May 31, 2016

Have We Gone Absolutely Mad? Men, Women And Children In Same Bathroom?

Who voted these people into office? 
Democrats, Satanists and Homosexuals

Common Sense Commentary: There is no Common Sense Comment I can add to Dr. Dobson's Commentary. But I will introduce the subject with God's comment to the President, Congress, Supreme Court and everyone who supports such Sodom and Gomorrah wickedness. Psalms 9:17   The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God

TARGETING THE FAMILY

PROTECT YOUR KIDS FROM 

TYRANT OBAMA


Dr. James Dobson on bathroom edict:


'Have we gone absolutely mad?'



When I was in the third grade, I raised my hand one day and asked the teacher for permission to “go to the bathroom.” She nodded, and I hurried down the hall to the door designated “Boys.” When I had relieved myself, I headed back in the direction of my homeroom. As bad luck would have it, the doors in the hallway all looked alike, and I opened the wrong one. Two second-grade girls were standing there with their mouths open in disbelief. Then they both screamed and pointed at me. The loudest one said, “You’re in BIG trouble!” The other shouted, “Get out of here!” Sweet kids.

I was mortified beyond belief. I sneaked back into class and looked at the floor, wondering who might have witnessed my unthinkable crime. That was decades ago, but I haven’t forgotten my humiliation. The cardinal rule is that boys and girls never entered each other’s private facilities. Never!

How the world has changed! Who would have believed a day would come during my lifetime when boys could meander into the private sanctuary of girls’ toilets, or that it would someday be a civil right for men to use women’s locker rooms and showers without permission or apology? Imagine sex-absorbed junior high boys ogling the bodies of developing pubescent girls or standing beside them in their showers. Have we gone absolutely mad? What ever happened to modesty, safety, and Christian mores?

Did it upset you when the president of the United States ordered every public school in America to open all its bathroom facilities including those that are in use by a member of the opposite sex? The president’s order made me furious, and then sick to my stomach. How dare this man do something so audacious and unthinkable! His letter from the White House carried an implied threat to withhold federal money from local schools, which rocked the halls of public education. Who is this politician that is spending your hard-earned tax dollars to manipulate school officials, anyway? Who is it that is warping our children? It is Barack Obama, one of the worst presidents in American history, and it is time we stood up and said so! 
Obama, acting like a king, is wielding dictatorial powers never envisioned in the law. He is determined to change the way males and females relate to one another, and worse, how children perceive themselves. If you are a married man with any gumption, surely you will defend your wife’s privacy and security in restroom facilities. Would you remain passive after knowing that a strange-looking man, dressed like a woman, has been peering over toilet cubicles to watch your wife in a private moment? What should be done to the pervert who was using mirrors to watch women and girls in their stalls? If you are a dad, I pray you will protect your little girls from men who walk in unannounced, unzip their pants and urinate in front of them. If this had happened 100 years ago, someone might have been shot. Where is today’s manhood? God help us! 

(You are probably aware that Target has taken a stand to allow persons who “self-identify” as a man or woman to use the restroom of their choice. In addition to Target Stores, the following retailers have also decided, against the objection of their customers, to create “gender neutral” bathrooms: Starbucks, Ross, Walgreens, Toys “R” Us, and Barnes & Noble. My wife, Shirley, and I will no longer patronize these stores, and I hope millions of others will do likewise.)

Let’s talk more about Barack Obama, who is a tyrant in many ways. How dare he assault centuries of modesty and moral beliefs! By what authority does he tell parents and school officials what to teach children under their care? Christian parents, does this outrageous order violate something deep within your sense of propriety? The president has already maneuvered the courts to undermine a 5,000-year-old definition of marriage, after experiencing his infamous epiphany. Now he is determined to change Western civilization forever. He becomes more reckless and defiant as his second term comes to an end. Never has an American president been so absorbed with the use and abuse of power, and unfortunately, he still has seven months to go. What is next?

I grew up respecting the authority and dignity of the nation’s presidents. Each of them was tasked to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and to protect our rights as citizens. That is what I was taught. My fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Harris, described for us the three branches of government, and how each division has the authority to restrain the other two according to a principle known as “checks and balances.” It made America unique among nations. But, with the complete refusal of the U.S. Congress to restrain the presidency or to curtail a runaway judiciary that is itself drunk with power, “we the people” are victimized by those who steal our freedom. Our Founding Fathers would be shocked to learn how the safeguards on our freedom have been abandoned.
My friend Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council recently said he is often asked, “Why is the Obama administration trying to mainstream ‘transgenderism’ and force schools to accommodate students who want to use the bathrooms and locker rooms of the opposite sex?” Tony’s answer gets to the heart of the motive: “It’s all part of a radical movement trying to destroy the fact that God created man and woman – and that somehow people can choose what gender they want to be. The ultimate goal is to break down all sexual inhibition and morality – a goal that would result in social chaos.”
This is what influential feminist Dale O’Leary had to say on the issue of gender and its meaning in her publication, “Gender: The Deconstruction of Women: Analysis of the Gender Perspective in Preparation for the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China.” She wrote, “Although many people think that men and women are the natural expression of a genetic blueprint, gender is a product of human thought and culture, a social construction that creates the ‘true nature’ of all individuals.”
Do you understand what she was saying? Gender is not determined by your chromosomes. It is a product of culture. If a man thinks like a woman, he IS a woman. Furthermore, if we protect children from social and religious conditioning, people will be free to move into and out of existing gender roles at will. Taking that concept to its logical conclusion, the feminists and LGBT activists want to dissolve the traditional roles of mothers and fathers and, in time, eliminate references to wife, husband, son, daughter, sister, brother, manhood, womanhood, boy, girl, masculine and feminine.
These activists want us to replace age-old terminology with neutral terms, such as significant other, spouse, parent, child and sibling. You’ll see that happening in the near future. The bottom line is that they want to destroy human sexuality and take with it the foundation of the family. That is their goal, and they have a president in office who is willing to use his executive authority to force this nonsense on us all.

Clearly, there are serious implications here for mothers and fathers. I urge you to protect your boys and girls from those who are espousing these views. Shield them from gender feminism and from those who would confuse their sexuality. They will be under increasing political pressure in years to come.

It is also important for us as adults to understand our own sexual identities. If we don’t know who we are, our kids will be doubly confused about who they are. Any uncertainty, any ambiguity in that assignment must be seen as damaging not only to our sons and daughters but also to the long-term stability of society itself.

I urge you to base your teachings about sexuality on the Scriptures, which tell us, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27). Jesus, who was the first Jewish leader to give dignity and status to women, said, “Haven’t you read … that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,'” and, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh” (Matthew 19:4-5). That is the divine plan. It leaves no doubt that the Creator made not one sex but two, each beautifully crafted to “fit with” and meet the needs of the other. Any effort to teach children differently is certain to produce turmoil in the soul of a child.

We must fight to protect our homes and families from politically correct politicians who would create new entitlements that take away our liberties. There is no time to lose. Our children hang in the balance











May 28, 2016

Preach Me Not A Meal Of Sweetened Sawdust

"Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.Job 23:12.

Common Sense Commentary: Offer me not a platter of imagination, a plate of fantasy, a cup of supposition or a glass of theory. Serve me instead a loaf of truth, the Bread of Life, God's word ... wherein is food for my mind, music to my ears, a light unto my path and nourishment for my soul. Preach me not a meal of
plastic words, dry leaves and sweetened sawdust. Teach me truth, and I will live and grow and sow the seed of that same living bread ... other hungry souls to feed. Rayburn Blair at 85.


May 27, 2016

The Very Essence Of A Liberal Is An Adult Child

Looks do not equal maturity or logic

Common Sense Commentary: All of us know fully grown up people, some the very picture of adulthood, often with university degrees, and some with successful professions, usually in education, government, or a lawyer, who still have the maturity of a child. But I have met them in all walks of life. I have known parents with a child whose logic and wisdom exceeded that of their mom or dad. As pastor of a church which, at one time, had three separate Christian Schools K-12 (1000 kids) I have met with parents who made demands their child was embarrassed to hear and would apologize for, after the parent left, and say, "I don't know why they think that way".  What was then, 25 to 40 years ago, an exception, has now become common. To a large extent adult children, who were once hippies, are running our colleges and Federal Government and its expansive bureaucracies.
Many an adult, who has a high IQ, has the logic, common sense and maturity of a child.

This from FoxNews.com By Dr. Peter Ablow

A nation of Peter Pans: We have created a country filled with perpetual children
 .

According to a new study by the Pew Research Center, men and women between the ages of 18 and 34 are now more likely to be living with their parents than living on their own or in any other living situation [such as sharing an apartment].
This is the first time in American history that young people—32.1 percent of millennials—have been most likely to live with their parents.
While the researchers theorize that this trend is due to the fall in the number of men and women settling down romantically before the age of 35, I disagree.  Even single people like their space, especially if they intend to use it for dating and romance.  
I think the trend is a calamity that reflects the erosion of real self-determination in young people, fueled by their unfounded, rocketing, wafer-thin self-esteem.
We have created a nation filled with too many perpetual children—Peter and Patty Pans—who were brought up getting trophies for participating in sports, instead of winning, protected from the supposed horrors of being ranked by grades and scores and sold corrosive message by the likes of Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton that everyone deserves every kind of support, regardless of the level of education they have or the work they put forward.
We have hobbled a generation, or two.
These Peter and Patty Pans are so addicted to drugs like Facebook and Twitter that blow up their egos and make them into fake celebrities that they can feel pretty good for a long time, even when their lives are going pretty badly.
They can live at home with their parents in Neverland and use Tinder to “hook up” sexually with a different partner every week, or, sometimes, a different partner every night. 
They can watch the Kardashians and delude themselves into thinking everyone is content to vamp for cameras, taking lots of selfies and sleepwalking through life.
That’s plenty to make them feel special and attractive, even when they’re going to sleep in bedrooms they’ve occupied since kindergarten. If the drugs of technology pushed by Mark Zuckerberg and friends aren’t enough, they can get always high on marijuana.  It’s legal now, for recreation, in five states, with ten more likely to make it legal this year. And don’t forget the fact that twenty more states have legalized medical marijuana, with some doctors prescribing it responsibly, but others handing it out more like candy than medicine.
This is Barack Obama’s America.  A super-strong central government, inhaling more and more power, while our young people are hobbled and inhaling more and more weed.
I see the fallout in my psychiatry office.  One millennial after another comes to me to reclaim what should always have been their due—their birthrights as real people, ready to take on real challenges, with real intention. When they show up, we have to conquer their depression and anxiety and drug use—all skyrocketing in their age group, partly because no adult human being actually wants to be coddled like a child by parents or one’s government.  It wears on people and leaves them dispirited and panicked and looking anywhere for relief.  Next, we have to rediscover their goals and arm them with the willingness to suffer some pain, in order to achieve them.
This is work I am privileged to do because it is, in the end, God’s work.  It is the restoration of God-given potential now being short-circuited in an epidemic way by the equivalent of Peter Pan’s pixies who make our kids think they can fly by inhaling magic pixels or magic potions or magical stories about how everyone should get everything for free, forever.
Dr. Keith Ablow is a psychiatrist and member of the Fox News Medical A-Team. 

May 25, 2016

Explanation Of An As Yet Overlooked Factor In The Self-Destruction Of A High Tech World

Common Sense still counts at the highest levels of intellect

Common Sense Commentary: Hugo Salinas Price is one of the world's most rational and logical thinkers. He is a Mexican billionaire who still walks on solid ground without his head in the clouds. He is also one of my favorite writers of common sense. Though he writes what he is thinking in as simple terms as possible, reading what he is expressing may still be a bit difficult for many to fully comprehend. Here is his most recent commentary on "economics" as the elite have erroneously related it to "physics" and caused critical confusion and enormous conflict in the world. Read it to the end if you can. RB

23/May/2016
Mechanical 'Economics'
Hugo Salinas Price
Our world is approaching a financial tipping-point, which may be only months away. When we do reach the tipping-point, the financial collapse will be vast in its destructive consequences and in a matter of a few days our world will change beyond our power of description.
The shadow of the approaching new reality is upon us and we can already perceive its outlines; this allows us to talk of our civilization in the past tense.
Professor Joseph A. Tainter, of the University of California, wrote a most interesting book with the title "The Collapse of Complex Societies". In brief, the message of the book is that all societies have a habit of organizing themselves, and at a certain point, more and more organization makes them increasingly less attractive to their members. People then begin to leave their native societies and seek out other places to live; or else they lose heart and become unable to defend themselves from less-organized invading barbarians.
Undoubtedly, Tainter's perception is valid. Most of our world is now very much "over-organized". Thinking people everywhere are worried and uncomfortable and looking for places where they may find some refuge from the unreasonable exactions of their over-organized societies. The trouble is - where do you go? There are a lot of very peaceful islands out there, excellent places to spend a vacation, but - who really wants to live in "Bali Hai"?
However, there is much more than "over-organization" underlying the present dire situation of our world. It's not only a question of too much government. A powerful spiritual change has come over humanity. This spiritual change began at the birth of the Age of Science, in the XVIIth Century, when the Englishman Francis Bacon established the rules for the successful investigation of the physical world, known as the scientific method.
The scientific method involves controlled experimentation. When a constant result is observed in controlled experiments, then the scientific method proclaims a scientific truth. Thus, it is a scientific truth that a raw chicken's egg, placed in boiling water at sea level, will be a hard-boiled egg in 12 minutes.
The scientific method met with huge success, so much so that now humanity has been able to send men to the Moon. Indeed, the trouble is that the physical sciences have been so successful, that today their methodology is being applied in fields that are completely inappropriate for such methodology. Specifically, we refer to "Mainstream Economics" - the "Economics" that is taught today at every single prestigious university in the world.
"Mainstream Economics" is the child of Physics, and it looks and walks and talks like its parent, Physics:
First of all, the central fallacious concept: "The Economy":
In Physics, when we say "The chicken's egg" we know exactly what we are talking about. But when mainstream economists talk about "The Economy" each economist, when pressed to do so, will give a different version of what exactly is "The Economy". So right there, the fallacies take their start. What these "economists" think they are talking about, could probably be stated as "The economic activity of a group of humans who live within the borders of X country."
But how do our mainstream economists define "economic activity"? They say that economic activity is activity that involves an exchange of money, or perhaps of credit, and thus by definition, economic activity has to be denominated in a number of units of money. Thus, all human choices that do not require the use of money escape the attention of the mainstreamers, because the use of money involves numbers, and numbers are the essence of mainstream economics, as they are of its parent, Physics.
What could possibly be said about an "economy"? About its humans and their activities, in terms of numbers? The application of numbers to a national group of humans, with any hope of arriving at any truth, is utterly impossible.
Numbers may give us an approximation of what is going on in a country, but certainly nothing more. As an example, Mexico is a country with a large number of poor people - perhaps a majority of the population. The "economists" and their buddies, the politicians, lament this undesirable situation and are always promising to do something about it - and that something invariably ends up lining the pockets of the politicians with money extracted by taxation. However, notwithstanding the numerous poor people in Mexico, international polls have shown that Mexico has one of the happiest populations on earth. You see, mainstream economics counts numbers, whereas the polls have registered what is in the hearts of the Mexican people, and you can't put a price upon the satisfaction of the heart.
Here are some of the babblings of these children of Physics, mainstream economists who apply terms appropriate in physics to human activities:
Terms of temperature, to measure physical heat:
"The economy is [warming, growing warmer, hotter, too hot] "
"The economy is [cooling off, frozen]"
Terms of speed, to measure physical motion:
"The economy is [decelerating, accelerating, speeding up, slowing down]"
"The velocity of money in circulation"
Terms of mass, to measure physical objects:
"The economy is in [contraction, expansion]"
Terms of physical state (gaseous, liquid or solid, in traditional Physics):
"The demand for [Bonds, Stocks, Commodities] has evaporated."
"Market for [Bonds, Stocks, Commodities] is in liquidation."
"The dollar is a solid currency."
Where the babbling becomes utterly disconnected from any human reality is when the variables are assigned quantities, just as variables are quantified in Physics, and are then combined in mathematical functions to produce indecipherable equations.
Mainstream economists love equations, they adore the simplicity of E=mc2.
But human activity does not operate on the basis of equating one thing with another, it operates by choosing between what is preferable and less preferable, in other words, not by equating things, but by differentiation in power of satisfaction.
The mainstream economists wave equations and their derivatives, graphs, before the eyes of the uninitiated; they claim superior knowledge and become candidates for ascent into the realms of high finance and Central Banking.
The graphs become so important to mainstream economists, that the big economists in Europe have come to regard graphs as reflecting a reality, and if a graph shows that interest rates have declined to zero - well, why not sub-zero interest rates? After all, in Physics, we have temperatures above zero and below zero, so why not have interest rates below zero, as well as what is customary, above zero? Mainstream economists think of their craft as branch of Physics, and are thus dedicated to the control of Society for its own good as good engineers. And so we have the total madness of "Negative Interest Rate Policy" (NIRP).
One of the fundamental elements of mainstream economics is the numerical calculation of a nation's activity. This preposterous attempt at quantifying, or putting a number on the total human activity of a nation is called the "Determination of GDP, or Gross Domestic Product".
The silliness of the pseudo-concept of "GDP" becomes quite clear when we see that recently, English mainstream economists arbitrarily decided to improve the numbers they provide to the politicians, and increased GDP by including previously excluded activities, such as incomes from pushing drugs or from prostitution. Next thing you know, they will be assigning prices to the work of housewives in cooking meals, in doing housework and making love with their husbands, by using the average prices for meals (whatever that means) and the wages of housemaids, and the price for hiring a prostitute, and putting all that together to find a numerical price for the activity of a housewife. Multiply by the number of housewives, and you get a number that can be added to GDP. Why not?
The error of displacing Quality, and the preferences which quality of comparative satisfaction gives rise to, and introducing Quantity into human affairs, when it belongs to the realm of Physics, is born of the spiritual decline of humanity. In essence, the flight from Quality is the denial of the existence of Spirit in human beings, whence is born the capacity of each human to value. The mainstream economists, as such, consider humans as simple machines which consume or produce, and treat us as such, in their specious formulas. The valuations or preferences of flesh and blood humans are disregarded because numbers cannot be assigned to them.
Since "Mainstream Economics" is only a sham science that imitates the methodology of Physics, it turns out that "economists" - at the Fed, at the ECB, and at every Central Bank in the world - in fact do nothing "scientific" at all; they do nothing more than impose upon whole nations their own personal value judgments while they destroy the free markets, that are truly impersonal.
The "New Austrian School of Economics", as presented by Professor Antal E. Fekete on his website, www.professorfekete.com, is true Economics. Based on the original thinking of Carl Menger, the founder of Austrian Economics, this school rigorously avoids the error of following the methodology of the Physical Sciences. Our present "mainstream economics", like Physics, usesNumbers, as opposed to the "New Austrian Economics" which is based on Principles of Logic. Unfortunately, both the "Austrian Economics" of Ludwig von Mises and the improved "New Austrian Economics" of Fekete are quite out of favor in academic circles today.
"Mainstream Economics" imitates the methodology of Physics because of the enormous prestige that has accrued to Physics over the past four centuries, and is thus leading the world to an economic, political and social collapse which will mark the end of an Age.

May 22, 2016

How An Illusion Of Paradise Turned Into A Nation-wide Hell

When a nation's economy goes to 
hell... everything else goes with it.

Common Sense Commentary: Sin does not work. Sin is rebellion against God's holiness, right, truth and His perfect will. Sin may "endure for a season" (Heb.11:25) but the pleasure of it turns to bitter grief and regret..... in time ... every time. Charity is a quality which can only be experienced in an individual human heart. Charity is a good thing when a person, through love, chooses within their heart to be generous and giving to someone else. That is God's way ... and it works. But to forcefully take or steal from one person's labor or increase in order to give to another person's desires or needs is theft, whoever does it. Whether it is a Robin Hood who takes it upon himself to rob from one person to give to another, or a Government, it is wrong. Civil Government Law and order is necessary to protect its citizens from outside invasion or internal attack and violation of their God given rights (Gen.9:5-6). But THAT is where God's intended authority of Government and taxes ends. It is not Biblical for Governments to play God and enforce its will upon law abiding citizens, demands which have nothing to do with their safety and protection. Concerning the Roman invader's taxes, Jesus did not think they were fair or right, but advised that they be paid to keep the wicked Roman government at bay lest they be "offended" and abuse and persecute those who rebelled. When asked by  his Jewish enemies, in Matt.22:15-22, if they should pay the Roman government taxes or not. Jesus asked them whose image and inscription were on the coins they paid taxes with. They answered, "Caesar's". So Jesus said If Caesar's picture and name were on the the money it must be his so give it back to him. If he had answered "Yes, pay the Roman taxes", the Jews would be angry at him and if he had said "No, don't pay the taxes', both Jesus and the Jews who followed His advice would have been arrested and punished. Also, later, when the Romans asked Peter if Jesus paid taxes, he said "Yes" and then warned Jesus they were expecting payment. Jesus sent Peter to catch a fish with a valuable coin in its mouth to take it to the Roman Tax collector to pay both His and Peter's taxes, and said, "lest we offend them".  Three thoughts .... Would Jesus have paid the tax if this confrontation hadn't occurred, and what about the other eleven Apostles' taxes. If neither Peter nor Jesus had the money to pay the taxes, surely none of the other 11 had it. So did each of them voluntarily seek out the tax collector to pay the tax? Jesus' reason for paying the tax was not based on approval of the tax, approval of the Roman government, or that it was the moral thing to do, but, as He said, "lest we offend them". Matt.17:27.  Avoidance of trouble with the government, not morality or approval of the Roman government or it lavish waste of tax money, was Jesus' reason for paying the tax. He evidently didn't pay the tax for those other Apostles who were not under scrutiny .... Why, if it were a moral issue.

 As Margaret Thatcher explained the fallacy of Socialism...."The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money". M.T.  
I do not defend the rich but I defend the Biblical and Constitutional right to physical, spiritual, mental and economic freedom, the right to own the product of your labor, your talents,your ideas, your planning, your investment, frugality and time. I defend your right to use or misuse your life. RB "But know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. " Ecc.11:9.

Here is a most recent example of the fallacy of Socialism, which both Hillary, Sanders and the Democrat Party want to exchange Free Enterprise for, which will raise all forms of taxation, especially on the productive 50% of Americans in order to support or subsidize the unproductive 50% .... and Obama, America's Hugo Chavez, has already set the stage for it. RB

Venezuela: How The Socialist Paradise 
Turned Into Debt and Hyperinflation Hell

From The Telegraph Business Section
By Szu Ping Chan  May 21, 2016

They call them bachaqueros. Venezuela’s army of black market shoppers descend every day at dawn outside Caracas’s biggest stores.

Named after the bachaco leaf-cutting ant that carries several times its weight, the men and women queue alongside hundreds of other Venezuelans for food, nappies, milk and other basic goods.

They stand for hours in the blistering heat, motivated not by hunger, but profit.

Half-empty shelves in most shops means goods bought at government-controlled prices can be sold at a significant mark-up.

supermarket queue

Supermarket queue People queue to try to buy basic food items outside a supermarket in Caracas. Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s president, has described them as “human beings turned savage”. 

But in a country where hyperinflation is quickly making the cash in people’s pockets worthless, it has become the only way to survive.

Some – dubbed bachaqueros 2.0 by the government –even resell goods on the internet.

“It happens more frequently now,” sighs Juan Carlos Bacalhau, a marketing manager who lives in the Venezuelan capital.

“There’s a lady that I pay 1,500 bolivars a day to clean my house, but recently she told me she’d rather queue and buy and sell products than work for me.”

It wasn’t always this way. Diego Moya-Ocampos, senior political risk analyst at IHS, says the current crisis is the result of years of “economic mismanagement” by the ruling socialist party. 

Hugo Chavez


Hugo Chavez Hugo Chavez ruled Venezuela for 14 years. Led by Hugo Chávez, the country’s firebrand former president, the country embarked on a wave of expropriation and redistribution with the charismatic leader offering  cut-price fridges, appliances and even new homes to poor Venezuelans. 

Chávez wanted to create a socialist paradise, an ideology that has been reinforced by his successor Maduro following his death in 2013.

But the oil price collapse a year later served as a wake-up call for a country that chose profligacy over prudence in the hope that a rainy day would never come. 

Oil accounts for 98pc of total exports and 59pc of fiscal revenues, but Moya-Ocampos says the price slide isn’t the country’s only problem.
____________________________________

Chavez was a Communist which is a Socialist who is also an Atheist. Maduro has followed in his footsteps and together they brought what was once a strong and successful, Free Enterprise nation to absolute ruin. Neither Socialism nor Atheism works in a God created, naturally balanced world. Just like water seeking its own level, always, without fail, freedom, including Free Enterprise, finds its own level. When men try to change nature and the God given natural order of God's creation, it eventually washes them and their perversions away like Noah's flood and the winds of time. Jesus illustrated this propensity of sinful fallen men to rebel against  nature and nature's God in these words in Matt.7:24-27 "Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. 

May 21, 2016

The False, Religious Buga Boo About The Sin Of Wealth

If all money is just "filthy lucre", why do churches, pastors, evangelists and missionaries keep "collecting" it in God's house, in every worship service, and asking for more? Why do they have budgets, treasurers, salaries and financial reports all dealing with money? Even the first church, of the Apostles, had a treasurer.... Judas, who carried a "bag" of money.

Common Sense Commentary: Abraham had wealth, Job had wealth, The Apostles had a treasury bag of money. Paul accepted it from the churches. Even Jesus used it to purchase necessities and pay taxes. Every church collects it, in the worship services. The terms "sell" and "buy" are used over a hundred times in the Bible. "Pay" is used about fifty times. Money is not evil. It is a tool to be used for good but can be misused for evil like a hammer, gun or fire.

Paul told young Timothy that "...The love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." 1 Tim.6:10.  Paul's admonition to Timothy was not against money; Paul, himself needed money to live, eat and for ministry travel. He worked for money, accepted money from the churches he ministered to and thanked them for that money.  So money was a blessing to him not an evil. It is not money but the "love of money" , the "coveting" of money that is "the root of all evil". Money properly viewed and properly used and spent is a blessing. It is the love of it, the coveting of it, that motivates the thief, the prostitute, the drug addict, the greedy miser and the Judas traitor. So the poor who covet the rich man's money are more in violation than the generous rich man who is not covetous or in love with his money. I have met both types.

"Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot ... which would betray him,  Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein." John 12:4-6. Judas weaseled his way into the job of Apostolic Treasurer because he "loved and coveted" money. There was nothing wrong with the Lord's and Apostle's money. It was a necessity and used for good and holy purposes, it was even, itself, holy, sacrificed by the Christian people, from their labor, to the Lord's service.

Money earned is a fractional, mutually interchangeable, simplifying means of exchange representing the time, energy and talent you invested to gain it. Thus, earned money represents that part of your LIFE you traded to earn it. Giving your earned money is giving some of yourself. Spending it is spending part of yourself. It is no more evil than your labor which gained it. But the covetous love of it is where the evil is.

Saving your money will, in later years, save you time and energy when your time and energy are diminished and become more precious than the money you worked for and saved when your time and energy were plentiful but when money was in short supply. 

Money, time and energy are worth more or less depending on each person's level of possession of the three. To a young person, with an excess of time and energy, but with a desperate need of money for college, clothing, food or a car, money becomes more precious than his unused excess of time and energy. But to an old person who has spent his/her youthful time, energy and talent earning and saving money for retirement, what little time and energy they have left becomes more precious than the money they labored for and saved, when younger. That excess of money saved when young, later in old age, is used to preserve an elder's short supply of time and energy by hiring help, doctors, convenience, comfort, medication and health products. These things they did not need very much in youth, but desperately need in old age.

How each person values money, time and energy depends on age, intelligence, self image, habits and desires. Here are two stories which illustrate my point.

When a Pastor, I was driving from the south side of Tallahassee, Fla. to the north side. Still south of town I saw a slovenly looking young man with his thumb out. I stopped, he got in and I asked him how far he was going. He said that he was going to a gas station about seven miles on the other side of town. I asked if he worked there and he said, "No, I buy by beer there". "Why go that far when you could buy it right here on the south side", I asked. He answered, "Its 22 cents a six pack cheaper." "What about your time and energy spent" I asked. "I got lots of time and I hitch-hike both ways, so it ain't like I'm walkin 15 miles", he said.

On another occasion, on my way out of Florida to a conference in Georgia, I stopped for gas and saw two goats in the back seat of a car. This guy was filling his tank at the next pump so I asked him if he had just bought the goats or they just enjoyed riding in the car. "I'm taking them to an auction in Augusta." he said. "That's 300 miles and will take you all day into the night to get back. Why not sell them here in Tallahassee?" I asked. "I'll get a few dollars more for them in Augusta", he said.  "But what about the time and expense involved in the trip", I asked. "What's time to a goat", he answered.

If you are willing to exchange your time, energy, talents and experience (your life) on a job for a salary, paycheck, income, or profit.... all of which is MONEY, it has to mean you value that MONEY more than what you gave to get it. You could have spent that time with your family but you didn't because you had to feed, house, educate and secure them ..... with that MONEY. So don't pass yourself off as Mother Teresa with a vow of poverty. Even she had a source of income which God did not drop straight out of heaven into her purse. Somebody, somewhere worked for that money ... and so did she. Even she had to eat and have a bed and other necessities which took money. So get a job and pay your way... with money. Support your family with "earned" money ... Help those who are too young or too invalid to hold a job... with money. Don't expect God to drop money straight out of heaven into your pocket. That isn't his plan. This is His plan ...."In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground...." Gen.3:19.

"For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.2 Thess.3:11-12. This is God's plan. The Lord is not only holy, powerful and diety, He is also so practical and reasonable. 

I do not defend the rich but I defend the Biblical and Constitutional right to physical, spiritual, mental and economic freedom, the right to own the product of your labor, your talents, your ideas, your planning, your investments, frugality and time. I defend your right to use or misuse your life. RB "But know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. " Ecc.11:9.

May 20, 2016

On Changing Presidential Horses In The Middle Of The Scream

Common Sense Commentary: A person who, when faced with new information,
unexpected obstacles or circumstances, will not change their course of action to a goal, is a vainly proud, intransigent fool unless called of God to sacrifice themselves on a brick wall or into a bottomless pit. RB

The various powers in this Race for the Presidency have entered two Democrats, 17 Republicans and several hundred (literally) third party and Independent Party candidates. Why any of them would want the job, at this point, beats me. But ....we are all in the bleachers, our bets are down, the starting shot was fired and the race is half way around the track. All the entrants, except three, have either exited, are totally unknown, or died on the turn and left in the dust. All bets are lost except those on one of  these three, Strawberry Roan out of the Trump stables, Old Witchill of the Clinton stables, and Crazy Commie Bernie of the Sanders stables.These three equestrian front runners are neck to neck to tail still running to win it all, no "also rans", no place, no show, just "win" or "lose".

Those in the crowd with losing tickets are booing, boo hooing, or leaving the event in disgust ... but those race fans who still hold tickets on Strawberry Roan, Old Witchill or Crazy Commie are still screaming fanatically for their horse.
Strawberry Roan is a fast running, unpredictable, untested, billion dollar stallion with a funny looking mane, who hates the bit, bridle and saddle. His actions are more like a maverick Mustang in mating season, than a thoroughbred. Old Witchill is a political night-mare sired by a politician, bred to a politician and is the highly favored and disfavored quintessential insider politician. She has run and won political races in Arkansas, Washington and New York with three big losses ... World Diplomacy. Benghazi Betrayal, and Top Secret Criminality. Now, with that triple crown and triple failure, as Secretary of State, she feels entitled to the capstone crown as "Equister Queen of America".

Crazy Commie is running erratically on the far left ... neck and neck and tail with the other two horses. This bandy legged hybrid Zebra, unexpectedly still in the race, is running just behind Witchill with his teeth clamped solidly on her tail. Witchill is eyeballing Strawberry with her right eye and Crazy Commie with her far left eye expecting to be tripped up by her half brother, Crazy Commie, at any moment. He hates his sister because she is a real thoroughbred gray Democrat donkey without his stripes while he is a true, wild eyed, Commie Zebra. So the crowd still in the stands are standing, jumping squeezing their tickets and screaming... "Run Bernie Run", "Go Hill Go", "Stomp em Trump Stomp em".

You may say you now "have no horse in this race" since your choice came up lame, but that makes no horse sense. If we don't root for that "horse of a different color", Strawberry Roan, we are automatically going to give the race to that red eyed Witchill or Crazy Commie Bernie. Since God did not see fit to intervene for Cruz ... or your first choice, all He has left us with, to the right of the other two lefties, is Strawberry Roan. So with my horse, Cruz, out of the race, I am changing horses in the middle of the scream, and you know it isn't Old Witchill or Crazy Commie. Not to switch is to hit a brick wall in the back of the stall.... and to lose it all.

If we don't elect this maverick, Strawberry Roan horse, who is at least a horse, we are going to get one or both of these Democrat donkeys, one plain grey and mean, the other a wild eyed Commie Zebra. RB

Trump's list of potential Supreme Court Justices goes a long way in neutralizing a lot of his strong Republican and Constitutionalist opponents. That is why he put the list out there prematurely. It shows the man's intelligence and good choice of advisers, in spite of his loud mouth and exaggerations.  I will vote for him because he is the only rational adult choice... not because I like him. RB

Click on this...






May 18, 2016

"As A Man Thinketh In His Heart, So Is He...." A Major Key To A Successful Life

Common Sense Commentary: Fred Good has been my friend for over half a century. We backpacked the Appalachian Trail together in the Spring and Winter for hundreds of miles over many years. Fred is a lot older than I. He will be 86 the 27th of this month, May, 2016. I won't be that old for another 5114 hours. Fred built a very successful business and is one of the most positive thinking men I have ever known. He has entertained me for many an hour on the trail, with stories of his youth and life's experiences. He is a Christian and God gave him one of the finest wives any man ever had, Eloise. I love Fred and Eloise and their children. They are forever friends. This blog post was written by Fred and reveals one of the primary attributes for Fred's faithful service to our Lord and success at living life. RB

AS A MAN THINKETH
The proverb,"As a man thinketh in his heart,so is he" not only embraces the whole persons being, but is so comprehensive as to effect every condition and circumstance of his life. We are literally what we think. Our character and being is the complete sum of our thoughts, and could not  have appeared without them. Good thoughts and actions cannot produce bad results. We labor all our lives under the illusion that luck and circumstances will play the major roll in determining our success or failure.
The mind can be likened to a garden, plant what you will, be it corn or deadly nightshade, the mind or soil will grow and multiply that which has been sown. Every seed sown and allowed to fall into the mind, and take root, will produce its own, blossoming sooner or later into action.
I would like to tell you about an example that occurred with me many years ago  concerning how a change of mind can change a life. I operated a beauty supply business with the headquarters in Tallahassee. I think it was in the late sixties. Two men came into my office an said they were representatives of the school board. They said that in a local school (Rickards High ) there were several special children that are very slow in learning without too much hope for a good future. They were approaching several businesses in Tallahassee to see if they would chose to help these children get some help in knowing about working in a business .
I volunteered to take one of the children and have my warehouse manage allow the student to stock the shelves, which I believed that little could go wrong with this easy task. The student's work would not cost me anything, however, we were to write the student a small check at the weekend,  and the government would reimburse me.

The next day a young man came to my office door, he was looking down, and said, Mr. Good my name is Jimmy Grantham. I'm ready to work. I went back to the warehouse section and introduced Jimmy to the manager. I later spoke to all the other workers ,including the front office to relay to them that Jimmy was very slow in his school work and school officials were experimenting to see if working in a business might help.

I asked that we all work to help Jimmy improve his self esteem. When he does a job applaud him..."Jimmy thank you for excellent work". Everybody wanted a part in changing this boy with a poor self image. The program was for a six month period. As we were saying good bye to Jimmy, everybody patted him on the back and wished him well. I believed we had been able to change him to some degree. He no longer looked down but looked you in the eye when he spoke.
We didn't see or hear from Jimmy Grantham for about fifteen years. One of my secretaries said a soldier wanted to see me. Standing at my door was a tall army master sergeant...It was Jimmy Grantham . It was almost unbelievable. The young man who had no self image had been transformed .
Jimmy said he came by to thank everybody at Tallahassee Beauty Supply for changing his life. He said that most people, including the students, treated him as a retard. At Tallahassee Beauty Supply we showed him that he could achieve whatever he set his mind to do .
He joined the army. They put him in the mess hall. He liked it and had finally been promoted to master sergeant. Jimmy said that he has twelve men under him .
Jimmy Grantham's case is good proof of the proverb "As a man thinketh in his heart,so is he".

May 17, 2016

Politically Incorrect Facts Avoided Or Denied Will Not Heal Themselves Without Light

Common Sense Commentary: Martin Luther King's famous speech, delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C. contained these historic words....
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." 

That is truly a noble and just and Biblically correct hope. It was a major turning point in the attitude and treatment of blacks in America. Immense good progress has been made in the fulfillment of King's dream. But one of the greatest detriments, hindrances to its fulfillment to the last degree is a mammoth contradiction standing in the way ... which whites have no way of removing. That one thing is the political Liberal insertion of a steel wall between truth and the big lie called "Political Correctness".... the idea of pretending certain facts do not exist though all the statistics, facts and evidence are clearly seen. I will give just three examples which every honest American knows is true but cannot say it, print it or even think it without being considered a "hateful racist". RB


Rate of African American Unwed Mothers Soars to 72 Percent

www.blacknews.com/news/black_unwed_mothers101.shtml

   The  black community's 72 percent rate eclipses that of most other groups:17 percent of Asians, 29 percent of whites, 53 percent of Hispanics and 66 percent of Native Americans were born to unwed mothers in 2008, the most recent year of government figures. 

There is no "content of character" in this tragedy, or in denying and ignoring the fact of it, or in blaming it on discrimination. RB


Abortions In America - Operation Rescue

www.operationrescue.org/about-abortion/abortions-in-america/
Blacks comprise only 13% of the population of America but account for 37% of all abortions. Black women are five times more likely to abort than white women. 

There is no "content of character" in this tragedy, or in denying and ignoring the fact of it, or in blaming it on discrimination. RB


Prisoners in 2013 - Bureau of Justice Statistics

www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p13.pdf
Black Americans compose 13% of the population. Latest stats in 2012, non-Hispanic blacks (37%) comprised the largest portion of male inmates under state or federal jurisdiction in 2013, compared to non-Hispanic whites (32%) and Hispanics (22%). 

There is no "content of character" in this tragedy, or in denying and ignoring the fact of it, or in blaming it on discrimination. RB

Here, my friends is an example of the "Content of Character" Martin Luther King alluded to in his famous speech. RB

Justice Clarence Thomas On Our Most Important Duty As Citizens

Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Clarence Thomas gave the commencement address at Hillsdale College this past weekend, and his address is definitely worth watching in its entirety. 
As Campus Reform pointed out, Thomas was one of the few conservative speakers asked to address students during this year’s round of graduations. The conservative organization said that 40 of the announced Clarence Thomascommencement speakers at this year’s top 100 schools have liberal leanings. Only ten such speakers are identifiably conservative. 
Justice Thomas said he wanted to avoid the formulaic graduation speech where the speaker instructs graduate to go out and fix the world’s problems or change the world. 
So, it should surprise no one that to the extent that Justice Thomas’ remarks were covered in the establishment media, the coverage seems to have focused on his criticism of political correctness: “Do not hide your faith and your beliefs under a bushel basket, especially in this world that seems to have gone mad with political correctness,” he told the students. 
But Justice Thomas’ remarks offered several important insights beyond the headline-grabbing criticism of political correctness. 
“Much that once seemed inconceivable are now firmly established. Hallmarks of my youth such as patriotism and religion seem more like outliers, if not afterthoughts. I admit to being unapologetically Catholic, unapologetically patriotic and unapologetically a constitutionalist,” Justice Thomas told them. 
“Do not hide your faith and your beliefs under a bushel basket, especially in this world that seems to have gone mad with political correctness. These small lessons become the unplanned syllabus for becoming a good citizen. Your efforts to live them will help to form the fabric of a civil society, and free and prosperous nation where inherent equality and liberty are invaluable,” Justice Thomas continued. 
“At risk of understating what is necessary to preserve liberty in our form of government, I think more and more it depends on good citizens discharging their daily duties and obligations. Sadly, today it seems as though grievances rather than personal conduct are the means of elevation,” the justice advised. “We must be reminded there is work to be done. The world increasingly embraces all that is wrong, false and ugly. We are among the lonely few who have all the right questions.” 
The notion of “an unplanned syllabus for becoming a good citizen” is a truly unique contribution to today’s discussion about the state of our civil society. 
Citizenship, and the relationship between being a good citizen and having a good country, certainly aren’t topics the Left wants broached, because the idea that one must be a good citizen to have a good country undercuts the foundation of the Leftist criticism of America and their anti-American “social justice” campaign. 
In the ideology of the far-Left, such as Black Lives Matter and Occupy Wall Street, all of their grievances are based on the idea that a faceless impersonal “they” lies at the root of all of society’s ills and this “they” can be identified by simple external markers – being white, having a certain level of income, living in a certain neighborhood, etc. 
“I am of a different time,” Thomas told the graduates. “Today there is much more focus on our rights as citizens and what we are owed, it is not often that one hears of our obligations or duties as citizens.” He then gave students some lessons about giving back to society. 
“At risk of understating what is necessary to preserve liberty in our form of government, I think more and more it depends on good citizens discharging their daily duties and obligations,” Thomas said according to Hillsdale student Breana Noble’s reporting for The College Fix. “Sadly, today it seems as though grievances rather than personal conduct are the means of elevation.” 
Thomas referenced the idea of grade-point average redistribution, which would take points from a hardworking, high-achieving student to that of a low-achieving one. 
“Apparently, we all deserve the same reward, the same status notwithstanding the difference in our efforts or our abilities,” Thomas said. “It is no wonder, then, that we hear of what is deserved or what one is entitled to.” 
The justice emphasized lessons he learned from his grandfather. 
“He knew that though not nearly perfect, our constitutional principles were perfectible if we worked to protect them rather than to undermine them,” Thomas said. 
In arguing for good citizenship as the building block of a good country, Justice Thomas picked-up where de Tocqueville left off in arguing that America’s greatness derived from the goodness of its citizenry and conversely that if America, and Americans, ceased to be good the country would cease to be great. 
But our favorite line in Justice Thomas’ Commencement Address at Hillsdale College was not the seemingly controversial one that the media led with, or the concepts with their roots in de Tocqueville’s prescient analysis of early Nineteenth Century America. 
It was this one-line gem: “If we are not making deposits to replenish our liberties, then who is? Are we content to let others do the work?” Justice Thomas said. 
One might be tempted to trace the lineage of rhetoric in that thought to Thomas Jefferson’s letter to William Smith (Paris, November 13, 1787) wherein Jefferson wrote, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants.” 
In reality, Justice Thomas appears to propose an entirely new formula for describing constitutional liberty; a storehouse of goodness. 
In this regard Justice Thomas is certainly correct, as both history and our present state of civil society demonstrate. Certainly history provides no example of a nation of debased and corrupt citizens who lived in harmony and prosperity. And just as certainly, our country has become less free and less prosperous and less harmonious as Americans have forgotten the lessons in good citizenship that Justice Thomas learned in his youth, and which he commended so eloquently to Hillsdale’s graduating seniors.