Thursday, February 16, 2012

Lunch Police

A 4-year-old girl had her homemade lunch taken away when a State Agent deemed the lunch did not follow USDA guidelines for a nutritious lunch.  As a more nutritious alternative, the school provided her with a tray lunch and presented her parents with a bill for it.

The homemade lunch?  Turkey and cheese sandwich, banana, potato chips and apple juice.  (Sounds like a really healthy lunch to me!)

The Tray lunch?  We're not sure of the entire contents, but the girl ONLY ate 3 chicken nuggets off of it.  

Hmmmm.  Only our government would believe that processed, fried, white-flour laden chicken bits are healthier than freshly made from love and scratch sandwich and fruit.

When we live in a country where State Agents are inspecting homemade lunches and passing judgment, we have lost all freedom from tyranny. This lunacy MUST end.

Here's why this should bother you regardless of where your children eat or if you even have children: this incident is but a milestone on our slippery slope to a police state. Get rid of God, make sure no being is above government. Get rid of parents, make sure no one but government influences children. Get rid of free markets, make sure everyone is dependent upon government. 

If TSA, DHHS and the DMV are indicative of government solutions, then you can predict our future, America. Too bad so many people forget (or never knew!) what communist Russia was like. A trip down memory lane would be in order. Communism and Socialism do not work because governments don't work. You cannot get something for nothing no matter how beautifully you wrap it. It's still a shell game and we'll be the losers.



Sunday, February 12, 2012

Whitney Houston's National Anthem

It was the height of national patriotism that moment in time during Super Bowl XXV in January of 1991.  We were the red, white and blue.  Operation Desert Shield had just become Desert Storm thrusting us into war for the first time since Vietnam.  We were pro-military, pro-troops, pro-America!  


And, Whitney Houston brought us to our feet.  


In living rooms all across America and the world, Americans stood proud and patriotic. We put down our Super Bowl libations, pressed hands to our hearts and listened in collective silence as the Florida Orchestra cued Whitney Houston.  That night she belted out what has become known as the greatest singing of the National Anthem anywhere, anytime.  Cheers erupted, tears flowed and every American heart in the world swelled with national pride.  


It's easy to recall that feeling now since most of us have lived though 9/11 and can clearly remember the flag-lined neighborhood streets screaming an autumnal Fourth of July.  But, back then, in 1991 this was a new experience for us as a country.  Of the older crowd, some had healed from the acidic bath of Vietnam, but many more hadn't.  Those of us too young to understand the giant rift that had taken place, simply chose to ignore.  We talked of the military in hushed tones and often our history teachers never made it past JFK's assassination before school year's end.


But 1991 dawned a new era.  Patriotism blew across the land as an unexpected wind snapped our sails and sent us forth, walking a little taller, talking a little louder, acting a bit bolder.


Whitney Houston's performance on the field that evening in Tampa--bad costume choices aside--will always embody for me those heady days where we learned again to be proud of our country and raise the colors with honor on our houses and in public squares.


Thank you, Whitney, for lending your stunning instrument to a moment in history when we all needed to hear, "O'er the land of the free, and home of the brave!"


Rest in peace, Whitney.  God Bless America.



Sunday, February 5, 2012

Planned Parenthood and the Susan G. Komen Mess

I'll just say it.  I believe in the sanctity of life.  All life.


How anyone can walk with God and not realize that life is sacred, doesn't know the God I know.


So, I'm an oddity.  The Left want to end death row killings but support abortion.  The Right want to end abortions but support death row killings.  Totally insane, say I.


I believe in life.  I don't think killing someone is the worst punishment.  I vote for stricter conditions for lifers.  I vote for necessities only, no cable tv and workout rooms.  I vote for life sentences for our most dire cases.


I believe in life.  I don't think a baby is a mistake.  I vote for a baby's chance at their own life.  I vote for adoption.  I vote for families raising kids.  I vote for premarital sexual abstinence.


It's not our right to take a life.  Any life.  If you are of Judeo-Christian belief, then you have to follow the 6th commandment which tells us not to kill.  Anything else is fooling ourselves.  Life is sacred and should be protected. 


The Susan G. Komen mess with Planned Parenthood created quite a stir and that's been a really good thing for us all to talk about and get us thinking about various issues regarding female healthcare and abortions.  The Susan G. Komen organization cut funding to Planned Parenthood due to a grant regulation and it wasn't tied to abortion, but it got us all talking about these women's healthcare issues.


As for me, I wish Planned Parenthood could split into two organizations.  One that promotes the health of women and the other that oversees the killing of babies.


I love the part of Planned Parenthood that provides decent healthcare for at-risk women.  When I was young, struggling financially, and didn't have health insurance, I frequented Planned Parenthood for yearly checkups and female screenings.  For a sliding scale fee, I could get a yearly exam which I could easily afford.  That cost me a fraction of what a physician's visit at the time would be.  It was a great help to me.


I know that Planned Parenthood centers help millions of other women a year with exams, tests, referrals, check-ups, etc.  They are filling a great need, helping poor women and women without insurance obtain proper female medical care and access to STD and pregnancy testing.


But, then there's that other thing they do.  That outpatient medical procedure that is legal and safe,--not really safe, but more about THAT at another time--the vast number of abortions they perform every year.    


And, that's what causes me pause every time.  I believe that a baby has a right to have a shot at life.  Any life.  Even a poor life.  In any just society, a baby cannot be a "problem."  We can't start killing babies simply because they are inconvenient or we can't afford them.


The pro-choicers wrap the abortion issue in a nice, pretty blanket called "a woman's right to choose."  But that belies what is happening.  Abortion is a life is snuffed out.  A life that wanted nothing more to come into this world to be held, loved and comforted by the very person who decided to kill it.  Everyone freaks out at cruelty to animals, but seriously a mother killing her baby, isn't that just a little more intense?


SIDE BAR: If you've had an abortion and are having a hard time grappling with the past, please visit  www.afterabortion.org.  You can find healing and help there for Post Abortion Stress Syndrome.  Pregnant?  They also have many fine resources anyone who is pregnant and struggling with what to do.


I wish the Planned Parenthood organization would stop participating in the 1.21 million abortions performed yearly.  But they won't.


So, could they at least split into two groups?  They could have one part take over the abortion clinics and the other act as healthcare clinics.  That way, I could support the health clinics.  I could get behind their great works in helping under-served women access medical care.  I would not fear that government funds taken from my tax dollars could be misdirected, accidentally or otherwise, to abortions.  I would rest happy knowing that women's healthcare needs were taken care of outside that which I don't support.


I kinda wish the backlash of the Susan G. Komen funding problem didn't cause them to cave to political pressure and change their rules to allow funding of Planned Parenthood to continue.  The issue will now go away and further discussion and inspection of these topics will no longer be a central theme in our conversations.  Even though the Susan G. Komen foundation stated clearly their move wasn't tied to abortion it was tied to a government investigation and their grant rules, the fact that we were all talking about Planned Parenthood and what it stands for was a good thing!  


I can't tell you how many mothers with whom I spoke, like me, used Planned Parenthood in their youth and are supporters of the healthcare side of it.  All of my Christian friends were in agreement that the abortion side of Planned Parenthood really made them uneasy regarding the organization.  And this, despite their fervent belief that the women's healthcare delivery side of it was necessary and beneficial to many under-serviced women and communities.


We need to talk about these issues, understand these issues and re-evaluate where we stand on these issues.  We can't keep shoving this to the back burner and giving up on debate.  We need to talk about it, and hear the sides.  Stephen Covey says, "seek first to understand."  We need to listen.  Then we need to think.  Then we need to talk.


As for me, I've been many places on my journey, but after much introspection and prayer I have come to conclusion that life matters.  It matters a whole lot.