Poem: The Nardos in My Room

nardos

The Nardos in my room, bring forth their sweet perfume
As if to say Amor, of this you can be sure
More blooms we shall display with every passing day
Do not be sad

When our brief time is past, our fragrance will at last
Adorn the minds of those who ventured by and chose
What life was offering and with it everything
That could be had

My friend do not ignore the wonders at your door
Embrace them while you live and at the end you’ll give
Your own heartfelt applause because you’ll know there was
No more to add

 

Written at Cabildo Suites in Buenos Aires, Argentina

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Poem: The Lace Dress

The lace dress lay so softly on the bed.
My friend has gone away and left it there.
That she should leave it lying there outspread,
was no surprise for it had seen much wear.

It fit her well and served her faithfully,
In happy days and seasons filled with care.
Her child and then her grandchild at her knee,
clung to it’s folds and found a comfort there.

My friend’s lace dress lay softly on the bed.
A favored gift which she at last outgrew,
and cast aside, so that she might instead,
refresh herself and put on something new.

In loving memory of Juliana (Schatzi) Olkowski , December 12, 1912 – June 30, 1994

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Marriage and A Bird Feeder

BirdfeederLet me tell you about something I did for my wife Jamy while she was away.  A few years ago she bought a wooden bird feeder, a simple thing stapled together and it had battery operated Christmas lights stapled around the roof.   It stood a long time on a pole in the front yard. Eventually the lights stopped working. The squirrels would occasionally circumnavigate the baffle hanging above it and pounce on the bird feeder to eat the seeds and suet as squirrels are wont to do.  So after a few years it began to fall apart.  Jamy is a Master Naturalist, and spends quite a lot of time in the forest, in state and national parks all over the Florida.  Before she left for another one of her road trips she asked me to repair it. Continue reading

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Why does a gentleman stop and allow a lady to pass before him?

As a human, w81507_ladygentlema_lge are all born of women. I had a mother (despite persistent rumors to the contrary) and have an obligation of reverence and gratitude to her. This obligation applies to all women, for I would have all individuals give honor and respect to my mother, and therefore am willing to provide it to all the others of her sex.

As a man I am grateful to the benevolence shown to me by women who have found it in their hearts to love a less than perfect (tragically flawed in fact) man. This gratitude is extended to all women who by their very nature love freely and benevolently, if given the chance.

Finally, the euphoric beauty to be found in women of all ethnicities and ages is cause for rejoicing and contemplation by men. Every woman, every one, carries that spark blatantly displayed, carefully or profoundly hidden but yet is it there and may be observed if one will only stand and wait.

Therefore men of honor stop and allow ladies to pass by, so that they may behold them both coming and going in wonder, awe, and reverence.

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Villanelle: To Say it Using Just a Villanelle

It was a story much too long to tell.
So carefully, he chose the words to say.
To say it using just a villanelle.

He’d met her, but he didn’t know her well.
A married woman, she was known to stray.
It was a story much too long to tell.

His longing for her had begun to swell.
What phrase would bring her heart within his sway?
To say it using just a villanelle.

With eventide he heard the distant knell.
He thought he’d leave it for another day.
It was a story much too long to tell.

But offering the key to her hotel,
Smiling, she turned as if to lead the way!
To say it using just a villanelle.

So deep in love those fallen lovers fell.
Together hand in hand they walked away.
It was a story much too long to tell.
To say it using just a villanelle.

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Sonnet: To Those Who Rush to Praise Us

To those who rush to praise us when we say
they should do what is right in their own eyes.
All men or women having their own way
to live precisely as they would surmise.

To those who laud our liberality,
our tolerance of every faith, and creed,
and every sexual proclivity,
we ask the same consideration cede.

Each man the lord and master of his home.
This is the view we fervently avow.
If he be familièd or live alone;
at this they gnash their teeth and knit their brow.

The warrior knows how to deal with these,
who finally prove impossible to please

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A new verse for “The Mikado”

MIKADO 1A

In Gilbert & Sullivan’s “Mikado”, Koko a tailor under a death sentence is appointed Lord High Executioner with the reasoning that before he can cut off someone’s head, he has to cut his own off . Nevertheless, he has a list. The song has been used since its inception to comment on the politics of the day.

As someday it may happen that a victim must be found, I’ve got a little list, I’ve got a little list

Of society’s offenders who might well be under ground and who never would be missed, they never would be missed


There’s the Congress bent on spending every dollar but their own
And the tyrant who usurps the law with just his pen and phone

And the Neo-Fascists on the the right who’d crush you if they could
And the Leftists who’d enslave you (but of course for your own good)

Still it really doesn’t matter whom you put upon the list
For they’d none of them be missed, they’d none of them be missed

You may put em on the list, You may put em on the list
for they’d none of them be missed, they’d none of them be missed

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Poem: You’re Not the Same Color as Me

racism
You’re not the same color as me.
Is that supposed to matter?
Because it’s so easy to see,
I’m also bald, and fatter
than you and I know it’s a fact,
they beat and killed the others.
But does that mean that we react
as if we aren’t brothers?
You know that you’re different than me.
Our history, our nurture.
But couldn’t that help us as we
raise up a brighter future?
I have a solution to state.
Race is a vast illusion.
Kept going by people who hate,
and fear, and want confusion.
Abandon that concept today.
Don’t cling to ethnic factions.
Trust isn’t about what we say.
It’s all about our actions.

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To Those who call Abortion, Murder

2 Kings 17:17 They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. Some claim that abortion is murder. To restate this, there are some who claim is that there are rooms all over America, where individuals are murdering innocent children with the consent of their mothers.To date, between fifty and sixty million innocent children have been murdered. I am not making this claim, let us be clear about that. But for those who do, I would like to consider the ramifications of such a statement. Continue reading

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Sonnet: A Hero’s Death

Lord, let me die a hero’s death I pray.
To meet the sudden blast and never flinch.
And should my company flee in disarray,
to stand my ground and not give up an inch.

Lord, let me die a soldier’s death I pray.
Found at my post with weapons near at hand,
While carrying out the orders of the day,
And well prepared to heed the next command.

Lord, let me die a servant’s death I pray.
Life spent in service to my fellow man.
Your burden lightly on my shoulders lay,
That I might have a part in God’s great plan.

Lord, grant that as I live and die, this day,
Your Holy will more faithfully obey.

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Poem: My Childhood

kidlou

A good running start, you might say.
A nice quiet town, my own room.
They tried very hard, but one day,
I had to escape, that cramped womb.

Why I didn’t stay like my friends.
Who always obeyed, or more so
than I ever did, at loose ends,
my parents at last, let me go.

ladlou

The day I broke free, from their grip,
I didn’t believe, what they said.
The price I would pay, for my trip.
The pitfalls that lay, up ahead.

I couldn’t say now, if it was
worth all that it cost, to play fool,
to do it my way, diplomas,
aren’t given to grads, at this school.

ynglou

So here’s to you mom, and dad too,
for all that you did, for my good.
My soul was too wild, to subdue.
You did everything, that you could.

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I Am a Royal Ambassador for the Heavenly Kingdom of The Living God

With scripture proofs

2 Corinthians 5:16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

I am a Royal Ambassador for the Heavenly Kingdom of The Living God. (1Pet 2:9)

  • I speak with God, I am indwelt by God in the person of the Holy Spirit. He is literally, actually, here now next to me, walking around with me inside this wrecked hulk of a body I currently call home. (2Tim 1:14)
  • He talks to me in all manner of ways, and I hear his voice (Heb 3:7).
  • I know Him and of Him just as surely and far better than I know you. He does not tell me everything, nor does He do everything I ask of Him. (John 10:14)
  • He has written me letters (2Tim 3:16).
  • Just as any other ambassador, I have immediate access to the King (Heb 4:16).
  • Just as any other Ambassador, I have a commission,  a portfolio, and a foreign policy that I am to promulgate. (Matt28:19)
  • Just as any other Ambassador, I can suggest courses of action to the King, including the sending of aid, or even military force, but just as any other Ambassador, it is the King who has the final decision as to what action He will take. (John 15:16)
  • Just as any other ambassador, I have diplomatic immunity, and know that whatever the future brings, I have been give a full and complete pardon from the King, insulating me from any judicial prosecution (Col 2:13-14).
  • Unlike many ambassadors, I am a Royal Ambassador.  I am a member of the Royal Family, an heir to the kingdom. (Gal 4:7).
  • Because of all this I operate freely in the metaphysical realms and require no ritual, no spells or incantations, no arcanely devised talismans, no staff or wand, having only to speak a word, at the King’s command, and it is done (John 14:12-13).

I like to say that I was born a Catholic, saved a Baptist, and finally enlightened as a Presbyterian.  I am a member of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) and am a student of it’s doctrines and practices. For those of you who would care to make an detailed study of these matters, I direct your attention to the Center for Reformed Theology and Apologetics.

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On Plato’s “Symposium”

Originally published on the Florida Student Philosophy Blog

Apollodorus

How appropriate that Plato should frame this work as a tale told second hand.  From his pen, we are hearing the story as told by a disciple of Plato named Apollodorus who had heard the story from Aristodemus who was present at the symposium in question.  Apollodorus has verified the account with Plato, and so we may consider it fairly accurate. Still, we are reading about it approximately twenty-four hundred years later and are also twice removed from the actual event.

Apollodorus is particularly ready to tell us because he has already recounted the story to his friend Glaucon while on the road to Athens.  Glaucon had caught up with Apollodorus by formally hailing him as “The Gentleman from Phaleron.”  I read in the footnotes that the joke is that men like Apollodorus are not addressed in this manner except in formal situations, such as when they are assembled at court.  Of course, this is how members of Congress are addressed today and calls attention to how much the Greeks still influence us.

Apollodorus makes much of the idea that philosophy is the only worthwhile pursuit in life and that focusing on the mundane activities of life as Apollodorus once did and as his friend does now, dooms a person to a life of failure. Unimpressed with this sentiment, Apollodorus’ friend urges him to begin to recount the speeches given at the symposium.
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A Neo-Patriarchal Response to Communitarianism

Very occasionally, in the morning when the weather is not too hot, I step out onto my front porch and sit on a broad wooden bench, looking out into my front yard and that of my neighbor’s, enjoying the coolness of the air with nothing save birdsong to disturb the silence. I may bring a cup of tea with me, and perhaps one of my cats will come to sit near.

For the moment, I am at rest. I own the ground upon which I sit. I am fully provisioned and no enemies appear on my immediate horizon. I am well aware that this is an illusion, but choose to pretend in the moment, that all is well. Now in my fifties, my ambitions are modest. “A home, respect, freedom, and neighbors who want the same” (Lamar). I desire peace and quiet broken only by the occasional company of my extended family and close friends. I think that this is a desire commonly held by the overwhelming majority of mature adults existent across the face of the earth, irrespective of their culture, their history, or their present social and economic position within their particular communities. In the following pages it is my intention to describe the realization of this desire by a certain class of men among the petit-bourgeoisie whom I shall refer to as neo-patriarchs.
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Poem: Sara Beers’ Bread

bread

With fish and loaves Our Blessed Lord the starving masses fed.
Miraculously proving Him the Church’s Sovereign Head.
Alas! No crust remains whereon our butter we might spread.
The nearest we can come today is Sara Beers’ Bread.

At Hastings, William conquered while the vanquished Saxons bled.
The Tower of London he had built to be his new homestead.
Why had the Normans all agreed to join that great spearhead?
While in their sleep, they’d dreamt a dream of Sara Beers’ Bread.

Throughout his reign six ladies did the eighth King Henry wed.
Two women he divorced, and two, he put to death instead.
What proved them so unsuitable to share his royal bed?
They did not have the recipe for Sara Beers’ Bread.

At Waterloo, Lord Wellington his noble soldiers led,
to victory, while Bonaparte’s defeated army fled.
Why didn’t he remain in France and quit while still ahead?
Bored with baguettes, he yearned to feast on Sara Beers’ Bread

It’s Sara Beers’ Bread my boys, it’s Sara Beers’ Bread
That makes our lot a happy one, as on through life we tread
When all is said and done my boys, when all is done and said,
It’s Sara Beers’ Bread my boys, it’s Sara Beers’ Bread

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Poem: Straddling God’s Thigh

Straddling God’s Thigh

I can laugh today, straddling God’s thigh.
In spite of what my eye may see,
I’m safe there, perched upon His knee.
I lay back with a sigh.

I don’t understand, everything I’ve done.
The circumstances that I’m in.
The consequences of my sin.
The frenzied race I’ve run.

And if I should die, failing in my goal.
To realize the dream’s I’d had.
To separate the good from bad.
His love will make me whole.

I can laugh today, creation gone awry.
Safe with Him, straddling God’s thigh.

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Don’t Worry – Be Happy : The Epicurean View of Death

Originally published in the Florida Student Philosophy Blog

 [1]

Eccl 8:15 – Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun. (KJV)[2]

If we consider the Epicurean philosophy emphasizing its position on death, the existence of God, and the resulting conclusions that follow regarding an afterlife, it seems that a more attractive philosophy than Epicureanism would be difficult to devise, for it holds that a man should arrange his life so that it yields the greatest amount of pleasure with the least amount of pain[3] and worry.  This is accomplished by seeking to be satisfied with the simpler things that come to one in life.  Simple food, clothing, shelter, and the like are good things that are “easy to get.”[4]  Richer fare and fancy goods, while not to be eschewed should they come one’s way, result in exposure to too much stress and strife in their pursuit, and therefore such pursuits should be abandoned.  The gaining of power and high office should likewise be abandoned as being equally stressful. Instead the joys of personal friendship can be relied upon for one’s security.[5]  The writer has lived this kind of life I have lived the last thirty years, and recommends it highly.
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Song: A Song for Jamy

Jamy, when I first met you,
I knew that you were special.
The passions of the flesh will pass away,
But not my love for you, it’s here to stay.

jamy

Jamy, I can’t forget you,
You’ve got me in your power.
I’m waiting for the hour when you will say,
That you’re in love with me, is it today?

We’d known each other well for quite awhile,
without a hint of sweet romance.
One day I looked at you and saw you smile,
and I didn’t have a chance.

Jamy, I’d never let you,
Feel unappreciated.
Because you were created perfectly,
my deepest dearest love, Jamy, for me.

October 1994

Sheet Music for “A Song for Jamy”

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Understanding Being and Time

Originally published in the Florida Student Philosophy Blog

The newborn just entered into the world, may say to herself, “I am soiled; I am hungry, and decidedly uncomfortable.  Surely, my mother knows this. Why then does she not come to feed and change me?”  Although surrounded by others, we are profoundly isolated, able to communicate only a small portion of our thoughts, feelings, and observations and unable to fully apprehend what others are attempting to communicate to us.  I think that it is this striking isolation that causes us to first consider the nature of our being.  Long before I knew the word philosophy, I stared intently at my own hand, concluding that whatever this wonderfully constructed organism was, it was not “me”.  I was apart from it, enclosed by it, wearing it if you will, but not it.  This was my first impression of my own “being.” Martin Heidegger made the contemplation and explanation of “being” his life’s work.  
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Can a constitution put limits on a government?

On the Mark

american-billofrights

John C. Calhoun, was one of North America’s first political theorists and he wrote about the inability of a constitution to limit government. He points out that no document, not even if written on a hallowed piece of parchment, has the inherent power to bind officials to read it correctly or follow its strictures. As time goes on it gets even weaker in this ability as language changes and governments build up their power.

In his A Disquisition on Government, Calhoun explains the problem:

A written constitution certainly has many and considerable advantages, but it is a great mistake to suppose that the mere insertion of provisions to restrict and limit the powers of the government, without investing those for whose protection they are inserted with the means of enforcing their observance, will be sufficient to prevent the major and dominant party from abusing its powers. Being the party…

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Comparisons and Contrasts of the Contemporary Marriage Relationship among American Orthodox Christians, Jews, and Muslims

Originally published on the Florida Student Philosophy Blog

Whosoever spends his days without a wife, has no joy nor blessing, or good in his life. Talmud – Yevamot 62B

The Orthodox Jewish view of Marriage

Any discussion of Orthodox Christians, Jews, and Muslims must logically begin with the House of Israel. According to the Jewish history, God created the world, and its first parents, Adam and Eve, five thousand, seven hundred, and sixty seven years ago.  Approximately two thousand years later, Abraham, Patriarch of the Jews was born and nearly five hundred years after that, his ancestor Moses led captive Israel out of Egypt. (Aklah)  After the exodus from Egypt, the Orthodox Jews tell us that Moses received on Mount Sinai, personally from the God of Universe, the Ten Commandments, and subsequently the rest of the laws written down in the first five books of Moses. This compilation of books called the Pentateuch and others written by the rest of the prophets that called the Torah. It is from the Torah, from the accompanying explanations and commentary about it called the Talmud, and also from the three thousand years of tradition that bring us to the present, that the understanding and customs of Jewish marriage are derived. A study in 1970 determined that there were approximately six hundred thousand orthodox Jews living in the United States. (Elazar)
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Gun Control & the Right to Bear Arms

“Among other evils which being unarmed brings you, it causes you to be despised.” – Niccolo Machiavelli

The question of whether citizens in a democracy should have ready access to firearms suggests a more basic question, which has often been asked within the memory of man, usually by elitists and autocrats. It is, “Just who the Hell do you think you are?” Here then, a brief answer. I am an adult male; a sovereign political entity; a creation of the living God. I believe that God has endowed me with rights. The Declaration of Independence agrees with this and that is why that I condescend to pledge allegiance to the United States of America. The Constitution or the government of the United States does not grant rights to me. The ninth amendment clearly recognizes this truth when it states, “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” Indeed, I continue to maintain my rights if the Constitution or the United States ceases to exist. I am entitled to these rights even if I live under the subjugation of a cruel tyrant or a totalitarian government. It is up to the individual to defend their rights by exercising them, by seeing them codified into law, by petitioning, protesting, or performing acts of civil disobedience when government attempts to curtail them. In the extreme, these rights are to be protected by using any means necessary, up to and including the taking of life or the sacrificing of one’s own.
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On Simon Blackburn’s “Lust”

Originally published on the Florida Student Philosophy Blog

Perhaps those who love Shakespeare love him because of his ability to so skillfully portray the many facets of the human condition.  He does indeed most always “get it right.”  Certainly, his description of lust causes a person like myself, who has completely succumbed to its temptations and lived long enough to reap its harvest, to grimly nod my head in agreement. I do so with sadness recalling the results of acts I now regret, just as others may do so in desperation from the habitual prison that they have built for themselves and are unable to escape. For the purposes of this paper, I will use Blackburn’s definition of lust in the first chapter of his book, which is: “The enthusiastic desire, the desire that infuses the body, for sexual activity and its pleasures for their own sake.”
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Nietzsche’s Conclusion

Originally Published on the Florida Student Philosophy Blog

Zu bald alt, zu spät klug

I was a child in the sixties, aged six to sixteen, during a time when existentialism was highly celebrated as pop philosophy. Nothing could be more counter-cultural than the words, “God is dead,” or more likely to cause semi-comatose, bushy eye-browed conservatives to sit upright, bristling with indignation. Great fun, but easily diffused if we begin any consideration of Nietzsche’s work by posing the more palatable question, “Well, what if there were no God?” Nietzsche’s explanation of a “Godless” universe is both passionate and robust.
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The Elenchus and Socrates’ Idea of the Philosophical Life

Originally published on the Florida Student Philosophy Blog

Pa’ntes A’nthropoi Tou^ Eide’nai Ore’gontai Phy’sei.
All men by nature desire to know. —Aristotle, Metaphysics, 1:1

When one begins to take a closer look at Socrates of Athens, (469-399 B.C. ) it immediately becomes clear that he is a man in a unique and enviable position. A citizen of an established polis, he was neither obscure nor highly celebrated. His service to his country as a soldier was established, yet he did not distinguish himself to the extent that it required him to bear the burden of celebrity nor assume the mantle of hero (Vlastos, Pg. 50). He was born of a good family but not of a noble or patrician one. His father was an artist; a sculptor, he himself was an artisan; a stonemason. Apparently a man of limited independent means, he was far from what would be considered wealthy. This fortuitous combination of circumstances worked to place Socrates, not in the center of urban life and culture, but rather in the middle of it. He found himself in an ideal position to observe his fellow Athenians, and to interact and converse with them.
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Forty Days on the Master Cleanse

For the past forty days, I have rigorously followed the “Master Cleanse” regime, developed fifty years ago by Stanley Burroughs, an alternative health practitioner and natural remedy enthusiast. During his lifetime and even up until the present day, Mr. Burroughs has been greatly maligned in the press by nutritionists and medical authorities as being a misguided charlatan. Nevertheless his “lemonade diet” has remained a popular solution for those seeking to rid their bodies of “toxins” and, in some cases, for weight loss.
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The Rules

I must begin by telling you that I cannot take credit for “The Rules”. No, a wiser man than I wrote them down, or perhaps it was a group of men, each one wiser and older than the next, meeting in secret, late into the night. I came upon the rules quite accidentally. The Uxor Secundus and I were in a dingy restaurant supply store looking for dishware, cups, and the like. When we had made our selections, we approached the counter, really nothing more than a couple of sheets of plywood slapped together, and that had been done many many years ago.
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The Five Magic Phrases for a Happy Marriage

Hear me my fellow men, especially young men at the gate of marriage.  Over twenty years ago,  I met a tyler by the name of  Jack Glick during a tour of the oldest Masonic lodge in the state of California.  Jack was a tall thin man, grey haired with a big smile.  He was over seventy years of age, and proud of the fact that he still stood erect and that he maintained his physical agility which he demonstrated to me.   I was soon to be married and Jack became serious as he advised me that he intended at that moment to impart to me five magic phrases that would practically guarantee that I should have a long and happy marriage.  
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On Argument and Why Men Should Never Show Their Legs in Public

“He that complies against his will, is of his own opinion still”1

Argument is an intrinsic part of our interaction with other creatures. The first recorded argument is found in the book of Genesis, Chapter 3:

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.

Eve, convinced by Satan’s argument (even though it was fallacious) ate the apple, and then gave it to her husband who ate it without question, apparently having learned early in the marriage not to enter into arguments with his wife.
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Song: Holy Spirit, Pray for Me

Holy Spirit
Pray for me
Sing a song though I can neither hear nor see
Say the words that lift me to eternity
Holy Spirit
Pray for me

Holy Spirit
Lead the way
Show me everything God has for me today
Take me by the hand lest I should go astray
Holy Spirit
Lead the way

Holy Spirit
Shine the light
Wield the sword of truth, discerning wrong from right
Bring deliverance by the power of your might
Holy Spirit
Shine the light

I am a sinner. Though I have been delivered from much sin, yet I still sin much. By my sin, I have offended God, and many others. Thank God, that in these latter days, my sin is beginning to offend even me. LWR

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Is Television Good or Bad For American Society?

Gin thu neuere leuen alle monnis spechen, Ne alle the thinge that thu herest singen;
You must never believe all that men say, nor all the things you hear sung. (Alfred, 1907)

As individuals living in the twenty-first century, we are awash in a constant stream of alleged information and entertainment. Mail, newspapers, magazines, both physical and on the internet, videos, radio, movies, and, of course, our ubiquitous companion, the television, all vie for our attention. Is television good or bad for American society? To begin with, I must agree with former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher who said that “there is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families” (Keay, 1987). Like any abundant resource, the question of whether television is a good thing or a bad thing depends on how we utilize it, which I think must depend upon what kind of individuals we have been reared to be. This, and the cumulative effect that our television watching is likely to have upon us, will answer the question.
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My Testimony

I would like to begin by quoting from the book of Romans , Chapter 7 and verse twenty one.

“So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God–through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom 7:21-25)

When I turned fourteen, there arose in my heart a longing for power. Power to to control others, and to fulfill my every desire. My quest for power led me into a study of the occult. I delved deeply into magick, making charms, conjuring demons, casting spells, taking drugs, exploring every facet of my personality and experiencing every type of physical stimuli.
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The Bill of Rights at Home and Abroad

In our post-republic era, much is made of the U.S. Constitution and its accompanying Bill of Rights, even though it is clear that the government and the courts rely less and less upon their unconditional application, and more upon political intrigue and the winds of public opinion to determine if and how these basic laws will be applied to public policy. The Bill of Rights, or rather the first ten amendments to the Constitution were ratified by the states approximately fifteen years after the Constitution came into effect. They are designed to guarantee to the citizens of the several states basic natural law rights and this is noted in their preamble. Again, while they are a legal document and part of the constitution, they also represent a partial explication of the natural law that applies to all men and women, in all parts of the earth, for all time.
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Doing Drugs in High School

hslou
Greetings fellow students! Louis Rose here, Class of ’71. Sorry I’m forty years late. Maybe they’ll write me a pass. I want to tell you about the drugs I used at Sleepy Hollow. I never planned to use drugs, it just happened. I started smoking hashish in 1969, my junior year, up on the aqueduct behind the band room, and didn’t stop using drugs until 1981. Twelve years is a long time to be high, don’t you think? When I first got high, the feeling was better than anything I had ever experienced. People who don’t do drugs often won’t consider the fact that the driving force behind drug use is that it feels great! Some people in high school hardly ever feel great. So why shouldn’t they use drugs? After forty years I have a few reasons I’d like to share.
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Do Social Media Networking Sites Compromise Personal and Professional Security?

“You’re nobody, till somebody loves you. You’re nobody, till somebody cares” (Cavanaugh, 1944).

The first email was sent in 1971 (Tiedje, C., 2011). Next, along came the bulletin board systems complete with the familiar screeching sound of the modem, which the technically proficient among us learned how to turn off. After this, web browsers, search engines, and then in 1985, America on Line is born. A little over fifteen years later, MySpace and Facebook dominate the world of social media (Curtis, 2013). Now, ten years further into the twenty-first century, concerns continue to be raised as to whether social media networking sites compromise personal and professional security. But, how can individuals say that their privacy is being invaded if they are the ones who are posting their personal information online? (Holliday, 2012). It seems to me that a deep seated desire for acceptance, to be a part of the group, is driving this phenomenon.
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Sonnet: It Must Have Been a Dream I Thought I Had

It must have been a dream I thought I had,
My eyes awakened filled with tears of joy.
Still breathing fast my troubled soul made glad,
Anticipating scenes I might enjoy.

The universe was like a shiny toy,
That I, in festive garments, gaily clad
Would play with, being such a happy boy
With nothing left desired for me to add.

Yet day by day a realization sad,
My castles in the sky would all destroy.
It seem that I was not the lucky lad,
Despite delusions senses might employ.

If such a dearth of details is my ploy,
I trust the lack thereof shall not annoy.

 

My first poem of 2013, a sonnet, has been described by one of my friends as “sad and beautiful.” If it betrays a temporary desperation on my part, it also reveals my resolve to hurl my despair into the teeth of the mistakes and circumstances that have brought me to this point, and to strive to obtain what victories may yet remain for me to celebrate.

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Parliamentary Procedure the Cornerstone of Liberty

Originally Published in the St Augustine Town Crier

The word comes from the Old French, eleventh century “parlement” translated as “talking” and the suffix “ary”, again from the French “of or belonging to.” The word parliamentary means a way of talking. Even so, we rarely consider the question, “as opposed to what?” Well, the answer is, “fighting” of course. We will talk or we will fight.
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A Response to UNF President John Delaney’s Endorsement of the Jacksonville City Council Bill 2012-296

Originally Published in the Jacksonville Times Union

A Response to UNF President John Delaney’s Endorsement of the Jacksonville City Council Bill 2012-296 banning discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Invocation

Did they have an invocation at the Sodom City Council?
Did they all elect to bow their heads and pray?
When the boys all finished voting and each one put down his pencil,
Did they wish the vote had gone the other way?

When the meeting was adjourned, and they left to have their last meal,
Do you think they took the time to offer thanks?
Very smart, sophisticated, drinking wine; each one a big wheel,
They were healthy and had money in their banks.

When the horror came upon them, you can bet it made their heads reel,
Yeah, they really meant it that time when they prayed.
But their hope was all in vain, they could not before the Lord kneel,
For too late their sins were on the altar laid.

Now I don’t expect the Council will repeal the First Amendment.
Or that morals will usurp their civic zeal.
But for those whose hope in heaven is upon the Lord dependent,
Put Him first and your determination steel.

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Poem: Invocation

Regarding Jacksonville Ordinance Amendment 2012-296*.

Did they have an invocation at the Sodom City Council?
Did they all elect to bow their heads and pray?
When the boys all finished voting and each one put down his pencil,
Did they wish the vote had gone the other way?

When the meeting was adjourned, and they left to have their last meal,
Do you think they took the time to offer thanks?
Very smart, sophisticated, drinking wine; each one a big wheel,
They were healthy and had money in their banks.

When the horror came upon them, you can bet it made their heads reel,
Yeah, they really meant it that time when they prayed.
But their hope was all in vain, they could not before the Lord kneel,
For too late their sins were on the altar laid.

Now I don’t expect the Council will repeal the First Amendment.
Or that morals will usurp their civic zeal.
But for those whose hope in heaven is upon the Lord dependent,
Put Him first and your determination steel.

Louis William Rose
June 2012

* an ordinance adding “sexual orientation” and “gender identity or expression” to the antidiscrimination provisions of the Jacksonville Ordinance Code, labeling as “discrimination” decisions based on “sexual orientation” or “gender identity or expression.”

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Poem: Python Meat

You can eat (You can eat!)
Python meat (Python meat!)
It’s a treat (What a treat!)
Can’t be beat (Can’t be beat!)
Make a roast (A juicy roast!)
That you can slice on…

You just have to go down south
And catch a python!

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Racism, Politics, and Ax Handle Saturday

I am not exactly sure why we should be celebrating a day when a bunch of black folk got beat up by a bunch of white folk with ax handles. I think it is unlikely to happen again given Republican efforts made to repeal Jim Crow gun laws preventing African Americans from arming themselves. Any such attempt made now by racists to assault their fellow citizens would be surely be met by a hail of gunfire, and that’s the way it should be.
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Poem: The Lion & The Buck

What really matters is the same for you
as that which matters to the lion and the buck,
the lioness and the doe.
They lift their heads to God the same as you, you know.
They hear his call, they have their flesh.
It calls to them the way yours calls to you.

Of course, I would agree that it was true
If you should tell me that the lion is not the buck,
the lioness not the doe.
Alike unlike, and not at all like you, I know.
They do not speak, they do not share
a common tongue; and do not dream like you.

Yet dream they do and wake to hope anew
to fuel their passions fresh, the lion and the buck,
the lioness and the doe.
In search of liberty and happiness they go. We know
they do not doubt, are not afraid,
but venture forth in faith as so should you.

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Sonnet: To Carmen on Her Birthday

I pass by every day and realize
the flash of recognition in your eyes
springs from a place where smoldering longing lies
deeper than other’s watching might surmise.

The time we spend together fairly flies
each day begun and done to our surprise
without the chance to foster closer ties.
Something I know you’d say is probably wise

Yet casting off my staid and proper guise
a different policy I might advise,
where proper smiles give way to sweetened sighs
each look and act designed to tantalize.

It’s rare that dreams like these materialize.
The one that does burns bright and quickly dies.

Written for Carmen Emory, my good friend and former co-worker.

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The Present Education Controversy

Originally published in the Jacksonville Observer

Education is not the business of government. This is why we have a school board separate from the county government. It is the duty of the school board to decide how the school system shall operate and what the curriculum will be. They are supposed to make the decisions, not the state, and not the federal government. They are to be influenced solely by the voters in their county who elect them.

Consequently, the school board has no business taking money of any kind from the state or from the federal government because these funds come with stipulations, and curriculum demands that take virtually all of the power to make decisions away from the school board. All funds for a school system should rightly come from local taxpayers. All you have to leave to your children are your views about life. What you believe about how life should be lived, about how government should conduct itself, and about our relationship to God. Don’t let the state steal your legacy and your children by indoctrinating them with a philosophy you do not subscribe to. We need less government assistance and interference in our school system, not more.
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Ramp Up the Rhetoric!

Originally published in the Jacksonville Observer

Patriots protest! Silence is shameful. Citizens! The country is in crisis and the Congress is culpable. Ramp up the Rhetoric!

The recent shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords and the killing of District Court Judge John Roll in Arizona likely had nothing to do with political rhetoric. It was, as is so often is the case, the culmination of the long downward descent of a disturbed young man. Why then are so many politicians saying that we need to be careful of what we say?

The reason is because what we are saying is true.
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Refusing to Fly

Originally published in the Jacksonville Observer

Fly? I have decided that unless I commandeer an aircraft, I shall never fly anywhere again. I cannot imagine flying anywhere for any purpose, for any amount of money that justifies the indignities that one must presently endure.
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Politics and Party Loyalty

Originally published in the Jacksonville Observer

There are some folks who think you can say you are a member of a political party and attack your own party’s candidates during an election. I disagree.

We have a multiparty system in this country. Not a two-party system as some would say, for anyone can form a party. If you don’t like the one you are in, you can find another.

The preferred method of gaining political power is to organize the voters and deliver them to the polls on Election Day. You do this by first committing to organize your neighbors and your friends. This means you talk to each one and find out who agrees with you politically, and work on convincing those who don’t. You ask them if they will vote with you when it is time to vote.

The next step is to organize your block, and get someone to agree to be a block captain who will find those who agree with you politically, and work on convincing those who don’t. Then you organize the next block, and so forth. After that you organize a phone chain or email list or text message blast, or twitter group of the voters who agree with you politically. None of this requires that you belong to a political party.

If you are a true believer and totally committed, eventually you will have organized so many blocks and friends and email addresses that you will be able to marshal all the voters in a precinct or maybe in several precincts to go and vote with you. At some point somebody decides to hold a meeting. When you get up to the size where you become a viable recognized party the objective is simple: Elect your people at every level to every office so that your program will be implemented, and your members will be hired for all non-elected positions so your program will be supported.

What is required now is for you to maintain party discipline. How is this done? You have to control who the candidate is. It is essential that the candidate is someone who agrees with your members politically, because if they don’t it is nearly impossible to get everyone in the group to support and vote for the candidate. This is where in my opinion the major parties have fallen down on the job.

Candidates should be vetted and approved by the local precincts in the executive committees before they even dare run in a primary. They should be known quantities, not only by the rich and powerful, but by the rank and file. It is the rank and file through their representatives at the Executive committee who should choose the candidate, because they are the ones who will make phone calls, give money, walk precincts, and vote for the candidate. The primary should be a contest between two well-vetted candidates.

Nevertheless even if the party has fallen down on its responsibilities to keep ideology pure, maintain consensus, and properly vet candidates it is the responsibility of the member to work within the party to set it right, and to work to elect party candidates. If you cannot do that the only honorable thing to do is to resign and go somewhere else. You cannot claim to be for the party, and then work against it.

No one is more critical of the process and candidates than I, and as all know I am merciless with elected officials of our party. During the primary season I go about as a raging bear. But, after the primary process is over, I know that our candidate is the best candidate that the Republican Party has been able to produce. The alternative, usually a Socialist Democrat is absolutely unacceptable.

Election time is a time for unity. I will wait to criticize Republicans after they are elected and in a position to do something about it, and they will hear me because I have done whatever I can to support them with my time, my money and my vote. If I absolutely abhor a candidate, I will shut my mouth because voting for him is still better than voting for a Democrat. I will go and work for another Republican candidate I do like. When Republicans win, the Party wins and we move closer to our goal of establishing republican philosophy and practice in government here and in Washington.

All men are imperfect. But as Ben Franklin said “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.” The people on the other side are presently seeking our fortunes, but it seems to me that if they become firmly entrenched, they will soon be seeking our lives. All that is left to us is our honor, and this must be expressed either as party loyalty or our resignation from it. I am a Republican, I know what it means to be a Republican, and if my party occasionally forgets, I will remind them, and be happy to do it while working to elect Republicans, and only Republicans, to political office.

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Church Politics

Originally published in the Jacksonville Observer

I don’t believe that there is a separation of church and state. If you are a member of church and you vote, you know what I mean.

I have been visiting various churches for several weeks with a candidate who I am hoping will be elected to office in a few days. There is nothing is wrong with this as far as I can tell. We are both Christians, we come for church school and stay for the service. We worship and we don’t talk about politics. We are introduced as any new visitor might be and mention is made that the candidate is offering himself for public service. Other than that we a just like any other visitors. We have attended a diverse variety of churches, diverse both culturally and theologically. Everywhere we went we were welcomed, had a good time at the Bible study and the service which focused almost exclusively on spiritual matters. But last Sunday we attended the Bethel Institutional Baptist Church under the preaching of Bishop Rudy W. McKissick, Junior and, of all people, the Reverend Al Sharpton.

Things I heard there were startling.

In Bethel, I heard McKissick say a few times that I was in a “Black” church. He said that everyone had to vote because “otherwise ‘they’ were going to shut it down.” I heard Sharpton say that Obama shouldn’t be blamed and that “Obama didn’t say ‘yes I can’ but ‘yes we can.’” When I heard these things I felt that I and “my kind” were not welcome.

So no one will be mistaken, I want to say that the Bethel Institutional Baptist Church is a fine Baptist church full of wonderful Christian people. The Gospel of Jesus the Christ was solidly preached both by Bishop McKissick, Jr., and delightfully by the Reverend Al Sharpton. It was wonderful to find out that even if we disagree most strenuously on political issues yet he is my brother in Christ. As an eclectic lover of music, I found the song service exhilarating and the choir inspirational. In the Bible study I found a bunch of old men just like me who love the Lord and the Word of God. Everyone was gracious and loving and friendly.

There is an old joke about the priest, who during the homily exhorts the congregation to “not to forget to vote on re-election day.” Well fine. If a pastor wants to express his own political viewpoint around election time he should be able to, but he might consider doing it gently so as not to offend those of a differing opinion. A pastor should preach the Gospel fearlessly not caring if he offends anyone. However, when it comes to politics he would do well to remember that “there is none righteous, no not one.” James Madison writes in Federalist 51: “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.” So in church at least I think it is a good idea to remember that neither side has all the answers.

When Bishop McKissick, Jr. says “they are going to shut it down” he cannot be talking about anybody but the Republicans unless, of course, he is only talking about the patriots. For it is becoming obvious that one way or another we are going to shut it down, before we are robbed of all our money by a government that has been out of control for decades. Now surely there had to be a few Republicans in that crowd, I think perhaps more than a few. But it is impolite to interrupt a preacher you see, when just anybody can throw a tomato at a politician.

It is offensive for an anointed believer in Jesus Christ, to be referred to as “they.” I have as much right to be in that church whether I am a Democrat or a Republican, and I am just as much a part of the priesthood of believers as McKissick or Sharpton. He knew I was there, he could have just as well said I was going to shut it down, because I am. But then of course he would have had to give me an opportunity to tell the congregation what “it” was.

Calling Bethel a “Black” church is outrageous. Should other churches start referring to themselves as “White” churches? Are we going to segregate the Fount of Living Water as we once segregated regular water fountains?

The good bishop should take note that there is no room in the Kingdom of God for black churches; any more than there is room in the Kingdom for white churches. There is only room for God’s church where all men of all colors are brothers and where each thinks the other more worthy than himself.

Ya’ll go vote now.

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Council Members only Pretend to be Republican

Originally published in the Jacksonville Observer

I am tired of men like Dick Brown, Mike Corrigan, Ronnie Fussell, Kevin Hyde, Stephen Joost, Art Shad and especially the President of the City Council, Jack Webb pretending that they are Republicans and voting like Nancy Pelosi.

Let me say this publicly so no one will be surprised when I repeat it at the Republican Executive Committee or at any other Republican meeting I attend. All of those boys who voted for the tax increase need to get out of Republican politics. If you are a fellow Republican, you should be saying it too, everywhere you go. They have either been paid off by big money contributors, or think that they are able to buy votes by giving other people your money. Maybe it is just that they have become closet Socialists, or simply don’t give a darn about the people whom they represent and what they want. Maybe they are just too dim-witted to understand their duty.

Dick Brown, Mike Corrigan, Ronnie Fussell, Kevin Hyde, Stephen Joost, Art Shad, and Jack Webb are an embarrassment to every decent Republican who believes in smaller government and lower taxes. Just listen to them talk now! Listen to them blow smoke, and I don’t mean smoke rings in the air. They drone on about the process, how difficult and complicated it is, and how vast and diverse a constituency they have. Normally we are resigned to have to listen to this political double-speak and move on. But we simply cannot afford it any longer. These men are lying, plain and simple and they can no longer be allowed to speak in such a manner.

They are the ones who voted for the budget and they could have voted against it. Clay Yarborough voted against it, because as usual he was too honest to do anything else. Glorious Johnson, who doesn’t have enough sense to register as a Republican, still had enough sense to vote against it, because all the padding and patronage in it goes against her basic sense of patriotism. The Republican rock of the City Council, Don Redman voted against it. Republicans Bill Bishop, Richard Clark, and even Ray Holt voted against it. What is wrong with the other Republican men who voted for this onerous tax increase?

These men knew what needed to be cut and it wasn’t police or fire or any of the other utilities. In fact they were given a list of sixty-seven million dollars of possible budget cuts from the attorneys and accountants of Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County, a group whose sole motivation is to prevent government from stealing our money.

When city officials take our money by taxing us and spending it on special interest projects or to redistribute income they are committing the crime of robbery. Taxation without representation is robbery and the men who do it are criminals, highwaymen pretending to be Republicans. Besides the CTDC, citizens and other organizations showed up in droves to the hearing to tell the council not to vote for taxes and to tell them specifically what they should cut. Dick Brown, Mike Corrigan, Ronnie Fussell, Kevin Hyde, Stephen Joost, Art Shad, and Jack Webb had a clear choice and plenty of options and the one they chose was to screw the citizens, again. They screwed their fellow citizens and their fellow Republicans who voted them into office. They make Republicans look bad and now the time has come to vote them out.

It is just beyond the pale to think that they will be allowed to come into the Executive Committee or Republican club meetings to be honored and recognized and politely applauded for. No, instead they need to be cat called, booed and shown the door so that in the future no Republican candidate in his right mind would ever consider taking the actions that these men have taken while in office. My fellow Republicans should not shirk from making their displeasure known, nor should they be afraid of offending the party “elite.” I mean what’s the worst thing that can happen; you won’t be invited to the next fund raiser?

Dick Brown, Mike Corrigan, Ronnie Fussell, Kevin Hyde, Stephen Joost, Art Shad, and Jack Webb must understand they will not be elected to office again unless and until they have proven by their actions, not just by their speech, that they have got their minds right. Next time I see them in person, you can be sure I will tell them how I really feel. I hope you do too. In the meantime I urge them to stop pretending to be Republicans and to go and register as Democrats, so that they can strut and preen upon the stage hugging Barney Frank and kissing Hilary Clinton while they assure everyone they are willing to take your money to provide for the needs of everyone and anyone who will vote for them.

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Liberty & Taxes

Transcript of the the remarks* given to the Jacksonville City Council on Tuesday, September 28, 2010, by Louis William Rose regarding the proposal to increase taxes.

Thank you Mr. President and members of the council. My name is Louis William Rose and I stand for Liberty and the Republican Liberty Caucus.

Today I’d like to talk to you briefly on the idea of liberty and taxes. Continue reading

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