The Simple Power Of “Now”

“Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. And today? Today is a gift. That’s why we call it the present.”
Babatunde Olatunji

Sunday morning, for many, is  a time of reflection. Some of us do it in a house of worship, others choose to do so off on their own.

For me, it’s a private time between me and my creator… I take stock in what’s been happening, where the world is going, and me in particular. What have I contributed that is positive? Negative? Is there something I need to fix around the house? Around my Karma? And do I have the tools to accomplish either task?

But every now and then, it’s time to pack up all those things that make one’s hair turn grey. Either I figure that out eventually, or my dog Cooper uses his cold, wet nose to remind me of the simple power of “Now.”

And so now it’s off to a local dog park where he runs and plays with his canine friends while I simply watch. Sometimes, the dogs allow me to interact with them. It’s a gift I graciously accept.  The stress relief is amazing and the message starts to come to me: With all the stress in the world that needs attention and fixing lest we destroy our precious civilization, there still lies within us a need to simply enjoy the “now.” After all… Isn’t it the “now” we’re trying to save? Not just in the world, but in all of us?

And so, when Cooper is done playing with his friends. I’ll often load him back up into the car and take him to a large county park nearby that has trails going through the wilds. We’ll walk for awhile and we’ll both take in the beauty of nature as my soul gathers energy for the coming week.

I can’t speak for Cooper, but when we return home, refreshed, I think we both realize the importance of simply enjoying the “now.”

“Now” is where we make decisions. “Now” is where we remember. “Now” is where we live. And “now” is where all of our answers can be found.

There’s so much that we can do, but only if we understand the simple power of  “Now.”

I think it can best be put like this…

Now… Go and enjoy your now!

With thanks and appreciation to Dave Carroll.

Note: For more Grand Rants articles on Dave (including all three of his “United Breaks Guitars” videos), just type “Dave Carroll” in the “Search” box which is to the right of the title line of this article. 

Gerry Ashley

William Jefferson Sentenced To 13 Years In Prison

GUILTY AS CHARGED!

(Photo Source: Trial Sketch)

This Just In:

William “Cold Cash” Jefferson, former Democratic Representative from Louisiana was sentenced to 13 years in prison today after being convicted on a number of federal corruption charges.

Jefferson, you will recall, was infamous for having $90,000 in bribe money hidden in his freezer.

According to John Bresnahan on Politico.com:

Jefferson’s sentence was the harshest ever handed out to a former lawmaker, but Justice Department officials said Jefferson warranted such a severe sanction due to the unprecedented scale of his corruption.

There will be no appeal. Given the nature of his corruption, he’s lucky he only got 13 years, harshest sentence or not.

Again from Bresnahan:

Jefferson, 62, will be the fifth former member of Congress since 2000 to end up behind bars, joining ex-Reps. Duke Cunningham (R-Calif.), Jim Traficant (Ohio), Bob Ney (R-Ohio) and Frank Ballance (D-N.C.) on the list of imprisoned lawmakers.

A sixth former member, ex-Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.), was indicted last year on federal fraud and money laundering charges, but his case has yet to go to trail due to constitutional challenges raised by Renzi’s attorneys.

I don’t care what party you belong to… you belonged to the UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES – A privilege that should not be taken lightly, nor abused in the manner done by Jefferson, Cunningham, Traficant, Ney and Ballance and, allegedly, by Renzi.

Let the chips fall where they will; get these vermin OUT of government and then, please… GO BACK FOR MORE. There’s no shortage.

There will be no book deals, no appearances on Oprah and no one to take on you’re your cause, gentlemen. Let Renzi have his day in court to attempt to prove his innocence or, hopefully, do the right thing if he’s, in fact, guilty. The others? You are the scum of the earth. You lived privileged lives as Representatives, and decided that was not enough. You wanted more at our expense, and you took it.  From Payoffs to Payback – Rot away, gentlemen.

And to those of you in Congress that haven’t been caught yet… tick-tock…

Gerry Ashley

Obama’s Dilemma: Afghanistan

It’s no great secret that President Obama is in hopelessly over his head. The man has never worked a “punch the clock” nine-to-five job in his life. He was just a junior senator when America rapturously tried once again to cleanse itself of its original sin of slavery and ushered him into office. It didn’t hurt that Barack and the MSM had the ultimate villains in the evil George W. Bush and Darth Cheney.

Nope. Forget about an academic who didn’t even know to how to appropriately interact with Prime Minister Gordon Brown; who has thrown the gay movement under the bus; who would associate with virtually anyone (including people like Ayers and Wright) to gain power; who to this day refuses to admit the painfully obvious fact that the surge in Iraq worked; who has turned his back on the Iranians yearning to be free from a government hell bent on destroying both Israel and the U.S. Forget all that and so much more. Because of a weird juxtaposition of left-wing political, media, and social influences, the Chosen One can virtually do no wrong… Except in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan is Obama’s dilemma. During his campaign, Barack relentlessly hammered Bush on fighting the “wrong war in Iraq”. He hounded Dubya on his failure to focus on Afghanistan and “get” Osama Bin Laden. As POTUS-to-be he promised to get our troops out of Iraq, and put them where they needed to be — Afghanistan. One tiny problem for President Obama, however: Bush chose his war wisely and from the heart. Captain Teleprompter chose his politically. Whereas GWB picked a bloodthirsty and vicious regime with a track record for WMDs and terrorism but an even older history of a well-educated middle class and a taste for representational government, Obama instead opted for the political anti-Bush – supporting a war with a war-like country whose only real claim to fame is that Somalia is worse.

So here sits Barack Obama… Caught between the Scylla of his politics and rhetoric on the one hand, and the Charybdis of the facts on the other. Faced with the awful truth that while America may wince and look the other way when it comes to racist reverends and moronic comments from Mrs. Obama, we will not turn away from torn American flesh. We’ll fester over ACORN, Van Jones, and Anita Dunn, but what we will not tolerate is politics when it comes to Afghanistan.

Here’s the deal, and I think we all know it including President Obama: Afghanistan is a decades-long war, and it will no doubt spill over into Pakistan. There are three choices here, two reasons behind those choices, and one excuse.

The first choice for the POTUS is to follow the advice of his generals (McChrystal et al) and pour troops into the fray; that’s certainly a respectable option. Who knows if it will work, but at least it’s decisive.

The second choice is to stand pat (or stand down) as ambassador Eikenberry has suggested. Given the corruption, drug smuggling, war lords, etc., etc., etc., this option has beaucoup merit too.

But it’s the last choice/excuse that is the most defining for President Obama. If he continues to waffle, if he lets Afghanistan agonizingly wither on the vine, if he chooses to blame all this woe on the “ill-prepared groundwork” laid out by the previous administration, he will have proven himself to be nothing more than a Chicago hack – a pathetic, dim, hollow, stuffed-shirt, power-mongering shill who will trade American blood, security, and values for make-do polls because that’s the best he can do.

Afghanistan is Obama’s defining moment, and presents an almost Shakespearian dilemma.

Alan Speakman

Bodhisattva – It Can “Strike” Anytime, Anywhere!

Bod-hi-satt-va

–noun (from Buddhism)

A person who has attained prajna  (Enlightenment), but who postpones Nirvana in order to help others to attain Enlightenment.

Then again, sometimes, you just meet these people unexpectedly in your working day without realizing it.  How we react tells us more about ourselves than the Bodhisattva.

That said, with all the waves of negativity in the world today, may you encounter your own Bodhisattva… and enjoy your day.

Oh, and don’t worry…The stress will wait for you until later. But if you should happen to attain your own prajna, be sure to share it with others, won’t you? And somehow, when the stress resumes, you’ll be far better prepared to control it rather than vice versa.

Enjoy the present (and presence) of Bodhisattva!

Gerry Ashley

Note: If you enjoyed this, you might also enjoy something related, yet a little different: The Simple Power Of “Now”

 

Who To Kill First: Grandma Or Convicted Murderers?

 
If  the Senate passes Healthcare Reform, will elderly patients be given the same appeals process as convicted murderers?

The execution of Beltway Sniper John Allen Muhammed on Tuesday brought to mind a disturbing thought that should trouble anyone regardless of your position on the death penalty. It exposes yet another absurdity of Barack Obama’s Healthcare Reform. 

Staci Lynn Jazvac

In Raiford, Florida, 47 year-old Michael Rivera sits on death row, convicted of the murder of 11 year-old Staci Jazvac in a suburb of Ft. Lauderdale… in 1986. At the time, I was working with John Walsh  (now host of “America’s Most Wanted”) at the Adam Walsh Child Resource Center.  Staci lived about a mile from me. I became close friends with Staci’s mom as we assisted her through the search, recovery and after-effects of this tragedy. Rivera was convicted the following year. It left an impression that still haunts me today.

Twenty-three years have passed and Rivera is still sitting on death row.

According to a 2004 report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, it costs an average of $22,650 per prisoner, nationally, to maintain our prison systems (the report is available on-line at the above link).

Allowing for the fact that the figures in 1986 were undoubtedly lower, it’s still safe to say, Michael Rivera has been housed and fed for nearly a quarter of a century at the cost of about a half-million dollars of taxpayers money alone. Never mind the fact that Staci’s family never got to see her grow up, but have to deal with the fact that her killer has been able to live on. Rivera has his own web page where he solicits money for his various  appeals and even advertised on a social page, looking to get married… all at our expense, of course. 

Now, add to the above, that if the Healthcare Reform Bill passes in the Senate (the House of Representatives already passed it in the still of the night last week-end), it will mean that strict cost cutting measures will need to be enforced, left up to panels consisting of bureaucrats who, contrary to the lies of the Obama administration, will decide who gets care and who doesn’t. Liberals object when we refer to these review boards as “Death Panels” but, in point of fact, that’s exactly what they will be, at times.

Only the naive would believe otherwise, but the cold hard facts are that there will be people in their senior years who will be told, “Sorry, but you’re too old to get a liver transplant. You no longer contribute to Society. You eat up precious resources that could be used to save younger members of our society that have many years to contribute. You’ve had a long life compared to them, so we’ll have to decline your request.” 

It may not be those exact words, but the sentiment will be the same.

We have our priorities seriously skewed when we can spend a half million dollars to warehouse a convicted murderer for 23 years, yet we have to tell senior citizens who may well have never broken a law in their lives they are being sentenced to a hasty “death by healthcare denial.”

Welcome to the world of “Change You Can Die With,” courtesy of our Democratic Congress and, your host, “Mmm-Mmm-Mmm, Barack Hussein Obama.”

Gerry Ashley

They Give Themselves Outright

To all who have served (including our own Gerry Ashley) and are serving: thank you.

Stoutcat

We Must All Be Sentinels, Lest We Lose What’s Left Of Freedom

 

“Living history is more treacherous than merely witnessing it.”

As a somewhat impudent young man when I was in school, I didn’t really apply myself to history class. After all, history was about things that happened in the past, and I was contemptuously obsessed with “now” and what mysteries lay ahead.  But when a “D” on my report card in history caught my parents’ eyes, they knew it was time to make sure I appreciated the significance of understanding history and, more importantly, our place in it.

My mother’s contribution was the short but time-tested phrase, “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” I’ll get back to that in a moment. But my father chose to deliver his message in his own words, and those are the ones that ultimately haunt me to this day. He said, “We must all be sentinels to history, or else this fragile freedom we enjoy will be snatched away from us… and we won’t see it coming until it’s too late.”

An Execution in Virgina

So here I’ll watch the night and wait

To see the morning shine,

When he will hear the stroke of eight

And not the stroke of nine…

A. E. Houseman

John Allen Muhammed, the Beltway Sniper, is sentenced to die by lethal injection tomorrow evening at nine o’clock.

The Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal. It is not expected that Virginia Governor Tim Kaine will intervene.

I’m not sure whether I should say, “Let God have mercy on him,” or “May he rot in hell.”

A little of both, I think.

UPDATE: It is done.

Stoutcat

And the Walls Came Tumbling Down

“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

And so down it came.

We win. They lose.

UPDATE: Michelle Malkin gives an update and a Reagan shout-out.

Stoutcat

An Unsustainable Narrative

I wonder how much longer the media will attempt to spin the Fort Hood massacre as  “pre-virtual vicarious Post Traumatic Stress Disorder”. ABC News reports today:

U.S. intelligence agencies were aware months ago that Army Major Nidal Hasan was attempting to make contact with people associated with al Qaeda, two American officials briefed on classified material in the case told ABC News.

So, Chris Wallace, do you now have any thoughts as to whether religion played a role in Hasan’s attacks at Fort Hood? 

And Time Magazine: still think it was “secondary trauma” that caused him to shout, “Allahu Akbar”?

How about you, Cape Cod Times? Still mystified as to Hasan’s motives?

Closing your eyes to a situation you do not wish to acknowledge does not mean that the situation does not exist. It is the somewhat more dignified version of sticking your fingers in your ears and singing, “La la la la, I can’t hear you!”

Retired Army lieutenant colonel Allan West doesn’t have his fingers in his ears, and his eyes are wide open. Via Stacy McCain, here’s West’s take on the situation:

We have become so politically correct that our media is more concerned about the stress of the shooter, Major Nidal Malik Hasan. The misplaced benevolence intending to portray him as a victim is despicable…

This is not a “man caused disaster”. It is what it is, an Islamic jihadist attack…

As Stacy says, read the whole thing.

If we continue to allow ourselves to be lulled back into a 9/10 mentality, we are doomed to see a repeat of 9/11, and on a larger, more horrific scale.

In the meantime, how much longer will the media persist in their narrative? These aren’t the jihadis you’re looking for. You can go about your business. Move along. Move along.

UPDATE:  Sissy Willis says “The media treat it like a case of non-denominational shoplifting.” And they do.

Stoutcat