Is it just me or does this upcoming presidential election looks more like a VEGAS sports booking parlor?

I watch a lot of political news shows like Tim Russert, Face the Nation, Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann, Joe Scarborough and some others that analyze news and politics. What I keep getting is that this is a football game and not an issue driven presidential election.

You can even bet on who will win the nomination and election there is an article on this at Slate.com.
http://specials.slate.com/futures/2008/

This country is in dire need of a change in direction. The people need to take back the government from the well financed special interests and but the power back into the hands of the people.

CNN has a list of issues that they think will decide the election their issues are Abortion, Immigration, Iraq, same sex marriage, Social Security, Taxes, Health Care. Same sex marriage and Abortion, Why are these even on peoples minds when they decide a president.
http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/issues/issues.abortion.html

Five of the seven issues above are important and I want to know where the candidates stand on issues that actually mean something. I am against abortion but I don’t feel I have the right to tell someone that they can’t have one after she has been raped or her life is in danger because of the pregnancy or for any other reason it is a personal choice issue.

Same sex marriage, who cares!!!! If Johnny wants to marry Todd, or Ruth wants to be with Anne what business is that of mine. As long as Johnny and Todd are 18 it is none of my business what they do as long as it does not interfere with my rights.

I want to know where they stand on creating and independent ethics commission to investigate congressional & presidential ethics misconduct.

I want to know where they stand on banning registered lobbyists form giving gifts to members of congress and their staffs.

I want to know where they stand on public financing of all elections and spending limits on campaigns.

I want to know where they stand on restoring our constitutional rights and from further degrading our individual rights.

I want to know where they stand on torture and indefinite detention.

I want to know where they stand on limiting corporate media ownership.

I want to know where they stand on American imperialism and reducing our military presence around the world.

I want to know where they stand on bringing back jobs to America.

I want to know where they stand on the President misleading and out right lying to the American people to get us into an illegal and unnecessary war.

I want to know where they stand on NAFTA, CAFTA, and all these other trade agreements that cause Americans to lose their jobs.

It is time we become agitators and demand Congress to do the will of the people and not the will of the highest bidder. America needs the courage to stand up and be counted now as in no other time in our history.

Peace and Liberty through intelligence, strength, and integrity.

Constitutional Issues

Constitutional Issues

Our Constitution is under assault by an administration that bases ideology before reason. They have taken the core values that had made America a beacon of freedom and justice throughout the world and have become no better than the people that we are at war with.

Before I vote for someone I would want to know where they stand on these issues.

What do you think of this current administrations power grab and do you plan to repudiate their attack on the U S Constitution and restore the rule of law?

Do you support the bipartisan National Security Letter Reform Act of 2007 bill S. 2088, which would narrow the types of records available without a court order and establishes a standard of individualized suspicion for issuing an NSL?

Do you support Guantanamo Bay, Cuba Detention Center Closure Act of 2007 S. 1469 which would to require all inmates to either be charged with crimes and be transferred to Ft Leavenworth or be transferred back to their home country?

Do you support the American Freedom Agenda Act of 2007 H.R. 3835, this bill would repeal the Military Commissions Act of 2006, and clarifies that no information if it is obtained by torture or coercion may be used as evidence?

Do you support FISA legislation that would repeal current warrentless wiretapping and electronic surveillance, to not allow blanket warrants to spy on large groups of people who have committed no crime, and which would require court approval to spy on individuals?

To do the right thing is not always the easiest way but it is always the right thing to do.

Peace and Liberty through intelligence, strength and integrity.

The barbarians are not at the gates they have taken over the city.

The barbarians are not at the gates they have taken over the city.

Our government has been high jacked by the big money interests. Now we had better find out how to take it back. With more wealth at the top tier of our society and less at the bottom we aren’t even getting the crumbs anymore.

A big key is to stop the revolving door that exists between business and government. We have progressed by passing tougher ethics laws earlier this year but they still do not go far enough.

We have a few candidates that are above this corruption like Ron Paul, Mike Gravel, and Dennis Kucinich but as much as I hate to say it they are not going to get elected. I like Obama, but he is surrounded by Wall Street and the D. C. insiders, so I am not sure about him. The only Clinton I want to see in the White House would be George Clinton (the roof is on fire let the muther F*%ker burn).

The fundamental issue of our time which is at the core of every other issue, whether it is Iraq, wages, health care, retirement security, trade, immigration, global warming is that powerful interests, particularly corporate interests, have literally taken over this government.

The only viable candidate that is not embracing these powerful interests so far is John Edwards. In his personal life he comes from humble roots and has some good ideas about solving some of this nations problems but I am not endorsing anyone yet. So in the upcoming 2008 elections the candidates only worth listening to will be the ones who will be willing to fix what is wrong in our government.

I want some answers on questions like.

Are you in favor of the Bipartisan Fair Elections Now Act S. 1285 which basically would favor the public financing of political campaigns in order to give voters more control over government, and make politicians accountable to constituents rather that campaign contributors??

Are you in favor of a law enacted to limit campaign spending in order to curb the escalating cost of running election campaigns??

If the candidates answer no to either of these questions, they are corporate pimps and not worthy to represent the citizens of this great nation.

If we do not force this issue in the coming elections and the coming years we will become nothing more than an Orwellian nation of slaves. Big Brother will be the massa and you will tow the line or wind up in a place like GITMO.

Peace and Liberty through intelligence, strength, and integrity.

The most recent FISA bill is an affront to the rule of law that the founders of this great nation wanted to protect us from.

Our senators will be considering the most recent FISA bill and it is time to speak up and tell your senators to uphold the law and defend our Constitution. Two crucial principles regarding Warrantless spying on Americans are being considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee this week and they are.

1. Granting immunity to the phone companies that broke the law and handed over your phone and email records to the NSA.

2. Basket warrants or completely Warrantless searches which allows the government to sweep up information of a group of people. Say for instance that the NSA says that they want information on some members of the ACLU they could potentially spy on all members.

When the telecomm industry handed over your phone and email records to the NSA a while back they broke the law of the land. When, even the government tells you to break the law it is your duty to disobey that order. If you do not disobey that order you are liable to be prosecuted and punished, end of story.

The telecomm industry has plenty of lawyers on staff so they cannot claim ignorance of the law and should be held accountable and pay the price to succumbing to the wishes of our great potentate G W Bush.

On the second issue our Constitution was written to protect this nations citizens from unreasonable search and seizures. If the government doesn’t have evidence that you are breaking the law it has no right to spy on you.

If we allow this erosion of our rights to continue we will become a nation of slaves subservient to the wishes of the likes of George W and Dick “Tator” Cheney. Call, write, email your senators and tell them this is unacceptable and to stand down this rouge administration and stand up for the Constitution.

Peace and Liberty through intelligence, strength and integrity.

Support Dennis Kucinich’s impeachment resolution against vice president Cheney.

Support Dennis Kucinich’s impeachment resolution against vice president Cheney.

On November 6th 2007 Dennis Kucinich introduced H. Resolution 799 to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney on the floor of the House as a “question of Privilege”. The reason this is important is because the speaker of the house Ms Pelosi has said that “impeachment is off the table” and since she as Speaker set the legislative agenda it would never have come up. Now as a question of privilege it had to be referred to the judiciary Committee for consideration.

House Judiciary Chair John Conyers has himself supported impeachment of the vice president in the past but is waffling on the issue now. If he hears from a lot of Americans it is much more likely to result in impeachment hearings. It is extremely important to contact John Conyers and your representative and pressure them to begin the process of impeachment.

The need to get involved has never been so urgent. Complacency is very dangerous Bush / Cheney can still do untold damage to this country with their saber rattling at Iran and continued assaults on the Constitution it is important to keep these thugs occupied defending themselves rather than creating more mischief for future generations to pay for and repair.

My letter will read like this and feel free to use it or make one of your own.
http://www.house.gov/conyers/
http://www.house.gov/

Congressman Conyers

Vice President Cheney repeatedly lied to the nation about the potential threat of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, provoking the invasion and occupation of that country, with catastrophic results for our nation.

He continues to lie and distort intelligence regarding links between Iraq and al Qaeda; when such links simply did not exist before our invasion and he continues to threaten aggression against Iran, in violation of the United Nations charter and in a manner that destabilizes the region and harms our national security.

All of these actions certainly meet the constitutional test of high crimes and misdemeanors. So I ask that you begin H. Res. 799, Articles of Impeachment against Vice President Cheney.

Sincerely
Michael Chavers

Peace and Liberty through intelligence, strength, and integrity.

A truly courageous soldier Lt. Ehren Watada

Lt. Ehren Watada in June 2006 denounced this illegal occupation of Iraq and refused to deploy. He was tried for 2 specifications Conduct unbecoming of an officer and a gentleman (for statements made in speeches and interviews- Article 133) and 1 specification Missing Movement (for refusing to deploy to Iraq on June 22 2006 – Article 87). He could have been sentenced to up to 6 years in prison.

The point of this article is not the details of the trial which can be read on the following link.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ehren_Watada

I am writing to say this is how Americans should stand up and be counted. Lt Watada said he is not a conscientious objector because he is not opposed to all wars as a matter of principle. He is no coward either because he offered to serve in Afghanistan. Lt. Ehren Watada is a man of principle and he indeed took an oath when he enlisted into the United States Army. This is the oath he took.

I Ehren Watada, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear the faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President to the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

Lt. Watada believes as I do that the war that lead to the occupation of Iraq has violated the Constitution and War Powers Act which limits the president in his role as Commander in Chief from using the armed forces in any way he sees fit. It also violates the UN Charter, the Geneva Conventions, and the Nuremberg Principles which bar wars of aggression. It is therefore his duty to disobey the orders to occupy Iraq.

The Congress has failed our country and should pay the price during the next election for not stopping this cabal of cretins in the executive branch for leading us into the ruination of our armed services, our reputation in world opinion and the pillaging of our treasury to the war profiteers.

Our last defense against this madness may be the military. Over 10,000 soldiers have deserted since the Iraq invasion. Now the administration rattles their sabers at Iran and it is said that before his term is over that Bush will attack Iran. Top military commanders have said that this will not happen on their watch. I hope that they stick to their word and fulfill their oath to defend the constitution and disobey any illegal acts of aggression.

I urge all the men at arms to disobey illegal and immoral orders and take the consequences do not desert but have the courage to stand up and go to trial and let this country hear why this war is illegal. You will be supported by many of us Americans.

Maybe then some more of our lawmakers would have the courage to do what is right and end the occupation and repudiate what this present administration has done to our constitution and freedom.

Peace and Liberty through intelligence, strength, and integrity.

What the hell has happened to my country??

A simple man’s view of where we are and how we got there.

It was 1999 I was minding my own business and trying to get by and then in November the country cast their ballots for a president of this great country. We had to choose between a pretty smart Guy named Gore a smarter guy named Nader and this affable fellow but not too bright compassionate conservative named Bush.

Each side had their slogans don’t get Gored by Gore, don’t get bushwhacked by Bush and I can’t remember what that smarter guys side said. I did my duty and voted and I voted for Gore because he seemed like a decent fellow, pretty smart although I didn’t care for that lip lock he laid on Tippy at the convention. I’m just glad he didn’t grab her boob.

I lived in Florida at the time and still do as a matter of fact, but those ballots had a lot of swinging chads and so that not so smart but affable fellows brother, who was the governor had that lady who wore so much make up that I thought her face would crack if she gave any other expression than that phony smile they had painted on her face, declared the not so smart affable fellow president.

Well I was a little miffed because the country had done so well with that Rhodes Scholar chap who liked to do weird things with cigars and interns but I said what the hell, how bad could the not so smart affable fellow be anyhow.

So I’m going along with my life not really all that interested in politics. I thought we had the usual amount of pilfering of the treasury by those lawbreakers up in Washington but they had left enough to kind of go around.

I got kind of nervous in December though, you know the world was about to end because of that Y2K thing was going to destroy everything electronic in the world. I survived the Y2K fiasco so I thought everything was peachy. Well now we fast forward a little. Well then one day I woke up and turned the TV on and I see the world trade center on fire and come to find out a plane had run into it then kabloom another plane hits the other one.

I was upset because I had lived about 10 blocks north of those towers until 1986 when I had moved to Florida, I had even worked there on occasion and had some friends still there. Come to find out that a bunch of fellows from Saudi Arabia had done it on purpose. Now that not to bright affable fellow that was president had a bunch of friends from Saudi Arabia so I figure that they would sort it all out.

It turns out that these Saudi Arabia fellows had been told by the tallest guy in Afghanistan that if they took flying lessons and flew into those towers that they would go straight to heaven a get to have their way with 70 virgins. I thought that was kind of silly because God won’t let you do that.

I was real mad at that tall Saudi guy in Afghanistan and turns out that that smart Rhode Scholar president had known all along that that tall rascal was up to no good and even took a couple of shots at him but missed.

Being a smart chap and knowing he was retiring in a few months, he told the not so smart affable new president about that tall fellow in Afghanistan but he got the bums rush out of the White House and they all snickered and thought they knew how to handle it. Turns out that they gave those bad boys in Afghanistan a bunch of aid money before they flew into my friends buildings.

Now after that not so smart affable new president flew all his Saudi friends out of the country because everybody got pretty mad at those guys, he decided that he was going to go and kick some ass over there in Afghanistan.

A couple of weeks after the planes knocked down the tall buildings our not so smart but affable president says that we need to start a checking all those e-mails, phone calls, bank records, medical records, and we even need to start looking at who’s reading what at the public library and who’s buying them bad guy books at the Barnes and Noble store. He says that if he has got to go before a judge a get permission that those bad guys are going to gets again.

So all them lawbreakers up in the capital jump into step and say ok Mr. President save us from them bad guys. Hmmm I still am wondering how reading the letters I write to my mama is going to keep us safe? Besides a bunch of real smart and brave men wrote this thing called the constitution which protects us from some guy like that ole King George way back when to go doing anything he wants to do to the people he governs. You know it’s kind of funny that the president and that ole king got the same name though.

Now everybody on the planet is on America’s side because they knew that all those poor folks working in them towers most of whom where just poor schmucks trying to get by on a paycheck. Even them fellows in Iran, who had made ole Jimmy Carter look dumb by making those embassy folks stay in Iran longer than they had planed, gave America permission to fly our bombers over their country so we could go get the tall fellow over in Afghanistan.

Everything went pretty good to begin with; we beat up them Taliban and al Qaedian fellows pretty good but we kind of lost track of that tall rascal in Afghanistan. Then all of a sudden something kind of weird starts to happen. That not so smart affable president starts getting real mad at that Saddam fellow and says if he don’t turn over the weapons of math instruction he was going to bomb the hell out of him.

It wasn’t weapons of math instruction but mass destruction and he knew that Saddam fellow had some because his Daddy who had been president before that smart Rhodes Scholar president had given him some to shoot at them Iranian guys who had been fighting for years and loosing millions of troops to each other kind of canceling each others threat to the rest of the region out.

Well now the rest of the world is saying hey Mr. President, we got this Saddam fellow all bottled up with you blowing up all his air planes and tanks and such and with that no fly zone thing they can’t really be much of a threat, and furthermore those smart guys from the U.N. have been looking for those mass destruction things for a few years and can’t find nary a one, but Mr. President keeps getting advice from that chubby mad looking fellow I think who’s nick name is Tator you know Dick “Tator” Cheney.

Even Mr. Presidents generals say hey wait a minute we ain’t even got that tall fellow over in Afghanistan yet and we ain’t got enough troops to occupy that Saddam fellow’s country. Well sure enough that banker fellow who advised the president said what does that smart alleck general know about warfare, when we get that Saddam fellow all those Iraqi boys and girls will shower us with flowers for getting that bad ole Saddam guy.

Well now Mr. President goes to all them lawbreakers up on the Capital and says, let me take that SOB with all them WMD’s my daddy gave him down so America will be safe, cause that Saddam fellow was in bed with that tall guy we can’t find in Afghanistan.

I don’t know why but all them guys in the CIA kind of know that the President is making up a lot of stuff that ain’t quite true, but they don’t say nothing except for that Mr. Wilson and his pretty wife, who we found out from that guy that worked for Dick “Tator” Cheney, was a spy.

I don’t know about you, but I think that we shouldn’t tell everybody who our spies are, cause nobody will trust them anymore, and I think it’s against the law and turns out it was and so Tatars buddy Scooter was supposed to go to jail but that not so bright affable Mr. President said he had suffered enough so he let him go.

Now back to that Saddam fellow, Mr. President starts to bomb, then he invades Iraq and every thing went so well Mr. President got to land on an airplane on that big ole boat and with that big budge in his flight suit all puffed up declared the mission was accomplished.

It turns out that he didn’t tell those Iraqi fellows. It seems them Sunni’s fellows and them Shiite’s just don’t see eye to eye and would rather shoot each other than spit. So instead of showering our troops with flowers they start taking all them bombs that they had left over and nobody secured and get real mad.

Then they start to take TV remotes and cell phones and make up these remote controlled bombs from all them artillery shells and every time a U.S. Hummer comes by they change the channel and blow up our soldier boys and girls. Then them al Qaedians start to wear those funny vests that blow up and go into where all the Muslims go to church and start to blowing up all those old church’s.

Now all them Sunni and Shiite people are so mad at each other that they start to kick each other out of their neighborhoods, and they aren’t being so civil about and they go to warring on each other and our soldier boys and girls are smack in the middle of it.

Ok it’s election time again and it turns out that not so smart fellow is not so affable anymore because everyone is getting pretty mad at him for not really having accomplished any of the mission he started to accomplish. In fact every time he comes on TV he’s changing the mission. I guess if I was a general I’d be pretty confused now.

So they go campaigning and running against this tall war hero guy and I say to myself well the public can’t be dumb enough to vote for that not so smart fellow and his mad fat buddy Tatar. It turns out that they got whole lots of ads claiming that war hero was a fake. Not one of them who claimed it ever got into a fight along side him but it didn’t seem to make any difference. It seems if you put a big lie on TV and that Rush O’Reilly, and that Glenn Coultergeist says so everyone starts to believe it.

I believe that a lot of people where fooled by all that TV talk and they say that the not so smart fellow won the election again. Then he starts color coding the terror and seem like every time them lawbreakers in Washington go to voting on something that takes away some rights that color code seems to light up real high.

Right in the middle of this war and terror stuff here came Katrina and it sinks the city of New Orleans. Now all these people are living in the football stadium and Mr. President is on Vacation, but not to fear the Presidents good buddy Brownie is in charge of disaster relief. Mr. President came on the TV while all these people didn’t even have nothing to drink and he told Brownie your doing a hell of a job. I bet all them folks in New Orleans thought it was just hell and not a hell of a job. It turns out Brownie had been working for some horse show association and had got the job because Mr. Presidents 2000 campaign manager knew Brownie.

Things just keep getting worse and worse in Iraq and Mr. President decides to change the mission again and says when them Iraqi’s stand up we will stand down. The Iraqi’s start standing up and raising all kinds of hell shooting and bombing the hell out of Baghdad.

Then we have another election. Too bad we can’t vote for president yet but everyone is so mad at Mr. President that they send a bunch of his lawbreaker friends from Washington packing. This leaves the Democrats in charge and the first thing that that pretty new speaker does is tell the president he don’t have to worry about his job and he can keep on breaking the law and making new laws that take away out rights.

Things are getting so bad for the President that Mr. Bush’s Daddy gets all his old buddies from his presidency together to help his not so smart sonny boy out with some good advice. Daddy’s buddies come up with some real good advice but Sonny decides he is going to send a bunch more soldiers over to Iraq to get a hold of the situation and then he says he is going to take the advice of the General Petraeus. I don’t buy it though because he hasn’t listened to any of the real smart generals yet. Every time somebody asks what’s going on, Sonny says he is standing behind the general kind of like some kind of sissy standing behind his mommy and giving the country the finger.

Now it’s as bad as ever and the country is borrowing all its money from China to pay for all these bullets and bombs and to pay all them Hessian soldiers from that army called Blackwater.

You would think that those Democrats would stand up to that mean bully of a not so smart president and take away his allowance. So far though they won’t do anything and Mr. President is getting so mean that he won’t let those little kids even go to a doctor when they get sick.

I don’t know about the rest of you but I think the country is being lead down the wrong path by a bunch of mean folks that don’t give a hoot about anything excepting what makes them richer and meaner.

These new people who want to be president are going to have a big mess to clean up when they take over next year. Good luck everyone I hope I still have a country that I want to belong to by then.

Peace and Liberty through intelligence, strength and integrity.

What the hell has happened to my country?? Part II

What the hell has happened to my country??

What the hell has happened to my country??

What the hell has happened to my country??
A simple man’s view of where we are and how we got there.

These guys are starting to P!$$ ME OFF.

These guys are starting to P!$$ ME OFF.

We have King George W Bush and Dick “Tator” Cheney on the Tube wanting to start WWIII. Where are the Democrats or should we name the Pelosi / Reid end of the party the Fraiddycrats.

This psycho bunch of Neo-convicts are leading this country into an abyss that once started there will be no stopping. W and Tator are waving 9/11 and the war on terror the way a frighten drunk waves a cheap hand gun in a bar fight.

Neither of these SOB’s have had the nerve to actually go fight in a war but they want to send your sons and daughters, husbands and brothers off into a fight that will surely leave thousands dead and many more with horrible wounds both physical and mental.

Then on the Tube we have Rush O’Reilly, and Glenn Coultergeist all who have never seen a mutilated body lying on a battlefield except on the little screen, calling for another disastrous war. They don’t even want to pay for it they want another generation to foot the bill.

If congress won’t stand up we the people will have to. We already have the authority to do so. I have a copy of this on my desk and I believe that every American print a copy and read it on a regular basis. Then figure out where we are today as to where our founders where when they had enough.

To paraphrase from a document that is eloquent and still relevant today maybe even more so. Our founders demanded courage from Americans. American’s are not a fearful people and when our leaders are leading us into the path of destruction remember these words.

We hold these truths to e self evident, that all men are created equal, not just the rich and powerful, and that they are endowed by their creator, God, Allah, or whoever you think created you, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, which means anything I want to do as long as I don’t violate anyone else’s rights. That means up to and including wearing a Bush is an A$$hole T-shirt to your rally. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Mr. President that means if the majority of people want to end this war, or give some hard working man’s children healthcare, you and that sorry Congress need to do our bidding.

That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the People, that’s us, to alter or to abolish it and institute new government, hopefully by electing lawmakers who will lay its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience has shown, that we are more willing to suffer while your evils are sufferable, that to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which we are accustomed.

But when a long train of abuses and wrongful seizure of authority, pursuing invariably the same object demonstrates clearly a design to reduce them under absolute tyranny, it is their right, it is their DUTY, to throw off such government, hopefully by electing lawmakers who will obey and defend the Constitution and to provide new guards for their future security.

The history of this present King of America is a history of repeated injuries and wrongful seizure of authority, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute presidency over our states. To prove this let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

The repeated use of signing statements in regards to the intent of ignoring rightful laws enacted by Congress. In violation of Article 1 Section 7 and Article II, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution.
The repeated use of false or doctored information to engage an illegal war against the country of IRAQ illegally occupy their country in violation of Title 18 U.S. code , Section 371.

Illegally spying on American citizens without obtaining warrants. In violation of Title 50 U.S. Code, Section 1805.

Conspiring to commit torture of prisoners in violation of the Federal Torture Act Title 18 U.S. Code, Section 113C, the UN Torture convention and the Geneva Convention.

Illegal detaining of American citizens without access to legal counsel without charge and without opportunity to appear before a civil judicial officer to challenge the detention.
The ordering of freezing of financial accounts without limit ot how groupls were chosen to be on such a list and further sets forth that he ordered himself the power to create blacklists of any individual he felt was associated with the aforementioned groups. Thereby creating a system of guilt by association.

So I ask Congress are you going to grow a spine and stand down these Chicken-Hawks who would force this country into endless war and the ruination of our democracy. Or will the people have to take to the streets again. I certainly hope it will be the Congress.

Peace and Liberty through intelligence, strength, and integrity.