Sharing the Wealth...

Americans are the most generous people in the world. Where there's need, you will find Americans there trying to fill it. Haiti Earthquake, Chili Earthquake, Tsunamis, Famines, War, Epidemics... Nothing keeps us away.

In 2006, I became physically disabled, and have been blessed by all the love, help and support that I received. All my basic needs are well cared for. Food, Housing, Medical, all taken care of.

I decided that I wanted to pay it forward. In 2006, I donated at Thanksgiving to a homeless shelter in Philadelphia. But, that was a one time thing.

I also went everyday to The Hungersite, and I would click each tab on the top to help in all the areas. But, this is free to me. No stretch in being generous here.

On the Michael Medved Show on WNTP 990AM in Philadelphia in May 2008, he was having a sponsorship drive for Children International. For $22 a month, you can sponsor a child in trouble spots around the world.
 
I decided that this was for me, and joined. I adopted a 7 year old girl named Almira in the Philippines. She is 10 now and lives with her father, who is a street vendor, her 12 year old Sister, and 9 year old brother. Her mother has abandoned her family.

Her father earns about $60.00 a month. The money I sponsor Almira with makes sure her most basic needs are met, such as:

• health care and medicine
• dental care
• nutritional assistance
• educational support

I also send extra gifts on her Birthday, Christmas, Easter and other times of the year. The extra contributions go towards household items, home improvements, clothes and other needed things.

I get pictures and hand-written letters periodically. She is a very sweet little girl. I write back through the website. A worker from Children International translates to and from English for her.

I really live close to the bone. But, I feel good paying forward the help I get.

"A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor."
Proverbs 22:9

I'm already blessed. And, I feel more blessed to be able to make a difference to a child and her family so far away.

The Greatest Gift...

The greatest gift a child can give a parent is to say: "Thank you! You did a good job! I grew up, I'm OK, and I love you." I think this is the thing that all parents want to hear from their children.

I think this why a child yelling "I hate you!" can be the most hurtful thing a child can say to a parent.

My father passed away in 2007. And for some years before he passed away, I made sure that every time I saw him, I told him I loved him. I always gave him a hug as I did that.

My childhood was chaotic, and my father was an inconsistent parent when I was in my teens. He had alot to deal with between my mother's illness and raising two teenagers who were a bit rebellious. Each in their own way. We didn't give him an easy time.

My Dad took a lot of knocks from various sources for many years. As time went on, and I realized that I'd have less time ahead of me with him, than behind. I decided that I didn't want my last years with him to be ugly, or sad.

And truthfully, he started out strong as a father. Teaching me to read and write before kindergarten, helping me perfect my penmanship, he even played a little baseball now and then with the neighborhood kids and I.

I decided those things were the things I was going to build the memorial in my heart from. And those were the things I talked about at family gatherings, and acknowledged him for.

My Dad sacrificed a lot for my sister and me. He did his best. And as I grew in age, and wisdom, the more that became apparent.

To some, parenting comes naturally, others have to work at it. I realized his shortcomings weren't purposeful. There's no class on being a Dad. You don't get a "Dad Certification."

Through my work at Landmark Education, I learned the power of completion. To have an incident or relationship be whole and complete with nothing missing. I wanted my relationship with my father to be that way.

I wanted no regrets. Nothing left unsaid. I just wanted my Dad and I to be complete in our relationship. Because, I had already experienced the loss of both of my Grandmothers and felt incomplete with them. I wanted to tell them how much I loved them, and how much they meant to my life. And, I never took the chance to do that.

So, I made it a habit to always leave my relationship with my Dad in a complete state every time I saw him. It was easy. I loved it. It became the thing that had me look forward to seeing him. Based on a shift in who I was being, he became the Dad I always wanted.

As he lay in bed in the hospital in his last days, I told him I loved him. And to my joy, my brother and two sisters followed my example and did it too. As a family, we gave my Dad the best gift children can give a parent.

I love my brother and sisters. They are the best I could have hoped for. I'm proud of them, every day. And in that moment at my father's bedside, I truly got how great they were. How great my Dad was, to have four such wonderful children.

Finger-paintings, home made cards, ties, and clay pencil holders can't compare to the power of completion and acknowledgment. That one lesson, one of many learned at Landmark Education, was worth all the work, and all the time I put in there. I'm forever thankful to my friends and Seminar Leaders for helping me become a person I love.

I think of Dad every day. I miss him. But there's nothing unsaid. No lingering regrets. All that's there is love and appreciation.

I love you Dad, and thank you.

Fail Obama?

A lot has been made over Rush Limbaugh's statement that he hopes Obama will fail. Democrats have decried Rush and other conservatives who share this wish as "racist." Racism seems to be the first retort against any criticism of Barack Obama.

This is disingenuous, and purposeful I believe. It's disingenuous because the criticism isn't personal to Obama. This is projection on the part of our friends the Democrats. Democrats always seem to attack the messenger, rather than the message. This is because in most cases, the facts aren't on their side and they just can't win in the "Arena of Ideas" by attacking the message.

Projection is basically accusing others of what you yourself are doing. So, one can understand how Democrats turn substantive disagreements on policy into something personal. The Democrats constantly attack Rush about his weight, or his former addiction to painkillers, but never address the substance of what he says.

We've had about seven years of attacks on George W. Bush, calling him stupid, a "sock puppet" (controlled by either Karl Rove or Vice President Cheney), a cowboy, and more. Recently, Ann Coulter was attacked by an official of a college where she was going to speak in Canada, before she had uttered a word! (Oh Canada! - March 24th, 2010)

In over 30 years of corresponding on political forums, the moment I announce myself as a Conservative
I'm besieged with personal attacks. Even good friends who I've known for years, think I'm kidding when I "come out" as a Conservative. They say that I'm too intelligent and compassionate to be Conservative. It's not an oxymoron to any Conservative, but seems to be to a Democrat.

The Democrats are unconscious to themselves and so project their own faults onto others. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid  talk about a "Culture of Corruption" on the right, while the left is wracked with scandal after scandal from bad actors like William Jefferson, Charlie Rangel, and others.

Nancy Pelosi and Bill Clinton promised to run the "Most Ethical Congress", and  "Most Ethical Administration" respectively. And to all accounts, lied. The scandals in Congress and the Clinton years make those promises false. The unconsciousness is so profound, there is never any apology or accountability for the lies, no less the scandals.

Racism is not just uttering an epithet, or denying a black person a job, or equal rights. Conservatives believe it's also assuming they need help, like lower standards in tests, racial preferences, reparations (to people two three generations removed from those harmed), and pandering. Assuming someone needs help just because of their skin color is a more insidious form of racism than a simple epithet.

The use of the racism card is purposeful by Democrats because it diverts attention away from the substantive criticism of policies, and puts the critics on the defensive. Calling someone a racist, or a homophobe is the political version of "When did you stop beating your wife?" Once so charged, it's very difficult to respond and be believed.

My own preference is not to get involved in proving that I'm not racist or homophobic. What am I going to say?

"Some of my best friends are black!"

or

"I have Gay friends and family members!"

It's not worth it. You can't win against folks who aren't interested in substance. Rather, they use every dirty trick to deflect criticism. It's better to keep the argument in the space of substantive criticism on bad policies. It takes discipline, but it results in keeping the debate out of the mud, and on the high road.

It's these bad policies that Rush, I, and fellow Conservatives wish to fail. If the man went to the right, and governed more as a centrist rather than a leftist ideologue. I'd be willing to wish for his success. Because if good policies succeed, our nation succeeds. Our nations success transcends political ideology.

In wishing for his failure, we hope he will learn that his cherished belief system is false. That it doesn't produce good results in the real world. That only in the theoretical realms inhabited by leftist academics does his ideology have the illusion of working. I think this is a forlorn hope. History shows that our Democrat friends aren't result driven. They don't ever evaluate their actions based on the results. They evaluate themselves based on their intentions. They never take responsibility for the results of their actions.

Children and other immature folks avoid responsibility for their mistakes by citing their good intentions. But good intentions so far have not put millions back to work, reduced poverty, or caused peace in the world. As we grow older and wiser, I hope we all look to results rather than intentions. That is one of the signs of wisdom.

In these times, we need a wise leader. We need wisdom rather than ideology. We need results rather than rhetoric. We need fiscal sanity rather than spending sprees.

Until Obama can be a responsible adult, and set aside his ideology, he can count on many people of all party affiliations wishing for his failure. Not just Rush Limbaugh and me.

The Unconscious Left...

Nancy Pelosi has been making some wild statements lately. Like Democrats need to take the opportunity during the Spring Recess to "sell" the new Health Insurance Law to their constituents, or that we needed to pass the bill before we can know what's in it.

The smiles and high fives the Democrats have been giving each other after the passage, and signing of this bill into law has been infuriating to many of us.

All during the process of crafting this law, she and others in the Democrat party have been lying to us. What makes me sad is that she's probably lying to herself and thinking she's doing a good thing.

The thing I notice among the left is that they have no ability to question themselves, and no critical thinking skills. Like children, they suffer from stage one thinking. They want to do what gives them a good feeling in the moment, and they think good intentions equal a good result.

In the end, they lack maturity and good judgment. And the rest of us in the nation suffer for it.

"Stage One Thinking" is a term coined by Thomas Sowell in his book Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One. What Stage One Thinking is, is making decisions based on immediate gratification without regard to the consequences of the decision. Assuming that the economy is a "Zero Sum Game" (meaning that it's fixed, and changes in tax rates or spending policies only shift around a fixed amount of capital. Rather than causing the total amount of capital to shrink or grow), is an example of Stage One Thinking.

Children employ Stage One Thinking because they have not yet acquired experience. I certainly thought this way until my early 30's. Graduating from this mode of thought took a lot of painful life lessons, and a lot more introspection.

During the mid 2000's, the Left in the media and in politics decried President Bush for never admitting mistakes. I was floored by the irony of that statement because you can never get a Democrat to admit to the failures of their programs.

Trillions of dollars thrown at the poor in welfare programs, and we have about the same level of poverty as before. Medicare and Social Security on the verge of collapse. Cities and states all over our great country run into the ground by Democrat leadership (New Orleans, Detroit, Philadelphia, New Jersey and California being examples.)

Republican crafted Welfare reform, which the Democrats opposed took many thousands of people off the welfare rolls and gave them better lives, self worth, and jobs.

The Left isn't introspective. They believe good intentions are all that's needed. And we all know the quote about "Good Intentions."

Without introspection and evaluation, how can one create good results? It's like building a Christmas Toy without the instructions and blindfolded. I don't know what's going to result from that method, but it won't look like a bicycle or a dollhouse.

"In the main it is not by introspection but by reflecting on our living in common with others that we come to know ourselves. What is revealed? It is an original creation. Freely the subject makes himself what he is, never in this life is the making finished, always it is in process, always it is a precarious achievement that can slip and fall and shatter." -- Bernard Lonergran

Introspection and self-evaluation has to be a constant process. Especially for those in positions of responsibility. Guaranteeing good results has to be the priority of anyone offering to help others.

In fooling themselves, the Democrats not only harm themselves... they are a menace to our country. Good intentions do indeed pave the road to hell, and the Democrats are forcing the entire country to walk down that road, kicking and screaming the whole way.

Welcome to my Blog...

For awhile, I've been wanting to create a Blog. I have many friends who have Blogs, and I will be devoting entries to telling you about them.

But, this is my Blog. Where I'll be posting my thoughts on a weekly basis, and more often as needed.

I'm a Conservative, Christian man who lives in Keansburg, NJ. I was disabled several years ago in a work related accident. I've been politically involved since the Carter Administration.

My views are a mix of classic Liberalism (as opposed to the post-JFK Liberalism/Progressivism/Leftism), Libertarianism, and Conservatism. At heart, I'm a practical person. I want the best outcome, for the most people.

I believe life is basically unfair, and because life is unfair isn't a reason to try to make it fair artificially. Instead, it's an opportunity for each person to work hard, grasp the golden ring, and take as much for yourself as your skills and talents can manage.

I also believe that it is a joy to help others. When you have more than you need, to share it with others is a wonderful thing. People who want Government to take your property and redistribute it to others, rob all of us of the freedom and joy of sharing.

As you can see, I have a lot to write about. I hope you'll find it interesting, and thought provoking as I use this blog to explore my beliefs, flesh them out, and then stand on them as I publicly profess them.

Thank you for stopping by.