I don\u2019t watch scary movies. It\u2019s always been a \u201cthing\u201d. I can trace it all back to one of my early memories. I was just six years-old, watching a television show in black and white called The Outer Limits. <\/em>It was a science fiction show, and this episode was about our earth invaded by an alien force. The aliens were ants, big ants, maybe six or eight inches long ants. And they\u2019d crawl up the pants legs of the earthlings, creating searing agony with their bites. The chewed their way to power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I had nightmares for weeks. To this day, I occasionally wake myself up in the middle of the night. My subconscious knows that the giant ant nightmare is coming, and it\u2019s time to get up, take a walk, and find another \u201ctrain of thought\u201d to fall asleep to. Oh, and shake out my pants legs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve avoided scary movies ever since.\u00a0\u00a0I haven\u2019t seen the \u201cclassics\u201d, the\u00a0Halloween<\/em>\u00a0series, or Sigourney Weaver in\u00a0Alien<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0In fact, one of the only \u201chorror\u201d movies I sat through was called\u00a0Poltergeist.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>Four of us were on a summer road trip, driving a van across the country, from Ohio to Washington State to the California\/Mexico border and back.\u00a0\u00a0One night in Rapid City, South Dakota, my compatriots decided we were going to a horror movie.\u00a0\u00a0No amount of, \u201cI\u2019ll just hang out in the bar\u201d was enough to avoid the experience.\u00a0\u00a0Luckily, we were all staying in one hotel room that night.\u00a0\u00a0I still didn\u2019t get much sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The movie was about a young girl, named Carol Ann. Her spirit was threatened\u00a0\u00a0by evil.\u00a0\u00a0The evil spirits wanted retribution \u2013 her home was built on a desecrated cemetery.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A\u00a0\u00a0spiritualist was brought in to keep Carol Ann with the living, and she struggled against the evil spirits trying to drag her away.\u00a0\u00a0The battle for Carol Ann\u2019s spirit came down to \u201cthe light\u201d, crossing over to the spirit world.\u00a0\u00a0The Spiritualist said: \u201cCarol Anne – listen to me. Do *not* go into the light. Stop where you are. Turn away from it. Don’t even look at it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The light was a ruse. It seemed like the spiritual light to heaven, when in fact, it was the light to evil. And even though I was terrified by the \u201chorror\u201d, I still got the point. Sometimes, \u201cthe light\u201d isn\u2019t what it seems to be. Sometimes, you need to turn away from the light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I watched the State of the Union address last night, and the Republican response.\u00a0\u00a0Listen, Joe Biden is no Barack Obama, he is solid \u201cJoe\u201d from Scranton, Pennsylvania.\u00a0\u00a0He\u2019s a plain spoken man. But he certainly enjoyed his eighty minutes in the limelight, giving as good as he got when the hecklers yelled from the crowd.\u00a0(Remember when a Congressman yelled \u201cliar\u201d at Barack Obama? That shocked all of us; the decorum the State of the Union was broken.\u00a0\u00a0Now, we were all waiting for it.\u00a0\u00a0Our times are \u201ca-changing\u201d).\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Biden painted a picture of America on the way \u201cup\u201d, with the economy breaking record highs, inflation under control, violent crime going down and unemployment at all-time lows. And he recognized that not everyone was sharing in the \u201cwealth\u201d, and laid out programs to make their lives better too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And the President gave us a clear view of how the United States would help restore order in the world, from backing Ukraine, strengthening NATO, and even building a seaport in Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid. Like it or not, Biden offered America solutions for our problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Biden also explained America\u2019s choice in 2024. His message was stark: we are choosing between a republic and oligarchy; democracy or authoritarianism. There are, in fact, two lights drawing the American people in opposite directions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The difference between those two lights was dramatically (overly dramatic) emphasized by the Republican \u201cretort\u201d to the State of the Union. Alabama Senator Katie Britt delivered the speech from her literal \u201ckitchen table\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0Her America is quite dark, overrun by illegal immigrants threatening mayhem at every turn.\u00a0\u00a0In her America, it seems, that the average family huddles in prayer and fear around their kitchen table, looking for \u201cthe light\u201d to lead them out of their torment.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And that light, to the Senator, is the twice-impeached, four-time indicted presumptive Republican Party nominee.\u00a0\u00a0As Trump says, only he can fix it.\u00a0\u00a0Now all he needs to do is say \u2013 come to the light.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n When we get past all the nonsense; worries about Joe\u2019s clarity of thought, or physical ability to govern (despite the \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d Pac commercial), America is faced with a vision. Is our Nation in an evil place, looking for the light and protection of Trump? Or are we on the way up, to the better America that Joe Biden offers?<\/p>\n\n\n\n We need to choose \u2013 which light will we \u201ccome to\u201d?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Poltergeist<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
A Union of Light<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
A Union of Dark<\/h3>\n\n\n\n