33rd Rant: The 2012 Election and Talk of a Third Party

This week in the Patriot Zone there was one person who had said that because it looks like Mitt Romney will be the Republican Presidential Nominee, he will be voting third party and encouraged others to do so as well. History has shown that third parties serve nothing but heartbreak for the sitting president. For a classic example of this, we need look no further than 1992 when George H. W. Bush, aka Bush 41, lost to Bill Clinton due to Ross Perot siphoning a large amount of votes. Outside of that, third party candidates (and there are many of them. I think on this ballot there are 40-50 third parties who would be fielding a presidential nominee.

In 2008, we had elected Barack Obama, one who was not properly vetted by the media and when he came in to office did so with the goal of fundamentally transforming our nation, ready to rule form day one according to Valerie Jarrett, a member of his then-transition staff. Now thanks to Andrew Breitbart and Sean Hannity, we have begun to properly vet Barack Obama. this election is WAY to important to waste it on a third party because of the destruction Obama has been doing. I feel that if we vote third party come November 6, 2012, we will in a sense be handing Obama the keys to the White House for another four years.

IF we want to get Obama out of office in November, we have to do so with the right candidate. Outside of Perot's serious run in 1992, third party candidates have only served as spoilers for the sitting president in history. However, I feel that this year the third party candidate will serve to aid Obama in keeping the White House for another 4 years because of this current crop of candidates. Granted, I am a Republican and a Newt Gingrich supporter, but let's be realistic here. If he is not the nominee this year, the other three are not quite as electrifying to me as Newt is. It looks like Mitt Romney is the presumptive nominee, and if he keeps his position, I will vote for him in November because he, like the other Republican nominees this year, are better than Obama. The only one who electrified and excited me this election season was Herman Cain, but thanks to the establishment suits on both the Republican and the Democrat since he was forced to suspend his campaign.

My good friend and co-host Harriet Baldwin had posted a couple of things to really put this election into perspective when she posted the following two comments in The Patriot Zone.

• Let me be clear: This is the MOST important election in our lifetimes. We MUST get behind the nominee-whoever it may be. A vote for ANY "third party candidate" is a vote for The Fraud aka Barack Hussein Obama. You are either with America or against America. Voting for Third Party or sitting on your sorry azz is unaccepatable.
• Get involved. Get informed. COMMUNICATE. This "Third Party" talk is FINE after 2012. Not now. Imagine what this America-hating Usurper will do as a Lame Duck? Give me a break. End of America.
  

The ONLY TRUE VIABLE alternative to Barack Hussein Obama in November is the Republican nominee, where it be Mitt Romney, the other three candidates running now, or whoever comes out of a brokered convention in August. Either way, whoever comes out of the Republican National Convention on August 30, we will have 60 days to coalesce around that candidate and do whatever it takes to defeat Obama. A vote for ANY of the third party candidates this year, and this clip from "Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith" COULD VERY WELL be our future if Obama wins re-election.

 

 

I know I do not want this to happen. The question is, "Do You?"

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons license.

32nd Rant: The truth about our economic mess

I had found this on Facebook, and it is so true. The Democrats like to claim that it is “Bush’s fault” we are in this mess, but is it really? Read this and then decide.

 

READ THIS THOROUGHLY AND SHARE....
IT WILL EXPLAIN A LOT TO THE UNIFORMED
{It won't matter at all to the leftists because they will refuse to see,
but what else is new...)
• Our Economic Mess and How Obama "inherited" it.
IN CASE YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN THE DETAILS
Or Why the Democrats find it so "convenient to blame Bush...
Don't just skim over this, read it slowly and let it sink in.
If in doubt, check it out.
The day the Democrats took over was NOT January 22nd 2009, it was actually January 3rd 2007, which is the day the Democrats took over the House of Representatives and the Senate ---the beginning of the 110th Congress.
On JANUARY 3, 2007, the Democratic Party controlled a majority in both chambers FOR THE FIRST TIME since the end of the 103rd Congress in 1995. For those who are listening to the liberals propagating the fallacy that everything is "Bush's Fault", think about this:
On January 3, 2007, the Democrats took over the Senate and the Congress.
At the time:
• The DOW Jones closed at 12,621.77
• The GDP for the previous quarter was 3.5%
• The Unemployment rate was 4.6%
• George Bush's Economic policies had SET A RECORD of 52 STRAIGHT MONTHS of JOB GROWTH
Remember the day...
January 3, 2007 was the day that BARNEY FRANK TOOK OVER THE HOUSE FINANCIAL SERVICES COMMITTEE AND CHRIS DODD TOOK CONTROL OF THE SENATE BANKING COMMITTEE
The economic meltdown that happened 15 months later was in what part of the economy?
BANKING AND FINANCIAL SERVICES!
THE SENATE BANKING COMMITTEE and the HOUSE FINANCIAL SERVICES COMMITTEE set up the banking and unemployment crisis by (among MANY other things) dumping 5-6 TRILLION Dollars of toxic loans on the economy from the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac fiasco!
Bush asked Congress 17 TIMES to stop Fannie & Freddie - beginning in 2001 -because he knew the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac boondoggle was a grave risk to the US economy.
Who collected the 3rd highest payoff (lobbying dollars/campaign contributions) from Freddie and Fannie? OBAMA
Who fought against reform of Fannie and Freddie? OBAMA and the Democrats in Congress, especially those in tcharge of the Banking and Financial Services Committees
So when someone tries to blame Bush..
REMEMBER JANUARY 3rd, 2007....
THE DAY THE DEMOCRATS TOOK OVER!"
FURTHERMORE:
Budgets do not come from the White House. They come from Congress. The Democrats controlled the budget process in 2008 & 2009, as well as 2010 &2011, because they control the House of Representatives.
In that first year, they had to contend with George Bush, which caused them to compromise on spending, when Bush, somewhat belatedly, got tough on spending increases.
In 2008 however, Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid did an end run around George Bush, and passed continuing resolutions to keep the government running until Barack Obama could take office. At that time, they passed a massive omnibus spending bill to complete the 2009 budgets.
And where was Barack Obama during this time? He was a member of that very Congress that passed all of these massive spending bills, and he signed the omnibus bill as President in 2009.
• If the Democrats inherited a deficit, it was the 2007 deficit -- which was the last budget from a Republican-controlled Congress. That deficit was the lowest in five years, and featured the fourth straight decline in deficit spending. After 2007, the Democrats in Congress took control of spending, including Barack Obama, who voted for those succeeding budgets.
• If Obama inherited anything, he inherited it from himself. In a nutshell, what Obama is saying is :
I inherited a deficit that I voted for and helped create.
This will not be widely publicized, unless each of us shares it!
(Even then many will not understand or will CHOOSE not to understand) But we must try to explain to those who will actually listen. Please share.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons license.

31st Rant: Celebrities and what REALLY matters in America

For those of you who had either followed my blog for some time or who are new, permit me to explain why I first started blogging. The year was 2005. I was on the internet reading a few articles when my mom and uncle were talking about Martha Stewart and her release from prison. Mom had asked me for my opinion on it. A couple of days later, I was watching the news and all that the pundits and reporters could talk about was Martha Stewart. What infuriated me was not the fact that they talked about her release but that they kept at it for 5 solid hours. In fact, I was so infuriated that I had started a blog and led off with it.

And now here we are, seven years later and yet we have another celebrity making news constantly. This time it is Whitney Houston and her death. Granted, she was a good singer and everything, but I just have one question to ask everyone. What effect does she have on your life, liberty, or property? I mean, we have a Republic to save from Obama and a deficit to clear up. Right now more people are worried about American Idol, Justin Bieber, and what is on Extra or Entertainment Tonight than things that TRULY matter. If I am not mistaken this is how Rome fell. People were worried about the sporting events or the plays that they did not see the Empire falling from within until it was too late. 2010 was a wake-up call for us to take our Republic back, and if we learned anything from the CPAC meetings of last week, it is that this year we need to do whatever we can to ensure that Barack Obama and the Democrats do not maintain control of the government.

30th Rant: Wise words by Abraham Lincoln on the plight of the people

Short, sweet, and to the point

... "You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
... You cannot build character and courage by taking
away people's initiative and independence.
You cannot help people permanently by doing for them,
what they could and should do for themselves."
- A. Lincoln

29th Rant: Obama is the first President ever, all right.

Found this on Facebook, and it is so good I am posting here to show what we are up against

 

By Sheryl A. Dowell:

"First President to refuse to show a valid birth certificate. First President to apply for college aid as a foreign student, then deny he was a foreigner.  First President to have a social security number from a state he has never lived in.

First President to preside over a cut to the credit rating of the United States. First President to violate the War Powers Act. First President to be held in contempt of court for illegally obstructing oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico . First President to defy a Federal Judges court order to cease implementing the Health Care Reform Law. First President to require all Americans to purchase a product from a third party.

First President to spend a trillion dollars on shovel-ready jobs and later admit there was no such thing as shovel-ready jobs. First President to abrogate bankruptcy law to turn over control of companies to his union supporters. First President to by-pass Congress and implement the Dream Act through executive fiat.

First President to order a secret amnesty program that stopped the deportation of illegal immigrants across the U.S. , including those with criminal convictions. First President to demand a company hand-over $20 billion to one of his political appointees. First President to terminate Americas ability to put a man in space. First President to encourage racial discrimination and intimidation at polling places.

First President to have a law signed by an auto-pen without being present. First President to arbitrarily declare an existing law unconstitutional and refuse to enforce it. First President to threaten insurance companies if they publicly speak-out on the reasons for their rate increases. First President to tell a major manufacturing company in which state they are allowed to locate a factory.

First President to file lawsuits against the states he swore an oath to protect (AZ, WI, OH, IN) First President to withdraw an existing coal permit that had been properly issued years ago. First President to fire an inspector general of Ameri-corps for catching one of his friends in a corruption case. First President to appoint 45 Czars to replace elected officials in his office.

First President to golf 73 separate times in his first two and a half years in office. First President to hide his medical, educational and travel records. First President to win a Nobel Peace Prize for doing NOTHING to earn it. First President to coddle American enemies while alienating Americas allies.

First President to publicly bow to Americas enemies while refusing to salute the U.S. Flag. First President to go on multiple global apology tours. First President to go on 17 lavish vacations, including date nights and Wednesday evening White House parties for his friends, paid for by the taxpayer.

First President to refuse to wear the U.S. Flag lapel pin. First President to have 22 personal servants (taxpayer funded) for his wife. First President to keep a dog trainer on retainer for $102,000.00 a year at taxpayer expense.

First President to repeat what the (un)Holy Qur’an tells us, and openly admit the early morning call of the Azan (Islamic call to worship) is the most beautiful sound on earth. <shuddering in disgust!"

28th Rant: Obama

Found this on Facebook and decided to post it here as well:

 

From now thru November 2012 this should be required weekly or at least monthly, reading - BY ALL WHO VOTE!!!

Did you notice who Obama threatened when he wasn't getting his way on raising the debt ceiling?

... He threatened to not pay: Social Security Retirees, Military Retirees, Social Security disability and Federal Retirees.

NOW......... Let this really sink in!!!!

He did not threaten to stop payments to illegal aliens

He did not threaten to take frivolous benefits such as Internet access away from violent inmates

He did not offer to fire some of the thousands of unnecessary federal employees that he hired

He did not offer to cut down on his or his wife's frivolous gallivanting around the world

He did not threaten to not pay the senators and representatives or any of their staff

He did not threaten to take benefits away from welfare recipients

He did not threaten the food stamp programs

He did not threaten to not pay foreign aid

He did not threaten to cut back on anything that involves his base voters

The list could go on and on. He is in full political re-election mode!

Why are we allowing this person to destroy this wonderful country with his selfishness and his lies?

His type of change is killing our country. He needs to be stopped and only our votes can stop him.

Do not forget about his tactics when it's election time. Vote Obama out of the Presidency in 2012.

27th Rant The Primary and Caucus Election Season (part 2)

In my last blog entry I mentioned my fault with the current Primary and Caucus elections and mentioned how I would change the way the voting and selection process. After a little more research I had found out the delegate counts for each state and territory as well as the number needed to win. The delegate counts for each state are posted below.

• WEST (441 Delegates) – California (172), Oregon (29), Washington (43), Idaho (32), Montana (26), Wyoming (29), Alaska (27), Hawaii (20), Nebraska (35)
• ROCKY MOUNTAIN (507 delegates) – Arizona (58), Utah (40), New Mexico (23), Colorado (36), Texas (155), Oklahoma (43), Kansas (40), Missouri (30), Arkansas (36), Louisiana (46)
• MIDWEST (451 delegates) - North Dakota (28), South Dakota (28), Iowa (28), Minnesota (40), Wisconsin (42), Illinois (69), Indiana (46), Michigan (59), Ohio (66), Kentucky (45)
• SOUTH (532 delegates) – Mississippi (40), Alabama (50), Georgia (76), Florida (99), South Carolina (50), North Carolina (55), Virginia (50), Tennessee (58), Maryland (37), Delaware (17)
• NEW ENGLAND (400 delegates) – Pennsylvania (72), New Jersey (50), West Virginia (31), Connecticut (28), New York (95), Massachusetts (41), Vermont (17), New Hampshire (23), Maine (24), Rhode Island (19)

Now, all told the 50 states send 2331 delegates to the conventions. If I add the territories of Washington DC (which sends 19 delegates to the convention and votes in the general election in November unlike the other territories), US Virgin Islands (9 delegates), Puerto Rico (23 delegates), Northern Mariana Islands (9 delegates), Guam (9 delegates), and American Samoa (9 delegates), the total is 79 delegates for the 6 Territories. Therefore, the total for the 56 primaries and caucuses are 2410 delegates at the convention. Now according to the rules, 1191 delegates are needed to win the nomination, and some of the primaries and caucuses are not winner take all. The changes I would make to the Primary and Caucus season which I did not mention in my last blog entry would be as follows:

1. EVERY STATE would be winner take all.
2. the candidate would need 1200 delegates to win

This way as I said in the last entry, every candidate would have some skin in the game regardless of how much money they have or how they rank in the polls because this would be a 50 state election process and not focusing on any state in particular like the current system does where the pundits say that one candidate is done for after a certain state.

Again, there might be pro’s and con’s for this process I am proposing, and if there are any comments as to this scenario, please let me know on this entry or in my Instant Messengers or emails.

26th Rant: The Primary and Caucus Election Season

Well the voting begins today for the Republican nominee to challenge Barack Obama in November. Apparently Iowa and New Hampshire think they are so important that they want to be the first two states to vote. Iowa has their caucus tonight and New Hampshire has their Primary next Tuesday. The reason why it is tonight is because Florida wanted to push their primary back to January 31, which meant that Iowa and New Hampshire had to push theirs just so they can be first. I do not know the history behind that but that is what the people of both Iowa and New Hampshire want. Judging by the map I think it does not make any sense, especially since the next two are South Carolina on January 21 and Florida, which I had mentioned is on January 31. Now I understand that some candidates might skip New Hampshire and campaign in South Carolina or some candidates might campaign for 7 days in New Hampshire, then 11 days in South Carolina and then 10 days in Florida which might be a little too much on their schedules, so I have come up with an idea that might just work for all future primaries and caucuses in both the Democrat AND Republican parties.
My proposal is to divide the country into 5 regions of 10 states each and then once a month those regions go to the caucuses (in the form of states like Iowa) or primaries (in the form of states like Florida or New Hampshire) and then vote like normal. (I realize the US held territories like Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands also send delegates to the conventions, but have excluded them from this distribution because they do not vote for the President in November) After all, we have all 50 states vote in November, so why not have something in a smaller nature during the primaries or caucuses? The list I had come up with is a rough sketch, but I hope the general idea comes across.

• WEST – California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Alaska, Hawaii, Nebraska
• ROCKY MOUNTAIN - Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana
• MIDWEST - North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky
• SOUTH - Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Maryland, Delaware
• NEW ENGLAND - Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia, Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island

Then every month one region can vote either at the beginning or the end of the month. This way every candidate can have some skin in the game regardless of how much money they have or how they rank in the polls. For instance, in Iowa the Top Three have Ron Paul and Rick Santorum but in Illinois they are not in the top three in any of the polls I had seen. That would be all right because in the voting system I am proposing they could focus on the states they ARE popular in within the certain region and try to use that popularity to gain supporters in other states of the same region. So Paul might focus on Illinois while Santorum could go to Minnesota since they are in the top three in Iowa and Rick Perry, who is 5th in Iowa, could stay in Iowa and build up his poll numbers.
The pro’s of the regions voting at the beginning of the month would be that with the voting out of the way they can focus on the next region. (For example, if the Midwest voted today, then the candidates can focus on the New England states the rest of the month, with voting coming up about February 3rd) The pro’s of the states voting at the end of the month would be that the candidates can focus squarely on that particular region. (for instance, the candidates can focus on the South states leading up to voting on January 31st) One thing I would see with this is that all of the voting and tabulations would be done by May which means that the nominee would have three months to find a running mate and get the grassroots campaign at least started by getting the main headquarters set up before the convention. Then the day after they give their acceptance speech they can get started on their general election campaign.
There might be more pro’s and con’s for both scenarios, but they might come in another blog entry. If any have any pro’s or con’s to what I had posted, please mention in comments or in my Instant Messengers or social media outlets.

25th Rant: Online Social Media Tea Party?

There is a reason I had titled this rant like I did. Back in July during the debt ceiling debacle Hugh Hewitt, a talk radio host as well as a columnist for TownHall.com, mentioned that a “Twitter Tea Party” is needed. I had tweeted a couple of things during that Tea Party, and think that another one is needed right now. Only thing is I will go one better. What we need is just as I had mentioned in the title of this blog entry, an ONLINE SOCIAL MEDIA Tea Party.

As far as I know, there are 8 forms of Social Media online right now:

1. Facebook (http://www.facebook.com)
2. Twitter (http://www.twitter.com)
3. Tumblr (http://www.tumblr.com)
4. LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com)
5. Digg (http://www.digg.com)
6. YouTube (http://www.youtube.com)
7. any and all blogs
8. any and all message boards

(NOTE: If there are any others I am forgetting, please let me know. Also, I realize I am missing sites like RedState, Tea Party Patriots, Tea Party Nation, and FreedomWorks and FreedomConnector as well, but I have included them in the final two forms.)

With sites like Facebook and Twitter, I would propose we find out the online pages of ALL of the political figures - whether they are local, state, or national – and post on their sites, telling them how you think they are doing and just let them know what you would like to see enacted on either a bill or some other pending legislation, as well as your thoughts on how they had voted on prior pieces of legislation. Also, Facebook and Twitter are good sites to post articles and other items to let people know what is happening not only in America but all around the world.

With sites like Tumblr, LinkedIn, and Digg, I would propose that we find articles and other items, like we did with Facebook and Twitter, and post them to our pages to let people know what is happening. This way we can get the word out and keep others up to date on what is happening.

In the event that the articles we had found are already posted to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, LinkedIn, or Digg by others, we should like, share, Retweet, Digg, and/or even comment on them.

With YouTube, we have a choice of either uploading a video of our own opinions on certain events, uploading videos of rallies or speeches, or commenting on the videos which are already out there.

For the various blogs and message boards out there, we can employ the same methods we used above, especially sharing them on the other social media outlets. This way the same articles get multiple coverage.

Why do I say post the same articles on all forms of social media? The answer is real simple. You might have different friends on Facebook than you do on Twitter (for example) and as such your Twitter friends might not be aware of a certain issue if you had only posted it to Facebook. I use all of the above social media outlets and there are some friends who are one outlet but not on others. If you only post to one social media outlet and then tell your friends on another they might feel out of the loop if they had not read a certain article, blog entry, or anything else. That is why we should cover ALL of the social media outlets, regardless of what they are, and get the word out there.

If you are interested in a Social Media Tea Party, please let me know and hopefully we can try to work something out. My email and Instant Messengers are always open and available for discussion about this.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 

Just got this in an email from my mom. It was so good that I just have to share it.

The old man sat in his gas station on a cold Christmas Eve. He hadn't been anywhere in years since his wife had passed away. It was just another day to him. He didn't hate Christmas, just couldn't find a reason to celebrate. He was sitting there looking at the snow that had been falling for the last hour and wondering what it was all about when the door opened and a homeless man stepped through.
Instead of throwing the man out, Old George as he was known by his customers, told the man to come and sit by the heater and warm up. "Thank you, but I don't mean to intrude," said the stranger. "I see you're busy, I'll just go."
"Not without something hot in your belly." George said.
He turned and opened a wide mouth Thermos and handed it to the stranger. "It ain't much, but it's hot and tasty. Stew ... Made it myself. When you're done, there's coffee and it's fresh."
Just at that moment he heard the "ding" of the driveway bell. "Excuse me, be right back," George said. There in the driveway was an old '53 Chevy. Steam was rolling out of the front.. The driver was panicked. "Mister can you help me!" said the driver, with a deep Spanish accent. "My wife is with child and my car is broken." George opened the hood. It was bad. The block looked cracked from the cold, the car was dead.
"You ain't going in this thing," George said as he turned away.
"But Mister, please help ..." The door of the office closed behind George as he went inside. He went to the office wall and got the keys to his old truck, and went back outside. He walked around the building, opened the garage, started the truck and drove it around to where the couple was waiting. "Here, take my truck," he said. "She ain't the best thing you ever looked at, but she runs real good."
George helped put the woman in the truck and watched as it sped off into the night. He turned and walked back inside the office. "Glad I gave 'em the truck, their tires were shot too. That 'ole truck has brand new ." George thought he was talking to the stranger, but the man had gone. The Thermos was on the desk, empty, with a used coffee cup beside it. "Well, at least he got something in his belly," George thought.
George went back outside to see if the old Chevy would start. It cranked slowly, but it started. He pulled it into the garage where the truck had been. He thought he would tinker with it for something to do. Christmas Eve meant no customers. He discovered the the block hadn't cracked, it was just the bottom hose on the radiator. "Well, shoot, I can fix this," he said to himself. So he put a new one on.
"Those tires ain't gonna get 'em through the winter either." He took the snow treads off of his wife's old Lincoln . They were like new and he wasn't going to drive the car anyway.
As he was working, he heard shots being fired. He ran outside and beside a police car an officer lay on the cold ground. Bleeding from the left shoulder, the officer moaned, "Please help me."
George helped the officer inside as he remembered the training he had received in the Army as a medic. He knew the wound needed attention. "Pressure to stop the bleeding," he thought. The uniform company had been there that morning and had left clean shop towels. He used those and duct tape to bind the wound. "Hey, they say duct tape can fix anythin'," he said, trying to make the policeman feel at ease.
"Something for pain," George thought. All he had was the pills he used for his back. "These ought to work." He put some water in a cup and gave the policeman the pills. "You hang in there, I'm going to get you an ambulance."
The phone was dead. "Maybe I can get one of your buddies on that there talk box out in your car." He went out only to find that a bullet had gone into the dashboard destroying the two way radio.
He went back in to find the policeman sitting up. "Thanks," said the officer. "You could have left me there. The guy that shot me is still in the area."
George sat down beside him, "I would never leave an injured man in the Army and I ain't gonna leave you." George pulled back the bandage to check for bleeding. "Looks worse than what it is. Bullet passed right through 'ya. Good thing it missed the important stuff though. I think with time your gonna be right as rain."
George got up and poured a cup of coffee. "How do you take it?" he asked.
"None for me," said the officer..
"Oh, yer gonna drink this. Best in the city. Too bad I ain't got no donuts." The officer laughed and winced at the same time.
The front door of the office flew open. In burst a young man with a gun. "Give me all your cash! Do it now!" the young man yelled. His hand was shaking and George could tell that he had never done anything like this before.
"That's the guy that shot me!" exclaimed the officer.
"Son, why are you doing this?" asked George, "You need to put the cannon away. Somebody else might get hurt."
The young man was confused. "Shut up old man, or I'll shoot you, too. Now give me the cash!"
The cop was reaching for his gun. "Put that thing away," George said to the cop, "we got one too many in here now."
He turned his attention to the young man. "Son, it's Christmas Eve. If you need money, well then, here. It ain't much but it's all I got. Now put that pea shooter away."
George pulled $150 out of his pocket and handed it to the young man, reaching for the barrel of the gun at the same time. The young man released his grip on the gun, fell to his knees and began to cry. "I'm not very good at this am I? All I wanted was to buy something for my wife and son," he went on. "I've lost my job, my rent is due, my car got repossessed last week."
George handed the gun to the cop. "Son, we all get in a bit of squeeze now and then. The road gets hard sometimes, but we make it through the best we can."
He got the young man to his feet, and sat him down on a chair across from the cop. "Sometimes we do stupid things." George handed the young man a cup of coffee. "Bein' stupid is one of the things that makes us human. Comin' in here with a gun ain't the answer. Now sit there and get warm and we'll sort this thing out."
The young man had stopped crying. He looked over to the cop. "Sorry I shot you. It just went off. I'm sorry officer."
"Shut up and drink your coffee " the cop said.
George could hear the sounds of sirens outside. A police car and an ambulance skidded to a halt. Two cops came through the door, guns drawn. "Chuck! You ok?" one of the cops asked the wounded officer.
"Not bad for a guy who took a bullet. How did you find me?"
"GPS locator in the car. Best thing since sliced bread. Who did this?" the other cop asked as he approached the young man.
Chuck answered him, "I don't know. The guy ran off into the dark. Just dropped his gun and ran."
George and the young man both looked puzzled at each other.
"That guy work here?" the wounded cop continued.
"Yep," George said, "just hired him this morning. Boy lost his job."
The paramedics came in and loaded Chuck onto the stretcher. The young man leaned over the wounded cop and whispered, "Why?"
Chuck just said, "Merry Christmas boy ... and you too, George, and thanks for everything."
"Well, looks like you got one doozy of a break there. That ought to solve some of your problems."
George went into the back room and came out with a box. He pulled out a ring box. "Here you go, something for the little woman. I don't think Martha would mind. She said it would come in handy some day."
The young man looked inside to see the biggest diamond ring he ever saw. "I can't take this," said the young man. "It means something to you."
"And now it means something to you," replied George. "I got my memories. That's all I need."
George reached into the box again. An airplane, a car and a truck appeared next. They were toys that the oil company had left for him to sell. "Here's something for that little man of yours."
The young man began to cry again as he handed back the $150 that the old man had handed him earlier.
"And what are you supposed to buy Christmas dinner with? You keep that too," George said. "Now git home to your family."
The young man turned with tears streaming down his face. "I'll be here in the morning for work, if that job offer is still good."
"Nope. I'm closed Christmas day," George said. "See ya the day after."
George turned around to find that the stranger had returned. "Where'd you come from? I thought you left?"
"I have been here. I have always been here," said the stranger. "You say you don't celebrate Christmas. Why?"
"Well, after my wife passed away, I just couldn't see what all the bother was. Puttin' up a tree and all seemed a waste of a good pine tree. Bakin' cookies like I used to with Martha just wasn't the same by myself and besides I was gettin' a little chubby."
The stranger put his hand on George's shoulder. "But you do celebrate the holiday, George. You gave me food and drink and warmed me when I was cold and hungry. The woman with child will bear a son and he will become a great doctor.
The policeman you helped will go on to save 19 people from being killed by terrorists. The young man who tried to rob you will make you a rich man and not take any for himself. "That is the spirit of the season and you keep it as good as any man."
George was taken aback by all this stranger had said. "And how do you know all this?" asked the old man.
"Trust me, George. I have the inside track on this sort of thing. And when your days are done you will be with Martha again."
The stranger moved toward the door. "If you will excuse me, George, I have to go now. I have to go home where there is a big celebration planned."
George watched as the old leather jacket and the torn pants that the stranger was wearing turned into a white robe. A golden light began to fill the room.
"You see, George ... it's My birthday. Merry Christmas."
George fell to his knees and replied, "Happy Birthday, Lord Jesus"

This story is better than any greeting card.
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND GOD BLESS!

Now clear the lump from your throat, blow your nose, and send this along to a friend of yours or someone who may need a reminder as to why we celebrate Christmas.

Merry Christmas to all!