Let me again state that I am not a Catholic, I left that church 43 years ago and spent the next decade as an agnostic before becoming a non-denominational Christian and then a preacher about 6 years ago. I am also a Political Scientist and hold a doctorate in Law where I also received the American Jurisprudence Award for Constitutional Law. My major focus in life since age 4 has always been government and it's role and proper place in society.
The most important issue facing anyone who thinks about government is how and when it should control individual actions. It is the issue of control and influence over political decisions. Most people, especially politicians, make decisions and justifications based on their personal beliefs and biases. The problem is that few are consistent and most rather than truly asking themselves honest questions justify their actions with false arguments. Not long ago one politician came to the defense of the clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to gay people. The politician claimed that the clerk did not have to because the law was unclear, he claimed that was the clerk's reason; but, the clerk herself said that her reason was because it was against her religious beliefs. While I consider her wrong in her actions, at least she was honest about what her reasons were. It was the politician who flat out lied.
I know some of my readers do not like the posts about spirituality. I want to assure them this post is about Christian beliefs. This is about the role of Christianity in our everyday lives. If you are an Atheist or are a non-Christian, my accusations are not against you. This is an attack on people who call themselves Christians and are not. I have said in church, if you think that believing Jesus is your savior is enough, you missed the rest of what he said. He said that many would come calling his name and he would tell them he never knew them.
Matthew 7:21-23. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Do not fool yourself if you are truly a Christian then you will be changed and things only get harder because you are asked to put others ahead of yourself. Christianity calls for the rejection of selfishness.
Matthew 19: 16-22.
16 Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good[a] Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?”
17 So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good?[b] No one is good but One, that is, God.[c] But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
18 He said to Him, “Which ones?”
Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ 19 ‘Honor your father and your mother,’[d] and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”[e]
20 The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth.[f] What do I still lack?”
21 Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
While conservative Christians say that Jesus is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, why do so many deny that this simple statement by Jesus does not apply to them today. Jesus also said that we were to be good slaves and that the government had the right to take money from you as it is the government that issues the money, it also controls it. Jesus did not come to set us free from government control and submitted to it till he died. Jesus and his disciples did not live as businessmen, though all worked, they lived a communal existence and shared all. In fact the members of the first church gave all they had to the church and lived communally. Jesus was not anti-capitalism, he was pro community. The bible also says that if you live by the sword you will die by the sword, yet, we have conservatives who claim to be Christians that promote murder and wars, not just of defense; but, also to protect the national interest including economic interests.
I am against abortion and the death penalty because God is against both. I am a follower of Christ first and a supporter of nation second. If you think you are a follower of Christ and support the death penalty, you are a hypocrite. It was the government that allowed Jesus to be put to death and made sure it happened. It was government officials that nailed Jesus to the cross, not Jews and under their laws, it was legal.
Our clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to gays issued multiple licenses to adulterers who remarried. Yet, the ten commandments and Jesus specifically said that adultery was still in the top ten of violations of God's commandments. Jesus stopped the stoning of the adulterer because murder was also still in the top ten. Homosexuality never made the top ten.
As for abortion, I would not outlaw it. No matter how much I believe it to be wrong, I don't believe I have the right to control another's body. China mandated that abortions be performed if people already had one child even against the mother's will. Babies are people from the moment of conception. Species is determined by dna and genetically babies are human from the moment of conception; but, they are not citizens until birth and therefore are beyond this government's control. Heck, how can conservatives declare children born here to foreign people to not be citizens and then claim that they can have authority over babies that have not been born yet?
Jesus did not call for a theocracy in Israel until he returns. He submitted to Roman law and it was most definitely neither Jewish or Christian. Jesus did not upset the powers because he threatened to overthrow them in his day; but, because he threatened their beliefs. He questioned their choices. He threatened most of all the conservative priests who followed tradition over loving all. When you call for war, you reject Christ and his teachings. When you call for death, you reject Christ and his teachings. When you promote adultery, you reject Christ and his teachings. When you call for selfishness, you reject Christ and his teachings. When you lie, you reject Christ and his teachings and when you do not honor your parents, you reject Christ and his teachings. If you don't understand this, try re-reading the passages from Matthew 19 again.
There is only one sin and that is the rejection of the holy spirit, that is a rejection of God. Only people who know of God can reject him. Many conservatives were upset that the Pope called on people to take care of one another and to reject selfishness. The Pope was invited to speak at Congress and he agreed to. What did people think he was going to say? If Jesus came back today and spoke before congress, do you really think he would promote capitalism, communism or any other ism? Do you think he would call for the death penalty or selfishness?
I do not believe the Pope has any new revelations from God, I do not believe his word supersedes the bible. I am not a follower of the Pope. I see him under the same rules that all preachers are under. I thought he spoke well of his beliefs in congress and did not hear him say anything that violated the bible and what it teaches. He called for loving our neighbors, protecting life and trying to find a way to work together. Things that extremists of all types will hate whether they be ideological extremists or theological ones. When Jesus returns, he will have harsher words for those who reject love and forgiveness. If you reject those concepts, do not call yourself a Christian because I assure you, Jesus will not call you a follower of his.
Thursday, September 24, 2015
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Medication Prices and Why You Don't Matter
New York Times - Drug Goes From $13.50 a Tablet to $750, Overnight.
What is a life work, what about the life of your children or your spouse or your friends and relatives? One company wanted to increase the cost of a Tuberculosis drug so high as to make it unattainable for most people. Tuberculosis is contagious. Do you want people walking around and contaminating the rest of us because they cannot afford treatment. Well, it seems that is okay with some pharmaceutical companies. Another question is where are the politicians running for office on this issue.
What is a life work, what about the life of your children or your spouse or your friends and relatives? One company wanted to increase the cost of a Tuberculosis drug so high as to make it unattainable for most people. Tuberculosis is contagious. Do you want people walking around and contaminating the rest of us because they cannot afford treatment. Well, it seems that is okay with some pharmaceutical companies. Another question is where are the politicians running for office on this issue.
The Need For Regulation
Yahoo - AP - Former peanut exec gets 28 years in prison for outbreak.
This first article is about a company that sold food it knew was tainted with Salmonella to customers. They also faked test results on food. As a result people died and hundreds got sick. In the corporate world this makes sense because the only thing they believe is that they must increase profits for the stockholders.
New York Times - Volkswagen’s Scandal Similar to One Involving Libor
In case you haven't read the story, Volkswagen was caught installing software on their cars to fake emission testing. They are now facing fines of up to $18 Billion.
Yahoo - AP - Bush says too many regulations are hurting US economy.
Jeb Bush is issuing a plan to further reduce regulations on business and wants to eliminate even more regulations on banks. The crash of 2007 and 2008 was directly caused by deregulation of banking and Jeb's solution is to further reduce regulation of the same people. If you continue doing the same thing and expect a different result, you are insane.
This first article is about a company that sold food it knew was tainted with Salmonella to customers. They also faked test results on food. As a result people died and hundreds got sick. In the corporate world this makes sense because the only thing they believe is that they must increase profits for the stockholders.
New York Times - Volkswagen’s Scandal Similar to One Involving Libor
In case you haven't read the story, Volkswagen was caught installing software on their cars to fake emission testing. They are now facing fines of up to $18 Billion.
Yahoo - AP - Bush says too many regulations are hurting US economy.
Jeb Bush is issuing a plan to further reduce regulations on business and wants to eliminate even more regulations on banks. The crash of 2007 and 2008 was directly caused by deregulation of banking and Jeb's solution is to further reduce regulation of the same people. If you continue doing the same thing and expect a different result, you are insane.
Monday, September 21, 2015
A Simple Fire and Business Ethics
Most arsons of commercial properties tend to be done by the owners. Often the reason is that a failing business needs the insurance money, other times it is done to make way for new developments. In Los Angeles a few years ago a developer was told that he would not be allowed to remove a historical building so he bulldozed it anyways and then paid the fine. In the end, he was allowed to develop the property anyways, the City Council just waited until the public forgot, it didn't take long.
A very long time ago I lived, for a short while, in Haverhill, Massachusetts. It was actually in the national papers being listed as the worst city in America. It was an old mill town that became a symbol of our lost industrial base long before the steal mills left. If you want to understand me, you have to understand what I have lived and seen. It was a desperate place that had no hope; but, somehow the hardworking old school people that lived there still had integrity and believed that they would somehow hold out, they believed in community and helped one another.
Well apparently one of the factory mills that had been there for about a hundred years (1884) and been abandoned for decades has mysteriously burned to the ground the day before the mayor of Haverhill was to meet with someone who "planned on redeveloping the property". According to CBS Boston, the fire appears to have been intentionally set. What a surprise. What lucky timing for the developer.
I am a socialist libertarian. I believe in America and I believe that people should have as much personal freedom as they can without working against American interests. If you are against this nation than I believe you should be given the choice between leaving this nation and taking nothing with you or being treated as a traitor to this nation under the Patriot Act. I don't believe you should get benefits or tax breaks from this nation for working against this nation's people.
My readers should read "The Scarlet Pimpernel". He was an aristocrat (I am not) who thought that the French went to far, were too extreme during the French revolution in killing the aristocrats who destroyed their lives. He believed in mercy and letting people leave the country rather than being guillotined. He risked his life to save bad people from suffering more than they needed to. I am with that philosophy. I am a pacifist at heart.
The problem with extremism is that it ceases to believe in compromise and seeks revenge instead. The people in charge of this country have become more and more extreme in believing that only they deserve to benefit from this country. The response, as history shows, is slow in coming; but, it always comes. The Magna Carta came about because the English monarchy was willing to compromise, the French monarchy was not. It openly told it's own citizens that they did not matter and the response was equally extreme. I don't want to see that play out in America; but, I fear it will.
A very long time ago I lived, for a short while, in Haverhill, Massachusetts. It was actually in the national papers being listed as the worst city in America. It was an old mill town that became a symbol of our lost industrial base long before the steal mills left. If you want to understand me, you have to understand what I have lived and seen. It was a desperate place that had no hope; but, somehow the hardworking old school people that lived there still had integrity and believed that they would somehow hold out, they believed in community and helped one another.
Well apparently one of the factory mills that had been there for about a hundred years (1884) and been abandoned for decades has mysteriously burned to the ground the day before the mayor of Haverhill was to meet with someone who "planned on redeveloping the property". According to CBS Boston, the fire appears to have been intentionally set. What a surprise. What lucky timing for the developer.
I am a socialist libertarian. I believe in America and I believe that people should have as much personal freedom as they can without working against American interests. If you are against this nation than I believe you should be given the choice between leaving this nation and taking nothing with you or being treated as a traitor to this nation under the Patriot Act. I don't believe you should get benefits or tax breaks from this nation for working against this nation's people.
My readers should read "The Scarlet Pimpernel". He was an aristocrat (I am not) who thought that the French went to far, were too extreme during the French revolution in killing the aristocrats who destroyed their lives. He believed in mercy and letting people leave the country rather than being guillotined. He risked his life to save bad people from suffering more than they needed to. I am with that philosophy. I am a pacifist at heart.
The problem with extremism is that it ceases to believe in compromise and seeks revenge instead. The people in charge of this country have become more and more extreme in believing that only they deserve to benefit from this country. The response, as history shows, is slow in coming; but, it always comes. The Magna Carta came about because the English monarchy was willing to compromise, the French monarchy was not. It openly told it's own citizens that they did not matter and the response was equally extreme. I don't want to see that play out in America; but, I fear it will.
Looking Out For You and Your Families Interests
Political choices are a lot like business choices. In the end people make choices based on personal interests. Business is very cut and dry on this. Many CEOs have gone on record that what is best for this country is not a consideration in business, their only duty, they will tell you, is to the stock holders. Following that logic, a citizens interest is only for them and their family. So here is the question, is this country working for you?
For 99% of us the answer is no, not anymore. Why else would congress only have 7% of us supporting them? Clearly half of us are under direct attack from the system. Our congress and business leaders want to eliminate all the benefits that one achieves from working hard all your life for your family. They want to end social security (which we pay for), welfare (which more and more will need as we outsource jobs to foreign countries), food stamps (which is the only way many poor can eat at all) and our ability to organize to complain. The political system and the financial system have both been caught for being rigged to only benefit a very small percentage of us.
Are you hopeful that your children will have it better off than you? Do you think they will? While our children are sent off to foreign countries to die and fight for big oil, upon returning they are ignored. It is unlikely they will go to college or get a job that pays well. The truth is that if you are under 40, your prospects are not that good unless you hit the lottery or make very rich friends. These are the real driving forces behind the Tea Party, the Occupy Movement, Trump's doing well in the polls and Bernie Sanders support and I now fear that the establishment will not listen or understand any of it, just as Louis the 16th never got it.
When things in a country go bad, people wait for improvement, they support trying all kinds of things until they see that nothing they do improves their situation or gives them hope for their children. When they figure out there is no way to improve their children's lot in life, they stop supporting the government and accept that they must cheat the system or change it through any means possible. Cervantes, the author of Don Quixote, understood this and in the book he says that Sancho Panchez was as honest as a poor man could be. The Soviet Union failed not because of a revolt; but, because none of its people would support it. The same is true for ancient Rome, it fell from a lack of support on the inside and that allowed for attacks to be successful from the outside.
Donald Trump is both right and wrong about something. He believes our politicians are stupid and that is why he believes the Chinese are beating us. If we are as a nation are competing with China, why are we sending them our jobs and why are we sending our technologies there? Even the dumbest person does not give his strengths to his opponent to use against him. Our corporate leasers see it to be in their personal interests to sell us out as a nation.
If you doubt me, go back a post or two and see what Jamie Dimon said about how this nation is doing, the said better than ever. He also said that we should continue electing politicians that go with the status quo. Kids, the status quo is not working for just about all of us and we all know it, that is why we have ceased having confidence in congress.
The un-Patriot-ic Act says that if you work for the interest of a foreign government against those of the United States you can go to jail, without due process and be held without a trial indefinitely. As a consequence we have jailed people for wanting to leave the United States to work with certain Arab factions; but we give tax breaks to companies that send American jobs to China. Think about it.
For 99% of us the answer is no, not anymore. Why else would congress only have 7% of us supporting them? Clearly half of us are under direct attack from the system. Our congress and business leaders want to eliminate all the benefits that one achieves from working hard all your life for your family. They want to end social security (which we pay for), welfare (which more and more will need as we outsource jobs to foreign countries), food stamps (which is the only way many poor can eat at all) and our ability to organize to complain. The political system and the financial system have both been caught for being rigged to only benefit a very small percentage of us.
Are you hopeful that your children will have it better off than you? Do you think they will? While our children are sent off to foreign countries to die and fight for big oil, upon returning they are ignored. It is unlikely they will go to college or get a job that pays well. The truth is that if you are under 40, your prospects are not that good unless you hit the lottery or make very rich friends. These are the real driving forces behind the Tea Party, the Occupy Movement, Trump's doing well in the polls and Bernie Sanders support and I now fear that the establishment will not listen or understand any of it, just as Louis the 16th never got it.
When things in a country go bad, people wait for improvement, they support trying all kinds of things until they see that nothing they do improves their situation or gives them hope for their children. When they figure out there is no way to improve their children's lot in life, they stop supporting the government and accept that they must cheat the system or change it through any means possible. Cervantes, the author of Don Quixote, understood this and in the book he says that Sancho Panchez was as honest as a poor man could be. The Soviet Union failed not because of a revolt; but, because none of its people would support it. The same is true for ancient Rome, it fell from a lack of support on the inside and that allowed for attacks to be successful from the outside.
Donald Trump is both right and wrong about something. He believes our politicians are stupid and that is why he believes the Chinese are beating us. If we are as a nation are competing with China, why are we sending them our jobs and why are we sending our technologies there? Even the dumbest person does not give his strengths to his opponent to use against him. Our corporate leasers see it to be in their personal interests to sell us out as a nation.
If you doubt me, go back a post or two and see what Jamie Dimon said about how this nation is doing, the said better than ever. He also said that we should continue electing politicians that go with the status quo. Kids, the status quo is not working for just about all of us and we all know it, that is why we have ceased having confidence in congress.
The un-Patriot-ic Act says that if you work for the interest of a foreign government against those of the United States you can go to jail, without due process and be held without a trial indefinitely. As a consequence we have jailed people for wanting to leave the United States to work with certain Arab factions; but we give tax breaks to companies that send American jobs to China. Think about it.
Sunday, September 20, 2015
Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Says This Is The Best Time For America.
Yahoo - Business Insider - JAMIE DIMON: 'America has the best hand ever dealt right now'.
Jamie Dimon, he CEO of JP Morgan recently made the following quotation:
"Make a list of everything important, rule of law, low corruption, unbelievable innovation, entrepreneurship ... the deepest capital markets — I'm not talking about banks. I'm talking about venture capital, private equity, companies, individuals, the best science, technology, engineering, math the world has. In fact, we train 40% of them [to] go back overseas."
His quote shows just how out of touch with Americans he is. We have the highest percentage of people without jobs in just about our whole history. We have the highest income inequality since the early industrial revolution. We have been involved in the longest wars in our history and the highest debt in our history. What Mr. Dimon is talking about is what is important to him. Let's look at the specifics of what he is saying.
1. Rule of Law. Well Mr. Dimon has overseen his company while it has had to pay over $25 Billion in fines for rigging all the financial markets. The law may be harder on the rest of us; but, no bankers went to jail for destroying this nations economy.
2. Low corruption. Again, more corruption than ever before has occurred since 2002. The housing bubble and stock market insider trading have been rampant and again with few if any jailed for it.
Those are the two things he listed as the most important. He never talked about the things that matter to most of us because those things are not his concerns.
Jamie Dimon, he CEO of JP Morgan recently made the following quotation:
"Make a list of everything important, rule of law, low corruption, unbelievable innovation, entrepreneurship ... the deepest capital markets — I'm not talking about banks. I'm talking about venture capital, private equity, companies, individuals, the best science, technology, engineering, math the world has. In fact, we train 40% of them [to] go back overseas."
His quote shows just how out of touch with Americans he is. We have the highest percentage of people without jobs in just about our whole history. We have the highest income inequality since the early industrial revolution. We have been involved in the longest wars in our history and the highest debt in our history. What Mr. Dimon is talking about is what is important to him. Let's look at the specifics of what he is saying.
1. Rule of Law. Well Mr. Dimon has overseen his company while it has had to pay over $25 Billion in fines for rigging all the financial markets. The law may be harder on the rest of us; but, no bankers went to jail for destroying this nations economy.
2. Low corruption. Again, more corruption than ever before has occurred since 2002. The housing bubble and stock market insider trading have been rampant and again with few if any jailed for it.
Those are the two things he listed as the most important. He never talked about the things that matter to most of us because those things are not his concerns.
Clocks and Bombs - Ahmed Mohammed and Stupid Media
By now everybody has heard about the 14 year old Muslim student, Ahmed Mohammed who made a clock, brought it to school, one teacher thought it was a bomb and he was taken out in handcuffs. I don't usually write about these types of news stories because there is too much out there already. To tell you the truth, I didn't even bother reading any of the news about this until today. I read the story because a famous Atheist named Richard Dawkins decided to write about it and actually said that people should have been scared, then Bill Maher said that the teachers should have been scared because Muslims are responsible for all the bombings in the last 30 years. These two morons were not alone in their stupidity. Others have claimed that this was all done intentionally to make a viral sensation.
Now here is where the garbage story falls apart. The first teacher in the school to see it was the engineering teacher. He actually told the kid he had done a good job. It was an English teacher that thought it was a bomb. That might make sense; but, here is what does not. The kid told them it was for his engineering class, didn't anyone bother asking the engineering teacher before arresting the kid? When they opened it and didn't find any EXPLOSIVES, why did they arrest him anyways? If he really wanted it to look like a bomb wouldn't he have put phony dynamite sticks or clay that had C4 written on it, something that looked like an explosive? I should also point out that the media claimed it was in a suitcase, it wasn't, it was in a large pencil case.
The schools explanation was that the student handbook prohibited kids from bringing in "suspicious" looking items. Huh? If kids take engineering classes and build stuff it would all look homemade and weird. I should also point out that the school gave the kid a 3 day suspension even after they knew it was just a clock made to impress his engineering teacher. While the school invited the kid to return they never apologized. Now, we can look at this as anti-Muslim, Arab paranoia or any other racial thing; but, in my opinion they would have arrested a white looking Christian too. The real paranoia involved was school paranoia and increasing restrictions and control of students.
Here is the thing about the media anymore, everything is put into very small boxes. Everytime a cop kills an unarmed black man, it is a black versus white thing. The conservative media makes it about people being anti-cop. It is neither. The fact is that the police have increasingly been shooting all people, whites, Asians, you name it; however, it is disproportionately blacks. The problem is bigger, it is police who shoot first and ask questions later. The police have become increasingly militarized and increasingly oppressive.
The media focuses it all on race and ignores the bigger issues because racial tensions get better ratings and people allow their responses to be more polarized. About the only reason I still write this blog is because I continually hope that people will begin to see how the media manipulates us to miss the real issues.
Now here is where the garbage story falls apart. The first teacher in the school to see it was the engineering teacher. He actually told the kid he had done a good job. It was an English teacher that thought it was a bomb. That might make sense; but, here is what does not. The kid told them it was for his engineering class, didn't anyone bother asking the engineering teacher before arresting the kid? When they opened it and didn't find any EXPLOSIVES, why did they arrest him anyways? If he really wanted it to look like a bomb wouldn't he have put phony dynamite sticks or clay that had C4 written on it, something that looked like an explosive? I should also point out that the media claimed it was in a suitcase, it wasn't, it was in a large pencil case.
The schools explanation was that the student handbook prohibited kids from bringing in "suspicious" looking items. Huh? If kids take engineering classes and build stuff it would all look homemade and weird. I should also point out that the school gave the kid a 3 day suspension even after they knew it was just a clock made to impress his engineering teacher. While the school invited the kid to return they never apologized. Now, we can look at this as anti-Muslim, Arab paranoia or any other racial thing; but, in my opinion they would have arrested a white looking Christian too. The real paranoia involved was school paranoia and increasing restrictions and control of students.
Here is the thing about the media anymore, everything is put into very small boxes. Everytime a cop kills an unarmed black man, it is a black versus white thing. The conservative media makes it about people being anti-cop. It is neither. The fact is that the police have increasingly been shooting all people, whites, Asians, you name it; however, it is disproportionately blacks. The problem is bigger, it is police who shoot first and ask questions later. The police have become increasingly militarized and increasingly oppressive.
The media focuses it all on race and ignores the bigger issues because racial tensions get better ratings and people allow their responses to be more polarized. About the only reason I still write this blog is because I continually hope that people will begin to see how the media manipulates us to miss the real issues.
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