POP! ~ that snaps from the gun. I just needed to relax, take a deep breath and try not to jerk the trigger. I was overwhelmed at first by the explosive sounds of guns going off all around me but I became used to it. I also got used to my bullet casings flying back at me. There was a lot to take in but I handled my fears.
I purchased a hand gun because I live alone. I need protection. The Second Amendment gives me the right to own a gun to protect myself. This protection includes protection from the tyranny of government, the tyranny of overreach.
Ownership of a gun demands self-control. It demands that the owner respect the lethal weapon and use it only when life is threatened or for sport. I wish people would use their First Amendment right with self-discipline as well.
People generally dislike or hate what they do know. I wanted to know what it means to fire a gun. I do not want to live waiting for Obama’s government to save me. This was a good learning experience for me that will go on adding a sober dimension to my life.
Obama and Democrats mock and demonize people like me ~ people who own guns and believe in God. I went to church again today because I continue to miss the mark of Christ~likeness. In fact the word for sin in the Bible is harmartia ~ missing the mark.
Others hate because it is in their nature to revile. Here is Obama, the Divider-In-Chief, talking down his nose with disdain at everyday Americans who own guns and go to church:
Cindy Wity 