Doug Smith: The Loyal Opposition?

27 Mar

doug-for-fsp

Doug Smith: Author, historian and political, historical and social editor for Free State Patriot.

 

March 27, 2017

 

That is what the party out of power is supposed to be. However, that is not what the current Democrat party will be, ever. But more on that later. The Dems and the Left will only oppose Trump in the most vicious, “un” Democratic way possible.

The Loyal Opposition from come from within the President’s own party. The Freedom Caucus. The Heritage Foundation.

Me.

So, here goes. No, Mr. President, the Freedom Caucus was not to blame for the failure of the Ryan Health Care bill to get the required votes. But they did help, and for that, kudos to them.

The Democrats, as you should know (you are not stupid, but impulsive in the extreme, and for God’s sake give your phone to Reince Preibus and enough with the 2 am tweets!) will never support anything you say or do. You never were going to get any vote to touch a hair on the head of Obamacare, or Planned Parenthood from the Left side of the aisle. Well, maybe Joe Manchin, but he is fighting for survival in a WV that is getting redder every day. And he doesn’t want to come back to Morgantown and practice law.

But I think you already knew all this, and so did Paul Ryan.

Not everything is the art of the deal. There is also the value of rigorous honesty.

Paul Ryan seems, from one perspective, to be angling for the GOP to repeat a hat trick they have done successfully over and over. We need more!

Give us the House, and we will repeal Obamacare.  So, the get the House. Then, to avoid a government shutdown caused by Obama and Reid, but blamed in the press on the GOP (have you figured this out yet? EVERYTHING is going to be the fault of you and the GOP. Get used to it, and just do the right, and smart, thing.)  the GOP House caved on funding, where they did have power, then voted for a “clean bill” to repeal, and sent it to the Senate, where they did not have power, to die.

Lather, rinse, repeat. Give us the Senate.

We did.

Same routine.

Give us the White House.

We did, well, sort of. You are not what the GOP had in mind, and it is somewhat amusing to find them in this state.

But as we got closer over the last 6 years to giving the GOP everything relating to power in DC, a curious rot has set in. We need to repeal it, root and branch, thundered Mitch McConnell. We need to fix the parts that are broken, whimpered Jeb Bush, with all the passion of an artichoke.

Huh?

We need to repeal and replace it, as we have been promising the American people, sang the GOP in DC, in 216-part harmony. Wait a minute, now, just wait one doggone minute. What is this, trying for a soft landing.

It just doesn’t work like that. You sign a contract, or make a promise, and then as it gets close to time to deliver, you start to change the words, and alter the terms.  You start to wax eloquent about the terms of the deal that only you are party to, and how you feel obligated to keep that promise.

And you know what?  The folks who were promised a Mercedes, and now hear about the Prius you say you promised them, are going to feel betrayed, and suspicious. We are also going to wonder, if you didn’t keep the first promise, why would we expect you to keep the second one when the going gets tough?

We need to fix the parts that are broken? Yes. And it is all broken. As any big government takeover of a business necessarily will become. The bigger, the worse, and quicker it will break.

One argument is the phased repeal: keep Obamacare in place for a while so Secretary Price can reverse the many discretionary rules and changes of Secretary Sibelius.

Anyone see the problems there? Anyone? Beuhler?

Ok, first, if that is what the GOP, or you, Mr. President, want to do, Secretary Price is in office right now. He can busily spend his day reversing every move that Kathleen Sibelius took to try and prop up Obamacare, including eliminating the Cornhusker Kickback, and have it done right now. He has a staff. They can pull up every move she made and right a simple change: this is eliminated, and Tom Price can sign it.

Secondly, and one of the major flaws of Obamacare: what the Secretary giveth the Secretary, or a future one, can take. The law is so nebulous the Secretary of HHS can do whatever they want at any time. Forever. Uncertainty is deadly for a business. And this provision inserts it into the entire industry.

So, use the power you inherited now (after all, if you don’t, why would we think you will after the next bill is passed?)  and do it.

Secondly, it has not been that long since we had an administration and Congress force feed us a bill in record time, without giving a clear picture of what was in it. Pelosi s famous “We have to pass the bill, to see what’s in the bill. “You did, we have, and we don’t like it. Furthermore, we don’t want bills passed like that again.
A lesson for you from Obama, one which he did not learn: POTUS is not a king, and must often persuade and negotiate, rather than rule, bully, and bluster.

You and Ryan have told us this is the best you get. Ignore the previous promises, just be grateful we are giving you something. We are at a crisis, and if you don’t pass it right now (this sounds so very much like 2009 all over again) the seas will rise, buildings will crumble, and you will be stuck with Obamacare till it crashes and burns, and we will blame it on the Democrats, and any of you, our own folks, who did not go along.

But that is not going to work this time. The common sense, conservative core of the Republican voting base has been lied to by our leadership far too many times to let it happen again without consequences. You, Mr. President, are one of those consequences, and the reasons Jeb or Marco are not planning the Easter Egg hunt.

Ryan is playing by the old boy rules. He is trying to craft a bill which would pass the old Senate rules. But of course, Harry Reid blew up long standing convention, so all bets are off in that august body.  And if anything, his first bill should be WAY over to the other side, leaving room to negotiate back to the center. You never make a deal by starting out with all you want and saying That’s it, no negotiating.

Have you ever read “The Art of the Deal, “by Donald Trump?

If the GOP passes, and you sign, a bill which leaves most of Obamacare intact and just paints the walls in a house on fire, the folks who voted for you, and them, will feel, correctly, that they have been betrayed.

The Democrats were and are never going to support anything you do. The loyal opposition is not going to chant your name and give you a rubber stamp. We are going to support you when you are right (well done with Gorsuch and extreme vetting, nice start with the EPA) and when you are wrong, let you know.

The last real journalist I can remember speaking the truth to power when it came to POTUS was Sam Donaldson. He did a nice job of keeping Carter and Reagan’s feet to the fire.  I can still hear him now.

Hold On, Mr. President.

That is the title of HIS book. It might be good reading for you, Mr. President. At 2 am. Instead of tweeting.

As I’m sure you have discovered, you are sitting in the hottest seat around.  There are some of us around who will loyally support you, but still hold your feet to the fire when your misstep and try to urge you back on the right path.

I expect you will make missteps. You are human, after all.  Smart humans learn from their mistakes and don’t repeat them. That is my hope for you.

So, to summarize, here, from the loyal opposition, Hold On, Mr. President.

That is not what we sent you there to do. Take a breath. Have a steak, well done, with ketchup, and try again.

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James Caserta: Finally Stepping Into The Light – Part 3

27 Mar

Taking Back My Fire

JAMES

Sunday, March 26, 2017

  “Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you.”

Luke 10:19 NLT

A couple weeks ago I took it upon myself to begin this blog, to document my journey to better health and regaining the life I had taken for granted; a life I sacrificed in exchange for immediate satisfaction. Each week I sit here at the family computer, and I put on my uplifting music, and I lift up this new entry to God, to use for His divine purpose.
Now, I’m finally beginning to see some of those results I’ve been looking for. The exciting part is hearing many others comment on how I look like I’ve lost weight; it’s like fuel to the fire for me. I could not be happier with how this is going so far, and the minor improvements in my mobility and stamina are all testaments to my daily efforts to control how much food I intake.
However, this is only half the battle for me. During my low points, those times when I felt hopeless and past the point of no return, my spiritual fire was decimated. I completely lost my faith in God, and I felt as if He wasn’t even listening. Those voices had me convinced that I had thrown my life away, and God wasn’t going to answer my tear-filled cries for help. So taking back my fire is just as critical to my overall well-being as my physical health is.
The voices are still there, but I have a choice as to how much power they have over my mind and the choices I make. So I’m making it my goal to arm myself with the knowledge that comes from the Bible, and to reignite my dormant inner being, because I refuse to let my weight or my food addiction dictate my identity any more. I can’t take this for granted, or make excuses like I have so many times before.
And so, for my health, for my wife, for my family, and most of all for my God, I’m taking the fight to the enemy, and taking back my fire, once and for all.

Posted by at 4:09 PM

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Mark Caserta: Threats from North Korea merit US concern

25 Mar

me

Mark Caserta:  Free State Patriot editor

Mar 24, 2017

kim

The Kim family has ruled North Korea for more than 60 years, and it’s no secret the totalitarian regime has an appetite for attention.

But recently, the rogue leader of the country, Kim Jong-un, delivered an ominous threat directed at the United States, which caught the attention of the world.

Last week, the U.S. and South Koreans began a massive, joint annual exercise off the Korean peninsula known as the Ulchi Freedom Guardian Drills. North Korea apparently has always complained about these drills, which Fox News reports as “largely computer-simulated war games,” involving 25,000 U.S. troops and 50,000 South Koreans.

But this time, as reported by multiple news outlets, including CNN, a spokesman for North Korea’s military was quoted as saying on behalf of the country’s state media that North Korea will “turn the stronghold of provocation into a heap of ashes through Korean-style pre-emptive nuclear strike” if the U.S. and South Korea “show the slightest sign of aggression” during the drill.

Just another glitzy attempt to fan their peacock train for the world to extol? Perhaps.

But it’s wise to weigh the varying circumstances under which this threat was made.

We know that both North Korea and Iran have economic and military ties with Russia and China.

China is technically committed to the defense of North Korea under the 1961 Sino-North Korean Mutual Aid and Cooperation Friendship Treaty. China is also economically dependent upon North Korea and comprises roughly three-quarters of the nation’s imports and exports.

Russia’s ties with Iran represent a similar dilemma for the U.S.

In November 2016, The Jerusalem Post reported a Russian-Iranian arms deal worth about $10 billion that would see Moscow “deliver T-90 tanks, artillery systems, planes and helicopters to Iran,” per a senior Russian senator.

And Russia has already built a nuclear reactor for Iran in the province of Bushehr and reportedly has signed a contract to build eight more.

Bridging the entities could be a deal, also reported by the Post, signed to “enhance cooperation between the nations of Iran and China,” both economically and militarily.

Where is the delineation of allegiance to be drawn between these four nations when dealing with the U.S.? Is it possible these countries share a dislike for the U.S. and barter military information and arms to achieve multiple benefits of economic expansion and military duplicity?

Could China or Russia benefit from a proxy attack on the United States by North Korea or Iran?

I understand sensible minds are cognizant of the no-win scenario here. But a nation’s interpretation of “winning” could be the variable.

Sometimes, I wish I wasn’t so aware of the terrible mess the world is in. But it’s bigger than me. It’s about my brother.

So, how should we deal with this information?

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James Caserta’s Journey: Finally Stepping Into The Light

18 Mar

Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. ~Matthew 26:41
 
   The above verse is how I would summarize my journey thus far. I desire these things-a healthy weight, lower risk of diabetes among many other things, but my flesh is continually seeking instant gratification. So I’m struggling to keep my goals in front of me, and I find myself settling for less than my best and justifying it by telling myself “hey at least it’s better than what you were doing before”.
   This week I’ve adopted some good habits, such as tracking calories via the My Fitness Pal app, and it’s proven effective in pointing out which foods will consume my calorie limit quickly. My wife and I have been preparing meals at the beginning of each week, which can be time consuming (and expensive) but very rewarding if you can commit to eating only what’s in those containers each week.
   After taking these couple steps forward, I’ve found myself becoming content yet again, not really sacrificing everything for the sake of a new life and a new body, but rather giving enough to showcase in front of everyone so that it appears that way. Specifically, the types of foods I’ve been taking in haven’t changed outside of what we prep each week, and eating out with family usually means I eat whatever I choose. If something is offered to me, I usually accept it; I mean, it would be rude to say no, right?
   I make excuses because I’m not willing to cut off my flesh from what it desires, even if it means delaying my progress. So I need to learn to surrender myself, flesh and all, to the God of the Universe, the only one who can give me the strength I need to overcome. After all, Jesus endured all the temptations we face here on Earth, so He certainly knows what I’m going through.
   I pray that He would help me to die to self every day, so His willing Spirit can take control of my life, and lead me to the life of freedom God has planned for me on the other side. Help me Lord to stop listening to what my mind and body tell me, and strive to follow your voice and heed your Word instead.
at 5:30 PM
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Doug Smith: The Slavery of free (stuff)

17 Mar

“Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes”

(I fear the Greeks, even when they bear gifts)

Virgil

doug-for-fsp

Doug Smith: Author, historian, patriot and history, politics and society contributor to Free State Patriot

free

Take it to the bank: anyone wanting to give you free stuff does not have your best interest at heart. The hawker outside restaurants in resort towns offering you free meals or tickets to come hear a 90-minute presentation about a wonderful time share opportunity is not there so you can go to a theme park free. He is there to hook you with freebies, and get you snagged into paying 1000 times the cost of those tickets for decades to come.

TANSTAAFL. There aint no such thing as a free lunch.  That should have been Article 1 of the Constitution; another truth we hold self-evident.

Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson did not undertake, like Caesar, to bequeath their fortunes to the poor. Instead, they tossed out a salad bowl of “free stuff” that they could not pay for. And thus, begins the trap. People get used to the free stuff, and like it. It takes away motivation and incentive to work to earn it themselves. It creates a sense of entitlement, because the government always gave it to us. Plans are made, lives are lived, on the premise that the government will give us its money for X.

But one of the secrets of governments is that governments have no wealth, produce no wealth, and can only seize and distribute the wealth of others. The kings and queens of old did not mine gold, or grow food, or breed horses.  The started a pyramid scheme. Learn to fight. Beat someone up, and make him share his wealth with you. Do this enough, and you can hire other people to fight for you, and you won’t even have to fight anymore. Steal enough from the producers to pay enough fighters to keep them in line, and you are off and running. Declare yourself the lawgiver, and your fighters the enforcers of the law. Better yet, make nice with the church, and make what you do sound holy (Divine right of Kings, Jesus was an immigrant, social justice), and you can wrap up the most blatant theft in a ribbon and wax poetic about it.

Of course, for the system to work, it is necessary to keep the fighters happy so they will keep the serfs in line, and to keep the serfs just at subsistence so they can grow your food, breed your next generation of serfs, but not dare to rebel against you because you are the source of what food they get to keep. Don’t let them figure out that absent them, you and your fighters will starve because you could not grow a tomato.

The system worked for centuries.

In the light of that historical glimpse, consider Social Security. FDR took money he did not have from people who could not resist him, or at least did not, took their gold so they could not resist his printing of money, and decreed a government run retirement system. The first woman to draw a check only paid in for one month. Over the years, as the system metastasized, more and more people came to rely on that little check as their only hope of having money in retirement. Government, as is its wont, was wasteful and inefficient with the money, so the return was tiny, less than putting the money in a savings account for 40 years. But since people relied on it, and did nothing else to prepare (in many cases,) now there is an unspoken bargain that people who have relied on the contract for their entire working lives cannot change now. So, they, of course, are slaves to the system. They cannot support eliminating or changing the system, for they are the serfs to the dead hand of FDR.  Never mind that the system, as government systems do, grew to include payments to far more than just the working folks who paid into the system for 40 years, and returned about 1% on the money paid in by those who do pay it in. Never mind that Galveston TX, opted out of Social Security in the 70s, and has paid a return 3 times higher than the same amount in Social Security to their employees. Never mind that the system is so inefficient that we are eating our seed corn.

Many are already retired and drawing it. Many are too near the end of their working lives to start a strategy that does not include Social Security.  Woe betide any politician who dares to say we can do better, and we must do differently.

The serfs are trapped on the land. When the lord of the manor comes to tell them that the money is gone, and he must cut their dole down by 30%, they have no choice about it. He has the swords, after all. And the fruits of their labors.

And they are slaves, serfs, to the freedom of free stuff.

Once the government starts to give away free stuff (or rather, steal it from some, to give it to others, for remember, government does not produce wealth) it is extremely hard to stop. Think of one government freebie we have ever stopped giving away.

We can have free men. Or we can have free stuff. Combining the 2 has not worked out well.

I fear the government, especially when it is bearing gifts.

 

 

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Mark Caserta: Nation ill-prepared for an evolving technology enemy

17 Mar

me

Mark Caserta:  Free State Patriot editor

March 17, 2017

cyber

The comforts provided by modern technology speak for themselves in terms of how our quality of life has generally improved. Some of us who’ve been around for a while have watched technology transition from rotary dial phones to “Dick Tracy”-style smartwatches with Bluetooth capability.

And the rate at which technology is expanding is shocking!

Thomas Frey, senior futurist at the DaVinci Institute and Google’s top-rated Futurist speaker predicts on his website that “By 2030, the average person in the U.S. will have 4.5 packages a week delivered with drones. They will travel 40 percent of the time in a driverless car, use a 3D printer to print hyper-individualized meals, and will spend most of their leisure time on an activity that hasn’t been invented yet.”

Understand, when I speak against the progressive movement, I’m not referencing modernization.

Progressivism is a conforming ideology, not an advancement in technology.

But the insurgence of technology, especially as it relates to cyber crime, has taken its toll on society. Many of us are at a loss for how to respond or to even believe what we hear or see!

I’m concerned there’s a criminal element, existing at multiple levels, intent upon capitalizing on this uncertainty and perverting, via weaponization, modern technology against mankind.

And it’s growing at a rate the government can no longer hide.

Through the years, we’ve watched shows like “Star Trek” and movies like “Star Wars” provide a frightfully accurate view into our present day. Film visionaries, striving for originative scripts to ensnare audiences, later gave us “The Terminator” collection of films about a futuristic conflict between humans and cyborgs controlled by a self-aware computer.

This isn’t so futuristic now.

In addition to the “Cry havoc! And let slip the dogs of war!” terrorists, I’m confident they’re more subtle, next-gen terrorists engaging in “hack-a-thons” where people come together and use technology to transform ideas into reality.

Except, these are bad people, with skewed perceptions of life’s journey.

Imagine an invisible terrorist cell leveraging advanced technology to build a cyberspace army capable of engaging and decapacitating the enemy on a level playing field where all the ships, fighter jets and tanks in our arsenal couldn’t win.

Scary? Absolutely. Inevitable? Certainly not!

Albert Einstein was quoted as saying, “The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”

While I don’t entirely subscribe to Einstein’s ubiquity of evil, his thoughts certainly resonate. The canker and corruption we face daily have driven too many intellectual people into the shadows of apathy and ignorance, either too disgusted to act or too fearful to try.

And in some cases, solutions have become antiquated and ineffectual.

Is it time to send Arnold Schwarzenegger back in time to save the world?

Not yet.

But it is time to pull together the most brilliant and innovative millennial minds among us to help arrive at solutions befitting our technologically savvy enemy.

Because the enemy’s face is evolving. And we simply aren’t prepared.

Mark Caserta is a conservative blogger, a Cabell County resident and a regular contributor to The Herald-Dispatch editorial page.

 

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Mark Caserta: Democrats weave tangled web regarding Russia

10 Mar

me

Mark Caserta: Free State Patriot editor

March 10, 2017

 

president-trump

 

Following Donald Trump’s early successes as president, it appears the only tool left in the Democrat “thwart Trump” arsenal is the blind accusation that Russia successfully influenced the 2016 presidential election, rendering Trump’s presidency invalid or questionable at best.

While common sense doesn’t appear to be a fluent competency among liberal Democrats, let’s apply some toward examining this dilemma.

Hillary Clinton has hardly presented herself as a formidable foe to the Russians.

In March 2009, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov a symbolic red “reset” button in the hopes of improving our relationship with the Russians, following a standoff over the country of Georgia in 2008.

For a while, relations appeared more amicable as Russia offered its cooperation in Obama’s Iran nuclear deal and the subsequent sanctioning of Iran’s nuclear program. But the Russians clearly didn’t intend to honor Clinton’s olive branch.

I’m confident Russia was aware of the inept nature of the deal when it offered its spurious support. By early 2014, any perceived Russian cooperation had completely diminished following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Crimea and his support for Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

In short, with whom do you suppose Putin would rather negotiate, a “manageable” Hillary Clinton or the man who wrote “The Art of the Deal”?

And Democrats may have taken the label of hypocrite to an entirely new level when they accused Attorney General Jeff Sessions of having inappropriate contact with Russia’s ambassador during the Trump campaign.

Last week, Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) took to the floor of the Senate and revealed “30 Democratic senators met with the Russian ambassador in 2015 to pitch President Obama’s nuclear Iran deal, all while supporting Democratic presidential candidates” as reported in a Kerry Picket column in “The Daily Caller.”

And speaking of inappropriate dealings with Russia, it was President Obama, in 2012, who was caught on a live microphone asking outgoing Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to relay a message to Vladimir Putin to give him more “space” until after his election when he would have more “flexibility.”

The obvious inference is that an untimely proclamation of Obama’s intentions would adversely impact his re-election. And don’t forget a 2016 congressional investigation concluded Barack Obama sent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to an Israeli group that used the money to prevent the re-election of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in last year’s Israeli parliamentary election, as reported in a July 2016 column by Stephen Dinan, in The Washington Times.

And to culminate a troubling week for Democrats, this past weekend President Trump requested, as part of the Russian probe, that the congressional intelligence committee investigate a potential Obama administration request for the Trump Tower to be wire-tapped during the 2016 campaign.

Oh, what a tangled web Democrats are weaving.

One must ask, how does this Democrat witch hunt benefit the American people? Does this bring back jobs, lower taxes or spur affordable healthcare? It doesn’t, but that doesn’t matter.

This isn’t about Democrats winning for Americans. It’s solely about winning for themselves.

Mark Caserta is a conservative blogger and Cabell County resident.

 

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James Caserta: Finally stepping into the light

10 Mar

JAMES

James Caserta: Christian conservative, patriot and blogger

Friday, March 10, 2017

Day One

For the waywardness of the simple will kill them,    and the complacency of fools will destroy them ~Proverbs 1:32

If you are taking time to read this, first of all you have my gratitude. My vision for this series of entries is to reach as many people as possible, and even if it helps just one person, I will have considered it a success.

I’ve always been drawn to writing, and I knew it wasn’t just a coincidence; I believe writing is something God has always had planned for me, to share my story, to be a light in a world full of darkness. This is a new adventure for me, so by doing this blog I am definitely stepping out of my comfort zone, but the way I see it, I have been comfortable for far too long.

My life has been filled with blessings, I have a great family that loves and holds each other up, and my parents have always strived to be examples of good work ethic and Godliness.

From the time I was born, I have been surrounded by love and many memories over the years. If I could summarize my personal journey from childhood to adulthood in one word, I would say “complacent”, meaning everything I did was routine, everything was taken care of for me, so there was never anything to worry about; I was in the perfect comfort zone. I went through life on autopilot (cliché I know but it’s true 😉 ) while shirking my responsibilities at home and in my personal life; after all, I have parents who are always there and a God who will never leave nor forsake me, and my life has been great so far, so why worry right?

Little did I know I was being suffocated spiritually by the darkness of complacency, blinded to my own faults by stubbornness, barred from God’s promise of a prosperous future filled with His grace and favor because I chose to appease the temptations, promising to make everything better, convincing me to forget about it for one more day.

I snuffed out my own light in exchange for a “comfortable life”, and it wasn’t until I met my life partner that I was made to see just how broken I was.

Once the mirror was turned on me, I didn’t recognize the person staring back at me, and I hated him. I still do most days. Hate is kindling for evil to grow, so naturally my habits and my priorities became more and more corrupted. As the verse above stated, my foolish complacency was destroying me from the inside out.

Today, as I sit here, I weigh 508 lbs., literally carrying the weight of all my life choices everywhere I go…and I’m done. I’m over this life.  I’m fed up with feeding myself to the point of an early death, losing my wife because my weight has caused me to become near infertile, the hope of a family becoming more and more distant.

The little things I used to take for granted, even putting my socks and shoes on or going up stairs have become arduous tasks, sometimes requiring assistance. I think back to whom I was versus who I am now, and my heart breaks.

So I’m taking a step forward, into the light, little by little, this time by pursuing weight loss surgery. I had my consultation today with Dr. Blaine Nease, and I can say that I am very excited for what my future holds. I’m doing weekly meal prepping with my amazing wife, without whom I could not hope to make all these delicious meals I have to choose from 😋.

I will be using this blog to document my journey through the next six months, leading up to the big day, and then the following weeks and months, watching my life change before my eyes.

Each day brings more hope, more light, and I feel more determined than ever. However, I cannot do this alone, so I’m sharing my story with all of you to keep myself accountable, and to ask for prayers as I leave my comfortable life behind, one step at a time.

 

James Caserta at 5:51 PM

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  Finally Stepping Out Into the Light

 

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Doug Smith: A Nation of Ideas

8 Mar

doug-for-fsp

Doug Smith: Author, historian, patriot and lead contributor to Free State Patriot

 

“You have a republic, madam, if you can keep it.”

Benjamin Franklin

immigrant 1immigrant 2

Senator John F Kennedy wrote a pamphlet in 1958 entitled “A Nation of Immigrants.” As a fellow descendant of Irish ex patriates, I can sympathize with his sentiment, but I believe he missed the mark in a crucial way. We are not, by some coincidence, just the nation where immigrants magically appeared or washed ashore. There was a reason that Irish, and Catholics, and Anabaptists, and Puritans, and Dutchmen, and Germans, and others risked all to come to seek a home between Plymouth Rock and San Diego.

There were natural resources, and land, and room, and a man might dream of riches, but all those things drew men to this Continent before this nation was born. It is not as if some worldwide memo went out reading “All those wishing to leave their ancestral home, head for America. They need all the help they can get.” Yet that is not so terribly far off the mark. For there was, and is, something that made people yearn to come to America.

It is that which drew men to our shores that made us what we are, and who we are, not merely the men who came. (Yes, I realize that women came as well. But I refuse to engage in the tortured heshe language of political correctness. ) Proud I may be of my Celtic ancestry, and the bards, and storytellers, and politicians, and yes, drunks, (but I repeat myself) that became a part of American life, but I have to ask an honest question. If the Irish are all that, why then, is Ireland not America. Why no mass migration to Eire s green hills? What is it that made the strong, the bold, the adventurous, and yes, the moonshiner fleeing the law, come to Boston and New York?

I believe that the truth is that we are a nation of words and ideas, and not of immigrants. Oh, we have immigrants a plenty. My great, great grandfather came to New York as a farrier, and later became a farmer in Kentucky, and so brought my family to this area. But why here? Why not Australia, or New Zealand, or Brazil, or France?

Words. Powerful words. Words which form ideas and ideals a man might strive for, might live for, and would die for.

These words.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,

And these

Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!
And these

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, [promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

These are good words the express fine and high ideals. Oh, not that we, being men, achieve the perfect fulfillment of these ideals, but uniquely in the world, and on the stage of history, we formed a nation dedicated to these ideals. We sweated, bled, and yes, died, to further these ideals. Uniquely among the nations of the world, we fought with blood and treasure to free men and nations. We did not fight to further the claims of prerogatives of the Plantagenet or the Tudor dynasties, or to claim French soil for our own. We fought to free men on our own soil and correct injustices. We fought to free men on foreign soil and stop hateful ideologies. We did not keep soil won with our blood for our own and declare an American Empire, we freed people and went home.

Those ideas and ideals are the nectar to the world.

And yet.

If these ideas are the basis of what we are, we are right, and just, and prudent to insist that if men come to us, the embrace those ideals which make us uniquely who we are: Americans. We are not the Balkans: little states of very different and antagonistic peoples pressed against each other until a Serbian assassinates an Arch Duke and ignites WW1.

No, we have long embraced E Pluribus Unum. Of many, One. So if you come, look around and see who we are. Learn to speak the language. Russians speak Russian. Germans speak German. Chinese speak Chinese. And Americans speak English. Learn to act and blend with your new countrymen. Don’t expect them to change what they are into what you were. You escaped that world to come here. Become a part of this one.

We do not encourage gangs and neighborhoods that are Europe all over again, or Africa, or Asia. No little Italy, or Ireland, or Somalia. In America, Be American. This is what you wanted. This is why you came. If it is not, you made a terrible mistake.

I hope next year to visit Ireland, the ancestral home of my family. If I do, I will do so as a stranger. I will not speak the Gaelic, nor speak English with a brogue. I will be a stranger, visiting his roots. I will be, very obviously to the Irish, and American. That is what great, great grandfather wanted for his descendants in America.

So should all who come. Not because they are immigrants. But because this is where those great ideas have flourished. And we ought to jealously guard them so this great experiment does not fail.

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Donald Trump brands Democrats ‘hypocrites’ over Russian links 

3 Mar

President Donald Trump branded Democrats “hypocrites” over calls for an investigation into his administration’s contacts with Russia, posting a photograph on the internet of one of the opposition party’s leaders sharing doughnuts and coffee with Vladimir Putin.

Source: Donald Trump brands Democrats ‘hypocrites’ over Russian links 

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