Proud of Haley Barbour

What better time to discuss the pardon of murderers than Sanctity of Life month?

If you heard Barbour's explanation of his pardoning of the prisoner trustee's, you'll know why I say I'm proud of him. I also can readily see the Democrats at work against a Republican... again.

I think the problem Republicans are having is they don't explain themselves (in triplicate, double-spaced, novel-form explanations, proofed by their college English professor) before doing something or saying something in public. If Barbour had released a statement along with the pardons there wouldn't have been a hullabaloo like happened this past week. Then, of course, there wouldn't have been all the publicity and reporters asking so many questions and so much TV news time. Ah, well... Barbour did an excellent job of explaining why he granted those particular pardons besides tradition. The fact he trusts his grandchildren with those trustees, and the fact he never pardoned anyone on death row seems to be the 1-2 punch TKO, don't you think?

I loved the way he said "most of the people from Mississippi are Christians", and that Christians believe in forgiveness, and second chances. That is true. We believe it, but why don't we practice it? Why do so many Christians (professing Christians) have such a death grip on things like anger, bitterness, revenge, and stiff-necked unforgiveness? Setting aside the fact that too often those are the feelings felt initially when someone slams that knife in our backs and twists it until we scream, Christians are supposed to rise above those feelings and embrace the Christ-like responses of forgiveness, and big-heartedness, and don't forget "turning the other cheek" stuff. So why can't victims of violence do that? I mean, Christian receivers of violence, of course.

It would seem that would be a goal to strive toward so that we could show the world the Mind of Christ, however the major question is: How long?

"For what?" I can see you say.

How long does a Christian have to forgive, or overcome, something horrible? Twenty years? A year? A week?

Barbour said something so striking when talking about the murderers he pardoned. "These men have accepted responsibility for their sin. They have spent time in prison for it and worked hard to earn  the title, Trustee. They have asked forgiveness for their sin."

Astounding statement when one reads something from Luke along side it: Luke 17:4  And if seven times of the day he sins against you, and seven times of the day turns to you saying, I repent, you shall forgive him.

That isn't a suggestion, or a policy. It is a command. Jesus is quite adamant about it, and to bring it all into focus, Matthew 6:15  But if you will not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. How about Matthew 18:34  And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. 35  "So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses."

Then when He says, "But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also." Matthew 5:39 Notice He doesn't say, "Give him your second child to murder also", or "Offer him your head to shoot as well as your chest". That isn't the kernel from this particular verse. When a person returns good for evil it disarms the evil. It also takes an extraordinarily strong will to be able to follow through with this command to forgive, and to embrace non-violent responses. (This is why we sometimes find ourselves speechless against some dastardly, back-stabbing act of a co-worker or supposed friend. God sometimes stops up our mouth before we can pour fuel on the smoldering flame when the problem happens within the church body. I do not know why He holds us silent sometimes and other times not, I just know it happens.)

Jesus is directing each Christian's responses within the scope of the Family of God, not from the scope of government response to criminal action. Perhaps when we react with kindness and forgiveness to nonChristians it is a testimony far beyond what any words could convey, and  resembles something more like Christ hanging on the cross in perfect sacrifice.

I pray I have that strength of will to bend to God's will of forgiveness and kindness putting to good use the Fruit of the Spirit: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23.

Executive and Judicial branches making laws now

In high school civics I learned there are three branches of government -- Executive, Judicial, and Legislative. Our founding fathers did this on purpose for something called Checks and Balances. The balancing scale has just tipped too far to the left in my opinion when Obama announced the Administration was changing the definition of rape.

Make no mistake, I truly think this is a very good thing that oral, and device penetration and men should all be added to the definition of the heinous crime!

Nutdanai Apikhomboonwaroot

The problem, as I see it, is the gross misuse of authority on the administration's part, along with the judicial system making laws which has been allowed to happen too long and too often in the past two decades. The earthquakes in the Northeast are our forefathers rolling in their graves! Why do we sit by and allow things like this to happen? Doesn't anyone understand that these are just the baby steps to dictatorship? If our legislators allow the judicial system to make laws, and the president to write laws, then our Checks and Balances have been destroyed and we won't have a voice any longer in our government.

Think about it for a moment. Losing our voice means no representation and that gives dictatorship two sturdy legs.

If we discontinue the Electoral College, then the voices of those in rural counties, and small town America will be silenced. Want to take a guess at exactly how many conservatives live outside major metropolitan areas? We'll have the blind leading the blind, if that isn't happening already. Ooops! Look out for that ditch!

Barbour pardons killers

 Lame duck pardons aren't so lame. Gov. Haley Barbour has pardoned 4 murderers as he leaves office. It's a tradition, but this isn't one of tradition's highest moments.

The inmates are David Gatlin, convicted of killing his estranged wife in 1993; Joseph Ozment, convicted in 1994 of killing a man during a robbery; Anthony McCray, convicted in 2001 of killing his wife; Charles Hooker, sentenced to life in 1992 for murder; and Nathan Kern, sentenced to life in 1982 for burglary after at least two prior convictions.

The pardons outraged victims' relatives as well as Democratic lawmakers, who called for an end to the custom of governors' issuing such end-of-tenure pardons.

Democrats have pounced on the pardon.
Barbour frequently refers to Mississippi as "the safest state in America for an unborn child."

"So much for being pro-life when you pardon people who take other people's lives," Presley, the public service commissioner, said in an interview. "In one case, the lady had a 6-month-old baby in her arms when she was murdered."

APNewsBreak: Miss. Gov. Barbour pardons 4 killers

By HOLBROOK MOHR, Associated Press  

I can see how the Democrats have much food for fodder on this apparent lack of foresight on the governor's part. Why in world pardon murderers? I think there may be more to this story than meets the first glance.

However, my beef isn't about that, it's about the comment Presley made, "So much for being pro-life when you pardon people who take other people's lives." The statement was made in as a repartee to Barbour's comment that Mississippi is the safest state for unborn babies. I take extreme exception to that kind of parting shot.The fact that people get so bent out of shape over three killers receiving a pardon, but don't care enough to get out and vote to save the lives of unborn babies raises (re: Proposition 26) such a stench I'm choking.

I would like to note that Southern Baptists set aside the  third Sunday in January as The Sanctity of Life Day. Please pray that we Christians will become set aside apathy to speak out for the voiceless, and speak out for the unborn to save their lives, and make sure that all women considering abortion will be given complete information about their unborn child.

Squeaky wheel is ruining America

Photo from Idea Go

I open the newspaper or watch the news and invariably I see some small group screaming for "rights" or see commercials from networks being blatantly biased which makes me so very insecure with the knowledge that we'll never get the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help us God.

These small groups such as the homosexuals (.773% of households in the U.S. are same sex couples according to 2010 Census) make up 1.5% of the population much, much less than the touted 10%. Such a tiny percent of the population rules the networks.

Now I'm seeing NBC running ads against the tax breaks for the so-called rich which shows they haven't done their homework. It's the blind leading the blind and they are heading toward a ditch which we'll call Collapse of American Economy. They are influencing the American public who are willingly wearing blindfolds called apathy and stupidity for not seeking out the whole truth and nothing but the truth. How many times in school did I hear, "Don't believe everything you read,"? Too many to count. I learned ages ago that people have agendas and those with agendas will leave out pertinent facts that do not align with the agenda. It boils down to Gossip. Yet, the American Public is swallowing it as Gospel.

In one ad a man gripes about the lack of jobs. Here's the question that has been answered time and again: until the economy is stabilized,  there won't be an abundance of new jobs. The economy won't be stabilized until there is more than a 2 month assurance of tax rate stabilization. We are circling in a Catch 22.

Sadly, everyone wants something grand in their pockets but unfortunately fewer and fewer are willing to work for it. The work ethic in this country has deteriorated into gimme, gimme rather than fair deal when you give something of value in return for something of value. When did that happen? I think it was when the Depression babies grew up without anything and wanted their children to have everything without teaching them the real value of a dollar. Just a guess, here, nothing so scientific as a survey.

Look at what James Franco campaigned to do and succeeded in getting a university to fire the professor who dared to give him a "D" in a class Franco only attended 2 times out of 14 classes. For me, the "D" is very soft, he should have received an "F". This is classic wanting something for nothing.  Where I go to school, attendance is crucial because when you are earning your Master's you don't have tests to take in the regular sense. You are in a more professional environment of learning and Franco couldn't have possibly done the work required when he didn't even show up for class.

Paul reminded the Thessalonians 2Th 3:10  For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.  God is emphatic that we should give value for value. The main thing is we Christians are not our own, but we belong to God. Of the 78% Americans who reported in a Pew survey in 2007 that they are Christian (mostly Protestant or Catholic with a smattering of other faiths) there should be 78% of all Americans who understand this truth. Where are they? Why aren't Christians standing up for righteous living? Why isn't there an outcry of "Foul!" to MSNBC for these biased ads? Are we so immune to opinion these days that we just accept something as truth just because it's seen on a network station? Where have all the brains gone?

Gingrich rhetoric not newt--er--news

I stand amazed at the extremely short memories of American citizens when it comes to politics as usual and especially with Newt Gingrich. The Gen-Xers can be forgiven because this is the first time they've heard the master spinner at work,  but the Babyboomers heard it all the first go round when he was Speaker of the House.

His extra-curricular marital activities were some of the most in-your-face I've seen and when confronted with it, his reply? "It's none of your damn business." Just what he recently said... again.

This is not a prude's response, nor a do-gooder response, I don't have my head in the sand. I've got a very clear head, and it is the clear head of a conservative, who saw it all unfold twenty years ago. The rhetoric hasn't changed a whit. If the man's wife (or I should say wives) can't trust him, then why should the American people trust him? When a person takes those vows of marriage, then that means commitment of a very certain kind which Newt does not have. If he won't stay true to his wife/wives, then he won't stay true to his word because having an affair is breaking his word and breaking his bond. It's sickening.

Ann Coulter: (During the House ethics investigation of Gingrich, he produced notes in which he reminds himself to "allow expression of warm/smiling/softer side.")

After Gingrich had been speaker for a brief two years, the Republican House voted 395-28 to reprimand him and fine him $300,000 for ethics violations.

(Sen. Bob Dole loaned Gingrich the money in what was called the first instance of an airbag being saved by a person.)

It's true that Newt has had some good ideas -- but also boatloads of bad ones, such as his support for experimentation on human embryos, cap and trade, policies to combat imaginary man-made global warming, an individual health insurance mandate, Dede Scozzafava (Romney supported the tea party candidate), amnesty for illegal aliens, Al Gore​'s bill to establish an "Office of Critical Trends Analysis" to prepare government reports on "alternative futures" (co-sponsored by Gingrich), and thinking he could get away with taking $1.6 million from Freddie Mac without anyone noticing.

 Regardless of what you think about Ann Coulter, she does her homework, she has the memory of an elephant, and she's more often than not on target with what she says.

Before you pick your candidate--do some homework and dig for truth. You might be sorely surprised... then again, you just might remember more than you thought you did.



 

Pakistan's and the $20 billion +

"Business as usual will not be there," Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani told CNN when asked if ties with the United States would continue. "We have to have something bigger so as to satisfy my nation… Pakistan shut down NATO supply routes into Afghanistan in retaliation for the weekend shooting incident, the worst of its kind since Islamabad allied itself with Washington in 2001.” (Reuters, Nov. 28, 2011)

Oh, ye, of small ears and big hands and minute memory!

“The U.S. gave $20.7 billion in military and economic development aid to Pakistan from fiscal 2002 through fiscal 2011, according to a new report that FOX Business has obtained that was issued by specialists in South Asian Affairs for the Congressional Research Service [CRS] to Congress on May 6.” The U.S. gave Pakistan $14.2 billion in total military related aid, $8.9 billion of which came out of the Pentagon’s budget (in a footnote CRS says this is technically not foreign assistance, its "is Pentagon funding to reimburse Pakistan for its support of U.S. military operations; it is technically not foreign assistance.") Out of that $14.2 billion, other expenditures were for things like counterinsurgency and financial support for its military. 

Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2011/05/11/did-pakistan/#ixzz1f2ghbBDI

Here is another kick in the teeth (Osama ben Ladin living serenely in Paskistan was another). We have a snake by the tail and no one seems to recognize it. We have quit demanding something of value for our money. Why should any country consider us a force to be reckoned with if we keep doling out cash for little return on investment?

I find this fiasco intolerable. The U.S. should have put a pinching pressure on Pakistan the instant our troops killed OBL, and the instant (2008 to be exact) they found OBL, they should have turned off the faucet of money to Pakistan until “the people of that nation” realized just how much they depended upon us American tax payers. The amount of money we have given Pakistan is small compared to the $5 trillion added to the deficit, but as I learned years ago pennies add up and soon you have a dollar, and $5 can make or break a budget, especially if you are minus $5 to pay the electric bill.

If we continue in this vein, we will be embalmed without any blood flow to the brain. That means we’ll be brain dead, and I think that has been the situation in Washington for at least 3 years.

Why accusations against Herman Cain aren't really real

When Herman Cain only had three percent rating, no one cared enough if he was the very best or not. He just wasn't at the front of the pack, so no one thought he was a serious contender. Then we recognized his message was sensible, and he was saying things that could work. My goodness, a business man in the White House, what a novel idea! Except business men founded our country, along with farmers, and marketers, all of them men who had brains in their heads.

Now we have two nameless women who vowed to silence after getting a monetary settlement, albeit a very modest settlement. The woman who sued McDonald's for her own idiotic spilling hot coffee on her self and won had enough sense not to sign a silence agreement. She could have written a book: How to Sue a Major Corporation for Your Own Stupid Mistake. Didn't these women have enough foresight to know there's more money in the future if you just write a book?

Now these women are trying to get NRA to release them from their vow of silence so they can tell their story and get more money. If someone had sexually harassed me like they claim Herman Cain harassed them, and I actually filed suit, I wouldn't settle for the money. It isn't supposed to be about money, is it? It's supposed to be about making sure men don't hassel women in the work place. Oh, I've had my share of sexual harassment, I just never filed suit about it. I quit the job and found another.

However, these women promised to never talk about this in exchange for money. They've already broken their vow, which means they lied. So how reliable is their information? Doesn't anyone recognize this for what it actually is? Ask Sarah Palin how these willow wisp accusations can take down a candidate (or governor) with no meat whatsoever, but it chokes just the same.

Politics is costing far more than doing good. When you follow the money, you know why politics is so dirty, you know why candidates spend so much of their own money to get a job that pays far less than any CEO could make with far more headaches. You also know why good men are accused of bad things.

I have been truly impressed by what Cain said, "Show me a perfect man and I'll show you Jesus Christ."

I have experienced spiritual warfare in the most raw and painful ways because you find yourself battling manufactured evidence. Too often the news media has not been held accountable for false reports, or reports filled with innuendo. If this were true, it would have been splashed all over the media after certification and they would never have given him enough time to combat the claims.

Mississippi proposition 26 defines personhood

Just asking for prayers concerning the upcoming election. Please pray Proposition 26 passes which defines personhood at conception.

There is a lot of misinformation floating around from Planned Parenthood trying to deceive people into voting against it. Here's a three minuted video that will set things straight.

Occupation of Wall Street

Charging Bull, a bronze statue by Arturo Di Modica at Bowling Green, Manhattan, New York City, photo by David Prior

What is the message of Occupy Wall Street?

It's difficult to find a deep answer to this because the website states it is a protest of the 99% against the 1% who has all the money, so says Andrew Ross Sorkin of Dealb%k column.

That is really hard for me to absorb.

For more than two weeks people, without jobs obviously, have been peacefully standing around Wall Street with a sign or two decorated with a balled up fist, protesting that 1% of the people have all the money. I wonder how that 1% got all that money?

Donald Trump's story is fairly well known. He had nothing when he started, in fact, he was about $20 million in debt; and he convinced his debtors to invest more money with him. They did astoundingly, and they all made a mint of money. That is entrepreneurship at its best.

Dale Carnegie wrote a list of life ambitions when he was 18 years old. At the top of his list was his deep desire to earn millions of dollars the first half of his life, and the second half of his life he would give it all away. He certainly accomplished the first, but he'd made so much he couldn't give it all away.

When did working for your keep transform into entitlements? Spreading the wealth never worked no matter how hard Russia, Spain, Greece etc. tried. The few always ended up with most of the cash, but communism and socialism made it easier for the crooks to take the money.

Isn't it strange that a man who is almost the richest man in the world would use this kind of thinking to try to destroy America. George Soros has at his fingertips the wherewithal to do exactly that. I believe this peaceful protest of uninformed people is the beginning.

Why do I call them uninformed? Because they really do not know what they are protesting. Bank presidents and CEOs represent millions of stockholders, and account holders. I do think CEOs and corporate officers probably do get higher salaries than their job actually warrants. However, I'd not trade places with them for even twice what they make...I don't want the headaches, ulcers and stress they deal with.

It isn't a giant leap to connect Soros with this movement. The organization says it has no leadership, yet it has minutes of their meetings on the website. An organization shouts leadership because that's how it is organized. Duh. It says it has no leadership, and yet the protests have been ongoing for more than two weeks. How does something keep going without the rah-rah of leadership? Think: Scott Walker and the labor protest. The fundraising must be incredibly awesome to support people for two weeks, and for people to come from different points of the U.S. Soros is affiliated and a donor for so many groups from A-Y. The types of groups and his agenda is quite clear just from looking at the list from Discover the Networks.

No matter how hard this movement tries to make it look like a grassroots movement. It isn't. The propaganda and rhetoric sounds wonderful, but look at the foundation. There are webs of deception, and America will get tangled tight in its sticky cords.

An interesting article written by Eli Schmitt on n+1 gives a list of "demands" which will give you an inside look at what #occupywallstreet is all about.

To repeal the Citizens United Supreme Court decision (through a constitutional amendment)

To remove the bull sculpture from Wall Street (as suggested to us by a man who walked by dressed as a banker but wearing a noose instead of a tie)

Some form of debt cancellation (either for everyone or just for students)

Pay-as-you-go military intervention (so that wars could not be waged without Congress agreeing to finance them immediately)

Taxes on small financial transactions (one version of this is known as a Tobin tax)

Full employment

A social wage or guaranteed income (also described as a negative income tax)

Universal care centers (for children and the elderly)

Reinstating the Glass-Steagall act (a banking reform passed in 1933 and partially repealed in 1980)

Paid sick leave for all working Americans

Greater political transparency in general

Cleared up now?

Pakistan and IEDs

You know those pesky explosive devises that have ripped humans to shreds, demolished cars and except for mine fields, probably the most demonic weapons in war that has been devised. According to Navy Capt. Douglas Borrebach, deputy director for resources and requirements at the Pentagon's Joint IED Defeat Organization, 80% of these devises are made with ammonium calcium nitrate (fertilizer) produced in Pakistan.

Not only was Pakistan harboring Osama be Ladin, but now we find out the boarder between Pakistan and Afghanistan is practically non-existent. Of course we knew that, didn't we? The sad thing is the U.S. doesn't seem to care because $5 billion (yes, that's with a B) is still pouring into the country that has one hand out palm up and the other hand behind its back with fingers crossed (did I see a political cartoon like that?). It isn't funny.

I'm as incensed about that today as I was about our President speaking in Egypt back in 2009. Things haven't gotten any better. We still see this slight of hand trick, scrabbling around trying to keep the right hand knowing what the left hand is doing. The truly sad thing is, I'm beginning to think no one really cares what's good for the country, but only about their own agenda.

Not only did Pakistan harbor the most wanted man in the world, but their intelligence agency has been linked to various extremests throughout the countryside. Now, we sit on our thumbs wondering "What went wrong?" all the while India is shrugging, saying, "I told you so!" 

Although we have proven that we're going to do what we say we're going to do, hang the cost and double the ammunition, we're at a point where we need to be smart rather than a bully. Economic sanctions have proven effective in the past, the stability of that region is fragile to say the least. Cutting off the flow of U.S. dollars pouring in may or may not do what we want. However, reducing that flow will certainly make the Pakistanis reconsider, of course I'm no expert on the region. It's just that where greed abounds, money talks louder than any gun.

Richard Trumka on jobs etc...

In case you missed it this afternoon, Richard Trumka was Brett Behr's guest on Special Report. This man is so full of it.

Behr asked him about the future of Labor, and Trumka said "We were attacked this year like Scott Walker... But, no, we won in Wisconsin." He had this cocky-chin attitude when he said it. Behr pointed out that Scott Walker's decree for government workers was still in place. "For now," Trumka said, sort of like a threat.

The point here is, Mr. Trumka, that was specifically for government workers to take away collective bargaining, not a blanket law for all labor. I'm getting fed up with so many slight of hand as well as slight of tongue tricks that people like you are trying to pull over intelligent tax payers of this country. I'm praying that the real truth will come out in full glory, soon and very soon.

Walker was trying to make a little bit of money stretch to the limit so no one would lose their jobs. What good would collective bargaining have done anyone when there was no money to pay anyone? Where is the brain God gave you?

Okay... I have to quit now before my blood pressure sky rockets.

Kinde Durkee--history of malfeasence

A question asked by Brenda Elliot of Klein Online, is on target. How could they not know? Durkee was arrested by the FBI for allegedly using clients' funds for her own personal use. Her firm is the treasurer for hundreds of Democrat campaigns, offices, local governments, non-profits, and who knows what all. Stealing money from one client to plumb up another client's coffers to give self-credibility is taking from Bernie Madoff's Handbook of Stealing or How To Create A Ponzi Scheme That Lasts. 

I'm appalled at the gullibility of some people. Then again, it is so easy to allow someone to bamboozle you into thinking you are stupid for not understanding a financial report. Leaders who sloggity-blog through business meetings and financial audits are too afraid to let on that they can't make heads or tails of the paper in front of them. I reviewed a book called "Forensic Accounting For Dummies". It gives, in simple terms, what you should be looking for when your accountant gives you that monthly financial report.

After reading Elliot's report, I'm flabbergasted that people can be so dumb as to put blind faith and trust into an accountant's hands just because they've been in business for years and have handled so many different clients. Don't they balance the checkbook at the end of the month? Apparently, not because they even allow the accountant control of the checkbook. [Insert shocked look here.]  I can't imagine allowing someone else to have that kind of control, no matter how reliable, trustworthy, and/or busy I am.

I was Executive Director of the Chamber of Commerce for my little town. I never went home until the books balanced for the day. It's called Due Diligence. How that firm could keep its clients after all the financial blunders since 2001 (Diane Watson's campaign), and perhaps earlier than that, who knows? How dumb can you get? Apparently, much dumber.

I'm thinking when you are that dumb, when you persist in your dumbness, when you've been fooled twice or more, then you deserve what you get. Imagine paying some accountant for the privilege of going to jail or for the privilege of paying exorbitant fines because your accountant didn't do his/her job. Now that's really dumb. If I were a political contributor, I'd be screaming for my money back... then again, contributing after the accounting problems had surfaced and the candidate still used the same accountant, I'd be even dumber than the organization using the alleged fraudulent accountant. Here's your Dunce Cap! Wear it and be proud.

Jobs plan -- something else for GOP to choke on

Pres. Obama's jobs plan is just another knee jerk campaign foible. I don't need a crystal ball to know that this is more of the same in order to get votes from those who are entitlement minded. "Let's make sure all the wealth is distributed evenly."

Here's the thing. I'm all for closing loopholes and everyone paying their fair share of taxes. Some study somewhere that Herman Cain referred to said a flat tax wouldn't work because it would over tax the poor and under tax the rich. I can understand that. So why not utilize the poverty level to even it out? The poverty stricken don't pay taxes anyway. Not to beat a dead horse, but hasn't the corporate world demonstrated they won't hire or expand because there isn't any solid ground to stand on when it comes to taxes and pile on top of that health plan costs?

Flat taxing worked in Rome. When everyone knew how much their tax was going to be and what ever they made over that tax level they paid no taxes on it. This encouraged the economy so much, no other economy in the world before or since was so vibrant or so solid. Growth, expansion, business health, individual wealth all benefited greatly because the business owner wasn't penalized for making money.

Obama's plan, both the jobs bill and the mandatory health care plan, penalizes businesses for expansion and growth. If it is passed, we will slide into a far greater depression than that of the late twenties and thirties of last century. We can't keep manipulating interest rates hoping that will stem the tide, because it won't. Our economy has been manipulated so long, it doesn't know where the center of gravity is.

Am I alone in seeing this?

Obama's Jobs bill -- another nightmare?

I heard very little last night about what was IN the bill, and heard mostly what the bill would do for America. Well, considering how unconnected Obama has been to the business sector, I'm wondering if it will be another "You'll have to pass it to see what's in it" bill. Did you notice how much he talked about transportation, infrastructure, and building? 

I warned several months ago about the new transportation bank "they" are talking about. This sounds to me like an official proclamation upon this very thing. I am all for the marketplace determining economy. I seriously doubt the Democrats will be able to allow that, though. It will be more government-in-your-face than ever before.

I was going to do a lot of research before posting about this, but I'm too afraid it will make me sick at my stomach. Obama gave us a lot of "sounds good" rhetoric, but I'm like that old lady at the hamburger place, "Where's the beef?" I didn't hear any place in the speech where he used specifics concerning actual wording in the bill. He did make sure we understood he was urgent about it, but it was like ramming it all down our throats never mind we're choking to death.

He used phrases like: 

"We should all be taxed fairly." -- Absolutely. Everyone grumbles, but we all know we have to pay them. That is a homer statement for everyone listening. What did he mean behind the statement? Strip away the rich corporate loopholes and make sure corporations don't make a profit. That means share holders won't be investing in corporations any more and that means death of the corporation, death to major employers, death to new jobs. But, yeah make sure those rich guys pay through the nose so us middle-class folks don't have to pay.

He said:

"Cut in half payroll taxes, and that will make sure everyone takes home more money for their families." -- The most expensive tax out of the paycheck is Medicare and Social Security. So how will those two "protections" keep the river of money flowing into the pool so we can all play in it?

OBAMA: But what we can't do, what I will not do, is let this economic crisis be used as an excuse to wipe out the basic protections that Americans have counted on for decades.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/hannity/2011/09/09/cantor-obamas-all-or-nothing-approach-jobs-bill-not-way-go#ixzz1XT5TKn7E

It's a contradiction. The only basic protections we Americans have had for decades are Medicare and Social Security, and unemployment insurance.

I wrote an essay on how the USA is mirroring the tactics of the Roman Empire where I note that Augustus revived the Empire's economy by doing massive public works. It did put people to work, and it did greatly boost the economy. But, the Romans didn't realize there is a definite need to know when to back off and when to keep going. Then Tiberius cut back on the public works, but hoarded money causing a shortage of money.  “The shortage of money and the curtailment of state expenditures led to a sharp downturn in economic activity which was only relieved when the state made large loans at zero interest in order to provide liquidity” (Thornton, M.K., and Thornton, R.L. (1990) "The Financial Crisis of A.D. 33: A Keynesian Depression?" Journal of Economic History 50(3): 655-62). Stimulus Package, Roman style.

 That is so familiar I'm wondering if we couldn't just save paper and look up the news tablets of ancient Rome. 

 

Why can't we take a leaf from Augustus' notebook? Why can't we learn from history? The growth of the Roman economy did not come from taxes! Before Augustus there was a system of tax farming where the tax collectors added exorbitant fees onto the required taxes because they could. [Tax farming]  became so burdensome on the provinces they raised a hue and cry and “tax farming” (Bartlett, 1994) was abolished in favor of wealth taxes and population tax under Augustus.  It was a pro-growth instead of progressive tax system. 

This is because any growth in taxable capacity led to higher taxes under the tax farming system, while under the Augustinian system communities were only liable for a fixed payment. Thus any increase in income accrued entirely to the people and did not have to be shared with Rome. Individuals knew in advance the exact amount of their tax bill and that any income over and above that amount was entirely theirs. This was obviously a great incentive to produce, since the marginal tax rate above the tax assessment was zero. In economic terms, one can say that there was virtually no excess burden (Musgrave, R.A.  The Theory of Public Finance. New York: McGraw-Hill 1959.)

 

If it worked back then, why can't it work now for both individuals and businesses? Where is Thomas Jefferson when we need him?

 

Turkey kicks out Israeli diplomats

At least I think that is what this article is saying. This is one of the flimsiest excuses I have ever read. It just proves to me (and anyone who cares to pay attention) that people will see what they want to see, and believe what they want to believe. Last year when Israel boarded the Gaza-bound ship from Turkey the supposed humanitarian group used pipes, guns and what ever else was at hand to thrash the Israeli who knew something very fishy was afoot.

What the Turks did was wrong.
1. They were warned what would happen if they came into Israeli waters.
2. Self-defense was warranted when the Israelis were viciously attacked.
3. There was supposed to be no weapons on board, only food stuffs and medical supplies.
4. Weapons were found with little trouble.

Now, Turkey is cutting off all ties with Israel because they won't apologize for what happened last year.

There is something incredibly wrong with this picture.

This reminds me so much of what Nehemiah said in chapter 4.

Neh 4:14  After looking things over I stood up and spoke to the nobles, officials, and everyone else: "Don't be afraid of them. Put your minds on the Master, great and awesome, and then fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes."
15  Our enemies learned that we knew all about their plan and that God had frustrated it. And we went back to the wall and went to work. 16  From then on half of my young men worked while the other half stood guard with lances, shields, bows, and mail armor. Military officers served as backup for everyone in Judah who was at work rebuilding the wall. 17  The common laborers held a tool in one hand and a spear in the other. 18  Each of the builders had a sword strapped to his side as he worked. I kept the trumpeter at my side to sound the alert. 19  Then I spoke to the nobles and officials and everyone else: "There's a lot of work going on and we are spread out all along the wall, separated from each other. 20  When you hear the trumpet call, join us there; our God will fight for us."




God will fight for us when we give Him absolute control.

Fraud and Waste of $60 billion

What else is new? This subject was closely studied after the Viet Nam war... uh, police action. It was closely studied during construction of public buildings when a $12 wrench cost $45 and a $9 toilet seat cost the government $50 or $100 depending on the contractor. Did we not learn our lessons way back then more than 40 years ago?

What is the matter with our government? It has far too many fingers for the hand it has. We now have a mutant ninja government that is so quick with knee-jerk reactions, and so many fingers in the pie that you can't even determine what kind of pie it is. I listen in stunned silence at the next horror story splashed all over the news. Oh, wait! Most of the news outlets do not tell us these behind the scenes nuggets of horror, do they? Kudos to the Associated Press, though, which stated in a story...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. has lost billions of dollars to waste and fraud in Iraq and Afghanistan and stands to repeat that in future wars without big changes in how the government awards and manages contracts for battlefield support and reconstruction projects, independent investigators said Wednesday.

The story goes on to state we are really in for more of the same because the Dems and GOP are at odds over the deficit. [Please, join me in a shocked look here.] I'm like John Stossel, "Give me a break!"


What is causing the deficit? Big government that doesn't have the least notion of what a budget is. It's like a shopaholic with an unlimited Black American Express card (that's the one where you can buy a yacht and a helicopter on the same day, right?) Our Prez keeps saying that we're not going to cut spending by sacrificing people. Well, we wouldn't have had to if the people would quit sleeping in the hammocks. Welfare and Medicaid were institutions which were originally designed as safety nets, not hammocks. 


The main cause is this pilfering of billions of dollars by companies under government contract. If any corporate entity were to do business like this it wouldn't last six months. I am appalled that no one seems to care that we are bleeding money at quart rates rather than pin-prick rates.


How far would an individual get when more money went out of the check book than was deposited? A prison door would be slammed on a person who made free with money like that. It's called fraud.

Tax dollars spent on murder of innocents

Marjorie Dannenfelser,President of the Susan B. Anthony List, repeated in a recent email Speaker John Boehner's remark in response to Vice President Biden's comments, "No government on Earth has the authority to place quotas on the value of innocent human life, or to treat life as an economic commodity that can be regulated and taken away on a whim by the state."

Amen to that!

I have been appalled at what China has been doing to women for the past decades simply because they wanted more than one child. Did you know that seek out pregnant women and even if they are within weeks of delivery, they forcibly abort the pregnancy, treating the infant as if it were trash? 

I have no idea where this photo came from.

Psalm 139:13  For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb.

How can we possibly think that a baby, an infant, is nothing more than tissue and mother's blood? It moves, and wiggles, and jumps for joy at the sound of Daddy's voice, and calms at the sound of Mommy's voice.

Dannenfelser also quoted Congressman Chris Smith:

Congressman Chris Smith, a longtime critic of the One-Child Policy, put it best when he said:

“[The One-Child Policy] is hideous. Women are hunted down if they evade these family planning cadres into the ninth month. They are forcibly brought into a clinic and aborted…this is the most pervasive act of violence against women anywhere in the world. It is systematic and state-sponsored, and the United States, under Obama, Hilary Clinton – and now Vice President Biden in this outrageous statement – is showing the world that we do not care about Chinese women and babies.”

I'm wondering how much longer our tax dollars will be spent on things that citizens are directly opposed to both ethically and morally. When will all our representatives and all our senators will stand up to the strong-arm tactics that our Demorat leaders have chosen to use in their agenda-driven world and domestic policies.

I agree with the current statement floating around the internet. "That earthquake felt in Washington, D.C. was our forefathers turning over in their graves!" Wake up American Christians... the legacy we will leave our children is turning rank. 

Civil rights infringed?

Reading the newspaper Sunday is sometimes like treading quicksand. One used to be able to rely on AP reporters for absolute correctness of word usage. Lately it is not so.

I have found simple slips such as "alleged shooting" and "alleged gun". Either there was a shooting or there was not and it was carried out with a gun. What kind of gun is the question, not if it was a gun or not.

Sometimes the way people use words brings a smile to my face, and other times I just have to grimace and mentally stop from inserting commas or removing them. Grammaticals haven't been a major peeve of mine, but grammatically incorrect verbiage is the clog in story flow for me.

Such is the AP story in yesterday's paper by Holbrook Mohr (usually a very good wordsmith and grammatician--aren't you impressed by all these made up words?). The FBI is investigating the alleged murder by pickup truck incident in Jackson, MS to discover whether the murder of the black man was an infringement of his civil rights by the white teenager driving the truck.

Really? I believe that anyone who takes the life of another is infringing upon that person's civil rights. We have the inalienable right to live given to us by God Himself since He did create us, knitting our most intimate inwards parts together within our mothers' wombs. Of course, I understand the civil right Mohr is referring to is the Hate Crimes Act. However, it seems to me that murder is a most uncivil act regardless of the legal definition of civil right.

We should always remember that Jesus said if we harbor anger against a brother we are guilty of murder. Anger of the unrighteous kind is also an uncivil act of the mental kind.

If we could only let people be people in this world... If we could only pursue happiness instead of trying to scrub out another's happiness... If we could just try to love our neighbors as ourselves, what a different world we would inhabit.

Gasoline prices expected to lower in continuing trend

Gas pump prices have been fluctuating like kids on a playground see-saw. Remember when the price per barrel of oil was about $31? Our gas prices were about $1.90 a gallon way back then in 2009, remember that? It was February 2, 2009 and by August the price per gallon was about $3.70.

In February, the price per barrel was about $31 and in August the price was about $63. So, the barrel price had doubled and the gallon price was proportionate. It seems to me that when the barrel price goes down, the gallon price does not follow proportionately anymore, but looking at the chart, they actually have been. Surprise to me.

However, I still think the oil companies are making more money than they should just because the market will carry $3.90 per gallon price. We've become too attached to our cars and being able to go anywhere to do anything our little hearts desires.

I thought I could prove something by looking up all the back info about barrel prices and gallon prices. It was an eye-opener, though. Our economy fluctuates  with supply and demand. This is how capitalism works best. Trying to artificially manipulate the market only does more harm than good which anyone who's studied Keynesian economics knows. The stock market may be low today, but it will bounce back. Look at what it did after 9/11. It dropped from almost 11,000 to just above 7,000. We may have staggered, but we didn't fall and we won't now.

Well, here's a hoot.

Thirty years ago Paul Harvey gave a "rest of the story" while I was on my way home from work. It seems these two friends were quite happy in their respective jobs and were bragging back and forth about their own efficiency. One told the other that in the course of his job he could deliver a letter much quicker than the other fellow in the course of his job. The one who challenged, we'll call him Hank, declared his way was much faster and much more reliable. His friend laughed at him and said, "Hank, you drive a wagon behind a slow horse, how can you possibly beat me? I drive a jeep!" He banged his hand on the table declaring they should test it.

The two decided that their homes being 10 miles apart would be an excellent challenge so they asked each wife to write a letter to the other and mail them on a specific day at 9am.

At 9 am on a crystal clear morning, he took the letter from his wife's hand and stuffed it in his shirt pocket. Then he did his morning chores, tidied up the barn, took an inventory of supplies needed then climbed up on his wagon. He met a friend on the road and chatted. Then it was time for lunch so he drove home and ate with his wife. He took a load to town to deliver to the feed store, bought some things for his farm and took them home. He milked his cows and did the evening chores and by that time it was supper time. He stretched out in his easy chair and slept through the news and went to bed.

The next morning bright and early, he set out to his friend's house to deliver the letter. His horse wasn't Speedy Gonzales so he didn't get ten miles down the road very fast. Around lunch time, he stopped in the diner and had the Blue Plate Special and chatted with a number of fellow farmers and friends. He headed down the road about 1:30 pm and finally arrived at his friend's house at 2 pm. He handed the letter to his friend's wife and said he'd call when his wife's letter reached their house.

The letter didn't come that day, but the following day at 4 pm, Hank's wife heard the jeep in the drive way and walked out. There was Hank's friend with her letter. He was driving  the U.S. Mail jeep.

Wot's it all about, Alfie?

London is experiencing riots in an all weekend long bout that is still boiling today. According to the AP...

Though the initial unrest was sparked by Duggan's shooting, some blamed unemployment, insensitive policing and opportunistic looting for the worst violence the city has seen in years. Police and politicians insisted the disorder was the work of a criminal minority and not a sign of social tensions or security lapses ahead of the 2012 Games. Daily Record

It would seem that those living where everything escalated feel it is outright greed through criminal actions that caused the escalation of the riot after a man, father of four, was shot in Northern London, a place called Tottenham. 


I can certainly appreciate hard feelings from people who have little to nothing being treated abominably by the police (look at Rodney Whosit in Los Angeles), but the perpetrators are young people who have been helping themselves to new shoes, clothing and electronics. It seems to me that Glenn Beck said something about this, in fact warned about it, a few months ago. 

Paul warned about it, too, to Timothy. I love how the Message words it.

2Ti 3:1  Don't be naive. There are difficult times ahead.
2Ti 3:2  As the end approaches, people are going to be self-absorbed, money-hungry, self-promoting, stuck-up, profane, contemptuous of parents, crude, coarse,
2Ti 3:3  dog-eat-dog, unbending, slanderers, impulsively wild, savage, cynical,
2Ti 3:4  treacherous, ruthless, bloated windbags, addicted to lust, and allergic to God.

Treacherous people allergic to God, and to His ways I might add...