Excerpt from "Federalist No. 9"

by Alexander Hamilton

"The definition of a CONFEDERATE REPUBLIC seems simply to be "an assemblage of societies,'' or an association of two or more states into one state. The extent, modifications, and objects of the federal authority are mere matters of discretion. So long as the separate organization of the members be not abolished; so long as it exists, by a constitutional necessity, for local purposes; though it should be in perfect subordination to the general authority of the union, it would still be, in fact and in theory, an association of states, or a confederacy. The proposed Constitution, so far from implying an abolition of the State governments, makes them constituent parts of the national sovereignty, by allowing them a direct representation in the Senate, and leaves in their possession certain exclusive and very important portions of sovereign power. This fully corresponds, in every rational import of the terms, with the idea of a federal government."

Wow. How far we have come. The appointment of Senators to the Federal government by their respective state governments was essential to preserving the state's rights. It was not just an afterthought, it was an essential piece of the Constitution and one of the key arguments used by Alexander Hamilton and others to convince the states that they would still retain their sovereignty even with a federal government in place. Any rational person can read these arguments by Alexander Hamilton and others and see why the Senate was designed to be the way it was! If only it had not been for that megalomaniac Woodrow Wilson and those rotten Progressives who were obsessed with power and had no respect for anyone other than themselves, we would not be facing many of the problems in our country that we are facing today.

Florida Trip

On Thursday evening we flew down to Florida to visit my family... and had a great time. Riley Joy was great on the plane (no meltdowns). We brought her car seat along and strapped it into the seat on the plane, so she was quite comfy.

Over the course of the weekend we talked, walked along the boardwalk, ate wonderful food, watched movies, visited their church and just hung out. It was refreshing and relaxing and actually somewhat energizing. I love my family so very much, I wish they were closer by. Riley Joy had a blast. Within hours of being there, she knew sho Grandad was and though she never picked up on what Grandma meant, she on multiple occasions referred to my mother as Nana. She she at least gets the concept :-). She is quite an incredible little girl. While my mother was cooking, Riley Joy would go in and throw up her arms to be picked up. At first my mother thought she just wanted a hug, but her heart was quite blessed when she realized that Riley Joy wanted to be held by her. Out of everybody, though, I think she was most comfy with my dad. He could pick her up at almost any random time and walk off with her and she did not mind. That is very, very unusual. Really, I can't think of anyone except Nana that Riley Joy is that comfortable with. Anyone really surprised? :-) Tyler and Jenna really seem to be enjoying homeschooling again (Tyler is technically in cyber-school) and I was so blessed to hear it. Homeschooling was the best thing my parents did for me and I am so deeply happy to know that they are appreciating it too.

While down there, we had a chance to visit Karis' apartment and it is really nice. She has made an excellent little home out of it. She is not working right now but hopefully she will get in gear and have one soon. We also met her boyfriend, Jason, and he seems to be a very nice person. He recognizes Karis' needs and supports her involvement in support groups and such... that was really good to hear. Though I am curious about his spiritual walk. Does he have the strong foundation needed to lead Karis if they would decide to get married? It would be comforting to know.

We left Monday morning and had a couple mishaps. The first was in line for airport security. We were moving slowly along and Hannah was putting Riley Joy in her sling when we got to the ticket checker. She looked a little impatient with us, so I dropped my bag and reached over Hannah to give her my ticket and ID so she could look at it while Hannah finished. Well, at that point Hannah took a step back and ran into my bag and lost her balance and crashed down backwards and rolled from her hip onto her back with Riley Joy's leg underneath her. Riley Joy was terrified and Hannah was worried she had hurt Riley's leg so they both burst into tears. I felt so bad but was glad that there were not major injuries. Riley Joy's leg was fine and Hannah's hip hurt but was not anything serious. Lesson learned. Do not rush, even in airport security. If I had though before dropping my bag before behind Hannah I would have set it to my side instead (the safer place for it). So that was the first mishap. The second was that we had to wait 40 minutes on the airplane before it took off (maintenance issue). Riley Joy did not like that waiting time and sensed people's frustrations. She got very restless and cried and kicked the seat in front of her (poor guy). We were able to walk her back and forth down the isle and let her run in the clearing near the center emergency exit and that distracted her for a while. We also read to her and let her play with books and watch her movie. But praise the Lord, once we took off and the cabin pressurized and the engines started, she drifted off to sleep and slept for two whole hours! She did not wake up until the descent and even then was in an excellent mood.

Once we reached the airport we had no problems getting our bags and I had no problem finding the car in the economy parking lot.

Overall, it was an excellent trip. Very nearly perfect except that we did nto get more time. I had such a wonderful time having deep, meaty talks with my parents and I wish they were around so we could do that more. There is definitely a different dynamic between talking face to face and talking on the phone of video messaging. My point: I miss my family already. Hopefully Tyler and Jenna will be able to get an excuse to come visit in the near future... we will see!

Thank You, God, for a wonderful trip :-).

"My Life Is In You, Lord"

I listened to this song today and thought about how I want this to be my prayer everyday.

My life is in You, Lord
My strength is in You, Lord
My hope is in You, Lord
In You, it's in You

I will praise You with all of my life
I will praise You with all of my strength
With all of my life
With all of my strength
All of my hope is in You

My life is in You, Lord
My strength is in You, Lord
My hope is in You, Lord
In You, it's in You

Golly Goodness :-)

We are down in Florida visiting my family and I just finished helping Hannah get Riley Joy ready for bed. Hannah is in nursing her down right now. But after I finished my part and Hannah started nursing her, I went to turn off the light. The light we were using is a touch sensitive light and everytime I turned it off, my wrist would bump it and it would come back on. Right as I finally turned it off for good, I saw Hannah looking at me, smiling at my clumsiness. Golly goodness I love her smile. I just melted :-). I love her so much!

Everyone Against Abortion, Please Raise Your Hand

Morality

I have only read one graphic novel before (Max Allan Collin's "Road to Perdition") and generally avoid them. But I became quite intrigued with the "Watchmen" after seeing previews for the new movie. So I decided to wade into the uber-violent and crass world of graphic novels once again to see what I could learn. It is the most acclaimed graphic novel of all time and one of Time Magazine's 100 best novels of all time. The storytelling is absolutely gripping and I am hooked. Thus far, the biggest theme of the book is morality. The author takes the premise of superheroes and uses it to ask questions about society and the morality of decisions our government makes. The different characters individually carry the set of characteristic of certain groups of people seen in the government, and as you watch them make moral decisions on a personal level, you see the bigger picture of what it would mean for the group of people in real life in government who make such decisions. Does that make sense? It is late and I need to get to bed. But during the pauses between my reading over the weekend, I have been pondering our government and the fact that they are MORALLY BANKRUPT. It is about time we sat down and had a real discussion about the (at the very least) questionably morality of their decisions. For example:

What is the morality of an outspoken pro-life politician (Sam Brownback) supporting a radically pro-choice pick for Sec of Health & Human services just because it will make it easier for him to win the governorship of his state in a couple years? What is the morality of our country saying they oppose torture and then using the Rendition program to send prisoners out to Egypt or other countries to be tortured so we don't have to do it ourselves? What is the morality in congressmen owning stock in certian companies and then awarding those same companies huge subsidies or mandating use of their products? (Think curly light bulbs) What is the morality of a tax cheat heading the congressional committee that writes the tax code and a tax cheat being nominated and confirmed to head the IRS? What is the morality of those same two individuals getting together and having a public discussion about the need to increase penalties on tax cheats! What is the morality of no-bid defense contracts with huge companies? What is the morality of our government passing a BAILOUT or SAVE THE ECONOMY bill that has THOUSANDS of non-stimulus related earmarks? Or what about the TARP program where we were told the money was going to be used to buy bad debt (a bad decision, mind you) and then once the money was authorized, use it to buy into huge corporations! Where is the morality in the government cozying up to mega-businesses and sacrificing small businesses and individuals? Where is the morality in a man defending his family in his own home with a gun and then being thrown in jail for it? What is the morality of our government telling us that they are doing one thing, while at the same time doing something entirely un-related behind our back? What is the morality of the government funding the destruction of frozen human embryos for research? What is the morality of politicians railing against smoking and then using the money from cigarrette taxes to fund our school system? What is the morality of the belief that anything is OK as long as it is for the greater good? What kind of moral code guides a modern progressive to go on and on about peace and rail against war while wearing a Che shirt? What about our government making up the problem of Global Warming so they can gain more control over our lives and businesses? What is the moral code that allows Michael Steele to suck up to Rush Limbaugh and then in a different situations dismiss him as "ugly" and "incindiery"? How can the Republican party say they are fighting for fiscal responsibility while being responsible for half the earmarks in congress?

The list goes on.

Ugh.

Who is willing to have this discussion?

Lots of Snow

Over the weekend the forecasters were calling for lots of snow... and they were right. We got nothing more than a dusting last night, but over the course of the morning we have accumulated 4+ inches. And the roads are not cleared yet! I just had to go to the Warehouse and boy was that an adventure. I was able to make it down with little trouble (crawling along EXTREMELY slow through the drifts), but coming up was nearly impossible. I am glad I made it. Coming up the side of the hill from the Warehouse there is one last big hump before it levels out, and while it was difficult coming up the majority of the hill, that hump was awful. I came to everything but a complete stop and just crawled with wheels spinning up that last 20 feet. Three cheers for maybe the first decent snow we've had this season and nobody bothering to clear the roads :-).