Category Uncategorized

Mar 30 2016

The Helpless The Agony

 

As with so many others, I felt the helpless agony of watching, during the most sacred and holy week of Christendom, the martyrdom of so many of my brothers and sisters and little brothers and sisters in Christ around the world. While we of Christian faith understand through the warnings in the teachings of Christ that we will be hated of all nations, our humanity recoils when we see the depravity of that hatred so unleashed and so unchecked.

It has certainly has not been a good week to be a Christian anywhere in the world. Over and over again, the world has watched these debaucheries be vomited out before our eyes. We wonder and exclaim how mankind can be capable of all things heinous? Where is the strength of righteousness nations to stand against it all? In the depths of the hollow silence to the question, all we hear are the deepest agonies and travails of mothers weeping for their children who are no more.

For the righteous nations are no more

They recoil and shudder on their own shore

They excuse and they ponder

While filth rape and plunder

And children accept their death with grace

What leaders here cannot with courage face

Are the righteous nations righteous no more?

Who will stand if our courage is poor?

Mothers and Fathers whose arms ache to hold

Their children whose lifeless still bodies so cold

Their blood is now calling From the ground of their falling

While we stand debating Our leaders are waiting

To find who has courage in deed

Committees addressing the need

Death marches on Screeching its song

We wonder whats wrong? What’s taking so long?

To say what is right.

Stand up against the night

Rabid dogs howl they know that its true

There is no one standing and fighting for you

For the righteous nations are no more

They recoil and shudder on their own shore

It hasn’t really helping the courage of Christianity in our own land that we constantly face the betrayal of our leaders here, such as the Governor of Georgia, in the face of mounting persecution here in the United States. We must call for courage in our leaders and then remove them when they do not exude the leadership we demand.

Mar 29 2016

Rep. Poliquin Demands House Vote on Heroin Legislation

 

Poliquin calls on Speaker Ryan to bring heroin legislation to House Floor

 

WASHINGTON – Maine’s Second District Congressman, Bruce Poliquin, sent a letter to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan urging him to bring the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA), a bill that will provide critical resources to Maine to combat the growing heroin epidemic in our State, to the House Floor for a vote.  The Senate passed the bill earlier this month.

 

In the letter, Congressman Poliquin writes:

 

“One of the most serious problems impacting Maine and America is the heroin and opioid epidemic that is taking the lives of hundreds people and causing unthinkable harm to our families, friends and communities,” writes Congressman Poliquin.

 

“It is now time for the House to act so that we can pass this crucial legislation and send it to the President’s desk for signature. Doing so will boost the efforts of our Maine families to better help their addicted loved ones with the treatment and long-term recovery to live drug-free and healthy lives.”

 

Since joining Congress, Poliquin has made it a top priority to use the full-weight of his Congressional Office to combat the growing heroin epidemic crippling Maine, including serving as an original cosponsor to the Cradle Act, a bill that would help the nearly 1,000 babies born addicted to heroin in Maine each year.  Congressman Poliquin is also a founding member of the Bipartisan Task Force to Combat the Heroin Epidemic, a Congressional body that aims to develop best practices and foster interagency collaboration to address this growing epidemic.

 

+++

 

The following is the full text of Congressman Poliquin’s letter to Speaker Ryan:

 

March 25, 2016

 

The Honorable Paul Ryan

Speaker of the House of Representatives

House of Representatives

Washington, D.C. 20515

 

Dear Speaker Ryan,

 

I write to urge you to bring H.R. 953, the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) to the House floor for a vote.  One of the most serious problems impacting Maine and America is the heroin and opioid epidemic that is taking the lives of hundreds people and causing unthinkable harm to our families, friends and communities.

 

This important bipartisan legislation was introduced by Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner and would provide emergency federal funding and other needed resources for Maine, along with a number of other states that are in desperate need to curtail this drug epidemic. As our law enforcement agencies, treatment centers, social service networks and families work together to curb this dangerous and deadly drug problem, this legislation would provide critical steps to help end this tragedy. It would establish a comprehensive and coordinated approach through enhanced grant programs that would expand prevention and education efforts while also promoting treatment and recovery.

 

The Senate passed its version of the CARA Act on March 10, 2016 by a vote of 94-1. It is now time for the House to act so that we can pass this crucial legislation and send it to the President’s desk for signature. Doing so will boost the efforts of our Maine families to better help their addicted loved ones with the treatment and long-term recovery to live drug-free and healthy lives.

 

Again, I urge you to bring the CARA Act to the House floor. On behalf of all the Maine victims of this terrible and heartbreaking epidemic, I thank you for your consideration of this request.

 

Thank you,

 

+++

 

Click HERE to see a PDF version of Congressman Poliquin’s letter to Speaker Ryan

 

Items to Note:

 

Mar 25 2016

Wrong Answer or Wrong Question?

 

The great warrior chieftain of the Hebrews was preparing for a crucial and pivotal battle in the Jewish people’s nomadic quest to reclaim the land of Abraham. The night before the battle, Joshua left the encampment for a contemplative walk. As he surveyed the walls of the city they would attack in the morning, he noticed in the pale moonlight a soldier before him with his sword drawn. Joshua quickly put his hand to the hilt of his sword and called out to him asking, “Are you for us or are you against us?” Imagine Joshua’s surprise when the warrior answered, “No!”

 

Joshua had set the parameters for their relationship with the two options in his challenge to the perceived opponent. The nameless moonlit warrior completely ignored the premise of the question. The second half of his response gives inkling to why this warrior so disdained Joshua’s challenge.

 

The full answer was this, “No! I am the Captain of the Host of the Lord!” While Joshua might have been thinking, “Wrong answer”, this Captain was emphatically announcing “Wrong Question!” Joshua was informed in no uncertain terms that Host of the Lord is on nobody’s side and that Joshua better get on their side. It would seem that even in the modern enlightened age we live in today, we still struggle with asking the “Wrong Questions”.

 

As a result of some of the activism work I do, there are a certain news feeds that I follow pretty regularly. I was very disappointed one evening to read a startling question on a story through what I thought was a conservative outlet. The question was in reference to the presidential primary and it read, “Which candidate has the answer to save America?”

 

Whether you believe the Captain in the pale darkness was an angel, a Christophany, or just a character in morality fable, I for one found a sudden empathy for his frustration that necessitated a demand for a third option. Yes, that rumbling you hear is our Founding Fathers spinning like tops in their graves. Will someone please stand up and say “No” to a one-man solution?

 

This is a Republic! It is not meant to fixed by one man, no matter how big his hair or… whatever… that… is. We are not supposed to be deciding if the Constitution is on our side or not. We can’t change it so we can “get those people because they deserve it and they’re mean to me.” We can’t force businesses to stay in this country even when it makes us mad when they leave. Why? Because the Constitution says you can’t, that’s why! We need to stop asking and trying to make the Constitution be on our side, when we are supposed to be on the Constitution’s side.

 

No, the Constitution is not Theocracy, but for the love of the Republic will somebody please stand up against this push to anoint a savior? Can we please stop looking in the ballot box for the messiah? When will Americans who love freedom stand up amidst this desperate din and shout? No!

Mar 22 2016

Rep. Poliquin Votes to Restore Rights and Honors to Women Pilots of World War II

Rep. Poliquin Votes to Restore Rights and Honors to Women Pilots of World War II

House passes bill to restore inurnment eligibility for WASP’s at Arlington National Cemetery

 

WASHINGTON – Today, Maine’s Second District Congressman, Bruce Poliquin voted in support of a bill that he cosponsored that would restore inurnment eligibility at Arlington National Cemetery for the women pilots that served during World War II. The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP’s) were denied the right to be buried at Arlington Cemetery in 2015. Congressman Poliquin has joined with a bipartisan and bicameral group in Congress to restore these pilots’ burial honors.

 

Congressman Poliquin released the following statement:

 

“It is unbelievable that the women pilots of World War II, who served our Nation and made the ultimate sacrifice for our country, are denied the honor to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery,” said Congressman Poliquin.  “Today, I am proud to vote for this important legislation so that these brave and pioneering women are afforded the honors that they undoubtedly deserve.”

 

Congressman Poliquin joins with Congresswoman Martha McSally (AZ-02), the sponsor of the WASP Inurnment Restoration Act, and Erin Miller, the granddaughter of World War II pilot Elaine Harmon, in a press conference in March 2016 to support WASP’s inurnment eligibility at Arlington National Cemetery.

 

Items to Note: