Eight, Twenty-Eight, Ten

When I first heard about the event at the Lincoln Memorial, I thought that would be a great place to go. As events began to unfold I grew stronger in the interest of going. Why not go? I have the time, the interest, the car, and I know where it is at. Just like going to the Tea Party it was only a matter of getting up and going. The more I thought about how large the crowd would be and the scarcity of parking spaces I slowly leaned toward not going. Then, it was announced that buses were being rented and it was possible to ride on a bus, for a fee of course. The buses could be found on the Internet. When I opened that site there were flags all over the United States. There were many of them on the Jacksonville area but so many that they could not be distinguished. I gave up. However, the more I thought about it I realized that there must be some way to zero in on the area desired. Yep, it did have and I soon found three buses leaving from Jacksonville, none from Green Cove Springs or Orange Park. I checked all three sites and two of them were being run by the same woman. One was leaving from north Jacksonville and the other from south Jacksonville. It was obvious that if one bus filled another would be obtained. Opening her site was tricky, I had to fill out my credit card info. or other method of payment. All I had to do was sign-up. I held off. Some hard thinking had me looking seriously at my situation. The long bus ride would not be a problem. Standing in the hot sun for six hours gave me pause. I have trouble staying out for three hours in the sun. (Recent Braves baseball game taught me that.) The walks I could handle. Sitting down is a necessity, but sitting on the ground would leave my legs very stiff. In the end the physical demands overruled it all. I knew the event: "Restoring Honor" would be a historic gathering but I would reluctantly miss it. The event drew about 500,000 people and it is reported that it was like one huge prayer meeting. There was no politics, no signs, no confusion, no hostility - everybody was nice to one another. Dr. Alvedia King spoke, Glenn Beck spoke, Sara Palin spoke. Albert Pujols, the baseball player, received a medal for "Hope". Two hundred and twenty clergyman from all denominations intertwined arms and prayed together. When the crowd dispersed there was no trash, the area had a pristine look. Wish I had been there.

Quarks

While strolling around a flea market I spotted a book by Stephan Hawking: "A Brief History Of Time." It was fifty cents and I believed I could not go wrong adding to my knowledge of Time. He mainly divides the book into two parts, the first covers the Cosmos. A great deal of it I have been exposed to, even enjoyed some of it on the Discovery Channel. Of course, in this book there is much detail and it pleased me that I was able to follow it. The second part of the book covered quantum mechanics. Now I am well versed in the Atomic Theory and knew from chemistry that there was something smaller than atoms. Indeed, electrons and protons forming an atom, valences, mass, spinning particles and electronic charges. When he introduced quarks things got very interesting. It was here I began to reread paragraphs and asking myself what is this stuff? I have concluded that in order to understand it all an engineering degree would be of great help. Struggling through the next two chapters brought me to the conclusion that I was not going to understand quantum mechanics. I skipped to his definition of black holes (Hawking's speciality and about which he wrote his thesis) and it was all too confusing, it was necessary to understand what was in the previous chapters. The description of how white dwarfs are created had my head spinning, I just did not understand. The book has been set aside without completion, I do not have enough time to study it all. My understanding will have to wait for when I enter the next world.

Keynes

When I was attending Henry Ford Community College many years ago, I took an Economics class in which we discussed Keynesian theory. The professor presented his theory in a positive and supportive manner. I bought into it completely and felt myself in the know about Economics. The book by Keynes came out in 1936 and in it he stated that the government must step in and stimulate the economy when the private sector falters. He was pointing to the recent Great Depression, of which at time of the books publication, we were still in. This was support for the programs Roosevelt had tried when he became president. Roosevelt was a hero to my father, and not knowing anything on my own, Roosevelt was a hero to me. It was all so clear - if there was not enough money in the economy then the government would add money into it. Big government people loved this theory and they promoted it wherever they could. They took credit for ending the great depression and stated it was proof that the theory was correct. For me: "Yes, yes, my professor suports this and he is so smart, I support it too." (The typical response from the young with a skull full of mush.) After many years in various jobs in the private sector, I came to understand that the world is not that simple. The great depression did not end by government pump priming but by the needs of WWII through the private sector. If it were not for that war the depression would have continued. The Keynesians were taking credit that was not due them. This Keynesian theory continued to be taught and the academics loved it. What makes an economy function well? It is certainly not large government. Many countries have tried the Keynesian theory and all have failed. The socialists are the major supporters of big government and they try it gleefully, only to find they fail. Obama is a beliver in Keynesian theory and is attempting to use it in his "fundamental transformation" of this country. It is just too bad that he has not had experience in the private sector which might have opened his eyes to the truth.

Deuteronomy

There are many quotes from Deuteronomy in the book "America's Prophet" and because of that I decided to reread that book in the Bible. I was amazed at the redundancy. It is as if it was written for a small child. Also, the number of times that there is a reference to: "because you were also aliens in a foerign land" it seems that it is on every page. The whole book is only 33 pages long, but a lot of instruction is in that space. A full reading also provides the answer to the question of: "Why did God call the Israelites a stiff-necked people?" It is amazing that they cannot follow what God wants them to do when they see what he does for them every day. It is possible to see where some of the laws of Islamic Sharia Law originated. Many of them are there in Deuteronomy for all to see. It makes me give a sigh of relief that we are Christians and are no longer subject to that Law.

Voting the Incumbent Out

My Republican congressman has served this community for 22 years. He always votes with the party leaders and his record is highly conservative. This primary I am voting for his opponent who has come from the Tea Party movement. Starnes will try to stay in office for the rest of his life. This new person is for term limits, the Fair Tax, smaller government, closing the border and 2nd amendment rights. When we asked Starnes a question about the Fair Tax, his answer revealed he did not know it at all though he said he had read it and supported it. A startling thing has happened in the adjoining congressional district, Corrine Brown (D) has an opponent. He is black and has some tie with the Tea Party movement though I don't know what it is. That would be something if she would lose her seat.

Bell, California

One of my hopes for my children, grandchildren and great grandchildren is that they should be good citizens. They should understand the city, the state and the country in which they live. To do this it is necessary to be vigilant about those that serve them. Vigilance requires effort, study and staying informed. Why do I hope this? Because there are people who attempt to deceive the people that they say they serve. An excellent example has recently come about in Bell, California. In this city of 30,000 people the Mayor and the Police Chief have been taking salaries that are way out of line for the work they have been doing. The Mayor was drawing almost $800,000 and the Police Chief was drawing over $400,000 per year. How did this happen? Where were the people when salary increases were proposed? Why was there no published information on salaries and pensions? Where was the opposing party that might have made inquires? Who ran against them in elections that might have exposed the thievery? When the citizens did find out about their officials they asked for an accounting. The thieves, promptly resigned. Are there other cities that have this same type of people working for them? While this is an egregious, case we can be assured that there are more, they just have not been uncovered yet. To my progeny - do your due diligence as a citizen. Do not wait for someone else to do it. That is what people were doing in Bell, expecting others to do it. Be a credit to yourself and your community.