Mystery Cookie

The solution to the abortion epidemic in the United States and the rest of the world is not birth control as abortionists would have us believe. Nearly 50% of pregnant mothers aborting their babies were using some form of birth control. The solution is “self control”. Self control has been proven to be 100% effective against unwanted pregnancies and STDs.

Self control would also eliminate the other 50% of abortions where mothers and fathers didn’t even bother to use birth control. Abortion is their birth control. Fortunately, self control is always available and you don’t need a prescription.

It’s free for all takers.

I know sexual discipline is not the solution most Americans want to hear, but we should remind them that herpes and other STDs are unwilling to negotiate and do not care about their personal preferences or political agendas. The only way to end abortion and reduce STDs is to take responsibility for our sexual choices and accept their natural consequences.

So spread the word and tell your friends and family that birth control has a high failure rate leading to pregnancy and dangerous viruses, but that they can preserve their dignity and sense of self worth with a daily dosage of self control that is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

-Mystery Cookie

On July 4th, 1852 Frederick Douglas was asked to give a speech by the citizens of Rochester, NY. He was an African American and had a special view that still resonates today:

“The blessings in which you this day rejoice are not enjoyed in common. The inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn.” - Frederick Douglas

On this 4th of July, I mourn for the unborn, whose lives have been stolen.

-Mystery Cookie

Have you ever been exhausted by the circumstances of life?

Sleep is usually a good remedy, but sometimes the wear and tear of life goes deeper than simply waking up late in the afternoon. In fact, occasionally it’s not a physical exhaustion but a spiritual one.  And there are plenty of self help books attempting to simplify the problem.

I’ve found that many of the things that exhaust and exasperate me are those situations out of my control. It’s like trying to open a locked door without a key. No matter how hard you pull on the door it just won’t open, but occasionally someone comes along with a key and opens the door with ease.

Friends and family are often those locked doors, refusing to budge despite our best efforts.

Most of us are fortunate to have the keys to solve many problems in our lives, but some of them are not ours to solve. I’m always surprised when someone else is able to open a complicated lock I’ve been working on for years in a matter of days.

I have to wonder how many doors that were meant for me I pass up because I want my key to fit another door?  A day, a month, and even years can be lost on doors that we will never unlock which eventually leads to exhaustion.

Exhaustion can be a good thing because it allows for honest reflection. When you no longer have the strength to pull on that door the mind is free to consider why you’re fixated on the door in the first place. What is it that lies behind that door that was worthy of such effort?

It’s easy to forget why we struggle.

And is it still there? There is nothing worse than opening a door to learn the thing you sought has left or changed so much that you barely recognize it.

In the real world those closed doors are often padlocked and painful.

But not all doors remain locked forever, sometimes the people inside come out on their own. And other times it’s a matter of bringing in someone else with the right the key or a locksmith.

And then, of course, we can always try knocking. There are a lot of lonely people who don’t realize we’re out there and that we care. =-)

-Mystery Cookie

Growing up in a religious environment the topic of faith was a popular one. On Sunday the preacher would tell us that in order to be saved we needed faith. And his definition of faith came from the Bible which said, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.”

But that’s not how most of us define faith.

The dictionary defines faith as, “confidence or trust in a person or thing.”

I don’t know about you, but I can count on one hand the number of people who have complete trust and confidence in me, but long is the list of those without faith. In fact, our society has a terminal case of faithlessness.

And perhaps for good reason.

If faith requires trust and confidence then the financial meltdown we’ve been experiencing is because a lot of people cannot be trusted and we cannot place our confidence in them. Worse, many of us don’t have trust or confidence in ourselves.

Which brings us full circle.

Maybe faith is something we “hope for” and remains hidden in our hearts and minds until we’re ready to confront those things that prevent us from being faithful. And even if the world cannot see it in our lives that doesn’t mean the seed of faith has not been planted.

It just needs to be watered.

-Mystery Cookie

“Without faith a man can do nothing; with it all things are possible.” – Sir William Osler

Today I met a young man named Louis and I am forever changed. It’s one of those stories that are very difficult to write for the tears that must be written through, but with a little resolve I will hopefully get through it without short circuiting my keyboard.

And I’m not a man prone to tears.

When I first laid eyes on Louis he was walking along a city street punching the walls of a brick building when a woman walked up to me and said, “That man is crying”, as if I might be of some assistance. As he punched the wall my first thought was, “I don’t know if I can approach that man.”

He crossed the street and collapsed on the sidewalk covering his face as tears streamed onto the pavement. I recognized the sounds the minute I heard them. It was like reliving a forgotten nightmare, the last time I had heard such soulful mourning was the sound of my mother when she first learned my brother had passed away.

I’d hoped to never hear it again.

I walked across the street and placed my hand on his shoulder. It felt like touching a hot oven as the sorrow he was feeling seemed to radiate through my arm and into my heart. And it wasn’t just me… soon other men arrived and were wrapping their arms around him in tears themselves.

An elderly gentleman sat beside him and placed his arm around Louis and said the words I’d written so many times, “You’re not alone.”

None of us knew this weeping young man, and he hadn’t said a word, but somehow we understood what was wrong.

After what seemed a lifetime he finally spoke. He told us he had just lost his child, although he had done everything in his power to save it. He stood up and showed us the fresh wounds on his back where he had jumped from a car going 40 miles an hour.

But even that didn’t save his child.

He told us how he begged and pleaded with the doctor and the family to save the child. And finally when he realized the child would not be spared he asked if he could kiss it and tell it goodbye and that he would see it in heaven.

But they wouldn’t allow it.

It’s difficult to find words in these moments. What do you tell a man who has just lost the child he loved so dearly? Do you tell him the child is with God and knows their father fought for them with everything in him?

Or do you just cry with him?

I told him I believed that God loves us and that the love of a father is emblematic of God’s love for us all. And if that’s true then his child was now with the one who loved it most.

But that didn’t make sense of it.

He had lost his fatherhood and there was nothing he could do about it. But the tragedy of this story is that his suffering could have been avoided if our love was greater than our selfishness.

On September 25th, 2009 at Planned Parenthood a mother with the assistance of a licensed physician took the life of a baby. But not just any baby, because I met the father and held him in my arms.

And not just any father. He was a father who loved a child his eyes had not yet seen. A father who after  attempting to talk his girlfriend and her mother out of killing his baby jumped out of a moving car when they refused.

He told us he would gladly give his own life to be with the child.

And that injured father walked into the clinic and asked to speak to his unborn baby one last time and kiss the belly of the mother where his child was being protected and say the words, “I’ll see you in heaven.” And I believe if there is a just God he surely will.

The girlfriend and her mother thought they left him there alone, in tears. But like the old man said he wasn’t alone.

There were heroes ready to help Louis and his child that day, but by the time they were standing outside of the gates where his child’s life would be taken the decisions had already been made and the angels were waiting.

But the child did not die in vain.

Later that day we returned to Planned Parenthood and spoke to every staff member leaving the building. We told them we were there for Louis and his child. That today was a special day because they had taken something they could never give back. They killed the child of a father named Louis who was suffering, but not broken, and that one day he would return to honor the memory of his child to end abortion and the torment of lost fatherhood.

And he will not be alone.

-Mystery Cookie

“Every trial endured and weathered in the right spirit makes a soul nobler and stronger than it was before.” – James Buckham

Abraham Lincoln was an American hero who changed history because of his faith in God and the principle of Liberty. Most people forget that prior to the Civil War there was a national debate on the subject of slavery. In those days enslaved blacks on southern plantations had no rights.

Whether they were fully human was an open question.

Today it seems like a silly debate, but with the benefit of hindsight we see a dangerous trend throughout modern history. Adolf Hitler didn’t think the Jews were human and millions of Germans agreed with him and put their misguided beliefs into action. Winston Churchill stated it thusly, “You can always count on Americans to do the right thing, after they’ve tried everything else.”

This was certainly true in WW II and in the events leading up to the Civil War.

Abraham Lincoln did not immediately advocate a Civil War, instead he challenged the status quo to a debate which became known as the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858. Judge Douglas represented the majority opinion of the South, Congress, and the U.S. Supreme Court that claimed blacks were not fully human and had no special legal status.

Judge Douglas had everything leaning in his favor leading up to those historic debates.

These debates came on the heels of the 1857 United States Supreme Court decision known as the “Dred Scott case”. In that case the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that African Americans and their descendants were not protected by the U.S. Constitution and were not U.S. Citizens. Furthermore, they were the chattel (property) of their slave owners and they could not be removed without due process of law.

To make matters worse Abraham Lincoln also had to grapple with the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 which repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820. This allowed settlers moving into those two states to decide for themselves whether they wanted to allow slavery. The Republican Party was created in opposition to this unjust Act and marked the end of the two party system of Whigs and Democrats.

Ironically in those days the Democrats were the defenders of slavery.

Abraham Lincoln faced a very grim task: Congress, the U.S. Supreme Court, and the laws of the southern states were stacked against him. What could Abraham Lincoln possibly say to defend the liberty of the slaves and persuade angry Americans to change their minds?

Fortunately when Abraham Lincoln walked onto the podium in the defense of liberty he did not walk alone. Much to the surprise of Judge Douglas and the hostile crowd of onlookers he stood on the shoulders of heroes that had come before him. He quoted the founding fathers who had risked their lives to pass on the torch of liberty to all of us and immortalized that great battle in the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776.

That seminal document is celebrated in the United States as a national holiday known as the 4th of July, the date it was signed and a new government was formed based on principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

The concept of democracy was not unique in itself, but this new government was not based solely on the whims of the majority. There were special unalienable rights that no government, citizen, or judge could rightfully alter or withhold. These rights did not come from the laws of men because they could be nullified or amended. Instead, the founding fathers said they came from God and therefore no judiciary or bureaucrat could come along later and take them away, but of course these principles were shamelessly violated by the institution of slavery.

Liberty needed heroes and Abraham Lincoln and the abolitionists courageously answered the call for patriots willing to defend her. It would cost most them their lives, including Abraham Lincoln.

Here is what Lincoln said on that podium in 1858, “This declared indifference, but, as I must think, covert real zeal for the spread of slavery, I cannot but hate. I hate it because of the monstrous injustice of slavery itself. I hate it because it deprives our republican example of its just influence in the world-enables the enemies of free institutions, with plausibility, to taunt us as hypocrites-causes the real friends of freedom to doubt our sincerity, and especially because it forces so many really good men amongst ourselves into an open war with the very fundamental principles of civil liberty-criticizing the Declaration of Independence, and insisting that there is no right principle of action but self-interest.” – Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858.

Indignant, Judge Douglas replied, “Mr. Lincoln, following the example and lead of all the little Abolition orators, who go around and lecture in the basements of schools and churches, reads from the Declaration of Independence, that all men were created equal, and then asks, how can you deprive a negro of that equality which God and the Declaration of Independence awards to him? He and they maintain that negro equality is guaranteed by the laws of God, and that it is asserted in the Declaration of Independence. If they think so, of course they have a right to say so, and so vote. I do not question Mr. Lincoln’s conscientious belief that the negro was made his equal, and hence is his brother, (laughter,) but for my own part, I do not regard the negro as my equal, and positively deny that he is my brother or any kin to me whatever. Never. (cheers)” Judge Douglas, Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858.

Later Abraham Lincoln asked an important question. “I should like to know, if taking this old Declaration of Independence, which declares that all men are equal upon principle, and making exceptions to it, where will it stop? If one man says it does not mean a negro, why may not another man say it does not mean another man? If that declaration is not the truth, let us get this statute book in which we find it and tear it out.” –Abraham Lincoln

Today we can answer the question that Lincoln posed. We’ve seen the tragedy of our indifference to the Declaration of Independence and the exceptions we carve out to pursue our selfish goals and indulge our sexual desires.

Today Congress, the United States Supreme Court, and millions of angry Americans tell us that unborn babies with beating hearts and developing brains have no rights. Like the enemies of liberty before them they unjustly assert property rights over the unborn as the plantation owners unjustly claimed a property right over the slaves.

What would Abraham Lincoln say and do if he were alive today? The first time he ever saw a slave it changed his life. The sight of them being sold and the scars on their backs stuck with him. A selfish man would have walked away and forgotten since it wasn’t his torn flesh being sold.

But Abraham Lincoln remembered and did something about it.

I imagine if Abraham Lincoln were alive today he would be on a podium with harsh words for abortionists who kill millions of innocent children. And his words would not be empty rhetoric because they would be backed by his own life and the lives of others willing to defend life and liberty.

And so I stand alongside the founding fathers and Abraham Lincoln in my declared hatred for abortion.

I hate abortion because it violates the principles upon which this great nation was built. I hate it because it brings out the worst in men and women and creates an incentive to be irresponsible. I hate it because it gives other nations reason to view us as immoral and hypocritical, with just cause. I hate it because it divides our nation and forces good men and women to abandon their pursuit of happiness and sacrifice their lives to preserve this nation and rescue its unborn children.

On this 4th of July let us remember those sacred rights that come from God and are non-negotiable: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It’s these natural rights that we must defend with the spirit of a patriot against selfish politicians, legislating judges, and angry citizens that wish to violate these natural rights.

The Declaration of Independence stands in defiance of any man, woman, or licensed physician willing to take the life of an innocent child, as it stood against slave owners who deprived black men and women of their God given right to Liberty. These immortal words were preached from podiums across the United States to free the slaves and these words must be revisited with the same fervor to defend our children’s God given right to life against those who wish to destroy them.

There is good news…

The children of Liberty are once again answering the call and their battle drums can be heard in the distance reminding the tyrants that the good in their hearts will conquer evil. This battle will be won by the conviction of those patriots marching to defend the future of our unborn children.

Are you among them?

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Declaration of Independence, July 4th, 1776.

-Mystery Cookie

“Evil men regard it as their privilege to violate the rights of others, and if they cannot, they feel they have been deprived of their own rights.”

Self is an ever changing thing. It's like trying to know a river.

I have friends who I love in retrospect -- before their river hit the rapids and turned into a marsh. I remember the river they were and smile.

Sometimes your spirit knows when they will cease to be the friend you knew and become someone else. And yes, occasionally they end up being a better person.

But in this world that’s a very rare thing. I've seen it a few times -- often with people who are old and wise. And then I’m shocked to learn who they were in their youth.

Why don’t more people become better with time?

It’s a difficult question to answer, but I believe it comes down to who we worship. Most often we choose to worship ourselves. And that is why moral relativism is the dominant religion of our time.

Moral relativism teaches that no universal standards exist apart from our subjective opinions. In other words, there is no right or wrong other than what we decide to do with our lives. Of course, they struggle when they must admit that men like Hitler are then let off the hook since he didn’t believe the Jews were human. The same can be said of southern slave owners who didn’t view their black slaves as fully human.

Sound familiar?

Today we commit the same sin by saying an unborn child with a beating heart and developing brain is not human. We conjure up clever arguments and euphemisms to make ourselves feel better as did the Nazis and southern slave owners before us: mass of cells, etc. I was surprised to learn that nearly every surgical abortion occurs after 3-4 weeks when the heart is beating and the brain is developing.

Eventually these misguided beliefs lead to conflicts.

Wars are fought to determine where our collective river will flow. The Germans wanted to purify the world with their ideals of a “master race” and the southern plantation owners laughed when Abraham Lincoln reminded them that all men are created with an unalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

The Declaration of Independence was written by men who understood that there are universal truths that are self evident. Fortunately, the founding fathers were not moral relativists and that seminal document stood in defiance of slavery despite laws in the south that legalized the enslavement of blacks.

That doesn’t mean the men who wrote the Declaration of Independence were perfect. The message should not be confused with the messenger; history shows us that men who write about truth are not always adherents of it.

It’s easier to know the truth than to follow it.

I’m sure many Germans and southern slave owners truly believed the Jews and blacks were not human. Today many Germans see the error of their ways, but that won’t bring back the families that died in those concentration camps anymore than the Civil War could undue generations of forced labor in cotton fields.

The wars were costly.

Millions of men and women traded their lives for our freedom. And today the world again awaits the arrival of patriots. Though few in number, they are marching.

I can hear the drums of liberty in the distance…

-Mystery Cookie

“It is better to have not known the truth, than to have known the truth and turned away.”

In our world we’re seeing what happens without trust. The stock market has been plagued by companies led by men and women who cook the books and understate the actual risks of their financial endeavors resulting in our tax dollars being spent to save poorly managed companies.

The greedy politicians are often involved in these shenanigans.

A stock market cannot long exist without trust anymore than a relationship can exist without it. The only remedy is a return to the old ways: honesty.

When our word was our bond.

Until then markets will fail and political regimes will crumble. No amount of money will save us from our own deceit and corruption.

Ironically, only the truth can set us free.

-Mystery Cookie

“Without trust there is nothing.” – author unknown

“None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available in this Act may be used for any casino or other gambling establishment, aquarium, zoo, golf course, or swimming pool.” – Stimulus Package (aka pork).

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction!

It’s good that they’re clarifying for political con artists where they can appropriately waste nearly a trillion dollars. The criminal minds that were planning on writing a grant request for a new pool or flashy casino will have to wait for the next pork filled legislative act.

If you’re curious who is going to cash in on this latest PR move here is a link to a draft:

http://appropriations.house.gov/pdf/RecoveryBill01-15-09.pdf

I guess they didn’t realize that in the internet age the American people can simply read the legislation and see firsthand the shenanigans of our elected officials? The fact that they must spell out what crimes are “off limits” captures the hilarity of the political mobsters trying to solve a financial crises using the only tool they understand:  spending your money.

The Obama administration tells us that the legislation co-written by his colleagues in Congress will create or “preserve” 4 million jobs.

Where did they get the 4 million figure? Answer: thin air.

Even the CEO of Microsoft got involved, sending a letter to every member of Congress. Now why would the CEO of Microsoft want tax dollars to be wasted? Hmm… so I decided to read what Mr. Ballmer found so intriguing about the latest hijacking of the American taxpayer.

“The agreement also promotes the adoption of information technology to transform health care. We believe information technology can help create a connected health system that delivers predictive, preventive, and personalized care–a system that will improve the health of Americans and help control health care spending. Government support for rapid adoption of information technology is essential and measurable outcomes are needed to help the administration and Congress achieve the goals of increased access, lower health care costs, and improved quality of care.” – Steve Ballmer, CEO Microsoft.

Mr. Ballmer has rarely been so eloquent.

Is Steven Ballmer planning on slicing off a piece of that pork pie for Microsoft? I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to see government checks mailed off to Microsoft headquarters in Redmond so that our private health information can be online. Normally Microsoft would have to create such an elaborate online system on their own dime without a government handout.

It’s good to know that some of the wealthiest people on this planet, Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, are positioning themselves to get a free government handout. And I thought releasing mosquitoes into a packed auditorium was approaching the limits of their folly.

The more I learn about Ballmer and Gates the more I want to switch to Linux, but that’s another story.

As you read through the Act you get the feeling it was written by recent college graduates. And that’s probably not far from the truth. They are setting up a website entitled “recovery.org” where the various bureaucratic agencies must list where they spent the money and how many jobs they created. Ha!

So career bureaucrats are the solution?

I can just hear the agency directors now, “Hey, mom, I am spending $20 million dollars to create fake government jobs. I was wondering if you knew anybody who needed a temporary job. I need to hire at least 200 people otherwise I risk losing the money.”

Creating fake jobs doesn’t come cheap.

How much is the government wasting simply to administer the program at the highest level? In other words, before the sub-agencies pay their staff how much is coming directly off the top simply to hand out $800 billion dollars.

$25 million!

I think most of us could hand it out far more efficiently for a cool million.

You know, maybe if they built a casino with a really big pool that each of us could visit with $2,000 in comps it would be a better deal? Heck, throw in an aquarium and a nice golf course.

That’s a lot more than most of us will see from this $800 billion dollar scam.

-Mystery Cookie

“We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.” – Aesop