Yes I’m quite conservative on most issues, but until this morning, I just could not put my finger on why I carried so much animosity toward the current Emperor in the White House.  My thoughts are particularly troublesome given biblical guidance to respect and honor our leaders, who were put in place after all by God (source: THE BIBLE).  I should know better.

Today’s editorial outlining Obama’s intent via executive authority (Emperor stuff) to abrogate Congress’ authority to set aside some Alaskan wilderness acreage for oil and gas exploration brought my dilemma into focus.  Unlike other presidents whose politics I did not agree with,  this Emperor engages in a daily battle with the lives of its citizens, white and black, rich and poor, educated or uneducated.  We are the enemy.  There were probably few issues on which I could concur with Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton, but there was never a cloud of engagement or hostility toward America and Americans.  You say you want examples !

The Alaska action noted is the next in a series of executive decrees intended to  starve the efficient Trans-Alaska pipeline, which carries fossil fuels south from Alaska and Canada. So next month when he vetoes the Keystone Pipeline over the will of the Congress and the people (remember the 2014 elections), does it ever register that we Americans like  $2 a gallon gasoline ?   Yes,  we will put windmills in our backyards and solar panels on our roofs when it becomes economic, but golly Mr. Emperor, we have long desired to be independent of all the bad apples in the world that sell us oil.  More examples ?   Why as citizens must we protect ourselves from the NSA’s intrusive tentacles.  And why must a new not-for-profit organization that has freedom or Jesus or mom-and-apple-pie in its name be fearful of overzealous IRS scrutiny ? I’m guessing that about 50% of Americans wince when they realize that Obamacrare, and their tax dollars , will pay for abortions.  And must we really suffer from the embarrassment of our French friends laughing at us as James Taylor croons “You’ve Got A Friend” in Paris with John Kerry standing aside ?   Why must locally elected school authorities now fight to protect the curriculum in their schools from the desires of the Department of Education.   And for that matter, we must now battle Washington D.C. over what our children can and cannot eat during lunchtime at school.   Good grief !  Red tape impedes the immigration of needed and legal immigrants, while we are told that we are insensitive, even racist regarding a desire to protect our borders from illegal entrants.  Alright, I’m tired of ranting, but these are battles we currently wage every day with the Emperor and his minions.  Oh how I yearn for the days of Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.   We disagreed, but we never had to fight with them.                              WHAT THE HECK !

If you accidentally tuned in to the national weather last night, you would have thought that the end of the world was at hand.   Two feet of snow, with possible swirling winds, was descending rapidly on the Northeast. Christie declared a state of emergency.  DeBlasio ordered any moving vehicle with a snowplow out on the streets.  Supermarkets were overrun with crazed shoppers.  Women and children were in fear for their very lives. Airplanes were unable to take off and land.  Footballs in Boston would become deflated . Oh my gosh !

Folks in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the rest of the upper Midwest must be laughing as they patiently load firewood into their fireplaces and sip hot chocolate.  What’s become of the hearty Northeast, the pioneering spirit of New Englanders ?    I grew up in the Northeast, and big snowstorms were just part of seasonal life.  You dug out.  You scraped the windshields.  People knocked off a day of school or work.   It seemed to add a bit of civility and peace to life.    A Winter storm was certainly never equated or compared to a hurricane or a flood or any other natural disasters, as this storm has been.

Dare I equate the loss of fight above the Mason Dixon line to the blueness of the state ?  Is it possible the entitled and pampered residents north of Virginia have just become pansies ? Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the little towns all along the Alabama and Mississippi Gulf Coast joined together and re-built, without much whimpering.  Hearty Tennesseeans  just pitched in and helped each other recover from the massive floods of 2010.

Stop complaining Northeast.  Stop whining New England.  Go outside and build a snowman. Take the day off and play with your kids.      Relax.                       WHAT THE HECK !

A federal lawsuit was filed last week against the Ruby Tuesday restaurant chain, alleging gender discrimination with regard to hiring practices for Summer positions at one of its Utah units.  Specifically, the lawsuit, filed by the useless Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleges that only women were considered and hired for bartender and waiter positions, thus discriminating  against, and impeding the economic opportunities  for males. HR managers at the popular chain must be wringing their hands in frustration at the abusive use of politically correct, half brain dead lawyers against the engine of American job growth – businesses.         WHAT THE HECK !

Please pardon my vocabulary and sentence structure, as I failed to make it far in the Florida public school system.  Think it had something to do with a lack of opposable thumbs.  Anyway, I want to thank all those friends and family who expressed opinions and concerns and even prayers over my little tumor situation.  I was starting to feel like the popular cartoon character CatDog, with my front end working fine, but the back half just dragging along out of control.  Last week, I had open back surgery at an exclusive Naples veterinary resort to remove a nasty tumor from my spinal cord.  I was told by my masters that the alternative (whatever that means) was worse.   Well, I am recuperating at home back by the pool, and just generally basking in the sympathy shown by all.    My back legs are starting to work a little better, and pooping in the yard is resuming. I’m not real keen on my shaved back and limited diet, but I’m told that I will be making a full recovery.    Golly these drinks taste good.     Abigail             WHAT THE HECK !

One of the holes in my training for adulthood was a clear understanding of the condition called nausea, defined by Wikopedia as ” a sensation of unease and discomfort in the upper stomach accompanied by an involuntary urge to vomit” .  With  apologies to my legions of female readers, I always assumed it was a female condition utilized to fend off the advances of amorous young men.  Now that I’ve watched the John Kerry apology tour with guest star James Taylor singing “You’ve Got A Friend”,  I get it.     After the second viewing, I had that sense of unease and discomfort, and actually regurgitated a small portion of my dinner.

Young people my son’s age (22) tend to have less allegiance and love for our nation and its purpose in the world.  I have to admit that I feel their pain, particularly after the pathetic performance of the Emperor’s administration in the wake of the in-your-face attacks in Paris, followed by a most sappy, drively, apologetic performance by our Secretary of State today.  Remember folks, he could have been our President.               WHAT THE HECK !

Early this week , administrators at Duke University announced that the campus bell chapel  would broadcast an amplified Muslim call to prayer daily on the beautiful Durham campus.   “Duke remains committed to fostering an inclusive, tolerant, welcoming campus for all of its students”, according to the university’s VP of government affairs and public relations. The Dukies forgot to mention that the call to prayer incorporates the phrase Allahu Akbar, which as I understand has nothing to do with peace and love and worship.

I can’t do a better job of expressing outrage at this decision than Franklin Graham, son of famed evangelist, Billy Graham, who said, “I think it’s wrong. I have a problem with it, and I believe many people have a problem with it. As Christianity is being excluded from the public square, and followers of Islam are raping, butchering and beheading Christians, Jews and anyone who doesn’t submit to their Sharia Islamic Law,  Duke is promoting this in the name of religious pluralism.  I call on the donors and alumni to withhold their support until this policy is reversed. I’m not saying the Muslims who come to Duke University are terrorists, but Islam is not a peaceful religion, never has been, and never will be.”

Bully for Franklin Graham, not because of his religious affiliation and commitment, but just for showing a little spine. Fortunately, under pressure from alumni, and thankfully from students,  administrators reversed the policy yesterday and ditched the Friday bells.  I am bewildered however to imagine a group of even half-witted Dukie adminstrators actually discussing such an action to begin with.  Did no one bother to raise their hand and say, are y’all nuts ?      I’d drink bottled water if I lived in Durham ?                    WHAT THE HECK !

I just returned from a long walk with the pooch, and we both concluded that we need to move south.  The thermometer registered 52 degrees and it just isn’t fair.  We don’t live here to wear long pants and socks (except for church), nor should we have to stay out of our meticulously maintained swimming pools.  Tomorrow I’m going to have to buy some little booties for my dog for goodness sake.    Oppressed and burdened and unfortunate.                  WHAT THE HECK !   

You are naïve if you think that the planned and coordinated agenda that spurred gay marriage in most places in America ends with this challenge to God’s family structure.   How long do you think it will be before a few activist bloodsucking lawyers shove a gay couple into the offices of a fundamental church in Florida seeking to be married, and what do you think the ramifications of a refusal to perform the ceremony might be ?   After all, churches enjoy a tax-advantaged, protected position with our government that exists as long as the church follows our laws.   And what if that law violates the biblical beliefs of that church body ?   I would like to think that the leaders of my church would risk arrest and sanction rather than conducting such a ceremony.

Romans 13:1 says: “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God”.   Maybe I should tone down my rhetoric about the Emperor !  But Acts 5:29 suggests, in response to a set of  Old Testament leaders pushing the apostles to act in contradiction to God’s will, “We must obey God rather than men”.     The message seems pretty clear – support and respect and pray for God’s appointed leaders, even if they are from a competing political group, up to the point where they force violation of the more compelling set of God’s laws.      Pretty easy, eh ?                WHAT THE HECK !

Woke up today to the front page of my local newspaper trumpeting the splendid beginnings of gay marriage in the state of Florida.  Dudes marrying dudes. Chicks marrying chicks.  Public officials/clerks in every berg in Florida forced to choose between giving up their jobs or conducting ceremonies for which they are morally opposed and appalled.   Don’t get me wrong, I could not care less what folks do behind closed doors.  I’m not the mediator, and I am nobody’s judge.  Two things are troublesome to me, however.

In November of 2008, along with 62% of Floridians, I voted for the Florida Definition of Marriage Amendment, which added a new section to Article 1 of the Florida Constitution defining marriage as an act between one man and one woman.  29 other states voted likewise in referendum since 1998.   So how in the world have we allowed a few lawyers in black robes to completely and utterly displace the will of the people in our nation ?

Secondly, is it any wonder that our nation struggles as we seek to, in the name of modernity or advancement or progressivity or coolness, displace God’s clearly laid out family structure.  Letting people “do their thing” in the name of tolerance works for some people, but who in their right mind consciously wants to challenge God’s design?   How dare we ?                      WHAT THE HECK !