tired of the serious

Really, I needed a small break from my own seriousness. But just a small one. I thought I would start posting some of my favorite pictures again. I needed to see something nice. For a moment I thought about having a small give away like many of my friends have. the thought was I could have a contest giving away one of my prints, if you like them, with everyone picking by voting. All that sounded good, but then I realized, I don't think anyone even reads my blog. So once again, the posts are for my own benefit.

The scriptures speak plainly

I do love the scriptures. Unlike so many, I really try hard not to take things out of context, or misrepresent what is being said. This scripture, I believe, speaks very much for itself.

THE BOOK OF HELAMAN
CHAPTER 5
. About 30 B.C.

1 And it came to pass that in this *same year, behold, Nephi delivered up the judgment-seat to a man whose name was Cezoram.
2 For as their laws and their governments were established by the voice of the people, and they who chose evil were more numerous than they who chose good, therefore they were ripening for destruction, for the laws had become corrupted.
3 Yea, and this was not all; they were a stiffnecked people, insomuch that they could not be governed by the law nor justice, save it were to their destruction.

Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him, who has never yet forsaken this favored land, are still competent to adjust, in the best way, all our present difficulty.

I thought gay meant happy

Main Entry:
1gay Listen to the pronunciation of 1gay
Pronunciation:
\ˈgā\
Function:
adjective
Etymology:
Middle English, from Anglo-French gai, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German gāhi quick, sudden
Date:
14th century

1 a: happily excited : merry gay mood> b: keenly alive and exuberant : having or inducing high spirits gay spring song

It is with a deep sigh, and a long breath that I stop to ponder the end of the long hard fought political season. Like many others I stop to say that, though the candidate that I felt was much better qualified to lead, was not chosen, I am glad that democracy won out, and a president was chosen by the people. With that I can only say, may the sins of the people not destroy us too quickly. That being said, that is how democracy was meant to work. The people stood to speak their voice, and their voice was heard. I have yet to see throngs of well dressed, conservative people gather in the streets to picket and protest for not getting their way. I have yet to see liberal houses, churches and people being persecuted, and vandalized in a hate crime fashion all because someone did not get their way.
I have always written according to my heart and my mind. The current issues regarding the sanctity of marriage, and the role of God/religion, in our country are very important issues to me. I have tried to read articles, and watch the news, and listen to voices regarding this issue. I have been struck by a few things. Those include a severe misunderstanding of constitutional rights, a complete misrepresentation of the role of religion on social and moral issues, and a complete change in simple and basic long held definitions. Thanks to Mr. Obama, even the word change has somehow been canonized.
This great country was founded on the principle of religious freedom. That means the right to have religion. I have yet to see where in the constitution a provision is made for the right to remove religion from our country. It reads, "the freedom OF religions". I have yet to see a constitutional amendment claiming the freedom FROM religion. Please do not take God out of our country, too many people have fought too hard to enable us the freedom to have a great country based on those basic Judeo-Christian tenets. I am pretty tired to hearing the yelling of separation of church and state as an excuse to live an immoral lifestyle. Don't get mad at me simple because your lifestyle causes you to live in guilt to the point that you must work daily to push you genetically ingrained belief of God and of your inherited divinity out of your life.
I am tired of hearing that religion has no place in the voting process. Asking people to remove their personal, religious beliefs from their voting process is completely contrary to the principals of democracy. Simply put: sinful people will elect sinful representatives. Like I have stated before the state of our country in my mind, does not represent the people that we have elected, rather then the people who have done the voting. We have only ourselves to blame for the state of this nation, not the ones we have voted in to lead. Our religion should absolutely be a part of who we are, and should sway the way that I vote. It is for the people to establish social and moral guidelines.
Please stop trying to change the definitions of words to meet your needs. Sometimes I feel like we are in grade school and just got a question wrong on the test, so we ask and plead, and beg the teacher to change the definition so we can get a better grade. Who else is hearing that plea, of "I don't like that answer so lets just change it? How does that work? At one point, gay meant happy, and marriage meant, a union between a man and a women. mar·riage 1 a (1): the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law.
The people of the states have voted (in some places not for the first time) That is how democracy works. Since when does democracy say, let "We The People" vote, but if 1 out of 100 do not like the way the vote turns out, well then let the judges step in to make them happy.
Please let democracy work. Why have the peoples rights been challenged by hate crimes. I vote, and then you burn sacred books in front of my religious buildings. I vote, and then you trample on sacred grounds, and vandalize my religions buildings. I vote, and you yell mean, hurtful lies, cursing, and damning things. I vote, and you commit hate crimes and threaten to take it to the courts to get your way, and attack me for my beliefs. I have beliefs and you say I hate. WOW.
May God have mercy on our souls.

Sorry so long

A friend recently asked me what my opinions of McCain were. She had read some of my posts regarding my feelings about Obama. I have made those very known with what little bit of a loud voice that I have. However, my feeling about McCain and Palin, I have yet to share. The truth is, I feel that sharing my feelings on McCain and Palin is a much tougher thing to do. This being said, I can still see the importance of trying to clearly state how I feel about this candidate.
To do this, I feel that it is first important for me to state who I am.
I am a Christian
I am Caucasian
I am the son of an Arabic immigrant, and refugee
I am a public educator
I am not middle class, or upper class (see public educator)
I am a college graduate
I am a husband
I am a father
I am a citizen of the United States of America
These statements help to best describe who I believe that I am.
Like I have mentioned before, I want to vote. I want to take part of the process that is one of the reasons our country is so great. I believe in the ideals of civic responsibility, and for each citizen to do their part in being thus civically responsible. I also believe strongly that the wickedness of the people we be apparent by the leaders that we elect.
Do I think that McCain is the best candidate for president? The answer really has to be, No. However, do I believe that he is a lesser evil then Obama? Very much YES. I must look at the political fervor of our country within the framework of my own personal biases, guidelines, and spiritual understandings. There are a few certain items of great importance to me, that are so strongly a part of who I am, and what I believe, that I can not just ignore them. Mr. McCain is the candidate that the Republican Party has chosen as its representative in this election. Though he does not fulfill in my mind, all of the important topics, he does come the closest, and far surpasses Mr. Obama. I believe that this country was based on Judeo-Christian values, and no matter how loud the ACLU yells, they cannot be allowed to change that. As far as I know McCain comes closer to my ideals in terms of abortion, welfare, resource independence, and the propagation of a free, democratic, capitalist democracy of a society. I must be honest is saying that the economy, though in crisis is not best answered by either of the candidates. I have a difficult time in weeding through the garbage of tax breaks, tax hikes who is going to promise what. Neither candidate can promise to rescue and save us from all of our problems. (I really cannot understand how a simple concept of a flat tax rate could not be a viable idea). Remove the IRS, make it the same for all of us. Give us all the responsibility to provide for our countries needs. I do not believe that a person should pay more taxes because they make more money. At the same time a person who does not work, and has not ambition to succeed has all of their needs met by the government. How does that work.?
I am a Christian-I believe that is this “One Country Under God”, Not a Country separated from God.
I am a Caucasian- I ask for nothing special, and offer nothing special for my race or yours.
I am the son of an Arabic Immigrant and refugee-I have no hatred for other countries, but I am tired of their hatred of us, and our perceived prosperity. McCain said it very well. Why are we still paying money to countries who hate us. Do school children pay for friends, do they pay for enemies? Why do we.
I am a public educator- I believe in education. I believe that our country needs to stop asking about the quality of teachers, and question the quality of the students, and their parents. Trust me, the quality of teaching will go up, if the income for teaching increases. But the quality of students can never change unless the quality of parenting improves. I do think that we need more accountability in education, from all parties.
I am a college graduate-Nobody gave that to me, I took it. I worked hard for it, and am proud of it.
I am a husband and a father-The two most important aspects of who I am. All that I do, and all that I believe revolve around what I want for my family. I want a country that is great, I want to be great for my Country, and I want that greatness to extend to my family and our role as citizens.
I am a Citizen of the United States of America- I believe in God, and I believe that this is a blessed country when the people are being righteous. (Sorry Mr. Wright, it is not up to you to send God to damn our country)
I believe that our founding fathers created a great system of government that far surpasses other countries, and cringe at the thought that we need to look to France, England, Germany, or any other place and wish we were more like them. No thank You Mr. Obama, I think we are great. I am sorry that you do not. I do not apologize for my beliefs.
I believe that the definition of wisdom is , TIME + EXPERIENCE.
I believe that Obama keeps talking about change, and that my feeling is his definition of change means changing the basic premise of our great country, and the Constitution that we hold dear. (after all he has never really said what he means by change).
God Bless America, Land that I love. Stand beside her and guide her.

Oh what a country

With election day coming in only a matter of hours, I find myself continually thinking about this country, the state of the people, and the candidates. Interestingly I keep coming back to Mr. Obama. I have made a few comments in regards to my thoughts on Mr. Obama. I have yet to hide my feelings in regards to the direction that I feel our country is moving in, and the proof that is easily available to any one with eyes to see. I have all but resigned myself with the fact that Mr. Obama may well be our next president. That is okay. I am not going to threaten to leave the country because I did not get what I want. I love this country to much to do that. However I think that the popularity of Mr. Obama shows the sad state of affairs that "We The People" are now in. In the Book of Mormon it was stated clearly that wicked people desire wicked government. When the people were wicked, they begged for a King, to come and save them. We get what we deserve.
Really at this point I have only two main thoughts in regards to Mr. Obama.
#1. After hearing it on a news blurb and really thinking about it. I really do not think that Obama would be able to be hired by our own FBI. A close friend of mine applied for the FBI recently. A part of his application process were interviews with close friends who have known him for a certain amount of time, having contact with him for more then five years. My wife and I were interviewed with intensity. Could Obama with his associates who have proven time and time again to not of the best character, be hired by the FBI. I really don't believe so. For that matter, I wonder if some of his associates could even pass a background check to become school teachers.
#2. Many years ago, an American stood and fought for certain rights. He is considered by some to be a great historical figure. He stated, "I have a dream... that someday my four children will be judged not by their color of their skin, but by the content of their character". This sounds pretty simple enough to me. Well Mr. Obama, where I come from, and the line of work that I do, the character of a man is judged by the company he keeps. The last time I checked the phrase, guilt by association still meant something. If you are in association with criminals, radicals, socialists, and make and keep them as close friends, confidants, and spiritual leaders, well in my world that makes you one of them. Stop hiding who you are behind the media. Stand up and be proud of yourself. Shout it from the rooftops. You see, the American people won't care as long as you promise them a life of continued welfare, and handouts, and a government who coddles its people. That is what they really want, or at least through their learned helplessness brought on by the liberal ideals, that is what they think that they need. Liberal agenda=crack. Give them just a little of what they want, and keep them coming back for more, and more, and never give them a way out. I Have to stop and wonder, just how many people are voting for Obama, just because he is black, and by golly it is long overdue and about time we had a black president. Sorry Mr. King, the color of a man's skin is still all that is important in the eyes of America. After 50+ plus years we still cant get it right, and judge the man by the content of his character. Sadly, probably because there is nothing there to stand in judgment.