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The Arrogance of Americans

The arrogance of the Americas began a long time ago and they still continue today.  It’s the belief that those who are not Americans are less than intelligent or uncivilized.  If we look back in our history and study the attitudes and opinions of those then, we may come to realize that these same attitudes and opinions are prevalent today.  Looking at another and finding the differences instead of seeking the similarities often times leads us to excusing our distrust, dislike, disdain or simply ignorance of them.  We know neither their culture, nor their history or even care to learn of their experiences and this oversight, this refusal to see all as having the same rights to exist, live and pursue their dreams as we do ends up with us categorizing them instead of trying to understand them. The American Indians were thought to be savages because they choose to live in teepees instead of log cabins and worshipped the Great Spirit instead of a single God and did not seek to own and

Walking in the Footsteps of Slaves

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Walking in the Footsteps of Slaves By Ronnie Manns A quote attributed to George Santayana reads "Those who are unaware of history are destined to repeat it." And if we combined this saying with that attributed to President John F. Kennedy which reads “Our problems are man-made — therefore, they can be solved by man”, we should then have the recipe necessary to not only correct the issues of this world but end the cycle of repetition.  Above is a picture of Milton House in Milton, Wisconsin.  It is described as recognized by the National Park Service's Network to Freedom as the last, certified Underground Railroad station that can be toured in Wisconsin. The Milton House operated as a stop on the Underground Railroad or "UGRR" from its construction in 1844 through the Civil War. At the Milton House, visitors have the rare opportunity to walk the very pathways of freedom when visiting this unique structure.  Tours are fully guided though the 1844 Milton

The Fear that Produced Trump

There is an inherit belief which appears to be shared by the majority of all races, gender and religion that there is indeed a proper pecking order found within the human and all other species .  We often see this idea played out in real time by those whom many have come to call “hate groups”.  It is further evident if we closely observe the stories of the Bible where one group conquers another, takes all that they deem important and make them their slaves.  Constantly looking down upon them as less than and never equal to because they lost that battle and in some cases that war.  This attitude has become a consistent and undying theme among the species and has been documented and infused into what many call the history of this nation.  What frightens these hate groups more than anything else is the fear that finally the real truth would be revealed and all that they have been taught and come to believe will be found to be false.  The reason I say that this falsehood has come to be be

When the answer to what ails us lies within

When can 30 percent of the GOP and Russia take control of an entire nation and its people and rewrite a nation’s history?  It happens when 100 percent of Democrats, 100 percent of Independents and the entire rest of the globe sit idly by an allow it.  Many now say taking down statues could be the answer to our nation’s ills and some say waving of the Confederate Flag is offensive because of what that flag stands for.  Others say that the statues are a piece of our history and that the Confederate Flag is a symbol of our democracy where those who disagree with the current course are free to stand and resist both may have a valid point but all are missing the deeper and real issue.  It is not the statues that possess an issue, it is those who idolize and worship those statues.   It is not the Confederate Flag that is offensive and carries with it the dark history of a nation; it is those who stand beneath it and behind that way of life.  It is not nor never will be an inanimate object t

The Arrogance of Intelligence

It is true that there are those of a much higher level of intelligence than others but there is also another truth that runs parallel to that theory which many of us refuse to acknowledge.  Those of higher intelligence may own that space in many things but there is and always will be a space where those of higher intelligence are simply as dumb as a box of rocks.   Now what this simply means is, there are certain things that even the most intelligent is uneducated about. When you go to a car lot and drive away with a vehicle that you really didn’t want but the salesperson convinced you to take, it is said that the salesperson outsmarted you.  What is unknown and often times over-looked is the mindset of the buyer of that vehicle.  Let’s say when you woke up that morning, you had a mission to get you a car today and even though you were well aware that you had no good down payment and your credit sucked, it was something you decided you were going to accomplish come hell or high wa

If Israel continues its path, Peace in the Middle East could be the Next American President Biggest Legacy

As a novice and not an expert in Middle East Affairs, I have always said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his loyal followers and party was the biggest obstacle to Middle East Peace but if things continue as they seem to be going right now, the opportunity for the next American President to build his/her legacy on being the one who finally forged peace in the Middle East will be extremely possible and probable.  According to the Wall Street Journal in an article titled “ Supporters Rally Around Netanyahu Amid Police Probes; Pressure is mounting on the Israeli leader, who tells crowd the left wing and the media want to topple him” written Rory Jones, it reports that “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a rare public rally here as police corruption probes pose a growing threat to the Israeli leader’s 30-year political career.  Mr. Netanyahu, leader of the right-wing Likud party and known by his nickname “Bibi,” on Wednesday blamed the turmoil on a “witch hunt” by left-win

The real definition of “White Privilege” can be summed up in two words “The Assumption”

While scanning through my email this morning, I ran across a story titled “ The opioid crisis is creating a fresh hell for America’s employers ” published on July 26, 2017 by the Managing editor at Linkedin Chip Cutter. The more I read this article the clearer it became to me exactly why many people are quietly whispering this concept of “white privilege”.  According to Wikipedia “White privilege is a term for societal privileges that benefit people identified as white in Western countries, beyond what is commonly experienced by non-white people under the same social, political, or economic circumstances “but when confronted by this long definition, fear of discovery and lack of clear justifications leads to denials and refusal to accept such nonsense as fact.  It is my thought then that possibly if we shorten the definition maybe then we could truly bring awareness to this reality which explains why I have chosen to define it as simply the assumption. In the previously mentioned

Are Federal Programs used to break our Chains of Economic Bondage being abused?

I was presented with this article titled “ How Jared Kushner built a luxury skyscraper using loans meant for job-starved areas By Shawn Boburg for the Washington Post which leaves me with two questions.  The first is why this was not discovered and reported during the campaign and the second is whether this is what even local politicians mean when they say that only they know how government works.  An extension of that question is whether this action has been happening right here in our city of Rockford and other places where federal dollars sent to cities to help with the high unemployment numbers or to benefit the lesser of us were re-routed to serve only those in power or people that they knew in power? The story mentions that “ Jared Kushner and his real estate partners wanted to take advantage of a federal program in 2015 that would save them millions of dollars as they built an opulent, 50-story residential tower in this city’s booming waterfront district, just across the Hu

The Rise of Atheism

If you have ever wondered why there has been a great uptick in those who claim to not believe in a higher power, wonder no more.  Take a peek at this new article titled “ Church turns out to be sex club ” by Dan Cahill for Odd Chatter dot com, in it he describes just one of the many reasons why those who once may have placed their faith in God is now questioning if there is or ever was a God. The articles states “ Most churches can be thought of as social meeting places, a structure where congregations come together and share a common bond. A “church” in Tennessee, though, has taken togetherness to a whole new level. Nashville authorities say a building registered as a church has actually been hosting late-night swingers’ parties, where lewd acts have been taking place, according to a report by News Channel 5. Freedom 4 All, Inc. originally filed for a permit to run a church at a building located in an office park in Madison, just north of Nashville. Upon closer investigation, off

The Assumption of Additional Pain and Suffering-A Theoretical Thought

We have been taught for many years that hell is “a place of evil and suffering where the wicked are punished after death” but what if that was only partially true.  What if the real hell was here on earth and all of the planets and the wicked are those of us who chooses not to follow the path of Jesus at every junction of our earthly lives when we must make a choice between doing what is right and doing what is wrong.  When we choose to do what we believe is right in the eyes of God we live believing in Jesus but when we choose to do what is wrong we become the wicked. Wouldn’t it make sense since so much pain and suffering is endured here on earth and as soon as we make the decision to do what is wrong we are immediately consumed by the fires of hatred, anger, hypocrisy, jealousy, greed, regret and so many other sins. Let’s take for example, the taking of another human life.  The mind has always had a problem with reconciling unnatural acts and there is none greater than the taki

Stateline Election 2017-Lessons Learned

Listening to my local news and wondering, out loud, how someone who has millions of dollars to spend could find themselves millions of dollars in the hole just really did not make sense to me.  Especially since the money that they were spending did not totally belong to them.  I had a hard time understanding how someone trusted to represent those who elected them, could ignore their pleas and cries while pretending to hear them at the same time.  After several days of this and many rhetorical questions later, my wife made one solid suggestion.  She suggested that I either stop complaining or run for office and fix the things I saw was wrong.  As I looked into her eyes, saw that she was serious and felt the faith that she had in me to not only care about the suffering but my ability to figure out a way to stop it, I became convinced that she was right.  It didn’t take much longer for me to begin to conceive of ideas and ways to fix these issues as well as justification for why these ch

Could we are not only be multiple beings but also have multiple personalities

Out of the 10 personality disorders listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual or (DSM) 5, I believe that we all suffer from 1 or more of 7 of these from time to time.  The largest difference between those who display them often and those who displays them lesser is the level and degree of control that each individual can exercise over their own demons.  I call them demons just for the shock effect to get many of us thinking but they are really not a demon at all and simply a very large part of what makes us who we are and it must be made clear that the clinical definition of a disorder is “when these traits are so inflexible and maladaptive across a wide range of situations that they cause significant distress and impairment of social, occupational, and role function and the thinking, displays of emotion, impulsivity, and interpersonal behavior of the individual must deviate markedly from the expectation of the individual’s culture in order to qualify as a personality disorder”.

To Make History or Become History, That is the Question-Rockford's Gettysburg Address

It is not often that a single choice can allow a city to effect history.  It is not often that a city can fundamentally change the way all cities are funded.  It is not often that a simple slight change of course could not only alter the way government works but prove an old adage true.  That a rising tide raises all boats and Rockford, IL has an opportunity to make history and forever be remembered as the city that changes the course of human events. It should not come as any surprise to those who are truly paying attention, the  old way of funding government has ran its course.  It was first thought that an idea of funding from the top down was ideal but that soon failed because of the logistics and the true lack of willingness by those at the top.  Some refer to this method as “trickle-down” economics and even though there are still those who think that if we keep trying it, it will work.  There are many that know better. The other option was to reduce expenses without incr

The Daily Fight to Crush Evil and Reclaim our Souls

The world is going to hell in a hand basket  simply because of God’s children have grown far too big for their britches.  The arrogance of man has spread from father to son, mother to daughter for centuries, decades and eons.  It is passed down from generation to generation and diluted with a belief that to honor one you have to dishonor another.  The offspring’s fail to learn from the lessons of the parent. God is our one and only father, we were made in his image and thus are only a spirit.  The body our spirit occupies was made from dirt and clay so as the body decay, the spirit remains.  During our existence within this fragile shell, we can grow in spirit and become the child God knows us to be or we can choose to limit our expansion by following the selfish impulses of mortals. God’s one and only mistake was to attempt to govern the behavior of man with 10 rules.  He soon learned that his was not doable and rather than continue to risk the lives of his children who serio

If the way Barack Obama was treated is not Racism, then please what was it

Since Donald J. Trump made the decision to run in the Republican primary, I have been struggling to understand why it is still difficult for me to totally accept this man as the 45 th president of the United States.  My better angels are telling me that one can only control that which one can and therefore must accept those things that they cannot but for the life of me, I cannot understand why being reasonable in this situation is harder for me than any other I have ever encountered.  That was until just a few minutes ago. It was after hearing those voices in Kentucky who benefited  from the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or Obamacare hearing Trump say that his main focus will be to repeal and replace it, would still vote for him.  It all became clear to me when I heard this one voice say that the only reason she voted for him is because she detested and did not like Obama.  So because you don’t like a person, you stand against all that they say or do even if it helps millions of oth