THE CITY OF BABEL REVISITED

I have known people in my life who operate under an ethical sense, giving permission to say whatever it takes to get your way.  Truth is not important, the objective is.  The majority of us would not stand for that type of interaction in our personal relationships so why do we allow it in politics?  How can we allow it when that fine bunch cares more about getting votes than caring about their country?  Wake up people!

Not all politicians are bad folks. Some have our best interests at heart, and some work their ---‘s off to make a difference.  Some have been led down a path lit by ideology and misinformation, acting honestly without the factor of truth.  I’m sure that neither Democrat nor Republican understands the other side’s language. They both just have different meanings for the same words.

Since my dictionary is printed in common sense and conservatism, it is difficult to understand either side completely.  When we can watch over 200 speeches containing components of prevarication designed to pump emotion without getting a hint of raw fish smell, something has failed us.  It seems those two different languages may sound identical but the meanings are totally adjustable to suit the means.

When I hear Mr. Trump talk about immigration, I hear completely different meanings when I’m listening to him speak than when I am listening to the progressives’ repeat of what he has said.  I hear him say that he wants to protect our borders.  I hear him say he wants to allow those who are invited into our country to come on in for as long as their welcome has been extended.  Once again interpreted completely different in progressive speak.  I hear him say he doesn’t want to allow murderers, rapists, thieves, drug dealers and criminals to come into our national home.  I hear him say that he doesn’t want other national neighbors to take our livelihood, our income, our protection without compensation.  I hear him say he wants to give all parents the right to choose the best schools for their children.  In my world, those are good things.  In listening to the DNC speakers, every one of those items took on new meanings.  An example that encapsulates the language situation best is when Mr. Trump identifies a problem, addresses it and says he has the resolve to repair and fix the problem.  The progressive definition of his words is, “America is lost and there is no hope”.

I understand that we are in a political adversarial point in time.  Let’s try to differentiate our policies by fact not by false innuendo.  I honestly tried to listen to the major speeches on the first and second nights of the DNC but the difference in language interpretation caused my head to hurt.  It’s a strange thing when you recognize the words and wonder how they can mean something so different.  Those meanings seem to change with whoever is speaking at the time.  It seems the use of language in propaganda has gained in strength, and honest, truthful dialogue has gotten the boot.  Someone please publish an understandable set of translations.  The best we are provided with are the fact checking web-sites, some of which I have included below.

Is the new language going to be a return to a likeness of the city of Babel?  Will our country face the same fate the tower suffered? If you’re not sure what my reference to Babel is about, look it up.  Suffice it to say if the strands of humanity that have given us the strength of togetherness continue to unravel our strength will evaporate like smoke in the wind.

Learn to separate kernels of truth from the chaff, weeds and fertilizer.  Learn to recognize the motivation behind what you are hearing.

Pray for discernment, pray for your fellow man.  God bless our country.  Love your neighbor.  Stop hatred.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/factcheckingclinton/factchecking-clinton%E2%80%99s-big-speech/ar-BBv0TBi?li=BBnb7Kz

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/ap-fact-check-hillary-clintons-dnc-acceptance-speech/ 

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/29/fact-checking-hillary-clintons-speech.html

http://www.npr.org/2016/07/21/486883610/fact-check-donald-trumps-republican-convention-speech-annota 

http://www.factcheck.org/2016/07/factchecking-clintons-big-speech/ted

PICK YOUR PLANET

What color is the sky on your planet? 

We could ask that question of our news media, our political leadership and all the different factions of society that we have been herded into.  The degree of separation seems to be more than just talking points, more than planetary but could be represented by our solar systems.  This weekend (7/23/1016) will give us the opportunity to explore those solar systems through the eyes of the varied inhabitants of them.  Unfortunately, we have managed to squeeze all of those differences into one segment of one small continent.  We are the United States which at this point is anything but united.

It’s Saturday morning at my house and time for the weekly news recaps, salted with ideology, ready to feed my hungry mind.  It would be helpful if there were just the one language where we would be able to understand all of these inhabitants of the other solar systems.  It seems it is more than just a question of language. What I see and hear is not the same as what you might see or hear.

I don’t understand the media attack on Mr. Trump’s speech on Thursday night pointing out much of what my eyes and ears observe in my world was just plain wrong.  The solar system of media says his speech was dark and foreboding.  The media stated his speech offered no hope or promise of a brighter sky or any path of improvement.  Our President and the Democratic solar systems say that our world may not be perfect but there is no cause for concern.  The media says the GOP is trying to separate and divide our country and put the GOP on the track of racial divide. The GOP candidate is a dangerous bigot who will destruct the entire universe.  Their sky is only dark if our population chooses to elect Donald J. Trump.

What are we to believe?  Are we to believe our own eyes and ears?  Are we to believe that what we saw and heard is really what the media says they saw and heard? Is reality and truth really that different in their solar systems?  The administration with the megaphone of the Presidential office would have us believe that the 80% of those watching and listening to the RNC were all mistaken. The RNC offered no light to our society according to the media who saw it differently.  How in their solar system can they see rosy and calm and a canoe on a quiet smooth lake when over 60% of our population sees us heading toward a huge waterfall?  How can they see and hear darkness, doom and gloom when most of our population saw and heard a positive and hopeful statement.

 I heard a presentation that held out the truthful and factual realities of where we are right now, today.  Our society is under attack and just not by radical Islamic terrorists.  Our common beliefs, our common language, our pride of country, our economic success and freedoms have been under attack from both inside and out.  Without seeing and recognizing the problem and the realities, there will be no cure.  The sky in my solar system is gray and cloudy with glimmers of blue and sunshine.  Granted the sky in the RNC closing was painted with the brush of reality, but it was clear there are rainbows and clear skies on the Trump horizon.  That is hope!

God Bless the USA.

Pray for discernment.

WHAT DI D YOU HEAR?

 Let’s paraphrase Donald Trump’s acceptance speech:  “America is in trouble, headed in the wrong direction and I can repair the damage.”

This morning I spent a lot of time listening to the different takes on the RNC closing night presentations.  I found out there were two entirely different sets of that presentation.  Both were, no doubt, heard and watched through opposite filters.  The sets of eyes, ears and brains that attended the evening in person and via television were all affected by their basic belief structures and ideologies.  What is sad is how much misinformation and propaganda is spread outward by those standing in front of camera and sitting in front of their radio microphones.

Those speaking from the right leaning saw and heard a lot of positive and forward looking statements from the speakers while the left saw doom and gloom.  From my own personal view, I took in a lot of things that gave me hope for the future of our country.  In watching the ABC and CBS morning shows, I thought they had been tuned into a completely different place in what can now be called history.  It appears that the approved bandwagon will continue to dispense misinformation and bias for their audiences rather than the required self-introspection needed for decision making.  I have to agree that Mr. Trump’s assessment of where our country is today is one of dark foreboding.  I have to disagree with most of the media when they try to depict his viewpoint and goals as negative and without positive outlook.  In promoting that depiction they serve their audience a HUGE disservice. 

During this entire political escapade, I have borne witness to the license taken with the truth in reporting the facts.  The media has depicted Mr. Trump’s statements not as he meant, but as they would like to have us believe.  The statement regarding our border control and illegal (undocumented) trespassers has been translated into “he hates Latinos”.  Statements regarding Islamic Fundamentalist Terrorists, translated into he hates all Muslims.     Regarding his ban on refugees coming into our country from Islamic nations, has been translated to mean forever to all Muslims, whereas Mr. Tromp would let them enter the United States legally after they had been properly vetted. The list of misinterpretations equals and in most cases exceeds every word out of Trump’s mouth.  I am disgusted with the failure of our media to provide honest reporting.  Without that honesty, based on truth, the editorial factions that spew their attitudes have absolutely no checks and balances.  In today’s environment, it is far too easy to spread vitriol to back up propaganda and agenda. 

Back to topic please:

What I got out of the RNC finale gave me hope.  What I saw and heard was a new standard and somewhat new direction for the GOP and for our nation.  I saw a new definition of who our new candidate is as a person, a father, a teacher and a leader.  I listened to Ivanka Tromp, an intelligent young daughter, tell the story of her father teaching her a positive set of values.  He taught her to listen to people and that all people deserve respect.  As a woman she could do anything and become anything she set her min to.  She told of her father’s company that hired and promoted people according to ability regardless of sex, ethnicity or religious affiliation.  That same company employs more female managers than male managers.  Also, Mr. Tromp’s company was the first in the field of construction to hire an onsite female foreman.  She spoke of her father’s compassion, seeing needs and helping those in need. I watched and listened to a business partner of our candidate.  He spoke of a man whose handshake was stronger than a written contract.  He told of a man with vision who was able to see what is and what was capable of becoming.  He told of a man who dreams big and would see those dreams through to fruition.  He spoke of a man who recognizes the needs of a neighborhood, how to fill those needs and then build the solutions needed.  He told of a man who will complete the task he sees before him.  I take hope in that kind of documentation.  We need to have a man of vision to lead our country toward the next period of reaching for excellence.

Finally, regarding this man the detractors call bigoted, hateful, racist, misogynistic, fear mongering, greedy, rich and dangerous, this is not what I heard from him last night.  I heard a man who wants law and order on both sides of the badge.  A man who wants all parents to have a choice in the educational facility they provide for their children.  A man who wants businesses to have the opportunity to start, grow and provide employment and a man who wants neighborhoods to be rid of the violence threatening them.  I heard a man speak who sees the problems, recognizes them and is capable of managing and directing solutions. I heard a man who knows and understands the needs of our underemployed minority population.  I heard a man that knows and understands the nervousness and uncertainty, the causes and the solutions that are a real factor in our world today. 

I have heard and seen the effects of the other choice for our country.  I have seen and experienced the harm and cost to our businesses posed by regulation.  I have seen and experienced the constant failure of the status quo.  I don’t like it, and it’s time for a correction.  It’s time for taking a stand for bringing in folks who will fight for what’s best for our country

 rather than fighting for their next election.

Pray for our country and for discernment.

THE FRUIT IT BEARS

An age old adage speaks of judging a tree by its fruit.  In the New Testament Christ confronts a nonbearing fig tree.  We are all aware of different versions how to judge a man.  What has he shown during his lifetime as a measure of who and what he is.  How can we better our odds of success when we choose our leaders?  It’s not just what they tell us they are going to do.  God knows we have all heard promises, so many they can’t be counted.  The majority of political promises somehow vanish like smoke in a wind storm.

 A choice confronts us all. In just a few short months the rock or a hard place will be our reality.  We are placed in a position of choosing the future for our children and progeny that will be changed for generations.  Individually we cannot and must not take this responsibility without purpose.

The choice we have left as conservatives is dubious at best.  We are in the position of pushing a boulder up the hill that could be one of gold or one of lead.  In either case, it’s going to take a lot of effort fueled by enthusiasm.  In order to create the fuel we need to believe, the boulder better be made of gold.

The RNC gives us a platform, a stage upon which we can judge the fruits sprouting from the tree of Donald J. Trump.  We are seeing and hearing testimony as to who he is.  How can we learn and know what makes up the man that we are putting forward?  What can we use to give us the enthusiasm to put him in the office of the most important leader in our time?  He says he will make America great again, will he?  Our best chance of determining that comes from the fruits of his past.

During the last few months we have been watching a giant iceberg showing us only a small portion of the total.  His history shows us one of economic success and most of us believed that is simply because of his wealth. The last few days have shown us what went on below the surface.  We listened to his wife, Melania, speak to us about her past. That part of the speech has drawn criticism because the wording seems to have been plagiarized from another source.  That part of the criticism is most likely valid, the history is alluded to is equally valid.  I personally believe her when she talks about the values her parents instilled in her. My parents told me the same.  Her speech spoke of the same ideals and life directives given to me almost verbatim.  Here are the fruits of the Trump she spoke of:  a loving family, successful children, and an installation of patriotism as a family value.  Most of all she spoke of a man, capable and focused, hardworking and one who completes what he undertakes.

Most adults who have children know that one of the biggest jobs and one of the most important is that of raising children.  It is our job to give them the best of ourselves and who we are cannot be hidden as a result.  They are our fruit and they bear witness to our deepest identity. There can be no doubt after watching and listening to night #2 of the RNC that two of those from the tree of Trump have had pure gold infused into them.

Those children, young adults now, spoke of a father who provided them with food, clothing and shelter. More importantly, their father instilled them with knowledge, confidence and beliefs that have made them successful in their own lives.  They spoke of a father that taught them the principles, values and understanding of how being an honest, hardworking member of society is important.  They spoke of a father they not only admired, but even more importantly, they loved.  I saw and heard Donald J. Trump Jr. spell out for us what traits in a man his father holds up as ideal.  I saw and felt the power of love of country.  That does not happen by accident.  Those things happen because the serious encouragement of a good man took his commitment to family into his heart.  Our country, our people, our allies, and especially our children deserve and need that type of leader.

The tree seems to produce fruit and it looks very sweet.

Pray for discernment in our choices

God bless our country, and have mercy on our world.