Ben Wisdom

Nope....We need to lift those hopes up higher and higher! God is a faithful God! He will come through for you!

This is so greeeeeaaaaaaat!!!! I'm so excited for you. :)

oops, Beka again :) I bet you can see Jeff getting that excited ;)

Excellent

I know the feeling... Glad the interview went well.

ha ha ha ha if I ever see Jeff write "greeeeaaaaaaaat" and squeal like a girl I will die laughing!

Jeff squeal??? Ha ha ha ha ha!!!

Very proud of you! God is with you!

The sun was already up. You just couldn't see it. It was still over the horizon.

"The LORD knows the days of the blameless,
and their heritage will remain forever;
they are not put to shame in evil times;
in the days of famine they have abundance."
... Read More
I wait patiently upon Him, and for His will to be made known.

Could Pastor Wisdom...that has a nice ring to it...be a possible calling in the distant or near future? :-)

Good luck. I know everything will be great.

Hurrah!!!! So close to home.. :)

OOPS!! that was me. :)

Tim picked up Kat on the way home. She is getting "sugar" from Puddles right now.

So where are you now? :)

Between Statesville and the Virginia border, which is a kind of no-man's land.

Ahhh but so pretty there.

We are praying for the interview. Though we'd hate to lose you, God has plans

You guys get to see so many rainbows! I think you are so blessed! Our prayers will be with you ALL DAY tomorrow!

Why are there so many songs about rainbows? :)

Happy Feet!

Happy thoughts!

I am thinking and praying. Sounds like you want to go to Roanoke. Whatever is God's will for you is what I pray. Many blessings whatever happens.

Ben, hope everything goes well for you. Just watch out for all those Hokies.

Hey, Jeff and I are toying with the idea of moving to Roanoke if you all end up there.

We'll be praying!

I'll be praying God's will in your life and open doors for the path he has planned for you!!!

and Carol say, "You'll have a long commute!"

We have a lot of friends in Roanoke. I can hook you up. :)

Ben everything will go well! Blessings!

I have lots of family and friends in Rke. Need a place to stay? It's a great, small city. Not unlike Columbia. Mountains! And a fun downtown shopping district.

Kay,
No need of a place to stay for us. The company is putting up the whole family at the Holiday Inn for three nights! (I think they might have some interest in me.) All the people we've mentioned this to have had nothing but good things to say about Roanoke.

As for friends and contacts there, we'll take all the friend recommendations we can get if this becomes a sure thing. Thanks for your prayers!

Roanoke is beautiful, calm, and full of really cool old houses.

Wow, Ben. Best wishes to you on this endeavor! Now if I could figure out a way for an old retired Army LTC to get a job there...;) Synchrony, huh? I'll have to look them up.

careful...I know some adults who think like that!

saying a prayer for you now...great news.

No jobs in Columbia?

Ben sooo very happy for you my friend!!! Blessings!

Roanoke! Yippee!!!

Will do... all the best to you during your interviews.

Roanoke!!!! WOOOHHHOOOOO!!!!!!

Roanoke, Roanoke, Roanoke, Roanoke................

What company in Rke?

The company in Roanoke is called Synchrony. their website is synchrony.com

One down, one to go. The first one went well. May the Lord's will be done.

Okay, here goes the Roanoke interview... The opportunity looks like it would be a very good one. Pray hard anytime in the next hour, if you would.

All done. I think it went well. I did my best to impress and stand out as a valuable candidate. I did manage to elicit a few "Really?"s during the 30 minutes they gave me, too. It's all in Gods hands: I'll hear about Newport News tomorrow or Monday, and Roanoke in "2-3 business days". God's will be done.

I'm so excited for you..probably in some greedy sort of way though. I want you all to be that much closer. :)

I don't believe it! The HR guy at Synchrony called me back just a few minutes ago! They want to bring me up for an onsite interview next week!! For a whole day, complete with facility tour and everything! I'm going to try and get it on Friday so we can make a weekend of it and take a look around Roanoke. Thanks so much for all your prayers, and praise God!

Awesome! How have things been lately? Oh, and what did you think of the new Transformers movie? Several people have told me that it really isn't that great.

EWWWWW...I hate to see your shoes after that.

I'm wearing sandals, silly! Even to church.

Sounds familiar -- our typical Sunday after church supper! Glad you're back.

Carol adds: Don't get a job unless it's in Columbia!

Glad you have returned safely. I'll be thinking of you on the job search.

If ya'll have time to visit the Children's Museum (old Salem area) it is worth the $ -- literary themes abound....Jack would love the climbable beanstalk!!

Yes !! It would be closer :)

Apple pie for dessert?

Oh I guess you got us beat by a bit: Went to Mount Vernon, watched "daylight" fireworks from the back lawn over the Potomac, then lounged on the bowling green fronting the mansion and ate birthday cake...then went home and ate grilled steaks and corn on the cob, then crashed on the couch watching TV! :)

Maybe throw in a box or two of Cracker Jacks!

I want some cookies. They sure look delicious! And sweet baby Nora looking patriotic. How many cookies did Jack eat?

When do you think you'll get here?

We're going to a few shops here in G'boro first, and then we'll amble up your way in the evening. We'll have dinner on the way in and see you sometime after 7pm.

Sounds nice, happy 4th

Relax.

Oh yeah, good idea. I almost forgot about that one. :)

Like father, like son :)

Tell Rachel I says Happy Birthday. I was gonna call and then I realized I don't have her number....bummer. Hope she had a great day!!!

Tell Rachel Happy Birthday from the Andersons!

Happy Birthday

Happy B-day! Many more blessed years!!!

Many happy returns of the day!

and I thought I was a dreamer.....

...you may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one...

...someday I hope you'll join us ...

I like it! I still think term limits would work, but never thought about the staffer argument until this past week when I was discussing with a classmate (an F15 pilot) in Norfolk. You should do a synopsis of this and send it to Glenn Beck and all the other talk show folks (even Rush might be intrigued). Of course, Freerepublic.com is how a lot gets traction too! I'm not a member, but you could join...or put it out there on another blog-type site. Maybe write an article for Townhall.com?

You ever watch "Yes, Minister"? For your plan to work, you are going to have to get rid of the entire Congress, including the staffers. But why stop there? How about the Supreme Court? How about the President and his cabinet? Besides these considerations, I think your plan is brilliant.

Rob,

I've actually heard good things about "Yes, Minister" but have never actually seen it.

But honestly, getting rid of the entire membership of the Congress and replacing them with people that feel more accountable to the people is exactly what I have in mind. ... Read More

To answer your concerns, please read the second part of this Note (after the stars) carefully. One of the ingenious aspects of the U.S. Constitution is that if the people as a whole rise up and want to change it, the elected politicians can't really stop it...

(As an example I cite the 18th and 21st Amendments, which are the prohibition of alcohol and its repeal, respectively. The populace rose up both times to change the nation's charter, and the elected politicians were peripheral to the matter.)

[continued in next comment...]

...What I was trying to say is that the Constitution has a way to allow the people to change it that sidesteps all federal officials completely:

1. If you read it carefully, the constitution leaves presidents out of the amendment process completely.

2. In the name of everything that is sane, it is logically impossible for the Supreme Court to rule a constitutional amendment unconstitutional (Though I grant that the California Supreme Court was given the chance to try earlier this year with that state's marriage amendment. Even they were smart enough not to jump down that bottomless pit.)... Read More

3. The federal congress is allowed to have a role in the amendment process if two-thirds of their membership agree to it, but >>an alternative is also given!<<

If two thirds of the State legislatures agree among themselves to change the Constitution in a particular way all at the same time, then an amendment can begin the ratification process through a state-initiated process. [See next comment]

...All that is needed is for 34 out of 50 state legislatures (or two thirds of them) to pass a resolution to form a constitutional convention to create an amendment like the one I described. The convention forms, does its duty, and then 38 out of 50 state legislatures (or three fourths of them) either ratify or don't ratify the amendment as ... Read Morecrafted by the convention. It will be difficult enough to get 34 legislatures to initiate the process (not unlike herding cats, I imagine), but once the proponents have 34 states under their belt, getting four more states on board may not be so hard.

[I'll respond to an objection that I know of to this in my next comment. Let me just say that I like two things about this forum. First, I like that I can't rant on too long in any one comment, because It helps me keep my thoughts concise and structured. I also appreciate the feedback so far -- Especially Rob's, because though it was negative, iron sharpens iron. Please, bring on more feedback.]

The one objection to this alternative method that I know of -- popularized by Rush Limbaugh -- is that once a constitutional convention is initiated, it can do whatever it wants in terms of constructing amendments with little or no accountability to the people. I hate to admit it, but I took his word for it when I first heard him say that, but now... Read More that I've read the actual text I think that this is too pessimistic. If the state legislatures mandate the convention to do one particular thing and it doesn't, then those legislatures just won't ratify what was done and the process is back to square one. No real harm is done.

This leaves two objections: one, that this process would be very hard to execute successfully, and two, that it has never been done before. Both are true, but that doesn't mean we couldn't try.

Reconvening a constitutional convention is a bad idea, Ben. Once a convention convenes, all restraints are off. They can throw out the entire constitution, bill of rights, everything, and put in whatever they want. In fact, this is what happened in 1787-9 when a convention was called to amend the articles of confederation and they were entirely ... Read Morethrown out and replaced with the constitution.
There is a movement afoot to hold a Con-Con with 32 or 33 state legislatures already passing the resolution. We defeated the one in Ohio earlier this year.
Your root idea seems good though. Perhaps we can just amend the current document - 28th Amendment, the Wisdom Amendment!
As an alternative, allow each state to recall its own congressmen and/or senators: state-by-state vote of no confidence. Or repeal the 17th amendment which made Senators democratically elected instead of agents of state legislators. Without the 17th, states would have more power and the Senators could be recalled - and were!

Oh, the reason most often raised for a modern constitutional convention is a balanced budget amendment. As responsible as that sounds, now is not the time to have Nancy Pelosi and Barney Frank re-writing the constitution.

A responsible government is a gift from God, I believe. Anything is possible, if we get to the business of loving our brothers and witnessing to our neighbors. However, if we place our faith in technique (economics, politics, etc.) then we're just engaging in another form of idolatry.

Ben,

I wrote briefly about a CC in my blog entry http://straightshootinconservative.wordpress.com/2009/05/11/tea-parties-and-changing-the-constitution/#more-7

I am intrigued by the idea that States could limit the scope of the CC and had not considered that before. However, I still feel like the bull can run where it wishes once you let it out of the corral, so I am not so sure it is a good idea. However however, I would be willing to call a CC as a last ditch effort to save liberty, despite the dangers.... Read More

Thanks to your post(s), I have a new tactic in mind: work with the States. Get them to vote for an amendment they like and then get other states on board (concealed carry might work, interestingly enough). Hmmmmm.

Rob

Sound like a good idea but lots of vested interests to combat which is the same reason term limits have never really been considered seriously. I would be happy with simpler changes like mandatory publicly funded campaigns. Sure it costs a little more in tax dollars but we reap the benefits of having the rest of our tax dollars invested in things... Read More WE actually need instead of just what the corporations need.

The corruption in Washington supersedes party and votes tend to favor the highest bidder (in this case the big banks). The corrupting influence of these interests could at least be lessened if they were not directly involved in the process of congressman staying in power.

Sean,

Rob Carter found something in this essay of mine to be a missing piece in an idea that he had, and we've since been developing and continuing to collaborate on the idea on his webpage. I reserved an easy to remember domain name that will direct you to it. Please look at it and leave a comment if you are so inclined:

http://reawakening.us/

This has been evident ever since Obama took office.

That is exactly their purpose... they already have teir millions and their power (in this world), so they want to try to "perpetuate" it. "Good luck"

Not for NOTHING, nephew. Their ideology is not aligned with keeping this powerful and FREE CAPITALIST economy functioning or individual liberty for that matter (to them, that's the problem, not the solution). This is a tax for control of another aspect of life, and has nothing to do with "saving the planet", which market capitalism would do on it's own. Govt. housing projects fall apart for a reason.

Sweet!!!