SAY A PRAYER, HOLD NOSE, HOLD FAST

"I AM DISGUSTED AND WORN OUT

WITH THE SYSTEM THAT SEEMS

TO PREVAIL."

                                                             John Buford

     It is always said that the next election is the most important in our life.  It always seems that it is a convenient attempt to jar people from their indifference and vote.  Yet it is more than a right to vote, it is an obligation.  Yet even those who have enough honor left to walk in, hold their nose, and cast the vote forget that the choice is meant to be an informed vote.

     Well looking back on previous votes the plea to the fear of losing our country has become a possibility.  How is a serious citizen suppose to make an informed vote when the lies and accusations come so fast and heavy the truth is the biggest casualty?

     Disgusted is the best definition that I can produce when trying to make sense out of today's politic.  The historian in me fears the fact that the USA has made it just about as long as any government has lasted in history before falling.  And the falling is due mostly to a societies own hubris and greed.

     Sometimes I think that when we die before peace and mercy prevail there will be relatives who died to keep our country free will come up and slap our face before we receive our fate.  Grand parents will come up and show disgust with us for not taking to our raising.  We were all raised better and the sense of hoping that those who have gone beyond will look back at us with pride.

     Never have I seen such hatred and impolite behavior from people as I have during this election cycle.  I am sickened every time I watch TV and it extends to the mail and the so called news sites on line.  It has gotten to the point that it is impossible to sort out what news site is legitimate and those who are deliberately creating lies just to stir up the hatred of people.

     It amazes me as to what people that I know to be decent people believe and support.  This is on all sides not just one.  I am so happy not to be voting for the candidates in another district because of the needless mudslinging and facts that seem to be pulled from thin air.  If I was in that district I would seriously look at the Prohibition candidate.  At least you pretty well know what the platform is there.  But then again a good stiff drink maybe the only way to tolerate what is going on.

     Sometimes when I get mad at those who think that the American people are so stupid that they have to be herded like sheep.  And then I see the sheep lining up and wonder if they don't have something going on there?

     Many times I have complained that I have not been able to vote for my candidate since Ronald Reagan.  And here I am again.

     When I go in and make my choice I have to decide whether to vote for a proven criminal enterprise or an unproven criminal enterprise.  There is only one thing that I can do.

     SAY A PRAYER, HOLD NOSE, HOLD FAST.

CONCEPTUALIZE

"THE GREATER THE POWER,

THE MORE DANGEROUS

THE ABUSE."

                                                               Edmunde Burke

     Without resorting to the point of being called a conspiracy freak, there have been some things that can only be explained by the existence of some.  In many ways the only way something makes sense is if there is a conspiracy behind it.  Also I want to stress that many conspiracy theories are only a disbelief in what is being presented as fact that is merely designed to manipulate what our perception of reality is.

     This has taken many years of thought which at times confuses myself.  Simple common sense sometimes dictates that there is more than meets the eye in many things.  It is like a magic act, even though you know that the magic is slight of hand and illusion it gives the impression of being real and truly magical.  And what one of us does not want to believe in the actual existence of magic.

     There is an illusion that politics and politicians are the actual ones who hold power and yet we know that by their own demonstrations and pronouncements most are so stupid they could not pour water out of a boot without instructions on the heel.  Without feeding into the theories of Illuminati, Tri Lateral Commissions, and other entities I will try to explain how I perceive many things that have happened or are happening.

     There has been a slow and evolving set of principles that are offsetting the original principles that this nation was founded on.  Some groups have set out a list of goals such as the Communist plan that is frighteningly close to being on track.  And yet I believe there is something that sets behind the scenes that use the openly advocating groups that use them for a specific purpose.

      It seems that there is a thought process that cuts to bare bone principles excluding things such as religion, morality, humanistic principles, and individualism.  That taking the barest hardcore set of facts a behind the scenes policy is put forth in some manor that influences what is happening in our world.

     In the early stages of this theory, back in the 1970's, my first thought was connected to the energy crisis.  At that time the popular and official thought was that we were on a fast decline in oil and gas resources.  The importation of billions of gallons of Mideastern oil gave the push to the panic and rapid rise of energy prices.  Yet many of us in the country knew that oil wells had been found and plugged that slowed the domestic supply of oil for years.  People I knew in the actual business of working the oil fields would tell me that it was mostly defining the edges of larger pools that the drillers were putting down holes for.  When a well was actually produces it was more as a pay the bills and prove the amount kind of production.

     When prices came up many of the old boom fields from the 20's and 30's were all re-drilled and still pumping oil today.  It struck me that if I were put into the place of looking 50 and 100 years down the road some of what was going on would make sense.

     When you have a finite amount of oil it makes sense to over develop regions and use up the oil from others and give yourself time to let technology solve short and long term problems.  This also ended up feeding money into societies that created war and conflict and allowed an ideology that has been around for centuries to actually be able to spread its idea of a world order.

     It has been demonstrated by George Soros as being behind the destruction of several countries economies.  And he is now behind many organizations that work to control policy in our country.  It also is seen by the fact that one of the country's most admired investors is more of a reason that the Keystone Pipeline has not been allowed to be built.  Since he owns the majority of the BN&SF railroad it would cut revenues of transporting the oil by rail drastically.  The environmental protest is a nice publicity touch.

     Though I have the impressions that there is more to what is going on I believe that those who do get the blame are not really the ones responsible.  As in several of the text on the subjects of power, a relative few use the 'useful idiots' to sell and implement ideologies that on the surface make sense but in reality are a means of directing the real goals.
     All the 'talking heads' should drone on as thinking people should be looking behind the curtain.  In the course of nudging the direction that a few want to go it is always easier to appeal to an emotional level of others.  Reasoning as to what is really behind the events of the world would shock a majority if they ever realized what they were being played for.
     I doubt that many will actually understand what I am saying because I don't either.  It is impressions and a bit of logic that has been driving my opinions.  They still are forming and I don't like what I am seeing.
      It is said that the road to hell is wide and paved.  Some seem to speed down it as though the ride will be fun.  It is the crash at the end that will bring home the reality.  Going up the rough trail has more the attraction as I see it.  The results are better even though they are hard.  And do not think that I am under the impression that I have lived a wholesome and benevolent life, I haven't.  Don't believe that I am under the impression that I have some righteousness, I don't.  I struggle as much or more as many.  I still am wrong on many things and struggle with a lot.  I have been given a unique opportunity to express my opinion, flawed as it may be.  It astonishes many.
     So there you have it.  It is hard to expound on a lifetime of impressions and not look like a fool.  Maybe this will cause someone to look past the curtain and think.

SADDNESS

"WE NEVER TASTE A PERFECT JOY;

OUR HAPPIEST SUCCESSES ARE

MIXED WITH SADNESS."

                                                                      Pierre Corneille

     Sadness just seems to be a part of everyday life anymore.  With the senselessness of what is happening in the news it is not hard to have sadness become mixed with anger and despair.  Stepping back and evaluating all the good has to become a part of each of our daily routines just to keep our prospective and sanity.

     As I age the loss of close friends and relatives weighs heavily and has become a part of everyday life.  Seeing things that I keep as mementos serves more than one purpose.  Gladness and sadness have to become balanced or we lose our focus on what is ahead and how we have been blessed.

     Now and then something hits from out of the blue that you never saw coming and it can shake you to the bone.  These are the moments that faith and trust are really put to the test.  Sometimes the sadness comes in a form that we can not be prepared for.  And so it came last week.

     My family has known a family for many years because of the community and the church we attend.  It was not one of those things where we go over for a visit or do things together it was just the common everyday awareness of who they are.

     We saw their children born and being raised but still our ties were not of the closeness of across the street neighbors.  They were just good people living their lives.  One of the two sons that entered the seminary happened to come to our place for a wienie roast with a group of young people in the Totus Tuus group.  This is our version of the summer bible school.

     The young man was just in the seminary and a happy and nice young man who had made a momentous decision with his life.  Working with the young people was a delight and I poked fun at him telling his companions how I remember him being carried by his mom in a car seat in the tractor as she worked ground.  This is not unusual for farm folks, but it got a laugh from his fellow instructors.

     That is why it was so sad that when the news came out that he had drowned saving another's life it hit as so sad. There was so much potential and joy that the world has lost.  Parents lost a son, siblings lost a brother, others lost a friend, and we all lost a great example of love and sacrifice.

     As I write this his body has not been recovered.  As you read it, hopefully, his funeral will be over.  As a member of the church we have the memory and example of what we hope all our young people called to a vocation will be.

     We do not live in that community anymore, it seems that one hours drive separates us from many friends and acquaintances.  We never lose the connection however, and the sadness.

LIBRARIES LOST MEANING

"WITHOUT LIBRARIES WHAT HAVE WE?

WE HAVE NO PAST AND

NO FUTURE."

                                                          Ray Bradbury

     The library has been a repository of our knowledge waiting for anyone curious enough to make the effort to educate and entertain oneself.  Yet what has happened to our public libraries?  Many communities fail to realize that it is more than the story hour that keeps the kids entertained now and then.  It has become access for those who apply for jobs who have no computer access.  It has become a way to build the resume that is needed to go after more than a burger flipping job for many.  It is a cool place of refuge for some who swelter in the heat of non air conditioned homes, giving them something to profit by while they get through the worst time of day.

     But what has been the real reason that libraries exist is the repository of history and knowledge at very little cost.  But has this vital function been lost?  I am afraid that with the advance of 'library science' the true purposes have been lost in favor of the contemporary uses that look so much better than repositories of a communities past.

     Museums are not always set up or even considered to provide facilities for study.  So the library fills this void.  Museums give visual preservation of history, libraries hold the text.  Books are looked at by many as old fashioned and the new popular services seem to have taken the forefront.  This is a tragedy.

     Simple economics put libraries at risk because the priorities for funding are not at the top of priority of most cities.  Books are expensive.  And there is now a standard set that if a book is not checked out within a certain period of time, it is sold.  I have a problem with this as a blanket policy.

     Fiction and other books that have an entertainment value is fine to put such a standard on, but history is not.  Books that cost $29 and up are taken off the shelf and sold for fifty cents.  Many extensive history volumes are in sets and very expensive.  Money is always a problem.  Space for many is critical, but I have a problem with the loss of many texts that should be a part of permanent collections.
     Quite a few years ago a high school had inherited the set of annuals that tracked the class histories of that school.  In the fervor of converting space for other uses the entire set was thrown out.  Not offered to a public library or even offered for sale.
     I just brought home four sacks of books that were eliminated from our local library.  I was relieved that it was not any critical books that should have been kept.  But they did fit into my library.  In the course of doing research for my book I have been buying used books like crazy.  Normally I never flat out name names but, in this circumstance it is to make my point.  Also this is what has brought my ire to write on this particular subject.
     I received a used book by a respected historian.  Many of his books are not available anymore and some are just out of my budget.  Normally I do not try to buy collectible books for an investment I am looking for information.  However, this volume is now one of my prized possession because of the following:  The book is a first edition number 357 of the first one thousand copies and is autographed such:   BEST WISHES TO THE IOLA PUBLIC LIBRARY FROM LESLIE LINNVILLE.
     There should be the appreciation by an institution for the gift of such a volume and being it is a history book of the region, should be part of a permanent collection.  Education does not end at the door of the classroom.  Education only begins there.  The availability of information is a serious responsibility of an institution such as a library.
     I personally have a problem and there are several others I know that have the same problem.  We have libraries or collections that we do not want to see boxed into beer flats and sold for a dollar apiece at our estate auction.  We need an archival library that will value and be responsible curators of the knowledge we have collected.  And this needs to be available for researchers and writers.  But we cannot find an institution that we can count on conserving and preserving for others.
     Many times a community can be reflected in the importance and care of their library.  Many small towns have the desire to have a nice library but cannot afford it.  It is the lucky few that take such a serious responsibility to provide an experience and be a repository of the community information, attitude, and literacy.
     Many think that pioneers and frontiersman were illiterate and had no education.  It is noted by several serious authors that at the cow camp there may be a man that could only sign with an X and the next a graduate of Harvard.  Reading material was the most prized items of the early years of this country.  When limited to weight and size the volumes that were carried along down the trail were of the best quality.
     In early settlements one of the early things organized were reading groups and book clubs.  Many a small settlement had a proud collection of books in their library that may only number a dozen or two.  But they were proud and had quality.  Newspapers were passed around until everyone had its use and then you find them in or on walls as wall paper or insulation.  Unpacking old trunks and boxes is more fun when the items are wrapped in news print of the time.
     If there is a challenge that I would put forth to all libraries and communities, make a part of the collection a permanent collection.  At some point the information will be invaluable.  It is not the value of a history item that it must see a minimum number of check outs.  It is the value of the information contained and not lost for that one time it is needed.
     In this new age of electronic whiz bang devices and short term capacity to hold attention there is still a place that should be a priority to hold the information of our past as our most valuable possession.

AMERICAN DREAM

"IF YOU WANT TO BE ON THE TEAM,

GO TO THE GYM.  IF YOU WANT

TO OWN THE TEAM, GO

TO THE LIBRARY."

                                                  A mothers advice

     The quote I heard from a very successful man, who became a success in spite of his birth, circumstances, and hardships.  I did not catch his name but I will, and I will buy his book.  He is so inspirational in what he has overcome and where he is at today that his story should be required reading.

     I am also writing this to come out after we have celebrated our nations independence so the superfluous partying is over and serious thought needs to be taking place.  As a society we have been led by those who would impose their will and ideology on the nation.  Without a rebirth of individual thinking and independent study, our nation which has come at so high a price, can be lost.  This while many cheer on the loss.

     I just finished the book of an early day pioneer who moved through Missouri, Kansas, and then made the first run into Oklahoma.  Even in the early days when life was hard and the weak were soon weeded out, there were people who came along to take advantage of the goodwill and charity of others, and believed that they should be given half of whatever another had.  He describes giving the man the means to plant a crop and food to get through the winter, and then finding that the man did not do anything about planting the crop.  The family ate the food provided them leaving others with their debt and moving on.  Those people you do not read about in history for doing anything noteworthy.

     The term American Dream is a 20th Century term and does not reflect on the original reason that people came here.  It has more to do with having 'things' rather than doing things that matter.  So what is the American Dream of your children?  Have you talked or gotten any sense of what the 'dream' is for them?

     The original 'dream' seems to have been forced out of popular culture.  Doing what feels good is more important than doing what is right.  All through time the parents have wanted a better world for their children and grandchildren than what they had.  This has slid into having a bigger house, more money, massive debt, and following what groups want you to follow.

     I am an American.  I do not hyphenate what kind of American.  My ancestry comes from German, Scottish, English, and possibly more.  So I do not hyphenate myself and do not understand why others do.  Those who promote this have a goal of sowing division.  Going to the socialist handbook their definition of many that support these goals of division are "useful idiots".

     So the fireworks have been blown off, food has been packed away, and it is time to go back to whatever it is that you do.  After this are you grateful for what we have?  Do you appreciate what has been done by others who have come before you?  Are you willing to do the time to study as to what you believe and put it into practice?  After this, are you proud to be an American?

     So many times in the past this Republic would have fallen without the apparent support of the great I AM.  Have we gone down the wrong path at times?  Yes.  Will we make mistakes again?  Yes.  But will we ever humble ourselves again and begin to recognize what is good and evil?  I don't know.  But if you think that someone else will do it for you I believe I know the answer.