The Reason For The Season

After a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration relaxing with family yesterday I woke up to front page accounts of new - but sadly not unexpected - Black Friday horror stories:

        "Shoppers Brawl Over BARBIE Doll At WALMART"

        "Cops Pry Women Off Of TVs"

        "Shoppers Literally Stealing Items From Other People's Carts"

        "Man Tries To Wrestle Away Home Theater System"

How disheartening.  Could this questionable holiday "tradition" be any more removed from the true reason for the season? 

"It is more blessed to give than to receive."  To me Christmas has always been more about giving of oneself, less about giving of material goods that are not all that important in the scheme of things.  

This year I will try to do more for others, give true gifts of time and service and to give whatever I can to my favorite causes:

  

Sisters of Life - a female Roman Catholic religious institute dedicated to the promotion of pro-life causes - pregnancy help and hope and healing after abortion.

St Jude Children's Hospital - founded in 1962, is a pediatric treatment and research facility focused on children's catastrophic diseases.

Wounded Warrior Project - a veterans service organization that offers a variety of programs, service and events for wounded veterans of the military actions following the events of September 11, 2001.

Fisher House Foundation - provides military families housing close to a loved on during hospitalization for an illness, disease or injury.

Shriners Hospitals for Children - a network of 22 medical facilities across North America. Children with orthopedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries, and cleft lip and palate are eligible for care and receive all services in a family-centered environment, regardless of the patients’ ability to pay.

I will not get caught up in the materialistic frenzy of the season and instead will focus on the good in people and all positive aspects of Christmas and most of all:  the real reason for the season.

Abortionist Gosnell On Trial for 8 Counts of Murder

It is amusing - just adorable - to witness a toddler hide his head behind the curtain, under a blanket or even behind his hands thinking no one can see him.  We treasure their precious innocence, they have time enough to learn the ways of the world.

Not so amusing - indeed it is nauseatingly tragic -  to witness otherwise well-meaning, loving relatives, friends and acquaintances behave in the same manner in the face of (alleged) outrageous atrocities by a man of medicine. 

Major Networks Silent on Abortion Doc Born Alive Baby Murders

ABC, CBS, and NBC remain mute on the Dr. Kermit Gosnell murder trial. Dr. Gosnell is charged with the horrific murder of 7 babies born alive in his...
http://theblacksphere.net/2013/03/major-networks-silent-on-abortion-doc-born-alive-baby-murders/

Shame, shame, shame on those that are aware of this horror - he is accused of snipping the spinal cords of at least seven unborn children - and don't even deign to voice their opinion. 

Where is the outrage by our friends?  Where is any objection by the so-called champions of women? 

Just as it is the case with young children, pretending something isn't happening doesn't make it so.  It breaks my heart that so many remain silent on even this matter.

To take editorial license in paraphrasing Martin Niemoller in his famous statements about the rise of Nazis and their well-documented atrocities:

First they came for the innocent unborn and I didn't speak out because I didn't want to appear insensitive to "women's rights."

Then they came for the communists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the socialists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Catholic.

Then one day - much sooner rather than later - they came for the elderly, the infirm, the imperfectly perfect, and I said nothing because I didn't think it was politically correct.

Ultimately, they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.

Looking Forward to Conservative Renewal CPAC 2013

Looking forward to attending CPAC once again this year. Excited that my daughter expressed an interest in attending so she will be joining me.

It is a wonderful and amazing gathering of a Conservatives who have the opportunity to discuss all manner of topics with other like-minded people and to listen to the foremost Conservative thinkers of our time.

I was inspired to attend when I heard Rush Limbaugh's keynote speech a few years back. And I was privileged to see the wonderful Andrew Breitbart up close and personal as he deftly fended off yet another ambush attack by a radical left-leaner.

Here is the video I captured of Andrew in action. We miss you Andrew!

Andrew Breitbart In Action

Not At This Time . . .

"Not at this time." That was the chilling, emotionless response by the nurse at the assisted living facility to the passionate request of the 911 operator to grab a passerby - anyone - to assist with CPR when one of the residents was stricken with breathing difficulties and the employee refused to do anything.

The phone call went on for at least seven interminable minutes with the 911 operator repeatedly pleading with the caller. The pain and disbelief in the 911 operator's voice was heart-wrenching.  Sadly, but not unexpectedly, the stricken woman later died at the hospital. I can only imagine what her final moments were like. No caring, concerned help offered to her in her time of need.

Apparently the assisted living facility in which the 87-year-old victim resided had a "no CPR" policy. The "loving" daughter of the victim had no problem with the treatment of her dear mother.  Riddle me this: exactly what kind of "assisted living" does the facility provide? Did the daughter deliberately seek a place to stash her Mom that would not help her if/when she needed it most? Does the policy cover employees or visitors or anyone under the facility's roof who might need CPR as the result of choking? Or are only paying customers deserving of such a heartless policy? What are the ramifications of brain damage that could result from lack of oxygen if the woman had survived in spite of the basic care that was withheld? 

I pray that I never have to place a family member in an assisted living residence but if I do I will have to make sure that they do not have such an despicable deadly policy. Rather, I will select one that will cherish life. To paraphrase the late great Ronald Reagan " . . .  isn't it our duty to err on the side of life?” Indeed it is, President Reagan. Indeed, it is.

"The home's parent company said in a statement that the employee wrongly interpreted company policy when she declined to offer aide". - From U.S. News on NBCNEWS.com

And to that nurse who took it upon herself to make that fatal life and death decision I remind her of a quote by Hillel, the Elder  "If I am not for others, what am I? And if not now, when?"

CPR for Everyone

Hero High School Student
Disarms Gunman 
. . .  Gets Suspended

"A Florida high school hero who wrestled a loaded gun away from a football player threatening to shoot a teammate was himself suspended for three days".

Why would a school punish a student for his bravery?  A selfless act of bravery that surely prevented bodily harm - and perhaps the deaths - of fellow students?

The school attributed their suspension of the 16-year-old student to his "role in an incident where a weapon was present" which seems to put him in the same category as the gunman. Are you KIDDING ME??? Outrageous!

Sadly, this scenario is more the norm rather than the exception to the rule.  Our nation is raising a generation afflicted with "Genovese syndrome" - people that not only stand by and do nothing but - that are now mandated to do so by the schools they attend.

Seriously? Are we really putting our children and our grandchildren into the hands of administrators that have such poor judgment?

I have never been a fan of following the crowd.

Never.

Never, ever.

When several family members sought membership in sororities or fraternities I was more than a little surprised. I thought that they were at the very least as smart - and as strong - as I was. The idea that they would subjugate their own opinions to that of the group was beyond foreign to me and I was disappointed in their judgment. 

That feeling was reinforced when I learned of the shocking death of Drum Major Robert Champion a few years back. At the time his band's director, Julian White, referred to Robert in the Orlando Sentinel as a person that had a bright future and who had "a very fine drum major who was of excellent character." 

He died needlessly as the result of injuries sustained from hazing. He died because there was no voice loud enough on that bus to object to the brutality of this hazing assault on a healthy young man. He died at the hands of his peers.

Thanks to the heroic act of that unnamed 16-year-old we are not mourning the loss of the gunman's target. Sadly, we continue to mourn the loss of persons with sound judgment, persons that would penalize those who act on their natural instincts to help others.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/teen-suspended-preventing-school-bus-shooting-article-1.1278648#ixzz2ModYU3TN

NYC Expands Its Power

Chilling. 

Apparently the city that can dictate the maximum serving size of soft drinks that are sold . . . the city that can interfere with the way pizza shops conduct business by forbidding them from selling 2 liter bottles with their pizza orders . . . the city that can mandates that calorie counts be printed on restaurant menus . . . has now given itself the power to determine which residents that suffer from mental illness will become violent and will be pre-emptively rounding up those individuals.

From The New York Post:

ROUNDUP OF THE MENTALLY ILL

"The city is making a major push to sweep the streets of dangerous, mentally ill New Yorkers -   and has even compiled a most-wanted list, The Post has learned. . . . the city has already drawn up a list of 25 targets, sources said".

It is stunning that the mayor of New York - who sought and won the removal of term limits for himself  allowing him to serve a 3rd term - can impose limits as he sees fit on the residents of New York City.

Why do the sheeple continue to avert their eyes to the increasingly aggressive erosion of our liberties?

We, as a country, can no longer afford the luxury of silence as the vocal, bullying, power-crazy minority  dictates how we should live our lives.

As Martin Luther King, Jr. said "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

Time Will Never Heal This Wound

DRAFT

As a child I remember hearing the old adage that "time heals all wounds" and I half-heartedly believed it. On this, the nine year anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States I am convinced that no matter how much time passes, it will never heal the wounds that were inflicted upon our country that day. 

Nor should it.

An incurable anger was born that day.

For the past week the cable channel lineup has become increasingly populated with broadcasts of the events of that deadly day.  Although I am well aware of  how unpleasantly the story ends, I am compelled to watch. A good deal of the footage is unsanitized:  raw video of doomed innocents jumping to their certain deaths rather face incineration from the rapidly spreading jet-fueled fires.  I rejected the sickening story that people were indeed jumping when one of my co-workers shared that fact with me long before it was reported on the news. Not only could I not believe her, in a small way was angry that she would even voice such a horrific possibility.  I could not wrap my brain around the concept that so many people could give up hope. I had always believed that suicide was wrong, it is a sin.

I can't watch the memorials.  I can't listen to the somber recitation of the listing of the dead. I can't bear to see the tears of the family members of the victims.