Opinion and real life experience thoughts on a variety of every day topics that matter to you as an American.
Custom Search
Monday, March 19, 2012
The Power of Prayer
Do you believe in the power of prayer? I tend to have my own relationship with God and his many followers, and of course Jesus Christ. I don't wear it on my sleeve. We have our own personal thing gong on. But when friends and loved ones get into some kind of trouble I always find myself having a personal conversation with some folks in the form of a prayer.
I pray to my mom who died in 1992, my dad who died in 2003, and my grandparents on both sides that passed decades ago. I fully believe that there is a heaven, I fully believe that that is where I too some day will go, and I fully believe that family always watches over you. Ergo, they hear my little prayers for people I love on the radar. I like to think of it as my angels network. Sometimes I have them on speed dial and keep calling them when someone is really in trouble. It's what I do privately to myself.
Many a night years ago, when one of my little girls was sick, I would stay up holding them or watching them closely. As I paced in nervousness that a worried dad will do I prayed for my babies to get well to anyone and all that would listen. Did it work? I have no clue. But I still have five daughters to be thankful for on this earth.
Faith is a funny thing. You can wear it like a shield to insult the masses or you can use it for what it was intended for. Love of another person on this earth. Give faith a chance and you might just be surprised.
Some people may never understand this concept of the power of prayer. I'm not one to argue with them. It's my personal faith. And that is never going to change. I wear that part of my life like a blanket that keeps me warm and I like it.
The way that our government is set up, it is inevitable on both political sides to not get special interest money in political donations for a campaign. All politicians have to do it and it raises the question of what is the return for that donation to the political campaign? Us folks in the middle class that are Democrat, Republican, Independent, or MyMOM WAS an alien from outer space are going to get screwed over no matter who gets elected. It is just the way the system is. Somebody has to pay for the tax cuts for the mega rich in one administration and then someone has to pay for the handouts to the poor in the next. If you are in the middle class, tag, your it.
I'm however a huge fan of grass roots campaign funding. That is a campaign built with and funded from the little people. The people that hope their elected leaders will voice what change needs to happen in the nation that will effect their lives. For some odd reason I trust a campaign run on two dollar donations from millions of people rather than a campaign run on ten thousand dollar per person donations at exclusive political dinners and events. That smacks of we own you and you will be our gopher.
Who can you trust when the dollars to pay for the very expensive way that politicians conduct campaigns by flooding the airways and television with non stop ads that drive you nuts are paid for by corporations that are now classified as people too? Do you trust the millionaire club or the the mom and pop politician that they are sending a few dollars to in hope for a better future for their children? Trust none of the above, they all lie. The promises are empty, the follow up if elected is worse. I try for hope when I vote but the end result is the recipe for sausage that nobody wants to see made or read how it is made.
But I am not a fan of politicians that only seek out people that want favors paid back for support today. That is what is really wrong with our political system and election of leaders in this nation. Money talks and the rest of you folks can have a nice day. Check your wallet at the door or empty your pockets after they are elected. Same thing.
Whatever happened to our political system that only the people with the most bucks to advertise win the election is really wrong. The way the system works you need to surround yourself with millionaires in order to get elected and that is so wrong that it sucks! It goes against the principle of "We the people...".
Up comes the junior politicians in the GOP congress and the they are living it up like kings in the land of millionaires. Who do you think they are going to support in your congress? This is your government officials at work. I'm sure that the GOP and Republicans could come out with a hit list just as bad on the Democrat side but this is just too much. Check this out from CBS News....
That's where we caught up with a select group of Republican freshmen, engaged in business as usual. But they didn't come alone. They invited big campaign donors and lobbyists to join them - for a price. And we secretly sent our cameras along for a unique inside look at their first joint fundraiser, where special interests got the kind of access ordinary Americans can only dream of: on the golf course; over drinks at the resort bar; at a private beach lagoon.
"Book your Key Largo getaway now," reads the invitation, obtained by CBS News. The hosts are veteran congressmen Spencer Bachus, of Alabama, Pete Sessions, of Texas, "and 12 of your favorite Republican
The 12: Sandy Adams (Fla.), Quico Canseco (Texas), Rick Crawford (Ark.), Bob Dold (Ill.), Sean Duffy (Wis.), Stephen Fincher (Tenn.), Mike Fitzpatrick (Penn.), Daniel Webster (Fla.), Mike Grimm (N.Y.), Nan Hayworth (N.Y.), Jim Renacci (Ohio) and Cory Gardner (Col).
Congressmen Canseco and Gardner were seen on camera heading in to host happy hour. To get in, donors had to pay at least $10,000.
All I have to say is that you get what you vote for. And these people are all bought and paid for.
I recently saw a piece about Rush Limbaugh on his own site stating that all of the advertisers that quit his show is really not a concern and he is right. Rush Limbaugh makes his money off of syndicating his show nationwide. The stations that run his program pay for the right to run his program. National advertisers are really no concern of his. He just speaks into the mike and the words go nation wide. The only people suffering from his idiocy are the local radio stations that carry his show.
Maybe a grass roots campaign is in order to show the little fat man on Viagra what woman in America think of his statements. Make the effort and call the local radio station and ask them to take Rush Limbaugh off the air. If he said that Sandra Fluke was a slut he meant that she was a slut for using birth control. You can't say oops on something you were so passionate about on the air nationwide and then take it back with a web site apology. Even Don Imus had the balls to go and face the woman he accosted on the air to apologize. Now that was owning up to being wrong. Rush Limbaugh will never own up to being wrong because he actually believes that he is right. His apology is strictly financial in reason.
It is nice to see that a list of Limbaugh advertisers that have dropped his show nationwide is coming out. The more the better. I stole this list from Think Progress...
21st Century Insurance • Hotels.com • Rite Aid • Ace Hardware • Honda • Robitussin • Acura • IBM • Sam Adams • Advance Auto Parts • Icy Hot • Sam’s Club • Advil (All products) • Intuit/Small Business • Schiff – Digestive Advantage • Alacer/Emergen-C • Schiff – Mega Red • Allegra (all products) • Johnson & Johnson (All Brands) • Schiff – Move Free • Kohl’s • Schiff – Sustenex • Ally Bank • La Quinta • Scotts Miracle-Gro (all products) • American Express • Lifetime • Autozone • Little Caesars • Sony • Lowe’s • State Farm • British Petroleum • Luxottica • Staples • Bullfrog Sunblock • Macy’s • Sterling/Kay Jared Jewelers • Caltrate • MasterCard • Subway • Centrum • McDonalds • Takeda Uloric • Chapstick • Midas • The Home Depot • Clorox (Pinesol/Homecare) • Napa Auto Parts • ThermaCare • Cortizone • National Realtor • Toyota • DeVry • NBC-TV • Discover Card • Office Depot • Twinings of London • Domino’s Pizza • Office Max • Tyson/Wright Brand Bacon • Exxon/Exxon Mobil • One Main Financial • Unisom • Farmers Insurance • United Healthcare • Ford • Orkin • U.S. Army • Outback • U. S. Postal Service • General Motors (All products -GM Certified Service • Chevy • Onstar • Cadillac • etc) • Preparation H • Visa • Gold Bond (all products • ProNutrients (all products) • Walgreens • Grainger • Progressive Insurance • Wal-Mart • Green Mountain Coffee • Prudential • Wells Fargo • Hallmark • Radio Shack • Wrigley • H&R Block • Rent-A-Center • Yahoo!
I think they are saying something to you Mr. Limbaugh and it isn't Atta Boy! But you know better because your brain is on loan from God. Maybe God should foreclose?
Facebook is an awesome place for motivational thinking posters. Pictures and thoughts that just make you think how to be a better person. Sometimes they are obvious and sometimes just a simple lift to your soul. Look at them how you like but they all have some meaning to someone and each person can walk away with a different purpose to their life after reading them.
I try to live my life in the positive simply because I choose too. When you live your life thinking that the world is against you then your mind will build that wall for you. No charge for the bricks and mortar. Know better and think better. It is as simple as that. - Papamoka
Rummaging in our souls, we often dig up something that ought to have lain there unnoticed. - Tolstoy
I've heard many good things about having a complete Vegan diet but as someone that was raised on meat and potato's I'm not sure if I buy it one hundred percent. I know for a fact that a diet high in meat of any kind can cause health problems but I also know that a diet that is full of just vegetables is extremely good for you. But I like burgers, I like steak, I even like chicken and pork. I can't see myself living a strictly Vegan lifestyle when it comes to my diet. I think I suffer from the old "Son of a meat eater disorder" syndrome and may never have the ability to change.
This woman however has lived a Vegan lifestyle for almost thirty years and she appears to be ageless...
My girlfriend is Vegan and she has the beauty and for the most part the health of a woman half her age. Many of the nutrients that people say that vegan's can not get by refusing to eat meat and dairy product is hogwash. Some of the seeds that she eats are higher by almost three times in the same oils that you get by eating a piece of fish. Calcium is another nutrient that some people say that vegan's can not get because they do not eat dairy products but she can get more calcium and have it absorbed better by the body with the green leafy plants that she has in her diet. The combination of her diet lets her body process nutrients differently and maybe more efficiently than a person with the FDA food pyramid diet. When you have less animal fats in your diet then your body does not need the additional nutients and enzymes that you get from other sources.
It makes you wonder about the way we lived and ate when we were younger, when our parents were younger, about all of the serious health problems facing the new generations of people. Where was all of the ADHD and ADD, and child diabetes that we see diagnosed in children today back in the sixties and early seventies? We no longer breast feed our children because the doctors recommend baby formula. Which is all processed chemicals with vitamins added, calories added, nutrients added, and of course sugar and etc added. No antibodies as yet but I'm sure that is in the works in some test laboratory somewhere. We no longer feed our babies vegetables that you steam and mash because they need the added nutrients that are inserted into baby food. As they get older we feed them canned pasta, canned vegetables, breakfast from a box of processed ingredients. Milk that is engineered to not be milk but a nutritional supplement delivery device. All natural juice that only has 2% real fruit juice. What the hell is the other 98%? One thing for sure is that real fruit juice may also be an acceptable term by the FDA for something that isn't even really fruit juice at all!
Part of many of these processed ingredients we have in our food today are sugar and preservatives that our bodies may not know how to process in such high quantities other than expelling it into fatty tissues to be burned off years after the expiration date on the original box, can, or bottle.
Eating healthy in America is a very hard thing to do in the age of drive up windows and food ready to eat out of a box in a grocery store. All you can do is read the labels and start to educate yourself on what is real and what is an ingredient that should not be in your food. Biggest alert for ingredient label readers is the term "Natural Flavors". It makes you wonder if anything is natural anymore?
Be careful out there in the supermarket. Some of that stuff you casually toss into your cart while you talk on your cell phone can be toxic. MSG and all the other chemical additives is just chemicals that were designed outside of nature for your taste buds that make your mind think you are eating really good stuff but what you actually have in your mouth is processed crap chemically engineered.
You can look into organic foods. I've been checking that out lately with my girlfriend. Forget about the fruits and veggies you see at your grocery market these days. If they don't say organic then they are probably developed hybrid foods that have been engineered to fill your belly but not your nutritional needs. Then add all of the chemicals and pesticides used to keep the bugs off of them while they were growing. And if they are out of season but your market has them then they are imported from South America where pesticides are king. The more the better!
Do yourself a favor and grow your own garden and know what is being put on your table. Plant a few fruit trees and can the veggies and fruits. Is there any other more trusted label than your own writing on the lid saying that it was canned last fall? Now that is something that even I can do.
We were out for dinner last night at Caleco's, I was going to get the steak but decided to go for the club salad. Meat, cheese, and salad stuff in it. It was enough salad to feed a family of four! I'm working my way towards a healthier diet. I am almost a vegetarian. Almost. One step at at time.
