I'm back and in the Hunt

I sometimes wonder what makes people do the things they do. Is it from habbit, how they were raised or simply what they see on television? Through Facebook we are able to catch a brief glimpse into other peoples lives. This new obsession has grasped our nation and you would think that somehow or somewhere we have all become "Friends". It gives the seven degrees of seperation a whole new meaning. I mean are we all really that friendly? You know I have 383 friends on Facebook, but I'm really hoping that I can find 6 buddies to carry my casket when the good lord calls me home.
Watching episodes 17 & 18 of the new series "The Republican Debates" I started wondering how many people are "Friends" to the candidates. I'm sure by now Newt has de-friended Mitt, Rick S and Rick P. He may still be friends with Jon H. but was never a friend of Ron P. As for Ron Paul, his list of political friends is limited to his son and possibly Jim Demint on occasion. I was also very impressed with Governor Huntsman's performance in this week-ends debates.
As many of you know, I supported President Obama in the 2008 election. He was the first and only Democrat I had ever supported. Iraq was the main reason and I saw the 2008 version of John McCain as "W" 2.0. Knowing what I know now, would I have voted differently? Probably not. If McCain had won there probably would not have been a TeaParty or Occupiers. Status Quo would have been rule.
In Governor Huntsman I actually see someone who gets it. Who understands our problems are not who can and cannot get married. It's allowing banks to become too big to fail. It's making the tax plan simplier and easier to understand by lower taxes and removing loop holes. Our problems don't reside in Afghanistan but knowing they lie in Pakistan and having someone who knows the way to handle it is through a strong fiscal policy and not threats of war. Someone who knows that the only way to get out of the Middle East is to stop importing their oil, thus funding the terrorist we spend Trillions to fight.
I know I'm probably not going to persuade anyone to vote for Governor Huntsman. I only ask that you do your homework and at least give him a shot here in SC. He is not perfect, but who is? There has only been one who can make that claim.

"When you come to the fork in the road, take it". Yogi Berra.

Ash Wednesday and the start to Lent

Some of you may or may not know but I gave up Facebook for Lent this year. Over the years I have given up such things as cheese, beer, caffiene, salt and even one year listening to sports talk radio.
Sometimes we don't notice how certain things we do have gained power over us and dictate our actions. In Lent fasts, we discover these things and give them up so that God can be in charge. Franciscans use the term 'detachment': the less that 'stuff' preoccupies your life, the more room there is for God, as well as for yourself and for other people.
When I consider the sacrifices that have been made in the past from not only the first believers but the ultimate sacrifice at Calvary, it makes the few hours I am giving up seem small. I plan to read more, write more and pray more.

Syd

Oh by the way.....

Throughout the last couple of weeks of campaigning did anyone notice one thing missing in all of their speeches and commercials? I heard plenty of talk of overturning "Obama Care", lowering taxes, "taking back our country", but I heard nothing of ending wars. Even yesterday as victory speeches were made and political analyst tried to tell us what happened nothing was mentioned. Have we been fighting so long now that we have forgotten about our soldiers? Not once did John Boehner mention what the new congress was going to do about Iraq or Afganistan. Also something else that I'm curious about, how do we pay for 2 wars when we are cutting taxes or cutting our revenue?
Least we forget, while the people were speaking and the tea party was taking back the country, on Tuesday Spc Jonathan Curtis(24)of Belmont, Mass and Pfc Andrew Meari(21) of Plainfield, Ill lost their lives in Afganistan. Please, their families and the families we know and love deserve to know what your plans are for these 2 wars. By the way Mr. Speaker I have a question.....

Syd

1 Never Works

It's election day and unfortunately, I'm afraid the straight party people are going to win out again. These are the people who automatically hit the Big R or Big D button each and every time. In this state it usually means the Big R. I'm not sure if it's because they don't want to take the time to examine each candidate or they don't know how to examine each candidate, or they are simply doing what they were told to do by Fox News. Funny how things have changed. I remember growing up in Oconee County and my family being the only Republicans there. 36 years ago today my dad had me out holding up signs for James Edwards, to help elect the 1st republican governor since reconstruction. Imagine that, South Carolina a democratic stronghold.
Several years ago I was having a conversation with State Senator Fletcher Smith and we were discussing the change. I told him 40 years ago you could walk into any church in SC with a handful of rocks and not hit 5 republicans, now you can walk into any church in SC and not hit 5 democrats. When they find out what went wrong they may make inroads back into this state. But the sad part is that most people now will not give any other candidate a chance unless they have the R beside their name.
If we have learned anything in the last 10 years is that when 1 party is in charge the system goes to hell. During Reagan we had a republican president and a democratic congress that started the end of the cold war and economic growth. Likewise with Clinton. Democratic President and a Republican Congress gave us a Balanced Budget, Welfare Reform and a surplus. Under Bush (Republican President and Republican Congress) we had record deficit, 2 wars, wall street meltdown. Once again with a Democratic President and Democratic House we are seeing things once more going to hell.
I for one am happy to see the changing of the guard in the house. I hope history repeats itself and the prosperity of split leadership returns.

Happy Voting

Syd

Same trail different hiker

Nikki Haley has been called Mark Sanford in a skirt. For all of his good intentions the bottom line was Mark Sanford never got anything accomplished because of his refusal to work with the General Assembly. A general assembly made up of his party. With Nikki Haley I am afraid the same thing is going to happen.

She's been in the South Carolina General Assembly for six years, and hers is the party that's been in power the entire time. A woman with ideas about what needs to be done in our state, one who works hard and knows how to get things done... she's had ample time to accomplish things.

And yet she hasn't. I'm not badmouthing the woman. I'm talking about facts. She was the primary sponsor of five bills in the last two years. None of them passed.

In six years in the legislature, she's been the primary sponsor of exactly one bill that's passed. Just one. It allows people to wash hair in hair salons without having a cosmetology license.

Being governor is not like being a king in olden days. She doesn't get to do whatever she wants. She has to get laws passed by the legislature to do anything. Otherwise, nothing happens (ala Sanford and his inability to work with his own party).

She was at the Citadel this weekend talking to cadets and told them she would be giving out report cards to legislators who weren't working with her to pass legislation or weren't keeping their promises to voters.

I don't think that's going to make any lawmakers eager to work with her -- having her give them failing grades. They don't work for the governor. They work with the governor, if all parties are willing. She's already set the wrong tone.

Don't take my word for this. Look up information for yourself. Ask her. Ask her campaign. What has she accomplished in the legislature? She hasn't shown the initiative to come up with legislative proposals herself, get them through the House and Senate and signed into law. Simply has not done it. Not in 6 years.

She's campaigning on roll-call votes in the legislature, so we can hold lawmakers more accountable for their actions. Roll-call votes are part of the permanent record, so we can look back and see who voted yes and who voted no on particular issues, as opposed to passing legislation by lawmakers simply saying yeah or nay as a group.

I think that's a great idea. I support her completely on that.

But she couldn't get it passed, not with a Republican majority in the House and Senate.

Why couldn't she do this? Why couldn't she rally her party to pass something important? To pass anything?

What is she going to do differently as governor? I think a person's past actions are the best indicator of what they will do in the future. Nikki Haley simply hasn't gotten anything done.

"In God We Trust"?

I recently received another one of those annoying e-mails claiming how the Obama government wants to remove "In God We Trust" from our currency. I don't know how true these emails are but I think it should be removed. Should our trust in god really be associated with our money? Think about all the things people are willing to do to obtain money. Lie, cheat, steal, whatever it takes to obtain wealth. We now live in a society that it takes boths parents working, and the 60 hr work week is not unusual. All these things for money. I know it takes money to live but do we really need to associate our god with money? Matt. 6:24 tells us you cannot serve both God and Money. So do we need gods name on there? Think about all the evil that is caused by money. We fight wars over oil(money). We see the con's and swindles of Wall Street(money) even locally the collapse of Carolina Investors was a simple case of a few people wanting more and not worrying about who they hurt. Everyday a convenience store is being robbed, or home invasion, drug traffic, etc. All for the love of money. How true was Paul's letter to Timothy saying "for the love of money is the root of All Evil"? (Paul amazes me with his ability today to step on our toes).

Also, Do we really trust in God?

So, count me as one of those who does not want my God associated with money. Next thing you know he will expect me to give him a portion of it.

Syd

Is this who we are?

So it has come to this. The health care bill was passed and there have been threats to congressmen and vandalism to democratic hq's. Racial slurs to James Clyburn, homophobic shouts at Barney Franks, death threats to many and bemoaning by all of those who opposed the bill. Is this really who we are? Maybe we should remove "In God We Trust" from our currency. With the amount of hate that has been shown this week in our country are we really "One Nation Under God"? No I do not agree with everything in the bill. But I do agree that something had to be done. The republican response throughout has been "we need to take more time to discuss" which was BS. 14 months has been long enough. They only wanted to prolong the effort to tie things up. My question to all those who oppose this because we can not afford it is, Where were you when Bush & Cheney were financing 2 wars with borrowed money? Speaking of fiscal irresponsiblity, cutting taxes while staging 2 wars? That doesn't begin to make sense. During WWII Americans were encouraged to give more not less. How sad is it that we have an unlimited budget for killing and worry about the price of saving someones life.

Again I say, I don't agree with everything in the bill. But I do not think my healthcare should be limited to the amount of money in my checking acct. Or do I believe that someone should risk bankruptcy because they became ill. With Insurance or Without it's happening everyday. Aren't we a better Country than this?

"We are the people our parents warned us about" Jimmy Buffett