And Then There Were Four

Wow! Who watched the CNN hosted debate in South Carolina last night? The headlines are all over the place.

”Perry Drops Out – Support to Newt” probably best for the Texas Governor to join Huntsman on the also ran list, as previous support for him has dwindled from his first announcement a few months back and is already divided between Gingrich and Santorum. However, most of us enjoyed his last couple of debates just to hear his qips.

”Newt fires back in Debate” reference Gingrich’s scolding of the CNN moderator at the very beginning of the debate Regarding Newt’s ex-wife, Marianne’s interview about his “open” marriage and mistress. Newt said it was despicable to open the debate with questions about his former marriage.   The crowd sure agreed. 

”Did Santorum perform well enough to win in S.C?” Rick Santorum gained some support from the character and family values voters, but did he do enough to convince GOP primary voters that he has the experience and mettle to deal with the economy? I think he does.  He gets more and more of my respect and support every time he debates. 

"Romney pressured to release Tax Returns” Santorum and Paul are on record as candidate tax returns not being a big deal. Gingrich had his people post his returns on the internet just as the debate started and Newt is the loudest voice in the contest calling for Romney’s release of tax returns.  Seems kinda out of place to me, asking for records,  when we don’t have any information on President Obama. If I were one of the Republican candidates, I would say that I would release everything,…tax filings, school transcripts, medical reports, travel history,…everything, once Obama did the same. That should quell the debate at least with fair minded people.

It will be interesting to see where the candidates place in South Carolina . It looks like Newt is gaining some ground. I don’t think the ex-wife’s interview will displace any support since the conservative bloc, who runs the character-family values issue as a number one priority, is already supporting Santorum. But still, Newt will end up much closer to Romney than Romney considers comfortable.

This is all good for the country, especially when Gingrich admonished Santorum to get out of the race since he diluting the deep conservative vote and Santorum responded, "Why don’t you get out? I’m the one who won 1 of 2 states so far."  These debates let the voters see who they would prefer.  If most people are like me, I am constantly my favorites - Cain to Gingrich to Santorum,...maybe back to Newt.  The bottom line is that any of them are better for this country than our current President.  

Freedom and Jeff

This is the kind of story you need when it seems like the world is spiraling out of control.....

Freedom and Jeff

Freedom and I have been together 11 years this summer. She came in as a baby in 1998 with two broken wings. Her left wing doesn't open all the way even after surgery, it was broken in 4 places. She's my baby. When Freedom came in she could not stand and both wings were broken. She was emaciated and covered in lice. We made the decision to give her a chance at life, so I took her to the vet's office. From then on, I was always around her. We had her in a huge dog carrier with the top off, and it was loaded up with shredded newspaper for her to lay in. I used to sit and talk to her, urging her to live, to fight; and she would lay there looking at me with those big brown eyes. We also had to tube feed her for weeks.

This went on for 4-6 weeks, and by then she still couldn't stand. It got to the point where the decision was made to euthanize her if she couldn't stand in a week. You know you don't want to cross that line between torture and rehab, and it looked like death was winning. She was going to be put down that Friday, and I was supposed to come in on that Thursday afternoon.

I didn't want to go to the center that Thursday, because I couldn't bear the thought of her being euthanized; but I went anyway, and when I walked in everyone was grinning from ear to ear. I went immediately back to her cage; and there she was, standing on her own, a big beautiful eagle. She was ready to live. I was just about in tears by then. That was a very good day. We knew she could never fly, so the director asked me to glove train her. I got her used to the glove, and then to jesses, and we started doing education programs for schools in western Washington . We wound up in the newspapers, radio (believe it or not) and some TV. Miracle Pets even did a show about us.

In the spring of 2000, I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. I had stage 3, which is not good (one major organ plus everywhere), so I wound up doing 8 months of chemo. Lost the hair - the whole bit. I missed a lot of work. When I felt good enough, I would go to Sarvey and take Freedom out for walks. Freedom would also come to me in my dreams and help me fight the cancer. This happened time and time again.

Fast forward to November 2000 the day after Thanksgiving, I went in for my last checkup. I was told that if the cancer was not all gone after 8 rounds of chemo, then my last option was a stem cell transplant. Anyway, they did the tests; and I had to come back Monday for the results. I went in Monday, and I was told that all the cancer was gone.

So the first thing I did was get up to Sarvey and take the big girl out for a walk. It was misty and cold. I went to her flight and jessed her up, and we went out front to the top of the hill. I hadn't said a word to Freedom, but somehow she knew. She looked at me and wrapped both her wings around me to where I could feel them pressing in on my back (I was engulfed in eagle wings), and she touched my nose with her beak and stared into my eyes, and we just stood there like that for I don't know how long . That was a magic moment. We have been soul mates ever since she came in. This is a very special bird.

On a side note: I have had people who were sick come up to us when we are out, and Freedom has some kind of hold on them. I once had a guy who was terminal come up to us and I let him hold her. His knees just about buckled and he swore he could feel her power course through his body. I have so many stories like that..

I never forget the honor I have of being so close to such a magnificent spirit as Freedom. Hope you enjoyed this!


But they that wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings as eagles;
they shall run, and not be weary;
and they shall walk, and not faint.

Isaiah 40:31

President wants More Power

Found the topic for this post from an article on Yahoo!

The Department of Commerce will celebrate its 109th anniversary this year, having been created in 1903. And if President Obama gets his way , the agency won't make it much past 110. Announcing last week that he is seeking authority to streamline the executive branch, President Obama said he needs the same kind of "authority that every business owner has to make sure that his or her company keeps pace with the times. And let me be clear: I will only use this authority for reforms that result in more efficiency, better service, and a leaner government." Never mind what the Constitution says. 

As an example, the president wants to shut down the Department of Commerce, taking its core functions and giving them to a new agency that will also fold in the tasks of the Small Business Administration, the U.S. Trade Representative, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, the Trade and Development Agency and the Export-Import Bank.

The problem is that Obama is not shrinking government, he is consolidating power. We drastically need a much smaller government and for that government wort work within the enumerated powers outlined in the Constitution rather than what a group of elite politicans think this country should look like.

This is the same President who recently said that he will go around Congress and did so when he unconstitutionally declared Congress in recess then made four political appointments.

The President said of his grab for additional powers: "This is a big idea."

Big Idea? Nope. Big departure from the constitution and big step for the administration to control more power? Yes, absolutely.

"We live in a 21st century economy, but we've still got a government organized for the 20th century," President Obama said this morning. "Our economy has fundamentally changed - as has the world - but the government has not. The needs of our citizens have fundamentally changed but their government has not. Instead, it has often grown more complex."

Economy fundamentally changed? Yes as a matter of fact. From production and manufacturing to services and an entitlement society.

The American people are going to be seeing alot more of this from President Obama as he recognizing his has to make a big departure, a radical azimuth change from the past years in order to get elected again. But all the clues are there. The way he thinks he can make presidential declarations and executive orders to take this country towards an European look alike My God, this is the president that gave us,..what?,....30+ Czars?? The greatest expansion of government in history. The first credit downgrade in history,.....and lets not forget about the biggest federal debt in history!