What difference does homosexual marriage make?

JP: What difference does homosexual marriage make? How would someone getting married to someone else affect you in anyway? Never understood why we as conservatives are so hell bent on less government, but then turn around and try to twist government into a watchdog for religious or social dogma. If we want less government, then stay out of the bedroom. What 2 consenting adults do, in their own time, is none of your, or my business.

"Twisting"? 

• JP, you twist government into a watchdog for so-called homosexual rights. That twists government into a bigger government.
   
• You want to twist homosexual acts (the bedroom privacy sham) into the same thing as homosexual marriage. That twists logic.
   
• You twist government recognition of families that can create children into the same thing as a police state. That twists truth into a lie.
   
• You twist the effects on insurance rates, employment rights, and freedom of association into having no affect on others. That twists short-sightedness into a gag order.
   

In short, your cliches are just plain twisted.

Obama: You Didn't Build That

People think that Me-me-me-my-my-my-I-I-I-bama's speech makes sense only because his speechwriters sugarcoat false reasoning. His error stems from the hidden socialist dogma that the business is not responsible for the roads, utilities, regulators, delivered in tones of fake outrage. Rather, he implies, the contributions of employees, utility workers, bureaucrats, etc, add significant value to the business. This assumption deceives for two reasons.

First, the business pays, through taxes to the government, wages to employees, interest and fees to lenders, and dividends to stockholders, for all those things Ibama says contributed to building the business. A new business may pay afterwards instead of before, but it still pays. It says that if you pay somebody to do make something you thought of, they get all the credit, as though you had nothing to do with it.

This couldn't be more wrong. If you buy a painting, you own it. If you buy a pizza, you have the right to eat it. Likewise, if you pay for all those ancillary contributions, then you get the credit for building the business.

Second, all those external factors would exist whether you build the business or don't. The contribution is mutual because, without the business, unused roads and utilities would be failures due to lack of use and would be failures due to lack of sponsorship. The electric company, the construction companies, employees, and bureaucrats profit from the presence of the business.

By Ibama's reasoning, when you build that business, you get to take credit for all those other things, too. But Ibama is a committed Marxist, so he loses his sense of reality amid all the big words and false intellectualism. "You didn't build that" is sophistic: It sounds brilliant, but when you slow down and think, you hear the foolishness.

In Business, Take Time to Do the Calculations


Reference:  Weiser, Matt . California Parks Director Resigns Amid Scandal. Sacramento Bee. Friday, 20 July 2012.

As California balances between eternal debt and bankruptcy, the Democrats in Sacramento look for excuses to raise taxes and spending. One such excuse, the shortfall of funds to keep California State Parks open, has forced many volunteers into fundraising and forced local governments into shifting their own funds into keeping state parks open to  draw tourist dollars.

The Sacramento Bee found that a deputy director at State Parks "carried out a secret vacation buyout program for employees at department headquarters last year. That buyout cost the state more than $271,000." This led to a much larger find: The State Parks department his hiding $54 million in unspent funds.

State Parks Director Ruth Coleman resigned after the Bee published news of the stash. The employee who bought back vacation time had already been demoted and later resigned. His crime, in my opinion, discriminated between his friends at the headquarters and those who work equally hard in the field.

I believe the withholding of funds could only happen in concert with Democrat attempts to extort more taxes from the public. That's how Democrats do things in California government.

The gem in the original story follows:  For the sake of argument, let's assume we have two employees:

1. Mr. Buyout sells his vacation time back to the state.
   Mr. Vacation enjoys taking time off to go protest with OWS.



2. Vacation is earned over the course of the year.
   Both employees make $50/hour.



3. Both have 160 hours/month x 12 months/year (rounding) and 40 hours vacation

This means

• Mr. Buyout works 1920 hours for 1960 hours' pay.
  Mr. Vacation works 1880 hours for 1920 hours' pay. 



• Mr. Buyout makes $98,000.
  Mr. Vacation makes $96,000. 



• Mr. Buyout has an effective pay rate of $51.042 per hour.
  Mr. Vacation has an effective pay rate of $51.064 per hour.

Mr. Buyout actually makes 2 cents per hour less.

Two cents/hour is not much, but consider a couple more factors.

First, when you add in the effects of benefits and overhead, the difference multiplies to 3 to 4 cents per hour.  Employers love forcing employees to work overtime because the benefits are paid for by the first 1920 hours' labor. With benefits costing 50% to 100% of the base pay, that means employee overtime effectively costs 33%-50% less (assuming pay at straight time rates, if any).

On a tangent, managers often put their directs in a position where overtime is forced and vacation is denied.  Both practices hinder productivity and morale.  When employees forced to work lose unused vacation, it amounts to stealing.  Therefore, vacation buyouts often form an ethically necessary action.

Second, if you multiply 2 cents/hour over a year and thousands of employees, the added productivity and lowered effective cost create a good deal for the taxpayers.

Conclusion:  The state punished the fellow who conducted the buyouts for doing a good thing. THAT, dear friend, is California government, just as much as hiding funds to force increased taxes.  The business-related point is, "do the math."  The worker who violates procedure may have done so because it was right for the company and simply, ethically right.

Review: Our Favorite Sins

Todd Hunter's "Our Favorite Sins" has the right idea. For the most part, Hunter's insights are thought-provoking and inspiring. Many of his chapter start with specific examples of sins, only to veer away from the topic at hand to discuss sin in a more general sense. This lack of organization would annoy if it weren't for the strength of the rest of his writing.

I found it difficult to put down the book as Hunter found more and more ways to explain his main point - that our evil desires come from within and must be reordered if we are to deal with and quit our sins. Hunter uses the example of Joseph, whose desires were reordered in such a way that he was able to think of God first when Potiphar's wife attempted to seduce him. He refused her.

Hunter says that we can refuse sin, too, if we reorder our desires. Hunter's suggestions, which he gives in the last quarter of the book, clearly show his Anglican background, however. While reading and memorizing prayers, listening to Scripture at church and participating in communion are all good things, Hunter seems to place their importance over that of the Bible itself, of reading the Bible for oneself. And his insistence that these "spiritual disciplines" be done on a regular daily basis morning, day and night would likely have most Christians overwhelmed.

I understand the importance of making certain things regular parts of our lives in order to grow spiritually and stay strong, but Hunter never addresses the possibility that those things can be taken too far - to the point of creating a works-based faith. He never really seems to get to the heart of solution, either. His insights on our sinful desires are wonderful, but there is so much more to be said and done beyond the few spiritual disciplines Hunter focuses on. I know this from personal experience.

So, if you can read the beginning of Hunter's book by itself, or read the whole book with what I've written in mind, you'll be able to take a lot away from this book. Just be careful.

*This book was given to me for free in exchange for my honest review of it.

Liberals Misunderstand America's Melting Pot

The melting pot is just an implement. It brings to mind a stew, since it has been contrasted with a salad bowl. However, I think the correct image comes from metallurgy, where various ingredients should blend to form an alloy such as steel.

Staying with the stew pot (I think more people can relate to cooking than to metallurgy), we have three cooks brewing a terrible mess. 

One cook, the conservative, wants to maintain the stew's distinctive balance of flavors, the recipe that made the stew a distinctively American stew.

The second cook, the newcomer, comes in numbers that upsets the balance of flavors and, in fact, refuses to abandon the flavor that he left behind. He sees only the rich nutrient content of the American stew and fails to value the recipe that made it great. That is, he brings the values that caused the conditions from which he fled and clashes with values that made America great. While conservative cooks welcome newcomers, an excess of newcomers can turn the stew into a completely different dish.

The third cook, the liberal, rejects the Judeo-Christian broth on which the soup was based. He waters down and neutralizes the distinct American flavor. He tries every other continent's distinctive dish; after all "change is good." Doing so, he leaves a hole into which the newcomers add the flavors of their impoverished, oppressed, corrupt, fan-ruled countries of origin.

We don't have a situation where we neutrally teach children about other cultures' recipes. Liberals rule the State Church (the education system). They use their power to belittle and suppress the conservative flavor. In its place, they teach the recipes of materialistic humanism and even the recipes of the newcomers. Thus, we see generations of agnostics, pictures of schoolchildren bowing in Muslim prayer, and children becoming "gay" before it is even developmentally appropriate for them to know about sex.

By suppressing the conservative values that redirected rights from the state toward the individual and by encouraging those whose native cultures produce totalitarianism, liberalism -- both political and religious -- threatens to destroy American and that for which she stands -- or used to stand.

The analogy holds up for the metallurgical melting pot, too. With the right ingredients, the product can resist oxidation, spring back into shape, or separate a nucleus from its cell's membrane. With careless formulation, it can be easily dulled, can oxidize overnight, or can even be toxic -- but that's assuming you're willing to separate it from all the unmelted dross. And liberals aren't willing.

Birthers May Finally Get Their Day in Court

The question may turn out to be, “Which Republican candidate can best beat Hillary?”

According to an action letter from Proof Positive via Conservative Contacts and the web site of Attorney OrlyTaitz, a Georgia Judge has issued a subpoena demanding Barack Obama appear in court January 26 and produce his original long form birth certificate, passport records, college registration records, and more.

Georgia became the first state to pursue Obama ineligibility complaints, and the end result may keep Barack Obama off the Georgia 2012 ballot.  A number of Georgia voters filed lawsuits questioning Barack Hussein Obama's eligibility to appear on the Georgia Presidential ballot.

Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp's office decided to pursue five of the ineligibility complaints.  Each complaint argues that Barack Hussein Obama II is ineligible to appear on the 2012 Georgia Presidential ballot. Secretary Kemp assigned 5 different hearings under five different judges so that the complaints could move forward.

Failure to appear on the Georgia ballot could bring Obama devastating media and cost him 15 electoral votes.

Dr. Orly Taitz, attorney for one of the plaintiffs in the Georgia eligibility cases working their way rapidly through the courts, posted a copy of what is reportedly a subpoena, issued by Judge Michael Malihi of Georgia.

Georgia Judge Michael Malihi ordered Obama's attorneys to appear in court January 26, holding that, according to state law, every federal and state candidate must prove eligibility for office – including Barack Obama.

The White House's badly forged "birth certificate" has not ended the debate on Barack Obama's eligibility. Rather, it has opened the door for further allegations of fraud and ineligibility.  The subpoena demands that Barack Obama personally appear in court on January 26 and bring with him a a "birther's" dream list of official documents that will prove or disprove his eligibility for office.

Unlike previous cases, where only certain documents were requested or discussed, this subpoena issued by Judge Malihi includes every document that serious eligibility experts have been discussing from the beginning. 

The list requires Obama to produce each of the following:

• Any and all certified birth records including a long form birth certificate.
• Certified school/university registration records. Certified immigration/naturalization records.
• Certified passport records
• Redacted certified Social Security card applications for each of the aliases and other legal names used by Barack Obama, including but not limited to his legal surname when adopted by step-father Lolo Soetoro

In addition, Judge Malihi has reportedly also subpoenaed Hawaii Health Department officials and commanded them to produce an original certified copy of Obama's long form birth certificate.

In an order written January 3, 2012, Malihi ruled that Georgia state law is very clear – any candidate for federal or state office must meet the qualifications of that office and that Georgia electors have the right to challenge those qualifications in court.  Accordingly, Malihi flatly denied Obama's motion to dismiss and scheduled a hearing for January 26.

Obama has some of the highest-rent attorneys in the country working to keep the question of his eligibility for office out of court.  And no wonder, because whether he was born in Hawaii or not, according to binding precedents laid out by the Supreme Court, Barack Hussein Obama II does not qualify as a natural born Citizen.

Georgia resident Kevin R. Powell wrote in his complaint, "Barack Hussein Obama II has publicly admitted his father Barack Obama Sr. was a Kenyan native and a British subject whose citizenship status was governed by The British Nationality Act of 1948.  Barack Obama Sr. never became a U.S. citizen.  Therefore, Barack Hussein Obama II is not now and never can be a natural born citizen of the United States…"

The U.S. Constitution very clearly requires, in a unique usage and application of the term, that the president must be a "natural born Citizen" to be eligible for the nation's highest office.  "Natural born Citizen" is demonstrably held by the Founders in Article II, Section 1 as distinct and different from "Citizen" and even "native born Citizen" – that is, born under jus soli, on native soil.

In the Founding era, the common law view held that a natural born Citizen was born within United States territory to parents who were themselves United States Citizens.

In the 1875 unanimous Supreme Court ruling of Minor v. Happerset, the Supreme Court explicitly held a "natural born Citizen" to be a Citizen whose parents were both U.S. Citizens at the time of the person's birth. 

This finding was, and continues to be, fully consistent with U.S. history in Supreme Court case decisions and with laws enacted and enforced by the United States Congress.

By Barack Obama's own admission, his father was a native of Kenya and was NEVER a U.S. Citizen.  Therefore, Barack Hussein Obama II would, under long-standing custom, common law, and Supreme Court precedent, automatically be ineligible to hold the office of President of the United States.

The January 26th hearing should be a blockbuster.  It is the first in the nation that proposes to consider on the merits whether Barack Hussein Obama II is eligible to be President of the United States of America.

This article was re-written from a letter from Americans United for Freedom,

http://www.AmericansUnitedForFreedom.org.

New Word: Cacostocracy

An acquaintance asked me if I could beat a forwarded definition of an ineptocracy. It wasn't bad, but I don't give the crooks and traitors in charge of the White House and Senate enough credit to call them merely inept.

Coincidentally, I was thinking about my own word, cacostocracy, that morning while listening to Whistle-blower Wednesday during KSFO's morning commute show. I guess it's about time I defined it.

cacostocracy (cack'-o-stock'-ruh-see), from Gk. kakos "bad, evil":

A political process of putrefaction in which pernicious politicians

for personal empowerment, pursue profane payments proffered by the powerful for propitious and partial treatment, and

pawn profitable persons' futures to finance the favor of degraded, desperate, and dumbed-down demographics, thereby

protecting prolonged, perverted "progress"

• - by proliferating the pampered,
• - by planting pestiferous policies to oppress productive people, and
• - by paring proletarian producers into dispossessed, dis-empowered, dependent peasants.

Review: Living with Confidence in a Chaotic World by Dr. David Jeremiah

"Living with Confidence in a Chaotic World" is not really a book about living in the end times. While Dr. David Jeremiah discusses the "chaos" of modern times, as well as Christ's return plenty, his book comes across more as a book on living out the Christian faith — a how-to book, you might say. But Jeremiah goes much deeper than your typical how-to book, providing thought-provoking truths and using Scripture to remind readers of what it means to be a Christian.

Jeremiah asserts that, although the world may seem chaotic, Christians should stay calm, show compassion and love, stay constructive (that is, build each other up as the body of Christ), stay challenged and diligent in the faith, stay connected in a Christian community (there's no excuse for skipping church), stay centered on Christ, stay confident in the Bible and in faith (and don't be afraid to preach it), stay consistent (abide in Christ), stay committed and stay convinced (have patience, for Christ promised to return in God's perfect timing).

Jeremiah's writing is much more convicting that his book title makes it out to be. And although a lot of what he writes is obvious, it never bores. This is a must read for any Christian.


* Disclaimer: I received this book for free from BookSneeze.com in exchange for my honest review of it.

Review: The Butterfly Effect by Andy Andrews

Book: The Butterfly Effect
Author: Andy Andrews
Genre: Table/Gift Book

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Summary: Motivational speaker and writer attempts to drive home the point that any small action can have an eventual huge effect. He demonstrates this with one longer story of Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, who helped win the Civil War and saved thousands of lives. But there were other people who made Chamberlain's life possible - others effected those others, as well, as so it goes on and on.

Review: While it's an interesting concept, The Butterfly Effect really didn't do anything for me. It doesn't make for a very good table or gift book. It's short and easy to read, which can be a plus, but it's not something I would ever want to read again. Much of it is exactly the same as the children's book version, "The Boy Who Changed the World," and I enjoyed the children's book much more. At least it has colorful pictures to make me happy. I'm just not a huge fan of pointless gift books. But if that's your cup of tea, you'll enjoy this book.

*Disclaimer: I received this book from BookSneeze.com in exchange for my honest review of it.

Does the Good That Catholicism Does Outweigh the Bad?

This post replies to an article (included, below) sent to me by a sweet Roman Catholic lady. The article, written by a Jewish author, excuses the Roman Catholic Church from the actions of a few bad apples. The author advises Catholics to ignore the attacks from leftist media and hold their heads high over the good things their church does.

My Reply:

Dear H_____:

I've come to the conclusion that every good organization does no better than the sort of members it it has.  If it has human members, it has weaknesses that will eventually corrupt its practices, its message, and its reputation.

Human history, as recorded in the Bible and as interpreted through biblical principles, reveals a pattern of waves of God mercifully setting up ways for us to govern ourselves. Humans subsequently overwhelm each system with a tsunami of failure, demonstrating again how man's fallen nature permeates and overwhelms everything he touches.

Judaism, in particular, demonstrated the failure of a representative form of salvation. Priests mediated between sinners and God and enforced a code of righteousness. God gave that code not to justify man, but for the dual purposes of guiding man to the knowledge of his utter inability to achieve righteousness and of symbolizing the ultimate source of righteousness. "Universal guide to human behavior" was only secondary. The Jews, however, failed to recognized the Source, when He came, because they set about to achieve righteousness on their own. They focused on the code instead of on the Giver of the code.

Some such Jews became the church's "Judaizers"  that Apostle Paul opposed, from the provinces to the council of the apostles.  They wanted to continue the failed systems of human-earned righteousness that had failed in Judaism.  For example, they interpreted circumcision as a gateway to God's grace, just as many feel that baptism or other human actions convey God's grace today.  They failed to grasp that God bestows His grace Himself, not through the hands of the recipient or any other human intermediary.  Paul had to correct even Peter for such errors.

I could argue against the Roman Catholic institution on the basis of its history. The gospel of liberty as taught by the apostles survived centuries of oppression by the institution set up by a Roman emperor who straddled the factions of Christianity, preferring not one most likely to serve God's Kingdom, but one most likely to further Rome's empire. Despite political, unjust civil, and military actions against biblical believers, the spiritual church survived countless reinventions of its human facade.

Even from a post-Protestant perspective, one can see a history of institutions wandering from the truths that originally set them apart, making necessary the departure of believers, faithful men who believed the Word of God rather than the words of men, to set up new institutions.

Having to allow for the corruption that comes with every human presence, I must instead judge the works-based gospel that catholicisms spread.  (Not to get off topic, but, yes, the plural is intentional.)

I have seen enough human failure everywhere I've gone, including in my own footsteps, that I will take pride not in myself, nor in my efforts, nor in any human organization, but in the God who freely bestows His grace and who graciously sets up His works among men.

I send this to my non-Catholic friends just to set the record straight.  Thanks for understanding. Love, H_____
---------------------
THE CATHOLIC   CHURCH

Excerpts of an article written by non-Catholic Sam Miller - a prominent    Cleveland Jewish businessman:
"Why would newspapers carry on a vendetta on one of the most important institutions that we have today in the United States, namely the Catholic Church?

Do you know - the Catholic Church educates 2.6 million students everyday at the cost to that Church of 10 billion dollars, and a savings on the other hand to the American taxpayer of 18 billion dollars.   The graduates go on to graduate studies at the rate of 92%.

The Church has 230 colleges and universities in the U.S. with an enrollment of 700,000  students.

The Catholic Church has a non-profit hospital system of 637 hospitals, which account for hospital treatment of 1 out of every 5 people - not just Catholics - in the United States today.

But the press is vindictive and trying to totally denigrate in every way the Catholic Church in this country.   They have blamed the disease of pedophilia on the Catholic Church, which is as irresponsible as blaming adultery on the institution of marriage.

Let me give you some figures that Catholics should know and remember.  For   example, 12% of the 300 Protestant clergy surveyed admitted to sexual intercourse with a parishioner; 38% acknowledged other inappropriate sexual contact in a study by the United Methodist Church, 41.8% of clergy women reported unwanted sexual behavior; 17% of laywomen have been sexually harassed.
Meanwhile, 1.7% of the Catholic clergy has been found guilty of pedophilia.  10% of the Protestant ministers have been found guilty of pedophilia.  This is not a Catholic problem.

A study of American priests  showed that most are happy in the priesthood and find it  even better than they had expected, and that most, if  given the choice, would choose to be priests again in face of all this obnoxious PR the church has been receiving.

The Catholic Church is bleeding from self-inflicted wounds.  The agony that Catholics have felt and suffered is not necessarily the fault of the Church.  You have been hurt by a small number of wayward priests that have probably been totally weeded out by now and a number of bishops who failed to act.

Walk with your shoulders high and your head higher.  Be a proud member of the most important non-governmental agency in the United States.

Then remember what Jeremiah said:  'Stand by the roads, and look and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is and walk in it, and find rest for your souls'.   Be proud to speak up for your faith with pride and reverence and learn what your Church does for all other religions.

Be proud that you're a Catholic."