Free for All Friday: John Locke: Philosopher of American Liberty by Mary-Elaine Swanson

To make up for missing last Friday's giveaway, I am offering two giveaways this week. John Locke: Philosopher of American Liberty by the late Mary-Elaine Swanson is a great book for lovers of American history. I'm reading it now and am totally captivated.

Mary-Elaine Swanson has done an invaluable service for this and subsequent generations by resurrecting awareness and presenting an accurate knowledge of John Locke and his reasoning through an uncensored view of his life, writings, and incalculable influence on America. This book will help Americans understand the importance of Locke’s thinking for American constitutionalism today.

You will learn the real meaning of the “law of nature” as it was embraced in Colonial America and the separation of church and state embraced in the Constitution. The founding fathers looked to Locke as the source of many of their ideas. Thomas Jefferson considered Locke as one of the three greatest men that ever lived.

Locke advocated separation of the state from the church and extension of religious toleration. Locke’s political writings were an enormous influence on America’s founders in the preservation of liberty and the establishment of representative government. Locke’s contributions to American Liberty can clearly be seen interwoven in our colonial Declarations of Rights, paraphrased in our Declaration of Independence, and incorporated into our Constitution and Bill of Rights. The Declaration is born of the extensively studied and widely taught Treatises On Civil Government by John Locke. There Locke reasoned the very purpose of forming civil government is the protection of property, and that “life, liberty, and property (pursuit of happiness)” are not three separate rights but intrinsically one great and inalienable right he called “property”—which begins with the life of the individual, then his liberty which is essential to his productivity, followed by the right to enjoy the fruits of his labors without fear that the government will confiscate his property. These inalienable rights are from God and legitimate government has no authority to take them away but is chartered in fact to preserve and protect liberty.

George Grant, PhD, Pastor & Educator, said, “Locke was the fountainhead of American liberty and…he may yet prove to be the harbinger of a new day of freedom ahead.”

Lawyer Robert M. Damir said, “This book should be read by anyone who is deeply troubled about the direction in which America is headed.”

Educator and Foundation President, Carole G. Adams, PhD, stated, “Because Americans generally are disconnected from their true national identity, this book should be in every home and every schoolroom.”

Hon Rick Green, lawyer, former Texas Representative, and educator, believes that, “Every state and national legislator in America needs to read this book.”

History & Government Study Groups leader, Ben Gilmore, said, “This book ranks among the ten most significant books of the decade. It should be read by every American pastor and activist patriot.”

Read an excerpt!

The Declaration Foundational to the Constitution (from chapter 15)

Today it is important for Christians also to understand that the fundamental natural law principles stated in the Declaration of Independence were foundational to the Constitution and were so understood as late as the 1860s. Indeed, at the Reconstruction Congress meeting in 1866, Thaddeus Stevens, in urging adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, declared:

It cannot be denied that this terrible struggle [of the Civil War] sprang from the vicious principles incorporated into the institutions of our country [i.e., slavery]. Our Fathers had been compelled to postpone the principles of their great Declaration, and wait for their full establishment till a more propitious time. That time ought to be present now.

Professor Erler, quoted at the beginning of this chapter, points out that references to the Declaration as law were so frequent in these debates that it is clear that the Reconstruction Congress was ratifying “a refounding of the regime“ in the Constitution that had occurred after the victory in the Civil War. He believes that the Civil War was, in a sense, “the last battle of the Revolutionary War,” because it was only the Reconstruction Amendments that brought the Constitution into line with the principles of the Declaration of Independence.

I have a copy of this wonderful book to giveaway. Use the Rafflecopter form to enter. Good luck!

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Free for All Friday: Executive Actions & Executive Treason by Gary Grossman

It's time for another giveaway. I'm thrilled to be able to offer two eBooks from Gary Grossman to one lucky winner.

An assassin takes aim at a Presidential candidate during a primary stump speech. The instant he pulls the trigger, the outcome of the election is irrevocably changed. But Democrat Teddy Lodge, an upcoming media sweetheart, isn't killed. His wife is. As a result, Lodge emerges as the man to beat and the greatest threat to the incumbent President, Morgan Taylor. Under a specific directive from the President, Special Service Agent Scott Roarke delves into the case and begins to unravel a deadly plot that incubated for more than 30 years; designed to alter America's allegiances in the Middle East. From the very first page, Presidential Objective culls events from today's headlines intersecting with a scenario that's shockingly real: An insidious plot hatched in the old days of the Soviet Union continues to grow to fruition in the hands of a power hungry Middle East heir to the throne. At its core, a sleeper is awakened to take a prominent role in American Life. Presidential Option is a tense political thriller; an election year page-turner, where both the Presidency and the Constitution are at stake.

The secret terrorist organization that came within a heartbeat of installing its agent as President of the United States in Executive Actions is back with a new—and deadlier—plot to destabilize the U.S. government. It all begins with what appears to be a simple mugging and murder of a female White House staffer. Secret Service agent Scott Roarke discovers the truth: that the murder was committed by his secret nemesis, the mysterious assassin who had managed to always stay one step ahead of him during the presidential campaign. This time Roarke has found clues about the assassin's past that give him the tools he needs to hunt the hunter, but the clues can only go so far. Roarke needs all his skill, and a huge amount of luck as well, if he's going to catch his quarry.

Use the Rafflecopter form below to enter. Good luck!


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ChicWrap Plastic Wrap Dispenser Giveaway at At the Fence

 

Blog: At the Fence

 

Product: ChicWrap Plastic Wrap Dispenser

Giveaway Link: http://www.atthefenceonline.com/2012/06/chicwrap-worlds-best-plastic-wrap.html

 

 

Honoring a Fallen Hero: Officer Kevin Ambrose

We've had a sad week. On Monday, Officer Kevin Ambrose, a 36-year veteran of the Springfield, MA police force was killed in the line of duty while responding to a domestic violence call. The entire city and neighboring communities mourn this hero. An estimated 6, 000 to 10,000 officers from around the country are expected to attend his funeral on Friday. This is the first deadly shooting of a Springfield Police Officer since 1985.

We ask everyone to keep the Ambrose family in their prayers. His death is a horrible tragedy that leaves a person searching for answers. In the end, we must trust that God has called this hero to be close to him, and we ask for peace and comfort for his family, fellow officers and friends.

A memorial fund in his name has been set up to assist his family. Donations may be sent to:

Kevin E. Ambrose Memorial Fund
c/o Greater Springfield Credit Union
1030 Wilbraham Road
Springfield, MA 01109

Mystery Novel Month: No Bells by F. M. Meredith

Officer Gordon Butler has finally found the love he’s been seeking for a long time, but there’s one big problem. She’s the major suspect in a murder case.

Read an excerpt:


GORDON BUTLER AWOKE to the blues’ riff that signaled a call coming in from his girlfriend, Benay Weiss. He squinted at his digital clock. 5:15 a.m. Tuesday, his day off.

Yawning, he flipped open the phone. Before he could say anything, Benay sobbed, “Geri is missing.”

He sat up. “What?”

“My best friend, Geri Rowe. She disappeared.”

“How do you know?”

Benay sounded near hysterics. “Her husband just called to find out if she might be here with me. She isn’t.”

“Did they have a fight?”

“He just said she didn’t come home last night.”

Gordon switched into police mode. “You two are so close. Did she say anything about marital problems?”

“Nothing new. Gordon, I’m so scared for her.”

“Has her husband reported her missing?”

“I don’t think so. He was going to call her relatives next to see if they’d heard from her.”

“He should make a report. Nothing will be done until she’s gone for 24 hours. They’ll want to make sure she didn’t just leave on her own.”

“She wouldn’t have done that without telling me. Gordon, we share everything. We’ve been friends since high school. I was her maid-of-honor at her wedding.”

“Do you want me to come over?”

She didn’t answer for a long while. “No. Philip said he’d call me back in a little while.”

“I’ve got the day off. I could spend it with you.”

“No. I have to work. I’m so worried about Geri, she’s all I can think about. I’ll call you if I hear anything from her.”

Gordon knew if something bad had happened to Benay’s friend, he’d hear about it first. “Chances are she’s okay.”

“I hope so.” She hung up.

* * *
Saturday morning, Officer Gordon Butler approached the scene of his first call of the day, a body found by teens in the nearly dry stream bed running along the rocky bluff that gave the beach town its name
Parking his blue-and-white police car, Gordon climbed out. He surveyed the area, trying to find the young people who’d called in their gruesome find.

A forest of native oaks, junipers as well as tall eucalyptus and clusters of evergreen shrubs blocked the view of the place where the body reportedly had been discovered. The strong scent of the eucalyptus overpowered the saltiness of the ocean drifting in on a slight breeze. He inhaled deeply and detected the sweet, sickening odor of decaying flesh.

PURCHASE AT AMAZON!

F.M. Meredith, also known as Marilyn Meredith, is the author of over thirty published novels—and a few that will never see print. No Bells is set in Rocky Bluff, CA, a fictional beach community between Ventura and Santa Barbara. F. M. once lived in a similar beach area with many police families as neighbors. She is a member of EPIC, three chapters of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and serves as the program chair for the Public Safety Writers of America’s writing conference. She’s been an instructor at many other writing conferences. Visit her at http://fictionforyou.com and her blog at http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com. 

WSJ Wednesdays - Osteoporosis Drugs Raise Risk of Rare but Serious Fractures

This article in the Tuesday, May 22, 2012 edition of The Wall Street Journal captured my attention because my mother-in-law recently had some testing done for bone density. She had cancer back in the 1980s, which can effect bone density.

Jonathan D. Rockoff's article titled, "Osteoporosis Drugs Linked to Rare Fractures," discussed the widely used osteoporosis drugs Fosamax and Actonel, and raise the risk of a "rare but serious thigh fracture." The risk increases the longer the patient takes the medication. The article goes on to state that some women over 50 have been taking the drugs for years, but a small number of patients have broken a leg performing everyday actions like stepping off curbs. A new study published the day before Rockoff's article found a link between the drugs and these atypical thigh fractures.

Merck & Co., seller of Fosamax, faces more than 3,100 product-liability lawsuits, according to the article. Of these suits, 1,200 allege the drug caused jaw bones to decay in some patients. You can read the entire article here.

My mother-in-law told me today that her doctor has decided to give her the drug Prolia, which she would receive by injection twice a year. I found this article on MedPage Today from May 11, 2012 that stated serious adverse effects were found to occur with Prolia, and they "were limited to the denosumab formulation for osteoporosis (60 mg every 6 months)." I emailed her the article because I'm concerned about it. You can find all the details in the article if you're interested, but what caught my eye is that after they boiled down they investigated all the reports of adverse effects, they "were left with 41 reports involving 46 serious adverse events, all related to the use of the 60-mg dose of denosumab." Nine patients had to be hospitalized, including six patients with treatment-related vasculitis (inflammation of the blood vessels).

I'm not sure what other options would be available to her if she decided not to be treated with Prolia. The doctor told her that her hip bone is very thin. She has definitely shrunk the past few years and her spine is now curved.

Have you or anyone you know been diagnosed with osteoporosis? How is it being treated? What natural methods have been tried?

Special Features Coming Up

Here at The Book Loving Busy Mom's Daily, we like to feature themed months. This is what we have planned for the rest of the year. If you have a product that fits in well with these themes, we would love to review it. You can check our recent stats here. Email Cheryl at ccmal(at)charter(dot)net.

July is Summer Fun Month!

August is Getting Ready for School Month!

September is Baking Month!

October is Halloween Fun Month!

November is Product Review Month!

December is Holiday Traditions Month