A little story I saw on FB............

FREE HOME FOR ANYONE WHO WILL TAKE IT!

I was in my neighborhood restaurant this morning and was seated behind a group of jubilant individuals celebrating the successful passing of the recent health care bill. I could not finish my breakfast. This is what ensued:

They were a diverse group of several races and both sexes. I heard the young man exclaim, “Isn’t Obama like Jesus Christ? I mean, after all, he is healing the sick.” The young woman enthusiastically proclaimed, “Yeah, and he does it for free. I cannot believe anyone would think that a free market would work for health care. Another said, ‘The stupid Republicans want us all to starve to death so they can inherit all of the power. Obama should be made a Saint for what he did for those of us less fortunate.” At this, I had more than enough.

I arose from my seat, mustering all the restraint I could find, and approached their table. “Please excuse me; may I impose upon you for one moment?” They smiled and welcomed me to the conversation. I stood at the end of their table, smiled as best I could and began an experiment.

“I would like to give one of you my house. It will cost you no money and I will pay all of the expenses and taxes for as long as you live there. Anyone interested?” They looked at each other in astonishment. “Why would you do something like that?” asked a young man, “There isn’t anything for free in this world.” They began to laugh at me, as they did not realize this man had just made my point. “I am serious, I will give you my house for free, no money what so ever. Anyone interested?” In unison, a resounding “Hell Yeah” fills the room.

“Since there are too many of you, I will have to make a choice as to who receives this money-free bargain.” I noticed an elderly couple was paying attention to the spectacle unfolding before their eyes, the old man shaking his head in apparent disgust. “I tell you what; I will give it to the one of you most willing to obey my rules.” Again, they looked at one another, an expression of bewilderment on their faces. The perky young woman asked, “What are the rules?” I smiled and said, “I don’t know. I have not yet defined them. However, it is a free home that I offer you.” They giggled amongst themselves, the youngest of which said, “What an old coot. He must be crazy to give away his home. Go take your meds, old man.” I smiled and leaned into the table a bit further. “I am serious, this is a legitimate offer.” They gaped at me for a moment.

“I’ll take it you old fool. Where are the keys?” boasted the youngest among them. “Then I presume you accept ALL of my terms then?” I asked.. The elderly couple seemed amused and entertained as they watched from the privacy of their table. “Oh hell yeah! Where do I sign up?” I took a napkin and wrote, “I give this man my home, without the burden of financial obligation, so long as he accepts and abides by the terms that I shall set forth upon consummation of this transaction.” I signed it and handed it to the young man who eagerly scratched out his signature. “Where are the keys to my new house?” he asked in a mocking tone of voice. All eyes were upon us as I stepped back from the table, pulling the keys from pocket and dangling them before the excited new homeowner.

“Now that we have entered into this binding contract, witnessed by all of your friends, I have decided upon the conditions you are obligated to adhere from this point forward. You may only live in the house for one hour a day. You will not use anything inside of the home. You will obey me without question or resistance. I expect complete loyalty and admiration for this gift I bestow upon you. You will accept my commands and wishes with enthusiasm, no matter the nature. Your morals and principles shall be as mine. You will vote as I do, think as I do and do it with blind faith. These are my terms. Here are your keys.” I reached the keys forward and the young man looked at me dumbfounded.

“Are you out of your mind? Who would ever agree to those ridiculous terms?” the young man appeared irritated. “You did when you signed this contract before reading it, understanding it and with the full knowledge that I would provide my conditions only after you committed to the agreement.” Was all I said. The elderly man chuckled as his wife tried to restrain him. I was looking at a now silenced and bewildered group of people. “You can shove that stupid deal up your a** old man, I want no part of it” exclaimed the now infuriated young man. “You have committed to the contract, as witnessed by all of your friends; you cannot get out of the deal unless I agree to it. I do not intend to let you free now that I have you ensnared. I am the power you agreed to. I am the one you blindly and without thought chose to enslave yourself to. In short, I am your Master.” At this, the table of celebrating individuals became a unified group against the unfairness of the deal.

After a few moments of unrepeatable comments and slurs, I revealed my true intent. “What I did to you is what this administration and congress did to you with the health care legislation. I easily suckered you in and then revealed the real cost of the bargain. Your folly was in the belief that you can have something you did not earn; that you are entitled to that which you did not earn; that you willingly allowed someone else to think for you. Your failure to research, study and inform yourself permitted reason to escape you. You have entered into a trap from which you cannot flee. Your only chance of freedom is if your new Master gives it to you. A freedom that is given can also be taken away; therefore, it is not freedom.” With that, I tore up the napkin and placed it before the astonished young man. “This is the nature of your new health care legislation.”

I turned away to leave these few in thought and contemplation and was surprised by applause. The elderly gentleman, who was clearly entertained, shook my hand enthusiastically and said, “Thank you Sir, these kids don’t understand Liberty these days.” He refused to allow me to pay my bill as he said, “You earned this one, it is an honor to pickup the tab.” I shook his hand in thanks, leaving the restaurant somewhat humbled, and sensing a glimmer of hope for my beloved country.

Use reason,

~ Clifford A.

Quote:

Well friends when I started this thread I never thought I'd be using it for this purpose. I've been a member of this community since April 12 2006 and have made LOTS of very good friends and the very large number of votes I got last year for both POTW and POTY is proof of that.

Well today I got my second ever hate message from someone who in her hateful tirade told me I need to go away. I'm sure many of you saw this person's uncalled for rant in one of the forums today, which those posts have now been deleted, but I am not intimidated by someone who likes to make people think they're so tough by flying off in a heated rage and going on a cussing rant.

For sometime now I mostly only post in my forums and those of a couple of friends but I'll be damn if I am going walk around on eggshells and wonder who is going to take offense or twist what I say. We can always find fault if we continuously look for it but remember this - NO ONE IS TWISTING YOUR ARM so if you don't like what I have to say then DON"T READ IT!!! It's as simple as that because I have no intention of going anywhere so get used to it. If you're that thin skinned then maybe you're the one that needs to leave especially since you like listening to an outside instigator.

It doesn't seem to matter what I say anymore, there are always those waiting to be offended and to pounce and twist my words into something they're not. So I have made the decision to not pay any attention to all that crap anymore because as the saying goes "those who matter won't mind and those that mind don't matter".

One of my FB friends posted this well written piece and the sentiments expressed mirror my own and not only mine but lots of folks.

Dear Friends,

I was asked yesterday if I was "okay" .... and frankly the answer is no, not at all, not even close. As with a death in the family, I'm on auto-pilot right now, just going through the motions in a world that has fundamentally changed for the worse and will never be the same again. I haven't slept much for several days, with my mind trying to understand what happened on Tuesday. I try to relax, to calm myself by reading, listening to music ... nothing has worked because my thoughts keep instantly returning to the fact that the country I grew up believing in and loving died this week ... and not from a major catastrophe compliments of Mother Nature, a Biblical plague, or an invasion of a foreign country ... worse ... what once was the greatest country in the world committed suicide by voting to reward wrong! The new norm? I truly don't understand.

Unless one admits to being a leech, a thief, a traitor, or complete ignoramus ... i.e., a Kool-Aid gulping Progressive (there are no more Democrats) ... how could anyone vote for four more years of the worst President, bar none, in the history of this country? I understand why some would vote for Obama the first time, though I didn't agree ... Here was someone with no known history, an empty shell onto which noble principals might be projected...the soaring rhetoric certainly sounded good and it was a chance to pat oneself on the back for putting the first black man in the Oval Office. I even understand how the brain dead, stupefied by the incessant braying of the national media, could see their original vote for Obama as a negation of the George Bush years. But now? How does one ignore all the stuff that has happened in the last four years? How?

How does someone vote for a party that booed God at their convention? How does a Jew vote for regime that shows disdain for our only Mideast friend, Israel, and is about to allow Iran to go nuclear? How does a Catholic vote for the party that tramples on religious freedom through mandates about abortion and contraception in ObamaCare?

How does one ignore what happened in Libya on 9/11 ... an administration that for misguided political expediency ignored our embassy's requests for security, watched four Americans murdered and did nothing as pleas of help were sent its way for over seven hours, and then lied to the American people for weeks and covered up what actually took place and why?

How does one ignore the Justice Department breaking the law with its Fast and Furious program and giving weapons to Mexican criminals which has resulted in over a hundred deaths, including the loss of United States Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry ... or the stonewalling which is still taking place by administration officials who do not make themselves available to Congressional investigators or by the President in the exercise of questionable "Executive Privilege?"

How does someone ignore crony capitalism gone wild as millions of taxpayer dollars to go into Obama donor pockets under the disguise of "green" investments in solar energy like Solyndra and so many others? How does one ignore the cost of gasoline? How does one ignore the rising costs of simple groceries these days? How does one justify the killing of thousands of jobs by cancelling the Keystone Pipeline ... a project which would have brought us closer to energy independence and lowered energy costs?

If all this doesn't grab you, how about burying your head in the sand about our country going TRILLIONS of dollars deeper in debt and borrowing money from the Chinese just to pay the interest on the debt that we borrowed? Did you Libtards ever wonder why foreign leaders who support Obama are murderous Socialist thugs like Putin, Chavez, and Castro? Did you ever question policies that resulted in unemployment numbers being over 8% for over 40 months? How could you sit back and say nothing while the race card was played against anyone that opposed the hideous policies of this administration? Was anyone not aware of the hypocrisy of the Left calling for "civility" in political discourse while labeling a decent man that has provided thousands with jobs and given millions to charity a felon and a murderer?

How does someone prefer a bombastic idiot like Joe Biden over a man like Paul Ryan?

How can over 60% of the country want ObamaCare repealed, and yet vote in a manner that locks it in quite possibly forever, guaranteeing high costs and government bureaucrats making life and death decisions about people's healthcare? How can this President be given four more years when he has established himself as so mendacious as to make a serial liar like Bill Clinton look like a fountain of veracity and light? How can a vote be given to a cast of vermin that sues its own states for trying to protect their borders or prevent voter fraud by requiring a photo ID at polling stations? How can anyone who believes in the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution cast their ballot for the communist and socialist vipers Obama has appointed to various government offices, or how he has used a myriad of executive orders to rule when his wants conflicted with laws passed by Congress? And on and on ... a vote Tuesday for Obama was a vote to ignore all the horrors that have been taking place on a daily basis since he was sworn in! Get ready for FOUR MORE YEARS IN HELL.

And yet that is what happened Tuesday.

I live in a country called America, but it has barely any resemblance whatsoever to the nation I was born into or have read about in history books all my life ... a special place that was a beacon of freedom and offered the chance for a person to become successful and participate in the American Dream through their own labors. My America was never a land of wealth re-distribution, class warfare, and millions of people looking to government to provide for them from womb to tomb like the "Life of Julia".

So no, I'm not okay ... and with the situation as it is I'm not sure I ever will be again. What I am at the moment is angry, sad, bitter, ashamed, sick, hurt, confused, disappointed and very fearful. I wonder if there is a word that blends all those feelings together ... if there is such a word I can't think of it right now.

I am grateful to my friends, my family, and to God for the comfort I may still enjoy.

Author Unknown