Like Warm Jello

I was just finishing a cup of Starbucks here in San Francisco when I read the side of my cup.

"I wish everyone could see how much we all have in common"

Supposing that we did see our commonalities, then what? Does it remove our wickedness? Supposing that a home invader was getting ready to unload his shotgun into your family. What good would the many ways in which you share common ground with the criminal do you? Or from a global perspective suppose Iran was getting ready to keep its promise to annihilate Israel by turning it to a sea of glass. What good would the things that Israel has in common with Iran do Israel, even though there are probably many times more things both have in common than not?

These little naive idealistic sayings are like jello. They are sweet thoughts, sure, but they don't stand up when the kitchen gets hot.

Dishonesty

Here is Kathleen Sebelius talking about the end run that will be made around the anti-abortion wording in the so called "health care reform" legislation that the blue dog Ben Nelson fell on his political sword to obtain.

Notice how Sebelius uses the words "accounting ah measure" instead of "accounting gimmick". Well that's nice. I love the "women's health services" code talk that those stupid Bible Thumpers are not suppose to understand. And as a nice icing at the end the other person's response was: "that's very confusing". Hmmmm... you bet ya.



H/T Jill Stanek -where transcrip is available-by way of Eternity Matters

Phoenix Breathes Sigh Of Relief

Thursday night Phoenix AZ breathed a sigh of relief. Georgia Lynn Baker was not hurt, or harmed, while eluding police in a high speed chase. The chase endangered the lives of many as they were going about their business, and took the life of a 28 year old police officer who was attempting to stop her, but the main thing is is that Baker is OK, and the city of Phoenix and the ACLU can breath a sigh of relief. Our right to go about driving under the influence of drugs, endangering the lives of our fellow citizens and police-should we ever feel the need to do so-without the fear of the police hurting us in their attempts to stop us, was not encroached upon.

The police officer, 28-year-old Chris Marano, gave his life while protecting these rights. Marano leaves behind a wife and four children. What a Christmas present. But hey, as I said, Miss Baker will experience this Christmas completely in tact, and that's the main thing... isn't it?

Finding The Philosophical

I spend quite a bit of time studying the integral workings of what I have come to know as "Worldview". In so doing, I have studied and marveled over the concept of beauty, philosophy, and the deep questions of life.

This has brought about quite a bit of change in my own worldview. I, for example, no longer look at art as beautiful in and of itself, or the artist as simply talented, although I do marvel over anyone's ability to create. I see the beauty as a the very finger print of God himself manifesting itself through one of his creations for all to see. This video is no different. While watching this, I marveled over what God has enabled man to do, in all its simplicity and humor, and what possible message was being conveyed, if any.

With the onset of the death of man in the sixties, which manifested it self, incidentally, as the death of God, Francis Schaeffer said at the time that "philosophers no longer ask the big questions classical philosophy has always asked", and that "the real philosophic expressions have tended to pass over to those who do not occupy the chairs of philosophy-...[such as] the film producer" (1)

This little cartoon may be such an example. While it does matter what the artist intended, I am not saying that my interpretation is the same. I had quite the laugh watching it, and as always, was struck by man's ability to create.

What I saw in this cute little video was man's desire to rid himself and the world of sin (the cat) without Christ. The more he tries, so he can get back to his own personal pursuits, the worse his life becomes until he is faced with nine times the hell in his after life. President Lincoln accused the South of being willing to burn down its barn to get rid of its rats. Current events and this little cartoon remind me of this phrase as I marvel over the follies being undertaken by our current government in its attempts at creating its Utopian paradise by stamping out, at the price of unfathomable debt, the consequences of sin; the result being the destruction of a nation and its economy.



H/T Casting Pearls Before Swine

(1) Escape From Reason, IVP Classics, pg 74

On Economics, thoughts taken from Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell, Chapter 1

As I considered reading Basic Economics, by Thomas Sowell, I anticipated a book about money. I was surprised to learn that "economics" is not about money at all, but about resources. Currency is only a system by which the value of resources is measured.

According to Sowell, economics is defined as:

The allocation of scarce resources which have alternative uses.

This definition can be broken down into three parts:

1. Allocation
   
2. Scarce resources
   
3. Alternative uses

Allocation

Allocation is similar to method. Everyone who desires the use of a resource will not be able. This is one of the harsh realities with which we are all faced, and it is unreasonable to deny it, though many do. As the Titanic was sinking, this harsh reality came into play with the shortage of life boats. The modern and popular concept of equality was a foreign one, and absurd too, given the blatant realities on the deck of that ship. In fact, the only way to enforce that reality would have been to deny anyone access to the life boats. Ultimately, we all know how that decision was made, which was that the men chose self sacrifice in favor of the women. In any case, allocation is the method which determines who the beneficiaries of resources for a given society or situation will be, and it will ultimately depend on the governmental/economic system within which the resources are being allocated.

Scarce Resources

The value of a resource will depend on the demand for that resource verses its scarcity or availability. It only stands to reason that the lower the availability of a given resource, the higher the number of people there will be who will be denied its benefit, such as in the the previous example of the Titanic. Scarce simply means that there are limits on the availability of all resources.

Alternative uses

The lifeboat analogy breaks down here unless perhaps we create a hypothetical question of whether the boats might have just as well been broken up and used for a signal fire. But then the question would have been about the alternative uses for the specific resource, wood, as opposed to lifeboats. Would it have been better to use the wood for a signal fire or allow it to continue in its use as a lifeboat?

Wood, as a raw resource can also be used alternately in pianos, or in the construction of furniture, among other things. The question of "which alternative?" is answered by the system within which the question is asked? The goal with any system is to avoid a situation like a warehouse full of unwanted pianos while there is a shortage of wood for building furniture for which there is a demand? Meeting this goal will again depend on the method, or governmental/economic system, and in fact in some systems it may not be avoided at all. In the the old Soviet Union, with its central planners deciding what resources would be used for what, it was common for resources to be miss-allocated resulting in an abundance of things people didn't want while with a simultaneous shortage of things people did want. The thousands of central planners were no match for the allocation of scarce resources with alternative uses that happens daily and automatically in a free market system as millions of private individuals make millions of purchasing choices.

Free market = free choice

The free market describes just that, the freedom to choose. And although the average person living in a free market economy probably doesn't think about it, every time a choice is made to purchase one thing over another, that choice impacts the allocation of scarce resources which have alternative uses. If more people want dressers than pianos, the demand for dressers will allow the furniture manufacturer to bid higher prices for the scarce resource, wood, thereby driving up the cost of building pianos as well as the cost of purchasing furniture. As a result of demand the price of the piano and dresser will increase until a sort of equilibrium is reached between supply, demand, and cost. The end result will be that more of the scare resource, wood, will be directed toward dressers as opposed to pianos. But, of coarse, nothing is ever static in an economy. It is for these reasons that no government will ever meet the challenge of managing it.

As Christians

As Christians it is important that we understand economic concepts lest we be led astray by our own envy, or by noble sounding arguments from those who stand to benefit from laws that regulate the economy. All economic systems are ultimately the arrangements of trade-offs. No system will lead us back into Eden and as such there will be faults and problems with any system; the first and foremost springing from man's sinful nature. We are also still under the curse. This means that we have to earn our way by the sweat of our brow; that is, the old adage that you can't get something for nothing, still applies. So when someone promises something different, we should have the discernment to know better.

Note: I have a fear of insulting the reader's intelligence in posting some of my attempts at writing This article was written some time ago and wasn't posted for just such a fear. I have noticed however that many people say that they don't understand economics, so I reconsidered that earlier decision. If you're still reading, I would sure appreciate any feedback on whether or not this article was helpful or informative.

Get Your Children Out Of Public School Now

I had copied and pasted a pornographic line in the first sentence of this post, then thought better of it assuming that no one but already-shocked-by-what-they-are-seeing readers would ever see it.

Gateway Pundit reported Friday morning that the (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) GLESN, founded by President Obama's current safe schools czar, has a reading list to help students learn to feel comfortable with there own, or accept other's homosexuality. The team at Gateway chose a handful at random from the over 100 titles on GLSEN’s grades 7-12 list to read. They were unprepared for what [they] encountered. It was described as thus:

Book after book after book contained stories and anecdotes that weren't merely X-rated and pornographic, but which featured explicit descriptions of sex acts between pre-schoolers; stories that seemed to promote and recommend child-adult sexual relationships; stories of public masturbation, anal sex in restrooms, affairs between students and teachers, five-year-olds playing sex games, semen flying through the air. One memoir even praised becoming a prostitute as a way to increase one’s self-esteem.

So what we have here is a President of the United States who has an unvetted "Safe Schools" czar, Kevin Jennings, who is the founder of an increasingly powerful organization that promotes pornography for children.

This however is not shocking to me, nor is it scary. There have always been creepy people, some of which have made their way into high and powerful positions. What is scary to me is that this will not reach the level of scandalous as scandalous was once understood. There once was a saner time when the like would have caused an avalanche resulting in the President and his Orwellian Czars in the dislodged rubble at the bottom of the mountain. This will not be the case in these current times. Unfortunately, I'm much more afraid of a society that is OK with these things, just so long as sufficient numbers believe that they will get their precious free heath care, and whatever other impossible Utopian promises are currently coming from on high. This indeed I find most terrifying.

Please visit Gateway Pundit and read the article, even including some of the excerpted passages from GLESN's recommended books.

New World Order American Dictionary additions

Some additions and one revision to my other blog, a one post blog, the New World Order American Dictionary linked at the right of this page.

Corruption-A label reserved for political law breakers-real, imagined, or accused, who disagree with Democrats.

Fair-A subjectively derived position or point of view mistaken or confused with objective truth.

Government-God

Good-see whatever

Hope- The opiate for the anti-religious masses.

Job Creation-a job shifted from the private to public sector.

Morality- archaic, offensive, The idea of right and wrong based on objective truth. used interchangeably with morality [the idea of right and wrong based on liberals.] Hence, the statement "you can't legislate morality" by those who legislate lots of morality must be interpreted under the archaic meaning.

Patriot- Any person who loves the dream he has for America. example: Army Major Nidal Hasan is a Patriot because he loves the dream he has for an America under Sharia Law. President Obama is a patriot because he loves the dream he has for a communist America.

Whatever- The culmination of liberal thought and theology in a word.

A Cap And Trade Bed Time Story

As more and more truth leaks out about the supposed global warming climate change "crisis", the commercials from evil corporations-who incidentally stand to make a nice profit from this global hoax, and the"news stories" from the state supporting media, who incidentally seek to gain more power from the same, are looking more and more ridiculous. My bet is that rather than tone it down in light of the piling evidence against this farce, they will ratchet it up by saying "shut up", which will look more and more like this. It is, after all, the communist way.

While we are visualizing world peace, may we also visualize a world in which news cycles report truth, and PSA's look like this:




H/T The Clay Tablet

12 Rules To Govern And Live By For Destroying An Economy And A Nation

1. Borrow every dime anyone is willing to lend.
2. Lend as much as your circumstances will allow as long as someone else will end up bailing you out if it can't be repaid.
3. Never take responsibility for your own actions.
4. Deny the existence of evil.
5. Assume that you are simply entitled from others anything at all.
6. Expect and support all intervention between action and consequence, sowing and reaping, by anyone willing to do the intervening.
7. Embrace the dichotomy that some people are greedy, but none of those who are would be willing to give away somebody else's money while masquerading as compassionate.
8. Ignore, deny, or otherwise downplay the best projector of our future available, history.
9. Accept the fallacy that people will work hard, be innovative, develop new ideas, medicines, and technologies, take financial risk that could eventually benefit all of society, or govern you, for only a modest gain.
10. Believe that ANY political party or corporation has your best interest at heart.
11. Reflexively exalt the poor and demonize the rich.
12. Deny the existence of God.

Rut Think

"I know you believe you think you understand what you think I said ,but I'm not sure you realize that what you think I said is not what I meant" (author unknown)

Sometimes I see things happen in a discussion and I think to myself, I've seen this before, it has a familiar feel to it. I finally tagged one of these "feelings" with a name. I call it Rut Think because it reminds me of a car driving down an extremely rutted road while attempting to stay out of those ruts. While it might be difficult but possible to stay out, you can bet all your doughnuts that it'll be pretty much impossible to get out once you've slid in.

This makes a nice metaphor for too many discussions I've had on divisive issues.  It is caused, I think, by the programming of our own thought-forms by what I'll call the big three: entertainment and news media and government institutions of education. It occurs when that almost constant programming trains our minds to intercept certain ideas with foregone, non-contextualized conclusions. I may well be describing a logical fallacy here, but I'm not aware of one. I assume that that is because Rut Think doesn't happen because of poor logic but rather because of an overdose of emotion.

Since it's easier to give examples that will probably resonate than would be to describe what I'm talking about, here are a few:

• When I say that, I am against Obama's health care reform plans, what is heard is: I am against poor people getting the health care they so rightly deserve and am perfectly happy with the current system.


• When I say that, The Church should not ignore politics What is heard is: The church should forsake her original commission and become an active arm of the RNC whose purpose it is to keep Republicans in power regardless of what they may or may not stand for.


• When I say, Intelligent design should also be taught in public schools, what is heard is: The education system should be turned over to a bunch of fundamentalist anti-science and anti-education, back-woods zealots who want to halt all quests for knowledge, and thereby use it to turn the country into a third world theocracy.


• When I say that, We should drill for oil, what is heard is, We should, with reckless abandon, without care for anything except our precious gas for our precious cars, wreck, pollute, destroy, ravage, and strip- mine the entire earth.

There are many more examples, these are but a few. It has been my experience that when you feel your "discussion" slide into the ruts you might as well end it. It has been commandeered by pre-programming and thoughtlessness. But on a positive note, It also keeps me on the lookout that I don't, myself, push a discussion into the ruts.

My Progression

IN my years before Christ I thought that just about all the problems in the world were caused by greed.

After becoming a follower of Christ, what I saw as the cause of the ills of the world began to change. In spite of the a-political approach of every church I had attended, as my mind was renewed I began to think that all the problems of the world were caused by the government.

As matured however I began to realize that the government was in power because we, the people, elected it. This was discouraging because it greatly expanded the problems from a small select group of leaders to everybody.

I finally began to realize that all the problems of the world were caused by the sin nature of all the people, of which I was one; and in fact that I had been, and continued to be, a contributor to "all the problems of the world"; but worse yet, I had likely contributed, in my few years, much more than my fair share!

At some point I no longer saw greed as the problem, and I had ceased to see electable and disposable politicians-at the whim of the people-as the problem. One notable change in my heart was that I realized that problems were a given. That the hOpe of utopia here on earth was a vein hope and a fool's errand. I began to realize that Jesus was in fact the only hope, and that his body of believers was a preserving agent in a world that would self destruct in short order in its absence.

In my current level of revelation, I see the world through the lens that, as far as the problems of the world can be mitigated, that mitigating influence must be effected by the followers of Jesus; that the level of suffering that a society endures is inversly proportional to the level of health enjoyed by the body of Christ. As I watch a nation filled to overflowing with churches, bankrupt itself in its attempts of satisfing material hunger while ignoring, and even propagating spiritual starvation, I realize that as goes the Church-which I am a part, so goes the nation.

So what do many of the churches that the child sees through the window of her car as she rides with her mom to divorce court, or to pre-K; or the young girl riding to the abortion clinic, or the little boy wondering what his daddy is like, offer? Well here's one example, an admitted extreme example in deed, but as our rotting society attests, not in heart.



If you get to feeling nauseous, advance to just before the 4 minute mark to watch the revealing end.

Civics 101

Since shortly after becoming a Christian I have viewed the world through the prism that man is not basically good. I cringe when I hear Christians-who ought to know better-say or imply that the opposite is true, for it is only a short step from there to trusting man's goodness with power over our lives. But worse, such a view of man cheapens the price payed on the cross for our redemption and salvation from God's wrath by reducing what in actuality is the bridging of an uncrossable chasm to a little nudge over a short wall.

This is a great ten minute civics lesson and I encourage all who come by here to watch. As you watch keep in mind the end result of a faulty premise on man's goodness. Although the video does not come right out and says so, it does imply a fallen view of man, especially as it pertains to democracies and the insight of the founding fathers into man's lust for power. It also clearly and succinctly demonstrates the end of the folly of thinking that man is basically good; an end that is almost defiantly what America's future holds.




H/T Joe Politico

The Path Chosen Wisely

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

In the next couple of years the U.S. is facing a fork in the road analogous to that of Robert Frost's above. It will either confirm past choices by selling it's soul for the path of handouts and promises of security and Utopia, initially paved smooth by debt; with no evidence it will deliver; and every evidence that it will in the end be treacherous, or will it choose the narrow path, desiring instead to face in plain sight and head on the difficult realities of life that must be negotiated.

We do not make this choice in the blind. Recent history gives us some insight. We are currently living on a path made rocky by impossible to keep promises made to past generations in the New Deal, the centerpiece of which was Social Security. In the defense of that generation however, the choice wasn't as clear then as it is today, for they lived in a time not expunged of honor and reverence for God. It was not as unreasonable then to expect the promises of security be kept. But they had not traveled far down that path before the funds they had entrusted for their future were stolen under the dishonest and dishonorable guise of a "loan" by dishonorable and dishonest men for the purchase of more votes. For subsequent generations those promises have become a ticking time bomb with the explosion of its insolvency as certain as the setting sun. This should give us pause as it provides for us insight into what the well traveled and well paved by debt path holds as we are being asked, not only to continue in a delusional trust of those past impossible promises, but to double down on them by entrusting the same dishonest people with even more.

Our current times also give us some insight into the mindset of those we are being asked to trust. The ACORN videos provide a glimpse into a worldview held predominately by those most intent on garnering our trust, the left. The videos reveal a worldview devoid of honor and shame, and devoid of a moral compass. While defenses are mobilized by pointing at ACORN's good, at issue is the word good itself as defined by those with no moral compass. These videos reveal a clash in the opposing definitions of good as ACORN terminates employees it would have otherwise kept had the light of the traditional definition not been shined into its operation. How else does one explain so many taken in by this sting? The path hearkened to by organizations like ACORN and their armies of ilk organizations is one paved by "good" intentions.

We must also realize that organizations like ACORN are not the ultimate problem. There are many such organizations, political parties, and even so called churches that are operated and are interrelated by the same mindset. The problem occurs when people who know better entrust their futures, and the fruit of their womb and labor, to this kind of mindset.

In the next few years this path will be set, if it isn't already. If it is set, our future will be marked by promises upon promises, always qualified by an if; the if being based on some sort of forfeit of resources and liberty, as indeed we are today experiencing that very consequence of past choices. As today is proof of yesterday's promises insufficient, tomorrow will be proof of today's promises insufficient, all while we steadily descend into chaos, uncertainty and poverty. The path before us is much clearer than perhaps it has been for previous generations in history. Let us not be fooled as we move forward.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

Warning! State of Emergency!

Evan Thomas, the assistant managing editor of Newsweek, suggested on a PBS program that media bias gave John Kerry an advantage "worth maybe 15 points" in his 2004 presidential bid. I was taken aback by disbelief.

This organized and orchestrated swine flu scare and our current solemn "state of emergency", I think, shows just how far off Thomas was in his underestimation of the impact the media has over the nation as a whole.

W.W.M.D.

The Obama Administration's war on the news outlets who do not tow the party line seems so typical of those conducted by communist leaders. But given the recent remarks made by Anita Dunn, the White House Communications Director, that Fox News would be treated "the way we treat an opponent", (unlike the way they treat those "real" news organizations like CNN and MSNBC who do pound the party poop) and in light of her remarks calling Mao Tse Tung, a Chinese Revolutionary with 70 million notches in his belt, a favorite philosopher, I had to wonder-is Mrs. Dunn currently asking herself What Would Mao Do? But perhaps just as pertinent a question in all this is: If she did what Mao did, would the "real" news organizations bother reporting it?

The Political Blitzkreig

So much is coming so fast. Please listen to this poignant 3 minute talk by Global Warming Expert Lord Christopher Monkton about the treaty currently in the works in Copenhagen.

No Worries, No Death Pannels

This is a short and astounding speech by Robert Reich. What is astounding about it? He is in favor of health care reform, AND, he is being honest about what health care reform will entail. But you will note that not once did he mention the words "death panels", so no one need be alarmed.

The Pseudo State Run Media

If most of the American News outlets suddenly became state run, what would change? The answer "not much" should scare even those who find themselves in support of the current government.

A free press, like the other rights spelled out in the constitution, requires constant vigilance lest it be stolen or corrupted. If the purpose of journalists, as foreseen in the constitutional guarantee of the freedom of the press, is to investigate and report facts so that the people can make informed decisions, then the press, as it is currently constituted, is no longer free. It is bound by the ideas and constraints of the same fantasies that bind the politicians now in power. Those ideas, as opposed to the desire for truth, will ultimately determine the decisions as to how and what is reported. Much like the junk science of global warming and evolution, which starts with the "right" conclusions, then determines the validity of "scientific" evidence based on those conclusions, the so called mainstream media determines the validity of reality by weather or not it supports the foregone conclusions of its fantasy land.

To be sure, since there is no line that clearly delineate the MSM from the Democrat party, when Democrats are out of control, allegation of a state-run like media would be unfounded. On that same flip-side however, I would not then want a press that went to the people I elected for directions on what to report, nor painted conservatives as the can-do-no-wrong party of a different fantasy land. I, for one, don't like think of myself as quite that naive.

Please Help

One of my most prized possessions was kidnapped by what I fear to be a terrorist operative operating in the local area. To learn more about the specifics of this crime click here. I have been in negotiations with this militant for the release of said possession for some time now, all to no avail. If you have seen, heard, or know anything about this missing item please contact the CIA, the FBI, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the GBI , the IBP, FEMA ,or me. We are almost certain that this is a misguided attack on our nation by attacking President Obama and his shovel ready jobs program.


Your help, should you decide to lend it, will be much appreciated.

True History vs. Vain Imaginations

Like finding grains of sand in my shoes long after a vacation at the beach, I sometimes discover "beliefs" in my head that were put there years ago by the government school system. I was reminded yesterday of one of those little grains of misinformation that I had managed to dislodge a little while back.

I began to realize, while looking for something on a map one day, how many places in America that bear Christopher Columbus's namesake. This piqued my interest because we all know that Christopher Columbus was a horrible person who exploited the "Indians" and tried to steal their gold, and attempted to impose his Christianity on them. So why would so many people desire to name their cities and towns after such a wicked man? Then I realized that I lived in a different age. Although those who honored Columbus were probably aware of the moral failures associated with his historic voyage, they also realized that perfection has never been an option for man. This gave them the ability to look past the ever present imperfections of the man to his crowning accomplishment/s. They also probably, and necessarily, realized that ever present imperfections were no excuse to consider all man's attempts as good.

I believe the practice today of inordinately focusing on target imperfections seems to have become a technique in the last half century or so, especially when the imperfections in focus are of the American or Christian variety. World War II has become about "Americans" dropping nuclear bombs on unsuspecting women and children; Christianity about the Crusades; etc. But the only thing this should prove is that later generations can rip any event from its historical context and examine and condemn it because of the imperfections revealed by the advantage of hindsight; all the while remaining arrogantly and purposely ignorant of the over arching good that may have been accomplished. The fact that the generation doing the condemning is also living imperfectly as sinners, their vision equally dimmed by the present, seems to be completely lost on it.

I am increasingly leery of those who are more than willing to point out past failures, but are unwilling to put their own efforts under the same microscope. Instead they would rather continuously point to the intentions of their own efforts which, by virtue of the imaginary and as-of-yet nature of those intentions, are impervious to the glare of hindsight. This is a technique also. It allows for those who would beg to differ about the projected results of their intentions to be cast as opposing the good and perfect Utopian world just beyond the horizon, a world that always has-and will evermore-existed only in the imaginations of the idealists who constantly destroy the past and present to make way for its ever illusive arrival.

Looking to the Progressive Horizon

I am often amazed at how out of touch I am with the alternate reality that appears to permeate American society. Nothing drives this point home however more than the socialism packaged in the "green" mantra; especially as it concerns global warming. This "impending disaster" is the socialist ideolog's dream; an impending global catastrophe that can only be thwarted by the sacrifice of power and wealth to the global elites by the masses.  These elites, incidentally, happen to find themselves in the position of being the only ones with sufficient intellectual fortitude to save the planet from the ravages inflicted upon it by these same masses attempting to achieve a standard of living beyond what those same elites think is best.

However like Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard, those who hold this global hoax to still be the Gospel according to Algore are in retreat to their safe reality-free zones in pristine and posh locations such as university campuses, Hollywood, CNN, and the DNC. But with the planet now beginning its normal cooling cycle attempts to rename warming to Climate Change ring hollow in the ears of those who remember the not so distant past. Reality is making the would-be world savers look a little like Baghdad Bob, who's ridiculous proclamations of victory while the reality beyond the studio was the Republican Guard in flight.  This made him, and the world-savers, look all the more loony.

I believe that those who make it their business to create--from thin air--problems that only they can fix,  are probably already developing their next catastrophic scare-scheme. With this in mind I have conceived of four attributes that will most likely provide the framework for that scheme.


1. The scheme must involve the creation of a new evil that has never before existed. And the blame for that evil must be placed on the backs of man… no, make that productive man.

2. This new evil must be of such a huge scale that “leaders” the world over will need to meet in posh and beautiful locations to pool their more than ample mental muscle in order-out of their compassion-to save the intellectually inferior from our self imposed impending doom.

3. The evil must be of an extremely high and specialized technical nature; impossible for anyone to understand except world leaders and highly trained scientist who are open-minded enough to grasp the necessity that many must suffer through wealth confiscation in order to ward off sure global disaster. This will ensure that detractors can be dismissed out of hand as being restrained by some primitive closed-minded ideology; or as simply lacking the required intellectual capacity required to grasp such an extremely complex problem.

4.The evil must be solvable by socialistic legislation and the handing over of power and wealth to the compassionate few who have the rare qualities of both, the mental fortitude, and the self-sacrificing nature one would expect to find in a socialist leader bent on saving the world from the parasite that is common man who bears the shame of eking out an existence and striving to better his lot.

Racism in the International Olympic Committee

Apparently Jimmy Carter's fellow southerners have not sewn up the market on racism. Carter can now add the International Olympic Committee to his small list of racist. It is obvious that this committee is in fact racist because of their decision not to award Chicago with the 2016 Olympic games after President Obama himself, an African-American, traveled to Copenhagen to vie for the award.

Could Not Possibly Have Said It Better, So Why Try?

As both of the long-time readers of this blog know, I love the challenge of writing, (and hate the challenge of spelling, thank you spell check). As with anyone developing a talent with which providence has not been generous, the attempt to do so gives that person an appreciation for those with whom providence, coupled with hard work, has enabled them to do excellently. I just read just such an article on Timothy's blog, a blog I recently found through one of my favorite blogs, 4Simpsons. (Personal note Whisper: sorry Neil, you provide lots of good ideas with which to link which I had hoped to use, but unfortunately I've run out of time.) It is an article written by Timothy's brother, and I have copied and pasted here in its entirety without their consents.
The standard in blogging, as I understand it, is no long articles. One of the ways I determine good writing is when I do encounter a long article, it leaves me longing for more. This is one such case. Enjoy:

It's pretty funny.

Rush Limbaugh refers to liberals as "long-haired, dope-smoking, FM Radio good time Rock n' Rollers."

From about 1976 til the late '80's I had shoulder length hair, worked as a morning DJ on FM Album rock stations from Texas to Florida and throughout the South. I had a pretty good time, doing morning comedy on-air and playing competitive tennis every afternoon. I make no comments regarding inhalation of substances controlled or otherwise.

But somewhere along the way, my labels changed. I was once considered liberal. Now, turns out I'm reportedly arch conservative - at least that's what they call me. But I don't remember ever changing. I don't remember going somewhere and changing my affiliation. I don't remember any of that.

I remember Vietnam.

I remember being a sophomore in high school, and finding out guys I'd been in art class the previous year had been drafted and killed in Vietnam. I remember my scout troop leaders who'd gone on to West Point and Annapolis came back from tours saying 'Johnson wouldn't let us win the war.' I learned what FUBAR meant. I remember seeing these officers, guys I'd admired for dedication to God and Country since I was 12 years old telling me, "Whatever you do, don't go - go to Canada if you have to."

We trusted our friends, especially since the picture of the war was vastly different than what the 'establishment media' was telling us. We didn't trust anyone. We refered to the government as 'the man' or 'the establishment'.

We got angry. We went to every protest we could find. Our friends were dying. And not for some cause that meant anything.

By the time I came of age, most of the heavy lifting had been done. Kennedy and Johnson's war gave us Nixon, promising withdrawal with honor - or some such crap. I do remember years later, Jimmy Carter would talk about reinstating the draft. That afternoon, I sold my share in the construction company I owned and enrolled in the first college that would admit me - without waiting to find out if Carter could actually bring the draft back - or if there would still be a college deferrment. Another year, my draft number was #128 - but they quit drafting at #121.

I know they didn't have a litmus test of beliefs to get into the anti-war protests. But I do know we were mostly in agreement in the following:

Never trust The Man - the government - the media - the power structure
Liberty, as in Give us Liberty or Give us Death - sounded good, why die in Vietnam for nothing when you could die locally for a 'cause'.
Freedom - Like Ritchie Havens sang at Woodstock - Freedom...from war, Free love, free thought, free lifestyles.
Free People - quit repressing women, blacks, Mexicans, gooks - sorry to be crude, but labelling people with derogatory labels like "gook" made them easier to kill - and we knew cool black dudes, a mexican guy we liked - it was all about individuals.

Earlier this week, I was reading one of the few liberals I admire, Camille Paglia - she had a great column on what happened to the idealism of the '60's being replaced by the complacent servility of statist goals over the rights and freedoms of the individual.

She says it much better than I ever could.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/paglia/2009/09/09/healthcare/index.html

So what changed?

Don't Trust the Man became Totally Rely on the Man - for healthcare, taxation to control our baser instincts, retirement, security, almost everything....

Liberty became conformity - in thought, deed, speech and action - in agreement with all 'right thinking' people. Lord knows none of those people would actually think for themselves.

Freedom - became servility, letting our betters tell us which light bulbs to use, which toilets to flush, which cars to drive, - And freedom of thought? Only if you freely agree with the politically correct side - because if you don't freedom of debate is gone, the only people who disagree are bigoted, racist, homophobes who deal in 'hate speech' and don't deserve a fair hearing, only charachter assasination. Also facts suck.

Free people became aggreived groups who's ills can only be addressed by approved racism, proper bigotry and the pitting one group against another is SOP. Two wrongs don't make a right, but a few million wrongs may eventually create a level playing field. But don't count on it during your kid's lifetime. You notice how they all say 'diversity is our greatest strength' but no one ever cites a single case of that diversity doing anything strong? Celebrating our differences is more important than E Pluribus Unum.

So I wondered, where did it all come from? How did the idealism of the 60's become so turned around?

And it came to me, if you (as I do) believe in God, and the corollary that the Bible is the word of God, then the bummer part of that is, you also have to believe in Satan - because, like it or not, that's in there too.

And if there is a Satan, and he is in charge of this earthly realm, and he is really crafty, sneaky, turning our weaknesses to decieve us - if there is such a demon - he could probably take something like the freedom, love, independence and individuality of the '60's and turn it into the socialism, authoritarianism, approved racism, hate and groupthink of the 2000s.

Cue Dana Carvey (as The Church Lady) So exactly who is it messing with your little political world? Could it be, Oh, I don't know, SAAAATTAAAANNN!?!?!?

Don't know for sure, but I do know changing the liberty of liberals in the 60's to the conformity of leftists today, might well be a trick worthy of something otherworldly, demonic, even satanic.....

Or could just be an odd coincidence.

So there.

Alinsky's Rules for Radicals

The fifth video exposing even more corruption in the political activist organization ACORN surfaced yesterday. They can be seen at Biggovernment.com.

The fifth video is the same story of ACORN helping a man who passes himself off as an aspiring politician who needs advice on channeling money from his underage prostitution ring into his future political campaign, and a prostitute.

At Big Government however James Okeefe, the undercover journalist in these stories, quotes from the book, "Rules for Radicals" by Saul D. Alinsky (1909-1972), a mid twentieth century leftist activist. This is becoming an increasingly well known political play book that the left, through organizations such as ACORN, have been using against other organizations for years. Okeefe is now using the left's own tactics to infiltrate their organizations.

According to Richard Lawrence Poe "In a 1971 book called Rules for Radicals, Alinsky scolded the Sixties Left for scaring off potential converts in Middle America. True revolutionaries do not flaunt their radicalism, Alinsky taught. They cut their hair, put on suits and infiltrate the system from within. Alinsky viewed revolution as a slow, patient process. The trick was to penetrate existing institutions such as churches, unions and political parties. "

We see this today as churches, unions, the Democratic, and to some degree, the Republican party; not to mention institutions of higher learning and the government education system, have to a varying degrees, become tools in the hands of those with a socialist agenda.
As always these agendas wrap themselves in terminology that is familiar to the institution being co-opted. Whether it is Christianese, helping the poor, doing what is moral and right-what ever that means, civil liberties, or social justice, the end game is always the same, the imposition of a socialist worldview with the one true God replaced by the Man/State as the final arbiter on all things.

If you haven't seen Ainsky's rules, they are listed as follows:

RULE1: "Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have." Power is derived from 2 main sources - money and people. "Have-Nots" must build power from flesh and blood. (These are two things of which there is a plentiful supply. Government and corporations always have a difficult time appealing to people, and usually do so almost exclusively with economic arguments.)

RULE 2: "Never go outside the expertise of your people." It results in confusion, fear and retreat. Feeling secure adds to the backbone of anyone. (Organizations under attack wonder why radicals don't address the "real" issues. This is why. They avoid things with which they have no knowledge.)
RULE 3: "Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy." Look for ways to increase insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty. (This happens all the time. Watch how many organizations under attack are blind-sided by seemingly irrelevant arguments that they are then forced to address.)

RULE 4: "Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules." If the rule is that every letter gets a reply, send 30,000 letters. You can kill them with this because no one can possibly obey all of their own rules. (This is a serious rule. The besieged entity's very credibility and reputation is at stake, because if activists catch it lying or not living up to its commitments, they can continue to chip away at the damage.)

RULE 5: "Ridicule is man's most potent weapon." There is no defense. It's irrational. It's infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions. (Pretty crude, rude and mean, huh? They want to create anger and fear.)

RULE 6: "A good tactic is one your people enjoy." They'll keep doing it without urging and come back to do more. They're doing their thing, and will even suggest better ones. (Radical activists, in this sense, are no different that any other human being. We all avoid "un-fun" activities, and but we revel at and enjoy the ones that work and bring results.)

RULE 7: "A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag." Don't become old news. (Even radical activists get bored. So to keep them excited and involved, organizers are constantly coming up with new tactics.)

RULE 8: "Keep the pressure on. Never let up." Keep trying new things to keep the opposition off balance. As the opposition masters one approach, hit them from the flank with something new. (Attack, attack, attack from all sides, never giving the reeling organization a chance to rest, regroup, recover and re-strategize.)

RULE 9: "The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself." Imagination and ego can dream up many more consequences than any activist. (Perception is reality. Large organizations always prepare a worst-case scenario, something that may be furthest from the activists' minds. The upshot is that the organization will expend enormous time and energy, creating in its own collective mind the direst of conclusions. The possibilities can easily poison the mind and result in demoralization.)

RULE 10: "If you push a negative hard enough, it will push through and become a positive." Violence from the other side can win the public to your side because the public sympathizes with the underdog. (Unions used this tactic. Peaceful [albeit loud] demonstrations during the heyday of unions in the early to mid-20th Century incurred management's wrath, often in the form of violence that eventually brought public sympathy to their side.)

RULE 11: "The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative." Never let the enemy score points because you're caught without a solution to the problem. (Old saw: If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem. Activist organizations have an agenda, and their strategy is to hold a place at the table, to be given a forum to wield their power. So, they have to have a compromise solution.)

RULE 12: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it." Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions. (This is cruel, but very effective. Direct, personalized criticism and ridicule works.)

As Christians we are to be wise as serpents. Not everyone coming in the name of the Lord is in fact from our Savior. We should warn young ones (young in spirit) of the enticing and good sounding arguments of those who, on the outside appear as sheep, but who are on the inside ravenous wolves. This is one of the reasons that the issue of abortion is far wider in scope than the systematic killing of the unborn, it is also one indicator of whether a person serves his Father in heaven, or his father the "murderer from the beginning".

Pastor Bill Willson

By far one of the most influential people I have ever heard speak is Pastor Bill Willson of Metro Ministries. He spoke at Belmont Church in Nashville Tennessee where I was then attending. There were three services and after hearing him speak, when I learned that all his messages would be different, I sat through all three. He didn't mince words and I was shocked at what I can only call his hardcore Christianity. It was a wonderful departure from anything I'd seen before, or since, and he was severely challenging to say the least.

After thinking about this man lately I found an interesting YT documentary on his ministry.

Part 1



Part 2

Acorn Corrupt? Who Cares?

Featured at the end of this post is a video of a man and woman portraying a pimp and his prostitute going into a tax supported ACORN office and getting advice on:

• How to run a prostitution business
• Tax advice on that business
• How to keep minor prostitutes shipped in from San Salvidor a secret
• How to work the tax code around the child prostitutes
• Advice on how to train those child prostitutes

There is also a link to another similar video.

For the political savvy on both the left and the right, the videos featured here are not at all surprising. For those on the left, they are of no consequence, just part and parcel to winning elections. For those on the right the videos are proof of two things. One, man is corrupt and should be monitored. Two, the media who's job it is to monitor are beholden more to their ideology than ferreting out the corruption of those with who's ideology they agree.

Leftist news agencies will eventually be forced to report on this due to the blogosphere and am radio, but it will be couched in questions of the legality of the filming, or perhaps the fact that conservative agencies have been guilty of similar activities, or some other mitigating circumstance with the intent of covering for their leader. Then as far as that media is concerned, it will become instant history, and it will be time to "move on".

Even though tax supported Acorn was the gestation organization for our current president, these videos will eventually find themselves in the trash Bin with all the other revelations about our illustrious leader as we simultaneously beg him, and bestow upon him the ability, to save us from reaping the harvest of our years of sowing to the wind.

The Other Video Is Here at Biggovernment.com. There are also transcripts.

A Little On Politics and Religion

Unlike some, I have never been able to separate politics and religion. It seems axiomatic to me that they are in fact inseparable. This reality is driven home to me daily in the market place as men and women struggle with the laws of the land, right and wrong, good and evil, and how to navigate and fit into the maze in which they are daily confronted.

The most important reason I find them impossible to separate however is the commandment to love my neighbor as myself. And in the same way that I hate my son when I love myself too much to put myself through the heartache of applying the rod, I also hate my neighbor when I love myself too much to go through the heartache of calling for a just government. Who knows, one day we may save our neighbor from an injustice like that experienced by Sara Capewell.

Duane's Mind posted on an article today from the UK regarding Miss. Capewell. Her baby was refused treatment because it was born two days before the "trigger" set by the UK government for providing health care for a premature baby. According to the Daily Mail the mother "begged them to save her tiny son, who was born just 21 weeks and five days into her pregnancy". knowing the heart of a mom after carrying and caring for her baby, I can only imagine her agony when she was informed by her doctors to "treat the labour as a miscarriage, not a birth”, and then was left after her labor to helplessly hold her dying son for the remaining two hours of his life.

This kind of thing is the reality in politics in the U.S. for indeed a baby still in its mother's birth canal can have a pair of scissors jammed into the base of its scull and its brains sucked out, while only a few inches later it will enjoy the full protection of the constitution. There are stark similarities between this reality and this UK woman, yet how many Christians are demanding that this same government take over health care in the name of love and compassion?

To be sure, there is a consequence when the salt ceases to be salt and abandons its call for righteous leaders in its government in favor of peace in its sanctuaries. Of this we can be assured, contrary to what we are being told, this is not love, and it's coming in spades to a hospital near you in the name of compassion in lieu of profits.

Time For A Laugh and Some Manly Advice

My Wife and I decided to each post a Tim Hawkins video. She chose one of my favorites so I decided to post one of hers. Here is some advice that I think may come in handy over this holiday weekend. Enjoy.

Time For a Little Worship Music

If this were about one of your political heroes, would it make you... perhaps... a little uncomfortable?

A Video Juxtiposition

I watched a movie called The Wave on The Clay Tablet. The movie is based on a true event that happened in Palo Alto, CA, in 1967. It begins with a teacher unable to answer a student's question as to why the German people did not stop the holocaust. The remainder tracks the teacher surreptitiously demonstrating to the students the answer to that question by basically turning his class into a cult which focused on discipline, community and action.

Below is part one of two parts. (The movie can be seen in its entirety at The Clay Tablet link above) Advance the movie to the time of 21:00 to get an idea of how the teacher's class was conducted.



The teacher's antics were starting to spread outside his classroom and were causing problems on campus. He brought the demonstration to a conclusion by announcing to the students that they had been participating in a nationwide movement and the national leader had a recorded message that was to be presented in the gym. Once all the students were assembled, he announced: "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your leader". Two televisions blazed to life with a recorded Adolf Hitler speech.

This movie was fresh in my mind as I came upon the following video: (advance to 3:50 to get to the similarity)




As I watched this video I had two thoughts. first, that almost everything that they claimed to be pledging, with the exception of Obama worship, was good. Second, their hope is that what they are voluntarily pledging, would become compulsory for all others.

It Ain't America No More

I didn't like the pictures that were degrading to Bush. I never once even thought however that they should be outlawed because I understood that if anything was protected under free speech, they were. That's because power seeks to eliminate dissension, and I'd rather them protest than agree to the idea that it could be outlawed.

I don't like the signs of President Obama painted up like the Joker either. I think that conservatives are better than the left, and as such, better than that; no matter how bad our current president is. And I think he is very very bad, and quite frankly, frightening. But again, it has never crossed my mind that they should be outlawed.

This video should scare any red blooded American, even those who have a more favorable opinion of our current president.



H/T Joe Politico

The Final Truth Revealed

I suppose yesterday was senator Kennedy's funeral. I saw pieces of the procession over a friends shoulder while having coffee. When I learned of his death, I couldn't help but think of the fact that, (being generous to the atheist) if he knows anything at all, he knows the truth. He has been equalized and has gone through the same door required of the least of his subjects and now stands in judgement. I am not aware of any professed beliefs held by this man concerning his whereabouts right now, but the policies he advocated certainly would lead one to believe that he thought that, either he would be judged on what he thought was good, or, that there would be no judgement at all. In either case, he now no longer has to wonder.

Abortion

Abortion is the defining issue of our time, and it is evil. Where you stand on that one issue will define where you stand on pretty much every other social issues. It unifies those who see it for what it is, murder, as well as those who see it for what it's not, a right. Otherwise it divides. It divides families, churches, and society at large. It divides moms and dads from their children, and it divides us from our God. The blood of millions is now, as you read this, crying out to God. May he have mercy on us all.

If you have paid for or had an abortion, you are being called to fight this fight. Your God, the God you will surely one day answer to, is a Holy and Righteous God. But be of good cheer, he is also Merciful. The punishment for your crime has been paid in full if you will only turn and follow the one who paid it.

Join with the many in this movie who's blood stained hands have been washed clean.



H/T 4 Simpsons

Is Thug Health Care On The Horizon?

I have been pondering the reasons that unions have supported health care reform. This doesn't make any sense for two reasons. One, unions, like their enemies, are made up of sinful men and are, top to bottom, notoriously greedy and care only about what's in it for themselves. Two, there is nothing in it for the union worker. Furthermore, there is the potential for much loss.

One thing that I think can be safely said about the rank and file union member is that they are not visionaries. They are blinded by envy and covetousness and see themselves as victims, and their leaders as savior saints who would never betray them. With such a victim mentality union members have an admirable affinity for the "working man" and are easily sold a bill of goods that purportedly helps other victims-at no cost to themselves of course.

This is not so with the Washington union leadership who are de-facto government representatives, duly elected and funded through a back door tax known as union dues. As government representatives they are power-brokers wielding incredible power by way of legally generating expensive ads, generating enormous campaign funds through the back door tax system, and by producing a herd voting block.

As is true with many politicians-especially on the left where union leaders find themselves-they are on the lookout for ways to satisfy their ever increasing huger for power. This was demonstrated quite well with Bob Chanin's farewell speech from the nation's largest union, the NEA. Never mind for the moment the cognitive dissonance of a union that wants the very entity in which it is organized against, the government, to take over its health care; the question remains, why would unions in general want this when it will in the long run hurt the people they care about the most, themselves?

The answer to this question can be found, I think, in Bob Chanin's farewell speech. Below is a transcript of that speech, except that I exchanged all references to education with references to health care. Union leader de facto politicians are now slobbering over what they see as perhaps one of the largest power transfers in the history of this nation.

For this reason, I foresee a National Healthcare Worker's union that will one day make the NEA's current stranglehold on education look like a second-grade playground bully choking one of his weakling classmates in one of their schools.

Chanin's fare well speech, or watch it here:

Despite what some among us would like to believe it is not because of our creative ideas; it is not because of the merit of our positions; it is not because we care about health care; and it is not because we have a vision of a great government health care system. The NHA and its affiliates are effective advocates because we have power. And we have power because there are more than 10 million people who are willing to pay us hundreds of million of dollars in dues each year because they believe that we are the unions that can most effectively represent them; the union that can protect their rights and advance their interests as health care workers. This is not to say that the concern of NHA and its affiliates with closing gaps, reducing wait times, improving doctor and nurse quality, and the like are unimportant or inappropriate. To the contrary these are the goals that guide the work we do. But they need not and must not be achieved at the expense of due process, employee rights, or collective bargaining.That is simply too high a price to pay.

As Christians we should recognize the sinfulness of all men, no matter what providence has given them, and hold them accountable to the truth of God's Word. We should be as shrewd as snakes, as well as gentle as doves, and look past the masks of compassion worn by those bearing gifts, to the hell hidden behind.

The Inquisitive Mind

I've heard it said that there are those who will break your legs then offer you crutches. If the leg breaking occurs right before the cast is put on, and the crutches are offered right after, the demeanor of the person receiving the crutches would understandably be less than grateful.

But what if the person receiving the crutches is not aware that the one offering them is also the one who broke his legs? This would change everything. Gratitude would be the natural response.

By asking questions and thinking things through, we can perhaps begin to realize that the ones who seem to be constantly offering us crutches are the same ones who are breaking our legs.

I watched a political ad promoting climate change legislation. The creators of this add understand that, although most people are for protecting the environment, they are much more concerned about earning an income. The add therefore was heavy on the job creating aspects of the legislation.

Well that's nice, but are the jobs crutches? We should be a little suspicious when such promises are made. For an absurd example, if legislation was passed that outlawed non-electric cars, the claim might truthfully be made that such legislation would create thousands of jobs. The question at that point should be how many jobs is it going to cost?

I am always suspicious when someone is offering crutches because I know that nothing is free. The truth is that most people offering crutches today are more interested in the acquisition of power than helping the invalid with mobility. When I hear someone say that some legislation is going to create more jobs, my immediate reaction is to grab my wallet and polish up my resume. Worse, such promises are insidious because they generally contain some truth. But there is much more truth left out that would tarnish an otherwise shinny set of crutches. Such truth is left to be discovered by the inquisitive mind.

As Christians we should be suspicious of those who have no problems with the systematic murder for profit of the unborn, who hate Jesus, and who are in fact anti-Christ in deed, when they come offering us crutches.

Satan a Christian?

John 10:7-10.

1"I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. 3The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice." 6Jesus used this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them. 7Therefore Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. 8All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

This particular scripture often comes to mind while reading the words of various "Christian" commenters, bloggers, and authors. They come in the name of love but are in deed supporters of killing, stealing, and destroying. While claiming to hold to the Bible and its standards they, in actuality, reject it in favor of the wisdom of man; twisting its words to mean whatever suits their current cause. Their worldview is not discernible from the most outspoken of anti-Christ apologist.

While they distort Christianity to an unrecognizable form, they join with the accuser in blaming those who reject their distortions for historical evils that resulted from the actions of previous distorted versions of Christianity. They do so in an effort to convince people that theirs is a better way. No doubt the time will come when their "intellectual" progeny will one day blame today's Christians for the current holocaust of abortion. They will surly have no problems finding examples of such support from the likes of the messenger-of-light preacher Jim Wallis, while of course completely ignoring those Christians who took a stand against it. They will do this in the process of coercing those who do "listen to His voice" into buying into the folly du jour of that age.

So, is Satan a Christian? Why not? Is life so simple that Satan always comes in the form of a monster? No, he comes as Lucifer, an angel of light, ⁽¹⁾indeed a Christian saying "follow me" instead those back-wood, flat-earth, anti-intellectual, neanderthals. Then will come the tell-tale sign as they insist that you can have it all; you can live the Christianity that best suits your "needs" and this "age", and in the end, you surly will not die.

(1)2 Corinthians 11:13-15

The Bumbling Genius For President 2012

I was planning the announcement of my bid for president of the United States of America at a later date, but the existence of my organization, PEANUT (People Engaged Against Nationalized Utopian Tyranny) has been cracked open by the ever vigilant news media and alert politicians like Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. PEANUT is a community organization that has been growing under ground for some time. It doesn't consider itself a grassroots movement however, preferring instead to think of itself as simply a "roots" movement. Because of the allergic like reaction to our recent activity surrounding the now notorious town hall meetings held by ultra left-wing politicians, a veritable army of lawyers and journalist have been unleashed to dig up more information on PEANUT. Needless to say, astute politicians and the President are increasingly on to the fact that this clandestine organization is spreading itself across the land; thinner in some parts than others; but spreading just the same.

As head of this community organization, I feel that I am qualified to be your next president. Although I did not go to Yale or Harvard, experience has been, I feel, a most devoted teacher. And if cost is any indication of a good education, the tuition I've paid for having experience as my teacher has made the cost of an Ivy League education look like... well like peanuts.

In contrast, while the current President was getting his experience to be president by soaking rich environmentalist nuts-who's survived fall from a California hardwood was considered their greatest accomplishment-and tax payers for money, I was quietly and slowly growing PEANUT underground and out of sight. This was accomplished through the hard work of training and sending out people, called Planters, to spread the word about PEANUT. You can imagine my surprise when I learned that my community organizing activities had actually qualified me to be president of the United States; and had actually even trumped real executive level administrative experience like that of a state governor. So as a result of this new reality, we here at PEANUT are now hatching our plans for my campaign. This brings me to my next point.

In honor of my own love of self deprecating humor, PEANUT has scheduled several roasts featuring me, your next president, as fundraisers across the land. So come ready to laugh and shell out dough. These events are scheduled from Georgia to Washington; Carver Massachusetts, to the parched deserts of Arizona. So there's sure to be one coming to a town near you. The proceeds for these events will go toward my own campaign, as well as several gubernatorial campaigns with PEANUT supported candidates. There are, of course, other candidates that we will be rooting for as well.

As more details of my candidacy develop, be assured that we'll be getting those to all concerned in a Jiffy. Otherwise please help me get the word out and thank you for your time and support.

For more info and Utube clips on PEANUTs operations, see Joe's Politico.

The Clunker Bill a Real Clunker

These type initiatives involve trade-offs somewhere else. I'm not sure what would scare me more, those who want this not knowing better, or not caring.

You see, Bob can be helped by taking money from Sue and John, but as everyone is focused on Bob and how wonderful he's doing after ripping off Sue and John, the question of how well the company is doing that would have otherwise benefited from purchases made by Sue and John is never asked.

Meanwhile on the political front, politicians are basking in success poured on by the atta-boy media. Those politicians who know that this is a sham, and, don't like it; well they will be run out of office on a rail, or otherwise maligned if they dare speak up and resist such myopic sentiment. I'd say that that speaks more about the people than the politicians and media.

But perhaps the largest sham is that it is being endorsed and carried out by those who are supposed to be the compassionate ones among us toward the poor. This bill will hurt the poor by reducing the availability of less expensive used cars, while doing nothing to stop the hoax known as man made global warming. I'd say that the real winners in this clunker is the clunker government, big automotive, and those who are wealthy enough to purchase a new car with the help of John and Sue. The losers? Well that would be the rest of us.

As Christians we should have true compassion for the poor and not sell them out in the name of delusions such as the idea that man can raise and lower sea levels and planetary temperatures. As Christians we should be fair and not ask people, poor or not, to pay for things so they can be destroyed on the basis of such a delusion. We should educate ourselves, both rich and poor, in His Word so that we will be able ot recognize folly for folly.

On Blue Dogs

The idea of a Blue Dog is a misnomer. There is no such thing as a blue dog, and there is no such thing as a conservative liberal. So how does the whole blue dog thing work anyway?

First, power is not ultimately derived from petitions and protests, but from winning elections. Second, to win elections the candidate must tell the people what they want to hear. So if you're a liberal running in a conservative district, you have to pretend to be a conservative. Once in office, that's where the real circus begins, for you must still act and look like something you're not.

So here's the drill. The votes on a particular bill are counted before they're cast. If there are enough to pass the liberal socialist bill by a decent margin, the party leadership goes to those who live in conservative districts, otherwise known as the Blue Dog Coalition, and gives them the number of votes that can be thrown away and still allow passage of the liberal legislation. These throw away votes are then wheeled and dealed like used cars in Cuba between Blue Dogs, because they know that come election day, the more they are able to hide their liberalism the better their chances of fending off real conservatives. Hence the only way to know where your politician really stands is to watch how he votes when every single vote counts. This is when the blue in your Blue Dog will light up like a Las Vegas Casino.

My Escape From The Island of Knowledge

As a much younger man, while contemplating the meaning of my existence, I concluded that I was an island of Intelligence in an ocean of ignorance. I reckoned that the extent of my knowledge on anything in particular eventually reached so far before fading into ignorance like a beach into an ocean. In some fields of thought, because of my makeup I suppose, I possessed an aptitude for understanding that would push such a shoreline further away, while in other's the sea seemed to lap at my very feet.

I surveyed my fellow "islands" to discover the same irregular shapes and varying sizes, some much larger from my perspective, some smaller, but all with two things in common. They were surrounded by the same ocean of ignorance; the depth and vastness of which was impossible for them to plumb, and into which they would all someday plunge.

So I began the arduous task of increasing the size of my little plot until there were peninsulas and fingers jutting out here and there resulting in lagoons and inlets and such. I did so with the thinking that perhaps I could live my life far from the shorelines and their reminders of my ignorance as well as my destiny. But, alas, I determined that with a hundred lifetimes this would not be possible. So I began to bury those contemplations in all sorts of diversions in my attempts to ignore the crashing waves.

There were those whom I despised because they pointed to the sea, continually reminding me of my fate. My constant refrain to their reminders was "you can't know!" Standing on my tiny speck of intelligence, I considered them arrogant because of their insinuations that they did know; and stupid because of the unknowable upon which their knowledge was based. I did this in a manner as if the unknown would not one day engulf me, and thus cause my brain to cease informing. I pronounced them closed minded for holding to the "wisdom" of a distant and more ignorant era, all the while closing my mind to the possibilities that lay beyond my own shores.

Eventually I came to realize the meaninglessness of all my knowledge, and in fact of my entire existence. If I helped my neighbor or killed him, it was, on the confines of my island, meaningless. It was about this time that I began to read a book written by an ancient king, known for his wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, named Solomon. The book was entitled Ecclesiastes. I wept; relieved that there was a God who knows.

Things I Learned In Homeschool

I learned a new quote from Benjamin Franklin. "He who teaches himself has a fool for a master." That certainly cleared up some of the "whys" of my struggles.

Hell, The Ultimate Offense

Laura at Full Of Grace, Seasoned With Salt makes a good point in her article Softening Of Church Hymns. She points out that some churches

"have disposed of the whole notion of a "sinner" in the name of not wanting to offend anyone."

This mentality seems to be a preoccupation with the modern Church, and especially with the next generation of Church Leaders, as they usher in a softer gentler Christianity. Sin is down-played and people are assured that they are, at the core, good and worthy of God's love. While this is understandable in our age of self esteem, it is a marked departure from Biblical thinking. Jesus has been demoted from the Crucified Christ, who bore God's wrath toward us on the cross, to Jesus is our best bud who is always there with us during the hard times, like when our girlfriend moves out.

To be sure, the desire to not offend appears noble on the surface. And it does seem counter intuitive in a heavily commercialized culture to "sell" God by pointing out that people are sinners, and deserving of His wrath. But we are left with no other choice.⁽¹⁾ There is only one way by which we may receive the eternal mercy of God, the first step being that we realize our dire need of it. By down playing that need we do save from offense, but we do so at the expense of a far greater one; for nothing can be more offensive than an eternity in Hell.

(1)While we do not have the choice of whether or not to point out that all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God, it is not my intention to suggest that Christians behave in a manner consistent with the caricature of Christians that exists today. This image was perfected in the pit of Hell, and there will never be anything that the church will be able to do, barring abandoning the cross and sin altogether- as many churches have done-to win the approval of a ardently anti-Christian culture.

An All Too Common Answer

The System Is Broken

While listening to an interview on amnesty once, it sounded as if the interviewee was a pull string doll. The answer to every question was "the system is broken". This was because there was no politically profitable answer to the questions he was being asked. I've begun to notice a trend here. I recently heard a repeat of that answer on the subject of health care.

1. Will the people who are so all fired in a hurry to revolutionize American health care be subjected to the same system?

The current system is broken.

2. What about medicaid, isn't it going broke? Won't this be like medicaid times 10?

The current system is broken.

3. How are we going to pay for this?

The current system is broken.

Now, while I understand that some questions can cause those with political agendas to say things about their agendas that they'd rather not be said, when the discussion concerns blowing up our current health care system, one would think that anyone in favor of such radical "change" ought to be able to answer some questions about it, or at least to give the nation time to understand and think about what is being foisted upon them. Is it too much to ask that a complete overhaul of something as important as the nation's health care be able to withstand a little reasonable scrutiny?

Hope against Hope

When I was young, I made several parachute jumps from an airplane. The thinking that led up to the decision to do such a thing didn't occur in a vacuum however. Rather it was based on reason derived from experience; that experience being the observation of the successful jumps of others, and a little training. When it was my turn to go, I didn't jump and hope. I jumped with faith based on reason that the system would operate as designed. One reason for that faith was that the ground wasn't littered with the bodies of previous jumpers. Had such been the case, needless to say, my decision to jump would have been based merely on "hope against hope", that is, "hope without any basis to expect fulfilment". With the world littered with broken health care systems, my guess is that "the system is broken" sounds much better than "we're going to do this and hope against hope that our experience will be different.

Yet there is a silver lining to this cloud. We don't have to worry ourselves about those like the president who are yelling that we need to go ahead and Jump, NOW! THE SYSTEM IS BROKEN, for their system is tried and true. And we could all use a little less to worry about during these times, don't you think?