Chatting about.. John Edwards and the danger zone of ego.

Hello blog readers, I’m back. We experienced a death in our family and I’ve been dealing with a lot of stuff that relates to that. But I must force myself to get back to blogging with so many thing going on in the news.

First and foremost is the John Edwards hot mess.  Mr. Edwards is the “victim” of a lot of bad press as his former aide released a book trashing him. Not that he shouldn’t be trashed. I am so over Mr. Edwards I can’t even tell you how much. Read his story here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/28/us/politics/28edwards.html

 Edwards resonated with me as a voter. Not for his “boyish” looks. I never thought he was attractive. But the message of “two Americas” was deep and I thought he had a vision for America that was profound. I know the cynical believe he never believed any of it. I’m not in that crowd. I do think Edwards believed it once upon a time.

Until he started to believe his own press. Once you substitute ego for purpose, you’re bound to go down a wrong path.

As a spiritual person, I have to say, this is an almost biblical story. Golden  leader who is set up for doing good works who gets turned around by his own ego and further turned around by the whisperings of some nutty woman who never meant him any good. Cheating on your cancer-stricken wife is just detestable. But none of this is why I am so over Edwards.

No, I’m over how selfish he is. How he knew that he was having issues in the background that the Republicans would love to jump on. How instead of bowing out of the running, he was forced out by a story in the tabloids he knew was coming out. How knowing he had a mistress who FILMED their interactions and flirting he still thought he should run for office, America be damned.

If Edwards had been the candidate for President on the Democratic ticket, Sarah Palin would be one heartbeat away from the nuclear button. Think about it. Edwards cared so little about the reputation of the values he espoused that he was willing to risk being called out by Republicans as a latter-day Bill Clinton. What would have happened if all of this came out in October 2008 if he was the man at the top of the ticket?

He cared more about himself and some shine than the Democratic party and America in general. Because had he been found out, we most assuredly would have Captain Anger Management and Lady Macbeth in the White House.

Didn’t he care about us? Which of the “two Americas” was he giving the finger to the most?

You see, I don’t care who you’re sleeping with John Edwards, that’s between you and your wife and your maker. I do care that you are apparently so shallow that you’d put us all in the hands of Captain Anger Management because you felt the need for an ego boost.  Your desire for power, your ego in thinking you deserved it had nothing to do with service.

You owe progressives an apology, but not for your affair. You owe people who needed a change in America an apology for your hubris. For thinking you could ever get away with hiding a pregnant mistress and not caring about what happened to America had you been nominated and it came out. Once you picked up some strange on the side you should have put down the Presidential aspirations. If your heart was about making America better, you would have bowed out of any attempt to nominate you for the Democratic ticket.

But then,  you couldn’t get your ego stroked.

Apologize for putting America in jeopardy Mr. Edwards. Then move on to things that bless America, but not as a politician. Ego or not, that phase of your life is over.

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Chatting about… Funeral preparations…

On Friday January 22 I will be attending a funeral out-of-town. As this is a crazy and sad time for our family, the blog is lacking and I apologize. I really have a great deal to share with you all after the funeral, so stay tuned and God bless…..

Chatting about… Why a Teabagger won Ted Kennedy’s old seat.

My Kindle and I are now halfway through Ted Kennedy’s autobiography and what a crazy time to  read it. This week in a special election, the district which voted him into office for decades did an about-face. Or at least that’s how FOX news is going to sell it.

I think the truth is something much more subtle and very local. I speak from experience. Here in New Jersey, our former Governor John Corzine was Captain Hubris. A billionaire who screamed down the highway at illegal and dangerous speeds and slept with the head of a major union which conducted negotiations with the State Government.  When questioned about the latter, he stonewalled New Jersey citizens about the contents of emails sent to that union leader during the affair. It was downright Palinesque.

So here in Jersey, land of corruption and craziness, land where someone actually comes to your job and says the Governor sent them to begin punishing you for reporting a crime; we voted this guy out. Voters were angry, overspent and just tired of not being responded to. We took a chance on the new guy.

The Democrat running for Senator Kennedy’s seat had very little chance. Kennedy was famously progressive and could afford that stance. If he faded off into the sunset and never served a day in the Senate again, he was still, after all, a Kennedy. Wealth and history were his. It’s the kind of background that made him bold enough to chastise George W. Bush on the Senate floor and then accept an award from George H. W. Bush’s foundation a couple of days later.

A tough act to follow. Time to bring out a heavy hitter, right?

Apparently not. In a year of wishy-washy Democrats, the woman running for the Senate seat had none of the fire of the Lion of the Senate. I don’t know what the issues were up there, but they were prominent enough to put a former nude model in the Senate.

There’s hope for you yet, Jeff Gannon!

Lesson and memo to the Democratic party: Be assertive. Voters like it even if your policies aren’t all their favorite. The competition is assertive, loud, even belligerent. You don’t have to constantly act like them, but you have to stick to what put you into office.  Campaign Ideals.

If so many “conservatives” can stick to the goofiest ideas in the universe, why can’t progressives stick to sane ones that I often agree with?

Of course, the Democratic leadership isn’t taking a lesson. They’ll cower in fear like they always do when confronted by Republicans. And spit in the face of progressives who believed in them in the first place. And then you turn around…. and we have a 2012 with a horrific candidate in the White House again.

With all that’s going on in the world, local ideals count. Republicans have learned this. Democrats… where are you? See.. this is why I’m independent.

Chatting about… New Governor Christie.. can you feel a brand new day?

And so our new Governor begins his term here in Jersey and the hearts of people are beating with either fear or joy.

A funny thing is happening as pertains to my case. People who were previously given requests for help concerning  my case have begun to retire or change jobs. That’s right. The non-elected officials who steamrolled over our rights and ignored the open harassment for whistleblowing have become frightened enough to want to leave their positions before Mr. Christie takes that oath of office. I have no idea why.  *eye roll*. Um, I think there’s still a matter of illegal behaviors, whether you retire or not….

In the last month, the harassment at my job jumped up exponentially in a desperate attempt to put something into my file which would make me less than credible. It not only hasn’t worked, it added ammunition for me to send to our new Governor elect about what happens to people who care about tax money here in New Jersey’s Hudson County.

The sudden panic on the faces of the wrong-doers is puzzling to me. I do not know what’s going on with them, only that they did a complete turn-around within two days last week. Dost mine ears hear the sweet cry of “Uncle”? Have they been alerted that the new sheriff’s in town? I shall soon find out.

Speaking of that proverbial sheriff; here’s hoping Mr. Christie can do the right thing for all residents New Jersey. This is where it gets tricky. Political consultants will more than likely be pushing him to do the “expedient thing”.   This usually means whatever they think will get him to keep his job long-term and raise campaign funds for himself and his party.

So here’s a wee bit of advice to Mr. Christie:

Don’t govern in fear of losing your job. Govern in fear of losing your anointing.

The universe exacts change through those who aren’t afraid of what happens when they rise up and do the right thing. It’s not fun to do the right thing. I know this from the past year and a half of my life.

I pray that he does the right thing in New Jersey.

The universe hasn’t lined Mr. Christie up with the Governor’s Mansion simply to give tax cuts to the rich or replace corrupt Democrat appointees with corrupt Republican ones. It has lined him up in order that he might govern with the best interest of New Jersey in mind, whatever ideology.  For once in New Jersey sir, let us have a politician that is about the people.

 I pray that this day brings the awesome move of God in New Jersey that lifts all its citizens to new prosperity, peace and stability. I pray that justice reigns against those who have engaged in corrupt behaviors here in New Jersey, of all parties. I pray for the tide to turn towards true honest government for our citizens here.

I pray and wait and believe this is the beginning of a brand new day.

Chatting about… why the blog has been barren…

Hello blog readers. My schedule has been really busy this past month. Most especially in the last week with a death in my family.  Please bear with me and those of you inclined to pray, your prayers are most appreciated. I will be posting about the big news in Jersey, as well as any big news in my personal case in the coming days.

God bless…

Gots2chat

Chatting about… why Haiti’s horror is a national security issue for us….

By now, the images from Haiti after the horrendous earthquake have flooded the blogosphere, the evening news and our consciousness.  The nightmare that is lack of food, water, shelter, medicine, hospitals; I could go on forever. Something is fundamentally broken in the aisle of Haiti and I believe it’s their government.

I was saying to a friend today that every government official within Haiti ought to be fired. Period. How can an island which had a history of hurricanes and earthquakes, (even if the latter was far-off in the past) have so many structures which aren’t built to withstand either? Where is the evacuation plan? The safe shelter? Where is the Haitian government with all the aid they receive from the United States? It’s clear it didn’t go to their infrastructure, let alone their people.

More than that though, Haiti should be  tended by our country in this time of need as a matter of national security. Because if we don’t step in with help, terrorist countries will.

I know we like to think of terrorism as the bastion of broke crazies in caves. But the reality is that these are often really rich people who exploit the poor or the vulnerable into doing what they would never do themselves. For all of our military might, there doesn’t seem to be  much focus on the economic aspects of terrorism.

One of the terrorists’ stated goals was to bring down America financially. I’m not saying they did it, but we sure are down. Even down though, we are still not lacking the day-to-day creature comforts we’ve grown accustomed to. Fresh water. Adequate food supplies. Proper shelter. Most of us have access to these things every day.

Not so now in Haiti. Imagine the danger, if one of those young people who watched their family perish has no one to turn to. Imagine if one of the so-called “aid workers” down there really isn’t just about aiding Haiti, but a cause. Imagine what an evil person could do to a wary and grieving mind who sees no government intervention or aid in a crisis.

Haiti is too close to our shores to not be proactive in showing the better nature of America. We MUST show that the U.S. is not the villain that their own government seems to have been. We must NOT allow disaster capitalism (read THE SHOCK DOCTRINE) to turn a grieving people into an angry and armed people who feel they have nothing to lose.

It is the right thing to send help to Haiti. And I wish that every elected official over there was let go by the people and a clean slate begins. I know now is not the time for elections in Haiti. I just pray that eventually, the citizens get less corruption and more governance and infrastructure building.

Chatting about…Christians and aliens, circle of life…

Happy post Holidays my friends. I’ve been awful busy so the blogging has been seriously remiss. Whoops. On a great geek note however, I did get to see Carrie Fisher’s one woman show last week and it was chock full-o-Star Wars….. a dream come true for my nerdy self.  On to the goofy subject of the day….

Okay, so I’m youtubing and I come upon a celebrity talking about U.F.O.’s. And I’m expecting something totally off the wall, but instead simply got rational statements from various military agencies in different countries. Nice.

I am unabashedly a Christian. I also believe in the study of science. These aren’t two opposing things in my mind.

Long ago I had a wonderful 9th grade biology teacher.  She brought home something I had always believed, that science and faith aren’t in competition with one another. They are in harmony.

My faith in Christ and Creationism is based on a simple premise, and that premise is this: If there is no sun when the sun is created, what constitutes a day? I mean, if we humans have decided a day is 24 hours based upon our sun and earth, what was a day before there was either? And since my Bible doesn’t say that the length of days changed as God created the cosmos in 6 “days”, wouldn’t it be the same amount of time in each of God’s days? Could it be a year? A millenia? A million years? A billion?

But I’ll do more on that in a later post.

Now, on to aliens. It seems totally improbable and very self-centered to believe that in all of Creation on every plane and level the only self-aware life forms are on earth. Seriously?   Christians, if God is infinite in power and scope, why would He be limited to creatures on one planet?  I need a someone to explain both my faith in God and my belief that we are not alone.

So I go to C.S. Lewis.

That’s right. Mr. Narnia. Mr. Screwtape Letters. A leading atheist who converted to Christianity after trying to prove it false.  His earlier works? Aliens. Oh you read it right. Christian C. S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy combines both Christian and scientific principles in dealing with space travel and other world creatures.

People love Aslan. But they aren’t willing to talk about the fact that Mr. Lewis allowed for a broader context than is attributed to Christians. And what’s wrong with that?

So… do I believe we are the only life forms in all our universe? No, that would limit God. Do I want to hunt and peck for them in the galaxy? No, because there’s nothing in my Word of God that instructs me in this body to do anything but get stuff right with my own people, right here. But that could change in the hereafter.

So I wish people of faith would stop limiting God’s possibilities in the Universe. He didn’t have to make stuff in 24 hours. He didn’t have to make just us, nor life on our earth. And we don’t have to go poking around the universe trying to find stuff we aren’t ready for.

Chatting about… the Horror of the Christmas Day Terror attack..

Jesus: 1. Bad guy: 0.

That’s the score after a satanic attempt to attack Americans in the sky once again by terrorists.  Thankfully, brave passengers had the presence of mind to take the terrorist down, and even more thankfully, his explosives did not work.

Having written on here before why I choose to drive instead of fly, I can only imagine the abuses regular Americans will now be put through because of the criminal intent of someone not even from our nation. I’m sure it’s just peachy right now at the airports. Once again, TSA is so worried about sippy cups that a guy on a terror watch list gets on a plane with explosives and no one notices until he’s on fire. Nice.

What I am not seeing talked about is the deeper issue here: the planning of the terrorists against American confidence in our President.

If you’ve ever watched old Twilight Zone episodes, you know about an experiment aliens did on a quiet suburban street named Maple. It’s neighbors, convinced that there are monsters among them, begin to see them everywhere and in everyone. suspicion turns to anarchy until the very real enemy who is watching can move in at any time to subdue them. But really doesn’t have to as they’ve all turned on themselves.

If you think it’s a coincidence that for the first time a native phenotypically West African man is committing acts of terror for an organization that heretofore had been known for its Arab membership, well, I have a bridge to sell you. Our enemies can watch Fox news too. And in this climate in which the monster that the teabaggers are looking for is tied back to Africa, what better chance to create anarchy than to give them some red meat to attack.

Because it’s not going to matter that Nigeria is West and Kenya is east. All the radio pundits will point out is that it was an attack by an “African Muslim” on a Christian holiday. One whose name was previously known to authorities, yet who still was allowed to come into our airspace armed with a weapon. And when Rush, Beck, etc. are all said and done, it’s going to be somehow tied to our President. Oh, and Acorn.

As the collective “I KNEW IT!”s and “HE’S ONE OF THEM”s roll out on the airwaves by panicked “Maple -Streeters” on Monday, our President will face blame for something that the same people would never have blamed Bush for.

And this is what terrorists want.

Understand that a black President in the mightiest country in the world isn’t exactly a good recruiting tool for the “death to America” crowd. Hard to get young people to follow your irrational anti-America lead when the guy in charge is a black Star Wars fan known to wield a light saber on the White House Lawn. When he’s, dare we say it, cool?

So instead the terrorists have turned to Maple-Streeting the people their televisions show them hate anything remotely ethnic. But the goal is the same. Our enemies want Obama out of the way. They know to do it directly would bring down the world and their countrymen on their own heads. So they choose to appeal to the basest among us in the hopes that their hysteria will create a climate in which the enemy of their recruitment is eliminated.

Americans, we have to be better. In the coming week we need to focus on the terrorists’ aims, not their ethnicity. Thus far we’ve seen terrorists in every color, some native American born. So it doesn’t matter their race. What matters is that we don’t hand them hysteria on a silver platter. True patriots aren’t falling for it.

Because the monsters are in caves in another part of the world. Trying to get us to look at each other on Maple Street.

Chatting about… a ho ho whole lotta sound and fury signifying nothing..

Today is Christmas Eve and all through the Government all we’re hearing about is the Health Care Bill. That wonderful glistening pile of doggie mess that is now mandating we get health insurance or face federal penalties.

And you know, I hate to be on the same side as the crazy teabaggers, but what the heck? What in the world is reformed about mandating paying the premiums of an already corrupt system? How about going after the corruption?

I recently have been going through a nightmare with my car insurance here in New Jersey. As we all know, insurance is required by law, so everyone must have it to drive. The insurance companies, knowing this, pretty much hijack all sensible prices and raise the rates through the roof. And switching companies? Another nightmare. I recently tried to switch from my insurance agent to another agent with the same policy only to be told my the insurance company that it cannot be done. !!!!!!! What? It’s like going into Target and being told you have to go back to Walmart to check out with your items.

Why can they get away with this? Because it’s MANDATORY. Even if you choose another company, which I am well on my way to doing now, it’s still a mandatory item and they push that point hard. They are unregulated and come up with arbitrary costs, rules, etc.

Health insurance as mandatory with no public option is a nightmare that I didn’t think we’d see under this President. I had high hopes for his reform attitude. But thus far he’s doing what all Democrats do in office. He’s turned into Captain Caveman.. giving in to every weird whim of the congressional Republicans who aren’t going to vote for anything he does anyway.

Well, I’m off to work, the land of my own corruption nightmare. And on this Christmas Eve, here’s hoping that Jesus gives all of us a break from crazy corruption by sweeping in new ideas and attitudes in the New Year.

Merry Christmas!

Chatting about.. a prayer for Congressional Obstructionists…

Father God in the Name of Jesus, we come to you today praying for those who are ill and without the means to care or their illness. We ask that anyone who obstructs their ability to receive healthcare which will help them get better is dealt with in Your Will Jesus. We pray that anyone who has ill motives, for-profit motives, or just plain horrible ego-centric motives for not allowing any discussion on public healthcare expansion be dealt with in Your will Jesus.

We pray that any and every person who claims to serve You but stands against helping his fellow American will be dealt with in Your Will Jesus.

We pray that You begin to mightily show those whose motives have always been for profit alone that YOU alone are God. Show this in such a way that there can be no doubt as to what you want the politicians to do regarding healthcare in this country.  Fulfill what your Word says happens to those ruled by greed and avarice in the Congress.

We await your movement Lord for the good of the people of this Country who are suffering. In Jesus Name, Amen.