Puffs

Wow, a rain storm over the July 4th holiday weekend. That’s a rare action that should be noted.

Here in our household in Lawrence, I often measure fog, or snow storms by the ability to see Main Street of Lawrence through the fog or snow . . . but I don’t remember doing that with rain.

However, that rain storm had wind and rain that hit all five sides of the house and I couldn’t see much more than one-half of a block. It didn’t last a long time, but it was intense. We can thank God there was not much damage that I know of.

Speaking of rain. My rain gauge recorded right at an inch of rain from that downpour, but the official NRD reporters had just over one-half of an inch. Seems like it always turns out that way. Maybe I need to get a better rain gauge?

A O

In view of the July 4th celebration, there were numerous writing about the revolution of 1776 recently. I did not have time to read all of them, but the following caught my eye and I though it worthy of being passed on. To wit:

1775, John Adams wrote an essay in response to loyalist arguments that reflected many of the ideas that eventually appeared in the Declaration of Independence. He wrote:

“All men are by nature equal; that kings are but the ministers of the people, that their authority is delegated to them by the people, for their good, and they have a right to resume it, and place it in other hands, or keep it to themselves, whenever it is made use of to oppress them.”

But what he says next is what’s especially remarkable. Adams says these aren’t new ideas but rather:

“They are the principles of Aristotle and Plato, of Livy and Cicero, and Sidney, Harrington, and Locke; the principles of nature and eternal reason, the principles on which the whole government over us now stands.”

Our Founders were not mindless revolutionaries trying to overthrow the government and sow chaos. They were creating a new form of government that would conserve and fulfill the traditions developed through centuries of Western Civilization.

A O

With 2024 being an election year, most all of the national media companies are focused on the presidential election.

I guess that is only to be expected, but there is one item that has changed lately. That item is how the national media has changed in the past several weeks. Many people seem to think the current president may not be able to capable of fulfilling his responsibility as the head of the Executive branch of our government. The change I alluded to is how the national media has changed. I understand the president’s physical and mental health is certainly not up to what is needed to be president, but for 3 1/2 years the national media did not say a word about his condition.

However, after a national debate showed the world just how bad his condition is, the national media turned on him and are now calling for him to get out of the race to be the next president.

I was among many others who predicted Mr. Biden would not be the Democratic representative in 2024 and it seems that those people deeply involved are now working to find a replacement for Mr. Biden.

I don’t know who is currently making those daily decisions necessary to an orderly conduct of government affairs, but is appears that someone other than Mr. Biden is doing that.

The next few weeks will be interesting to see how this turns out. Just pray that whoever is making those decisions can do so for the betterment of all of us.

A O

Concerning our present government, I read the following sentence last week that seemed to condense much of what I have been promoting for some time.: to wit:

“The federal government is bloated and inefficient and has not been reformed in nearly 50 years.”

The size, the shape, the function of today’s federal government has been formed by many in the past years. It was created by people with good intentions (I assume), but when a person stops to think of the words of John Adams, you wonder what is going on.

Did we really delegate to our government much of what is going on? Government officials seem to be in control and many efforts to change the direction and operation is met with opposition, making change an almost impossible task.

Did we (the people) delegate our government to do the following?

• Democrats seem to want to eliminate borders and that illegal aliens should be granted full U. S. citizenship.

• Did we (the people) delegate to the government the right to kill millions of unborn human being with its abortion policies?

• Did we (the people) delegate to the government the power to force, “we the people” to buy electric cars.

This list could go on for many more examples. It is interesting that the current Democratic president and his supporters are using the government to use the government (bloated as it is) to achieve their goals, many of which were not delegated to the government, but are the results of using the government’s bloated condition to achieve their aims.

The best thing we can do is vote in about three months to send (or return) people to the government that believe the government is bloated and needs reform.

And now is the time to do it.

A O

Several months ago there was an abundance of publicity concerning the amount of money the Biden family was receiving from various sources. It reminded me of a news release I received a number of years ago concerning the Charitable Foundation Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton operated.

It gave “Charitable Foundations” a bad name.

The Clinton family had questionable dealings as well as the Biden family does now. From the tax return of 2014 we can learn a lot. Some of the information given is as follows:

Total revenue: $177,804,612.00.

Total grants to charity: $5,160,385.00.

Employees: 486.

In summary: it took 486 people who are paid $34.8 million and $91.3 million in fees and expenses to give away $5.1 million (less than 3 percent of the income.)

The Clinton Foundation folded suddenly after Hillary was no longer in a positon of influence.

What connection is there between the Clinton family and the Biden family?

Both are liberal, rich and look after themselves first and foremost. Remember to know something about your candidate before you vote in November.

A O