Thursday, May 31, 2012


1843- BEIBER DID WHAT?


I want to try and do some spiritual stuff- but I have a few news things first.

Okay- the headline read ‘Beiber wanted for questioning’.

Huh?

The story was short- and sweet.

Some paparazzi called 911 and quote ‘complained of being roughed up by the pop star’.

2 things.

Is the actually possible?

And

Why would anybody ever admit this?

Okay- more important stuff.

A while back I wrote a post on the train debacle in Cali.

Yeah- the President wants to sink billions of dollars into High Speed rail.

This was one of his main ideas to produce jobs.

You hear the same mantra on MSNBC- day in and day out.

They keep talking about spending billions on schools [buildings] bridges- ‘shovel ready’ jobs.

And after 3 years- we have thrown billions of dollars down the drain.

So last night I caught an expose on CNN.

Cooper did a good job critiquing the latest fiasco in California.

Now- you must understand Cali is dead broke- billions in the hole- cutting everything from school funding to cops and firefighters.

Yet they are still determined to go forward with the high speed rail thing.

Cooper detailed how the state has struggled to keep the vision alive.

The guy in charge of the project- to build the fast trains- came out recently and changed the entire route.

The new route goes thru a number of different cities- the train goes much slower- and it will now make stops at more cities.
 
The initial idea of ‘high speed’ meant the train would not stop a lot- it would go- well- fast- and it would service this ‘need’ to transport folk who for some reason disdain cars.

But now- it’s simply a train- a regular good ole U.S. of A Amtrak vehicle.

O- I forgot- the initial cost for the whole project was around 30 billion.

Obama has already given the state 4 billion [money we don’t have for ‘stuff’ like this].

But the new price is now around 130 billion.

By all estimates- California will never finish this project.

They already passed some type of bond money- but to get the voters to approve 130 billion- to put in a regular train- which no one will really ride- this will never happen.

And to do this when you’re cutting Medicare- food stamps- schools- I mean the people will never approve the rest of the money.

So what is the state determined to do?

The guy in charge says they are going to spend the 4 billion- no matter what- on the first part of the project.

The ‘foundational’ section will cost 4 billion- it will simply be rail track going from one town to another.

It’s supposed to be ‘high speed’ so this track is expensive.

It will take around 15 years to finish.

And there will be no train- no depot- nothing- but a stretch of track sitting in the middle of nowhere- costing the taxpayer 4 billion.

Okay- this is what you call waste- inexperience- bad vision.

These are the types of things that people in the real world don’t do.

But if you mean well- have some distorted idea that you can convert the nation- in a few years- to a solar energy world.

If you think building these trains all over the country is going to be the answer to lost jobs.

Then you are a well meaning guy- but you do not have the experience for the job.

One last example.

Last year the President went to Brazil.

By the way- Brazil just passed Cali as the worlds 8th biggest economy.

While there he guaranteed U.S. taxpayer money to Brazil’s national oil company.

For what?

So they can drill all types of new oil rigs- off shore.

Why did we give them U.S. money for this?

Because the President said if they can really develop their oil production we will buy lots of oil from them- at a high rate.

There was no deal to get the oil cheap.

Okay- at the same time Texas [as well as other oil producing states] has gone thru the ringer trying to survive at a time when the federal govt. has come down hard to stop new oil production in the U.S.

Many in the oil field have lost jobs because of the very ‘environmentalist’ agenda of the President.

The guy who was in charge of our area- recently was fired [or quit] because he was caught making the famous ‘crucify them’ statement.

He was the Presidents man overseeing our region for the E.P.A.

He said their tactic was to go into areas in the south- find certain oil producing companies that have any types of violations- and ‘crucify’ them.

I recently read an article from a former commerce guy in the town I retired from [Kingsville].

He wrote a piece in the paper after the ‘crucify’ them guy was let go.

He said for the last 3 years this guy has done everything possible to kill jobs in the state.

He gave examples of how Obama used this guy to virtually attack the oil industry in Texas.

Now- at the same time we gave loan guarantees to Brazil to ‘drill baby drill’.

This was federal tax money- that many of the oil people paid into the system.

Does this make any sense to you?

About as much sense as calling 911 and saying ‘Beiber roughed me up’

Amen [I told you I would try and get something spiritual in- this was the best I could do].








Note- Do me a favor, those who read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to ‘click’ the note App on my Facebook Profile- I have posted lots.







Wednesday, May 30, 2012


1842- BAD CAMPAIGN IDEA- YOU THINK?


Well it’s been a long Memorial Day weekend.

Late Friday one of the big banks of Spain asked for a 40 billion dollar bailout.

Bankia is strapped with billions of dollars of failed mortgages- and the S and P downgraded them to junk status.

Spain- like many of the other European nations- is in big trouble.

There unemployment rate is 25 %.

Wow.

Yesterday the Dow closed over 12,500.

There was a mini surge in the market.

Why?

The Dow is funny- it is not always an indicator of how well the economy is doing.

For example- the jobs numbers for April came out- late Friday [we try to release bad news on Fridays- after the markets close- so people have to sit and wait until Monday [or Tuesday] before they can respond.]

Yeah- the numbers were not good- total jobs for the month were around 115,000.

So- this makes investors think ‘geez- the economy is in trouble- maybe the Fed. will print more money’.

And the big investors will add that into to their calculations- and Walla- the Dow goes up.

As we hit the middle of the year- after 3 months of bad jobs numbers [they need to be around 250,000 a month] it sure looks like we are not recovering well from the Great Recession.

Syria.

Yes- once again it made headlines.

There were reports of lots of civilians killed again.

Many of them kids.

Assad [the leader] denied it was his men.

The killers were indeed militia men- in uniform- not standard govt. fighters.

But it seems as if they are working for Assad.

Russia at first questioned it- they are strong supports of Assad.

They thought maybe it was Al Qaida- who are operating in the country.

They bombed a military hospital a few weeks back and killed civilians.

But Russia seems like they might be changing their tune a little- they are also speaking out more forcefully against Assad.

I watched Tom Freidman on the Charlie Rose show.

Freidman is a writer for the N.Y. Times- he’s usually right on.

He’s calling for a No Fly Zone in Syria.

I must ask these guys ‘what do you mean’?

Assad is not using planes to attack the rebels- just like Gadhaffi in Libya.

So what would a true no fly zone accomplish?

The term ‘no fly zone’ has come to mean ‘we will go in to your country- under the guise of NATO- but the U.S. will pay for most of it- do most of it- and we will bomb the hell out of your leader’.

Oh- then after were done- Al-Qaida- or any radical Islamist group- will rule the land.

So- because of our action in Libya- this is the new definition of a no fly zone.

I don’t want to sound like I support Assad- I don’t- but this strategy has failed.

In Egypt- where we forced the leader to step down [Mubarak].

They just had their election- and it’s a runoff between a former govt. man and the Muslim Brotherhood.

The president has supported the Muslim Brotherhood [our president!]

He had them at the White House a few weeks back.

This gave them an aura of support from the West- for a U.S. president to invite one of the groups of an upcoming election to have a personal sit down in the White House is showing favoritism.

So the actual protestors who gave their lives in Tahrir square- their voices are not being heard.

The moderate candidates did not win.

The Muslim Brotherhood might not be as bad as Al-Qaida [Might!] but they do advocate for Shariah law.

Egypt was not an Islamic run state in the past- we ousted out Mubarak and now it looks like they will become one.

Why is this bad?

Let’s see- gay folk- yeah- we catch you in the act- we kill you.

Women- caught cheating- we stone you.

Christians- if we think you blasphemed Allah [like witnessing for Jesus] your dead too.

Should I go on?

Yet the president and many in the western media hail the recent elections as a great victory for Democracy- after all it is a real vote.

I wonder how many of these same reporters would think the same if some Western nation elected a bunch of radical Christian fundamentalists who wanted to kill gays and women.

We see the double standard- and it’s huge.

And let’s end with politics.

Yes- the lines are drawn and Obama has made it clear that his strategy to go after Bain capital is going to be their campaign.

Okay- Bain capital is the financial firm that Romney ran.

This firm used PRIVATE MONEY to go into hurting companies and provide cash.

In some cases- not all- they had to downsize.

They laid off workers- cut back- and even closed some businesses down.

In other cases they saved the company- and the businesses went on to become great successes [Staples- the office supply chain is one example].

So- the President is criticizing Bain because in some cases they lost jobs.

Let’s look at his record for a moment.

One of the things that Obama likes to do is invest PUBLIC TAX MONEY into private business- businesses that have direct ties to him and his friends.

Yes- he sunk tons of money into Solyndra [a solar energy company].

This company- now famous for having gone under [yikes- you mean you invested money into a private company- TAX MONEY- and it shut down- sounds like Bain to me].

And when the company was on the verge of going under- it was right before the midterm elections- the president changed the govt. loan- against the law- and made it favor one of his top money guys.

Yes- this is fact- it all came out- in the news- on a bunch of Fridays no less.

The loans that the govt. makes to these private companies has a law that says ‘if the company ever goes bust- the taxpayers get paid back first- before any private investors’.

Got it?

The law puts the tax payer over the ‘private equity money’ that is- Bain money.

Okay- the law protects you and me- and it makes the Bain’s of the world get paid last.

So what did the Pres do?

His campaign guy- who had invested money into the company- told the Pres ‘look- I will put more money into Solyndra- to keep them afloat before the election- but if they go bust- I want my money back first- before the taxpayer’.

Now- this is against the law that governs these loans.

So- after all this came to light- an email/memo came out that said ‘it looks like your wanting to change the law to benefit your friend might be illegal’. This was an internal memo from Obama’s people.

What?

Yeah- Obama’s own people wrote this.

They advised ‘you need to get the approval of the justice dept. before you change this loan’.

He never did.

He changed the loan- his top campaign guy got his money first- and you and I got the short end of the deal.

Now- after all this- the presidents main campaign message is ‘look at Romney- he has a past of using private money to bail out companies- his dealings with private money are bad’.

You think with a history like Solyndra the last thing you would want to bring up is private money deals versus the U.S. taxpayer.








Note- Do me a favor, those who read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to ‘click’ the note App on my Facebook Profile- I have posted lots.







Saturday, May 26, 2012


1841- ATHEIST SUNDAY SCHOOL?


We had an interesting news week.

I saw a clip from Penn Gillette- the comedian/atheist/magician.

Yeah- he was raging against the President.

Why?

Because Obama supports tough laws against pot smoking- and he at the same time was a pot smoker.

Now- at first I did not understand the ‘guttural’ anger.

That was until I read some of the reports about Obama’s past.

Like most people- I knew that he toked a joint or 2 in high school, and I just chalked it up to growing up in the 70’s/80’s.

Sure- we all did stupid stuff.

 I thought the high heels on my shoes were cool- I still remember how proud I felt when my dad painted my room with red, white and blue stripes and stars- ‘just wait until the girls see this!’

But after I read some of the articles on Obama- I was actually surprised that he basically was the biggest ‘pot head’ at his school.

Why surprised?

Look- it wasn’t just a toke or 2- it was the whole image of the Cheech and Chong thing.

The reports said how he coined the term 'T.A.’ Total Absorption.

He had this thing that of you wasted the ‘precious Hawaiian weed’ you were looked down on.

He also started a trend where you all light up- and sit in the car- the car fills with pot and you do not roll the windows down until all the pot is gone- consumed by the guys in the car.

There were many pictures of Obama with a joint- scenes where the car is pot filled- they showed the ‘pot van’ they all used.

Obama even coined another term ‘interception’ when they guys were passing the joint around- he would grab the joint out of turn and say ‘intercepted’.

Now- does all this mean he should not be Pres.?

Not really- but I had no idea he was the biggest pot head on the Hawaiian Island!

I mean I now see how his old buddies must be laughing about the whole thing.

They really pulled a fast one on the public.

I read this from a liberal news site- Huffington Post- as well as more conservative ones- it seems like the story is true.

There were lots of pictures and names- and even the nicknames they used- all pot head type stuff.

Now I see why Penn was mad- he ranted on his on line Sunday School program- he is a libertarian- against the drug laws- and he said if Obama was ever caught doing this stuff he would have been arrested and had a record and would have never been Pres.

But then he still supports tough pot laws- that- in his mind- are ruining the futures of many other kids.

Yeah- got it.

Facebook IPO- a mess.

Okay- to all my Facebook family- Dad [Zuckerberg] had a bad week.

As most of you know- Facebook went public this week.

For the first time- you can now buy stock in the company.

The opening price was 38 dollars a share.

I think today it’s around 31- not good.

What happened?

Lots of stuff.

The Nasdaq- the tech arm that lists most internet/computer stock- messed up.

On opening day the purchasers [and sellers] were delayed for a couple of hours during trading.

That’s bad.

Why?

If you think your buying at say 34 dollars- and it takes 2 hours to go thru- and you find out you bought at 40- not good.

So you have lawsuits being filed as I speak.

Also- it’s kind of complicated- but the way Morgan Stanley [the bank that financed the initial offering] went about offering stock- they seem to have blown the deal.

Right up until the day before the stock sale- lots of institutional investors had their bids in.

These are the big hedge fund guys and all.

Now- they expected to get so many shares for the money they put down.

When the actual sale went thru- to their surprise- they had lots more than they thought.

It spooked them.

The reason for this was Facebook and the bank decided to put more shares for sale than originally thought.

This caught the investors off guard and added to the fear.

There are a few more things that went wrong- all in all in was not a good day for Facebook.

I like Facebook- I try not to criticize it- it gives us all a free venue to ‘vent’- but this thing went bad- fast.

Some thought the company was valued too high for the projected income- that other tech companies that went public [Google] were bought and sold at a much cheaper price- compared to the amount of projected income- so there were lots of things wrong with this offering.

And last.

I was surprised to see the president loosing over 40% of the Democrat vote in some of these primaries.

Obama is running unchallenged- and yet he is losing lots of the vote- to either unknown candidates [they simply vote- other] or to guys in prison!

Yes- a guy sitting in jail here in Texas got over 40% of the vote- amazing [and this was a primary in another state!]

Alaska, Kentucky and West Va. all had a huge percentage of Dems vote against Obama.

I do think the odds of him suffering a loss- maybe a big loss- is very real.

James Carville- the ragin cagin Dem strategist has warned about this- he thinks the Dems are taking this election too lightly.

He sees the writing on the wall.

He’s asking ‘what are you all high or what’.

No Jim- it’s called total absorption.








Note- Do me a favor, those who read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to ‘click’ the note App on my Facebook Profile- I have posted lots.




Friday, May 25, 2012


1840- DAVID’S TENT

The other day I went thru the gospel of Mark.

Of course there’s a whole lot in the book- but I came across a story that I liked a lot.

In Marks gospel Jesus is with the disciples and they are going thru the fields picking the ‘ears of corn’ [note- you did not have corn- like we think- growing in the land at the time. They were picking grain. But the King James Bible- 1611- which I use- did translate the term corn].

Now- when the Pharisees saw this- it was the Sabbath day- they accused Jesus and his men of breaking Gods law.

Jesus responded by saying ‘have you never read the story of David when he was fleeing Saul- how he and his men ate the sacred bread- that is not lawful for men to eat- only the priests’.

I always liked this story because there is so much to unpack- let’s try to do a little.

Was it unlawful for the disciples to have done this?

Not really- the Pharisees were a group of religious leaders that rose up during the time of the captivity of the Jews a couple hundred years before the time of Christ.

They did serve a noble purpose at the start- they wanted to retain the culture and religious beliefs of Gods people during a time of displacement from their own land.

So this group established the synagogue system [sort of a Jewish ‘church’] and they would gather around on the Sabbath day and read the scriptures and be reminded of their heritage.

Okay- what happened to these brothers- like many other good things that meant well at the start- was after a while they became elitist.

They saw themselves as better than everyone else- they became judges of all other groups- and they developed a Tradition- called ‘The Tradition of the Elders’ which was an expansion on the law of God.

This is what Jesus often fought against in his day- the Tradition of the Elders [not all tradition in general!]

Why is this important?

It is common in our day for many well meaning believers- Born Again Christians- to disdain all Church tradition.

Many people [like myself] come from a former Catholic background- and one of the first things you normally hear is ‘look at all the bad traditions that the church taught’.

This mindset is often justified by Jesus condemnation of the ‘Traditions of men that make void the Word of God’.

Jesus was not throwing all tradition under the bus- he was rebuking THIS specific tradition.

Got it?

Okay- the reason I said ‘sort of’ [at the top] was because the defense Jesus gave said ‘didn’t you read what David did- when he ate the bread that was unlawful to eat’.

So Jesus really did not mind the ‘you broke the law’ accusation- but instead placed himself in the situation of King David and said ‘I too have authority over the Sabbath’.

In the Jewish mind of the 1st century- the statements like this that Jesus made [Moses said this- but I say this] these statements meant more than meets the eye.

They meant that Jesus saw himself as being equal with God.

If you carefully read the gospels you see this.

To the first century Jew- this was indeed a violation of what they were taught.

‘The Lord our God is One’.

So- Jesus defends himself and his men by saying ‘I am Lord over the Sabbath’

Strong words indeed.

The story of David is found in the book of Samuel.

He’s running from king Saul at the time- and he goes to the ‘House of God’ and needs food.

The priest [Abiathar] tells him he only has the sacred bread- which is reserved for the priests.

David makes up a story and says he’s on a special mission from Saul and the priest gives David the bread.

He eats- and gives to his men.

Now- when Jesus uses this story in the gospel- he does mention that David and his men both ate.

I find this interesting.

Because Jesus will sit down with his men at the last supper and do the same thing.

He tells them ‘take eat- this is my Body- drink- this is my Blood’.

How could Jesus ‘eat himself’?

The Bread and Wine represent the Body and Blood of Christ.

Jesus said his meat [bread- the thing that sustained him] was to do the will of God and finish his work.

He was sustained too by the mission he was on- he lived to ‘give his Body and Blood’.

This mission was his life’s purpose- he too ‘ate the Bread’.

Jesus also came from the lineage of king David- he was a ‘son’ of David.

In the above verses- it said ‘David came to the house of God’.

We often see this as the Temple.

But remember- the temple was not built yet.

David’s son Solomon will build it in the future.

So what ‘house of God’ did David come to?

It was the tabernacle [of Moses].

 This was a tent type system that God gave to the children of Israel during their wilderness journey.

It became the central place of worship and sacrifice when they entered the promised land.

Eventually the main piece of this tent system gets taken by Israel's enemies [They stole the Ark- the box that held the 10 commandments].

And when David becomes king he gets it back.

As the Ark eventually winds up back in the hands of David- he builds another tent thing- called the Tabernacle of David- and he places the Ark under this tent.

Now- David is king at the time- the bible says he put on a Linen Ephod and worshipped God before this tent [he operated as a priest- which was unlawful for kings to do- normally!].

Understand- at the same time the Tabernacle of Moses still existed- it just did not have the Ark in it- David’s ‘new’ tent had the Ark.

This was symbolic of the New testament King/Priesthood of Jesus.

He in essence would usher the people into the presence of God- absent the Veil of the Temple- a covering that existed in the Tabernacle of Moses- which represented separation from God- but was not in the one David made.

So you see- when Jesus used David as an example- there was more than meets the eye- much more.

[Jesus is the New Testament King/Priest that died on the Cross- the Veil of the temple was ripped on that day- and he now represents us before the throne of God- absent the veil- the thing that separated man from God].








Note- Do me a favor, those who read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to ‘click’ the note App on my Facebook Profile- I have posted lots.






Wednesday, May 23, 2012


1839-SCAPEGOAT


Yesterday I went down to the local mission- I usually catch up with my homeless friends there.

I didn’t see Henry- but Michael showed up.

I met Mike around 20 years ago.

 [ just a note- on my blog- under the Feb. posts of each year I have a category called ‘Homeless’.

I write about my friends in these posts.

 I came to Corpus in 1992- most of the guys I met the first year or 2.

So you might read a post that says ‘I knew this guy for 20 years’. Then maybe in another post ’15 years’.

I don’t keep exact numbers- just realize I have known most of these guys since 1992]

The last time I saw Mike was around 2-3 years ago.

He was living on the other side of town- actually- more in the Mexican type area.

Now- I’m ‘at home’ in the Barrio- just like in the ‘white boy’ part of town.

Over the years I have been to the Govt. housing- visiting families- wives- kids- of my buddies that were in jail.

Lots of them were members of the church I started years ago.

So to me- race means nothing.

[Like I told my daughters friend one day ‘I’m not racist- I think Whites are only a little bit better than the other races’ Joke!]

But Mike- well- he was in the ‘bad part’ of town.

So he told me he moved back to ‘the Bluff’ and has a weekly room at the Plaza hotel.

A lot of the ‘homeless’ guys do have places- non permanent- where they stay on and off- this is Mikes thing.

He is working as a cook at the Golden Corral- a famous buffet in Corpus.

We caught up on old times.

Mike asked if I was gonna be around for a while- I told him yeah.

He walked back to the hotel- about 3 blocks- to show me his latest art work.

Mike is an A-1 artist- he has painted for years.

He even painted the signs for the apartments my wife manages [about 15 years ago].

He told me he just painted the for sale signs down the street.

The owner of Floyds Christian Restaurant is selling some land- Mike did the signs.

So he comes back with about 7 paintings- I mean beautiful stuff- all originals.

He paints ‘free style’ he doesn’t look at another picture- just from his mind.

I loved the paintings.

They were different than what I saw before.

Lots of birds- flowers.

 Shore line- boats- fish.

He used to do lots of gory stuff- skulls- Mega death stuff [rock group].

I asked him if I could buy one- he does not sell them- but he told me he would let me have one for the cost of the materials.

I bought a beautiful scene- some fishermen pulling in their nets by the sea- a huge pelican on the dock- and these great sunflowers peering over them.

15 bucks.

A steal.

I gave Mike a ride back to the hotel- he did carry all these pictures by hand.

We talked- for about 4 hours.

I have found the guys- who have mental challenges- like Mike- they really benefit just from having a friend to talk to.

It was funny in a way- I must have quoted 50 individual verses that fit the exact scenario that Mike was communicating.

I really don’t ‘preach’ much at all when I’m with the brothers.

 They know I’m helping them out [we often go out to eat] and they know I do ministry stuff.

But all these friendships are just that- these guys are simply friends I have made over the years.

But this day was different- I really taught Mike a lot of stuff- in a way that never really happened in the past.

Example.

He was telling me how he simply does his art on his own- most people don’t even know his talent.

When he brought the paintings to the mission- everyone was shocked that he actually painted them.

They have known Mike for years- yet they never saw his work.

So Mike told me that he likes doing his work in private- and simply enjoying the satisfaction of the paintings.

I told him that Jesus taught this ‘when you do your good works- don’t let the left hand know what the right hand is doing- do it in secret- and God will reward you openly’.

He said ‘yeah- that’s it!’

One painting he had sitting by the sink- he did not bring this one to the mission- was Christ on the Cross.

Mike showed me the nails in Christ’s hands.

He made them crooked on purpose- he said ‘my dad always told me I couldn’t even drive a nail in straight’.

He did this on purpose- in a way it was prophetic.

The painting of Christ- and the words that hurt Mike- the words he never forgot thru out his life.

He told me that in the past when he did artwork for various people [he has done portraits for hundreds of dollars- though he does not sell his own stuff].

That sometimes people take out their faults on the artist.

If they are dealing with problems they tend to pass them off to the artist.

As we sat there- with the painting of Christ- and the crooked nails.

I told Mike ‘this also is in the bible’

I went on to tell the story in the Old Testament of the Scapegoat.

Yeah- the Scapegoat comes from the bible.

In the Jewish religion at the time- you had the priest bring 2 goats- on one he would lay his hands- symbolically saying ‘we put the sins of the people on you’.

The one goat- the Scape goat- would then run away.

But they took the other- and sacrificed it.

I told Mike- this is what the Scapegoat is- Jesus himself bares the guilt and problems that the people bring to the table.

Mike once again said ‘yeah- that’s it’.

This went on for around 4 hours- I felt it was Gods way of communicating to my old friend- in a way that I never really was able to in the past.

He showed me an art book he bought from Barnes and Noble.

He really liked the way the author drew.

It was a teaching guide for artists.

It had quotes of all the famous painters of the past.

One from DaVinci said ‘the greatest mastery of all is the mastery of one’s self’ [paraphrase].

I told Mike ‘this too is in the bible’.

 I quoted from Proverbs ‘he that has no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls- but he that rules his spirit is better than he that takes a city’,

Once again- it clicked.

 I took pictures of the paintings with my cell phone- I told Mike if they come out good I’ll try and post them on my site so my friends can see.

I looked at them later- they did not come out too good.

The one of Christ with the crooked nails- that came out good- I have that as my Wall paper on the phone.

Maybe my daughter will help me post it on the site?

I have known Mike a long time.

His dad was in the Navy and they moved to the city years ago.

Mike is from upstate N.Y.

I have written about Mike before- he seems to have burned himself out on some type of drug over the years- you can tell he has mental problems.

But he is very talented- he has always worked- as long as I have known him.

And he has been on and off the streets for years.

I think the story about the scapegoat really made an impact.

Mike is smart- he asked me lots of stuff this day.

About creation- and science- things that other Christians have told him to reject.

I told Mike it’s okay to believe in certain scientific ‘proofs’ and also be a Christian [he knew a lot about the natural world- and I have taught lots about this over the years].

So he not only ‘saw’ a lot of things from the bible that he never saw before.

But I also was able to show him how the bible does not go against science [I actually just posted a note the other day on this].

I told Mike ‘why don’t you title the Cross painting- The Scapegoat’.

Every time you walk in the room- look at the painting and realize Christ has taken all the guilt and pressure and stuff that others have put on you- he is the Scapegoat’.

Sometimes its easier to remember a story when its connected to an image.

That’s why Jesus told parables- stories that people could ‘see’ in their minds.

Yeah- the scapegoat- with the crooked nails- yeah- how can you forget that?








Note- Do me a favor, those who read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to ‘click’ the note App on my Facebook Profile- I have posted lots.







Tuesday, May 22, 2012


1838- YOUR SO BAIN





About a week ago I noticed something.

The media began running with a story that said ‘the austerity programs in Europe did not work- look- their economies are collapsing’.

Now- at first there were just a few people saying it- Paul Krugman from the N.Y. Times.

He is a liberal economist who has advocated for more stimulus spending.

He has said that 800 billion was not enough [the 1st stimulus] that we needed about 2 trillion.

Of course if your whole career is based on teaching this principle [Krugman is a Noble Prize winning economist] then instead of admitting you were wrong- you will say ‘they did not spend enough’.

So he just put out another book [how to spend our way out of this depression] and some others have jumped on the bandwagon.

These people know that we will never know if 2 trillion would have done the job- because we will never agree to another trillion in stimulus.

So- after hearing inklings of this over the past couple of weeks- I saw a report on the presidents meeting with the G-8 nations [top economies of the world] and the news report showed Obama and the U.S. on one side- and the E.U. nations on the other side.

They then said how Obama- and the stimulus- brought our country out of the recession- and that all these other E.U. nations tried austerity- and it failed.

What?

The E.U. nations that are suffering their own ‘great depression’ got into this situation by spending more than they had.

Greece was the first one to see trouble- and others followed.

This is why we saw the Greek riots and stuff like that.

Now- out of the 17 nations that make up the common currency group- the Euro- Germany is the most stable of the bunch.

Germany has practiced austerity [spend less than you have] for years- they saw the writing on the wall and cut back their spending years ago.

They are also the strongest nation in the Euro Zone [note- there are 28 nations in the European Union- but only 17 are in the common currency called the Euro- Obviously Great Britain has the largest economy in Europe.]

So- after some of the ‘overspending nations’ got into trouble- they wanted the banks in the E.U. region to bail them out [U.S. style].

The banks- and the other more stable economies told Greece 'if you want the bail out- you must show us you are serious about getting your house in order’.

And this led to cutbacks in spending in Greece and a few other troubled nations.

Okay- the Greeks did not like the new cut back measures [called austerity] - many of the retired people lost half their pensions- other benefits were lost.

Greeks retire in their 50’s- with full benefits.

They gave too much over the years- and got in over their heads.

So Germany said ‘look- our people retire at 70- if you want our tax money to bail you out- then you need to retire at the age we do’!

Sure- they were mad- they were not going to subsidize another countries young retirees.

So all this played into the call for cuts.

Did the cuts work?

They never had a chance to.

The recent elections in Greece kicked out all the ‘cutters’ and put in new people who vowed to tax the rich.

In France- the new leader is calling for a 75 percent tax on the rich- 75!

So- the Euro Zone nations have not even been able to see if the cutting worked.

There spending went up the last few years- from 44 to 49 %- as compared to their GPD.

So- when the media reported ‘the Obama spending worked- and the E.U. cutting did not’ that’s really not the full story.

I find it funny how quick the media and the Obama people began running with this message- in no time at all they saw a political advantage in making it look like the Krugmans of the world were right.

Remember- the strongest economy in the Euro Zone is Germany- and they did not spend like the other weaker nations- or like the U.S.

They are the strongest because they reigned in spending- not increase it.

The U.S. economy did gain some benefit from the 800 billion stimulus- because much of the money that went to the states was used to simply prop up the states budgets- but that money is now gone.

Overall- the cost per job from the stimulus money was not worth it- and many of the programs [Solyndra] that we spent money on was lost.

So all in all- to say ‘the U.S. has proved that stimulus works- and the E.U. has proved that cutting does not’ is really not true.

Also- the other day I posted about the danger of the President going around and using the class warfare language.

Sure enough- we had 2 more incidents of anarchists [people mad at govt. and rich folk] who were arrested for planning terrorist attacks.

These guys [5 in all] were at the NATO meeting in Chicago and supposedly were planning bad stuff.

Some say they were set up by undercover agents- so how serious they were we don’t know.

But this happened just days after Biden went on a rage at some union event.

I’m sure you saw the clip ‘they don’t get us- they don’t know who we are!’

The ‘they’ are the rich folk [opps- Biden just happens to be one].

Now- he went on for a few minutes- in a rage.

The Obama campaign has continued to hit private enterprise hard- they are gonna wind up sinking Bain Capital.

Bain is the private equity firm that Romney ran.

Bain has gone in to businesses in trouble has done one of 2 things.

Sometimes they close the business and pass the profits off to the stock holders.

Other times they save the business- and create jobs.

I must admit- as media critic- I even began becoming influenced by the nonstop campaign against Bain.

Just recently I saw the stats- they actually have helped/created more jobs than they lost.

I never knew this.

Just yesterday Bain had to start putting out statements in defense of their business.

You must understand that the president’s choice to basically throw this private group under the bus is sad.

If you work- or have money invested in Bain- you are in trouble.

Why?

Look- private companies hire Bain to come in- and at times- help the company.

Now- if you are an employer- and word gets out ‘the boss hired Bain’! The Union guys will revolt!

You say ‘well John- that’s good- they will save their jobs’.

Not always.

The company will simply avoid the media publicity from Bain and hire another firm.

So- the decision to blast Bain is an attack on jobs- in a way.

Even Cory Booker- the mayor of Newark- went on the defense of Bain on Sundays Meet the Press.

He had to back track later because he is a supporter of Obama.

But he too realizes that to attack private equity is stupid.

Private equity just bailed out Newark a year or so ago.

Mark Zuckerberg [Facebook founder] gave around 100 million to Newark to help with the schools.

Yeah- Corey had a dog in the fight- and it wasn’t Obama!

Okay- I think will end with this- I was gonna throw in another thing or 2- but let it wait.

Rarely is one side always right- and the other always wrong.

But when you see the trend of a false story develop in the media- and the concurrent Obama campaign narrative- then you need to be aware that this in not journalism.

It is simple advocacy.








Note- Do me a favor, those who read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to ‘click’ the note App on my Facebook Profile- I have posted lots.