Glenn Beck's "The Swear Jar"

By John Kubicek

I think it was just last night, Glenn Beck made a big deal about what people were saying about his foul language on his new show on Fox News. That's good, because now I'm glad I'm not the only one that noticed!



To be perfectly honest, I was beginning to wonder how long Glenn Beck would remain on Fox News. There were times when the way Glenn was talking in the first week on the new venue that it was hard for me to accept his vocabulary. Strangely, I was was beginning to wonder if Rupert Murdoch was demanding that Glenn went to the edge, just to get them more ratings. I pray that is not the case, but....

There is something that also seems to be strange about this. It was just last weekend that Fox & Friends did their story on McKay Hatcher and his No Cussing Club. The young man is the one responsible for nocussing.com.



So, to Glenn, you were wondering what "charity" to donate the proceeds from your "No Swearing Jar" to. It's a no brainer, isn't it? How about donating it to McKay Hatch's No Cussing Club? Or, you may have already thought of that. Maybe that is what this is all about. If that is the case, all I can say is: BRILLIANT! What a way to show how getting people to quit cussing has a lot of merit. It sounds like a great plan to me. Set the example, Glenn, be somebody that actually means it when you say you've been a little liberal with the lingo. I just hope that jar doesn't get too full of Lincolns. That would defeat the purpose.

And if you agree with me today, please email Glenn and let him know about this blog: glennbeck@foxnews.com

Related Story:
The Audacity of a Young American Hero

Experiment #44 - Underlying Agendas

By John Kubicek

I found two videos this morning that are "MUST SEE!" The very good thing is, these videos are not only very well done, but also excellent educational tools. Make your kids watch them 5 times a day, at the minimum!

The two videos show pictures of all of the Presidents, from #1 - George Washington, to #44 - Barack Hussein Obama. The pictures morph from one President to the next, and are great quality, for the most part (more about that later.)

Now, what I want you to do is to vote on which one you like the best. As of this writing, one of them has 2,687,275 views, and was uploaded on November 8, 2008. The other is at 62,309 views, and was uploaded on November 18, just 10 days later. So, does the one with over 2 million views deserve that number of views? Or should the other one, with just over 62 thousand views be the one you would really like to watch? You can comment on your votes here (delayed until I approve the comments), or on the digg submittal for this page. Now, let's get started. We're only talking about eight minutes of viewing time, so there should be no excuses, (other than you being on a dial-up line).

Video #1 - From George Washington To Barack Obama - A Long Way - Original Video


Video #2 - George Washington to Barack Obama in Under 4 Minutes


Of course, this is totally non-scientific research on my part. My informal poll is just that. But should there be a lot of comments on either of the venues, my blog or on digg.com, it should be interesting. Though the videos are similar in the special video effects (and kind of spooky at that!), they are somewhat different, both in video and audio. I really love both of the background music tracks, so on that "note", I was impressed with both of these. However, there were some differences in the presentation of both of these videos that I thought was interesting. My theory is that the number of views of these two great(est) videos on youtube.com may have been somewhat slanted based on the differences in presentation.

With that being said, I am hoping you will participate in this informal poll-based research. The responses, which you should make sure to read, will be the most interesting. It is a social experiment. And to think, I only took Sociology 101 and Politics 101 when I went to college. (Why did I have to go to college even before the personal computer was developed?) So, here it is in this social experiment. What say you?

Now, keep this in mind: History can be shown from different perspectives.

The Audacity of a Young American Hero

By John Kubicek

You may or may not be disappointed to find out that the video below is not about Barack Obama if you were going just by the title of this essay. No, this story is about young McKay Hatch, who came up with the "No Cussinig Club." The young man understands more about life than I can say about many so-called "adults." And here is the deal: It isn't just about cussing. This is about what bullies do to people. Wait, before I spoil the story, let me show you this video I saw this morning.

See what I mean? Imagine that, somebody - a young man, none the less - that says (paraphrased), "hey, I'm not into cussing, don't do it around me." Is that not audacity, or what?

And, why do I consider him an American hero? He's like a very young John Wayne. Know what I am saying? Do you know that most adults would back off from saying what they believe, because of the fact that they would fear being "different"?

So, give me a break, Americans. This guy made his statement, he's not backing down, and holy cow, he's letting the bullies know he's not going to take it without a fight. And this is a very, very important lesson we all need to take heed of, right now. Are we going to be afraid to voice our displeasure with what the government hands to us? Will we speak up about the global warming hoax? Stick up for our values? Are we going to allow ourselves to be bullied into not speaking up?

Here's to McKay Hatch, a young man who with courage, who has the audacity to go against the "norm" and make his statement. He said more in those few minutes than I've heard from Obama in the last two years.

Yes, there was that bonus tidbit from this video to enlighten us about courage, but that wasn't what McKay's mission was about. At one time, our parents probably would be giving us a good dose of a mouth full of soap if they heard their kids talk the way people do these days. That surely went out of style following some obscure U.N. Conference on various forms of child torture. Instead, the parents just cuss out the kids when they mess up. Go figure.

I don't know, but when we hear it often enough, as many of us do, it is difficult to keep from succumbing to the peer pressure of the very contagious potty-mouth syndrome. But that is no excuse. Take McKay's challenge, and sanction the language for awhile, especially when you are around kids, and especially if they are YOUR kids. Set the example. And believe me, for some of us, it could be a very great challenge. But, you will see great results from the effort!

Doing it all for the glory of God

~ Guest Writer ~

By rjw

Recently, I offered to submit a contribution for an upcoming issue of Generations. I had in mind an accounting of a recent and difficult trial in my life that the Lord is still bringing me through. For several weeks I toiled to produce something, but I could not put down in few enough words the accounting of what occurred in my life. The text of my story did not allow enough space to include God and what He had done for me. For days I pondered over what I wanted to say and how to say it. The truth was, I had writers block and I could not write what I wanted to contribute.

I had made a commitment to get my contribution to Generations submitted within a certain time frame. I wrote, deleted some, then rewrote a little more without any result. Frustrated, I asked God a simple Question; “What am I doing wrong? What would you have me say, Lord?”

His answer came to me very quietly. Quiet as it was, His answer was very clear. I was focusing too much on the details of my recent trials. Too much print was being devoted to my problems, while too little space was devoted to the Lord. Additionally, I realized that I was glorifying myself through how I had suffered through my problems, while I failed to humble myself in giving God all the glory for what He was doing to handle everything.

1 Corinthians 10:31 reminds us: So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

What I have learned, what God has taught me, what I believe Him to be inspiring me to say is the following; Whether I am writing a submission for Generations, or in all else that I set out do in my life, I am to do it to glorify Him.

I must learn to kick my pride to the curb through humbling myself. I understand that whatever I do, all of my actions and thoughts are to be done to Glorify God. This is such a simple lesson, yet it is also such a gargantuan task for me as just a mere man.

In my business dealings, personal relationships and in all of my deeds and thoughts, I must do all things in such a fashion that glorifies God, not me. The task before me is monumental which I will undoubtedly foul up from time to time. I know that over time, placing God before me in all that I set out to do will become easier as it becomes habit.

Thank God I have the saving grace of Jesus, that when I fail, He is forgiving and loving enough to let me have another chance in honoring and glorifying Him in all that I do.

Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death (Just don't give me "Abe" Obama)

By John Kubicek

Tomorrow, you will experience the "change" you have been "hoping for." Before the change happens, though, I hope that you will watch the above video. At least once. I've watched it multiple times, and I lost count.

I heard and saw a few things in this video that told me that today was the day I needed to see this one, along with sharing it with my readers and friends.

It's just hours from right now, and change will begin.

Oh, and I still haven't figured out why Barack Obama decided to be emulating - to the point of obsession and infatuation - Abraham Lincoln, and not Martin Luther King, Jr. And I'm fine with either one of them, really... but haven't his handlers bothered to tell "Abe" Obama that both Lincoln and MLK were Republicans?

Because today is a holiday celebrating the great Martin Luther King, Jr., I dedicate this blog post to him. Yes, he was a hero. I am glad there is a holiday to honor him and celebrate his life.

A Legacy of Mixed Emotions

By John Kubicek

(This story was updated on January 16, 2009)

I'd love to have a chance someday to step into a time machine, and go about 50 years into the future. I would want to be transported into a school library, to check on the one thing that would be the most interesting to find out about: How will history look back at the eight years of the George W. Bush (U. S. President #43) administration?

Before the step into the future takes place, I remind myself of who could control the academics in America when I step into the future. Would the text books be written by historians that have been "educated" (indoctrinated would have been a better word) during this time? While knowing that there could be a liberal bias in the way history will be written, I'll still be hoping that a blog, such as this one written in this time of history, will be found by an inquisitive research historian that actually wants to know all sides of the issues.

My prayer will be that, for those of you that may still be alive in 50 years from now, historians will have made an honest attempt to state the true facts. Whether or not that will happen, only time will tell. But, the reason why it would be good for there to be an accurate and unbiased recounting of this time of history is because of the two important lessons that will hopefully be learned.

In my analysis of the last eight years, there is a significant and definitive moment when the attitude of many Conservative Americans realized that the President they re-elected was not going to be what we expected. There were two distinct periods of this administration where it is divided between high expectations being realized, and extreme disappointment (which is the normal response to have when putting our faith in a man instead of the Higher Power that we should be praising and worshipping).

For many of the Conservative Republicans that voted for a second Bush term, there shouldn't be any reason to feel guilty. The radical change in the direction of the Bush administration came a little after the 2nd term began, and it took most of us by total surprise. (There will be some that will tell us that we shouldn't have been surprised, but that is a subject for a later column about the coming New World Order.)

If we were to find nomenclatures for the two George W. Bush terms, I think I can provide a good starting point for your consideration. The first term would be named the "9/11 Term." At that time, my President was displaying the kind of "September 12th kind of people" we needed to be. Many of us were very proud to be Americans, and we proudly displayed that love of our country.



But then, following George W. Bush's win over John Kerry in November of 2004, there was a change. It was a drastic change, and it resulted in great shame for many people that had always supported the President. While many on the left could easily point to the Hurricane Katrina time for displaying a great lack of compassion on the President's part, I can go one better: This is why I would label the 2nd Bush term as the "Ramos and Compean Term".

Yes, while President Bush was running against John Kerry in the Fall of 2004, I had no doubts about who I would stand up for. I actually worked for his campaign. I had a dream come true when I was able to meet both the President and the First Lady, at the base of the steps from Air Force One. I had no qualms about having the great honor to ride in the motorcade from the Eastern Iowa Airport to the downtown venue where the President spoke to his strong supporters. It was a very happy and proud moment of my life. My belief at that time was that the President was a lot like me. I believed him to be a strong Christian with values that would be very easy for me to share with him.

It was in the second term that things changed. In the midst of a war in Iraq that was beginning to go horribly wrong, we had Hurricane Katrina. It came within W's first year of his second term. Though I wouldn't lay all of the blame at the President's feet, I can also say I wasn't horribly impressed with the performance by the new Department of Homeland Security. And it wasn't long after that, the various conspiracy theories started to come out of the woodwork: Everything from the evil Cheney planning 9/11, to the suspicions that the dikes protecting the 9th Ward in New Orleans were sabatoged by the government. I looked past those loonie ideas as schemes to discredit my heroic President. It wasn't those kinds of things that made me change my opinion to the point of being extremely disappointed.

It was pretty early in 2006 that I started seeing the writing on the wall regarding the President's stance on immigration. It was bad enough that we began to see a departure from Conservative fiscal policies that we would expect from a Republican-controlled Congress. But, when we started hearing the talk about giving amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants, Conservatives went ballistic. The boiling point was finally reached when two heroic Border Patrol Agents, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, were sentenced to prison time for their efforts to stop a drug runner.

It was all during these last two years of the George W. Bush administration that we learned what it meant to be a "globalist." Eight years ago, I never would have expected it. For me, it was all about George W. Bush being a "9/11" President. How sad it was for me to find out just how easily I could fall for such a pretender. For all the pride I had in the man in his first term, how sad it was to see that all evaporate with his 2nd term nurturing of the globalist agenda. No matter how well he will be remembered for his initial ability to bring Conservatives - for that matter, the country - together right after 9/11, it is all going to be forgotten in history based on what he did with his second term.

The Ramos and Compean case has become the theme of that distastrous 2nd term, as it illustrates the true legacy of the Bush 43 presidency. I hate to even have to write that. It is sad, because I saw a resurgence in the respect of the office for those first four years. What a wonderful change that was from the previous occupant in the Oval Room. It was a complete wardrobe makeover - from stained blue dresses to a man that always wore a suit and tie when working in the Oval Office. So sad, as all of that upward spiral in patriotism and seemingly high values and ethics all went down the tubes in the way that Ramos and Compean have been treated.

To the historians who will be writing the text books for our future generations that live decades from now: Please make it clear that we had a President that could have made a big difference in the course of this nation going in a positive direction, and he let it all slip away. We had a President that capitulated to a segment of society that felt that our national security would be better served by the global agenda. And please include the part how people found out that we could be fooled by politicians that were wolves in sheeps' clothing.

They say that the definition of insanity is to keep doing the same things and expecting different results. The textbooks of the future may never reflect the lessons that we have recently learned, should we continue to blindly follow the political system as it now stands. We must never throw the Bush 43 Legacy down the "memory hole," no matter how mixed-up it became. Quite to the contrary, especially now that we know what such a failure can lead to: An ObamaNation.

Related stories:
Farewell to George W. Bush - by Jane Chastain
Does Iraq make Bush a 'failed president'? - By Larry Elder

And Even In Hollywood

By John Kubicek

Two of the actors in Hollywood that came out of the 1980's are now facing all of our fears. John Travolta and his wife just lost their son. And Patrick Swayze is facing up to having a deadly form of cancer.

In a blink of an eye, life as we know it can change. If there were two of the stars from the past that can make a difference, it will be John Travolta and Patrick Swayze. Whether it is John, in losing his young son, or Patrick in facing the fact of losing his own life, you'll see a common thread. They will both show the value of life in the way they handle the losses that they are dealing with.

Our prayers go out to both of them and their families.

A New Insidious Form of Highway Robbery?

By John Kubicek

Highway robbery? I'll say! We're looking at a deal where it's "Heads - They win, Tails - We lose." The government seems to have us from either side of the coin. You'll see what I'm talking about in the two videos that I'll provide below.

On the one side of the coin, we have the various state governments desperate for financing needed work on the infrastructure, especially when it comes to transportation needs. The roads need maintenance, whether it is filling pot-holes or plowing snow and salting the streets. And yet, states are asking the Federal government for financial assistance, but not for the needs of maintainence of our existing roads or building new ones.

But wait, what about all the money they are collecting from us in the present gas taxes? Not enough? We all pay a federal gas tax, and then the states collect their cut, too, in varying amounts. Apparently, it is no longer enough, even for just normal road maintenance.

So, then, what about the fact that President-(S)elect Obama wanted to spend a lot of money on improving our infrastructure? Did he somehow forget to mention that the money for that would have to come out of our pockets, in the way of higher gas taxes? In addition to the income taxes and all the other taxes we pay?

I can easily illustrate the point I'm trying to make by providing the following video clip for you to view:

And then, there's the other side of the coin.

There may be a reason that the government is no longer getting the needed funds from us in the way of gas taxes. That's right: They have been wanting us to drive more fuel efficient vehicles, both because of trying to decrease energy usage and carbon emmisions. However, because of the very high fuel prices we paid at the pump last summer, people did cut down on driving when possible, we bought less gas, and because gas taxes were tied to the number of gallons, the gas tax revenues went down, down, down.

Wouldn't you think that the government could afford an economist that would have figured that out? I digress.

So, because gas tax revenues fluctuate, and are most likely still falling just because the economy is down, the government needed to find another way to get their sticky fingers on our money. Would a smart idea occur to them, as in charging a percentage of the sale price - like sales taxes - or, would they come up with something very lame? If you guessed the latter, you would probably be right. Here is the latest ingenious idea from the people we pay to represent us:

Oregon looks at taxing mileage instead of gasoline

Associated Press, January 2, 2009

PORTLAND, Ore. – Oregon is among a growing number of states exploring ways to tax drivers based on the number of miles they drive instead of how much gas they use, even going so far as to install GPS monitoring devices in 300 vehicles. The idea first emerged nearly 10 years ago as Oregon lawmakers worried that fuel-efficient cars such as gas-electric hybrids could pose a threat to road upkeep, which is paid for largely with gasoline taxes.

"I'm glad we're taking a look at it before the potholes get so big that we can't even get out of them," said Leroy Younglove, a Portland driver who participated in a recent pilot program. [Continue reading]

Oh, definitely, I can tell you about these "pilot programs," but it'll have to wait. The following video explains a lot more about what they have come up with now:

If you ask me, I'm thinking that being tracked where ever we go will not be something to make Americans a bunch of happy campers. It's pretty insidious, as Rick pointed out. Oh, what's he know? He's just the weather guy...

Of course, we would never think that the government would ever have a need to invade our privacy by accessing the GPS data that is collected in measuring our driving distances, right? And I just can't help wondering how they will bill you for those taxes, what happens if you cross state lines, or if the government officials that came up with this "brilliant" idea even asked any of the questions most of us want to ask? I have a lot of questions!

Now that you know about this ridiculous idea, don't you have to just wonder, "What are they thinking?" Or, maybe we should be wondering, "Is this a plot - sorry, I mean a pilot program - to erode our rights even further?"

Further highway robbery by the government may be just the least of our concerns.