Shouldn’t Every Day Be Memorial Day For America?

Another Memorial Day has come and gone.  The parades are over. The celebrations have ended.  The flags are put in storage. We go back to our lives and forget.

We forget that war is still being fought over unclear reasons in Afghanistan. We forget that our Veterans are not receiving health care. We forget that more veterans are dying from suicide  than in war.

The reality of how America treats her heroes makes the holiday a mockery.

It is personal for me.  I have family and friends who have served.  Military life is a sacrifice to body and soul regardless of whether or not life and limb have been lost. The truth of my Marine Corps daughter’s tat haunts me “All gave some but some gave all.”

The military culture leaves scars.  I have seen those scars on people that I love.

Let’s make every day Memorial Day and work to change the military culture and reduce the military machine of America.

Love Conquers All

Sometimes it is overwhelming to think about all the evil in the world.  We read about kidnappings and murder and political tyranny and hunger and war and disease.  It seems like evil is winning.  But there is a force stronger than evil in the world-Love.

For love is as strong as death,

its jealousy as enduring as the grave.

Love flashes like fire,

the brightest kind of flame.

7

Many waters cannot quench love,

nor can rivers drown it. Song of Solomon 8:6,7

Love wins the battle over evil every day.

It is the love between children and their parents at a little league game on a blustery evening on the Bay, as the parents bundle up to stay warm to cheer on their heroes, and the heroes in baseball caps fearlessly slide into base for the love of their fans.

It is the love of a grandson who makes sure that his Grama gets an outing away from the nursing home to enjoy a meal in a nice restaurant, or at a family gathering at his home.

It is the love of a daughter who gave up her freedom and independence to live with her aging mother.

It is the love of a mother to give up her sleep and her own comfort (free of animal excrement and barking) to take care of her daughter’s dogs while her daughter travels.

It is the love of a young couple, whose romance spanned continents and language barriers, and brought together 150 people from two different countries, to celebrate their love on a remote, beautiful ranch in the San Diego countryside.

Yes there is trouble in the world, but I am more overcome by the love in the world.

17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;

if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.

In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:17-21

Love will win the battle over evil in the world.

Revelation 22:12-13

New Living Translation (NLT)

12 “Look, I am coming soon, bringing my reward with me to repay all people according to their deeds. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”

Let love win in your life everyday.

Let Them Eat Cake

When Robin Koerner wrote The USA Has a Monarchy. Let It Have a Glorious Revolution I assumed the title was mostly tongue in cheek.  I was aware of the abuse of power by the current executive office, but to say it had become a monarchy seemed a bit extreme.

Rand Paul called President Obama a King in his statement in January 2013.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Monday that he is opposed to potential executive action by President Barack Obama on the issue of gun violence, calling such a move monarchical.

“I’m against having a king,” Paul told CBN News. “I think having a monarch is what we fought the American Revolution over and someone who wants to bypass the Constitution, bypass Congress — that’s someone who wants to act like a king or a monarch.”

These abuses, however, have grown to the point that Ted Cruz has actually itemized them to 76 lawless acts in his  Legal Limit Report 4 .

So, you may ask- what is the response to these allegations from the White House?

At the recent White House Correspondents Dinner  jokes were made about the abuses as if it is fodder for laughs, referring to it as “his Imperial presidency.” To put more salt in the wound, the White House had the audacity to tweet the picture of the President sitting on a throne like that of the show Game of Thrones  to illustrate this in his speech.

Today, when I heard that the President spoke at a Walmart , I thought for a moment that maybe he was trying to show a semblance of humility and, perhaps, trying to relate to average Americans. To my disappointment, his speech was praising Walmart for their environmental efforts with no mention of the fact that Walmart’s carbon emissions increased by 2% last year not to mention their abuses towards women, minorities and LGBT employees. He spoke about his desire to push more environmental initiatives despite the fact that these have cost the U.S. millions of dollars with little to  no environmental improvements.

He showed once again the kind of elitist corporate cronyist he truly is-so far from the “man of the people” he portrayed himself to be during his campaign.

There is no remorse for the consequences suffered here in the U.S. and throughout the world by an iron fisted regime.  There is only disdain for those under the rule and as America asks for jobs and bread-they are laughed at and told “Let them eat cake”.  Let the revolution begin. Liberte egalite fraternite!