Fever And More Fever

One ailment after another.  Just got over "Cabin Fever" and now I can feel "Spring Fever" comin' on.

Common Sense

Common sense in government died a long, long time ago.

A Little Good News...LOL

Today the President of The United States held what can only be described as the most extraodinary address to the nation in the history of this country. He announced that because of the Balanced Budget Act of 1980, the National Debt has been paid in full. After twenty years of no deficit spending The United States of America is debt free. He went on to say that the Office of Management and Budget is projecting the following...

1. By 2012 the U.S. Treasury will have a surplus sufficient to pay all medical expenses for all Americans without relying on programs such as government Healthcare, Medicare, or Medicaid. No health insurance of any kind will be needed by anyone.
2. By 2014 the U.S. Treasury surplus will have grown sufficiently to provide a free college education for anyone wanting it at any institution of higher learning in the country, be it public or private.
3. By 2016 the U.S. Treasury surplus will be sufficient to provide all Americans age fifty or older retirement benefits equal to 100% of pay for life and survivor benefits of equal amount.

The president then announced that he has instructed Congress to begin work on a "National Endowment". He explained that, by the year 2020 the U.S. Treasury surplus will have grown sufficiently to support a national endowment that will generate enough revenue so that the Federal Income Tax can be abolished.

At the end of his news conference the president made the most astounding announcement of all. He informed the American people that God was in the Oval Office and wanted to make an announcement. No one was seen, but from out of nowhere came a voice that proclaimed, "HELL HAS FROZEN OVER".

A Little Good News Today

The phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance and "In God We Trust" on U.S. money do not violate the Constitution's separation of church and state, a federal appeals court panel has ruled in San Francisco.

"The Pledge is constitutional," Judge Carlos Bea wrote for the majority in the 2-1 ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel. "The Pledge of Allegiance serves to unite our vast nation through the proud recitation of some of the ideals upon which our Republic was founded."

The challenges were filed by Sacramento atheist Michael Newdow. He argued that the references to God disrespect his beliefs and are unconstitutional.

Blind Faith

The saved man is like the blind man.  They both must believe what they cannot see.

Faith

You can't fix your faith, but your faith will fix you.

Daydream

Most walk from day to day.
Some leap from dream to dream.
And the rest of us just sit around and daydream.

Pieces Of Wood

Give a little boy a few pieces of wood and he will build a bridge to the moon.
Give a young man a few pieces of wood and he will build a house for his family.
Give an old man a few pieces of wood and he will build a fire to keep warm.

Redistribution

Your government may redistribute wealth, but only you can redistribute success.

A Little Good News Today

Fox News has reported that Virginia's attorney general has advised the state's public colleges that they don't have the authority to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation, saying only the General Assembly has that power.


The letter sent by Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli to state college presidents and other officials Thursday drew swift criticism from Democrats and gay rights activists.

Cuccinelli said the legislature has repeatedly refused to exercise its authority. As recently as Tuesday, a subcommittee killed legislation that would have banned job discrimination against gay state employees.

"It is my advice that the law and public policy of the Commonwealth of Virginia prohibit a college or university from including 'sexual orientation,' 'gender identity,' 'gender expression,' or like classification, as a protected class within its nondiscrimination policy, absent specific authorization from the General Assembly," Cuccinelli wrote.

The Republican advised college governing boards to "take appropriate actions to bring their policies in conformance with the law."

Jon Blair, chief executive officer of the gay rights group Equality Virginia, said Cuccinelli's "radical actions are putting Virginia at risk of losing both top students and faculty, and discouraging prospective ones from coming here."

C. Richard Cranwell, state Democratic Party chairman, said Virginia's colleges and universities were more than capable of setting policies that work for them "without meddling from Ken Cuccinelli."

The attorney general said his letter merely stated Virginia law, which prohibits discrimination because of "race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, age, marital status, or disability," but makes no mention of sexual orientation.

Cuccinelli said the criticism was coming from people who have been frustrated in their attempts to change the law.

"None of them suggest our reading of the law is wrong. It's people who don't like the policy speaking up because it's their opportunity to go on the attack," he said.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia legal director Rebecca Glenberg said colleges are bound by U.S. Supreme Court decisions not to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.

A spokesman for the Family Foundation of Virginia, which has opposed expanding state anti-discrimination policies to protect gays, said the criticism of Cuccinelli's action is unwarranted.

"My understanding is all he's done is essentially ask the universities to follow the law," spokesman Chris Freund said. "It's a little perplexing to see people respond the way they have."

Virginia's last two Democratic governors, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, signed executive orders barring state agencies from discriminating in hiring, promotions or firing based on sexual orientation. Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell, who took office in January, removed protections based on sexual orientation from his anti-discrimination order.

As attorney general in 2006, McDonnell said Kaine exceeded his constitutional authority by extending protections to gays.

A Little Good News Today

All high school math teacher Bradley Johnson wanted to do was honor our nation’s history and religious heritage the same way he always had. For twenty five years, a red, white and blue-striped banner adorned his classroom walls with national maxims such as “In God We Trust,” “One Nation Under God, “ “God Bless America,” and “God Shed his Grace On Thee.” A second banner accompanied it, containing an excerpt from the Declaration of Independence, “All Men are Created Equal and They Are Endowed by Their Creator.”


But displaying a portion of the Declaration of Independence and other national mottos was just too offensive to the Poway Unified School District in San Diego. It ordered Johnson to remove the banners from his classroom because they “over-emphasized” God – one school official said it might “offend” Muslim students. Fortunately, Johnson went to federal court to fight this absurd order (represented by the Thomas More Law Center), and even more fortunately, given that California is in the 9th Circuit, the most liberal appeals circuit in the nation, a federal judge found on February 26 that the school board’s actions violated Mr. Johnson’s constitutional rights.

Judge Roger T. Benitez did not allow the censorship because “it has been clear for over 90 years that teachers do not lose their constitutional rights inside the schoolhouse gate, and that government may not squelch one viewpoint while favoring another.”

It turned out that the school district allowed teachers to display other posters promoting controversial political issues such as gay rights and global warming, and banners showing other religious preferences such as Tibetan prayer flags, Hindu leader Mahatma Gandhi’s “Seven Social Sins,” and John Lennon and the lyrics of his song “Imagine,” which opens with lyrics about no heaven, no hell, and no religion. The school district just seemed to have a problem with Christian religious and American patriotic sentiments.

No student, parent or school administrator had ever objected to Johnson’s banners – until January 23, 2007, when the entire school board ordered Johnson to remove the posters which “conveyed a Judeo-Christian viewpoint.”

Judge Benitez was scathing in his denunciation of the school board, which apparently feared that “students are incapable of dealing with diverse viewpoints that include God’s place in American history and culture.” The fact that “God places prominently in our Nation’s history does not create an Establishment Clause violation requiring curettage and disinfectant for Johnson’s public high school classroom walls.” The board not only failed to comply with the long-standing policy that “a teacher’s classroom walls serve as a limited public forum for a teacher to convey non-curriculum messages,” but also went so far as to silence Johnson’s speech.

Judge Benitez cracked down on the board’s bias, concluding that “by squelching Johnson’s patriotic and religious viewpoint, while permitting speech promoting Buddhist, Hindu, and anti-religious viewpoints, Defendants clearly abridged Johnson’s constitutional free speech rights.” An “imaginary” Islamic student was “not entitled to a heckler’s veto on a teacher’s passive, popular or unpopular, expression.”

This is a common-sense decision that hostility towards our nation’s history, its religious heritage, and expressions of patriotism will not be tolerated in our public school classrooms. Hopefully, other school boards around the country will take notice.

A Little Good News Today

Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, the pilot who landed a disabled passenger plane on New York's Hudson River in 2009, piloted his last flight for US Airways on Wednesday.  Sullenberger, 59, has retired from the company he joined in 1980.   He said in a statement, "I have been fortunate to have followed my passion for most of my life, working in a profession I dearly love, side by side with thousands of wonderful colleagues."

Thanks for a job well done, and enjoy your retirement.

Vegetables

Everytime I peel an onion I wonder why God didn't create a vegetable that makes people laugh.

Will and Me

Will Rogers said, "Too many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like."
I say, "Washington politicians spend my money that I don't have, to buy things that I don’t want, to impress people that I don't even know."

Hell

I stand there in line with the dead, waiting to enter the pearly gates ahead.
I stand in front of the angel with the Book of Life in his hand.
He runs his finger down a page as I try to swallow my pounding heart.
Suddenly, something grabs me and drags me away from the heavenly soul who had told me my name was not found.
I am shoved into the bright fire my eyes only witnessed moments ago.
My sight stolen by the darkness that surrounds me.
The intense heat smothering me.
The flames licking at my soul, waiting for it to dissolve inside this place.
I hear someone shrieking for their rescue.
I realize that person is me.
I keep shouting, waiting for an answer.
No reply.
I cry louder as the fire wraps around me tighter making the temperature unbearable.
My dry throat starting to beg for water that no one will ever give to it.
I yell louder and louder.
I fall to my knees begging for anyone or anything to save me.
I finally hang my head in defeat.
My heart loosing every drop of hope it had left inside.
I weep and choke on the bitter tears as they run down my cheek.
My memory playing like a movie on the times I could have avoided this eternal torment.
My friends tried to tell me, but I’d change the subject.
I would be invited to church, yet I said I had other plans.
I now envied my friends for they would be in a better place, instead of here…with me.
A sudden wave of loneliness hits me like a wrecking ball.
No one is here with me but the flames that slice at my new body.
Discomfort soon followed after.
I longingly wished for the comfort that this wretched place could never offer.
I sorrowfully wail alone, because I am eternally left in Hell.

— Brooke Scarbro