Colorado Irish Festival 2014

Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending my first Irish or Celtic festival. I have to say it was a real hoot.  It was the Colorado Irish Festival in Littleton Colorado. My main reason for going was to see The High Kings. I had not seen them in a live performance since Killarney in 2009 and they did not disappoint.

But let’s start at the beginning. I had chatted with friend Amy about this and she said she’d like to go. I picked up tickets for both of us for Saturday and Sunday in exchange for staying at her place and her transporting us to and from. I hopped the bus from the San Luis Valley and the four or so hour ride north up highway 285. A late morning arrival saw here waiting for me and we then went straight to the site of the festival at Clement Park.

We wandered a bit and checked out various tents including ones for the Irish sport of Hurling. No, not the kind of hurling you get from too many pints! It is played with a stick and ball but on a field much like soccer. We also stopped at a tent for Irish wolfhound rescue and met a laid back dog named Finbarr. We also grabbed a lunch at a Scottish place housed in a trailer that came up from Albuquerque. We watched some of the bagpipe band competition too and then headed to the open air venue to watch our first of four bands of the day. They weren’t so hot and were local. Stubby something or other. Next up was a fine Canadian group called Searson. It is named for the two sisters in the group including one who is quite the fiddler. They are from eastern Canada and a four piece band with keyboards, fiddle, Base, and drums, along with vocals and dance. Very good and we’d see them again the next day. Weather had been cloudy for the most part but with breaks of hot sun. That cooked things and set off the storms. Thankfully it was just rain. But at times for the rest of the day and night it was heavy rain and everyone was soaked. Next up was a great local group called The Elders. All of them were top drawer but I especially liked the violinist, Colin, and drummer, Kian. The lead man Ian Byrne happens to be the uncle to outstanding Celtic Woman piper Anthony Byrne. No one stayed seated for this show and it was simply excellent. Next up the headline act for the night was Gaelic Storm. I have waited to see them for years and I finally got the chance. As billed by others who had seen them it was high energy and no one sat down. I got my exercise between these two groups bouncing and dancing. First day was done and I was very impressed with it all.

Day two began with a hearty breakfast and then to pick up tow of Amy’s gal pals for the day. As with the first day we had to park away from the site and be bused over. Clement Park was the scene of sports camps and baseball games and parking was taken up by that. So, we parked at a place of high notoriety, Columbine High School. There is a nearby memorial and I could feel a few of the ghosts floating around at times. We arrived and the day was sunny and warm with some clouds at times. I opted to head right to the music venue and grab some chairs in what little shade near the stage I could for all of us at stage left. The others wandered a bit as I minded the store. First up was another local group called Angus Mohr. Like The Elders it included a father and son team. It was a four piece group that included some didjeridoo along with guitars, drums, and bagpipes. It was like traditional Irish meets Led Zeppelin and was very good. Some fine work by one and all. Amy and company got in on the last bits of it. I went for some ice cream on the break and made it back for sound check for Searson. Slightly different set list and as good as the Saturday show. Sadly, the crowd had not really developed yet so their reception was not as boisterous as the day before. Clouds were rolling in but no major rain and only scant sprinkles as we readied for the headline of the day, The High Kings. Finbarr Clancy, Darren Holden, Martin Furey, and Brian Dunphy are all multi-talented on instruments and sing. I have many fond memories of them when they opened for Celtic Woman in 2008 and the Killarney show in 2009. I was able to chat with Martin before the show and he is as fine as they come. The performance was excellent and they did a couple encores. I could have easily stood a full two hour show. After the show we lined up for CDs, autographs, and photos. I chatted with a young couple who had sat in front of me, the Parlanes, from Columbus Nebraska. Nice people and this concert was a bucket list item for them. Also at the show were long time fans Norma and Charlie Brock from Texas. Great folks. I did not ask for the lads to sign anything. I just wanted to say hello and get a photo. We stay in touch on Facebook and I just had to thank them for the great show. It was then off for Amy’s, an overnight, and home the next day.

This was a great event well done and I will most certainly be back, God willing. Only flies in the ointment were vendors not taking cash, no Guinness, and the wet weather on Saturday. But what is an Irish anything without rain? I was just thankful no lightning. I would encourage them to look into the Gothard Sisters, and Screaming Orphans to add to their list. Aside from that I was very pleased and congratulate one and all involved for a marvelous weekend.   

Are we still independent? Well, yes and no

Hello, America!

      Firstly, I hope each of you had a wonderful celebration yesterday for Independence Day. But the very title begs the question as to how independent we still are.

      There are many ways to look at that. I am an originalist when it comes to the Constitution. I believe it means what it meant when it was written. Sadly, many believe it is a "living document" that can be re-interpreted to fit the times. That's not how it works nor how it was designed to work. In a sense it IS a living document in that it can be amended. But the idea that the words themselves change with times to mean something else is wrong. That would make  the document dead and not living. If what is written can be changed on a whim by those with a political or social agenda then the words mean nothing. We have seen over the years as various sessions of Congress, Presidents and their cabinets, and the Supreme Court have all used this "living document" to undermine the original intent and grant themselves more power at the expense of the people. It has not mattered what party we are talking about.

     DC has become a breeding ground for the globalist elite who could not care less about national sovereignty or "quaint" documents like the Constitution. Regardless of party these folks are beholding to outside interests, foreign ideology, and most of all, MONEY. They believe themselves immune and the American people are proving that they are at the moment. More and more laws are passed to limit the freedoms of both business and individuals and not what needs to be limited and that is government. The Constitution was a limitation on government and not the people. The elite cannot stand that idea that the masses would have more freedom than they believe they should. Year after year Congress votes itself a pay raise and yet no one in the electorate gets raises of such magnitude and in many cases wait years for tiny ones. Name for me another profession that gives itself a pay raise without the consent of the owners. We the people are the owners.

     Are you represented in DC? No, unless you are part of a special interest group that has been deemed politically correct. All of those groups are tiny percentages of the electorate. So it has been minority rule by group and by issue in many cases.When poll after poll showed 90% + of America saying no to bailing out banks they did it anyway. When America said no to other laws passed they did it anyway. The "Affordable Care Act" aka Obamacare was foisted on the people by a Congress who said "we need to pass it so we know what's in it" and it has been a disaster for individuals and business. It was clearly a payoff to the insurance and pharmaceutical lobbies and has nothing at all to do with better health care. Most people had their rates go up and many had affordable plans dropped. Many in the medical profession are looking at leaving. Many still have no insurance. It fixed nothing and made matters worse. I had a fine discount plan here in Colorado for low income people. That vanished at the end of March. If I have another major health crisis as I had last year I am simply out of luck. Mandating you purchase private insurance is nowhere in the Constitution. In fact, the entire thing is illegal since the court declared it a tax and such a thing must originate in the House and not the Senate. Since it was brought about by the latter then it is null and void. But it is not the first unconstitutional law to be forced on the people.

     Remember the Patriot Act? After the horrendous assault of 9/11 this was deemed appropriate response to "keep us safe from terrorism". Never mind the entire thing was a false flag with the cursory death toll to go with it. We then upped security at our airports including invasive body scanners. We then went to Afghanistan and later Iraq to get them over there before they came over here. That too was false. It was clear to America there was one enemy, radical Islam. Yet we could not profile Muslims in this country because it was deemed discriminatory. We also did not strengthen our borders or entry requirements from nations where such radicals come from. So, we went over there and did nothing to target the perpetrators over here or their supporters. Europe did not either. So how real is a war on terrorism when the war itself is only fought half way? Why is ALL of America suspect when it was only a narrow group who inflicts such barbarism? It is phony and yet your tax dollars fund it just as they will fund the ACA, and as they funded bailing out banks. Do you feel free when you fly? Have you ever seen a Muslim picked out for added security? Does a women in full facial covering remove that? Western nations including us are caving in to the very people who behead, and blow things up. Yet, as Mr. Snowden and others have shown now, ALL of us are suspect. We are not, and if DC says we should be then clearly they view all of us as the enemy. All of your communications can be read or listened to without your knowledge all in the name of security. How secure are we with a porous border?

      Ah yes, immigration. We are told by both parties we are a nation of immigrants and we should embrace all who come here no matter what. I think Native Americans were made to swallow that pill. That did not go well for them did it? Immigration reform is a huge issue and rightfully so. It is true that we are a nation of immigrants. But gone are such transit facilities like Ellis Island. Gone now also it seems are background and health checks. Gone now is your freedom to walk and mingle in society without fear of drug gangs and contagious disease let alone terrorists. Have those threats always been there? Yes, but they get worse the more loosely we guard our borders and entry requirements. Many wait years and spend thousands to gain entry and vie for citizenship. Yet we are told we must grant those who come here illegally amnesty. No. Go through the proper procedure, come and work, embrace your new homeland and don't try to make it into where you came from, and you are welcome. Yes, the native peoples here centuries ago were not given that option just as it seems now neither are we. That is because DC is run by globalists more beholding to the United Nations than to us. One party wants cheap labor and the other party wants cheap votes so the fix is in. The current crisis on our border and being exported all across the country comes from DC not outside. Masses of children are being used as pawns to attempt to create a crisis akin to Palestinian camps in order to gain sympathy from the American people for amnesty. Sadly yet, many immigrants that have been coming have no allegiance to this country. They have other motives whether it is to take parts of the country back for Mexico or to Islamicize it. They are not here to become Americans but to change us. There was a time when such types would not be granted entry but now our own government imports them in large numbers and plants them in places totally foreign to them in the name of humanity. Witness 50,000 Muslims sent to the Minneapolis area years ago. No, we cannot be xenophobic, and we cannot and should not isolate ourselves. But we must maintain limits and criteria for entry that build us up and not tear us down. The system should be streamlined and made less costly but it cannot ever grant amnesty without undermining the systems in place here and the economy. It may yet come to shots fired and that would not be good.

      Shots fired? Oh but we must take away the guns from everyone to keep us safe right? Doing so in other nations did not lower their crime rates including violent crime. It did not disarm criminals and nut cases. It only disarmed the general public. Law enforcement cannot be there to prevent crime. They are there to investigate crime and catch the ones who committed it after the fact. It is called law enforcement and not crime prevention for a reason. We have seen many shootings over the years and nearly all are by disturbed young men who are either under psychiatric care and/or on psychotropic drugs. Such things alter their realities and the warning labels on the drugs are clear on that. Does the media mention that? No. Why? Because the media gets millions per year from the very pharmaceutical companies that create these drugs. Gun makers do not an cannot advertise on the major networks. Follow the money. Plenty of conspiracy ideas about that which may very well be true. Regardless, DC again wants to re-interpret the Constitution and find ways to remove arms from us. Hitler did that. Stalin did that. Mao did that. All tyrants disarm the citizens as those are the ones they fear most. Our founders granted the right to bear arms for a reason and it wasn't hunting. It was in case the people needed to do what they did and take their country back from tyranny. And we are on the verge of that now.

      Mr. Obama is not who he pretended to be to the electorate. He is an empty suit, a created being who is a simple puppet of the globalist elite. Valerie Jarrett is his direct puppet master and his cabinet are his puppets. Media as well is complicit in all of this save for the non-traditional media. If he were white and in the other party the media would be red faced with rage in asking for his removal. We are fed all sorts of garbage from the globalist agenda from human caused global climate change (maybe all the chemtrails government is spraying has something to do with that!), to overpopulation, to equal outcomes (not opportunity), to group over individual. and that is what the globalists have been doing for decades. Divide people into groups by color, race, ethnicity, gender, age, economics, gender preference, and many other issues, then pit them against each other. In that way we fight each other and not the ones orchestrating it all. Have these folks ever fixed an issue? Are any of the issues or divides ever cured? No, and the elite at the top don't want them to be. It is about dependence. The globalist elite hate independence both of nation states and individual humans. DC wants America dependent upon other nations and we the people dependent upon government. They have to undermine the social fabric to do that and they use education and media to make it happen. The middle class and white Christian males are special targets. The middle class is far smaller than it was 50 years ago and globalist partner The Federal Reserve is part of that via inflation. How free are you when things get more expensive all the time and your income doesn't compensate?

      Yes, those who control the money supply are largely responsible for your own economic plight. Wages have never kept up with the cumulative inflation of the last 40 years or so. When The Fed talks about "quantitative easing" they mean print more money. Same thing goes with the European Central Bank. The more that goes into the supply the less it is worth. The net effect is that prices go up. To dovetail with that you have an insatiable appetite by DC for spending. Both parties are complicit in this. Are you free to determine where your tax dollars go? No. They go to "rebel" groups (ie terrorists) in Syria, The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, in fact all over the globe for things you would never give a dime to. They go to pork projects in all of the Congress' districts around the country for more things you'd never spend a dime on. They go to fund wars you don't believe in. They go to bail out banks and business who should be left to fail. Depositors supposedly have insurance to protect them to a certain amount. They fund systems that are bloated and inefficient like the VA which is a travesty to both veterans and active duty alike. They fund you being spied on while actual terrorists go unwatched. They go to fund an IRS that gets used as a political weapon against whoever opposes the agenda in DC. Is that freedom? No, it is slavery.

      When someone or something dictates to you what you can do and how you can act and forces you to pay for it whether you disagree or not that is slavery not freedom. The beauty of our Constitution is that it grants all the freedoms you want if it is properly interpreted. But we are told we need special laws for this group or that. We don't. Anything not specifically mentioned in the Constitution is left to the individual states. And, ALL are included in that. Yet we buy into that some are at a disadvantage. They are only because the ones who lead them wish it so. Is your business free to decide who it hires and whom it does business with? Not really when there are quotas and charges of discrimination. We have freedom of association in this country. We can hire who we wish, spend time with who we wish, and do business with who we wish. But the globalist elite in DC want to force you to the contrary. How free is that? We can have black student unions and Hispanic chambers of commerce but no separate groups for whites. Women must be allowed in to any organization but women can still have their own groups without men. My feeling on it is either all or nothing. Either we open all things up to everyone or allow any group to be separate. But separate but equal was outlawed with the Equal Rights amendment wasn't it? Amendment? Yes.

    And that brings us back to that "living document" thing. THAT is how we change the document to fit the times, the amendment process that must be ratified by the states. The ACA should have been done that way because of how massive a change that is for the nation. It was not. Why? Because the elite in DC knew it would never be ratified by the states. And that is where DC now rules us, by going around the proper process and creating laws outside the Constitution. It has also gone nuts with executive orders, or ruling by decree. Sounds a bit like King George III doesn't it? Taxation without representation anyone? and Congress sits there weak and complicit spouting a few words of indignation and doing nothing. You see it is not about party and never has been. You who are died in the wool party hacks for either party are foolish. Party is there for one purpose only and that is to keep us divided. All that while they share the same golf courses, tennis courts, and cocktail parties and laugh at you.

     So, America, how many more Independence Days will we truly celebrate independence? We are still free enough so speak out like this to a point as long as we are deemed weak and having no audience. But get noticed and the heavy hand may very well pay you a visit. Government is arming up big time all while pressuring all of us to disarm and letting our enemies in without a whimper. DC arms drug dealers, terrorists, and all manner of criminals not including themselves who are part and parcel to all three. Fast and Furious anyone? Benghazi? Etc. etc. And make no mistake I'm not just going off here on the current regime. They are just the worst of the bunch. Bush was no saint and neither was his dad (Mr. New World Order), nor were most Presidents in the past few decades. Only two tried to stand in the way, JFK, and Reagan. One was murdered and the other they tried to murder. Both men wanted the best for America and opposed the globalist elite. But both had people in their cabinets that undermined them. They did not choose well. All the others in my opinion were globalist hacks and crooks. We need to look at independence in a political way. Time to stop bowing to the two major parties and vote for those outside the system. When in doubt vote out any and all incumbents until the parties get the message about who is in charge. DC is not our friend. The only way we can remain independent and free is if we set aside groups and issues and unite as one people. Until that happens we are slaves to the political globalist elite and their media helpers. There is not one issue we the people cannot solve and by the simplest of means. We are told it isn't that simple. It is. It always has been. Use the Constitution as written and it all works out just fine. I pray for the nation, the world, and each of you that we will triumph over the ruling elite. Peace.