Updated: Constitutional Denial HR 1388

UPDATE 3/27/09:
After checking again with the government offices the bill does have the information in it but interestingly, when you call the White House information number and Senator Carolyn McCarthy's [D-NY] office, they have a different twist on the way most people have interpreted the bill. This is the way they state it.

This is not a camp in any way, but there will be three months service. The participants go to their home every night and are not allowed to serve [do their community service] in any house of worship, church, including the Salvation Army. This is a community volunteer agenda. It is much like the Pell Grants. There is some wording, however, that states there may be allowances for housing, uniforms, and food. That is a very broad stroke of the pen.

It does remind me however of when government started out with programs for people to get checked for STDs. Then it moved to youth can come without parental knowledge, and now it has turned into your parent has no rights to know your medical condition, girls can have abortions without parental knowledge. Planned Parenthood started out as a counseling center, and we know how it grew into the system it is today.

While the current law is being touted as just another form of community service to get kids to be civic minded, we the people should read the bill carefully. Some of the language lends itself to add-ons without another congressional vote.

By the way, the first link below is known by the Senator's office and states there are many errors in the link below for http://holycoast.blogspot.com/2009/03/obamas-youth-brigade-will-forbid-church.html without going into specifics.

Some of my questions: if a soup kitchen is run by the Salvation Army or any other religious group, does that mean someone can't give community service? According to the Senator's office, No, they can't. In previous programs such as this current program, churches and other religious institutions were able to receive help from the volunteers--that is now cut out. Also no flyers to Pro-Life [assume Pro-choice as well], no protests, etc. The no going to church and worship would simply mean you can't go to church on your alloted time to volunteer such as a shift or schedule.

Hopefully this will answer some of the questions, and put to ease some of the more horrific conversations we have had on this HR 1388. But bear in mind, what the government starts with always sounds innocent and fluffy...but the outcome is very different from the origin.

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Congress is moving at a very fast pace, and interestingly there is very little public outrage over a bill before Congress. It has already passed the House and on its way to the Senate for approval. We the people are being stripped of our Constitutional freedoms in HR 1388.

Below will be several links for you to look at and consider calling your senator or house representative and let them know your position on this very serious matter.

This is just one section of the bill, but note NO worship or service(s) in reverence to God will be "tolerated". NO religious instruction, NO facility to worship or receive instruction at the camps. But they will be indoctrinated in service to the state. In its current version, it is a willing participation, but this is not the end of the story. Read on ...

(7) Engaging in religious instruction, conducting worship services, providing instruction as part of a program that includes mandatory religious instruction or worship, constructing or operating facilities devoted to religious instruction or worship, maintaining facilities primarily or inherently devoted to religious instruction or worship, or engaging in any form of religious proselytization.

In its current version, this youth directive or camp is not mandatory. However, President Obama has made no secret of the fact that he desires and will make it mandatory that all people young, middle, and seniors will be required to do "mandatory volunteerism". On the second link below, is the Open Congress website, where the bill can be read in its entirety, as well as any amendments, charts as to voting, and those in congress that people are following in regard to this bill.

Americans are urged to take this seriously, it is believed that this is the test bill prior to mandatory regulations. If you value the Constitution, your religious freedoms, and authority over your children and family, you are urged to contact your Senator before this vote is taken. And then call your House Representative and let them know what you want them to do. Yes, this vote may have already been taken, but a more sinister and mandatory one is in the making. We have been forewarned in campaign speeches and recently that change is coming and not necessarily those that are family healthy.

http://holycoast.blogspot.com/2009/03/obamas-youth-brigade-will-forbid-church.html

http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h1388/show

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-1388
This has full text of the bill ...

Would love to hear your comments and yes they are moderated so that profanity will not be posted.

Confabulation of Muses--What Is Yours?

"We find comfort among those who agree with us--growth among those who don't."
Frank A. Clark, author

This has been both a soothing salve and sandpaper day for me. As I watch the news with the rest of the world, not just wars and doom and gloom, but also those that are trying to make a difference in positive ways. It's an amazing confabulation of muses trying to get noticed.

It makes sense that we want to be with those who are like us, but I ponder today and wonder if we are in agreement wholly with our religious, family, and political traditions. It appears that all shades of what has been are changing to fit what we want for today instead of holding on to what works and what is truth.

For me there are two things that stand as standards, the first is the Holy Bible. My tradition of life, promises and hope are based on the Word of God. Next comes the U. S. Constitution which is based originally by our founding fathers on nothing less than the Holy Bible. The second can and certainly has been changed by the whims and different traditions of man and the confabulation of ideas continue to change the values that were first instituted when we were a young country.

If we do not hold on to the basic premise of what we stood for in the beginning, how will we become what was inspired within the hearts of our forefathers and has made us strong? The basic breakdown of family and moral values have undermined the very Constitution that made us great. I pray that we will not allow the Constitution of 1787 to become completely lost in this generation.

You make a difference!

Exploding Roses

"Living is not enough, ... one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower."
Hans Christian Anderson

While searching for a quote today and came upon this one, I started to laugh and had a memory smile moment. When I was in Arizona/Colorado and worked as a manager for a wholesale flower outlet we had fresh flowers all over our offices. I especially enjoyed Valentines day because we had exotic flowers that grow in Hawaii and other more tropical climates. And no, not everyone wanted red roses.

The flower "season" went from Thanksgiving straight through to Mother's Day. Tensions especially in the design department was extreme on certain days, which was predictable. They had to prepare hundreds of specialty arrangements, buyers had to make sure they have enough of all the ingredients, and God-forbid we ran out of anything. During Valentines our coolers could have anywhere from one to two million dollars worth of roses in them. If the temperature was not just exact, you lost your inventory.

Needless to say, everybody--and I do mean everybody--got involved around Christmas and Valentines Day prepping, or design. Some of us were lucky enough to do Sunday deliveries [smile] But one thing we all agreed on, we didn't grow tired of the flowers.

Our motto: Nobody ever died from an exploding flower! You simply pick up the petals and make potpourri

Sometimes we need to see our situations as flowers. The most that could happen is the petals fall off, its not tragic, pick up the pieces and make something else of it.

Smile--let the sunshine in
Freedom--don't block what could be an exceptional experience
Flowers--they add to your environment

Never Without Hope

I just felt like today should be one of Praise and Worship ... today be free! We are never alone and without hope.

Salute To Veterans Week - Leaders Don't Hesitate

This is a week I would like to spend some time Celebrating the Military Veterans and a big thank you!

For those of you with military experience may have had some of these experiences. I have a minister in our organization that was in the National Guard for about 15-years. She is 5' 3" and one of the "baddest Sargents" they had. She entered the military at a time when most African American women from this area did not. I love to hear the stories of her military experiences. Her medical training and driving a duce and a half fully operational medical clinic, which came in handy when deployed during the many snow blizzards in Buffalo, New York. But today, I want to take you on a journey when she had been selected for Officers Training School.

Running the obstacle course she was fast and accurate. She was competing with men much taller and stronger, but she held her own. She was coming down the wall and headed towards a 2x4 piece of wood that stretched across a deep gully. Leaders were not supposed to have any hesitation--in anything. Approaching the small board, she hesitated., a split second thought of her fear of heights. The sargent called her over and said, "Worthey, you've got great skills, leadership ability, and you hesitated. I saw it. Now go back and do it again." She did. He later explained why gettting over the 2x4 without hestiation was so important.

She further explained to me that leaders who hesitate on the battlefield sometimes end up in "friendly fire" because one person can mean the difference between everybody getting killed or making it out a extreme danger alive. It made me think of the corporate boardrooms I have been in, as well as other leadership roles and venues. And the ones that were easy to follow and those I had to move away from.

Currently she is a corporate trainer for an international corporation. And our ministry's International Director of Youth Development and Biblical Financial Literacy Programs, and board member. We have been doing ministry together for almost 15-years and I cannot tell you how valuable her experiences have been in our development. The military trained her in skills that continually serve the world for the glory of God.

As a leader in the military you cannot show any hesitation. You are responsible for the men and women under your command. If they see any weakness in you, means their life is in danger. What an imporant lesson we could all learn from that as we go throughour life experiences.

As parents, corporate leaders, and mnisters--do we flinch and show hesitation in the important decisions. Do those under us sense our fear or hesitation? How do they respond? Have you taken inventory of it until now?

Our journey and thought today is that everybody is a leader because somebody is watching you and your reactions--you lead somebody somewhere whether you know it or not. Do you hesitate or move boldly in your decisions after careful consideration? Where in your experiences do you still have a deep gully with a 2x4 as the route across?

To all the men and women who are currently serving in the military, and to all of those who have proudly worn the uniforms of their country we add our biggest THANK YOU. Without you we would not be blogging and having the right to write our hearts thoughts on the pads of cyberspace, printing them in newspapers, and speaking them on the street.

Let us never forget that those who help keep us free, are the ones allowing us to blog--many of our counterparts in other countries are killed or imprisoned for the freedom we have to speak.