New Diet or is it an old one?

Well, this may be a shorter then most blog. It is on my newest diet. I have went down in belt size in the past two weeks. I'm sure I have lost a few pounds as well. Not that it is that noticeable to anyone else but me. Although my daughter mentioned that the jeans I was wearing seemed to be big on me. But I have.

Ok you want to know my big secret? You know you do. Well here goes.

About three weeks ago, I got a tooth ache. It bothered me half a week and all weekend, and I didn't get in the dentist until that following Monday. I couldn't eat much with it, so I started losing a little right off. But on Monday I found out I had a dead tooth in back of the one that bothered me. I had to have them both polled because of an abscess under the one that hurt. Well, for the next few days I couldn't eat much but soft foods and that was sugarless pudding and jello and other soft food, and I couldn't eat a lot at one time. My left jaw began to ache because of all the chewing on that side a week later. So now I eat less, because I can't chew as much as long as I use to.

The out come, I'm losing weight. Pounds and inches around my waste. So if you are over weight, and want to take a little off, without having something like your stomach stapled, or going on another diet you have to count calories or watch what you eat, go have two of your back teeth polled on one side and you will start losing right away.

Blessings,
Charles

Media sexism a reason not to vote for Obama?

Ok, I have been reading about how the media and voters have been popularized by "Sexism" .

What did Hillary expect? She is a women and that is going to be a factor no matter what you want, with the media.

But one of the radio talk shows, "Rush" had a women on it that said she was a democrat and because of the "sexism" in this race by the media at large she will not vote or support Obama.

Why, what did Obama do? or not do?

He as been out right nice and supportive of Senator Clinton's run for the president in the way he refers to her.

The big complain this lady had was that in articles the media referred to Senator Clinton as Mrs. Clinton not Senator Clinton. I have noticed this as well, and in many cases felt the same as her in that it showed Senator Clinton disrespect. But the problem is that those same articles referred to Senator Obama as Mr. Obama 99% of the time. I felt it was showing him just as much disrespect as Senator Clinton.

So if this is your excuse for your grudge against the media, why are you not just as up set over them treating Senator Obama the same way?

The Obama campaign has used his name "Obama" by itself, I don't feel this is showing him disrespect. So I use it that way, and the Clinton Campaign has used the "Clinton" name in much the same way so I see no problem using it that way. No disrespect intended to either by using their last name by it's self.

The media isn't a liberal media it once was or many conservatives would like you to think it is, so why punish the Democratic Party if Senator Obama wins the nomination with the most votes, delegates and super-delegates?

You wouldn't want the Obama supporters to do it? You would campaign hard if Senator Clinton were to win the nomination, wanting and saying much the same as I am here that, they should vote for her.

So why do it yourselves?

I really don't think you are democrat's if you do. You are republican sympathisers that re-registered as Rush asked you to do, to support Senator Clinton, because the right wing conservatives believe McCain has a better chance winning the presidency running against her than Senator Obama.

You can reply to my blog or this post on the bulletin and say your are a democrat and have been one all your life, but if you hold Senator Obama responsible for the media sexism and plan to vote for McCain, then you are a liar! Either one of two ways, either you are lying about your vote for McCain or about being a life long member of the democratic party! One or the other.

Added 06/10/08

I attended a flag day celebration in one of the local small towns. As a democrat, and actively involved in the party, I asked what it was all about, this sexism aspect to blaming Obama? And I was very rudely told that we Obama supporters better not question Hillary supports why they are so upset or belittle them for their feelings of sexism, by a leading democrat locally that supported Hillary.

They were begrudgingly supporting Obama, because it is that important that a democrat end up in the white house. I responded I was only trying to understand, and we need to foster understanding, if we are going to come together as one party. The party representatives don't want to deal with these issues, they just want to go on to the November election and not stir up any problems, Hillary's supporters and Obama supports are to respect that. Problem is we can't work together if we don't have unity, and we can find unity if we have a group that is only supporting the democrat begrudgingly. The psychology of the problem demands we talk about it! Our wounds won't heal without talking about it.

In the earlier part of this blog, I referred to why they were so up set and how they saw the sexism, in referring to Senator Clinton as Mrs. Clinton. Ok, as I said, those same articles referred to Senator Obama as Mr. Obama, and I saw this as disrespectful towards him as the reference to Senator Clinton was to her. The problem is that the Hillary supports were outraged that Obama didn't speak out about this sexism or disrespect. But they themselves nor Hillay have spoken out about the dishonor/disrespect that was made towards Senator Obama in those same articles by calling him Mr. Obama.

The main point I get from them, is they have a right to be upset and Obama supports have no right. Well, I agree they have a right to be upset over what ever they want to get up set over, and so do Obama supports have the same right.

Another point that I left out earlier, was that many of those same articles that referred to Senator Clinton or Senator Obama as Mr. or Mrs. were authored or had partners that helped write them that were women. Many were conservative writers that are women. Were those women being sexist towards women as well?

So how would it of looked if Senator Obama came out and chastised the media for those articles for being sexist against women when many of them were written by women?

I'm not writing this to get Hillary supports up set, I'm writing this so if you read it, you can maybe see it from a different perspective.

My thoughts.
Charles

religious freedoms in the US

"Polygamy Sect Moms Told To Leave Children"

I have watched many times when children were taken from parents that had done nothing and children left with parents who were abusive.

But this is totally different. I agree, that children or young girls should not be forced to marry and have children, against their will.

But we have some states within the US that still allow a girl as young as 14 to marry with parental approval.

I knew a young man that at the age of 18, was in the navy and stationed in the south along the gulf coast, and he met a family there that had several children, the oldest was a 14 year old girl. The parents encouraged him to get to know her and then even encouraged them to get married. When I met her, after they moved back to Iowa, after he was discharged for his tour of duty, he was three years older (21) and she was (17) and pregnant with her third child I think. She was very much in love with him.

Under those conditions, she could of been taken from him at age 17 still a child in the social service eyes, but wasn't. No one thought anything about it. Same as many of the girls in the compound, in Texas.

Now they are saying that the call for help may not of came from the compound itself, but from someone outside trying to cause them problems, and if so it worked. So far they haven't found any girl 16years of age that called for help.

I'm not defending their beliefs, but their right to their beliefs. We are treading on dangerous ground here, as this can set a president for future removals of children not because of abuse but because of religious beliefs. If you are raising your children according to your own religious beliefs and maybe even home schooling, this case if allowed to continue, could be used to remove your children from you because they don't agree with your religious beliefs and feel that your children are in danger by being indoctrinated in it through your home schooling.

They want to remove the young girls to place them in foster care, to prevent them from being further indoctrinated in their religious belief, that young girls should grow up and be a wife and mother. By doing so they are attempting to re-indoctrinating them to a different belief and life style. Could you imagine what would happen if the religious right that is in control in Texas, decided to remove children from a gay family because they are being indoctrinated in the gay life style? I use this example to show where this could go from here. Or you are an atheist, and are teaching your child there is no God, so they decide to remove the child to protect them.

By removing as many as they did without it being their chose to leave, you open a can of worms. It is about their beliefs not the children's actual welfare.

You may not agree with their religious belief or even like it, but you have to respect their right to it or give up your own right to yours.

I don't agree with a lot of peoples belief, I don't agree with guy marriage of any kind. But that is my personal belief. To have the freedom to have this belief I have to allow others to have a difference of belief, and respect their right to it, even if I don't agree with it. This is where I have a problem with the religious right, and their attempt to mandate their beliefs through laws on others. But then if we accept that guys have the right to believe what they want to, then we have to allow others the same rights to their beliefs, religious or not.

Even though I don't agree with the sect or church, I do believe they have the right to live and raise their families according to their faith. And I hope that the Texas courts will say they have no right under the law to remove these children without real proof of child endangerment or abuse. And their religious beliefs are not evidence to that end. I hope the children are return to their mothers, unless they child has asked not to be.

Using councilors and psychologists to prove they are at risk isn't grounds either, as most of those same people would say that any child in a christian family is at risk in the same way because of their beliefs. Or that they are at risk because their beliefs differ.

Just my thoughts on this "Pandora's Box"

Charles

Rev. Wright in a different light

I have read a lot about this issue. It is the one place I disagreed with Obama on, when he gave is speech on race. He helped promote the idea by condemning the Revs words as Rev. Wrights own words, when they were not, for the most part. most of what we saw on the news in a minute or less constant loop was Rev. Wright quoting someone else. That is and was not included in the reporting. Wright was quoting an American Ambassador, a white man, and when the ambassador said what he did no one thought to make a big deal about it or call him a racist.

But from another side of the church we hear another point of view through an article in the Chicago Tribune.

By William A. Von Hoene Jr.
March 26, 2008

During the last two weeks, excerpts from sermons of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., pastor for more than 35 years at Trinity United Church of Christ on Chicago's South Side, have flooded the airwaves and dominated our discourse about the presidential campaign and race. Wright has been depicted as a racial extremist, or just a plain racist. A number of political figures and news commentators have attempted to use Sen. Barack Obama's association with him to call into question Obama's judgment and the sincerity of his commitment to unity.

I have been a member of Trinity, a church with an almost entirely African-American congregation, for more than 25 years. I am, however, a white male. From a decidedly different perspective than most Trinitarians, I have heard Wright preach about racial inequality many times, in unvarnished and passionate terms.

In Obama's recent speech in Philadelphia on racial issues confronting our nation, the senator eloquently observed that Rev. Wright's sermons reflect the difficult experiences and frustrations of a generation.

It is important that we understand the dynamic Obama spoke about.

It also is important that we not let media coverage and political gamesmanship isolate selected remarks by Wright to the exclusion of anything else that might define him more accurately and completely.

I find it very troubling that we have distilled Wright's 35-year ministry to a few phrases; no context whatsoever has been offered or explored.I do have a bit of personal context. About 26 years ago, I became engaged to my wife, an African-American. She was at that time and remains a member of Trinity. Somewhere between the ring and the altar, my wife had second thoughts and broke off the engagement.

Her decision was grounded in race: So committed to black causes, the daughter of parents subjected to unthinkable prejudice over the years, an "up-and-coming" leader in the young black community, how could she marry a white man?

Rev. Wright, whom I had met only in passing at the time and who was equally if not more outspoken about "black" issues than he is today, somehow found out about my wife's decision. He called and asked her to "drop everything" and meet with him at Trinity. He spent four hours explaining his reaction to her decision. Racial divisions were unacceptable, he said, no matter how great or prolonged the pain that caused them. God would not want us to assess or make decisions about people based on race. The world could make progress on issues of race only if people were prepared to break down barriers that were much easier to let stand.

Rev. Wright was pretty persuasive; he presided over our wedding a few months later. In the years since, I have watched in utter awe as Wright has overseen and constructed a support system for thousands in need on the South Side that is far more impressive and effective than any governmental program possibly could approach. And never in my life have I been welcomed more warmly and sincerely than at Trinity. Never.

I hope that as a nation, we take advantage of the opportunity the recent focus on Rev. Wright presents—to advance our dialogue on race in a meaningful and unprecedented way. To do so, however, we need to appreciate that passion born of difficulty does not always manifest itself in the kind of words with which we are most comfortable. We also need to recognize that the basic goodness of people like Jeremiah Wright is not always packaged conventionally.

The problems of race confronting us are immense. But if we sensationalize isolated words for political advantage, casting aside the depth of feeling, circumstances and context which inform them, those problems not only will remain immense, they will be insoluble.

William A. Von Hoene Jr. of Chicago is a member of Trinity United Church of Christ.

www. chicagotribune. com/news/chi-oped0326trinitymar26,0,7143430. story

Obama's remarks

Ok it must really be hard for Hillary and John McCain to find something to criticize. And a slow day for the media to pick up on it and run with a flat ball!

They are both criticizing Obama's remark that people around the country are bitter, he made at a fundraiser in California this past week.

People in Pennsylvania as well as many other states are unhappy with the government and are tired and bitter that they hear one thing at election time and another after the election.

Those in office are there because we voted them there, not as they seem to think, that they are better than the regular man or woman in their state or district, and are a better judge on what is right for their district or state. But just last week, we heard that supperdelegates are better at knowing whats best for the country then the country as a hole in voting in primaries or caucuses. That from Mrs. Clinton hoping that the supperdelegates will trump the voters and make her the nominee no matter what happens between now and the convention.

I couldn't do justist in this responce to what I see as garbage, so I will post Obama's responce to it.

TERRE HAUTE, INDIANA – At a town hall meeting in Indiana, U.S.Senator Barack Obama made the following comments in response to the Clinton and McCain campaign’s attacks:

“When I go around and I talk to people there is frustration and there is anger and there is bitterness. And what’s worse is when people are expressing their anger then politicians try to say what are you angry about? This just happened – I want to make a point here today."

“I was in San Francisco talking to a group at a fundraiser and somebody asked how’re you going to get votes in Pennsylvania? What’s going on there? We hear that’s its hard for some working class people to get behind you’re campaign. I said, “Well look, they’re frustrated and for good reason. Because for the last 25 years they’ve seen jobs shipped overseas. They’ve seen their economies collapse. They have lost their jobs. They have lost their pensions. They have lost their healthcare."

“And for 25, 30 years Democrats and Republicans have come before them and said we’re going to make your community better. We’re going to make it right and nothing ever happens. And of course they’re bitter. Of course they’re frustrated. You would be too. In fact many of you are. Because the same thing has happened here in Indiana. The same thing happened across the border in Decatur. The same thing has happened all across the country. Nobody is looking out for you. Nobody is thinking about you. And so people end up- they don’t vote on economic issues because they don’t expect anybody’s going to help them. So people end up, you know, voting on issues like guns, and are they going to have the right to bear arms. They vote on issues like gay marriage. And they take refuge in their faith and their community and their families and things they can count on. But they don’t believe they can count on Washington. So I made this statement-- so, here’s what rich. Senator Clinton says ‘No, I don’t think that people are bitter in Pennsylvania. You know, I think Barack’s being condescending.’ John McCain says, ‘Oh, how could he say that? How could he say people are bitter? You know, he’s obviously out of touch with people."

“Out of touch? Out of touch? I mean, John McCain—it took him three tries to finally figure out that the home foreclosure crisis was a problem and to come up with a plan for it, and he’s saying I’m out of touch? Senator Clinton voted for a credit card-sponsored bankruptcy bill that made it harder for people to get out of debt after taking money from the financial services companies, and she says I’m out of touch? No, I’m in touch. I know exactly what’s going on. I know what’s going on in Pennsylvania. I know what’s going on in Indiana. I know what’s going on in Illinois. People are fed-up. They’re angry and they’re frustrated and they’re bitter. And they want to see a change in Washington and that’s why I’m running for President of the United States of America."

You can watch and listen to his comments here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc9PepjyDow

Iraq? Grumble! Rant!

"General David Petraeus' warning that the security situation in Iraq is "fragile" and "reversible" and that significant troop withdrawal might reverse military progress".

DA! What military progress? I thought it was for a political progress.

It has been fragile and will continue to be fragile, as long as the Iraq's can't create a government that works for all of the Iraq's. And they won't. They have to many divisions between their religious/tribal differences. That was been a problem within the middle east for 2000 years+.

They (the Iraq's) continue to attempt to reverse it themselves as this weeks attacks on the green zone that has killed even more of our hero's, putting the death toll over 4000+ dead. How may have to die for Bush's lies?

And we are not going to solve it, nor is our brave soldiers lives of any value to the Iraq's.

Our military has preformed bravely and with honor, it is to bad that the president that got us into this war isn't as honorable as those brave soldiers he seem not to care about, only to give lip service to, when it suits him, as he did this week in honoring some fallen hero's. He thinks that honoring them, he will be seen as a hero, but it is sad we have a president that isn't someone I would want our children to look up to! Bush is no hero.

It is my hope that congress will take it on themselves to push for an independent investigation on crime's and or high crimes even after Bush leaves office. I hope we take it on our selves to do this before the world court does it for us.

General Petraeus' needs to be replaced and hopefully we can get a General in there that isn't just a yes man and works hard to get our hero's out of a situation that they could die for nothing more then Bush's lies. We may have to look at one that retired because he disagreed with the Bush administration and was forced out.

The problem is, there is going to have to be a heavy handed leader take power, much like the one we removed, to control Iraq and settle the differences, in much the same way Saddam did, for there to be peace once more in that country. And the leaders of all the different sects, are hoping that they win and end up being the one to control the country. But for it to work, they will have to commit as much genocide as Saddam did against the Kurds and others to control.

So as long as we are there we will be a target and they will not settle anything. And as soon as we withdraw, a complete civil war will break out. We can't win for losing, in Iraq, so we are better off admitting that our president was wrong, and with draw.

I would suggest that we invite the other Arab countries around Iraq to put together a multi national Arab force together under the UN and deploy them as we poll our troops out. If they can't settle their differences allow Iraq to be divided into three regions. Place any oil funds in trust that comes from the sale of oil from Iraq with the UN and divide it equally between the three regions.

OK, I have grumbled and ranted enough.

Blessings,

DNC stance surprises campaigns

It's no wonder Hillary has a smile on her face this week.



"The Democratic National Committee said Tuesday that Florida and Michigan members will be seated on the three standing committees — including the critical Credentials Committee—at the party’s 2008 national convention, a position that could affect the selection of the Democratic nominee. While both states were stripped of their delegates to the convention, according to the DNC’s interpretation of party rules, members from those states will be seated on the Credentials Committee. The Credentials Committee, which can meet prior to convention, resolves disputes over whether to seat delegates at the convention."
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0408/9350.html

This could mean that the Clinton supporters on the Credentials committee from the other states could join together and out vote the Obama supports to set the Florida and Michigan delegates, and if that were to happen, Hillary could steal the lead from Obama in Delegates and popular support. If this happens with delegates that Obama never had the opportunity to campaign for and challenge Hillary for in those states, I for one will no longer be a Democrat.

If this happens I urge all Obama supporters/delegates to walk out and return home and register as Independents or the Green Party. I suggest we look at the states that the green party is not on the presidential ballot, and start passing around petitions to get the green party on the ballot for the presidency. Then cast a protest vote for the Green Party.

National Green Party Web Site
http://www.gp.org/index.php

Iowa Green Party Web Site
http://www.greens.org/iowa/

Find out more about the Green Party in your state.
http://www.gp.org/states.shtml

As a Alternate District and State delegate for Obama I will not support a DNC or the Democratic party that allows Clinton to steal the nomination from Obama. If he is not he nominee, that is the only way Clinton can take it away from him.

Join me in watching the Convention in Denver and if it happens let us walk out in protest. Let us show not only the democratic party and republican party our outrage by not giving either our vote, let us unit in giving it to a third party.

If you have any suggestions for an alternate third party to consider post to my blog and share it with us. At this point I'm open to consider any third party. Although the Green Party is more like what our democratic party use to be, is why I chose it for now. Check it out.

Stimulus Bill is to stimulate what and when?

We are now hearing that the check people are going to get, could get to them as late as June or even July depending on how they get their tax return and their last two numbers of their social security number and when they get their taxes filed. It will be summer by the time most get it and by the time they spend it, we won't see any stimulation on the economy for a couple months later. The economic jump may not happen till as late as November, after the election. And then it could be argued that if the democrats were to win the election, the economic jump could be because they won the election, not the stimulus package. I fear that the stimulus package will stimulate nothing and cause more of an economic problem, as where is the money for it coming from? Not taxes, as that money has already been spent on the war and the next budget.

Feelings of Anger!

Yes, feelings of anger, when I watch what is happening to the democratic party and Obama. Hillary has no way of winning on her own the nomination, but she stays in the race to divide the party. By not withdrawing from the race, she is causing division. Her negative attacks on Obama does nothing but divide the party. Because of Hillary the democratic party polls on winning the election are falling. Hillary's numbers have always been below where McCain is concerned, and now she is bring Obama's numbers down.

We need change, but as it is now, we may not see it. The media is out with as much negative articles they can put out about Obama. They are hoping for a last minute turn over where Hillary wins her parties nomination. The Media still believe that Hillary is the best chance for McCain to win the election if she is the one he is running against and they are correct.

I am praying that my fears are for nothing. But I fear that the Clinton's have not only shot their selves in the foot, but also because they can not accept the idea they could lose, they will do everything they can to defeat the democrat who ever it would be if it isn't Hillary.

We have leaders that call for unity and the call to support the nominee who ever it is. If they want that unity, they need to put an end to this division now and support Obama as President. He needs only 2025 to win the nomination, and if the supper delegates would come out in support of Obama now, putting an end to this division, Obama would only need 420 more supper delegates to come over now of the 800 out there to win the nomination and put an end to the nasty fight Hillary is creating.

We need to start focusing on the national election in November now. There is no way for Hillary to catch up to Obama or over take him, without going totally negative and if that happens, the democratic party will lose many new registered voters that they have just gained this past two years with the Obama push for change.

The only thing the Clinton's can guarantee by staying in the race and continuing the negative attacks instead of joining Obama's campaign for the presidency, is that the democratic party will lose the presidency.

If she were to withdraw now, she could actually change and save the way people perceive her, and Bills and the legacy they leave. The legacy they will leave if she stays in is how they destroyed the democratic party and ended any chance the country has to correct the wrongs of the Bush administration at least for another 4 years.

Hillary need to stay in congress. but if this doesn't stop now, she will probably not only lose her bid for the presidency but also her senate set.

It is my hope that the democratic leaders out there that can do something, will see and understand what is happening soon, before there is no hope or possibility for change. They need to stand up now or it will be as much their fault as the Clinton's for destroying any chance for the democrat to win the presidency.

Are You Hungry Or Thirsty?

If you go a day without eating, do you get hungry? If you go a day with out water to drink, will you get thirsty? Have you ever fasted? Have you ever went hungry?

We as human beings need food and water to survive! If we go without food or drink very long we get sick and have a hard time functioning!

Would you ever say, I hate going to the store and buying food so I'm never going to return there again!? I just don't like the people I meet there so I will not shop again!

You know I like grocery shopping. I like going to the store. I enjoy seeing people sometimes it is the only time I have seen them in several months. Sometimes I see someone I hadn't seen in years!

We humans are social beings. We need to have contact with others to stay mentally healthy! We need that interaction. Or we start having problems, like withdrawing into our selves. With out filling that social need, man will start to have mental problems. And once those problems start, they tend to keep us apart and separated so we end up having a hard time over coming our mental problems, thinking others will not accept us!

God new that man couldn't survive on physical food alone! He tells us in Matt4:4 "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."

The word is not just a written book, it is a relationship, and action. God created man with the need for food and relationship to survive in this physical world! He also knew that man need something else to survive completely. Man wasn't just a physical being but a spiritual being as well. Mankind was given a Spirit unlike the rest of the animal world around him!

We are told in Hebrews to not forsake the assembling together! This helps us in two area's as Christians. It helps us with our mental health and spiritual health in having close family in Christ to share and communicate with, and in doing so, assembling together, we do as Hebrews 10 tells us to do!

Heb 10:23-25 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

We stay close as a family in our belief and help one another stay close to God and our Lord! Showing our love for one another in Christ and exhorting each other in our faith!

Many say they can worship and read at home by themselves, but in do so, they over look a much needed area of fellowship and staying health in our walk with God!

Just as you would become weak by not eating, and our health would go down hill, so does our spiritual health if we deprive ourselves from spiritual sustenance in the fellowship with the body of Christ!

Paul goes a little further with this idea in 1 Cor. 12, in saying we are all different parts of the same body and we need each other to survive!

1Co 12:14-27 For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: And those members of the body, which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked: That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

A while back I heard about a man that got hurt in a field while working to take in his crop. He lost his foot, and a by passer saw him and helped. A sheriff's deputy went back to the field and found the foot. By getting the foot to the hospital on time, the doctors were able to reattach it and it survived and the man walks on it today. As a part of the body we need to be connected the same as that foot or we will die spiritually!

Arteries and veins carry our blood through our body, in the same way they carry the Holy Spirit that which gives life, through the body of Christ! Those arteries and veins represent Fellowship within the Body of Christ! We need that connection with each other to have those veins and arteries connected so the Holy Spirit can flow through us to one another, to other parts of the body!

No not everyone is as honored as the other! Some think they are better than the other, but we know they can not survive without us all! Sometimes we see people as hypocrites, they don't seem to be what we expect of Christians! Churches are just that, a place for sinners to go! We are all sinners and fall short! If it were not for Christ and what he did for us, we would all be lost!

So I hope you will think on not only your physical health but your spiritual health and see the need to fellowship with the rest of your spiritual body. It is then we can show them love by accepting them even if and when they are hard to accept! God accepts them!

Blessings,
Rev. Charles

Money? Romney left the race, is Hillary far behind?

Ok, Romney chose to leave the race for the presidency after not having a good showing in the Supper Tuesday primaries. McCain seemed to be the big winner out of Supper Tuesday. Huckabee came out with a surprise in winning Southern strong Evangelical voting states on the Republican side. It seems that McCain has it locked in for the nomination on the republican ticket, but he is going to have a hard time winning without the right wing Evangelical movement that elected both Reagan and the Bushes! If they stay home on November 4th he will loss! His only hope is that Huckabee joins him on the ticket as his VP and that Evangelicals will then support the McCain/Huckabee ticket. It seems that is what is working in the republican party towards! Not that I would support it! I don't really care for Huckabee myself! What scares me in that presidency is that McCain is in his 70's, and I know they say his mother is in her 90'sand still out and around on her own, but that speaks for the women in the McCain family not the men! How old was his father when he died? Do we really want Huckabee to be president? Huckabee would be set up to run for the presidency in 4 years, even if McCain lives that long! For this reason alone, I could probably vote for a Clinton in the White House again.

It is because of this I am hoping and praying that Obama is the Democratic nominee.

Not to the money issue. After the last poll closed on Supper Tuesday to the next day, Obama raised over 5 million dollars. By that time Hillary had only raised approx. 1.5 million and had to give her campaign and influx of cash by loaning it $5 million of her own money! Do we see a problem here? That gave her the ability to say the next day that they had raised approx 6.5 million and them later in the week a little over 7 million, of course 5 million came from her!

We have three primaries coming upon this next Tuesday that if pollsters are right, and they have been wrong in the past, and Hillary is sure hoping they are wrong this time around too! Obama will take all three, D.C., Maryland and Virgina. Mean while this weekend on Saturday we will find out about Louisiana Primary 67 delegates, Nebraska Caucus 31 delegates, Washington Caucus 97 delegates, Virgin Islands Other 9 delegates. Obama seems to do much better in caucus states too.

Maine Sunday Feb.10th, Hawaii and Wisconsin Feb. 19th, And then it is the next big Tuesday, March 4th with:
Ohio Primary 161 delegates
Rhode Island Primary 32 delegates
Texas Primary 228 delegates
Vermont Primary 23 delegates

Texas is going to be the big prize but by them if Hillary hasn't won any thing big, Texas may not help her, but bring it to a draw, where neither has the delegates it needs to win the nomination out right!

Wyoming Saturday March 8th,
Mississippi Tuesday March 11th,

Pennsylvania Primary 188 delegates April 22nd,

Oh, yea, now in the mean time, we could have caucus's in Michigan and Florida to chose delegates and give Obama time to visit and campaign there, so he could take a large majority of those delegates, which is Hillary's worst nightmare! She wants the delegates that have already been chose for her, to be seated, which won't or better not happen, as that would through the next presidential primary season in 2012? out the door with the National DNC and it's rules, and they will have no power or any meaning or control over when states hold their caucus's or Primaries. You will see 7 to possibly even 20 states vie for one of the front spots to hold their caucus or primary earlier or near the Iowa caucus!

So we watch Feb. 10th to see how it goes, and if thereis a clear winner by that time! We hope so, and we hope it is Obama! Obama will be the hardest for the republicans to beat! And Hillary could just inspire the republicans to get out to vote in record numbers to just voe against her!

Universal Health Care by Hillary and Feb. 31st, 2008 Debate

Ok, as I watched the debate, I hoped Hillary would answer Obama's question on her Universal Health Care! I didn't hear it!

OK what was the question Obama had? Obama said last night that Hillary still hadn't said now she would in force mandated health care, if someone didn't have health care? What kind of penalty would there be? Fines? take it directly out of their paycheck? take their income tax refund away?

Hillary's plan does waver some from having to have health care. You can request a waver!

Many articles today say in the title, that Obama and Hillary played nice at the debate! I would agree, that Obama played nice over all! He should of stuck to his guns so to speak in asking Hillary about the penalties for not having Health Care! I do think that Hillary played a little more hard ball then Obama! But that is to make up for her husbands quieting down!

To be equal in this debate on health care, Obama hasn't said how he would penalize parents that don't cover their children that coverage is mandated for in Obama's plan! Or at least I haven't seen anything on it or heard anything!

Insurance Companies have come out in favor of the Clinton or Edwards Health Care, with mandates for everyone to be covered!

And some have compared this to mandated insurance for car drivers! The problem is that even though there is mandates for insurance, and mandates is the only way insurance companies say the cost would come down! Why hasn't Auto Insurance gotten cheaper? Well it hasn't worked with car insurance! People still can't afford car insurance, why would anyone think mandating insurance would work in the long term or even in the short term!

People without insurance loss their license to drive but they still buy cars and drive them, but then they don't have a drivers license or insurance!

I find the question about allowing undocumented aliens getting drivers licenses laughable. It was asked it they support the states doing this, well, it is the state not the national government and unless Congress passes a law outlawing it, the states have the right to give them licenses! Do I agree with the states doing it, no, do I understand their motives for doing it? Yes!

But then I also believe that Insurance companies are just organized crime gone legal under the states and federal mandates! I can only remember the gangsters pro-traded in movies I watched growing up. and how some gangs are today! How they went around and told the business they wanted so much money from them a week for protection! If the business didn't pay, their windows were broken, and maybe their business was ransacked!

Well today they don't have to brake windows, the government mandates you pay them insurance money so if something happens you are covered! Car accident/house fire/burglary/illness/loan insurance! Where does it stop?

But have they paid the coverage out they carried for people? For the most part no! Just ask people that lost homes during Katrina, or houses in California do to fire, who thought they were covered for replacement cost! Ask the family that lost their daughter just hours before the insurance company agreed to cover an operation she needed to save her life, but refused to up till just before she died! To little to late! So called for the insurance company to be held responsibly for her death and even that the executives should be charged with murder! Will it happen? NO! Who do you charge? The insurance adjuster that disqualified her surgery or the person over them that had the say on the matter or the ones over them! The old adage I was ony following orders!

The buck has to stop somewhere and this is where Clinton hasn't answered the question on, how will you enforce the mandated health coverage?

How do you fix a broken system? Sometimes you just have to do your best or start over from scratch!

And sometimes I wonder if we shouldn't just scrap the old system of medical insurance for a totally new one!

People will just do what they do in accidents, give phony names and information! Get ride of the car and get another one that isn't licensed or licensed under someone else's name!

There are to many questions on how well their plans will work! Something we won't know until they put it to work!

"Senate Makes Fixes to Stimulus Bill"

"But Not Everyone is Happy"!
Some of the information I am using here is found in an article at: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,326928,00.html

Ok, why wouldn't a fix make everyone happy? Well I remember and you may too, a 20/20 program sometime back about how many illegal immigrants were actually paying taxes. How they were using ITINs that banks were giving them when they opened accounts! ITINs are Individual Tax Identification Numbers! Then when they filed tax papers for refunds they used these ITIN's to do so! Now most of these people work here and send or more precisely, wire the money back to their home land to their families to live on. Bank of America was getting hit hard on this because they were also issuing credit cards to people with accounts and only ITINs!

Well a Senator realized that the house bill was going to reward these illegal immigrants also, and that money would probably go back to their family in another country and stimulate the wrong country's economy! So in the Senate's version those that file income tax papers using ITINs numbers wouldn't get the refund, only those with valid SSA numbers would! A good fix as I see it!

The original senate version didn't have any caps, which I agreed need to have! So now the senate version caps it at $150,000 in 2007 for singles with a $500.00 rebate; $1,000 if married and filing jointly with a combined income less than $300,000. Families with children under 17 years old would get $300 per child. that is better than the house bill, it includes everyone with an income, even those with only $1.00 income and up. Not like the house bill that leaves those with less than $3,000.00 income out of it!

So this will cause the senate and house to have to enter a hearing to see if they can work out some agreement to send to the president! But that isn't all that they changed from the house version of the bill! They included an unemployment extension! Some argue that if people have an unemployment extension, it would give them an incentive to stay unemployed! Give me a break! No one wants to be unemployed! Sure it is nice to be able to pay your bills while you are unemployed, and be able to not end up homeless! Some argue they wouldn't look for work, as they would without unemployment.

"The committee extends unemployment payments for 13 weeks for those whose benefits have run out, with 26 more weeks available in states with a 6.5 percent unemployment rate. Only four states qualify for this extra assistance: Alaska, Michigan, Mississippi and South Carolina."

What is the real problem here? Bush's legacy! He doesn't want unemployment to appear to rise on the end of his watch! And it would! Because unemployment figures come from those applying for unemployment! If their unemployment ended, they are not getting any more and are not eligible, the numbers drop! That doesn't really mean unemployment went down, it means that those eligible went down.

The numbers of unemployment stats will go up if people who are unemployed become eligible for benefits! Because they will get a notice and reapply for it! A lot more states may jump up to 6.5 area if there are more benefits to be had!

Ok what else could there be? Oh remember I said in my earlier blog on this subject that the poor and seniors and disabled should get help too! Well under the senate package they will! Those that make under $3,000.00 a year would get the same rebate married and single!

"The Senate Finance Committee bill also gives rebate checks to more than 20 million low-income seniors who live on Social Security benefits. The disabled are also included in this, as they, too, get Social Security benefits. Baucus said 75,000 disabled veterans would get checks, as a result."

Great fix, the size of rebate down from $600.00 to $500.00 and $1,200.00 to $1000.00 and preventing money from rebates from ending up in foreign economy's will more than pay for the money going to those not included under the house bill! The economic stimulus will also pay back in more taxes collected by the government if the president is right and so how can that hurt? It can't!

So I say to the senate, stick to your guns, and house members get some back bone and fight for this senate bill if you are going to fight for a bill! You can over ride a veto if there is one!

There are enough republicans out there going to have to be reelected to over ride this veto if it is vetoed! If the republicans don't vote to over ride the veto, you have a very good campaign to unseat them and replace them with a democrat that would! And if there are democrats that vote against this bill, them we need to look at replacing them as well! Stop crying about what the president may do and do your job's!

Democrats Barely Show in Sunshine State

"In Florida, leaders of both state parties are confident the national parties will relent in order to avoid angering Florida voters whose support will be needed to win in November."
http://youdecide08.foxnews.com/2008/01/29/democrats-barely-show-in-sunshine-state/

Why would Florida voters be mad or angry at the DNC or the Republican Party over losing it's convention vote? It seems to me, they should have angry at their state leaders who pushed their primary up that cause the lose of delegates to the convention! And that is what the leaders in both state parties are hopping their citizens will forget!

Michigan and Florida voters should be up set with it's own leaders not the national leaders! Their state leaders were told what would happen! Other states wanted to do the same thing, but listened to the national party leaders! By reconsidering Michigan and Florida would amount to punishment to the other states that abides by the nation party rules!

Get a life and do what you are suppose to, follow the rules!

Or suffer the consciences!

House Passes $146 Billion Economic Aid Package

Ok, what gets me is when Speaker Nancy Pelosi got up and said they tried for more but lost it in negotiations with the whitehouse and republicans! We wonder why the Democratric congress has less approval rating than the president? The democrats in Congress, especially in the house, have no back bone! God forbid that something would actually happen to the President and VP and Pelosi would become president! She shows no backbone in congress, she wouldn't get it as President!

What is the President going to do, if they had held to their guns in support of giving Seniors and the poor a little more? Vetoed it in an election year? And even if the president did veto it, do you think that the republicans in congress would vote against such a economic stimulus package during an election year? They would have a veto over ride it!

With the house plan you have to have an earned income of at least $3000.00 to get anything! Anyone under that gets nothing! And it caps at $150,000.00, anyone over that gets nothing!

With this years cold weather and the cost of energy, they should of added low income energy assistance increase along with a social security bonus for those eligible!

What are people being told to do with this rebate if they get it? Spend it like the President would like them to? No most economist and financial planners are say they should use it to pay down credit cards, or put it in a short term savings CD to earn on! People that get this money will not be spending it for the most part, they will do as their financial advisers tell them to do!

So we would of put out $146,000,000.00 to do nothing!

If you want to stimulate the economy, give it to the poor and senors, they need cloths and shoes and food for themselves and their families, they will spend it because they would have too to survive! Not that they would survive without it, so will, but there are some that won't and in our elderly community because of lack of money to pay for heat and freeze to death this winter or died because of the heat this summer and not be able to even afford a fan!

I for one hope the senate has back bone, and I for one applaud the 10 democrats and 25 republicans in the house that voted against this package as is!

It's not that I don't want people to get a rebate, but that if it is to stimulate the economy, everyone should get something! This package just doesn't do enough to be considered! The senate should hold out and put addon's on the package for the poor and seniors! And they should hold to their guns to force the issue and if needed push for a veto override!

We want change and this package doesn't even start to look or smell like change! It is the same old same old what we are against!

If we need to do something to afford this package, lets start bring our men and women home from Iraq tomorrow! Lets not allow any of them be redeployed to Afghanistan without at least a year of home time! Lets do it right not wrong!

Ok, Obama won SC tonight. What is next?

I was reading an article tonight someone posted to a group I'm on, that Clinton is trying to get the DNC to reconsider their decision to not seat the Michigan and Florida delegates. She feels she would get the majority of Michigan delegates and if she were to win in Florida where they are not campaigning, she would have a major lead in delegates towards the nomination!

Florida democratic party is saying that supporters of both Clinton and Obama are out registering voters and trying to get them to vote early as you can now vote early in the primary to take place this next Tuesday.

Now, what is she going to do if Obama takes Florida like I think he will? Will she still be asking for the DNC to lift it's decision to not seat either states delegate. Well, we will have to wait and see! This Tuesday will tell.

It is my hope that a majority of those in the democratic party in Florida want change as well, after the 2000 fiasco, where 150,000 democratic were denied the right to vote after their names appeared on a list of felons put out by then republican AG, when they were not felons! They had every right to vote!

It is my hope that one family dynasty in the presidency is enough!

And after hearing our Ex-President Clinton mislead and lie, attempting to swiftboad Obama, like Bush supporters swiftboated Kerry in the 2004 election! At least it wasn't Bush doing it, it was his supporters! But having our ex-president, a leading democrat do this to a fellow democrat, it is inexcusable! And it was done with the approving nod of his wife the senator from New York that is running against Obama! And Hillary belittles Obama's spouse, Michelle Obama by comparing her to Mr. Clinton by saying "they both have spirited spouses supporting them"! Mrs. Obama has never said anything misleading or untrue about either Clinton's!

We need change! I hope those voting in Florida and the Super Tuesday Primary are smarter than the Clinton's give then credit for!

We need change and that change is Obama!

Now starts the hard time!

Today we went to Ottumwa to see off my brother and his daughter and family. They are now on the way back to New Orleans on a bus.

This really starts a little over two years ago. Katrina hits New Orleans and the Levy's brake and water starts flooding the 9th ward in New Orleans. My niece was living in the 9th ward at the time. My brother had went to stay with them during the storm, during which the high winds took part of their roof. They ended up having to walk out in waist high water. N'Kenge was only 5 years at the time, had only attended kindergarten a couple weeks. Jazmin was only 2 at the time. Georgia, my niece was 9 months pregnant at the time. had been having contractions for some time.

My brother helped Georgia get the girls out of the 9th ward to safety, walking through waist high water a couple blocks till they saw a deuce and half truck, which picked them up and got them to the stadium. Georgia continued to have contractions, and those in charge wanted to air vac her out, but they wouldn't allow her to take her daughters and dad with her, so she refused to be air vac out without them.

They ended up on a bus to Houston TX the next day.

We had no idea where they were at the time, and I listed information on different web sites about them.

It wasn't long till I had heard from my brother John in Houston that they were ok. They were not sure what they were going to do. At first they thought of staying in Houston and finding work, but they couldn't find anything or housing.

We talked and they decided to come to Iowa for a while, and with help found a house in Ottumwa they could live in for 6 months rent free. They only had to pay their own utilities and phones. At the end of the 6 months they had to find another house to rent as the owner of the first house didn't realize it was a mix race family and her boy friend was black.

Now I'm getting ahead of my self.

There was an organization that was helping people get relocated. They had asked them if they could get help, and on Saturday September 9th, they got a call asking them if they were interested in relocating. Then Monday came, Georgia was hoping to have the baby and then relocate, or at least have a couple days to get things together, but the organization told them, they had reservations on flights to Des Monies Iowa that afternoon, and they had to be at the airport by 4pm. They, all four of them, and yes, still pregnant Georgia arrived around midnight on Monday night September 11th at the Des Monies airport, where I was waiting to pick them up and take them back to Ottumwa where they would stay with my oldest son for a few days till the house was ready. Thursday they were suppose to get in the house, and Georgia was only interested in getting the house cleaned so it would be clean for the family to move into! I had come to town on Thursday to take her around to a couple appointments that morning, she still having contractions! After our last stop at an office that was going to help her with items for the baby and kids, I asked her if she had been to WIC to get it? She hadn't so we stopped there. The WIC lady asked Georgia if she had found a doctor yet, and Georgia said no. So they called around and found a doctor at the Ottumwa Clinic next to the Hospital that would see her, and they wanted her to come out that afternoon as soon as she could so they could examine her as she was having contractions! Now it was approx. 1:30pm at the time, and they asked if we could bring her right out we told them yes. So we were at the doctors office at aprox. 2:15pm and at 2:30 they decided to wheel her over to the hospital as the doctor was over there getting ready to deliver another baby, and he wanted to examine her.

Georgia's oldest daughter had already been enrolled in school, and it was almost time for her to get out, and someone needed to pick her up. I left everyone at the hospital thinking it would be a few hours if she had the baby at all that day, and went after N'Kenge, and them drove to Bloomfield to pick up our daughter Beth at the high school as she got out. The girls and I arrived back at the hospital about 4:15 pm and was told Georgia had the baby right after I had left.

Yes, Georgia was in my car at 2pm and by 3:31pm the baby was here! It was a boy! He was so cute. They spent a couple days in the hospital and then went home. Georgia named him after his grandfather, my brother(John William) .

We helped Georgia by taking him home with us just a day or so after she took him home, and watched him a few days a week from a week old, to allow her a chance to recouple and get things settled in the new home in Iowa after losing everything they had in New Orleans. We continued to watch him a few days a week to help them, until this week! He spent this past weekend with us for the last time. We took him home for the last time Wednesday afternoon.

So we had helped care for little John William from a week old to after his 2nd birthday. He is our Bud! And today we bid them farewell as he and his mother and sisters and grandpa boarded a bus in Ottumwa to relocate back to New Orleans! He had turned 2 this past September 15th! We will not only miss our family that we had grown use to having close to us in Ottumwa, but miss a little guy we have grown so close to over the past two years!

This was one of the hardest days in my life! There is a chance we may have him for part of the summer, so summer will not come fast enough! We are looking forward to June 2008! Till then our home feels a little more empty! Our lives feel a little more empty without Georgia and girls and my bother John just 30 minutes away from us! Now they are a world away from us!

Georgia had been working at the WalMart in Ottumwa, and going to Ottumwa and WalMart there will not be the same!

We already miss them and they just left us this morning!

Media Bias!!!!!!!!!!! Clinton a Big Winner???

Ok, I thought it was so funny when the media made NH a "Big Win for Hillary"! When Hillary and Obama actually tied for delegates in NH! Now Nevada was a "Big Win for Hillary"! But it looks as if Obama will receive 13 of the 25 delegates with Hillary only getting 12!

Now I have a hard time figuring how one ties in one state and gets less delegates in another is a "Big Win"!?

Our media plays it like Hillary won big and got the hole ball of wax! They are trying to convince people in South Carolina and on Supper Tuesday that Hillary is the one winning so they will believe Obama will not be a viable candidate! They need to convince people this going in to Supper Tuesday or the voters may just decide to vote for Obama instead of Hillary! This is because the polls show Hillary steady fall from a double digit lead in the polls early to a very small lead going into Supper Tuesday! A lead that could evaporate by Supper Tuesday and make Obama a really Big Winner!

I hope people don't listen to the media! We in Iowa didn't listen to the media. People need to go home and turn their news programs off and not listen to anyone in the media until they have voted on Supper Tuesday! Go listen to each of the Candidates! And especially go to an Obama rally! Listen to him not what people are saying about him! If you have a chance ask a question or listen to the questions others may ask, as they may have the same questions as you!

I hope South Carolina voters are smart enough to go to the polls this coming Saturday and vote for Change and against the same old same old! By voting for Obama!

If Democrats really want to win in November and put a Democrat in the White House, they better start thinking for themselves and vote for Change!

I was a Reagan Republican, that went Independent until 2000! As a Independent I voted for Clinton for both terms! I registered as a Democrat for the 2000 election! I voted against Bush, the first time and second in 2004! I really believe that we need a Democratic President in office! I believe that president should be Barak Obama. He is the only one that will bring true change!

I am watching very closely the Republican Primaries this year! It is the first time in sometime, I have considered voting Republican in the general election in November! I am watching McCain, hoping he is the Republican nominee! Why? Because I'm afraid that many Voters will listen to the media and either vote for Hillary because the media portrays her as the winner all the time, and Obama as not viable! Or they will stay home figuring their vote for Obama won't count or he is going to loss anyway, just listen to the media as they push Hillary!

So this once Reagan Republican will possibly vote for a Republican again this November if that Republican is McCain and the Democratic nominee is Hillary!

This primary season is over the difference of Good over Evil! And if Obama wins the Democratic Primary, Good will have won! And I will vote for Obama in November!

My worst nightmare is that in November the choice will be between Romney or Clinton! That will be no choice at all! It will serve the Democratic Party right if Romney would win the presidency with that choice!!

Michigan Delegates Seated in National Convention?

Both Florida and Michigan have been stripped of delegates going in to the national convention in Denver. Those delegates could determine which candidate wins the nomination if they are allowed to be seated and cast their support to one or more of the candidates!

What would happen if they are seated? The democratic party would be in turmoil! The National DNC would have no power over the next primary/caucus season in four more years! Any state could move up their date and argue that those this year were allowed to be seated and cast their support and so they should be able to as well and rightfully so!

States like Iowa would have problems because by Iowa DNC rules, we have to have our caucus first in the nation. NH law says they have to have their primary with no other primary seven days before of after it's and can't be on the same day as another states! Neither Iowa nor NH will give up their first in the nation spots, so we could end up with a free for all a hole year possibly two years before the actual presidential national election!

Does the National DNC want to give it's control up? I hope not!

We will now have to wait and see what happens!