Rod's Reflections for February 2015

February

          And February began its daily march through our life yesterday which was Sunday. I remembered the Space Shuttle Columbia's tragic reentry of earth's orbit on that clear frosty morning in 2003.  At 43.5 (+/-) miles above the earth's surface traveling 17,000 (+/-) mph, Columbia began to tumble out of control and breaking apart.  Debris and space shuttle wreckage was scattered for hundreds of miles across the Texas and Louisiana landscapes.  The loss of Six American Astronauts and Israel's first Astronaut will forever be honored in recorded history as their fate was attributed to a piece of heat tile damaged at launch that NASA was aware of. As I was walking from the parking lot to my office in City Hall, I gazed into the cold blue sky of this morning's beautiful beginning as memories of that day resonated in my mind as it often does when Winter's February revisits us each year.  I will never forget Neil Armstrong's words as we watched him step from the leg of the Lunar Landing Module onto the surface of the moon in July of 1969.  "that's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."  He never mentioned the stumbles and falls... They were certainly implied and imminent, but yet defined. Just rambling as another day passes by...

  In Memory of STS-107  February 1, 2003

  Commander: Rick D. Husband, USAF Colonel

 Pilot: William C. McCool, US Navy Commander

 Payload Commander: Michael P. Anderson, USAF Lieutenant Colonel   

Payload Specialist: Ilan Ramon Israeli Air Force, Colonel

Mission Specialist: Kalpana Chawla, Aerospace Engineer      

Mission Specialist: David M. Brown, US Navy Captain

Mission Specialist: Laurel Blair Salton Clark,

US Navy Captain and Flight Surgeon

Posted February 2, from my morning office




          When I think of America, one of the first things that settles comfortably into my mindset is the American Bald Eagle. Their existence alone defines the depths of America's beauty. Think it in your mind as you say, Purple Mountains and think Amber wave after wave of grain! The screech of a wild raptor soaring high against a blue sky framed in the Continental Divides Rocky Mountains is the collected icon of freedom that beats in the heart of true Americans! I am able to watch online at random the nest of mating Eagles, Harriet and Ozzie, as they raise their own eaglet on streaming video southwestfloridaeaglecam.com in Florida. It is so fascinating to watch the collective care both parents give their offspring as they feed, groom and continuously dress and maintain the lair the surviving hatchling grows in.  And yet as we direct our focus beyond the nest, the never ending encroachment of the civilization they champion! As I sat in my car today over looking Lake Buhlow in my small city of Pineville, LA, I observed what appeared to be a bird of prey skim low over the calm waters of its surface. I felt it could have been but only until the bird pulled altitude was I able to clearly see the body framed against distant evergreens. That uniquely defined powerful brown body, accented with a white head and tail distinctly reserved for that particular symbol of power and freedom. It has adapted throughout our America and defines the vastness of our heritage that instills in me a passion to persevere and by any means to preserve what was handed to me.

Posted February 4 during my noon hour





          Blistering morning beside my river's edge as mother nature crosses swords with those early blooming plants that dared to bare bloom during the first temptations of Spring's calling.  It is 29 degrees with a wind chill factor of 20 degrees as I sit here watching my 60' flag at full extension as a north wind displays her filament lighted colors before daylight breaks.  Yesterday morning greeted Central Louisiana with somewhat seasonal temperatures as most people began their day.  I happened to be off work because of a national holiday we use to celebrate as George Washington's Birthday, but now behold as Presidents Day.  I was on my own time so I found myself parking my car in the parking lot of Louisiana College where I am a member of their health club and gym.  As I arrived at the gym around 11:30 am or so, an  anticipated cold front was beginning to temper the coming change.  Strong winds accompanied by an overcast sky with heavy drizzle presenting itself sideways in gusts, greeted me as I removed myself from the driver's seat and opened the back door to gather my gym bag.  Closing the door to my car, I moved against the stiff winds to go inside to exercise when I heard the distinct singing of my favorite Passerine, the Mockingbird.

I stopped in my tracks, feeling a deep desire to possibly locate and see the source from which this sound was coming.  Could I possibly find this bird in such a vast area??  I sat my gym bag on the trunk of my car and leaned against it for support with every intention of doing just that!  To my left was the gym and health center, and just beyond that was US 165/167 by pass.  Traffic noise is consistently generated from this source as north/south traffic races along at 55+ miles per hour almost constantly.  In front of me spreads a parking lot with a sprinkling of vehicles.  Just beyond that is Louisiana College's Baseball Field and a Kansas City Southern
Railroad crossing.  The blaring horn from a brace of train engines and the clatter of freight cars that followed, combined with the high speed noise of the by-pass paled to the distinct sound of this bird's voice.  He halted my progress desiring my attention as if the song he were singing was for me alone.  Where could he possibly be?  I searched the area knowing the direction of the music.  The distant pine trees?  No.  My Mockingbirds do not inhabit trees when they rejoice.  They sit independently on a high perch or high line.  THERE!!  On top of a tall security light at the edge of the parking lot of the health center was my source.  A little gray spot sitting on the very top of the light frame, singing his heart out.  I pulled my iPhone 4s from my hoodie, directed the photo lens in the direction of the security light, taking the first picture.  I then zoomed the small camera lens to the depth of its ability and took the

second picture.  I barely could recognize that little grey spot 100' or more from me, yet I was his captive audience.  I was mesmerized by the beauty of the "sound" coming from such a tiny source.  It was as if his tiny voice was magnified through the most powerful of Bose Concert Speakers because it muted the clatter of passing rail cars and high speed traffic.  God's creation, however so small in size, dominated the noises of manmade clutter just for my pleasure!  Thank you Precious God for using such a tiny part of Your Universe to pause my day that I may give You the praise You so deserve.  A Mockingbird.  Still amazed at the experience, I am beginning to think more and more that just maybe my heart's yieldings should not be cast out for casual review or critique, but maybe harbored here in the solitude of my blog.  It is here that those closest to me might find and understand what lies within the meaning of the words I share.  I so hope you take the time to hear a Mockingbird's prayer if one ever calls your name.  

Posted February 17 from my office 




          It was a cold, somewhat icy predawn at my river this morning.  Several things crossed my mind as I noticed my river was giving off tendrils of foggy tags reminding me the ambient temperature was colder than the water itself.  Scratched my head as my mind wandered off to Jackson, MS, all the way through Vicksburg, Monroe, Shreveport to Arlington, TX.  I was just thinking of people in my past, present, and forever memory and how they were dealing with this late February icy mess.  As I sat down in my office and brought up the internet to go over my news sources, Fox News and Facebook, the following picture hovered conspicuously on a friend's wall, imprinting into my mind.  Let me see if I can share with you my thoughts as I looked, looked again, and simply could not shake the following posted script: 


Things that I treasure that you do not mess with?   Well, that resonated quite well with me and I felt like I could share that with everyone on my wall.  However, for some reason it kept bouncing off short circuited intersections in my limited mental resources, and I could not help but think out loud. Let's start with the first thing of mine you should never mess with.

MY FAITH:  Has nothing to do with Baptist, Catholic, Pentecostal, or any other spiritual concoction spawned in the mind of man.  My Faith is within me and consists of The Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit.  My Faith: I believe that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob created this world and put everything in it for MY pleasure, for me to have dominion over.  The only thing put on this earth for HIS pleasure was you and me.  We, people, were created by God for us to Worship Him, ultimately, for HIS pleasure.  Except now, we are being told our faith is substandard and only the ISLAMIC doctrine will be tolerated as an acceptable form of faith.  What?  Oh yes...  It's happening, right now on every news source we have.  And we remain surprisingly silent so as not to offend anyone while the proponents of Allah allow the slaughter of any other faith but Islam!  Yes, it IS happening!  Shut the hell up if you are that stupid!

MY FAMILY:  If you are my age (64) or there about, your roots runs similarly parallel to mine.  I think sociologists coined it the "nuclear family" somewhere back?  The Father, Mother, Children (how ever many we wanted), and toss in any number of dogs, cats, gerbils, lizards and an occasional pet rock? Wonder where this family model was first established?   Fast forward one 50 year span of time.  Heather now has two mothers and the father is simply referred to as my baby's daddy!  Its ok.  I found myself in my early adult years trying to liberalize my world by redefining religious guidelines and social mores and ended up trying to float a blended family.  On rare occasions it has been known to work, but usually it deteriorates along with the passage of time because that FAITH thing has obviously been so distorted.  Nah, it wouldn't have a thing to do with rock and roll or country music, television, Hollywood, or may the God I referred to earlier forbid, the unionized school systems.  Why don't you just tell me how effective that government modeled institution is to our youth today as "common core" is being forced down our throats!!   Oh, and please go ahead and worship as quietly as you can now, Church or organized religion, before Islam burns you to the ground.  Yup... We remain silent as that institution a long with education, slips into history to be distorted like everything else we once held dear.

MY GUNS:  Oh yes...  Guaranteed by the Constitution of the NEWNITED SKATES.  Inalienable rights, correct?  As John Adams stated many years ago, "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.  It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."  Without faith, family and moral values, those inalienable rights are now not so "alien."  We have them, sure, or do we?  We have sat back as a civilized society and allowed "laws" to restrict the use of such tools as they were designed to be used.  For crying out loud, do not go there with me!  In the hands of an honest and moral people firearms, will balance and persevere over those that do not know better.  For the first time in my LIFE, the very Constitution that everyone elected by a free society, raises their right hand to PROTECT from enemies FOREIGN and DOMESTIC is being attacked!!  Not just the second amendment, but the first, as well as the other 24 are under attack by the very government it was Divinely designed to protect us from!  Many of our elected officials draw encouragement from the bastions of liberal academia and would like to see nothing more than all 26 amendments   destroyed and reconstituted along socialist lines of thought.  YES!!!  This is where YOUR KIDS are going to COLLEGE!!!  Open your eyes and in the mean time, realize just how safe and secure you are because your daddy's, daddy's guns are in your closet?  Don't worry.  If your are wondering about the 27th amendment?  It was repealed.   Prohibition, remember?  At least now when they undo the other 26 "inalienable rights," we can all get drunk and not think about them Democrats and Republicans that we sent to Washingmachine, DC to represent us.  Still alarmingly quiet, don't you think?

MY FLAG:  Oh my word.  Our flag... No doubt that will not be trifled with!  Love the song by Johnny Cash, "That Ragged old Flag," where he says "the Native American Indian, the yellow, black and white men and women shed red blood for the Stars and Stripes!"  The blue Field of Honor with each state represented in pristine white stars as a symbol of us being UNITED!  But yet everywhere we look, there appears holes in the melting pot that was once America.  Flags from different nations pop up indiscriminately where ever those that choose NOT to be American stick them.  Even the Glory of this very nation has come under attack when some veteran wants to fly that Grand Old Flag  from his porch and some "neighborhood association" says it is NOW OFFENSIVE, therefore PROHIBITED!!! What??  Oh yes...  Shut up and call me a liar!  And that is exactly what we all do.  We shut up and remain silent to be politically correct as not to disturb the sinking ship we do not even realize we are existing in.

MY COUNTRY:  Many that know me have heard me share this from The Statue of Liberty:  Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free!  The invitation to become a part of One Nation Under God!  And because of the promise of the Constitution guaranteeing them Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness, they came from different cultures, languages, attitudes, and beliefs.  Because this country was BLESSED by God Almighty, these people immigrated legally to the United States of America and gave up their native language and adopted our language.  They believed in this Country so much they gave their sons and daughters in war after war and two world wars to solidify their commitment to this republic!  Here we are today, asking the very God who once blessed us as a nation to step aside and let US govern ourselves.  Somewhere in the old testament, did not God's chosen people demand a king?  You know, like they didn't need Him?  Oh yes, for the indifferent amongst us, history does repeat itself.  If you are capable, observe what has happened to those once favored people we called the Israelites.  This is going to happen to this once great nation!  Our leadership continues to apologize to other Nations for who and what we are as we allow ourselves to become like the rest of the world.  We are becoming less of a guiding light, and more of a dim reflection of what we once were.  Now just A Nation, Without God, Divided without Liberty and Justice only for a Chosen few.  Go ahead.  Get angry...  lay across the bed and try to zip up those pants you wore last year!  That zipper ain't gonna lie, is it? 

MY LIBERTY:   Yes, we still have it.  Conditionally.  And we are still comfortable despite the constant erosion of "our liberties" as we once knew them.  What, you might be asking? Try putting your kids in any public school you want even if it is across the street from your house.  Wear an open carry firearm into the post office or better yet, walk into a police department asking for an accident report wearing one.  Oh my word, yank up one of your children and blister that backside because you just watched them spit in the face of one of their brothers, sisters, cousins or a friend of theirs from next door.  Don't you dare chastise someone else's child and be sure your vocabulary is politically correct!  Do you still pray in a public restaurant?  You probably quit that somewhere along the way and if you haven't, just give it a little more time.  Some Muslim or agnostic leaning carbon life form will complain and that will stop too, eventually.  And next time you pass by your local police department, smile when you see that huge MRAP or Mine Resistant Armored Personnel carrier sitting there.   Seriously, why exactly is it sitting there now?  And just how long will we sit here and be silent when a white, United Nations Vehicle occupied by folks with blue helmets start telling us just Exactly what we can, cannot, and will not do.  Today, I can drive across the Mississippi Bridge into that great sister state without restriction.  But what does my tomorrow really hold? 

          So as we beat our chest and exalt in our possessions and social standings, take the time to remember that with time, everything erodes.  Including those things you think are inalienably yours.  Think about it.

Posted February 24 from my home




This Pledge We Take...

          "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

          We pledged that allegiance... Even still, a handful of "specialist" said, as children we were being brainwashed.  All 50 of our states were United under the republic they were founded upon as well as the many territories that chose to pattern themselves with us.  We were that "One Nation Under that One God," and we were blessed by HIM and we remained indivisible because of who we became under Him.  But over a 50 year span of time, dissent against HIS desire for us became a mockery and that handful of others that could not understand and or recognize the blessings of an Omnipotent Being placed the blame on some manmade theory of science or other excuses allowing major divisions.  These divisions began along racial and political divides and was preached in academia across this land to young minds oblivious to History's lessons..  This erosion of core values became a religion of its own and found traction in this country's Progressive movement with the help of the new propaganda that dusted us daily, yet we yielded still.  If we could open our eyes we could plainly see this acceptance of a new moral standards has tapped a source similar in spiritual proportions only realized in those battles that existed in realms not understood by common man before, during and after our individual existence on this earth.  I guess these spiritual battles became that "big bang theory" that divided us somewhat similar to the expanding universe God continues to create for us to spend an eternity in. 

          And here we are in the year 2015.  A new order has taken place in this once great nation and it was accomplished in just one generation with the help and silent refrain of a couple of others.  I take every opportunity the thank members of the greatest generation for their sacrifice and gift to me and apologize for letting them down.  Guess I was one of the "silent" of the three generations that didn't want to "make waves" against the "loud and boisterous," the media leans heavily to support.  I was referred to as the silent majority, disgruntled veteran, conservative, angry white male and Christian and of course that radical Three percenter or Skin Head???  My biggest mistake was sending those I elected to Washington to represent me and NOT HOLDING THEM ACCOUNTABLE!!

          So let us look at this Pledge of Allegiance and how it will evolve in time to replace the one we grew up with:  "I cannot pledge allegiance to any flag of America as our States are no longer United under one, but several.  The Republic, for which it once was called, is not blessed by One God but that of several pagan god's of our choice.  Indivisible became splintered as America Today sees liberty and justice for all redefined along progressive lines with our governments telling us what is best us.  These are the people we now pledge our new allegiance for. 

          I pray that I might survive into 2025 or possibly 2030 and still pursue Life, Liberty and Happiness as I was brainwashed to believe.  I still have the life of freedom in every cell of my body as I know that God and His Divinely inspired Constitution was the reason for who and am and what this Country still is?? Yes I must ask, what will history reveal of my "baby boomer" generation as the greatest country in recorded history bows its knee to the satanic controls of progressive socialism in the hearts of our millennial population?  My oath of allegiance to this Constitutional Republic never expires.  What can an aging 64 year old veteran do to change back to the ways of our father's?  As I debate this question and feel the sting of my "Molon Labe" tattoo under my left bicep, a couple of things are clearly obvious.  Blood and Prayers.  It was the blood of those that gave their tomorrow for our today as they responded to the answered Prayers of so many of us that got "me" to where I am today.


Posted February 27 from my office.