Overwhelm The System

One Man’s Thoughts Has Moved To

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You can read this article at:

http://www.patriotthoughts.com/2010/06/30/overwhelm-the-system/

Thank You, Vytautas

NASA Photo Taken on Day 67 of the Deepwater Horizon Spill

George Washington on Firearms

Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the peoples’ liberty’s teeth.

I’m Mad at Christians

by Victoria Jackson

I was sitting in Church-Lady Helen’s living room. Someone commented on the illegal immigration problem. I said, “For some strange reason our government doesn’t know that illegal immigration is illegal.” Pious Helen stuck her nose in the air and proudly declared, “I never discuss politics.”

I felt like I’d just been punched in the face.

Is it a sin to watch the news? Maybe it’s okay to watch it, but not to talk about it.

I was sitting in the pew of my old church, sucking on a Coffee Nip, 30 calories, and mentally calculating my caloric intake of the day….so far, I had about 970 calories left for the day if I was to lose 20 pounds by…I focused on the sermon again.

The pastor said, “Okay…I’ll just come out and say it. (angry face) Instead of clicking a button and sending out some email information about the President…why don’t you spend 15 minutes praying for him?

He was looking right at me.

My mind shouted back at him, “Why can’t we do both?!”

I do both.

Are Christians allowed to read and think ? Or are we only allowed to pray?!

Now, when I say, “I’m mad at the Christians,” I include myself. I am a Christian. And, I must confess, if I am to be truthful, that…okay, I’ll just put it out there…the first time I ever voted I was forty something. There I said it. I know. It’s embarrassing. But I’m trying to make a point. It was the year Clinton said, “…that depends on the meaning of the word ‘is’.” I snapped. His adultery didn’t shock me so much. I had three preachers already who had done that. It was that haughty look, lack of shame, and zero repentance combined with that asinine sentence…the meaning of the word ‘is’ . That is what led me to the voting booth. I know. I’m sorry. Well, I always thought politics was for the middle age people. But then, one day, I was the middle age people.

So, I voted Clinton out. My vote counted. Bush won.

Back when I was 18 and first got the right to vote, I asked my Dad who I should vote for.

He said, “Anyone with an R next to their name.”

I said, “Why?”

He said, “They’re closest to the Bible.”

So, I voted for Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and Ross Perot. No, just kidding.

I didn’t vote for anyone. I didn’t know how. I didn’t know where to go. I never saw a sign that said, “Vote Here.” I didn’t know how to “register” or even that I had to register. I didn’t know what the candidates stood for or how to find out. Word of mouth I guess, but no one I hung out with talked about politics, ever.

Al Franken told me once that his family discussed politics at the dinner table every night of his childhood. My family discussed the Bible every night at the dinner table. *Maybe that’s why the Liberals are running the country and not the Christians.

Also, Liberals consider Liberalism their religion. Therefore, they dedicate their souls to the State and we give our souls to Christ. But, I still don’t see why we can’t give our souls to God and our thoughts and energy to Him by being informed and involved in our culture, and keeping our freedoms protected and our country safe. I’m thinking, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.” (Ecclesiastes 9:10 ) So, I’m a U.S. citizen and I should be one with all my might. I should vote with all my might, which to me means be informed, be involved. “Go into all the world and preach the gospel.” (Mark 16:15) It doesn’t say ‘go into all the world, except the political world.’

We need candidates who represent what we believe in. Where will we find them? Look in the mirror.

In my 20’s, Reagan was President. I felt secure. I didn’t have to vote. The middle aged people had handled that for me. I did a handstand on the SNL Update desk to celebrate Reagan’s trip to Rejeivich. He went there, ended Communism, and tore down the Berlin Wall with his charm, courage and deployment of Pershing and cruise missiles in Europe. That’s my President. I am safe.

During my “SNL” years, I even did an Update piece on “Terrorists” but I made a big joke out of it. The word “Terrorist” meant nothing to me back then. I filmed my two year old swinging in the park on the Upper West Side and told Dennis Miller I was “looking for terrorists.” The joke was I was just using the news as an excuse to show home videos of my baby because I was a new, proud Mommy.

When I voted Clinton out, I forgot about politics for a while. The Bushes were in and I felt safe again. They knew the meaning of the word ‘is’.

Most of my pastors would not touch politics. I assumed they were afraid of losing their tax-exempt status and rightfully so. They are there to win souls, not pick presidents. But…

What if a fire is about to consume your neighbor’s house, are you supposed to just pray? or maybe pray and scream, “Fire! Fire!” and run over there and try to pull them out of the flames and save them…and their pets?

My friend Jimmy Labriola likes to say, “God Moves Mountains, But You Bring The Shovel.”

**It’s very interesting that Jewish synagogues and African American churches are saturated with political speech, but in evangelical churches it is strictly forbidden.

During the 2008 election, I asked a preacher relative of mine, “Why aren’t Christians getting involved in keeping this Marxist out of office? Don’t they know that in all Communist countries Christians are persecuted?”

He replied, “The church is supposed to win souls. Then, the people will vote the right way.”

I said, “Ooookaaay…but, I have a couple Christian friends who are voting the wrong way…

… And, you do realize that the Progressives consider your preaching “hate speech” , and there is a new law from Henry Waxman that could be “interpreted” in the liberally dominated courts to send you to jail for preaching the Bible.”

He shrugged.

He could get involved. But, no. Just shrug.

I have Congress on my speed dial now. Is that a sin?

I searched my soul. Jesus said all the commandments can be condensed into these two; “Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, and mind, and Love thy Neighbor as thyself.” ( Matthew 22:37-40 ) I think that means I should put God first and then, fight for my neighbors’ freedoms and protection, and help him out when he’s in a jam.

Proverbs 3:5-6: “…in all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.”

I try to do that:

I acknowledge Him in my stand up act.

I acknowledged Him in my recent college graduation.

I acknowledge Him in my political blogs.

I assumed that my fellow Christians were educating themselves along with me. They get Beck, Hannity, and Rush. They have brains. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” (Proverbs 1:7)

Alas, they were not.

I spoke at a Tea Party in the Bible belt, where I have many conservative Christian relatives. Not one came.

What gives?

“Evil succeeds when good men do nothing.” Christians WAKE UP!

One friend owns a restaurant chain. I asked him, “Doesn’t this Obamacare affect your business? In a bad way?

He replied, “Um…yeah, but that’s not for four years, right?!”

???!!! What?!

So, come on brothers and sisters, quit preaching to the choir and acting perfect in front of each other. Go out into the real world and preach the gospel in your schools, in your work, and in your vote.

That’s what Jesus would do.

Practicing Jew and brilliant thinker, Dennis Prager said on his radio show recently, “If we’re going to take our country back, the Christians are going to have to get involved.”

I interviewed a few Christian friends. I asked them why so many Christians are not involved. Their answers:

“Don’t let politics get in the way of your mission.”

“A political leader cannot change society, only a changed heart can. A heart changed by Christ.”

“Some people have the gift/talent of politics. Some people have the gift/talent of art, or singing, or business.”

“I’m afraid to get involved. I’ll probably get audited or something.”

“I don’t want to make enemies.”

“I’ll lose clients.”

“We are from another kingdom, not this one. We are not of this world.”

“It is the end times. Jesus is coming back soon. The death of America and a one world government is inevitable.”

Jesus is coming back but He doesn’t want us to sit by the window and wait. He wants us to live in the present. I’m thinking, show up at a Tea Party with Ephesians 6:12 on your poster. Call your Congressman and pray for them on the phone. Teach your children about the founding fathers and basic civics. Read the Constitution with them. Tell your Representative # 202-224-2131 that abortion is murder, and you don’t want your taxes funding it. Tell Reid, Pelosi and Boxer that you don’t want the government deciding whether or not you get chemotherapy when you have cancer. Support Sekulow and ACLJ. Call the FCC Complaint Line # 888-225-5322, press 1-3-0 to speak to someone. Tell them you want to keep your Freedom of Speech, and your Conservative and Christian radio. Call Diversity Czar Mark Lloyd, # 202-418-7390 and tell him that “diversity” means Christians and Conservatives are allowed to speak too. Contact the Media Research Center’s Free Speech Alliance. Watch Glenn Beck and Hannity. Compare them to Joy Behar and CNN. Who is lying? Seek the truth. I know we don’t have time. We are raising families and going to work and soccer games and church. But…

Life is a mission field. Politics is just one small slice of life. Waving the banner of Christ in the political arena is just as important as waving it on a mission trip to Mexico or Haiti, or waving it in a jungle in Africa.

Let’s put Jesus back into politics. He can fix it. He can fix anything. Luke 1:37.

U.S. Supreme Court: Chicago’s Gun Ban Struck Down

One Man’s Thoughts Has Moved To

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You can read this article at:

http://www.patriotthoughts.com/2010/06/29/u-s-supreme-court-chicagos-gun-ban-struck-down/

Thank You, Vytautas

Supreme Court Decision Upholding the Second Amendment

One Man’s Thoughts Has Moved To

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You can read this article at:

http://www.patriotthoughts.com/2010/06/28/supreme-court-decision-upholding-the-second-amendment/

Thank You, Vytautas

Joe Biden Calls A Custard Store Manager A “Smartass” After He Asks The Vice President To Lower Taxes.

Check it out: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/06/26/biden_calls_manager_who_told_him_to_lower_taxes_a_smartass.html

Socialistic California on ‘Verge of System Failure’

Think of it as Greece on the Pacific: A place with beautiful scenery where the government spent so far beyond its means that mass layoffs, welfare reductions that leave a million children and the poor and elderly without needed services and failing infrastructure are now the norm.

California’s fiscal hole reportedly is now so large that the state would have to free 168,000 prison inmates and permanently close 240 university and community college campuses to balance its budget in the fiscal year that begins July 1.

“We are on the verge of system failure,” Jean Ross, executive director of the California Budget Project, told the Globe and Mail.

“We have to get some federal money,” Ross says. “It would be bad for the U.S. and, arguably, bad for the world to do the shock-therapy approach.”

Peter Dreier, a professor of politics at Occidental College, calls this a classic American dilemma.

“Americans expect a lot of their government,” Dreier says. “But politicians have convinced them they’re not getting what they want.”

Budget analysts say Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has no choice but to ask Washington for bailout funds, and that Washington has no choice but to agree because not bailing out the Golden State could put the entire U.S. economy at risk.

It seems that California — which at one time had the third-largest economy in the world — is like the biggest U.S. banks: Too big to fail.

Neither Democrat Jerry Brown nor Republican Meg Whitman has offered details in their campaigns to become the state’s next governor about how to close this year’s $19 billion budget deficit or handle next year’s anticipated $37 billion deficit, the Mercury News reports.

Is U.S. Now On Slippery Slope To Tyranny?

One Man’s Thoughts Has Moved To

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You can read this article at:

http://www.patriotthoughts.com/2010/06/28/is-u-s-now-on-slippery-slope-to-tyranny/

Thank You, Vytautas

California Welfare Cards Can Be Used In Casino ATMs

California welfare recipients are able to use state-issued debit cards to withdraw cash on gaming floors in more than half of the casinos in the state, a Los Angeles Times review of records found.

The cards, provided by the Department of Social Services are supposed to help recipients feed and clothe their families, work in automated teller machines at 32 of 58 tribal casinos and 47 of 90 state-licensed poker rooms, the review found.

The casinos are listed on a Department of Social Services website that allows welfare recipients to search for addresses of ATMs where they can withdraw cash provided under the Temporary Aid for Needy Families program. The monthly grants start at $694 and go up; most of the ATMs impose a withdrawal limit of about $300 per day.

The LA Times compared the addresses on that website with lists of tribal casinos and state-licensed poker rooms published on the California Gambling Control Commission’s website.

It’s not clear which casinos are most frequently patronized by welfare recipients because social services officials denied a January request from The Times for data showing transaction information from all of the ATMs in their network.

The Capitol Casino, which occupies a pair of small rooms a few blocks from the legislative chambers in Sacramento, appears on the social services website showing where clients can get money. Each room has an ATM: one is so close to a poker table that a player with long arms could lean back and withdraw cash without leaving his chair; the other is a few steps from the blackjack table.

At the Casino Royale on the outskirts of Sacramento, the first thing patrons pass as they walk to the gaming floor is the ATM with a sign next to it saying, “Exceed your ATM daily limit here!!”

The system of paying out welfare benefits via bank cards was created under Democrat Gray Davis. The Democrats in the legislature have also been trying to discontinue fingerprinting of food stamp recipients, a system designed to prevent double-dipping and other abuses.

Schwarzenegger threatened to eliminate the state welfare program in his May budget proposal, and that was before he knew that the cash could be accessed by people strolling from poker games to blackjack tables.

“In a time when we have a $19-billion deficit, and we’re taking a serious look at the future of many safety-net programs, it’s appalling to think that welfare beneficiaries can use their cards in a casino,” said Seth Unger, spokesman for the Assembly Republican Caucus.