Neagle's Nonsense

Just Curious

2012-01-17T07:45:00.000-08:00

Is anyone actually reading the things I post? I think not. But if someone is, would you comment? A simple yes or no will do.

Confessions of a 10th Class Christian

2012-01-13T13:45:00.000-08:00

Actually “10^th Class” my be a bit inflated. I'm not sure I even rate that high.

About the only thing I'm good at is sinning. Yes. I know the Bible says we are all good at that. David says it twice in Psalms and Paul quotes him in Romans 3: “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understands, there is none that seeks after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that does good, no, not one.”

That makes it pretty clear. All of us are spiritual lepers. It makes no difference if my sin has robbed me of 5 fingers and 4 toes while yours has robbed you of 3 fingers and 6 toes. We both have the same disease and we both will surely die.

While I may not know – and do not want to know – what you have done, I know all to well what I have done: the times I was snarly, rude, angry, self-righteous. The folks I hurt without cause because I was afraid, or arrogant, or just didn't care. The times I manipulated to get what I wanted. The times I lied to keep my public image intact. And all the others things that left me ashamed then and whose memories shame me even now.

As Baptists would say, I “gave my life to Jesus” when I was 9. I'm weeks short of 63 now. By far the majority of my sinning has been done as a believer. I suppose I could try to blame the world, the flesh, and the devil; but I'm the one that is guilty. I'm the one that didn't do what I should have done and did no what I shouldn't have done.

So is there any hope for a guy like me?

Some would say no.

A few weeks after I “gave my life to Jesus” an adult friend of my mom's stopped me in the church and told me that I really wasn't saved and never could be saved. What could I do? I was 9 and she was an adult. I believed her.

It took nine more years for me to begin to hope that maybe there was a chance she was wrong. So I made a new “profession of faith,” was baptized again, and eventually went off to earn a Master's degree in divinity at a seminary.

Along the way I met some others like my mom's friend – folks who believe that grace, mercy, and faith aren't enough. According to them there must also be some act of works on the recipient's part before they can be saved.

You can call these the Faith Plus people. Their plusses range from faith plus baptism, to faith plus worshiping on Saturday, to faith plus speaking in tongues, to faith plus keeping all the Old Testament laws, or at least the 10 Commandments, to faith plus the right authority of the right pastor in the right church is is a part of the right denomination.

The lady of my childhood quoted some scripture in her condemnation of me. She knew that earlier, at age 8, I had talked to our family's pastor about being saved. He felt that I didn't truly understand and counseled my parents to have me wait to see if my desire grew. It did. But in that lady's eyes – and in her understanding of certain Bible verses – everyone had one and only one chance at salvation. Anyone who failed to accept that one time, for whatever reason, had forever forfeited his soul. In her eyes I had missed my chance; and there would never be another.

Of course, others use other verses to justify their faith plus positions. One is Matthew 6:14-15, where Jesus says that if you don't forgive, you won't be forgiven. So you hear sermons about the “Prerequisite of Forgiveness.” The problem – if I may call it that – is that in Jesus' parable about the unforgiving servant () our forgiving is clearly shown to be a result of our having been forgiven. That doesn't stop the faith plus people from proclaiming that before Jesus will have grace and mercy on us we must totally forgive all who have in some way victimized us. That is particularly hard if that victimization involved rape, perhaps continuously over a time, or repeated physical abuse, or the shredding of one's self-esteem over and over again. Does Jesus really demand that we forgive our attacker-abuser-molester BEFORE He will forgive us? Is such a BEFORE forgiveness even possible?

Another favorite verse of the faith plus folks is Matthew 25:1-13, the parable of the 10 Virgins. Some use this to teach a doctrine of rejection. They believe that all 10 are saved according to biblical standards. To them the five who did not have enough oil for their lamps and thus missed the bridegroom's coming have lost their salvation, or their right to be included in the rapture, or whatever else the faith plus person is fixated on. After all didn't Jesus (the bridegroom) say to them that He never knew them? Obviously they must have had some horrible secret sin in their lives, a sin uncovered by the blood, so that they were rejected. Or, if you want my view, they had never really been saved at all: not personal Christians, but cultural Christians, depending on Great-Grandma's relationship with Jesus instead of having a relationship of their own.

All my quibbling aside, what does it mean if just one of these faith plus people is right?

For me it means that I'm going to hell just like that childhood friend of my mom's said. In all honesty, hell is what I deserve. I'm a 10^th class Christian, remember? Works to somehow earn my rightness with God are way beyond my capability. I knew by the age of six that I was a loser and would always be one.

So what gives me the audacity to hope?

It all goes back to a childhood memory verse, and to others like it that I've discovered since: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

I hope because I can believe. I can accept. I can receive. I hope because “Jesus did it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow.”

Longing

2012-01-06T07:44:00.000-08:00

It has seemed to me of late that I have a secret thread running through my life. This thread goes down deep inside me. So deep I don't even have words to accurately define it. I sense it, though not with any of my senses. I feel it. I know it when I see it, but I cannot name it – at least not with one word that conveys the all of it.

Sometimes I think of it as a void, a hole in my soul. I try to stuff things into it – people, books, collections, occupation. But they don't fit. It's shape is not satisfied with the temporary or physical.

Sometimes I think of it as a yearning, a longing for something unnameable, something so unobtainable that my soul, in disappointment, threatens shrivel and vanish from sight.

From the shape of it, I know it is a longing for God. But that statement is somehow less than the whole of it. I could say I long for a relationship with God; but that isn't accurate either. I have a relationship with Him. I long for a deeper one, something more than I have ever known before.

I long for it the way a baby longs for Mama to pick him hp and cuddle him.

I long for it the way a toddler longs to hide behind Daddy's legs when confronted by a big and terrifying world.

I long for closeness, to be held in God's lap.

I long for His fullness, to be full of Him and not of me.

I long for mercy and forgiveness, though I deserve neither.

I long for holiness, not the outward keeping of some commandment kind, but the deep down in the soul kind.

I long for the kind of liberty only He gives – that of a spirit set free from fear, doubt, and failure.

I long for heaven. I long to know as I am known. I long to see no longer as through a glass darkly, but clearly in the light of His presence. It makes no difference if I am the least of all there; at least I will be there. It is there that this longing will be satisfied and full at last. It is there that I will know what I was made for.

Disappointing Stories

2012-01-05T11:36:00.000-08:00

What do you do when a novel you've been reading – one that promised so much - suddenly takes a hard left turn into an area you are unprepared to go?

This happened to me the other day. It was by a writer a trusted; I own six other of his books. On the back it promised excitement involving an ancient book, the interpretation of dreams, and shenanigans in the world of high finance. For just over 200 pages it delivered.

Then everything changed. Goals morphed. The fight against the book long evil of high finance abruptly ended. And the whole story reoriented into something I would never have bought in the first place.

I stayed with it another 60 plus pages, hoping it would reorient back to something near its original promise. It didn't. So, 260 plus pages in, and around 60 pages from the end, I put it down, and have no intention of ever picking it up again. Wasted money, wasted time, and a ton of disappointment over the story that could have been, but wasn't.

By the way, to the person who would say, “If you'd just stuck it out a few more pages, it would have changed,” I say, to blame a broken rubber band because you exceeded its capacity to stretch is counter-productive. To blame the reader for the writer's mistake is also counter-productive; and usually just earns you one less reader.

Tiananmen Square and “Tank Man”

2011-10-29T11:00:00.000-07:00

It was a different world. April to June 1989. China. The young college students wanted not a government womb but government reform and freedom. The hard-line rulers were determined not to give it. The government decided it was time for violence. On May 20 it declared martial law. They sent the army divided into convoys into Beijing where the square was located. Tens of thousands of protesters surrounded the military vehicles and stopped them. The peaceful protesters lectured to the soldiers, urged them to join the protest, and brought them water and food. On May 24 the military backed out of Beijing. But on Jun 4, back they came, all guns firing. The Chinese Red Cross said that 2600 died, the Chinese government said it was only 241. The next day, their tanks rolled into Tiananmen Square where the protest started and the students still remained.

A picture came out of that moment, a picture I still carry in my soul today. You may have seen the video as well. A lone man in a white shirt stepped out into the street directly in the path of an oncoming column of tanks. He's called “Tank Man” because no one knows for sure who he was. He blocked the column. The tanks stopped, then tried to move around him. He repeatedly stepped into the path of the tanks. Finally the lead tank turned off its engine. After climbing onto the tank and even talking to it's commander, “Tank Man” slid off only to be grabbed by two men in blue who hustled him away. The tanks continued on into the Square.

No one knows who the two men in blue were or what happened to “Tank Man” after he was taken away. Majority opinion seems to be secret police and execution. In some ways who and what make no difference. Like the men at Thermopylae or in the Alamo, he stood against the might of a massed military, in a one-sided conflict, with only one probably outcome. His only weapon was his life. In my soul, he is the picture of a true hero.

Like I said, Tiananmen Square was a different world. Today our young protest not for the cause of freedom. Instead they take the mantle of the “Occupy” Whatever leftists and loons, crying out for the cause of slavery to the state. They seek what the hardliners did in China to be done here. When our Tiananmen Square comes, they will be the ones in the tanks, their Alinsky-taught tactics: violence, lies, bullying, and perversion.

Will our Tiananmen Square come?

Yes, it is coming soon. Already the attacks are mounting against our choosing to believe in Christ. Any faith that allows one freedom to choose or not, and speaks of being “free indeed” is anathema to the governmentalists.

The day is coming – baring the rapture – when we will be told that we can no longer believe in the Word and in the things written in the word. We must believe whatever they tell us to believe, or die. And like Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani in Iran, we will be court ordered to renounce Jesus, and convert to Islam or whatever religion they are pushing, or die. Unlike the “cultural Christians” who know the words but not the power behind them, I've made my choice already. I suspect you have too.

Like “Tank Man” we will stand. We will let the Holy Spirit supply our words. And we will refuse. Though their tanks be many and awesome, overflowing with weaponry. Though they drive with the same blood lust as the Egyptian military over the Coptic Christians. Though their voices be shrill and their demeanor demonic. We will stand.

As Jim Elliot reminds us, it is not a problem to give up what we cannot keep to gain what we cannot loose.

Thinking About Death

2011-10-22T14:09:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking a lot about death recently. It seems like quite a few of this world's Somebodies have taken that trip recently: Osama Bin Laden, Steve Jobs, and Muammar Qaddafi. A headline last week even read that Venezuela's Hugo Chavez had terminal cancer. Then, two days later, Mr. Chavez declared himself to be cancer free; a move that smacks more of wishful thinking than of truth.

That's the thing about death. I doesn't just come for the good, like C. S. Lewis or that brave pastor in Iran told to renounce Jesus, convert to Islam, or die. It also comes for the evil: the hate-filled and violent, the arrogant, the rich and famous, and the powerful.

It comes for Somebodies and for nobodies. I too will die. It's coming. I'm 62, sliding into 63. That puts me much closer to my ending than my beginning. I'm just one in the mass of poor nobodies; and I'm OK with that. I've been loved far in excess of anything I actually deserve.

In so far as I can determine, I am ready and willing to go whenever my Master calls.

My thinking, however, has been less about me and more about those Somebodies who practice evil. Do they really believe that they too will die? Or do they believe that their Sombodieness or their evilness will somehow exempt them.

Think about the dictators of this world: the Ayatollahs, the Qaddafi's, the Chavez's, and their wannabes in our country. Does it ever occur to those who think they have the right to rule that death will come to them as well as to those whose murder's they justify? Did Osama really believe that death would take him? Do these folks not realize that all their carefully crated empires will one day fall into the hands of others? That those others will not care in the least about them now that they are dead and gone, and might possibly even be their enemies? Or do they blindly think that they will live forever? Did Saddam Hussein ever envision that his statue to himself would one day lie shattered in the streets? Will Hugo Chavez's coming death cause him to ease his oppression, or to double-down on it?

Think of the rich and famous. Will all the wealth of all the Gateses, Buffets, Jobses, Turners and all the rich folks everywhere in the world, be able to purchase even one of them a pass when Death comes calling? Will their empires survive? Or will they be like Alexander's Greece, broken and parceled out to others? Who will enjoy their wealth then? Or their fame? Will Death skip Jane Fonda because of her name? Is Death afraid of Sean Penn? Is it impressed with Lindsey Lohan? Do these folks not know that they too will die and that a generation or two from now most folks won't even know their names or care that they ever lived?

What about the bullies and the violent: the Bin Ladens, the Che Guevaras, the Trumpka's with all their union goons, the Black Panther-La Raza-KKK partisans? Do they believe that their sheer meanness and evil will cause them to live forever? Have they forgotten that from the beginning of life until now, Death has batted 1000? Every living thing has died at its time, even the raptors. So the bullies and the violent too will one day be worm dirt while the rest of us nobodies joyfully and reverently forget them.

What about the arrogant: the Saul Alinskys and all his little Alinskyites, the George Soroses with all his hidden underlings, and the community organizers with all their Van Jonses, all of whom believe in their self-given mandate to order everyone else around – for “their own good” mind you – from the car they drive to the light bulb they use? Do they understand that they too will die just like us non-elites? Probably not. It would rip apart their pretensions. If we nobodies die and their somebodies also die, where is the ground for their supposed superiority. Their importance is but a self-induced illusion.

Hebrews 9:27 (KJV) “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”

Twisted and Perverted Minds

2011-10-20T11:15:00.000-07:00

It takes a perverted and twisted mind to equate a desire to stop the slaughter of unborn babies with being for women dying in the floor, and a concern for jobs legislation that will actually help folks with being for rape and murder. (Pelosi and Biden last week)

I guess they haven't read or believed Proverbs 11:3: “The integrity of the upright shall guide them; but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them.”

Of course, yesterday (10-17) Biden doubled down when a Human Events Reporter asked him to verify and explain the comment. He started to deny the comment, stopped, and then got snarky with the reporter, saying, “Let’s get it straight, guy. Don’t screw around with me.”

I admit I'd like to “screw around with” him. Undoubtedly, I'd loose. After all, he's the VP of a country and I'm a retired nobody. It's just that there is something about that kind of arrogance that makes me want to stand up and punch someone silly.

Silence in the Face of Evil

2010-07-24T08:51:00.000-07:00

"Silence in the face of evil is itself evil; God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act."

Quote by Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas. Copyright 2010 by Eric Metaxas. Published by Thomas Nelson.

Plunging Toward Armageddon

2010-05-27T13:10:00.000-07:00

I mentioned the last time that, metaphorically speaking, our world was on a precipice about to begin the slide toward Armageddon. Actually, I think the slide has begun. Gravity and mass are now in play, as we pick up speed, hurtling toward catastrophe.

How does this relate then to what we see, in our everyday living, around us? Is there any trustworthy map to the territory we are in?

Obviously the Bible has much to say on this. Jesus spoke of it in His “Little Apocalypse” in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Paul spoke of it in First and Second Thessalonians. John spoke of it in Revelation. The Old Testament speaks of it in Psalms and in the Prophets. Most books of both testaments refer to it in some way.

Here, in no particular order is a list of things we can expect. Keep in mind that these things are the prelude, the build up, the beginnings leading up to that last terrible seven years known as “the Tribulation.” These are the “look for them now” things.

1. The Bible speaks of “wars and rumors of wars.” Since these, and most of the things I will list, have always been with us, the thing to look for is not their existence, but for an increase in their existence. More and more of them, coming faster and faster. At present we face the certainty of another war in the Middle East, possibly involving nuclear weaponry. There is the potential for the EU to collapse over the Greece deal. Russia has made belligerent statements to it’s breakaway nations. China has become more aggressive against it’s Westernized neighbors. North Korea (beyond a doubt one of the two most rogue nations on earth)is preparing for war with South Korea. Thanks to our current leadership, the US seems unwilling and unable to help long standing allies. Consider what would happen if North Korea attacked South Korea and Japan. What would the US do? Especially if China said that the price of aiding our allies would be that they call in all our debt. Remember too that our current leadership has a habit of dissing friends of supporting enemies, especially Marxist enemies.

2. Look for increasing geological upheaval. In spite of the claim that they are not increasing, it’s only our technology that’s gotten better, earthquakes are occurring in places that do not have earthquakes, like in Cleburne, Texas. Also, more are occurring in the upper numbers of the Richter Scale. Already in 2010 we’ve had major earthquakes in Haiti, Chile, and China. Thousands have died. Today you can add a 7.2 quake in the south Pacific nation of Vanuatu.

3. Our weird weather will continue getting weirder. As recorded today on Fox News, NOAH expects this year to be a record year for hurricanes. This is on top of the odd things that have already occurred this year. Nashville, Tennessee, anyone? The funny thing is, that in spite of the arrogant Al Gore-ites, this swing between unseasonable cold and equally unseasonable heat, has nothing to do with what man does, and everything to do with God’s plans.

4. Expect astronomical anomalies. Last year, for the first time in scientific history, they astronomers tracked a significantly sized asteroid that they knew would hit earth. Sure enough it came in tracking straight for a Somali desert. Unexpectedly it blew up high in the sky doing no damage. Had it hit, it wouldn’t have been an extinction event; but it would have been a serious one. I think more oddities can be anticipated. The Bible specifically mentions not only stars falling, but also unusual events regarding the sun and the moon.

5. Look for false messiahs springing up everywhere. Look not only for religious false messiahs but political ones as well. Remember in the days of Jesus, the people were looking not for a spiritual messiah, but for a political one. As Satan throws his trial-runs at us, expect more of them to be in the political arena. As I have said before, I don’t think Obama is the anti-Christ. However, I do think he is a type (or picture) of the anti-Christ. Remember the messianic imagery used of him in the campaign and in the first year of his presidency.

6. You can expect the hatred and persecution of believers to intensify everywhere, even here in the US. This is old news in the Far East (China) and in all Islamic countries. Islamics hate every religion except their own. So they attack Hindus and Buddhists in India. However, their hate is especially intense toward Judaism and Christianity. This “religion of peace” will not be satisfied until every Jew is dead and every Christian is forced to convert to Islam. It is one thing to be hated by atheists. They will at least for the most part obey the law. It is another thing to be hated by those who think they insure their place in heaven by killing you.

7. Expect more economic chaos. The Bible speaks of famines and they have already occurred. We are in the deepest world wide economic downturn since the Great Depression. All the signs are that it will only get worse. If Europe fails, the experts say, so will the US. It looks more and more like that will happen. According to one European economist this financial crisis is worse than last year’s because the sums are so much bigger and it is governments that are in dire straits. Another says that the US money supply is now shrinking at the same rate it did 1929 to 1933. What’s worse is the pace of the shrinking is increasing. We are not far from the days, as the Bible says, when a loaf of bread will buy a bag of gold.

8. One thing we are already seeing is the fall of the US as leader of the free world. It began after 9/11 with the rise of the quislings. Quislings is a term used to describe traitors and collaborators. It is a World War 2 term from Norway when Vidkun Quisling collaborated with the Nazis in the fall of his own country. He achieved his goal: power. Norway fell in 1940. Quisling was appointed the Nazi prime minister of Norway in 1942. Then in 1945 at the end of the war, the Norwegians tried him for treason and executed him by firing squad. Our government today is giving away our sovereignty freely to our enemies. The only difference is that instead of being named Vidkun, they are named Barry, Nancy, Harry, Joe, Eric, and Janet (among far too many others).

9. Look for increasing lawlessness. In Dallas, Texas, not only are crimes in general greatly on the rise, but violent crimes are even more so. OK, one city does not a world make. Breaking news today from Homeland Security is that terror plots against the US are at a record high. In Jamaica full fledged war exists between security forces and a drug lord called “Dudus”. Seventy four, mostly civilians, have been killed so far. Who doesn’t know about the drug lord problem in Mexico? Billiary even blamed the US for it a year or so back. Bad, bad Billiary! No more presidential chances for you.

10. Finally, somewhere in the midst of all this, look for the rapture of the church. Yes, I know, some folks get all bent out of shape over the word rapture. The Greek work Paul used means “snatched,” as in “I’m going to snatch you bald!” When Jerome was translating that into Latin he used the word “rapturo,” giving us the English “rapture.” I say “somewhere in all this” because while all this is precursor, it also carries on into the Tribulation. The “snatching” will occur somewhere before that. It is, for me, the one bright shining hope in an otherwise dismal next few years.

Do You Ever Find Yourself Conflicted Inside?

2010-05-18T12:51:00.000-07:00

I admit that I do. Let me explain.

I believe in Jesus Christ. Actually, the word “believe” there is weak. Jesus is more real to me, and more important to me than anything else in my life.

A few blogs back I mentioned “To see is not to see.” For me, to see is to see Jesus. I need to focus on Him and eliminate from my vision all the anti-Jesus clutter the world so eagerly fluffs up.

Jesus is my cornerstone, my center, my foundation.

The conflict inside comes when I do or give thought to, something that is, well, if not anti-Jesus, at least on the periphery of the things Jesus wants.

Now, why would I do that?

Sometimes I blunder into these things unaware. Perhaps I was deceived. Perhaps I was tricked. More likely, at least as I see it, I was just blindly stupid. I didn’t stop to think. Or if I did, I failed to see something I should have seen.

Sometimes I honestly can’t decide which one of the options before me is right. So I arbitrarily chose one, only to discover later that I chose poorly.

And yes, because I am a sinner, sometimes I choose wrong on purpose. No one needs God’s grace more than I do.

So, why think about all this today?

It has everything to do with this blog, of course, and with a struggle I’ve faced since first deciding to blog. The issue is: where am I going; what is the ultimate destination for this blog?

Reading my prior blogs, one might think that my goal is political reform with a return to constitutional government. I admit I yearn to see that happen.

But politics and political change really aren’t my center. Jesus is. So my political views, my philosophical views, need to be brought into subservience to scripture.

Scripture speaks of a coming false-messiah or anti-Christ. Even though this may be one of my blunders, I believe that his time is here now. No, I don’t know who he is. Don’t ask. What I do know is that we are on the edge of a cliff and need only the weight of a feather to begin the slide toward Armageddon.

This means that the return of Christ is not only closer than ever before, but also imminent. Be it in a month or in 10 years, the time of our departing is at hand. The time for postponing things is over. Now is the time to get ourselves ready, inside and out.

So, for as long as this blog exists, expect some political writing, expect some philosophical writing; but expect more about Him who was, and is, and is to come.

About Mexico's Slam of Arazona

2010-05-13T08:49:00.000-07:00

I suspect that everyone who read my last post understood it was part in fun and part serious. One of the fun parts that I’d like to go back to for a more serious look is the section about Mexico’s immigration policy. Please understand that as a sovereign country Mexico has a right to whatever laws it chooses. I have no problem with its laws; I have a big problem with its criticism of Arizona. That section in the original post was my way of saying that Mexico has no moral grounds for criticizing others when its own laws are so much more restrictive than those it mocks.

Of course, if you look at the media these days, the liberals (aka progressives) are all aghast, crying “racist.” So let me give you a definition of racist: a racist is anyone to whom race excessively matters. That means that Al Sharpton and the Black Panthers are racist. So is La Raza. Any group whose motto is “Por La Raza todo. Fuera de La Raza nada" which translated means "For The Race everything. Outside The Race, nothing," is racist. And so is the KKK. In fact, these three groups hare remarkably alike: hating everyone but their own members. Because race is all that matters to them, they are quick to assume that anything they don’t like is against them. That’s their definition of racist: anything they don’t like. So, one sure sign of a true racist is how quick they jump to call another “racist,” especially when they offer no grounds for the charge, or offer only specious grounds.

A non-racist is one to whom another person’s ethnicity makes no difference at all. Martin Luther King comes to mind, because he sought a world where what mattered was not the color of one’s skin, but the contents of one’s character.

So, the issue for me in my post - and I believe for Arizona in its new law - is not racism. It isn’t even immigration. We are a nation of immigrants. Our nature is prone to welcome those who come here seeking a better life, or those who come here as refugees. In our nation’s pre-socialist days, those who came had a good chance of finding success, security, and peace.

The real issue lies in one word: illegal. It’s the word that all the liberals, the true racists, and Mexico ignore. What does it say of a person’s character if instead of coming legally, they choose to come illegally?

1. It shows arrogance. In effect it says, “Your laws are not important to me. I’m above them. My needs and my wants are what counts. Your laws don’t apply to me.”

2. It shows a willingness on the part of the illegal to break other laws he or she finds inconvenient as well. In Arizona that other broken law was murder. It could just have easily have been something less violent, like transporting drugs.

3. It shows a contempt for our society and culture. By that I mean that it shows their true intent most likely was never to become one of us, but as a wolf to feed off us.

4. And, it sets up internally in the illegal himself a lifestyle of dishonesty, lying, cheating with false documents, hiding, and sneaking - all characteristics no nation wants to foster in its populace.

When it’s all over, when Danny Glover has gone home, when the California idiots move on to scream about something else, Arizona will still be there, doing just fine, providing all its citizens with a much more secure environment. Way to go, Arizona.

If I Were President of Texas

2010-05-07T20:10:00.000-07:00

So, the other day I sat in my chair, feet propped up, eyes closed, daydreaming. As usual it was pure fantasy. I daydreamed that Texas had regained its independence. And most fantastic of all, I was its first president.

Actually, in the fun of the moment, I couldn’t decide if I was the Grand and Most Extraordinary Benevolent PooBah or just plain President. Somehow just plain President sounded better.

After the fun of the fantasy subsided, I wondered: What would I do? What would my program be? So I came up with the following list of actions. Some are fun. Some are more serious. I doubt if anyone will agree with them all.

Here, in no particular order, is my list:

1. The official immigration policy of Texas would be the same as Mexico’s:
a. Immigrants will be barred who upset ”the equilibrium of the national demographics,” who do not enhance our “economic or national interests,” who are “not found to be physically or mentally healthy,” who show “contempt against the national sovereignty or security” of Texas, who have a history of being economic burdens on society, or who have criminal histories.
b. In order to obtain Texas citizenship, immigrants must show a birth certificate, provide a bank statement proving economic independence, be able to prove they can provide their own health care, and pass an exam proving that they can speak and read English.
c. Illegal entrance into Texas would be a felony, as would document fraud, alien marriage fraud, and evading deportation. Pro-illegal alien speech by outsiders would also be a felony. Non-citizens, here legally or illegally, may be kicked out of the country without due process.
d. Law enforcement at all levels will be required to enforce immigration laws.
e. All non citizens must carry a citizens’ identity card. Those without proper documents and identification are subject to arrest as illegal aliens. (See http://michellemalkin.com/2010/04/28/police-state-how-mexico-treats-illegal-aliens/ for Michelle Malkin’s excellent article on Mexico’s immigration laws.)

2. Saudi Arabia provides the pattern for religious freedom. Officially, Saudi citizens must be Muslim. Public as well as private practice of all other religions is prohibited. Practitioners of other religions cannot be buried in Saudi soil. Any evangelism by these other religions results in imprisonment and possibly death for said evangelists. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi_Arabia or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Saudi_Arabia or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blasphemy_law_in_Saudi_Arabia for further information.)

As President of Texas I would reverse that. In Texas one may worship however one chooses, except one may not be a Muslim. Public and private practice of Islam would be prohibited. Muslims cannot be buried in Texas soil. And any Muslim seeking to evangelize non-Muslims would face imprisonment and possibly death.

3, In a shout-out to Hugo Chavez, no property or business inside Texas may be owned by anyone other than a Texas citizen. Any such property or business will be seized and sold at auction to the highest bidding citizen.

4. There will be term limits for all civil offices from local judges and mayors up. No more than 3 or 4 terms will be allowed. We need no more career politicians.

5. Texas recognizes Israel’s right to exist and Jerusalem as its capital.

6. Texas will honor its allies. This applies particularly to Israel, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and those countries descended from the British Empire.

7. Texas will offer foreign aid to allies only. We are obligated to help our friends. We are not obligated to try to buy off enemies.

8. Texas will not seek United Nations membership. Nor will we accept United Nations mandates. The UN has no authority over Texas as a sovereign nation at all.

9. Texas foreign policy, except as it relates to our allies, is isolationism. If other nations do not mess with Texas we will not mess with them. We will not seek help from any nation other than our allies. We will not offer help to any nation other than our allies.

10. If pushed into war, we will fight with all that we have, with nothing held back. We will not accept any outcome other than complete victory. We will fight no wars of containment.

11. General Electric, General Motors, and all communication organizations with NBC in the title will be banned from the state.

12. All state computers will use Linux, preferably a distribution developed by Texans.

13. Because of item 2, all Texas governmental facilities are free to use symbols, quotes, and allusions to God from any faith group, except Islam.

14. Texans traditionally hate income tax. However, the current system of property taxes and sales taxes is equally unsatisfactory. My solution would be to end the property and sales taxes, and institute a flat tax on income.

15. Medical decisions are matters of conscience. No one, neither doctor nor government, shall in any way coerce such decisions.

16. Celebrating foreign holidays is a private affair, not a compulsory public one. If the holiday is not on the official Republic calendar, neither the state nor the populace is required to keep the holiday just to make some immigrant group happy.

As I said earlier, you probably don’t like all of my list. That’s OK. It is a free fantasy. Indulge yourself. What would you put on your own list?

To See is Not to See

2010-04-29T11:10:00.000-07:00

About 25 years ago, I spent a couple of semesters working on a PhD in Rhetoric and Philosophy. That’s writing and human wisdom in non-academic speak.

One of the concepts I encountered then still clings to me: “To see is not to see.” I know. It sounds zen-like and mystical; but it is neither.

Rephrasing it for real people, it means that in order to focus on one thing, you have to unfocus, or exclude, the surrounding things. Think of a camera zeroing in on a tight shot with all the stuff at the edges going blurry.

We all do this. Some of us do it by design. Some without thought.

The problem is that we are quick to see only what we want to see. And what we want to see are those things that agree with and promote our beliefs.

Michael Moore hates capitalism; so he sees only those things that support his beliefs. He totally misses all the data for the other side. I think capitalism is good (as long as its excesses are curbed - no slavery, no child labor, no reduction in pay simply because of gender or age). Consequently, I see the plusses and don’t see any good in the economic tyranny of socialism.

Likewise atheists, such as Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, Bertrand Russell, and George Soros, see only the things that confirm their disbelief; where, as a believer, I see abundant reason for believing.

Apply this principle then to the MSM, or to any group of liberals you choose. The core beliefs of this group are:
1. “Because of my wealth, power, position, occupation, or race, I am in a higher and more noble position than you.” We call that elitism.
2. “”Because of number 1, you really would be better off listening to me and doing what I command. After all, you are to ignorant to make your own choices.” We call that egoism.

Interesting, isn’t it, how the MSM portrays all Tea Party folks (a group to which I gladly belong) as uneducated with low IQs? (As a side note here, I was a member of Mensa for a time - meaning I have an IQ in the top two percent - so I really don’t mind going toe to toe with liberals.)

The principle of seeing also explains why the MSM continually harps on potential Tea Party violence (none to date) and totally ignores violence from its own devotes (the imported immigration activists in Arizona being the most recent).

Liberals, like all PhD programs throughout the United States, believe in domination. That is, in order to succeed, you have to become exactly like them. There is no room for independent thought; no room to explore hitherto unexamined areas. There is only room for mini-mes regurgitating party-line thoughts and official doctrine.

They see what they want to see. And miss the truth.

I’ll come back to this in my next blog.

Demonizing Your Customers

2010-04-20T12:31:00.000-07:00

Do you ever wonder about the MSM (television, newspapers, Hollywood stars, and Time magazine included) insulting their customers?

I admit I struggle with that. I understand the Alinsky “demonize-your-opponents” principle. But it makes no sense if at the same time you are demonizing them you also are trying to get them to buy your product.

With that in mind, I've decided to launch a one person boycott. By that I mean that this is what I propose to do for myself. You can do the same if you like. Or not, if you like. I'm speaking for no one except myself.

I will not watch any television or cable channel that has NBC in its name. With all their insults to conservatives, they have nothing to offer that I need to see.

I will not buy General Electric. The last time I checked they owned the NBCs. Again they make nothing that I can't buy from a different manufacturer.

I will not use any software from Microsoft. They are the MS in MSNBC. I use Linux and Open Office. Linux is much more secure than Windows, and does everything I need it to do.

I will not ever again be a part of or support AARP.

I will never again buy Time magazine or the New York. Times. Nor will I read either when waiting at the physician's office. They place propaganda above truth and cannot be trusted.

I will not buy Government Motors. I admit as a 61-year-old official “old fart” that most of the cars I've owned were GM. No more. It's one thing to sell me a product; it's another to steal from me through bailouts.

I need neither Saturday Night Live nor the Comedy Channel to find laughter.

I will not vote for anyone who uses the obscene term “tea-baggers.” I will not watch any network that uses the term. Is it OK if I call you obscene names?

I will not watch any movie or television program or listen to any music that involves in any way Jane Fonda, Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Rosie O'Donnell, Barbara Streisand, Roseanne, Sting, Alec Baldwin, James Brolin, Michael Moore, Kathy Griffin, Oliver Stone, Janeane Garofalo, Sean Penn, George Lopez, Roger Ebert, Wanda Sykes, or any other loud-mouthed drop-out Hollywood snot that want to dictate to me what to believe and what not to believe. If that cuts out 99.9 per cent of what Hollywood produces, that's fine with me. I don't need their contributions to find entertainment.

Will my one-person boycott make a difference? No, likely not. However, it makes me feel better knowing that I have refused to waste my time and money on items pushed by the haters.