Freedom, Poverty & the Democrats
Democrats & Obama want to socialize our government and create a command economy with no risk. This republic(not democracy) and our capitalist economy succeeded because people knew the risks and still wanted to change the world.
Democrats will never be successful because they do no realize that America unlike any other nation was established on an idea….Freedom. Freedom to succeed and the freedom to fail. Democrats have tricked the poorest in our country to believe that poverty is about money…It has nothing to do with money. Poverty still thrives in this country because of the collapse of the traditional American family, poor education, and a cyclical reliance of government support.
Freedom and the desire for a better life transcends party, race, nationality, gender or any other demographic category. When a person or society finally decides to be free no economic status will ever hold that person back from reaching that goal.
You wanna change this country…Start Here (these things are cheap or free):
1. Pray
2. Read to your children
3. Stop smoking and save that money for their college
4. Go to Church
5. Pray
6. Read Books…Educate yourself.
7. Tell your child they can be anything
8. Vote
9. Never Give UP!
10. Take Responsibility
11. Finally admit it is not George Bush’s fault
12. Pay your bills on time
13. Live within your means
14. Save
15. Pray
Can’t Fix what you DON’T Understand!
Is it really any surprise that our economy is not improving? President Obama came into office with cabinet members who had the lowest level of private sector experience dating back to Teddy Roosevelt. His team is full of government bureaucrats and academics who have never had to worry about the same challenges confronted by corporations and small business people everyday. Our economy will not turn around until President Obama is gone. We are not Europe….The experiment failed.
President Obama campaigned and came into office promising to “fundamentally transform” this country…and he has. Is this the change you wanted? Our country is economically weaker and so is our standing throughout the world. President Obama is proposing and has made decisions that harm our military and impact our ability to project our strength globally. We cannot afford for President Obama to do for our National Security what he has done to our economy.
America is standing at the most significant crossroads in our countries history since Thomas Jefferson first drafted the Declaration of Independence over 200 years ago. We have two choices and they are not about party or politics. Those two choices are freedom and institutionalized socialism. It is time for another group of Americans to send a message to our elected tyrant and issue a “Deceleration of Freedom” so that our children will have the same opportunity to experience what an America blessed by God really looks like. Never forget what this country was so we can ensure once and for all what she will continue to be!
Pepper Spray, Protesting & OWS
Over the past few weeks, the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement has spread across the country from one metropolitan city to another. The protestors are upset about the current state of our economy and have placed the blame incorrectly on the highest income earners in our country….the 1%. As a result they carry signs proclaiming to fight for the other 99% (usually without the benefit of appropriate hygiene). These Obamaville’s have been problems for the cities involved because they have been trying to balance the right to speech against existing law & other people’s right to use public spaces. The movement itself is disorganized with no real message but apathy and entitlement. OWS and the students who subscribe to this philosophy want success given to them. Their argument is weak and America would have never survived with this moronic communal mentality. Officials from across the country are finally kicking these parasites out of the public spaces but the costs are mounting. The figure is about $13 million nationwide so far and around $650,000 in Atlanta alone. Some protestors went peacefully and others got arrested as they were kicked out of their tent cities. Here are some thoughts and suggestions for the people of OWS:
- 47% of Americans pay no income taxes….Please change your signs.
- Calling for boycotts on Black Friday will not help your job prospects.
- The 1% hire people….Think about it.
- Take a bath.
- If you decide to protest, the police tell you to leave & you don’t….please be prepared to get pepper sprayed or hit with a baton. Don’t Whine about it.
- It’s not the cops fault you got the pepper spray….You could have left. (Reinstate the UCDavis officers and fire the Chancellor for throwing them under the bus)
- Don’t be interviewed on TV/Radio if you can’t speak intelligently
- America is about the OPPORTUNITY for SUCCESS…..Not a GUARANTEE of success.
- Thank someone in the military….They fight so you can occupy public places and spout nonsense.
- Find your God ordained purpose and participate in society with no expectation in return.
America is great because we live in a society where failure is possible and actually healthy for our economy. Some of the most successful people in the 1% are products of multiple business and personal failures. You sit in the parks screaming about the end result of someone’s achievement without any knowledge about their sacrifice along the way. Get up, Get busy and See #4…..America is an exceptional place for those who are willing to fight, fail, & earn their success.
Here is another article I wrote on this subject called:
Decision Points
I finally finished reading the book Decision Points that looked back on President Bush’s two terms. It was a peek behind the curtain on how decisions were made inside the White House. President Bush takes the reader through the decisions and then takes a critical look at the results using the information available today. I thought President Bush was very transparent in his analysis and desire to share his story in his own words. Here are some other key takeaways from the book:
- This country could really use President Bush right now. Wake up America and do the right thing in 2012!
- I could not help the contrast the decisive leadership of Bush versus the paralysis of the Obama administration.
- We need to expand the Bush Faith Based Initiative.
- Bush was right….Please let me invest a portion of my Social Security in a private account.
- In spite of the questions surrounding WMD…..Iraq was a critical piece of the War on Terror.
- President Bush will be remembered as our countries best Commander-in Chief
- TARP was probably needed even though I have some issues with the programs implementation.
- Reagan and Bush 41 get credit for the end of the Cold War….President Bush will ultimately get credit for the democratic “Arab Spring” movement that has been sweeping the Middle East.
- No President Democrat or Republican did more to end the suffering in Africa than Bush
- Leadership trumps politics
This book opened my eyes on some new issues but in the end it just confirmed my belief that President Bush was a very effective leader. No presidential administration will be problem free but Bush kept his moral compass pointed towards spreading FREEDOM throughout the world. Every American should read this book with an eye on next years presidential election. The Bush and Obama administrations are polar opposites and the choice is clear….Freedom or Failure. President Obama promised to fundamentally transform this country….and he has (for the worse). America now the Decision is ours…Will you choose Freedom or Failure?
I will be casting my vote for Freedom…I still believe in American Exceptionalism!
DARE to be different!
I had the opportunity to go and see my 5th grade son Austin graduate from D.A.R.E. training today at his elementary school. This program helps children to understand the dangers of drugs, alcohol, & smoking. D.A.R.E. actually stands for Drug, Alcohol, Resistance, Education. One of the best parts of this presentation was the integration of the Decision Making model for students. Here is what the kids were encouraged to do:
- Decide
- Assess
- Respond
- Evaluate
This simple 4 step process is one that we could all use to help improve our decision and evaluation process. One thing that I recently learned on the Giving Rocket Cruise from Casey Graham was that systems and process help organizations and people achieve maximum results. It was great to see that these 5th grade students have a basic framework for how to implement this in their lives. The guest speaker Earnest Renfroe spoke about growing up in a family with 16 children and how his father abandoned them. He told the students how his brother was addicted to Heroin and spent his life in and out of jail until he died in prison at 49. The kids were challenged to think about the “Decisions we make today impact our tomorrow”.
Finally Sheriff Milsapp left the kids with this thought:
You have been given a gift with DARE…Spread the word!
School Board Wrong on the AP Decision
The decision to share Assistant principals in 6 of our elementary schools was the wrong move by the Bartow County school board. In the information that has been released by the school system already we know that the projected fund balance was increased from 8+ million to around 13+ million. As a result of this increase the “proposed” millage would remain at 17.9 which it has been since 2007. This additional space in the fund balance made this inefficient administrative tactic unwarranted.
We have tried these kind of split responsibilities in the past and as expected the confusion over supervisory priorities made if difficult for the people involved to be effective. I understand the need to operate in a budgetary environment that is the worst in recent memory but this is doomed to fail before it begins. There has to be a line drawn when the actions of the board impact teaching quality, student learning, and the management of our schools.
This is one of those occasions when the number on the budget page may look enticing but no one really considers the cost of inefficiency and changing back to the traditional system when this implodes. In my opinion this option takes a very shortsighted view and puts the impacted schools at a distinct disadvantage. We ask our assistant principals to be the data & curriculum “experts” on the children in these schools. Their job is to make sure all students are progressing and that at-risk kids are identified so that no gaps occur. These assistant principals do this by really KNOWING every kid in the school and building relationships with them. Asking these people to take on double the work load with essentially no time to prepare is just not worth the almost purely symbolic impact to the budget over the long term.
This will fail and at some point we will have APs at all the schools again. We know the “savings” attributed to this plan but we may never know the cost.
God is ALWAYS there…Are You?
Sermon Notes from 7/10/2011
Troy Page spoke at Oak Leaf Church in Cartersville today:
- Being present & Being engaged are not the same.
- Have you ever asked if God is really present in our lives?
- We define God’s presence through our human emotions not through scripture
- God is omnipresent: always there…everywhere
- Gods desire was to have a personal physical relationship with man but Sin changed this
- A new way forward had to be established through…Jesus
- Immanuel “God with Us”
- The question is not “God are you there?” the question is “Am I there?” (Are we doing our part to connect with God)
- We trivialize God…We don’t allow him to be front and Center in our lives.
- Do you have a faith filled relationship with HIM? You can start TODAY!!
Some devotional tools that can be used to have personal worship with God:
Pandora (I love this one!)
Moleskine (journaling…I am ordering some of these soon)
Devotional Books
Evernote (Digital Journal….I use this daily)
Act on Truth not Feeling…Feelings can be fickle.
Faith has Seasons…..We must hold on and let God do his work in us even when things are difficult.
