The Kennedy Curse

 
In the warm glow and aftermath of the annual Christmas celebrations, it may appear unseemly to post an article such as the one which follows. However, in this interval between holidays, it is traditional to look back upon significant events in the preceding year. In the course of that review, I came across this entry on Liberty by Stephen Cox.

Mr. Cox states in far more comprehensive and eloquent words than I could ever muster, an unvarnished look at the late senior senator from Massachusetts. For those too young to have followed his career in real time you will find Mr. Cox’s appraisal (and mine) quite enlightening.

“The Kennedy Curse

It is said that people make gods in their own likeness. If that is true, what kind of people created Edward Kennedy (1932–2009)?

Kennedy’s biological father was a goatish, pro-fascist crook whose politics were chiefly motivated by Irish-American nationalism and the desire to make one or more of his children president, for no other reason than that they were his children. His mother was a twisted religious bigot. (“Dad was the spark,” Teddy recalled; “Mother was the light of our lives.”) Their children were all, to one degree or another, seriously damaged by their domineering parents. One of the children was lobotomized by a father disgusted by her mental “slowness.” The others were deformed by the assumption that the only way to amount to anything was to achieve power over others. A more vicious premise can hardly be imagined. It is fortunate that at least one of them — John F. Kennedy — knew better, although his life was still grievously influenced by his father’s political ambitions and his lessons in sexual aggression.

Teddy, youngest male of the family, was a person of average intelligence and below-average capability, darkly overshadowed by his older brothers. He got Cs at prep school but was admitted to Harvard because his family was rich. At Harvard he was caught cheating and expelled. At the University of Virginia Law School he was ticketed for reckless driving four times and received the kind of punishment that the children of wealthy fixers generally receive.

In 1962, after a one-year career as assistant to the district attorney of Suffolk County, Massachusetts, he was elected to the Senate of the United States, for no other reason than that his father was rich and his brother was president. He was 30 years old, and he held the job for the rest of his life.

In 1969, he hosted a party on Chappaquiddick Island, MA, for some girls who had worked for his brother Robert’s presidential campaign the previous year. Drunk, he took one of the girls out in his car and drove the car off a bridge. While his companion struggled for life in the overturned vehicle, Kennedy extricated himself, ignored the lights in a nearby house, fled across the island, swam an inlet, and returned to his hotel. In the morning, other people discovered the car and the dead girl, and Kennedy finally reported his association with the event, after soliciting advice from the kind of statesmen who flock around money and power. He went on television to deliver the first of many lachrymose speeches in which he urged people to support him because his brothers were dead. And Massachusetts voters did support him. They reelected him eight times.

During the following years, Kennedy repeatedly ran or threatened to run for the presidency, convinced that a person who had no work experience, no relevant education, no analytical ability, no sense of morality, no qualifications of any sort except his association with a wealthy family, had a duty to become the nation’s chief executive. He failed ignominiously. Eventually he gave it up, having discovered that even so incompetent and unpopular a figure as Jimmy Carter could beat him handily. Strangely, political pundits were incapable of reaching the same conclusion. For the rest of his life they considered Kennedy the idol of the American people.

After magnanimously relinquishing the presidency, Teddy devoted himself to his four favorite pursuits: drinking, eating, womanizing, and pushing people around (“legislating”). Like other people who know just enough to understand that there is always someone dumber than they are, Kennedy played the demagogue to an audience of poor people and Hollywood liberals, making violent speeches in which he denounced all who opposed his policies as racists and sexists. Then, in private, he cuddled up to Republican politicians who had no qualms about selling out their party. Together, they produced “compromise legislation” that (imagine!) gave Kennedy virtually everything he had originally wanted. (The press lauded this as “bipartisanship.”)

Kennedy’s constant desire was to increase the power of government. Always he advocated state power, from the days when he demanded universal conscription to the days when he demanded racial quotas for hiring (“quotas, shmotas” was his contemptuous dismissal of those who objected to this patent inequity) to the days when he moved heaven and earth to impose government healthcare on an unwilling populace. He could not be troubled to read a book, consult experience, or consider the logical implications of the things he wanted. He just wanted them, because they gratified his ego, no matter what the costs might be to others. He had money, so he wanted power. He was a wicked man, a thousand times more wicked than the man who holds up a 7-Eleven, desiring only the cash that’s in the till.

In 2008, Kennedy developed brain cancer. Instead of resigning the duties he could no longer fulfill, he kept on being a senator, using his remaining days to demand more government, plan a heroic funeral, and try to get his home state to change its electoral laws so that a clone could be inserted in his place. He died on August 25, before he could do any more harm. President Obama, in his funeral oration, called him “the greatest legislator of our time” and “the soul of the Democratic Party.”

Soul. Can it be that this ranting, bloated, red-faced drunk was the soul of anything?

It staggers the imagination. Yet this was the hero of the academics and the intellectuals. This was the organism over which National Public Radio claimed “the nation is in mourning.” This was the entity that prompted Yahoo News to run a headline in this form: “Throughout history, Kennedys have grieved losses in public” — as if the Kennedys had, like gods, existed from the dawn of time, making spectacles of themselves to mortals and reveling in their attention.

All of this is embarrassing to contemplate. But the biggest embarrassments are the teachers and commentators, the political leaders and self-proclaimed idealists, who created Edward Moore Kennedy in the image of their highest aspirations. — Stephen Cox “

Now that you have waded through this evisceration of Sen. Kennedy; don’t you feel better? I do! Now go and prepare to enjoy a prosperous and happy New Year.

In His abiding love,

Cecil Moon

Another Note from my New Friend, Barry

  
Last evening in all the hustle and bustle of Christmas Eve, I got another quick personal note from my new found best buddy, Barry. I thought I might share it with you since it’s not really all that personal. I will, as usual share, my reaction with you in the traditional red type remarks.

From: President Barack Obama

To: XXXX@XXXX.com

Date: Dec. 24, 2009, 1:46 PM

Friend – (He still hasn’t read this blog.)

Although it's Christmas Eve, (I thought they did that at the crack of dawn.) I wanted to share some exciting news: The Senate just passed their version of a (sic) historic health reform bill.

In all the back and forth, it's easy to lose sight of what this incredible breakthrough really means. (You had better hope the entire public doesn’t ever understand what it really means.) But consider this: This Christmas, (Would that be the same one that has a tree with Mao’s picture hanging on it?) there are millions of Americans (that would be the illegal immigrants, right?) without health insurance who risk losing everything if they get sick. (Since it won’t kick in until 2014, I guess that means Christmas in 2010, 2011, 2012 & 2013 too.)

There are mothers and fathers who wonder how they'll provide for their children because an illness has wiped out their savings. (You mean to tell me that some people still have savings?) There are small business owners who worry that they'll have to lay off a long-time employee because the cost of insurance is rapidly rising. (Since the tax kicks in before we ever see a benefit, that would be true for the next four years.)

If we finish the job, (what you mean “we”, wh… ...? Never mind.) all this can change. We will have beaten back the special interests (And that would be who? Oh yeah, the doctors!) who have for so long perpetuated the status quo. We will have enacted the most important piece of social policy since the Social Security Act in the 1930s, (Most of us geezers down here on the branch thought “repeal” (Amendment XXI) was the most important.) and the most important health reform since Medicare in the 1960s.
In Decembers to come, (Well, um, not next December, or the next, or the next, or, uh, the next) millions (For sure that refers again to illegal lawbreaking border jumpers) more will have access to affordable coverage. Parents (If you have state approval to procreate.) will have the security and stability of knowing their insurance can't be revoked at a moment's notice. And the skyrocketing costs plaguing our small businesses will be brought under control. (That apparently means no more over regulated and over taxed small businesses.)
When you make calls, write letters, organize, this is the change you're making -- a better life for your family and for men and women in every state. (Especially Nebraska)

There is still more to do before I can sign reform into law -- a last round of negotiations and final votes in the Senate and the House -- and I'm counting on your help every step of the way. (Trust me Barry, I’ll be there every step of the way.) But for now, I hope that as you celebrate this holiday season, you remember that the work you are doing is making our union (That’s the SEIU, right?) more perfect, one step at a time. For that, I am grateful to you. (Aw shucks, it was nothin’.)

Merry Christmas and happy holidays,

President Barack Obama

P.S. -- Supporters of reform are signing a note of appreciation to all the senators who have worked so hard to make this possible. I hope you'll join them: (For certain, they will hear from me. Especially Claire McCaskill.)

http://my.democraps.org/SenateLetter”

At least this time he didn’t hit me up for a loan of $5 like he did last time. I guess he figures that this new bill will get him all the loot he needs for walkin’ around money. Now I guess he and the missus can scoot off to Hawaii for a little R & R. He’s definitely earned a rest and a couple of those funny drinks with little umbrellas in them.

Now wasn’t that a considerate note to send to a pal on Christmas?

In His abiding love,

Cecil Moon

Twas the Night Before Christmas...

Please take a moment to remember our service men and women serving far from home this year…

A SOLDIER’S CHRISTMAS

Michael Marks

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,

I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.

My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,

My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.


Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,

Transforming the yard to a winter delight;

The sparkling lights in the tree, I believe,

Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.



My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,

Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep

In perfect contentment, or so it would seem.

So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.



The sound wasn’t loud, and it wasn’t too near,

But I opened my eye when it tickled my ear.

Perhaps just a cough, I didn’t quite know,

Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.



My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,

And I crept to the door just to see who was near.

Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,

A lone figure stood; his face weary and tight.



A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old

Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.

Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,

Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.



“What are you doing?” I asked without fear

“Come in this moment, it’s freezing out here!

Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,

You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!”



For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,

Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts,

To the window that danced with a warm fire’s light

Then he sighed and he said, “It’s really all right,

I’m out here by choice. I’m here every night”



“It’s my duty to stand at the front of the line

That separates you from the darkest of times.

No one had to ask or beg or implore me,

I’m proud to stand here like my fathers before me.



My Gramps died at ‘Pearl on a day in December,”

Then he sighed, “That’s a Christmas ‘Gram always remembers.”

My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ‘Nam

And now it is my turn and so, here I am.



I’ve not seen my own son in more than a while,

But my wife sends me pictures, he’s sure got her smile.

Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,

The red white and blue… an American flag.



“I can live through the cold and the being alone,

Away from my family, my house and my home,

I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,

I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat,

I can carry the weight of killing another

Or lay down my life with my sisters and brothers

Who stand at the front against any and all,

To insure for all time that this flag will not fall.”



“So go back inside,” he said, “harbor no fright

Your family is waiting and I’ll be all right.”

“But isn’t there something I can do, at the least,

“Give you money,” I asked, “or prepare you a feast?

It seems all too little for all that you’ve done,

For being away from your wife and your son.”



Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,

“Just tell us you love us, and never forget

To fight for our rights back at home while we’re gone;

To stand your own watch, no matter how long.



For when we come home, either standing or dead,

To know you remember we fought and we bled

Is payment enough, and with that we will trust.

That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.”



Written by Michael Marks- Thank you Sir, for a beautiful Poem…



This entry was taken in its entirety from “Nobody asked Me”. I had no doubt that his intention was to share it with everyone who would take the time to read it.

Keep these kids in mind tonight and every night as you snuggle down in the safe comfort of your bed. They are there for you—be there for them in your prayers.

Merry Christmas


In His abiding love,

Cecil Moon

Carrot Meet Stick

  
What is the carrot at the end of the stick in the socialized medicine disaster? It is becoming increasingly obvious that the Democrat Party will suffer huge losses of representation in the congress over this continuing brouhaha over proposed legislation. They appear more than willing to sacrifice several senators and upwards of three dozen or more representatives if they continue to insult the American people. Blanche Lincoln, Michael Bennet, Nebraska’s Ben Nelson and an assortment of Blue Dog Demos plus others will undoubtedly feel the wrath of the voters. One can only wonder how they can possibly reconcile such a prospective beating with any result they might hope for from the reorganization of the country’s health delivery.

Some White House insiders have been voicing the opinion that the voters have a short memory and the projected losses my never come to fruition. That argument has slight currency when projected on the massive amount of the federal budget which it intimately concerns. Sixteen percent of that gross ain’t bean bag. When coupled with cap and trade, stimulus, bailouts, unnecessary pork, and acquisition of a variety of industries it would appear that the folks who pay the bills (taxes) might have an inclination to remember.

The purists maintain that this horrendous legislation actually might accomplish something and choose to discount anything but the cost reviews provided by the White House. In their messianic zeal they ignore any reining in of trial lawyers, abridgement of Medicare, impending practitioner shortages, interstate medical plans, or any of the other very real problems with our current medical delivery systems. Their naiveté in promoting care for the uninsured and imposing prohibitive tax on those who pay their own way is astonishing. It becomes one of those “do it for the children” type arguments. In private moments they more than likely relish the thought of having done some good for the “little people.”

Inasmuch as 230 plus members are verified as millionaires already, it is unlikely that most of them will require a collection be taken up to supply their breakfast if they get tossed out. With a job that pays $174,000 a year they should be able to make arrangements for a premature retirement. We are talking salary here and not counting the ubiquitous graft which is available to those with excessive influence. Even if they never saw a spending bill they didn’t like, that doesn’t mean they don’t have the capacity to be personally parsimonious.

So, as they wear out their welcome in Washington and eventually wander back to the hustings from whence they sprang, we find the homefolks have good memories, being a do-gooder doesn’t pay and there is really no shortage of money to tide them over. So then we must get down to cases if we want to find what drives them to enact monstrosities like socialized medicine and other government enlargement.

To gain the ideological goal of absolute control of the government, someone is going to have to fall on their sword. The most likely will be those Democrats who are from fly-over country or have large populations of seniors--and whites. Federally funded abortion is a hard sell in the mid-west and south. Some coastal and border states host a large population of the Medicare set. Most of the power players are from areas friendlier to Marxist plots to reorganize our constitutional republic. I believe that the threatened hold the thought that their loss of a current seat in congress will be rewarded later in their careers by an administration exercising the power gained at their expense today. These are the “true believers” who see the government as the end-all in our lives.

For those accustomed to the comfort and the protection of the constitution, it is difficult to believe that such an anti-American thought could be hidden in the deepest recesses of any citizen’s mind--let alone a member of congress. Worst, it comes from a person who has sworn to uphold that same document. We are more easily inclined to understand the inhabitants of a paradisiacal under-developed nation, with flowers and sandy beaches, rising to overthrow a tyrannical government. It is incomprehensible that anyone would wish to destroy the most powerful nation on earth from within. They do, and they will if they are not stopped.

Although many of our citizens have come to vaguely realize what is happening, there is a huge block who are totally clueless. They are not bad people; they are just not into following the realities of politics. Hey, they voted for representation and figure that their obligation stops there. They thought that those who keep up and are aware of the deeper meanings are just hysterical rabble-rousers who want to constantly disrupt the processes of government.

They are also under the impression that the media, with their soothing tones and well tailored appearance are infused with the same hopes and dreams which fill their hearts. They also fall for the “schtick” that throwing money at problems will always make them go away. Some even honestly believe that the much touted “health care” is about doctors, hospitals, insurance, and other medical matters. Somehow, they do not recognize their responsibilities reach past voting and keeping the lawn mowed to maintain neighborhood integrity. Any attempt at conversation about the affairs of the nation suddenly reminds them of a forgotten 1 o’clock tee time.

In our continuing search for the “carrot” we find the false promises of socialism and complete expansion of our government. The reward lies in the furtherance of that “cause” using the device of helping the disadvantaged. Never mind that our history is rife with examples of immensely successful people having risen from abject poverty and despair through their own efforts, ingenuity and hard work to achieve benefits for themselves and subsequent opportunities for others. For the average bear, it is impossible to imagine that the ghosts of Lenin, Marx, Engels, Stalin, Trotsky, and Himmler frequent the dreams of many of our leaders. They do, and encourage our plunge to an all-out socialist state. Historically, this has led to a collapse of all but heavy industry with attendant shortages of food and other daily needs. Lacking the freedom of entrepreneurship, this is a predictable outcome.

So then, what drives public men to ruin our economy and exert absolute control over the people? Once you answer that, please tell me what drives a man to senselessly kill huge numbers of innocent people? Both are real events and may well have the same simple response: power! This is not the same power which we attribute to God. This power is the raw, bludgeoning, overt force which is becoming more apparent by the day. It is a merciless manifestation of control which has a blind devotion to a “cause.”

We are all subject to our personal measure of selfish acquisition. It is part of our survival mechanism in a perceived avaricious world. As a result of our constant comforts, we have difficulty seeing this characteristic clearly in others. They cleverly offer diversions disguised in platitudes praising the equality of man, opportunity for all, the safety of the herd, and “a chicken in every pot.” They downplay the necessity of work, effort, individuality, and responsibility.

During the revolution and formation of the republic, we faced an easily identifiable enemy who had a familiar name--King George. Although benign in comparison to some of the opponents we have subsequently faced as a nation, he epitomized, at that time, all that was in opposition to the character of the people he ruled in this foreign land. We struggled our way from under his thumb and launched an unheard of experiment.

Today we must contend against an alien concept which fronts no battalions to threaten our populace but rather an equally alien notion of a complete change in governmental style. You have felt the stick but you shall not be part of those enjoying the carrot. That shall be reserved for the power brokers who are corrupting the US Constitution and assuming the role of today’s despots.


In His abiding love,

Cecil Moon

One Guy Gets IT

  
Some of the most stimulating reading I do on the net is creditable to American Thinker.  The articles are from a wide variety of folks who individually understand their subject matter and are capable of making lucid compositions. Their readership and commenters are among the brightest as well. That does not mean they have no dissenters but rather everyone involved is courteous and offers reasoned responses.

The link above will take you to the specific article from which I have taken this comment. Read it and enjoy and then go back to the American Thinker, read a few posts, and see if you don’t agree. Here is the comment:

“Posted by KENNYJR.

Dec22, 08:57 AM

Please remember everyone, the loony leftists may control the government of this country, but God is in control of the whole universe. The moonbats on the left are no match for God & if they continue on their current path, they will experience God's wrath. God told us to be good stewards of the earth, He did not tell us to worship it. God told us to be fruitful & multiply, He did not tell us to kill our own because the earth isn't big enough to hold everyone created by God. God told us to have dominion over all the creatures of the earth, He did not tell us to worship animals & put them above the human beings created by Him. God blessed us with the natural resources we have to sustain us. By not using them we are telling Him we do not appreciate His blessings & we don't need Him or his gifts to us. People, the left are on a collision course with Almighty God & I think we know who will come out victorious. They make my life miserable, they may try to take away my freedom, they may try to separate me from my God, but I know deep down they have already lost the battle. God & everything good will be victorious in the end & there is NOTHING the left can do to alter the outcome of this battle. I know the left cannot hurt me if I stick with God & trust Him. Are you with me? Better yet, are you with Him? For your sake I truly hope you are. Through God nothing is impossible & everything is possible. Keep the faith everyone & don't worry about the left. They will take care of themselves if you know what I mean. May the reason for the season bless you all today, tomorrow, & always!”

Perhaps it was because I agreed with KENNYJR that I found the comment so pleasing. I always appreciate it when at least “one guy gets it.”


In His abiding love,

Cecil Moon

MINUS 21%


With socialized medicine on the verge of passage, the voice of the people has loudly screamed its disapproval. Nearly eleven months after the inauguration, Obama has plummeted to his lowest approve/disapprove margin ever. Here is the current chart from the nation’s most dependable pollster, Rasmussen.

Keep in mind that the -21% is determined by subtracting strongly approve” numbers from “strongly disapprove.”

For additional comparative numbers, go directly to Rasmussen for other poll views as well as links to other match-ups in senatorial races, governors, etc.. In nearly every circumstance, the American people have aired their displeasure as the Democrat controlled congress forces more and more issues of socialization. We are grateful to Rasmussen for compiling these figures.


In His abiding love,

Cecil Moon

The Future of Tea Parties

  
I read a piece this morning from Breitbart‘s Big Government on the diminished importance of the Tea Party. In it he makes several valid points for latter-day patriots to advance along a refreshed path for the republic. He also asserts that the movement was ignored by the ruling elites and ineffective. To give him the benefit of the doubt I recommend that you read his offering.

As part of the 800,000 who descended upon Washington on 9/12/09, I strongly deny that we did not have the desired affect on the leadership. Their denial that it didn’t happen amounted to little more than whistling past the graveyard. What did anyone expect them to do: admit that it was a powerful statement by the people in opposition to their programs and policies? You would have to be smoking something to think that. Of course they would deny, lie, obstruct, divert, confuse and use every other trick in the book to obfuscate the terrible realization that many of the population would come to town to rain on their little parade. The worst of it was that every person who went knew many at home who could not come but wanted to.

These people make a career out of ignoring the truth. The obtuse habit of using the obscene sexual reference to refer to their fellow citizens who disagree simply underlines their innate fear of the movement. A glance out of just about any window in the DC area would have revealed the immensity of the crowd. Their opinions were plainly stated on hundreds of thousands of placards, hats, T-shirts, flags, banners and shouted with the help of bull horns. An even 100 port-a-potties had 35 to 40 persons each in line for use all day long.

If that were not enough, once home, these protestors and more showed up at a huge number of town halls, and local rallies to further ask the hard questions to which no one had satisfactorily responded. They didn’t get to be professional robbers of the public treasury by ignoring which way the wind is blowing. I’ll even give them credit for recognizing a hurricane when they see it--and see it they do.

We are all aware by now that the major media will not report any bad news for this administration. Therefore, it is not surprising that they didn’t cover the national or local tea parties. That, in itself, did not deny the occurrence but became a further signal of the importance of the march. They were conspicuous in the absence of reporting. Keep in mind that if 8 leftists show up for a protest they are always outnumbered by reporters by a factor of ten. The failure to acknowledge the presence of 800,000 then becomes very telling. We were there and they knew it. It scared them to death but they are dedicated to a relentless move toward socialism and continue it they must.

It is here that my agreement with the article kicks in. The piece outlines the importance of seeking control of government at all levels. From the council seat on up, our governance must be surrendered to citizen representatives who have the capacity to exert the will of the people. They have other duties in the community so they would be able to serve for a while, one or two terms, and then pass it on to the next guy. I trust my vet to be the mayor (he is!) and my insurance agent to be on the school board (he is!) and my good friend at the local golf course to also be on the school board (he is!) because I respect their character and financial abilities. None of these guys have aspirations to climb the ladder of fraud to gain political success for themselves. All three are reliable family men with the best interests of the community at heart.

My conclusion is that it is not a case of one or the other but rather both. I believe we need the local guys to keep things straight in our local offices and we also need the massive demonstrations to filter up and have an affect on the ruling elites. They have to be reminded that our “team” has a “deep bench” and we would happily make substitutions.


In His abiding love,

Cecil Moon

Monday Morning Rant 124

  
There is an extra-special feeling in the sanctuary on the Sunday before Christmas. The very thought of the humble birth of the Christ child sobers our thoughts and distracts from the obvious hoopla extant in the community at large. The children, in a state of justified excitement this time of year, are even almost contemplative. The choir reaches new levels of accomplishment, the collection plate is heaped a bit higher, and the pastor lovingly lauds the star of the show---the baby Jesus.

Each of us tends to offer our hand in greeting to more people than usual and the card exchange would burden a small post office. We were reminded that there would still be two additional services (Sunday 6 pm and Wednesday at 7) before the awaited day and were encouraged to attend. The world beyond the doors of the church is put on hold and we focus exclusively on God and His love. The remaining challenge is to maintain that attitude throughout the year coming.

It does discourage the will to maintain the acerbic attitude necessary to write a successful “Rant.” How does one get filled with love, then discard it to deal with the brigands and criminals who infest our world? And criminals they are.

The United States Constitution, Article 1, Section 9, paragraph 6

Read this carefully. Pay attention to each and every word. Then, explain just how Harry Reid thinks that the deal he cut with Senator Nelson of Nebraska will ever pass muster. It can not possibly do that. Rejection of this business should be a slam-dunk for any freshly graduated lawyer to plead before the Supreme Court. To save you the trouble of finding your copy, here it is:

No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another; nor shall Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties to another.

The critical word is the “or” between the words Commerce and Revenue. It creates a conjunctive separation between two entirely different functions of government. Obviously land locked Nebraska has little in the line of Ports except on the Missouri River. The key lies in the word Commerce which qualifies the despicable deal cut for two of Nebraska’s huge health care insurers, Mutual of Omaha and Blue Cross/Blue Shield.

The deal also speaks to the worst of it: “the federal government will forever cover the costs of Medicaid expansion in Nebraska." Taxpayers in every other state will forever be responsible for the expanded Medicaid program in Nebraska. This adds up to a privileged Nebraska, exempt from the onerous expenses of the federal socialized medicine scheme and enjoying a superior level of service and medical care. That is, of course, until the courts drop the other shoe. This makes Senator Mary Landrieu’s (D-LA) deal look like chump change.

For those of you in fear of abbreviated coverage of your health care needs, you should be more immediately concerned over the damage done to your financial resources. Your tax increases start immediately, while any changes in your medical coverage won’t take place until 2014.

While it is pleasing to see the illegality of this whole matter exposed for what it is, I deeply regret that we must seek redress in the Supreme Court to regain equity for the citizens of the entire country. Even though I have long thought that Massachusetts should have been forced out of the union for their slavish devotion to their un-convicted manslaughterer, Teddy Kennedy, so long as they remain they should not be taxed one dime to support socialized medicine in Nebraska.

All of this to salve the egos of the leadership and further enslave the American people.

With this ring I thee wed

As if there were not enough lunacy in the District of Columbia we find the city council responsible for a new ukase which puts the final nail in the coffin of marriage. In their “wisdom” they have essentially decided that marriage should be between two human beings. At least I’m pretty sure they excluded the family dog—I hope. However, no mention was made of fur bearing animals and reptiles.

For the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered, this presents an opportunity to express their devotion by tying the knot. After all, why should these folks be excluded from grubbing to make a living to support the other, regardless of sexual orientation? Should your bedtime habits determine who carries out the trash or walks the dog? They no longer have to labor long over who does what, and with which, and to whom. It suddenly has become a grab bag with everyone eligible to participate.

Omitted in their pronouncement was the prospect of brother/sister unions, father/daughter, multiple spouse relationships or other incestial hook-ups. If the absolute destruction of the institution was their goal, they went a long way to promote it.

The polygamy thing is probably made available because of the example set by Obama’s parents. You may have missed it but hidden in the information on Wikipedia, we find that Obama’s daddy had a wife and children in Kenya when he encountered the seventeen-year-old Ann Dunham in a Russian class in Hawaii and married her six months before the child was born. (Ed. This information is not the author’s active imagination but taken from Googling “Barack Obama” and “Ann Dunham” entries on the info website Wikipedia.)

If you don’t happen to live in the District, this will have little affect on you. Unless of course, you have concerns for the failing families of America and sympathetic awareness of children without traditional homes complete with a mother and a father. These youngsters are generally acknowledged by social scientists as enduring a much rougher road in life because of the absence of one of their parents and a disruption of a normal family structure. They further point to the costs to society for this decline as well. It is more than apparent that our most valuable resource is the loser here.

And finally

Well it appears that the loss of the “acerbic attitude” I was mourning, returned in good shape. I shall now struggle to regain the warm fuzzy feelings I brought home from church.

We have had an absolutely fantastic display of cardinals at the feeder this week. The trees are a very few feet from the edge of deck and it seemed that each branch had one waiting for its turn at the trough. For anyone wanting to enjoy this spectacle, you can find the little gadgets I screw onto an empty 2 ltr. soda bottle at any dollar store. Punch a couple holes the size of hanger wire, insert a wire loop for a hanging device, fill it with birdseed (I use Pennington Wild Bird Seed available at Wal-Mart for $13.97 for 22.5 lbs.) and put it where you can see it and enjoy the show.

In addition to the cardinals we still have the nuthatches, juncos, faded gold finches, and a couple of spectacular jays. The hunters are still about but discouraged from taking game on our property. The dogs love it and keep bringing home hunks and chunks left by careless hunters. I’m not really anti-hunting but just wish to preserve the peace of our little corner of the world.

Granny is on the verge of being healed with the help of a kind and loving God who has responded to the prayers of the faithful. Something good is always going on if you just glance around and look for it.

Merry Christmas !!!


In His abiding love,

Cecil Moon