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Run!
“Run!”
He could hear the exclamation inside his mind.
“Don’t look back!”
He ran and fought off the curiosity to look behind him at his foe. He figured he must have many lengths between him and her but each moment he was just about to let up…
“Run!” And it was like the flip of a turbo switch, at least in his mind.
The sweat ran down his face, his breathing becoming forced and shallower. He tired, he could feel it engulf him.
He could hear laughing. Why? What was so funny? He wanted to look back.
“Don’t…”
That is when the arms of his foe grasped him, his body shut down, fully overcome by the tiredness while his cape broke from free from his neck.
“Honey, you are so funny.”
“Mom,” he said, “I’m a superhero, not funny;” the thought of milk and cookies became the new focus of his mind as his mother hugged him.
Rufus, the sheep dog, got up off from the superhero’s cape.
2 cents on Snowden and the WH
1. I would not classify him as a traitor.
2. At Dictionary.com – hero is defined as “a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.” Using or understanding this definition I believe you would have to classify Snowden as a hero.
3. The package of charges pressed against him yesterday are scandalous, unethical and corrupt.
Unfortunately because of what the US government is doing and the way they are doing it, the only way to get the information out to the masses is something akin to what Snowden has done. I do not make the comments like “We need an American Spring” lightly. I realize how painful that could be. But the reality is that the world we live in is not the REAL world at all. Put another way, we are not as free as you or I might think. We have allowed the erosion of our liberty, pursuit of happiness and freedoms to such a level and by such means that they can, are and have been taken away in such a matter that we are ignorant of its impact. Of course one could argue “then what is the big deal?” Easy – when the government decides it is in its best interest to greatly restrict our livelihood, all the pieces and processes will be in place so that avoidance will be virtually impossible.
We NEED an American Spring!
Beneficial reading
Published today in the UK by Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald is the short article: On the Espionage Act charged against Edward Snowden. Greenwald is one of the journalist that Snowden reached out to when deciding to go forward with whistleblowing on the US government.
It is a good synopsis about the intent of Snowden and the intent of the diabolical corrupt White House, a.k.a President of the United States.
Here are a couple blurbs from the article:
“What has been “harmed” is not the national security of the US but the ability of its political leaders to work against their own citizens and citizens around the world in the dark, with zero transparency or real accountability. If anything is a crime, it’s that secret, unaccountable and deceitful behavior: not the shining of light on it.”
“Prior to Barack Obama’s inauguration, there were a grand total of three prosecutions of leakers under the Espionage Act (including the prosecution of Dan Ellsberg by the Nixon DOJ). That’s because the statute is so broad that even the US government has largely refrained from using it. But during the Obama presidency, there are now sevensuch prosecutions: more than double the number under all prior US presidents combined.”
“But that’s a far cry from charging Snowden, who just turned 30 yesterday, with multiple felonies under the Espionage Act that will send him to prison for decades if not life upon conviction. In what conceivable sense are Snowden’s actions “espionage”? He could have – but chose not – sold the information he had to a foreign intelligence service for vast sums of money, or covertly passed it to one of America’s enemies, or worked at the direction of a foreign government. That is espionage. He did none of those things.” [2 cents: The US government’s present to him for his birthday was the charges of treason etc..]
We NEED an American Spring!
Iran agrees to halt 20-percent uranium enrichment
To my amazement this story has yet to break through in the USA.
Debka reported yesterday that Russia says Iran is willing to agree to halting 20% uranium enrichment.
The article is worth the minute to read.
It seems that the announcement was made deliberately right before a G8 announcement was going to be made that Assad must step down and a transitional government be put in place in Damascus.
Of course Russia was against said announcement/action and miraculously pulled the Iran statement out of thin air.
It would see the implication is if you want Iran to halt 20% uranium enrichment then Assad has to stay in power in Syria.
This will be interesting to see how it actually plays out over the next few days.
THEN & ONLY THEN
2 cents:
When they stop killing each other because of religious differences…
When the arms are placed down and the people overwhelmingly stand up and cry out for peace and improvements in their quality of life…
When the citizens want freedom, liberty and the pursuit of happiness…
THEN and ONLY THEN should the USA begin considering how we can help the nation. Whether it is Syria, Iraq or wherever.
It is long overdue that the USA’s foreign policy be corrected so that it is aligned to the principles our country was founded on.
On eternal things, v.3
In the Bible God tells us…
- That there is none righteous, no not one.
- All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
- Our works of righteousness are nothing but filthy rags.
- Because of sin we are enemies of God and the wages of sin is death.
- The good news is that God proved his love for us, in that while we were sinners, Jesus Christ died for us. Because God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whosoever believed on Him shall have everlasting life. Jesus Christ came to save sinners and God is not willing that any should perish but it is a person’s freewill to believe Him or not. Jesus declared that He alone is the way the Truth and the Life and that no one can come to God the Father but by Him.
- The reality is that God made Hell for Satan and his angels. So we are not to neglect a great salvation because if we do there is no escape – no other remedy.
- God has given only one way to Heaven. It is His home and it is His say. A person’s baptism, good works, mass/communion/Eucharist, church membership or any other thing outside of their faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ – will NOT save them.
- That is thou shalt confess with thy mouth and believe in thine heart that God had raised Jesus from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
- Confess your sinner and that you believe Jesus paid your sin debt in full at Calvary -and THAT alone is what you are trusting for salvation. This salvation is eternal and secured by the work of God not our own works.
- For by grace are ye saved thru faith and that not of yourself, it is the gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast.
Exceptionalism was identified as too costly
A well written column by Noonan titled Privacy Isn’t All We’re Losing.
It brought to mind the concept of American Exceptionalism and how that has been attacked and ALMOST wiped out. Bear with me here – it will hopefully make sense.
A practice in the business world is bench marking. I believe the original purpose/intent of the practice was to see what other companies/organizations/leaders were doing that you weren’t and then adjust your practices/processes/principles so that you to could achieve more/grow/develop/improve. That purpose was short lived because it actually became the resource/justification for cutting costs. An example, I worked in a global giant of a company. Its history and reputation up to 80s was that of leadership, pride, ingenuity and putting people first. In fact it is one of the earliest,if not the first company, to create the mechanism of employees owning stock in the Company as well as profit-sharing. Results for the Company were typically very good including profit and it attracted some of the greatest minds in science, engineering, marketing and design. Unfortunately what transpired in the late 60s and is in practice current day is the use of bench marking as a cost saver. The employee benefits and programs have been whittled down year after year, decade after decade to be aligned to the companies it identifies itself with in their bench marking. The Company decided to forego exceptionalism and instead drive lower costs, hoping thereby to increase profits. The result? The Company’s culture is stagnant, demoralized, under performing, lacks innovation and struggles to attract the sharp minds. It has went from THE leader to “in the pack”. Sure its name is one of the globe’s most recognized names but that is because of the efforts and achievements of the years prior to the late 60s/early 70s. Exceptionalism was identified as too costly.
Here in the USA, the nation has been attacked since its inception by those who favored a more global (trying to be PC) approach. The lofty goals of doing things right and for the right reasons has been replaced by doing what is right according to the majority at that given moment of time. Despite the fact it is unpopular the truth remains that this nation was adopted and built on principles that embraced Christianity or at the very least Deism. Entwined in the founding principles of the USA was the idea of freedom, liberty and capitalism. In my opinion the wickedness of some’s hearts we watched the idea of capitalism be replaced by oligarchies, monopolies and what is now termed “too big to fail”. What replaced freedom and liberty was fear of the haves to not gain more and thereby the need to restrict the have-nots. Slowed erosion of personal freedom and liberty has provided platforms where each generation loses more but the current generation of the time is clueless to the actual loss and its cost. Our so called leaders have sought to benchmark with the countries of the world and instead of American exceptionalism we see American apathy. For example see NASA, Congress, abortions, education scores/rankings, actual innovation that IMPROVES life, etc.
Wrapping it up: In my country we are a patient that is very sick and it is a direct result to the diet that it has existed on. The diet, as diets do, has affected its abilities to think, feel and reason. This country is serious, grave shape. The thing is it is not fully aware of how bad the prognosis is because its looking around at the other nations in the world instead of its own history of greatness – exceptionalism.
