Would YOU Accept Ron Paul's Challenge?

Well, there was some levity among the wrangling at last night's GOP Debate. And who do you think was the 'funny one'? Crotchety old Ron Paul!

When Wolf Blitzer questioned the health of 76-year old, Paul, the old man issued a challenge to his fellow GOP presidential contenders

The 76-year-old congressman would be the oldest president to serve if elected, Blitzer asserted before asking whether or not Paul would be willing to reveal his medical history. Paul took the question in stride, answering that he would indeed release them, but that they probably wouldn’t exceed a single page in length.

He then challenged the rest of the candidates to a 25-mile bike ride in the “heat of Texas” just to prove his condition.
And then... he issued a warning to Moderator Wolf Blitz!

Watch the humorous video from what was one of the lighter moments in an otherwise heated debate:




So would YOU take up Ron Paul's challenge? Not me! I'm from Texas and I know how hot it gets there!

2012 April Lorier Perspective

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Pondering "The State of Illusion Address"

I have been pondering "The State of Illlusion Address" of last night, and have a question. Does President Obama really believe we're either not hearing him, or does he believe we're really that stupid?

Let's take the first point that stuck out to me. He kept saying Warren Buffett should not pay less than his secretary. Also, one of his main themes is that millionaires and billionaires should not be paying less than you are.

Now if he had been honest, he would have used the words "tax rate" when comparing Buffett to his secretary. Even then, he would have still been being dishonest.

1. Warren Buffett pays FAR MORE in taxes than his secretary! We're talking TAX MONEY here. He makes far more than she ever will, and he PAYS far more than she ever will.

2. She pays 35% tax on her EARNED money (salary). Buffett already paid 35% on his money a long time ago - his EARNED money (salary). Then, as he saved, he was able to INVEST that same money, and it's on THAT INVESTED money that he must now pay 15%.

So 35% + 15% = 50% Buffett is paying on the same money.

The rich pay TWICE - once when money is earned and again when it is invested. The top 10% in the world of "rich people" actually pay 70% of the cost of running this inflated government.

The next thing I'm pondering is President Obama's declaration that America is doing better than ever before - it's NOT declining, he says. I think it would be wonderful if the President could appear on the CBS show "Undercover Boss". He would be given $15 a day and have to feed his wife and two kids on that amount. He wouldn't be able to tell anyone who he is, so he could curry neither favors nor special treatment. THEN let's hear him declare America is in great shape.

Does he think if he declares it, Americans will blindly accept his word as Truth?

OK, this next one is a biggie, yet you hear crickets chirping when it comes to this statement. The President said, “The executive [President/Vice-President] branch also needs to change. Too often, it’s inefficient, outdated and remote. That’s why I’ve asked this Congress to grant me the authority to consolidate the federal bureaucracy [aka POWER] so that our Government is leaner, quicker, and more responsive to the needs of the American people.”

So let's ponder this statement together. Our forefathers deliberately set up our government as a three-leg stool. Three branches of government to keep The President from becoming a King. Remember: they had left the King/Queen in England so they knew what that kind of power could do to a people with NO VOICE.

The Legislative, Executive, or Judicial are EQUAL but SEPARATE, making sure no ONE branch gets too powerful. Yes, it causes arguments, but it also keeps The President from turning into a dictatorial King.

President Obama is right about one thing - the government would definitely be leaner and quicker if the other two branches were non-existent. He would have absolute power!

Think about that last statement. Your life depends upon it as an American.

2012 April Lorier Perspective

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Gabby Giffords' Tearful Goodbye - Video

Oh, what an emotional moment this morning as Gabby Giffords was bid farewell by the House of Representatives. Gabby has an irrepressable smile, her eyes twinkle like the stars of the night, and you just want to reach out and hug her. And they did.

In the conclusion to an emotional ceremony in the House of Representatives Wednesday morning, a close friend and colleague of Rep. Gabrielle "Gabby" Giffords, Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), took to the podium to read the text of Giffords’ letter of resignation submitted to Congress this past weekend. Wasserman Schultz couldn’t hold back tears as she read the letter, which thanked friends, colleagues and constituents for their prayers and loyalty.

“Thank you for your faith in my ability to be your voice,” it read. “Even as we are set back by tragedy or profound disagreement, in the end we come together as Americans to set a course towards greatness. Every day I am working hard. I will recover and I will return, and we will work together again for Arizona and for all Americans.”

Giffords was then escorted by Wasserman Schultz up to the podium of House Speaker John Boehner, who embraced the congresswoman as he accepted her resignation letter. Boehner then tearfully held Giffords’ hand and raised it to Congress, who, with husband Mark Kelly and her mother in attendance, were all on their feet in a standing ovation.

Gabby Says Goodbye 

  

Goodbye, lovely woman.

2012 April Lorier Perspective 

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Attitude of Gratitude QUOTES

Have you ever sacrificed to give a gift to someone and noticed not one iota of gratitude from the one who received your gift? I have and I know what I felt inside. I keep a gratitude journal to remind me of all my Heavenly Father has blessed me with. It's just too easy to forget when I get caught up in the moment. So here are some of the gratitude quotes I love. They help me remember!

God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say "thank you?"
William Arthur Ward

There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy.
Ralph H. Blum

When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.
G. K. Chesterton

Saying thank you is more than good manners. It is good spirituality.
Alfred Painter

Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul.
Henry Ward Beecher

Rejoice always,pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Bible - I Thessalonians 13:16-18

For me, giving thanks is a sign of appreciation and gratitude that also brings about a deep sense of peace.
Wally Amos

Gratitude helps you to grow and expands; gratitude brings you and laughter into your life and into the lives of all those around you.
Eileen Caddy

Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it. William Arthur Ward

Though I am grateful for the blessings of wealth, it hasn't changed who I am. My feet are still on the ground. I'm just wearing better shoes.
Oprah Winfrey

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy

The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.
Eric Hoffer

I cried because I had no shoes 'till I met a man who had no feet.
Dwight L. Moody

Nothing more detestable does the earth produce than an ungrateful man.
Decimus Magnus Ausonius

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.
Melody Beattie, Author

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Remember God's bounty in the year. String the pearls of His favor. Hide the dark parts, except so far as they are breaking out in light! Give this one day to thanks, to joy, to gratitude!
Henry Ward Beecher

Make a vow to set aside time in your life that's sacred - quiet time just for you.
For a real eye-opener, keep a log of everything you do for two days.
Then go back and pick out at least one thing that you could have been done by someone else or didn't have to be done at all. Put stars by the things that you did just for yourself.
Joan Goodman

He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has. Epictetus

Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.
Sir Winston Churchill

If a fellow isn't thankful for what he's got, he isn't likely to be thankful for what he's going to get.
Frank A. Clark

I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through Him who gives me strength.
Bible - Philippians 4:11-13

2011 April Lorier Perspective

1-3 God, my shepherd! I don't need a thing. You have bedded me down in lush meadows, you find me quiet pools to drink from.
True to your word, you let me catch my breath and send me in the right direction.
4 Even when the way goes through Death Valley, I'm not afraid when you walk at my side. Your trusty shepherd's crook makes me feel secure.
5 You serve me a six-course dinner right in front of my enemies. You revive my drooping head; my cup brims with blessing.
6 Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life. I'm back home in the house of God for the rest of my life.

Psalm 23

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Husband Sacrifices Life for Wife

The widow of a Frenchman who died on the Costa Concordia luxury liner gave a chilling account Monday of how her husband sacrificed his life by giving her the only life jacket they had.

"I owe my life to my husband," said Nicole Servel, 61, whose husband Francis was one of at least six people to die when the luxury liner ran aground off the Italian coast on Friday night.

"He said to me 'jump, jump'. And as I don't know how to swim, he gave me his life jacket. I was hesitant about jumping. So he went first. Then I jumped. I floated on my back," she told RTL radio.

"I called to him, he shouted back: 'Don't worry! I'll be all right.' The water was barely eight degrees. And then, I never saw him again," said Servel, whose children gave her the Mediterranean cruise as a 60th birthday gift.

Servel, from the southwestern city of Toulouse, lashed out at the ship's crew, some of who reportedly abandoned the ship before the passengers: "There was no one to save my husband... We were alone."

Servel said she was in the water until she was washed up against some rocks from where villagers rescued her and took her to a church to recover in the warmth.

Now HERE is a woman who was loved by her husband.

2012 April Lorier Perspective

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; Ephesians 5:25

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Greatest Love "Poem" Ever Written

This writing is describing one of the three kinds of love: agape. Agape is the love of God and is also part of the fruit of The Spirit which we receive when we come to Christ. This, in my opinion, is the greatest "poem" ever written to define agape.



Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
Love never quits.

As we look forward to Valentine's Day, let's remember the qualities of the love we must share with those to whom we relate. It is the ultimate love.

2009-2011 April Lorier (based on I Corinthians 13: 4-8a)

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RIP Etta James - Video "At Last"

Blues singer Etta James, who is most famous for the hit song "At Last," has died from complications of leukemia, her friend and manager Lupe De Leon confirmed. She had been diagnosed with chronic leukemia in January 2011.

James died this morning at Riverside Community Hospital with her husband and two sons by her side, De Leon said.

Ironically, Etta is most remembered for her ultimate tender love song. Her life was anything but soft or tender. She battled a heroin addiction in the 1960's and 1970's. Etta had several legal problems relating to her addiction, including being accused of heroin possession, cashing bad checks and forgery. 

In 1974, after being in and out of rehab for over a decade, she was sentenced to drug treatment instead of serving time in prison and spent 17 months in the hospital. In 1988, at the age of 50, James returned to treatment at the Betty Ford Center in California.

Beyonce, who portrayed Etta in the 2008 movie "Cadillac Records," posted a statement about her  death on her website today:

"This is a huge loss. Etta James was one of the greatest vocalists of our time. I am so fortunate to have met such a queen. Her musical contributions will last a lifetime," Beyonce wrote. "Playing Etta James taught me so much about myself, and singing her music inspired me to be a stronger artist. When she effortlessly opened her mouth, you could hear her pain and triumph. Her deeply emotional way of delivering a song told her story with no filter. She was fearless, and had guts. She will be missed."

In 2009, at the age of 71, Etta was guest vocalist on Dancing With the Stars. Her voice was deeper, she was not able to stand, but she delivered the greatest love song in my lifetime. Here's Etta!

One happy note: Her song, At Last, lives on for future generations!

2012 April Lorier Perspective

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