Mom

I am not sure what I want to write tonight. I do love to write, even if I am not the best at putting thoughts to paragraph form. My mom just finished a 150 page story of her life. She certainly inspires me with that work finished at 78 years of age. And what a life of service and work she has had. I do value my heritage and especially Mom for helping me read and know about so very much of life. I will keep writing and reading just to please myself and because Mom taught me how to learn. I will go read some more since I still have little to write tonight.

Character is Most Important

Your intelligence, learning, thought process are the most important training you can have to bring you through any life threatening emergency, or experience. I do think character is more important than intelligence. I have noticed the politicians are more interested in style, cronism and politics in who is endorsed for high level positions.

Ezra Taft Benson said in "Our Duty as Citizens" "...because character is the one thing we make in this world and take with us into the next. It must never be sacrificed for expediency."

Bicycles, A Superior Invention

I have used a bicycle most of my adult life for fun, transportation, fitness and a part of my lifes work. I have worked at least 15 years in the bicycle industry and more as a volunteer in clubs, puting on events and teaching bicycling use, repair and racing to interested people. From my biography page at http://lennyh.com but not quoted:

I lived during 1973 in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California, where I worked at a drug treatment facility called Tarzana Psychiatric Hospital. Life was easy and as most 22 year olds I lived day to day like the proverbial grasshopper of Aesop's fables. Then came to America the Arab oil embargo. At least the Arab countries were blamed for an immediate increase of gas price from $.30 to $1.00 per gallon.

People were led to believe that there was not enough gas in storage, so people in Los Angeles could only buy gas on odd or even days, depending on our licence plate, and often they could only buy 5 gallons at a time. The stores also had empty food shelves, as trucking slowed to a crawl. Daily trips to the store were now hit or miss in getting food. This experience taught me some long remembered lessons. As solutions to these problems came up, they often were simple and effective. The immediate food problem solved itself with buying larger quantities of food when it was available. Next in importance was getting around. The bicycle proved the solution to that problem.

I have commuted by bicycle from 1973 to about 2000. I raced bicycles from 1981 at age 30 to about 1990, never too seriously but as well as I could. A memorable series I raced and crewed was is the Arizona Challenge. Held from about 1983 to 1987, it was a 24 hour race covering 325 miles and including a total of 17500 feet of climbing. It only took me 23 hours to finish in 1986, the race would be won by Jim Elliott in 17 hours and 45 minutes that year. Another memorable race was at the Mountain Bike state championships of 1991 in Arizona south of Flagstaff. I raced a single speed of my fabrication in the Ironman race. Sam Houston, my 8 yr old son at the time raced the 15 mile race also. At one point while riding in 2nd place I heard the whisperings of a voice saying to go back and find Sam. On the second time of hearing this distinct command I did go back and found Sam who had gotten lost, found his way and riding happily along. We were happy to finish the last half of the race together.

Wanting to be more involved with the vehicle I loved to use, I worked in bike shops in the 1980's and 1990's. Traditionally bike frames were brazed not welded, so I learned to make frames using fillet brazing. I specialized in fillet brazing of thinwall cro-moly tubing and built frames and trailers to pull by bicycle. Over the years I built over a dozen bikes a dozen trailers and numerous contraptions of bicycle origins. Lenny does not commute now (it is missed) as a back condition has slowed him some. June 2008 I discovered motorized bicycles and have now built 4 different bikes to try and get back into 2 wheel commuting.

This is just an introduction to bicycles and how I have incorporated them into my life. My wonderful wife Nancy also has used the bicycle for transportation as I did not have a car at one point in time. With 4 children we were able to survive almost 3 years during the early 1990's in Mesa Arizona with its desert dry heat with no personal vehicle. I figure I have over 100,000 miles on bicycle for transportation and fun. I used a bike with trailer to deliver 250 newspapers for a couple of years.

Conspiracy Theories

If America has a Constitution that is sufficient to direct all political actions, why are we not following the Constitution? I am convinced that we have been duped by a socialistic press and socialist controlled parties and are electing socialist and now a communist presidents and most legislators. The name used may not be socialist or communist or fascist, but the leaders we have been electing are not followers and defenders of the US Constitution. They have all most as a united but argumentative body been subverting the US Constitution to allow a Socialist/Communist inspired New World Order. The first step was a United Nations with a charter that goes completely against the US Constitution.

Now much more recently the European Union has loosely organized into a first branch of a world government using one currency where a World Court overrides the individual Country laws with less compassionate and pertinent laws. America as the hated, successful but very interfering nation of far the most power and wealth is being neutered with these type laws being brought in as a North American Union, and a new currency. America is spending so much borrowed money and printing so much money that we will soon have almost worthless money and will need to change our systems to a working one.

The problem with the systems being offered is that to get into this NWO we give up our Liberty and Freedom as an independent nation and our own laws and courts. The world courts will not be fair nor compassionate as there is destruction as an unspoken guiding force as it is Satan who inspires the conspirators against America, the best country and government system ever created with God's assistance. Printed in the late 1990's, "Vampire Killer 2000" states the problem here;

THE NEW ORDER

Allegedly this new order is being set up to save THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD from a whole variety of "imminent" life and world threatening disasters. Of those sworn protectors of the people that are aware of this global scheme, few realize that the actual behind the scenes plan is for an oligarchy of the world's richest families to place 1/2 the masses of the earth in servitude under their complete control, administered from behind the false front of the United Nations. To facilitate management capabilities, the plan calls for the elimination of the other 2.5 billion people through war, disease, abortion and famine by the year 2000. As we can plainly see, their plan for "Population Control" (reduction) is well established and under way.

The final and best witness that we are facing a real conspiracy is the Prophet Ezra Taft Benson's many warnings and proclamations. He especially testified about the Book of Mormon's special place as a Keystone in the supporting Arch of God's protective and warning writings. He also pointed out that for Church members and Americans pride is the worst snare of all. A proud people will ignore what is obvious to a humble person. Humility allows for compassion so much better and keeps us closer to God and his teachings. A proud people may think they warrant special favors over others but this is not true and will be our destruction if we do not heed a Prophet's warning and repent of our evil ways.

"THE SITUATION IN THE WORLD WILL CONTINUE TO DEGENERATE UNLESS WE READ AND HEED THE WORDS OF GOD AND QUIT BUILDING UP AND UPHOLDING SECRET COMBINATIONS, WHICH THE BOOK OF MORMON TELLS US PROVED THE DOWNFALL OF ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS"

(President Ezra Taft Benson)

Do I Support Current Policy?

Let me unequivocally state, I do not support Barack Obama. I have never supported Barack Obama. I will never support Barack Obama. And it has nothing to do with the fact that he's black. It has everything to do with the fact that he's keeping his promises from over the years: He's dismantling America as quickly as he can, submitting and spending as quickly as he can and astonishing $4.26 trillion. (Yeah, there's fiscal responsibility, bringing change to Washington and changing the fatcat old boy style of politics. You're now the king of fatcat old boy style politics, Obama. Oh yeah, and the king of spending.) He's communist, plain and simple. In what alternate reality would anyone ever consider I would support communism (socialism is the practice of communism)? It doesn't matter if he's the president of the United States, I won't support anyone who is dismantling the Constitution of the United States and launching us into pure socialism. Never going to change, my friends.

I can add nothing to this wonderful paragraph from Candace E. Salima a fellow blogger and one more accomplished than me. I will let her thoughts stand, on their own merit because I believe she is right and I also share these feelings about President Obama, Who Candace also points out is a narcissist in the post I took this paragraph from at http://candacesalima.blogspot.com/ . She links to several other articles that corroborate this view of a narcissistic President, from her post but I have yet to read them. We are warned about pride and I think we have to go back to Ronald Regan to see a President who was not overly proud. Our attack (both but more the second one) on Iraq was a prideful one and had to produce negative effects, one of which is the election of Obama.

Principles of Liberty--28 Ideas Changing the World

Principles of Liberty

The 28 Great Ideas That Are Changing the World
I am sure it is easier to make sense of things using principles. Imagine memorizing multiplication tables without the use of principles. Try getting in shape to run a mile race as fast as you can but not knowing any fitness and aerobic conditioning principles. Both of these tasks as well as knowing about good government are all easier because of the principles that relate to them.

W. Cleon Skousen searched and studied over 150 volumes of the Founding Fathers original writings, minutes, letters, biographies, etc. and distilled the ideas into The Five Thousand Year Leap, published by the National Center for Constitutional Studies, 1981.

1. The only reliable basis for sound government and just human relations is Natural Law.
2. A free people cannot survive under a republican constitution unless they remain virtuous and morally strong.
3. The most promising method of securing a virtuous and morally stable people is to elect virtuous leaders.
4. Without religion the government of a free people cannot be maintained.
5. All things were created by God, therefore upon Him all mankind are equally dependent, and to Him they are equally responsible.
6. All men are created equal.
7. The proper role of government is to protect equal rights, not provide equal things.
8. Men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.
9. To protect man’s rights, God has revealed certain principles of divine law.
10. The God-given right to govern is vested in the sovereign authority of the whole people.
11. The majority of the people may alter or abolish a government that has become tyrannical.
12. The United States of America shall be a republic.
13. A constitution should be structured to permanently protect the people from the human frailties of their rulers.
14. Life and liberty are secure only so long as the right of property is secure.
15. The highest level of prosperity occurs when there is a free-market economy and a minimum of government regulations.
16. The government should be separated into three branches – legislative, executive, and judicial.
17. A system of checks and balances should be adopted to prevent the abuse of power.
18. The unalienable rights of people are most likely to be preserved if the principles of government are set forth in a written constitution.
19. Only limited and carefully defined powers should be delegated to government, all others being retained in the people.
20. Efficiency and dispatch require government to operate according to the will of the majority, but constitutional provisions must be made to protect the right of the minority.
21. Strong local self-government is the keystone to preserving human freedom.
22. A free people should be governed by law and not by the whims of men.
23. A free society cannot survive as a republic without a broad program of general education.
24. A free people will not survive unless they stay strong.
25. “Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations – entangling alliances with none.”
26. The core unit which determines the strength of any society is the family; therefore, the government should foster and protect its integrity.
27. The burden of debt is as destructive to freedom as subjugation by conquest.
28. The United States has a manifest destiny to be an example and a blessing to the entire human race.

Ezra Taft Benson Quotes Nikita Khrushchev.

In 1959 Eisenhower asked Ezra Taft Benson to teach Nikita Khrushchev about Agriculture.
Ezra relayed a conversation......

"Your children will live under communism." Khrushchev said.
"On the contrary," Secretary Benson replied, "My grandchildren will live in freedom as I hope that all people will."
Khrushchev then retorted: "You Americans are so gullible. No, you won't accept Communism outright; but we'll keep feeding you small doses of Socialism until you will finally wake up and find that you already have Communism. We won't have to fight you; we'll so weaken your economy, until you fall like overripe fruit into our hands." (Ezra Taft Benson. General Conference Talk - October 1966. Protecting Freedom - Our Immediate Responsibility.)

Our current administration is giving us the last doses of Socialism and the first doses of Communism, buy pushing through such spending measures and taxing measures that make the poor dependent on the usurpation and theft of property of the wealthy. In just 50 years the Communist have infiltrated the education and journalist systems so that we have generally become confused and complacent to the poisonous doctrines we are swallowing. We are asking for government to provide us with everything in life and with a minimal of work to get it. Americans have somehow abandoned the principles of liberty that Washington, Adams, Jefferson and others founded our government on for Karl Marx's murderous and savage Communist, Anti-Christ dogma.

The practice of coveting and receiving unearned benefits has now become so fixed in our society that even men of wealth, possessing the means to produce more wealth, are expecting the government to guarantee them a profit. Elections often turn on what the candidates promise to do for voters from government funds. This practice, if universally accepted and implemented in any society, will make slaves of its citizens.

We cannot afford to become wards of the government, even if we have a legal right to do so. It requires too great a sacrifice of self-respect and political, temporal, and spiritual independence.

In some countries it is extremely difficult to separate earned from unearned benefits. However, the principle is the same in all countries: We should strive to become self-reliant and not depend on others for our existence. (President Romney was serving as Second Counselor in the First Presidency when he gave this talk during general conference in October 1982; March 2009 Ensign reprint of his speech, The Celestial Nature of Self-Reliance.)

Even if we stand fooled and foolish in turning away from the government God gave at such a cost to the Patriots and Founders of America, there will be a cost to Americans for the act of rejecting God's gifts. Freedom came with much bloodshed and sacrifice to the people of colonial America. Why would we suppose it will be any different to regain what we throw away for a guarentee of security and unearned spoils from a government that has no intention of giving to everyone, what only is a limited resource, belonging not to government but to the taxed. Will we ever see freedoms we are throwing away? Prophets have foretold that it will again cost much bloodshed for liberty to be restored.

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children."(Hosea 4:6)

Wickedness and Conspiracies

America is now in a time of great distress, an emergency avoidable but for ignoring the warnings sent to us. Prophets have warned us about staying close to the God who gave us a home and government to be cherished, they have been ignored. Founding Fathers warned about how to keep a Representative Republic that was the best system God could give to men. It was given to protect men against man's weaknesses, and it has been changed illegally, ignoring the laws of Nature and of the Constitution.

Men have been selfish, greedy and irreverent in their following the devil rather than God and his pure and simple teachings. No man has lived a perfect life but for Jesus Christ, who did that and more to give men a chance to repent and change for the better. Though all have fallen short of His glory and perfection some have lived very close to perfection and close to the Lord. Adam, Moses, Enoch, George Washington and Joseph Smith are all examples of nearly perfect men, who helped shape the world and gave men for generations after their lives a chance to be nearer to perfection, by following their examples and teachings. The Lord has supplied us with written scriptures in addition to Prophets and the scriptures are most helpful in giving us instruction, information and allegory to apply to our lives. Prayer gives us a last connection to our Heavenly Father that is always with us to be used and to assist in receiving instruction and guidance. With diligent application of these gifts to our weakness we will become a sharing, giving, loving and reverent people and nation.

We all need to change our ways to match the ways taught by all of these men; to be servants and helpers of men and ever prayerful that the Holy Ghost might inspire us to better ways. This scripture from the Book of Mormon teaches about our dilemma, how we got into trouble and how we can correct the problem. The majority of the Nation must accept and integrate these teachings into their lives and perhaps we can become righteous enough to be free once again, by abiding by the liberties God has granted. Man must stop wanting to take advantage of his fellow man but to assist in each progressing back to live with our Heavenly Father, if our hearts desire and obedience warrants.

11 And it came to pass that there were certain men passing by and saw Nephi as he was pouring out his soul unto God upon the tower; and they ran and told the people what they had seen, and the people came together in multitudes that they might know the cause of so great mourning for the wickedness of the people.
12 And now, when Nephi arose he beheld the multitudes of people who had gathered together.
13 And it came to pass that he opened his mouth and said unto them: Behold, why have ye gathered yourselves together? That I may tell you of your iniquities?
14 Yea, because I have got upon my tower that I might pour out my soul unto my God, because of the exceeding sorrow of my heart, which is because of your iniquities!
15 And because of my mourning and lamentation ye have gathered yourselves together, and do marvel; yea, and ye have great need to marvel; yea, ye ought to marvel because ye are given away that the devil has got so great hold upon your hearts.
16 Yea, how could you have given way to the enticing of him who is seeking to hurl away your souls down to everlasting misery and endless wo?
17 O repent ye, repent ye! Why will ye die? Turn ye, turn ye unto the Lord your God. Why has he forsaken you?
18 It is because you have hardened your hearts; yea, ye will not hearken unto the voice of the good shepherd; yea, ye have provoked him to anger against you.
19 And behold, instead of gathering you, except ye will repent, behold, he shall scatter you forth that ye shall become meat for dogs and wild beasts.
20 O, how could you have forgotten your God in the very day that he has delivered you?
21 But behold, it is to get gain, to be praised of men, yea, and that ye might get gold and silver. And ye have set your hearts upon the riches and the vain things of this world, for the which ye do murder, and plunder, and steal, and bear false witness against your neighbor, and do all manner of iniquity.
22 And for this cause wo shall come unto you except ye shall repent. For if ye will not repent, behold, this great city, and also all those great cities which are round about, which are in the land of our possession, shall be taken away that ye shall have no place in them; for behold, the Lord will not grant unto you strength, as he has hitherto done, to withstand against your enemies.
23 For behold, thus saith the Lord: I will not show unto the wicked of my strength, to one more than the other, save it be unto those who repent of their sins, and hearken unto my words. Now therefore, I would that ye should behold, my brethren, that it shall be better for the Lamanites than for you except ye shall repent.
24 For behold, they are more righteous than you, for they have not sinned against that great knowledge which ye have received; therefore the Lord will be merciful unto them; yea, he will lengthen out their days and increase their seed, even when thou shalt be utterly destroyed except thou shalt repent.
25 Yea, wo be unto you because of that great abomination which has come among you; and ye have united yourselves unto it, yea, to that secret band which was established by Gadianton!
26 Yea, wo shall come unto you because of that pride which ye have suffered to enter your hearts, which has lifted you up beyond that which is good because of your exceedingly great riches!
27 Yea, wo be unto you because of your wickedness and abominations!
28 And except ye repent ye shall perish; yea, even your lands shall be taken from you, and ye shall be destroyed from off the face of the earth.
29 Behold now, I do not say that these things shall be, of myself, because it is not of myself that I know these things; but behold, I know that these things are true because the Lord God has made them known unto me, therefore I testify that they shall be. (Helaman 7:11-19)

My Need to Become Ready for the Lord

"As bearers of the priesthood, we have been placed on earth in troubled times. We live in a complex world with currents of conflict everywhere to be found. Political machinations ruin the stability of nations, despots grasp for power, and segments of society seem forever downtrodden, deprived of opportunity, and left with a feeling of failure."

"We who have been ordained to the priesthood of God can make a difference. When we qualify for the help of the Lord, we can build boys, we can mend men, we can accomplish miracles in His holy service. Our opportunities are without limit."

"Ours is the task to be fitting examples. We are strengthened by the truth that the greatest force in the world today is the power of God as it works through man. If we are on the Lord's errand, brethren, we are entitled to the Lord's help. Never forget that truth. That divine help, of course, is predicated upon our worthiness. Each must ask: Are my hands clean? Is my heart pure? Am I a worthy servant of the Lord?" [President Thomas S. Monson; General Conference, April 2008.]

I am feeling a need to change my ways, repent of my sins and shortcomings and become ready to help the work go forward here on earth. I attended a "Making of America" seminar yesterday and realize that this feeling I have been feeling for some time and have been responding to is because the healing America needs to do is not financial or political but spiritual. Since it is not possible to be free without being good, we all need to be good for freedom to return to America and ultimately to the World. That is the way the Founding Fathers saw Manifest Destiny and Freedom; as belonging to all of mankind and spreading from America to the World, from a good and moral people.

Many in power around the World want a New World Order. This NWO that is sponsored by United Nations is not one of God and to His glory, giving freedom to all men. The one that is truly grand and worth sacrificing for is the one Jesus Christ talked about more than 2000 years ago in Israel. A free man is not fettered with the shackles of tyranny, that all governments use in this World today. A free man is not told every facet of life, what is acceptable and politically correct; but given principles to follow and the ability to choose whether he will follow them.

We have been given instructions and have forgotten them. The Founding Fathers wrote many volumes of records explaining what God had given them but those teachings and writings are ignored. Conspirators to destroy freedom substitute teachings that are counterfeit and pleasing to hear. God has blessed me so it is my duty to study and ask and discover what He wants me to do. If I decide not to do his will I can follow that path but it leads to snares and loss of freedom. Happiness follows the choice to obey, serve, be worthy and be free.