Obama: Just another King Louis?

The name of the King of France at this time was Louis, as it had been fourteen times before.  This, the fifteenth Louis, was the most gorgeous, the most fashionable, the most bejeweled and lace-trimmed king in Europe-and the most useless.  He did nothing.  He thought of nothing, he cared for nothing but his own pleasure, and he had whatever he fancied no matter how great the cost.

Louis XV lived at Versailles, about twelve miles from the city of Paris, in the most beautiful palace in Europe, built by his very famous great-grandfather, Louis XIV.

Louis XIV was an absolute ruler, but with the noblemen scattered all over the country it was difficult to keep absolute power over them.  So when he had moved to Versailles he made the nobles leave their estates and also come to live at Versailles, where he could have his eye on them.  To keep them happy he established for them many more honorary offices at court such as those of Lord High Chamberlain, Grand Master of the Royal Hunt, Lord High Steward of the Kitchen, to which large salaries and no work were attached.

By the time Louis XV became King, it was the well established custom for all important noblemen to live at Versaille as near to the King as possible, every waking moment to follow him about.  There were two hundred attendants stumbling over each other in the King's bedchamber alone.  From the time he awoke and held out his white hands to be perfumed and jeweled to the time when the Lord High Keeper of it put the nightcap on his head, the King was never alone.  The courtiers were always there, to watch his every move and imitate it.

What the King did and had one day, they did and had the next.  What he was they became: the most fashionable, bejeweled and lace-trimmed noblemen in Europe, and the most useless.  They danced, played games, chatted with each other and made love to the ladies.  Every year their manners became more exact and fanciful, their clothes more delicate in color and more hung with lace, their wigs more finely powdered and their furniture more full of curves and scrolls and more richly gilded.  And all they did was play.  But as too much play becomes monotonous, all their amusements grew tiresome in time.

"Life is boring,"sighed the King.  "Life is boring," sighed the noblemen, and yawned behind their white, jeweled hands.

Meanwhile, back on the estates, the peasants still worked and tilled the fields as they had always done.  Only now each year they had to work even harder, for each year their lord at Versailles needed more money for his pleasures, to say nothing of the huge amounts needed by the King.  So while the noblemen played, their overseers squeezed larger rents for the small fields, larger feudal dues and more enormous taxes from the peasants.  When they had turned in their crops in payment, many peasants had barely enough left to keep from starving.  "Life is hard," they said as they scuffed off their wooden clogs each sundown and wiped the sweat off with their rough brown hands.  "Life is hard."

Between the peasants whose life was all work and the noblemen whose life was all play there was of course a very large middle class of people who worked for a living, but also had some time to play.  The French name for them was bourgeois.  Some of them were wealthy, most of them were just hardworking and thrifty, but all of them hated to see such a large part of their hard-earned money go for taxes.

"Life is unfair," they were beginning to say.  Why should thousands of people work hard for their money, in order that one king and a few extravagant noblemen should have it to squander?
It was plain to see that such an unfair condition of things could not last forever.  That, however, did not trouble the King.  "It will last as long as I live," Louis would say.  "After that," with a shrug of his shoulders, "what do I care what happens to France?"

This is the story of King Louis XV written by Genevieve Foster from the book George Washington's World.  I know all of you have probably heard this story before, perhaps some of you have not.  This is my first time hearing it, and I keyed in on the things that the peasants and the bourgeois were going through.  Wow!  Some things never change, do they?  You could just insert Obama's name where you see the name King Louis and the story of present day life and politics would sound about the same, wouldn't it?

 Take a look first at the noblemen who came to live with the King and in order to make them happy, the King offered them titles with no work and high salaries to go with them.  Sounds a bit like all of those 'czars' that Obama employed early on in his presidency.  Priceless.

All of those 'noblemen' wanted to be just like Obama, I mean, the King.  All they did was play...golf.  I mean, play.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, all of the peasants, or tax-payers, worked their fingers to the bone and had little left after all of their taxes were paid in order that the president, I mean, King and his cabinet, I mean, court may amuse themselves.  Sound familiar?  Some of us might identify more readily with the bourgeois, though.  The bourgeois was mostly middle class people, bankers, bakers and such, wondering why they should pay all of their money to a king in order for him to squander it?  Insert the word president where you see king and congress where you see noblemen.  Makes sense. 

King Louis, I mean Obama, is also utterly useless.  He does nothing, he thinks of nothing and he only cares for his own pleasure.  He has no interest in running a country whatsoever.   He also amuses himself and his family, no matter how much it costs the American taxpayer.  Hmmmm.....

I also feel that Obama's sentiment is the exact same as the sentiment that King Louis has at the end of the story, this situation will last as long as he is in office and then what does he care what happens to his country?  "After that," with a shrug of his shoulders, "what do I care what happens to America?"

Them Bones, Them Bones

Hello there, followers!  Ha!  I am having a great day with my family and thought I would share some of it with you.  Now, my husband normally works all week and stays home on Tuesday and Sunday.  Today is Friday and he took the day off to be with the family, besides, they didn't need him at work, anyway.  So there.

Well, we have a little wooded area in our neighborhood that our family or the kids, I should say, call "The Woods Park".  Our first outing today was there, to the woods park.  The boys rode their bikes and scooters and mom and dad walked, of course.  We took the football with the intention of tossing the football, etc.  However, that came to an end when we found...two bones!  They looked long enough to be femur bones and you can imagine how my children's imaginations began to race!  Not to mention that prior to that we had found two .20 gauge shot gun shells.  Hmmmm.  Then my husband's and my imagination began to race!  Were they human bones, we all wondered?  If they were, was the victim shot dead with those bullets?  Where were the rest of the bones if it was in fact of human remains? 

We continued on with our manly duties of jumping off 'cliffs' and knocking down trees and climbing up ledges.  Not me, though.  I just stood and watched and commented on how strong my boys are.  Ya know, cause that's what moms do.  We also managed to squeeze in a game or two of hide and seek.  After a while, we decided to leave the trees and the bones to go home for some lunch.  When we got back home we decided to call the Sheriff's non-emergency line to report the bones.  They said they would send someone out to take a look.  Oh, boy!  The excitement meter in my house was pinging!  Would they send a detective?  Would it be taped off as a crime scene?  Would we have to give a statement?  I'll admit the last two questions were mine alone.  I was channeling Nancy Drew a bit, I guess.  Hey, everybody loves a good mystery, right?

About twenty minutes after I'd placed the phone call, the police officer came and knocked on the door.  With one of those, you know, no-nonsense authoritative raps on the door?  Yeah, one of those.  As soon as he knocked, one of my sons squealed with delight, "It's the Sheriff!"  One of my other sons just happened to run out in nothing but his underwear.  Those of you who know me can guess who that was.  Then the police officer offered a ride in his squad car down to the park!  My husband and two older sons got in.  We all joked that this better be the ONLY time my kids and my husband, for that matter, saw the inside of a squad car.  Not long after leaving, they returned only to announce that we had found dog bones.  My, that must have been quite a large dog! 

Well, I'm writing this at four o'clock in the afternoon, so the day isn't over yet.  I wonder what kind of exciting discovery lies around the corner for our family next?  Stay tuned...

Consider The Source

Okay, let me first start off by saying that I am not a political analyst nor am I a foreign policy expert.  I do however have some thoughts about the upcoming presidential election and the events that have unfolded in the Middle East. 

I am saddened first of all by the loss of American soldiers and Ambassadors serving over seas serving our great nation away from their families.  My heart goes out to all of those mourning the loss of their loved ones.  I think that goes without saying.  I am ashamed of the way that the president and the secretary of state handled the situation.

I am an emotional person and I often react to situations based on how I'm feeling about them.  I don't often delve into the logical side of thinking about things and I guess you could say this isn't any different.  First of all in my mind, the president should have been the one waiting by the phone to find out what happened to our military and embassy personnel.  Instead, from what I understand, our dear leader was fast asleep, planning on attending a fundraiser in Las Vegas over the next day or so.  I'm stunned.  Almost speechless.  *Almost*.  Then he gave a speech in the Rose Garden and his opponent, Mitt Romney said of the speech that Obama sent mixed signals which I would tend to agree with.  President Obama said we wouldn't tolerate these acts of violence and that we would work with the Libyan government to make sure that justice was served.  Then he said that America took great pains to respect all religious beliefs.  Huh?  Seems to me he was pandering to the enemy already.

I almost forgot to mention that Obama couldn't decide if Egypt was an ally or an enemy.  Has he decided that yet?  Or that he has refused a meeting with Netanyahu.  I'm sorry but even if you are on the government 'dole' and you think that Obama has your back, think again.   Or if you are a Ron Paul supporter and you are pouting because Dr. Paul didn't get the nod this time, suck it up and vote for someone with some semblance of the same values as you.  Romney is the best choice in this circumstance.  In Obama, not a chance in HELL.

Now, I'm a Romney supporter (if you haven't already figured that out) so this blog may be a little biased, but to me, in Romney's critique of Obama's response to the news of the attacks and the murders, he seemed much more resolute and steadfast in what his response to that same situation would have been.  Much more confident than Obama has ever appeared during his presidency.  Okay, except for maybe when Obama was spiking the football over Osama's death, but I digress.  I have been impressed with the way Romney has campaigned up until now.

I'm not dissing Romney's campaign at all.  No, what I'm upset about is all of the conservative websites who seem to be getting sidelined by the lame stream media.  They seem as though they are playing into their hands at a time when it appears to me that WE ARE WINNING!!!  Republicans by and large don't know how to win and they don't know how to message.  Romney's campaign to me is not in the toilet, so please, let's keep it as far from there as we can.  Let's don't start fighting him and each other when we need to stand behind him the most.  I realize that Mother Jones has put out some spliced up video of Romney at a fundraiser and everybody's all over it.  That is not going to break his campaign.  He said there are 47% of the people out there who will vote for Obama again because they don't pay into the system.  So what?  The idea here is not to get ALL of the votes from EVERYBODY, because you simply can't do that.  Focus on your core group of voters and convince them to vote for you. Consider the source.

Also, lots of people are freaking out about the polls and flailing arms and saying Romney is behind in the polls.  SO WHAT?  If you are concerned, then by golly, go do something about it!  My eight year old son saw the headline for Drudge Report, Obama 48%, Romney 47%.  He said, whoa, that's bad.  He meant for Obama, that poll was bad.  An eight year old gets it, folks.

We only have 49 days until election day.  I'm begging you, please let's keep it together.  Don't start doubting and freaking out if Obama is a few percentage points ahead of Romney or if some liberal slanted website is predicting the demise of Romney.  Consider the source!

It's O-H-I-O, Mr. President

I know cuz I done been there once.  Okay, twice, but this last trip was for political reasons.  Dare I say, 'work'.  Greetings, all of you out there in cyber world.  It's me, the Political Chicken, back to share more from, well, from Ohio.  I know that's not what you were expecting me to say, but what the heck.  Roll with it.

Yes, just back from the Buckeye state of Ohio.  The Rust Belt even.  Why would a Texan travel to Ohio for a day and a half?  Well, I'll tell you.  Freedomworks Freepac Ohio and Josh Mandel for U.S. Senate.  I don't normally document trips on my blog or post pictures, but this trip warrants both of those things.  I really had a great trip and feel that it would be cool to share it with all of you.

First, I arrived on Saturday afternoon in order to attend Freepac Ohio.  It was an effort by Freedomworks along with other local tea party groups to inform other activists on, well, how to be better activists!  That was the first part of the program.  The second half was dedicated to speakers and then it was rounded out by none other than Glenn Beck.  I am such a big fan of Freedomworks and Glenn Beck, so the two of them working together was awesome.  They had lots of great speakers, and I unfortunately can't remember all of their names, but a few of them stuck with me.  One of those in particular was Dana Loesch.  She was fabulous.  Dana is a conservative (obviously) and the other part that really rocks about her is that she is a home school mom just like me!  How cool is that?  She is cool, edgy and doesn't mince her words.  Once a liberal, she changed to a conservative after the 9/11 attacks.  I'm glad she's on our side now.

Another contributor to the program was Reverend CL Bryant.  He too was once a Democrat, but saw what the Democratic party stood for and became a Republican.  Reverend Bryant was phenomenal.  One thing he said, and I'm paraphrasing here, was that the United States of America needs a new leader in order to restore America's swagger.  BOOM.  Don't you just love that word, 'swagger'?  He also just finished making the film titled, "Runaway Slave".   It's out in theaters now, so please go and support this man's movie.  He is wonderful.

Next on my list of things to do was to go door to door for Josh Mandel.  Who is Josh Mandel, you say?  Well, he is going to be the next U.S. Senator for the state of Ohio.  The state which is a union state, situated in the middle of the rust belt has been represented for the past six years by Democrat Sherrod Brown.  Ahem, cue Josh Mandel, stage right.  Josh is a young guy but he has been busy.  He's a veteran who has served two tours of duty as a marine in Anbar Province, Iraq.  Not only that, but he's served in their state legislature and he is currently the state treasurer.  Whew, I'm tired just typing all he's done and he's not through yet.  Texas is a 'safe' as it goes for being a red state, but Ohio, not so much.  Check out his website linked above in his name and donate some money to this guy.  Who says you have to stick within your own state?  If there was ever a time to cross state lines, it's now!

Speaking of door to door, here is a picture of me and my new buddy Lauren who heads up the Romney/Mandel campaign headquarters in Columbus, Ohio.  She was super sweet and I really enjoyed the time we had together going door to door.  She's doing a great job.  While out walking and talking to folks, it was hard to miss the difference in the economy of Ohio versus Texas.  It's easy to see how being a hard and fast union state can really suppress the economy.  I'm glad that Texas is a right to work state and I pray it stays that way always.  The good news is that there are efforts being made through petitions to make Ohio right to work.  Keep up the good work, Ohio!

Well, I hope you have enjoyed our little trip to Ohio and back again.  Please, don't be a stranger to Ohio or to the Political Chicken blog.  We can do this!  Romney/Ryan 2012!

I'm My Own Worst Enemy

If you weren't born last night, you have probably heard the title statement before.  I'm my own worst enemy.  It's true.  I know from personal experience.  I think it's funny how you think you know someone and from appearances, they seem 'okay'.  I may look that way to you.  I may be okay some days, but other days, not so much.  I'm not trying to sound dark and mysterious, I'm just being truthful.  Let me fill in the blanks before you all get freaked out and quit reading my blog.

I am a Christian woman, happily married to a wonderful husband and we have three beautiful children.  I am usually an optimistic and happy go lucky person.  I am also a bit of a perfectionist.  Not in a my-house-has-to-be-spotless-and-things-have-to-be-organized-perfectionist.  I am an expectations perfectionist.  Sounds goofy, right?  No, I think in some regard, we are all expectations perfectionists.  I think Rick Warren, pastor of Saddle Back Church said it best when he said, "I don't live up to my own expectations, much less God's."  We need Jesus to help us live our lives according to His will and His word!

I have extremely high expectations for myself and my children.  I am very high strung and very high maintenance.  I guess you could say I'm 'high' all the time.  So I should be relaxed, right?  WRONG!  I also get angry and lose my temper with my kids a lot.  Not something I'm proud of, but I'm working on it.

I am the type of person that feels guilty about EVERYTHING.  If I didn't get the laundry folded and put away and we end up living out of a laundry basket, I feel guilty.  If I didn't have a good plan for dinner and we have to eat out and spend extra money, I feel guilty.  When the kids don't always get to go where they want or get to do what they want, I feel guilty.  You get the picture.  I let all of that guilt and expectation of what I thought I should have done pile up on me until I'm mad at myself ALL THE TIME.  And my husband wonders why I'm not any fun anymore.

Seeing this in writing is actually kind of frightening and sad all at the same time.  I react to everything based on how I'm feeling about myself.  If I'm hating myself, then I'm rude to the kids and others.  I say the kids first because I love them so much and I don't want to have them grow up and think they had a bad childhood because of me.

I'm a Christian, like I mentioned earlier and so you would think that someone with faith in God and a personal relationship with Christ would have already overcome thoughts and feelings like this.  (See, there's those pesky expectations again).  Not true, I guess.  There is good news in all of this, I promise.  The other day, while talking to my wonderful husband, he said something that unlocked the ball of guilt in my stomach and made me feel free for the first time in a LONG time.  He told me I was having a pity party.  It's TRUE!  I was hanging on to guilt of past sins that I had already been forgiven for.  I realized for the first time in a long time that I don't have to be perfect.  God doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called.  He needs me right where I am and he is going to lead me and direct me.  I haven't been living my life the way it should have been lived.  I have been laughing a lot more and smiling a lot more and really enjoying my kids and my husband, too. 

Thank you, Jesus, that you are there for me and that you freed my guilt and forgave my sin by dying on the cross.  And don't forget, readers, that everyday is New Year's Day!  

Live For the Lord Like Your Life Depends On It!

Live for the Lord like your life depends on it....because it does!  Ever thought of it that way before?  It just dawned on me recently.  Lately, I have been living my life on hold.  Waiting for all of the people and the things in my life to be perfect before I do anything.  Yeah, you could say I'll be on hold for a while if I keep living like that!  I don't know if I've ever really lived in the moment before.  I know that sounds strange, but I can't say for certain I have. 

I am a busy person, just like everyone else, I guess.  I have a husband and we have three young boys that I stay home with and home school.  I am also involved heavily in the local and national political scene.  I am concerned for my children's future as well as my own.  I don't know what to say beyond that.  I also love to work out at the gym and try to eat healthy as much as I can.  Oh, yeah, then there is the coffee addiction I seem to have.  I love coffee!  Ask any of my old Facebook buddies and they'll tell you, three o'clock was my regular 'coffee-thirty'.  I guess you could say my life and my sanity depends on it!

I do have a personal relationship with Jesus.  I came to know Christ in the summer of 1997.  My husband is actually the person who led me to Christ, which is amazing to me.  I love to tell the story of how God used my husband to lead me to the Lord.  My husband and I were engaged ten short days after the very first time we talked and we have been married for nearly fifteen years.  I am so fortunate to have found such a wonderful person to share my life with.  Just like any marriage, we have our ups and downs, our arguments and our make-ups, but I wouldn't trade it or him.  My life depends on him!

I felt really especially close to God when I first became a Christian and over the years I have fallen away from Him, just like anyone can, I guess.  I think that recently though, may mark the most dramatic and lengthy dry spell I've had in my faith ever.  I can't say for sure what started it, but I think I've finally come out on the other side, and I'm so grateful.  I can't say I've never had this kind of 'feeling' before, but I feel that it's different this time and that I really want to try harder to put my faith into action.  My life depends on it!

I think one of the things that really sort of 'woke me up' was a conversation I had with my eight year old son.  My mom is seventy-one years old and she and my son have a very close relationship.  She had some chest pains last week and she wanted to go to the hospital.  Nothing dangerous or 'heart-attack like', but she wanted to go and check it out.  After we had left the hospital and gotten ready for bed that night, he came to me and asked if she was going to be alright.  I told him, yes, she's fine, sweetie.  Why?  Are you worried about her?  He said yes, and tears started to flow.  I said are you concerned about her because it's her heart?  He nodded yes, still crying.  I assured him through hugs and love that everything was going to be fine; that she was going to be fine.  My life came full circle at that very moment.  There is something about being there for your kids in that way;comforting them about the health and wellness of a loved one and realizing at the same time that people don't live forever.  I should know because I lost my dad to a massive heart attack very suddenly one January afternoon in 1995.

Since that conversation, I feel like I have been able to enjoy my life, my kids and my family more.  I guess you could say it helped put things in perspective for me.  I have certainly become more engaged in my children's lives than I was before, if that's possible.  I take time to listen and hear their conversations and their ideas.  Oh, the ideas that come into their precious little heads!  I wouldn't miss those ideas for the world.  Not to mention the tickle times, the hugs and kisses, the boo boos, the tears, the bedtime prayers and bedtime story times.  Those things don't last forever and I don't want to find myself  looking back and realizing I missed out on those things.  Time and life are too precious.

So, please, take it from me.  Live your life for God because your life does depend on it!  You may not get another tomorrow!  Thanks be to God!

Obama Gag Reel-Take Two

Ah, yes.  Back for part two?  You just couldn't stay away, could ya?  Well, that's alright.  Glad to share even more of Obama's gaffes to remind us how wonderful it will be when he's finally gone!  Yes, you heard that right, G-O-N-E!  Don't let the door hit ya, well, you know the rest.

So, in my last blog, titled Obama Gag Reel-Take One, I refreshed your memory of some rather embarrassing moments of Obama's illustrious one term as the POTUS.  Here are a few more to serve as reminders as to why we need to kick his ass to the curb in November.

Remember at the dawn of the tea party movement there was a rash of signs depicting Obama with a Hitler mustache insinuating that Obama was in fact, very much like Hitler?  Well, folks, stop the comparison now!  Why, you may ask?  Well, simply because Hitler was able to get the Olympics to come to Berlin!  Think it's funny that with all of the money that the Chicago political machine threw at the IOC to get the Olympics there. They even pulled the POTUS out of their 'hat' along with the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Valerie Jarrett AND even the FLOTUS, and it still wasn't enough.  In my mind, folks, that's a gaffe!

Oh, yeah.  I almost forgot!  He was in campaign mode for....for....FOREVER!  He doesn't know how NOT to campaign!  Yeah, I hear those of you who think that it's okay for the POTUS to pat himself on the back occasionally, but Barry's arm has got to be tired from all of that self-congratulating he has done.

I talked about the flubbed up toast to the Queen of England.  Not sure which is worse, the toast or the gift he gave her!  An I-pod loaded with with none other than his speeches and a home movie of her trip to the United States from back in 2007.  Way to stay classy, Barry!

I just thought of another gaffe.  I know, it's pretty surprising since this is titled Obama Gag Reel-Take Two!  Ha!  Um, let's see.  Oooh, I know, appointing tax cheat Timmy Geithner to be Secretary of the Treasury.  Or how about treating the oval office like it's a smoke filled room in Chicago to cut seedy deals with politicians.  Oh, wait, I forgot!  It IS!  There he stands, in the middle of the office, clicking his heels together three times saying, "there's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home."

So far, this is just a list of the small offenses he's committed against the American people.  I didn't even touch on Obamacare, TARP, and the banning of off shore drilling.  I guess you could say the handling of the Deep Water Horizon explosion was a major gaffe filled with little gaffes all at the expense of the tax payers.  He refused help from our allies so as not to piss off the unions!  The Dutch offered high tech skimmer boats to help clean up the oil and Barack says, "No."  The Dutch also offered to help protect the marine life and estuaries and Barack says, "No."  Wow, and I thought the Republicans were the party of 'no'.  Not to mention how he claimed that his daughter Malia asked him, "Daddy, did you plug the hole yet?"  Yeah, right, she said that.

Then there is the snub Obama gives Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal.  Instead of getting off his ass and flying down to Louisiana immediately after the spill to see what resources to offer, he waited weeks after the incident occurred and then wagged his finger in Governor Jindal's face about how the situation was making him 'look bad'.  Well, boo-frikin'-hoo, Barry.  *side note, Barry gives the same treatment to Louisiana just yesterday as he interviews with Reddit instead of declaring the state a natural disaster in order to receive federal funds.  Priorities, folks!

Alright, I may as well cut to the chase here.  The non-gaffe that just keeps on giving....."You didn't build that.  If you have a successful business you didn't build that on your own.  You had help with that."  Now, I'm not sure what's worse, the fact that he said that, or the fact that he took this cue from none other than Elizabeth Warren.  Oh, you know who I'm talking about!  Democratic Massachusetts Senate candidate, Elizabeth-me-smokum-peace-pipe-Warren? The lady who claimed to be 1/32nd Cherokee Indian or something absurd like that.  Two peas in a pod, they are. Well, I happen to be married to a small business owner, and let me assure you, he DID build it! 

That's all from the Political Chicken for now!  Tune in next time to hear me say, "Congratulations to President Mitt Romney and Vice President Paul Ryan!"  *Swoon*  A girl can dream, can't she?