I'm copying something from Glenn Beck. It is an audio of Ronald Reagan warning about socialism. Glenn's website also includes a written transcript, which I found helpful to read while listening. The written transcript has a few errors, but it is mostly correct so pretty easy to follow.
REAGAN: Now back in 1927 an American socialist, Norman Thomas, six times candidate for president on the Socialist Party ticket, said the American people would never vote for socialism. But he said under the name of liberalism the American people will adopt every fragment of the socialist program.
There are many ways in which our government has invaded the precincts of private citizens, the method of earning a living. But at the moment I'd like to talk about another way because this trip is with us and at the moment is more imminent.
One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine. It’s very easy to disguise a medical program as a humanitarian project. Most people are a little reluctant to oppose anything that suggests medical care for people who possibly can't afford it.
Now, the American people, if you put it to them about socialized medicine and gave them a chance to choose, would unhesitatingly vote against it. We had an example of this. Under the Truman administration it was proposed that we have a compulsory health insurance program for all people in the United States, and, of course, the American people unhesitatingly rejected this.
So with the American people on record as not wanting socialized medicine, Congressman Ferrand said, if we can only break through and get our foot inside the door, they can we can expand the program after that. Well, let's see what the socialists themselves had to say about it. They say once the Ferrand bill is passed, this nation will be provided with a mechanism for socialized medicine capable of indefinite expansion in every direction until it includes the entire population. Well, we can't say we haven't been warned.
James Madison in 1788, speaking to the Virginia Convention said: “Since the general civilization of mankind, I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachment of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpations.”
Now in our country under our free enterprise system, we have seen medicine reach the greatest heights that it has in any country in the world. Today, the relationship between patient and doctor in this country is something to be envied any place. The privacy, the care that is given to a person, the right to chose a doctor, the right to go from one doctor to the other.
But let’s also look from the other side, at the freedom the doctor loses. A doctor would be reluctant to say this. Well, like you, I am only a patient, so I can say it in his behalf. The doctor begins to lose freedoms; it’s like telling a lie, and one leads to another. First you decide that the doctor can have so many patients. They are equally divided among the various doctors by the government. But then the doctors aren’t equally divided geographically, so a doctor decides he wants to practice in one town and the government has to say to him you can’t live in that town, they already have enough doctors. You have to go someplace else. And from here it is only a short step to dictating where he will go.
This is a freedom that I wonder whether any of us have the right to take from any human being.
In this country of ours, took place the greatest revolution that has ever taken place in world’s history. The only true revolution. Every other revolution simply exchanged one set of rulers for another. But here for the first time in all the thousands of years of man’s relation to man, a little group of the men, the founding fathers for the first time – established the idea that you and I had within ourselves the God given right and ability to determine our own destiny.
This freedom was built into our government with safeguards. We talk democracy today. And strangely we let democracy begin to assume the aspect of majority rule is all that is needed. Well, majority rule is a fine aspect of democracy, provided there are guarantees written in to our government concerning the rights of the individual and of the minorities.
What can we do about this? Well, you and I can do a great deal. We can say right now that we want no further encroachment on these individual liberties and freedoms and that you demand the continuation of our traditional free enterprise system. You and I can do this. The only way we can do it is by writing to our congressmen, even if we believe that he's on our side to begin with, write to strengthen his hand. Write those letters now. Call your friends and tell them to write. If you don't, this program, I promise you, will pass just as surely as the sun will come up tomorrow. And behind it will come other federal programs that will invade every area of freedom as we have known it in this country... until one day as Norman Thomas said, we will awake to find that we have socialism. And if you don't do this and if I don't do it, one of these days you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it once was like in America when men were free.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
I don't have time for a well-thought-out post, but have to share something I learned over the weekend.
I met a woman from Norway. There was discussion of Obama and "health care reform". Norway is a socialized country - they get "free" health care and "free" education including college. When they buy groceries they pay 24% tax and when they buy gas they pay 80% tax!
Related information...
If you are able, watch Glenn Beck on FoxNews this week. He is asking questions that should be asked and exposing the backgrounds of Obama advisers. Some that are working IN THE WHITE HOUSE have criminal backgrounds. Many are communists. They idolize Hugo Chavez, Castro, etc. He shows video of people stating these things about themselves, he is not making it up! Much video of Obama telling us exactly what he intended to do and IS DOING - changing the foundation of the country. That is exactly what he said he was going to do - change the foundation of the country. And he is doing it. Forget the constitution. He and his advisers don't believe in it. YOU NEED TO WATCH THIS!
Or you can bury your head in the sand and pretend it's not happening.
I met a woman from Norway. There was discussion of Obama and "health care reform". Norway is a socialized country - they get "free" health care and "free" education including college. When they buy groceries they pay 24% tax and when they buy gas they pay 80% tax!
Related information...
If you are able, watch Glenn Beck on FoxNews this week. He is asking questions that should be asked and exposing the backgrounds of Obama advisers. Some that are working IN THE WHITE HOUSE have criminal backgrounds. Many are communists. They idolize Hugo Chavez, Castro, etc. He shows video of people stating these things about themselves, he is not making it up! Much video of Obama telling us exactly what he intended to do and IS DOING - changing the foundation of the country. That is exactly what he said he was going to do - change the foundation of the country. And he is doing it. Forget the constitution. He and his advisers don't believe in it. YOU NEED TO WATCH THIS!
Or you can bury your head in the sand and pretend it's not happening.
Friday, August 21, 2009
I am perfectly aware of all of my faults. If you know me, I bet you think that I have some faults I don't know about. I think you are wrong. I think I just pretend I don't know about them because I don't want to change.
If you know me, I bet you also see faults in my children that you think I don't see. Again, I think you are wrong. I think one of the following applies: 1) I'm still trying to work that out of my kids; 2) I don't know how to work that one out of my kids; 3) I know you think it's a fault and you're probably right, but I find it charming nonetheless. Or something like that.
So...
Last night one of my daughter's friends spent the night. My daughter was ecstatically happy to be having a real sleepover with a real friend. I tried to remember sleepovers from my childhood and tried to indulge them as much as I could, but I did worry about what "faults" I would find irritating in the other child because I am ALWAYS irritated by other people's children. I spent some time thinking about this problem of mine - always finding faults in other children. Why do I do that? Why do other kids "faults" bug me more than my own kids "faults"? I think I arrived at the answer. I think we (i.e. every parent in the human race) train our kids to fit our particular sense of right and wrong, proper and improper, acceptable and unacceptable. I think it is safe to say that the minutia of those criteria differ with every set of parents on the planet. Many of us will agree on the big things, but we will all vary widely on the little things.
Armed with this new discovery, I thought I stood a pretty good chance of tolerating whatever differences I may come across. I thought of this thing and that and prepared to be tolerant, loving, non-militant. I was, however, NOT prepared for what I encountered. Not even close.
In our house we are working on table manners. We are not perfect, not by a long shot, but we are working on it. I nag, nag, nag at the table, to the point that I wonder if I am too harsh. Today I learned, and my kids did too, that I am not too harsh.
Our guest chews with her mouth open. She uses her fingers rather than utensils. Sounds trivial maybe, but after enduring breakfast with her I could not eat lunch with the kids. I opted to wait and eat later. I was in the living room while the kids ate lunch. Her open mouth chewing results in smacking so loud I could hear it in the living room. I served waffles for breakfast. Before they were ready she observed some sugar cereal that she had never tried so we gave her some. She licked the pieces before putting them into her mouth. She tried the spoon, then set it aside and used her hands. (There was no milk on the cereal, it was dry.) When the waffle was served she sloshed the pieces of cereal around in the syrup before eating them. Then she sloshed the waffle around in the syrup, folded it up and stuffed into her mouth. (With her hand.) I was grossed out.
My kids often play a game with their cousins which they call the rule game, or the manner game, or something like that. They take turns being the judge and point out the others bad manners. They get to laughing uproariously at the lack of manners. I actually don't mind that game at all, because it shows me that they actually know what the rules are supposed to be, they are just having a fun kid-time with breaking the rules and being somewhat gross. Kids do that and I'm okay with it. At lunch my kids began goofing around with manners. One of them broke some rule and they laughed. The guest decided to join in the game. She had a jello square on her plate. She leaned down and began to VERY LOUDLY suck it up. I happened to turn their way as this began and I observed the horror on my kids faces. There was no laughter. Everything got very quiet. They ate the rest of their lunch in near silence. As soon as they were finished, my kids thanked me for the good lunch (required manner in our house) then ran downstairs to play. The guest had not finished her lunch yet. Here my kids showed bad manners in my opinion, and we'll add this to the list of things to work on. They should have stayed at the table with the guest. Nevertheless, off they ran. The guest, understandably, did not want to sit there alone so she got up and headed after them - with her hands full of buttery pasta. She was going to bring it with her and eat it while playing! I'm sorry if you think I am rude, but I stopped her and said "No. You need to eat the food at the table and when you are finished you need to wash your hands because they are all greasy." She just dumped the food and ran off.
At dinner (the guest was safely home at this point) Anna remarked on the open mouth chewing. I said yes, I had noticed that. I also said now maybe they see why I'm always saying "Don't do that", "Do this" and maybe they no longer think I'm so mean for it. They both agreed that they understand now, and I absolutely believe they meant it. Uncomfortable as this day was for me, I think it taught my kids a super valuable lesson that they never would have understood without observing what they did.
Today I am proud of my kids, and grateful for them. And grateful for their manners, imperfect though they may be. And maybe I won't nag so much at the dinner table for awhile. Maybe...
If you know me, I bet you also see faults in my children that you think I don't see. Again, I think you are wrong. I think one of the following applies: 1) I'm still trying to work that out of my kids; 2) I don't know how to work that one out of my kids; 3) I know you think it's a fault and you're probably right, but I find it charming nonetheless. Or something like that.
So...
Last night one of my daughter's friends spent the night. My daughter was ecstatically happy to be having a real sleepover with a real friend. I tried to remember sleepovers from my childhood and tried to indulge them as much as I could, but I did worry about what "faults" I would find irritating in the other child because I am ALWAYS irritated by other people's children. I spent some time thinking about this problem of mine - always finding faults in other children. Why do I do that? Why do other kids "faults" bug me more than my own kids "faults"? I think I arrived at the answer. I think we (i.e. every parent in the human race) train our kids to fit our particular sense of right and wrong, proper and improper, acceptable and unacceptable. I think it is safe to say that the minutia of those criteria differ with every set of parents on the planet. Many of us will agree on the big things, but we will all vary widely on the little things.
Armed with this new discovery, I thought I stood a pretty good chance of tolerating whatever differences I may come across. I thought of this thing and that and prepared to be tolerant, loving, non-militant. I was, however, NOT prepared for what I encountered. Not even close.
In our house we are working on table manners. We are not perfect, not by a long shot, but we are working on it. I nag, nag, nag at the table, to the point that I wonder if I am too harsh. Today I learned, and my kids did too, that I am not too harsh.
Our guest chews with her mouth open. She uses her fingers rather than utensils. Sounds trivial maybe, but after enduring breakfast with her I could not eat lunch with the kids. I opted to wait and eat later. I was in the living room while the kids ate lunch. Her open mouth chewing results in smacking so loud I could hear it in the living room. I served waffles for breakfast. Before they were ready she observed some sugar cereal that she had never tried so we gave her some. She licked the pieces before putting them into her mouth. She tried the spoon, then set it aside and used her hands. (There was no milk on the cereal, it was dry.) When the waffle was served she sloshed the pieces of cereal around in the syrup before eating them. Then she sloshed the waffle around in the syrup, folded it up and stuffed into her mouth. (With her hand.) I was grossed out.
My kids often play a game with their cousins which they call the rule game, or the manner game, or something like that. They take turns being the judge and point out the others bad manners. They get to laughing uproariously at the lack of manners. I actually don't mind that game at all, because it shows me that they actually know what the rules are supposed to be, they are just having a fun kid-time with breaking the rules and being somewhat gross. Kids do that and I'm okay with it. At lunch my kids began goofing around with manners. One of them broke some rule and they laughed. The guest decided to join in the game. She had a jello square on her plate. She leaned down and began to VERY LOUDLY suck it up. I happened to turn their way as this began and I observed the horror on my kids faces. There was no laughter. Everything got very quiet. They ate the rest of their lunch in near silence. As soon as they were finished, my kids thanked me for the good lunch (required manner in our house) then ran downstairs to play. The guest had not finished her lunch yet. Here my kids showed bad manners in my opinion, and we'll add this to the list of things to work on. They should have stayed at the table with the guest. Nevertheless, off they ran. The guest, understandably, did not want to sit there alone so she got up and headed after them - with her hands full of buttery pasta. She was going to bring it with her and eat it while playing! I'm sorry if you think I am rude, but I stopped her and said "No. You need to eat the food at the table and when you are finished you need to wash your hands because they are all greasy." She just dumped the food and ran off.
At dinner (the guest was safely home at this point) Anna remarked on the open mouth chewing. I said yes, I had noticed that. I also said now maybe they see why I'm always saying "Don't do that", "Do this" and maybe they no longer think I'm so mean for it. They both agreed that they understand now, and I absolutely believe they meant it. Uncomfortable as this day was for me, I think it taught my kids a super valuable lesson that they never would have understood without observing what they did.
Today I am proud of my kids, and grateful for them. And grateful for their manners, imperfect though they may be. And maybe I won't nag so much at the dinner table for awhile. Maybe...
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Never mind, I was right
It IS a hygrometer, not a hydrometer. I'll have to research that a bit because, honestly, hydrometer seems to make more sense to me.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Okay, so if you read my post way back on May 25th, it was all about my "hygrometer". A few days ago I was thinking about the instrument and realized it is probably called a hyDromdeter because, you know hydro = water. I haven't checked yet, but I will soon and I'm preparing to be embarrassed. You know readers, you CAN correct me when I make glaring, stupid errors!
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
A New Look
I have been admiring the look of other people's blogs for some time now, but could never figure out how to get the cool background. While reading one of "the beautiful blogs" a few minutes ago, I noticed up in the corner it said "Shabbyblogs.com", so I clicked on it. To my absolute delight, the site has scads of beautiful backgrounds and you can use them for FREE!!! Not sure if this is my absolute favorite, I may try out a few different ones in the coming days until I settle on something I love. For now, I am so happy to have something PRETTY on my blog!
Sunday, August 9, 2009
A Tiny Glimpse of Heaven
On two or three occasions in my life I have had the tiniest glimpse of heaven. Each occurrence took place during a church worship service, when the worship was so good that I could close my eyes and imagine myself standing before the Throne of God, praising Jesus. Fully giving all of our praise to Jesus. Last night was one of those times, and it was the most exciting ever...
For the past month or so I have been BLESSED to fellowship with Hassan. Hassan is a former Muslim who gave his life to Jesus many years ago. I have always been so fascinated by his story. At one point he sat in prison in Iran under a death sentence, because he was sharing Jesus with Iranians. He was miraculously set free. I was so awed by the fact that this amazing servant of Jesus was in my home, and that he attended church with us on Saturday nights, and that afterward we shared meals and conversation on the church patio. Hassan talks to everyone about Jesus - no holds barred. I drink in his stories. I probably sit there with my mouth hanging open most of the time because I cannot believe his boldness. It is coupled with such knowledge of history and culture and various religions. He is just amazing and I have been honored and blessed to spend time with him.
There is another man we know named Arvand, a Hindu. Hassan has, of course, been witnessing to him and I believe others have also. Hassan invited Arvand to church last night. So there we sat in church, Arvand, Hassan, Eric and I. And the worship was amazing and I closed my eyes and was greeted with the vision of standing before the throne of Jesus. And I was blown away thinking "Someday we will all be standing before Jesus! Indian, Iranian, American, all praising God for uniting us in Him!" I cannot convey in words the wonder of that time for me. I began to pray for Arvand that God would reveal Himself to Arvand and that Arvand's heart would be open and ready.
The sermon last night was the most uncomfortable thing I have ever sat through. It was titled "Following Jesus in a Sex-Crazed Culture". I thought God must have made a mistake, or I had made a mistake in thinking Arvand would be ministered to on this night. Of course, God doesn't make mistakes. I have a hint that the sermon was perfect for Arvand. He and his wife are very concerned about their kids being raised in the depravity of our time. He was amazed by the frankness of the Pastor. I believe God spoke volumes to Arvand last night.
Afterward we all sat on the patio and talked. (We skipped the dinner -- Arvand is a vegetarian!) Some time ago Hassan and his wife bought a Bible for Arvand's daughter because he told Hassan that she was interested in learning about God. He told us last night that she read it cover to cover. Also, years ago she was in a Christian preschool (!) where she learned that Jesus is the only God. She asked her Dad why he prays to "all those gods" if there is only one God. So he added Jesus' picture to those of the other gods he prayed to in his cupboard. Now, he told us, he believes there can only be one God. He is trying to find out who that God is! He asked "Where should I start reading in the Bible?" Probably my mouth hung open again. I have never witnessed anyone hungry for God. I am used to jaded Americans who've heard so much about God but are so uninterested. Much discussion followed his question. Out of respect for the cultures represented at our table that I know little about but believe to be not interested in the opinions of women, I said nothing. I just took Eric's Bible and opened it to the book of John. Through discussion, Arvand kept eyeing that Bible and he eventually looked to me. I said something like "I have always just been in America, seeing things from a Christian standpoint. I don't know what it's like to come from another culture, but I know people want to know what makes Jesus different from other gods, and I know we point to the book of John. It tells the story of Jesus. He is the only God who died and came alive again." Arvand said "Okay, I will read John." Hassan and Eric continued. I trust since they are all engineers Hassan and Eric understand how Arvand's mind works, his questions and the way the answers need to be structured. But I felt he also wanted to be guided to something specific, and I feel blessed to have been able to just point to John.
Last night was a wonderful, exciting night. I believe Arvand and his family are going to find Jesus, and some day we will all be worshipping together in heaven. That will be so amazing. My tiny glimpse of heaven will be magnified beyond my ability to imagine.
For the past month or so I have been BLESSED to fellowship with Hassan. Hassan is a former Muslim who gave his life to Jesus many years ago. I have always been so fascinated by his story. At one point he sat in prison in Iran under a death sentence, because he was sharing Jesus with Iranians. He was miraculously set free. I was so awed by the fact that this amazing servant of Jesus was in my home, and that he attended church with us on Saturday nights, and that afterward we shared meals and conversation on the church patio. Hassan talks to everyone about Jesus - no holds barred. I drink in his stories. I probably sit there with my mouth hanging open most of the time because I cannot believe his boldness. It is coupled with such knowledge of history and culture and various religions. He is just amazing and I have been honored and blessed to spend time with him.
There is another man we know named Arvand, a Hindu. Hassan has, of course, been witnessing to him and I believe others have also. Hassan invited Arvand to church last night. So there we sat in church, Arvand, Hassan, Eric and I. And the worship was amazing and I closed my eyes and was greeted with the vision of standing before the throne of Jesus. And I was blown away thinking "Someday we will all be standing before Jesus! Indian, Iranian, American, all praising God for uniting us in Him!" I cannot convey in words the wonder of that time for me. I began to pray for Arvand that God would reveal Himself to Arvand and that Arvand's heart would be open and ready.
The sermon last night was the most uncomfortable thing I have ever sat through. It was titled "Following Jesus in a Sex-Crazed Culture". I thought God must have made a mistake, or I had made a mistake in thinking Arvand would be ministered to on this night. Of course, God doesn't make mistakes. I have a hint that the sermon was perfect for Arvand. He and his wife are very concerned about their kids being raised in the depravity of our time. He was amazed by the frankness of the Pastor. I believe God spoke volumes to Arvand last night.
Afterward we all sat on the patio and talked. (We skipped the dinner -- Arvand is a vegetarian!) Some time ago Hassan and his wife bought a Bible for Arvand's daughter because he told Hassan that she was interested in learning about God. He told us last night that she read it cover to cover. Also, years ago she was in a Christian preschool (!) where she learned that Jesus is the only God. She asked her Dad why he prays to "all those gods" if there is only one God. So he added Jesus' picture to those of the other gods he prayed to in his cupboard. Now, he told us, he believes there can only be one God. He is trying to find out who that God is! He asked "Where should I start reading in the Bible?" Probably my mouth hung open again. I have never witnessed anyone hungry for God. I am used to jaded Americans who've heard so much about God but are so uninterested. Much discussion followed his question. Out of respect for the cultures represented at our table that I know little about but believe to be not interested in the opinions of women, I said nothing. I just took Eric's Bible and opened it to the book of John. Through discussion, Arvand kept eyeing that Bible and he eventually looked to me. I said something like "I have always just been in America, seeing things from a Christian standpoint. I don't know what it's like to come from another culture, but I know people want to know what makes Jesus different from other gods, and I know we point to the book of John. It tells the story of Jesus. He is the only God who died and came alive again." Arvand said "Okay, I will read John." Hassan and Eric continued. I trust since they are all engineers Hassan and Eric understand how Arvand's mind works, his questions and the way the answers need to be structured. But I felt he also wanted to be guided to something specific, and I feel blessed to have been able to just point to John.
Last night was a wonderful, exciting night. I believe Arvand and his family are going to find Jesus, and some day we will all be worshipping together in heaven. That will be so amazing. My tiny glimpse of heaven will be magnified beyond my ability to imagine.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
"God moves in a mysterious way,
His wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps in the sea,
and rides upon the storm.
Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never-failing skill,
He treasures up his bright designs,
And works his sov'reign will.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take,
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust him for his grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding ev'ry hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
but sweet will be the flower.
Blind unbelief is sure to err,
and scan his work in vain;
God is his own interpreter,
and he will make it plain."
~ William Cowper (1731-1800)
My thanks go to Pastor Brad and Erin Cheney, who read this hymn to me while I was hospitalized 6 years ago (today!) and later provided me with the written copy. I love it. I do not know the hymn, do not know how the melody goes, but I love it as a poem. The truth of it is so real to me. Many times in the past 3 months this part has run through my head : "Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face." I am finding that I rather love old English. It is so much more poetic than our current version, and it seems it is more deeply able to convey meaning. I believe other languages (I think of Greek, but I am sure there are others) are richer, deeper, fuller than English and convey much more meaning in their words. Our current language is so flat and limited; the old English made use of many more descriptive words. Anyhow, I love this poem and believe fully in the truth of its words.
May it bless someone today.
Love in Christ,
Laura
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