CNN's Acosta Merely a Symptom

He was clearly trying to dominate the November 7 White House press conference but CNN’s Jim Acosta merely became just another demonstration of our nation’s willingness to turn away from the social binding of interpersonal respect.

The non response by the press during and after Acosta’s staged and performed theatrics, therefore, became the real story lesson for all Americans. This writer observed the entire room remained mute during the Acosta’s charade. It was  an observable fact that not a single member of this seated White House Press Corps chose to actively rise up and speak in deference to a sitting President, our nation, the Bill of Rights, a lowly intern or even themselves. Their silence was deafening!  Was no one appalled? Did no one feel the need to intercede? Did this man speak for the entire gathered press corps? Would you have at least spoken in support of the young White House intern? Why does this man deserve to be one of the men and women seated so closely to the President?  What makes him superior to the rest of the people in that room?  In your presence, what is the maximum disrespect from him you would accept?  The White House Press Corps must pause and reflect on the fact that even if deserved respect is totally subjugated, it will remain forever superior to demonstrated, baseless personal ego. The corps must take a stand.

As this writer turns his own page forward from this news cycle, he honestly admits that he would not have removed Acosta’s press credentials. He would, however, absolutely demand that Acosta must sit or stand behind the least tenured or important man or woman in that gathered body of correspondents or choose to remove himself.

He deserves nothing less.

Brett Kavanaugh's Associate Justice Confirmation Hearing Really Was A Trial

Obviously the news moment which prompted this article has passed on and in the minds of many it is now relegated to better to be forgotten status. However, the actions taken during those now passé events still remain as lessons to be remembered. They remain important to this author and that is why he now shares his thoughts. He pursues this story for the same reason that he pursues his passion to understand and support the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. He pursues his own possession of liberty.

The apparent tight lipped party nod of approval toward Brett  Kavanaugh, candidate for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, rapidly deteriorated into a personal and national trial following the release of specifically timed, sexual impropriety accusations. Predictably, Brett Kavanaugh’s well deserved personal image changed from respectable to despicable and the hounds were released by their progressive handlers to harass and destroy the obvious predator monster discovered in their presence. Even as the left was preparing a faux courtroom based on the idea that a person is guilty until proven innocent, they continuously claimed in various voices that “This is not a trial. It is a job interview”. This writer’s work experiences have demonstrated otherwise. Job interviews are never based on harsh accusations leading to the need for a strenuous self defense by the applicant. In addition, the position of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court should never be portrayed as a job.

Every outrageous choreographed behavior which has since been on display following this divisive faux courtroom is the direct result of the actions taken by elected men and women of the left who chose to sit in judgment and turn away from the Law of the Land which they all swore to support. Ultimately there were no discovered provable qualification issues. There were no constitutional reasons to reject. The final Senate confirmation vote did little to renew and refresh this writer’s spirit and optimism because there remained so much more to observe. Pay attention to the fact that people are trying to take your liberty and protections away from you. As we prepare for November 6 and beyond, pay attention to what is on display daily. You need to understand why we have a Constitution and Bill of Rights and why they should remain important to you or the hounds which have been released will never be recalled.

Wise Voting Will Make A Difference

The 2018 campaign for votes presents only people issues but our Constitution and our Bill of Rights are the real story. All future outcomes for the United States are yet to be determined. All possible outcomes rest squarely in the hands of the people and you and I will ultimately enable the growth or the destruction of our own futures. On November 6, Inalienable Rights and Liberty for all will either be nourished or they will begin to wither and die and Abraham Lincoln’s observation in his 1838 Lyceum Address will be proven correct. “We cannot be destroyed from without. It must spring up amongst us; it cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide.”

Now consider the Ten Cannots shown below. It was written in 1916, by William J. H. Boetcker, a German immigrant, a naturalized citizen and Presbyterian minister. His words remain unambiguous and true, even today.

The Ten Cannots: “You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot help little men by tearing down big men. You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn. You cannot build character and courage by destroying men’s initiative and independence. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they can and should do for themselves.”

Consider here , the words from the biography of Leonardo DaVinci by Walter Isaacson : "No instant is self contained. Each moment incorporates what came right before and what is coming right after." Our national mid-term elections are scheduled for November 6. Prepare yourself for the instant you cast your vote for this nation's future. Vote with pride and choose wisely.

Impeachment Clearly Spelled Out In Constitution

It is likely that most Americans do not know that our Constitution is the Law of the Land. It is also likely that they have never even read the Constitution and, therefore, don’t have a clue when it comes to who can be impeached and how impeachment was designed to be rightfully implemented. This article was written to demonstrate how our Constitution was and is meant to work.

This writer often turns to his copy of The Heritage Guide to The Constitution to pursue the founders gift of personal liberty the likes of which is not experienced in any other country in the world. This book has opened doors of understanding every single time he has visited it. This activity does not make this writer a scholar by any stretch of imagination, but it has done wonders for his blood pressures especially when he looks to escape the yelling, verbal drums and lighted torches used by those who practice law by public opinion and those who practice law for mass media profit and most certainly those who practice law for personal and party political power.

Constitutional Fact Source (Article I, Section 2, Clause 5) states: “The House of Representatives…shall have sole power of Impeachment.”

Constitutional Fact Source (Article II, Section 4) states: "The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” Yes, you read that correctly. This language includes Justices of the Supreme Court and the lesser courts mentioned in the Constitution. Clearly, Supreme Court Justices can be impeached. Members of Congress can be expelled by their own respective body. The House of Representatives initiates the charges of Impeachment and it is the Senate which hears the charges and decides the outcome.

Constitutional Fact Source (Article I, Section 3, Clause 6) states:"The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.”

Constitutional Fact Source (Article I, Section 3, Clause 7) states: “Punishment for Impeachment” “Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to remove from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of Honor, Trust or Profit Under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.”

Constitutional Fact Source ( Article II, Section 4) states: “Standards for Impeachment”  “The President, Vice President and all Civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for and Conviction of Treason, Bribery or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”

So that there is absolutely no mistake of what is suggested below, please reread Constitutional Fact Source (Article I, Section 2, Clause 5) above and then reread Constitutional Fact Source (Article I, Section 3, Clause 7). The language used in the Constitution is not accidental. Understand clearly that this writer is specifically not talking about the possible Impeachment of the President. He has pointedly led you toward a better understanding of a potential Impeachment of a sitting Justice of the Supreme Court and the fact that an Impeachment in the House of Representatives and a conviction in the Senate opens wide the door to further adjudication in the lesser courts. It is also a fact that the Federal Judges in lesser courts can also be Impeached and Judged.

Judge Brett Kavanaugh has been nominated by our current President of the United States to be a Justice of the Supreme Court. Kavanaugh is, therefore, seeking confirmation for this position and is enduring the most negative and brutal hearing of any candidate in this writer’s life time. In addition to this trial of confirmation Kavanaugh is now facing another trial. It is a trial of accusation. He has become the target of chest beating and cries of anguish because an individual person has stepped from the darkness of his past and made an accusation of sexual impropriety. Act wisely here and now and answer the following two questions. Do you really believe that this accomplished man does not know full well the meaning and the implications of the words this writer has just shared with you? Do you really believe he would stand in front of you personally, or his accuser or his God and deny a truthful accusation? This writer does not. He has already served, with distinction this nation’s second highest court and he deserves this honor and he should be confirmed without further rancor.

Consider how you can step forward and help stop this nation weakening side show immediately. If the accuser has a case it can always be presented through proper channels to the House of Representatives and if it really is a valid case, it should be pursued. We must understand and trust that our Constitution will guide the way to proper resolution for all. We are a nation of Laws. Let our Constitution, our greatest law, do what it was designed to do.

“It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can do little.” Sydney Smith

I am

The words “I am” have continued to roll around in my head for several days now. Apparently, I have commenced another walkabout. This particular walkabout began as I watched and listened to a well known conservative spokesman on television. During that program, he spoke a two word sentence that resonated deep within me. The sentence was “I am”. For some reason, which is still not clear, what he said after that did not seem to matter. His voice faded to silence in my head and I turned off the television and turned inward in search of those two words.

Almost immediately I recalled a quotation that ended with those same two words. The Rene Descartes quotation “I think, therefore I am” seemed to be a path to follow and I began to walk. Any further exploration of Descartes is not in the cards for this essay. However, I encourage you to take some time to explore a little of his life and works to remind yourself of what you already know or discover him for the first time.

My daughter listened carefully when I told her I was busy thinking about ‘I am’. She quickly gave me four suggestions and because she has a degree in comparative religion and has published many books, I listened too. Her first suggestion was to read Impermanence and Love written by Elias Amidon. He is an author and has been a student of Sufism for over 40 years. Join me here in watching an image he clearly described. A child runs to “her mother’s waiting arms” and you view the shared communication of parent child love and then you watch as the child returned to what children do. The author, a new name to me, then continued with “That was many years ago. Now the child no longer exists; a grown up person has taken her place. The mother child image no longer exists because the mother also no longer exists.” What happened to the child and mother can be explained in a single word and I will make it a point to remember it clearly. The word is impermanence. Look closely and you will see that “Each moment yields to the next and never returns.” This is impermanence. Impermanence often brings us sadness and a void. It can also be a path to joy. My past image of ‘I am’ has moved forward and yet it can be remembered and experienced even as my future ‘I am’ appears near. You and I can experience what we all recognize as love as it connects us to a reality which no longer exists. Try it out. Let us continue this walkabout together. Presume your parents are no longer alive (mine are not). Simply state I am the son/daughter of (insert the first and last names of your parents). Now then, you do sense their presence and their humanness. Don’t you? Given time you will also recall the existence of many other things that are gone but still remain real and present. So where are they? I really like the idea that they have become part of a whole and they are what we will become.

Her second suggestion was to create a self ‘I am’ list as long as I could and then cross off any of the roles I have played and identities I have given to myself and those given to me by family, society, faith tradition or nationality. Her point was none of the labels answer the question of Who am I? Why? It is because the answer itself is not verbal but a felt sense in your heart center. Anything that can be said about my ‘I am’ is merely symbolic.” Her third suggestion pointed me in the direction of jnana yoga. (See location 1 below) This branch of yoga focuses on using the mind to transcend the mind. Lastly, she introduced me to a past master of self-inquiry named Ramana Maharshi. It was in the words of a brief Maharshi biography See (location 2 below) that I found my walkabout affirmed. “Being is something that all humans share with the creator or ultimate reality.” Remember this and who said it? “I am that I am.” “Being is primary.”

I learned something new at each and every suggested guidepost. Each was worth the visit and I finished this walkabout comfortable and refreshed.

Now would be a good time for you to begin and enjoy your own ‘I am’ walkabout.

1: http://www.yogabasics.com/learn/jnana-yoga-the-yoga-of-wisdom

2: http://www.om-guru.com/html/saints/maharshi.html

Our Past Has Gone On Before Us Our Future Grows Closer Every Day

I have recently revisited and reread Lincoln’s address before the Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois on January 27, 1838. The then 28 year old Lincoln clearly saw and understood that this nation can be destroyed only from within. “At what point, then, is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reaches us it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of free men we must live through all time or die by suicide.” Twenty three (23) years later on February 21, 1861 in a speech delivered to the New Jersey Senate while on his way to Washington for his Inauguration Lincoln said: “I am exceedingly anxious that this Union, the Constitution, and the liberties of the people shall be perpetuated in accordance with the original idea for which that struggle was made, and I shall be most happy indeed if I shall be an (sic) humble instrument in the hands of the Almighty, and of this, his almost chosen people, for perpetuating the object of that great struggle.”

For more than a year, the progressive left has clearly chosen an all in gambling mentality and is using its accumulated power to attempt to destroy both a sitting President and the people who continue to support him. Simultaneously, those same supporting people have begun to demonstrate that they understand what is at stake and are digging in their heels and contemplating taking not one further step back. As a consequence, the America I am currently viewing seems to be gathering itself at the edge of the cusp between a republic at peace with itself and a cusp leading to war within itself. In the growing shadow of a second American Civil War we must reconsider the “testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and dedicated, can long endure”.

(Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863)

In the face of the ever present bitter rancor from the left, I remain confident that our sitting president will likely win a second term of office because of the support of these people from our nation’s center. I am, however, becoming convinced there is a growing possibility that we will and must face a life changing course choice sometime during his second term. The United States will either find a way to search its past and rediscover a way to go forward and really exist as a shining city on a hill or it will, simply, self destruct. Our potential self destruction could likely be initiated by an economic collapse or by any of the several social upheavals currently confronting us. In either case, a traumatic change seems to be coming and is necessary. The change must come for us and this nation to ultimately move forward toward our greater historical promise. The upheaval will be painful, maybe to an extreme, but it will provide us time to critically contemplate what went wrong and that will lead to our rediscovering who and what we are as a people and a nation. The contemplation and course correction must take place not just for us but also for the world. This nation needs to be the shining city on the hill or it and all other world civilizations will return to chaos.

The National Popular Vote Compact is a Dangerous Assault on the Constitution

Syndicated Columnist Laura Hollis deserves a huge thank you for her writing of an important and timely defense of the Electoral College and therefore the Constitution of the United States. She did a wonderful job explaining the National Popular Vote Initiative and the dark attempts of this movement to avoid the process required to amend our Constitution. This ill conceived initiative is a political and philosophical assault on our Constitution and it does so without the process of amending. The summary paragraph in Hollis’ article accurately states what the supporters of this initiative do not. “The National Popular Vote compact is an underhanded way to gut the Constitution without amending it, and to disenfranchise the large swath of the American electorate. It should be opposed.”

Two Wolves and a Lamb are out for a walk. Each becomes hungry and the wolves suggest that it would be a great idea to vote on what they will eat for lunch. Simply consider the obvious outcome of this scenario and you will instantly grasp the purpose for the Electoral College as written and also understand why the Democratic Party and the Progressive Left are so committed to do the end run around the Constitution as written in 1787.

Take your time and read the Hollis article for understanding and then share that knowledge with others. This may seem to you to be very difficult because you are but a single voice. Not so! You, using your knowledge and your voice, are a powerful tool to combat the wolves who want you for lunch. When you doubt your understanding of truth as strength, consider other single voices such as these: Alice Walker said “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” and Sydney Smith said “It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do little.”

The path to the Hollis article: https://www.creators.com/read/laura-hollis/05/18/the-sneaky-efforts-to-undermine-the-electoral-college 

This author wrote a similar article titled “The Electoral College. It appeared in this blog site on April 25, 2016.  http://ourcaravanbydb.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-electoral-college.html

He has also published a book: An Awakened Passion which includes the complete texts of The Declaration of Independence, the Transcription of the 1789 Resolution of Congress, The Constitution of the United States and the Constitution Amendments.

Consider that Andrew Jackson (1824), Samuel J. Tilden (1876), Grover Cleveland (1888), Al Gore (2000) and Hillary Clinton (2016) all won the national popular vote in the election years following their names but each failed to become President of the United States. Each loss can be linked to the constitutional process known as The Electoral College. Only one candidate has openly claimed the final decision should not have been permitted because that candidate received more popular votes. That candidate was Hillary Clinton. Her anger, her party’s anger and those who practice the Progressive philosophy all believe, contrary to Constitutional law, that she was cheated and the country was harmed. They are all behind the movement to step around the Constitution as written.

Despite the intent of National Popular Vote compact, Our Constitution is the Law of the Land and our government is not and was deliberately not created as a pure democracy. The government created in September 17, 1787 is a Constitutional Republic. Benjamin Franklin made this clear when he said: You have “a Republic if you can keep it.” The founders avoided democracy like the plague and John Adams pointedly told us why.  “…there is never a democracy that did not commit suicide.”

“The Electoral College” does not appear in the Constitution nor does it appear in Amendment Xll which was written following the election of 1800. In that election, Thomas Jefferson (Presidential candidate) and Aaron Burr (running separately as the Vice President candidate) tied for the office of President. Amendment Xll ensured that the Electors must make a discrete choice between their selections for President and Vice President. The 1800 election was correctly decided in the House of Representatives. Jefferson finally won but only after 36 votes!

While confusing to many people, when Americans vote for a President and Vice President, they are actually voting for presidential electors. These electors are collectively known as the Electoral College. It is these electors, chosen by the people who elect the chief executive. The language used in Article ll Section l of The Constitution specifically assigns each state a number of electors equal to the combined total of the state’s Senate and House of Representatives delegations. Just my opinion, but I am not aware of any bias toward any candidate from then to and including the 2016 election cycle. The Hollis article clearly reminds us that the constitution is structured to mitigate the effects of pure democracy.

Turn your reading to the author’s April 25, 2016 blog article to see how the “The Electoral College” actually works from start to finish.

Power has done what it always does

Lord Acton, a British historian and moralist, offered us the opinion that there is an observable outcome for all of those who seek power. “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. No, as is often the case, he was not the first to express this opinion but he is the one remembered.

Understand the effects of power and you easily discover hidden truths. The political fog curtain currently covering hidden truths, power and corruption in our nation’s capital is slowly being lifted by the light and heat of truth. Those hiding within its shadows are about to be revealed.

I do not care if you like and respect Donald Trump or hate him as a person or President. Did you ever or do you now believe that the President of the United States is so intelligent and maybe even egregious (outstandingly bad) that he could have single handedly done everything for which he is being pursued, cursed and abused and do it without leaving a single clue? Have you even considered your own answers to two obvious, single word questions: How and Why. Do it now! Then consider another single word question: Who?

With the self inflicted ending to Andrew McCabe’s career in the F.B.I., men and women hiding in positions of personal power must certainly realize that they are now possibly standing in the long line of retribution and they are the ones who will suddenly be the pursued. How long will it be before they attack each other to protect themselves? How high is higher up?

Applied personal power is frightening and contagious and begs these final questions: Why are these people seeking more power and who do they wish to control?

In Defense of the Second Amendment

Discouraged by the Florida shooting and frustrated by the knee jerk reactions and the obvious failures to head off the trauma by agencies designed to do so, I have tried in this writing for solace in personal and shared understandings of what the Second Amendment is about and why it was created. Blame is always counter productive. 

The German writer and statesman Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe observed: "We know accurately only when we know little, with knowledge doubt increases."

Hopefully, a quiet voice will clarify the necessity for and the power of the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

The Declaration of Independence spoke of ‘unalienable rights’ for the people but our newly created Constitution was basically a document which detailed federal  powers, procedures and protections. The second amendment was written in part to protect the nation from dangers from without and in part to protect the people from the government itself.

The Second Amendment has two parts: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State,” That well regulated Militia would historically be manned by the entire adult male citizenry. Those men were not simply allowed to keep their own arms, but “affirmatively required to do so.”

Because the people were afraid that a powerful government might ultimately turn on them as the king of England did to his subjects there is a second part: “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

William Blackstone a 1700’s English jurist was well known by our founders. He was famous for his commentaries of ‘Common Law’ that most people could read. One of his principle commentaries was the ‘rights of persons’. “Blackstone saw political overtones in the right to arms” and this probably explains why our Second Amendment is preceded by the rights of religion, expression, press and petition (First Amendment) and then followed by the guarantee against quartering of soldiers (Third Amendment) and then followed by the protection of unreasonable searches and seizures (Fourth amendment). These four amendments all speak to the rights of the people. They combine to “form an umbrella of individual protection” which, in my opinion, makes them unalienable. (They cannot be given or taken away.)