SC Highway Patrol Unveils Fallen Heroes Monument!

The South Carolina Highway Patrol unveiled a granite monument Friday, July 27, 2012, with the names of the 50 troopers who have given their lives in the line of duty throughout the Patrol’s 82-year history. The first trooper was killed in 1931. The monument was placed on the grounds of the SC Department of Public Safety at its Blythewood Headquarters.  “This monument is a tangible and permanent reminder that your loved one’s sacrifice was not in vain and will never be forgotten,” Col. Mike Oliver, commander of the Highway Patrol told the families. “Everyone who walks onto these grounds will be reminded that to live in a safe and secure society, a price has been paid. These 50 names encompass what it means to give yourself to the greater good in our society. These 50 troopers are heroes to the state of South Carolina and beyond.”  The fundraising for the monument began in 2010 with the Fallen Trooper Memorial Run spearheaded by Cpl. Bob Beres of Charleston. More than $35,000 was raised by a 24-hour event at the Charleston Southern University track where people walked/ran in honor of troopers who have lost their lives through the years serving the state.  “DPS employees often hear me talk about the concept of teamwork. I strongly believe that this common vision is at the foundation of all great organizations. The dedication of this monument today captures the very essence of that teamwork in action,” said SCDPS Director Leroy Smith, at the ceremony. “It is because of the commitment, hard work, and sacrifice of so many that we gather here. Today, we honor our heroes. Some of them gave their lives during a traffic stop. Some of them lost their lives by a cold-blooded act. All of them deserve this fitting tribute.”

Strengthening My Relationship With God

I’ve been working on developing my relationship with God for years.  If I hadn’t, I don’t believe that I would have been able to cope with my mother’s transition from this world to the next and other heartbreaks that happened in my life.  I accept the fact that there are many people out here that do not even believe in God and some that have very little faith in Him.  I understand how some might feel that a good God would not allow bad things to happen, at least, to good people.  I can’t question that and I know that there is no one capable of predicting God’s ways.  (Isaiah 55:8-9). Developing a relationship with God is hard enough because the devil wants you think worldly, in the now.  He wants you to concentrate how people feel about you and what you need to do to impress them.  It’s not really complicated because we’re easily tempted and tricked.  We fall for materialism and great lifestyles without realizing that there is are hidden costs.  We’re only human, we just want nice things and to be accepted by others.  We get caught up looking for that elusive peace and satisfaction for fulfillment.  We were duped into thinking that it made us happy.  But we were never full, we wanted more.  I personally felt an emptiness, so I tried filling it with the wrong things.  They weren’t worth it.  I forgot that God has a purpose for me but in order to achieve it I would have to align my will with God’s Will.  I wasn’t strong enough and still am very weak dealing with the struggles of living.  That’s why I need to strengthen my relationship.  (Ephesians 6:12).  Doing the right thing is not easy and in some situations, it’s frowned upon.  I’m trying to get stronger by not only praying in the morning, during the day and at night, but also reading more inspirational materials, esp., the Word.  I’m still chained to my desires.  My mind goes into the what-if mode and now I’m thinking things that I shouldn’t.  Recently, I’ve started turning my radio off when I drive to work to have quiet time with the Lord.  It’s usually a twenty minute ride.  I start off okay, but after a few minutes dealing with the traffic, my focus is off my quiet time with God, and now on some of these nutty drivers.  That’s a book in itself discussing how people drive, but that’s not the point.  My point is this, the closer I want to be in God’s presence, the harder it gets.  I get to a point that I don’t think I’m worthy of His Divine love and mercy.  Some people know what I’m talking about.  If it wasn’t for His grace and mercy, I don’t know where I’ll be now.  Yet, I fall down struggling to get out of these chains.  I can see why God calls us all His children.  We act like kids.  One big problem is that when we become adults, we lose our trust in our protectors.  By getting back to God, I hope to find my trust.

9 Year Reigns Terror in Daycare!

Parents, know where you are sending your little ones for protection and care while you are away working.  Know who are responsible for your precious heartbeats.  This daycare did have a video otherwise no one would know what's going on.  It's not wrong to invest on a discreet video system if your present daycare is not willing to work with you.  If they are not willing to work with you and their practices are already questionable, why are you dealing with them?  We don't know how these babies will be affected mentally, let's pray that time will allow them to forget.

Rest In Peace, Sally Ride!!

May 26, 1951 – July 23, 2012 – 61

1^st American woman to enter space as an astronaut and physicist.

Rest In Peace, George Jefferson!!

Sherman Hemsley – February 1, 1938 – July 24, 2012 - 74

Rest In Peace, Miss Sylvia!!

Sylvia Woods - February 2, 1926 – July 19, 2012 - 86

Down & Dirty Election Year!

People, I’m not good at predictions so I will say this. This election year has the potential to be very bitter & nasty. The proof is already evident. Job killer, be-American, not-Amerian, liars, felon, and other names are just a few uncivil terms being used. It doesn’t matter if an apology is offered, the seeds were planted.  Do whatever it takes to distract people away from the main focus of this campaign.  Opponents can point out the problems with leadership but can’t offer any solutions.  You hear quite a few nasty things that are said about this particular President because too many people say these same things behind closed doors.  Minorities are supposed to know their place, correct?  No need to say that this is the worse election ever because each time they get worse. I still say that one of the primary reasons that the past presidential election and this one has brought out the worse in our leaders. I wonder if it is because there is a black man running for the highest position in the country/world, the President of the United States. Say what you will, first of all, no one took it serious that this man was going to win. Secondly, since he did win, the politicians didn’t want to compromise for the good of all Americans. They would rather block what he does to help middle-class Americans and protect the super-rich, job creators. At least, if they denounce and reject him there won’t be a second term. The money behind these selfish people is controlling them. The money is extremely deep and SCOTUS has passed the law that there is a no limit on corporate campaign spending. Our elected officials are bought and paid for.  Safeguards against politicians taking undisclosed payments in exchange for peddling particular interests are now in place.  Did I mean “peddling particular interests”, you figure it out.  Millions of dollars are pouring in on these campaigns.  If  it's that much money out here why aren't they using the money for creating jobs or using it constructively to help those that need help?   It’s remarkable to me how people believe that if it took years to gain weight, they expect to lose that same weight in a few days or months. It doesn’t work that way. The economy took years to get into this hole and it will take years to get out of it. President Bush didn’t put the wars on the books but President Obama did to include it in the national debt. Now he is the villain, because the country is in so much debt. What’s wrong with this picture? How can he do his job when these politicians won’t budge? How much money did the ultras cost the taxpayers repealing the ACA? Was that mentioned on conservative media platforms?

Five Obamacare Myths

This is a link to the New York Times regarding the myths of the Affordable Care Act that was recently upheld.  The article is written by Bill Keller, a columnist, who seems to have an objective perspecitive of the President's Health Act for all.

Five Obamacare Myths

What Do We Care About?

The southern Democrats were the party of slavery and, later, segregation. It was former Governor George Wallace, who stood in the southern schoolhouse door to block desegregation! The vast majority of Congressional GOP voted for the Civil Rights of 1964-65. A large majority of those opposed were southern Democrats. Southern Democrats led to infamous filibuster of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. In 1972, Wallace was shot and paralyzed, and Nixon began to tilt the south to the GOP. The old guard Democrats began to fade away while a new generation of Southern politicians became Republicans. The GOP was for local and small government. Southerners wanted less government and the GOP seemed to be a natural fit.

The Dixiecrat platform quoted the 1840 Democratic platform, which was the platform of the great Democratic President Martin Van Buren. President, Van Buren faithfully followed the Constitution, so his platform was fewer than 1,000 words long. But was an especially valuable guide for constitutionalists. The part quoted by the Dixiecrats resolved: That Congress has no power under the constitution, to interfere with or control the domestic institutions of the several states; and such states are the sole and proper judges of everything pertaining to their own affairs, not prohibited by the constitution…. The 1840 platform went on to warn, that Abolitionism would endanger the Union. As a result of the Civil War, the Constitution was changed, and the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments were added. From the late 1870s onward, the equal-protection clause and the prohibition of racial discrimination in voting were nullified in much of America. In seeking to enforce the Constitution, President Truman was following in the footsteps of constitutionalist President Van Buren. The Dixiecrats made sure not to quote another paragraph of the 1840 platform: that every citizen and every section of the country has a right to demand and insist upon an equality of rights and privileges, and to complete and ample protection of persons and property from domestic violence or foreign aggression. That statement is the principle on which the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments are based. States' rights were not a legitimate constitutional basis for states to violate the constitutional rights of their citizens.

States’ rights refer to maintaining political powers and opposed to federal government mandates. Did people benefit from unions? Would racial equality ever be accepted? Would civil rights be constitutional? Can it be said that the Dixiecrats left the Democratic Party to join the Republican Party? That remains to be further discussed. Too many people have sacrificed for the good of all.  Yet, we think that we have "arrived" by our own means.  Greed and power are now in the hands of a few that govern. And those that are in power are bought and paid for. Those that have will never get, and that those that do, will not give, at least, not in this world. Having money is not a problem, the love of money and not helping those that are helpless, is.  We must remain vigilant!  Too many wolves are misleading the sheep and we are very forgetful.

Happy Fourth of July!!!

The resolution of independence was approved on July 2, 1776 and signed on July 4, 1776!

The Declaration of Independence!!!

WHEN IN the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good ….
He has refused to pass …. Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences ….

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people….

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Gladys Knight – I Hope You Dance!

Let's stay positive!!!