RACE RELIGION AND POLITICS C 2013
1872- TEXAS ‘HOLD-ER’ [Texas
Hold-em is a popular scratch off down here in Skynard land]
I had an interesting day on
Facebook yesterday.
I kinda hung out for most of the
day- reading my friends sites and all.
Being I’ve been living in Texas
for the past 32 years- to me it’s neat to see all the old pics from my hometown
area.
Some of my friends post
classic/current pictures of my old stomping grounds- that’s so cool.
As I perused the landscape- I
also noticed something- many of my friends get lots of comments.
At first this seemed like a good
thing- but as the day wore on- and I watched the news [Holder story- in a sec]
I began letting ole slew foot in the door.
‘Yeah- why do they get so many
comments- and I get none’?
‘Wait John- don’t go down that
road- you know where it leads’.
Okay- I resisted ‘resist the
devil and he will flee from you’ [James].
Yet- the more comments I saw- the
worse it got.
‘John- focus on the word- find a
short- 2 or 3 word verse that you can fixate your mind on’
Good idea!
‘Love those that treat you wrong-
don’t get even- don’t be jealous’.
I mean- there are so many to
choose from- plus- they sound real good- but I can’t seem to ‘get satisfaction’
by focusing on them.
I also saw lots of old Rock pics
and stuff- yeah- even ran across that old Stones tune ‘I can’t get no
satisfaction’ I know what you mean Mick.
So- after a while- I found a
short- 3-4 word phrase that seemed to do the trick- but it came from the
Facebook site itself.
REPORT/BLOCK THIS PERSON
Oh yeah- sweet- so sweet.
Easy to remember- and it feels
sooo good!
Okay- I kid.
Now- what actually did get me
riled up a bit?
As a news watcher- I flip the
channels nonstop.
I watch em all.
So- as I’m resisting the jealousy
thing- I see that Eric Holder came to Texas to address the NAACP.
They showed a few short clips of
the speech.
He has sued our state multiple
time- he just sued Corpus Christi last week [few posts back].
So as he’s giving the speech- he
criticizes the new voter ID law.
He even mocks good ole Texas.
You know- Skynard said ‘southern
man don’t need him around anyhow- in Birmingham we love the govn’r’ yeah- he
stuck it to old Neil Young.
So Holder says that the new law
would permit you to vote if you showed a pictured gun permit- but you could not
use a student ID.
Yeah- you preach it Holder!
Doesn’t that sound like Texas is
filled with a bunch of A holes?
Boy did they roar in the crowd.
He then went on and said the law-
which requires an ID [I’m pretty sure you can get one for free if you don’t
have the money?] is a POLL TAX.
He said we were all racists.
This is our attorney general.
‘John- be honest- it’s because
he’s Black- isn’t it’?
No- that’s only about 5 % of it
[okay- I kid once more].
The truth be told- this is indeed
playing the race card- and for the chief officer of the justice Dept. to be
playing this card- well- that’s bad.
I mean why would a gun permit do
the trick- yet a student ID wont?
In Texas- many students
[thousands- 10’s of thousands?] are not U.S. citizens.
It’s not against the law for a
non citizen to have a Texas student idea.
Yet- you can’t get a gun permit
without an extensive background check.
If you have a permit- you are a
citizen.
Now- Holder knows this- so what
he did was pure politics- he appealed to the racist instinct in all men- yes
even in Black men- and he played the race card.
This is shameful- it is racist-
and the man needs to resign his job- now.
Okay- see- now I’m struggling
again- just like the comment thing ‘love your enemies- pray for those who do
you wrong’.
Yeah- I know.
But BLOCK THIS PERSON.
It just feels so much better.
All right.
Psalms 78.
I have been reading/meditating on
it the last couple of days.
The Psalm recounts the story of
God meeting the needs of his people when they came out of Egypt and were in the
wilderness- for 40 years.
You find the story in the book of
Exodus.
During this 40 year journey-
which in reality was a couple of day journey- but they wandered in circles for
40 years because they would not believe the promise God made to them.
So- during this time they
complained- lots.
‘we will starve out here- we have
no bread- no water- no meat’.
And time after time God would do
a miracle and give them what they needed.
In the Psalm we read that he gave
them bread from heaven- it was called MANNA- the word means ‘what is it’.
It was called Angels food.
It was a little wafer type thing
[Catholic friends- think Host] and in the morning when they got up it was on
the ground- every day- for 40 years.
They wanted meat- they started
complaining about the Manna ‘Manna every day- cant we change the menu up
Moses’.
So God sent them meat- he caused
a strong wind to blow and tons of Quail blew in from off shore- they had meat
‘until it came out their nose’- yeah- this is a quote from the bible.
So- God did provide for them- yet
they still complained.
Years ago when reading the story
I came across a verse I liked [almost as much as BLOCK THIS PERSON].
It said Moses kept the ordinances
in the wilderness for 40 years.
Think about that.
After God parted the Red Sea-
they spent 40 years wasting time.
They were supposed to go right
into the promised land [Cancan- Israel] but because of their whining- it took
40 years to make the 3 day trip.
Yet- God gave them ordinances-
religious type rituals that he wanted them to keep- Passover- etc.
And Moses kept observing them-
even though the promise was so far away.
Yeah- that’s the tough part if
you will- what divides the men from the boys.
It’s not your talent [or how many
darn comments you get] or your good looks.
No- at the end of the day- can
you keep the ‘ordinances in the wilderness’.
Can you do what needs to be done-
even when all hope seems gone.
Yeah- that’s the key.
So- as I end this post- I too
have a choice.
Will I think ‘happy thoughts’?
Nah- the BLOCK THIS PERSON still
seems to give me that extra umph- one more night with the frogs will have to do
[one of the 10 plagues- it’s a long story for another day].
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.
1871- LIAR
Let’s recap a few recent news
events.
Yesterday Libya held their first
Democratic election.
To my surprise [and glad about
the thing] it seems [so far!] that they might have elected a ‘non Islamic’ guy.
Huh?
Yeah- every so called Arab Spring
state has gone the other way.
Yet- in Libya- maybe- just maybe
they will get a good guy.
‘John- do you mean to say the
Muslim Brotherhood’ are bad’?
In a way- yes.
Why?
What we have done in the Western
world [especially the President] is we have sided with those who have been
‘rebelling’ in these various nations.
You might have a situation like
Egypt- where we were actually good allies of the former leader- Mubarak.
Yet- he- like the other autocrats
in the region- did indeed abuse his power.
His police force were brutal- and
eventually the people rose up and had the historic protests in Tahrir square.
We then began calling for Mubarak
to step down [the infamous words of Robert Gibbs- the former press Secy- ‘he
needs to go- yesterday’]
And he did just that- he stepped
down under pressure.
Now- as ‘righteous’ as the U.S.
looked- we actually conspired secretly with the Egyptian military and used this
inside pressure to get the guy to go.
How come we had that type of
influence?
Because the top military leaders
were all trained at West Point- here in the U.S.
Our generals and military guys
all knew their top guys- and that’s how we did it.
Okay- the rest is history.
The Muslim Brotherhood guy just
won the election in Egypt- and he is calling back the Parliament- the military
dismissed them a few weeks ago- and the new guy is going up against the
military.
The Parliament had a majority of
Muslim Brotherhood in the ranks.
Because the Egyptian law limits
the majority in parliament- one party can only hold so many seats- their high
court ruled it ‘unconstitutional’ and they were ‘let go’.
So- the new Brotherhood guy wants
them back.
All in all- many [most] of these
countries are going the way of Islamic law.
This is not good for the rights
of women- it’s not good if your gay- and it’s bad if you’re a Christian.
Yes- even though they might have
been elected by the people- makes no difference- if you want to rule your
country by religious law- then that’s not good- period.
Okay- then why did we just have a
couple of days of worldwide media coverage about the Taliban killing the woman
‘taken in adultery’.
Look- we- the U.S.- use
propaganda all the time.
We are all affected by it.
The Taliban shot a woman because
she committed adultery with some military guys.
The media have been showing this
‘shocking’ tape.
We have been trying to negotiate
a peace treaty with these guys.
And how have they responded?
They blew up a few buildings and
killed a bunch of guy’s right after one of the recent meetings.
They are saying ‘screw you’.
So- we show how bad they are.
Got it?
‘But John- isn’t it bad’.
Of course.
But they do the same thing in
Saudi Arabia- Bahrain- and a bunch of other places.
And we support these other
leaders- even though they indeed do the same thing- based on Islamic law.
So- when we show the killing by
the Taliban- make no mistake- many of
‘our friends’ do the exact same thing.
I hope Libya turns out well- but
it’s too soon to tell.
Every now and then I’ll see that
they’re playing that Jim Carey flick.
Liar- Liar.
It’s kind of a kid’s type movie-
but when I saw it years ago- it was funny.
Carey is ‘cursed’ by having to tell
the truth for 24 hours.
His kid made a birthday wish and
Carey becomes this saint.
So- he finds himself in these
tough spots- being he is a lawyer.
He tells his secretary about the
curse- but she doesn’t believe him.
He says ‘go ahead- test me- ask
me something that you think I would lie about’.
So she begins questioning him
about the time she asked for a raise and he said that the bosses said they
couldn’t approve it because then all the other secretaries would want one.
She then recounts how he told her
he offered to pay out of his own pocket- but they said no.
As she recounts the tale- Jim
covers his ears and says ‘never mind- don’t ask- don’t ask’.
The next scene- she’s emptying
out her desk.
His son tells him ‘dad- my
teacher said that true beauty is in the heart- it’s not the outward
appearance’.
Carey responds ‘that’s just
something ugly people say’.
He does this all thru out the
movie.
At one point the secretary
answers the phone- it’s one of his regular ‘customers’.
She informs Carey that it’s him-
and he’s asking for advice- he just got busted doing some drug thing- or break
in.
Carey takes the phone to give him
the advice- actually I hesitated on using this- I mean I did drop the F bomb in
the last post- but he takes the phone and says ‘stop f$@# up- A- hole’.
What’s the solution to all these
uprisings?
We are now using the same words
that we used in all the other spots- we are talking the same way about Syria
‘the wrong of history- his time is short’.
I have stood on the side of the
people in all these uprisings- and at first I wanted to see real democracy
spring forth.
Yet- we must realize that many
radicals in these countries are also using the whole ‘wrong side of history’ to
see if we will come in and do the dirty work for them.
One of the militia leaders in
Libya- the side we backed- is actually an Al Qaeda guy who was released from
Gitmo.
Yeah- one of the prisoners we
released- he‘s running a military group right now in Libya.
So- what do we do?
When various groups rise up-
start an armed uprising- then say ‘look- do something- see- we are dying’.
We need to say- we support
democracy- everywhere.
But- if you want our backing-
then you can’t install Islamic rule- as the law of the land.
The U.S. would not permit it- so
we won’t back you if you keep doing it.
Second- if your ‘rebellion’
includes the bombing of civilians- hospitals- and other ‘non military targets’
[like the Syrian rebels] then we won’t back you.
In short- we- the U.S. and the
Western World- we are not responsible for all the world’s problems.
We want to help people- but not
groups who are tied to Al Qaeda.
We want to support democracy- but
not ‘democracies’ that elect leaders who want Islamic law.
Yeah- maybe the advice of Carey
to his client is what we need to tell them- stop- well- you know.
NOTE- Let me give you one more
example of ‘propaganda’.
Last year I watched a story
unfold on MSNBC.
Thru out the week they did their
usual Sarah Palin bashing.
Now- I have said in the past- I
think she was not ready for the job of V.P.
But- that doesn’t mean open
season on her- and her kids.
The story was some book writer
rented the house next door to the Palin’s.
He set up all the stuff to see if
he could catch them doing anything that the world might want to see.
I guess the guy had cameras and
recorders rolling.
So- the response of any normal
person would be to- get mad.
So they put up a bigger fence-
and tried to protect their privacy.
Then- some out of town reporter
showed up- he came to Alaska for the sole purpose of digging up dirt on the
family.
He actually approached the
younger daughter of Palin- I think it was at the school yard.
She was around 13 at the time.
When mom and dad found out- they
were rightfully pissed off- like any normal parent would be.
They informed the guy- from out
of state- to stay away from this minor- I mean who knows- the guy might have
been some sex offender.
So- one day in town- the guy
approached the daughter again.
When Sarah found out- she was
fuming.
So they contacted the
authorities- and they tried to press charges.
How did I find out about the
story?
Well- on MSNBC- Keith Olberman's show- before he
quit.
He covered the story as 'Sarah
Palin and her nut family’.
Yeah- he had the reporter on- and
they made him look like a victim.
‘Who does the daughter think she
is- damn it! I mean- it’s not illegal to walk up to somebody in town!’
Yeah- you tell em Keith.
The story went on and they
depicted Palin- and her minor daughter- as nut cases.
The reporter defended himself by
saying after the school yard incident- he decided to leave the girl alone.
But being he flew to Alaska- he
might as well not waste the ticket.
So- he went ‘sight seeing’.
As he was ‘sight seeing’ in town-
low and behold- the daughter- by chance- spotted him.
He says she approached him.
Then- MSNBC made it look like the
daughter was the nut ‘who does she think she is- she’s the one who was out
looking for you’.
Okay- this guy is in Alaska for
the sole purpose of getting dirt on Palin- yet the daughter sought him out.
It was sad that a so called news
organization would do this [another reporter- Andrew Sullivan- reported a story
that Sarah’s Down Syndrome son Trigg- was really the ‘bastard’child of Bristol-
this story will forever live on the internet- the son- and all the family will
one day read it].
It was even sadder that many
believed it.
I usually have talks with my
liberal friend when stuff like this happens- and they usually have swallowed
the line.
‘Geez John- look how dumb Palin
is- who does her daughter think she is- just because your 13 doesn’t mean adult
men cant approach you’.
Say of the story were turned
around- say if this happened to Sasha or Malia- the presidents girls- would we
be saying the same thing?
See- that’s media bias- that’s
propaganda- that’s what happens to all of us- regardless of what side of the
aisle your on.
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.
1870- THE PRAIRIE PROPHET
This week I read the book of
Amos.
Amos was a prophet to the
northern nation of Israel- 750-790 b.c. [though he had a few prophecies for
Judah- the southern nation].
He was unlike the other Old
Testament prophets- in that he was an ‘uneducated’ shepherd that came from a
little village [Tekoa] about 5 miles south of Bethlehem.
Yet- Amos knew history.
He railed against the political
leadership of the nation- he spoke up for the poor ‘in the gate’ and condemned
the ‘church’ of his day.
He said they were spending all their
time and money on religious celebration- on their own ideas of what they felt
God wanted [Amos says they worshipped the ‘gods that they made’].
And yet justice was falling down
in the street.
Yeah- Amos was a prophet sent
from God- and the people knew it.
I watched [re watched] a
documentary this week on the failed run for the presidency by George McGovern.
Now- as a news buff- I never
really studied McGovern- but have heard so much about the guy [usually
negative] that my view of him was formed by these little clips of his life.
McGovern is famous because his
loss to Nixon in 1972 was one of the biggest landslides in presidential
history.
As I watched the documentary- and
read Amos- I began seeing a type of Amos in McGovern.
McGovern was from South Dakota-
outside of the mainstream ‘machine’ of the Democratic Party.
He was raised in a preacher’s
home- and dabbled at becoming one himself.
He would eventually enter
politics- and also had a background as an historian [Amos].
They called him ‘the prairie
prophet’.
He was not the favored candidate
for his party’s nomination.
At first it looked like Muskie
would be their man.
But old Ed didn’t seem to have
the temperament for the job.
At one campaign stop he was
picketed by some gay rights group.
He said- quote ‘If I have to be
nice to a bunch of Soddomites to get elected- then fuck it’.
Unquote.
McGovern would eventually win his
party’s nomination- and lose in the general election.
As I watched the rise of
McGovern- the animosity- and outright hatred- from his own party.
I also saw that he indeed was a
voice in the wilderness at times.
McGovern is most famous for his
opposition to the Vietnam War.
It was said that just the name of
McGovern being said would send Lyndon Johnson into a rage.
McGovern stood steady in his
opposition- and as an historian he had read that other world watchers had
predicted that there would be an uprising in Indo China and South East Asia.
They said the people groups were
growing tired of colonialism- and they would eventually rebel.
So McGovern did not see the
Vietnamese as a communist threat- that left unchecked would have a domino
effect.
After the assassination of Bobby
Kennedy he was convinced to briefly throw his hat into the ring and run for the
68 nomination.
But the 1972 nomination was his
big achievement.
In the book of Amos there are
some choice quotes [not like Musky].
‘Hate evil and love good-
establish judgment in the land’
‘Let judgment run down as waters
and righteousness as a mighty stream’ [MLK’s famous line too]
‘Woe to them that are at ease in
Zion’ [the present day church]
The one that caught my eye the
most-
‘He strengthens the spoiled
against the strong so that they come against the fortress’.
At times in history there are voices
that rise- sometimes they are Prairie Prophets.
Sometimes we don’t realize the
importance of what they are saying- until after they are gone.
Rulers- people in power- they are
not all corrupt- but many are.
LBJ referred to Vietnam as a
‘little piss ant of a country’.
He [and Nixon] bombed the hell
out of the land- not wanting to be seen as week.
A small- little ‘piss ant’
country in South East Asia.
Hundreds of thousands would die
needlessly.
Men like McGovern- for all their
critics- saw the writing on the wall.
At the present day- as I write-
we have been at war in Afghanistan for around 11 years now.
We just reopened a key ground
[truck] route thru Pakistan- it has been shut for 7 months because we killed
around 30 Pakistani soldiers in a mistaken identity case.
NATO was flying over the border-
we were fired upon from the ground- and we bombed them.
We thought they were Taliban-
they were Pakistani.
Pakistan got pissed off- and they
forbid us to use the key supply route until we apologized.
We just did.
We are now having talks with the
Taliban- to come to some type of Peace Terms with them.
Our goal at the start was to
remove them from power because they gave Al Qaida a place to operate from.
At the start we were warned that
the Taliban [and the Afghanis in general] are a resilient people.
That to enter into a ground war-
in some ‘piss ant’ part of the Arab world would be foolish.
We are now trying to find a way
to untangle ourselves from this mess.
Yeah- after 11 years- our guys coming
home without their body parts.
Thousands dead- many of them
women and children.
Yeah- after 11 years our only
response is.
Well- in the immortal words of Ed
Muskie #$@^%$
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.
1869- THE GOD PARTICLE [and Mayan
flag day]
Hope you ‘all’ had a good 4th
of July.
I actually flew the flag for the
2nd time in so many months.
For years I never had a house
flag- I hung them up daily at the fire dept for 25 years and it never dawned on
me to get one.
So when I woke up on Memorial Day
and saw my neighbor’s flag flying high- yea- it made me feel like a commie.
So I went and bought a flag.
I asked my wife- ‘where did you
put the flag’ ‘it’s in the closet’.
I get the flag- it’s around 7 or
so- and I walk back into the room ‘let’s go hang the flag’.
My wife says ‘what do you mean-
you need 2 people to hang it’?
No.
But I want you to stand next to me and recite
the pledge.
I thought it was funny- she
didn’t seem to think so.
Yeah- I’m one of those types that
get the most use out of a purchase as possible.
I’ll probably be flying it on
that Mayan calendar day- I think it’s coming up pretty soon?
So- as I debated about what we
should discuss today- I picked up the paper [yesterday morning] and the front
page headline read ‘JUSTICE DEPT SUES CITY’.
I mentioned this the other day-
about the fire dept not hiring enough women [they say].
I read about half of the article-
I read the stats- we actually hired more women than other comparable cities.
I really did not want to do
another whole post on the thing- but it was sad to see that as a front page
headline- I don’t think we have ever been sued by our own govt. before.
[in the post the other day- I
think I used the word threat- maybe not- but now I know they did sue].
I have written about our attorney
general before- Eric Holder- this guy has politicized the justice dept to no
end.
I could give you example after
example- even his past dealings are very shady- the Mark Rich pardon- a pardon
he recommended when he worked in the Clinton days.
By all accounts- Clinton pardoned
a crook because he had connections- Holder used his influence to get the dirty
deed done.
Pure- 100% Chicago politics-
corrupt to the core.
Okay- instead- let’s do the other
big news story- the so called God Particle.
Yeah- I heard/read a bunch of
stories on the so called breakthrough discovery.
Now- I am not ‘anti science’.
I am not a person who believes
the earth is only 6 thousand years old- or that kids rode on the backs of
dinosaurs.
But- in the historic setting of
apologetics- and the role that science has played in the debate- I must say
there are lots of misconceptions floating around in the air.
Okay- a brief history of the
scientific method and how it came to be.
The past year or so I covered
lots of posts on philosophy and physics and world history in general.
We covered how during the middle
of the last millennium [500years ago] the world began a break thru in many
areas- and we often refer to this as the modern era.
Man- science- thought- all of the
fields we see as part of the modern era- they began at around this point.
Science/philosophy and religion
all played a big role in the debate.
One of the big boys was a man
named David Hume- he was a thinker who questioned what we talked about the
other day- the law of cause and effect.
This law simply says that every
effect has a cause.
Hume challenged the popular idea
that we can know causes.
He said we think we can know the cause
of something- but in reality we can’t be sure.
The example Hume gave was the
Pool table.
He said we see a person hit the q
ball- the ball hits another ball and it goes into the pocket.
Hume said it might look like this
a string of cause and effects- but we don’t know for sure.
Maybe there are other reasons why
the balls are reacting like this.
Another famous example is the
Rooster crowing- the guy couldn’t sleep in because the sun kept shinning in his
window- so every morning right before the sun rose he heard the darn rooster
crow.
So he shot the rooster.
Just because one act precedes another- this
does not mean that is the cause.
Okay- we got it Hume.
But some began to doubt all
possible knowledge- they said you can’t make any judgments at all- because we
don’t know for sure what the real cause is.
Okay- this led another great
thinker- Kant- to challenge Hume [the famous quote from Kant was ‘he woke up
out of his dogmatic slumber’] and Kant said even though we can’t be 100 % sure-
yet for any possibility for science to function- we do need to be able to have
some type of way we can settle on knowledge- science does need to be able to
say ‘okay- we have looked at this long enough- we think this is what’s causing
this’.
Okay- this whole debate is called
Epistemology- how we know stuff.
Now- the God particle.
As I listened to the various
reports the last 2 days- I could tell right off the bat that there was some
funny stuff going on.
The actual statements form the
scientists are saying ‘well- we haven’t ACTUALLY seen the particle [also called
Higgs Boson] but- we have detected enough other particles- so we think the
Boson is more than likely there too’ or ‘it’s like looking in the distance- and
you think you see someone- but maybe you’re looking at his twin instead’.
Okay- what kind of argument is
this?
This is what we call a
Metaphysical argument.
It’s an argument that is made-
not because you actually detected the thing- but you have come to a conclusion
based on the Scientific Method of Induction/Deduction.
You looked at- observed- and
tested various things- and you now say ‘well- it must be there- because look at
all the other stuff’. [layman’s terms].
Okay- is there anything wrong
with this.
Not really.
But- here’s the catch- many in
the modern field of physics refute the argument for the existence of God
because in the end it is a metaphysical one.
That is- the materialist
scientist [one who says we only deal in facts that we can actually see\detect]
uses metaphysical arguments all the time- he just does not realize he is doing
this.
Remember the other day- I posted
about the many contradictions good men make when mixing science with
apologetics and the laws of argumentation [or logic].
They often do not realize they
are contradicting themselves- or making out right nonsense statements- because
they are scientists- not logicians.
So what we have in the Higgs
Boson case- in the Dark Matter- Dark energy case- in the entire Multi Verse
theory [many universes].
In all these theories- which now
make up the majority of modern physics- they are all the same type of argument
that the materialist scientist says are not good arguments- at least when it
comes to the argument for the existence of God.
In a nutshell- if we agree to accept
that a certain particle must exist- not because we have actually detected it-
but because ‘well- it must be there- because if not- then how do we explain
everything else’?
If these arguments are being used
in all of the above scenarios- and trust me- they are.
Then we can’t exclude the Theist
from the table- we can’t say ‘no- you silly Christian- you deal in things we
DON’T SEE- we deal in things we do see.’
Actually- you don’t.
All of the above theories are
conclusions based on how the other things around them respond.
The reason many think Dark Matter
exists- is not because we have found it- we haven’t.
But because in order for the
standard model- well- to stand- then Dark Matter simply ‘must be’.
Okay- this is the same type of
argument the Theist [one who believes in God] uses.
If you want to exclude the
believer from the table- on the grounds that he appeals to a ‘non detectable’
being.
Then we must ditch all of the
above.
And it seems- Higgs Boson too.
NOTE- all scientists are not
materialists- many are believers- and even many non believers are not
materialists. If you are a pure
materialist scientist- one who says we cannot accept any other non material
arguments [things we don’t actually see/detect] then you also would not be able
to accept any of the major theories of physics today- that is if you were
consistent in your thinking.
Also why did the researchers at
CERN release this as some great new finding?
The ‘discovery’ was made at the
new 10 billion dollar Hadron Collider.
This is the world’s largest Atom
smasher.
In order for the Europeans to
justify the cost- they had to convince people that this was the best chance to
actually discover this long elusive particle.
Now- Europe is in a near
depression- as most of you know.
This underground ‘particle
smashing tunnel’ [I think it’s right on the French Swiss border?] when first
opened- had a bad day.
It leaked oil into the tunnel and
it was shut down- and had to be repaired at the cost of millions of dollars.
Okay- all of these guys realize-
if you do not justify the cost of this thing- in the midst of a European
depression- then what are the odds that your gonna keep getting funded?
I don’t know if this was the main
reason they came out with the statement now- but for them to have come out- and
kinda have fudged on it- makes me wonder.
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.
1868- ALIEN INVASION
Last night I was watching a talk
given by the Ohio congressman- Dennis Kucinich.
Dennis is known as a big Lib- he
has been the butt of jokes for years- he once saw a UFO- and that pretty much
put the nail in the coffin.
But- to be fair- the guy is
smart.
Now- I’m not saying I believe
everything he says [accept of course about the alien ship] but during the talk
he was asked a question.
And he used an example from
Evolutionary Biology.
He said- in so many words
‘scientists tell us that there is this thing called Punctuated Equilibrium’ and
he used this idea to make a political point.
Now- as I heard Dennis- I thought
‘geez- if I get into this in the morning [now] it will take the whole post’.
So let’s see how far we can go.
I laughed somewhat over the
example.
Why?
Evolutionary Biology has made
great strides- and had setbacks ever since the idea was popularized by Charles
Darwin in the 19th century.
Now- Charlie was not the first
person to espouse the idea.
In fact- there was another famous
scientist at the time- who some believe Darwin ‘stole’ the idea from him [much
like the debate with Einstein- the famous Mathematician- Max Plank- at one
point took part of the original idea of Einstein and almost became the famous
one].
So- what Darwin is famous for is
coming up with the theory of Evolution [what we call Macro Evolution- that all
species came from a common ancestor- one spontaneous living cell that popped
into existence from nothing- Charlie did not teach this by the way- not fully-
but the modern theory has gone there].
Okay- it would take too much
space to explain all the ins and outs.
But the debate that has raged for
the past 150 years has been whether or not this ever really happened.
That is- have all species
actually come from a common life.
The strong evolutionist insists
[or did insist] yes.
Those who questioned the theory
[not just Christians or Theists- but there are many in the scientific community
who have expressed real doubt- these men are not believers- but it’s virtually
impossible for their voices to be heard because when you question some of the
huge problems with the theory your usually tagged as a right wing nut].
So- after 150 years- the evidence
that they thought would be there- is simply not there.
How so?
After many years of discovering
fossils- and trying to see if there is a pattern of things actually evolving
over millions of years- the evidence does not show this.
Huh?
You heard me- the evidence shows
something quite different.
It shows us that new species came
into existence at set points in history.
That is- we might find a certain species
living for so long- and Walla- seemingly overnight- a new one pops up.
There is absolutely no regular
pattern of what you would call transitional species- it’s simply not there.
Okay- if this were the only
Monkey Wrench [pun intended] then that wouldn’t be so bad.
But as science has advanced- we
have also been trying- desperately- to get some type of species- anything- to
actually become something else.
The way we [science] attempts
this is thru the experimentation with fruit flies.
In the lab they have been trying
to simply get a fruit fly to become another thing [they breed and reproduce
fast- so that’s why they use them].
After many dollars and years
spent trying this- they can’t get this to happen.
There are many more reasons I
could give- but after things like this kept popping up- some in the field-
leading Evolutionary scientists- Gould [MIT]- one of the daughters from the
famed Leaky family- etc.- starting having real doubts.
Now- these doubts were not based
on religion- but science.
The data showed that there seems
to be this huge wall between species- that is it’s not as easy as Darwin first
thought.
As a matter of fact- the science
showed that it is virtually impossible for one thing to become another thing
[as far as we can tell right now].
So- the normal thing you would do
[should do] at this point is to say ‘maybe we got it wrong- maybe we need to
look in another direction’.
And Walla- Punctuated
Equilibrium.
Yes- as Dennis said- scientists
have said that this is the idea that instead of things slowly evolving over
millions/hundreds of thousands of years- they simply changed overnight.
Now- this in reality would be
saying ‘the other side- those who questioned Evolution- are right’.
Because the 2 major competing
theories are Evolution [things changed slowly over millions of years into new
species].
Creation- things came onto the
scene at once [or set times].
The Punctuated Equilibrium idea
is simply a fancy way of saying the evidence points to the creationist as being
right.
But instead of coming right out
and saying it like that- instead the theory sounds like it is a result of
Evolutionary biology.
I have heard this stated over the
years- that indeed Evolution has made this new discovery possible.
Now- I’m not a total rejecter of
the entire theory.
I have said in the past that
there is no doubt that evolution [natural selection] does take place within the
known species [called Micro Evolution].
But there is lots of evidence
that seems to say Evolution does not take place on the bigger scale- species
changing into another species over long periods of time.
[Darwin thought that whales
changed into cows over many years- he thought that the Black aborigine tribes
were proof that Evolution was true- he said these Black races were less
advanced along the scale. And the famous ‘Monkey Trial’ here in the U.S.
[Tenn.] made it look like the Christians were idiots. Many are not aware that the Evolutionary book
that Scopes was accused of teaching Evolution from was actually a racist book
that the KKK endorsed. The book [by
George Hunter] had a scale of the most advanced races- and the least advanced-
of course at the top were Whites- the bottom were Blacks. Yet the media made it sound like the more
noble side was indeed those who backed using the book in public schools].
But the entire argument shows you
how people’s bias affects the end result.
In reality- for anyone to say
that Evolutionary science has been responsible for the great breakthrough-
known as Punctuated Equilibrium- well it’s ridiculous.
Because Punctuated Equilibrium is
simply saying that those who reject the theory that species change into new
species over long periods of time- they are right.
So what you see is a manipulation
of the argument- to make it look like the ‘losing side’ is actually responsible
for this discovery.
But in reality the other side was right all
along.
See- I knew this would take the
whole post- thank Kucinich for it.
O- by the way- he does have a
backup plan.
He can always say the aliens did
it.
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.
1866- MARY- THE MOTHER OF GOD-
WHAT DID SHE SAY? [or- I am the Egg Man]
As we close the week- lets recap
a few highlights.
Of course the SCOTUS ruling was
the biggest news- and we also had congress vote- and pass- the contempt of
congress charge against Holder.
But there were a few other
‘lesser’ stories that in a slower news week would have gotten more attention.
The enemy of all conservatives-
yes- the peanut farmer from Georgia- Jimmy Carter- got some heat over his
criticism of Obama.
What did he say?
He made some comments about our
Drone war tactics- and said there is no doubt that the U.S. is violating human
rights.
How?
The drone planes are remote
controlled unmanned planes- Bush was the first to ‘arm’ them- and Obama
followed his lead.
We used to use them as
surveillance planes- but when we stuck bombs on them we started using them to
go after the enemy.
The problem?
Being we don’t have pilots in the
planes- we are basically doing our best to hit the target by remote control-
and we often kill civilians in these strikes.
We are doing this in Yemen and
Pakistan as I speak.
So- after years of killing lots
of the wrong folk- these people are outright pissed off.
In Pakistan- there is some lawyer
representing the families of the victims- and they have been saving the debris
from the bombs- writing down the serial numbers and all- and using them for
evidence on some future court case against the U.S.
We recently found out [thru
leaks?] That the way the U.S. counts the amount of terrorists that are killed
in the strikes is ‘every adult male killed in the vicinity is considered to be
a terrorist’.
Huh?
Yup- that’s the rule.
So if we accidently kill- let’s
say 15 men- and even if the remote control operator messed up- and hit the
wrong spot- we count this as ‘15 bad guys dead’.
Geez- with scoring like this- how
can you lose?
So- Carter came out and said this
type of killing is wrong.
Was he right?
Of course he was- we have killed
a lot of women and kids- that’s wrong- in everyone’s book.
Then why don’t we stop it?
Good question.
The newly elected president of
Egypt- the Muslim Brotherhood guy- he has already given signs to Iran that he
wants to form some sort of an alliance with them.
He has also told the U.S. that he
wants us to turn over the Blind Sheik.
Who’s he?
If you remember- years before
911- we had another attempted bombing of the World Trade Towers.
They traced the original plot to
some Muslim radical who was based in New Jersey.
I remember the case because as I
watched the story- the guy had his office/mosque set up right on a storefront
street- and when I saw the spot- I recognized the street as one of the places I
walked passed as a kid [I think one time I illegally rode my dirt bike right
passed the area- you know- one of those late night street rides when the cops
chase you].
So- the new Egyptian president
wants the guy released and sent back to Egypt.
And we have hailed this election
as a great thing- we forced a former leader out- who we were actually allies
with- and we [Obama] publicly supported the Brotherhood.
This is sad.
And last but not least- I told
you the other day that Holder sued Florida [man- he needs to stop suing
cities/states- this guy is out of control].
He sued the Repub governor- Rick
Scott- because Scott ‘purged’ the voter rolls of non citizens.
Huh?
Yeah- Scott actually identified
real non citizens who were on the roles- and he tried to take them off.
It is against the law to vote if
you’re not a citizen.
Why the suit?
Holder believes that the states
that are doing this are really trying to hurt the Dems by going after
minorities.
Okay- but say if we know- for a
fact- that the people he’s removing are only non citizens- would that be okay?
According to Holder- no.
Huh- huh?
Yes- Holder said the state does
not have the right to remove NON CITIZENS from the rolls- because it is within
90 days of an election- and darn it- those non citizens have rights too!
So- the case went to a federal
judge- and the judge said- in so many words ‘are you nuts man- it’s against the
law for non citizens to vote. The state
and governor can actually be held liable if they don’t purge the voter rolls-
of course Scott can do this- it’s required by law’.
I mean even the judge- a Dem
appointed judge- thought Holder must be delusional - because they were
upholding federal law.
As a side note- Holder has also
sued some Egg farm.
Why?
Because he said they were
requiring too much proof- from non citizens- to prove they were not illegal’s.
Yes- he sued this private
business- not because they were requiring the proof from citizens- but from non
citizens.
Why did the egg company do this?
If you get caught hiring an
illegal- you pay a fine or go to jail.
They just raided a pizza place
here in Corpus for this.
So- if the Egg man actually got
caught hiring an illegal- then off to jail he goes.
So- he simply tried to make sure
that the people he was hiring were in fact citizens- Holder sued him for this.
These are the things that have
really riled up some on the other side.
I mean who cares if your Black,
White or Green- this guy is absolutely off his rocker.
Okay- lets end with a bible thing
here.
I mentioned the other day that I
read some chapters about John the Baptist this week.
One of the big [and long]
chapters was Luke 1.
In the chapter we read about the
angel Gabriel appearing to both Mary- the Mother of Jesus- and Elisabeth-
Mary’s cousin.
Elisabeth and her husband
Zacharias were older folk and were never able to have a baby.
Then one day God does a miracle
and Elisabeth gets pregnant and has John the Baptist.
The miracle was not the same as
when Mary gets pregnant- but the miracle was they were older now- past the
normal time to have kids.
Mary is told about this and when
she gets pregnant with Jesus she visits Elisabeth and when Mary- who is
carrying Jesus in her womb- sees Elisabeth- who is pregnant with John- the
bible says the ‘baby leaped in her womb’.
It was John the Baptists purpose
in life to be the fore runner of Jesus.
And even before he was born- he
still responded this way as Christ showed up in the womb of Mary.
When the angel reveals to Mary
that she will bare Christ- she bursts into this prayer/proclamation of praise.
Scholars call this Mary’s
Magnificat [her magnifying of God].
If you have time- read this
prayer in Luke one.
It does not sound like the prayer
of some humble- quiet little lady.
It’s more like a prophetic blast
of Gods rule.
Mary says things like ‘He hath
put down the mighty from their seats and exalted them of low degree’ ‘He hath
filled the hungry with good things and the rich hath he sent away empty’.
I mean these are some of the same
themes we see in the teachings of Christ.
As I write and blog about
politics- I do try to be fair.
I know it must have been hard
these last few months for my friends on the left side of the aisle.
Trust me- about a year or 2 ago
my friends on the right went thru the same thing.
My ‘job’ is to not simply pick a
side- and then defend that side at all costs.
I think that’s the mistake many
in the church have made.
We have really lost our prophetic
voice as the people of God.
The modern Evangelical church
[and the televangelist world] has lost the true social justice message of the
church.
They [we] have traded that
message in for one of self help- how to become wealthy- how to be happier- how
to have a better life.
We have lost the prophetic voice
of the church- the one that speaks out against the murder of the innocents
[drones] or the lying about killing terrorists- just because we count ‘all
adults in the area’ as the enemy.
Yes- the ‘church’ is supposed to
have a voice for the defenseless in society.
No- we are too busy having an
American party.
Beware- Mary said ‘the high he
will bring down- the rich he hath sent away empty- the famous/proud will be
bring low’.
I can’t think of a better
description of the church today- can you?
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.
1865- HEALTH CARE RULING- AND A
BED
Okay- before we get to the health
care ruling- let’s do some spiritual stuff.
When I got up yesterday morning-
I determined not to listen to too much news before I go to the homeless spot.
I mean I like keeping my mind
free- at least until I get back from visiting with the homeless.
On my way to the mission- I put
on the Christian music station [I listen to classic rock- talk radio- news- and
Christian stuff at various times].
I was in such a spiritual state
of mind- avoiding all the political stuff.
Then my music station broke in-
yeah- one of those ‘breaking news’ type things- like CNN did one day- in the
middle of real news- they broke in ‘BREAKING NEWS’- gee- what could it be
that’s so important- I mean they were already covering real time important
stuff- Syria shooting down a Turkish jet- you know- stuff like that.
Then the urgent story broke
‘Obama rose 2 % in a poll’.
Sad- so sad.
So my Christian station ‘broke
in’ I mean I was in a good state of mind- free from Rush [on the right] and NPR
[a little left].
It was short- and well- sweet
‘the Supreme Court has upheld all of the Obama care law- yes- all of it’.
Now- go back to your spiritual state
of mind.
Thanks a lot.
Actually- at first I was
surprised- and thought for a moment ‘am I mad’ ?
You know- I wasn’t.
Am I in shock?
No.
I was just surprised.
Those of you who have followed my
posts this last year realize that I was not a total rejecter of Obama Care.
I did feel that the main
justification for the mandate- the way Obama used the Commerce Clause- was a
mistake.
The administration said they had
the right to make people buy insurance because the Fed. Govt. has the right to
regulate commerce [under the clause].
And that health care is
‘commerce’ that takes place between the states- so they are ‘regulating’ it by
telling you to buy insurance.
In short- this seemed like a
stretch to me.
I also wrote that the pres does
have the authority to pass a law that could tax people for health care.
But Obama- and the Solicitor
General [the lawyer who argued the govts. case before the court] chose to
reject the ‘we have the right to tax you’ law- and instead argued the ‘we have
the commerce clause right to regulate you’.
So- that’s really why I thought
the law would get rejected by the court.
But who am I- just some arm chair
peon who watches the news- a lot.
When I got home from the mission-
I caught the latest and realized that I was actually right.
The court did reject the Commerce
Clause argument.
The 5 more conservative justices
did in fact shoot down the Commerce Clause argument.
Hum?
Then how did it pass
constitutional muster?
John Roberts [the chief justice]
then sided with the 4 more liberal justices- and said in essence ‘you [Pres and
Congress] do have the right to tax [which we all agree on] therefore- Obama
Care passes because it’s just a tax’.
Huh?
The Solicitor General- and the
President- have argued- time and again- that this is not a tax.
Yet Roberts said ‘we pass the law
[mandate part] because it’s a tax’.
It seems like a contradiction to
me.
Then- when I read/heard the
dissenting opinion- from the 4 ‘conservative’ justices- they ripped into
Roberts.
They basically said what I just
told you.
They said Roberts and the 4 libs
did indeed change the law- by saying in their ruling that it is a tax.
The 4 dissenters said it is the
courts job to simply rule on the law- the way it was written- and the way it
was argued- and that both said this was not a tax.
So- in the end- for some reason-
Roberts took it upon himself to kind of be a ‘judicial activist’ and in a way
re write the rule himself.
This is a little strange to be
honest.
And it confuses the public.
There are now many Obama
supporters who are saying ‘see- we told you it was constitutional all along’.
But actually- the way it was
written- the Commerce Clause thing- was said to be unconstitutional.
Yes- the majority says the way
the law was initially written was unconstitutional.
So- those who said this from the
start- were proved right.
Yet- those who defend the law are
skipping that [as they make the rounds on the news] and are simply saying ‘see-
it was constitutional all along’.
What a mess.
I fear Roberts- in his desire to
make the court look like it’s not too political- might have made one of the
worst decisions- that is- a decision that seems to be political.
From the start I was [and am
still] not someone who outright rejects the goal of universal care.
I never made the strong right
argument that what Obama did was socialized medicine.
In actuality the law is simply a
mandate for citizens to buy private insurance- without limiting what private
insurance can charge.
I think in a way this is a boom
for the private insurance industry.
I would have preferred a more
European style thing [see- you guys who think I’m all ‘right’ have not read my
blog too long].
Yes- I know both sides of the
issue- and realize that true universal care- Canadian style- has its good and
bad.
I just felt from the start if you
are going to shoot for universal coverage [a noble goal] that the way Obama
went about it was not the best way.
Okay- enough of that.
I hung out at the mission for a
few hours- had a good talk with Dirk and a few other friends.
Around 1 o’clock one of the new
ladies that has been coming the last few weeks- she had a free bag of goods
that the mission gave her- and had to walk a few blocks in the heat.
She’s also pregnant- so I offered
to give her a ride home.
Tammy also asked if I could give
her a ride and I said sure.
Most of the times I will leave
with Henry- and he comes back to the house and hangs out for the rest of the
day.
But he was not around so I just
gave the girls a ride home.
It’s been real hot in Corpus the
last few weeks- we have been breaking records.
Anyway as I was dropping off
Tammy she was telling Johnaa that she is sleeping on the floor of her trailer-
she has no bed.
Right at that point I make the
turn to get to Tammy’s street and some people look like their moving out and
have about 5 beds right there on the street.
So Johnna says ‘hey look- there’s
a bed’.
I asked Tammy if she wanted to
turn around and see if they want to sell one.
Of course she was broke- but I told
her maybe I can get a deal and I’ll buy it for her.
So I did the U turn and asked the
guy- he said they were moving out and we could take one.
I’m like ‘praise God brother’.
I noticed he had on that little
Elder tag that the Mormons where.
Now- I like Mormon people- and
over the years I have had very open and honest discussions about their faith.
I do try to be nice when I refute
some of their teachings- and have really made headway with them over the years-
being open too- and willing to hear both sides.
So the guy I talked too had the
badge on- plus there were about 5 more of them standing in the garage.
It must have been some missionary
house that they were moving out of.
So I told them I just left the
mission- I gave the Elder my ministry card [so he knew I wasn’t making stuff
up].
And I kinda saw the whole thing
as God working it out.
They seemed to not take it the
same way.
I mean- they didn’t say anything-
but it’s almost like the elder didn’t even want to touch the card.
I realize why they are like this-
and if any of you guys are Mormons- I’m glad you read the site.
Yet- I felt they just were not
that ‘into me’.
Anyway- far be it from me to hold
a grudge- I mean that’s childish.
So we got the bed.
Oh yeah- one more thing.
If Romney thinks I’m gonna vote
for him now- well he better think again.
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.
1864- BLAME THE MESSENGER
I was tempted to post a quick
note last night- but I thought it better to wait for today.
As I was watching the various
news shows- I caught an interview with some lady who just wrote a piece [for
some magazine] that said the Fast and Furious scandal- was not a scandal at
all.
She did a 6 month investigation-
and lo and behold- there was never any ‘gun walking’.
Huh?
Yeah- instead she talked about
the real reasons these guns were in the hands of Mexican drug lords.
Go on- I’m hearing you sister.
She explained that many of our
law enforcement guys have tried to get the guns off the streets- but because of
the Republican [and NRA] loose gun laws- that to their dismay- they cant stop
the drug runners from purchasing the guns.
Oh- I see now.
O yeah- one last thing- she said
there was ONE case where she did find a Gun walking activity.
It was the single Whistle Blower
[Dodson?] who did this.
As the woman made the rounds [I
saw her on CNN] the ‘new’ story was that both the Repubs- as well as their
cohorts in crime- the actual whistle blowers- that these were the ones who were
blaming Holder [because he is Black?] while all the while Holder and his people
are really innocent- after all- they never sold guns!
Now- I was really mad when I saw
this latest story.
Why?
This last year- as I actually
watched some of the congressional hearings- and read lots of sources and stuff.
The REAL STORY is there were guys
working for the ATF and other law enforcement agencies- and these guys
complained- for a couple of years- that the Gun walking program was a very
dangerous and real program- even Holder has said this.
Now- these were the actual guys
doing the ground work- of course they were the ‘gun walkers’ they worked for
the govt.
So- after complaining about it
for a while- nothing was done.
Eventually the story made it to
the news- and the govt. [Holder] denied it.
At that point- some of the guys
involved risked their careers- because they knew the govt. was lying- and they
went public and said ‘look- I am one of the guys who actually bought and sold
the guns’.
So- instead of demonizing these
guys- like the lady making the rounds on MSNBC and CNN- we should be thanking
them for what they did.
Quite frankly- this is about as
low as it gets- they were actually saying ‘Holder never walked guns- but these
darn whistle blowers- who are making the charge- they are guilty!’
Sad- so sad.
One other charge came out- it was
initially made by those on the Right- and now it’s used by those on the left
[as a counter charge].
When I first heard this charge-
by some on the Right- I was mad.
I was mad because I knew the
charge was false- and I could not believe that some were actually falling for
it.
The charge?
Some have said that the Fast and
Furious program was designed- on purpose- to get guns into the hands of drug
lords [actually- this part is true- they wanted the top guys to get the guns-
then they thought they could catch the big boys. The goal was noble- the way they went about
it was stupid].
But some have said Obama
purposefully wanted the gun crime to go up- so in the end he could blame the
loose gun laws [NRA folk] and pass stricter gun laws.
Now- I have heard this by some
radicals on the right- and this is not true.
Then why is the charge gaining
ground?
Because- in the mess of this
whole thing- there was indeed some memo that slipped out- by the Dems- that did
say ‘if this gets out of hand- and you are asked about the program- turn the
conversation into one that says ‘see- we need stricter gun laws’.
Yes- the Dems did say this- and
indeed do this.
As I watched the news over the
months- whenever a Dem was asked about the scandal- he/she said ‘well- it’s
because we need better gun laws’.
Is the scandal about this?
No.
Is it about some whistle blower
who is guilty- while Holder is innocent?
No [Holder- and the ATF big wigs
were in charge- they bare the blame for the peons at the bottom that they
ordered to do this].
The whole scandal- is simply the
fact that the Justice Dept. - under Holder- at first denied the program- then
later admitted it.
He now will not release the other papers that
probably show that they were indeed trying to cover their tracks after the
story broke.
That’s it.
Congress will vote today on
contempt charges- and Holder will probably be the first Attorney General of the
U.S. to be held in contempt.
This week I have been reading the
story of John the Baptist.
John was an interesting guy.
The bible says he was filled with
the Holy Spirit ‘from his mother’s womb’.
The prophets Isaiah and Malachi
spoke of John ‘before the great day of the Lord I will send Elijah the prophet
and he will restore the fathers to the sons and the sons to the fathers’
Malachi chapter 4.
Isaiah said ‘I am the voice of
one crying in the wilderness- prepare ye the way of the Lord’.
John was the fulfillment of these
prophecies.
One time the people came to Jesus
and he asked them ‘what did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed
shaken with the wind- or someone dressed in expensive clothes?’
No- you went to see a prophet-
and I tell you- more than a prophet.
For this is he of whom the
prophets spake [above].
Then Jesus says something kinda
strange- he says ‘I tell you- of all that are born of women- there has not been
a greater than John the Baptist- but he that is LEAST IN THE KINGDOM is greater than he’.
Over the years I have heard
various takes on this- most say that Jesus was saying that even the ‘least’ in
the new church age- the Born Again Christian- is greater than the greatest of
the Old age [Law].
Maybe?
But I like this interpretation
the best.
Jesus often spoke about himself
in the 3rd person ‘for God so loved the world that he gave his only
Son’.
Maybe Jesus was really saying ‘he
that is least [himself] is greater than John’.
Jesus spoke about the smallest of
seeds falling into the ground and dying- then later it becomes the greatest
tree.
He said this about faith- about
Gods kingdom- and also about himself.
‘Except a grain of wheat fall
into the ground and die- it abideth alone- but if it dies it will bring forth
much fruit’ [John’s gospel].
Jesus was the ‘least among men’
that is- he gave up his glory- his position with the Father and became a man
and humbled himself unto the death of the Cross.
Because of this God raised him up
and seated him at his own right hand in glory.
Jesus was [is] greater than John-
yet John was up there on the charts.
John was- in a way- a Whistle
Blower- he revealed the secrets of men.
The thing that got John killed
was his preaching against corrupt leadership.
He said ‘Herod- you snake- you
have your brother’s wife- and its wrong!’
One day Herod had a party [he was
the puppet king that ruled the Jewish region of the Roman Empire].
And Herod's daughter in law
danced for the king.
Herod was struck ‘I'll give you
anything honey- up to the half of my kingdom’.
The mother says ‘ask him for the head of John
the Baptist’.
Yeah- the wife got tired of
John’s whistle blowing- and John lot his head over the thing.
Today congress votes on Holder-
also the Supreme Court will rule on Obama Care.
Both sides have all the reasons
why they are right- and the other guys wrong.
Lets agree on one thing- let’s
not blame the messenger- the guys at the bottom who were ordered to do these
things- they risked their lives and careers in revealing the program- because
they were good guys not bad.
Yeah- the least- the small seeds-
these are the valuable ones.
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.
1863- HARDBALL- CHICAGO STYLE
Yesterday morning I caught NPR
radio news.
They were talking about the
presidential campaign- and how the Repubs are using the accusation that Obama
was/is part of the corrupt political machine that has existed in Chicago for
decades.
In Chicago politics- just like
where I grew up [N.J.] you had a lot of illegal- strong arm type stuff going
on.
If you felt it was to your
advantage- you would ruin a person’s life- or hurt them- just to make an
example.
Now- the NPR show was discussing
this- and a woman reporter said that Obama was not really a part of the corrupt
‘machine’ of Chicago.
Then- an older male reporter- I
recognize the voice but don’t know his name- said ‘I am going to have to
disagree with you’.
I was surprised- you normally
don’t hear it that blatantly.
Then he went down the list and actually
covered a brief history of Obama’s time in Chicago politics.
He seemed like he knew his stuff.
He brought out the fact that the
machine was made up of men like former mayor Bill Daly- and Rahm Emanuel.
The Daly family was an
institution in Chicago politics- and they were ‘the machine’.
Of course we all know that Daly
actually went to work for Obama in Washington- and Rahm Emanuel was his first
chief of staff- Daly eventually replaced him.
The reporter also brought out the
fact that Obama was the man that the corrupt machine backed in Chicago.
He ran against another prominent
Black leader- Bobby Rush.
The Black community backed Rush-
the machine backed Obama- Rush won.
It was simply a short lesson that
contradicted the false media narrative that somehow Obama was connected to all
these guys- but was never really ‘a part’.
The reason I bring this up is if
you realize this- then you might not be surprised that the president has indeed
crossed the line- many times.
One of the reasons that many believe
the president is behind all the leaking of national security info these last
few months is because of the way he ‘shut down’ all unauthorized leaks in the
first couple of years of being in office.
How so?
Now- this is where you need to
‘see’ the Chicago machine.
In all administrations- you have
leaks.
Some hurt you- some help
[actually Obama’s recent leaks have helped him].
But- you did have some the first
2 years that were real leaks- leaks that people usually believe will bring
sunlight into a corrupt- or wrong practice.
How do presidents deal with them?
It’s their choice- it ranges from
letting the person off the hook- called forgiveness.
To firing the person.
And in rare occasions- you press
federal charges against the leaker.
For instance- the Watergate
‘scandal’ and other exposes' were the result of leaks- most liberals thought it
good.
Okay- in the first 2- 2.5 years-
president Obama has sought to try- imprison- and yes- execute leakers.
This is no joke.
President Obama has used the
strictest federal law to go after leakers- the Espionage Act [usually used on
real spies] and he has used it 6 times.
‘Okay John- what about other
presidents- have they used this act’.
Sure- 3 times- total.
What?
Yeah- all former presidents of
the U.S. - combined- have only used the act 3 times to go after people like
this.
This is amazing- this is
astounding- this is the Chicago machine- but you don’t see it.
One case I heard/read was an
outstanding man [maybe a Dem?] who was also a university professor.
So- in the long tradition of men
who leak- and take the risk of maybe getting fired- he did what he felt was
right and leaked something about some program, that he felt was unjust.
Okay- he took the risk- if worse
comes to worse he might get fired- from Washington- and go back to work at the
university.
What happened?
Obama pressed the highest charges
against the man [the Espionage Act] and put him away- if I remember- for life.
Yes- he sent the man to prison.
The man’s wife and kids [he had 2
daughters in school] begged the govt. To ‘please not do this- please just treat
us- like say- BUSH’.
The family has been ruined.
The man is in prison- divorced-
his kid’s lives are ruined.
Now- this is one case of 6.
In another case- a ‘gay leaker’ at
that- the president- thru Holder- raised the offense to the level of an
executable crime.
What?
Are you kidding me John- I have
never heard this.
I know- the media don’t like
telling you this.
Yes- to the shock of many- even
many inside military men- the president raised the charge on this gay soldier
to a charge that would merit execution.
Unbelievable- never- ever- in the
history of the country has a leaker been charged like this.
When you use the Espionage act-
it’s usually used for real spies- not for leakers.
Even one of our countries worst
spies- Jonathan Pollard- who spied for Israel- against us- even he did not get
the Ax.
Yet- Obama has sought to charge
this soldier with this type of crime.
It should be noted- that Holder
said ‘even though we are seeking this charge- we probably will not ask for
execution’.
Gee- what a nice guy.
I remember an instance when some
person- an insider- stole- and leaked info on Bush.
When they caught the person- Bush
simply forgave the person.
I am telling you these stories
because the average American has no idea that the president has operated like
this- this is the most ‘strong arm’ presidency in the history of the nation.
I mean the death penalty- for
things that others simply lost their jobs over- if that.
You see- when the lady NPR
reporter said ‘no- even though Obama was in tight with all these Chicago guys-
he does not play their game’.
The older male reporter corrected
her- he does play the game- a lot better than most people realize.
[One last note- many reporters-
who were really Obama supporters at the start have seen this- and they will
tell you that it is impossible to get real leaks anymore about anything. These insiders see the volume of recent leaks
about national security stuff and they know these are being done behind the
scenes with the full permission of Obama- I mean after the first 2 years- who
in their right mind would leak anything without the permission of the White
House?]
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.
1862- LOVE THE ALIEN- FOR YOUR
WERE ALIENS IN THE LAND OF EGYPT- Deuteronomy 10:19
The Supreme Court came out with a
few rulings yesterday- the big one was their decision about the Arizona
Immigration law.
Most of you know that the
governor [Jan Brewer] has been fighting with the Justice Dept. [Holder] over
their stringent immigration laws.
Arizona- like other border sates-
has had a problem with illegal aliens for some time.
So- they passed new state laws
that made it tougher if you were an alien in the state.
If you applied for a job- and you
were an illegal- you would get arrested.
If you got stopped by the cops-
they could ask you for your papers.
A couple of other things that
went beyond the federal law.
So- Eric Holder [attorney
General] did what he does best- he sued Arizona.
[As a side note- this is not a joke- he has
sued states/cities ever since coming into office. He just threatened to sue the
Fire Dept. here in Corpus Christi. They settled for hundreds of thousands of
bucks- why?
We were ‘discriminating’ against women.
How?
Some of them could not pass the
physical exam- you had to do things like pull a dummy- the weight of a person-
to show that if you were in a fire you would be able to rescue either your
partner or a victim.
Many times women would fail this
part of the test.
Okay- so some depts. changed the
test.
But lots of women do- by nature-
have a hard time passing this requirement.
If you ‘dumb’ down this part of
the test- you are putting people’s lives at risk- both the woman as well as
those she would need to rescue.
Holder threatened to sue- Corpus
settled.
He also sued 2 north eastern
depts. a couple of years back.
He said they were not hiring
enough Blacks- he told them to change the exam.
They spent about a million bucks
redoing their exam.
Some Black applicants failed.
He then ordered the dept. to
lower the passing score to 60.
Finally- the BLACK firefighters
union said ‘ENOUGH- YOUR GOING TO GET US ALL KILLED HERE- Blacks and Whites!’
So- Holder does have a penchant
on suing cities/states when he perceives a racial issue.]
What did the court do?
They struck down some of
Arizona’s law- but upheld the most controversial part- the cops can still ask
for your papers at a stop.
I found it interesting that
Justice Kennedy- who wrote the majority decision- seemed to side somewhat with
the more liberal argument.
One thing he mentioned was when
dealing with illegal immigrants- we need to keep in mind that we are dealing
with people.
I know this seems obvious- but
when issues become politicized- we have a tendency to forget this.
I live in an area where over the
years I have seen lots of Illegal’s coming thru.
The Fire Dept. that I worked at
had calls where illegal’s would accidentally start a brush fire- they maybe had
a camp under a bridge and lit a fire to stay warm- stuff like that.
I had friends- Mexicans- whose
families gave them food and water when they saw them in the fields.
The point is- the immigration
problem is a real problem- and it is true that all countries need to be able to
control their borders and have a system of legal immigration.
At the same time- we need to also
look at the person issue- the above verse was a reminder to the Jewish people
that they too were illegal at one time- when they were staying in Egypt.
In all these debates- we tend to
forget that we are all ‘aliens’ in a sense- our country is made up of
immigrants [the American Indian is the only group that can claim non immigrant
status].
I personally have a problem with
the amount of lawsuits that Holder has launched against the states.
He is suing Florida over their
voter registration ‘purge’.
The governor- Rick Scott- has
made an attempt to get non citizens off the voter rolls.
Okay- should we be letting non
citizens vote?
Of course not.
Then why is Holder suing?
He sees [like others] this as a
racially motivated purge.
He argues that what Florida is
really trying to do is get the minorities to not vote.
Okay- the governor simply asked
the justice dept. to give them a list of non citizens- those they know to be
illegal.
Holder refused.
Why does Holder- and others think
that Scott is anti minority?
Because after they checked the
data base- the majority of those who were non citizens were indeed minorities.
So- according to Holder- this is
racist.
But who else would be on a ‘non
citizen’ list?
I mean do we have a massive
migration of say- polish folk who are washing up on our shores?
Not yet- unless this E.U. thing
gets out of hand.
So- if you are ‘purging’ the
voter list of people who are not citizens- by its very nature you are going to
get more minorities on the list.
Yet Holder sees this as racist.
So- both sides need to be honest-
and fair.
The Right side of the aisle needs
to keep in mind the above verse- that in the end we are all aliens- yes- our
grandparents came legally and it’s not the same as those who are coming
illegally- I hear that- but we are still dealing with humans [Kennedy].
And the left- if Holder keeps
suing fire dept’s- and thinks that his role in life is to use the justice dept
to accomplish some type of political agenda- then I think the words of my
fellow Black firefighter should be kept in mind.
If you keep this up- ‘your going
to get us all killed’.
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.
1861- THE 40 YEAR REUNION
Let’s recap the week’s news.
The lines are drawn- the pres has
asserted Executive Privilege- for the first time.
And Pelosi has come out and
accused the Repubs of outright racism.
Chris Matthews- the most
dangerous man alive [sorry Ken Shamrock] has also jumped on the bandwagon.
He had on 2 Black Dems and said
those who want Holder to release the documents on fast and Furious are racists.
The other week Matthews was
defending the right of Asian Americans to abort their baby girls because they
preferred a boy.
Yes- he took the other side when
the Repubs wanted to outlaw sex selection abortions.
Now- he claimed he was not for
it- but argued against the passage of the law- because he said it was only a
problem in the Asian community.
So- he thought ‘why outlaw it-
only Asian girls are dying’.
This is the same guy who sees racism
in the Holder affair.
About a month ago I said to
myself ‘let's see how long it will be before the media begin re running the
Watergate movie nonstop’.
To my surprise- not only are they
running the movie- but all the major networks have come out in full regalia-
‘celebrating’ the 40th anniversary of Watergate.
I also read an article the other
day- some Texas professor wrote Holder- demanding the release of the other
documents from Watergate.
Holder responded in a way that
sounded like ‘there is no longer any good reason to continue the cover up of
Watergate- by golly- the truth must show!’
Let’s see- did we celebrate the
20th- 30th anniversary?
No.
Do you normally celebrate the 40th
anniversary- of anything?
No.
Your normally have a big bash on the
25th- and 50th.
But the media have actual real
time scandals- the cover up of the murder of 300 hundred Mexican citizens- and
at least one border patrol agent.
The Solyndra scandal that
revealed that the presidents own men [All the Presidents men?] actually told
him- in a memo- that what he was about to do looked illegal.
This was said- in a memo- by his
own men.
What he did was changed the loan
to Solyndra- in order for his top fundraiser- who put money in the company- to
get paid back first if the company went bust.
This loan change was not done for
any other person/company- only for the loan that his top fundraiser made.
When this was first revealed- a
mainline news reporter [Sharyl Atkinson] who broke the story said it looked
like this might bring the presidency down.
What?
This was all revealed on a
Friday- after months of denying any involvement in the scandal.
For it to be revealed that your
own people thought what you did was illegal [not just knowing about an illegal
act- Wateragte- but actually doing it!] and you did it anyway.
And you did it for your friend-
against the actual law that regulates the loan- which said you can’t do this.
Well- even a mainline reporter
thought it as bad- or worse than Watergate.
What happened John- Nothing.
The media simply kept silent.
Now- in the current scandal- you
know- the ‘race haters’
In this scandal- when congress
asked the Justice Dept. if they had any knowledge about the Fast and Furious
program- they sent a letter to congress denying involvement/knowledge.
This was the beginning of 2011.
Now- when you go on record like
that- the investigating team usually drops the case- because you would be lying
to congress at that point.
Holder left the letter out there
for most of the year- claiming they had no knowledge of the program.
When congress continued digging-
Holder pulled the letter back.
Why?
Because they did indeed know
about the program- this in itself is enough for a resignation- this in itself
is a Watergate.
Congress just tried Roger
Clemens- twice- for lying to congress.
I’m glad he got off- they found
him not guilty.
Did he lie John- and use
steroids?
Sure.
But for this crew to be trying
people for lying- well that’s laughable.
So- Holder basically already
admitted that he lied- whether he knew it or not at the time we don’t know- but
we do know they said- for around 9 months ‘we had no knowledge of the program’.
Then he pulled the letter back.
At the least- we need to know
what changed- who was lying- why?
The parents of the dead agent-
Terry- went on the news this week- they too think Holder and Obama are covering
up- by all accounts- it does look like they are covering up.
Are the parents racists?
According to Pelosi and MSNBC-
yes.
We have very real scandals-
things that rise- easily- to the level of Watergate.
Watergate was the cover up of a
botched break in of a political office in a hotel- the name of the hotel was
Watergate.
The cover up of fast and furious
involves the murder of at least 300 Mexican citizens [the Mexican govt. by the
way does not see this as a joke- they are outraged over this].
And the murder of an American law
enforcement officer.
The Solyndra scandal was
presidential involvement [not just knowledge!] to change a loan- illegally- even
said to be illegal by the president’s own people- in writing!
He changed the law so his number
one fundraiser would not loose money- and he denied it- until he was caught.
These lies- these scandals- they
outrank Watergate- I said it at the time- but the media tried their hardest to
make these things look like nothing.
I’ll end with one last ‘lie’.
This week I read some of the
Leaks that are believed to have come from this White House.
These are the leaks of all the
classified intelligence info that outed Israel- got the Pakistani doctor put in
prison for 35 years- you know- no big deal.
When I looked at the leaks- I
mean they were laughable in the way they were made to portray the president in
a favorable light.
Most leaks are simply info coming
out- lots of time from good men who see wrong things and are trying to expose
the corruption.
We call these people Whistle
Blowers.
But as I reread some of the
recent leaks- I mean they are saying things like ‘As the president sat there in
his chair- debating on which terrorist to kill next- he contemplated his recent
study of Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas Aquinas- and he acted with righteous
indignation’.
What?
St. Thomas and Augustine.
I mean these are 2 of my favorite
Catholic scholars.
Augustine- the 4/5th
century Bishop of North Africa- and Thomas- the great 13th century
Doctor Angelicas [Angelic Doctor].
Yes- these are some big players
in Theology and Philosophy.
So why have the media reported
that the pres used them in his war strategy?
They are also famous for the
development of the Just war Theory.
Yeah- people for centuries have
appealed to these great thinkers in their justification for war.
But Obama- how does he find the
time to read these guys?
I mean- unless their names are on
the golf balls [he just played his 100th round!]
I don’t see him having time to
read them.
So why mention it?
Because he fumbled the ball with
our Catholic friends [who just began a 2 week prayer and fast against the
repression of religious liberty- because of the presidents demands that they
provide birth control thru their institutions].
And he needs to make amends- so
lo and behold- he loves reading the Catholic scholars!
If you put all this together- the
ongoing scandals- not just one.
The actual lies- the ones they
have been caught in- on paper.
I mean even a mainline reporter
could not believe that the revealing of this was ‘no big deal’.
And now- the fact that the pres
came out the other day and addressed the nation ‘me and my Whitehouse have not
released any CLASSIFIED information’.
‘It’s an insult to think this’.
Then- one week later- on Friday-
they sent a letter to congress- declassifying the drone war
in Yemen.
They were basically saying ‘yeah-
we were behind the releasing of all the info- it’s just we ‘declassified it’
first’.
He is going to say when he
released the info- his office first ‘declassified it’.
But when he addressed you- and
me- he was outraged- he made it sound like he was not aware of the leaks.
And 99 % of the public took it
this way.
Look- when you get caught doing
this- over and over and over- I mean this is not a one time affair.
Then it does make the public
wonder about everything else.
And when the public asks for
answers- and you respond by playing the race card- then it’s time for some
people to resign.
Holder needs to go.
Whoever else has lied about their
involvement also needs to go.
And if Nixon had to go because he
lied about his knowledge about a 2 bit break in- then what about the possible
cover up of your knowledge about the murder of a U.S. border patrol agent and
at least 300 Mexican men, women and children.
But wait- I forgot- we don’t have
time to cover these present scandals- no- we are covering the golden [or
brass?] 40th year anniversary of Watergate.
Drink up.
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.
1860- POLITICS OR RELIGION?
I wasn’t sure how to close up
this week- I know how much you guys like it when I do politics! [note- every now
and then I drop a joke or 2 in- I realized once that everybody does not know
when it’s a joke- but if you have to say each time ‘here I kid’ it kinda ruins
the thing].
I did go to the mission
yesterday- and Dirk- my homeless friend that I gave a lecture to on the ‘proofs
for the existence of God’ [he was kind of going off the other day on how
everyone believes what they hear- that there is no real way to know who is
right- so I covered the history of apologetics and the proofs for the existence
of God- I kinda blasted the guys for about 15 minutes- and wasn’t sure they
were following].
So when I see Dirk- the first
thing he shows me is this book on Bertrand Russell- the famous British
philosopher- I wrote about him when I was doing the study on philosophy.
Dirk was kind of repentant- he
must of took my ‘speech’ to heart- and he told me he was going to put more of
an effort into researching stuff.
Now- it was a surprise to see my
homeless buddy running around with a Russell book- but I got the hint that he
did get something from my talk and wanted me to know he was trying.
By the way- being he showed me
the book- I encouraged him to read it- but had to let Dirk know that Russell
was a very influential 20th century British philosopher- he was
famous because he was a public protestor against the use of nuclear weapons.
But in the field of thought he
became an Agnostic.
He was raised as a believer- but
at a young age he read a book from another famous thinker- John Stuart Mill.
Mill wrote about what we have
been discussing these last few days- the law of Cause and Effect- and how
things came into being.
Mill said ‘if everything has to
have a cause- then why not God? Who caused God?’
Now- Mill wasn’t the first
thinker to pose the question- but Russell became influenced by this idea and
espoused it for the rest of his life.
The problem?
Though both of these men were
smart- they stumbled over this misconception.
The law of Cause and Effect [also
referred to as causality] does not say EVERYTHING has a cause.
It states that all EFFECTS have a
cause.
In essence- it’s within the realm
of logic to espouse an infinite- causeless being.
Now- some might say this is
‘illogical’ but using the laws of logic [like we covered the last few days].
In the end- the only logical
explanation for all things is an infinite being.
Anyway- don’t want to re hash the
whole thing again- just thought it interesting that Dirk was reading Russell’s
book.
Even though there are a lot of
news events that could be covered today- lets finish with a few ‘religious’
things.
I have a verse here [about 200!]
hanging on my wall- it’s from Isaiah [I think? I write them down and hang them
up- but I don’t write the reference].
It says ‘do these things- and
when others read about them- this will be a witness to them’.
There are others along this line
that I have come across these last few years.
I started working with the
homeless in 1992- with guys that were on drugs- ex-cons- before that.
I never told any of these stories
until a few years back.
I started the blog in 2006-
Facebook a couple of years later.
I felt that it was part of the
‘next step’- that is doing ministry- that the Lord wanted me to get into.
So- even though I did not even
have email until 2006- or even get online until that time- I did my best to put
together the blog [amateurish as it is] and start the process.
Now- over the years- as a student
of religion, philosophy, ecclesiology [church]- I have written a lot about what
it means to ‘do church’ or ‘be church’.
In Christian circles this has
been hotly debated in recent years.
Many in the House Church movement
have written- and debated with those who are more into the Traditional type
churches.
There are many Protestants who
have all types of ways they see ‘church’.
In its most basic form- the best
definition that I have been able to come up with- is Church is a community.
It’s a worldwide community of
those who confess Christ [the universal church].
And it’s a local community of
those who follow him.
If you read the gospels- Jesus
and his disciples are a good picture of the church.
Now- many will say ‘No John- the
church was not formed until Acts chapter 2’.
Okay- I hear that.
I see the whole thing.
But- as community- it’s a
mistake- in my view- to dismiss the gospels as ‘pre church’.
I don’t want to get into a
theological debate- because I’m not even sure how many are following right now.
But- the point is- if we actually
read the things that Jesus told us to do [sounds simple enough].
We would end up doing a lot of the things that most of us call ‘prison
ministry’ or ‘street ministry’ or ‘outreach ministry’.
In actuality- these things are a
main function of being a community.
So- over the years- because many
of us associate church with the meeting [or the building]. We have a tendency to shift the focus from
community- to the corporate entity.
Years ago I filed the corporation
papers for our ‘church’.
Instead of paying a lawyer- I got
a self help book- ‘how to incorporate your church’ and filed.
It was no big deal.
But I realized how we confuse the
actual corporate laws of a state- they have ways they recognize what they call
‘a local church’.
And what the bible actually
teaches.
In the bible- the church is a
community of people- much like Jesus and the disciples going thru the towns-
preaching- healing- helping others.
Yet- much of the focus of modern
‘church’ is the corporation ‘how much do we need this month? How many members
do we need each month to tithe- and cover the vision of the church’.
Much of the focus- and effort- is
spent on raising money for the corporation.
People are ‘challenged’ to
sacrifice for Gods work- but the challenge is often seen thru the lens of ‘give
till it hurts’.
Look- I’m not against giving- I
give lots of money away.
But when you have the majority of
church goers- who mean well- when they begin seeing their sacrifice mainly thru
a paradigm of giving more money to a corporation- then this blinds them to the
majority of teaching in the New Testament that calls us into the world- in real
ways- to be the ‘actors’ [ones who act- function- not just give money so others
can act/function on our behalf].
That is- the primary
responsibility of the believer is not simply to go to church on Sunday [though
this is a good thing].
Or to tithe to the ‘church’.
But to be active in helping one
another- to be giving our lives away for other people.
This is the heart of the whole
New Testament.
So- my purpose in telling these
stories the last few years was simply to show one example [out of many- there
are many Christians who do see the stuff I just showed you] So these things
could be ‘the wisdom’ that the example of people seeing what it means to ‘be
church’ might lead others to a ‘more better way’ [Hebrews.]
So- I’ll end the week with the
example of my homeless buddy reading the writings of a 20th century
British philosopher.
The politics will have to wait-
yeah- I know your sad.
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.
1858- WHO WAS THAT MASKED WOMAN?
I want to try and cover a little
more on Apologetics- but just a few notes.
Yesterday my favorite news
channel [you know I’m joking?] MSNBC once again showed why they have the lowest
ratings around.
Lawrence O’Donnell- he did a
report on Ann Romney's disease- she has M.S.
In the report he questioned her
use of trained horses as a recommended therapy for her sickness.
By the way- a Cali news paper did
the same thing a few weeks back.
For those who don’t know- some in
the media mocked Ann Romney because she works with these ‘dancing horses’.
Yeah- it’s not what the average
person does- and that’s exactly why they think its fine to mock the lady.
So last night O’Donnell said that
he had his team investigate whether or not this is an actual treatment for
M.S. He then quoted some report- that
it’s not in the top 10.
Why?
Well of course you would not
recommend the average M.S. person to go out and by dancing horses at the rate
of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
I mean this is common sense.
But if you have the money-
working with horses is indeed a legitimate treatment for all types of motor
skill injuries/diseases.
The shameful thing is this
network deems this as a legitimate story.
When Michele Obama got caught in
disguise a few weeks ago- to be honest- this was very sad.
Why?
She went shopping- against the
warnings of the secret service- and against the wishes of the president himself
[you can’t do stuff like this- an unplanned shopping trip into town].
But there have been lots of
reliable reports that Michele Obama has had a very hard time adjusting to being
the wife of a president.
She initially wanted to stay in
Chicago with her 2 girls- and simply travel back and forth to D.C. every few
weeks/months.
Obviously this would look bad- so
the president convinced her to live with him.
Now- when I heard/saw the story
that she actually put on a disguise and went shopping- against the strong
recommendations of the pres and the secret service- I knew there were real
problems.
I did not rejoice over it- I
pray- by name- for him and his family every Monday and Friday [those are the
days I use for regular prayer intercession- I pray every day- but those days I
mention world leaders].
Okay- if this happened to Sarah
Palin- or any other top political figure from the other side- you would have
had the late night comedians dressing up in masks.
You would have had MSNBC and the
shameful crew laughing nonstop.
I mean an incident like this- is
fodder for the ‘press’.
Yet I never heard one story like
this- I simply saw the hard news story on it- and that was it.
Now- I’m sure the White House
prepared- braced themselves for the jokes- none came.
I think it’s shameful for MSNBC
[and the Cali paper] to have actually investigated the recommended treatment
that Ann Romney uses.
They went- in detail- on how much
insurance she holds on each horse- they mocked the fact that she used a lot of
money to work with the horses- I mean they investigated her more than Obama- I
mean the press never even read his autobiography!
When the media celebrated that
20,000 pages of Sarah Palin’s emails were released [many emails that were
between her and her daughters- things that you would not want released].
They actually tried to recruit
the public to ‘go thru them and see what you can find’.
Yes- at least one news paper
asked this of their on line readers.
What did they find?
Absolutely nothing.
It was a shame that they did
this.
They released- and put on line-
emails that they did not even read yet.
Say if there was one that said
her daughter had some type of sexually transmitted disease- the public would
have know this- and it would have been out there for the world to see.
Yet the same paper- the N.Y.
Times- did not release the emails about the scam that some global warming guys
perpetrated.
These emails showed that some of
them [not all!] actually rigged the data to make it look worse than it really
was.
The Times said they would not
report- or reveal- these emails- because- quote ‘the original writer did not
intend them to be made public’.
Too bad they never gave the same
courtesy to Sarah and her kids.
Right now- as I speak- the
attorney general of the U.S. - Eric Holder- is ‘holding’ on to around 70,000
pages of emails and other info that would show us who was responsible for the
program that resulted in the death- and cover up- of a U.S. border patrol
agent.
Holder has released around 20,000
pages- and he’s trying to ‘bargain’ make a deal ‘how bout I give you so many
more- and then you wont ask for the rest’?
Who are you bargaining for?
Why are you even trying to make a
deal?
We are asking- we- the American
people- are asking ‘who in the heck is responsible for the murder of agent
Terry’?
No deals- no bargains- if the
media rejoiced that the American public read everything about Palin and her
family- email’s that spoke about family problems- the whole thing ‘we have the
right to know!’
Then what about the right to
finally find out who is responsible for the dearth of Terry?
The problem with politics- and
the way we side with either side- is we begin rooting for things that are
wrong.
Yesterday I posted about how our
action in Libya has caused the Black people of Libya to be persecuted against.
Yet there are many supporters of
Obama- who will not report this story.
These people are complicit by
their silence- yet they claim to be on the side of the Black people.
I had a talk a few weeks back
with a liberal friend.
It was during the time of the
debate over Planned Parenthood.
I explained to my friend that the
founder of Planned Parenthood- Margaret Sanger- was an extreme racist.
I wrote on this a while back- and
even posted the on line info on her [you can Google her name and it shows up on
the first page].
Sanger observed the Black race in
major cities- and came to the conclusion that the Black race were like rodents-
that the more they increased- the more they would be a drain on white society.
She looked at the Blacks in N.Y.
and said if they keep ‘breeding’ they will eventually overburden the welfare
system.
She wrote- using this language-
in many of her published papers.
She said it was obvious that the
Black race were an inferior race- who could not compete with the more
enlightened White race- and that we need to find ways to eliminate the Race.
Okay- the first clinic opened in
N.Y. - with the intent on cutting back on this ‘breeding race of rodents’ [her
language- not mine].
Today- Planned Parenthood is the
number one provider of abortion in the country- and Blacks make up their
biggest client base.
Now- this is simple fact.
I am not saying that all the
current workers know this- I’m sure they don't.
But when I revealed this to my
liberal friend- the racist language and all- my friend tried to defend the
woman by saying stuff like ‘well I’m sure she meant well- but maybe used
unfortunate language’.
You see- we are so joined to
either party- to either side- that when a real injustice is done- we will even
defend ‘our side’ even if that means defending a true racist.
Do I think its ‘funny’ that Ann
Romney does the silly dancing horse thing?
Not really- I don't think
anything she does in her private life- unless its illegal- should be a platform
for some immoral reporter like O’Donnell to shamelessly broadcast to the world.
To question whether or not her
horse thing is a ‘recommended treatment’ for her disease.
If the media- and the comics-
were able to ‘overlook’ Michele’s shopping trip- incognito- then let’s leave
Ann alone.
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.
1857- LIBYA REDUX
I was going to post this morning
on ‘secondary causes’.
That in nature- and the created
world- there are what we call secondary causes.
That means God does not ‘create’
everything you see- as he did the original creation.
We see trees- plants- fish- even
humans- and even though it is proper for us to refer to these as Gods creation-
yet we can also examine the natural process of reproduction- seeds falling to the
ground- and even ‘test tube’ babies- and this is still a creation from God [man
can’t duplicate life- even in the lab] yet- these creations are not direct- as
the original creation.
Anyway- maybe I’ll do this
tomorrow.
What I want to do today is simply
re hash some of the posts from the last year.
The other day when I checked my
site [Face Book] I had a few comments about my political posts.
At the time I did not realize I
knew the person.
She is a good friend who was an
original church member form the church I started years ago in Kingsville.
I did feel bad a little- that I
responded to the comments- not in a bad way- but without first saying hi.
Then after thinking ‘geez- this
name sounds familiar’ I realized it was my friend.
Actually – she does have a good
story to tell.
Janie met her husband- Emit [or
Emmet? I never knew the correct spelling] at our little church.
Emit was one of the first ‘drug
addicts’ that joined our church.
He was a friend of Elias [another
addict I met while preaching at the jail] and our little home church was made
up of these families.
Anyway- Emit- and Aunt Bee- the
aunt who raised Emit- and Emits son [Emit Jr.] were all church members.
Emit Jr’s wife- Veronica- and her
mom- Yolanda- all came too- I mean Kingsville is a small town- and after a
while you meet the whole crew.
I was happy to see Janie and Emit
meet- and later marry.
I would visit her and the boys
[she has lots of boys- and a sweet daughter- Rhonda].
I knew these kids when they were
young- I’m sure they look different today.
Janie and Emit and the family
made a nice family.
Then one day I heard Emit died.
As far as I knew Emit was clean-
not on drugs anymore.
And his son told me his dad died
because his liver was bad- after all the past years of drugs.
I don’t know the whole story- but
this was what his son told me.
By the way- Emit Jr still keeps
in contact with me till this day.
So- before I get into the
political debate- I wanted to tell the story of Janie and her family- it really
is a good story to tell.
Okay- in some of the comments-
it’s hard to re-tell all the posts I did last year- and the comment section on
Face Book is too small to really do it justice.
One of the debates was over
whether or not Gadhaffi slaughtered his people.
Did we [Obama] intervene in Libya
because the leader was slaughtering his people?
I disagreed- and this is the
reason why.
There was an ongoing policy
debate within the administration [the president’s team].
There were some on one side-
Susan Rice, Samantha Powers- and the other side was pretty much made up of the
defense secretary and the military folk.
I remember reading/hearing about
this particular debate- because some in the media made it sound like ‘the
women’ won over the men.
Basically the debate was ‘should
we- the U.S. - and the Obama presidency- should we set a new precedent that
says- we will use military force- BEFORE a slaughter takes place’.
What you had in Libya was a very
public ‘civil’ unrest.
90% of the population lives right
off the Mediterranean coast- in the West you had the capitol city- Tripoli.
In the east the main city was
Benghazi.
The rebels from the east rose up
against Tripoli.
Gadhaffi and his men were
attacked by the east- they made it all the way up until the western stronghold
of Tripoli.
[Note- these guys raped- killed-
and committed ‘crimes against humanity’ on the way- that’s a fact]
After a few weeks of fighting-
Gadhaffi re grouped and began his trek east- and wound up at the gates of
Benghazi.
Okay- was there a slaughter that
took place?
No. It was GOING TO TAKE PLACE- at least that’s
what the threat seemed to be.
Gadhaffi was saying- very
publicly- that he would go in and go from house to house and get all those who
are siding with the rebels.
Some think this was just a
threat- that he wanted the city to abandon the rebels cause- and this was
simply bravado.
Anyway- on both sides- there was
killing- but no slaughter [slaughter is what took place in Rwanda- a million
dead].
President Obama and his team
admit this- this was their argument ‘we acted first- before the slaughter took
place’.
Now- I don’t want to re hash the
whole thing- nor do I think it profitable to get into debates like this- with
my friends.
It’s just some of the comments
said I basically was an idiot and had no idea what I was saying- and I felt
like I needed to respond.
I actually am on the side of
Obama right now- in his decision to not act in Syria.
There are those calling for
military intervention- but we [the U.S.] have intervened too much already- very
rarely does military force do the job.
In Libya- before we acted- people
living in Tripoli had a good life.
I used to see actual
documentaries on the open markets of the city- venders selling olives and fish
and all the wonderful produce form the Mediterranean region.
You had doctors and professors-
kids going to school- you went to the hospital- just like here in the U.S.
After the killing of Gadhaffi-
that city is ruined.
If you take your kid to the
hospital now- there are opposing militia groups [terrorists] who walk through
the hospital- carrying guns.
They are all saying ‘we are in
charge- no- we are’.
I heard this from an interview
from a doctor- it was on NPR radio- a very reliable news source.
The non Black leaders that were
from the east- the group we sided with- they have taken the Black women and
children and have made them- well- slaves.
The leaders we backed- they hate
Blacks- with a passion.
I explained why this is in the
past- basically Gadhaffi loved the Black skinned Africans. So the ‘friend of my
enemy is my enemy’.
There are many reports that these
wonderful Black people- I mean some were doctors and school teachers- you need
to see how bad this is.
These Black people are now
actually doing slave labor- they have them cleaning up the streets and working
as slaves- these are reports I heard from multiple reliable sources.
I mean how would you feel if the
U.S. came to your city- and your Black kids were used like this?
Taken out of school- their future
gone- their dads castrated.
This has been going after the
death of Gadhaffi.
How can anyone think this is
good- that we helped these people?
Libya- Egypt- and yes- Iraq- they
are all worse off than before.
This debate is not about whether
or not someone’s favorite president did better than the other president.
It’s about U.S. intervention-
it’s about the use of force.
It’s about the plight of the Blacks in Libya.
No- Obama did not go in because
Gadhaffi was slaughtering his people- he went in to prevent what he said would
be a slaughter.
Either way- we ruined that
country- for good.
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.
1855- UNFINISHED BUSINESS
First we need to take care of
some unfinished business.
Yes- I’ll admit- yesterday’s
prediction failed.
The post warned of a possible
sell off in the market [I guessed around 100 or so points- nothing real big].
But- the market went up around
100.
If I have learned anything in
life- it’s when you blow it you need to fess up- come clean- in Christian lingo ‘confess your
sins one to another- so you will be healed’ [James].
So- to all who read this site- I
have one thing to say.
My account was hacked [Anthony
Weiner?]
Okay- let’s move on.
Actually- most of everything I
posted was [is] still true.
I don’t want to do another whole
post on economics- but some analysts think the market went up- not because we
had good news [yesterday stats showed factory orders were down in May from the
previous month] but because we had bad.
Like I wrote- if investors think
things are bad- that makes them think the Fed will act [put more money into the
system] and Walla- the Dow goes up.
There are a few other things too-
like the Greek vote on Sunday [whether or not they will stay in the Euro] but
overall I still stick to my post- absent that one line that was hacked!
Okay- did we have any other ‘big’
news yesterday?
There were a few things- some
‘bigger’ than the media [or the administration] would like us to know.
The president did a funny thing
yesterday- he sent a letter to congress saying he ‘declassified’ info about our
terror [drone] campaign in Yemen.
This is the first time he did
this [as far as we know?] since he’s been in office.
Why does this really look
suspicious?
His administration is under
criticism right now- it looks like they have indeed been ‘leaking’ these
stories to the press.
The whole recent scandal of
national security leaks.
Of course he has denied it.
But- if he [and his political
people] were behind it- then they obviously had a strategy about how much would
come out each month.
This ‘late Friday’ release- seems
to go along with this theory- it looks funny to me.
The president also did his
‘kinda’ executive order- by giving some type of cover to some illegal aliens.
For the record- I’m liberal when
it comes to this subject [for those who think I’m too far right!]
I want for our nation to work out
some type of deal for the kids of illegal’s- who were young when they came to
the country- who are in school- basically grew up just like you and me- I don’t
want these kids to be afraid of getting sent back.
I also realize the need to have
some type of border enforcement- I just want to say I’m not against the
principle that that the Pres laid out.
Of course it was politically
timed- I mean you’re in office for 3.5 years- and now you do it.
In actuality there really is more
‘politics’ to it than meets the eye.
When the president’s real plan
for immigration was shot down- The Freedom Act- he simply blamed it on the
Repubs.
But something unsuspected
happened.
Marco Rubio [the Cuban American
Republican from Florida- possible V.P. pick for Romney] began working on a
Repub plan to allow the minor kids of illegal’s to stay in the country.
The same basic thing that Obama
wanted to do.
Okay- to the surprise of some- he
seems to have convinced enough fellow Repubs to sign on.
Now- the part you don’t see is
this.
What the Pres did- and the other
Democrats- was they saw how bad it would look if the Repubs actually passed a
law that favored immigrants- that if Rubio succeeds- than it will look like
they did something Obama was not able to do- pass immigration reform.
So behind the scenes Obama and
the Dems have been telling fellow Dems ‘don’t agree with Rubio!’
Some have jumped ship and simply
said ‘look- we want reform- we [the Dems] had total control of the govt. for
the first 2 years- you [our leader- Obama] spent all your capital on health
care- so we don’t care if it’s Rubio- we simply want TO HELP THE KIDS AND GET
THE REFORM DONE’.
Okay- that sounds principled to
me.
So- Obama realized he was gonna
look bad if the Rubio thing goes thru- and he came out- after 3 and a half
years- and said ‘I must act now’.
He pulled the rug out from Rubio
[which in reality hurt the long term solution- which would have been much
better for the Hispanic kids].
And gave an ‘order’ to Janet
Napolitano [the lady that oversees the immigration laws] and said ‘put a 2 year
hold on deporting the kids of Immigrants’.
Now- there’s more to it- but this
is the short story.
It really would have been better
to just let the Rubio idea pass- because the new plan from the Pres still
leaves the kids in limbo- they simply get 2 years to not get deported.
That’s politics.
Okay- lets end the week with a
few verses.
I have been reading Isaiah
chapters 26- 30.
Some notable verses ‘your dead
sons will arise- together with MY DEAD BODY shall they arise’.
This week the more
historic/traditional churches celebrated the Eucharist [communion- the actual
term means Thanksgiving].
This past Sunday was a church
memorial that always sticks in my mind each year it comes up.
It’s a special day that
celebrates the Feast of Corpus Christi.
This feast is a celebration of
the Body of Christ- but because that’s the name of my city- I usually make note
of it when it comes up annually.
I like the above verse- I have
quoted it every week for years [it’s one of the many prayer verses I have
painted in my yard].
It’s a prophetic verse speaking
about both the future resurrection of all men- and it’s also speaking about the
Lords Table.
At the last Supper Jesus gave his
men [and us] an ongoing memorial of his death for us.
‘Take Eat- this is my Body’.
He broke the bread and poured the
wine.
We as believers have been keeping
this memorial for 2 thousand years.
The apostle Paul told the
Corinthians ‘as often as you do this- you do show the Lords death until he
comes back’.
I love the celebration of the
Eucharist- the Catholic scholar Scott Hahn says something I like.
He says ‘Jesus said DO THIS in
remembrance of me- not- write this’.
His point- to us ‘scholarly’
types- is that we often emphasize the bible- the written word- while Jesus told
us the doing of the memorial was what would ‘show his death’ till he comes.
I like that.
So- for you non church goers-
maybe tomorrow [or in the near future] you can make an effort and go to church
and celebrate the meal.
Isaiah said ‘your dead men shall
rise- together with my dead Body they shall live’.
Gather ‘together’ with the
confessing church- celebrate the meal- lets all live TOGETHER.
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.
1854- WEEKEND WARNING
Before I forget- the odds of the
market selling off today are high.
If you are in- and have been for
a while- no big deal.
But if you are one of those types
that buy and sell every couple of days/weeks.
Then I wouldn’t buy today.
Okay- have a lot to cover and not
much space.
I found it interesting to watch
the narrative that I have been talking about these last few days to have been
so blatant yesterday.
On MSNBC the hosts are now
regular telling people that the Euro zone crisis is a direct result of
austerity measures [spend less than you have].
This is an outright lie- I wrote
about this lots the last few weeks and don’t want to re hash the thing.
The point is the entire network
is now saying this- and if you are someone that’s invested in world events- you
are being lied to- daily.
I caught the morning NPR show
yesterday- I usually catch the early show [sometimes right at 5 am].
I’m an early riser- been up since
3:30 this day.
So- it was interesting- right at
7:05 the report was some bad housing numbers- foreclosures were up from last
month.
They were up 16% from this time
last year- 9 from last month.
Bad- but not surprising [to me].
Then- at 8:05 am- the report said
‘good news for the housing market’.
I mean- you can’t make stuff like
this up.
Why are these bad numbers not a
surprise?
Last year many of the banks put a
hold on their foreclosures.
You had the Robo Signing scandal
[people just rubber stamping foreclosures- using fake names].
And you had the president
purposefully do a short moratorium on foreclosures.
Okay- so what would happen when
these temporary fixes were over?
Foreclosures go up.
Then why don’t the financial guys
tell you this- why do they make it sound like all is well?
I don’t think these guys are
purposefully lying [most of them] but when your whole career is based on the
market- then you have a natural tendency to hear [say] what you want- not
what’s necessarily the truth.
Why am I so negative on the
market today?
Yesterday we had a short run up-
primarily because the central banks [in Europe and presumably us- the Fed] made
it sound like they might help the cash strapped European states and pump
‘liquidity’ [cash] into the system.
Okay- so the Dow went up- not
because we had good economic news- but bad.
That is- things look so bad- the
world banks said ‘we might help’.
Okay- why does this help the
market?
These last few years- our nations
bank- the Federal Reserve- has pumped trillions of dollars into the system.
Some think this is bad monetary
policy- others say it’s good.
Now- as a matter of simple math-
if you put extra money into the system- this money has to go somewhere.
And eventually a large part goes
into the market.
This in reality is a fake way to
‘stimulate’ the market.
So that’s what you saw yesterday.
EGYPT
Yesterday the high court
disbanded the entire Parliament.
The military are still in
control- and it looks like Democracy has failed.
Now- do I think this is a bad
thing?
Not really.
Why?
Look- the Muslim Brotherhood rose
to power after the protests.
These guys just had thousands in
the streets calling for the destruction of Israel.
They are indeed radicals- and if
they run the country you will have another theocracy like Iran.
This is not good for the rights
of women- Christians- and many other groups.
The economy of Egypt has been
ruined.
For centuries people have been
going to visit the pyramids- that whole thing is now dead.
Tourism was a major part of their
economy.
We have not helped the cause of
these people- we might have meant well by toppling Mubarak- but the aftermath
is bad.
GLOBAL DOWTURN
Oil prices are down 12 %- because
of a global slowdown.
Asia [China] is slowing down
faster than anyone thought- China just took financial action to try and
counteract this.
In the beginning of the year many
were projecting 3.5- 4 % growth for the U.S.
The Bulls and Bears were just
about split [I was- am still a bear].
Half way thru the year- the
estimates are now 1.7 % growth- terrible.
There is no way we are going to
see an upturn for the rest of the year- not possible.
Now- will the markets go up?
I don’t think so- but people do
crazy stuff.
I’m saying the global economic
outlook is terrible- very very bad- The E.U. crisis is very bad.
Spain and Italy are in trouble-
not just Greece.
Greece is on the verge of exiting
the Euro- and many investors have taken their money out of Spain and Italy.
Italy is really ‘too big to
fail’.
If the Italian economy crashes-
the Euro\zone is over.
Now- Do I think the worst will
happen?
I don’t know for sure- but for
financial advisors to be telling people that the ‘fundamentals’ are strong is
ridiculous.
This has been the mantra the last
year.
That U.S. companies [and banks]
have much more cash on hand- the price for stock- compared to ‘projected’
growth/income of the company is cheap.
And some paint this rosy picture.
If you own a McDonalds on your
block- and your ‘fundamentals’ are strong- but if everyone on the block is
going broke- it makes no difference how strong the fundamentals are- the
customers are broke.
That’s what the E.U crisis means-
they are our number one trading partner- yes- they beat China.
If they are having all these very
real problems- then we are in danger of another recession.
Most of the recent numbers seem
to be saying this.
The last few weeks we are seeing
a rise in the weekly unemployment numbers.
Our economy is softening- and the
trend is not your friend.
With all this going on- the
message of the president makes no sense.
He gave a speech yesterday- he
basically is saying ‘do you want what we had the last 10 years- look what Bush
gave you’.
I mean he acts like he has not
been in charge for the past 3.5 years.
Look- I’m starting to worry about
the man.
One interesting thing to keep
note of.
The markets play into what they
think might happen.
If the Supreme Court shoots down
Obama care this month- markets WILL LIKE THAT.
And- the truth be told- if they
think Romney is going to win [the odds look much better for him now than 3
months ago] the markets will factor that in as a positive sign.
All in all- today might be a
rough day for stocks.
We do need to batten down the
hatches for the rest of the year and realize at midyear- we have made a turn
for the worse.
Don’t worry- don’t panic- but
make sure your listening to good advice.
I am not a total doomsayer when
it comes to this [Beck type]- but I see the writing on the wall- the global
economy is slowing down- we are on the verge of a double dip recession- and the
Euro Zone looks very bad- despite the central banks action.
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.
1853- SEX- ALL TYPES
Let’s cover the ‘other’ news
story of the day- the Elephant in the room.
Yes- with all the things going on
in the news this week- we also have had the start of the Jerry Sandusky sex
case.
Most of you know the scoop.
Sandusky is the famous coach from
Penn state that worked for years with the famed Joe Paterno.
There were rumors- and ‘chance’
encounters where people saw Sandusky with young boys- and he was caught
molesting kids.
As the defendants have been
testifying this week- well- we heard bad stuff.
I don’t want to ‘defend’ the
Sandusky’s of the world in any way- but I want to speak openly- and in a
politically incorrect way about sexual orientations of all kinds.
I have a book here in my study-
about 3 feet from where I’m sitting.
It’s the story of Jeffrey
Dahmer’s conversion to the Lord after he was sent to prison.
I do realize that we see lots of
jail house conversions- and for some people they will never believe that a
Dahmer could convert.
But as I read the book- and also
have watched the re play of the interview that Dahmer did with MSNBC- I do
believe he was sincere.
One very interesting- and
truthful part of the interview was when Dahmers dad was asked ‘why do you think
this happened to your son’.
The dad- who is a Christian man-
said he felt like somewhere along the line- Jeff associated- connected- the act
of sex with dead things.
That he was fixated as a boy with
skulls and dead things- and in time when he went thru puberty- that he also-
somehow- connected the joy of collecting skulls and stuff with the act of sex.
Now- some might dismiss this as a
lame excuse- and of course the crimes Jeff committed were very serious [for
those not familiar- Dahmer is the famed serial killer who cannibalized his
victims].
In point of fact- people- in all
societies and in every age- can- and have ‘learned’ certain types of behavior-
for good or ill.
The reason this debate is hard to
have in our country- is because the present debate over gay rights pits one
group against another.
For anyone to say ‘we actually do
have proof that certain sexual behavior can indeed be learned’ seems to be
bigoted and against the civil rights of people.
The purpose of this post is not
to get into a long drawn out discussion over this.
I want to simply say- there are-
and have been- all types of sexual associations that people have made with
certain acts.
In the Sandusky case- with
minors.
In the Dahmer case- with dead
things.
The list does go on.
Is it possible to ‘un learn’
associations like this?
In short- yes.
Is it easy?
Probably not.
A few years ago I noticed that
one of the major hospitals in the U.S. - famous for doing sex change operations-
very quietly quit the practice.
As I listened and read about the
story- I came to find out that the hospital- that was lauded for their non
judgmental attitude- their willingness to break ‘the religious bigotry of our
day’ that after doing the operation for years.
Admitted that the results were
horrendous.
How?
The rate of depression and
suicide among most of the patients went sky high.
After years of doing the
operation- the data showed that despite all the ‘political correctness’ the
facts on the ground were these operations were doing more harm than good.
Yet- year after year we see
people who have had the operation- on well meaning news shows being
interviewed- and the interviewer- without fail- always comes across as ‘look
how accepting I am of you- look how wonderful it is for us all to celebrate
your freedom and to not judge’.
Yet- many of the times I get the
impression that these people are under great pressure to go with this line.
That they are cast into the
limelight as a great example of acceptance- and they seem at times to not want
to let the interviewer- or the world- down.
But- if the data says the rate of
suicide and depression sky rockets among those who have gone thru with the
procedure- then if we really love these people- or our kids- or generations to
come- then we would be more careful before we jump on the ‘what a great thing
you did’ bandwagon.
In the whole debate about whether
or not sexual orientation [or simple associations of sexual expression with
particular acts] is changeable- we need to be aware of the overall effects we
are having on all sorts of people.
In the Sandusky case- we do see
an attraction that many men have.
There are entire organizations
supporting man/minor ‘love’.
NAMBLA- North American Man Boy
Love Association- being one.
Do these men make the same
argument that some have made with the gay rights issue?
Yes.
Many argue that that they have
had this ‘orientation’ for as long as they can remember.
They argue that they share a
common orientation with thousands of other men all over the world.
They argue that its’ the
‘Victorian era morality'- that religion wants to impose on people- that tells
them- and society- that they are wrong.
After all- if ‘God created me
this way- why should I not express it’.
Now- I- like you- do not accept
these arguments- but in truth- they are basically the same type of arguments
that others have made with the gay rights debate.
[Note- I do have gay friends- and
I do not want to come off as saying I equate child molesters with gay people- I
don’t. The point I’m making is the NAMBLA folk are saying ‘who has the right to
say that Man/Boy sex is wrong’. And to be honest- if you reject the basis of
natural/moral law- then they win the point.]
The point I’m making is if we- as
a society- tell people that sexual orientation is never learned behavior- then
we are in ways justifying the NAMBLA argument.
I was going to delve into the
entire field of what we call natural/moral law.
Where does it come from?
Does society simply make up moral
law?
Actually no.
This is a very long debate- going
on since the days of Immanuel Kant [one of the great thinkers going back a few
centuries].
In short- some have argued over
the years that we need to rid society of moral law- that it’s these
restrictions on men [particularly sexuality] that is the cause of society’s
ills.
The famous thinker Freud [and
Nietzsche] advocated this.
But after hundreds of years of
debate- there are no examples of any successful society that has managed to
develop any type of functioning ethic- apart from what we call the
Judeo/Christian ethic.
I don’t mean to come off as
judgmental- nor to offend any group of people- but if we are telling entire
generations of people ‘you are a slave to your sexual orientation’.
If we are saying to people ‘you
can never change’ or overcome your sexual associations.
Then we might be biting off more
than we can chew.
If it simply makes us [the
interviewer] feel better about ourselves when we say ‘see- you have done such a
great thing- if only these religious bigots would stop judging you’.
But in reality- the data show
that these people suffer tremendously- for the most part- after they get the
sex change.
Then maybe we need to re think
what we are saying to them as a whole.
Maybe we should tell people ‘yes-
associating sexual expression with a particular act- or life style is a very
strong thing’.
In most cases- even in cases like
Sandusky- even if there are hundreds of thousands of people with the same
‘feelings’ all over the world.
Yet- if we do love people and are
honest- we would tell them it is possible to change the feeling- the
association- dare say ‘orientation’.
We must realize that there are
many types of sexual expression- that society- and moral/natural law say is
wrong.
Those in these lifestyles- often
will argue that the orientation was with them for as long as they can remember.
Others argue that there are many
others like them.
All this may be true- but in the
end- this does not mean the association is right [NAMBLA] or can never be
broken.
I’ll end with a couple of verses
‘I hate vain thoughts- but your law do I love’ ‘commit thy works unto the Lord
and thy thoughts will be established’ ‘God will keep them in perfect peace
whose minds are fixated on him’.
This entire debate is long- and
even many Christians disagree on some points. There are movements within the
church that seek to accept the gay lifestyle as an acceptable lifestyle.
Today’s point is- if we tell
people- with all types of orientations- that you can 'never change’ them- or
overcome them- then we are not being honest.
If we think that the solution is
‘let's just live with no moral law’.
That has been debated- and tried-
and found wanting [Freud died in a mental hospital- going insane from a sexual
disease].
If we love our kids- those around
us- our neighbor- then we should not encourage those among us struggling with
orientations to ‘go with what you feel’.
Or to be so accepting of an
operation that the data shows does not solve anything- only makes it worse.
In short- if we love people- we
must be truthful with them.
Yes- try not to judge- love them
even if they don’t become what you think is best.
But be honest with people.
I feel sorry when I see Chaz Bono
being interviewed- time and again- everyone telling her how happy they are for
her.
When I know in reality the data
says something different.
The statistics show that those
who go as far as ‘changing’ their sex- many of them take their own lives.
And it’s not because they feel
judged- it’s because many of them can’t believe what they have done.
Sad that we hide this- sad.
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.
1852- SPECIAL COUNSEL?
Let’s cover a few of the top
stories of the week.
Yesterday I heard a report- from
NPR radio- not what you would call a ‘right wing’ show.
They were covering the debacle in
Libya.
That the country is in a
shambles- that the terrorists that now run the place are holding the family
members of Gadhaffi- and will not turn them over to the U.N.
That they bombed one of the
‘peace keeping’ vehicles.
And that the massacre of/by
BLACKS continues [Blacks have been killed- and they are now fighting back].
What?
I covered this underreported story before.
In Libya you had a strange
situation- Gadhaffi saw himself as a savior for the Black men/women on the
continent.
For whatever reason- he stood up
for the Black Africans- more than any other leader on the continent.
When we did our so called ‘no fly
zone’ and bombed the hell out of the country- we were fighting Gadhaffi- and a
huge militia made up of Black Africans [who spoke French!] who were from the
Sub Saharan part of the continent.
These Blacks supported Gadhaffi.
So- when we toppled the leader
for political purposes- we unleashed a torrent of violence against Black women-
men- and children.
They undergo forced castrations-
women raped- men murdered- kids raped.
We did this- the U.S. allowed
this to happen.
The ‘winning’ side- made up of
lawless thugs roaming Libya- see ALL Blacks as those who sided with the former
leader.
Okay- this has been going on
since the toppling of Gadhaffi- and if you’re Black- you’re in danger every
single day of your life.
Why is it important for you to
know this?
Because this administration is
indeed responsible for this.
If this were a White president- a
Bush- who did this- this would be the number one story on the nightly news.
HOLDER.
Enter the attorney general who got
grilled yesterday by congress.
The calls for his resignation are
growing- and it does seem like a storm is brewing.
What’s the big deal?
Holder has been involved with all
types of shady stuff- the Fast and Furious cover up is just the latest.
[Holder sought and recommended
the pardon of Mark Rich. Rich was a billionaire who fled the country because he
was a tax evader. Rich knew Clinton- Bill ‘knew’ Richs’ wife. Rich had connections to Clinton- and Clinton
got a pardon for Rich- Holder did the dirty deed].
Holder will not release the
documents that will show- one way or another- how far up the chain this went.
These are the papers that deal
with the murder of border patrol agent Terry.
At his death scene- we found the
guns that Holder and the justice dept allowed to be there thru the sale of
illegal weapons to drug guys from Mexico.
This was the botched program
called Fast and Furious.
What we have been trying to find
out is who authorized this deadly program- and how far up the chain did this go.
It seems like Holder is covering something up.
Now- some are calling for an
independent counsel to look into the national security leaks- Holder just
appointed 2 U.S. attorneys to check it out.
The Dems are raging ‘how dare
anyone call for an independent counsel’.
Won’t the attorneys be fair?
Let’s see- one of them was a
political worker for Obama- he was on the team that picked vice presidential
picks for Obama.
Yeah- I’m sure there will be no
conflict of interest.
So- McCain and others are calling
for an independent counsel.
What’s hypocritical is the fact
that Obama and Biden were some of the loudest voices calling for an independent
counsel under Bush.
Okay- the Repubs calling for the
counsel are wanting to investigate the leaks of classified info that came out
the last few months.
These are high level national
security secrets that some think were leaked for political purposes.
When Obama and Biden called for
this special counsel during Bush’s term- they were investigating the Valerie Plame
name leak.
I have written on it before- for
the most part this was a silly issue.
Valerie Plame was a woman whose
husband was sent to Niger [back to Africa] because he spoke- well French!
Yeah- just like the Gadhaffi
guys.
How did this happen?
Africa [Niger and other spots]
was colonized in the past- and one of the colonizers was France.
So- during the Bush years when he
was making the case against Iraq- one of the big pieces to the puzzle was
whether or not Iraq was trying to obtain nuclear materials from Niger [called
yellow cake].
So- some guy- Joe Wilson- goes to
Niger [cause he speaks the language- this is how his wife got him the gig- she
recommended him] and comes back and writes a piece in the N.Y. Times that said
‘Cheney sent me to Niger and I came back with proof that they were not selling
yellow cake to Iraq’.
Well- for some guy- that nobody
really knew who the heck he was- to write a story like this- raised lots of
eyebrows.
[note- congress investigated the
whole thing- and one of the conclusions was that Joe Wilson lied about Cheney
sending him].
The biggest brow being that
belonging to Cheney.
He asked ‘who in the h.. is this
guy claiming I sent him to Niger’.
They found out he was the husband
of Valerie Plame [this was the real reason Plames name came out- people wanted
to reveal that Plame got her hubby the job- that he was a liberal Dem who had
his own agenda- that Cheney never sent the guy to Niger].
A lady who worked for the govt.-
and in the past held a ‘secret’ security type clearance.
Okay- a reporter- Bob Novak-
wrote a story about the incident- and named Plame.
The left [dems] went nuts- and
charged ‘Bush and Rove leaked the name of a secret Agent- AHHH!’.
Was she really secret?
No.
Everyone knew her by her real
name- she appeared on the cover of a magazine- and she was no longer a secret
agent.
Never the less- her name should
not have been outed.
During the investigation- by the
special counsel that Obama called for [Patrick Fitzgerald] they found out-
early on- that the name WAS NOT LEAKED by any Bush politicos.
The guy who inadvertently coughed
up the name was Richard Armitage- someone who the Dems actually liked.
He worked for the dept of
defense.
But- nobody knew this yet- only
the insiders.
So- instead of dropping the case-
the special prosecutor continued pursuing the Bush guys- and finally got one.
Scooter Libby.
He was asked ‘do you remember
when you first heard the name Plame’.
He said ‘I think Tim Russert told
me’.
Russert [former Meet the Press
guy- now dead] denied it.
They convicted Libby for lying
about Russert giving him the name- and gave him a prison sentence.
What?
You mean even though he [and no one else] ever
purposefully leaked any name- yet- the prosecutor- who Obama called for- tried
to send a Bush guy to prison for this.
Yup.
Bush commuted his sentence [but
did not pardon Libby] and till this day- Cheney’s pissed that Bush never
pardoned his friend.
Okay- if something as stupid as
this required a special counsel- what about the serious national security leaks
that have endangered the lives of many.
How so?
Someone leaked info about the Bin
laden killing- they leaked that a Pakistani doctor had a secret vaccination
program that obtained DNA from a family relative of Bin Laden- this DNA was
used to identify Bin laden after we killed him.
Within days this doctor was tried
for treason and is now doing 35 years in prison.
Pakistan has since shut down
their nations child vaccination program.
His wife and kids are in constant
danger.
Is this worse than saying ‘I
think I heard Plames name from Russert’?
Israel-
Iran has been under a ‘covert’
attack for the last couple of years.
Their nuclear facilities have
been blown up- their top scientists have been killed in the streets- and they
have been blaming Israel for it.
Israel has not admitted a thing.
We leaked the fact that Israel
and the U.S. were behind the computer virus that attacked the nuclear
centrifuges in Iran
We just ‘outed’ Israel.
And we have also leaked the Drone
attacks- top secret info about them.
Should we have a special counsel
look into these leaks?
Obama and Biden were for the
imprisonment of a man whose crime was ‘I heard the name from Russert’.
They were vocal advocates ‘we
need a special counsel- this leak rises to the level of a special counsel’.
But Holder and Obama seem to
think these leaks- that caused real national security dangers- that these don’t
rise to the same level.
Do you think these leaks rise to
that level?
I don’t know- why don’t you ask
the doctor- sitting in a Pakistani cell
for the next 35 years- maybe he can clue us in- maybe?
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.
1851- IS THE PRIVATE SECTOR DOING
FINE?
The other day I posted about the
‘new narrative’.
I talked about the argument that
austerity [cutting spending] in the Euro zone- as well as the U.S. - is the new
reason to blame for the globes economic woes.
I won’t re-post my rebuttal-
suffice it to say I don’t agree.
So- when the president made his
recent gaffe ‘the private sector is doing fine’ the right went nuts- and the
left ran with the new [false] narrative.
With all the talking heads out
there- you would think that they would have put these things together- after
all they get paid lots of money.
I mean even though I’m a regular
critic of MSNBC- I do see them as family.
How so?
When the Nielsen ratings come
out- and Chris Matthews rating is 2 people- at least he knows his wife watches
the show [or has it on mute?].
And I’m number 2.
So let’s weave the web here.
When Obama kicked off his
campaign year- he had some very rough starts.
The Bain capital thing- well that
didn’t work too well.
Then they jumped to the
Massachusetts job record of Romney- when he was governor.
Okay- that’s fair game.
But the argument they were making
was Romney was a failure while overseeing the state.
Yet when he left office-
unemployment was under 5 %- under Obama- we have 8.2.
Yeah- they dropped that line too.
So- the new story is that the
Repub led congress [house] are to blame for the unemployment rate.
That Obama put a ‘jobs bill’ on
the table- and the Repubs refuse to sign the thing.
Thus ‘the private sector is doing
fine’ but because the jobs bill- which is geared towards providing around 250
billion dollars to the states- and union and govt. workers- that because the
Repubs won’t pass it- therefore the ‘public sector’ is dragging down the
economy.
This is the same argument that
says austerity measures are the cause of all the worlds woes.
Last night as I was news surfing
I saw some fill in for Maddow on her show- he seems to be a nice kid- have
heard him before [Ezra something?]
He did the whole show based on
this argument.
He said Romney and the Repubs are
hypocrites because when they are in charge they are for public sector workers
[cops- firemen- teachers].
But now that Obama is in charge
they are cutting them back [note- they were never for trillions of stimulus- as
a regular means of providing jobs. They were for the regular fed money that
would normally go to the states].
Of course- this is the attack on
the dumb [it was dumb] Romney line ‘we don’t need more firefighters and
teachers and cops’.
What did Romney really mean?
He is arguing the conservative
view that says the jobs market really isn’t a function of spending more federal
money.
That even though the fed does
provide money to the states [teachers] yet in the long run it’s the local and
state economies that will decide whether or not to hire more of these ‘public’
sector workers.
As a firefighter- we did not get
federal money to hire new guys- but if our city was doing well financially-
then we had the tax revenue to hire new guys.
That’s Romney’s point.
Last year- the govt. did distribute
billions [yes- with a b] to the states to stave off the laying off of many
teachers and cops and firefighters.
Basically the original 800
billion stimulus simply paid the checks for another year.
But in reality you can’t keep
propping up the jobs like this.
For one thing- it’s not ‘fair’.
What?
Look- any president can say
‘let’s spend another trillion- during my term- to simply pay people so they
stay employed’.
If the majority of the money-
like in this case- is going to workers who give your party lots of money
[unions support Dems] then it would be like Bush giving money just to oil field
workers- during his whole term
Second- we already have spent a
little under 2 trillion fed dollars- propping up the economy.
We had the 900 billion dollar
bail out of the banks- and the 800 billion dollar stimulus money.
Obama is blaming the Repubs for
not passing his ‘jobs bill’.
Is this really a jobs bill?
No.
It was simply another 250 billion
dollars of ‘stimulus’.
We- as a nation- can’t keep doing
this.
Overspending is what got the Euro
zone in deep trouble- not austerity.
Our very high debt is what is
getting us in trouble- as a nation.
Right now- 40 cents of every
dollar the govt. spends simply goes to pay the interest on the debt.
Imagine if almost half of your
household income was simply interest on your credit card.
Would the answer be ‘lets get
another card’?
So- the pres- and some
progressive economists [Krugman- and the MSNBC crowd] are saying ‘let’s get
another card’.
The Repubs are saying ‘no- let’s
start paying the card down’.
You can decide which road is
better.
While the president does have
some truth to the argument he made the other day- the ‘macro’ picture looks
much different.
What was he right about?
When the terrible jobs number
came out last month- the 69,000 new jobs- part of the bad number did have to do
with govt. layoffs.
The private sector created a
little over 80,000 new jobs.
The govt [public sector] lost
around 20,000.
So he was trying to make the point
‘see- if the Repubs let me spend another 250 billion- then the govt. would not
have laid off folk- and the economy would be fine’.
This argument is being made right
now- on both sides of the pond- but it is really not the full story.
In our country we have millions
of people without work- the unemployment rate is 8.2%.
And the small % of govt. jobs
that are being lost is not the reason why the country is in trouble.
And the solution- long term- is
not to keep getting the country in debt.
Anyone can say ‘pass this jobs
bill’.
If they simply mean ‘let’s spend
billions more- to keep people on the job- just until my election [or term] is
over’ then it really is not a jobs bill.
It’s another 250 billion in
stimulus.
I think we already spent too much.
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.
1850- I AM JUST A COWBOY-
LONESOME ON THE TRAIL…
This week we were treated to the
singing cowboy- I think from Texas?
I’ll admit- I don’t watch
American idol- or any of the other shows like that.
But because the cowboy made the
news- I saw the scoop.
What happened was you had this
talented singer- who stuttered.
He was interesting- fit the Mel
Tillis style.
When he was asked about the stutter- he said
he got it when a grenade injured him in action in Afghanistan.
Of course the judges- and the
audience- loved the story.
The only problem was- he made the
whole thing up.
So last night I saw a news
report- he seems to have been faking war injuries for years.
Though he did serve in
Afghanistan- for a month- yet he seemed to have some issue with his hearing-
and was sent home.
As he was being interviewed-
after the story came out- he was crying- yes stuttering- and he said ‘this is
my truth- this is what I have believed’.
Sort of like truth is relative-
if the story ‘helps’ you out- then it’s ‘your truth’.
I remember the old days of
listening to classic rock on those vinyl albums.
Yeah- you put them on the
‘turntable’ and the technology was so advanced- you even had that little lever
that you pulled to make the Album replay- all on its own!
I still remember the cover to my
Thin Lizzy album- I mean those guys rocked.
You might remember the hit song
‘the boys are back in town’ there was another song on the album- called ‘The
Cowboy Song’.
Yeah- our stuttering cowboy knows
how to sing- and tell tall tales at the same time.
There have been a few news
stories of importance this past week.
One of the top ones was the
leaking of all the national security info.
I was surprised to see both Dems
and Repubs calling for an investigation.
Diane Feinstein- the Dem senator
form Cali- she said she has never seen the level of leaks this bad in her 11
years on the Senate Intelligence committee.
What are the leaks?
These are leaks that show the
president in tough situations- doing all he can to fight terror- and basically
making him look like a tough guy.
The pres denies- in a Clintonian
way- that he ‘authorized the leaks of classified material’.
When I first heard the denial- I
thought ‘he knows about it’.
How?
As someone who really liked Obama
at the start- I have followed him these last few years- and he has done lots of
‘tricky’ stuff- that at first I brushed off- but after a while I realized- well
sometimes ‘cowboys like to tell stories’.
As I listened to both sides-
McCain, King- a few other Senators and congressman have showed that some of the
leaks had to have come from inside the White House- from the small group of
people around the pres.
They were detailed accounts of
what Biden said- or what Obama did [shuffling the cards that have the names of
terrorists].
They brought out the fact that
much of the detail- that came out in the N.Y. Times- were things that only a
few inner circle people would know about.
While it is true that many people
knew about some of the other info- like the Stuxnet virus.
Yet only a few- inside the White
House- would know the details of what Biden said- when there were only 5 or so
people in the room.
Also- the paper that reported the
leaks- said the sources were from the White House [as opposed to the FBI- or
CIA].
Now- some of the leaked info is
bad- we ‘leaked’ that both the U.S. and Israel were indeed responsible for the Stuxnet
computer virus that ruined the nuclear centrifuges in Iran.
Last year Iran had their nuclear
facilities damaged- at the time they did not know for sure that it was a virus-
and they did not know- for sure- who did it.
Now they know- someone leaked it.
There are a few other things that
came out- details of the Bin laden killing- stuff about the underwear bomber.
The thing that makes people
question whether or not Obama [his political team] are actually behind it- is
all the leaks put Obama in a good light- a terror fighting man.
He even had some movie makers who
were covering the Bin laden raid- in some secret meetings- when they were
discussing the aftermath of the raid.
It was reported that the
Intelligence people were shocked that they sat in on the meetings.
Okay- more than likely he [his
team] are behind the leaks.
The denial?
It was done in a way that if it
comes out that he did know about them- that he could say ‘I denied authorizing
the leaks of classified materials’ and simply say when he gave the go ahead to
release it- he ‘declassified’ it.
Now- like I say- I have
watched/heard the pres these last 3 years- he does do this stuff- lots.
Just a few quick examples.
It came out this week that Obama
was indeed a member of a political party in Chicago called ‘the new party’.
This is a left leaning group-
socialist- that advocate for a European type govt.
Okay- in 2008- a news reporter-
Stanley Kurtz- reported that Obama was associated with the group.
He vehemently denied it- it was all lies from
some ‘racist guy who hates Blacks’.
The whole thing- you’ve heard it
before.
So now we find out- that he was
indeed a member.
It came out in an investigation
of another group- Acorn.
It was in the minutes of the
meeting where he joined- pledged allegiance to the group’s ideals- the whole 9
yards.
Are they denying it now?
No.
What’s the big deal?
If you are running for pres
[2008] and a top candidate is known to have been a member of a socialist group-
that usually would kill your chances.
So he simply lied- not a big
crime- but one of many.
Obama wrote 2 books-
autobiographies no less- in his early 40’s [late 30’s?]
Now- for your only 2 books- at a
young age- to be about you- does say something.
In the books there were ‘cowboy
stories’ if you will.
Of course- when writing the
books- you think ‘who will ever go thru them with a fine tooth comb’.
But when you become pres- some
will.
So- some people on the right did
indeed do this- and they found lies.
The pres denied it.
Yet now- after many years of
denials- a biographer who is currently doing a friendly book on the pres- well
he ran into some trouble during his research.
He could not verify some of the
stories that the pres told.
Just one example.
Those who critiqued the original
books- the president’s critics- said he made up stories about some White girl
he was dating- that the places and events that he said took place- were
actually fake.
These same events were told
earlier- by a man named Bill Ayers [who the pres has tried to distance himself
from].
They said Obama simply made the
whole thing up.
He adamantly denied it ‘how dare
you say he lied- you must be a racist’.
Okay- the new biographer- David
Marranis- found out that the pres did indeed make the woman up.
Then they spun the story to say
‘he made a composite woman from various women thru out his life’.
Then you had the Obama defenders-
like historian Doug Brinkley- saying ‘the purpose of biographies are not to be
factual’.
Wow- thanks Doug.
The point is he denied making up
the story for years- now he says it was not true.
This is one of many- I don’t want
to give them all.
But after seeing this happen a
lot- I simply doubt the things he says.
I don’t hate him- I’m not a racist-
but this has happened- a lot.
When the president had to
distance himself from his former pastor Rev. Wright.
He said ‘he didn’t know the man
held to these extreme views’.
That he was shocked to find out
all the stuff Wright said- for 20 years.
When he threw Wright under the
bus- he told the country that this was a man he did not really know [like Bill
Ayers].
Yet the president had
written/spoken about Wright- that he was one of [if not thee] most influential
men in his life.
He said Wright baptized his kids-
performed ceremonies for their family- he even titled his book ‘The Audacity of
Hope’ after a line from Wright.
He attended the church for 20
years.
He had lots of wrights’ tapes and
C.D.’s that he listened to.
He even said [before he threw him
under the bus] that he could no more disown Wright than he could his own Father
or family member.
His own testimony was that he
knew Wright- loved Wright- was influenced by him- more than other man alive.
Then he said ‘I never really knew
the man’.
How can this be?
I guess I’ll end with Ayres.
Bill Ayer’s was the terrorist
that blew up a bomb in the 60’s, 70’s- I think a cop got killed by the bomb.
Anyway- he was a radical left
wing guy- involved with a lot of the social unrest at the time.
The bomb case was thrown out of
court because the govt. messed up some way in the case- Ayres has never denied
his involvement.
Okay- Ayers and Obama were said
to have been friends.
People that knew them knew this.
But during the campaign Obama
denied knowing the man.
He sat on a board with Ayers- but
said ‘people sit on the same board with other people all the time- that doesn’t
mean they know them’.
Okay.
He lived on the same block.
The excuse was ‘Chicago is big-
you might live on the same block and not know someone’.
Okay.
Then it was revealed that when
the pres launched his political career- it was from Ayers house.
How did that happen?
It just happened to be some
strangers house on the block that had lots of room.
I mean nobody would ever get away
with doing stuff like this- not when your running for president.
Yet- till this day- Obama says he
barely knows the man.
Okay- when the critics went thru
Obama’s books- to find the stuff.
One story was Obama walking down
to the Hudson River one day- he saw some kid and said ‘see how the mighty river
flows in and out’ and he went on to give a sort of parable about life.
This same exact event is in Bill
Ayres book- but it happened to him years before.
The same exact event- with the
same words.
Many people have said that Ayers
Ghost wrote the Obama book.
Yet the pres does not know the
man.
I’m sure our singing Cowboy meant
well when he said ‘this is my truth’.
But after you tell ‘your truth’
one too many times- it becomes questionable.
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.
1849- SHREK- A CITY- AND WATER
FROM A ROCK
I want to end the week with at
least some bible stuff- but let me share a few more homeless stories.
I have been getting with the guys
the past few days and have not written about it every time.
A few notable things.
I heard that Chris- a homeless
friend for many years- drove to Louisiana with another friend [a former ship
captain- a Greek].
And Chris actually got a machinists
job making 15 bucks an hour.
I was happy to hear the great
news.
I have written about Chris
before- he always told me he was a machinist- I think from the classic
Youngstown area [Ohio- Springsteen’s famous song].
One day I had Chris over at the house.
My dad gave me these antique
boxes of his father’s machinist tools many years ago.
As I kid I used to go thru the
boxes in my garage [for any of my old friends who read the site- do you
remember these tools?]
So when Chris saw them- he knew
them like a carpenter knows a hammer.
So I knew he wasn’t making the
whole ‘I’m a machinist’ thing up.
But I also could tell that Chris-
like most of the street guys- has some type of mental problem.
So I never knew if he really was
as good as he made it sound. But after
hearing that he got hired- I was glad.
Dirk [another long time friend- a
good friend] has been messing with the radiator on his van the last few days.
He lives in the van- I see it
parked in the various parking lots on a rotating basis.
Dirk claims to be ‘a winter
Texan’ sort of like he’s a retired tourist guy.
But the truth is- he is homeless-
has been for years.
Anyway- he needed a ride to the
other side of town to buy a new radiator- I obliged.
Henry went with us- Henry loves
the fellowship- he’s the scholar friend- homeless too- but he picks my brain
lots.
Dirk offered to give me 5 bucks
for gas- it was about a 10 mile trek.
But I told him ‘no way’.
About half way back- he realizes
he left his cell phone at the shop.
I was like ‘how did you do that-
I never put my cell phone on a table at a store- when I’m done- it goes in my
pocket’.
Any way- I told Dirk ‘don’t
worry- we’ll get it’.
I kinda felt like taking the 5
bucks now- but let it slide [I have been giving the guys change from 20’s the
last couple of weeks- I try to ‘spread the wealth around’ Obama style!]
Yesterday I helped Tammy [I do
usually give Tammy a few dollars every time I see her].
Tammy is a ‘working girl’.
Her and her boyfriend [Shrek] are
Meth addicts.
It’s funny- I have been giving
Tammy a few dollars for years.
Someone gave her a girls bike
yesterday- but she had to pick it up [a lady at the mission gave it to her for
some yard work she did- Tammy was going to give it to a friend’s daughter for
an upcoming birthday].
So I told Tammy ‘I’ll pick it up
for you and put it in the truck’.
She was going to walk over and
ride it home [home- her and Shrek are staying in some broken down trailer].
I do realize it looks like I’m a
‘customer’ I mean I give the girl dollars- and then a ride.
I don’t really care to be honest-
but I do see how people could talk.
Anyway- when we dropped the bike
off- I saw Shrek [he’s a big kid- around 35 years’ old- 300 lbs].
He’s really a nice kid.
I gave him and Tammy a nice tent
once.
They were living in the brush at
the time and the tent was a 2 person size- a nice one I bought from wal mart.
They never forgot that.
Shrek was glad to see me- it’s
been a while.
Okay- let me cover Deuteronomy
chapter 4.
I have been reading it this week
[it was a chapter from the Mass this past Sunday].
Moses is going over the story of
the Jewish people right before they enter the Promised Land.
He tells them that God did a
great work by leading them out of Egypt and being with them all this time.
A few points.
Moses tells them that God was
angry with him and because of this he will not ‘go in and take the land’.
This 'anger’ moment was when God
told Moses to speak to the Rock when the people were complaining of thirst.
For you ‘non bible readers’ this
would be when Charlton Hesston delivered the people form Egypt and they went
thru the Red sea and were in the wilderness.
At various times Moses loses his
temper with the Jewish people.
This Rock incident was the one
time God said ‘okay- that’s it Moses- you blew it one too many times- you can’t
go in to the land’.
Moses was to speak to the Rock
and water would come out.
He got mad- and struck the Rock-
twice- with his famous rod.
The water came out.
Which was a type of ‘God striking
the Rock’ [Jesus was punished for us on the Cross- Isaiah 53 says it pleased
THE LORD to bruise him- God punished his Son on our behalf- Jesus was ‘the
rock’ that the water flowed from [a symbol of the Holy Spirit]. On the Cross a
soldier put a spear in the side of Jesus and water came out].
So the striking of the rock was a
symbol that God would use- but striking it twice ruined the symbol.
The book of Hebrews says Jesus
was struck only once for sin- not repeatedly.
So because of this Moses could
not go in to the land.
Okay- to my bible scholars out
there- I found a verse where Moses makes it into the land.
What?
No trick [not really].
Okay- when?
In the New Testament Jesus was
transfigured before the disciples- the Mount of Transfiguration.
At the time the bible says Moses
and Elijah appeared with him.
Of course- they were in the
Promised Land at the time.
One more thing from this chapter.
It also talks about the cities of
refuge.
These were cities [3] that God
set aside- if someone accidently killed another person they could flee to the
city for safety.
At the time- if you killed
someone- the family of the dead person had the right to ‘avenge the blood’ of
their relative.
But if it was an accident- you
could run to the ‘city of refuge’ and find safety.
You had to live in the city until
the death of the high priest.
After he died- you could go back
home.
Meaning?
The 'city of refuge’ is a type of
the church- the community of God [not the building!].
We are all guilty of the innocent
Blood of Jesus [he died for us].
We can ‘flee to the city of
refuge’ and find safety from our guilt- as long as the high priest lives
[Hebrews/Romans says we are saved by his life- he lives].
We also can ‘inherit the promise’
enter back into the land- after ‘he dies’.
Jesus died- and rose again- so we
too could partake of the true inheritance- not a ‘city made with hands- but an
eternal one in the heavens’ Hebrews.
Got it?
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.
1848- WISCONSIN AND THE MAGICAL
MYSTERY TOUR [OR DOCK?]
Let’s cover the recall election
in Wisconsin and a few other news events.
I read an article the other day-
by the AP.
It said ‘the Republicans could
extend the tax cuts if they wanted to- but they don’t want to help the
President so it’s unlikely to happen’.
I’m sure many unsuspecting folk
believe this- even though it’s a lie.
Why?
The Republicans have actually
said they want to extend the cuts- the President is threatening a veto if they do.
The Pres wants to let the Bush
cuts expire at the end of the year- all of them [except for those making under
250,000 a year].
Some Dems [Pelosi, Schumer] want
them to expire on millionaires and over [because they have a lot of rich folk
they represent- and they don’t want to raise taxes on their people who make
over 250,000 a year].
So- the lines are drawn.
Yet- the paper said ‘the Repubs
don’t want to extend the tax cuts and help the Pres’.
Okay- that’s what you call ‘the
main stream media’ they lie often- and could care less.
Now- Walker won his recall
challenge and the media also went nuts.
Ed Shultz- the nut on MSNBC- has
been a strong supporter of the unions and has followed the recall closely.
Now- for full disclosure- I am a
member of the IAFF [international firefighters union].
I was involved with collective
bargaining my whole life- I know the scoop.
When Walker became governor he
dropped the right to bargain for some union people.
They still had their unions [something Rachael
Maddow needs to learn- another MSNBC person who is misinformed. She thinks that
dropping bargaining is losing the union- wrong].
The Unions in Wisconsin got mad
and did a recall election.
After walker won- the exit polls
showed that 38% of union households voted for walker.
Schultz was incensed- he said
‘how could you vote for him! He hates you- he wants to destroy you!! I guess
Obama was right- you folk who cling to your God and guns- you never learn’.
Why liberals allow the liberal
media to trash them- and keep watching- is beyond me.
What’s the MAIN reason Walker
won?
Some say lots of outside money
came in and swayed the vote.
Others say the people are
ignorant.
In Wisconsin- like many other
states and cities- one of the major expenses is the pension benefits for
retired public sector workers.
In some states [Rhode Island]
it’s almost half of the entire budget- they are on the verge of bankruptcy.
Yesterday San Jose and Sand Diego
were in the news- they too have cut the benefits for their retired workers.
In San Jose- the union is suing
the mayor- a Democrat- over this.
In these cities/states- when you
look at the budget- you have no other choice but to reign in the cost of the
benefits to the retirees.
Now- many in the media said
‘Walker is balancing the books on the backs of the average Joe’.
But- if this is the largest
expense to the city/state- then you have no other choice but to cut there.
Some say ‘just raise the taxes on
the rich/corporations’.
Actually Cali and N.Y. and other
places tried it- and many businesses left the state- they lost more income then
they made by doing this.
So- the people in Wisconsin saw
this- and they voted for Walker.
Okay- there are other ‘side
reasons’ too- but for the most part they saw the numbers- and are not stupid.
But when the media says ‘they
must be stupid- that’s why they voted the wrong way’. That’s just
condescending.
This same media- who thinks you
are dumb- reported about a Japanese dock that landed on the shores of
California yesterday.
Of course we have all the debris
from the Tsunami that’s been making its way over to the U.S.
We have had lots of cases of
stuff already washing up.
So the report [CNN?] said
‘mystery dock- will the mystery ever be solved’?
What?
Yeah- they went on to show the
dock- they explained that some people who have been following the aftermath of
the tsunami have said things this big should not have arrived yet.
There have been reports of
Japanese boats also showing up close to our shore- wrecks from the disaster.
Now- they went on for about an
hour talking about this ‘mystery’ as in if it was an alien spaceship.
What’s the mystery- we have debris floating
from Japan- it’s been landing on our shores- and this is debris from Japan.
After about an hour I’m sure some
producer said ‘get that stupid headline down’!
Yeah- the mystery has been
solved.
Now- these are the same media
that think you are stupid- that you [some of you] voted for Walker because you
cling to your ‘God and guns’.
I’ll end with Jack Cafferty [CNN].
I kinda like old Jack.
I grew up in the local media
market where Jack got his experience.
So last night he did his rant
about the debt- yes- he’s mad that we have a 16 trillion dollar debt and
‘nobody wants to fix it’.
He talked about the real threat-
and he said we are in an election year- and therefore both sides wont act.
Now- I’m not a conservative nor a
tea partier.
But let’s do a little history
here.
When Obama came into office- for
the first time in memory- we had one party controlling everything [White house-
Senate and House].
You also had what’s called a
Super Majority- in the senate.
They had a 60 vote majority- a
filibuster proof majority.
So- after the first year being
wasted on Obama care- as they ended their session a reporter asked Harry Reid
‘are you going to pass a budget being you have the majority all the way
around’?
Reid's response was- no- let the
Repubs do one and they can get the blame for it.
What? The Repubs were a minority-
in both houses.
It seemed ludicrous to think this
way.
Then we had the midterm
elections- and it was a blowout- the Repubs took the majority in the House- the Senate held.
So the next 2 years the Repubs
passed budgets in the house- actual budgets that made tough choices- they did
cut the growth of entitlements and made an attempt to balance the books.
The Dems simply used the budgets
as political attacks- they did exactly what Reid said 'let them get the blame
for it' and they were the chief 'blamers' [anybody remember the Dem ad that had
Ryan throwing grandma off the cliff?]
Okay- we have had 4 years of a
Democrat Presidency- 2 of which the Dems held the majority in both houses.
They never passed a budget.
The Repubs came to bat the last 2 years- even
though they are still a minority- they simply have a majority in the house.
Yet- they still passed a budget-
and it was shot down by the Dems. in the Senate.
Okay- to Mr. Cafferty- one side
has made an attempt to fix the thing- the other has not.
As we end the first term of
Obama- after 4 years of ‘kicking the ball down the field’.
He has said ‘if you elect me once
more I will pass a budget- this time’.
If you had 4 years- and by law
are required to pass one- and you did not do it with a super majority- how do
you expect us to believe you will do it now?
The odds of losing the Senate are
possible.
You will never get the house
back.
And you had 2 years of a super
majority to do it.
The only possible solution- in my
mind- is to elect a majority of fiscal conservatives [some Democrats fit this
too- look at all the Clinton 'gaffes’ these last few days].
I mean if you made excuses- when
you had one of the greatest majorities in the history of the country- then
there is no way you will do it now.
So- people are not stupid- they
see the debt- the writing on the wall.
They saw it in Wisconsin- they
see it in San Jose- San Diego and Rhode Island.
They are making the tough
decisions- even the Democrat mayors and governors [Cuomo in N.Y.]
It’s not that we hate the unions-
or that we are clinging to ‘our God and guns’.
No- it’s simple common sense.
Or you can still keep listening
to the main stream media- you know- the ones who can’t seem to explain that
mystery dock.
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.
1847- WE FIX FLAT
I was going to cover Exodus
chapter 4- but let’s see how much time we have.
Last week I noticed a bump on my
right arm- and I was familiar with the feeling.
I told my wife ‘damn- a got bit
by a brown recluse- again!’
Yes- many years ago in Kingsville
I had a bite on the leg.
I didn’t know what it was at
first- so I ‘self treated’.
I had some leftover antibiotics
and sat in Epson salt.
The bite got big- red- and really
ugly [won't give you the gory details- look on line if you want].
It eventually left a hole in the
middle of the infected area.
Years Later I realized it was a
brown recluse spider.
So- when I showed my wife the
bite- she kinda doubted at first.
But after a couple of days she
was like ‘when are you going to see the doctor’.
Of course- I self treated again
[it’s in the final stage- why go now?]
That brings me to another thing-
I don’t have health insurance.
Why?
When I retired from the fire
dep’t we did not have a contract deal like the northern depts.
Today Wisconsin holds their
recall- it looks like Walker will win.
One of the reasons for the recall
was Walker ‘recalled’ bargaining rights for some public service employees.
He left the Cops and Firefighters
alone.
But these guys do indeed have
‘Cadillac’ retirement plans.
They get their insurance covered-
in some cases- 100%.
Not here in South Texas.
So- after I retired I got my kids
on a plan [they are on their own now] and I applied for my wife to get on with
the V. A.
We were both in the Navy [I did
not get on- made too much money- but not enough to buy my own in the private
market].
So- I self treat- or pay cash
[around 120 on average] for a doc visit.
This is what some people don’t
get.
I had a conversation with a
liberal friend of mine.
They get free coverage for
themselves and a family member.
The ‘son in law’ also got on the
plan.
None of them work- the daughter
and the sons are drug addicts.
And the state they live in [N.J.]
considers ‘drug addiction’ a disability- they all get free coverage.
Now- I don’t judge them- or
complain [too much].
But one time they were arguing
with me about how everyone who was complaining about Obama care were deadbeats
who didn’t want to help pay for those in need.
I told them that I not only pay
for myself [when I have the cash] but I also will now pay the fine [if the
Supreme Court doesn’t strike it down].
I explained to my friend that my
daughters will also pay the fine- except my daughter who is a teacher.
So my household will be paying a
couple of thousand extra bucks a year- a fine- because I have no insurance- and
I still don’t have coverage.
So- for people who don’t work-
who get the free coverage like my friend- they don’t understand why some of us
are ‘miffed’.
One time at the fire dept we
‘self insured’.
Every year the city put out bids
for our insurance.
And every so often our plans
would change- you would go in and get briefed on the new plan and all.
So one year they decided to do
the self insurance thing.
The city hires someone to
administrate the plan [Entrust] but they only do the clerical work- the pool of
money is simply the money the city collects from the workers.
Risky indeed- one guy with HIV
and the pool is empty.
So we had a bunch of disgruntled
fire fighters to say the least.
It didn’t help much that some of
us veterans kinda teased them a bit.
They would ask ‘what’s self
insurance’.
We told them ‘whoever is on duty
that night- they will provide the health care for your family’
What?
Yeah- at our fire dept we also
ran the EMS service [ambulance].
Over the years we had various
medical criteria that we had to meet.
For most of my time I was an EMT.
Some of the guys were Paramedics.
Others held something called ECA.
This was truly the bottom of the
line certification.
It was basically a glorified
first aid thing.
Most of the Captains held this-
eventually it was done away with all together.
So- we told the new guys ‘yeah-
that’s what self insurance is- we will be providing the care to ourselves- just
hope you don’t get stuck with the ECA when you call for help’.
Needless to say- they were livid.
You know- kidding around breaks
the ice at a job like that. LOL
One more from the fire dept. and
I’ll be thru.
The town I worked in was a great
little city- Kingsville.
My retirement comes from that
job.
We would drive around often-
whether a fire or simply doing maintenance on the fire hydrants.
So we would see all the little
FIX A FLAT shade tree mechanics all over the place.
We would get a kick out of the
signs that said ‘WE FIX FLAT’.
I mean we didn’t expect the guys
to be geniuses- but at least put an S at the end of flat.
So one time I told one of my
buddies ‘man- you’ll never guess what happened- I brought my truck to the tire
guy- and had a couple of flats’.
He fixed one and said he was finished.
I told him ‘man- what about the other flat’?
He said ‘can’t you read the
sign?’ Nuff said.
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.
1845- 69,000
I was going to take a few days
off- but yesterday’s news was big.
Actually- in the morning when I
was about to post I almost gave a warning about the market [for real].
Not because of the terrible jobs
numbers- I mean nobody saw that coming.
But because of the overall bad
data that came in thru out the week.
Then sure enough the May jobs
numbers came out- 69,000.
It was a disaster to say the
least.
The Dow went down about 250- and
the spin doctors were on call.
I really found it funny [amazing]
to hear the spin.
Julian Epstein- an Obama guy-
talked about the job loss at the end of the Bush years and the start of Obama’s
term.
The loss was bad- about 800,000 a
month.
Yes- it was a real recession.
So- Epstein noted that for the
first couple of months of this year the jobs were positive- created a couple of
hundred thousand a month on average.
So- he says ‘Obama has turned the
jobs numbers on average to a positive 900,000 jobs a month’ [my paraphrase].
Huh?
Yeah- according to him Obama has
actually ‘created’ 900,000 jobs a month.
He said this was the most amazing
job growth in our lifetimes.
This on a day when the numbers
were the worst in a year.
Then I saw an interview with some
Chicago big wigs.
Rahm Emanuel- another Obama fan-
and a few talking heads were eating some Chicago pizza.
They said that the economy under
Obama is actually great [not good- but really good!]
They gave a few numbers.
Then they said the problem is the
media only play sound bites- and the public gets ‘fooled’.
I have heard this accusation
before- that the insiders who surround the pres actually say this- that the
true message of how well he is doing is not making it into the minds of the
average person.
That the people who ‘cling to
their God and guns’ are actually ‘less than intelligent’ and that’s why they
don’t appreciate his presidency.
Then old Bill [Clinton] made the
rounds- and he pulled a Cory Booker.
He said that Romney’s business
record was ‘superb’.
Geez Bill- how bout he simply
didn’t do shaky schemes? [Like the Chicago pizza crowd- Rezko- shady real
estate deals. Jobs ‘created’ for the wife of a senator- making around 400
thousand a year. And after the senator leaves town and becomes president- the
job never gets filled again. Or Rahm sending a dead fish to a political
opponent- doing a cheap replay of the dead horse head in the God Father movie].
No- not only was Romney a good
guy [according to Bill] but ‘superb’.
I bet Biden was jealous over this
gaffe.
So the week was not good at all
for the president.
Where do we stand?
To be honest- for the May jobs
number to be that bad- was a shock.
You were hard pressed to find any
market Bulls running yesterday.
I do think we are now in a major
slowdown- and if we get any worse- we might see a double dip recession.
And it’s not just the U.S.
economy- the far east is also slowing down.
China’s economy is not as hot as
we hoped either.
‘Well John- then why are oil
prices better’?
One of the reasons oil [gas] goes
up- is because you think there is a demand for the stuff.
If you think the global economy
is slowing down- then you think ‘maybe the demand for oil will be low’.
So that plays a role in the
thing.
I found it sad to see the spin.
I watched most of the news shows
during the day.
And on MSNBC- Matthews [Obama
cheerleader] I did not even hear him mention the number one story of the day-
the jobs numbers.
Matthews spent most of the show
accusing Repubs of wanting to jail women who terminate their pregnancies because
of gender bias.
Now- should women ever abort
their kids because they wanted a boy instead of a girl?
No.
But if you watched hardball- that
was the story of the day- sad indeed.
The ‘real’ story is not that
Obama actually has one of the ‘greatest job turn abounds in the history of the
nation’.
Or that the media have tricked
the gun toting God believing lemmings into thinking his presidency is not
historic.
No- the real story is the hopes
[on both sides] that this year we would see a real economic turnaround has now
faded.
So- this year will not be a
‘superb’ year- by any means.
All the gains in the market for
the year have now been lost.
The unemployment rate has ticked
up to 8.2%.
And the economy is doing badly.
Yeah- the spin doctors were out
in full force.
One particular dose of spin
intrigued me.
It was a report on the Brewery
companies.
They said this was one of the few
businesses that has- for some strange reason- excelled.
Why?
I will quote you a verse- maybe
it will shed some light.
‘Do not give strong drink to
those who are doing well- but give it to those who have no hope- then they can
forget about all the bad news and pass out’ Proverbs.
Yeah- I think that tells it all
in a nutshell.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
SPECIAL REPORT!
Very rarely do I post more than
once a day [sometimes once a week!] But as I sit here watching the news- some
news shows [absent Fox] are going ballistic.
Why?
A story has hit the air that some
conservative Pac [political action committee] is going to run a ‘negative
campaign’ [could this be?] associating the president with Rev. Wright- his
former pastor.
Now- whether a person agrees with
this or not- both sides do it- and will continue to do so.
The description by the media is
‘a billion dollar campaign to bring the president down’.
I have never heard any other
negative campaign described like this.
It has been reported that the
Obama campaign plans on spending millions to attack Romney’s character.
Yet- the media simply describes
it as ‘there you go- that’s modern politics’.
2nd- there is another
story that has hit the air today- it is a TRUE story about a past literary
agent for the president.
This agency- with the president’s
obvious approval [knowledge] listed the president as being born in Kenya.
Now- some media people are ready
to explode.
Why?
They are not reporting that the
story is actually true- not that he was born in Kenya [I don’t think so
personally] But that he had his own lit. agent represent him this way.
For various reasons- in the past
the president has used ways to define himself as having an international
persona.
He himself has used this
characterization.
So- how do we explain his own
agent speaking [actually putting it in a promotional book] about him being born
in Kenya?
I don’t know.
But the story is not fake- the
book actually exists [until they burn the last copy].
But instead of the media
reporting that the story is true- that this literary agent represented the
president this way [in 1991].
No- they are making it sound like
the story is fake- and that anyone who believes it is a birther.
Even the conservative sites that
broke the story DO NOT BELIEVE HE WAS BORN IN KENYA- they say so in the
coverage.
They simply are reporting the
factual part of the story- that an agent for Obama represented him as being
born in Kenya.
A while back I had a conversation
with a friend- this friend is a liberal.
I informed the person that one of
the media Fables was that Sarah Palin said ‘you can see Russia from my house’.
In actuality she never did say
this.
She said ‘you can see portions of
Russia from some spots in Alaska’.
Tina Fey [SNL] made the other
quote famous.
After not being able to convince
my friend of the truth- I then realized that either way this person still
thought Palin was an idiot.
Why?
Because ‘who thinks you can see
Russia from Alaska!’
Actually- you can see Russia from
Alaska- for real!
But on most maps- they show the
Western half right up until Alaska- and the Eastern half ends at Russia.
So- any thinking person would
think ‘gee- I guess if you put the 2 ends together [called a globe?] you might
have Alaska and Russia side by side’.
Yes- and this is why Alaskans
find it necessary to often inform people that you can indeed see Russia from
Alaska.
But the media [and my friend]
were laughing so hard- they never heard the message.
[The purpose of this post is not
to condone negative campaigning- or to engage in Birtherism- But to simply show
you how we respond to things differently.
Instead of the media going
ballistic ‘how dare anyone say the president was born in Kenya’.
They could simply report that a
past agent for Obama described him this way- and they can say the agent was
obviously mistaken.
But instead- many people- good
people- will never know the truth about the story.
They will go on for years with
the mindset ‘wow- can you believe some people think you can see Russia from
Alaska?’]
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.
1836- IT WAS THE PARENTS FAULT
I read an article the other day
that got me mad.
It was a news story about a
prisoner of war- one of our guys- who was taken captive in Afghanistan in 2009.
He has been held in Pakistan by
the Taliban/Al-Qaida for the past 3 years.
As I read the article it was ‘slanted’
to make it sound like it was the parent’s fault that their son was still
captive.
How/Why?
The article stated that the
parents just came out and finally ‘broke their silence’ which finally ‘freed
the hands of the President to work to free the man’.
Now- as a media critic- it took
no time at all to see that this journalist was simply lying to make it look
like Obama was just- and the parents themselves were to blame for their son’s
imprisonment.
What do you think would make the
parents ‘keep silent’ for all those years?
Obviously they were told that
some type of negotiations were going on- and to keep the thing private.
Then why do you think they would
come out now?
Because they probably felt like
the administration was dragging their feet.
So later in the day I saw
multiple stories about the case- and that’s exactly what happened.
The parents have been trying to
meet with the President for a couple of years and he has refused to meet with
them.
They spoke publicly because they
feared for their son’s life.
Okay- this particular media bias
upset me more than usual because they printed a nationwide story- that blamed
the parents for their sons fate- all in order to spin the story to benefit
Obama.
The other day I heard a montage
of statements from an NBC news man.
These were various statements
made over the last couple of years about the President.
‘His I.Q. must be at least 160’
‘That smile is worth 5-10 points
alone in the election’
‘His body is in great shape- just
look at that lean body’
‘I feel a tingle go up my leg
when I hear him speak’
‘A star is born’ [after the
election]
Okay- I’m not one of those ‘far
right’ guys who thinks the President might actually be the anti Christ [or the
Messiah- false].
But what would posses any news man
to talk this way?
I have gay friends- I don’t
condone the lifestyle- but I have never even heard them speak about another man
like this.
The point?
When the media does this- when
they are willing to slander the parents of a POW- and make it sound like they
were the very ones who 'tied up Obama’s hands’.
Then it’s very difficult to trust
anything they say.
The N.Y. Times just did a poll
that said over 60% of the American people believe that Obama’s ‘new’ gay
marriage stance was a political calculation.
Now- believe it or not- I don’t
hold this view.
I wrote on this a few posts back-
and I do believe that Biden simply did what he does best and forced the
president’s hand by blurting out that he himself was for gay marriage.
So why do over 60 % believe his
decision was political?
A day or 2 after the decision to
come out in favor of it- the Washington Post [or times?] put out that now
infamous 5 page- front page story about Romney being an anti gay bashing bully-
who packs scissors!
Okay- this was a 5 page story-
they obviously didn’t just come up with the thing in a day.
They were sitting on the story-
probably waiting for the best time to deliver it- and because Obama just came
out with his pro gay stand- they might have thought let’s do it now to contrast
Romney as being anti gay.
Either way- the timing looked
coordinated- people are not dumb- it’s an insult when the right or the left
treat people like this.
It’s an insult to make it sound
like the parents of a POW were ‘tying up the hands of the President’ and they
were the ones who were putting their sons life at risk- as the President was
sitting in the Oval Office wringing his hands over it.
Yes- media bias exists- we all
want to give people the benefit of the doubt- but after a while people become
suspicious- they see so many news stories that lean to one side- that they
simply begin believing the worst.
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.
1834- HOW LOW WILL IT GO?
This past week I spoke with my
Liberal friend from the North- yes- a real person- not a composite!
I always try and take the middle
ground in these talks- showing my friend that to be too partisan clouds the
mind.
One example- this friend has
bought the whole media line that Romney- because of his wealth- is unfit to
serve.
That his wife does just sit on
the couch all day and does nothing- and they are unable to speak about real
issues because of this.
Now- this person voted for Kerry
a few years back.
I told my liberal friend ‘say if
you found out that Romney actually never earned his money- but he married his
wife- who also never earned it- but she inherited it from a rich father’.
And say if Romney was spending
all of his wife’s money on yachts- expensive vacation homes- and all the ritzy
stuff that Romney has [elevators for cars].
Of course my friend would be even
more mad.
Yet this is exactly what happened
to John Kerry.
He simply married a woman who was
heir to the Heinz ketchup fortune.
Okay- does this make Kerry a bad
man?
No.
But this shouldn’t make Romney a
bad man either- yet I never heard one story about Kerry being a free loader off
of his wife’s money.
The point being we get mad at the
other side- even though we allow those same things to slip by if it happens on
‘our side’.
Now- the other day I posted on
the economy- that I felt we still had a ‘long hard slog’ ahead.
Others had too rosy of a picture
in my view.
Now- economics/finances is like
anything else- you look at the data and make the best ‘guess’ possible.
When I looked at the data at the
end of last year- we had some bad signs ahead.
This year- the states and local
govts [cities- towns] were not going to have anywhere near the revenue that
they had for the past few years.
Why?
The federal govt. has cut back
much of the funding that they gave to the states.
Obama care has also put a huge
burden on the states.
One of the ways it ‘covers’ the
uninsured is to simply mandate that the states put millions of more people on
the Medicare rolls.
This is a tremendous cost to the
states- money they don’t have.
Home prices.
Housing prices have gone down- in
some places more than 50%- and the way most states/cities pay for their local
expenses [schools] is this way [property tax].
So you basically have the states
and cities having to come up with more money- and in reality they have nowhere
to get the money.
Now- last night I watched the
governor from Cali. say that the state is in almost double the debt that they
we were expecting.
California is 16 billion in debt-
not 9 billion as was projected.
Governor Brown- a smart guy- he
once studied to be a Jesuit priest- they are top of the line intellectuals
among Catholic priests.
[just as a side note- this order rose up
during the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century. A soldier by
the name of Ignatius Loyola was wounded and recovering in the hospital.
He read about the life of Christ
and dedicated himself to the Lord.
The Jesuits were the order he
founded.
They evangelized all the way into
Asia- an area that the Protestant missionaries avoided.
The Jesuits played a major role
in the scientific revolution- as a percentage of how few Jesuits there were-
they had a huge impact on the development of modern science.]
So governor Brown said his state
has lived beyond it’s means for too long- they spent money they did not have-
and now the chickens have come home to roost.
Brown is a liberal Democrat.
The governor of N.Y. said the
same thing a few months back.
When he got elected he actually
worked with the unions in the state and worked out a deal where they were going
to cut the huge expenses that the retirees managed to bargain for over the
years.
Cuomo- another Democrat- said it
was impossible for the state to continue to pay out these lavish benefits.
After the union leaders made the
deal- the rank and file rose up [like Greece] and simply elected new leaders
who would fight the changes.
I heard a clip from Cuomo- he was
yelling ‘we can’t keep making the rich/businesses pay- they are all leaving the
state’- just like Cali.
So- with unemployment at historic
highs- with state and local govts having to lay off tons of teachers and cops
and firefighters.
While the cost to the states is
going up- a lot [Obama care].
With all these things in the
hopper- besides the ‘unknowns’ like the banks [Morgan Chase] still making risky
bets.
Yes- in my view I could not see
how some financial guys were talking a huge recovery- some have said they
thought the DOW would be at 17,000 next year- nuts!
As I spoke to my liberal friend-
they said ‘so- do you think Romney would have been able to create more jobs
than Obama’!
They were mad- I said I’m really
not a Romney supporter- but being I live in oil state I know from firsthand
experience that Obama has cost us jobs.
When he got in office the
regulations and the EPA came down hard on the state- they cost lots of jobs.
I saw a clip- video- from Obama
the other day- it was from January of 2008- he said he wanted to see the cost
of opening up coal powered plants go so high that any sane business person
would simply choose not to do it.
Okay- if you have said these
things- and have actually done them- then yes- there have been very real jobs
lost because of these things.
I assume Romney would not have
done this- at least not as much as Obama.
So yes- it’s quite possible that
the president’s agenda has cost jobs.
I also explained to my friend
that many business owners have put off hiring for 3 years now- because if Obama
care passes many of them will be mandated to pay the health care- or a huge
fine- for each worker.
Now- as noble as these things
might be- they cost real jobs.
My liberal friend- who is a nice
person- has lived off of govt. programs for a long time- has only worked a real
job for a small part of life.
This person simply had no idea
how the private sector really worked- they just listen to the media talking
points- and the real world is so much different.
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.
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