Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Recovery

It has been a lot longer than I had planned on writing here again.   I hardly have to time do keep up with what I have to do, much less things I'd like to do.   though for the past week and a half I have had a lot more time on my hands than I planned.   A week ago Saturday we took the kids up to the church to ride the bicycles we got them for Christmas.   We had just been able to get helmets and they were excited to go riding.   Well After riding for a bit I decided to take a turn on Stephanie's bike.   I went back and forth a few times picking up a decent amount of speed and decided to do a "Slide-out" where I lock down the back wheel and slide sideways to a stop.  Well  It started fine, then the bike just Stopped and I went up and over and landed hard.  I rolled absorbing the fall and felt like I had twisted my ankle.   Then I stood up.  put my foot down slowly and put some weight on it and watched the ankle just fold over sideways at which point I fell again and realized I really really hurt.  After laying there for awhile while Yvette tried to call someone to take me to the hospital she got a hold of Brandi and she drove us to the hospital.  Turns out I have a closed bimalleolar (potts) fracture of the ankle.  On Monday I had an appointment with Dr. Ferran who is an excellent orthopedic surgeon and he confirmed that I needed Surgery to fix the ankle.  It was originally scheduled for Today, but there were able to fit me in Yesterday and I went in at noon for surgery at 1:30.  Most of yesterday and today has been spent recovering and getting my pain medication adjusted so that i can handle the extra pain from the surgery.  I have a follow-up appointment in 2 weeks to asses my healing and in the mean time I am doing my best with the pain and working from home.   The image shows the X-ray image from the ER visit.  
I want to thank everyone for their prayers and support and most especially thank my wife Yvette for taking care of me and being a wonderful strong woman who has shouldered having to deal with not only an immobile husband, but the entire care of kids and home all at once.  You are a strong woman Yvette and I love you and appreciate everything you do and have done for our family and for me.  

It isn't easy for me to be cooped up in bed like this.  I independent by nature and having to get help for almost everything isn't easy.  I know we will all be glad when I am mobile again and can take up my normal routine.  The hardest part in some ways is that it is my right ankle so I can't drive anywhere till it heals up.
It isn't easy, but we will get through this and we will be stronger afterward.  The Lord never gives us more than we can handle.  And when we do reach our limit, he is there to pick us up and carry us.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Freedom

I have had this bouncing around in my head now for a couple of days, but haven't had the time to put it down.
i posted the thought to Twitter(@jraypatten) and Facebook today.
"Freedom isn't free, or cheap or safe, but it is worth the price."

There has been a lot in the news lately about freedom. Part of it is inevitable, the country is in an election cycle.  A lot has revolved around the controversy over the mandate on contraceptive coverage.   The right is claiming a freedom of religion issue, and the left a women's health and "Freedom of choice" issue.  But I am not really ready to address that particular aspect.   Instead I want to take on a more basic look.

The issue I have been thinking of is this.   One multiple occasions I have listened on his show as he debates with someone who says that our treatment of the prisoners at Guantanamo does not rise to the level of torture and even if it did it is justified given the stakes involved.

Here is the problem with that argument.  We can have a truly spirited and merited debate about whether or not the interrogation methods used are torture or not.  I do not know.
If they are, then they should NOT be used.
Sean's argument back is that If he were holding YOUR family captive or you KNEW your family would die if the information were not wrangled from him wouldn't you support doing anything, no matter what, to get that information out?

The answer for many of us is "Yes, of course."  But, that does not make it right.   Two wrongs do not equal a right.
Sean makes a good point about the constitution being for a limited government.
Why? Why does the constitution limit government?  Not because  the constitution grants us rights, but because those rights are ours as a condition of being Human.  We are endowed by our Creator, the Lord most High, with those rights and no Government, no person, and no entity outside of God himself has the right to forcefully infringe on those rights.
What this means is that we do not have the justification to use torture, or to indefinitely hold people or take other steps that go around the constitution and the rights that are spelled out within it.

This goes Doubly true for American citizens and the Patriot Act, the NDAA and other related laws unconstitutionally infringe on these rights.

the truth of the matter is that we can either have a Free society, or a apparently safe society.  But there is no true safety.  Reducing the danger from foreign terrorists, or even domestic ones, comes at a price. that price is making EVERYONE a suspect.   We must decide if we want a free society or a society where our own government has decided that its own population is the enemy.

Our freedom has a price, and that price is the fact that we may be hurt or killed for our freedom and in the exercise of it.  That is why the tree of liberty is watered by patriots.  It does not necessarily mean that we are  dying in a war to protect ourselves or defend ourselves, but that freedom carries a risk simply by exercising it.  I hope that my children learn this lesson.   I want to protect them, I want them to live long and full lives, but their lives cannot be full if they are wrapped up in plastic bubble-wrap. and locked away for their 'protection.'

Freedom is precious, and as with all precious things it is expensive.  We must be willing to pay the price.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Mid-week thoughts

This may be another rambling post, so bear with me.
Yesterday was, of course, Super Tuesday.  Gingrich won Georgia, and Romney took 6 out of the ten states, but barely pulled the win in Ohio.  I iwll admit that Romney is not my favored candidate.  I just don't get a good vibe from him and I feel like he is too much of a technocrat. He believes that if he just assembles the correct experts in Washington than they can come up with a plan to fix things.  Santorum suffers from this as well I think, though he is a big government compassionate conservative.  He really has the right ideas on many social issues, but I don't think he is as committed to the reduction of the size and scope of government in our lives.  From that stand point, I think It is Probably Ron Paul who has the best position, but for one, as I ahve mentioned, his foreign policy is dangerously isolationist.  Additionally he is so far over on the libertarian side he will alienate members of both parties and not be able to achieve much.  Neither party will co-operate with him.

The biggest issue with Gingrich is that he carries a lot of personal history and bad feelings inside the beltway.   I am beginning to think it is Going to be Romney as the Republican Nominee and hopefully President if he gets the Nomination.

Of course the signature issue, for the republicans, is to get the Current Health care law overturned.  There is some question as to whether Romney would really be committed to it or not because of his implementation of a similar program in Massachusetts.  That I cannot speak to for certainty, but he has on many occasions laid out the reasoning why it is acceptable at a state level and not the Federal level.

A friend has stated to me that the energy in politics is better spent making a difference at a personal level then investing all of one's energy into politics and pinning hopes on the ability of one man to change the course of the nation.  it is a good point, and the most important thing we can do is to model Christ to those around us and bring others to a knowledge of him and his love and incredible gift.  We should also strive to minister to the needs of those around us.  As an institution the church has abdicated its role as the caregiver for the poor, the downtrodden and those in need.  When the church moved away from that role the government moved in and as a result the country is on a path to bankruptcy and collapse that it may already be too late to reverse.  the problem is that to fix the problem requires the government to step back and cut the benefits and payouts it makes.   Millions will suffer when this happens and the Church is NOT prepared to step in and take over the role.  Onerous regulations only exacerbate the problem by making it almost impossible for a private organization to step in.    In the political silly season, do not forget to reach out to those in need around you.  Follow Christ's example and serve.



Monday, March 5, 2012

Super Tuesday

Tomorrow is Super Tuesday.  Obviously the entire focus is on the republican primary this cycle.  The Democratic party Nomination is not even up for grabs so there is no news on that side.  Here in Georgia, Newt Gingrich is slated to win Georgia unless something changes drastically.  Here in the peach state, Romney and Santorum are vying for second place and hoping to push the other to a distant 3rd place and deny the loser any Georgia delegates.  A similar situation exists in Tennessee and Oklahoma.   The big  battle appears to be in Ohio where Romney and Santorum are neck in neck.  I admit, that not long ago I would have never considered  Santorum a viable candidate.  I will vote tomorrow in the primary election.   It is the primary and if you can't find a candidate to support at this time then sit back and enjoy the horse race.   But it is important to be involved in politics.    When the time comes at the general election in November, go vote.  I won't and can't dictate to you who to vote for, but it is important to Vote.   Find the candidate that you support, or is closest to the views you hold and believe can represent those views and Vote.   You should know who is running for your  congressional and state seats.  There is more going on than JUST the presidential race.