160127 Pro-Choice and Pro-Life

I taught my children the Word of God, and that they should think for themselves. Although it was a surprise, it was perfectly in character for my daughter to slap a Gary Johnson sticker on the back of her car in 2012. Since Gary announced his candidacy recently, I expect to see another one on her second car. If my younger daughter had a car, she'd probably put something like, "When you speak, I always here 'Punch me in the face,' but it's usually subtext." She's wordy like that, and hates politics.

Why do some people assume that because Person A supports Option A, that it automatically puts Person A into Catagory C? All my life, this kind of muddled thinking has frustrated me. Since the 1980s, which was the last time any idiot shot an abortionist, someone has tried to tell me how stupid I was to support the Pro-Life cause. The person(s) telling me this just assumed that I was going to go out and shoot an abortion doctor because I happen to confess Jesus as Lord in my life.

• First of all, labels are lazy shortcuts that let people get angry without thinking.
• Second, every person has to determine in his or her own heart and mind whether to believe anything. Smart people avoid blanket statements.
• Third, very few people, even among Christians, actually know what the Bible says about most subjects. Even if they can quote something, most forsake context and the most basic principles of research.
• Fourth, it behooves the Christian to study and to follow those who have worked even more diligently to unlock what God said. God did not give His Word in English, so we each need to learn Aramaic and study Classical Greek to find out what God really said.

Abortion is a complicated subject, but the loudest people reduce it to slogans and support politicians who agree with the slogans. Slogans circumvent thinking. That's why I hate labels. Forget labels and think about the words themselves. Everyone should be pro-life, because we all have a right to live. We should all be pro-choice, even if the choices of others disagree with the choices we ourselves would make. (For instance, while I agree with many Libertarian ideals, I will not be voting for Gary Johnson.)

Just because I am pro-life does not mean that I disagree with the death penalty, as more than one commenter has touted. Some people have proven their inability to judge between right and wrong. The Bible trumpets forgiveness, but also supports the death penalty in certain cases. Just because I am pro-choice doesn't mean that I agree with getting an abortion. Abortion is heart-breaking, and the costs verses the benefits should be weighed very carefully. This is an individual decision, not a legislative one.

Do you know what a "spontanious abortion" is? It is, or it used to be, a medical term for a miscarriage. A spontanious abortion occurs when a woman's own body detects that a fetus is not viable. This happened to me four times. I wanted those children, but my body refused. The Bible says that children are blessings. Some people just don't want to be blessed. Those are their choices. They don't have to be blessed. We'll all be much happier if we just let people make their own choices and deal with their own consequences instead of trying to make 'moral' laws. Legislatively forcing morality may in itself be immoral. That also goes for the environmental issues that some view as moral, but that's another story.

160108 Having Individual Thoughts

ThoughtPolice

It doesn't matter if I agree with Ayn Rand, the new Star Wars franchise, or an actor whose face I don't know. What's disturbing is that these social media affectionados believe that opinions need to line up with theirs or else be censored. Also disturbing is how many young people express that the Bill of Rights should be altered to exclude certain of those rights. Statistics and documentation may be available to some, but right now, I simply want to express opinions that have been formed over decades of observation, contemplation and meditation.

Our country was founded on laws and the belief that individuals have the right to think and do as they see fit. It was also based on a strong moral code that directs actions, but allows people to make their own mistakes. In general, the government did not punish moral mistakes. Even in Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, it seemed that the punishments were not legal as much as societal and/or religious.

Reader's Digest used to have a feature known as "There Outta Be a Law". It listed moral infractions by entities with power. Guess what? Forty or fifty years later, we now have a law for everything and no one is happy about it! Laws to restrain immorality seldom work. Instead of stopping the offending behavior, the offenders simply try new tactics. These "moral" laws have unintended consequences, and otherwise innocent people have become oppressed. For instance, a 1970 law meant to punish drug lords now takes money and property from families. Just do an Internet search on "asset forfeiture" and see what you find. There are far more stories than Google lists, because they filter the returns. (Ignorance is bliss, and keeps the masses quiet.) While I committed no crime, I lost property to the government. An attorney told me that it would cost close to a thousand dollars to sue to get it back, and that there were no guarantees that I would. In my distressed and destitute condition, I let it slide and thanked God that I wasn't charged with a crime for being a simple bystander.

We now have an incredible fight between legal gun owners and those who think that getting rid of guns gets rid of crime. Hmm. There certainly was no crime before guns were invented! There was no sin, no war, no evil at all! If only gunpowder had been confined to fireworks! Then all would have been sunshine and roses!

Guns, however, were invented, and Cain shot Abel. Wait! You mean that guns were not invented right out of the Garden of Eden? Well, certainly Brutus shot Caesar! No? Didn't Mongol hordes sweep across Asia with repeating rifles, or Vikings terrorize Europe with sub-machine guns?

Guns are not the problem, people. The hearts and minds of humans are. We have to guard our thoughts. We have to guard our own thoughts, because no one can do it for us. We have to be able to think for ourselves. We have to be taught right from wrong and make our individual decisions based a proven moral code. Old knowledge is not lame knowledge. We have not evolved into creatures that don't need a moral compass. Everything said has been said before. Everything done has been done before. Humans are no different today than they were thousands of years ago. Only the names have been changed to perpetuate the myth of progress.

Is there no hope? No trend is irreversible. In fact, all life runs in cycles, (or circles). Humanity is approaching winter, when everything looks dead and dying. Spring follows winter. People try to say that if we never had this or that event, that we would be enjoying a Star Trek like paradise. This is foolishness. The world never settles for peace. Remember the 'peace dividend' that we were supposed to have after the Berlin Wall fell? It turned into the first Gulf War. Material prosperity leads to discontent. It will get better, and it will get worse, and then better and worse again and again until time stops.

This is why we need the free exchange of differing ideas. And guns. Guns provide the tool that allows the weak to be able to defend against the strong. Instead of worrying and/or yelling, enjoy whatever true, honest, just, pure, lovely, good, or virtuous things you find. Keep them in your mind, and let others think their own thoughts. That's true freedom.

160107 Unsafe and Insecure

Ten-Year-Old Girl

Flying used to be fun. No matter what the occasion, I calculate what it would cost to drive verses taking the bus or a train or a boat. I refuse to fly. I have no fear of flying, but like the man said, TSA makes law-abiding citizens feel unsafe and insecure. Our freedoms are attacked on so many fronts that it is impossible to list them all, and fighting even one of them on "their" terms spells defeat for logic and valor.

Instead, trust God. God sees and God knows. All that we humans see and know of this world is temporary. God is permanent. Last night, my daughters and I heard a teaching on the concept of a covenant, a binding contract. Basically, if God said it, that settles it. Do you know what God said? The example in this teaching centered on Abram. God made a covenant with him, and changed his name to Abraham.

When God told Abraham that he would be the father of many nations, he was already old! It took another twenty-five long years, before Abraham finally had a child with Sarah, his wife! Sarah, that poor, dear lady, was ninety when Isaac was born! Then, their child had only two sons. Abraham never saw anything other than apparently infertility, yet he still obeyed God.

James 2:23
(23)  And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.

Romans 4:3

(3)  For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

Israel became a nation, but they ran into trouble and never became as numerous as the stars nor as many as sand on the beach. That started to happen two thousand years later. Christ came, and it became possible to be born again. Because Abraham believed, he became the Father of all who believe. Romans Chapter 4 discusses this completely, but this verse states it concisely:

Romans 4:11

(11)  And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also:

 

How many have believed and been born again! Add that to all those who are actual, physical descendants of this one man. Do their numbers not compete with the number of stars visible from Earth? Would they not seem as numerous as the grains of sand on a beach? Won't Abraham be blessed at seeing all of us?

What about your life? Time doesn't end here. Time will not end until God says it does. What happens after you die? The world talks of a famous person's legacy. Every president wants to be remembered for something, but whose memory really counts? God had the power to bless us beyond anything we can ask or think, and has promised in His Word that evil will result in nothing. He gave us our own contract, our own covenant. It's in His Word. 

2 Corinthians 9:8

(8)  And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:

1 Thessalonians 1:10

(10)  And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

We are to be blessed now and in the future. The hassles of today are temporary. The TSA is temporary. Persecutions, whether immediate or merely perceived, cannot stand against God. God protects us and will protect us from evil. Know what God will do. Claim it for yourself. It's in the contract. 

151011 "Would You Like To Be a Slave, Baby?"

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This 80s song has burned in my heart for 30+ years.

150301 Politically Correct Lies

People use euphemisms to soften a hard truth, but that is not what political correctness does. Political correctness disguises the truth. Leonard Nimoy, a respected entertainer, passed and was laid to rest. That says it much more nicely than, "The old coot freakin' died!" (Strangely, I was more saddened when another Russian Jew left the land of the living. I still mourn the death of Isaac Asimov.) Euphemisms help us to cope with harsh truths. This explains why we have such a hilarious number of them for the end of life.

This morning, I read some trollings concerning opposing political opinions. The PC crowd cannot handle facts. They have to explain them with corrections. They have to massage the numbers into a lie. One of my favorite lies says that when 17% of the population commits 39% of all non-drug related crime, it has to be the fault of the other 83% of the population. Part of that lie says that education has to be acquired without discipline, because discipline means oppression. Tell that to an Olympic gold-metalist. Another lie says that culture doesn't matter. It doesn't matter unless that culture is Christian, because Christians are oppressive, divisive, and destructive, (unlike Muslims,who are simply misunderstood).

Where do I get these ideas? Mainstream American news outlets and the trolls who follow them beat these messages on the relentless drums of propaganda. In 2012, I made the dark prediction that we Americans have had our last free election. Now more and more people are starting to agree. Few adults know history without the filter of the progressive agenda. Fewer children have any idea what brought about our Declaration of Independence, nor what true freedom entails.

2 Corinthians 3:17
"Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."

Obviously, in order to bring about a totalitarian government, they have to get rid of God. Only God can bring us back to freedom.

130713 Colored Drugs

Sometimes, it seems as if legislators hunt for ways to control every aspect of our lives. For those on the Feingold Diet who use pharmaceuticals, this bill would deprive them of the necessary option of NOT adding dyes and flavorings to medications. Diphenhydramine, for instance, can stop a dangerous allergy attack, but for those of us sensitive to dyes, the pink-colored cure can be as devastating as the disease. While this drug has become more available in colorless form, there are many others which do not.

If you like writing letters and email, there is info in the article. Pray, if that is your preference. In our case, we have converted our medicine cabinet to Young Living Essential Oils, and quit using man-made chemicals for symptom control. This really avoids the dyes, flavorings, and other man-made substances that mess with our brains.

ANH-USA Exclusive: Drug Companies Plan to Use Compounding Bill to Take Away Your Compounded...

www.anh-usa.org

Here is the “smoking gun”—the proof of what we have been suspecting. Action Alert!

130704 Barbarians.

Barbarism is a possibility. Is it likely? Rome fell. Persia fell. The Toltec Empire fell. Who’s to say that modern empires wouldn’t fall? Technology is no proof of civilization. The Aztecs performed heart surgery, and ancient Egyptians made batteries. Some say that this is proof that space aliens came to earth. That really insults achievers. Ancient people had a lot more smarts than modern people think they had. Few had the means to record their thoughts. There were no PDAs, no Daytimers, no How-To Books, no To-Do lists. They kept it all in their heads, which takes a certain degree of skill and intelligence. Many of us would not live long if we had to grow or catch our own food, or face other hazards of nature.

Barbarism doesn’t have to be low tech. People talk a lot about George Orwell’s 1984. Most probably read the Cliff Notes, or just repeat what others say about it. Read the book. Read it as it was written. It is a study in barbarism – with technology and in communism. A companion book is Brave New World. Both books have been so long on the ‘dissect it to death’ literary lists for schools, that no one can see what the authors were really trying to show. Aldous Huxley’s book shows barbarism within a corrupted form of capitalism. Government controlled too much, and only those on the edges of civilization were truly free. Freedom isn’t having. Freedom is self-determination.

Today, I saw my dad. I enjoy our meetings. He is reading a book about US involvement in The Great War, or the War to End All Wars. The book has a bit in it about how people thought at the time. That was one hundred years ago. Some thoughts have come full circle. The ‘elite thinkers’, however, are still called ‘Progressives’. In Ancient Greece, they were called ‘Gnostics’. They would think, and because they could think it, it must have been true. We laugh at what the ancient Greeks thought about science, but some religious and political ideas are still alive today. The “I think it, so it must be true” mind set is chief among them. Proof is not needed, and is considered to be in bad taste, even rude. Indeed, many current arguments in politics and religion originated in Ancient Greece:

Who or what is God?
Do gods exist?
Why am I here?
Who controls me?
Whom do I control?
What is ‘good’ or ‘evil’?
What is freedom?
Does happiness matter?

All these modern questions were asked by ancient Greek philosophers.

The trial in Florida may inspire some to ignore the rule of law.

How does a discussion on ancient philosophers relate to the trail that shouldn’t have been? These are the barbarians at the gate! Civilization cannot stand against the tit for tat mentality of 'us' and 'them'. There are people who don’t know, and don’t want to know what it means to get along with others who are different. The term, ‘white Hispanic’ is silly nomenclature that was made up on the spot to cover the prejudice of the elite progressives in this country. Most Hispanics ARE Caucasian, but some are Negro, maybe Oriental. This particular Hispanic was trying to protect his multi-cultural neighbors from what he thought was a viable threat. Two white people were killed in the days following the incident. Their murderers stated on video that the deaths were definitely acts of revenge, not self-defense. Many others claim that they will riot and/or do other illegal acts should Zimmerman be found legally not-guilty.

Barbarians.

130609 IRS and Blogging

The confirmation that certain government officials and agencies were targeting certain people and groups has me bugged. For two years, I have not been able to file a tax return electronically due to unknown complications that resulted in rejection by the IRS. An H&R Block representative told me that I made too little to bother with filing, so I avoided the hassle and didn't. What happens when I do make enough to have to file? I post a lot political dissent. Have I been targeted for my divisive public opinions? For my associations? My relations? Am I paranoid? Some say I have a right to be paranoid, considering my history.

On a technicality in 2010, I was denied medicaid for emergency surgery, and my children were denied food stamps in 2011. They said I had three cars. The State of Texas had taken two of them, but they were officially titled to me. I had to sell my farm, so no benefits. My daughter is doing OK with work and college, but I can't find a job I can do. My skills and education are outdated, because in twenty years, I hadn't worked outside the home. My chosen profession needs to be 'cutting edge', not 'tried and true'. More generically obtainable work is too physically taxing for my current health. I suck at sales.

No work seems to be available, and the money from the sale of the farm has been spent. No large items remain to be sold. Moon has to finish college, but she's self motivated and will be able to complete her goals. Agent still needs direct action on her preparation for adulthood. My biggest expenses are the phones and automobile expenses. We owe nothing on the cars, but insurance and maintenance cost quite a bit.

Phone and Internet cost $160 a month. Selling the cars will save $5000/year, not counting gasoline. In August, the contract with the phones and the Internet expires. If nothing changes with my income, I shall cancel everything  Just sayin'. If I disappear at that time, it's because I am living off the grid. The grid costs money I don't have. Maybe I will live longer that way.

130529 Followings.

After much thought and a little sadness, I quit following certain people and pages. Last week, a certain teaching added the last bit of grain that tipped the balance. The teaching was on a small section of scripture in the Old Testament, concerning four Judeans in Babylon. Three of them are always mentioned together: Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. They must have been best buds in the sense that iron sharpeneth iron. Most Christians refer to them as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

These were real people. Real people who decided that obeying God was preferable to anything. They did not compromise, or make excuses. They decided that God would take care of them. They didn’t concentrate on their feelings. They didn’t concentrate on their believing. They concentrated on God.

The men who threw them into the fire, were killed by the fire, but these young men did not have even the scent of smoke on their clothes when they walked out of this furnace. In those days, and in that place, Babylon had the peak of technology and civilization under their control. This was a massive smelter. Nebuchadnezzar controlled incredible political power. Were they not afraid? No matter what they felt, they knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that their God was stronger than any government on earth.

This is why I decided that I must no longer read certain political blogs. They depress me and pull me away from the joy found in God’s Word. Knowing what goes on around me may be necessary, and I’ll find a news outlet, but reading about the horrible things people think and do has no place in my life. 1 Timothy 2:1,2 shall blend with Romans 8:26. I shall concentrate on the power of God and blessing people with it, and let politicians worry about the “he said; she said” debates. God will take care of His own.

130418 Lightening Rod

Everyone has an opinion. Everyone discriminates. If they don’t, how is that there is more than one item on a menu? How do people get dressed in the morning without discerning one item of clothing as more worthy than another? Some decisions are easy, and others incredibly complicated. Then, to make matters worse, along comes political correctness with the diseased finger of pre-judgement. (See any recent news item.)

When I look at the crazy standards that this country and much of the world have, I am tempted to despair. I don’t, because I know that this will pass. Every generation thinks that their ideas are new, but there is nothing new under the sun, only new labeling over a fresh coat of paint. Progressive policy resembles what Plato deemed perfect. How long ago did Plato live? Did it work then? Did Utopia happen? Where is the Worker’s Paradise?

All things new are of God. Intellectuals have been taught to disdain anything related to God, and to embrace secular humanism. Humans stink, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Even a cute little baby has the decay of sin flowing through his or her cute little veins. Babies are selfish and have to be taught to think outside themselves. No one grows up being ‘perfect’, and perfect conditions cannot exist because of sin. We need a standard. God gave us the standard, and then provided the way to reach Him despite the standard. It was not anything we puny humans could do on our own.

Not just one train has busted through the station of my thoughts. Everyday, a new crisis emerges: gun (non)control, bombs that kill, redefining marriage, porous vs. sovereign borders, crime, debt, hedonism, disease, education, and on and on and on. Many Americans feel that we are losing ourselves. We have, only if we have completely lost God. God, however, works well with small, committed groups. A friend of mine posted a graphic. She may have made it herself, for it appears no other place that I could find. Here is the link to her show, and where the graphic, with this quote, was posted.

"If the Bible is just a book of fairy tales, why is it banned in at least 52 countries? No one goes to jail for reading the Illiad, the Odyssey, or Aesop's Fables."

Enjoy.

130406 Intelligent Thinking

Not everyone is the same. This is good. It takes diverse talent to achieve ‘most anything, and no one person can know everything. Sometimes, I get so used to ‘dumbing down’ my speech so that others can understand me, than people think I’m dumb. When my thoughts move so quickly that my words trip over themselves, the same thing happens. Now that my children have reached a reasonable age, it gives me great pleasure to talk at length on certain topics that make other people’s heads spin. The elder and I discuss politics, while the younger and I discuss physics. It is glorious.

I have a cousin who ‘knows everything’ and lives in Liberal La-la Land. He fails to acknowledge that I might know a thing or two that he doesn’t. He and I studied quite different subjects in college. My majors centered in science and math, while he had a liberal arts education. “Liberal” used to mean generous, but in the US today, it means following a certain code that bypasses thinking and depends on feel-good assumptions. Facts and figures get thrown out the window when they don’t fit the litany. I know, because I have old BOOKS and don’t depend on the Internet for my information. I want to be the epitome of the former, but consider myself to be the opposite of the later definition.

My failure is that I expect people to think logically. It seems to be a lost art. I have altered my opinions and given ground when someone can show me why something is true, because I use my brain. One example is minimum wage. I used to like minimum wage, because it gave me a standard. Then, I took Economics 101 and saw how supply and demand affected the cost of goods and services. Minimum wage leads to unemployment. Which is better? Low wages, or NO wages? My younger daughter would get a job, but no one will hire her unskilled self at $7.25 per hour. Also, a superfluity of laws dictate what young people can and can’t do.

My cousin simply says that minimum wage has to be raised, because no one can live off of it. That may be true, but who takes those low paying, unskilled jobs? Not the heads of households, (except in extremely rare, but much publicized sob stories.) People used to find roommates to share expenses, but there are restrictive laws about this, too. In 1976, my very first job paid minimum wage. A year later, my second job paid twice minimum wage, because by then, I had gained skills. A mere four years later, my income exceeded the national average. That doesn’t seem possible today. Who will take a chance on a nobody? Bosses can’t even fire people anymore.

Today, I’m not working because I don’t want to work. Well, I don’t want to work if it means unrelenting pain from standing or stooping all day. Those are the most abundant jobs available, and I could work tomorrow at one of them. Instead, I signed up with Manpower, a great organization for people with certain skills, but they have no current assignments for me. In a sense, I am practicing some of those skills here today by typing. I like this kind of work, and it usually pays slightly above minimum wage. Employers, however, have become a little more skeptical about hiring unknowns. God can do anything. Now that I’ve made a decision, He will act. :)

121120 Who Really Helps

"Let's stop making the mistake of expecting government to be our savior in times like these."

Chuck Norris

120808 The Difference Between 'Nazi' and 'Socialist'

... is merely the name of the one in charge.

Walter Williams published an article today that explains better than I ever did why people should be wake up and smell the politics! When I was studying history in high school, in the 1970s, I wondered why Hitler's government was put on one end of the political spectrum, and communism was placed at the other. They seemed to be the same system to me. As a teen, I went to the library and spent months, even years studying political systems. Recently, I looked into Plato's Republic and More's Utopia. Socialism relies on the same system, repackaged and revamped into something that continues to be the opposite of freedom!

Nazism is condemned, but Socialism is exalted. Why? Twentieth Century Socialism killed far more people than Nazism ever thought of eliminating, They are the same political system! It doesn't make sense, but the last stronghold against what Marx taught is starting to embrace it. Wake up, America! It's not that better people need to run the system; the system itself is wrong.  People want it to be something warm and fuzzy, but in practice, people are selfish and/or evil. The warm fuzzies never arrive.

I prefer freedom.

120409 When We Go

I have come to the conclusion that most of the young people in college in this country are brainwashed against the Constitution. With rare exception, the ones I encounter either in person or online believe that self-determination is some kind of evil. I just watched the original Star Trek episode called, "The Menagerie". I've seen just "The Cage", too. The Talosian line, "You will now live carefully directed lives." comes to mind when politicians speak.

Saturday, a young woman was yelling to me about 'reproductive rights'. I wanted to shout back that she already had reproductive rights. No one in this country had the power to stop her from exercising her rights either to have a child or not, because birth control and even abortion is legal. In China, it is illegal to have more than one child, so sometimes, abortions are forced or newborns are killed there. In this country, a woman can have as many children as she physically can, or none at all. Abstinence costs nothing, but Trojans cost about 53 cents apiece. (Even *I* could afford Trojans!)  What this girl wanted was to have someone else pay for her birth control, which was probably not the inexpensive Trojans.

"Do as I say, not as I do!" is the cry of a hypocrite. How much of our internal conflicts makes it outside? I know that almost everything from other countries is censored (absent) here. We have a set of documents that used to be taught to every citizen. Even by the 1960s and 70s, our own citizens were forgetting why they were important. By the 1980s, Civics classes disappeared from high school. I have heard Europeans and Canadians ask why so many don't agree to Socialized Medicine, or why do we love our guns so much?. It's that pesky Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

The things that make it to our national news services are only those things that the media, the New Yorkers want people to hear. They ignore vast amounts of events, simply because those things do not follow their philosophies. Did you know that ALL of the national news services are in New York City? ALL OF THEM! New York is not the whole USA. What may work in New York, doesn't work in Texas, or Iowa, or Arizona. Only white crime is 'news worthy', not the much more prevalent black on black, or black on white rape, murder, and torture events that plague our nation. Asians are constantly attacked by non-whites, but that doesn't make it to the news programs.

What is in our founding documents?
1. The Supreme Court is supposed to test the constitutionality of the laws that Congress passes. Contrary to what Obama claims, it is their JOB. Congress may be influenced to do things the Constitution does not allow, so the Supreme Courts them and repels bad laws.
2. The President does NOT make laws. He can only sign or not sign them into being. The legislature (Congress) and the Supreme Court are supposed to restrict his actions. George Bush the First over-stepped his authority in 1990, and every president since has done the same or worse!
3. There are bad people who need to be retrained, but most people choose to do good. That is why one of the first things written in our founding document concerned our unalienable rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit (not the guarantee) of happiness."

Chocolate is not a right; playgrounds are not a right; automobiles are not a right; air conditioning is not a right; music is not a right, and healthcare is not a right!  The United States government is not required by the Constitution to provide any of that! Those who think government needs to pay for their medical care should emigrate to Canada or Europe. Before Obamacare, we already had universal access to healthcare. It may have been expensive, but it was available. With Obamacare, access may disappear. My own doctor decided to retire early when it was passed. Now, I don't have a doctor. How's that for access?

120324 Sometimes I Grump

Sometimes, I wish I could stop grumping through life. Illogic happens, and happens again and again. Politics, for instance, twist my gut with the deviousness of politicians and the idiocy of the masses. We have (had) freedom, but the people want safety instead*. Many people have traced the pattern of descent, but few can do anything about it, except educate. Who listens? Most see the beginning as a few seemingly innocuous bills passed when the 20th century started. Utah is attempting to repeal one of them now. The federal government owns quite a bit of land that should belong to the states, or even to private citizens. Most people don't know that there is more vacant land in North America than on any other continent in the world. Consider how huge Asia is. Think about Africa. Those places are well populated. Even South America is populated, but North America has empty space, because the government owns it and prevents anyone from occupying it.

<expletive deleted> EPA prevents people from occupying their own legally obtained land. Because a previous owner had dug a hole to catch rain water for livestock, the property I used to own was considered a 'wetland area', making it illegal for me to fill in the hole. That is how ridiculous the EPA is. No one can fill a hole without filing an environmental impact statement!

*1 Thessalonians 5:3
"For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape."

“Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.”

Benjamin Franklin

120201 “They” Came

This little piece made a large impression on me when I was a teen, oh so long ago.. Most of my friends were Roman Catholic.

"In Germany they came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up."

-- by Martin Niemöller, prominent German anti-Nazi theologian and Lutheran pastor, best known as the author of the poem “First they came....”

Names change, but the actions are the same. It starts with words. Again, it is OK to bash certain groups, especially Christians. Why? Why bash any group? Medicare and Medicaid cause the greatest drain on services. When Obamacare makes Medicaid universal, what will they cut when services become scarce? What group of people require the most in medical services? Science Fiction covered this several decades ago. Old people do not seem to contribute to society. They are so slow and come up with those irritating stories about life that lead to limits on fun. They simply do not keep up with the way things are “now”. Some people deserve more medical care because they have more reason to live. That sounds good until it becomes personal and some bureaucracy decides.

History repeats itself. History goes in cycles. History may have been written by the victors, but a few people have noticed that all this has happened some other time and somewhere else. Who is going to win? Israel fell to Babylon; Babylon was absorbed by Persia; Greece conquered Persia, and then Rome took over. Rome influenced the entire western world, but Babylon wants it back. Westerners simply cannot grasp the significance of history. Almost none of them can understand a single yod of history. Man is not progressing. The passions of individuals have not changed. The evolution of technology has nothing to do with the improvement of man. Instead, man is regressing. Civilization is a thin veneer that merely hides the volcano of savagery that threatens to destroy all of mankind. (Have you noticed the political debates?) Pacifism will not save us. Ancient principles and ‘outdated’ morals may rescue individuals.

Nothing will save this world. It is too far gone to care.

120125 American Dream

Obama outlines 'mission' of rebuilding American Dream,  

Rebuild the American Dream? Vote socialism out of office. 

120121 Politicizing Science

What are some of the dangers associated with DHMO? Each year, Dihydrogen Monoxide is a known causative component in many thousands of deaths and is a major contributor to millions upon millions of dollars in damage to property and the environment. Some of the known perils of Dihydrogen Monoxide are:

• Death due to accidental inhalation of DHMO, even in small quantities.
• Prolonged exposure to solid DHMO causes severe tissue damage.
• Excessive ingestion produces a number of unpleasant though not typically life-threatening side-effects.
• DHMO is a major component of acid rain.
• Gaseous DHMO can cause severe burns.
• Contributes to soil erosion.
• Leads to corrosion and oxidation of many metals.
• Contamination of electrical systems often causes short-circuits.
• Exposure decreases effectiveness of automobile brakes.
• Found in biopsies of pre-cancerous tumors and lesions.
• Given to vicious dogs involved in recent deadly attacks.
• Often associated with killer cyclones in the U.S. Midwest and elsewhere, and in hurricanes including deadly storms in Florida, New Orleans and other areas of the southeastern U.S.
• Thermal variations in DHMO are a suspected contributor to the El Nino weather effect.

Di-Hydrogen Monoxide is my favorite. It resembles Climate Change.