Friday, September 18, 2015


September 18, 2015

“One Nation under God”

 

-By Jim Culp

 

I am responding to all of the online posts about “One Nation under God.”

Here’s an easy fact to counter that slogan.

This is not meant as a bash on any religion, because you are free to worship however you please under the First Amendment to the US Constitution…

However, if one insists that “we are One Nation under God”, he/she would need to define first who or what “God” is.

I know many would say immediately that they are talking about God, Jehovah; the God of the Christian bible.

OK, well, let’s take a look at that.

According to Wikipedia, here’s the statistics: “Protestant (37%) Catholic (23%) None (16%) Other Christian (10%) Other (6%) No answer (4%) Mormon (2%) and Jewish (2%)”.

So, even though they can’t agree with each other, 72% of our population calls themselves Christians. (these statistics will vary depending on where you look)

But wait a minute…the First Amendment is clear about religion. It states:

“Amendment I. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

Uh-oh. I do believe we have a contradiction in terms here. The idea of “God” is one borne out of religious practice. If you don’t want to define your God as “religion”, that’s cool, but the Constitution does.

The slogan “One Nation Under God” appears many places, but the one place that is appears Legal Tender is on coinage and Federal Reserve Notes.

So, when our government decided in 1913 to implement the Federal Reserve in place of actual banks handling currency, it started printing “In God We Trust” on coins and paper notes.

So that, ladies and gentlemen, is in direct contrast with the Constitution of the United States of America.

It’s perfectly ok with me if you want to have slogans for you and your household. But do not try to place a religious label on me or my family. “One Nation Under God”, as defined by the American Christians of today, means that I’m under the yoke of your religion. To that I say nay. I am not a member or supporter of your beliefs or your religion, and as a citizen of the USA, do not wish to be counted as such.

The Constitution of the United States says I have that right, and just like the Second Amendment allows me to OWN AND CARRY firearms, the First Amendment protects me from becoming a slave to a tyrannical theocracy.

Saturday, September 5, 2015


September 5, 2015

 

Let’s Deal with the Important Stuff First

 

By Jim Culp

 

In recent weeks, I have listened and watched as issues of our society unfold in so many ways these days. I’m currently watching some news casts about the presidential candidates and their intended platforms.

I hear the Republicans pushing the same issues about needing a wall across the Mexico border, and Democrats pushing the same issues about gay rights and regulating spending. All these being relevant issues that must be dealt with, no doubt.

What I don’t hear, or hear enough about, are these issues:

  • Actually setting term limits for “career politicians”
  • Bringing people in our government to justice for crimes
  • Someone actually telling the truth about 9/11
  • Keeping the Constitution from becoming an irrelevant document
  • Actually addressing Race issues instead of fueling the fire with rhetoric
  • Serious discussion (and action) about rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure
    So, on the jackass side, we’ve got pretty limited choices. Oh, there are 92 candidates right now, but to even think you’re going to be a true hopeful, you’re going to have to raise more money than Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden. Bernie Sanders is running on the jackass ticket, and has some damn good points, but it’s just unlikely that he can challenge Hillary and win. Hillary Clinton has a net worth of 22 million, but she and Bill’s combined net worth is close to 80 million.
    On the Fat Rich Elephant side, we’ve got roughly 135 candidates as of today, and of course to be a real candidate in the Grand Old Party, you’ve got to have some pretty big piles of Grand Old Dead Presidents. Donald Trump has a net worth of 4 billion. Jeb Bush has a net worth of 22 million. You’d automatically assume that Don is the Trump card in this race, which he can be if he keeps his mouth at bay and runs a tight ship.
    Jeb has the backing of the Bush family, which means political funding and support from every angle you can imagine.
    Now there are many other parties, Libertarian, Green Party, Bubba Party, and whogivesafuck parties on the list, but the fact is, nobody in these parties can get enough electoral votes (which are gained by throwing a lot of money at the candidate) to even think of becoming serious nominees.
    So back to our topic. Are any of these men/women going to deal with the real issues that most Americans are pissed off about? I’m going to name my issues, and give you my answers. Maybe you’ll want me to run for President.
     
    Item number one:
    I can’t find a single person, other than a politician, who doesn’t agree that we need term limits for Senators and Representatives.
    Some of these people have been in those chairs for 30 or sometimes 40 years.
    Some real examples? Bob Dole was in Congress for 35 years.
    Chuck Schumer has been in Congress for 35 years.
    Ted Kennedy was in Congress for 46 years. The list goes on and on.
    There’s no way we’re going to ever usher in an era of better thinking when we keep the same old dead weight in that big rotunda.  
     
    Item Number Two:
    Crimes against the American people unanswered.
    I can write a 20 page essay on this shit.
    So I’ll keep it brief. I’m just going to place the name(s), then the crime they are charged with by me, a tax paying American citizen in a Democracy.
    Hillary Clinton: Benghazi
    Dick Cheney: Halliburton
    George Bush Jr.: Grand Perjury
    Dick Cheney: Grand Perjury
    Bush/Cheney Administration: Grand Perjury
    Bush/Cheney: War Crimes and the illegal invasion of two countries
    These are just a few. We all know these people are scum sucking liars that got away with murder. Why the fuck are they still free people?
     
    Item Number Three:
    The anniversary of one of the greatest atrocities ever committed and covered up by a government will soon be upon us. Everyone will talk about it for a day; then it will be forgotten for another year.
    The problem is: truthful answers have NEVER been given about how these events occurred, why the investigations were covered up, and why hundreds of people were given hush orders by the FBI and CIA.
    Thousands of hours and millions of pages of research have been conducted on this event and subsequent events, and proven to be a staged plot for a bigger purpose.
    When are Americans going to wake up and demand that this issue be resolved?
    When will the people who lied on national television night after night be brought to justice?
     
    Item Number Four:
    The Constitution of the United States of America and the Bill of Rights became the law of our land in 1789. This document was written for the people of our country never to be subject to three major things: Tyrannical Rule, Unfair Taxation, and Religious Persecution. ALL of these items are in question as I write this article on September 5, 2015. Presidents make rulings like Kings. The American people are taxed so heavily that working anything over 50 hours is a freebie to the government. Citizens, as well as lawmakers, are trying every day to turn this Democracy into a Theocracy, something which was so important to the framers of the Constitution, that they made it the First Amendment to the document. Right after that, they recognized that for a country to hold its values and properties relevant, it had to reserve the sovereign right of the citizen to keep and bear arms. This was the Second Amendment.
    So right away the Founding Fathers saw that a citizen’s personal rights, and his legitimate right to defend them, were the highest priorities to the success of a free nation. It seems every day in this country; these two things are being slowly taken away bit by bit. You’ve heard me refer to George Orwell’s book “1984” before. Look at our country today and tell me that isn’t where we are headed.
     
    Item Number Five:
    Racism among our citizens keeps getting fueled every time one turns his head.
    From L.A. to Ferguson, from Tijuana to Juarez, from Chicago to Portland, it’s always something. The truth is, this nation was founded on the concept of being a great melting pot. Teddy Roosevelt once wrote that “once you’re an American, you’re just that, an American. You’re not an African American, a Mexican American, or anything of the sort; you’re an American. To call yourself anything else is to not be an American.”
    Teddy had a way of NOT beating around the bush, and so do I.
    If you want to be an American citizen, some to this country legally and do what thousands before you did, including my great grandfather’s parents. They came to King’s Mountain, North Carolina in 1793 and worked their asses off and became legal American citizens. They and all their neighbors were Scottish and Irish, and proud of it, but they didn’t try to make the USA Ireland or Scotland. If you want to come to this country and start some little country within the United States that has its own laws, you need to be shot for treason. These days all you hear is “black this” and “black that”.
    Again, if you’re not a racist, why the fuck does everything need to have “black” in front of it. I know you’re black. I know my forefathers had slaves. But I don’t, never approved of such, and we are here, today. All I want to do with you is coexist in a peaceful manner. But we can’t do that if you teach your children racial hatred. Let’s work together to get that ideal out of America.
     
    Item Number Six:
    In the past 6 months, I’ve driven about 3,940 miles around and across this great nation of ours. This journey has taken me across 16 states, and untold numbers of bridges and highways. Some of the highways and interstates that I have travelled are in pretty fair shape, but sadly over fifty percent of them are not fit to drive a herd of camels over.
    Bridges are in horrible shape, and highways are repaired or over-laid in “band-aid” fashion, just to the point that they are acceptable.
    The interstate system was a pioneered idea of Dwight Eisenhower, but a serious rip-off of the German Autobahn systems, which were (are) a system of getting somewhere fast because you can travel at fast speeds.
    Our interstate system has become anything but that. It’s crumbling as fast as it can be band-aided.
    Improvement of our failing infrastructure needs to be one of the next President’s highest priorities.
    Yes, I’ve left out Clean Energy and several other topics.
    Stay tuned.
    I’m closing today with one parting thought. I’m sick at the thought of what America has become. I wonder what kind of USA our grandkids will live in. Sometimes I really shudder to the fact that we are on a road to decay and decline, much as the Roman Empire did two thousand years ago. We need to INSIST upon better leaders, get corruption out of government, and make America strong again.