You can’t say that here!

A few days ago, Tanya Dixon-Neely came under fire and was suspended from her job as a North Carolina Teacher for comments some say were out of context, incorrect, and bully like to students. If you have not heard the news, Tanya Dixon-Neely is an obvious supporter of President Obama. She is passionate, and she is supportive. However, the point I want to make about this incident in a public school, is something that many Republicans, of which I am not, and Independents, of which I am, are feeling these days when it comes to free speech and the right of opinion in America. There may exist a double standard when it comes to criticizing a Democrat versus a Republican.

In 2008, I stood in my polling booth with a ballot that was 99% completed. I had to make one final choice, and that was between McCain and Obama for President of the United States. I honestly stood there for quite some time thinking of who I would choose. I was not sure for many days leading up to the election as to who I would cast my vote for. I was hearing all kinds of negative ads from McCain and Obama insulting each other with paid political advertisements. I was inundated with phone calls from computers playing pre recorded messages from McCain and Obama, and I was even more than tired of seeing the highways and the byways covered with a gazillion political signs one after the other after the other, after the other. It was enough to make you want to close your eyes and flip a coin. In the end I choose Obama. I said to myself, I will give you a chance to come through on the things you said you would do.

I am not writing about the things Obama has done or not done since then. I am writing because I think that there is a general misconception of political adversity in America and I hopefully we can talk about it and not shout about it without making any conclusions made that would be as in error as the statements of Tanya Dixon-Neely to her class. The trouble with Tanya Dixon-Neely is that she is really not all that wrong about slander speech regarding a President. To say President Obama is a liar is slanderous. Yet, millions do this every day, just as millions of people call George Bush I & II liars. There is some truth to this. Now, looking closely at the slander laws for the United States, you will fine this clip from nearly any slander defense and description web page:

“The common law traditionally presumed that a statement was false once a plaintiff proved that the statement was defamatory. Under modern law, a plaintiff who is a public official or public figure must prove falsity as a prerequisite for recovery. Some states have likewise now provided that falsity is an element of defamation that any plaintiff must prove in order to recover. Where this is not a requirement, truth serves as an affirmative defense to an action for libel or slander. A statement does not need to be literally true in order for this defense to be effective. Courts require that the statement is substantially true in order for the defense to apply. This means that even if the defendant states some facts that are false, if the “gist” or “sting” of the communication is substantially true, then the defendant can rely on the defense.”

Hunter Rodgers asked specifically if Obama bullied a girl in his days as a youth, after Tanya Dixon-Neely discussed the bully situation with Mitt Romney. Ok, so far so good – we have a squash here. Both have and both did each according to their own admissions; case closed, move on, but no.

Here is where the bias may be something folks should look at. Now I will say that I can see and understand the position of white or European-Americans when it comes to stating opinions that are not supportive of President Obama. In fact, as I have talked to some young voters, they feel afraid to mention anything negative about Obama, or anyone connected to him that is black or African-American. To say my brother is not a fan of either President Bush would be the understatement of the year. To say that I am a fan of President Obama would be true and false at the same time. My brother will tell you flat out that you must be a rich person and love big oil if you are a Republican. That is his opinion, and I love him for his passion on that. Still others I talk to hate Obama and will tell you so at any chance they get. However, if the subject of race comes up, the theme changes immediately.

This needs to stop, and it stops with YOU.

In this Dantastic world I urge all people, black, white, brown, red, yellow, etc… Respect the difference of opinion we have, and let us not shout down students in class rooms because they something that is factual, but personally you think is slanderous. Rather let us instill upon our news sources that the race cards and the socio-economic ploys that each one, (CNN, FOX, MSNBC, ETC) use to attract viewers needs to end NOW! Stop playing whites against blacks, rich against poor, and haves verse have not’s

I leave you with solution of action:

Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with your entire mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

When to take a stand

So, when do you take a stand on a topic that is important to you? When do you put your name out there in the public and let peers know that you are in opposition of something? I think the time is coming when we need to take a stand and let the world know that we care. There is nothing more powerful than silence, and silence leads to great things, but the silence must come with a buffer. The written word is a great buffer to bridge the gaps needed to be closed. For years, I have stood by watching things affect my brothers and sisters in the world with little cause for commotion or reaction. I have let things that are offensive to me and others like me to pass into the abyss of my mind, never to act on them until my mind reminds me of an opportunity missed.

So what am I going to do?

What should we do? Gandhi and Mother Theresa were two icons of passive movement are whose ripples are still being felt globally by millions. They took a stand and they made their life more than a financial conquest to make money, get a big house, raise their kids in many activities, or to be the absolute best at whatever sport they play with big hopes and even bigger dreams. Yet is that not the “American Dream”? The hope is to do all these things under the tarp of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Is it not the dream to own your own home and live life for your god? At some point you will come to a place where the faces are cold, the support you think you have will be gone, and the only think you will have on your side is the action that you will need to take, and the stand that the same action produces.

Up until the age of 12 I was a scrawny kid who was routinely picked on. I had a big mouth, and that typically added to my magnet for bullies. My mouth has not changed all too much, I am still vocal and I still root for the underdog when possible, unless that underdog is in a football game against my beloved Steelers. But as I grew up, I saw that the world can be mean and can hurt you if you let it. I saw that a multi-cultural city like Miami where I grew up can create avenues of diversity and pockets of hate. In those two separate but congruent fields of life I watched feeling helpless that I could not do much about the issues. I was young and I was not prepared or educated to stand up for what I feel and believe in.

I am no longer that scared bullied boy. I am a man of faith with the backing of the almighty God of Israel encouraging me to take a stand and to make right what is wrong in the world. My gift is my word, and my word here to you is to take a stand right where you are against the things of injustice, merciless hands of oppression, and to guard against those who are without humility. What is it that you want to change in the world? What is it that you want to leave your legacy on? Start now to set a course of action where you will be remembered for doing something more than existing.

In the Bible, there was a disciple named Timothy. He was young and small and the folks who considered themselves religious leaders looked down on him because of his age and experience. It was the wrong way to look at a person. “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.” These are the encouraging words from God through Paul to one young person who was set to stand up to the world, while still a young person. I convey these same words to you all, young and old to stand firm on the principles by which you deem worthy, and to change the world. The greatest commandment Jesus established was to love our neighbor as ourself, and if we are going to do that, we need to remember that God also said ”He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

So what am I going to do…. Come and see.

Spring Break-ing the backs of tax payers

     Back with a passion I am! I have not posted a blog in a while because really, I was not sure what my passion was to write about; until now. I was actually told that my ideas and thoughts were too radical and too controversial for most. I even edited that last sentence from a much larger one that was all about censorship. I was also told that I need to think about my future when I wrote. Well, I have loved writing since I was in middle school, and I use to write stories about my friends in Miami, and the antics we would get into, some true and some fictional. I would always be the crazy one doing something for a laugh; I guess some things never change.

So last night I get an email from a person who truly despises Barrak Obama. I am not talking about a little, I am talking a lot. This person would love to see nothing more than the President be put on a rocket and sent to Mars. For the record, I am not a fan of Barrak Obama, but I was not a fan of GW Bush either. In fact, I can’t tell you a President that I was a true fan of ever since I was able to vote in modern history. I registered in the 80’s as a Democrat, then somewhere I changed my party affiliation to Republican, and then for the last election, prior to that I changed my official party to Independent. I no longer wanted to be affiliate with either group. Neither are doing what is best for America, their efforts seem better off to Acirema than America.

So I get this email about Malia Obama in Mexico with a number of friends on spring break and that twenty-five secret service agents were securing them along with Mexican officials in a hotel while on spring break, all on the tax payers dime… right? I don’t know. The story is that the White House has been asking news agencies to remove stories about Malia and her friends in Mexico. After all, she is the President’s daughter and for that you can have the White House tell web sites in America to remove content that is about their daughter, twenty-five secret service agents, and I am sure a US transport vehicle(s).  So here are a few questions for us to think about.

1. Should the President’s Daughter be in Mexico on Spring Break with some twelve of her friends?
2. Should we have twenty-five secret service agents with them?
3. Should the American people have their tax dollars go to something like this, in this economy?
4. Why is the White House asking “Not telling” from what I read, to remove content on Malia?
5. Is this something the Obama’s would like hushed?
6. How much of this personal trip and others by the Obama’s is funded by tax payers?
7. Why would you even think to do this to “free press”?
8. Are you hiding your vacations?
9. How far above the law are elected officials?
10. When did we turn communist?
11. Are we now China, Iran, or some other place that sensors media – YUPPPP!

After doing some research, I found that the tax payers were in fact on the hook for the cost of the travel to Mexico, and obviously the salaries of the twenty-five secret service agents. Starting out, an LE-1 Secret Service Agent earns $52,018 annually (http://www.ehow.com/info_7890478_average-salary-secret-service-agent.html). Do the math here and $3562.50 collectively is spent on security for the twenty-five agents PER DAY. If an average trip is a week for spring break that is $24,937.50 for just security alone. Let’s not talk transportation, food, and housing.  Roll those other costs together and you could easily be looking at $100,000.00 for a spring break vacation for kids, not adults who run the country, but kids.

That is just wrong.

Now, those of you who are saying, “What about Bush”, the battle cry of the left and the anti-Bush people, are completely and 100% correct. This is a place where you should and do say, “What about Jenna Bush?” Jenna and Barbara were all over the news when the sneezed let alone when they traveled while their Father and Grand Father were President of the Unites States. Sadly, you can take your pick here of which news story you would like to read https://www.google.com/#hl=en&sclient=psy-ab&q=jenna%20bush%20party%20animal&oq=jenna%20bush%20party&aq=1v&aqi=g1g-v1g-b1&aql=&gs_l=hp.11.1.0j0i15j0i8.0l0l1l486l0l0l0l0l0l0l0l0ll0l0.llsin.&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=9ed5a11d60142bec&biw=1366&bih=683&pf=p&pdl=300

If you clicked that and went over to see the escapades of the first daughter under GWB, I would be remiss if I did not provide you the same information on BHO’s first daughter on her trip which sparked this blog.

http://www.wtam.com/cc-common/news/sections/newsarticle.html?feed=104668&article=9921576

So HERE’S THE DEAL…

Not only are we looking at BHO’s daughter and BHO himself using hundreds of thousands of tax payer’s money to fund trips around the globe, but the same thing can be said for GWB and his family under the Bush administration. I want you all to see that we need to support our moral, ethical, and common sense fibers more now than ever in the history of the world. We are not a land of people who support only one type of political party, we are a people with brilliant minds, and we need not be oppressed by foolish spending on the part of any and all elected servants to this land.

The cost of this one spring break trip alone is more than the average annual salary in my home state of Florida at $39,272.00 per person (http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-03-23-state-income-table_N.htm). With oil speculators running wild, a land that is in need of serious healing, is it prudent for us to not only send our children to another country for spring break, but to do so on the backs of hard working Americans and to increase our national debt with a families escapade is in my opinion ethically ignorant; for the Bush family as well as the Obama family. Should you want to send a thirteen year old on a trip, to Mexico, write the check yourself, and make sure folks know that you did. Transparency is something that should be more than a campaign promise.

My country, ’tis of Thee, Sweet Land of Liberty Of thee I sing…

My “A” team

So I had to finally get back to my weekly writing. Here it is. I am today going to stay away from the politics, the chat about who is going to lead America next. I am also going to stay away from the stress that comes from being a youth pastor in church. You would not believe what comes our way from folks outside the church and folks in the church. At times the people in the church are more of a source of stress than the folks outside. What I do want to talk about is our confirmation retreat. We made the annual pilgrimage to Leesburg Camp AKA Warren W. Willis camp in Fruitville Florida. What is certainly the most amazing part of confirmation, the profession of Christ and seeing kids get saved right in front of your eyes, typically rubs off on the mom’s and dad’s that come along on the retreat with us.

I love a good aha moment with a teen when they are not sure they are prepared to release control of their life over to Jesus, but even better is when you see that aha moment in parents. This is when I know Jesus is so big that even lifelong “Christians” get those moments where the Holy Spirit becomes more than a character in a book, it becomes a living breathing person that impacts the life of not only teens, but their parents as well. Seeing people worship at the retreat is a testimony to the power of the Holy Spirit. We are talking about seeing people of all ages gather and begin a worship service with no clue many times as to why some people are clapping their hands, and others are raising their hands, and yet others are holding their hands for dear life, as if some force was going to post on face book or on a billboard downtown that you were seen giving honor to Jesus. This is the typical way it goes.

By the time Saturday night rolls around, the fever is much different and the people are not so stiff. The camp has that kind of effect on you. There is so much “Jesus” I guess it overtakes you at some point and you just have to let go of the poison of the world and some of the people in it, and just bask in his awesome glory. Each year, my youth leaders literally line up to go on the retreat. I have had years where we had barely enough teen help to make the weekend work, and then other years where I had so many that it was like a retreat in a retreat. After learning my lesson, this year I think I had one of the best crews with me ever. I have never seen such a great team of young people and never seen such a group get along and work as a group so well before. It was simply amazing.

Now, I cannot give details about our confirmation weekend, it is a very top secret operation, and what happens at Leesburg stays at Leesburg, lol. I will tell you that when I see a teen take charge, take initiative and show that they have the maturity and the well with all to make the right choices and make the right decisions regarding confirmands who are typically 6^th graders. I do not want to tell great stuff about some and not all, so I will refrain from individual stories on the success of my team. I just think and see how awesome they are and that it will be a bitter sweet day when they graduate high school, and then college and see them forge their way in the world. So if you were there this weekend, you know who you are, and you know that I am in debt to you and all of your talent from God for worship, acting, drama (the good kind), and overall consideration to the cause; I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

PS – The bus made it up and back! AMEN!!!

 

Presidents Day

So I see there have been a number of Mondays which have passed since I last gave the world a blog worth reading twice. I know there are a ton of things going on in life, and for a youth pastor, we actually are busy at times. Mix in with that a sprinkle of oops, and a dash of lazy and you have a recipe for many Mondays to go by without sharing a great word or two for the people. So this week, we need to look at the position of the President of the United States. The commander-in-chief of what some would arguably call the most influential and powerful nation on the face of the earth. Why not, when trouble comes up and the world needs help, those in need can rest assured that Old Glory will come to their aid.

Over the past fifty years or so, the office of the president has been anything but Presidential. Each term we seem to get yet another disconnected person from the people who flies in like a Messiah, but leaves us feeling like we just met Judas yet again. Is it that hard in Washington to actually do the right things for the people, and not for the special interest groups? Is it that hard to set yourself apart from the rest of the crowd and not be a tool for those who truly are the 1% of America? Kennedy, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush II, and Obama, are you a President? These are just the folks who have been “Presidents” since I was born. These are the folks I know 1st hand of and have read about their administrations. I am however puzzled that in all this time (43 years), we have yet to see America grow consistently? We have yet to see a President who will stand by campaign promises and do the things they say they will do.

I look back to when I stood in the polling booth and cast my vote for Barrack Obama, not because he had the experience to lead, not because he had a smooth voice, and not because he said some great things “for the people” on the campaign trail. It was because McCain showed me nothing more than a dull politician, plain and simple. So, now almost four years later, we are yet again faced with another election. My question is this, “Are we electing a President”, one we can look up to and can say without a shadow of a doubt – He will make change real, and not just pad the pockets of supporters that help these men get elected.

Presidents Day, a reminder of the character we need in a leaders, in a public servant, in a person who we can trust to take care of the people against the corporations, the barons of Wall Street, and the very Government by which we claim we trust. Yes, it is scary, and yes you should be scared. There is enough pork out there on the campaign trail in both camps to make me say, no one has earned the right to lead this country and change the things that are fundamentally broken.

Romans teaches Christians that “We all fall short” when it comes to being excellent or perfect. Our “President” needs to be granted grace to a degree with this in mind, but it also means that who ever you are and whoever you put in the position to run this land, they had better be prepared to stand by the people because I promise you, if you think were in trouble now, just wait until basic systems begin to fail. So is there a President out there who will not take my cross with them on the campaign trail? Is there a President who will not take abortion door to door? Is there a president who can insist a non-profit like planned parent hood not operate with my tax money? Is there a President out there who will stand up against the Chinese economy which is the next tsunami to hit America. I pray to God our Lord Jesus Christ that the people of this land will wake up, like Habakkuk cried out from the wall, why the Babylonians, and we can return to the American dream of owning a home and doing just a little better than the generation before us.

One Day we will praise, a man of good character, a student/leader with ambitious purposes, a congenial disposition, possessed of good morals, having a high sense of honor and a deep sense of personal responsibility.

In Hoc,

Daniel J. Segale

Presidential Monster Mash

Did you watch the Republican candidate debate in Iowa? I did. It was an interesting two hours of prime time television.  Rick Santorum, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, and Michelle Bachman faced off on what was supposed to be issues previously agreed to, and in a manner that they also agreed to before the debate. In the two hours that I diligently listened to what was said and what was not said I picked up once again on the fact that some folks who run for office may have no business doing so.

In fact, the two hours were so heavy laden with Newt Romney chatter that the other folks were more shadows than competitors to Newt Romney. Actually Ron Paul had a great point that was clear and really did some damage to Newt Gingrich.

Question, who decides that Romney and Gingrich are to be center stage? How is this not a clear advantage? Santorum and Bachman were so marginalized that you saw more of their hems than you heard of their voices. It was obvious that either the promoters of the debate were less interested in them or possibly solely interested in Gingrich and Romney. As a registered independent, I am watching both sides of this election. I want to make sure that the facts are correct and that the people wake up and become informed voters, and turn off the mind control of the spin machines.

After watching these folks duke it out, I have to say some obvious observations that are good and bad about these folks. Santorum was a man of few words, but lacks a presence of leadership. He would look great in a Hollywood movie. He and Romney could play in the second Zoolander film for Armani suits. Just saying, they dress better than they talk. Michelle Bauchman seemed to have adopted the Sara Palin “pick me because I am not like these fools.” She said very little but did point out the voting of both Romney and Gingrich FOR the bailout of Freddie Mac and AIG and so on. Ron Paul did his best to END THE FED which has been a cornerstone of his philosophy for years, and is one I agree with by the way. There is nothing different from me printing money than the “Federal Reserve Bank” – printers are printers and without a gold standard…. Well it is just paper. Hold your gold people, hold your gold! The problem with Paul is that he just does not strike me as a person who can go up against the Chinese in an economic battle royal. Made in China is another blog altogether. What was a great point for Paul was his identifying that Gingrich made millions from the bailout, our tax money and our great grand children’s tax dollars.

I then watched the interview with Barrak Obama on 60 minutes. I found a number of things as disturbing here as I did with Mitt Romney offering a $10,000 bet to Gov. Rick Perry. Obama double talked as bad as Mitt Romney. Example: President Obama insisted in this “60 Minutes” interview that he didn’t “overpromise” and that he always believed fixing the economy was a long-term project and would take more than one term. But that doesn’t seem to be in step with his assertion during a February 2009 interview with “Today” that presidency would be “one-term proposition” if the economy did not recover in three years.

I was so happy in 2007 to hear some of the promises made by Barrak, but now in 2012 (just about), I am not so sure this was the right direction. At the time McCain showed little in opposition and was really whooped by Obama in both major debates, and really blew his campaign with a gimmick VP. I would hate to see Obama vs. Romney in any debate because I think we would have two well spoken highly educated men talking to each other in circles. On the other hand, I think it will be interesting to hear Newt and Barrack debate if the Republicans nominate him. So we shall see in due time is America is going to make the right call. I think there are a great many things we need to fix in America, and I pray the next president does just that.

THE WAR ON ABORTION

When I was in college, a million years ago, I remember a protest on campus that was centered on abortion and to be honest, I don’t remember much more than that. Lots of my friends were in this big crowd and they were chanting for the news cameras and were being completely peaceful. I think the chant was; “What do we want, choice. When do we want it, now?” Well, I stepped in and got right up front and looked right into the news camera and gave my best chant with the group. I was taking my first step into my first amendment right. I peacefully gathered and protested. I have no idea what I was protesting against, and I really don’t know why it was taking place on our college campus in Miami, cir. 1990.

I remember there was a nice looking girl that I stood next to, we knew each other and were friends on campus. I think I was partly curious as to what was going on, and partly curious about the television cameras that were there. Wow, that was a long time ago. I think in those twenty plus years, I have formed a lot of my opinions that frankly are not main stream America so would say, and they are not friendly to many religious groups to say the least. I know that I can be a sound word in the pulpit, and I can be a sound word in a private conversation. I know that God has given me the ability to reason and to take into consideration things that are sometimes risky.

That is why I want to say I am not pro-choice and I am not pro-life. I am pro-God. I am not pro choice in the aspect of a woman being able to do what she would like with her body, and no one and no government can tell her otherwise. I am not pro life in the sense that under no circumstances should a pregnancy be terminated. I cannot say such a thing because I frankly have never been placed in the situation where it is either the life of my wife, or the life of my unborn child at stake. I have never had to make that choice, and at this point in my life, I don’t think I will. I don’t feel anyone that has never been in that critical area can really say with 100% certainty how they will react, think, and feel if faced with the life of a wife vs. a child. It is just something that is unfathomable in many ways.

As a man, I think we get left out in the cold way too much on this issue and we need to be given as much right to the child as the mother. If my wife is pregnant, society tells us that she is pregnant, and that she has the right to choose life or death for the child. I think that is a great deal of prejudice in the fact that there is human on the planet who will become a mother without a father. It is a mathematical improbability and something that should carry more weight in the decision to abort or not abort. On the television show Private Practice, a conversation brewed with Addison Montgomery, IRL Kate Walsh and Naomi Bennett, IRL Audra McDonald. There were men and women talking about abortion and a patient. Naomi an overtly faith led woman and Addison an overtly prochoice female were talking and when costar Tim Daly who plays Dr. Pete Wilder opens his mouth to voice an opinion on the matter, Montgomery stands up, forcefully puts her hands on the table and says, “Unless you have a vagina, get out.” As if to say that men have no business in the discussion. Wrong! Without a man, have zero chance of procreating.

Now I understand the trauma and the stress of pregnancy. I am the father of two amazing daughters. They are the joy in my life. I cannot think of a day apart or away from them that is a joy. It is with them that is the best, even when they declare war from the back seat on our family vehicle on each other. I could not imagine aborting such a present from God. I can’t comprehend how some folks kill children or hurt them. I think that there are forces in this world that influence us to sin and sometimes our sin is unthinkable and sometimes our sin is a cultural gut check. Here is one of those issues. I think that there is room for us to not be prochoice or prolife in America. I think that raising your family to respect life and to respect themselves is power positive, and from that, these groups would have nothing really to fight over. Look, abortion is legal in America. There is nothing at this time to change that. It is a social issue that we do not need to put on the shoulders of a president, and it should not be something that a president uses to get voted, as we see with both the current president and the two prior. Leave the social issues to the states and not the president. We have a country to fix, and social issues are a distraction. You want to know the deal on solution based thinking, well here we go.

So here’s the deal: Teaching our children to respect life and to respect themselves through purity is the solution we need.  That is why we as teens, adults, and senior adults need to be in prayer for the generation out there that is struggling to love who they are, and to not need a man or a woman to make them happy physically. A look in the mirror should show them a person God loves and not a person who is ugly. Everyone who reads this is beautiful. This simply leads to the poisoning of a person’s self respect. Abortion is a standard means of birth control in many godless places in the world. We need to change the mindset globally. The prochoice and prolife movements are meaningless if we instill the personal respect to not have sex until you are married, and to not harm those who have no voice or control over your body. Honor God with who you are and what you do and this becomes a mute fight. If my daughter comes to me pregnant, I will wrap my arms around her and tell her she is home with a family who loves her and is going to love her no matter what, and that I would help her to be the mom she will become and that the dad will need to be the man he is going to become. Character and integrity are the keys to solving this issue. That is the real deal.

PS – Stay tuned as in February 2012, we present the “Silver Ring Thing” at The Edge. This is where you bring your facebook friends and school friends.