Is Mark Twain still around!!? Thoughts on Government, the Sequestration, and all...

I ran across a Mark Twain quote today, and surprisingly, it really seems relevant today. The quote is: "Reader, suppose you were an idiot.. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself."  It seems that even a hundred plus years ago our Congress was demagogue and criticized...

So why do we have such issues with our Congress, even though the system itself seems to work? Clearly our system of Government, our system of Democracy was and is well thought out and balanced. The problems come not from the system but those that implement it- the people elected to offices... Our elected officials seem to forget the mandate of the people who put them there, get caught up in the greed and corruption that is rampant in Washington D.C., and become afraid to do anything that might hurt their re-election chances. We're so messed up and spending out of control that our President is crying out about tens of thousands of layoffs, governmental cut-backs, welfare and government program cuts, et al. if these sequester cuts happen. My response? Bull S**t Mr. President! These cuts represent less than a 3% budget cut!
Listening to our elected officials say we're making cuts with a hatchet instead of a scalpel is ludicrous and insulting to any intelligent American today. During the last five years, during this recession how many families have had to cut back 20%, 30%, or more? Our average income has dropped over $3000 a year, our taxes and insurance (including health- thank you Obamacare!) have risen, our utilities, gasoline, and groceries have all skyrocketed, resulting in a much lower cost of living. And our government can't find 3% to cut? Instead our President says we need more revenues- a fancy way of saying he wants to raise taxes! He preaches to the middle class and poor that we need to tax the "rich" because they have it and you don't. Well friends, beware- that's Socialism, pure and simple. You might get the hand out today but this same government will take it from you tomorrow when it needs it and you got it. Don't be fooled by the flowery words and rhetoric- Washington wants more money because the greed is rampant and they want to spend more and more!
Now, to scare people into going along with his agenda this Administration has released criminal illegal aliens that were in jail and marked for deportment back into society because they "are afraid the money won't be there to house these illegals due to Government cutbacks caused by the sequestration cuts". But these illegals were released before any cuts even took effect! Clearly a political ploy by the White House and the President. Only the White House issued a statement saying the President didn't know anything about this. Well Mr President, this falls under Homeland Security and you should know what's going on in your own home, your own Cabinet. Just like you claimed to know nothing of Benghazi- this smacks of "plausible deniability". Intelligent Americans should see right through this charade and hold you accountable for releasing these criminals, this act of terrorism perpetrated on American soil!
So how do we limit the damage our elected officials seem to do to our "process"?

 I propose the following:
1.Term limits on government service. Limit 10 years in any branch. That means term limits on our Supreme Court justices too.
2. Any law enacted by Congress is a law that applies to all people- Congress cannot exempt itself out.
3. Cut out the extravagant "lifetime" pensions and benefits of Congress. Give a pension equal to time served- up to 10 years. And only one government pension per person. Also, a person must serve at least two years in a position to qualify for a pension at that level (stops promoting someone for a week or two before retirement to get a higher pension amount).
4. Stop giving out foreign aid to any country that is not an ally or working toward a democratic society. It's insanity that we give aid to our enemies!
5. If our Senate doesn't put forward a budget as they are Constitutionally required to then they don't get paid.  We currently pay our senators for not doing their job!
6. Limit the amount of money candidates can spend on elections or have in their "war chests" to, say, $25 million. Anything over that amount will be applied to the national debt until it is paid. I believe limiting the amount each candidate can spend will do several things- first it will level the playing field so more than just the "rich" can run for office, and second, by limiting monies available to spend it will force candidates to really consider what to spend their money on- their platform and positions, or negative, mud-slinging campaign ads... If you can't get your message across with $25 mil you shouldn't be running! we can't afford people who can't budget anymore!
7. No more welfare "hand outs". If people need help I'm all for giving it to them, but they should give something in return.  Instead of just passing out welfare checks let's have these people clean our parks, or pick up trash along our roadways. Let's have them help clean our public buildings and government facilities. Allowing people to earn their checks will instill some self-worth in them that hand outs just can't create. And if people don't like what they have to do for their money I'm sure they'll find another way to earn money.
8. No more tax refunds for people who don't pay taxes. We have child credits, earned income credits, etc., that allow people who never pay a penny of taxes to collect refunds! How do you refund something from nothing? (Only in America!)
9. And speaking of taxes- If you don't pay taxes you don't get to vote. Tax payers should get to say how their money is being spent, but with now some 47% of Americans not paying taxes it is getting more and more difficult to curb the policies of the freeloaders and their politicians...
10. Stop buying oil from our enemies. We're sitting on more oil than anyone (with the possible exception of Saudi Arabia) and rather than develop our own and become energy independent our President cancelled leases and virtually stopped private exploration and development (at a cost of thousands of private sector jobs- who paid income taxes, and sales taxes, etc which would "increase revenues" like the President claims he wants).

There's some ideas to head us down the road to recovery and limit the greed and coruption in Washington. But we're all flawed, and we must realize that anyone we send to represent us may be susceptible to the temptations that greed presents... If sin were ugly it would be easy to resist... But enough rambling for today...
Food for thought.

The Apology...

One of the hardest things for most people to do is to apologize. And even if we grudgingly apologize we don't always send out the correct message. Most people are smart enough to recognize when an apology is insincere, and those that are insincere usually do more harm than good...
So when is an apology needed, and what does a good one look like? When we do something wrong, or we wrong another person an apology is in order. An apology should examine our behavior, empathize with the wronged party, and recognize our need to change. When we come across as insincere in any of these areas we tend to add insult to injury. And we're often insincere because our focus is on ourselves- we have to admit wrong, we have to say "I'm sorry", we have to change behavior. Our focus is all about ourselves, and admitting wrong is always difficult for our self esteem, our self image.
But the apology isn't about us, for except for alieviating guilt in our heart (which, incidentally, is important), we really don't benefit greatly from apologizing. So what is the benefit? If we change our focus, if we truly empathize with the one who's wronged, we see how greatly beneficial a sincere apology is. When we sincerely say "I'm sorry" we are not just acknowledging our wrong; what we are doing is communicating to the wronged party that "I care". We're saying to them that they are important to us, that our relationship has value. Others want to know that the relationship they are investing in, whether business, personal, or social, is with someone who cares.
One element of a successful relationship is that both parties feel the other is as committed to it as the other, and our ability, or willingness, to apologize strengthens that feeling. By apologizing we're telling our wronged that we recognize and feel bad about our error or behavior, we acknowledge we hurt them, and they are important enough to us for us to change that wrong behavior so that our future endeavors will be better. And when we're sincere an apology becomes a steppingstone to a stronger, better relationship.
Food for thought...

Wisdom from Bill Cosby...

This was forwarded to me this week and, as Bill Cosby has always had my admiration and respect, I felt it worth passing on... Truly food for thought...

"I've worked hard since I was 17.  Except for when I was doing my National Service, I put in 50-hour weeks, and didn't call in sick in nearly 40 years. I made a reasonable salary, but I didn't inherit my job or my income, and I worked to get here I am.  Given the economy, it looks as though retirement was a bad idea, and I'm tired. Very tired.

I'm tired of being told that I have to "spread the wealth" to people who don't have my work ethic.  I'm tired of being told the government will take the money I earned, by force if necessary, and give it to people too lazy to earn it.

I'm tired of being told that Islam is a "Religion of Peace," when every day I can read dozens of stories of Muslim men killing their sisters, wives and daughters for their family "honor"; of Muslims rioting over some slight offense; Muslims murdering Christian and Jews because they aren't "believers"; Muslims burning schools for girls; Muslims stoning teenage rape victims to death for "adultery"; Muslims mutilating the genitals of little girls; all in the name of Allah, because the Qur'an and Shari'a law tells them to.

I'm tired of being told that out of "tolerance for other cultures" we must let Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries use our oil money to fund mosques and Madrasa Islamic schools to preach hate in Australia , New Zealand , UK, America and Canada , while no one from these countries are allowed to fund a church, synagogue or religious school in Saudi Arabia or any other Arab country to teach love and tolerance..

I'm tired of being told I must lower my living standard to fight global warming, which no one is allowed to debate.

I'm tired of being told that drug addicts have a disease, and I must help support and treat them, and pay for the damage they do.  Did a giant germ rush out of a dark alley, grab them, and stuff white powder up their noses or stick a needle in their arm while they tried to fight it off?

I'm tired of hearing wealthy athletes, entertainers and politicians of all parties talking about innocent mistakes, stupid mistakes or youthful mistakes, when we all know they think their only mistake was getting caught.  I'm tired of people with a sense of entitlement, rich or poor. I'm really tired of people who don't take responsibility for their lives and actions.  I'm tired of hearing them blame the government, or discrimination or big-whatever for their problems.

I'm also tired and fed up with seeing young men and women in their teens and early 20's be-deck themselves in tattoos and face studs, thereby making themselves unemployable and claiming money from the Government.

Yes, I'm damn tired.  But I'm also glad to be 83.  Because, mostly, I'm not going to have to see the world these people are making.  I'm just sorry for my granddaughter and their children.  Thank God I'm on the way out and not on the way in.  There is no way this will be widely publicized, unless each of us sends it on!  This is your chance to make a difference.

“I’m 83 and I'm tired. If you don't agree, you are part of the problem!"

 

What is Wrong With America!?

Time to share some thoughts, rants, and ideas on the current "State of the Union"...

How stupid are we, as Americans? I listened to the State of the Union address by Obama and couldn't help wondering how stupid we are to buy into the dribble and outright lies we were fed. We were told by our President that he has reduced our deficit by some two trillion dollars over the next ten years- and we were supposed to applaud this "fiscal vigilance". Are we supposed to forget that this same President has increased our deficit by over six trillion in just four years? So the bottom line is, by spending us six trillion dollars deeper in debt instead of eight trillion Obama has cut the deficit. The only bigger crime than our government's out of control spending is the acceptance of the American masses of the lies they're fed by that government...
And how about all the new programs touted by Obama in his speech, prefaced by the statement that "they won't cost the the taxpayers a single dime more". What a line of bull! We're in such a fiscal mess now, needing to continually raise our debt ceiling or default on our debt and he's going to start a dozen new and costly programs? Hey, here's an idea- put off the new spending and apply that money to our debt! Duh. But many, many Americans buy into the lies...

Obama campaigned on raising taxes on the "rich", making them pay "a little more", or their "fair share". He got that tax increase at the beginning of the year, yet it didn't solve our fiscal problems, just like it was predicted it wouldn't. Now he wants more- and after the rich comes the middle class- you know, that group he promised to protect, that group he swore he wouldn't raise taxes on... And yet that's exactly who is now paying more, thanks to his policies, only we're too stupid to realize who's to blame. Obama socks it to us and cries that it's the Republicans' fault and the masses agree. But it wasn't the Republicans who allowed your payroll tax relief to expire, costing every hard working American more in taxes every paycheck- it was Obama. It wasn't the Republicans who have hiked gas prices up to $4 a gallon- it was proposed by the Democrats a decade ago to artificially inflate our gas prices to get us in line with the rest of the world, and that's exactly what Obama has done, despite the fact that we've privately developed more oil and natural gas reserves in our own country than ever before. He's cancelled oil drilling leases and halted exploration, cut it in half- then announces he's going to allow more leases and drilling, like he's going to make us energy independent. Meanwhile, his actions have driven some companies into bankruptcy... When you don't make more money but have to pay more for gas, groceries, utilities, et al., you've effectively had a tax increase...

And how about Obamacare? What a colossal white elephant that's turned out to be! Thanks, Nancy Pelosi, for shoving it down our throats before we could examine it. Now that the states and companies have examined it we find what a money suck it really is. Last I heard 30 states have rejected it, meaning the federal government has to set up their insurance boards and monitor it- a cost states just can't afford (nor can the federal government, so prepare to pay more!). Companies are cutting employee hours, or reducing staff to get under the mandatory regulations to supply insurance, so employees are losing money and/or jobs thanks to Obamacare. Larger companies have discovered it only costs half as much to pay the fine per employee ($2000 ea) than offer the insurance (average over $4000 per idividual, over $11000 per family). this week the federal government announced that they couldn't insure anymore people with pre-existing conditions as they had promised to until 2014, (when insurance companies can't deny coverage for pre-existing conditions), because the four billion dollars they set aside to fund it is running out. They estimate some several hundred thousand people won't get the insurance they were promised under Obamacare now...
And how about when insurance companies start accepting high risk patients? Are we so stupid as to believe they won't pass those higher costs on to us, the consumers, in the form of higher premiums? My company's insurance went up over 13% this year, and that's with a great claim record. I've been told we were lucky that was all it went up! Wait until the pool is filled with high risk patients- no one will be able to afford this "affordable" health insurance.

So how can we fix Washington? The bottom line is we've got a massive spending problem and the majority of our politicians are afraid to tackle it. We don't have a revenue problem, we don't need more taxes. We need to control our spending. Listen to our politicians- on both sides- talk about reducing out deficit over the next ten years. That's a load of bull too. They're just kicking the problem down the road for the next Congress, or the one after that to tackle. They're cowards, plain and simple. How about cutting the deficit this year? How about cutting spending down to what we take in?
And let's talk about "Entitlements". Our politicians need to learn what an entitlement is. Our servicemen protect and defend our country- they are entitled to their pentions for their service. Hard-working Americans who pay into social security all their adult life are entitled to their social security.
Welfare, food stamps, link cards, government programs - these are not "entitlements", these are handouts, and should be addressed as such. If you want to fix Washington start by halting handouts, or put people to work for their welfare checks. Let them clean up our parks, or pick up trash, anything to allow them to earn it, rather than just give it to them. When you get something for nothing it isn't an entitlement, it's a handout...
I think our politicians need to grow a pair and man up and tackle our nation's problems. That's what we elected them to do- so do it. Not in ten years, not in five- do it now. And our President should try leading for a change, instead of "campaigning" his way through his term. Leading means uniting the parties, uniting the people, instead of the constant demagoguing... Enough ranting for today...
Food for thought...

Why are Relationships Inequitable?

I've written in the past about inequitable relationships, and concluded that relationships tend to be inequitable when one party has more invested, or has more to lose than the other. Purely and simply that's what creates the inequitability, but now I want to delve more deeply into the question of "why?".
The crux of the problem of inequitability lies not within another but rather within ourselves. While it is true the one we find ourselves in relationship might be a cad, or insincere, or insensitive, the problem lies inherent in each one of us, not just in our partner. We are all capable of sabotaging a good relationship with our words or actions. An example:
I was in a relationship some time ago with a "good Christian woman" I'd met on a Christian dating site. We'd dated for some time and on a number of occasions I gave her monies to help her out of financial difficulties. One day I became aware that I was missing money from my home. After several occurrences I bought a nanny cam and found that indeed she was taking monies unsolicited. Now I would have gladly given her the money, and had given her much more than she took, so why would someone intentionally put a relationship at risk over something that could have been freely received? When I asked her about it her first response was to lie, to deny, and then, fairly caught tell me she planned on putting it back. She steadfastly claimed it happened only once- the time I caught her on camera- but my suspicions of money gone multiple times prompted the nanny cam purchase. Ultimately our relationship ended- not so much from the theft, for that's what it was- but from the  lying about it. For a relationship without trust is doomed...
So why did she choose to sabotage our relationship? While her answer might be different I believe it is because we are all flawed, we are all sinners, who really don't fully understand the concept of pure love. N.T.Wright said it best when he wrote: "This is the paradox of love, in which love freely given creates a context for love to be freely returned, and so on in a cycle where complete freedom and complete union do not cancel each other out but rather celebrate each other and make one another whole". Think about that. Have you, or do you, find yourself in a relationship where you are completely free while being a total couple? It's sometimes difficult to comprehend, and yet it is fully attainable even in our flawed state. An example:
I have spent this past week down in Florida visiting my parents. Now, I've known them both all my life and observed their relationship throughout the years. It hasn't always been easy, nor has it always been perfect. But now, after fifty seven years of marriage, I see my parents both totally devoted to each other while being totally independent. They support each other, love each other unconditionally, and do for each other constantly while retaining their own identities and interests. The relationship doesn't subjugate either one of them- instead it allows them the freedom to be who they are individually even as they are recognized as a couple. That is an equitable relationship.
But it didn't just happen. It took time, and work, and dedication to each other and the relationship. It took commitment. And that's what real love must have to florish- time and commitment... Equitable relationships happen when we determine we will first give our all in the hopes that our efforts will be recognized and rewarded with our partner's return of their love. Sometimes we don't get that return and there's inequitability. But when we ultimately find it there's nothing better. We need to remain vulnerable to that possibility if we want the hope of finding it... Yet remaining vulnerable can be difficult in the face of inequity, rejection, or abuse. It is the negtive cycle to love- love rebuffed creates a context of cynicism and withdrawl, and so on until we find ourselves closed off and unavailable to real love and it's possibilities...
 Food for thought..

Death, where is thy sting?

Recently I updated my will. At the same time I found myself reading another book on heaven and earth and the hereafter. I think both set me to pondering my own mortality, as well as how others may view theirs. I think that most people (at least those I've talked to- not a scientific sample, but pretty consistent) find it difficult to talk about death or what is to become of us after this life... There seems to be a fear and uncertainty in most folks, and a desire to cling to this life as long as possible. Even fellow Christians seem unsure of their future. I think man has troubled over this issue from the beginning.

This leads me to wonder why so many of my fellow Christians fear death so much. If indeed they believe the Bible is true then they should find comfort and peace at the thought of leaving this world. The Bible clearly says death has lost its victory, its sting, for Christians. We have an opportunity to leave this broken and sinful world. We will leave pain and sorrow behind. We will receive a new and glorified body- recognizable and uniquely ourselves, but different.  Christ just appeared and disappeared in a locked upper room with his new and glorified body, he just appeared to the two on the road to Emmaus- how cool is that? And we're told we will have new bodies. We will be reunited with our loved ones who went on before us, previous believers in God from all ages past. How cool is that?

I totally understand Paul's statement that he longed to go "home" (or be done on this earth) but would continue to run his race until that time that God called him home. Earlier in my life I worried that I might die before my children we raised and grown and on their own. It's been several years now since my daughter married and moved out on her own. She was my baby, the youngest of my three. Now all are on their own with their own families started and I feel content that my work here can be done. Like Paul my desire is to see beyond that curtain of death, to lift the veil and be united with my God and Creator- how cool will that be!? Death is not an end of this life, it is the rebirth into a new and wonderful life, free of evil and sin and brokeness. It is a reunion with loved ones, but most important, a reunion with our Heavenly Father. Being a Christian doesn't mean living life by a bunch of rules and "do's and don'ts", it means we recognize our sinfulness, repent, and accept the gift of eternal life given us by Jesus' death and ressrection. It means that we will live on after this life- whether in heaven or here on this re-glorified earth I don't know- but I do know it will be in the presence of my Heavenly Father, the Uncreated... It beats the hell out of this life, that's for sure!
Food for thought...