You're ok kid. Don't worry. You're going through what every living human being has gone through since the dawn of mankind-- (1) You're searching for a place to belong. (2) You're searching for your identity, and (3) You're searching for the meaning of life. If you have someone who loves you and guides you on this, often weary, often joyful, journey of life, count yourself lucky. If you don't, wear a hard hat, knee pads, and a cup, at all times. Especially a cup.
Most of your sorrows and grief, in life, will be self-imposed. You will make errors of judgment, unwise decisions, and careless, irretrievable, regrettable remarks.
If you're a guy, you will chase the wrong girl: the one who's untamed, unrepentant, and under your best friend, when your back is turned. If you're a girl, you will choose the wrong guy: the women's man, the lothario, the one with wolfish propensities--- in short---the heartbreaker.
After your heart has been shattered a couple of times; and after you've matured, somewhat, you will begin to appreciate the virtues of honesty, integrity, and fidelity. Good looks in a person of the opposite sex will always be important and desirable, in the choice of whom you choose to have a serious relationship. However, as you age -- if you are smart -- exterior attributes will hold less value than interior traits of sensibility, trustworthiness, and integrity.
Important!!! Be yourself. Don't emulate celebrities in any field of endeavor. Why? Because celebrities are often narcissistic, selfish, and undisciplined in matters of virtue and ethics. O.J. Simpson, Madonna, Britney Spears and Paris Hilton should spring to mind about now.
If you're a guy, don't try to be the sexy, silent, brooding character that Clint Eastwood often plays in the movies. That's great for the movies. If you behave that way with a girlfriend, you'll bore her to death, and she'll start looking for a guy with a pulse.
Girls. Develop strength of character, self-esteem and confidence. Without those important traits you will be inclined to give your body in return for acceptance and affection. Some of the most beautiful women in Hollywood history were wooed then shooed away after the men they tried to win had satisfied themselves, with the only thing they were interested in the first place --- sex! Rita Hayward is who I'm thinking of now as an example.
Men are biologically wired to behave like the animals they often are. They can’t help having lustful, sexual urges. They are biologically implanted in us poor old fellows for the propagation of the human species. We’re like male dogs, in a pack, in “heat”, that cross the highway in the path of eight-wheelers and trains, in pursuit of that elusive flower. Such is the unrelenting, powerful, sexual urge that your boyfriend, husband, brother, son, uncle, and father were burdened with, at birth. So, as we behave like the sexually depraved idiots in that wonderful movie, Animal House, just remember, we are not the architects of our DNA.
It’s an aberration of nature for women to behave in that infantile fashion, indigenous, exclusively, to humans.
Once men emerge from that biologically imposed sexual stupor, satisfied, they usually cannot wait to hit the trail, unless you're interesting, entertaining, and can, most of all, carry on an interesting conversation. Your body may be what gets the guy into the den, initially, but it's your mind that will keep him there.
It is important to remember that most men want a lady, not a floozy, as a permanent partner, in life, unless, of course, the guy is a loser. My dad often expressed to me his appreciation of mom, in that she had never been with another man, in the biblical sense. They knew one another as teens, living on the same street, in Kinston, North Carolina.
Learn to be social animals on several levals, not restrained to being social with friends only. Social skills will take you far in life. Develop a natural love and compassion for others. Go to hospitals and nursing homes and witness true suffering and loneliness. Unless someone in your life forever damaged your ability for empathy and sympathy, you will walk away a changed person.
Learn to be an effective, articulate speaker. Effective communication is one of the most important skills a human being can possess. The ability or inability to speak well creates a lasting impression of you in the mind of the person, to whom you are speaking. I cannot over emphasize the importance of the ability, of the speaker, to hold the attention of the listener.
In conclusion, remember: In all things, do the right thing. Thinking you can outsmart everyone, behaving badly, and thinking you'll get away unpunished is a dangerous concept. Prisons are overcrowded with numb skulls who thought they could. Go to a local jail and walk by the cells of men and women who no longer possess freedom, because of wrong choices made.
You will someday discover that the years between age twenty and sixty will pass by so quickly, in retrospect, it will make your head spin. So make the best of those years. Treat people kindly. Work hard and work smart.
It will serve you well to remember an old saying I learned many years ago, in my youth: "May the pleasures of youth never bring you pain, in old age."
Monday, October 5, 2009
I WANT …
I want every member of Congress who’s jerking us around, to be jerked out of office--and that also applies the President of the United States. I'm sick and tired of Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, John Kerry, and the rest of the democrats and republicans, who put party before country; who lie, who cheat, who are unfaithful to their wives, children and constituents. I want to snatch a knot in their heads.
I want term limits for all of the bums in Congress. I want their pay docked, for every day they go into the Capitol building, and do nothing!
I want to kick Barbara Boxer in the seat of the pants, for reprimanding a courageous American general for calling her "Mam".
I want the American people, not the politicians in Congress, to decide whether or not members of Congress should get a pay raise. The only raise I want them to get is the one they'll get when I kick them in the seat of the pants. They should not receive raises collectively; they should be given raises, individually, based of merit.
I want philandering Governor Sanford to catch a plane to wherever he went to have sex with that floozy who, like himself, does not recognize, nor respect, the sanctity of marriage.
I want you to know that I'm sick and tired of seeing Obama on television every time I turn it on. If he wants to be on television all the time he should audition for a reality show on TV.
I want to see Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich, Fred Thompson, and Sarah Palin in the Oval office.
I want a National Day of No Complaints, established to recognize the beautiful, healing, restorative power of not complaining every freekin‘ minute of every freekin‘ day!. I've heard minorities complain until I feel like freekin’ throwing up ---- on them!
I want you to know that one of my best friends in the army was a black piano player, in the band I played with at the El Morocco Kasbah Lounge, on Bragg Blvd., in Fayetteville, N.C., in 1969. I gave him a ride home from the club many nights.
I want you to know that I am not a racist; and I have never been a racist. I love black people. I love all "ese's": the Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Pekinese. I love all the "cans": the Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Africans, Texicans, and pecans.
I want you to know that my ancestors never owned slaves; but they WORKED like slaves. In the 1920's, my widowed grandmother told her four boys to stay in the house, on a Saturday, while she walked down the dirt road, in front of her house, looking for work to earn money to feed them.
I want you to know that my daddy and his brothers were placed in homes until my grandmother could afford to bring them back home. Where my dad stayed, the husband forced my dad to do chores and the sorry-excuse-for-a-human being beat the living hell out of my dad---a lonely, frightened, dispossessed 9-year-old away from home and everyone he loved. While carrying two pales of milk, that my dad had just milked from a cow, a dog ran up from behind and started licking the milk. For that, my dad received another beating from this beautiful human being.
I want to line our southern border with half-starved pitbulls, Rottweilers, and German Shepherds and watch illegal aliens try to cross over into the United States.
I want to tar and feather the next jerk who makes another stupid, hate-filled remark about Sarah Palin and her children.
I want to know that, like the Tin Man, in The Wizard of Oz, David Letterman, too, will someday find a heart.
I want you to know what I think about the latest feel-good cause. Go green? Go suck on a pine tree!
I want you to know that Halle Berry is freekin' beautiful. Michelle Obama freekin' ain't!
I want you to know that Nancy Pelosi always looks nervous like a chihauhau that just got its gonads slammed with a screen door.
I want you to know that Michelle Obama should spend the hundreds of dollars she spends on meals, in hotels, on a decent dress.
I want Al Gore to shut up about global warming. Global warming? Ask some of the people in areas of the U.S. where they've experienced record-breaking low temperatures in winter. They'll tell Al Gore and Obama where they can stick their globes.
I want to meet a politician with that rarest of traits---humility.
I want to hear a minister pray to God instead of to the congregation.
I want to see, just for the heck of it, Barack Obama’s birth certificate.
I want to, uh, see, uh, President, uh, Obama, uh, make a speech, uh, without, uh, a teleprompter, uh.
I want to live long enough to see another phenomenom like Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, the Beatles, and Michael Jackson.
I want to see a comedian, like Jack Benny, Red Skelton, and Johnny Carson (who were as funny as funny gets), who doesn’t use rapid-fire expletives every time he opens his mouth.
I want to see all the members of ACORN in a nut vise.
I want to see a cure for cancer, in my lifetime.
I want to sit in a doctors waiting room and see a well-mannered child. One who’s not tossing toys across the room, not screaming, and not walking, ceaselessly, throughout the waiting room, touching everything and everyone in sight.
I want to see more parents acting like adults rather than acting like their children.
I want to see a modern movie without the name of the Lord taken in vain---over and over and over and over.
I want to thank Glenn Beck and ask God to bless him for the work he is doing to (1) expose Obama's campaign and determination to make America a Socialist nation, (2) to expose the corruption of ACORN, (3) to try return America back to the way it was before Obama and the democrats starting turning it upside by grabbing power through stimulus packages, and (4) to spread the word that Obama is doling huge amounts of money and favors to the same businesses that made large donations to his presidential campaign.
I want to see Obama do one thing to make me believe that he is, as he has claimed, a Christian.
I want to see Obama go to church, just once, when he is not campaigning for an office.
I’d like to know if the people who opened their purse strings to pay for Obama’s Harvard education are now pulling his strings.
I want people -- especially young people -- to stop looking -- every four years --for a pop-star celebrity to be the President of the United States. Celebrities make bad celebrities for goodness sake! And you want one as your president?!
I want to thank all the girls I’ve loved, who loved me in return.
I want to thank all of the musicians and singers, with whom I’ve shared the love of music, with whom I’ve played music, throughout the years.
I want to thank God for my parents, sisters, and brother, and my extended family of relatives, who love me unconditionally.
I want to thank my parents and grandparents for instilling in me a love, concern, compassion, and respect for my fellow man.
I want to thank God for giving me the sweetest mother in the world.
And --- I, Allen Ball, want to thank you all -- the readers of my column. Though we may not often agree, I still love you, my brothers and sisters on this planet called earth, in the Spirit of God Almighty.
I want term limits for all of the bums in Congress. I want their pay docked, for every day they go into the Capitol building, and do nothing!
I want to kick Barbara Boxer in the seat of the pants, for reprimanding a courageous American general for calling her "Mam".
I want the American people, not the politicians in Congress, to decide whether or not members of Congress should get a pay raise. The only raise I want them to get is the one they'll get when I kick them in the seat of the pants. They should not receive raises collectively; they should be given raises, individually, based of merit.
I want philandering Governor Sanford to catch a plane to wherever he went to have sex with that floozy who, like himself, does not recognize, nor respect, the sanctity of marriage.
I want you to know that I'm sick and tired of seeing Obama on television every time I turn it on. If he wants to be on television all the time he should audition for a reality show on TV.
I want to see Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich, Fred Thompson, and Sarah Palin in the Oval office.
I want a National Day of No Complaints, established to recognize the beautiful, healing, restorative power of not complaining every freekin‘ minute of every freekin‘ day!. I've heard minorities complain until I feel like freekin’ throwing up ---- on them!
I want you to know that one of my best friends in the army was a black piano player, in the band I played with at the El Morocco Kasbah Lounge, on Bragg Blvd., in Fayetteville, N.C., in 1969. I gave him a ride home from the club many nights.
I want you to know that I am not a racist; and I have never been a racist. I love black people. I love all "ese's": the Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Pekinese. I love all the "cans": the Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Africans, Texicans, and pecans.
I want you to know that my ancestors never owned slaves; but they WORKED like slaves. In the 1920's, my widowed grandmother told her four boys to stay in the house, on a Saturday, while she walked down the dirt road, in front of her house, looking for work to earn money to feed them.
I want you to know that my daddy and his brothers were placed in homes until my grandmother could afford to bring them back home. Where my dad stayed, the husband forced my dad to do chores and the sorry-excuse-for-a-human being beat the living hell out of my dad---a lonely, frightened, dispossessed 9-year-old away from home and everyone he loved. While carrying two pales of milk, that my dad had just milked from a cow, a dog ran up from behind and started licking the milk. For that, my dad received another beating from this beautiful human being.
I want to line our southern border with half-starved pitbulls, Rottweilers, and German Shepherds and watch illegal aliens try to cross over into the United States.
I want to tar and feather the next jerk who makes another stupid, hate-filled remark about Sarah Palin and her children.
I want to know that, like the Tin Man, in The Wizard of Oz, David Letterman, too, will someday find a heart.
I want you to know what I think about the latest feel-good cause. Go green? Go suck on a pine tree!
I want you to know that Halle Berry is freekin' beautiful. Michelle Obama freekin' ain't!
I want you to know that Nancy Pelosi always looks nervous like a chihauhau that just got its gonads slammed with a screen door.
I want you to know that Michelle Obama should spend the hundreds of dollars she spends on meals, in hotels, on a decent dress.
I want Al Gore to shut up about global warming. Global warming? Ask some of the people in areas of the U.S. where they've experienced record-breaking low temperatures in winter. They'll tell Al Gore and Obama where they can stick their globes.
I want to meet a politician with that rarest of traits---humility.
I want to hear a minister pray to God instead of to the congregation.
I want to see, just for the heck of it, Barack Obama’s birth certificate.
I want to, uh, see, uh, President, uh, Obama, uh, make a speech, uh, without, uh, a teleprompter, uh.
I want to live long enough to see another phenomenom like Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, the Beatles, and Michael Jackson.
I want to see a comedian, like Jack Benny, Red Skelton, and Johnny Carson (who were as funny as funny gets), who doesn’t use rapid-fire expletives every time he opens his mouth.
I want to see all the members of ACORN in a nut vise.
I want to see a cure for cancer, in my lifetime.
I want to sit in a doctors waiting room and see a well-mannered child. One who’s not tossing toys across the room, not screaming, and not walking, ceaselessly, throughout the waiting room, touching everything and everyone in sight.
I want to see more parents acting like adults rather than acting like their children.
I want to see a modern movie without the name of the Lord taken in vain---over and over and over and over.
I want to thank Glenn Beck and ask God to bless him for the work he is doing to (1) expose Obama's campaign and determination to make America a Socialist nation, (2) to expose the corruption of ACORN, (3) to try return America back to the way it was before Obama and the democrats starting turning it upside by grabbing power through stimulus packages, and (4) to spread the word that Obama is doling huge amounts of money and favors to the same businesses that made large donations to his presidential campaign.
I want to see Obama do one thing to make me believe that he is, as he has claimed, a Christian.
I want to see Obama go to church, just once, when he is not campaigning for an office.
I’d like to know if the people who opened their purse strings to pay for Obama’s Harvard education are now pulling his strings.
I want people -- especially young people -- to stop looking -- every four years --for a pop-star celebrity to be the President of the United States. Celebrities make bad celebrities for goodness sake! And you want one as your president?!
I want to thank all the girls I’ve loved, who loved me in return.
I want to thank all of the musicians and singers, with whom I’ve shared the love of music, with whom I’ve played music, throughout the years.
I want to thank God for my parents, sisters, and brother, and my extended family of relatives, who love me unconditionally.
I want to thank my parents and grandparents for instilling in me a love, concern, compassion, and respect for my fellow man.
I want to thank God for giving me the sweetest mother in the world.
And --- I, Allen Ball, want to thank you all -- the readers of my column. Though we may not often agree, I still love you, my brothers and sisters on this planet called earth, in the Spirit of God Almighty.
EDWARD R. MURROW MUST BE TURNING OVER IN HIS GRAVE
Hello everyone. The following is a letter I e-mailed to the three major network news organizations. Much was made, by them, of Joe Wilson’s “You lie!” outburst, during the Joint Session of Congress, while ignoring the fascinating video of two ACORN employees giving a prostitute imposter advice on buying a house, using tactics of deception.
*****
Letter to NBC, CBS, and ABC EVENING NEWS
EDWARD R. MURROW MUST BE TURNING OVER IN HIS GRAVE
By ALLEN BALL
Edward R. Murrow must be turning over in his grave.
I checked NBC, ABC, and CBS for comments about the breaking story about ACORN and the "prostitute" asking for help on buying a home. Nothing! Nothing! Nothing! I feel as though I'm watching an old Hollywood movie about Nazi Germany, where truth is stifled and mocked, where Clark Gable or James Cagney are the heroes fighting the evil enemy.
In reality, for many conservatives, Barack Obama is the enemy, the major news networks stifle and mock the truth, and Glenn Beck is the unlikely hero.
It took politician and media response to recent town hall meetings to make me realize the depth of Naziesque arrogance and condescension of the media, the President, and Congress. You've intellectualized yourself out of touch with the common man and the concept of “God, country, and apple pie” . For you it's George Clooney and Darwin, globalization, and Breast of Pheasant Under Glass.
You have democrat Oliver Stone fist-bumping Hugo Chavez, and you have Kevin Coster, Danny Glover, Sean Penn, and other Hollywood pseudo-intellectuals praising Fidel Castro, while castigating George W. Bush. Charlie Sheen, actor, is calling for Obama to investigate allegations that George Bush was behind 9/11. Michael Moore is releasing his new movie demonizing Capitalism. I'm not thrilled about the Republican Party these days, but if I were a democrat, I'd be embarrassed to be associated with nut-cases like these. If I were a democrat, I would also be ashamed to know the man I voted for continues to surround himself with a known Communist and bizarre radicals.
Why can't you objectively examine your behavior so that you'll see that you guys are beginning to look like the bad guys of the old Hollywood movies?: the power-seeking, greedy, evil, lying, self-aggrandizing people and corrupt corporations of the world. The God-haters, haters of religion, and haters of freedom.
Middle America hasn't changed. You have. And now you want the rest of the country to get on your bandwagon. You think you're intellectually superior to we farmers, postal workers, grocery clerks, teachers, preachers, small business owners, bank tellers, and other lowly human beings. And, so, now you've come to the conclusion, as all other misguided elitists, throughout the ages, have, that 445, or so, Congressmen, the liberal media, and the President of the United States must be the sole arbiters, in all matters of morality, business, and government. Only you, the repository of all wisdom and knowledge, should make all of the most crucial decisions in all of the most important matters that affect every man, woman, and child, (over 300,000,000 of us)in the United States of America!
We've gone from presidents who fought in wars to protect America, to a president, who wants to radically change everything about it! He finds the health care, insurance, and business industries, in general, despicable. He finds our police departments to be racist. Is there anything about America that you, the liberal media, and the president find mildly agreeable?
Other than George Clooney, is there anything else that you like about evil, ol' America? We know you hate "tea baggers" and "town-hallers" who speak their mind. You hate Fox News. You don't care for country music. You prefer Eminem, Madonna, and Bruce Springsteen.
Glory be! You and Hollywood control the mushy minds of the youth of America. Fight clubs, as reported today, have been created across America, modeled after the fight club glorified in the movie about fight clubs, starring Brad Pitt. And now we have a president, armed with radical philosophies, of radical Czars, to lead Americans further away from everything that made America great. Can Obama really concur with Czar Cass Sunstein, that rats and mice should not be removed from homes, if the removal causes stress in the rodent? Does he agree with Sunstein, that animals should be empowered with the right of taking humans to court?
What do these things say about Obama and his association with these radicals? The thing that is chilling about many, if not all, of Obama's associates, is that they seem to be humorless (except when belittling conservatives or Christians), dour, atheistic, and robotic. As with the EPA, with radicals, the welfare of rare birds and insects seem to trump the welfare of human beings.
With all the negative, derogative revelations concerning Obama's associates, you, the liberal media, still suck up to him. He's still the messiah.
All my life, I turned to you, NBC, for my evening news. Sixty-one years! But just as I have left an unfaithful, untrustworthy lover or associate, in the past, I leave you now.
But before I go, have you ever noticed that we gun-totin' , God-lovin', patriotic, country hicks have a lot more fun than you chic, Castro-loving, Darwin-deceived, Obama-is-my-God, uptown elitists? Harry Reid always looks as though he could use a laxative and Nancy Pelosi always looks nervous like a Chihuahua. Even conservative-basher David Letterman commented that she couldn’t move her face as Obama (greatest speaker of aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall time) gave his speech at the Joint Session of Congress, on Wednesday.
If Reid and Pelosi had sex and Pelosi became pregnant, she would probably give birth to a TV test pattern.
*****
Letter to NBC, CBS, and ABC EVENING NEWS
EDWARD R. MURROW MUST BE TURNING OVER IN HIS GRAVE
By ALLEN BALL
Edward R. Murrow must be turning over in his grave.
I checked NBC, ABC, and CBS for comments about the breaking story about ACORN and the "prostitute" asking for help on buying a home. Nothing! Nothing! Nothing! I feel as though I'm watching an old Hollywood movie about Nazi Germany, where truth is stifled and mocked, where Clark Gable or James Cagney are the heroes fighting the evil enemy.
In reality, for many conservatives, Barack Obama is the enemy, the major news networks stifle and mock the truth, and Glenn Beck is the unlikely hero.
It took politician and media response to recent town hall meetings to make me realize the depth of Naziesque arrogance and condescension of the media, the President, and Congress. You've intellectualized yourself out of touch with the common man and the concept of “God, country, and apple pie” . For you it's George Clooney and Darwin, globalization, and Breast of Pheasant Under Glass.
You have democrat Oliver Stone fist-bumping Hugo Chavez, and you have Kevin Coster, Danny Glover, Sean Penn, and other Hollywood pseudo-intellectuals praising Fidel Castro, while castigating George W. Bush. Charlie Sheen, actor, is calling for Obama to investigate allegations that George Bush was behind 9/11. Michael Moore is releasing his new movie demonizing Capitalism. I'm not thrilled about the Republican Party these days, but if I were a democrat, I'd be embarrassed to be associated with nut-cases like these. If I were a democrat, I would also be ashamed to know the man I voted for continues to surround himself with a known Communist and bizarre radicals.
Why can't you objectively examine your behavior so that you'll see that you guys are beginning to look like the bad guys of the old Hollywood movies?: the power-seeking, greedy, evil, lying, self-aggrandizing people and corrupt corporations of the world. The God-haters, haters of religion, and haters of freedom.
Middle America hasn't changed. You have. And now you want the rest of the country to get on your bandwagon. You think you're intellectually superior to we farmers, postal workers, grocery clerks, teachers, preachers, small business owners, bank tellers, and other lowly human beings. And, so, now you've come to the conclusion, as all other misguided elitists, throughout the ages, have, that 445, or so, Congressmen, the liberal media, and the President of the United States must be the sole arbiters, in all matters of morality, business, and government. Only you, the repository of all wisdom and knowledge, should make all of the most crucial decisions in all of the most important matters that affect every man, woman, and child, (over 300,000,000 of us)in the United States of America!
We've gone from presidents who fought in wars to protect America, to a president, who wants to radically change everything about it! He finds the health care, insurance, and business industries, in general, despicable. He finds our police departments to be racist. Is there anything about America that you, the liberal media, and the president find mildly agreeable?
Other than George Clooney, is there anything else that you like about evil, ol' America? We know you hate "tea baggers" and "town-hallers" who speak their mind. You hate Fox News. You don't care for country music. You prefer Eminem, Madonna, and Bruce Springsteen.
Glory be! You and Hollywood control the mushy minds of the youth of America. Fight clubs, as reported today, have been created across America, modeled after the fight club glorified in the movie about fight clubs, starring Brad Pitt. And now we have a president, armed with radical philosophies, of radical Czars, to lead Americans further away from everything that made America great. Can Obama really concur with Czar Cass Sunstein, that rats and mice should not be removed from homes, if the removal causes stress in the rodent? Does he agree with Sunstein, that animals should be empowered with the right of taking humans to court?
What do these things say about Obama and his association with these radicals? The thing that is chilling about many, if not all, of Obama's associates, is that they seem to be humorless (except when belittling conservatives or Christians), dour, atheistic, and robotic. As with the EPA, with radicals, the welfare of rare birds and insects seem to trump the welfare of human beings.
With all the negative, derogative revelations concerning Obama's associates, you, the liberal media, still suck up to him. He's still the messiah.
All my life, I turned to you, NBC, for my evening news. Sixty-one years! But just as I have left an unfaithful, untrustworthy lover or associate, in the past, I leave you now.
But before I go, have you ever noticed that we gun-totin' , God-lovin', patriotic, country hicks have a lot more fun than you chic, Castro-loving, Darwin-deceived, Obama-is-my-God, uptown elitists? Harry Reid always looks as though he could use a laxative and Nancy Pelosi always looks nervous like a Chihuahua. Even conservative-basher David Letterman commented that she couldn’t move her face as Obama (greatest speaker of aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall time) gave his speech at the Joint Session of Congress, on Wednesday.
If Reid and Pelosi had sex and Pelosi became pregnant, she would probably give birth to a TV test pattern.
CAN TIGER WOODS BE MORE INSPIRING?
I don’t play golf. I wanted to, but couldn’t. Wasn’t a member of the country club. I’ve played the game twice in my life. Once, at Ft. Bragg, while stationed there with the 440th Army Band. The other time was with Gary Salt, owner of Salt Wood Products, of Greenville, Kinston, and Winterville. I met Gary when he was stationed with the 440th, around 1968.
I think of how foolish we were, when Gary Reinhardt, a weight-lifter, from San Diego, and I, held Gary, a little guy, by his feet, suspended, above ground, off the second-floor fire escape, of the sleeping-quarters barracks. I put my trust in Reinhardt’s strength, for us not to drop the poor fella.
A group of us band members, led by John Watkins, of Roanoke Rapids, told Gary, on his first night with us, that we all had to get up at 2am, that morning, and exercise outside the barracks. Watkins, normal, in physique, ordered all of us around, including Reinhardt, with his imposing weight-lifter body, as we feigned terror, at his every command. It was a hilarious sight: Gary doing jumping jacks, in his drawers, at 2am, in the morning.
My mother and I watched, with bated breath, as Tiger Woods sank his incredible 15-foot, 11-inch putt, on the 18th green, at Bay Hill, to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational Sunday, March 29th, 2009, on NBC. Woods won the Invitational by overcoming a five-shot deficit and birdying the final hole. It was his sixth time winning the tournament. As writer, Brian Whacker stated: “no matter how many times we see Woods do what he does, it never gets old. It only gets better.”
I remember watching Woods, for the first time, turning in a sterling performance, as he won his first Masters, in 1997, with a nine-shot lead. Since winning that contest, the first major tournament of his career, Tiger has continued to perform with grace and poise and unmatched concentration and accuracy.
One of the most exciting moments I’ve witnessed in sports, or anywhere else, for that matter, was when Woods putted on a green, where the ball had to take a wide path, of at least 20-feet, to the left, to roll back, about 30-feet, to get into the hole. Miraculously, the ball stopped on the lip of the cup. Woods, and members of the gallery, stood, in disbelief, as the immobile object suddenly, amazingly, and astoundingly, moved another, almost immeasurable distance, to, quiveringly, drop into the hole. Leaving everyone at the green, and viewers, at home, in a state of wonderment and amazement.
Every now and then, God blesses us with individuals, with awe-inspiring talent. Talent of such magnitude that it seems to be a gift of divine providence. Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Shakespeare, Picasso, Mozart, Bach, George Gershwin, the Beatles, Irving Berlin, Babe Ruth, and Michael Jordan come to mind. Tiger Woods is one of that small, special, blessed, gifted elite, who entertain and inspire us all.
My mother, Frances Ball, plagued by chronic nausea, stood at the foot of her bed, right hand on her bed post, watching as Tiger Woods sank the final ball at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, on that Sunday afternoon. Excited, she thrust her left hand upwards in a gesture, that seemed to say: You go, man! [She loved to watch Michael Jordan play as well]. My mother will be 82-years old, on May 14th, of this year.
Great talent is transcendent. It is appealing to, and appreciated by, people of all ages and all walks of life. Great talent is a unifying force, as well. It brings people together, in a special way, in the sharing of its appreciation.
I keep thinking of the wonderful visual moment of Tiger dropping the victory ball into the cup, at the Arnold Palmer Invitational--his excited reaction and the thunderous roar of excitement, from the gallery.
Viewing a wonderful, brief, special moment in time, like that, to me, is akin to watching the beautiful, fleeting, fiery glow of a falling meteorite, as it ignites in the earth’s atmosphere. Or gazing at Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, for a very brief moment. Or watching the full eclipse of the sun, by the moon, at noon-time.
After watching Tiger Woods’ comeback victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, I thought to myself: Can Tiger Woods be more inspiring?
Written by Allen Ball
Monday & Tuesday, March 30 & 31, 2009
© Copyright 2009 ~ Allen Ball Enterprises
I think of how foolish we were, when Gary Reinhardt, a weight-lifter, from San Diego, and I, held Gary, a little guy, by his feet, suspended, above ground, off the second-floor fire escape, of the sleeping-quarters barracks. I put my trust in Reinhardt’s strength, for us not to drop the poor fella.
A group of us band members, led by John Watkins, of Roanoke Rapids, told Gary, on his first night with us, that we all had to get up at 2am, that morning, and exercise outside the barracks. Watkins, normal, in physique, ordered all of us around, including Reinhardt, with his imposing weight-lifter body, as we feigned terror, at his every command. It was a hilarious sight: Gary doing jumping jacks, in his drawers, at 2am, in the morning.
My mother and I watched, with bated breath, as Tiger Woods sank his incredible 15-foot, 11-inch putt, on the 18th green, at Bay Hill, to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational Sunday, March 29th, 2009, on NBC. Woods won the Invitational by overcoming a five-shot deficit and birdying the final hole. It was his sixth time winning the tournament. As writer, Brian Whacker stated: “no matter how many times we see Woods do what he does, it never gets old. It only gets better.”
I remember watching Woods, for the first time, turning in a sterling performance, as he won his first Masters, in 1997, with a nine-shot lead. Since winning that contest, the first major tournament of his career, Tiger has continued to perform with grace and poise and unmatched concentration and accuracy.
One of the most exciting moments I’ve witnessed in sports, or anywhere else, for that matter, was when Woods putted on a green, where the ball had to take a wide path, of at least 20-feet, to the left, to roll back, about 30-feet, to get into the hole. Miraculously, the ball stopped on the lip of the cup. Woods, and members of the gallery, stood, in disbelief, as the immobile object suddenly, amazingly, and astoundingly, moved another, almost immeasurable distance, to, quiveringly, drop into the hole. Leaving everyone at the green, and viewers, at home, in a state of wonderment and amazement.
Every now and then, God blesses us with individuals, with awe-inspiring talent. Talent of such magnitude that it seems to be a gift of divine providence. Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Shakespeare, Picasso, Mozart, Bach, George Gershwin, the Beatles, Irving Berlin, Babe Ruth, and Michael Jordan come to mind. Tiger Woods is one of that small, special, blessed, gifted elite, who entertain and inspire us all.
My mother, Frances Ball, plagued by chronic nausea, stood at the foot of her bed, right hand on her bed post, watching as Tiger Woods sank the final ball at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, on that Sunday afternoon. Excited, she thrust her left hand upwards in a gesture, that seemed to say: You go, man! [She loved to watch Michael Jordan play as well]. My mother will be 82-years old, on May 14th, of this year.
Great talent is transcendent. It is appealing to, and appreciated by, people of all ages and all walks of life. Great talent is a unifying force, as well. It brings people together, in a special way, in the sharing of its appreciation.
I keep thinking of the wonderful visual moment of Tiger dropping the victory ball into the cup, at the Arnold Palmer Invitational--his excited reaction and the thunderous roar of excitement, from the gallery.
Viewing a wonderful, brief, special moment in time, like that, to me, is akin to watching the beautiful, fleeting, fiery glow of a falling meteorite, as it ignites in the earth’s atmosphere. Or gazing at Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, for a very brief moment. Or watching the full eclipse of the sun, by the moon, at noon-time.
After watching Tiger Woods’ comeback victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, I thought to myself: Can Tiger Woods be more inspiring?
Written by Allen Ball
Monday & Tuesday, March 30 & 31, 2009
© Copyright 2009 ~ Allen Ball Enterprises
BANKS: PARASITES, LEECHES
[How much do banks spend processing an overdraft (OD-overdraft)? Most
bank cost-analysis surveys indicate a cost of 35 cents to 75 cents. So, for every $35 bank fee you pay for an overdraft, your local friendly bank pockets $34.25 to $34.65!]
*****
He that stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, He also shall cry himself, but shall not be
heard. -PROVERBS 21:13I
It was my fault. I switched to "bill pay," on line, with First Citizens bank. It was my fault. I mistakenly made an overdraft, resulting in $459.00 in overdraft fees, in one month! It is my mom and dad's bank account.
Dad, 86, a retired minister, died on July 10th this year. Mama has been sickly for years. Most recently, she had a hemorrhagic stroke. She uses a walker; and I push her in her wheelchair when we leave the house.
My mother raised two boys and two girls while my dad went from town to town preaching, as an evangelist, at any church that invited him. She started
having seizures on Saturday, September 11, 2004. I was there when she had
her first one. After finding her lying face down, immobile, between her bed
and the bedroom wall (she'd been there four or five hours) I made the
decision to watch over my mom and dad for the rest of their lives (I
promised my mom, in the '80s, that she'd never go into a nursing home if I
could help it). As attested by her family doctor, my mom needs
around-the-clock care.
Mom lives on dad's social security: $638.00. After subtracting overdraft
fees for September 2008, she had $179 left to pay bills.
Just as a sidebar, after my brother called me around 10:30 pm one night, in September, to tell me there was a Hurricane Ike gas-hike scare in town I drove to the Hasty
Mart (where gas was usually available 24-hrs. a day, with a credit card) in
La Grange. I started pumping gas at 11pm or a minute or two past 11, when
the station attendant, after shutting the pumps down, ran out saying that
the station was not allowing 24-hr. service that night. I had already pumped
$.09 worth of gas. My mom's account was billed $35 for that 9-cent purchase!
I talked to Liz Dixon at First Citizens in Pink Hill, where my parents
opened their checking account in 1983. Liz is a nice person and had helped
me in August when a "Free Credit Report" web site billed us for a Credit
Diagnosis account and a Credit Protection Account that I was unaware I had
signed up for. It turned out that the credit report cost was $.99; and
that's how they were able to withdraw money from my mom's account without my
knowledge. It was a scam. Liz removed the overdraft fees after I complained
to the web site and told them to cancel the accounts.
I pleaded with Liz to remove the overdraft fees. She said she could not. I
asked to speak with manager, Steve Oliver, he said he would cancel $175 in
overdraft fees. I sent "Thank You" notes to Mrs. Dixon and Mr. Oliver. I
pleaded further, however because our situation was, and is dire. Our utility
bill alone was $312. Mr. Oliver's attitude from the beginning, I felt, was
one of indifference to my mom's plight. I felt that he felt that I was just
an annoyance. So, I asked who else I could talk to about the matter. He said
I could call Bill Whaley at the main office in Kinston, on Queen St.
Like Mr. Oliver, Bill Whaley, too, had all the compassion of the Berlin
Wall. He assured me that nothing else could be done to help us out.
Banks function according the principle that 'you can make the most money
from the people who can afford it the least' (meaning the average
family). --EDWARD F. MRKVICKA, Jr., The Bank Book (1991). Edward F.
Mrkvicka, Jr. is a former president and CEO of a national bank.
Now here is what really is unconscionable, detestable, and immoral:
How much do they (banks) spend processing an overdraft (OD-overdraft)? Most
bank cost-analysis surveys indicate a cost of 35 cents to 75 cents. I
believe it's closer to a dollar, based on the following:
Computer cost per OD (overdraft) $0.25
Employee's processing cost 0.46
Mailing cost of OD notice 0.29
(*Mailing cost is now $0.42) $1.00
--EDWARD F. MRKVICKA, Jr., The Bank Book (1991).
He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich,
shall surely come to want.
-PROVERBS 22:16
"The order in which banks process checks and other debits determines the
overdraft fees they charge. Those fees make up 90% of service charges on
deposit accounts, and they're expected to yield a record $53.1 billion for
financial institutions this year, research firm Moebs Services says.
--Smart Banking, MARC HEDLUND, USA TODAY
I would say that if your bank is making money off of you by waiting for you
to make a mistake or have a bad month, they're not looking out for your best
interests. --Smart Banking, MARC HEDLUND, USA TODAY
He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth His Maker: But he that honoreth Him hath mercy on the Poor. ---PROVERBS 14:31
Dixon, Oliver, and Whaley all said they didn't know the bank cost of
processing overdrafts. Well, they are lying or they're ignorant of and
uninformed about, the largest source of bank revenue: overdraft fees. I don't
believe they are bad people, however; in their tacit approval of wrong, they
are complicit in wrongdoing.
Now that you know the truth, you also know that the motto of First Citizens
Bank--"We value relationships" --is only empty rhetoric and hypocrisy. The
only thing First Citizens Bank and all the other banking institutions care
about is the relationship they have with your overdraft fees.
© Copyright ALLEN BALL ENTERPRISES 2008
bank cost-analysis surveys indicate a cost of 35 cents to 75 cents. So, for every $35 bank fee you pay for an overdraft, your local friendly bank pockets $34.25 to $34.65!]
*****
He that stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, He also shall cry himself, but shall not be
heard. -PROVERBS 21:13I
It was my fault. I switched to "bill pay," on line, with First Citizens bank. It was my fault. I mistakenly made an overdraft, resulting in $459.00 in overdraft fees, in one month! It is my mom and dad's bank account.
Dad, 86, a retired minister, died on July 10th this year. Mama has been sickly for years. Most recently, she had a hemorrhagic stroke. She uses a walker; and I push her in her wheelchair when we leave the house.
My mother raised two boys and two girls while my dad went from town to town preaching, as an evangelist, at any church that invited him. She started
having seizures on Saturday, September 11, 2004. I was there when she had
her first one. After finding her lying face down, immobile, between her bed
and the bedroom wall (she'd been there four or five hours) I made the
decision to watch over my mom and dad for the rest of their lives (I
promised my mom, in the '80s, that she'd never go into a nursing home if I
could help it). As attested by her family doctor, my mom needs
around-the-clock care.
Mom lives on dad's social security: $638.00. After subtracting overdraft
fees for September 2008, she had $179 left to pay bills.
Just as a sidebar, after my brother called me around 10:30 pm one night, in September, to tell me there was a Hurricane Ike gas-hike scare in town I drove to the Hasty
Mart (where gas was usually available 24-hrs. a day, with a credit card) in
La Grange. I started pumping gas at 11pm or a minute or two past 11, when
the station attendant, after shutting the pumps down, ran out saying that
the station was not allowing 24-hr. service that night. I had already pumped
$.09 worth of gas. My mom's account was billed $35 for that 9-cent purchase!
I talked to Liz Dixon at First Citizens in Pink Hill, where my parents
opened their checking account in 1983. Liz is a nice person and had helped
me in August when a "Free Credit Report" web site billed us for a Credit
Diagnosis account and a Credit Protection Account that I was unaware I had
signed up for. It turned out that the credit report cost was $.99; and
that's how they were able to withdraw money from my mom's account without my
knowledge. It was a scam. Liz removed the overdraft fees after I complained
to the web site and told them to cancel the accounts.
I pleaded with Liz to remove the overdraft fees. She said she could not. I
asked to speak with manager, Steve Oliver, he said he would cancel $175 in
overdraft fees. I sent "Thank You" notes to Mrs. Dixon and Mr. Oliver. I
pleaded further, however because our situation was, and is dire. Our utility
bill alone was $312. Mr. Oliver's attitude from the beginning, I felt, was
one of indifference to my mom's plight. I felt that he felt that I was just
an annoyance. So, I asked who else I could talk to about the matter. He said
I could call Bill Whaley at the main office in Kinston, on Queen St.
Like Mr. Oliver, Bill Whaley, too, had all the compassion of the Berlin
Wall. He assured me that nothing else could be done to help us out.
Banks function according the principle that 'you can make the most money
from the people who can afford it the least' (meaning the average
family). --EDWARD F. MRKVICKA, Jr., The Bank Book (1991). Edward F.
Mrkvicka, Jr. is a former president and CEO of a national bank.
Now here is what really is unconscionable, detestable, and immoral:
How much do they (banks) spend processing an overdraft (OD-overdraft)? Most
bank cost-analysis surveys indicate a cost of 35 cents to 75 cents. I
believe it's closer to a dollar, based on the following:
Computer cost per OD (overdraft) $0.25
Employee's processing cost 0.46
Mailing cost of OD notice 0.29
(*Mailing cost is now $0.42) $1.00
--EDWARD F. MRKVICKA, Jr., The Bank Book (1991).
He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich,
shall surely come to want.
-PROVERBS 22:16
"The order in which banks process checks and other debits determines the
overdraft fees they charge. Those fees make up 90% of service charges on
deposit accounts, and they're expected to yield a record $53.1 billion for
financial institutions this year, research firm Moebs Services says.
--Smart Banking, MARC HEDLUND, USA TODAY
I would say that if your bank is making money off of you by waiting for you
to make a mistake or have a bad month, they're not looking out for your best
interests. --Smart Banking, MARC HEDLUND, USA TODAY
He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth His Maker: But he that honoreth Him hath mercy on the Poor. ---PROVERBS 14:31
Dixon, Oliver, and Whaley all said they didn't know the bank cost of
processing overdrafts. Well, they are lying or they're ignorant of and
uninformed about, the largest source of bank revenue: overdraft fees. I don't
believe they are bad people, however; in their tacit approval of wrong, they
are complicit in wrongdoing.
Now that you know the truth, you also know that the motto of First Citizens
Bank--"We value relationships" --is only empty rhetoric and hypocrisy. The
only thing First Citizens Bank and all the other banking institutions care
about is the relationship they have with your overdraft fees.
© Copyright ALLEN BALL ENTERPRISES 2008
ACT OF GOD
There are only two possible explanations for what happened in 1876. It was either the most phenomenal coincidence that ever occurred, or it was, literally, an Act of God. The events of that day are supported by numerous sworn statements and legal documents.
Swan Quarter, North Carolina is a lowland community. When heavy rains come, the residents closer to sea level fair better than those further away.
In the 1870s, the Methodists of Swan Quarter had no church. The only land available to them, on which to build a church, was a piece of low-lying property on Oyster Creek Road. It was not by desire, but by necessity, that the Methodists acquired the land and construction began.
The church was to be a small, but sturdy, white clapboard-framed building propped up on brick pilings. In 1876, the building was completed. On Sunday, September 16, a dedication ceremony was held. Three days later, on Wednesday, a terrible storm ravaged Swan Quarter. All day long the wind howled as torrential rains poured down upon the quiet community. The townspeople could only wait out the storm helplessly as it continued its ruinous damage. By nightfall, devastated by the force of nature, the town began to flood as many roofs were ripped from homes by cyclonic turbulence. The storm raged through the darkness of night into the bleak light of day.
By Thursday afternoon, the wind subsided as the rain diminished, leaving behind, in its wake, an eerie calm. One by one, weary citizens threw open their shutters and doors and emerged from what was left of there homes.
Most of the people walked into the flooded streets or peered from there windows to witness a desolate waterscape, a community savagely rocked by nature. But those within, in sight of Oyster Creek Road, looked upon a more astonishing sight: the church --- the newly constructed Swan Quarter Methodist Church --- the whole building, intact, was floating down the street! The flood waters had gently lifted the entire structure from the brick pilings, on which it had rested, and had launched it slowly, silently, down Oyster Creek Road.
Within minutes, stunned, concerned townsfolk were wading in and sloshing about in waist-high water, in the street, fighting the rushing current, trying desperately to reach the journey-bound church so that they could moor it with lengths of rope.
The ropes were fastened to various structures, but to no avail: none were sturdy enough to withstand the weight of the church being swept away in the flood waters. The traveling chapel attracted other onlookers who immediately joined the struggle to secure the building. The church moved on.
By now, the church had floated to the center of town, still on Oyster Creek Road. And then, as if this phenomenon had not already been an amazing sight to behold, the church, as helpless townsfolk watched, spellbound, made an inexplicable right turn and continued down that road. It was as though the chapel were alive --- as though it had a mind of its own.
For two more blocks, the townspeople fought, with the ropes, to gain control of the church, unsuccessfully. And then, in the same decisive manner in which it had moved, all along, the church veered off the road, heading for the center of a vacant lot ... and there ... stopped.
While the flood water receded, the church remained --- and is there to this day --- almost a hundred and thirty years later.
But that's not the end of this incredible story. You see, that most desirable piece of land where the church settled, on that fateful day in 1876, was the first choice, of the Swan Quarter Methodists, for the site of their church. However, the rich, unsympathetic landowner, whose property it was, originally refused to sell his land to the Christian churchgoers.
On the morning after the flood --- after discovering the church in the middle of his lot --- that landowner went to the Methodist minister and, with trembling hands, presented him with the deed. --From Carolina, My Sweet Home, by Allen Ball
Swan Quarter, North Carolina is a lowland community. When heavy rains come, the residents closer to sea level fair better than those further away.
In the 1870s, the Methodists of Swan Quarter had no church. The only land available to them, on which to build a church, was a piece of low-lying property on Oyster Creek Road. It was not by desire, but by necessity, that the Methodists acquired the land and construction began.
The church was to be a small, but sturdy, white clapboard-framed building propped up on brick pilings. In 1876, the building was completed. On Sunday, September 16, a dedication ceremony was held. Three days later, on Wednesday, a terrible storm ravaged Swan Quarter. All day long the wind howled as torrential rains poured down upon the quiet community. The townspeople could only wait out the storm helplessly as it continued its ruinous damage. By nightfall, devastated by the force of nature, the town began to flood as many roofs were ripped from homes by cyclonic turbulence. The storm raged through the darkness of night into the bleak light of day.
By Thursday afternoon, the wind subsided as the rain diminished, leaving behind, in its wake, an eerie calm. One by one, weary citizens threw open their shutters and doors and emerged from what was left of there homes.
Most of the people walked into the flooded streets or peered from there windows to witness a desolate waterscape, a community savagely rocked by nature. But those within, in sight of Oyster Creek Road, looked upon a more astonishing sight: the church --- the newly constructed Swan Quarter Methodist Church --- the whole building, intact, was floating down the street! The flood waters had gently lifted the entire structure from the brick pilings, on which it had rested, and had launched it slowly, silently, down Oyster Creek Road.
Within minutes, stunned, concerned townsfolk were wading in and sloshing about in waist-high water, in the street, fighting the rushing current, trying desperately to reach the journey-bound church so that they could moor it with lengths of rope.
The ropes were fastened to various structures, but to no avail: none were sturdy enough to withstand the weight of the church being swept away in the flood waters. The traveling chapel attracted other onlookers who immediately joined the struggle to secure the building. The church moved on.
By now, the church had floated to the center of town, still on Oyster Creek Road. And then, as if this phenomenon had not already been an amazing sight to behold, the church, as helpless townsfolk watched, spellbound, made an inexplicable right turn and continued down that road. It was as though the chapel were alive --- as though it had a mind of its own.
For two more blocks, the townspeople fought, with the ropes, to gain control of the church, unsuccessfully. And then, in the same decisive manner in which it had moved, all along, the church veered off the road, heading for the center of a vacant lot ... and there ... stopped.
While the flood water receded, the church remained --- and is there to this day --- almost a hundred and thirty years later.
But that's not the end of this incredible story. You see, that most desirable piece of land where the church settled, on that fateful day in 1876, was the first choice, of the Swan Quarter Methodists, for the site of their church. However, the rich, unsympathetic landowner, whose property it was, originally refused to sell his land to the Christian churchgoers.
On the morning after the flood --- after discovering the church in the middle of his lot --- that landowner went to the Methodist minister and, with trembling hands, presented him with the deed. --From Carolina, My Sweet Home, by Allen Ball
“1963”
At a press conference in Turkey, on April 7, 2009, President Obama stated, emphatically, that the United States of America is a Judeo-Christian nation. “One of the great strengths of the United States," the President said, "is ... we have a very large Christian population -- we do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values.”
Roman Emperors Constantine and Theodosius, through personal experiences, turned to Christianity. Consequently, both sought to purge the Roman Empire of godlessness through the principles of Christianity. Their rule marked a new chapter in the history of church and state
Seeking refuge from governmental tyranny, our ancestors fled Europe and sought freedom in America. Our forefathers understood the value of religion as a stabilizing force of goodness in society. Like Roman Emperors Constantine and Theodosius before us, they based the laws of government upon biblical teachings.
Since the 1960s, the Supreme Court of the United States has steadfastly become more liberal, ideologically and philosophically, most notably, with the landmark decision, in 1963, to remove prayer from public schools throughout America. The religious foundation, upon which our laws of governance were created, is being systematically dismantled. Now it is God who is being purged from our government.
Atheist Madelyn Murray O’Hare began a lawsuit, Murray v. Curlett, which led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling, in June of 1963, ending the practice of daily prayer in American public schools. O'Hare later founded American Atheists and became so controversial that, in 1964, Life magazine referred to her as "the most hated woman in America." She was murdered in 1995, along with her son and granddaughter, for reasons unrelated to her public image and activism.
The Supreme Court edict, far-reaching, in scope, formally declared God a non-person---a non-entity---tantamount to the crazy old aunt kept hidden in the cellar. From that day, hence, not only has prayer been outlawed, God's very name has been declared anathema to the United States Constitution, and forbidden to be mentioned in any federal, state, county, city or municipal context.
The Supreme Court decision, in June 1963, started an avalanche of decrees that would further limit religious freedom in the U.S. Not just prayer is forbidden in public forum. Display of the cross is forbidden. The Ten Commandments are forbidden. The Bible is forbidden. Nativity plays are forbidden. Christmas concerts are forbidden. Even the mere mention of the names "God" or "Jesus" in schools are forbidden. More than that, anything even suggestive of those names is forbidden in public forums. The religious Zeitgist of America, before the Supreme Court decision, of June 1963, was captured in the following:
The government's legal decision was stunning. Up to that moment, most people considered the United States government tantamount to a church. The morality echoed by both was virtually identical. It was that perceived union which inspired the public's reverence for its political system in the first place. Just as it is today, almost every person in the country at the time of the court decision was Christian. Displays of the Ten Commandments, the parables, gospel quotations and Christian exhortations were everywhere. There were prayers in public schools, in public forums, in virtually all government affairs and in Congress. Public grammar schools conducted nativity plays. The morality of society was born of Judeo-Christian principles. Forgiveness was an essential principle in the land. Greed and corruption had not grown into the uncontrollable behemoth that it is today. Businesses closed their doors on Good Friday. God and Jesus were ubiquitous in almost every aspect of American society.
Suddenly all that was gone. All of it purged from the American scene in one sudden ruling. --Goodnews Christian Ministry,
How has America changed since prayer was outlawed in our nation’s schools, in 1963?
A. Youth
1. For 15 years before 1963, pregnancies in girls ages 15 through 19 years had been no more than 15 per thousand. After 1963, pregnancies increased 187% in the next 15 years.
2. For younger girls, ages 10 to 14 years, pregnancies since 1963 are up 553%.
3. Before 1963 sexually transmitted diseases among students were 400 per 100,000. Since 1963, they were up 226% in the next 12 years.
B. Family
1. Before 1963 divorce rates had been declining for 15 years. After 1963 divorces increased 300% each year for the next 15 years.
2. Since 1963 unmarried people living together is up 353%
3. Since 1963 single parent families are up 140%.
4. Since 1963 single parent families with children are up 160%.
C. Education
1. The educational standard of measure has been the SAT scores. SAT scores had been steady for many years before 1963. From 1963 they rapidly declined for 18 consecutive years, even though the same test has been used since 1941.
2. In 1974-75 the rate of decline of the SAT scores decreased, even though they continued to decline. That was when there was an explosion of private religious schools. There were only 1000 Christian schools in 1965. Between 1974 to 1984 they increased to 32,000.
a. That could have an impact if the private schools had higher SAT scores. In checking with the SAT Board it was found that indeed the SAT scores for private schools were nearly 100 points higher than public schools.
b. In fact the scores were at the point where the public schools had been before their decline started in 1963 when prayer and Bible reading/ instruction was removed from the schools.
c. The scores in the public schools were still declining.
3. Of the nation's top academic scholars, three times as many come from private religious schools, which operate on one-third the funds as do the public schools.
D. The Nation
1. Since 1963 violent crime has increased 544%.
3. Illegal drugs have become an enormous & uncontrollable problem.
2. The nation has been deprived of an estimated 30 million citizens through legal abortions just since 1973.
The chance of being murdered in Washington, DC in 1990 was 3 times greater than the chance of an American soldier being killed in the Gulf War.
About as many Americans were killed (over 54,000) in New York City between 1962 and 2002 as died in the Vietnam War
From the gangland era of the 1930s to 1963 there was a gradual decline in both murders & executions in the United States. In 1963 the U.S. Supreme Court imposed rules on confessions & searches that accompanied a popular sentiment increasingly opposed to capital punishment -- and in 1972 struck down capital punishment laws as being "arbitrary and capricious".
In the early 1960s the vast majority of murder victims were acquainted with the murderer, but by the year 2000 nearly half of murder victims were strangers.
When the World War II Memorial was erected recently in Washington D.C., a quotation by Franklin Delano Roosevelt --- "so help me God" --- was removed from the plaque.
The principles of Christianity, recognized by Constantine, Theodosius, and our founding fathers, as guidelines of morality, necessary to form and sustain a nation, at its best, are being abandoned by many leaders of our government.
Not surprisingly, to me, Barack Obama seems to have a personal agenda of diminishing the role of Christianity in American society. For what purpose? He says we are a “nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values”. I say, whose ideals and whose set of values?
Mans’ ideals and values change like the wind. The values created by God Almighty are in perpetuity. They never change. They have served us well for over two-thousand years.
Who is Obama to try to diminish my God? Hitler tried to diminish my God and committed suicide. Mussolini tried to diminish my God; and he was killed by his own countrymen and hung by his heels in a square in Italy. Madelyn Murray O’Hare tried to diminish my God and she was murdered, along with her son and granddaughter [the murders were unrelated to her public image and activism].
Atheists and tyrants come and go. God goes on.
I don’t believe Obama is evil like Hitler of Mussolina, but I do believe that operating and living by principles, other than principles set forth in the Bible, is an invitation to tragedy and disaster. Obama is in the position, as the most powerful man in the world, to bring tragedy and disaster down upon the head of every man, woman, and child in the United States.
How do you think Jesus must have felt when he heard Obama say that America is not a Christian nation?
Roman Emperors Constantine and Theodosius, through personal experiences, turned to Christianity. Consequently, both sought to purge the Roman Empire of godlessness through the principles of Christianity. Their rule marked a new chapter in the history of church and state
Seeking refuge from governmental tyranny, our ancestors fled Europe and sought freedom in America. Our forefathers understood the value of religion as a stabilizing force of goodness in society. Like Roman Emperors Constantine and Theodosius before us, they based the laws of government upon biblical teachings.
Since the 1960s, the Supreme Court of the United States has steadfastly become more liberal, ideologically and philosophically, most notably, with the landmark decision, in 1963, to remove prayer from public schools throughout America. The religious foundation, upon which our laws of governance were created, is being systematically dismantled. Now it is God who is being purged from our government.
Atheist Madelyn Murray O’Hare began a lawsuit, Murray v. Curlett, which led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling, in June of 1963, ending the practice of daily prayer in American public schools. O'Hare later founded American Atheists and became so controversial that, in 1964, Life magazine referred to her as "the most hated woman in America." She was murdered in 1995, along with her son and granddaughter, for reasons unrelated to her public image and activism.
The Supreme Court edict, far-reaching, in scope, formally declared God a non-person---a non-entity---tantamount to the crazy old aunt kept hidden in the cellar. From that day, hence, not only has prayer been outlawed, God's very name has been declared anathema to the United States Constitution, and forbidden to be mentioned in any federal, state, county, city or municipal context.
The Supreme Court decision, in June 1963, started an avalanche of decrees that would further limit religious freedom in the U.S. Not just prayer is forbidden in public forum. Display of the cross is forbidden. The Ten Commandments are forbidden. The Bible is forbidden. Nativity plays are forbidden. Christmas concerts are forbidden. Even the mere mention of the names "God" or "Jesus" in schools are forbidden. More than that, anything even suggestive of those names is forbidden in public forums. The religious Zeitgist of America, before the Supreme Court decision, of June 1963, was captured in the following:
The government's legal decision was stunning. Up to that moment, most people considered the United States government tantamount to a church. The morality echoed by both was virtually identical. It was that perceived union which inspired the public's reverence for its political system in the first place. Just as it is today, almost every person in the country at the time of the court decision was Christian. Displays of the Ten Commandments, the parables, gospel quotations and Christian exhortations were everywhere. There were prayers in public schools, in public forums, in virtually all government affairs and in Congress. Public grammar schools conducted nativity plays. The morality of society was born of Judeo-Christian principles. Forgiveness was an essential principle in the land. Greed and corruption had not grown into the uncontrollable behemoth that it is today. Businesses closed their doors on Good Friday. God and Jesus were ubiquitous in almost every aspect of American society.
Suddenly all that was gone. All of it purged from the American scene in one sudden ruling. --Goodnews Christian Ministry,
How has America changed since prayer was outlawed in our nation’s schools, in 1963?
A. Youth
1. For 15 years before 1963, pregnancies in girls ages 15 through 19 years had been no more than 15 per thousand. After 1963, pregnancies increased 187% in the next 15 years.
2. For younger girls, ages 10 to 14 years, pregnancies since 1963 are up 553%.
3. Before 1963 sexually transmitted diseases among students were 400 per 100,000. Since 1963, they were up 226% in the next 12 years.
B. Family
1. Before 1963 divorce rates had been declining for 15 years. After 1963 divorces increased 300% each year for the next 15 years.
2. Since 1963 unmarried people living together is up 353%
3. Since 1963 single parent families are up 140%.
4. Since 1963 single parent families with children are up 160%.
C. Education
1. The educational standard of measure has been the SAT scores. SAT scores had been steady for many years before 1963. From 1963 they rapidly declined for 18 consecutive years, even though the same test has been used since 1941.
2. In 1974-75 the rate of decline of the SAT scores decreased, even though they continued to decline. That was when there was an explosion of private religious schools. There were only 1000 Christian schools in 1965. Between 1974 to 1984 they increased to 32,000.
a. That could have an impact if the private schools had higher SAT scores. In checking with the SAT Board it was found that indeed the SAT scores for private schools were nearly 100 points higher than public schools.
b. In fact the scores were at the point where the public schools had been before their decline started in 1963 when prayer and Bible reading/ instruction was removed from the schools.
c. The scores in the public schools were still declining.
3. Of the nation's top academic scholars, three times as many come from private religious schools, which operate on one-third the funds as do the public schools.
D. The Nation
1. Since 1963 violent crime has increased 544%.
3. Illegal drugs have become an enormous & uncontrollable problem.
2. The nation has been deprived of an estimated 30 million citizens through legal abortions just since 1973.
The chance of being murdered in Washington, DC in 1990 was 3 times greater than the chance of an American soldier being killed in the Gulf War.
About as many Americans were killed (over 54,000) in New York City between 1962 and 2002 as died in the Vietnam War
From the gangland era of the 1930s to 1963 there was a gradual decline in both murders & executions in the United States. In 1963 the U.S. Supreme Court imposed rules on confessions & searches that accompanied a popular sentiment increasingly opposed to capital punishment -- and in 1972 struck down capital punishment laws as being "arbitrary and capricious".
In the early 1960s the vast majority of murder victims were acquainted with the murderer, but by the year 2000 nearly half of murder victims were strangers.
When the World War II Memorial was erected recently in Washington D.C., a quotation by Franklin Delano Roosevelt --- "so help me God" --- was removed from the plaque.
The principles of Christianity, recognized by Constantine, Theodosius, and our founding fathers, as guidelines of morality, necessary to form and sustain a nation, at its best, are being abandoned by many leaders of our government.
Not surprisingly, to me, Barack Obama seems to have a personal agenda of diminishing the role of Christianity in American society. For what purpose? He says we are a “nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values”. I say, whose ideals and whose set of values?
Mans’ ideals and values change like the wind. The values created by God Almighty are in perpetuity. They never change. They have served us well for over two-thousand years.
Who is Obama to try to diminish my God? Hitler tried to diminish my God and committed suicide. Mussolini tried to diminish my God; and he was killed by his own countrymen and hung by his heels in a square in Italy. Madelyn Murray O’Hare tried to diminish my God and she was murdered, along with her son and granddaughter [the murders were unrelated to her public image and activism].
Atheists and tyrants come and go. God goes on.
I don’t believe Obama is evil like Hitler of Mussolina, but I do believe that operating and living by principles, other than principles set forth in the Bible, is an invitation to tragedy and disaster. Obama is in the position, as the most powerful man in the world, to bring tragedy and disaster down upon the head of every man, woman, and child in the United States.
How do you think Jesus must have felt when he heard Obama say that America is not a Christian nation?
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